Smashboards Creates: Battle of AGES, a SEGA platform fighter

[YoshiandToad]

In the interest of fairness, I'll change mine too. As always I'm going to base it off what I'm currently playing.

Battle of Ages is great so far, but do you know what it's lacking? Pokemon designs. I'mma fix that with this item right now.

Job #174: Peanut Pedestal (Sakura Wars)

Peanut Pedestals are circular discs that lay on the ground. In Sakura Wars (2019) Sumire Kanzaki has these installed around Tokyo in an attempt to help promote the theatre. She sends Seijuro Kamiyama to stand on them, and upon pressing a button he 'magically' transforms into Peanut, the Imperial Combat Revue's brand new mascot!

The design for this elephant mascot was done by Ken Sugimori of Pokemon fame. Yep, Sakura Wars (2019) really was a melting pot of Japanese talent, with Tite Kubo of Bleach fame designing all the main cast for this, and the artists behind Lucky Star, Sword Art Online and Girls Und Panzer providing the designs behind the rival teams.

Anyway, whilst inside the mascot uniform, it's very difficult to move. Like, impossible to move. In fact Seijuro can only turn left and right a bit to look through Peanut's eyes and talk to passersby to gain their attention with his sales pitch about the theatre.

In Battle of Ages, the Peanut Pedestal is a landmine like weapon that when placed will capture anyone who mistakenly steps onto it, trapping them inside the marketable plush elephant design...and preventing them completely from escaping.

If you're having a hard time keeping your opponent still, this item might be best used sneakily.
Perhaps you can even aim it to where your hapless opponent is about to land? Either way once someone becomes Peanut they must wait for the "BWOOT" sound to indicate their release, or be knocked clean out of the costume with intense violence!

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

Alright, so I'm planning to resubmit my older submission, since copying is not allowed on this whole website...
I wanna be fair this time, so here it is.
Light Phaser (Sega Peripherals) (Resubmission)

Job 119:
Light Phaser (Master System)
View attachment 341704
I know you guys don't know too much about Light Phaser and it sounds very obscure, but here's the short explanation about it:

Light Phaser is a peripheral for Sega Master System and it's like NES Zapper, but it's made by SEGA and it's a light gun.
Light Phaser was made by SEGA and it was based on one of Weapons from "Zillion" anime, where Speed Weed's beloved Opa-Opa appeared.
The Light Phaser is used for Shooting games that were on Master System like Zapper did and the Light Gun was one of Master System's Accessories that were with 3D Glasses and Controllers.

In Battle of AGES, Light Phaser could act like Ray Gun from Smash Bros, but with aesthetics taken from Duck Hunt's Smash Attacks. Light Phaser shoots Rays that give normal damage, but with you charge the Attack, it shoots out projectile that is shown by Reticle like Duck Hunt's Side Smash attack.

I nominate Light Phaser, because it could represent SEGA's console Hardware, since we never had an Item based on Console Hardware and it could be another Shooting Item after Periscope. Besides, this Item could be BoA equivalent of Smash's ray Gun.
Also, this a perfect idea to include Console Hardware Item to the Game.

(Only SEGA legends remember Light Phaser)

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

To clarify, copying someone's submission, even resubmitting it, is against the subforum rules and considered a special rule to our section. Doing so will result in warnings after repeated offenses. Now, if the user is ok have a past submission being resubmitted and gives permission, than its ok. Repeated offenses will result in a warning with the final outcome being ignored by the thread runners of any involvement. This applies to all threads; not just one thread.

While the right to run the thread is given by thread runners, the ultimate decision comes from the moderating and administration staff.

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright, time to start the vote!

Here are our picks:

iDog (@Darkonedagger)
Flower ( osby )
THE OOZE ( Flyboy )
UFO Catcher ( cashregister9 )
Peanut Pedestal ( YoshiandToad )
Light Phaser ( Tankman from Newgrounds )

Vote for your top 3 picks - keep your own submission in third place if you're going to self-vote.

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

1. IDog
2. Peanut Pedestal
3. Light Phaser

Shout-out to UFO catcher and Ooze.

