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Being a cowgirl isn't an easy job when you stuck inside the giant building put on fire and you don't have anything to do, but you don't habe to worry about that, pardner! If she interacts with Sakura, she says "Thank you Sakura!" and you get her out from burning building, letting her free to her wild western home.
Shou Amabane
You didn't expected the main character from Sega Saturn game in burning building, don't you? Well, he was trying to put out the fire, but it got much worse and he cried for help while being surronded by flames and you need to save him. If you save him, he'll thank you and he would cheer you with positive comments.
I'd like to extend an extremely gracious shoutout to PuyoWitch
for helping put this together.
Playstyle & Overview: Alicia is a middle-weight-and-speed character with strong defense and a resource-management system in the form of Command Points, which are represented by five shield icons above her health UI.
Her down-special consumes Command Points to provide buffs in the heat of battle, which play with her other specials that have unique properties. Command Points are regenerated slowly, approximately one every fifteen seconds. She is highly strategic and benefits forward-thinking players. She is also very strong at long-range, with her rifle mechanics that reward steady play and quick-thinking.
Normals: Alicia attacks with her rifle, favoring barrel strikes and the butt of her gun to perform pummels and melee attacks. She tosses in a few kicks for good measure, though her attacks are somewhat untrained and rough around the edges as a militia member.
Neutral Special: Ready, Aim, Fire!
Alicia readies her rifle and fires off several rounds. These come out in bursts of three before a pause to reload. Every character in the game has a sweet spot that if her rifle shot hits does extra damage and can even function like a critical hit. This is to simulate the attack-of-opportunity and aiming mechanic in the original game.
Up Special: Sandbag
Alicia's up-special is unique as it has different properties on the ground and in the air. On the ground, Alicia places a sandbag on the ground that can be stepped on. She can place five sandbags at one time, with the earliest vanishing if she goes over the limit. These sandbags can be stacked to provide defensive and cover options. When in the air, Alicia tosses a sandbag straight down, which has spiking properties and the momentum of which pushes her up in the air slightly. Recovery isn't her strongest suit. Sometimes they'll be bags of flour instead of sand!
Side Special: Grenade!
Alicia fishes out a grenade from her pouch and tosses it. If the button is held the player can determine the arc before the throw, choosing to aim higher with a shorter range or lower with longer. It explodes on a direct hit but bounces on the ground and takes a few seconds before detonation if it misses.
Down Special: Special Orders
Alicia's down-special brings up an Orders menu consisting of options that Welkin will call out to provide temporary buffs to Alicia at the cost of CP.
Attack Boost (1CP) - Buffs Alicia's attack power and knockback potential Defense Boost (1CP) - Buffs Alicia's defense and makes her much harder to knock back. Evade Boost (3CP) - Alicia no longer flinches when attacked and the timing window for evades and parries is increased Concentrate Fire (2CP) - A sparkle appears on the opponent to denote their sweet spot. Her next rifle attack is stronger. First Aid (4CP) - Alicia glows with a blue light and recovers all of her health but only once per match. Fina makes a small cameo in the voice line here!
All-Star Move: Squad 7 Assault
Alicia glows blue with a mysterious power and dashes forward, holding a weapon she surely didn't have previously. Anyone who is struck by it is placed in a cutscene where Welkin gives the order to defend and Squad 7, including Welkin in the Edelweiss, fires off a volley of shots until Alicia deals the final blow with her mighty lance.
Entrance Animation: The Edelweiss drops Alicia onto the battlefield and she runs forward in her move animation from VC1, the movement cursor appearing under her but fading away as she settles in place.
Taunts:
1. Alicia confidently nods with a small fist pump similar to her kill victory animation in VC1.
2. Hans appears and runs around her feet excitedly.
3. Alicia readies her rifle and exclaims "Enemy sighted!" .
4. Alicia gives a jaunty but professional salute.
Victory Animations:
1. Alicia confidently walks up to a flagpole and grips it, causing the flag of Gallia to unfurl and fly in the wind as the Camp Seized jingle plays.
2. Welkin and Alicia break bread together in front of the Edelweiss.
3. Alicia, Welkin, and various Squad 7 members all salute the camera together.
Her victory theme is the Operation Complete theme from the Valkyria Chronicles soundtrack (which seems to be impossible to find isolated on YouTube).
That's right...the daughter of the President of the United States of America is in danger! So funny story, she was initially kidnapped by terrorists, but whoever was looking after her bailed and left her behind as soon as the fire broke out. Originally the job to save her went to some real dynamite cops, but with the fire going, it's up to you to save her now. So tell me...are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president's daughter?
