An All-Star Fighting Game and how it should be done

[Artemis]

I was playing Soul Calibur II the other day and once again the thought "Damn is this one awesome fun fighting game" entered my head (it's kind of hard to go through a SCII session without it:p ). Everything about the game is perfect. The characters, the music (while not memorable it still fits), the fighting style, the atmosphere, the EVERYTHING! And now I realize that if there were to be a humongo crossover fighting game featuring characters and mascots from every video game company (or at least the universally good ones), these were the guys to do it.

I used to want a 2D fighter done by Capcom with high-res sprites featuring your favorite characters from Nintendo, Sega, Capcom, Namco, Konami, Square-Enix, etc. Then I thought it would be better if Samy did it with the Guilty Gear engine. Now I want it to be a 3D fighting game done by Namco using the Soul Calibur II engine. Think about it! If you thought Link and Spawn looked sweet being done by those artists, think how sweet all your other favorites would look!

Of course, I know all the troubles involved with a quality All-Star Fighter. Licensing hell. I wouldn't put it beyond a few companies to charge an arm and a leg for use of their characters. Bah, can't they realize that this would be good advertising? Someone would play as their character, like the character, and then would want to check out the game the character came from.

Then there's the problem of running to system-exclusive characters. Putting Mario & Link would keep it from going to PS2 or XBOX. Putting in Jak & Daxter would keep it from going to XBOX or GC. Putting in.....some....XBOX dude would keep it from going to GC or PS2. I know the head honchos at Nintendo would rather stick forks in their eyes while gargling tobasco sause and walk through a yard full of hungry dogs with a steak glued to their crotch than have their characters appear on a non-Nintendo system. And this is the type of game everyone should enjoy.

But I can dream. And I'd love to see the guys behind SCII recreate these characters, create the stages that would match them, vast and beautiful, and orchestrate the classic tunes from each characters repective game.

I think it'd be the epitome of cool.

kthxbai.

[Artimus Gigan]

Actualy I thought Cloud Strife would have been a better character to put into the PS2 version then Heihatchi...

[Andrew T. Hingson]

True but he would have been UBER awesome in Soul Calibur II none the less. Still that would take some major string pulling... Square doesn't like to share their characters too often.

[Duke Psychology]

you, sir, are the king of fantasy. and that's a pretty big fantasy. many gaming companies would NEVER share their characters, no matter how cool it'd be.

[Master Moron]

Actualy I thought Cloud Strife would have been a better character to put into the PS2 version then Heihatchi...
Crash Bandicoot would have been a better character than Heihatchi.

[Artemis]

Cloud Strife already did his fighting gig in Ehrgeiz.And Link already did his fighting gig in SSBM, but that didn't stop him from getting the SCII-sweetness treatment.

Y'all need to understand...done by the SCII team's fine hands....and done right...this could be the best crossover fighting game ever, surpassing Capcom vs. SNK, Marvel vs. Capcom and even Super Smash Bros. Melee.

A roster featuring 2-3 of each companies finest characters, all duking it out in wonderfully crafted worlds, lifted straight from their games and given a touch of the artistic teams' own style. All the geeks with their constant "Who would win in a fight? X from Nintendo or X from SEGA?" can finally see it themselves. Using the fight mechanics to create in-character fighting moves and seeing it done by those wonderful graphics would rock!

And how about a Story Mode? Imagine how interesting that could be! And their victory poses, taunts, character-specific endings, heck, even a little character interaction! Man, the more I think about this, that sadder I get knowing it'd never happen.

King of Fantasy, eh? I'm ready to don that crown!

[Frank Castle]

Solid Snake in a fighting game? Oh Yeah.:cool:

[Vyse]

I can see it now: Heiachi vs. Cranky Kong

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Solid Snake in a fighting game? Oh Yeah.:cool:
It's your lucky day...

http://www.worldfighters.com/html/chara/snak.html

[Andrew T. Hingson]

I can see it now: Heiachi vs. Cranky KongThe battle of the old and surly...

Okay... I've compiled... THE List

Capcom, Konami, Sega, Nintendo, Rareware, Ubisoft, Eidos, Hudson, Hal Labs, Square-Enix, Interplay, Naughty Dog, Vivendi Universal, Namco, etc.

It would be near freak'n impossible to release because of all the companies involved but it would be UBER awesome!

Mario
Luigi
Link
Donkey Kong
Samus
Fox
Pikachu (I know, I know, but he's a part of VG history now)
Kirby
Lolo
Sonic
Knuckles
Knights
Vectorman
Gex
Crash
Spyro
Bubsy
Jak and Daxter
Sly Cooper
Banjo and Kazooie
Joanna Dark
Conker
Rash (from Battletoads)
Fulgore (from Killer Instinct)
Sabre Wulf (the old man not the wolf)
Earthworm Jim
Boogerman
Blob (from Clayfighter)
Rocket
Sparkster
Simon Belmont
Solid Snake
Goemon (the Mystical Ninja)
Lara Croft
Mega Man
Zero
Ryu
Chun Lee
Aurther or Maximo
Pacman
Knightmare
Heihachi
Mr. Driller
Cloud
Crono
Ederik / Loto (from Dragon Warrior)
Rayman
Prince of Persia
Bomberman
Dr. Higgens (the guy from Adventure Island)

[Sora Takenouchi]

It would be near freak'n impossible to release because of all the companies involved but it would be UBER awesome!

