Papyrus

"Papyrus Japes The Competition!"

Papyrus is a major character in UNDERTALE, as well as an unseen character in Deltarune.

He is also a playable character in Nexed.

Real-World History
Papyrus was primarily designed by Toby Fox, the lead developer of UNDERTALE. However, the game's credits give mention to J.N. Wiedle, the author of the webcomic Helvetica, as a source of inspiration, likely influencing Papyrus' name and usage of the Papyrus font in his dialouge. Prior to his finalized design, he was called "Times New Roman" and would fedora and be a creep with no redeeming qualities. The latter concept was scrapped as a mean-spirited character didn't fit Toby's vision for UNDERTALE.

In regards to UNDERTALE, Papyrus first appeared in a demo released in 2013, sharing a brief cameo role with his brother Sans after completing the demo on either the Neutral or Pacifist routes.

After UNDERTALE's 2015 release, Papyrus quickly gained popularity among the fandom as well as the general public, becoming one of the game's most-known characters. He has appeared in merchandise based on the game, with him also being present within the world of Deltarune (albeit unseen as of Chapter 2's release).

Gameplay Information
"Papyrus is a member of King Asgore’s Royal Guard… or at least that’s what he’s training to be. He loves nothing more than hunting for humans, calibrating puzzles, and cooking. Despite his bravado and ego, he’s actually a huge softie at heart, but make no mistake; This is one skeleton who you don’t want having a bone to pick with you!

As soon as he heard of the tournament, Papyrus enlisted in order to show his skills off to the world (and to get his lazybones brother Sans out of the house for once). Once he wins and gets the Winner’s Wish, he will get all of the things he utterly deserves. Just imagine how popular he’ll be once he shows his fellow monsters his power!"

Papyrus is a trapper character who specializes in setups to hinder his opponent. Many of his specials allow him to occupy space - His Neutral Special can cover a surprising amount of distance when fully charged, while his Down Special creates an indefinite trap which can easily be activated from anywhere on the stage. All in all, Papyrus excels when he can use his traps to limit the opponent's options.

However, Papyrus does struggle to get KOs; Aside from his reliance on traps, his moves lack KO power. In addition, his below average weight combined with his tall physique makes him easy to hit and KO. Overall, Papyrus is a character who relies on trapping and setups to succeed, needing to wait until later percents to get KOs.

Moveset

 * Wall Jump: Papyrus can jump off of walls.

Grounded Attacks

 * Jab: Papyrus throws a chop.
 * Dash Attack: Papyrus dives forwards with his arms outstretched, sliding on his stomach once he hits the floor.
 * Forward Light: Papyrus throws a hook punch.
 * Up Light: Papyrus flexes his arm as a pseudo-uppercut. This makes it one of his weaker light attacks, but also the most spammable.
 * Down Light: Papyrus stomps the ground.
 * Forward Strong: Papyrus swings a bone like a baseball bat.
 * Up Strong: Papyrus spins a bone above his head, dealing multiple hits of damage.
 * Down Strong: Papyrus causes a bone to rise out of the ground on both sides of himself.
 * Counter: A wall of bones slams into the opponent from in front of Papyrus, launching them forwards.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Air: Papyrus spins in place. Despite its quick startup, it has low range and power.
 * Forward Air: Papyrus throws a wheel kick.
 * Back Air: Papyrus spins a bone behind himself, dealing multiple hits of damage.
 * Up Air: Papyrus throws a bicycle kick.
 * Down Air: Papyrus kicks his feet beneath himself, dealing multiple hits of damage while being able to spike with the final kick.

Grabs / Throws

 * Grab: Papyrus grabs the opponent with one hand.
 * Pummel: Papyrus knees the opponent’s gut.
 * Forward Throw: Papyrus rears back before throwing the opponent forwards.
 * Back Throw: Papyrus spins around before throwing the opponent behind him.
 * Up Throw: Papyrus launches the opponent upwards with a bone which suddenly appears out of the ground.
 * Down Throw: Papyrus holds the opponent up before losing his balance and falling over, launching the opponent forwards.

Stage Intro
A snowy fog is seen on stage, with Papyrus stepping through it and posing for the camera (with the pose resembling his battle sprite from UNDERTALE) before entering his “battle” stance.

Taunts

 * Papyrus laughs as a text box appears reading “NYEH HEH HEH!”
 * Papyrus ponders to himself, referencing an unused animation from UNDERTALE.
 * Papyrus poses with his cape billowing in the wind, referencing an animation from UNDERTALE.
 * Papyrus stomps the ground in anger, referencing an animation from UNDERTALE.

Victory Animations
Papyrus' victory theme is a remixed excerpt of Bonetrousle from UNDERTALE.
 * Papyrus finishes building a snowman in his likeness, triumphantly posing alongside it.
 * Papyrus offers the camera a plate of spaghetti.
 * Papyrus drives up to the camera in his race car bed while wearing sunglasses, which he lowers as he looks at the camera and smiles.

Colors / Costumes


Trivia

 * Papyrus' title, "POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS!!!" is a direct quote from his monologue before the player fights him in UNDERTALE.
 * Papyrus was first revealed in Sans' bio, as Papyrus is the main reason Sans joined the Nexus Tournament.
 * Papyrus was originally planned to have an alt based on Skeletor from He-Man: Masters of the Universe, but this was scapped in favor of his Mettaton EX-inspired alt.

Gameplay-Related

 * If Papyrus is the last fighter to lose their final stock in a Stamina match, he will fade into dust. On rare occasions, his body will fade into dust a second before his head does.

Credits

 * MrYanpai: Creator of Sans' render.