 

[HyperSomari64]

iDog
UFO Catcher
Flower

 

[Speed Weed]

1. IDog
2. Peanut Pedestal

Hey, I forgot to put your submission in, which would bump the amount of items people can vote on to 3. Can you please vote for your top 3 now instead?

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

Hey, I forgot to put your submission in, which would bump the amount of items people can vote on to 3. Can you please vote for your top 3 now instead?

Of course.

 

[Deleted member]

1. DA OOZE
2. Peanut
3. Flower

 

[OrpheusTelos]

1. iDog
2. THE OOZE
3. Peanut

 

[Speed Weed]

1. THE OOZE (CERTIFIED OOZE MOMENT)
2. UFO Catcher
3. Light Phaser

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

1. UFO Catcher
2. iDog
3. Light Phaser

 

[YoshiandToad]

1. UFO Catcher
2. iDog
3. Light Phaser

 

[cashregister9]

1. Peanut Pedestal
2. iDog
3. THE OOZE

 

[Megadoomer]

1. THE OOZE
2. UFO Catcher
3. Light Phaser

 

[osby]

1. iDog
2. UFO Catcher
3. The Ooze

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

RPG Mook Submissions:

• Sludge Pilot (Vectorman, 1995)
• Garcia (Streets of Rage, 1991)

 

[tonygameman]

1. DA OOZE
2. Peanut Pedestal
3. Light Phaser

 

[Flyboy]

1. UFO Catcher
2. iDog
3. THE OOZE

 

[PuyoWitch]

1. THE OOZE
2. UFO Catcher
3. Peanut Pedestal

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright, our item vote is done!

Let's take a look:

Dog: 20 points
Flower: 2 points
Ooze: 20 points
Catcher: 19 points
Peanut: 11 points
Phaser: 6 points

And we have a tie. So both iDog and THE OOZE are going in!!!!!

Now it's time for our next character prompt:

Job #175: Submit a character who has been submitted in the past

I have run out of ideas. And what do you do when you run out of ideas? You look to the past!!!!!

So for this prompt, the only rule aside from the whole new-series-only mumbo jumbo is that they must be a character who's been submitted for this project before. For convenience's sake, I'm posting a list of the eligible candidates that was made by our very own YoshiandToad :

Spoiler

Achilles (Total War)
Aletheia (Trauma Center)
Amigo (Samba de Amigo)
Axel (Crazy Taxi)
B.D. Joe (Crazy Taxi)
Bahn (Fighting Vipers)
Bin (Dynamite Dux)
Blue Dragon (Panzer Dragoon)
Boyd (Rumble Fish)
Bruno Delinger (Dynamite Deka)
Cenes Crawford (Thunder Force)
Centurion (Altered Beast)
Dreamcast (Sega Hard Girls)
Ecco the Dolphin
Football Manager
General Winter (Company of Heroes)
Goalkeeper (Virtua Striker)
Grace (Fighting Vipers)
Gunstar Red/Blue (Gunstar Heroes)
Hacker (7th Dragon)
Harrier (Space Harrier)
Headdy (Dynamite Headdy)
Honey (Fighting Vipers)
Horatio (Endless Space)
Hornet (Daytona)
Jack Cayman (Madworld)
Jake Paterson (Sega Race TV)
Keil Fluge and Blue Dragon (Panzer Dragoon)
King (Virtua Tennis)
Landsknect (Etrian Odyssey)
Leanne (Resonance of Fate)
Mary (Quartet)
Masami (Games in a Can)
Neff (Altered Beast)
Nino (Aztec Adventure)
Pengo
Phantom R (Rhythm Thief)
Prince Ash (Hell Yeah! Wrath of the dead rabbit)
Princess Kurumi (Sega Ninja)
Professor Asobin (Sega manuals)
Psycho Fox
Raikoh Minamoto (Otagi)
Ricky and Mary (Alien Syndrome)
Ristar
Shogun (Total War)
Shou Amanabe and Tillis (Burning Rangers)
Solis R8000 (Groove on Fight)
Spike and Spike Jr (Spikeout)
Taro Sega (Segagaga)
Taro Yamada (Rent a Hero)
Tembo the Badass Elephant
The Black Baron (Madworld)
Vectorman
Yoko Kono (Last Bronx)
Zheng Jiang (Total War)

These are the characters that you can submit for this prompt. ok now go off

 

[Megadoomer]

I'm going to re-nominate Hornet.

