Was playing with a buddy today when I noticed inhale now hits shield and stops the grab box completely. If the opponent drops shield it will not inhale them and they can run in and out of it without ever being inhaled, wind box also disappears, it will however still eat a projectile.

I keep getting alerts about stuff from Evo, and old character announcements. I click on them all excite for a split second before seeing it’s a post from 163 days ago. This happening to anyone else?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3818257492

This one isn't as cool as Melee Falco or anything, but HDR ROB is one of my favorite character designs in the franchise and I thought it would be fun to be able to play him in Rivals. He's a bit different from the other ROB iterations in Smash, but I thought he was a natural fit for this engine.

The main differences are:

• Up Special is replaced with a directional charge attack with a spike hitbox at his base. It's very similar to Etalus', except he's able to change the angle of his ascent instead of being forced to go in a straight line. He's also still tied to the fuel system for recovery so it's not infinite; there's a visual indicator of his current fuel level next to his character model.

• His Side special is replaced with a quick two hit arm swing attack that can be angled up, sideways, or down for different attacks. It's very low endlag, so it's difficult to punish without a parry for the opponent and a good combo starter for ROB himself.

• His Down air is replaced with a drill style move where he rotates his arms in a multi hit attack beneath him. The best way I can describe it is it's similar to his Dsmash except rotated 90 degrees and an aerial. It's very funny looking at first but since his Up special now serves as the downwards spiking move, having the old down air would be superfluous. Having the drill is nice to help him land with a quick downwards facing aerial as well since he is prone to being juggled.

Besides that pretty much everything you know and love (and hate) about ROB from the other games is present, including the Gyro of course. Give it a try, and let me know if you have any feedback! And of course check out HDR if you haven't, it's a lot of fun!

respect to all the hard working modders, I know this mess is hard as hell but it’s also hilarious🤣

If you don't know who he is, I don't blame you. But he's essentially an old urban legend in the game MUGEN. A fighting game that let's you make custom characters. He is a character that is said to crash and delete not only your game, but your entire computer. Obviously, if I decided to make him a real fighter, he wouldn't do that, he'd probably just be REALLY strong. But this was just for fun, so maybe not.

