General Fixes

• Trapping attacks now launch earlier to prevent excessive damage.
  
• Stopped an old tutorial cutscene from playing in the lobby.
  

Improvements

• Made numerous improvements to the lobby.
  
• Re-implemented the turrets on Titan Diamond.
  

Characters

Rondo

• Fixed a bug where Rondo wouldn't stockpile shots.
  

Percival

• Fixed a bug with Percival's shield boomerang.
  

General Improvements

• Replaced the Lobby entirely with an expanded form of the old "Quick Lobby", dividing options up into their own sections.
  
• Added Training mode - now when you're in Versus, you're not able to proceed without at least two fighters present. To scout out stages, navigate to the Training option instead. You'll find yourself a dusty old punching bag to test your moves out on, wherever you go!
  
• Made character icons when the camera zooms out larger, to make it easier to identify characters from a distance.
  
• Revamped item spawns to stop the camera from jerking around.
  

General Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Race Mode (Hustle Harbour) couldn't be selected with 4 players. Now you can race to your heart's content.
  
• Finally identified and fixed a long-standing issue where player characters would keep flying upwards when defeated.
  
• Fixed an issue where the camera would continue to follow defeated players even as they fell out of bounds.
  
• Fixed a bug where KO'd fighters would keep blocking attacks in free-for-alls.
  
• Added missing collision detection in Onslaught Mode, which should prevent characters from knocking each other out of bounds.
  
• Collision detection has been improved all-around for all characters and shots. This is a work-in-progress, so please report any issues you have.
  

General Improvements

• Tweaked the data on most of the shots in the game, mostly to make them more capable. More launch force, more hitstun, etc.
  
• Uncharged Shots now have more launch capability when used to interrupt targets. More potent shots now carry more weight to them too, making it easier for them to bowl over weaker attacks.
  
• Multi-hit attacks (eg. Sherpa's Full Charge Shot, Percival's Standing Swing) are no longer escapable mid-attack, making them much safer attacks and more dangerous moves.
  
• Attacking out of a Blitz or superarmour state now leaves you with a little bit of time left, just enough to make sure you're safe to attack.
  
• Projectiles that pass through targets no longer multi-hit shields, reinforcing that shield beats shot.
  
• Increased volume on Dash Finale theme. It was just a bit harder to make out than the rest of the game music.
  
• Added elevators to the stage select in the Lobby, which should make things a bit easier to navigate. Current feedback indicates that the Lobby is considerably less popular than the Quick Lobby (accessible from the Settings menu), and no amount of redesigning will get around that. I've taken it on board and will be looking into replacing the Lobby, such that a system like the Quick Lobby takes precedence, but that's for a future update.
  

Characters

#1

• Made reflecting low-power shots more effective, improving their weight and force.
  
• Improved hitstun on standing forward-throw.
  

Edge

• Improved hitstun on standing forward-throw.
  
• Substantially decreased power of kunai. Edge was getting away with far too much damage with his new rapid-fire mechanics. He should deal roughly half the DPS he had before, which is still pretty solid.
  

Nomad

• Nomad's Full Charge Shot now behaves even more like a player, re-appearing on-stage and flashing when struck.
  

Arrhic

• Standardised Cling Swing so it doesn't leap too high.
  
• Arrhic's grabs now only defy gravity once per jump. No more Space Invader, old pal.
  
• Adjusted grappling animations so that Arrhic's throws deal damage more often, if not all the time.
  
• Canceling grabs now removes Arrhic's gravity-defiance, allowing him to jump like normal.
  
• It should now be possible to escape Arrhic's throws with some quick thinking, just like any other throw.
  

Rondo

• Improved hitstun on standing forward-throw and aerial down-throw.
  
• Rondo can now parry explosive shots without suffering the explosion himself.
  
• Parrying an Uncharged Shot now gives Rondo a Full-Charged Shot. Parrying wasn't keeping up with other character's options as the game progressed, so it felt necessary to revisit the mechanics of it and make it seem more worthwhile.
  

Manny

• Substantially increased launch force on Uncharged Shot and Mid-Charge Shot, mostly to keep people from being trapped by grenades. The grenade itself now bounces much more, too.
  

Kero

• Substantially increased launch force on all bubble-shots.
  

Percival

• Buffed up damage and launch force of standing down-throw.
  

