ze9
Smash Ace
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2014
- Messages
- 655
It simply HAS to be, right? I mean...
I remember when was announced for Smash 4.
I didn't really have any past with the character, but I remember that seeing his fans being so happy was really heart-warming to me. I still remember one of the commentators of that E3 Invitational, screaming "SUPER FIGHTING ROBOOOOOOOT" at the top of his lungs when Mega Man got the Smash Ball.
The hype was justified. Mega Man's series really looked dead as a dodo at the time, Capcom wasn't giving it any consideration, Inafune had left, and the most the fans could hope for was a Kickstarter-founded spiritual sequel (Mighty no. 9).
Then, here comes Smash. Mega Man gets resurrected, with animations matching his NES games 1:1, with his most iconic music tracks, with cameos from other beloved bosses and characters. Mega Man gets back in the spotlight and gets acclaimed like he always should have been. His fans are happy, and other people get to try and appreciate his series (like me, for example, after his inclusion in Smash I played through all his NES catalogue).
Then, last year, practically the same thing happened to Castlevania.
This year, it was my turn. Or rather, Banjo-Kazooie's turn, one of the series that I've always held dearest, and that had been unjustly forgotten from its developers and its publishers (not from the fans though, as evidenced by the world cup final-like reactions and by the fact that we broke the internet).
Banjo and Kazooie are back home, with all the other Nintendo characters. They are just like they've always been, though of course they got revisited and modernized with perfect taste and attention to detail. They have all of their moves, and with them, there's Gruntilda, Bottles, Mumbo, the Spiral Mountain, Kirkhope's amazing music tracks...
Banjo's inclusion seemed so impossible, too, since the series is owned by Microsoft, which is theoretically one of Nintendo's direct competitors. And yet, here they are. Not only that, but Nintendo, Sakurai, Rare, Kirkhope, Phil Spencer, the Mayles brothers, and the fans are all congratulating each other and patting each other's backs all over Twitter and other social media. That's just as heartwarming as Banjo's inclusion itself.
Before it actually happened, it really looked impossible, though, just like many other things that have happened to Smash.
There was no way Namco wouldn't impose Pac-man's design from Ghostly Adventures.
No way Square would let Nintendo use the orchestral arrangements for Dragon Quest, the West always gets the MIDIs.
No way Snake could come back after Smash 4, let alone having Simon Belmont join the fight, too.
No way Nintendo would put in K. Rool, he's dead and forgotten - and Ridley? He's too big, Sakurai doesn't want him in.
Cloud? Sonic? Pipe dreams.
Yet, in the end, the worries always vanish and the dreams become reality (though Final Fantasy's music and artworks are apparently too much even for Sakurai)
Against all odds, Sakurai managed to create the biggest and most ambitious crossover in gaming (and maybe more), including properties and characters from the most disparate time periods and companies.
Not only that; every single character is treated with tons of love and with the utmost respect and care for the original material. can't fight if he doesn't pluck his pikmin, can copy everyone's abilities, has all his most iconic weapons, has all his Limit Breaks,has his K.O. meter from the arcade games, and 's movesets pull from all of their boss fights, 's skillset is just the things you normally do in Animal Crossing, 's moves mirror the movements he could do in his little plastic toy original appearance, fight paired, does just the things he could do in Yoshi's Island, is actually very faithful to his canon appearances, gets his original combos and button inputs... Everyone comes with some kind of gimmick, of course. It's not only the character that gets adapted to the game, it's also the game that adapts itself around the character. Like, little things like giving Kirby all the Monado Arts, or having both the younger and older are really going the extra mile. Or even certain details on the clones, like seeing 's arm cannon break open and then recompose when she uses her most powerful attacks, are really something else. This goes for basically everyone. If you think about just how many characters are now in the game, that's just crazy. Their quantity and their quality are both top notch.
Smash has really become a videogame museum, an art gallery. The game that immortalizes other games by putting next to each other their respective characters, locations, items and music tracks: what made them so beloved in the first place. And every single of them becomes even more special because of this synergy.
It gives credence to series that have been recently successful (like Splatoon or Persona), and it revitilizes old series that touched the hearts of gamers but have been since swept by the wayside (like Banjo-Kazooie or F-Zero).
Each time, it feels like a miracle, and each time, both the fans and the creators are surprised and extremely pleased.
Then of course, thanks to Smash everyone gets the opportunity to try the original series of every character, turning all of us in well-mannered and cultured gamers. It made me a Mother fan, for example.
Plus, at this point, Smash contains a great number of gaming's most iconic and beloved series from disparate companies and time periods. If you think about all the people that somehow got involved with this game, it's just crazy. I mean, among the others we have characters designed by freaking Akira Toriyama.
And above all this, Smash somehow manages to be both a balanced and fun fighting game and a great party game. Sakurai is a madman. A madman that can accomplish his goals.
Don't be sad if your character of choice still isn't playable. I was overall very disappointed by the way Smash 4 turned out, but this time I've got all my mains back, and then I've got the Belmonts, I've got K. Rool. I've got Ridley.
And I've got Banjo and Kazooie. I've been waiting for those two to join the fight ever since I saw those four '?' in Smash 64's selection screen! And I'm sure that sooner or later, Dixie will join the fight too.
I'm so pleased right now, and I'm sure many other fans are just as pleased as me, if not thanks to Banjo in particular, surely thanks to someone else. And that's fine. Smash is everybody's party. And from here, there's no way to go but up.
