like a moveset, except the exact opposite

Dr. Neo Cortex

Dr. Cortex is the REAL main villain of the Crash Bandicoot franchise, no matter what some certain individuals will tell you. Born a genius, Cortex was made fun of for his short height, even when he was fully grown. Deciding to take revenge on the world that made fun of him, Cortex, and his assistant N/ Brio, made the Evolv-O-Ray, which they used to create an army of evolved mammalian henchmen. This also resulted in Crash’s own creation, and the downfall of every single one of Cortex’s schemes.

The bad doctor continued to show up throughout the years, mostly always as the main villain (Unless you’re playing Twinsanity). His ultimate fate, since there hasn’t been a (real) since, was being trapped inside Crash’s own brain. Cortex mostly rides around on his hoverboard, and uses a ray gun as his main weapon. This is a remarkably consistent thing throughout the series, with most of his boss fights involving them

Statistics
Weight – 80
Dash Speed – 1.2
Walk Speed – 0.85
Air Speed – 1.1
Fall Speed – 1.7

Cortex is horrendously wimpy. His ground speed, in either form, is some of the weakest in the game, and he’s very light as well. The only good speed comes from his air stats, and even then, they aren’t particularly notable. This is all because of his ridiculous head, which is the largest part of his character model, bar none. Cortex stands around the size of Toon Link, if a bit taller, but is always hunched over. His head makes him nearly as wide as Toon link as well, but his actual body is considerably smaller than Tink’s. His jumps are mediocre-to-bad as well.

Specials
Side Special – Hoverboard
With a press of the button, Cortex quickly summons up his goofy hoverboard, and hops on it. Summoning the hoverboard is rather slow, as Cortex will have to pull the hoverboard out, and then hop onto it. This takes around the same amount of time as Zelda’s transformation ability, meaning Cortex can easily be knocked out of it. Once Cortex actually hops on the hoverboard however, he can start riding it around. This boosts his speed considerably, knocking it up to a 2. Cortex can move around in all directions like this as well, though the speed slightly decreases (To around 1.8) while moving in any direction that isn’t left and right. This makes the hoverboard a great mobility action, and solves two of Cortex’s major flaws.

This will end up being the hoverboard’s main use for most of the set, but there are a few limitations. For one, most of Cortex’s set is locked out during this time. He still has access to some attacks, which will be noted when we get to them, but he other than those select attacks, he cannot use anything else in his set. The second limitation is that the good doctor cannot summon the hoverboard while in the air, though he will still summon it, but in a different way. We’ll get to that in moment. The final limitation is the time limit. Cortex can only ride around on the hoverboard for around 9 seconds before it explodes. Again, get to that in a moment.

While normally moving around, the hoverboard doesn’t act as a hitbox, and is instead an extension of Cortex’s hurtbox. If an attack that deals 13% or higher hits him, he will be knocked off of the board. However, Cortex isn’t an idiot (At least, not much of one) and knows when to get off his hoverboard. This can be activated at any time while riding it to cause Cortex to hop off. The hoverboard will then go flying forwards, spinning and blinking red. This turns it into a projectile, but a bit of an odd one. While it will explode if it hits an opponent or an obstacle, but if it doesn’t it will continue flying for however many seconds Cortex had left before he leaped off of it.

The explosion is the same whether the time limit runs out, or if it hits an opponent. Roughly 2/3rds the size of a Bob-Omb explosion, and dealing a hefty 15% damage. It has heavy knockback as well, being able to KO middleweight characters at around 140%... and lightweight characters even earlier than that. You can kind of see where this is going. Yeah, the explosion can also damage cortex, even if he jumped off the hoverboard. This is the reason you don’t want to stay on the board too long, but it can still be used effectively as a weapon if your timing is right. It’s just a very… difficult, timing.