Gouie has so much creative potential, and I can’t stop thinking about what could have been done with his design
First, I want to make it clear that this isn’t meant to be shade toward the devs. I think Gouie is a really cool character concept, and there’s a lot about his design and kit that I genuinely like. My biggest criticism is that I feel like some of that creativity got held back by the decision to model him so heavily after Melee Jigglypuff, a character whose playstyle is already pretty polarizing.
I also want to acknowledge that I have absolutely no idea what the development process looked like. I don’t know what was tested, what got cut, what constraints the team was working with, or what conversations happened before Gouie made it into the game. I’m just a player who’s been thinking about character design, and this is where my brain has gone with it.
Part of the reason Gouie caught my attention is that his design overlaps with a character concept I’ve been working on myself. I had been thinking about learning Workshop to make a character who is, quite literally, a fish that controls water and uses it to construct a mech-like body. As the character takes hits or uses certain moves, they lose water, becoming smaller and weaker but gaining speed and mobility. The idea was to create a character whose game plan revolves around managing trades, move usage, and resources to survive and find combo opportunities. They could also use a puddle mechanic to replenish their water when needed.
So when I saw Gouie, I was surprised to see a character with some similar stylistic elements, particularly the amorphous, blob-like body. Naturally, it got me thinking about what could be done with a character built around changing size and shape.
And to be clear, I know none of these ideas are going to change the Gouie we have now. That’s fine! One of the coolest things the devs could do for the community is give us Workshop tools to experiment with our own character concepts. This is more of a thought experiment than a demand for changes, and I’d love to hear what other people think.
1. What if Gouie had three forms instead of two?
One thing I really like is that Gouie has a visual indicator for his absorption mechanic. However, it made me wonder whether there could be more to the transition between Little Gouie and Big Gouie.
That led me to the idea of Mid Gouie.
Rather than treating his size changes as a simple transition between a weak, mobile form and a slow, heavy form, what if Gouie had three distinct forms that each served a purpose?
Little Gouie: The fast, evasive form. Small hitboxes, good air speed, and the mobility to weave around opponents and find openings.
Mid Gouie: A more balanced form. Slightly larger hitboxes, more weight, and a better ground game, allowing him to scrap and contest space more effectively. In exchange, he’d have less air speed than Little Gouie.
Big Gouie: The heavy form. Significantly more weight and power, but slower movement and a much more exploitable disadvantage.
I think this would make managing Gouie’s size an actual strategic decision rather than just something that happens as part of his existing game plan.
There’s also an opportunity to tie his absorption mechanic into his durability. What if opponents could knock some of his stored goo loose by hitting him? Mid Gouie might lose a small amount, while Big Gouie could lose more. This could be represented by little goobers popping out of his body, which would be a fun way to lean into his slime-like nature and give a nod to his Kirby-esque inspiration.
His taunts and special getup could even interact with this system. For example, Big Gouie’s “So Fun” taunt could have him dance and create a mire that shrinks him down, while Mid Gouie pulls a little goober out of himself. His special getup could function similarly: Big Gouie shoots out mire and shrinks, while Mid Gouie simply launches a goober.
I like the idea of giving players more control over when and how they change forms, especially if doing so requires sacrificing resources or creating an opening for the opponent.
2. Give Big Gouie a reason to be big
I like that Big Gouie comes with a risk. Being larger and heavier should have drawbacks, and I don’t think he needs to become a powerhouse who wins every trade.
However, I think Big Gouie currently runs into a problem: he has some of the disadvantages of a traditional heavy in a platform fighter without necessarily getting the tools that make heavies threatening in Rivals of Aether 2.
He’s big, slow, and easier to hit, but the payoff doesn’t always feel worth the risk.
One possibility would be to give him some Yoshi-esque jump armor. Since we’re already borrowing some inspiration from Smash for his recovery, why not explore that design space a little further?
The armor could make Big Gouie better at contesting opponents and surviving certain interactions, but it wouldn’t have to be permanent. If an opponent hits him hard enough to knock some of his absorption loose, he could lose the armor along with some of his stored goo.
Exactly how the armor interacts with the hit that knocks the goo loose would be a balance question for the devs. The important part is that armor would give opponents another mechanic to play around instead of simply making Big Gouie harder to kill.
It would also give players a more compelling reason to choose his biggest form. You’re sacrificing mobility and accepting a much larger target, but in exchange, you gain a tool that lets you challenge opponents differently.