New Content

• Nomad, the teleporting ally of justice, is here! Although he can't dash, his one-of-a-kind teleporting augments allow him to jump around the battlefield in a flash. In between that and his jury-rigged explosives, Nomad's one of the trickiest fighters to enter the ring.
  
  
• Arrhic, the strongest man alive, steps onto the world stage! Years ago, Arrhic was a national champion and a global sensation. Arrhic holds barely any augments, relying on his own strength - whether he's hurling javelins or victims. Nobody wrestles like Arrhic. He rushes into the fray when he grabs, then hoists his target up overhead and carries them as he pleases.
  
  
• You can now fight atop the Metro City Skyline, Nomad's stomping ground, and inside The Old Collosseum, Arrhic's home arena! These stages are huge, but simple.
  
• I̵̟̩̿̅̕ ̴̣̲̑h̶̡͉̑̓̄o̵̥̮͆̒p̷̜̾͋ȩ̴͍͒ ̵̯̽̄I̵͉̱͋͆͐'̶̬̣̚m̴̬̐ ̸̮͍̈́͒ṉ̴̫̜̑̐̒o̶̡̦̻̎̎ṱ̶͔͒͆͝ ̶͎̑f̵̨̭̫́o̶̹͚͗r̴͚͕̮̎̇̚g̵̨̰̹̏ḙ̶̿̀t̷̝̹̩̄́͂ṭ̶̺̐i̷͔̓ͅn̷̟̞̤̐̀g̴̺͎̿̆̋ ̴͎̖̓s̸͖̣̀͐ơ̶̟̺̓m̴̭͉̟͛ḙ̵̈̃͜͝ț̵͗̈h̸̟͌í̶̹̤ǹ̵̩̦̮̏g̷̪͓̟̋ğ̸̗̓g̷̻̏̚g̵̭͙̑͐ͅg̸̫̙͒̈́g̷̛̰
̴̖̈́̈I̴̡̎̏͠ ̴̣̱̯̈̑A̸͍̰͉̾M̴͙̏͜ ̵̩̑̾̀T̷̩̐͑̿H̷̝̽̆Ĕ̷̱̝̑ ̴̮͎͕̎͘N̷̟͑̑̀ͅU̵̡̬͎̍̃M̵͉̫̿B̸̯̟̠̓E̶̻̹̟̒R̵͚̅ ̵̳͊O̵̡͇͕͛͂͂N̴͔̎̕E̷̦͆
̸͈͇̇͆̓x̴̪͕̙͒̽Ẍ̵̡͔́́x̸̮̣̏_̷̰̻̲͐̊́s̷͓̹̑̒w̴͙̻͑J̶̢̬̽͂Ụ̸͉͍̑̆̚j̷̧̼̊ų̵̑͠U̸̩͆̚͝P̶̗̋̍͠ḓ̴̡͆w̶̡̖̋͜n̷̢̖̓̃͝Ŝ̸̯͒ͅW̴̜̝̕_̷̢̼̐x̶̙̰̌͌X̷̟̀͂̕x̸̥͔͔̐͆͑

S̴̯̘̪̻̳̩͙͍͐͑͌́̎̈́͌̋ͅò̵̤̳̺͑̒̑͛̍̿͝m̵̓̇͒͒͛́͌͑ͅę̶͚̻̪̙̗̇͆͊͋̌́̾̍ţ̵̡̢̪͓͉̦̘̭̏̉̌̅̏͋͝͝h̸̡͚̥̫̭͈͚̎̿̅̋̓̋̔ị̷͖̝̤̮̼́̐͌̾̚͘͜͠ͅn̶̹͉̥̄̇͑̉̇͘g̶̜̩̜̭̲͛̋̓̾̒̿'̵͔͌̈́̆̓s̴̘̠̪̼̠̗̿̓͑́͑̃̍ ̶̛̦̲͔̺̟̹͒̀͐͝ņ̵̜̠͔̖͆̿̔̌̈̓͘̕̕o̵̢̙̟̤͎̥̤̮͋̄̇͐̒̒ͅt̴͙̣̒̆̽͝ ̷̡̉ř̷̭̻̼͚̼̞͈̝͊́͒͒̀͝i̵̢̡͍͉͕͙̞͍̙͆͠͠͝g̸̛͚͕̓̎̿͒̊̈́h̴̨̼͎̰̥̋̓̆͘t̵̰̓̔̆̽̋̇̐̔
  

General Improvements

• Tweaked a number of sound effects - most notably, charging up now produces the occasional sound of sparking electricity, which should be much easier on the ears.
  
