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Akira Howard Enlists into Battle! (Astral Chain)

RandomAce

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NEURON’S ROOKIE OFFICER: AKIRA HOWARD

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Akira is the main protagonist of Nintendo and Platinum Games’s new upcoming series, Astral Chain. Set in a future version of Earth overrun by dangerous alien life forms known as chimera, that started appearing through wormholes after a mysterious meteorite struck the planet. 90% of the planet became inhabitable, with most survivors taking refuge on an artificial floating island known as the Ark, where peace was stored for 10 years until gates began appearing on the Ark as well.

You play as a rookie officer of Neuron, a police force founded to fight and protect against the chimera. After being born on the same year as the meteor strike, you and your twin sibling became orphans and were later adopted by Maximilian Howard, an officer of neuron, and later enlisted yourself. You alongside your twin will investigate chimera crime scenes, fight against chimera, and later uncover the mystery behind the invasion with the help of the introduction of living weapons known as Legions.

Akira is an avatar and similar to some of the Fire Emblem protagonists, you can choose their name, gender, hair style, hair color, eye color, and skin color. The different genders are actually twins and the gender you didn’t choose will have the same eye color, skin color, and hair color as you and tag along with you throughout the story. The protagonist themselves isn’t named Akira, it’s actually the twin you didn’t choose, but since both could be called Akira and can be chosen as the protagonist... that’s their canon name for now.

ARIKA’S POTENTIAL:

MECHANICAL BATON

Akira’s main weapon is the X baton, a long metal slab that is covered in electrical energy to stun and nullify enemies in close-quartered combat. A more hard hitting but lighter and smaller weapon like the X-baton hasn’t been seen in Smash yet, having longer ranged and quick melee styled attacks could be a very interesting avenue to explore and can be differentiated from looking similar to sword fighters.

This isn’t just a normal baton however, as with any futuristic game, it has something up it’s sleeve, and in this case the baton can also be converted into a energy gun. Akira’s move set could be composed of close ranged combat alongside long ranged combat to emphasis the versatility of this weapon.

LEGIONS

Akira’s second main form of combat are legions. Legions are living creatures, former Chimera that were neutralized, experimented on, and trained to aid Neuron police forces in investigations and combat, but they can only be seen by other Chimera and Legion users, their effects on the other hand can be seen by everyone. Since experimentation on the creation of legions is recent, very few are used and the twins are the ones that do. These legions are activated through an arm disk located slightly above their wrist, for visualization, think of how cards are placed on a duel disk in Yugi-Oh. When activated, the user’s hair and eyes turn blue, with blue markings appearing from their face to their upper shoulder, and an electrical chain is formed between the user and legion.

Once in battle, a Legion will focus in on an enemy and use a variety of attacks and commands to aid you. Standard Attacks, where a legion uses their attacks on an enemy on it’s own, which can help you in cases where there are multiple enemies or you need to heal. Sync Attacks are unique attacks that involve both you and your legion to attack in sync with each other for extra damage. And Chain Abilities are unique skills that involves using the chain that connects you and your legion to trap and even attack enemies.

There are five types of legions: Sword, which use arm blades to constantly attack enemies from medium ranged distances. Arrow, which use projectile attacks in the form of a futuristic bow. Beast, which are four legged legions that can be rideable and use a more feral style of attacks. Axe, which use a long bladed weapon that can block attacks and are very powerful at long distances. And Armor, which are extremely strong, use close quartered combat, and are wearable. Legions have health and cannot always be used, once their health is at 0 you must wait some time until they can be used again.

Legions can provide an interesting playstyle for Akira not seen in Smash yet, revolving around cooperating with your legion and using their abilities to their fullest potential.

WHY AKIRA?:

Along with having lots of move set potential, Astral Chain is a new Nintendo series cut from the same cloth as Bayonetta and Devil May Cry which are all by the same director. It’s always fun to have a new interesting series crossover with Smash and can help it in the long run.

Whether they will appear either in this Fighter Pass or potentially afterward is based on how far along the game is in when developers were deciding on the DLC newcomers. Seeing how they usually wait until after a new series is released to decide on a newcomer and the fact the game doesn’t come out until late August, Akira may not have been strongly considered. Despite this, if the game does become successful, Akira could easily become a frontrunner for Smash later on.