Eeeeeyikes!!! This happy couple just wanted to enjoy a nice date together, but now they've gone and gotten stuck inside a burning building!! I hope someone like the Dame Dane Guy comes and saves them, or else they'll be french-fried!!
Laden & Neena (Elemental Master)
The exiled medieval warrior and protagonist of Technosoft's 1990 Mega Drive game Elemental Master, along with his fairy friend he meets along his journey, is no stranger to danger, but even he can't withstand a blazing inferno like this! And sure, he may be a master of light magic and eventually all the elements, but sometimes you need a little help from some friends. Save this hero and his fairy companion so they may return to their time and defeat the evil that plagues their land! As an added bonus, rescuing Neena quickly will allow her to join you and automatically aid in putting out fires, similar to her role in her original game.
Cain (Binary Domain)
A French accented robot from the Shooter game developed by the Yazuka studio. He must have gotten trapped during a mission. Better watch you don't get him wet. If you free him he'll thank you in a polite manner.
Ethan Thomas (Condemned: Criminal Origins)
The main character of the pretty dark survival horror game and its sequal. A SCU investigator with superhuman abilities. He hunts down deranged serial killers. His newest track has gotten him stuck in this burning building, and the player must help him out. He'll thank them in his own gruff way.
A brilliant sciensitst who works as a section leader in Nodens, a private company working with government to fight against dragons invading the world. Known for his stubbornness, Julietta refuses to abandoned his prized machines when the fire started and now requires rescue, as a man of action, he is not. If rescued by a handsome man or pretty woman, he might thank them by blowing a kiss.
Sophie Richards (The House of the Dead)
Sophie is an ex-researcher of the DBR Corporation, informing the authorities (including her fiancee) when she discovers the terrible research Dr. Curien is conducting. She managed to escape from the creatures but it seems like she found herself trapped in a burning building. When rescued, she will say her iconic line in the good ending of the first game, which is a simple but heartfelt "Thank you!"
He's not from the Burning Rangers' Fire Department, but he's a fellow fighter of fires, too. He no longer actively participates on the field, but he does manage the day-to-day operations in his station. Ironically, he was just reading the paper while house-sitting for a friend when the fire broke out.
Sticking true to the game he is based on, the chief will be fully digitized, of course. Save him and he will let you know that you're "pretty good...for a rookie!"
Alright, that's it for rescuable character submissions. Thanks for the submissions, everyone!
Now then.
Fellas.
It's time.
For our final character prompt.
All this time, this is what we've been building up to.
And while most of the character jobs we've had along the way were things I came up with during this project, this one was one I knew I would want to do from the moment I first started brainstorming the idea of this thread. There is still a niche we must fill, and while you could maybe argue that there might be one or two characters in our roster that already fit the criteria for this, I feel like it still isn't enough. It is, in fact, time for:
Job #186: Submit a weird/wild choice for a SEGA character
Eeyup.
It is time to get wacky.
Most good crossover fighters tend to have someone who shocks and surprises players - a true wildcard in a sea of well-known faces. And as we've seen over the course of this project, SEGA truly have no shortage of characters who could possibly fill this role!
So basically this prompt is for characters who would make the audience either go "what the ****" or "who the ****". There's a variety of ways you can go with this. Would you like to go with someone unconventional who can represent a series you wouldn't normally think of as being prime fighter material? Would you like to go with some obscure retro deep cut? Would you like to go with someone who sorta functions as an all-encompassing "SEGA history rep"? Would you like to go with someone who's just really friggin funny?
All those are different approaches you can take here, but which all lead to the same goal: someone wild.
Oh yeah also the new series only rule still applies as usual ok now bye
Alright, here's my weird submission that I have bias to... AGES the VMU (SEGA Allstars Racing)
"Do you expected a human-sized VMU in Battle of AGES, don't you? "
Well, I'm submitting a secret character from Sonic and Allstars Racing Transformed, who is a VMU that can transform into Hornet or F-14 Tomcat as it was shown in that game. AGES is actually a tribute to SEGA itself and it could be composite fighter that can reference the history of SEGA by his attacks.
AGES is Mid-Heavyweight fighter with ability to Air dash in 4 directions (It turns into Zaxxon ship when he does an air dash) and he has medium speed in terms of walking and dashing. AGES has a "Battery" gimmick and he uses it during his down B - Mook summon, where he summons a mook from Mook RPG mode.
AGES has actually moveset potential (Although it wasn't shown), but as an original moveset for him would work, like he could shapeshift into Hornet or F-14 Tomcat for example as special move. AGES could also reference other SEGA games like he could use Seaman as up tilt, Pengo as forward throw or Baku Baku Animal as side smash attack. AGES can have really wondeful moveset despite he doesn't fight at all, but what can stop him from joining the roster with his name? (Get it, Battle of AGES?)
