This game is clearly not Super Smash Bros.
SiliconNooB and Deimosion join forces with Lusipurr to talk about many games that are definitely not Super Smash Bros., but which almost certainly include two different types of girl-centrered games. Surprise: the one about amputees is the good one!
EpyI would love a Final Fantasy XI offline and its baffling to me how Wada still has his job. Those connections must run deep.
MelBefore listening, I’ll just say this about the Smash rip-off: I’m all for more competition spurring both sides to push themselves more, but I have every confidence that this Sony rip-off wont truly be able to compete. If it turns out competent, then good. Another good game to buy. But unless you follow the Smash scene rather closely, you might not be aware of how deep this game is. Brawl was a step back, to be sure, but it was still a game much deeper than it appeared. And I’m betting Sony wont be able to generate anything capable of hosting a competitive tournament scene. But we’ll see.
EthosI largely agree, Mel. Competition is good and hopefully it drives (the surprisingly deep) Smash Bros. to be even better.
However, I have more faith in Sony than you do.
Because it is such an unabashed clone, I think they’re really going to put the effort into making it as balanced and deep as possible. As long as items and crazy special moves can be turned off, I’d say it has a chance.
Maybe it’s just the circles I hang out with, but SSB seems to be pretty commonly accepted to be rich enough to maintain its tournament scene. And even the devs say it’s not a balanced game. I don’t know if Sony Smash Bros will be as deep, but I definitely think it has a chance. Especially if it doesn’t have that goddamn tripping mechanic.
MelBrawl was, without a doubt, hobbled in the name of making it less intimidating. One look at high level Melee play and anyone out of the know would go cross eyed. They took that reaction, and made Brawl with “correcting” it in mind. Interestingly, fans have moved to correct this correction, with the release of the soft mod Project M, which REMOVES tripping and does several other things to make Brawl more competitive and less random.
That said, I do think this Sony initiative has a chance. I have plenty of doubt, though, as most of Nintendo’s good ideas tend to get lifted poorly, rather than well, by people who never really understood what it was they were copying.
Also, that Portal 2 idea is brilliant! I’m not very good at level design, but I somehow think that might help in making a torturous Lusipurrian test chamber!
Lusipurr@Mel: My concern is that this is just a money grab. “Look, we’ve made a game where our IPs beat each other up, too!” Is not the same as actually making a good game with depth in which IPs beat up other IPs. Also, the Portal 2 contest does seem like a good idea (not least of all because this idea is actually MINE). It seems fairly modular (almost like playing with Lego bricks), so it should be easy enough to pick up. We’ll talk about it a bit more when the situation develops. I think the main goal (at least now) will be to stump me for the longest possible time.
@Ethan: I’m afraid my predictions run the other way. Because it is an unabashed clone, I suspect this is a quick copy-job and that it will disappoint. And part of that disappointment will come from the fact that, simply enough, Sony does not have the beloved army of characters which Nintendo has at its disposal. Second-tier properties combined with a quick copy-and-paste job seems to me not a recipe for unbounded optimism but, rather, grave concern. If it turns out well, so much the better–it will be a nice surprise. But, I doubt it will go that way.
MelMascot gathering isn’t something Sony OR MS could really do as well as Nintendo. They actually have, and wholly OWN those characters. Sony didn’t make Uncharted. A studio they own did. And ownership of Naughty Dog could potentially be lost by Sony. Nintendo, on the other hand, can’t lose 90% of the studios that made the roster of Smash Brothers because those studios ARE Nintendo. Hal Laboratories isn’t a second party studio, they were made of and still consist of Nintendo employees (their current CEO being one of them). So I think, inherently, Sony is at a disadvantage.
Mario fighting Yoshi and Ganondorf is a cool cross over between Nintendo franchises. Fat Princess fighting Parappa the Rapper? I had to be reminded Sony owned those properties. At my most pessimistic I’d call this Sony doing what it always does: copying success for themselves. That gameplan can work (See: PS1 and 2) but it usually doesn’t last (See: PS3, PSP, PSVita, Move, etc, etc).
I could see the Sony not-Smash Brother’s being good. I assume they’re doing local multiplayer? Because I don’t like the single player mode in fighting games (except Bushido Blade which the “honorable kill” thing was slightly broken and that boss with a handgun was also extremely broken).
Did they ever include Windwaker Ganondorf in Smash Brothers? I think he was the best one outside of Adventure of Link’s game over screen.
Mel@EP: They used OoT Ganondorf in Melee and TP Ganondorf in Brawl. And I do believe they’re going to include local multiplayer in this Sony smash game as well as online, of course. 4 player max, unsurprisingly.
