Dream Smasher – Isaac

Before we get into this, this is a relook over Isaac. We had a previous Dream Smasher article on Isaac in the past by Isaac Venus Adept. You can look at view his thoughts on the character by clicking here.

Nintendo has, and still is, an ever growing company. Starting off with the NES, going to the SNES, and so on. However, they have one console that doesn’t have much representation in Smash fighter wise, and that is the Game Boy Advance. To be fair, at a first glance, it’s more of what we’ve seen before. Pokémon games, Mario games, and etc. Digging deeper, you see such a wide array of games. Then a company named Camelot Software Planning, a company that made Mario Golf and Mario Tennis on the N64 beforehand, comes up to the home plate, and throws out something completely out of left field. A new RPG for the Game Boy Advance by the name of Golden Sun. That’s where we get to the introduction of our protagonist of the golden hour, and his name is Isaac.

Who is Isaac?

By TheRealHeroOfWinds

Isaac made his debut in Golden Sun as a Venus Adept, a person who studies in Earth-related magic. One day Isaac is awoken by his Mother early in the morning, being told an avalanche is soon to trample his hometown. He then journeys throughout town where he meets up with his friends, Jenna and Garet. Isaac is told to go and help save Jenna’s brother, but as soon as they arrive with help, it’s too late. A giant boulder crushes a building, as Isaac’s father, Felix, and Jenna’s parents are cast down the river.

Three years later, Isaac is training in the arts of Psynergy, to hopefully make up for what he could’ve done that fateful day.

Importance to Nintendo and his Series.

Isaac, being the protagonist of the first game, you can imagine has quite an amount of importance to the series he kicked off. At his time, he was a very out there character in comparison to the likes of Mario, Link, Pikachu, and others. Both by his design, and skills. While Golden Sun may have dropped off of the face of the Earth, it is still widely talked about by Nintendo fans alike.

Design and Colors

Isaac’s default attire is his famous blue tunic, alongside his chestplate, gloves, and scarf. Like other RPG characters in Smash, it made the most sense for Isaac to have recolors based on his party members, have some based off of party members from Dark Dawn, and even some from just misc. characters from the franchise. If you wanted, you could throw in his son, Matthew (from Dark Dawn), as an alt costume or even as an Echo Fighter.

Palette Swaps by TheRealHeroOfWinds

How Would He Play?

It’s a phrase you hear all the time with characters who wield swords, but Isaac is no ordinary sword fighter. His town, and near everyone around him is known for their magic called Psynergy. Isaac specifically uses Venus Psynergy. This is magic that deals with the Earth’s rocks and plants. He also knows of some Support Psynergy, most of which that he uses deals with an inanimate hand he spawns.

Now before we get into the moveset, here are some stats.

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

*i.e. Peach’s float

(for a more detailed look at the stats check this link here)

Isaac would have the Golden Sun symbol (a sun logo based on Dark Dawn) and when Kirby steals his power he gets the Isaac’s hair and the Neutral special, Ragnarok, as his attack.

