Sunday, December 4, 2005

The 1337 Hammer Bros.

Comment Commentary

Solo- I like this idea. I kind of came up with something interesting to talk about this time, though, so I'll just talk about this in the Commentary.

All of this high definition stuff in the next generation of game consoles is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of "unnecessary technology." I realize that it's a natural progression for TV signals to eventually get sharper, but Microsoft and Sony are hyping it as way more important than it should be. If I recall correctly, the little Xbox 360 promotional blurb at the demo kiosks in Walmart have "mind blowing high definition graphics" as the first selling point. Then, after that, comes the advanced user interface, and internet features.

I'm not trying to make this a "graphics aren't important" rant. While it's true that gameplay will forever be king, as long as that is good, good visuals can make a great game even better (Resident Evil 4's level of atmosphere was just as important to its success as the gameplay changes were, almost). But, I'm on enough of a tangent.

So, while it's neither necessary or market-changing technology, high definition has its place, but people make too big of a deal of it.

Azure- cocksdicks lol

Shin- [insert a five-paragraph rant about Azure being a skank here.]

--

So there were statements made about the new Super Smash Bros. for the Revolution this week. Mr. Sakurai (the director of the previous Smash Bros) is involved with the project, despite his leaving HAL, and Nintendo has opened a new studio in Tokyo for the creation of this game. Apparently, a third party is involved with the project as well.

So this is adding to the mountain of Revolution speculation going on. The biggest thing here is who this mysterious third party is, how much involvement this company will have with the project, and if they are someone with their own established franchises (Sega seems to be one of the major guesses), will there be non-Nintendo characters included in the game?

I would prefer Smash Bros. to feature Nintendo characters exclusively. Including other franchises would make it some sort of Nintendo vs. [COMPANY] thing, which I would be fine with if it was some sort of spinoff franchise.

I can't say I wouldn't be interested in some giant, orgasmic, Nintendo vs. Capcom vs. Namco vs. Konami vs. Sega vs. Shonen Jump extravaganza, but doing this would cause Japan to be destroyed in a giant explosion of awesome. Sort of like this:



As a bit of a fanboyish dreaming, though, I would like to see some sort of costume/weapon dynamic with characters. Throughout Nintendo's history, characters have gone through different character designs, and been given different weapons.. I don't see why that shouldn't be incorporated into Smash Bros., as it would sort of add to the "Nintendo's legacy!" theme of the franchise.

I imagine that it could be executed similarly to Jump Superstars. As none of you probably know how the hell it works (unless you remember my delusional ramblings about it a couple of months back), there are different variations of most of the fighters- a stronger level of the character will have certain special attacks and appearances, while weaker ones will have their own specials and costumes.

So imagine, rather than having a regular Link and a Kid Link in Smash Bros., you have the Link "category," through which you can choose a variation of Link. So you could have OoT/Twilight Princess Link, OoT Kid Link, cel-shaded Windwaker Link, each with their own specials (I don't think that any one Link should be more "powerful" than another like in Jump, but balanced..). Then there's Samus with various suits (Varia, Fusion, Light/Dark/whatever).

It could limit the "zomg clone characters" complaint people had in Melee, like with Mario/Dr. Mario and maybe Luigi (as long as the clones are within the same franchise- Falcon/Ganon is the main offender here), while at the same time provide more variety and fanservice for the gamers looking for more depth and throwbacks to previous iterations of the characters.

And of course, there are some characters who really haven't undergone many changes, like Donkey Kong or Kirby, but they could come up with something.

Also, I demand some sort of 2D sprite mode on the side, unless they announce Smash Bros. DS anytime soon.

Wow, no wonder I suck so badly. This whole post just proves that I have too much time.
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