Boss Battles in Brawl?

[Scav]

Today’s <a href="http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/music/music03.html">Dojo update</a> is an interesting one. There have been discussions on Smashboards since the early days of Melee about different “bosses” for each character. The presence of Ridley’s theme could mean any number of things, but the most interesting theories both involve Ridley’s presence in the game. Yes, it could just be rockin’ level music, or something as small as a new theme for the “escape!” level in Adventure Mode. But let’s dream.

Rumors of Ridley as a playable character in Brawl are <a href="http://smashbrawl.com/2007/03/05/baby-bowser-cel-link-ridley-rumor-2-the-revenge/">not new</a>, and his theme music opens up exciting level prospects. Even more interesting would be Ridley replacing Giga Bowser as Samus’ enemy in Adventure Mode. We would all love to see Pig-Ganon, Wart and Ridley join the Master Hands as character-specific final bosses. In fact, if I had to fight Giygas at the end of Ness’ adventure mode, I would probably die. In all senses of the word.

So which would you prefer: playable character, stage, boss, or something else?

 

[TheJesticle]

I feel like a playable character would be hands down the best addition, because it would have such a longer lasting appeal than someone that is a boss.

 

[Darkfur]

Well, why not both playable character and Boss? I think that would be best.

For example, the adventure mode could make slight changes based on who you play as, and although you can choose Ridley, Ridley will be the Final Destination boss at the end of Adventure for Samus.

Likewise, if Ridley was playable and you chose him, Samus would be his final boss.

 

[CJ Millisock]

Dude, fighting Giygas would be insane. I probably wouldn’t be able to move if I had to face him, I’d just stand there in awe, and get pwn3d.

 

[PrinnyFlute]

Playable characters, definitely. No matter what your style of play, multiplayer is hands down the biggest aspect of Smash. Of course, a boss doesn’t require nearly as much dev time as a playable, so if it comes down to it, a boss is fine, too.

 

[Scav]

You have different options with a boss fight too, Prinny flute. If Ridley were just a boss, they could afford to make him huge, dramatic, and powerful. It would also be closer to the source material, having him float in a similar manner to Master Hand.

If they had made Giga Bowser a playable character, he would have turned out quite lame. It’s his size and design that make him interesting, not simply existing. Similarly, I can’t picture Ridley being small and maneuverable to be a playable character without completely changing him.

 

[GreenMamba]

Giving Ridley a complete moveset and then *not* letting you play as him would be the ultimate “f*ck you” to his fans. I say absolutely not.

 

[PrinnyFlute]

But of course, Scav. That’s actually why I said a boss fight is fine too. It takes less resources, and (though I didn’t initially say this,) the options are a lot more open than making him a full fledged character. Part of Ridley’s character is his size, yes, but I think it’s a matter of opinion that making Ridley a reasonably playable character would completely make him ‘not Ridley.’

Of course, I don’t think Giga Bowser should have been playable. His presence was pretty much that of an overwhelming boss character. He was also not a completely original or established character, so there wasn’t much desire for that character in multiplayer in the first place.

‘Course, I’m not saying ‘any character that appears in Smash should be playable duh liek whoa!,’ just that, in my opinion, I’d appreciate Ridley most as a playable. I’ve enjoyed a number of the Metroid series as much as the next guy, and while Ridley is a pretty big guy, that’s not central to his identity for me. Mostly when I think Ridley, I think of him as just this really cruel, alien in nature character. I can imagine cutting him down a bit, but still making him the biggest character (big enough to be intimidating, small enough not to break the game,) and balancing him enough to keep his identity intact. Perhaps he’d be hard to use on the ground, but real swift in the air? If anyone can manage it, Sakurai can.

All in all, it’s a matter of opinion. It doesn’t betray his nature in my eyes, so I’d like to see Ridley playable, but I won’t deny that he’d make an awesome, oversized boss character doing crazy barrel rolls and blasting you from orbit.

( This http://spiridow.free.fr/mm/images/samus_ridley.jpg is from the Melee intro video, correct? The size ratio between the two doesn’t seem completely ridiculous in this iteration, at least. Also worth noting that Bowser, while a noticably less serious character, changes size from game to game pretty regularly. He was the size of a freaking elephant in 64 and Sunshine, no?)

 

[Tony (Knightcrawler)]

I’d say go with both. For a few characters, give them really cool bosses. Like for all Zelda characters except Ganondorf, there’d be pig Ganon. For all StarFox characters, Andross. In the case of Ridley, he’d be a playable character but as a boss, he’d be larger, have bigger attacks, have different and darker textures, and have a slightly edited model. It wouldn’t be a ton of extra work. Of course, a boss for every character would be overdoing it a bit. I can’t imagine Ridley’s boss in Adventure mode being anyone other than Samus… maybe Samus with the support of her gunship. Ganondorf’s boss might be Link and Zelda with the support of the sages, etc.. Less interesting than pig Ganon, Andross, Giga Bowser, or giant Ridley, to be sure, but still doable and worthwhile.

 

[Wrath]

Sakurai did say he wanted a more complex story… I say boss.

 

[Anthony]

Variety of bosses to replace Giga Bowser would be a dream. Even just Ridley replacing him-nonetheless-I’ve dreamed of specific bosses. Ganon for Link, Nightmare for Kirby, we’ll see, we’ll see.

 

[Maximum]

“Sakurai did say he wanted a more complex story… I say boss.”

When did he say that?

 

[IC2]

I say ridley would be fine as a playable character since most of his move sets are probably in the air and if u looked at the brawl and saw how high mario jumps then he shouldnt change that much…

 

[Mic_128]

Scav, Ridley isn’t just size. And that’s not really something to hold him back either. To use an old, but strong argument, look at Melee’s opeining. He’s the same size as Samus.

 

[shadow]

i think Ridley should just be a boss. But i think tony (nightcrawler) has a pretty good idea too.

 

[Aaron]

how about kraid.i think it sounds cool

 

[shadow]

ya, kraid would rock!

 

[Snakz]

I’d like to see ridley as a character, but i have a hard time imagining him as one or imagining his moveset, plus it’d be weird to see him sized down. I think i’d rather see him as a specific boss for Samus, along with other characters having specific bosses

 

[shadow]

i think kraid would be an ausome boss!

 

[Someone]

Since 64, Players wanted to play as Master Hand. If you can play as bosses- if there are any- Master Hand still won’t be a playable character. For that, Master Hand must be redone to.

 

[Johnknight1]

Kraid, Andross, and Dark Beast Ganon [G’dorf’s Final Smash=???] as bosses and NPC, yes! Ridley as a boss, and PC=YES!!! Ridley for Brawl [as a Playable character].