Guest Article: Dream Smasher – Fiora

This guest Dream Smasher was written by NintenZ.

The Xenoblade series is a series that has certainly undergone a lot of growth in recent times. What originally started as a JRPG that was never even intended for a worldwide release has become much bigger, being promoted by Nintendo as one of their top series and receiving several instalments. While the recent games such as Xenoblade Chronicles X and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 have their own characters to pull from, one character from the first game that comes to mind when talking about original Xenoblade characters to choose from is none other than Shulk’s longtime friend and love-interest, Fiora, and today I’m going to go over what she could bring to the table in Smash.

Who is Fiora?

In Xenoblade Chronicles, we first see Fiora in Colony 9 along with her brother Dunban. Her and Shulk have been friends since childhood and she is shown to be an energetic and playful person, although she can sometimes be a little reckless. Due to spoiler reasons that I won’t go into, I can only say that later on in the game she gains a form that gives her new abilities, which is what her moveset would be based on in Smash.

History and Importance to Nintendo/Series

Without going into spoilers, it becomes very apparent in Xenoblade Chronicles that Fiora is more important compared to the other party members in the game, with the exception of Shulk. This is because she is meant to represent Mechonis while Shulk is meant to represent Bionis, the game’s two major locales. They also represent the underlying themes of rebirth and life respectively, as well as other major themes in the game which I won’t spoil.

Fiora has also received attention outside of the original Xenoblade and the only one to do so besides Shulk (Super Smash Bros. excluded). This includes her voice being an option for the character Cross in Xenoblade Chronicles X under the “Classic” female option (conversely Shulk shares this distinction for the male option), and she appears in the 2015 crossover game Project X Zone 2 as one of three Nintendo guest characters alongside Chrom and Lucina. As it stands she is almost as important to the first game as Shulk, which is why when it comes to talking about characters from the series, Fiora is important to bring up as she represents the other half of the first game symbolically.

Colors & Design

Original sprite by TheAnvil. Alts by NantenJex.

As mentioned before, Fiora’s appearance will be based on her design from later in the game, where she gains abilities based after drones that she can equip. Her alts are colorations based off several Mechons, including Metal Face, Bronze Face, Jade Face, and Yaldabaoth, a color scheme based on Meyneth, as well as a coloration based off Shulk to contrast with Shulk’s alt of her. Her final alt will be special as it will be more than just a colour swap. It will be based on her original outfit from the beginning of the game.

How Will She Play?

Gimmick: Drone-based fighter in conjunction with two blades.

Niche: Dual-Wielding Mechanized-Being

• Can they crawl: No
• Can they wall jump: Yes
• How many jumps do they have: 2
• Is there any exclusive abilities they have*: No
• Weight Class: B
• Height Class: B
• Speed Class: C
• Are they mirrored when they faces left: No

*i. e. Peach’s float

Fiora is a medium-heavy character due to her half-Mechon body and has a height close to Lucina. Due to her being the same speed as Shulk in her own game, she and him share the same speed here. She is not mirrored due to her always having her blades in-hand.

What makes Fiora unique is two attributes. One is dual-wielding, where she’d use her two blades for her standard attacks. She would have great reach with these blades and would be able to use them efficiently to chain combos.

Her second unique attribute are her drones. These would be implemented into her neutral special, and similarly to Shulk’s Arts, they would have different types of “modes” depending on the drone. However, unlike Shulk they have more of an immediate effect and would be cycled through with her down special, Drone Reassignment.

Her Kirby hat would be the drones that you see on her back, additionally, Kirby would copy the Cannon Drones ability that she has.