Greetings,
A satisfied fan.
I remember when was announced for Smash 4.
I didn't really have any past with the character, but I remember that seeing his fans being so happy was really heart-warming to me. I still remember one of the commentators of that E3 Invitational, screaming "SUPER FIGHTING ROBOOOOOOOT" at the top of his lungs when Mega Man got the Smash Ball.
The hype was justified. Mega Man's series really looked dead as a dodo at the time, Capcom wasn't giving it any consideration, Inafune had left, and the most the fans could hope for was a Kickstarter-founded spiritual sequel (Mighty no. 9).
Then, here comes Smash. Mega Man gets resurrected, with animations matching his NES games 1:1, with his most iconic music tracks, with cameos from other beloved bosses and characters. Mega Man gets back in the spotlight and gets acclaimed like he always should have been. His fans are happy, and other people get to try and appreciate his series (like me, for example, after his inclusion in Smash I played through all his NES catalogue).
Then, last year, practically the same thing happened to Castlevania.
This year, it was my turn. Or rather, Banjo-Kazooie's turn, one of the series that I've always held dearest, and that had been unjustly forgotten from its developers and its publishers (not from the fans though, as evidenced by the world cup final-like reactions and by the fact that we broke the internet).
Banjo and Kazooie are back home, with all the other Nintendo characters. They are just like they've always been, though of course they got revisited and modernized with perfect taste and attention to detail. They have all of their moves, and with them, there's Gruntilda, Bottles, Mumbo, the Spiral Mountain, Kirkhope's amazing music tracks...
Banjo's inclusion seemed so impossible, too, since the series is owned by Microsoft, which is theoretically one of Nintendo's direct competitors. And yet, here they are. Not only that, but Nintendo, Sakurai, Rare, Kirkhope, Phil Spencer, the Mayles brothers, and the fans are all congratulating each other and patting each other's backs all over Twitter and other social media. That's just as heartwarming as Banjo's inclusion itself.
Before it actually happened, it really looked impossible, though, just like many other things that have happened to Smash.
There was no way Namco wouldn't impose Pac-man's design from Ghostly Adventures.
No way Square would let Nintendo use the orchestral arrangements for Dragon Quest, the West always gets the MIDIs.
No way Snake could come back after Smash 4, let alone having Simon Belmont join the fight, too.
No way Nintendo would put in K. Rool, he's dead and forgotten - and Ridley? He's too big, Sakurai doesn't want him in.
Cloud? Sonic? Pipe dreams.
Yet, in the end, the worries always vanish and the dreams become reality (though Final Fantasy's music and artworks are apparently too much even for Sakurai)
Against all odds, Sakurai managed to create the biggest and most ambitious crossover in gaming (and maybe more), including properties and characters from the most disparate time periods and companies.
Not only that; every single character is treated with tons of love and with the utmost respect and care for the original material. can't fight if he doesn't pluck his pikmin, can copy everyone's abilities, has all his most iconic weapons, has all his Limit Breaks,has his K.O. meter from the arcade games, and 's movesets pull from all of their boss fights, 's skillset is just the things you normally do in Animal Crossing, 's moves mirror the movements he could do in his little plastic toy original appearance, fight paired, does just the things he could do in Yoshi's Island, is actually very faithful to his canon appearances, gets his original combos and button inputs... Everyone comes with some kind of gimmick, of course. It's not only the character that gets adapted to the game, it's also the game that adapts itself around the character. Like, little things like giving Kirby all the Monado Arts, or having both the younger and older are really going the extra mile. Or even certain details on the clones, like seeing 's arm cannon break open and then recompose when she uses her most powerful attacks, are really something else. This goes for basically everyone. If you think about just how many characters are now in the game, that's just crazy. Their quantity and their quality are both top notch.
Smash has really become a videogame museum, an art gallery. The game that immortalizes other games by putting next to each other their respective characters, locations, items and music tracks: what made them so beloved in the first place. And every single of them becomes even more special because of this synergy.
It gives credence to series that have been recently successful (like Splatoon or Persona), and it revitilizes old series that touched the hearts of gamers but have been since swept by the wayside (like Banjo-Kazooie or F-Zero).
Each time, it feels like a miracle, and each time, both the fans and the creators are surprised and extremely pleased.
Then of course, thanks to Smash everyone gets the opportunity to try the original series of every character, turning all of us in well-mannered and cultured gamers. It made me a Mother fan, for example.
Plus, at this point, Smash contains a great number of gaming's most iconic and beloved series from disparate companies and time periods. If you think about all the people that somehow got involved with this game, it's just crazy. I mean, among the others we have characters designed by freaking Akira Toriyama.
And above all this, Smash somehow manages to be both a balanced and fun fighting game and a great party game. Sakurai is a madman. A madman that can accomplish his goals.
Don't be sad if your character of choice still isn't playable. I was overall very disappointed by the way Smash 4 turned out, but this time I've got all my mains back, and then I've got the Belmonts, I've got K. Rool. I've got Ridley.
And I've got Banjo and Kazooie. I've been waiting for those two to join the fight ever since I saw those four '?' in Smash 64's selection screen! And I'm sure that sooner or later, Dixie will join the fight too.
I'm so pleased right now, and I'm sure many other fans are just as pleased as me, if not thanks to Banjo in particular, surely thanks to someone else. And that's fine. Smash is everybody's party. And from here, there's no way to go but up.
Greetings,
A satisfied fan.
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