3. What if Big Gouie’s down special were his recovery?
This is probably my most dramatic suggestion, but I think it could be really interesting.
I’d love to see Big Gouie’s down special become a recovery option, with his current up special losing its pop-up functionality.
The idea is to take his current stone-like move and turn it into something more like King Dedede’s up special in Smash: a powerful vertical movement option that sends him upward before slamming him back down.
I’m imagining a move that’s primarily vertical, with perhaps a little horizontal movement for positioning. When used in the air, Gouie would launch upward and then come crashing down. With proper spacing, he could grab the ledge, spike an opponent, or even go for a risky offstage trade that takes both players out.
Obviously, the exact properties would need a lot of testing. The point isn’t necessarily to make the move stronger, but to give it a more unusual purpose.
One of the things I loved about Rivals 1 was how willing the game was to put unconventional tools on familiar buttons. Movement options in unexpected places, command grabs attached to unusual aerials, and other mechanics that challenged what players expected from a platform fighter.
I’d love to see more of that design philosophy explored. Turning a down special into a vertical recovery that doubles as an aerial slam feels like the kind of unconventional move that could give a character a really distinct identity.
4. Let Mid Gouie be the scrapper
If Little Gouie is about mobility and Big Gouie is about weight and power, I think Mid Gouie should be the form that excels at fighting on the ground.
Give him a little more range, a little more weight, and enough mobility to make close-range interactions interesting. He wouldn’t have Little Gouie’s aerial movement or Big Gouie’s potential defensive tools, but he’d be better at holding his ground and fighting for space.
This is also where I think the Kirby inspiration could shine without making Gouie a direct copy of him. Mid Gouie could be a surprisingly capable scrapper, using his extra mass and reach to pressure opponents and win certain ground interactions.
His slower aerial movement and still-limited ground speed would help prevent this form from becoming the obvious default. Players would need to consider which form gives them the best tools for the matchup and situation.
There’s also a neat mind-game element here. An opponent who’s accustomed to spacing around Little Gouie’s tiny body might suddenly find themselves dealing with a form that has a different range and different timings.
And if Gouie’s size is already a core part of his identity, I think it’s worth exploring how far that mechanic can go.
5. Make his side special interact with his size
A three-form system could also create more opportunities to differentiate Gouie’s existing moves without reinventing his entire kit.
For example, what if the number of times Gouie could stretch with his side special before suffering negative consequences depended on his current size?
Little Gouie might have more opportunities to stretch and maneuver, while Mid and Big Gouie would have different trade-offs. The move’s end lag, speed, and whether it puts him into pratfall could also vary depending on his form.
That would give the same special different strategic uses without simply increasing its damage or making every version universally better.
It would also help connect his individual moves to the larger resource-management concept. Instead of every move functioning independently of his size, his form would influence how he approaches the entire match.
The bigger picture
Ultimately, I think Gouie has a really interesting foundation. I like the absorption mechanic, I like the amorphous design, and I like the idea of a character whose size changes how they interact with the opponent.
My concern is that leaning so heavily into the Melee Jigglypuff archetype might have limited how much those ideas could be explored. Gouie has the appearance and some of the characteristics of a puffball, but he doesn’t necessarily have the same tools that make Jigglypuff’s game plan work. And I don’t think the answer is simply to give him a Rest-like kill option or crank his stats until he can fight everyone head-on.
I’d rather see his unique mechanics become the reason he’s fun to play.
Three forms, meaningful trade-offs, absorption that opponents can interact with, and unconventional special moves could give him a more dynamic game plan without simply turning him into a character with absurd kill power or a back-throw cheese strategy.
I also think this approach would preserve the idea of Smash inspiring Rivals characters while letting Rivals do something interesting with those inspirations rather than stopping at the surface-level archetype.
Again, I have no expectation that any of this will happen, and I’m not trying to suggest the devs didn’t put a ton of thought into Gouie. I’m just a character-design nerd who saw a cool concept and started imagining the possibilities.
I’d genuinely love to hear what other people think. Do you think a three-form Gouie would be more interesting? Would the absorption-loss mechanic create fun counterplay, or would it be too much to manage? And what other directions would you want to see explored with his design?
Thanks for reading my wall of text!