In overall, AGES would have composite moveset that alludes to his role in SEGA Racing Transformed, where he was a composite character.
Speaking of his moveset, his Allstar move would be, where he sends opponents into cutscene and he attacks with barage of misc SEGA characters like Hornet or Pengo.
He would be something like Mr. Game and Watch, ROB and Duck Hunt crossed together as SEGA fighter.
(Keep in mind that he could also use SEGA hardware as some of his attacks)
I nominate AGES, because he could be first hardware character in our roster and he could be tribute to whole SEGA company in form of Fighter. Also he could be first fighter to have composite moveset that allude to unrepresented SEGA franchises. He debuted as secret character in Sonic and Allstars Racing transformed and he was a WTF pick, so he could return also as WTF pick.
Also I forgot that he would be SEGA history rep in our roster.
"Man, having a VMU in roster would be hilarious".
I have a question:
Is AGES considered as joke character?
Love and Berry are the two protagonists of Love and Berry: Dress Up and Dance, an arcade game that utilizes the same card-reading technology as Mushiking and Dinosaur King. Love and Berry is definitely the odd one out amongst the Sega Arcade Card trilogy. For starters, instead of being aimed at a demographic of young boys who wanna see things fight each other, Love and Berry is squarely aimed at young girls who are into fashion. As the title suggests, the main objective of the game is to dress up the titular protagonists and then put on a show for an audience. The better dressed your girl is and the better you perform at the rhythm game section, the higher you’ll score. Think a mix of Style Savvy and contests in the Gen 4 Pokemon games.
Although the game was relatively unknown outside of Japan, Love and Berry was actually a pretty decent success for Sega. The arcade game itself brought in money and regularly got updates until 2008, it got a DS game which came with an accessory that allowed you to scan in cards from the arcade game, and it even got an anime film. Pretty good for a relatively niche Sega property. It’s not completely unreasonable for Sega to wanna reference these two if they wanted to go for a wahoo wacky pick. Also I just find it to be a fun little curiosity in Sega’s arcade history, being one of the few games they made that were directly aimed at a female audience.
Anywho, how would Love and Berry fight? Well, they’re witches whose main power is something called “fashion magic,” which allows them to change outfits on the fly. If you really wanted to take some creative liberties, you could lean heavily into that and make them into something of a mage-type character. Maybe do something wacky like give them an attack that changes their alts or the alts of the other characters? Incorporate the tambourine into their moveset somehow? You’d have to get really creative with their moveset, but I think they could be insanely fun if done right. Also I just think the idea is really funny. If Sakurai isn’t gonna give us Style Savvy in Smash, it’s time to take matters into our own hands.
ADDENDUM: In my quest to become a Love and Berry Lore Expert™️, I have discovered that the original arcade game actually was released in English sometime in 2006. It must not have been that much of a hit over here because I can’t find much info about it other than the fact that an English localization and dub does exist. It’s also in this search that I discovered that A, the game received regular Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer updates each season to correlate with those seasons’ fashion trends, and B, the game’s soundtrack is also on Spotify with no region lock whatsoever if that tickles your fancy. I also stumbled across this neat little 2005 article from Web Japan that provides a glimpse of just how big Love and Berry was at the time. It’s not super in depth, but the fact that this game covered by an official Japanese tourism site should speak to its popularity.
So I am not entirely sure who owns this character or if it is a co-ownership type deal, so if it is disqualified I have other submissions.
Hatsumi Sega (SEGA Hard Girls)
Hatsumi Sega is one of the protagonists in Superdimension Neptune Vs. Sega Hard Girls. Hatsumi sega is a personification of SEGA and most notably can transform into other SEGA Hard Girls more specifically, Saturn, Mega Drive, Game Gear and Dreamcast
Using these transformations alongside many references and abilities from SEGA games she could be a weird and wild fighter. That references one of SEGA's wildest attempts at marketing and also the entire company and what it does.
Ecco
Ecco maybe isn't as as obscure as other characters we could add. But I don't think a lot of casual fans would be expecting us to add an actual dolphin to our roster due to him being an animal with no arms and legs. But a moveset for him could actually be pretty fun. The games give him a verity of powers. I do think our roster needs at least one SOA rep and while characters like Vectorman or Sketch Tunrr are neat, in my opinion you can't beat the dolphin.
So I am not entirely sure who owns this character or if it is a co-ownership type deal, so if it is disqualified I have other submissions.