OFFICERS:

FOUNDER - RandomAce

CHARACTER ARTWORK:

WIP

(NOTE: This thread is a work in progress. I will be updating the OP as frequently as I can whenever new info and the game releases.)
 
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fogbadge

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it took longer than i expected for this thread to show up, itd be great to see how they could work this kind of combat into smash

now i wonder if they would be called akira in game as theyre only called that when theyre not the player character so maybe itd be a bit on for them to be named that cause itd be like playing the character who takes a secondary role

whats interesting is that while nintendo and platinum share the copy right to the game, the character designer owns the copy right to the main character design, so theyd technically be 3rd party characters for a 1st party series

also its "chain" not "chains"
 

RandomAce

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it took longer than i expected for this thread to show up, itd be great to see how they could work this kind of combat into smash

now i wonder if they would be called akira in game as theyre only called that when theyre not the player character so maybe itd be a bit on for them to be named that cause itd be like playing the character who takes a secondary role

whats interesting is that while nintendo and platinum share the copy right to the game, the character designer owns the copy right to the main character design, so theyd technically be 3rd party characters for a 1st party series

also its "chain" not "chains"
It’s confusing since the developers decided to make the gender options twins and have the gender that you didn’t choose still be a part of the story and the partner that travels alongside you. This means that in a sense both the male and female character are the protagonist and Akira, and Akira and the protagonist are one and the same.

The rights distributed for Astral Chain isn’t that different from some of the other series in Smash. It’s sorta like Pokémon, where while they are made by a different company and the designs go to a certain artist, they’re still under the Nintendo umbrella. I’d imagine Nintendo still owns the twins and have a partner deal when it comes to the character designs.
 
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fogbadge

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It’s confusing since the developers decided to make the developers twins and have the gender that you didn’t choose still be a part of the story that travels alongside you. This means that in a sense both the male and female character are the protagonist and Akira, and Akira and the protagonist are one and the same.

The rights distributed for Astral Chain isn’t that different from some of the other series in Smash. It’s sorta like Pokémon, where while they are made by a different company and the designs go to a certain artist, they’re still under the Nintendo umbrella. I’d imagine Nintendo still owns the twins and have a partner deal when it comes to the character designs.
well who knows what sakurai would call them

no if it was the same as pokemon the the copyright notice would only credit nintendo platinum and not list the the main character design separately and credit them to Masakazu Katsura/SHUEISHA
 

RandomAce

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well who knows what sakurai would call them

no if it was the same as pokemon the the copyright notice would only credit nintendo platinum and not list the the main character design separately and credit them to Masakazu Katsura/SHUEISHA
It’s in a similar vein to Tetsuya Nomura, where he is credited for the character designs, but Square Enix also owns the characters. It’s standard to credit esteemed artists that worked on your project.

I imagine the same thing happens here.
 

BZL8

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One thing we can all agree upon if the officers get in:

Memes involving Joker and Yoshi will skyrocket.
 

YoshiandToad

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Sign me up.

Akira is a very strange case as previously discussed. Much like Toad or Yoshi there's a bit of an identity crisis with Akira technically being the sibling of the protagonist...but since the design is the same for both protagonist and sibling, short of referring to the character as 'Rookie' I can't imagine Sakurai would use any name bar Akira Howard.
 

fogbadge

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It’s in a similar vein to Tetsuya Nomura, where he is credited for the character designs, but Square Enix also owns the characters. It’s standard to credit esteemed artists that worked on your project.

I imagine the same thing happens here.
no i dont mean hes being credited for designing the characters im saying he own the copyrights to the characters

Sign me up.

Akira is a very strange case as previously discussed. Much like Toad or Yoshi there's a bit of an identity crisis with Akira technically being the sibling of the protagonist...but since the design is the same for both protagonist and sibling, short of referring to the character as 'Rookie' I can't imagine Sakurai would use any name bar Akira Howard.
legionare perhaps? ive heard them referred to as such at some point
 

RandomAce

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no i dont mean hes being credited for designing the characters im saying he own the copyrights to the characters



legionare perhaps? ive heard them referred to as such at some point
Nintendo probably still owns some part of Akira, either there’s a fifty-fifty partnership or the character itself but not the design made by the artist. I doubt the artist and Shuesha completely own the main characters. We’ll have to see.