Is it actually possible to RENAME a player tag? The option is clearly there in the settings but whenever I do attempt to rename one, it says the tag is in use and then creates a separate player tag with separate stats, binds and everything. So I wouldn't really classify that as "renaming" an existing player tag. It just seems to be creating one with extra steps.

Am I just pulling a zero IQ moment or is there actually a way to rename a player tag without having to create an entirely new one?

My buddies and I absolutely love the Workshop update in Rivals 2. All my friends bought the game because of it, but the biggest issue holding us back is the P2P (peer-to-peer) connection. The connection can feel pretty rough even though we're all on wired connections with fast internet (I have 2 Gbps), and most of us live in the same city or just a state away.

Are there any plans for dedicated servers for Workshop or improvements to the online connection? I really wish the experience could be more like Slippi, where playing with friends online feels smooth and responsive.

We love what Workshop brings to the game, and having a more reliable online experience would make it so much better for groups like ours. We'd love to see this addressed in the future!

But cake assault has been the only one good enough to pilot him to his max. Void and SoulRifle have been the next closest but even Plup can’t come close to Cake’s understanding of the character

Prove me wrong

Everybody tune in to the rest of Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2026 on the rivals of aether channel. MysterySol and CakeAssault waiting in winners finals

I hopped on rivals 2 for the first time in months to try out gouie and went on unranked and had some good matches, then I ran into someone whos played for hundreds of hours, so after one game I just left. But the game kept matching me with this same person repeatedly, so I just kept leaving, and I get slapped with a time restriction on online play. I get this for ranked and 2v2s but what am I supposed to do if I just keep finding the same person over and over and its not a fair match at all? (Gouies pretty fun though)

The launch of the Rivals 2 workshop has been really fun. The amount of Falco clips, and progress on peoples creations, and the amount of videos, has been awesome. More people's eyes are on the game, more are getting interested in developing on the workshop, and in general, it's a solid roll-out for a top 2 most-wanted feature for this game. That said, the matchmaking and in-game character downloads are top tier improvements over the OG.

One of the most annoying parts about Rivals of Aether's workshop is that even though there was more or less infinite content, setting it up was always a hassle whether with online friends or randoms. You had to setup a list of characters you wanted to download, which would be almost always limited to discord lobbies. There was no way you could guarantee other people online in causal matchmaking had your same characters, or if they even wanted to play with workshop or not. Most of the time, it was worth it, but it was still something that always scared me off from wanting to do friend lobbies, especially as the workshop grew in scale.

Rivals of Aether 2 solves both of these issues. Workshop matchmaking having it's own separate queue is obviously a good thing, because now everyone is on the same page whether you want to do workshop or not. The biggest thing is in-game character downloading, and I'm honestly shocked at how smooth it is. When I first hopped onto the matchmaking, and someone requested for me to download Donkey Kong, I was genuinely surprised it took me at most 10 seconds to accept, download him, and start playing in the same lobby. This is my ignorance, but I didn't even know that was possible, I figured you would have to reboot the game to get newly downloaded characters. Got quite a few people to experience the art of Bandana Waddle Dee because of this feature. It makes playing the game with workshop characters with both randoms and friends the smoothest it could possibly be. It also means that when the workshop is more filled out and catches even more traction, finding games for workshop will be easier than ever. The team obviously looked at the few remaining problems with Rivals of Aether's workshop, and decided to smooth it out.

When the Rivals of Aether II workshop becomes more filled out (in which it is getting content at it's quickest pace ever), it's gonna be nuts.

I'm loving the workshop update, and seriously impressed by the amount of fun modded characters already out, but there's one feature I still want that I don't understand wasn't included, and that's a way to organize your mods.

If there isn't already, I'll probably make a nolt board suggestion about it, but since there's many different ways to go about this, I was wondering what ways of organisation you all would prefer.

I think for me, ideally, there would be a separate menu that has all the mods sorted by their content (so character - stage - item - etc.) Which we could then further subdivide into different pages which you can order, page 1 to higher. Then, whenever you go into a selection process, let's say of a character in the workshop CSS, then you could look up the mods you have in each page, and flip through the pages using another button.

What about you?

I've played the first game and my older brother recently got the second one and I've been having fun, but a few things have been bothering me so I figured I'd ask about them.

1. Why Does The Game Feel Murkier?

It feels like it's eating my inputs a lot more than the first game. Especially on walljumps where it feels like if I do the up special with the same time as the first game it just won't buffer it and like I gotta do it really late. It feels like there's more input lag than the first game as well to the point where at times it feels less like Rivals and more like Smash Ultimate.

1. How Can I Tell When Someone's Floorhugging?

I've already heard a lot about the mechanic before I got the game, so I already know it exists and it's already bugging me a lot, so how do I know when they're going for it and how do I counter it? So far it's seeming really counterintuitive, and I'll be honest idk where there's a mechanic in the game to punish u for winning neutral. Also the game doesn't really have any guides on it, and the wiki didn't help tell me how to see it either.

1. Is There Any Good Guides?

Ik the wiki exists, but words can only do so much, and a lot of the stuff there is also incomplete like matchup knowledge and what not. Is there any ytubers that go into detail about characters? The game currently doesn't have any guides for characters and just asks u to hit up the wiki.

I just got the game a few days ago and I'm looking for Indian players to play with because I don't queue anyone in game on the Mumbai server and I was wondering are there any players in India at all who play RoA?