Heracross/Gladiacloud & Solarflared's version

With sprites by Gladiacloud and coding by Dylanius9000, Heracross may be a bit of a lug on the ground, but the air is where its true speed starts to show; unfortunately, the majority of its moveset is entirely ground-based, so rather than going in all guns blazing, Heracross will need to take a more defensive stance and punish the opponent for their mistakes...or simply toss them about, whichever works best.

Gameplay


Heracross is a five-button character that plays primarily like a four-button character, using, and  for regular attacks,  as a Launcher, OTG or Meteor Smash depending on whether Heracross is standing, crouching or in the air, respectively, and  solely as a shortcut for , which is used to activate the character's regular grab. Heracross has a fairly large array of combos and can deal respectable amounts of damage to the opponent, but its slow attacks and low attack priority give it a difficult time actually making contact, with its quickest attack (aerial ) only becoming active on frame 7; fortunately, Heracross is equipped with a few defensive moves to counteract this, namely a set of Counters, a counter Hyper and the ability to Guard Cancel.

Heracross features a Marvel vs. Capcom-esque combo system that allow Heracross to start a combo on the ground and then launch them into the air for an air combo, though its shortage of aerial attacks prevent the character from pulling off any distinctive combo finishers, with its only aerial Special being a nosedive; it is possible for Heracross to cancel its landing frames into Fury Attack, though it requires a fair bit of timing as Heracross has to land before the opponent does, else the Hyper will miss. Heracross also features the Super Smash Bros. series' shielding mechanic, though it doesn't replace the character's standard guard, instead being an alternate form of guarding that negates all guard damage, but cannot be Guard Cancelled and will burst if held for too long, sending Heracross into a temporary vulnerable state where it is completely open to attack. Heracross has access to a Forwards Hop and Backwards Hop with distances that can be extended by holding the respective directional button down, all while gaining additional height to allow for cancelling into an air combo; the same applies to its Air Dashes, though only horizontal distance is affected.

Owing to the character's sluggish movement speed and attacks, as well as its low attack priority, Heracross revolves around a more defensive playstyle that focuses more on punishing the opponent's mistakes and making use of the character's Guard Cancel throw than attempting to pressure the opponent, though performing a Forwards Hop to appear as though Heracross is advancing and then using a backwards Air Dash to pull back is a technique that can be used to bait out an opponent's attack, with sets up for an optimal punish. Heracross naturally sees significant difficulty when faced with opponents that are proficient at using projectiles, or are designed with a keepaway or zoning style of gameplay due to the fact that Heracross is primarily short-ranged and features no projectiles of its own, being completely reliant on getting close to its opponents and thus having no real way to counteract such characters; if Heracross has 1000 Power to spare, however, it can use Iron Defense to gain temporary Super Armour that allows it to approach the opponent without suffering hitstun, though it still takes damage and can thus be K.O.'d in this state.

Heracross does not feature any custom A.I., instead defaulting to the standard M.U.G.E.N A.I. Its slow attacks make it easily punishable and not much of a challenge.

General
"Your skills are impressive! I look forward to our rematch."

"I don't fight for good nor for evil. I fight for a good challenge."

"Don't be afraid of pushing your body to the limit."

"You must defeat my Horn Attack to stand a chance."

Character-specific
"...So you're the champion in your world, Red? At least your partner has enough strength to back it up!"

- vs. Gladiacloud's Charziard

"Your flames were not hot enough for me!"

- vs. Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Flareon, Cyndaquil, Entei, Torchic, Blaziken, Tepig and Chandelure

"NO! No tree sap for you!"

- vs. Heracross

"The struggle against one's inner demons is not an easy task."

- vs. Gladiacloud's Heracross

"My horn can go through anything, including your Energy Balls!"

- vs. Dragonrod's and Joey Faust's Grovyle

"I see someone else is also looking for a strong opponent. We shall search together."

- vs. Ryu