• Improved camera movements to be faster and snappier. It should keep up with the fastest attacks now.
  
• Attacks will no longer multi-hit unless specifically designed to. This should bring some attacks back to expected damage levels, and for some fighters, will make sweetspots much more important.
  
• Some characters' Run Swings will now deal more damage out of a sprint. This is most noticeable with Bluster's shoulder-barge.
  
• Rolling projectiles, like Puffin's Full-Charge Shot, now change their damage and launch trajectories depending on their current state.
  
• Modified explosive hitboxes to be more accurate and satisfying.
  
• Tweaked a number of grabs to be more useful and overall more satisfying.
  
• The Snowconer item now features some different projectiles, helping it stand out next to Puffin.
  
  
• DTS have moved the fighters in to a much cleaner lobby, better suited to their needs. Much less wasted space. I hope you enjoy navigating the lobby!
  
  
• The Quick Lobby has been improved, too! Now a label follows your cursor, and the space behind your character details their abilities.
  
• If you leave the game unattended, there's now a prompt to pick up a controller and start playing. After about a minute of waiting, a fight between AI will begin, which you can interrupt at any point. Admittedly, this is more exciting for convention appearances than for actual gameplay.
  

Fixes

• Fixed a bug where shooting animations would sometimes play incorrectly when a melee item was equipped.
  

Stages

• A number of stages got a facelift - nothing mechanical, but these should be more visually interesting now.
  
• The barriers on Dash Finale now automatically destroy any projectiles caught flying through them - making it a much safer venue for all bystanders. It's much more dangerous inside now, though, with explosives triggering as soon as they hit the wall!
  
• Increased the amount of space available overhead in Titan Diamond.
  
• Everlanche Climb has had an extra space carved out, connecting the upper and lower caverns.
  
• Metro Sewers and Cold Edge Rig now feature Edge's and Manny's themes, respectively.
  

Characters

#1

• #1 can now change the direction he's facing while he winds up to bat.
  

Edge

• Edge no longer charges up, at all. Instead, holding in Shoot causes him to throw a steady stream of kunai. To replace his scattershot, Edge throws three at a time in a tight fan formation.
  
• Improved the swing arc of Jump Swing, and increased its damage potential.
  
• Edge's default KO animation has been replaced with a sneaky ninja get-away.
  

Bluster

• Fixed a bug where active slipstreams would start generating a wind tunnel as soon as a slot was free, so Bluster would accidentally pass wind a lot.
  
• Bluster can now only have one wind tunnel active at a time. As nature intended.
  

Rondo

• Nothing's actually changed here, but Rondo was feeling left out.
  

Valerie

• Improved the radius of Jump Swing and increased damage potential.
  

Manny

• Reduced the damage potential of detonated mines to compensate for their new effectiveness.
  
• Improved the explosive effect of Manny's Mid-Charged Shot.
  
• Swapped Manny's animations around a little bit, so his sprinting is more bestial and his running more humanoid.
  

Sherpa

• Sherpa didn't get any buffs either, but you don't hear him complaining.
  

Puffin

• Replaced Puffin's Mid-Charged Shot with a snowflake which scatters ice beneath it as it flies.
  
• Puffin now pops when defeated. It obviously doesn't help her very much, but it can hurt the attacker, so be careful in free-for-alls!
  

Kero

• Fixed a bug where the player could move independently of Standing Swing.
  

Percival

• Added some audio-visual feedback to Percival's Standing Swing to indicate when it's charged.
  

Fixes

• Corrected some outdated guide text in the Lobby and Pause Menu, as well as clarifying some existing abilities.
  
• Corrected the laser animations for all characters.
  
• Fixed a bug where Onslaught Mode couldn't be chosen from the Main Lobby.
  
• Fixed a bug where AI would try to load into Race Harbour and artificially inflate the player count.
  
• Fixed a bug where AI would lose their chosen palette on the Quick Lobby. Long may Grape Rondo prosper.
  

General Improvements

• The opening text on the title screen now takes its time scrolling up. It's a bit more legible, too, even with the chaos going on in the background.
  
• You can now skip anything you're not in the mood for during the Tutorial - just taunt to signal to #21 that you're done with it.
  