*Series emblem by Voyager

**Stock icon by TheRealHeroOfWinds

Move Name & Action	Description
Entrance	Isaac lands on the stage as he spins with a cyclone of orbs revolving around him. (Retreat Psynergy)
Idle 1	Isaac stands on the ground firmly with his left arm sitting on his waist, while his sword is in its sheath. (Based on his Brawl wait animation from his Assist Trophy.)
Idle 2	Isaac looks both ways cautiously.
Idle 3	Isaac taps his boots on the ground, one after another, before he stretches his arms up above his head.
Walking	Isaac walks forward with his right arm leading.
Running	Isaac runs forward tucked downward
Jump	Isaac jumps up with his right leg leading forcefully.
Damage	Isaac throws his head back as the rest of his body goes a little loose
Shield	Isaac covers his head with his arms in an X-like shape.
Neutral/Jabs	Isaac executes a quick horizontal slash, and another fast diagonal slash, and ends it with a considerably slow Psynergy Hand he pushes forward at the end of the move.
F-Tilt	Isaac opens up his palm, and slashes at a downward angle with a bit of a “Psynergy” acting as an effect behind the move. This is a multi-hit attack.
Up-Tilt	Isaac pulls his arms in, and holds them upward to summon a Punji stick in front of himself. If you hold this longer, it can change the height of the Punji stick he brings up.
D-Tilt	A Psynergy hand scoops downward, and and then lifts up the ground in front of Isaac like a shovel. Isaac mimics the movement with the arm that’s casting the Psynergy, as if he’s playing the role of the “puppet master.”
Dash Attack	Isaac preps his sword, and does a lunging attack. (Based off of his attack animation from Golden Sun.)
Up Smash	Isaac holds his arm above him as a part of the ground opens up with a ray of light and rocks flying out of the crater. There is a lot of end lag with this move. (Based on the move Gaia.)
Down Smash	Isaac readies his fist, and slams it on the ground creating an Earthquake of sorts. (Loosely based on this piece of official art.)
Forward Smash	Isaac gets into a ready position with his legs, and his left arm on his side. He forcefully pushes his other arm at a slight angle forward summoning a large mountain-like shaped pillar.
N-air	Isaac creates a set of rocks that revolve around him, each one then slowly disappears in a cycle as the move ends.
F-air	Isaac draws his sword, and he spins himself forward as he does one vertical slash.
B-air	Isaac turns behind himself, and uses a series of “Psynergy sparkles” with one final send off hit.
U-air	Isaac does a flip upward with a kick.
D-air	Isaac looks down, and pulls his fist back as he punches a Psynergy hand downwards. This acts as a meteor.
Grab:	Isaac has a Psynergy hand grab the opponent. If he does this as a dash grab, it will move outward to grab opponents.
Pummel	The Psynergy hand squeezes the opponent.
F-throw	The Psynergy hand throws the opponent forward, as if it was throwing away trash.
B-throw	The Psynergy hand goes behind Isaac, and throws the opponent.
U-throw	The Psynergy hand throws the opponent upward.
D-throw	The Psynergy hand lays the opponent on the ground, and then slams down as a fist.
Neutral Special 1: Ragnarok	Isaac swipes his hand at a downward angle, as a massive sword flies down at a 45 degree angle. The projectile can hit the ground, and stay there as an active hitbox.
Neutral Special 2: Nimble Ragnarok	The move is a lot faster, but is weaker and doesn’t stay in the ground as an active hitbox.
Neutral Special 3: Explosive Ragnarok	It takes a lot longer to use the move, but on contact with the ground, the sword explodes. (It will go through opponents with weak damage and no knockback. It is only the impact on the ground that matters with this move.)
Side Special 1: Move	Isaac pulls his arm back, and forces it forward to unleash a Psynergy hand. This move more so acts as a wind box, pushing any opponent alongside with it. As they’re pushed, they do take minor damage. Isaac cannot move this move, and can cancel it by letting go of the special button whenever.
Side Special 2: Rough Move	The Psynergy hand moves slower, but does more damage and knockback. However, it disappears on contact with an enemy.
Side Special 3: Breaking Move	The Psynergy hand moves the same speed with less damage, but does major damage to shields. It does take longer to start and end this variation of the move.
Up Special 1: Spire	Isaac pulls his arm over his shoulder, and pushes it down below his feet, casting Spire. Isaac kicks off of the Spire spike, sending it at a diagonal angle, this is an active meteor. While this is going on, Isaac is pushed at an angle. The player can control their momentum slightly by moving left and right on launch. Isaac is put into special fall after he leaves the stone. If it hits the ground, the Spire spike will shatter on impact. If the move is used on the ground in the first place, it will act as a small platform that will disappear after awhile. (Imagine the ice spikes on Mushroomy Kingdom U.)
Up Special 2: Rising Spire	The Spire spike is smaller, but Isaac goes faster and his a bit more movement after leaving the pillar.
Up Special 3: Omega Spire	The Spire spike is marginally larger, but Isaac goes a lot slower and doesn’t gain much height off of it.
Down Special 1: Nettle	Isaac sets his arms near the ground, and casts Nettle. There’s now a huge nest of thorns wherever the player uses the move. Whenever an opponent stand in it, several effects are laid ontop of them. They take damage over time, they are slowed down, their shield takes damage rapidly if they attempt to bring it up, and they’re jump height is majorly reduced. These effects only last until the opponents step outside of the set of thorns. To bring it back, Isaac can either use the move again or wait until the thorns burrow back underground.
Down Special 2: Explosive Nettle	All of the effects of Nettle are reduced by a large margin, and the thorns casted onto the ground are smaller. However, if the button is hit again, the patch of thorns explode instead of burrowing back into the ground.
Down Special 3: Vicious Nettle	The thorns take up more space, but only slow down the opponent and reduces their jump height. The effects are a lot more deadly this time around though.
Final Smash: Judgement	Isaac shoots a Psynergy Hand forward, and whatever enemies it comes in contact with are brought into a grassland. From here on, a cutscene Final Smash is activated. However, I feel it’s best for the video to do the rest of the explaining for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CMHy3eRrRo
Up Taunt	A Venus Djinn spins around Isaac as he lifts up his arms following the Djinn with his eyes. The Djinn then disappears.
Side Taunt	Isaac lifts his arm up while a circle goes up around him and sparkles flow out from below him.
Down Taunt	Isaac brings his body up to float slightly and strikes a pose before landing back to the ground.
Victory animation 1	Isaac tosses his sword into the air, and then catches it while ending in a pose with the sword behind his head and hand opened in front of him.
Victory animation 2	Isaac is staring away from the screen, and as it comes in, he turns to look at it with a Djinn on his shoulder smiling.
Victory animation 3	Isaac lifts up a giant boulder, and then simulates himself crushing it with one of his hands. The player catches sight of each and every particle disappearing as the camera freezes.

Isaac’s victory theme would be the classic Victory Fanfare from Golden Sun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyCI0FiPPc0

Isaac’s ability to mess with the terrain is an ability unlike any Smash fighter out there. I hope your eyes may have opened up to this “generic anime sword fighter”. While the Golden Sun franchise is kind of in a stand still, it’s still worth looking into. You can play the original GameBoy Advance title on the Wii U eShop, along with Golden Sun: The Lost Age. If you want to play Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, you’re going to need to dust off your DS and plug that sucker in. What are your thoughts on Isaac as a fighter? Would you like to see this character make it in?