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"Bring it on foes! I ain't afraid of you!"
―Matt, Epic Battle Fantasy 5

Matt is a recurring character in the Epic Battle Fantasy series. Along with Natalie, he may be considered the main protagonist of the series; he has appeared in every single game of the series, including spin-offs. He also appears in a few of Matt Roszak's pre-EBF works.

Appearance[]

EBF3 Profile Matt

Matt's profile in EBF3

Matt is depicted as a young adult (possibly in his 20s) with fair skin, blue eyes, and long blonde hair; the latter is worn mostly loose, with a few locks tied into small braids framing his face.

In Epic Battle Fantasy, Matt wears what appears to be a red deerskin jacket, a matching hat, and moccasins (this would become the Leather Hat and Leather Armor in future games). In Epic Battle Fantasy 2, he switches to pirate attire, with a black jacket, scarf, and a sword sheath strapped onto his belt. In subsequent games, he can wear a wide variety of outfits, although his default set remains pirate-themed.

As of Epic Battle Fantasy 5, Matt's "canon" outfit appears to be the Captain's Hat and Hobo Clothes, with either the Ultra Pro 9000X or the Heaven's Gate as his weapon of choice.

Personality[]

Epic Battle Fantasy 1-4[]

Matt is the brawn of the group, and certainly not the brains. He displays a happy-go-lucky personality, is impatient and prone to taking reckless actions (such as poking sealed Lovecraftian horrors and eating obviously poisonous things), and has a disregard for long-winded procedures and intellectual activities (such as solving block puzzles in Epic Battle Fantasy 4). He will also eat almost anything (numerous comments on foes regards how well he thinks they will taste once cooked, even including the toxic-blooded Sand Worm). Also, Matt is quite morally ambiguous (though not as much as Lance), as he holds absolutely no qualms towards looting innocents' houses and killing any foes that stand in his way. This puts him at odds with Natalie and Anna, as depicted well when it came to the taming of the Wooly Mammoth.

Epic Battle Fantasy 5[]

In EBF5, Matt is much more down to earth and slightly more reserved around others than his previous incarnation. While his thievery-based aspects are still present, he is a bit more laidback and genuinely cares about the party, particularly Natalie. Most notably, while he still serves as the brawn of the group, his idiotic personality trait has been drastically toned down.

Matt admits that he has led a sheltered life, with his investigation of what caused the power outage at the beginning of the game apparently being the first time he has left his house in several weeks. According to him, his parents were sailors who took him all over the world with them, but he was too young to remember any of it. Eventually, they left him on Hope Harbor when it became too dangerous for him to come with them, forcing him to learn most of what he knows by himself. Matt is uncertain where his parents are now or even if they are alive, saying that he's accepted that "sailors usually don't live very long". On the flipside, it is possible that Matt's "sheltered life" is more in the sense that he hasn't gone far from home. Furthermore, as he was the children of sailors who may have lived a very rough life, he may be seeing his life as sheltered in comparison to that of his parents.

Throughout the game, Matt serves as the character who usually breaks the fourth wall to teach players what they need to know about the game, be it tips or insights, which in most cases nobody else in his party understood. He appears to be the first in the group to recognize the existence of the player, describing them as an omniscient guardian watching over them. Although he remains uncertain of this for most of the game, he eventually expresses his belief that the player had been guiding the party this entire time, essentially protecting them from terrible fates. When asked by Lance of the evidence of such belief, he pointed out the absurdities of having a menu or even chat box filled with dialogues, which they do not need in the first place, bringing up the question: "Why do they even exist?"

Role[]

Matt is something of a protagonist for the series. While none of the plot lines revolve around him in particular, he is typically the one leading the party into combat, and gets along well with all of his party members. He tends to act as the comic relief of the party, occasionally bungling into humorous scenarios or providing witty one-liners.

In EBF3, due to the addition of a world map, the player controls his movement on the map directly with the arrow keys and the other two characters will follow him (in later games, whoever is the current party leader fulfills this role).

Abilities[]

As a "warrior" archetype, Matt excels in physical stats. He has the highest Attack, Defence, and HP of the party members, and boasts a diverse assortment of powerful physical skills. However, this strength comes at the cost of pitiful Magic Attack, Magic Defence, and MP (although the latter is no longer a concern in EBF5), relegating most of his spells to buffs or debuffs.

Matt's primary elements are Earth and Holy, with lesser focus on Bio, Ice, and Fire; conversely, he rarely has effective Thunder, Wind, or Dark attacks without using shared skills in later EBF games. In the first two games, he was also associated with Bomb, and EBF5 gives him an affinity for Water skills.

Matt's main skillset (known as "Bushido" in earlier games) focuses on strong single-target physical attacks, with a few unique special effects (like hitting all enemies, draining life energy or poisoning them) for variety. Most of his attacks consist of Matt striking the ground with his sword, causing blades, spikes, or raw elemental power to burst from underneath the target and deal massive damage. He's also associated with Unleash, a single-target attack with different special effects based on his equipped sword; in later games, it simply amplified the innate element and on-hit effects of his chosen weapon.

