So another Brawl delay. I hadn't planned on having to cover another month of suspense, but I think I've got a couple more draft choices up my sleeve. This week's entry once again steps into the realm of third parties. But I think it'd be a perfect.

Black Mage

Franchise: Final Fantasy

First Appearance: Final Fantasy I (NES)

Why?: Final Fantasy started on the original Nintendo, and since then has seen many of the older FF's come back on the GBA and DS. And through it all, no one class has stood out more than the Black Mage. With it's distinct hat and glowing yellow eyes, to me there is no more recognizable character. Forget Sephiroth and Cloud, or Tidus...or Squall...or any of the modern FFs, this is the guy who's been with the franchise since day 1.

Appearance: The above picture isn't the "original" Black Mage, but rather Vivi from Final Fantasy IX. I couldn't find a good pic of the 8-bit original, so I went with this instead. Game & Watch has the market covered on 2-d characters, and its what sets him apart. So Black Mage would be similiar to the above picture, minus the split in the cap.

Moveset: Black Mage would go into battle with a wide array of magic based attacks. To simulate the different levels of spells (ex: Fire/Fira/Firaga), all of this spells would be chargable by performing the button combination and holding down the attack button. His standard B would launch a ball of Fire. Up+B would use Aero to recover when knocked off (high charges would also temporarily deflect attacks and do more damage if it hits an opponent). Down+B would cast a Thunder attack similar to Pikachu's Thunderbolt. His Up smash attack would cast Blizzard to launch foes upwards with sudden ice growths, while his Down smash would make us of his Gravity spell to slam enemies to the ground. His side Smash would cast Water, shooting a jet of water out in front of him. His throw...I dunno. I think it would be interesting if it was a different spell every time, but that would likely be too much work for one character.

Final Smash: Ultima. It's been around in one form or another since the beginning, and has always been one of the most powerful black magic spells in the game. Black Mage's would be no different, filling the screen with bursts of magical energy. Difficult to avoid, but not impossible.

There are a lot of people clamoring for a Final Fantasy character to enter the Brawl, but the typical requests have been Cloud and Sephiroth (who honestly have been in EVERY game for as long as Create-A-Character has been around). Black Mage showed up on the original NES, and has also made appearances on the DS (shooting hoops in Mario Basketball).

This will probably be the last choice until the new release date gets closer. I've got one last character...and I have one last character I'd introduce...and I want to save it for a bit.