When trying to summon the hoverboard mid-air, it will instead instantly enter its projectile form rather than have Cortex hop on it, because he can’t use thin-air to boost himself (Unless it’s a second jump!). Its much faster to come out than the hoverboard usually takes, due to Cortex only having to perform the starting animation. If Cortex is knocked off the board, by the way, he will only be able to use one of his jumps, plus Up Special, in order to recover… and Up Special isn’t particularly good, as you’ll soon see. Basically, despite how it might seem at first, using the hoverboard off-stage is rarely a good idea.

Up Special – Jetpack
Speaking of the Up Special, here it is. Cortex summons his jetpack from his terrible Crash 2 “fight”, which then quickly boosts him upwards. This is a very, very mediocre recovery move all considered, though it is fairly fast, all things considered. It has a tiny bit of start-up lag, during which you can input any of the three upwards directions. This will cause Cortex to fly in that direction, travelling a distance of 1 and a half Ganondorfs. This, by itself, is rather weak, but once the jetpack hits its limit, it will explode and launch Cortex upwards for the rest of the distance.

The jetpack isn’t particularly fast, actual movement-wise, moving at around the speed of R.O.B.’s Up Special, except without being able to move it around. That means that timing is a very, very crucial element to make the most out of this attack. The explosion will put Cortex into helpless as well, so you’ll have to be careful of that too. The jetpack can also be used while riding the hoverboard, albeit with slightly more start-up lag. This acts similarly to how normally getting off the hoverboard acts, putting it into its projectile mode.

The jetpack is also an attack as well, not just a recovery. This is because of Cortex’s freakishly large head and thick skull, the momentum of the jetpack turning it into a bashing weapon. As mentioned above, while the jetpack isn’t remarkably fast, the hitbox remains active during that entire time, aside from when Cortex gets launched off by the explosion. His head will deal a rather safe 8% damage, while also knocking the opponent upwards, KOing at 200%, making it rather weak. This isn’t particularly useful in the grand scheme of things, but it can be useful for getting airborne opponents away while recovering.

The explosion also acts as a hitbox, though its much harder to hit with. The explosion is only roughly as large as Cortex himself, maybe slightly larger, but deals 10% damage and knockback that can KO at 180%. This is another decent way of getting opponents away, especially considering Cortex’s helpless state once this happens. This is still not particularly worth trying to actually hit with, however.

These lackluster hitboxes make the jetpack almost solely a recovery move, and even then it isn’t a particularly good one. Its mediocre, and can only really be used in tandem with jumps. Playing offstage with Cortex is a bad idea, basically, try to stick to the ground instead. Still, it can come in handy during a few situations, though they do manage to be rarer than most recovery moves.

Down Special – Techno-Shield
Cortex presses at something on his gun a few times, before a large, blue forcefield appears around him. This move takes a while to actually complete, though not as long as summoning the hoverboard, but only by a few frames less. Onto the shield itself, which follows Cortex around as he moves across the stage. Its around the size of a normal shield, but slightly larger. The shield is completely circular, clipping into the ground beneath Cortex when he’s grounded, but revealing itself in full while in the air.

When the forcefield is summoned, it briefly acts as a hitbox, dealing 2% damage and weak knockback to anyone in its range. The attack is too slow to make real use of, but the push can help get opponents off your tail in the right circumstances.

Once the forcefield is summoned, it doesn’t do much. It isn’t a hitbox while moving around, but if an opponent bumps into it while walking or running, they will be pushed back slightly, going into a stumbling animation. It otherwise doesn’t do much else on its own. However, if an opponent hits the shield with an attack that deals knockback, the shield will break. When this happens, Cortex will not take any damage, and in fact won’t be halted from any action he’s currently performing.

That’s right, the shield lets Cortex basically take a free hit from any attack… unless the attack is continuous, and has a hitbox that can reach his model. Attacks that are singular hits will only hit the shield, however. Anyway, this is one of the best parts of Cortex’s set, despite it being rather simple. Cortex will need all he can get in order to survive a match, and the shield helps him get past any tough attacks so he can quickly move to more important set-ups.