Hornet (Daytona USA/Fighting Vipers/Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed)

It's a race car that "stands" on its back wheels and fights like a person. I don't know what more I have to say, honestly.

A gag character from Fighting Vipers (a crossover fighting game on the Sega Saturn), I figure it would be a nice call-back to include Hornet in this if possible.

Behold, a playable car in a fighting game:

Also, its inclusion would give us a justification to include this song in the game:

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

Resubmission character:
Vectorman (Vectorman) (1995)

Who is Vectorman?
Vectorman is main titular protagonist of self-titled game series "Vectorman" developed by Bluesky Software and published by SEGA on Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1995. He is an Green Orbot that cleans up the whole dystopian futuristic Earth from toxic waste after people left it before the games' events.
One day, Raster was watching the whole Earth by PlanetCom cameras (The ccamers that allow to see whole Earth from Space station) and then, a lesser attached a Warhead to his head by accident and he became evil. His plan was executing all humans who dare to return on Earth after spending time in Space.
However, when Vectorman heard about the news where Warhead Raster tries to destroy the World, he went for adventure through Futuristic Earth to save the world from Raster's evil plans.
After he defeated Raster, he saved the world and later after the events of the game, he went for adventure again just to defeat the Evil Widow queen and deadly Spiders in Vectorman 2.

Vectorman is one of Obscure SEGA characters who was made by American defunct studio Bluesky Software. He would be another 2nd Party character that is owned by SEGA after Arle Nadja.

How he could work in Platform Fighter?
Well, since we have 2 robots in the Roster, nothing can stop our Vectorman from not joining the big roster since he has a lot of moveset potential for platfighters.
Let's start of his moves. He could have moveset taken from his games like Vectorman or Vectorman 2, where he could shoot, fly or even turn his limbs into scorpion tails. I imagine his Final Smash, where he could turn into BIG tank and cause havoc on the stage like Fox's Landmaster.
Now, let's get to stats. He would be Mid-Heavyweight Fighter, who doesn't have ability to air Dash. He would have medium speed he would have very unique hit box that could help him evade attacks (Referencing his build structure, where he is made out of balls in disembodied body akin to Rayman).

Also, his design would be based on Vectorman 2 box art or we could redesign him like in did to Pit in Smash Brawl, where he became Anime-esque-like character, so it would go with Vectorman, where he would become more realistic and he would have rust on his green body (Possibly referencing that he haven't got a game for over 26 years, which is soooooo long).

Why Vectorman?
Well, because he could be amazing addition in the Roster, since he would be cool 2nd Party rep that deserves to be in the Roster.
Also, he could be worthy candidate, because his game were popular and they had pseudo-3D graphics that looked like Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country (Fun fact: Vectorman was an answer to Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country on SNES).
His games got so popular that they were ported in Sonic Gems collection and even in Sega Forever ports on Mobile devices.
And I not going to tell all the reasons why he should join the Roster, but I really like him and I would want to see him as Playable fighter in the game.

 

[tonygameman]

Damn, this one's getting hard considering the amount of choices. But I was probably the first user who posted these two in this thread, and considering facts that we have Seven Force as a boss in base (which worked for Wizeman's inclusion summoning NiGHTS hence the series' lore) and how this seems like their last chance at this phase of a project.

Job #175: Previously Submitted Fighter - Gunstar Red/Blue (Gunstar Heroes)

Gunstar Heroes is a classic run-and-gun (platform shooter in simple words) game, which was developed by Treasure and published by SEGA (who owns the series' rights), having been released on SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis in late 1993 and later on, converted to SEGA Game Gear by M2. It's premise focuses on the Gunstars Red and Blue, two brothers, who protect the planet from the evil, malevolent empire led by General Grey and his red-suited subordinate, Smash Daisaku, as they attempt to collect the four mystical Treasure Gems before they awake the God of Ruin, Golden Silver.

