Smashboards Creates: Battle of AGES, a SEGA platform fighter

[osby]

1. Centurion. I think he would be a very unique transforming character.
2. Harrier. His game is a classic and I'd like to see a modern redesign for him.
3. Joe Musashi. My preferred Shinobi character would be Hotsuma but Musashi is also really cool.

 

[tonygameman]

1. Joe Musashi (another most wanted)
2. Kurumi (Yoshi got a point on SG-1000)
3. Opa-Opa (I just woke up and got legit surprised by amount)

Edit: Well, there's more Capsule Toy submissions based on SEGA's 1980's arcade games. I remember playing latter two via Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection on my PlayStation 3 long times ago. Some trophies in Smash were like diagrams, so latter two are like reminiscing certain scenes.

• Bin & Pin (Bean the Dynamite's inspiration)
  • Series: Dynamite Düx
  • First Appearance: Dynamite Düx (December 1988)
  • System Debut: Arcade
• Defense Robot & Spaceship (both are modeled with voxels)
  • Series: Zaxxon
  • First Appearance: Zaxxon (December 26, 1981)
  • System Debut: Arcade
• Bongo & The Hunter (a latter wears white clothes like his in-game sprite and has a torch from the final stage in one of his hands instead)
  • Series: Congo Bongo
  • First Appearance: Congo Bongo (February 14, 1983)
  • System Debut: Arcade

 

[LennyMcOhMyGod]

1. Harrier
2. Joe Musashi
3. Opa-Opa
As the person who did the Opa-Opa Moveset document, I feel it would be cheating to put the character I had been spiritually rooting for in the first two slots. Even if I wasn't the one who suggested him. Haha
(EDIT: Just realized that somebody pitched Joe Musashi, so I had to change one of my votes to him considering how awesome Shinobi is. Sorry, Nei!)

 

[AirMac1]

1. Opa-Opa
2. Harrier
3. Centurion

 

[Speed Weed]

OK, voting is closed! Here are the results:

Opa-Opa: 22 points
Gilius: 6 points
Centurion: 7 points
Kurumi: 7 points
Joe: 4 points
Nei: 11 points
Harrier: 9 points

That's right - as you can tell by looking at the results, the next character to join our roster is none other than the man, the myth, the legend: mother****ing Opa-Opa.

Rejoice. This roster is based now.

And where do we go from here?

Job #41: Submit a moveset for Opa-Opa

Obviously, we'll start tackling Opa-Opa himself and the respective content to come with him! Honestly he's such a unique figure among SEGA's beeeeeeg cast of characters that it's hard to come up with a boring moveset for him unless you were actively trying. So show everyone what you got! Make my man Opa-Opa proud!

Oh, and when I checked the dates for All-Star Mode, I realized that Opa-Opa actually has Alex beat by a few months for the title of oldest character in our roster now. So that's cool

 

[LennyMcOhMyGod]

Job #41: Moveset for Opa-Opa
I guess you could say this one is in the bag already, as I'd totally be happy with lending my old Fanmade Challenger Pack Document and having that be the base for his character. I still think moveset-wise it holds up pretty well and even shows Fantasy Zone's personality nicely.
(My moveset explanation is way too long to just post here unfortunately, so I'd advise clicking this link and scrolling through the moves (and whatever else you'd like to take from it) in the Google Doc!)

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

Though this doesn't necessarily come under a moveset, I did have an idea for Opa-Opa's alts - well, one in specific.

This alt for Opa-Opa is based on the ship from Zaxxon, another early space-based SEGA title notable for its replication of 3D graphics in the form of isometric projection, as well as being the first video arcade game advertised on television. Being incredibly successful in the States, it wasn't as well-received in Japan, but a reference like this could potentially work. Now, as for whether it would work to have the ship itself I'd suggest not.

I based the colours in specific on this image, referencing the original arcade release of the game in question. However, if you wanted the ship itself, it could potentially work as a capsule toy! Perhaps a voxel-style a little like the 25th Anniversary Mario Amiibo could work, or maybe just rendering the ship based on the original artwork for the arcade cabinets. I just feel like Zaxxon is an important part of SEGA history that should be recognised, but isn't on its own worth a character or a stage.

 

[osby]

Job #41: Opa-Opa moveset

Moveset:

General playstyle: Opa-Opa is a small and light character with low health, hence low survivability. He has the most double jumps out of the entire cast with five and can air dash in four directions. He’ll need those movement options, though, as his air mobility is slow and he has one of the worst, if not the worst ground speed among the entire cast. Opa-Opa is a zoner character who keeps opponents at bay with projectile specials and normal as his close-range moves usually aren’t very good.

Notable normal attacks: Opa-Opa uses his legs and wings to kick and punch, usually dealing low damage and knockback. His tilts, jab, and dash attack uses his legs while he mostly attacks with his wings in the air. He lifts himself from the ground with his wings and kicks upward for his up tilt and spins around with his wings extended for his forward air. His smash attacks are all projectiles: Up smash throws a short-ranged bomb that explodes immediately after. Down smash fires two fireballs to his sides on the ground which lingers for a moment. Forward smash sends a large bullet forward.

Specials moves:

Neutral Special: Twin Shot. Opa-Opa fires a pair of weak bullets. While these deal little to no knockback, he can fire this special consecutively and use it while jumping and walking. By using his down special, this move can be upgraded into Wide Beam and Laser Beam. Wide Beam is slow to come out and travel but deals more damage and has a large, crescent-shaped hitbox. Laser Beam needs to be charged for 3 seconds in order to be used but it can go for an entire screen (similar to Robin’s Thoron in Smash) and is the strongest move in Opa-Opa’s arsenal.

Side Special: Twin Bomb. Opa-Opa shoots a pair of missiles that travel forward after a short delay and deal a decent amount of damage. By using his down special, this move can be upgraded into Big Bomb and Fire Bomb. The former sends a single, strong projectile while the latter fires a fiery projectile that explodes and burns targets on contact.

Up Special: Big Wings. Opa-Opa’s wings grow in size and he starts to flap them with vigor. For a while, he ascends upward with free control over his horizontal mobility but loses them and freefalls after a while. By using his down special, this move can be upgraded into Jet Engine and Turbo Engine. Both allow Opa-Opa to sprout rockets and propel himself upward. Jet Engine gives Opa-Opa a rising hitbox around himself but less control over his movement. Turbo Engine gives him even less control but has a strong jet flame that can meteor smash opponents and gives Opa-Opa armor through his ascend.

Down Special: Shop. Opa-Opa creates a UI window on his character portrait with symbols representing his three other specials. By picking one, he’ll upgrade his special once for 15 seconds. He can upgrade his specials twice and can’t fully upgrade more than one special. His animations for entering and exiting the shop are lengthy, so he should use this move carefully.