Hatsumi Sega (SEGA Hard Girls)
Hatsumi Sega is one of the protagonists in Superdimension Neptune Vs. Sega Hard Girls. Hatsumi sega is a personification of SEGA and most notably can transform into other SEGA Hard Girls more specifically, Saturn, Mega Drive, Game Gear and Dreamcast
Using these transformations alongside many references and abilities from SEGA games she could be a weird and wild fighter. That references one of SEGA's wildest attempts at marketing and also the entire company and what it does.
Football Manager is a long-running franchise starting in 1992 with the Championship Manager series, though following the fumbling of one of the entries there was a whole snafu and basically the team went to Sega who started publishing new entries under the Football Manager brand. And guess what? It's a smash hit! It's legitimately one of their biggest franchises! It's super popular in the casual crowd, and also I love it from a historical perspective because Sega has ALWAYS had strong ties to sports games ever since the Genesis had Buster Douglas's Knockout Boxing and the Dreamcast had NBA 2K. Sega was for a long while THE place to go for sports, and right now it's THE place to go for sports management sims.
I would see him using his helmeted appearance from All Star Racing Transformed, a very fun nod to the fact that as you can see we don't really see the top of his face. Plus it's super funny. However, I'd keep the black suit and tie because I like them more.
Now...that said...I have a twist coming. You see, Football Manager is as his title suggests, a manager. I want him to do what he does best. I see him in the background calling out coaching tips and cheering, hyping up his clients. And who is his client, you may ask? Well, with permission, I've decided to pull what Speed Weed may refer to as a Pro Gamer Move. Drumroll...
That's right baby Football Manager is gonna be managing the Virtua Strikers let's gooooo
I love the Goalkeeper idea that was submitted during the Superstars round, and I think by combining the face franchise of Football Manager with the gameplay gimmicks and kit of Goalkeeper you end up with a really fun way to pay tribute to Sega's sports title history and provide an out-of-left-field and wacky character that could also be really fun to play. For reference, here's the original Goalkeeper pitch:
Wikipedia defines Sega Superstars as the first game in the All-Star series, and in that one you get a series not in ANY of the other All-Star games: Virtua Striker. Although in practice, it's an Eye Toy game for the PS2, so you see yourself attacking the soccer balls/footballs, the game/Wikipedia describes this minigame as this:
So, this establishes your role very clearly in Sega Superstars. You play as the goalkeeper for football/soccer from the series Virtua Striker. The role of a goalkeeper in Virtua Striker is very similar to goalkeepers in real life, where they aim to protect their goal by deflecting and then kicking the ball back with your teammates.
As a playable character, and stay with me here, I got something really unique. The best comparison I could make for my idea would probably be Olimar in Smash. So, you would come with a moving goal on the field that follows right behind you at all times. In addition, the Goalkeeper would all come with a soccer ball/football that would be a permanent item on the field. With the ball, you would use it for various long-range projectiles through strikes, kicks, and headbutts. The idea is to bounce it off of your opponents to chip away at them, and you can charge up your attacks to make every one of your strikes cause a lot of damage. Meeting this character up close is the worst, as their fully charged-up attack with the ball at close range is the most painful attack in their arsenal. To make sure that you don't lose it, there would also be a button to have your team knock it back to you wherever you are on the field.
However, while you have a very durable and agile character, it comes with an achilles heel. The ball can be deflected and if you aren't too careful, they could knock it into your goal for a devastating blow. This would be one of the benefits of getting up close to them is that you can ricochet the ball into the goal to make them take an equally strong hit. Maybe there could be a mechanic where you can put the goal down anywhere on the stage, similar to Steve with his crafting table. I'm not quite sure yet. The overall idea is that you would get a very technical character, but one with a lot of pros for those willing to put in the effort with them. There would be no character quite like them in the game.
Getting revenge for all the times his species has been fished, the Bass would move by flopping around and have attacks doing things like leaping around, splashing water, getting thrown by the bass fisherman and more. He could even have some moves referencing Sega Marine Fishing. A previous sega fighting game had a playable car so this could absolutely work. I am aware that Seaman is already an item in this game, I think that would make this funnier.
I know it's a pretty weird pick but I'm not just submitting this for the lols. Sega Bass Fishing is an absolutely huge game and it makes perfect sense to represent it here. You may think the fisherman would be better and yeah I can see that but I disagree given that the actual fish is much more reconizable and unique and like I mentioned before, we can still have moves involving the fisherman
Okay, so this technically is a bit of a weird pick but hear me out here.
Character Name: Virtua (Virtua Man?)