It's sequel, Gunstar Super Heroes, was released on Game Boy Advance in 2005, in which the story takes place after the original game's events and featured an expanded combat system over its predecessor (even changing Red's gender to female for some unknown reason).

For their moveset, the Gunstars has access to various melee moves such as slide kicks, jump kicks, throws once they get close to an enemy, aerial body slams, drop kicks, uppercuts & their saber/sword (in Gunstar Super Heroes), etc. They can also wall-jump to climb enclosed spaces and even hang on platforms, being able to shoot while doing so. They would also borrow some elements from their long-lost amnesiac brother, Green's boss fights, and maybe even use that odd bird-like drone, which drops ammo upgrades as a personal ride in Gunstar Super Heroes.

Speaking of shooting, like in their home series, the Gunstars are able to either use Free Shot to fire in three directions (forward, diagonally upwards and straight upwards) while moving at the same time, or Fixed Shot to shoot in all eight directions while standing, though both can be used as side/neutral special moves respectively akin to Min Min's. They also has a unique weapon system which allows them to use many different weapon types and combinations by switching them (plus a super-charge meter for powerful attacks in Gunstar Super Heroes) such as:

• Force: Rapid-fires weak projectiles by spamming or holding the button. With two Forces, they will shoot large orange balls in a stream that constantly waves in it's aim.
• Lightning: A stream of electricity which does multiple hits and passes through walls. With two Lightnings, it becomes a blue, straight powerful laser-like lightning beam.
• Chaser: A quick laser that homes in opponents, even though it's slow and weak. With two Chasers, triangle projectiles will be replaced with stars and a weapon's speed & power are increased. Stars will circle around Red/Blue while in use and far away from opponents.
• Flame: A close-ranged fiery burst, which is effective and capable of burning opponents. With two Flames, a weapon's range and damage are increased.
• Force + Lightning: Rapid bolts of blue lightning projectiles, that goes in any direction and a spread is larger.
• Force + Chaser: A stream of large orange balls, that has limited self-homing capabilities.
• Force + Fire: Large orange balls, which's fire rate is the slowest, but can explode in a large radius if they hit anything.
• Lightning + Chaser: Lightning travels in a squarish path around Red/Blue, hitting opponents. Can also self-aim and gather in a small square around an opponent while firing at them.
• Lightning + Fire: A light-saber like weapon that protrudes out of Red/Blue's gun, which has the shortest range, but does impressive damage.
• Chaser + Fire: A large pulse of flame that travels around the screen, mowing down opponents. Extremely powerful, but quite slow.

There's also many stage, assist and music/banger possibilities such as Green (already a boss), Smash Daisaku, a Dice Palace complete with players throwing a dice in turns & various minigames for them to succeed, and finally, Golden Silver himself.

And additional stuff coming right from my old friend and mentor, YoshiandToad .

Job #169

Okay, for the very last new series submission...

...Wow...last...that's...that's some pressure...

...let's see...I choose...err...

View attachment 348034

...oh god...okay breathe and choose carefully...

I choose...

GUNSTAR RED/GUNSTAR BLUE (Gunstar Heroes)

View attachment 348035

Alright, so when we first started Battle of Ages we were asked who we'd love to see in, and one of the very first characters that came to mind were the Gunstar heroes Red and Blue. Gunstar Heroes was one of my favourite games having rediscovered it on the Wii eshop and played it to death in co-op when I probably should have been doing more practical things. Good times.

Anyway, Gunstar Red and Gunstar Blue are a pair of brothers who defended the planet from the invasion of the God of Ruin, Golden Silver, before being put into cryo-sleep alongside their elder brother, Green, and their little sister, Yellow.
However General Grey has risen up to obtain the power gems that can awaken Golden Silver and has even kidnapped their elder brother Green, brainwashing him and turning him into his personal soldier. Red and Blue set out to prevent Golden Silver from being awoken and protect the planet once more.