The shield has a cooldown period, however, meaning that you can’t just use it however many times you want. Once one shield has been broken, you won’t be able to bring out the next one for 15 seconds, a rather long time. During this time, if you attempt to use it, Cortex will still go into the animation, pressing at his gun, but it will instead end with him groaning loudly. Don’t use it while its recharging unless you want to taunt an opponent.

The shield is one of the attacks that can be used while riding the hoverboard, and due to the board moving on its own, Cortex can multitask and move while activating it. The bump effect doesn’t work, however, so you can’t do any fudging with it. This mix of defense and mobility is a dangerous force to be reckoned with, for sure… but if the hoverboard explodes, not only will the shield be destroyed, but Cortex will be damaged as well. So watch for that. Overall, this combo is one of the most useful for Cortex’s general gameplan. The shield can also be active (Not be activated) while using the jetpack, though the explosion there will not destroy the shield.

Neutral Special – A Little Lab Assistance
Cortex places his hand to his chin for a few frames, before going “Aha!”. He then points his gun towards the ground, and fires a shot, which causes a Lab Assistant to sort of grow in front of him, similar to the death animations from Piston It Away in Crash 2, but in reverse. This start-up animation is around above average speed, all considering. Cortex is free to move around as soon as the blast hits the ground, however. The Lab Assistants are also invincible until they reach their full size. The reason for the start-up is simple, inputting a direction on the control stick will cause Cortex to summon a different kind of Lab Assistant.

Just to note, Lab Assistants are the woefully forgotten robotic minions of Cortex. They kind of stopped showing up in games past Wrath of Cortex, for some reason, until they showed back up in N. Sane Trilogy. They look like tall, lanky stereotypical human scientists, wearing glasses and white lab coats, and are considerably taller than Cortex himself. In fact, they’re around roughly twice the size of Cortex, and nearly as tall as Ganondorf. They are a lot thinner than the Dark God, however, and all of them share the same amount of stamina, 20%.

The basic Lab Assistant type is the Potion Thrower. Every Lab Assistant has completely different AI, but they are all remarkably simple, and exist mostly to fulfill some very simple tasks. The Potion Thrower, as its name implies, throws a potion full of green or pink liquid forward. This is a very, VERY simple technique, as he lobs it specifically at an opponent in an arc, similar to that of a Yoshi Egg throw. Its overall trajectory is the same as a Yoshi egg, though the potion is significantly smaller than the eggs as well. The Potion Thrower will throw a potion every half second after the previous potion hits something, always aiming it at the nearest opponent, minion, or construct. They are relatively slow for projectiles, however, making it very unlikely to hit with anything anytime soon. When a potion hits the ground, it will create a puddle of pink or green liquid. As a projectile, the potion is pretty basic, dealing 7% damage with fairly weak knockback.

This attack can be fairly hard to hit with, due to the throw’s poor speed and odd angle. Like with Yoshi, the Potion Thrower cannot throw the potion downwards when aiming it at an opponent directly next to or below them, as the potion will enter a default throw where its flung forwards 1.5 Battlefield Platforms forwards, making it hard to hit smaller opponents with. The ooze is the most important part, however. If the potion manages to hit an opponent, it will cover them in it for around 1.5 seconds, and reduce their movement speed by 1/3rd. The ooze created by the potion when it hits the ground is similar, reducing speed by 1/3rd for however long the opponent stands on it, but dealing no damage. There can only be one of these puddles on stage at a time, however, and they last around 3 seconds, or until a new puddle is created. The color of the puddle is completely aesthetic. The Potion Thrower cannot move from the spot it was summoned in.

The second Lab Assistant is created by pressing down during the move, which will cause Cortex to summon a Lab Assistant carrying a big shield. This is a Blocker, and they are even simpler than the Potion Thrower. Like with the Potion Thrower, the Blocker cannot move from where it was summoned, at least not on its own, due to the massive shield. This shield is pretty incredible, even better than Cortex’s own. It’s around a head taller than Ganondorf, and cannot be destroyed at all, its completely invincible to any attacks that hit it.