Character Origin: The entire Virtua series (except Virtua Fighter) and probably some other early 3D SEGA games
SEGA's foray into the third dimension came with quite a lot of games with the title "Virtua." As you may be able to tell, some were more popular than others - we have specialised fighters from the Virtua Fighter series, after all! However, some of these games are... well, a little more obscure. Here's a list of what I'm thinking:
Virtua Racing
Virtua Cop
Virtua Striker
Virtua Tennis
Virtua Quest
I may have forgotten a few here, but yeah.
Essentially, this character is a low-poly pastiche of most of SEGA's Virtua games - for instance, having an aimable gun as a Neutral B based on Virtua Cop, or being able to summon and kick a football based on Virtua Striker). As well as representing the Virtua series, though, we could also represent other early 3D SEGA games - mostly with a focus on sports-based ones such as WaveRunner and Manx TT Superbike. The whole "pastiche of sports" has, to an extent, been at least glanced at with Wii Fit Trainer, but this feels really fun!
Also, I think that it'd be really fun to see alts based on the different Virtua titles. Something that comes to mind for me is how funny certain situations might be - a police officer taking some time out to play tennis, or a very angry footballer with a gun, just seems hilarious. Also, the character should have different facial appearances too!
So the big question is, "isn't this just an OC?" Well... no! Look at Mr. Game and Watch - they're similar in concept, I suppose?
Job #186: Submit a weird/wild choice for a SEGA character
I do love me a weird Sega character.
Horatio is a bored billoinaire turned ecological dictator with a clone army. King is a dandy tennis player. Masami is a game show host essentially.
But we're going to try something new here.
IT'S TIME
TO D-D-D-D-D-D-DUEL!
Duelist (7th Dragon)
Whilst Duelists can be any appearance within the game, the default look for these modern day magicians who fight exclusively using a children's card game, are...unsurprisingly, children.
Within 7th Dragon III Code VFD, these courageous card carriers are your early game mages, using a combination of fire, ice and lightning magical cards to summon monsters, change the battle field, set traps and even fight with them by slicing opponents with the card, like it's a sword. Yes, their card packs pack a nasty paper cut, that's for sure.
So okay, this is fairly standard wacky so far, right?
WRONG. YOU ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD.
See, 7th Dragon has many great class options, and I definitely want to see the likes of Princess, Hacker(or Agent) or something unusual make it into the future DLC, so I'm proposing a little extra wacky.
We have two options if these guys make the cut:
1. We can allow them to use the monsters of 7th Dragon's World for their monster summoning, which will represent 7th Dragon better.
2. We can allow them to go meta and use Sega's own patterned 'Sega MyCard' with their summons, allowing for more retro Sega appearances.
Personally, I wish to lean towards option 2 as it'll allow us to get some wild and wacky summons in.
Put down a fire monster card and it summons Wang from Dragon Wang/Kung Fu Kid, letting him unleash a blazing kick.
The Pitfall trap card to be replaced by Woody Pop, who will shift out the way, dropping opponents into the hole he protects in Woody Pop.
Using an ice monster card to summon a giant Adeline, the Doki Doki Penguin Land penguin who will hit you with an egg made of ice.
Now I'm not opposed to the first option as we have some unusual monsters in 7th Dragon as well, but summoning a gigantic transforming Transbot to come fire lasers at the opponent is something that kind of appeals to me personally.
This one was painful to find info on but I finally found the right information
Derakkuma is the mascot of maimai a rhythm game franchise that SEGA developed for arcades, maimai has gained a large fanbase throughout Asia and is known for its unique cabinet design.
In terms of gameplay Derakkuma could utilize things seen in maimai, Chunithm and O.N.G.E.K.I. and even use the large cast of characters seen in those games and could maybe even utilize a rhythm based moveset
This character would be a wild addition due to the fact that they are basically unknown outside of parts of asia and is another representative of a large part of sega's history, the arcades.
These NO GOOD, ROTTEN, AWFUL, HORRIBLE DIRTY FIGHTING DWARVES are UNFORTUNATELY the main characters of SEGA Saturn's Three Dirty Dwarves. Never heard of them? GOOD. You'll wish you had stayed blissfully ignorant, unaware of these ABHORRENT menaces to the society. They used to be far, far away from our world, in another dimension where they should have remained. They started as three tabletop characters created by a group of psychic children, raised by an army, who played off-brand Dungeons & Dragons to pass the time. What caused them to create such ABOMINABLE, DETESTABLE heroes? I can't say. Perhaps they would have stayed where they are had the army not taken the children and their game away to teach them a lesson. When they did, these dwarves were given a portal into the real world to come to their rescue. They were naked and lost their gear, so they had to stock up at a sports store. How did they get the weapons and armor? STEALING. What else did you expect from these guys? Let's say somehow, someway these seem like "noble heroes" to you, I just want you to know that the tagline for the game was 'these guys don't mind playing dirty - they live for it!', so don't trust them. They will probably brass knuckle Akira or poke AiAi in his eye eyes. Whatever you do, you must stop these DISGUSTING, SCUMMY DWARVES from getting in.