One thing we can all agree upon if the officers get in:


Memes involving Joker and Yoshi will skyrocket.
I never heard of these jokes. Plz tell me.
 
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fogbadge

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Nintendo probably still owns some part of Akira, either there’s a fifty-fifty partnership or the character itself but not the design made by the artist. I doubt the artist and Shuesha completely own the main characters. We’ll have to see.
but if that was the case then the copyright notice would list him alongside nintendo and platinum
 

BZL8

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but if that was the case then the copyright notice would list him alongside nintendo and platinum
This is the copyright notice for Astral Chain.
© 2019 Nintendo / PlatinumGames Inc. Main Character Design ©Masakazu Katsura/SHUEISHA
The Astral Chain IP is owned by Nintendo and Platinum. Katsura and Shueihsa do not have a say in the handling of the IP.
Nintendo probably still owns some part of Akira, either there’s a fifty-fifty partnership or the character itself but not the design made by the artist. I doubt the artist and Shuesha completely own the main characters. We’ll have to see.


I never heard of these jokes. Plz tell me.
Yoshi (jokingly) accused of tax evasion and Joker being a thief means they are targets of law enforcement, something that would make them natural foes to the officers.
 
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RandomAce

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This is the copyright notice for Astral Chain.


The Astral Chain IP is owned by Nintendo and Platinum. Katsura and Shueihsa do not have a say in the handling of the IP.


Yoshi (jokingly) accused of tax evasion and Joker being a thief means they are targets of law enforcement, something that would make them natural foes to the officers.
Yes the copyright belongs to Nintendo and Platinum Games.

Acclaimed artists usually get credited for their work on a game. This is why Tetsuya Nomura always gets credited despite not always owning every character he designs. In this case, the artist for the game is a well known mangaka (manga artist) and gets credited for it. He may own the designs, but the character themselves are still owned by Nintendo/Platinum.
 
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KatKit

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About time! I was going to make the thread myself (I even had a title like "Seriously Synchronized Synergy: Astral Chain Support Thread"), but didn't due to lack of free time/not having a computer. Long story short, thanks for making this. Astral Chain looks soooo freakin' fun (and it has local co-op!). I completely support this. If it doesn't happen this pass, hopefully they make it in Smash another way some day.
 

RandomAce

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About time! I was going to make the thread myself (I even had a title like "Seriously Synchronized Synergy: Astral Chain Support Thread"), but didn't due to lack of free time/not having a computer. Long story short, thanks for making this. Astral Chain looks soooo freakin' fun (and it has local co-op!). I completely support this. If it doesn't happen this pass, hopefully they make it in Smash another way some day.
I like Astral Chain and I was surprised that there wasn’t a support thread despite some people in the main threads talking about it as well.

This is actually the second time this happened. My first thread was on Byleth who didn’t have a support thread either despite Edelgard already having one nearly a year prior.
 

fogbadge

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This is the copyright notice for Astral Chain.


The Astral Chain IP is owned by Nintendo and Platinum. Katsura and Shueihsa do not have a say in the handling of the IP.
but thats not what im saying, im saying he owns the main character design not the ip, which is what the copyright notice you posted says
 

KirbyWorshipper2465

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I like Astral Chain and I was surprised that there wasn’t a support thread despite some people in the main threads talking about it as well.

This is actually the second time this happened. My first thread was on Byleth who didn’t have a support thread either despite Edelgard already having one nearly a year prior.
Because AC is practically obscure compared to recent fan picks for Pokémon and Fire Emblem. Also, people get tired of getting swordspeople from FE.
 

BZL8

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but thats not what im saying, im saying he owns the main character design not the ip, which is what the copyright notice you posted says
I think you are looking into Katsura and Shueisha’s potential controlling factor here too much. What mainly matters is who owns the IP. Just because someone has a main character design listed doesn’t mean that they have a controlling factor.