Its also a solid object, and functions as a wall, letting certain characters wall jump off of it. The only way to get past it is to use attacks that can pierce through solid objects. A Blocker only has a single “attack” which is only activated when an opponent gets close. It will thrust the shield forward quickly, causing the opponent to stumble back with no damage taken. If an opponent hits the shield, then the Lab Assistant will be pushed back instead, though with slightly less distance. They can easily be pushed off cliffs if too close to an edge. Projectiles will not affect it, however. Though, opponents that are flung into it will push it back. Also, to prevent ledge guarding, opponents that roll up from ledges can phase through the shield.

Despite how powerful this minion might seem; its lack of actual fighting abilities makes it entirely good for being a shield. Another major problem is that the Blocker cannot adjust the angle of its shield, it will always be pointing in-front of where it was summoned. This means that opponents can simply leap over it in order to get past, and quickly take out the vulnerable Assistant behind it. Cortex doesn’t have any way to circumvent this, aside from placing the Blocker in a tunnel, as the shield will clip through ceilings. Though, there aren’t many tunnels in Smash 4. The shield is solid on both sides, however, and can be used for bouncing opponents off it, or saving Cortex’s big head when he gets hit really hard.

Third is the Lab Assistant created by inputting up, the Jetpack Assistant. Jetpack Assistants, obviously, wear jetpacks, and will launch up into the air the moment they are summoned, up around as high as the jetpack will take Cortex, but without launching them off. That’s right, Unlike the previous two minions, this guy can actually move around! Very slowly, though, which is unfortunate. Once a Jetpack Assistant reaches its maximum height from the initial launch, it will start moving towards a random opponent at around the speed of Robin’s walk.

They don’t do much beyond this, actually, and will continue chasing the opponent around until they end up killed, or catch up with them. Once a Jetpack Assistant reaches an opponent, its jetpack will blow up, launching the Assistant off and functionally killing it. The explosion is bigger than the one that Cortex’s jetpack creates, this one being roughly the size of the Lab Assistant’s model, making it a hell of a lot larger. It deals 15% damage, with decent knockback that can KO at 170%. This makes it, so far, Cortex’s best killing move. Unfortunately.

There isn’t much else to the Jetpack Assistant besides that. If it gets KOed instead of managing to reach the opponent, the jetpack will instead start spinning around, before rocketing up and off the screen, taking the Assistant with it. This is just a very elaborate death animation, and can’t do much else. Aside from that, this is called a Jetpack Assistant, and it can indeed assist Cortex with his jetpack. If Cortex uses his Up Special directly into the Jetpack Assistant, he will knock the Assistant away, and steal his jetpack. This will instantly cause Cortex to boost upwards at the same distance as normal, and from there the rest of the move acts the same. This is less practical than it sounds, mostly because Jetpack Assistants won’t be going off stage that often.

For the final Lab Assistant, you’ll need to press either forwards or backwards in order to activate it. This summons up an Electro-Grappler Lab Assistant, which are Lab Assistants wearing large, electrified, mechanical gloves. This is another minion that can move around as well, and gets right to it as soon as he enters the fray, rushing forwards at a decent pace. The Electro-Grappler is the only really aggressive minion in Cortex’s arsenal, as it will charge directly at an opponent in order to attack them. The Electro-Grappler actually has two different attacks, which is the most attacks of any Lab Assistant, if you haven’t guessed that.

The first attack is a series of electrically charged swipes, where the Electro-Grappler will swing his gloves forwards 3 times in a row. He only activates this attack when a short distance away from the opponent. This attack has a pretty pitiful range, and is very slow, but is otherwise pretty decent. While its very easy for the Electro-Grappler to miss with the first swipe, if it DOES hit, it will almost automatically chain it into the other two hits due to the attack’s decent hitstun. Each hit deals 3% damage, with the third hit dealing knockback that can KO at 220%, making it rather weak.

