Hinyari by Hyper_Ridley
While the set is built to be simple and play on fundamentals, it still provides multiple interesting aspects that tie into each other nicely- the helmet is the obvious one, with a weakness to cross-ups and a lack of hitboxes hitting above Hinyari without it giving him a non-traditional weakness to play around, but not the only one.
Movement options among the inputs, Neutral Special allowing him to add armor to any non-special input, the various ways he causes or deals with tech chases, the counter-esque down smash and potential ohko Forward Smash all give the set quite a bit of depth. His Side Special minion bucketheads are the primary thing that strikes me as not connected, but that's something of the point; their benefit is good enough in a vacuum and acts simply as a means to keep opponents from exploiting his heavyweight appropriate frame data and weaknesses while potentially setting him up for an easy cheap-shot if he does well enough.
It's a light read, but a very fun one that played to my nostalgia; nicely done!
Drifblim by Arctic Tern
Funny enough, Drifblim also is a set that makes excellent use of movement effects and has a Down Special buff, though that's where similarities end. Ominous Wind, Shadow Ball, Phantom Force, and Explosion make for a fun and tricky core- Aftermath as a mechanic being the extra twist that's simple in concept but changes how people would have to approach fighting it.
Of them, Ominous Wind steals the show; allowing use of its various attacks in motion or even in the air from the ground, redirecting the normally down-only Shadow Ball, expanding the hitbox of a smash, and more. That's not to dismiss the others; Explosion has some fascinating secondary effects on a few inputs, Aftermath has a surprise interaction with Forward Throw (being an interesting interpretation of Destiny Bond), and the air-heavy focus of the set with a weakness to shields and a trade of easier vertical kos at the cost of poor horizontal ko options makes for a unique playstyle blend that ties it all together nicely.
I'd love to try playing a character like this someday- or at least dream up how its match-ups with some of my own aerially-inclined sets would play out. It's given me the itch to do another Pokeset, to be honest, which is funny timing given we just passed Pokemon day.
Small Typo in Down Throw: "At low percents, this is a worse combo throw than BAir"
Tamatoa by tunz
A fabulous character choice, and my personal introduction to him and the movie from which he hails- and quite a pleasant introduction at that! He makes an excellent impression despite his limited screen time, and encouraging a view of his song number did help quite a bit in abridging the explanations for animations in the set. It's always fascinating when people take a character who maybe doesn't stick around long in their source material and stretches it out to make a strong impression.
Tamatoa has a simple design goal: staying large and in charge when he succeeds in keeping foes where he can see them, and suffering if they manage to escape his notice and catch him from behind. A nice way of embodying what happens in his portion of the story, and conveying his single-minded focus on all things shiny. He has a few rotating attacks and ways to turn about in a pinch to give him some means of covering his back, and Back Aerial is of course an attack that hits behind him, but crossing him up still serves as a notable weakness as intended- quite nicely handled.
For as simple as the set is, it still has a few moves that leave a notable impression- Down Special is a stand out favorite of mine, and Up Aerial brings back good memories of older MYM sets (kind of crazy that 'Up Aerial is actually a grab hitbox that throws/drags opponents down' managed to be a trope for us but that's the place old MYM was). Though of course, it feels far more justified and sensible here in terms of characterization, mechanical execution, and playstyle.
I hate to leave off with such short comments, but this one is a pretty straightforward set- not much to complain about from a surface reading, and numerical nitpicks are out of my wheelhouse so I can only say everything seemed reasonable there. Nicely done!
Buzz Buzzard by BrazilianGuy
On the other end of the spectrum, Buzz Buzzard is a classic slapstick comedy cartoon character and makes dang well sure you know it with the hilarious and high energy animations and cartoon logic therein. FThrow and UThrow are two of my favorites there.
Buzz is an ambitious set for a Jamcon, Buzz is all about the main theme of the hour: moolah, dough, bread, filthy lucre, cash, bucks, loot, treasure, scratch- or if you want to be really obscure, money. This isn't the first time we've seen a money mechanic, a certain other con artist set in 25 did as well, but Buzz has more focused and more zany uses for it (which is impressive).
The assorted ways Buzz can accumulate those liquid assets all push the opponent into a lose/lose situation; he can set up a tax for certain sections of their set and receive funds for every use, put up a toll on the ledges of platforms, or just rough them up for some spare change. Notably, he does still need to actually engage the opponent to make bank- he can't just sit back and let his wallet get fat, as it's gained through both him and his opponents actively doing things rather than a passive gain.
And he does just fine in that regard, balanced how one would hope. Aside from Up Aerial, which is not exactly a one-size-fits-all input he can use everywhere, most of his set is either situational, or is on the weaker side until he lines his pockets and/or spends at his own store. There's enough options to make for interesting decisions mid-match without bogging players down with twenty different things to weigh; just three upgrades, one for better recovery, one for stronger attacks, and one for an all around buff that improves other attacks too, and the benefit of just having money on him for other moves. Since he retains half his stash when KOed but loses upgrades, he might also be inclined to set aside for his impromptu retirement and sudden return to the workforce thereafter instead of spending at the end of his current stock, with obvious trade-offs there, too.
If I HAD to nitpick I would've liked if Down Tilt maybe hit harder if he did land it, giving it a niche on stages without notable ledges- the current combination of slow, limited reach, and not that impressive pay-off without actually getting paid makes the input feel dead on some stages. But that's hardly a deal breaker.
Hording Bug by GolisoPower
Item-based sets are always a treat, and I do so love when that's paired with a Nana-like partner for maximum shenanigans. The nest serving to both safely store your attacks for later in the form of useful items and produce a partner if you build enough of a stash up is a fun little cornerstone for the set's playstyle, as well as the appearance of a dangerous but inconsistent hitbox with noisy items in particular that can make the otherwise extra-points-sized Hording Bug less easy to punt over the blast zone with rushdown tactics.