All-Star Move: Fantasy Thorn. Opa-Opa jumps around a Shop balloon and turns into his Extra Ship icon version.

In this form, he can fly freely around the stage and can attack with the upgraded versions of his specials: Twin Shot becomes Big Shot which is much faster and stronger. Twin Bomb becomes Smart Bomb and creates a huge explosion on contact. Big Wings becomes Rocket Engine and sends Opa-Opa forward, knocking out anyone on his way. Instead of Shop, his down special uses Heavy Bomb and tosses an iron weight with “16t” written on top of it. This travels almost no distance and drops downward but has great knockback and shield damage.

Other:

Aesthetics: Opa-Opa looks like his design from Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing with more detailed textures. His shield is taken from Fantasy Zone II. His palette swaps resemble the various bosses in the Fantasy Zone games, including Evil Opa-Opa and his own father O-Papa. When he loses a stock, he’ll burst into droplets of light.

Entrance animation: Opa-Opa flies to the stage, then sprouts a pair of wings and legs.

Taunts:
Taunt 1: Opa-Opa takes off and flies in a small circle before landing.
Taunt 2: Opa-Opa jumps and waves to the camera with his wing.
Taunt 3: Opa-Opa turns his back and then looks back as his windshield glints dramatically.

Victory Theme: Victory (Fantasy Zone II)

Victory Animations:
Victory 1: Opa-Opa flies around before landing and skits to a stop.
Victory 2: Opa-Opa runs to the camera and then takes off, pausing for a second to wave before continuing to fly.
Victory 3: Opa-Opa flies as the victory screen scrolls in the background. He occasionally shoots and finally enters a portal.

 

[tonygameman]

Amen, brother. Now that we're on it, let's start it up!

Job #41: Opa-Opa's Moveset

General Playstyle:
Opa-Opa is a zoner character who's rather light in weight, weak close-range attacks, low health and has the worst ground speed, making him feel like one of the weakest characters unless he's armed with upgrades from his Down Special. Despite this, his air mobility is slow and he can keep opponents at bay with his projectile attacks.

As the roster's first air-oriented fighter, Opa-Opa can air-dash in four directions and has even a bit longer distance, considering how his series focuses on aerial combat besides ground-level moving.

Notable Normal Attacks:
For his melee attacks, Opa-Opa uses his wings to slap opponents, legs to kick/stomp opponents and perform back-flips. His dash attack also has him twirling forward while running (actually floating a bit). His smashes involve Flash Shot (chargeable forward shot), Hurricane (summoning multiple wind blades above him) and Thunder Volt (summoning two lightning bolts at both sides).

For his aerials, Opa-Opa uses various weapons like Back Shot as he vertically spins around to rapidly shoot projectiles at both sides of him for a "death blossom" in his neutral air. He uses Fire Ball & Backfire for forward and back aerials respectively in which he shoots a fireball on either side, propelling himself either backwards or forwards a bit. Up air uses Cross-Rang to throw a shuriken-like projectile that circles above him. Down air has Opa-Opa using Quartet Missiles to shoot four, quick spreading missiles below him.

Special Moves:

• Neutral Special: Twin Shot - Opa-Opa shoots small twin projectiles forward. Damage is a bit weak, but it can be spammed by repeatedly pressing or holding down the button and he can even move/jump around while doing so. Changes applies from Down Special.
  • Big Twin Shot - Does twice as much damage.
  • Laser Beam - Shoots forward a laser beam, which traps opponents inside, building up damage if they stay for a long period of time.
  • Wide Beam - Shoots forward a large, curved projectile which does 1.5x damage, but doesn't go out as far.
  • 7-Way Shot - Shoots forward 7 bullets in front-facing angles (like Contra's Spread Gun) and can keep opponents in place. They do 1.75x damage compared to Twin Shot when all projectiles connect right in-front of an opponent.
• Side Special: Bomb Drop - Opa-Opa tosses a bomb forward in-front of him in an arc, which explodes on-contact with an opponent or a floor. Changes applies from Down Special.
  • Twin Bombs - Allows Opa-Opa to immediately throw an another bomb for twice as much damage.
  • Fire Bomb - Tosses a bomb that summons two fire waves at each side when exploding.
  • Heavy Bomb - Drops a small 16-ton weight from the sky in-front of him, that meteor-spikes aerial opponents and even buries grounded opponents when directly hit.
  • Smart Bomb - Envelops Opa-Opa like a shield, stunning opponents and pulling in projectiles close to him. Does large damage to an opponent if they're at the epicenter of a explosion.
• Up Special: Flight - Opa-Opa flaps his wings and flies into the air, able to move freely around and even use his Twin Shots and Bombs for a few seconds before dropping back onto the ground. Changes applies from Down Special, changing up Opa-Opa's speed during this move.
  • Big Wings - Slightly increases Opa-Opa's speed and strength of his wing-based attacks. Also grants him a third (yet short) jump.
  • Jet Engine - Goes a bit farther than Big Wings, but not as high.
  • Turbo Engine - Faster than Jet Engine, but harder to control.
  • Rocket Engine - Very hard to control, but goes the farthest.
• Down Special: Item Shop - A Shop Balloon appears besides Opa-Opa as a menu appears, showing up three random items on each category (which can be changed with a control stick) that Opa-Opa can buy with coins that he drops from opponents during his attacks. Some of them will give Opa-Opa buffs for 15 seconds (with 5 seconds as a delay to prevent spamming) like increasing his speed, change up his Specials, etc. Works partially similar to Hero's Command Selection.

All-Star Move - Fantasy Finale:
Opa-Opa charges up, turning into his Extra Ship icon version and then shoots a more powerful, multi-coloured version of Laser Beam towards opponents. If it hits anyone, he will equip the Rocket Engine and quickly flies from every direction at high speeds to tackle them a few times as they're trapped in the middle like Greninja's Final Smash and Spidey's Maximum Spider in Marvel vs. Capcom.

Finally, Opa-Opa then finishes off by dropping a Ultra Bomb from the sky and it causes a giant, tremendous explosion that sends opponents flying away as he lands back on the ground, turning back to his current form. Based on all three Hypers used by his MUGEN self, yet weapons come from his games.

Others:

Aesthetics: Opa-Opa sports his regular appearance throughout the series, with additional textures and details coming from his Shooting Game Historica Gashapon figure. His palette swaps are inspired by other characters such as his brother Upa-Upa, Evil Opa-Opa (his dark doppelganger from Fantasy Zone II), O-Papa during his boss fight, Upa-Upa's mother, and even Harrier (yellow visor/darker red body/white lines/silver wings). He also has palettes based on a NES box-art (silver skin & wings/blue visor/gray lines) and Zaxxon's ship as shown above. Finally, he has two "special alternate costumes" from the shop, which are his classic Master System self and apparent son, Opa-Opa Jr. from Fantasy Zone Gear and Space Fantasy Zone (with shoes from it's artwork).