The Electro-Grappler’s second attack has him actually grabbing the opponent, as his name suggests. This only activates when the minion is right next to an opponent. The Electro-Grappler will lift the opponent up, and then send a bolt of electricity through them while shaking them. He then tosses them forwards a fair distance. This deals 10% damage, and has below average throw knockback, but that still doesn’t make it terrible. The main problem with this is that the attack has considerable start-up, and can be fairly easy to dodge if you see it coming. The Electro-Grappler will always throw the opponent in the opposite direction of Cortex.

Each Lab Assistant has a very specific purpose, as mentioned above. With the Potion Thrower, its main use is to have a projectile and to slow down opponents during set-up periods. The Blocker is a heavily defense based minion, designed entirely around protecting Cortex from projectiles, and just protecting in general. Jetpack Assistants are meant to pressure opponents, and keep them running around the stage. The Electro-Grappler is a heavily offensive based minion who is designed to directly keep opponents away from Cortex. Used correctly, the Lab Assistants can be a major, major threat.

However, Cortex can only have two on stage at a time, and it has to be two different Lab Assistants. This allows for some fun plays, especially with the Electro-Grappler. In fact, there are even a few fun interactions between some of them.

If a Potion thrower’s potion manages to hit the shield of a Blocker, then the shield will become covered in the goo. If the shield hits an opponent while it has the ooze on it, then they will be covered with the ooze instead. If a potion hits an Electro-Grappler, then it will grab the potion instead, and then flung it at the previously locked on opponent, giving it extra range. Potions can also hit Jetpack Assistants, but won’t do much besides just damaging them.

If a Jetpack Assistant is on stage, and an Electro-Grappler manages to grab onto the opponent that it was chasing after, it will instead throw it at the Jetpack Assistant instead of away from Cortex. If the opponent manages to hit the Jetpack Assistant, then this will almost always automatically cause the explosion to trigger. If an Electro-Grappler is placed behind a Blocker, and an opponent is in front of the Blocker, the Electro-Grappler will grab onto the Blocker and start to push it forwards at a slow pace. This will only go for as long as an opponent is standing in front of a Blocker, however, and will stop completely if a Blocker reaches a ledge.

So, be a scientist and experiment with your minions. Figuring out the right combinations for the moment is integral to Cortex’s overall gameplan.

Smashes
Forward Smash – Mine All Mine
Cortex takes a small step back, as he reaches for something from his pocket. He quickly throws it forwards, revealing his item to be a large mine! Flying forwards slightly, 1/3rd of a Battlefield Platform, the mine lands on the ground, and then arms itself, the light on top blinking on and off. The mines are very large, roughly around the whole width of Cortex’s own model, but only a third as tall. How he carries so many is a mystery. Anyway, the animation is rather quick, but there’s a tiny amount of endlag at the end of the move, making it so that Cortex can only move around once one of the mines has hit the ground.

That’s right, one. Depending on the charge, Cortex can fling 1 to 3 mines out at once. One at the least amount of charge, making it the fastest, and three at full charge, with two falling between the two ends of the spectrum. The mines are all thrown at once, with each of them going a slightly different distance, specifically a bit farther than the original mine’s distance. There’s a tiny gap between each mine, roughly equivalent to a Home-Run Bat in width. As mentioned above, the endlag only applies to the first one hitting the ground, but the frame difference between the other two mines hitting the ground is negligible.

How mines are thrown is another interesting bit. If mines are thrown at a wall, they will instead stick to that, which can apply to the Blocker minion. This is the only time the gap between the mines can be broken, as they will tend to all fit onto one wall if there is enough room, basically squeezing together and clipping. Distance is an important factor, as the positioning for a wall changes based on it. When used at certain distances, only one or two mines could end up sticking to the wall. On smaller walls, one mine will tend to stick on, while either one or both of the other mines go onto the platform above it. Mines will fall down infinitely, but lose their hitbox once they begin to do so, removing any ledge-guarding techniques.

