Peppino/Pre-release

Main Abilities

Through out the development of the game, Peppino's movement has been adjusted, tweaked, overhauled and changed a lot, from smaller things in the current moveset, to completely scrapped moves.

Body Slam

Peppino originally didn't have a proper "Ground-Pound" move, as Down had to be held until Peppino started to show after-images, much like in Wario Land 4.

Pressing Jump after landing a Body Slam would give Peppino a little bit more height than a regular jump. This has an unused unique animation in the files.

Before the Eggplant build, Peppino's terminal velocity with the Body Slam was a set value, and could not cancel into the dash if Peppino interracted with a Slope.

Dash

Originally, when turning during a Mach Run, Peppino would continue the dash mid-air. Additionally, he would've originally been able to bump into walls while changing direction during the Mach Run. Since the Rework build, Peppino only continues dashing on the ground.

Wall Run

Peppino originally did not have the Wall Run, instead bumping into a Wall. When the Wall Run was originally introduced, Peppino could only go a short distance up before falling back down. The Wall Run has been removed twice, both times receiving HEAVY backlash from the community and playtesters alike. Before the Eggplant Build, Peppino would not gain additional speed when doing a Wall Run.

Super Jump

Before Tester Build, the player could not adjust the position of the Super Jump, making it activate instantly much like the Shinespark in Metroid.

Before Blue Block Land v2, Peppino couldn't cancel his super jump into the dash, and the Super Jump had a far more signficant ramp-up in speed in some builds.

In Western Build V1, the Super Jump was heavily nerfed, making it so Peppino could only go a short distance mid-air before falling back down, with the Super Jump being able to be done at any Mach Speed. However, these changes were reverted in Western Build V2, but with one final nerf where Peppino could no longer start a Super-Jump midair, and carried a bit of momentum.

As of the April 2021 build, Peppino moves much slower while in the pre-super jump position.

Before the Rework build, Peppino instantly cancelled the Super Jump into the dash.

Super Side Jump

It can only be enabled by hacking the game. As the name states, it is the Super Jump, but sideways. It will also break through metal boxes and kill enemies.

Grab

Before the January Monthly Build, the Grab did not exist. In Demo 1 and Demo 2, Peppino instead had the Slap.

When the grab was introduced, it was far more similar to the Suplex Copy Ability from the Kirby games, as Peppino was locked in place, which granted him various ways to attack whoever he grabbed. All directional keys sent whatever enemy Peppino had grabbed in that direction, with Down sending the enemy a short distance away from Peppino. Pressing Grab again will make Peppino chip away at the enemy's health, with the final blow making him throw the enemy away. Dash makes Peppino tackle his way through with the enemy in front of him as a form of Meat-Shield. Jump made Peppino go high-up in the air and do a Piledriver.

In earlier builds of the game, the grab had a lunging form which could break through blocks and be used for precise platforming, it also was not affected by gravity in the Golf Build

Grab-Jump

Introduced alongside the Grab in the Golf Build, if Jump was pressed while Peppino was grabbing, he'd cancel the grab into a jump that put him in Mach 2, which could also serve as a Double Jump. This move was eventually removed in the SAGE 2019 Demo.

Swingading

In previous builds, rapidly pressing Left and Right made Peppino swing the enemy he grabbed around him killing enemies and breaking blocks near him.

Faceplant

In the Boss Patreon build and builds afterward, if Grab is pressed again while Peppino is lunging forwards, he'll do a faceplant that automatically puts him in Mach 3.

Slap

This move existed way back in Demo 1 and Demo 2. Peppino will close his eyes and nervously swat his palm around, hitting anything in his path. It usually takes a few slaps to get an enemy fully stunned.

Some of the animations would later be used for when breaking big Breakable Blocks with a grab.

Shoulder Bash

Peppino rushes forwards using his shoulder. It is similar to a Dash, but somewhat nerfed as it's not as fast as Mach 3, doesn't stay out permanently and cannot break metal blocks - albeit much quicker to pull off overall due to being faster than getting from Mach 1 to 3. It was stated by PTG that this attack would be used during boss fights, but this never came to fruition.