His shield is taken from Fantasy Zone II, when he faces his doppelganger, Evil Opa-Opa, in a final boss fight on Strange Field. It will flicker when close to breaking.

Like Mega Man, when KO'd/defeated, Opa-Opa will explode into multiple light droplets as a death jingle from Fantasy Zone II plays.

Entrance Animation: Opa-Opa flies slowly from the sky and drops himself onto the ground by landing on his feet. Partially based on the first stage intros in arcade versions, most particularly Fantasy Zone II DX's.

Taunts:
Taunt 1: Opa-Opa's visor reflects a curve on his windshield as it glints dramatically and a tear drops under said curve. At rare chances, Evil Opa-Opa's shadow will briefly show up with evil eyes, but Opa-Opa uses Drop Tears to quickly eliminate him for preventing from hindering the fight. References O-Papa crying at the end of the first game, and how his reveal as the Menon Forces' boss started up the events of Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa.
Taunt 2: Opa-Opa pulls out a random coin, which can be used to bring up a coin balance for his Down Special. Possible numbers include 10, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 8000 and 10000 (even over that number) depending on amount.
Taunt 3: Similarly to Pac-Man's Namco Roulette, Opa-Opa opens his wing flat and shows a random sprite from SEGA's 1980's arcade heydays such as Ferrari Testarossa, Pengo, Zaxxon's ship, Hang-On's biker, Harrier, F-14 Tomcat, Teddy Boy, Mary (Quartet), etc. References his status as their first mascot.

Victory Theme: Round Clear (Fantasy Zone) - minus a boss defeat jingle at the start, hence why it's time-stamped.

Victory Animations:
Victory 1: Opa-Opa does a 1080 spin and then claps with his wings above him. Based on his race win animation in Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing.
Victory 2: Opa-Opa is seen running around, collecting coins scattered across the ground and then flies away off-screen.
Victory 3: Opa-Opa flies in a circle 3 times and ends it with a barrel roll before descending. Upon landing, he then does a peace sign with his wing as he poses like in Super Fantasy Zone's credits.

 

[LennyMcOhMyGod]

Though this doesn't necessarily come under a moveset, I did have an idea for Opa-Opa's alts - well, one in specific. View attachment 321799

This alt for Opa-Opa is based on the ship from Zaxxon, another early space-based SEGA title notable for its replication of 3D graphics in the form of isometric projection, as well as being the first video arcade game advertised on television. Being incredibly successful in the States, it wasn't as well-received in Japan, but a reference like this could potentially work. Now, as for whether it would work to have the ship itself I'd suggest not.

View attachment 321800

I based the colours in specific on this image, referencing the original arcade release of the game in question. However, if you wanted the ship itself, it could potentially work as a capsule toy! Perhaps a voxel-style a little like the 25th Anniversary Mario Amiibo could work, or maybe just rendering the ship based on the original artwork for the arcade cabinets. I just feel like Zaxxon is an important part of SEGA history that should be recognised, but isn't on its own worth a character or a stage.

Ooh, that's such a good idea! I've always wanted to represent Zaxxon somehow in my Document, but I couldn't find any good ideas for how until you brought this up. Do you think I could replace this with one of the colors I've got on my Doc already? I'd be happy to give you credit for it.

 

[Speed Weed]

His game is a classic and I'd like to see a modern redesign for him.

Only now felt like replying to this for some reason, but I do feel like Harrier's design is an interesting point of discussion for if he hypothetically got in. There's been a lot of takes on him over the years.

Personally, I feel like the best design for us to use would be the one from the boxart for SEGA 3D Fukkoku Archives on the 3DS:

This one just hits all the right spots for me personally: it's a cool modernization of his classic design that doesn't change up too much. It also feels like the closest we have to proper official art of his classic design that isn't stuck in the realm of dinky 80s arcade flyer artwork. This is, IMO, the definitive Harrier design.

Honestly, in general, I just really like the 3D Classics series' artwork (which, according to the above image's filename, is apparently done by ****ing Ken Sugimori? It does kinda look like his style...)

I also have a soft spot for the long-haired design from this piece of artwork for the original game. It's stupid as **** and I don't think we should go with it, but I kinda love it lol

Alternatively, if we want to curse this game, we can always go with the SEGA AGES PS2 design

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

Ooh, that's such a good idea! I've always wanted to represent Zaxxon somehow in my Document, but I couldn't find any good ideas for how until you brought this up. Do you think I could replace this with one of the colors I've got on my Doc already? I'd be happy to give you credit for it.

Feel free! It's just something that occurred to me now LMAO - don't sweat it! :D (Glad to have been a little help lel)

 

[LennyMcOhMyGod]

Feel free! It's just something that occurred to me now LMAO - don't sweat it! :D (Glad to have been a little help lel)

Thank you so much! I'll be sure to give you credit for the idea.

 

[LennyMcOhMyGod]

Only now felt like replying to this for some reason, but I do feel like Harrier's design is an interesting point of discussion for if he hypothetically got in. There's been a lot of takes on him over the years.

Personally, I feel like the best design for us to use would be the one from the boxart for SEGA 3D Fukkoku Archives on the 3DS:

View attachment 321857

This one just hits all the right spots for me personally: it's a cool modernization of his classic design that doesn't change up too much. It also feels like the closest we have to proper official art of his classic design that isn't stuck in the realm of dinky 80s arcade flyer artwork. This is, IMO, the definitive Harrier design.

Honestly, in general, I just really like the 3D Classics series' artwork (which, according to the above image's filename, is apparently done by ****ing Ken Sugimori? It does kinda look like his style...)

I also have a soft spot for the long-haired design from this piece of artwork for the original game. It's stupid as **** and I don't think we should go with it, but I kinda love it lol

View attachment 321863

Alternatively, if we want to curse this game, we can always go with the SEGA AGES PS2 design
View attachment 321864

Also honestly the PS2 Design would make a great alternative costume, just like Kazuya's coat. I'm not even kidding.

 

[Speed Weed]

OK, submissions are done!

Here are our picks:

LennyMcOhMyGod 's Moveset
osby 's Moveset
tonygameman 's Moveset

Now here's Da Poll:

Opa-Opa's moveset

Vote Now! [LennyMcOhMyGod] [osby] [tonygameman ]

www.strawpoll.me

(Oh and if you vote for your own I'm breaking your kneecaps)

 

[Speed Weed]

OK then, the results have come in, and tonygameman's moveset wins!