• Moonbase Veracity's gates now operate on sensors rather than button presses, making it far easier to navigate. You should be able to dash straight through with no hold-up.
  Also, the colour palette for the base has been darkened somewhat, so it should be easier to see inside.
  
• Cleaned up the spinning effect during hitstun, particularly so that grabbing a target doesn't set them spinning. On a similar note, items now spin more noticeably when thrown, making them more obviously threatening.
  
• Made hit effects larger and more easily visible, making it that much more satisfying to land a solid blow. Camera shudder is now more noticeable and less smooth, making it into a quick and jerky kind of motion.
  

Characters

Edge

• Added a dedicated Sprint animation. More of a ninja hover, really.
  

Bluster

• Made Bluster's Cyclone attack (Fully-Charged vertical Shot) into its own distinct animation, rather than a blend between his shooting and his regular animation. The actual mechanics of the attack are unchanged from v0.4.5.
  

Rondo

• Rondo's Overcharged Shot (gained from parrying Swings or Fully-Charged Shots) now flies through its targets, making it more potent than ever.
  
• Rondo's Running Swing is now only animated from the waist up. Now Rondo's flailing should match up with his actual movements.
  

Puffin

• Re-implemented slowdown on midair jumps - it seems the addition of sprinting was letting Puffin get away with more air speed than she should.
  

Percival

• Fixed a bug where Percival wasn't vanishing into a cloud of dust when he was KO'd.
  
• Made numerous improvements to Percival's aerial down-throw, making it an all-around more powerful attack.
  
• Percival's shield boomerang now interacts with other attacks, allowing you to block incoming shots. This also means the shield can be knocked back by enemy attacks, or even reflected...
  

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue with clashing attacks that would cause players to float awkwardly in midair - clashes now push both targets apart relative to the force of the involved attacks without dealing damage.
  

General

• Guarding now ends invulnerability time. This sounds like a bad thing, but this means you can choose to blitz multiple times in a row.
  
• Shot charge is now indicated with an overlayed circle of sparks rather than with small particles - the circle fills up with each level of charge, allowing you to quickly identify when your shot's ready.
  
• Shot caps are now tracked separately for each type of shot a character can use, and shots produced from items are tracked separately again. Basically, even if you've filled the field with uncharged shots, you can still fire a fully-charged shot. This will go unnoticed for most characters, but for characters like Manny, this is very important.
  
• If you have too many shots active when you try to fire one off, it will now automatically downgrade to the next available shot. Again, this is largely for characters like Manny and Puffin who have very long-lived shots.
  

Stages

• Sherpa and Kero have their themes playing on Everlanche Climb and Trueclear Glade respectively, giving the stages a bit more personality.
  
• Blast zones are now being replaced with out-of-bounds teleporters. Falling off-stage will take you out of the action for a bit, then pop you back onto the main stage with a bit of a damage penalty. Not only does this make launching less effective in open-air stages, but it makes a little more sense.
  
• The water spout in Metro Sewers is now a timed hazard, launching a platform into the upper layers when the water pressure builds too high.
  

New Content

• Grappling is here at last! Characters can now grab in the air or on the ground, and throw their targets in the four cardinal directions. Everyone approaches this in a slightly different way, so be sure to experiment!
  
• Bridging the gap between a run and a dash, fighters can now sprint by holding in the dash button! Sprinting is slightly slower than dashing, but should prove fast enough. Sprinting doesn't open up any unique attacks, but does allow for fast Run Swings on approach.
  
  
• First-time players will now be treated to a tutorial, walking them through the basics of play. You can access it from both lobbies, too, and even play along with multiple players. There's also a quick primer on the lobby system which should clear a few things up.
  

Removed Content

• Qualifiers (time attacks) have been removed from the game. I don't like the idea of removing content, and I'm sincerely sorry to anyone who enjoyed this aspect. Without getting too deep into the reasoning behind this, Qualifiers gave the wrong impression of the type of game Dash Blitz was, and they made for poor tutorials. Race Mode also proved to be a more elegant way of handling time attack challenges.
  The removal of Qualifiers should allow for more time and energy to be directed towards the core of Dash Blitz. It's possible these could come back at a later date, but I have no plans to do so.
  

