Greg A. Mesh

Gilgamesh
Frenzied Swordsman

Gilgamesh is a major antagonist in Final Fantasy V, serving as the lead minion under main villain Exdeath. He appears several times throughout the story, with his most famous being the encounter on the big bridge, with the fight where he reveals his true, eight-armed form being a close second, and the fight alongside his partner Enkidu being a distant third. Gilgamesh is portrayed as being both frighteningly powerful, with the party notably never actually defeating him, and goofily incompetent, both of which are shown in the aforementioned second encounter, where Gilgamesh attempts to use what he thinks is the powerful Excalibur blade to defeat the party. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the ExcaliPOOR, a weak copy. This results in Exdeath banishing Gilgamesh to The Void. He later appears as an ally in a boss fight in The Void, sacrificing himself to take the boss down.

And this is where things get a bit... odd.

The Void is a swirling mass of unreality, where the laws of the universe mean nothing. Naturally, this includes space and time, with the implication in future games that The Void is the only true thing connecting some of the Final Fantasy games. As such, with Gilgamesh being trapped in The Void for eternity, he has subsequently appeared in nearly every Final Fantasy game since V, all as explicitly the same character, unlike other recurring characters like Cid. His most notable absences are VII and X (though given something that happens in XIV, his presence in X is debatable). He also doesn't technically appear in XI, but there is a dude named Gilgamesh, though he's like the only version of the character that Square-Enix has decided isn't the same character. Also he's kinda in IX but like, not really... listen, this whole thing is a bit confusing, alright?

Gilgamesh has even retroactively appeared in games before V, via re-releases, usually as a bonus boss thrown in somewhere. The tradition continues on to this day even, with his most recent appearance being in the Episode Gladiolus DLC for XV, where, despite being almost nothing like how Gilg is presented in previous games, is still implied to be the same Gilgamesh. He also appears extensively in XIV, as a recurring boss throughout a series of goofy sidequests. Across games, Gilgamesh has become something of a weapons collector (though he usually ends up with Excalipoor), appearing with weapons representing different parts of the franchise. He's also an avid fighter, seeking out the strongest warriors in each world he visits.

Gilgamesh has had multiple influences over the games as well, from the historical Gilgamesh, to the legendary Benkei, to kabuki theater. The music that plays during his second encounter, Battle on the Big Bridge, is one of the most iconic songs in the Final Fantasy series and has been remixed tons of times. Gilgamesh has played many roles throughout his years, from a villain, to an anti-hero, to an ally, and has even been playable on a few occasions. Truly there has never been a Final Fantasy character with as strange a history as good ol' Greg.

For Smash Bros., Gilgamesh takes his appearance from Dissidia 012, but takes aspects from nearly all of his appearances, barring Pirate Gilgamesh from XI. Maybe he has an alternate costume referencing him.


Stats
Weight - 116
Walk Speed - 0.9
Run Speed - 1.5
Air Speed - 0.94
Fall Speed - 1.7

Gilgamesh has fairly standard super-heavyweight stats, erring close to both K. Rool and Simon/Richter. There isn't much to note there, as I imagine most of the people reading this know what K. Rool feels like to play. His jumps are average, both of them, so he overall isn't the most interesting to talk about in this case.

His idle has him taking on his iconic pose from his sprite in FFV, which was recreated with his Dissidia design in the header image, so you can probably picture it fairly easy. He's slightly shorter than Ganondorf, but around as wide as Bowser, so again, very standard heavyweight look. The most notable thing about his stance is the weapon that he's holding at the time (we'll get to that in a moment) which isn't a part of his hurtbox. The weapon he holds tends to go past his hurtbox, so this is why I'm noting this.


Gimmick - My Collection

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/3/37/Dissidia_012_Gilgamesh_Weapons.png

Gilgamesh is a weapons collector, mostly collecting swords (though he has been know to use guns some times), and in multiple games his collection of swords is represented through complete random chance, and is represented in Smash in the exact same way. Whenever Gilgamesh uses a weapon based attack, he will pull out one of ten different weapons to use during it. Each weapon is completely unique, having its own hitbox shape and unique effect that will greatly change the effectiveness of the attacks. While every attack has a base attack value, most of Gilgamesh's weapon have modifiers to that damage. Pictured above are 8 of the 10 weapons he can use, which I will now list, from left to right.

Excalibur - The strongest blade, which deals x2 the move's base damage and knockback. Has a 5% chance of being used.
Excalipoor - A bad replica of the strongest blade, deals half of the attack's base damage, but doesn't affect knockback. Has a 5% chance of being used.
Naginata - Gilgamesh's go-to weapon. Has greater reach than all other weapons, but has no modifiers. Has a 15% chance of being used.
Masamune - A legendary katana. Has increased reach, but is shorter than the Naginata. Deals 125% the amount of knockback, but only 75% of the base damage. Has a 10% chance of being used.
Genji Blade - A sword that was most likely stolen. Deals 125% the amount of shield damage, but only deals 75% of the base damage. Has a 10% chance of being used.
Zantetsuken - The sword of the legendary Odin himself. Has a 1/10 chance of breaking a shield instantly. No bonus modifiers. Has a 10% chance of being used.
Battle Axe - A standard battle axe. Has the shortest range of all the weapons, and deals anywhere between 25% to 175% of the base damage, at random. Has a 15% chance of being used.
Chicken Knife - A sword reminiscent of a certain bird. Damage gets higher as Gilgamesh is damaged, starting at normal damage at 0% and going to 500% when Gilg is at 999%. Has a 10% chance of being used.

And in addition to those eight weapons, all of which are used for the same gimmick in Dissidia 012, Gilgamesh comes armed with two more weapons not featured in the game. The first is the Bashosen, a weapon created by Gilgamesh himself in the shape of his ally Enkidu. Its hitbox is shorter than all the weapons except the Battle Axe, which is slightly shorter than the Bashosen. The Bashosen deals 125% base damage, and creates weak windboxes on start-up and ending lag, which have a suction effect and a push back effect respectfully. Has a 10% chance of being used.

His final weapon is the... the Master Sword!? Yes, the blade of evil's bane itself, wielded by Goofgamesh. The Master Sword has a similar gimmick to Link's own version, where it will fire out laser beams while he's at 0%, except that Gilg's Master Sword will just do that automatically at any health percent. The beams are otherwise identical, dealing a weak 5%, but Gilgamesh can use them on any move, not just FSmash. Has a 10% chance of being used. And before you ask, Link will indeed still have his Master Sword if him and Greg are in the same fight. Why? Well, look closely at Gilgamesh's blade and you might find something interesting in place of the Triforce...

As a special note for those last two, the effects are based on the direction of the move, so if Gilgamesh pulls the Master Sword out for an upwards attack, the beam will fire upwards. In the case of most moves I'm trusting you to remember this, but there are a few attacks that will require special notice. Also of note is that the weapon hitboxes that I didn't note anything about are not technically the same, but they're similar enough to not warrant special mention, because then I'd be getting into stupid minutia that would clog the set up even more. Finally, I'll be including a damage modifier table for each attack. I'll only be listing base damage in the attack itself, so consult the table for more info. Oh yeah, and some moves will have Gilgamesh pulling out TWO of the same weapon, but the modifiers won't be affected.

Anyway, Gilgamesh loves his swords, and loves to fight, so you can fully expect him to keep all his arms on these swords at all times.


Specials
Neutral Special - Sword Throw
 oh no