Namco Bandai: What's your opinion?

[Wyntir]

They brought Pac-Man to the battlefield so ROCK ON!! *bashes guitar on table*

 

[Gidy]

THREAD REVIVAL!!!

 

[Raijinken]

Nandai will do fine. Just wish they'd drag in a Super Robot Wars character somewhere, though. I can just imagine an assist trophy that overrides the stage music with TROMBE!

 

[strawhatninja]

Alright, so we know that Sakurai is still the head of the next Smash. But as you may all know at this point, Namco Bandia has been hired to handle the development, perhaps 60-80% of it. What will come of it?

Namco Bandai has been around for a couple of years now. It has shown that it is a good and consistent game developer, covering genres such as RPGs and platformers. It has also been known to pander to its fans, particularly the Tales series. One just has to look at the its Tales of Fandom series as well as the onslaught of extra material it releases within each "mothership" title release. However, like any other developer, it has it flaws and controversies, such as it unexplained reluctance to release Tales game to the west, and its... well, increasingly ridiculous busty ladies.

Namco Bandai was founded in 2006 of the merger of Namco and the video game division of Bandai. The two developers together hold the properties the .hack series, Tales series, Tekken series, and Klonoa to name a few. It has also worked on licensed properties, creating such titles as the Digimon World series and several Naruto title games. It has worked to develop some Nintendo flagship titles as well, such as Star Fox Assult, and Mario Kart Arcade GP.

And now here we are, at the dawn of Smash 4, with Namco Bandai as a big part of its main development.

How do you guys think Namco Bandia will handle the development? Will its "A Team", composed of its Tales, Tekken, and Soul Calibur dev teams put together, pull through and give us perhaps the best Smash yet? Or will it plummet and we'll end up with a rough, unpolished product? NOTE: this is not a character discussion thread. This is to speculate what will Namco Bandia's job will be and how will things go in the end. What do you guys want it to focus on: speed, balancing, technical aspects, miscellaneous extras, ect?

Discuss away! This dev team may make or break Smash 4!!

I really like Namco Bandai ( Bandai Namco now) and I was glad that they got to help Sakurai handle the game. I'm wondering if they will get handed the reigns of Smash wants Sakurai retires from it.

 

[Kaye Cruiser]

The era of Namdai has long ended. We're now in the era of Bamco. ¦(

Thread needs a rename to Bandai Namco.

 

[ferioku]

Knowing that Namco Bandai are working on this games balance mostly, I have more hope for this game.

 

[xxEliteAlicexx]

Knowing that Namco Bandai are working on this games balance mostly, I have more hope for this game.

How can you not have hope with the character selections and the over hyped theme song, competitive should be the last thing anyone wants. As long as the game is fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQJIqc1psw0#t=59 That's the menu theme by the way. It's bas ass and YES THE FULL VERSION IS MADE!!! <333

 

[ferioku]

How can you not have hope with the character selections and the over hyped theme song, competitive should be the last thing anyone wants. As long as the game is fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQJIqc1psw0#t=59 That's the menu theme by the way. It's bas *** and YES THE FULL VERSION IS MADE!!! <333

Hmm, I think both the Casual and the Competitive scene deserves a chance to enjoy the game in their own way to be honest. Of course the game will be fun but honestly, for the game to be perfect, it should support 1 v 1, not just free for all. This is the reason I play melee mostly and brawl once in a full moon... but yeah, that theme is beautiful!

 

[xxEliteAlicexx]

Hmm, I think both the Casual and the Competitive scene deserves a chance to enjoy the game in their own way to be honest. Of course the game will be fun but honestly, for the game to be perfect, it should support 1 v 1, not just free for all. This is the reason I play melee mostly and brawl once in a full moon... but yeah, that theme is beautiful!

Trust me, I'm really competitive and only get casual with friends, it looks good, nothing to worry about. It's not even the final built and apparently was dated back in January and the game already looks better than Brawl gameplay wise. So if the current built already looks better than brawl and the dev team gets an extra 8+ months working on it, I'm pretty sure there'll be something in for both.

 

[ferioku]

Trust me, I'm really competitive and only get casual with friends, it looks good, nothing to worry about. It's not even the final built and apparently was dated back in January and the game already looks better than Brawl gameplay wise. So if the current built already looks better than brawl and the dev team gets an extra 8+ months working on it, I'm pretty sure there'll be something in for both.

Guess you're right. Can't believe I'm getting a little negative over this game because of certain people...

 

[xxEliteAlicexx]

Guess you're right. Can't believe I'm getting a little negative over this game because of certain people...

I know, I've seen you argueing with this one kid, using that picture of the pink dinosaur or what ever (not to big on pokemon) but hey, welcome to SmashBoards. We should get back on topic.

 

[Brickbuild101]

Did you know Tekken is actually where the term "wavedashing" comes from=???