Proceeding to the next job:

Job #42: Submit a Fantasy Zone stage

OK, every series with a character gets its stage, so obviously that also applies here! As a reminder of how it works, just have a general overview of the stage, a description of its layout, and a music list with a limit of 16 tracks. (this last one isn't 100% needed, I'm willing to take submissions that don't have it, but I'd still recommend having it)

Worth noting as well since the connection has been brought up a few times before - and this doesn't just apply to this job specifically - but for the purposes of this thread, I'm considering Space Harrier its own separate thing from FZ. So we can have fun little nods here and there, you can throw in, like, an easter egg somewhere or some tracks from the series in this stage's tracklist or something, but I am looking for more Fantasy Zone-specific stuff here, so that's something to keep in mind if you were thinking of submitting, like, a Space Harrier stage or Harrier as an assist to go along with Opa-Opa. I'd rather we stick to Fantasy Zone specifically for these more "major" things.

 

[tonygameman]

Job #42: Fantasy Zone Stage (Fantasy Zone)

Like Golden Plains, the stage moves forward in a side-scrolling fashion. Various enemies and bases appear as hazards, trying to attack players during their fights by flying towards them and shooting projectiles, while bases occasionally stay in place and spawn more enemies. Players (with no high-reaching up specials) can jump on platforms to reach and destroy bases to pick up items.

Once all bases are destroyed, the stage's rotation will end and a random boss appears. When killed, multiple items/coins (for aesthetic purposes except Opa-Opa, who can pick them up for his Down Special) will drop and the stage will start moving again. During the stage boss fight, a boss theme will play over the current song until they're defeated.

Much like Minecraft World in Smash, Fantasy Zone has 8 different worlds (still a same basic side-scrolling layout) which can be chosen by holding specific buttons before selecting the stage. Normally, the stage randomly loads in different worlds. It also changes various elements like hazards, platforms and bosses such as:

• Plaleaf: Tall flowers act as platforms. Stunpalon will fire a flurry of green bullets at fighters, though it can be damaged by attacking it's mouth when opened.
• Tabas: Volanda will erupt, causing fireballs to rain down on players.
• La Dune: Cobabeach will fire quick laser beams from it's cannons and chase players when most of them are destroyed.
• Dolimicca: Crabumger swings around it's arms, launching bullets toward fighters.
• Polaria: Poppos (snowman bosses) appear in different sizes, each column shooting bullets with their sizes increasing when each column is destroyed.
• Mockstar: Winklone flies around while spinning short lines of energy balls which surround its eye, which fighters has to attack. When damaged, the speed will increase. A bit smaller for fairness (when it comes to non-projectile fighters).
• Pocarius: IDA-2 will attempt to teleport on top of the nearest fighter in pieces. The size is a bit smaller unlike before and it's speed is slower.
• Dragon Land: Various enemies such as Tomos, Skeggs, Loopers, Doms, Mukadensus and Pakomen (bases) appear as hazards. A boss, Syura, will move around and shoot fighters while six Idas surround it as a shield, which players has to destroy first. Based on one of the stages in Fantasy Zone's Sharp X68000 port.

Salfar was excluded because of it being a boss rush stage, which is why I chose Dragon Land as the eighth world for this stage instead to represent the "sister series", Space Harrier (as a term said), hence why I called it after the fictional universe itself, even though this stage is majorly centered on Fantasy Zone (I openly let others have their chances).

Tracklist:
Fantasy Zone's soundtracks has lots of gems (even composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi), especially the main theme itself, but for these song choices, I looked up Speed Weed's hypothetical tracklist on a DLC speculation thread (now you know why I liked it days ago), considering how much he wanted this to happen, and also added additional tracks on them as well.

Both series' main themes are iconic enough to deserve swappable versions like in OutRun Bay. Fellow composer Yuzo Koshiro, was inspired by the latter, after all.

1. Opa-Opa! (original/Sonic Runners/S.S.T. Band/Space Fantasy Zone; obscure pick from a unreleased/cancelled game)
2. Keep on the Beat/Saari (original versions, but executed similarly to this, except that each song are played twice before a transition)
3. Don't Stop/Dreaming Tomorrow (a former was used for Opa-Opa's All-Star Move in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing; same execution)
4. Ya-Da-Yo (original/Reborn)
5. Cholacoray/Opa-Marimba (Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa)
6. Fly High/Cosmic Dance
7. Victory Way/Flow My Tears (former and four first songs were used in a 2008 medley; would work as Opa-Opa's credits theme)
8. Galactic Protector Medley (Earth/Saturn/Jupiter)
9. Picnic (Super Fantasy Zone)
10. Ya-Da-Ne
11. Upa-Upa!/Endless Love (Link Loop Land) (Fantasy Zone 3D: Opa-Opa Bros./3D Fantasy Zone II W)
12. Hey Hey Why? (Fantasy Zone - SEGA AGES Saturn port)
13. Main Theme (Space Harrier) (original/Master System Boot/Race of AGES/Vocal; another Mitsuyoshi song - extended alongside additional lyrics from a Vocaloid version in order to fit with other versions' lengths)
14. Battle Field (original/SEGA Superstars Tennis)
15. Space Harrier Boss Retro Medley (Squilla/Godarni/Ida/Syura)
16. Legend of Harrier (Space Harrier II)

 

[LennyMcOhMyGod]

Job #42: Stage for Fantasy Zone (Sbardian / Sbardius)

(Bright Side Sbardian)
Rather than take from my own Challenger Pack document and Tony's idea with the original Fantasy Zone (For the most part. Making a brand new stage after these two is hard...) Here I've decided to do my own new route that references Fantasy Zone II System 16 instead, with its variant of Sbardian!
Since it's really the only way to do a Fantasy Zone stage, Sbardius moves forward like that of Golden Plains in Smash, with there being bases that pop out simple enemies to take out and a boss at the end of the rotation. It then resets all over again after the boss is defeated. This stage only has one boss to take care of, that being Halorings.
However, to make it different from my Plaleaf and Tony's Fantasy Zone, Sbardius' gimmick is that of being able to move to the Bright Side and Dark Side after a portal appears from taking down certain bases.

(Dark Side Sbardius)
Besides a swap of terrain (The areas in the background of Sbardian are able to be interacted with, but disappear in Sbardius), in the Dark Side enemies that appear from bases are more aggresive and higher in numbers. They attack players and do more damage, which can rack up easily if a player is not careful in taking out bases. The Boss, Halorings' pattern also acts differently when battling it in either the Dark Side or Bright Side similar to that of its source material.

