Marisa Kirisame/RicePigeon's second version

Gameplay


Marisa is a five-button character using the buttons for her attacks. is reserved for Marisa's EX Specials, which deplete 500 Power on use. The function of differs depending on which "alignment" Marisa chooses at the beginning of the match; Type-A alignment allows  to act as a Guilty Gear-styled Burst, which deals no damage but allows Marisa to gain 1000 Power on hit; Type-B alignment turns  into either a launching Burst attack or an Alpha Counter if performed with, while the Type-C alignment turns  into a Roman Cancel, allowing Marisa to prematurely cancel the animation of most of her attacks.

Depending on the alignment that Marisa chooses at the beginning of the match, several alignment-specific mechanics become available to her that involve the use of her Spirit Meter; the method of filling up the Spirit Meter is dependent on which alignment Marisa chooses. When using Type-A, Marisa's Spirit Meter is filled slowly over time, as well as receiving damage. Marisa is able to perform a Bomb using, which consumes the entire Spirit Meter. Marisa can also access Spell Trance once she acquires 2000 Power, which allows her to use her Hypers for a fraction of their normal Power cost, but gradually drains her Power over time; if Marisa's Spirit Meter is full during this time, Marisa can also perform "Final Spark", but will consume her entire Spirit Meter and ends Spell Trance. If Type-B is selected, Marisa can perform a Just Defend by blocking an attack at a very frame specific moment; this will fill her Spirit Gauge by a small amount. Selecting Type-B will also change Marisa's grounded forward run into a dash; while this only travels a limited distance and cannot be extended or jumped out of, it grants Marisa with projectile invincibility during the forward movement, and allows her to gain a small amount of Spirit for each projectile "grazed" in this manner. While blocking, a Guard Cancel Counter can be performed at the cost of 25% of her Spirit Gauge. Marisa can also perform a Bomb with, but now has different properties; Bombs in this alignment will only use 50% of the Spirit Meter and will launch an opponent on hit; unlike the Type-A alignment, Bombs in Type-B can be cancelled into from any Normal attack. In this alignment, "Final Spark" can be performed with 1000 Power and at least 50% Spirit Meter, and will consume all available Spirit on use, but it's damage will be directly proportional to the amount consumed. Alternatively, Marisa can enter Spell Rage with at least 50% Spirit, which will increase all damage dealt by 20% for a limited time. If the Type-C alignment is chosen, the Spirit Meter increased whenever Marisa performs any type of forward movement or deals damage to the opponent. Marisa can prematurely cancel the animation of any non-throw attack and immediately return to an idle state at the cost of 50% of her Spirit Meter, allowing her to either extend combos or make normally unsafe moves unpunishable. With 1000 Power, Marisa can also activate Spell Overdrive, which grants her a time-limited buff that not only allows her to jump cancel many of her ground Normals, but also allows her to cancel her Normals into her  Normals, at the expense of some damage. Marisa can also perform any of her Hypers besides "Final Spark" free of Power cost, but immediately causes the mode to end on use.

Marisa has the attributes of a somewhat typical shotoclone on the surface, as the roles of the Hadouken, Shoryuken and Tatsumaki Specials are respectively served by Witching Blaster, Miasma Sweep and Witch Leyline, while possessing a fourth Special in the form of Narrow Spark, which is a beam attack that aids Marisa in her ranged game by being proficient at destroying enemy projectiles. Marisa is capable of performing EX versions of these Specials by substituting the inputs of these commands with, at the cost of 500 Power; the most notable benefits to EX Specials being an additional hit to the EX Witching Blaster projectile, projectile invulnerability during the startup and active frames of EX Witch Leyline, startup invulnerability being extended to last until the end of the active frames in EX Miasma Sweep, and EX Narrow Spark effectively being the  variant of the move with less startup and endlag. In a similar fashion, Marisa can also substitute the inputs of Love Sign "Master Spark" and Love Sign "Angled Master Spark" with  to perform Bewitched Weapon "Dark Spark" and Bewitched Weapon "Angled Dark Spark", both of which cost 2000 Power and provide other benefits over their Level 1 counterparts, such as less startup, more damage, and less endlag. Because of these benefits, Marisa can tend to be very reliant on Power, making the Type-A alignment most suitable for her, as the ability to gain Power using Bomb or using reduced-cost EX Specials and Hypers far outweigh the benefits of the other two alignments.

While Marisa does appear to have A.I.-related coding in the character's files, it is not used and instead uses M.U.G.E.N's default A.I., indicating that this may be subject to change in the future.

Character Specific
"If these fragments have the power of the outside world, then you gotta be involved somehow"

- vs. Yukari Yakumo

Trivia

 * The majority of system mechanics available in the Type-A, Type-B, and Type-C alignments are borrowed from various other fighting games;
 * Type-A's Bomb mechanic and Spirit gauge heavily resemble the Gold Burst from the Guilty Gear series, while Spell Trance heavily resembles Shadow Frenzy from Persona 4: Arena.
 * Type-B's Spirit gauge and Last Word mechanics are heavily inspired by Street Fighter 4 's Revenge Gauge. The ability to Just Defend and Guard Cancel are both taken from Garou: Mark of the Wolves and Street Fighter Alpha, respectively. Type-B's Bomb mechanic behaves similar to One More! Burst from Persona 4: Arena, while Spell Rage resembles a similar powerup found in the N-Groove of Capcom Vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001. The behavior of Type-B's grounded forward dash is inspired by the Graze mechanic found in the Touhou Project fighting game spinoffs, starting with Immaterial and Missing Power.
 * Type-C's Spirit Gauge and Dash Cancel both behave very similar to Guilty Gear ' s Tension Gauge and Roman Cancel mechanics, respectively, with the latter also taking inspiration from Street Fighter 4 ' s Focus Attack Dash Cancel mechanic. Spell Overdrive borrows aspects from both Street Fighter Alpha 2 ' s Custom Combo system and The King of Fighters 2002 Ultimate Match ' s MAX Mode mechanic.
 * The three alignments were originally going to be called "Shinto", "Buddhist", and "Taoist" to keep with the Touhou Project ' s theme of eastern religions, but were later named Type-A, Type-B, and Type-C, respectively, due to a lack of a proper Taoist representative.