As they’re flung forwards, the mines count as a hitbox. Due to their large size, they can be fairly easy to hit with, especially when fully charged. However, due to being projectiles, they will always deal 13% damage, no matter the charge. The mines do deal rather heavy backwards knockback, able to KO at around 200%, but it isn’t especially useful as a KO attack. Due to this knockback, the opponent cannot be hit by a second mine, keeping it at that fairly low damage.

And now, the fun part. The mines, if you can’t tell, are explosive. They will explode when a character touches the model in any way, whether it be walking or attacking. Low flying projectiles will also trigger the mines. When this happens, the explosion will be slightly wider than the mine’s model, stretching out enough to reach the other mines and make them explode. The explosions are fairly short at around 2/3rds Cortex’s own height. The hitbox isn’t especially important, since opponents will most likely be touching them when they go off, due to there being very minimal lag. They will deal 10% damage, with upwards knockback that can KO at 180%.

This touch effect applies to minions as well, since it basically requires anything to touch them. Cortex can use this to his advantage, summoning up the Electro-Grappler to charge in and explode them instantly and potentially counter an opponent, as it will usually end up rushing after an opponent on the other side. Of course, this means sacrificing a minion. Other minions can trigger them as well, though only the Lab Assistant part of the Blocker can be hurt by them. A Potion Thrower’s potion can also destroy them, as well as a Jetpack Assistant’s touch.

But if Cortex doesn’t want to risk his minions to cause the chain reaction, he can always do it himself! Why would you want to do that, though? Cortex is made out of plasticine, he can be killed by them with little effort! Well, except when you use his shield! When a shield is equipped, Cortex won’t take any damage, but instead be flung up into the air, though this will destroy the shield. This can function as a decent getaway in some places, but requires set-up that might not end up being worth it.

Cortex can even throw the mines while riding his hoverboard! This behaves similarly to normal, but instead of throwing the mines, Cortex will instead drop them downwards. This cancels out their initial throw hitbox automatically, but can be a bit more precise, aiming wise. Finally, Cortex can only have one set of mines out at a time, which means he can only have three out if he fully charges the move. Throwing out one, even if there’s only one on stage, will cause the previous mine to peter out of existence.

Down Smash – N. Tropy Staff
During the charging animation, Cortex will fiddle with his gun, quickly turning it into a staff or pole of some kind. He then slams it into the ground, sending a shockwave across the ground. This first part, while technically part of the charge animation, will still continue even when the move is flicked. Its remarkably short, though, so it doesn’t really give it any real start-up lag. The shockwave is the main form of hitbox here, and reaches out fairly decently, around half a Battlefield Platform on either side of Cortex. It only travels across the ground, however, and is hideously ineffective against any character that’s in the air, but it is rather fast. It will deal 10-18% damage, with upwards knockback that can KO at 180%.

Once Cortex slams the staff down, it will then plant itself in the ground, and extend upwards a bit, becoming a prop that’s around a Ganondorf head taller than Cortex, and is as thin as a Beam Saber. The staff, an N. Tropy Staff, despite having nothing to do with N. Tropy (Cortex was always good at stealing ideas). It can take a total of 15% damage before it gets destroyed, but other than that, there isn’t much notable statistic-wise.

However, the staff’s actual effect is definitely interesting. It creates an electrical field from its tip, forming a half circle. This takes up around 2 Battlefield Platforms, and reaches as high as the pole does. There is a small gap between the slam and the extending, allowing opponents who are hit by it to fly off without getting trapped in the field. When opponents walk into the field, they will be slowed down by 0.5x their normal speed. See, that’s why its called an N. Tropy Staff. This is a remarkably basic effect, all considering, and is there mostly to help with Cortex’s own, bigger set-ups. The downside of this is that the field will vanish after around 7 seconds. Luckily, the attack is fairly fast, meaning Cortex can have another one up, though this requires leaving a potential safe zone. Cortex can only have one N. Tropy Staff out at a time.