The Tracklist comes from an inspiration of my Challenger Pack doc, with 16 tracks involving music from 5 of the 7 Fantasy Zone titles, along with the first Space Harrier.
The tracks are
1. OPA-OPA! (Fantasy Zone)
2. Main Theme of Space Harrier (Space Harrier)
3. SHOP [A/B] (Fantasy Zone)
4. YA-DA-YO (Fantasy Zone)
5. The Subdued Zone / The Unknown Zone (Fantasy Zone (X68000))
6. SUNSET TEARS (SEGA AGES 2500 Vol. 3: Fantasy Zone)
7. HAPPY CHAOS (SEGA AGES 2500 Vol. 3: Fantasy Zone)
8. CRYNICAL (SEGA AGES 2500 Vol. 3: Fantasy Zone)
9. CORAL SONG (SEGA AGES 2500 Vol. 3: Fantasy Zone)
10. UPA-UPA! (3D Fantasy Zone OPA-OPA BROS.)
11. GUMBATIGHT / GUMBATIGHTER (Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (System 16 Ver.))
12. COSMIC DANCE (Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (System 16 Ver.))
13. ENDLESS LOVE (Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (System 16 Ver.))
14. Galactic Protector Medley (Includes EARTH, SATURN, and JUPITER)
15. Fantasy Zone Gear Medley (Includes WOOD STAGE, FIRE STAGE, ICE STAGE, WATER STAGE, CLOUD STAGE, DESERT STAGE, and LAST BOSS)
16. VILILY (Super Fantasy Zone)

 

[Speed Weed]

Forgive me Tony for bringing in more competition, but I believe we should have a ton more tracks from Fantasy Zone.

Heyo it's worth noting that 16 tracks (Tony's amount) is, like, the actual limit for stage music

I like the stage idea tho!

 

[LennyMcOhMyGod]

Heyo it's worth noting that 16 tracks (Tony's amount) is, like, the actual limit for stage music

I like the stage idea tho!

I could not be any sadder about that but I will abide to the rules

 

[Speed Weed]

Stage submissions are closed!

Here's what we got:

Fantasy Zone ( tonygameman )
Sbardian/Sbardius ( LennyMcOhMyGod )

Here's da poll:

Fantasy Zone stage

Vote Now! [Fantasy Zone ] [Sbardian/Sbardius]

www.strawpoll.me

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright, gang, the votes have come in: our Fantasy Zone stage will be, er, Fantasy Zone!

Now then....we've reached a bit of a complicated situation. Normally, I'd start up a submission round for whatever new series we're covering's assist. With Fantasy Zone, while it does have a cast outside of Opa-Opa...I don't feel like the potential for assists quite jumps out like with all the other series we've done so far. Even the Alex Kidd series, whose non-eponymous cast is pretty obscure all things considered, still felt like it had more to work with.

Buuuuuuuuuut Fantasy Zone is a major series, and I kinda get the feeling that there is indeed potential that I'm not seeing, so I'm doing something we're doing for the very first time here: a discussion period.

Discussion Period #1: Do you feel like Fantasy Zone has enough material to warrant its own assist?

Discussion periods are something that's already been adopted by the Smash Ultimate sequel thread, where for some time, instead of formally submitting things, we casually discuss something with each other, whether it be exploring the potential that comes with a future prompt, or just getting to know the thread's interests (stuff like "who's your most wanted" and whatnot). It usually lasts for a shorter time period than submission rounds, and it's pretty useful for influencing the future direction of the project.

This is better than just doing a poll because this way, people can convince each other of a given perspective, back-and-forthing ideas until we generally end up getting a better feel for what might be the correct path to take. Once it seems we've reached a general consensus, I'll be closing the discussion period, and we either do the Fantasy Zone assist or move straight to the 90s prompt.

Reminder that this is not a submission round. You can casually discuss ideas (like "oh we could do this or that"), but we're not going, like, "this is my submission" just yet. I hope I made things clear, now you jabronis go talk to each other for a few hours, I'm tired.

 

[tonygameman]

This is not exactly a submission post, but some ideas I can think of (without Harrier in mind) are like:

• Upa-Upa: Opa-Opa's younger brother, who debuted as the second player in a Master System title, Fantasy Zone: The Maze. He runs around the stage and even can fly freely in the air, yet has weak defense. He has access to stronger weapons as a reference to you being able to immediately access them via saved money from your coin stock in his mode on M2's 3DS/Switch ports.
• O-Papa: Opa-Opa's father and only excluded boss from the first game in my stage. He can swoop forward to ram opponents, summon six stretching parasites from his front, fire a 7-Way Shot (more effective/powerful than his son's) and drop a 1-megaton weight from the sky. Some of his attacks are based on Opa-Opa Nexus's boss fight in Super Fantasy Zone, for variety's sake.
• Halorings: The seventh boss in Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa, who resides in Sbardian. It's face spins around as a sphere flies in the air, spraying bullets while doing so (based on its behavior in the original Master System version, where its face was on a pole instead of the sphere). To damage it, players has to attack their face when it shows up.
• The Dark Master: The main antagonist of Super Fantasy Zone. He floats around, launching two purple, homing blobs which slow down players when hit. He also can roll into a ball and bounce around the stage. His weak point is the purple orb on his mech/robot's front.
• Dralinflore: As YoshiandToad suggested. Works almost same as its roles as a VMU RPG mook and a hazard, summoning five different enemies who function similar like how they do in the stage (pretty much like Hammer Bro. as an assist and Subspace enemy in Brawl). They also sometimes fire at fighters. Their damage is shown in the circle located on their centre: blue (full health), cyan, green, yellow, orange and finally red before being destroyed.
  • Moocolon/Mukoron - Travels straight forward, appearing in columns (one above the other).
  • Quili-Quili/Kirikiri - Travels straight for a little, before making a U-turn and retreating in the opposite direction.
  • Sourtham/Sousan - Flies across in a tight formation with two others, bobbing up and down while traveling.
  • Bottaco/Bottako - Swoops in from the top and bottom, approaching fighters on a diagonal. After getting close enough, they boomerang onto the other fighter.
  • Coulon/Kuron - Travels in a pattern similar to Quili-Quili's. If the fighter travels at great speeds (like Sonic in overall and Opa-Opa using any of the engines), a squadrons of Coulons will appear in a formation.

(shrugs) Well, guess that not every fighter-based series doesn't need to be fully represented, but at least I managed to think some out.

 

[YoshiandToad]

I personally feel like Fantasy Zone has a fair few options available to it for an assist, although I do agree of the current fighters it's options may seem the least obvious.

That said I feel the likes of Upa-Upa, O-Papa and even a Dralinflore (who ended up being the Fantasy Zone character put forward in the Sega special guest Power Drift) have potential for assist options.

I'd be willing to see some ideas going forward. Feels like it's only right when I was allowed to put forth Janken the Great for Alex Kidd to let Opa-Opa come with someone be it friend or foe too...

... although I think an assist AND a boss might be a little too much so I suppose that might be the discussion over which would be better to include between the two options?