Characters

Edge

• Changes have been made to Jump Swing, Hover Swing and both forms of Airdash Swing.
  Jump Swing is now a spinning multi-hit slash, making it a more effective air-to-ground approach and offsetting Edge's greatest weakness.
  His original Jump Swing has now been moved to Hover Swing, allowing him to more effectively juggle airborne foes.
  Airdash Swings are now more effective attacks, allowing Edge to make his hits count instead of just rushing through foes - the Horizontal Swing is a momentum-cancelling multi-hit flame attack, useful for racking up damage, and the Vertical Swing is a powerful aerial strike ideal for catching foes unawares.
  
• Edge's hover-state now slows his descent more, making it more useful for juggling airborne enemies.
  
• Tweaked the launch direction and stagger of Run Swing and Dash Swing to more effectively link into Edge's aerial attacks. Also improved their shield damage - they're weak attacks but they're still viable options for pressuring shields.
  
• Improved visuals on jet-flares.
  

Bluster

• Bluster's hover now falls a little bit slower.
  
• Bluster's up/down full-charge shot, the cyclone, now lasts longer. This increases its damage potential but forces Bluster to commit to an unsafe attack for a long stretch of time. To compensate, he can now move at low speed in all directions during the attack. I fully anticipate this will need to be changed, so please, King of Bullies, enjoy it while it lasts.
  

Valerie

• Made some small improvements to Valerie's model and visuals on jet-flares.
  

Sherpa

• Sherpa's laser now more accurately extends itself, independent of Sherpa's current position - this means launching yourself around with your laser doesn't change the laser's end-point, allowing you to blast people above and below much more effectively.
  
• Sherpa can now launch himself horizontally with his lasers - simply input the opposite direction while firing to release the inhibitors and blast away!
  
• Removed the third hitbox on Sherpa's Dash Swing which sat underneath his forward-facing hitbox - this was intended to catch people trying to dash underneath Sherpa during the attack, but in practice just caused it to deal absurd damage. The initial hitbox has been scaled up to compensate.
  

Kero

• Made Kero slightly bulkier to make her easier to identify at a distance.
  
• Replaced Kero's Uncharged Shot with an improved tongue attack - officially moving Kero's swallow-and-spit ability to Uncharged Shot. This allows her to grab projectiles from any state and fire them back, too. She can even lash her tongue out vertically!
  
• Replaced Kero's Standing Swing with a launching kick, giving her another combo tool and a more straight-forward attack.
  

Percival

• Percival's Fully-Charged Shot now includes a melee attack right at the start as Percival sweeps his sword. The projectile itself now has a larger hitbox, better reflecting the new animation.
  

Bug Fixes

• Added the pause menu to the Quick Lobby.
  
• Fixed slow-down bug in the Quick Lobby.
  
• You can now "Return to Lobby" from within the lobby - basically, you can use this button to get to your preferred lobby after changing your preferences. It still won't do anything if you're in the right lobby.
  
• Improved collision with sloped rooves - sorry, space cadets, but I'm sure you'll get out of bounds again somehow.
  
• Fixed item spawn points for Everlanche Climb.
  
• Fixed issue with characters getting underground on Moonbase Veracity.
  

General

• Added a controller recommendation to the opening screen. It's an extra 2 seconds on load-time, I know, but it makes a world of difference.
  
• Plunge speeds for characters have been drastically increased across the board. This should help players snap back to the ground more easily, and is particularly useful for land cancelling. If you want to aim down but don't want to plunge, don't forget you can hold in the jump button.
  
• Dash duration has been increased for all characters (exempting Kero, who doesn't have a fixed duration). This won't change your overall speed, but makes continuous dashing a little more forgiving.
  
• Extended stun on landing. This only applies to attacks that stun for a reasonable period, and only when the force of the attack has all but vanished, but there'll be more moments to follow up an attack now.
  
• Changed the Solid Smokescreen into a power item, and gave it a limited fuel supply. It was proving a little too dominant.
  
• Changed the Paper Fan back to a standard melee item (for now).
  
• Gate switches (such as in Luminaire Labs) can now be activated by interacting with them. I guess Professor Lumen got fed up with Rondo kicking his way in.
  
• Multiplayer Qualifiers now feature a split-screen camera.
  
• Removed the snail-type enemies from #1's Qualifier - they're still too clunky to have running around, and it's the first chance you get to play around with the game. I'll figure something else out.
  

New Content

Valerie

• As a result of changes to dash duration, Valerie's flight now lasts a little while longer.
  

Sherpa

• As a result of changes to plunge speed, Sherpa's upwards-facing laser now sends him plummeting back down to the ground.