Move, Name, & Action	Description
Entrance	Fiora falls out of the sky as if she has just jumped out of the Face Nemesis.
Idle 1	Stands facing towards her opponents, with her two blades outward in opposite directions.
Idle 2	As a nod to her idle animation from Xenoblade Chronicles, she strokes her hair with her arm.
Idle 3	Looks behind her, scouting the area.
Walking	Walks forward casually with both blades in-hand, with both being faced in the same direction.
Running	Runs forward with her head lowered, both blades in-hand, ready to attack.
Jump	Jumps very similarly to Lucina, however with two weapons in hand. For her double jump she flips while carrying her blades.
Falling Animation	Her Falling animation has her going towards the ground with her blades beside her, feet first.
Damage/Knockback	Her animation for when she is damaged is kind of like her idle however she flinches and her head turns toward the screen.
Shield	She draws herself inward, clenching her blades and bracing for impact.
Neutral/Jabs	Does a quick strike with one of her blades, followed by a more powerful strike with the other blade.
F-Tilt	Does a quick forward strike with both her blades.
Up-Tilt	Pulls her blades upwards and cuts like a scissor.
D-Tilt	Swipes both her blades in opposite directions.
Dash Attack	Spins with both her blades in hand dealing multiple hits on impact.
Up Smash	Does a two-part attack, a sideways-kick, followed by a flip-kick. A reference to Cross Impact.
Down Smash	Shocks her enemies around her with an electric field. The longer it is charged, the greater the impact. This is a reference to Mag Storm.
Forward Smash	Thrusts her blades forwards and then pulls outwards with great force. A reference to Spear Blade.
N-Air	Pushes her blades upwards in opposite directions while in the air, forming a cross. This catches opponents in both areas due to having a hitbox on each side.
F-Air	Spins in a circular motion, thrusting her blades forward.
B-Air	Thrusts one of her blades backwards, has very long reach.
U-Air	Does a little flip while thrusting both of her blades upwards.
D-Air	Thrusts her blades downwards and cuts from both sides. Can be used a Spike.
Grab	Will grab with her left hand but will still carry her blade. For her pummel she will hit her opponent with her right blade continuously.
F-Throw	Kicks her opponent forward and does a slash towards them with her blade.
B-Throw	Throws her opponent backwards and then does a backward stab.
U-Throw	Throws her opponent upwards and then slashes them with her blade.
D-Throw	Throws her opponent downward and slashes them.
Neutral Special: Drones	Will activate her currently equipped Drones. To change what Drone you are using, refer to her Down Special. Some of the Drones she has include: Cannon Drones (A chargeable projectile like Robin’s Thoron) Laser Drones (An energy-based projectile that doesn’t deal knockback somewhat like Fox’s Blaster except angled downward) Shield Drones (Which decrease the amount of damage and knockback she receives like Shulk’s Shield Art) Sword Drones (A 10-hit combo attack. Her drones move forward as a projectile, slashing in front of her like Marth/Roy/Lucina’s Dancing Blade but independent) Additionally, projectile-based Drones would be able to lock onto foes, in a reference to her “Auto-Aim” ability.
Neutral Special 2: Quick Drones	Drones usage becomes faster, however, their power significantly weakens.
Neutral Special 3: Powerful Drones	Drones become much more powerful, however, they also become much slower and sluggish in use.
Side Special: Double Wind	Sprints forward while putting both blades together and cuts the opponent. This is a two-hit attack.
Side Special 2: Double Wind Leap	A quick hop towards the enemy followed by a two-hit attack. Fast but ultimately weaker than before.
Side Special 3: Butterfly Step	Her original Talent Art. She sprints forward and deals a four-hit attack against the enemy instead of a two-hit one. It’s powerful but is much slower.
Up Special: Air Fang	Jumps up into the air and then slams downward. Can be used as a recovery and functions similar to Kirby’s Up-Special. Can be cancelled out of midway through.
Up Special 2: Pursuing Air Fang	Becomes faster and easier to control. However there is less of an opening.
Up Special 3: Stealthy Air Fang	Becomes slower but gives more damage towards the opponent and better timing.
Down Special: Drone Reassignment	Will change the current Drone that she is using. Starts with Cannon Drones and ends with Sword Drones before restarting.
Down Special 2: Speedy Reassignment	Will change the drones faster, however there will be a cool-down time after usage.
Down Special 3: Painful Reassignment	Deals a small amount of damage to her opponent before assigning, however execution is significantly slower than normal.
Final Smash: Final Cross	Fiora gathers all her power, and eventually fires a devastating laser attack. During the attack there are lasers all across the screen that deal high amounts of damage.
Up Taunt	Says, “This should be easy” while twirling her blades.
Side Taunt	Says, “I’m going all out on this one!” while showing off her blades.
Down Taunt	Says, “Better not get careless” while putting her blades away and her hand on her chest
Victory Animation 1	Says, “Let’s keep pressing on and on!” while charging towards the screen before posing.
Victory Animation 2	Says, “That was easy!” before smiling at the camera with her blades wide open. If Shulk is defeated: Says, “Hope I wasn’t too hard on you Shulk!”
Victory Animation 3	Says, “I feel… stronger…” with her back towards the camera and her head turned towards it like her Trophy in Smash Wii U.

Fiora’s victory theme would be the victory theme Xenoblade already has in Smash:

So there you have it, while the Xenoblade series has continued to grow, it should be noted that Fiora has remained an important part of the franchise ever since the beginning. Whether or not we see either her, Elma, Rex and Pyra, or even all three, there is a lot potential to be had from this franchise.  But let me know what you think in the comments, and I hope you enjoyed reading this.

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Joshua 'NantenJex' Goldie

A historian and avid gamer, NantenJex is the Editor-in-Chief for Source Gaming, overseeing videos and reviews for the site. He has a passion for obscure gaming so any article you see on uncommon titles like Nazo no Murusame Jo, Yuyuki and Marvelous, to name a few, are most likely from him. He also likes game design leading to the creation of Dream Smashers, a series on potential newcomers for Super Smash Bros. He wants you all to know that Yoshi is objectively the best Nintendo character.

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