Tackle

In Peppino's Xmas Break and afterwards, holding dash while holding an enemy will cause Peppino to tackle forward while still holding the enemy. The tackle won't break anything but small blocks, and releasing the dash button will drop the enemy and slow Peppino down. Pressing the grab button again while tackling will throw the enemy forward. Peppino can jump in this form as well as turn around, but the latter will cause him to drop the enemy. Any enemy hit while Peppino is using this move will be defeated. This move was replaced by a spin move in the April 2021 Build.

The tackle was also in GOLF and onwards, but was scrapped in the SAGE 2019 Demo.

Spin

This was used instead of the Tackle move in the April 2021 Build. Holding dash while holding an enemy will cause Peppino to spin around with the enemy while moving at a fast speed, turning around at walls and destroying regular breakable blocks. The enemy cannot be defeated that way, and the player cannot do anything until they either let go of the dash button or press down.

Team Dash

While in Co-op mode, if both players attack each other at the same time, they will start rolling, which has most of the same effects as a Mach 3 dashing stage. The direction of the team dash depends on who attacked first and will go in the direction the first attacker was facing. Neither player can turn around, roll through one-block gaps, or end the dash until they hit a wall, but whoever attacked first can control the speed of the ball as well as jump.

Some time after this feature was implemented, it was removed, likely for the sake of simplifying co-op.

Breakdance

If the shoot button is pressed without a shotgun, Peppino would do a breakdance kick to attack enemies. This attack has a bigger hitbox than grabbing and can be cancelled into either a rolling attack where Peppino curls up into the fetal position, which can bounce off of walls unlike the normal rolling, or a butt-first dashing attack. The rolling attack could also be used instantly by pressing the shoot button while rolling during a dash.

Freefall

If the player presses down while in the air while Peppino is in Mach 3 (as seen in various prerelease footage), Peppino will perform a freefall, where he will dive straight down, supposedly to destroy blocks, and kill enemies. However, this kind of Mach 3 can only be found on Tumblr, not any of the earlier builds (not even Early Test Build contains this ability).

Weapons

Buzzsaw

Peppino charges forward with a large pizza cutter-esque buzzsaw, instantly killing enemies in his path. The buzzsaw needs ammo, represented by fuel cans, to function, and the player can only hold three at a time. Enemies will sometimes drop fuel cans to compensate.

Revolver

In the GOLF Demo

It was similar to final version, except it had different animations, as well as it shot toppings, instead of bullets.

In the April 2021 Build

If the shoot button is pressed without a shotgun or Mort, Peppino would fire a bullet from his revolver, hurting enemies from afar. The revolver, however, had very limited ammo, only being able to hold three bullets at a time. Enemies will sometimes drop bullets to compensate.

Shotgun

In the Halloween Demo

The Shotgun can be found in Ancient's Floor 2, being purchasable for 4 pizza coins. There's only one Shotgun in the entire level, and has limited ammo. That ammo amount being 15 bullets. The Shotgun only fires 1 projectile at a time, taking away 1 bullet in result. Once Peppino runs out of ammo, the shotgun breaks (or disappears).

In the SAGE 2019 Demo

Shotguns could be purchased for 4 pizza coins from Pizzamart (with a maximum of two guns). The gun would break from taking damage, but the player could carry one backup shotgun. The shotgun fires three projectiles at once by pressing up and the grab button at the same time. When performing the body slam, Peppino instead fires downwards while getting a slight vertical boost first, then stomps towards the ground. Pressing the grab button without the upward direction performs a shoulder tackle.

Transformations

For more information and scrapped transformations, see the page here: Transformations/Pre-release

Trivia

• Modding Noise's Hardoween to play as Peppino makes the stage harder to complete, as the stage was initially designed around The Noise's altered moveset (The Noise with his skateboard could reach Mach 3 at much shorter distance than Peppino, and jumps higher).
• When picking up the shotgun, the quote "it's time to chew ass" would appear on screen alongside a special TV sprite. This is a reference to a popular Duke Nukem meme called "Dick Kickem" in which the popular catchphrase "it's time to kick ass and chew gum" is swapped by two words.
• McPig had stated in the past that Peppino was a war veteran suffering from PTSD, to the point where Team Fortress 2 stressed him out because it "hits a bit too close to home." Post-release he changed his mind, however, claiming Peppino probably just imagined it.
  • He also has stated that Peppino doesn't celebrate Halloween because it's too scary for him.