Between having Full Auto Shots which are standard power blasts, a piercing Lightning shot that can hit multiple enemies at once, the homing blast attack Chaser and the short range but highly powerful Flame shots, these boys have a lot of abilities to work with...and that's before we get to the really fun stuff; aka Combining Shots.

Yes, now you can combine two of the above ammo types together to create a third with unique traits of both. Want a more powerful Full Auto shot? Try combining it with Flame! Want a lightning blast that homes in on opponents? It's possible! We may need to balance it though, this particular combo was extremely game breaking in the original title.

The boys aren't just limited to guns either, they also had powerful throws for when enemies got a little too close for comfort, and sliding kicks allow them to knock through enemies with ease.

Truth be told there's a lot of great series out there that we didn't get around to including in base, but I'd regret it if I didn't at least put the Gunstars forward one final time.

 

[Deleted member]

Tempted as I am to submit Honey for a fourth time. I'm gonna go with Princess Kurumi. A Retro rep would be a very welcome addition to our project and I just think she's neat.

 

[PuyoWitch]

Job #175:

A lot of the picks here are extremely tempting. No matter what, I think the next few rounds are going to be a lot of fun buuuuut you probably knew where my heart was gonna go with this one.

Job #120: Type 01 a.k.a. Blue Dragon (Panzer Dragoon)

The blue dragon is the mascot of the Panzer Dragoon franchise, and a type of dragon that is featured in all seven games in the series (including the remake, the Japanese exclusive Panzer Dragoon Mini, and the Tiger Electronic R-Zone game, which is a real thing). The story differs from game to game, but the general idea is that these dragons have cyborg elements to them that affect their brain and body that give them protection, allowing them to breathe lasers. With the help of a rider, the consistent goal in all games is to destroy a 'tower' built by an ancient civilization that was created as life support for their planet but will kill anything it deems a threat to the planet.

While the franchise is currently not being published by SEGA, it is a SEGA franchise through and through. The original trilogy of games were all published by SEGA, and it was considered one of the greatest cult franchises to come from the Saturn alongside NiGHTS: Journey into Dreams and Sakura Wars, and SEGA came back to publish Panzer Dragoon Orta on the Xbox, a release that was one of SEGA's first string of titles on the Xbox after leaving the console business, alongside GunValkyrie and Jet Set Radio Future. Although the series has had several commercial failures in America, it has received nothing but praise, and SEGA knows there is a fanbase. It has gotten an anime OVA/Movie commissioned by SEGA by the same people who did the famous Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie OVAs to coincide with the release of Panzer Dragoon Zwei, plus cameos in the form of a stage in Sonic and All-Stars: Racing Transformed, and an extended guest role in the Sonic & Mega Man Crossover comic, World's Unite.

Only two of these dragons is properly named (Lagi from Panzer Dragoon Zwei and Atolm, who is one of the dragons in Saga), but all dragons do share a very similar look with usually small changes. My idea is not to just feature the dragon from the first game, but all dragons from the main series, with their respective riders on a cut-down to size version of them.

From left to right, you have Azel and Edge, respectively, from Saga, who each have their own dragons in that game, Orta from Orta, who has an older version of Edge's dragon, Lundi from Zwei, who was the very first dragon rider and raised a dragon from birth, and Keil from the original, a hunter who takes a dragon from his previous rider, in that rider's dying request.

They will be necessary as on top of the dragon's abilities, they assist in helping shoot down smaller enemies with a gun from time to time. For this character, I'm imagining one focused around the idea of having 180-degree firing capability at all times, and 360-degree firing while in the air, meant to reference the game's gimmick of different angles to shoot from. Recovery and long-range attacks will be the character's big appeal. In addition, Saga and Orta both incorporated a few extra moves you can add: the ability to morph into other forms mid-battle for things like agility or extra armor, and the ability to cycle around the opponent for an advantage.

Not only would it be a perfect pick to represent a well-loved cult franchise, and the definitive character to represent Panzer Dragoon, I feel, but I just think there's so much potential in a moveset. You get a big powerful dragon that can knock things down, AND a zoner-type character.

