Charizard (Smash Bros.)

"Charizard Fires It Up!"

- Announcement of Charizard for SSB4

Charizard is the final evolution of Charmander, the Fire-Type Starter Pokemon in the original game. A bestial Pokemon with a warrior-spirit, Charizard breathes flames hot enough to melt stone. Charizard, despite his large size, is both a powerful and mobile fighter. His wings allow him to perform well in aerial combat, and his weight and size allow him to deal significant damage up-close. Charizard can also undergo a Mega Evolution into Mega Charizard X, increasing his skill and power even further.

Charizard is capable of performing extremely well in the air, slashing outward with his claws or throwing opponents back to the ground. He can also use his wings to perform simple side-steps, allowing him to dodge opponents and making him a foe hard to hit. Charizard's expertise, though, are in his fire attacks. From fiery balls that travel sideways to his iconic Flamethrower move, Charizard's wings, claws, and fire powers make him a devastating opponent.

Battle vs. Bowser (Smash Bros.) (by Wassboss)
Bowser steps out into the collesium, the ground shaking slightly under his steps. He blinks the tears caused by the intense sunlight out of his eyes and scans the other side of the arena for his opponent but he can't see them. Assuming that they must not have entered the arena, he walks futher away from the containment cylinder and waits patiently for his opponent to appear. However the arena is instead bathed in in a green light, signifying the start of the the battle. Bowser arches his eye brow in confusion, looking around worriedly for his opponent. Seeing noone he turns to the guards, who seeing to be looking past him and into the air. He feels a chill go down his shell and turns, just in time to see a large orang dragon swooping down at him, teeth bared and a fierce glint in it's eye. He raises his arms in a defensive cross, protecting his face and head, feeling the impact of the dragon push him back a few feet. He swipes out blindly and scores a hit, making the dragon screech and drop out of the sky, landing feet first next to the king of the koopas. Charizard lunges at bowser who shoots out a punch to intercept, sending charizard reeling with an uppercut to the neck. He then responds with a charge of his own, headbutting the pokemon and knocking him back. He then attempts to grab hold of charizard's arm but is shook away and knocked back by a tail swipe. Charizard then uses his forward smash to sweep bowser's leg from undernieth him. Charizard then attempts to burn bowser while he is vunrable by using flamethrower but bowser flips himself off his back and steps away from the flames, sending a burst of his own flames to compensate.

However the two sets of flames burn each other out, as they each eat up the others oxygen, neither of the two attaining any injuries. Bowser attempts another charging headbutt but charizard grabs hold of his horns mid charge and slams his head down onto the collesium floor. Bowser has little time to react before he is grabbed and has fire sprayed all over him, being launched back by the impact. He slowly pull himself to his feet and shakes himself off, just in time to avoid a claw swipe from charizard. He then grabs hold of charizard's neck with his right hand, pulling him close to his underbelly and leaping into the air. Charizard tries to break free but his struggle is in vain and he is body slammed into the arena floor, roaring in frustration the whole way.

Bowser bounces back and lands on his feet, charging at the dazed charizard and shoulder barging him. Charizard is pushed back by the impact but it manages to clear his head of dizziness. He takes out a boulder and holds it in front of him, ready to smash it into his opponent. Before he can however, bowser shoots a fist forward and slams it into the boulder, shattering it into several large chunks which fly off harmlessly in different directions. He then delivers a viciour uppercut which stumbles the fire pokemon and follows up with a bowser bomb which charizard only just manages to dodge. Just at that moment a eerie rainbow glow, baths the arena with colour and the crowd gasps at the appearence of a smash ball.

Bowser swings his head around to look at the smash ball, giving charizard the perfect oppourtunity to attack. He sparys flames at bowser feet, making him skip about to avoid the searing heat. Charizard then leaps into the air and does a front flip, smacking bowser in the head and sending him crashing into the arena floor. He then takes off and flies right for the smash ball, taking out a boulder as he does so. Bowser rubs his head and gets to his feet, running franticly towards the smash ball once he realises how close charizard is to it. His dash is futile however as charizard slames the boulder into the smash ball, gaining it's power immediatly, floating downwards towards the floor. Bowser changes his tactic and uses bowser bomb to gain some momentum and attempts to land on charizard and knock the smash ball out of him. Charizard sees this attack coming though and uses fly to smash into the bottom of bowser, scorching his lower half and knocking him off balance, making him land awkwardly on his side.

Charizard lands gracefully next to him and wastes no time activating the final smash. Ivysaur and Squirtle leap out from a pokeball and stand next to charizard, ready to attack. Simultaniously the three fire out their respective projectiles. Bowser is lifted up into the air by the combined power of the Hydro Pump, Fire Blast and SolarBeam, letting out a pained roar before being turned into a trophy. The attack ends shortly afterwards and Squirtle and Charizard disapear, leaving charizard alone in the arena. It's not long before the guards leap in however ready to take away the trophy of bowser and return charizard to his cell.

Charizard roars in primal rage and swings for the nearest guard, knocking him off his feet before he can react. He then launches himself at a group of them, knocking several to the ground. One swings his sword at the pokemon but he swings around and sets him alight with a blast of fire. Another guard leaps onto his back and pushes down, allowing another to stab a needle into charizard's neck. He throws the guard off his back and cracks a rock into the face of the needler, knocking him down. Charizard advances on the guard, intending to maul him but the substance takes effect and he collapses, falling into a deep sleep of unconsiousness. The injured guards are taken away by the medical staff while the remaining ones drag charizard out of the area, away from the frenzied cries of the crowd.

Expert's Opinion
Charizard won this primarily because of his flight which allowed him to avoid Bowser's attacks and swoop in, Hit and Run style, to slowly wear him down. Bowser's predictable attack pattern made fighting him easy and his fire breath did little damage to the fire Pokemon, taking away his only long range option.

To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, here.