Soma Cruz
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Soma Cruz is a jack-of-all-trades, wielding multiple weapon types and moves built for most scenarios that anyone can easily pick up on. While Soma’s strong attacks are quite slow, his normals are relatively quick and have average speed. His playstyle is unpredictable due to his Power of Dominance, allowing him to collect Souls to change up how his Specials work. If you can handle the constant switching of Specials and have great fundamentals, then Soma Cruz can yield powerful results.
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Soma’s innate Power of Dominance allows him full control over the souls of enemies and monsters he fights. In Rivals, Soma can harvest souls by damaging and K.O.ing enemies, which changes how his Special moves work entirely! Soma will gain a soul by either dealing 50% OR K.O.ing an opponent – they come in three types: Bullet Souls (NSpecials), Guardian Souls (FSpecials), and Enchantment Souls (DSpecial). The order in which you get them is random, but you will always get at least 1 of every time before getting more of a single type.
(In Practice Mode, Soma will automatically have all Souls equipped, so there’s no need to manually harvest them!)
Soma can utilize a menu by inputting TAUNT, where Soma can freely adjust his Soul selection on the fly. You can “lock” a Special by pressing ATTACK, which disables it getting replaced if another Soul of that type is acquired, if you’re liking what you have and don’t want to have it forcibly changed. Utilizing this menu is important if you want to get ahead and use what’s most beneficial to Soma at the current situation. You can also use this on the respawn platform as a safe way to change Souls.
(You can still perform a normal taunt by inputting UP + TAUNT.)
Soma Cruz harnesses the powers of Bullet Souls as long-ranged and projectile options.
Soma Cruz harnesses the powers of Guardian Souls for either movement abilities or other unique forms of attacking.
Soma Cruz harnesses the powers of Enchantment Souls to summon Familiars to fight alongside Soma (or for other unique attributes).
Uniquely, these souls drain Soma’s MP gauge. Running out of it will disallow use of these Specials. (MP can be regained by damaging the opponent.)
Soma Cruz transforms into a Bat to fly about. This move is an 8-way dash that can be done twice in a row (but not in the same direction twice). This move covers a great distance all ways, making it a strong recovery option (especially in conjunction with other FSpecial Souls) and can even be edge-cancelled for movement mixups, but its offensive potential is weak. Use this as a fast option to get back onstage or to move around!
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A ground-to-air uppercut that leaves Soma airborne after use, allowing Soma to follow up with aerials after use. You can also hitfall (fastfalling during hitpause) the attack to instantly go back down to the ground to lead into other attacks.
A sliding attack. Auto-canceled during active frames if Soma slides off a ledge.
A shared technique amongst some of the Castlevania protagonists. This works very similarly to Belmont DAir in SSBU, with a powerful spike at the start and sending up and out otherwise. You can also DAir off enemy projectiles.
Soma Cruz jumps upwards, then comes crashing back down with a mighty axe swing. The jump portion of this move can be controlled almost identically to how Shovel Knight’s Down Strong works.
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ricE_ECD – Spriting, Moveset Design, VFX
VVizard – Coding, Moveset Design
ViviVinya, Varkarrus – Programing Help
Spadster – Victory Theme
Reiga – Preview Image
This mod has custom sprites made specifically for Rivals. Please do not reuse or re-upload these sprites anywhere without permission!
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Soma Cruz is a registered trademark and intellectual property of Konami. This is purely a work of art made out of love and care for the Castlevania franchise, with no intention of being used for profit or infringing on Konami’s rights. All rights reserved.
