Hau

Putting the ”Rival” into the game’s name, you’re challenged by Pokemon Trainer Hau! Go all out with a mix of various physical attacks, boosts, and even pokemon assists!

Down Special: Switch Out – Hau tosses up a pokeball and catches it in his hand. This move in particular swaps the pokemon that he’s currently using, whereas holding down the special button will select the pokemon that comes before the one you currently have instead of the one after it.

This pokemon is meant to be Hau’s neutral tool, which is meant for raking in damage early on and getting as many weaker blows on his opponents as possible.

Neutral Special: Water Gun – Vaporeon briefly comes out to spit a projectile burst of water from his mouth, which travels slow and reaches out a short distance while hitting with a little more force.

Forward Special: Aqua Tail – Vaporeon comes out and does a flip while using his tail to splash some water forward, giving two hits to the target if they’re slapped by the tail. The water that’s splashed forward will leave behind a puddle that can be interacted with in a certain way.

Up Special: Waterfall – Vaporeon comes out beneath Hau and begins to climb up a self made waterfall, which splashes downward and hits anyone close enough beneath the duo.

Forward Strong: Hydro Pump – Vaporeon makes a geyser of water gush out before himself at a certain distance, knocking anyone in the right spot upwards.

This pokemon is the heavy hitter of Hau’s team. He deals shockingly heavy blows to anyone in his way, and he’s of great use for kill power.

Neutral Special: Wild Charge – Raichu quickly zips in a circle before Hau, which knocks opponents away at a diagonal angle.

Forward Special: Rising Voltage – Raichu will come out and call upon a deadly burst of electricity. While the outer range of the explosion won’t do as much, if an opponent is unlucky enough to be in the center of it, they’re sure to be blasted off.

Up Special: Superstoked Sparksurfer – Raichu hovers up and surges upward with a powerful energy burst. This attack deals multiple blows and can be deadly at high percents, but in return, it doesn’t go quite as high.

Forward Strong: Expanding Force – Raichu charges up a small ball of psychic energy, and then releases it all. If the move is charged long enough, the final hitbox will be bigger and even deal slightly more damage.

This pokemon is best used for range. Decidueye’s kit consists of tools that will keep opponents on their toes from afar.

Neutral Special: Spirit Shackle – Decidueye phases in and shoots an arrow straight forward after flinging one of his wings out. The wing coming out is great for confirming a hit from the arrow.

Forward Special: Phantom Force – Decidueye dips down into the ground as a shadow, and then proceeds to pop out a good distance away, knocking opponents toward Hau so the trainer can deal with them with another attack.

Up Special: Fly – Decidueye carries Hau by his shoulders and proceeds to fly him upward. He can be controlled by using left and right, and released by pressing attack. It’s not quite as offensive as the other two up specials, but it has a small hit for every wing flap.

Forward Strong: Leaf Blade – Decidueye’s wing starts to glow as he charges a leaf blade attack, which he then swings the wing before himself, hitting anyone close to either him or his trainer.

As Hau gives hits to and takes hits from various opponents, a malasada meter will fill up on his HUD. When that meter is full, Hau can taunt to chow down on his favorite snack: a nice big malasada!

This tasty pastry will not only give Hau himself a speed boost, but also buff up the moves of whichever pokemon he’s currently using. However, the pokemon move buffs can only be used ONCE as long as the malasada boost is active, although the speed boost will last until the timer given to it runs out.

Hau can also gain more malasada by parrying an attack (albeit half as much from projectile attacks), but then lose some malasada by being parried himself. Ultimately, if Hau gets KO’d, he’ll lose every bit of his malasada meter, and if he’s KO’d while his boost is active, he’ll lose his boost.

The puddle that Vaporeon leaves behind for his respective FSpecial is interactive through a move from all three of Hau’s pokemon. Whenever Raichu or Decidueye use FSpecial, or whenever Vaporeon uses FStrong, the effects usually summoned by those moves will instead move over to the puddle instead of in front of Hau like always, whereas they’ll hit harder than normal if used in the puddle. However, pressing attack while using the FSpecials or special during Vaporeon FStrong whenever the puddle is out will make the attack execute normally instead of utilizing the puddle.

Hau himself is rather agile and can deal some decent blows on his own, though the tools given by the help of his pokemon expands his options greatly, making him a rather mixed up character as a whole. Just like how he’s always been, he may seem easy to take on from an outsider’s perspective, but there’s no underestimating a pokemon trainer, let alone one of the most powerful from his region.

Custom Sound Effects (Muno Phone) – Pokemon Sun and Moon
Hau Voicelines – Laura Stahl (Pokemon Masters)
Hau belongs to The Pokemon Company, Game Freak, and Nintendo