Job #169: Blue Dragon (Panzer Dragoon)

BLUE EYES! WHITE DRAGON! CAN'T LOSE!

So just to make a little bit more of a case, since I've submitted this a few times by now, and not really had much to add on before: I'm going to be biased as both a Saturn lover and a fan of the franchise, but I feel like as a flagship franchise of SEGA in the 90's, not having this franchise feels like an omission. Nowadays, I'll admit the series is more like what the Mother games are, where they're incredible self contained experiences, and we're probably not going to get a new entry. SEGA really believed in the franchise enough to give it four games, attempt to have the first one as a launch title for the Saturn, and one of them is an RPG that spawned Skies of Arcadia, and by degrees of separation, Valkyria Chronicles.

This series really has cool lore, settings, and music to pull from, too. For the record, I wouldn't mind submitting more than the Dragon if we want a human rep, but I'm saying Blue Dragon because they're technically who we control, and fudging the size lets us have a really cool powerhouse character.

 

[OrpheusTelos]

Time for me to resubmit my boy Phantom R.

Job #175: Phantom R (Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure)

Phantom R is the titular Rhythm Thief from the cult classic 3DS game. By day he’s Raphael, an unassuming 18-year-old boy living in an apartment by himself and his dog Fondue in Paris. But by night, he dawns the persona of Phantom R, a suave gentleman thief infamous for stealing famous works of art only to return them days later. He does this in hopes of finding the whereabouts of his father, who disappeared three years prior to the events of the game. If you own a 3DS and you haven’t given Rhythm Thief a shot yet, I’d strongly urge you to change that as soon as you can. It’s a really fun, unique, and charming game that I’d whole-heartedly recommend to both rhythm game fans or those looking for something with a similar vibe to the Professor Layton series.

While Phantom R might not be as flashy as the other Phantom Thief on our roster, he offers a ton of his own unique flavor to help him stand out. He’s proficient in both hand-to-hand combat and dancing, which could be translated into a super unique rhythmic fighting style where timing your moves just right results in a higher damage output (and because we actually have rollback in this game we won’t have to worry about this being an issue online ). You could also pull moves from Rhythm Thief's various minigames and have Fondue help out for some attacks. As far as extra content goes, Rhythm Thief has a lot of fun options. There’s quite a few neat locations that could make for really unique stages, and it should come as no surprise that a rhythm game has a lot of bangers we could add to our tracklist.

 

[Flyboy]

Job #175: Jack Cayman (MadWorld)

This was a shockingly difficult decision. There are so many characters and universes on that list I'd love to see make it into this game. I juggled a bunch of them around, and realized that while I'm super biased in my love of Space Harrier and think Total War, Trauma Center, and 7th Dragon are super cool series' I'd love to see get in, I thought about this from a limited-slot perspective. I know that we're going to have a left-field pick coming soon, and one of my personal submissions would be on that list, so I didn't go with that. Aletheia is a really cool idea, but I gotta admit I'm still gunning for Derek Stiles when the time comes. 7th Dragon is similar in that Hacker is cool but I've grown extremely fond of Princess. Total War would be awesome with a rep, but we DO have the side mode at least...DLC though, I'm looking at you. Burning Rangers, too! So many games and characters I really just want to see added to this roster...

So I dug deep and asked myself "if I knew we had limited slots left, who is the ONE character on this list I would absolutely LOSE MY **** for that hasn't already been submitted" and my heart answered with Jack Cayman, the protagonist of the hyper-violent and stylish MadWorld for Wii. Everything about MadWorld tickles my fancy - as someone who appreciates a good splatterhouse flick the Sin City aesthetic and buckets of blood are super cool. A MadWorld stage where everyone gets black-and-white forms sounds awesome. And Jack has a canonical colored-in version in Anarchy Reigns, so there's that taken care of. He has chainsaws! He has fists! Both games have absolutely killer soundtracks! The assist potential is off the charts!

MadWorld is a really weird, really cool game that fascinates me, and so does Anarchy Reigns. This guy just sparks joy and I think he'd bring a lot to the table.