There are a few interactions with the N. Tropy Staff, though the more interesting ones will come later. The main thing is that it can also slow down minions, other moving props, and even Cortex himself. This isn’t major, but can definitely be used to some interesting capacities, most notably with the hoverboard’s projectile form. During that the timer its on will slow down as well, and make it slightly easier to hit foes with. Other than that, there isn’t anything particularly notable to it, but that will be fixed shortly.

Up Smash – Crystals, Of Course
Cortex lets out as he reaches into his pocket for the charge animation. He then pulls out a large, purple Crystal, and thrusts it above his head, causing it to let out an aura of energy. The Crystal is rather large, nearly as large as Cortex himself, and only slightly thinner. The aura is a circle around the Crystal, almost completely circular. This entire thing is a hitbox, and its remarkably large, even for a short character like Cortex. No wonder he was laughing!

Unfortunately, the attack itself takes quite a while to finish, and has bad endlag on top of that, the crystal shrinking down so Cortex can put it back in his pocket. This makes Cortex rather vulnerable, and the attack is almost completely unable to hit short grounded characters. When it does hit, it will deal rapid hits, similar to Mewtwo’s Up Smash. The crystal will always deal 8 hits in a row, each causing 2% for a total of 16% damage. At full charge, it will deal 3%, totalling up to 24%. The final hit deals knockback, KOing at a respectable 160%, making it genuinely one of the strongest moves in Cortex’s arsenal, sad as that might be.

This functions decently as a KO move, but its endlag and lack of range are a major problem. Cortex can generally get this to work fairly well with some set-up, but on its own it can be difficult to really work with when attempted to be used normally. However, this being just a decent KO move isn’t all it can do.

If the special attack button is tapped while the Crystal is out, it will send a shockwave out, which flies out in a radius of around 2/3rds of a Bob-Omb explosion. This is technically a hitbox, but it only deals 3% damage, no matter the charge, and has knockback that is too weak to launch, but can push opponents away. This is all it really needs to do, as the shockwave will hit Cortex as well, causing him to spaz out for a moment. Once this is completed, which is relatively quickly, Cortex will now have a grin on his face instead of his usual scowl, and purple energy will be crackling from his N.

Cortex has gone CRYSTAL CRAZY! When this happens, Cortex can use the energy of the Crystal in order to super-charge one of his gadgets, improving it, or in some cases, completely changing it. This specifically affects any attack where he summons a new gadget or gizmo, which mostly means Specials, Smashes, and a few others. The downside of this is that Cortex can only use one attack per charge, and will have to reapply the effect in order to use it again. The Crystal attack is not affected by this move, which allows Cortex to stack the effect up to two more times. We have a lot to cover already, so let’s get started.

Hoverboard -> Turbo Hoverboard
The Hoverboard doesn’t change too much, at least on the surface. Instead of riding on the hoverboard, Cortex now turns it into a full attack as it jets forwards, him screaming along the way. This behaves, at least damage and hitbox wise, like the hoverboard’s projectile form, but it can only travel around 2.5 Battlefield Platforms before it disappears. No explosions here. Its also a bit faster than normal. Cortex can now also use this version of the hoverboard in mid-air, allowing for better recoveries.

Summoning the hoverboard is also very quick, as it will just simply appear, unlike with the normal move needing to have Cortex pull it out. The endlag is considerably fast as well, though a bit longer as Cortex has to hop off the hoverboard before it vanishes.  The obvious downside with this version of the move is that it removes Cortex’s best mobility object for a rather basic, if still useful, recovery option.

Jetpack -> Teleporter
Instead of the dinky jetpack, Cortex will now press a button on his raygun, which will cause a bubble, large enough to encase Cortex, to cover him. The bubble voips out of existence, and then reappears roughly 2 Ganondorfs away from where it was used. This is nearly exactly the same as Up Specials like Zelda’s and Mewtwo’s, with Cortex being able to aim it in various directions. This one has a hitbox at the end, unlike Mewtwo’s. The bubble will pop into electric sparks, dropping Cortex to the ground (Or whatever’s below him) and deal 4% damage to whoever is around him. The radius of this hitbox is around the same size as the bubble is usually.

