Job #134 a (Sega All-Stars character)
A Sega All-Star you say?
It's time!
Haha!
Just kidding I'm really submitting...
...oh I guess Beat, Gilius Thunderhead, Amigo, Joe Musashi, Football Manager and Shogun are all already submitted?
I guess it really is time.
For Job #1 I originally submitted Billy as the modern character as he was one of the few I recalled at the time, having my Sega roots be mostly in Master System and Mega Drive origin, only really playing Sonic after that. Still, since April I've played many more Sega series that I hadn't even heard of before, which put into perspective just how large a pool Sega really had to draw from.
In that time I've played Panzer Dragoon, Space Channel 5, Wonder Boy, Valkyria Chronicles, Total War, NiGHTS, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Samba de Amigo, Yakuza, Shenmue, Virtua Tennis, Sakura Wars, Virtua Fighter and Two Point Hospital to name a few. Since job 1 my horizons have expanded considerably from my previous limited pool of Master System and Mega Drive titles and I can see how small a game like Billy Hatcher can be.
But you know what? I also played Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg.
And it's
good.
It's flawed and full of that early Sonic Adventure/Sonic Adventure 2 jank with it's mechanics but it's also a
really fun 3D platformer with a Beat 'em Up streak and the hatching gameplay is surprisingly an enjoyable gameplay loop. The PC port is ridiculously cheap and I recommend nabbing it if you have any love for the Sonic Adventure titles to try for yourself.
Anyway enough history, let's crack(ha, eggs) on with this submission.
Billy Hatcher (Billy Hatcher & the Giant Egg)
"Good Morning" - Billy Hatcher
So for those not in the know, 'William Cracker' here is a young boy who after defending an anthromorphic baby chicken from a more realistic looking crow made of dark matter gets dragged into another world alongside his three friends to take place in what is essentially a war between Chickens (Day) and Crows (Night), being drafted into fighting for the chickens via a never seen but often heard chicken god known as
Menie-Funie who grants them legendary chicken suits allowing them to roll giant eggs and hatch the creatures inside them.
Billy and his friends
Rolly Roll,
Chick Poacher and
Bantam Scrambled are sent to go and free the chicken elders who have been trapped inside eggs by the shapeshifting crows. Of the four drafted heroes, Billy is the only one who doesn't screw up his mission, get tied up and placed next to a bomb. Way to go guys.
After Billy runs his opponent down with a large egg, he frees Rolly, Chick and Bantam from explosive death and they set about setting free the Chicken Elders from their eggshell prisons. These elders are the only ones who have the ability to dispell the darkness over the lands, and bring morning back, finally facing off with the emperor, Dark Raven.
Billy Hatcher was EVERYWHERE during the mid 2000s as Sega was really keen on pushing Billy into everything they possibly could.
He appears in
Sega Superstars getting top billing outside of the proven Sonic the Hedgehog on the cover and intro cutscene, he was placed in the original
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and he even rode alongside NiGHTS and Amigo as a guest star in
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.
Sadly for Billy, Yuji Naka and Sonic Team, the game didn't do anywhere near as well as they were hoping.
Over time Billy made less and less guest appearances in Sonic and Sega crossover titles to the point he was scrapped in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, although that a Billy Hatcher track complete with models of Rolly Roll, Chick Poacher and Bantam Scrambled without Billy would hint they had at some point planned Billy to return as a racer.
Not all is lost for Mr. Hatcher though. It's easy to see why those who loved Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 latched onto Hatcher as his game feels very much in the vein of those, carving out a place in people's memories and generally looked back at with a fondness. He's absolutely not the most important Sega character ever, but having spent hours running people over with eggs and getting satisfying squishing noises, I can absolutely see his appeal.
Should he become a fighter in
Battle of Ages, I imagine he'd be a character who, much like Lucario, strengthens over tiime.
The more the egg is rolled, the larger it becomes and the more powerful Billy becomes. However it'd come with a caveat that the egg is still...well,
an egg and thus is easily broken if it takes enough hits whilst away from Billy giving him a projectile that is very powerful as long as it's not hit whilst being used or a weapon that will allow him to deal huge damage but can be easily seperated from him, meaning Billy players would have to think carefully about how and when to strike.
Right, that's the 'All-Star'...let's submit someone a little more unusual for the 'non All-Star'...
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Job #134 b (Non All-Star character)
So...you're a super genius who has become bored with life...what do you do?
Travel to another planet, declare yourself emperor, get bored and clone yourself into your own species of course. I mean, it's what I'd do.
Horatio (the first) (Endless Space 1 & 2)
This is...nay...
WE are the Horatio.
So for those not in the know, this big foreheaded megalomaniac is Horatio.
He was originally an incredibly wealthy and only slightly less deranged trillionaire who left his home planet to discover his own star cluster. Eventually finding a habitable planet, Horatio ventured out and stealing information from The Endless' ruins found a way to not only extend his own life but also information about cloning techniques.
Horatio, bored of living a lonesome life, used the information he gleamed from The Endless's ruins to create DNA labs, allowing him to create himself a set of allies, servants and slaves all in his likeness as well as upgrading his own DNA to perfection, splicing in the genetics of other species to gain their positive effects and improve himself and his clones.
Boredom however, eventually reared it's ugly head again and Horatio began to ponder if he could fill his planet with Horatios, taking over the world and declaring himself Emperor...
...and heck, why stop there? Horatio was inspired for his next goal; to fill the entire universe with the very image of perfection and beauty: Horatio.
The problem with creating clones that Horatio came across is that you don't want perfect clones. Whilst yes, he wanted a world full of beautiful and brilliant Horatio, he also needed them to be less megalomaniac and more willing to follow orders. Perfect clones that are created by Horatio's technology that are deemed a threat to Horatio the first are executed to prevent a hostile takeover as are any that could be conceivably a threat to Horatio's status as ruler.
As such, Horatio has perfected his technology to breed loyal and obedient Horatios only, albeit with the smarts and charm of himself. As such, Horatio makes nearly all the decisions for the race, with his word as law.
Surprisingly despite the looming threat of execution for being too different, the continuously growing population seems to be calm and collected. They strive for conformity, seeing it as a good thing and see anything unique or non-Horatio like as a threat.
In
Battle of Ages, Horatio will be seeking to expand his ever growing influence further, using his DNA splicing techniques to temporarily steal the powers of other fighters (similar to Kirby) whilst creating clones to do his bidding. These clones will likely leave after their duty is fulfilled upon Horatio's own orders(making them more like brief summons like Duck Hunt Dog's ability to summon the Wildmen) or be executed by Horatio himself after they have fulfilled their role due to being too different from himself.
Combat wise, apart from an endless supply of loyal and obedient clones that can help assimilate other species, and the ability to DNA splice, Horatio has access to a number of durable humongous warships that can rain down laser fire on their enemies as well as access to futuristic firearms.
This man isn't afraid to shoot even himself. Imagine what he'll do to someone he deems less beautiful and perfect than Horatio.
Lastly, Amplitude Studios (owned by Sega) released a dating sim style visual novel game featuring Horatio in this rather delightful artstyle:
This game is free on Steam and has you play as a clone of Horatio, trying to discover who you truly are through interactions with your fellow Horatio.
Outside having a dedicated game released by Amplitude themselves, Horatio have also made cameo appearances in Two Point Hospital, with a Horatio statue being one of the many items you can use to increase your hospital attractiveness levels.