 

[cashregister9]

Resubmitting Amigo

Amigo (Samba de Amigo)

The Main character of Samba De Amigo a 1999 Arcade game that gained popularity with it's ports to Dreamcast and Wii. Samba de Amigo is a Rhythm game themed after maracas and Amigo is just a fun character all around

 

[YoshiandToad]

"They saw deformity...I found beauty.
They saw madness...I found genius."

Job #175: Previously submitted character: Horatio (Endless)

I'll be real, for me it was always going to be between two of my submissions Horatio and King(, but I'm having to side with our narcissistic, slightly prissy cone-headed genocidal space dictator on this one. Apologies, but this is going to be on the longer side:

"Make Horatio great again" - Horatio Prime. No this is not a meme. He says this.

So as far as Sega franchises go, Endless is definitely on the more niche aspect. It's a modern series with multiple different genres(Rouge-likes, 4x strategy titles, a dating sim visual novel starring the clones of today's subject), filled to the brim with bizarre and wonderful characters.

There's a big breasted amphibious mafia boss who conquers planets through commerce, a sugerical robot who malfunctions a lot and sometimes becomes a deadly killer(and is also the most reoccurring character in the franchise), a pair of space vampire siblings who are at war over their various religions with one wanting to upload herself to the cosmos, parodies of Samus Aran, Duke Nukem and even the cast of Team Fortress 2 have put in appearances in this universe. And then there are the Endless themselves, a long dead space faring ancient civilization that accidentally created a civil war when they got too developed and destroyed themselves in the process.

However, none of them can hold a candle to the magnificence of Horatio. Gaze upon Horatio's glory and be spellbound as you should.

Horatio was a wealthy trillionaire eccentric laser focused on beauty who grew bored of his home planet and wished to be amongst the stars which he thought were almost as beautiful and bright as he was.

Consumed by reoccurring dreams of being one of many and fighting his way to be the king of these multiple versions of himself, he became inspired to seek out ancient cloning technology in the Dungeon of the Endless. To do so he used his three allys(three playable characters in Dungeon of the Endless) as bait, getting them brutally killed off by the monsters that guarded this ancient technology and abandoned them as soon as he found it.

However Horatio was not done. He went on to found his own planet and then populate it with clones of himself. A perfect world which he could rule over. A world in which conformity was king, and the ideal was himself.

However Horatio was still not done. He looked upon his world with pride and marveled at the beauty he had created. He wished to spread that beauty across the galaxy...by populating the entire galaxy with his clones and murdering and splicing alien species genetics into himself to perfect himself and his people yet further.

Yes, Horatio is excited to spread his influence and pick up some new racial traits from all manner of species to make the Horatio even more beautiful...and it seems the cast of Battle of Ages with their unique abilities has gotten him excited.

Horatio isn't typically a fighter(why would he want to scar his perfect symmetrical face?) but the allure of gaining super speed from a blue hedgehog, or the ability to grow his body to an even bigger and more beautiful size via arian shellcore techniques or the power of flight via nightopian genetics is too strong. He won't rest until Horatio are the epitome of beautiful racial perfection.

Also his 'species' really appreciates dancing so he's probably excited to get his hands on some of Ulala's genetic code too.

Indeed Horatio won't rest until every one of the Battle of Ages cast are sealed inside these genetic splicer tanks, feeding into his perfect idealised version of himself:

 

[osby]

Job #175:

This was a tough choice but in the end, I went with Neff, as I think another playable bad guy wouldn't hurt.

Neff (Altered Beast - 1988)

Admittedly, I know very little about Sega's properties from the 80's, but we don't have any Altered Beast characters in here yet, and I figure it would be a nice change of pace to have a playable villain from a franchise. The guy who says "Welcome to your doom", Neff is (according to the Japanese version, going by the Sega wiki) an evil sorcerer, magician, or demon lord who somehow took over the Greek underworld from Hades in a surprise attack.