Despite his relative ineptitude with magic, Matt does have a handful of spells at his disposal; earlier games designated these as his "Special" skill set. He can use Temper and Protect to enhance Attack and Defense for a while, or cast Screamer to debuff enemy stats (Attack in EBF5, Magic Defense otherwise). He can also call for support with Mog, NoLegs, and Airstrike, or use Power Metal to attack and heal at the same time. Later games would move most of his spells to other characters or turn them into shared skills and summons, but Matt remains a fairly competent supporter if the need arises. With the right equipment, he can muster a surprisingly decent magical offensive; however, it's much easier to keep him in the role of a supporter, tank, or physical attacker.

Like the other players, Matt has two signature Limit Breaks. Cleaver unleashes a flurry of devastating sword strikes to deal obscene weapon-elemental damage with a high critical hit rate. Alternatively, he can use Ragnarok to summon dozens of weapons to rain down on his enemies from above, finishing with a massive version of Heaven's Gate.

Matt's main limitation that is consistent is his lack of options for multi-hit attacks. He only has access to one multi-hit attack without resorting to shared skills; Wind slash in EBF3 and EBF4, Slicing Cyclone in EBF5. Thus, if you're dealing with hordes of enemies, other characters can cover that area better than Matt can.

Epic Battle Fantasy 5[]

Matt has exclusive access to Temper and Steal Item, befitting his physical-leaning stats and kleptomaniac tendencies. Swift Slash has become one of NoLegs's natural skills, so he learns Slicing Cyclone as his multi-target weapon-elemental option. He now learns natural Water skills, and Nettle can be upgraded to an even more powerful Bio attack; additionally, he can learn shared skills to cover every element in the game with his physical attacks.

Matt is notable as the single best player for stealing; with the Hobo Clothes, Fake Mustache, and Ultra Pro 9000X equipped, a single use of Steal Item will allow him to grab four items at a time. He's also a capable buffer for physically-offensive allies, although his lack of access to Barrier hampers him against magic-focused foes. Conversely, debuffs and status effects are typically better left to other characters, although he has some notable options in those regards for specific situations.

Gallery[]

Bullet Heaven 2 HP Emotes[]

Epic Battle Fantasy 5 Emotes[]

Trivia[]

  • Matt is the first playable character in the Epic Battle Fantasy series to use the equipment switching mechanic that would become commonplace in EBF3 and after.
  • The term Bushido refers to the honor code for Japanese Samurai warriors, which are notorious as masterful swordsmen and carried katana as weapons. Bushido was very much like the Codes of Chivalry for European knights, both of which primarily stressed loyalty to one's lord, or daimyo, as well as the emperor and/or shogun (warlord), inner peace, and victory in battle. This becomes rather ironic in the later games, where his many less-than-honorable quirks are developed.
    • This may also be a reference to Final Fantasy VI, where Bushido is a category of abilities used by Cyan Garamonde. It mainly consists of chargeable attacks which can be highly devastating.
  • Matt is a self-insert for kupo707, considering that the two share the same name (kupo707's real name is Matt Roszak, and his Newgrounds username is matt-likes-swords). Additionally, in Attack of the Black Mages, he is known as kupo707 instead of Matt (he also had orange spiky hair instead of long blonde hair). On the other hand, Matt has evolved into a unique character, and one who is drastically different than his namesake.
  • Matt's character and personality are similar to Fighter from 8-Bit Theater; they are both optimistic and obsessed with legendary swords, gems, armor of invincibility, and other shiny, valuable objects. This also ties into his running gag of commenting on anything that’s shiny.
  • Although swords are Matt's signature weapon, he has been known to wield spears/lances, axes, blunt instruments (clubs, guitars and hammers/mauls), and even more exotic or mundane weapons (such as a dragon's severed arm and a hockey stick). Despite that, his arsenal is typically labeled as "Swords". Whether intentional or not, it is unconfirmed if this was meant to be humorous, since it seems to imply Matt does not know or care about the difference between different types of melee weapons, considering them all as viable swords.
  • One of Matt's recurring idle animations has him juggling items from the party's inventory. In EBF3 and EBF4, he could juggle any three items, but EBF5 has him always juggling three of the same item.
    • In EBF5, Matt can juggle items that aren't even in the player's inventory, so long as they've been collected previously.
  • Due to being the main protagonist and starter player of EBF5, he is the only party member to not be fought (and thus the only one to not have a Bestiary entry).
    • Even counting the rest of the series - including spin-offs - he's still the only one to have never been fought at all, discounting the two-player mode of Brawl Royale.
  • A minor running gag in the Epic Battle Fantasy series is Matt's tendency to identify Lance's tanks as a car; he's done so in EBF2 and EBF5 so far.

Navigation[]

Playable Characters
Matt - Natalie - Lance - Anna - NoLegs
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