 

[OrpheusTelos]

... although I think an assist AND a boss might be a little too much so I suppose that might be the discussion over which would be better to include between the two options?

Honestly this is my main sticking point right here for assists. When I think of all the options I’d like to see for Fantasy Zone assists my mind immediately jumps to the bosses. Which is a problem because the next thing I’m thinking is “hmmm, this would probably work better as an actual boss.” I imagine we’re going to do more boss submissions later and I’d hate to see something like O-Papa being ineligible because he was voted in as an assist. Not that there isn’t a precedent for characters being both bosses and assists, as was the case with Rathalos in Ultimate, but I imagine for this project we’d want to avoid being redundant if possible so I’m not totally sure what the policy is for stuff like that. Despite that I think Fantasy Zone has assist potential and I’d like to see what people are able to come up with. Plus even if a character gets in as an assist instead of a boss I think that’s still better than them not getting in at all.

 

[Speed Weed]

Honestly this is my main sticking point right here for assists. When I think of all the options I’d like to see for Fantasy Zone assists my mind immediately jumps to the bosses. Which is a problem because the next thing I’m thinking is “hmmm, this would probably work better as an actual boss.” I imagine we’re going to do more boss submissions later and I’d hate to see something like O-Papa being ineligible because he was voted in as an assist. Not that there isn’t a precedent for characters being both bosses and assists, as was the case with Rathalos in Ultimate, but I imagine for this project we’d want to avoid being redundant if possible so I’m not totally sure what the policy is for stuff like that. Despite that I think Fantasy Zone has assist potential and I’d like to see what people are able to come up with. Plus even if a character gets in as an assist instead of a boss I think that’s still better than them not getting in at all.

For the record, I am allowing us to pull a Rathalos. Just to make that clear.

As for the situation with bosses, I definitely get that but it's worth pointing out just how much great boss potential Fantasy Zone has here. Even if we add one as an assist, there's still at least, like, 5 great picks left to be made into bosses. But even then, again, I am allowing a character to be both a boss and an assist

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright, the general consensus seems to be that Fantasy Zone does indeed have enough to pull from for an assist. So let's do that now!

Job #43: Submit a Fantasy Zone assist

OK, now we can start formally submitting things. Since the material here definitely leans more towards bosses, I will once again remind you that a given character can be both a boss and an assist at the same time. For example, if we added Dural as an assist before adding her as a boss, we could still do the latter. With that in mind, let's get to it!

 

[AirMac1]

Job #43: Cobabeach

Cobabeach is the 3rd boss in Fantasy Zone. he shoots lasers out of those things in front of him. That’s really all I have to say, since it’s hard to find much information on the bosses from Fantasy Zone.

 

[tonygameman]

Job #43: Cobabeach
View attachment 322397
Cobabeach is the 3rd boss in Fantasy Zone. he shoots lasers out of those things in front of him. That’s really all I have to say, since it’s hard to find much information on the bosses from Fantasy Zone.

So, yeah. They're turrets and in the original game, those beams are quite fast. Instead of just flying vertically, maybe it would also swoop horizontally around the stage and become much faster in movement & beam speed when fighters destroy most of the turrets?

Edit: I do think that more story-important bosses such as O-Papa or The Dark Master (with Opa-Opa Nexus for a first phase) would be better as bosses than Cobabeach.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Job #43: Dralinflore

When summoned, two Dralinflore appear at the top of the screen taking it in turns to release a barrage of nasties such as the Quili-Quili that Opa-Opa is blasting out the sky here, the Sourtham that Ulala is having to deal with and the Moocolon that wait behind them. Not pictured are the Bottaco(round balls with appendages that shoot out from each side, they look a bit like viruses) and Coulon(similar looking to Opa-Opa spaceships but pointier) enemies. Each of these enemies will die to a single hit from a fighter, but they can push opponents back.

Every enemy will make a beeline towards the opponents, making this a good assist for keeping opponents off stage.

The amount of enemies spawned depends on the amount of opponents in the battle, with each Dralinflore unleashing one set of enemies per opponent, for a maximum of six sets of enemies per usage (two sets per opponent).

Sets vary for each enemy type:
Sourtham's travel in horizontal packs of five, swapping between the the top and bottom rows as they go.
Moocolan attack in a vertical pack of four making them ideal for pushing back enemies attempting to return.
Quili-Quili are unleashed in groups of three although they don't all attack in a pack. They do however chase after the opponent.
Coulon attack in pairs, suddenly changing direction and slowly climbing up to a different level travelling back and forth
Bottaco attack in pairs but constantly home in on opponents for the duration of the Dralinflore being out.

This particular assist can be used stealthfully in the Fantasy Zone where it'll blend in with the other bases (at least in Plaleaf), although it's enemy spawn rate is considerably faster than the stages.

Much like the bases in the Fantasy Zone stage they can be defeated but it's highly unlikely opponents will be able to react before the first set of enemies is unleashed as they require three hits to defeat each.

 

[LennyMcOhMyGod]

I may be on a losing streak at this point, but I've got ideas so I might as well share them!
Job #43: Fantasy Zone Assist (U.S.B.M.G.S Tot)

I would say that among all of the bosses in the original game (Besides Stunpalon and Cobabeach by a slight margin), U.S.B.M.G.S Tot is definitely one of the more iconic ones due to its origin being that of the Master System version of I.
(Fun Fact: Its entire creation, along with DZ DENO ROMA were based on how the hardware of the Master System was unable to run the original bosses, and rather than cut the stages entirely they work around said limitations by making brand new ones. Interesting, right?)
And because of that, it deserves a spot as an assist in this project.
How it would work is pretty similar to what it acts like in-game. The boss is summoned and it immediately begins shooting out projectiles from its mouth in a pattern of them facing down then up towards the closest opponent's direction, along with chasing them. It even shows its tongue when these bullets are shot out, which is its weak point.
If the tongue takes a certain amount of damage before its assist time ends, U.S.B.M.G.S Tot will crack and fall apart, having the assist leave early. Otherwise, it can simply disappear on its own.
To reference the source material, if the player who ends the assist is using Opa-Opa, their coin balance for Item Shop will be upped. Higher than ending most other assists especially if Opa-Opa were to get coins for it otherwise.

 

[AirMac1]

So, yeah. They're turrets and in the original game, those beams are quite fast. Instead of just flying vertically, maybe it would also swoop horizontally around the stage and become much faster in movement & beam speed when fighters destroy most of the turrets?

Edit: I do think that more story-important bosses such as O-Papa or The Dark Master (with Opa-Opa Nexus for a first phase) would be better as bosses than Cobabeach.

Thanks!

 

[Speed Weed]

And the submission period is closed!