The dwarves names are Tatonic, Corthag and Greg. Greg. GREG. Wow, I wonder who created him? Oh, a kid named GREGORY? NEVER WOULD HAVE GUESSED. NICE NAME, BUDDY. Oh, and did I mention that Greg the dwarf is played by Ed "Ecco the Dolphin" Annunziata? He was the designer for this. Now these little monsters could be our final character and Ecco can't. Not even ****ing Kolbiri. This mocks everything we know and love. Each one of these LOWLIFES are equipped with their own long-range and short-range sports equipment-related attack, and the ability to tag team and take the lead at any time. Greg is the middle one, armed with a baseball bat and baseballs, Tatonic, to the right, whacks people with a bowling pin and rolls bowling balls at the enemy, and Corthag, to the left, SHOOTS PEOPLE WITH A SHOTGUN. He hits them with it, too, as if shooting you wasn't enough. If you make the absolutely TERRIBLE decision to put these dwarves in the game, first off, why, secondly, they won't just be courteous enough to come out one at a time. No, no, no, these are the THREE DIRTY DWARVES we're talking about. They will stand behind whoever is the leader and help them. Think two people is bad with Ice Climbers? Get a load of THREE DIRTY DWARVES ALL AT ONCE. I guess the three movesets can also be compared to Pokemon Trainer if you want to compare these UNLIKABLE FIENDS to anything.
I wish I could say they lacked in any options for a super move, but I would be lying. Once they have enough energy, they even have a special move where all three come together like them to morph into one, GREAT, BIG DWARF called a 'Gestalt Dwarf'. Still, do us all a favor, and whatever you do, DO NOT VOTE FOR THE THREE DIRTY DWARVES FOR BATTLE OF AGES. I beg of you. We only have one spot. Don't use it for the THREE DIRTY DWARVES.
Pengo is a classic maze puzzle arcade game, which was developed by SEGA itself in 1982 (making him four years older than both Opa-Opa and Alex Kidd) and involves a titular penguin having been trapped in a maze of ice blocks with a crew of deadly Sno-Bees, who want to catch and kill him (sounds familiar, fellow arcade nerds?). Pengo has to defend himself from Sno-Bees by pushing huge ice blocks around and squashing them between two blocks, with killing each of them allowing him to clear the level, all while a cute version of this song plays in the background.
The game is among SEGA's early arcade games in the 1980's and became a commercial success, having it's fair share of copycat clones from other developers, ports (like in Game Gear) and sequels, the most recent game being "Ge-sen Love ~Plus Pengo!", which was released as a Japan-exclusive on Nintendo Switch in 2019. Pengo himself even made multiple cameo appearances such as Champion Boxing (Yu Suzuki's first work; when a player KO's an opponent) and Teddy Boy Blues (in a bonus round). It even apparently inspired Hudson Soft's iconic video game franchise, Bomberman, with some of it's elements.
For moveset possibilities, Pengo can slap opponents with his wings, kick them and even perform a ground slide on his belly (or dive diagonally downwards from the air). His special moves would focus on pushing ice blocks and set up chain reactions to stun and damage opponents around, summon Sno-Bees from their eggs as hazards, maybe toss diamonds as projectiles (based on diamond blocks) and make himself temporarily faster or invincible for a short period of time with power-ups from a Genesis sequel, Pepenga Pengo. The latest afore-mentioned game also has various sections such as "beat 'em uping" enemies, destroying barrels with melee attacks and using a gun to shoot juggling tin cans akin to Duck Hunt's frisbee/NES Zapper move in Smash.
Considering his position in SEGA's arcade history, maybe some of Pengo's moves would be based on non-Suzuki/Super Scaler games, similarly to Pac-Man and Duck Hunt referencing Namco's arcade roots and Nintendo's NES Zapper library in whole respectively.
Flicky - Summoning little birds behind him to assist in-battle like Pikmins for Olimar. Add in a palette and you got yourself a mission idea alongside Sonic.
Dynamite Dux - Another bird-based arcade title, using punching gloves and rocks/bazookas/bombs as projectiles.
Super Locomotive - A rushing move with a missile shot from it's smokestack when pressing the button. Really should have a stage, complete with a Rydeen track.
Teddy Boy Blues - That moment when a funny penguin pulls out the machine gun, I'll live for that.
Quartet - A jetpack. Who said that penguins cannot fly?