The vast collection of items never feels too overwhelming, having simple values and effects that can play off of each other in fun little ways, while happily conveying the sheer raw comedy that Lethal Comedy embodies underneath the horror venear. It nicely conveys the little nusiance that can become a big problem if not handled in the appropriate way, the Hording Bug being easily KOed if the opponent approaches them correctly, but proving to be an evasive little bugger in the right hands.
Helping this is the surprising level of stage control the Hording Bug can exert; Side Special's big bouncing projectile, the Beehive being a damage-racking area denial tool, the aforementioned Noisy items serving as a proverbial dinner bell for the Eyeless Dog who could show at any moment, and eventually a desync-able partner who can make additional use of those same items littering the set. It's a great little ball of controlled chaos, and I'm always a fan of that.
Nitpicks: "So you can try to poke somebody with this attack, and even if you dodge or hit their shield you can still create some distance by." In second paragraph of Side Smash; I assume it's "even if they dodge" and you meant to cut the "by" at the end. Second paragraph or FAir also refers to itself as FTilt near the end.
Dagded Dujardin by T TortoiseNotTurtle
Clearly the second set was the best.
Jokes aside, this set does a wonderful job of establishing who this nutball is and the threat they present, from a well-written bit of back and forth and a clear backstory, to creative and clever animations that demonstrate the immature and mocking nature of the villain.
The latter extends even to the character's mechanics, with several of his moves forgoing a direct assault and doing no damage or knockback (F/BThrow and UAir to name a couple) or giving it a slight randomness to the effect (UTilt and DSpec). Each has a reasonable function for its placement to never leave him truly without a crucial tool, mind, and use of these inputs often leads to a different, powerful attack in a manner that gives the impression of an overwhelmingly strong being toying with his victims- exactly in line with the set's mission statement.
The inputs themselves are simple and broken down in easy to comprehend manner, with flashy animations backed by perfectly functional mechanics. The set doesn't over-complicate things, but it still has some very fun inputs. Side Special jived with me in particular; I love the ways to make use of the floating blades, from combo extenders to spacial control to equippable weapon to making them act as projectiles once more, all with a control scheme that imposes limits on you while they're active to keep them from being too insane- you're denied your specials and your shield while they're active if you want to just leave them hanging in place to bounce foes off of, and being forced to shield or failing to give them up after some time will leave you with a nasty cooldown.
Even the use of the Special button to perform another Special triggering the projectile function has fun applications in combinations with said Specials- it was an unexpected treat and may well be may favorite individual input in a Jamcon with a LOT of fun ones. I'm sorely tempted to crib off of this for a remake I've been meaning to get to.
If I had to nitpick something- and I feel like I should try given how little advice I've actually had to give through these comments- maybe add a tiny bit of damage to FThrow/BThrow? I get their intended purpose and the nice little mind game they present, it's a cool idea, but I feel weird not having something off of the throw itself. Maybe he taps them on the shoulder (and zaps them with magical energy in the process) after teleporting behind them? I kind of love them the way they are, though.
Knull by n88
After Venom Strange from the last contest (...wait, no it was 25, not 26- man, it feels more recent), seeing a sizable set tackling the symbiotes once more in a Jamcon set of your making was pretty exciting, and Knull didn't disappoint. He presents that traditional Heavyweight Male Antagonist energy we at MYM all know and love, with a set of powerful blows hindered by start up and blindspots galore but more than capable of obliterating foes in a few good hits.
Separating him from all the rest are the void and his creations, the symbiotes; his Smashes are high risk and high reward, but even if they don't hit the opponent, they leave a massive spread of black goop across the landscape that empowers his entire set in various deadly way. His Specials boast multiple charge-able options that push beyond their normal, more functional and sane uses into Falcon Punch-style impractical but awesome finishers, made less impractical by the level of stage control he can exert (and subvert, when faced with MYM-style minions) and the terrifying range he boasts for some of his attacks.
While a few such buffs are extra spice and damage, the majority are added effects that pile on some interesting wrinkles to the affected inputs that nevertheless fall in line with the original moves' intended purposes in a way that prevents their use cases from getting too over-complicated. Softer interactions like Dash Attack specifically helping him zip back to a patch of Void are present as well, keeping everything functioning within reason. The more general number increases are still alluring and prevalent enough to make it worth interacting with, though I do wish he had an input or two more that would be buffed by it but not use it up so he'd have a little more leeway in spending it.
I think my favorite inputs are Down Special and Down Throw. In the former case, the hitbox locking on to symbiotes within a small range from where it normally appears is a fun hard interaction, making it dangerous to pick off the otherwise frail if dangerous mooks. As for Down Throw, he already had a source of minions, but setting them all (including a pair that appear at the edges of the platform he's on) to be hyper-aggressive for a period in exchange for the throw itself leaving him in a tight spot short-term is such a fun little detail- though like Dagded I'm simultaneously loving it as is and wondering if it needs a little damage or something.
This set hits a lot of my favorite notes; minions, stage effects, hard interactions, etc, but doesn't feel like it'd be hard to track in gameplay. If I had to nitpick, a few more moves that didn't consume void but benefited from it passively would be cool, allowing you to put off spending it for a moment to get a better pay out, but I could see that being an intentional choice for balance/flavor reasons.
My vote for this Jamcon goes to Knull by n88 ; Hoarding Bug and Buzz Buzzard are close honorable mentions, and everyone's sets had a strong appeal here, but I feel that nate pulled out the win here.