Here are the choices we have:

Cobabeach ( AirMac1 )
Dralinflore ( YoshiandToad )
U.S.B.M.G.S Tot ( LennyMcOhMyGod )

And here's the poll:

Fantasy Zone assist

Vote Now! [Cobabeach] [Dralinflore] [U.S.B.M.G.S. Tot]

www.strawpoll.me

 

[Speed Weed]

Aaaaaaand the votes have come in: our Fantasy Zone assist will be U.S.B.M.G.S Tot!

....Christ, that's a mouthful.

With that out of the way, here is our next character prompt, and considering the order we're going in, y'all probably already know what this will be:

Job #44: Submit a SEGA character that debuted in the 90s

Yes, we already have plenty of 90s characters, but A. we're doing each decade anyway, and B. there's a reason for that. Plenty of iconic series debuted in this decade, and we're still far from covering the whole of it!

So to get a better feel for what's available, here's a basic rundown of SEGA's offerings this decade:

-The rest of the Mega Drive's lifespan after the first couple years
-Pretty much the entire Saturn era
-The first half or so of the Dreamcast's lifespan. Keep in mind that there can be a bit of confusion with characters that debuted more or less around the turn of the millennium, so make sure to check your release dates
-In terms of arcades: the later System series stuff, the Model series, and a tiny bit of later arcade boards like the NAOMI
-Smaller stuff like the CD, 32X and Game Gear sprinkled throughout
-A couple notable characters from acquired series debuted in this decade

Keep in mind that, as usual, only characters from series that aren't in this roster yet are up for submission.

Enough talk. HAVE AT YOU

 

[cashregister9]

Job 44

NiGHTS - 1996

NiGHTS is the titular character of the NiGHTS franchise, their goal is to protect the world of dreams from the Nightmaren.

NiGHTS is a primarly airborn character with very graceful and dreamlike movements.

EDIT: tonygameman 's writeup is so much better than mine, his is a better indication of NiGHTS

 

[tonygameman]

I just noticed that cashregister9 did submit this character, but I didn't want to waste all of my long work on this essay. Dr. Eggman was suggested by two users on a same prompt a few days ago in the Infinite thread and they were both tagged during a vote, though.

Edit: Thanks for a mention, buddy. I accept this on your name in a voting post, as long as this is linked as additional info next to a name, considering that Speedy had this experience with Takamaru.

Job #44 (90's Character) - NiGHTS (NiGHTS into Dreams - 1996)

Well now, let's get forward to my another most wanted character (besides Joe Musashi and Kurumi) for this project, who has close relations to Sonic (like Opa-Opa with Alex) thanks to same developers (Sonic Team's Naoto Ohshima & Yuji Naka), NiGHTS themselves (or him/her as they were referred with male pronouns in a storybook and Journey of Dreams, but you guys are open to say otherwise).

The game's plot involve two teenagers from a city called Twin Seeds, Claris and Elliot, who fight to save the world of dreams, Nightopia, from the evil nightmare forces led by Wizeman the Wicked (potential boss), with the help of a mysterious, titular Nightmaren being themselves as they face various characters such as NiGHTS' rival & sibling, Reala (potential second rep/clone), Jackle (another assist), etc.

There's also a sequel, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, which was released on Nintendo Wii in 2007, with William "Will" Taylor and Helen Cartwright as child deuteragonists instead. Here's two A-Rank walkthroughs for both installments if you want to check them out.

The game received critical acclaim for its beautiful graphics, soundtrack, atmosphere and impressive gameplay. While the series may seem fairly obscure by today's standards, it's still popular enough to appear on several lists of the greatest games of all time and Archie also published the comic book series, alongside a role in the crossover Worlds Unite. NiGHTS was also referenced lots of times and even appeared in multiple games like SEGA Superstars/Tennis, All-Stars Racing/Transformed (as a flagman and a racer respectively) and Sonic games, with the blue hedgehog himself in Christmas NiGHTS. A mini-game is also playable by linking the Game Boy Advance to GameCube via Phantasy Star Online and Billy Hatcher.

Plus, it was reported that Mario and Zelda's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, who is a fan of the series, wished he had worked on the game. And Steven Spielberg himself, being the first person who played the game when he visited SEGA and used an experimental version of the new controller, which was called the "Spielberg Controller" during development.

A reason why I decided to submit NiGHTS was because they're not only interesting for their legacy, but also diversity in clever ways, as they're both genderless and probably the fifth "cartoon" character alongside Sonic, Eggman, Alex & Opa-Opa; compared to "realistic" ones in the same amount - Akira, Sarah, Kiryu, Sakura & Ulala. It was also their 25th anniversary a week ago as the game was first released on SEGA Saturn (would represent the console's "overseas side" with Sakura's being Japanese) in July 5th, 1996 (like how I suggested Eggman last month the exact day of his and Sonic's 30th anniversary).

Anyway, for their moveset, NiGHTS has many stuff to go with, such as their signature flight ability, acrobatics (which also may lead into a command grab), Drill Dash (self-explanatory) and Paraloop (a small vortex which sucks in opponents and attracts items). Because of this and flying mechanics being prominent in their series, NiGHTS will also get four air-dashes, extra jumps and has an air-oriented playstyle (yet different from Opa-Opa), meaning that while they're maybe weak on the ground, they will be absolutely devastating when in the air. Maybe they would even float instead of standing, much like Dark Samus?

They can also dualize by fusing into one with a Visitor (if chosen as a special move) or even split into two if more than one Visitor are assimilated (which I can see for a potential All-Star Move). Their arsenal includes a Dream Flute, which NiGHTS may use to summon Nightopians as a orbiting shield, Ideyas to use them for various effects/buffs (which may also work as a item alongside Dash Ball), and Persona Masks (sounds familiar?) to shape-shift into various things such as a dolphin, a rocket and a giant dragon.

 

[Speed Weed]

I just noticed that cashregister9 did submit this character, but I didn't want to waste all of my long work on this essay. I'll gladly remove a whole thing if this breaks up rules. Dr. Eggman was suggested by two users on a same prompt a few days ago in the Infinite thread, though.

Edit: Thanks for a mention, buddy.

Job #44 (90's Character) - NiGHTS (NiGHTS into Dreams - 1996)

View attachment 322590

Well, Opa-Opa won the previous character prompt, so let's get forward to my another most wanted character for this project, who has close relations to Sonic (like Opa-Opa with Alex) thanks to same developers (Sonic Team's Naoto Ohshima & Yuji Naka), NiGHTS themselves (or him/her as they were referred with male pronouns in a storybook and Journey of Dreams, but you guys are open to say otherwise).