Champion Boxing - Maybe he would use a "K.O." sign as an attack or taunt to reference one of his cameos?
Job #186: Princess Kurumi from Ninja Princess/SEGA Ninja
There she is!!!!!!!
Kurumi's just fun, man. Really cool pick that works very well in a lot of ways, I think we could use a proper "retro" character, just a great character all around. We may not think of her as a particularly left-field choice, considering the fact that she's been submitted like a gazabajillion times by now, but......she is pretty damn obscure. This is not someone you see on people's radar when discussing a SEGA platform fighter.
And honestly the main reason I'm submitting her myself is exactly because she's been submitted so much. I haven't checked, but she might actually be the most frequently submitted character for this project who isn't in yet. This is clearly someone who the thread wants in, yet she's never managed to break through. I figure this is probably our best shot.
1. Kurumi (She really needs to be in the game)
2. Virtua Man (I really love this concept of having Mr. G&W-esque Fighter in Sega Battle of AGES roster)
3. AGES (Self-Vote, but having hardware character is like having ROB in smash roster)
Shout-out to Pengo, Ecco, Football Manager and Three Dirty Dwarves. All picks were good and creative,
1. Football Manager (Sega's biggest seires!)
2. Love & Berry (wild card. I think ending on a "literal who" would be funny and they do seem neat)
3. Kurumi (neat retro pick)
Princess Kurumi (we may already have Joe as a ninja rep, but it's about time that the original heroine will absolutely deserve her position in a roster)
Also, she would represent the SG-1000, which is the only SEGA console without any fighter representation.
1. Kurumi: She's not the biggest oddball pick, but I adore her. One of my very favourite retro Sega cast.
2. Ecco: Likewise Ecco the Dolphin is (surprisingly) not the strangest pick here, but is such a fun and strangely dark series I can't help but desire him.
3. Derakkuma: Although information is limited on this series, I think this is a really good unexpected choice.
Shout out to Love and Berry and Bass which are so outrageously wild ideas I adore them.
Actually sod it, I adore all of these picks. This was one of the rare rounds where I liked every single entry. We really can't go wrong with any of them.
1. Football Manager - I’m not a sports game fan at all, much less a sports management sim fan, but I love wacky non-fighter characters in fighting games. Wii Fit Trainer being one of my favorite Smash additions ever should tell you where my tastes lie. Personal love of these kinds of wacky casual game reps aside, Football Manager is one of Sega’s biggest franchises, Sega has always had a close association with sports games, and the Virtua Striker management concept is an insanely clever way to represent both what Football Manager is all about and the wider breadth of Sega sports titles. I mean it with the utmost sincerity when I say that Football Manager feels like the last missing puzzle piece for this roster.
2. Virtua Man - I’ve gotta give props to the creativity of this one. A Mr. Game and Watch-esque pastiche of Sega’s early 3D titles is a brilliant idea and feels like something they would totally do. It’s almost like a natural progression of the AGES concept from Transformed, but more suited for a fighting game.
3. Love and Berry - Self-vote, but this feels like the kind of Japan-centric deep cut that would fit right at home on our roster. The arcade card reader games have always been a fascinating piece of Sega’s history to me and they’d be a fun way to represent that.
I also wanna give a shoutout to the Bass for making me burst out laughing in the middle of my college’s library.
I feel weird about voting Football Manager because it uses part of my writeup, but I really loved the idea of combining my silly goalkeeper idea + Manager. I really just loved this entire lineup. I also want to shoutout Duelist, but in general, I really want any of these to win. This was just a great round for characters and write ups.
This was, not even kidding, one of the hardest rounds we've ever had. Everyone truly brought their A-Game with a great, fun selection. In the end I think my picks I settled on will have to be...
1. Love & Berry - If it isn't obvious from my Football Manager submission, I have a deep, deep respect for casual gaming. It's an oft-overlooked section of the video game market and yet it's massive. I love non-fighters in fighting games, too, and I love seeing them incorporated into fighting games. On top of that, I'm a staunch Style Savvy For Smash supporter because I think a moveset based around fashion outfits, poses, and modeling would be cool and fun, and I love how it's a big part of Nintendo history that is often ignored because, well, it's a game aimed at and popular with women. Love & Berry tick so many of these boxes for me. They're fun, cute characters with a great shoujo design that helps them totally stand out, they have dancing and fashion in their moveset, and furthermore they represent a big part of Sega history in their more modern arcade dominance! They're this perfect cross-section of characters that stand out, fun moveset potential, unique historical significance, and personal joy-sparking potential.