This is a fairly fast ability, all considering, the bubble causing Cortex to freeze in midair. This is basically nearly identical to the recoveries mentioned above. Its considerably better than Cortex’s normal recovery, but lacks the potential damage of it, and isn’t able to interact with Jetpack Assistants.

Techno-Shield -> Electro-Shield
This is the least changed out of Cortex’s Specials. It functions almost exactly the same as the normal shield, but instead of the shield just being a barrier, it is now electrified! Any opponent who touches it will take a passive 2% shock, which only flinches them if they casually walk into it. If an opponent attacks the shield, however, the shock will not cause any flinching. The shield can still take its normal amount of damage, but its now a bit more defensive in its options.

Lab Assistant -> Super Lab Assistant
This basically just gives a few new abilities to each of the Lab Assistant minions. The only constant buff between all of them is that their health is now 25%. Other than that, each Assistant gets a new and exciting ability! The Electro-Grappler gets a relatively simple one. He can now cargo carry opponents he grabs, and will tend to make the most of it, moving towards more advantageous areas before throwing them. This requires half of the button mashing it takes to break free from a regular grab, so unless the opponent is heavily damaged, it won’t be doing a whole lot. Each Lab Assistant gets a unique appearance change as well, with the Electro-Grappler’s gloves now glowing purple with Crystal energy.

The Potion Thrower doesn’t change much, though now the potions are a much darker purple than before. The potions will now explode when they hit the ground, rather than create a puddle. The explosion is rather small and smoky, but can deal a hefty 12% damage to the opponent if it hits. Instead of just slowing them down for a bit, the gas will cause them to become dizzy for half a second. The downside to this is that the Potion Thrower now requires 1.5 seconds before he throws another potion.

The Jetpack Assistant is now wearing a crash helmet (Always be safe, even when you’re an expendable robot), and has its speed dramatically increased. It can now catch up with opponents its chasing much faster, but also now has a second ability. If the opponent it was chasing stands under it for more than 50 frames, the Jetpack Assistant will now perform a kamikaze dive. Once the Jetpack Assistant hits the ground, it will explode into the same explosion hitbox as normal, but this move is even faster than its newfound speed, allowing it to be a lot more aggressive.

Finally, the Blocker’s change is that it gets spikes on the front of its shield. These are a hitbox, and basically make it impervious to being pushed back. If an opponent touches the spikes, they will end up taking 5%, with weak knockback. Unfortunately, only the front of the shield is actually covered, with the top and behind still open for attacks. This isn’t an amazingly useful change, but helping the Blocker deal any damage is definitely something.

Mines -> Bouncing Mines
This only activates once the Forward Smash is fully charged. Instead of throwing out three mines, Cortex will now only throw out one… but once it hits the ground, a second will pop out of it and fly forwards, in its throw hitbox state. Once that lands, another mine will pop out and then land. The range on this is much better than the basic mines, the gap between each being the equivalent to the distance when a normal mine is thrown by Cortex. This is mostly a good way to activate the throwing hitbox, but having the mines spread out is also very useful. Unfortunately, they cannot explode in a chain anymore. Other than this, they behave mostly the same.

N. Tropy Staff -> Insane Bolt Staff
This move behaves mostly the same, the effect only trigger once the staff has been fully formed. Instead of just sitting there and doing nothing, the top of the staff will now start shooting out electric balls, which it fires in random arcing directions. This means that sometimes it will fire them into the field, and sometimes it won’t. It has a range limit of half a Battlefield Platform outside of the field, however. The electric balls also won’t be affected by the field, and will fall at a quick pace no matter what. The electric balls deal 3% damage without dealing flinching damage, but they’re fired out at around 5 per second, making them very difficult to avoid if opponents get in close. The projectiles are also very small, around the size of a Pokeball.

There are more of these effects, though they aren’t present on every move.