The game's plot involve two teenagers from a city Twin Seeds, Claris and Elliot, who fight to save the world of dreams called Nightopia, from the evil nightmare forces led by Wizeman the Wicked (potential boss), with the help of a mysterious, titular Nightmaren being themselves as they face various characters such as NiGHTS' rival & sibling, Reala (potential second rep/clone), Jackle (another assist), etc.

There's also a sequel, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, which was released on Nintendo Wii in 2007, with William "Will" Taylor and Helen Cartwright as child deuteragonists instead. Here's two A-Rank walkthroughs for both installments if you want to check them out.

The game received critical acclaim for its beautiful graphics, soundtrack, atmosphere and impressive gameplay. While the series may seem fairly obscure by today's standards, it's still popular enough to appear on several lists of the greatest games of all time and Archie also published the comic book series, alongside a role in the crossover Worlds Unite. NiGHTS was also referenced lots of times and even appeared in multiple games like SEGA Superstars/Tennis, All-Stars Racing/Transformed (as a flagman and a racer respectively) and Sonic games, with the blue hedgehog himself in Christmas NiGHTS. A mini-game is also playable by linking the Game Boy Advance to GameCube via Phantasy Star Online and Billy Hatcher.

Plus, it was reported that Mario and Zelda's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, wished he had worked on the game. And Steven Spielberg himself, being the first person who played the game when he visited SEGA and used an experimental version of the new controller, which was called the "Spielberg Controller" during development.

A reason why I decided to submit NiGHTS was because they're not only interesting for their legacy, but also diversity in clever ways, as they're both genderless and probably the fifth "cartoon" character alongside Sonic, Eggman, Alex & Opa-Opa; compared to "realistic" ones in the same amount - Akira, Sarah, Kiryu, Sakura & Ulala. It was also their 25th anniversary a week ago as the game was first released in July 5th, 1996 (like how I suggested Eggman last month the exact day of his and Sonic's 30th anniversary).

Anyway, for their moveset, NiGHTS has many stuff to go with, such as their signature flight ability, acrobatics, Drill Dash (self-explanatory) and Paraloop (a small vortex which sucks in opponents and attracts items). Because of this and flying mechanics being prominent in their series, NiGHTS will also get four air-dashes, extra jumps and has an air-oriented playstyle (yet different from Opa-Opa), meaning that while they're maybe weak on the ground, they will be absolutely devastating when in the air.

They can also dualize by fusing into one with a Visitor (if chosen as a special move) or even split into two if more than one Visitor are assimilated (which I can see for a potential All-Star Move). Their arsenal includes a Dream Flute, which NiGHTS may use to summon Nightopians as a orbiting shield, Ideyas to use them for various effects/buffs (which may also work as a item alongside Dash Ball), and Persona Masks (sounds familiar?) to shape-shift into various things such as a dolphin, a rocket and a giant dragon.

Alright, so this is a bit of a complicated situation.

WITH THAT SAID

I have been in a situation like this in the past. In the Smash Infinite thread, when we were doing the retro character job, I was planning on doing a big-ass writeup on Takamaru.....until someone else beat me to submitting him. Not wanting to waste my effort, I posted it anyway, while making it clear that it was not a submission of its own, but rather a writeup I was making that now simply served as a more thorough explanation of his appeal. Sure enough, I got to post the writeup anyway while Taka was counted as the other dude's submission.

So you can keep the post up, as it can sell people more on the character, but I'll be counting it as Cash's submission since he submitted NiGHTS first

 

[OrpheusTelos]

Job #44: Ryo Hazuki (Shenmue)

Ryo Hazuki is the main protagonist of Shenmue. After witnessing his father being murdered by Lan Di, he swears revenge and begins searching for clues on the wereabouts of his father’s murderer.

Shenmue only just barely qualifies for this section, having been released at the tail-end of December 1999 in Japan, but honestly it’s way too important to Sega’s legacy to ignore. At the time of its release, it was considered the most expensive video game ever produced and helped pioneer a lot of mechanics that would become staples of big-budget open world games after its release. It helped popularize quick-time events, it featured a day and night cycle, and featured one of the most detailed open worlds of any game released at the time. Regardless of how well you think Shenmue has aged, you can’t deny it was innovative as hell and helped lay the groundwork for big-budget sandbox games, including the Yakuza series. It’s not like the franchise has been forgotten either. Shenmue 3 released two years ago (albeit to mixed reception) and the series is getting an anime adaptation funded by Adult Swim. Plus we literally lifted the capsule collectables from Shenmue, it’d be weird if Ryo wasn’t in at this point.

While some might say Ryo might be derivative of the other brawlers on this roster, namely Kiryu and the Virtua Fighter characters, I think Ryo has enough to pull from to make him stand out. He has a ton of techniques to pull from that are unique to Shenmue, and if you really wanted to get creative you could pull some stuff from the life simulator aspects of the game. I mean who wouldn’t want to see a forklift super move?

 

[LennyMcOhMyGod]

Job #44: 90s Character - Dynamite Headdy

As much as I would love to try and submit one of the ships from the Thunder Force series, I still think that would be better represented with a stage by a slight margin. Not to mention, the Treasure games on the Mega Drive haven't gotten a part in this project as far as I know.
And even then, characters like The Gunstars and Epsilon-Eagle seem like better submissions on the surface. So why, I hear you saying, did I choose Headdy above them?
Moveset potential, along with his nature.
Headdy is a pretty wacky character, and with all of the different heads at his disposal I can definitely see a fun moveset being made for him involving most if not all of them. It wouldn't even feel out of character for him to reference the other original Treasure titles, Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier and even Light Crusader in his taunts!
Unfortunately, there weren't many Treasure games you could call Sega after the 90s. So in case I don't get the chance to submit another, I wanted to pick a single character that could represent the entire company's catalogue on the Mega Drive here. Another reason why I put this character above the more obvious picks.

 

[AirMac1]

Job #44: Axel (Crazy Taxi)

From the Sega Wiki:
“Axel is a taxi driver from Crazy Taxi. He is the character on the American box art for Crazy Taxi.

Axel had always wanted to be a cabbie ever since he was ten years old and considers it the coolest profession around.

He enjoys entertaining his customers while getting big tips in the process, and after work Axel likes nothing more than to play bass and vocals in punk bands and pick up women...unfortunately due to his volatile temper, bands often kick him out and women dump him.

Despite his fiery personality, Axel is a very personable guy who has many friends...he just needs to stop picking fights. He's also big on board sports and whenever he's not driving he can be found skating or surfing.”

Axel is the main character of Crazy Taxi, and the only character to appear on the boxart for every Crazy Taxi game, so he makes a lot of sense to be the next inclusion in the game. He even has a cameo appearance in Sonic Riders, where he can give the player a ride, which takes them through a hidden shortcut.

Heck, he even has his own remote-control car!

And that’s why I think Axel should be the next representative for this non-existent video game!