Case in point: Akira Toriyama’s Bird Studio and Yuji Horii’s Armour Project is credited on every Dragon Quest game and spinoff, and whenever a DQ character makes a cameo outside, but not credited in Smash Bros for some reason. The decision to put the Hero in Smash is ultimately determined by Square-Enix, otherwise we would have seen Armour Project and Bird Studio credits in the copyright.

Likewise, the decision to put Astral Chain in Smash falls on both Nintendo and Platinum. Just because character designs has a separate copyright credit and has a separate party listed doesn’t impact chances whatsoever.
 

fogbadge

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I think you are looking into Katsura and Shueisha’s potential controlling factor here too much. What mainly matters is who owns the IP. Just because someone has a main character design listed doesn’t mean that they have a controlling factor.

Case in point: Akira Toriyama’s Bird Studio and Yuji Horii’s Armour Project is credited on every Dragon Quest game and spinoff, and whenever a DQ character makes a cameo outside, but not credited in Smash Bros for some reason. The decision to put the Hero in Smash is ultimately determined by Square-Enix, otherwise we would have seen Armour Project and Bird Studio credits in the copyright.

Likewise, the decision to put Astral Chain in Smash falls on both Nintendo and Platinum. Just because character designs has a separate copyright credit and has a separate party listed doesn’t impact chances whatsoever.
That isn’t the point I was trying to make I was saying this character is in a rather unusual position

Now the example you given is actually quite different here, the studio you mentioned is listed together with SE in stead of separately as with this manga artist, it’s more of a parallel to Nintendo and platinum sharing the ip.

But again all I mean to say is this seems to be an unusual position for a character to be in, I don’t think it’ll affect their chances in any way
 

AmphabulouSnake

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Ayyyy I was waiting for this thread to show up :D
Honestly if Nintendo decides to support Smash Ultimate for much longer, there might be a second fighters Pass with only first party nintendo characters, and if that's the case, then Akira is definitely a top contender, especially if Astral Chain ends up being successful...
Gotta wait till the end of August I suppose ^^
 

KatKit

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I imagine her being like a combination of Joker (summoning), Pokemon Trainer (Transformation), Shulk (Hold B to open a selectable wheel that changes fight style), Ice Climbers/Rosalina (Dual characters/puppeteers), and Bayonetta (technical/combo based). The game plan is to coordinate attacks with your Legion, switch between ones that are effective in a given scenario on the fly, and maneuver around, weaving in and out to deal chip damage when you're solo. For all of you BlazBlue fans out there, imagine Relius Clover, but with multiple, selectable puppets.
 
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Dannio

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Count me in. The game looks to be a stellar one! I still have to look more into it, but I always love to see new franchises in Smash more, Astral Chain being one of them! I support.
 

KatKit

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When the game comes out later this month, we should post pictures of our customized main characters. I didn't expect customizable outfits, so it's pretty awesome that you can buy different ones in-game; there's a surprising amount of depth to how much we can change Akira's appearance. Here's hoping if they make it in Smash, we get an alternate costume or two, along with different hairstyles, skin tones, etc. Granted, I just want them in Smash to begin with, and I'll be content if Smash only changes hair colors/palette swaps at best (like Robin, e.g.).

And for those of you who are unfamiliar with the game, I recommend checking out the action trailer:

 
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RandomAce

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When the game comes out later this month, we should post pictures of our customized main characters. I didn't expect customizable outfits, so it's pretty awesome that you can buy different ones in-game; there's a surprising amount of depth to how much we can change Akira's appearance. Here's hoping if they make it in Smash, we get an alternate costume or two, along with different hairstyles, skin tones, etc. Granted, I just want them in Smash to begin with, and I'll be content if Smash only changes hair colors/palette swaps at best (like Robin, e.g.).

And for those of you who are unfamiliar with the game, I recommend checking out the action trailer:

I have a feeling they’re willing to give Akira more skin tones, considering they give some to Villager and Pokemon Trainer. Actually, they made those alts darker in the final release.

I like the standard look of the twins so I’ll probably be keeping them that way. I always go for the standard look when it comes to avatars and such.
 