Not every company would be involved. Only one has to *make* it (Namco and the Soul Calibur II guys in this case). The rest just has to license the use of their characters. Which would cost Namco quite a pretty penny.:sweat:

Nice roster and idea tho'.:)

[Tapout]

I have an idea!

Let's see if anyone can come up with someone who would have been a worse choice than Heihachi for SCII.

Anyone? Anyone?

[crickets]

[Mynd Hed]

Hmm... I dunno, I don't think it's as good an idea as it sounds on the surface. Even if we just assume that all the companies involved would be willing to license their characters without charging an arm and a leg, some characters wouldn't make the transition to 3D very well-- I'm mostly thinking here of the Street Fighter crew and the characters from other traditionally 2D franchises.
Guile = teh awesome, but Guile in 3D, even if you make him LOOK good (hardly guaranteed, even with Namco at the helm), would not play at all like the Guile I know and love. Would he have his Sonic Boom? If not, why on Earth would I want to play him, or Ryu, or any of the other loads of characters with signature projectile attacks? And if so, how would that affect the playability of characters from Tekken, Soul Calibur, and other franchises that have avoided projectile attacks on the whole?
Then you've got the problem of putting loads of weaponless characters in with loads of character with weapons. Reach becomes a big factor in 3D fighters, and if you think people complained about Heihachi being the PS2 version of Soul Calibur II, wait until you hear the whining when people's favorite characters get owned by Cloud Strife just because Cloud has a big sword with mega reach and their characters don't. Sure, there are ways to make a character effective despite a reach disadvantage, but only so many of them, and with that big a cast list, Namco would run out of them pretty quick and be stuck with a lot of redundant characters.
But the biggest problem is the graphics. Soul Calibur II's graphics are so gorgeous in part because it has relatively few characters-- and you can also see that they're a noticable step down from the first SC on the Dreamcast despite the fact that it came out years later, in part because the game is multiplatform and thus can't be fine-tuned quite as much to a specific piece of hardware, but another big factor in that has got to be that there are more characters to render.
With a cast of fifty-plus character a la Marvel vs. Capcom 2, this hypothetical game would have to drastically scale back the level of detail on each individual character, and you'd wind up with something that looks a lot more like Smash Bros. than Soul Calibur.

It's nice to say, "I want something that's just like SCII but with every character in the world in it," but it's a lot harder to do it and make it work. Personally, I call it a pipe dream.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Pac Man or Mr. Driller perhaps?

They should have used Jak! He's a good counterpart to Link, but I guess he's too cartoony looking (even compared to Link)

[Slagar]

Of the characters suggested, I can only see the Soul Calibur 2 engine (which I love just as much as the next guy) working for Cloud. Maybe Fulgore or Chun-li. Everyone else would feel out of place with the atmosphere and fighting style (completely based on melee weapons, remember) of Soul Calibur.

Really, the whole idea of an "all-stars" game is a classic example of something that might look good on paper, but wouldn't work out in real life. Now, a fighting game with characters from a just a few companies, say, Sega and Nintendo... that's a little easier to imagine. I, for one, think that a "Sega vs. Nintendo" game would be great... but even then, I can't see it working with the Soul Calibur engine.

[Frank Castle]

It's your lucky day...

http://www.worldfighters.com/html/chara/snak.htmlI hope it's released in the US.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Me too, because I've been itching for another party fighter since a lot of folks are board with Smash Bros. Melee now (but I'm not), but it could be tricky for a couple of reasons.

1) Konami & Hudson would have to get the rights to some of the anime properties on the game. Beyblade and Transformers are both published by Atari in the US and I'm not sure about any of the others.

2) Some properties were never released in the US so Konami may be hesitant to bring it out.

3) It may just be TOO Japanese and Konami wont want to bring it out

Even if they don't bring it out. I may buy an import and FreeLoader just for this game.

[Allen's Nickname.]

Pac Man or Mr. Driller perhaps?

SC character with a drill?

Uber-sexy, I'm afraid.

[Andy Mancini]

Konami & Hudson would have to get the rights to some of the anime properties on the game. Beyblade and Transformers are both published by Atari in the US and I'm not sure about any of the others."Dream Mix TV: World Fighters" features characters created by Konami (Solid Snake, Simon Belmont, Twinbee), Hudson (Master Higgins, Bomberman, Hugo from "Bloody Roar"), and Takara (Optimus Prime, Licca-chan, Tyson Granger from "Beyblade"). Since both Takara and Konami have given Hudson offical permission to use their characters, I don't really see a problem.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Takara doesn't have sole control over some franchises in the US though. Beyblade and Transformers are both distributed by Atari in the US. So if they don't get the rights from them, then they can't bring it out.

It disturbs me to think that Beyblade products are being produced by the same company that brought us Transformers...