Neff appears as the boss at the end of each level, first showing up as a withered old sorcerer before shapeshifting into a new form to try and defeat the player character. The rhino form pictured above is his final boss form, which has been used for most of his appearances lately (like in Wreck-It Ralph), but he can change into other forms (or, presumably, alter his current form) and shoot lightning from his hands, which would allow for more variety in his moves.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Sakura Wars Capsule toys. Hatusho already has one due to her inclusion as a NPC in Crazy Taxi but I figured she could do with a description still!

• Sumire Kanzaki
  • Series: Sakura Wars
  • First Appearance: Sakura Wars (September 27, 1996 )
  • System Debut: Sega Saturn

An incredibly talented and beautiful actress, Sumire Kanzaki is the daughter of Kanzaki Heavy Industries. Sumire was instrumental in the creation of the Kobu that Sakura Shinguji and the rest of the Flower Division now pilots. Due to Sumire's incredibly high spiritual power, she volunteered as a child to be a test pilot for the prototype Kobu, eventually allowing her family to perfect it. However, the downside to her volunteering is that her spiritual power was pre-emptively drained and as such she was forced to take early retirement before the Great Demon War. She now runs the Imperial Combat Revue Theatre, keeping it running so her friends have a place to return to when they escape Shadow Tokyo.

• Hatsuho Shinonome
  • Series: Sakura Wars
  • First Appearance: Sakura Wars ( December 12, 2019 )
  • System Debut: PlayStation 4

Alongside Clarissa Snowflake, Hatsuho was the first member of the New Flower Division to be recruited by Sumire Kanzaki. She is brusque and talks like a gangster but ultimately a good mediator, friendly and kind. Due to a lack of funds coming in, Hatsuho took to fixing up the broken theatre stage herself which lead to her hands being covered in cuts and bruises, something she is quite sensitive about. She's best friends with Sakura Amamiya, but isn't above knocking some sense into her (literally) when Sakura gets stuck in a depressive state as she finds Sakura's optimism to be her strength too. Her weapon is an oversized Mochi hammer which both she and her Kobu wield.

• Clarissa 'Claris' Snowflake
  • Series: Sakura Wars
  • First Appearance: Sakura Wars ( December 12, 2019 )
  • System Debut: PlayStation 4

Alongside Hatsuho Shinonome, Claris was the first member of the New Flower Division to be recruited by Sumire Kanzaki. She is a Libromancer, a mage who uses books as a conduit to cast spells but is afraid of her own power knowing how destructive it can be. Claris, not wanting to use this power, his herself away although her love of books continued to shine through. Seijuro Kamiyama helped her realise that her Libromancy could be used to protect and that she's a good person, and through her interactions with him she has grown enough confidence to even become the official script writer for the new Imperial Theatre. Her plays have been instrumental in securing funds from theatre goers.

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright, it is Time To Vote

Here are our picks:

Hornet ( Megadoomer )
Vectorman ( Tankman from Newgrounds )
Gunstar Red/Blue ( tonygameman )
Princess Kurumi (@Darkonedagger)
Blue Dragon ( PuyoWitch )
Phantom R ( OrpheusTelos )
Jack Cayman ( Flyboy )
Amigo ( cashregister9 )
Horatio ( YoshiandToad )
Neff ( osby )

Vote for your top 3 picks - keep your own submission in third place if you're going to self-vote.

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

1. Gunstar Red and Blue (Those guys should join the roster)
2. Blue Dragon (I would want to see a playable dragon in Battle of AGES)
3. Vectorman (Self-Vote, but I think he might get during DLC period I think?)

Shout-Out to Amigo, Neff and Kurumi. They were good and solid picks, but I can't vote for them unfortunately.

 

[cashregister9]

1. Kurumi
2. Jack Cayman
3. Horatio

 

[Speed Weed]

1. Blue Dragon
2. Amigo
3. Neff

 

[Megadoomer]

1. Gunstar Red and Blue
2. Jack Cayman
3. Hornet

 

[Deleted member]

1. Blue Dragon
2. Jack
3. Kurumi

 

[tonygameman]

1. Princess Kurumi
2. Horatio
3. Gunstars Red and Blue

 

[OrpheusTelos]

1. Blue Dragon
2. Horatio
3. Phantom R