Plus, as they're fashion-conscious, we could totally use them to cosplay different characters either as alts or in references in their moveset! The outfit-switching mechanic to change up their moves and properties is so fun! I just like them a whole bunch!!!
2. Princess Kurumi - Ever since I first learned about this retro I really fell in love. I love the pleasant art style of Sega Ninja and I love her historical importance as an early woman protagonist, as well as how she represents early SEGA arcades. She's cool, and Sega Ninja is cool. Her addition to the roster would be a super fun throwback that I think would surprise a lot of people, and what's more she's not just a surprise for surprise's sake and would have staying power too. A win all around.
3. Bass - Sometimes a pick is just so, so funny. I am a fan of wild joke characters and I really absolutely loved the write-up here because it's not just "Haha what if a fish could fight!!! wouldn't that be funny" which, to be fair, yes, but the justification of Sega Bass Fishing being a way to represent the series itself as well as peripherals and the sheer audacity of the fish fighting and the fisherman showing up to...it's just so fun! It's funny as hell but it feels well-thought-out and I just really respect that.
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And for real, like, it was so difficult to narrow this down! I love every single nomination here. The writeups were great, and some of the ideas, like Duelist using retro Sega characters to fight or Virtua Man representing the Virtua series and other unusual Sega properties like Athlete Kings or Sega Race TV, were nothing short of brilliant. It feels like everyone dug deep and picked choices that meant something to them and managed to fulfill all the criteria in the original post all around. I know we're just deciding on what the final base roster character is and we have tons of content to come but man, this feels like such a huge milestone and it was just joyful to see everyone's submissions. Can't wait to see who wins because there are no losers here.
But before that.....I kinda need to mention that today marks the one-year anniversary of the thread.
And I just wanna say thank you from the bottom of my heart. When I was first thinking up the possibility of doing this thread back during the original wave of creation threads, I sincerely never thought we'd get to this point, nor did I think we'd end up with such a creative and interesting roster. During this time, a lot of actually pretty interesting threads were dying out, and that was my fear with this one too. I feared the thread wouldn't get any traction. I feared I'd have to call it quits after like 10 characters, one of them being Greendog the Beached Surfer Dude. And during that time we were covering the starting 4, when there were few really active people and the thread was basically hanging by, well, a thread, I was legitimately worried that this was what things would come to eventually. But somehow, I've managed to gather a large group of people who are passionate about SEGA and I couldn't be happier. I was afraid we wouldn't get to do much, but instead, I've seen a ton of cool ideas, learned a ton of cool ****, and nowadays I feel like everytime I look at this thread, I'm reminded of why I love SEGA. Having the input of multiple people means I can finally come up with a concept for the game of my dreams, without being restricted to what I know and what I can think of. I still remember the day I saw the Mushiking assist idea and it absolutely blew my mind because I'd somehow never thought of that before, and that's always stuck out to me as a prime example of the many, many, many great ideas this thread has shown off that I would have never thought of myself. So yes - thank you for participating, thank you for contributing to this crazy hypothetical, thank you for keeping the thread alive and getting it to where it is now. This wouldn't have been possible without yall.
And indeed.....the base Battle of AGES roster has come to an end. Finishing off our base roster, our last character, it is, in fact, none other than the one, the only, finally getting her chance after tons of nominations, Princess Kurumi!!!!!
So er.....yeah. The base roster is complete. How 'bout that?
Discussion #??: What are your thoughts on the finished base roster?
Alright, before we get to the rest of the base game's content, I'd like us to take a break to discuss our final thoughts on this roster we've put together. So errrrr yeah! What do you think?
My opinion:
The Roster looks great in my opinion and it feels like a real Sega Platform Fighter with iconic and niche characters that appear in our roster.
Speaking of the Roster, it kinda lacks other characters who missed the cut like BD Joe, Amigo, Gunstar Heroes, Vectorman and others who could fit, but overall, the Roster is well done.
This was so fun and I can't really wait for DLC rounds.
I have a question:
Are we getting misc. assists and stages based on properties that weren't directed by Sega?
Yo!! This has been a very fun thread that has helped me learn all about series I knew nothing about. And some I'd never heard of.
I think our final roster is mostly pretty great! I think with sega rosters it's easy to just do the ASR cast with Kyiru and Joker and Bayo thrown in. Not that there's anything wrong with those characters, they're all important and all in our roster for a reason.
But we dug deep. Nei! Bowie! Asha! Rikiya! Kurumi! Such good picks! And we did a great job with our more obvious picks too.
There are perhaps a couple changes I'd make. Such as swapping one of the Byrants out for a different VF rep or giving PS a 2nd rep, but that's not to say that way we ended up doing where the wrong choices.