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KatKit

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The standard look of the twins is nice, though I rarely use the default color for anyone. Assuming we can't change their hairstyle in Smash, I'm hoping they have a color that looks good on the Legion as well as Akira. Considering the developers of Astral Chain, I'm hoping they have a black costume with gray hair that looks suspiciously like the Yorha androids from Nier Automata lol. I tend to style avatar characters after myself (I'm boring like that), so if there's a darker skin color alt on the female Akira in Smash (I'm Latina), I'd probably stick with that.

For characters like Robin (avatars who stuck with the default look for Smash), I tend to use the palette swaps that reference other characters I like (Anna red Robin FTW); different dialogue and how it's delivered between the voice artists plays a small role, too. For a character like Villager, I stick with which one has the best looking hairstyle/costume combo, IMO. The purple Pokemon Trainer had the best of all worlds: I liked the color of the Pokemon, I preferred to use the female trainer, and that was my favorite look for her.
 
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chocolatejr9

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Alright, people, we're starting to get preview stuff for the game, including an opening with an anime theme song. Proceed as you wish.
 

KatKit

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The combat will be solid since it's PlatinumGames, but it's nice to know that Astral Chain is jam-packed with side content as well: https://www.google.com/amp/s/kotaku...ts-of-the-new-switch-game-astr-1837252852/amp

This (and Control) are a Game of the Year contenders, IMO. I hope they release a demo or something, because there are still people who know little to nothing about the game, or they're on the fence because they're waiting for reviews.

I hope that Smash can help boost the series' popularity. At the very least, give us a limited time spirit or something.
 
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YoshiandToad

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Just pre-ordered. The more I read about the game the more excited I am.

This hasn't happened to me for a non established franchise in a LONG time so I'm hoping Astral Chain delivers.

Glad to see it's not all about fighting aliens too. I love the database photography task on paper. Cannot wait!
 

chocolatejr9

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The reviews are dropping! I repeat, the reviews are dropping! This not a drill!

Although thankfully, I've mostly seen 9's and 10's.
 

Perkilator

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Here’s a Classic Mode route I created for Akira:

Akira Howard: Legions

Stage 1: :ultswordfighter:x2 on :frigate: (based on Sword Legion)
Stage 2: :ultdarkpit:on Venom (based on Arrow Legion)
Stage 3: :ultwolf:on Corneria (based on Beast Legion)
Stage 4: :ultincineroar:on :norfair: (based on Arm Legion)
Stage 5: :ultsimon:on Moray Towers (night; based on Axe Legion)
Stage 6: The Akira Howard of the opposite gender on Kalos League
Boss: Galleom
 

fogbadge

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The reviews are dropping! I repeat, the reviews are dropping! This not a drill!

Although thankfully, I've mostly seen 9's and 10's.
hmm maybe this is a good sign for the game, if it does well enough maybe we'll get them in smash after all
 

Jocario Zero

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Just dropping by and show my support. I'm really looking forward to Astral Chain. Good to see so many postive reviews.

It would be cool to get at least one Nintendo-Character with the DLC (not hating on the third-partys, all 3 of the are pretty awesome).
Maybe as a bonus-character or something.
 

jamesster445

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My usual stance stands. I'd rather wait til the game comes out before I say it's characters should be in Smash or not.

That said this game looks really freaking good and I can't wait to sink my teeth into it.
 

KatKit

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I hope I can color each Legion a different color like Power Rangers or Eva Units or something.

More on topic, Astral Chain's "Hardcore" difficulty makes it so that whatever damage the Legion takes in combat gets transferred over to Akira. For balance purposes (since I imagine Legions being like Arsene mixed with Nana/Popo), maybe Smash can incorporate something like that.

Also, the game is almost out. Holy crap!!!!! I can't wait. I haven't been this excited for a game since Breath of the Wild.

Edit: I think a season 2 DLC pack that focused on Switch released games would be great. Especially if it had Akira in it.
 
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fogbadge

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i wonder if theyd try to have all 5 legions or just the one

my guess would be the blade one would be the main one for a lot of the moveset and the other four appear for different moves
 
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