But regardless, it's a huge upgrade over Game Arts as the primary developer.
Game Arts' (a 3rd party btw) fighting games without Sakurai: TMNT Smash (and that was after their experiences with Brawl).
Namco Bandai's fighting games without Sakurai: The Soul Calibur series (I love Soul Edge, SCI & II and kinda IV), Tekken (I love the 1st 4), and Outfoxies (the original platform fighting game, which actually then consisted of a lot of the staff that now works at HAL Laboratories and also worked on Smash 64 and Melee).

But yeah, they'll help with the balancing, add some new creative ides, and will allow Sakurai not to have all the stress on him (especially in Brawl when dealing with a rookie staff). Namco Bandai would be especially well off in HAL Laboratories focused all or nearly all of their efforts on Smash WiiU and 3DS as well, especially given HAL Laboratories' experience with Smash 64 and Melee, and a lot of their employees' relationships with some of the staff of Namco Bandai.

If the Brawl developers-Game Arts (they just moved their offices a month ago), Monolith Soft (they made the Last Story, and are working on an untitled WiiU game), and CERO (their last game was released a year after Brawl) were involved (obviously along with Namco Bandai and Sora Ltd), I'd be fine with that, too. The more minds involved (with experience), the better. That means we can get more content, characters, stages, original ideas, balance, online stuff, and a better overall game (faster?).

Also, there is no way Nintendo is letting Namco Bandai touch any female's lady parts. They didn't let Team Ninja do that with Samus/ZSS in Other M!

Yet they're letting them use that design for Cia in Hyrule Warriors.

 

[StarLight42]

I suppose it's great to have Namco here so the game won't be delayed multiple times like Brawl.

 

[Malkior7]

I believe that Bandai Namco being involved is a great decision by Sakurai I honestly believe not all the newcomers we have seen would have been in had BanNam not been involved (namely pacman)

 

[TerminalMontage]

Namco Bandai did a good job with Soul Calibur.

I hope the Mii Fighter clothing customizations are as extensive as the Soul Calibur character creator.

 

[nessokman]

When the hell did they confirm that namco was doing 60-80%???

Obvious made up numbers much.....

I highly doubt they did THAT much on the game. They probably had a select group of employees join Sakurai's development team for this project, nothing more, nothing less. It means nothing other than they wanted to have other people work on it to speed the process up.

 

[Johnknight1]

Yet they're letting them use that design for Cia in Hyrule Warriors.

>Quotes me from 2012

Dude, it's a different company from either of them.

Team Ninja refused to work on the game unless they got all the massive upper female body parts.

===

Also why in the bloody heck was this thread of all threads brought back=???

It hasn't had a post in 3 weeks shy of 2 years.

The last post was by Tri A FEW WEEKS BEFORE HE WAS MODDED!!!

 

[pizzapie7]

Wow this thread is old. Hilarious to see SmashChu spewing the same bull**** two years ago that he is now though. Solid bump.

To be on topic and formal Namco-Bandai could not hurt this series at all, only help. Their traditional competitive fighting game pedigree will only serve to improve the series going forward, be it in the physics and mechanics, or character design, or anything really. Love the addition.

 

[Jellyfish4102]

When the hell did they confirm that namco was doing 60-80%???

Obvious made up numbers much.....

I highly doubt they did THAT much on the game. They probably had a select group of employees join Sakurai's development team for this project, nothing more, nothing less. It means nothing other than they wanted to have other people work on it to speed the process up.

While those numbers are of course made up, we do know that Sakurai is working at Namco Bandai and not the other way around. During the Smash Direct Sakurai said he was reporting from his office inside a Namco Bandai building. That suggests that Namco Bandai is where the majority of the work is being done.

 

[nessokman]

While those numbers are of course made up, we do know that Sakurai is working at Namco Bandai and not the other way around. During the Smash Direct Sakurai said he was reporting from his office inside a Namco Bandai building. That suggests that Namco Bandai is where the majority of the work is being done.

Those are assumptions only worthy of someone in the smash community. Sakurai isn't in a specific studio anymore, if I recall, sora disbanded. It's probably a vast majority nintendo staff working at namco's place.

 

[Oracle_Summon]

They are a good company. I don't hate them or am in favor of them.

 

[Nat Perry]

Let's remember, they brought us Starfox Assault, and I know this isn't exactly a popular opinion, but that game kicked booty.

 

[mygamecube]

I loved Assault, played the Naruto Storm series. The most recent two I can think of. They're a good company I like what they put out.

One of the reasons I kno Smash 4 will be just fine.

 

[MrPanic]

Those are assumptions only worthy of someone in the smash community. Sakurai isn't in a specific studio anymore, if I recall, sora disbanded. It's probably a vast majority nintendo staff working at namco's place.

Dude, just watch the beginning of the Smash direct, Sakurai himself says he works at the NB office. I even recall a interview with him where he told he even moved to somewhere near the NB building so he can work with the team daily. This game is all NB's work except for the fact they're basically working from the same base that Brawl ran on. He even nostalgicly referred to the old Brawl team during the Lucario veteran reveal. There really is no reason at all to think the ninty team is doing the most work on this game.

 

[Gidy]

Only thing I can think that's bad about Namco is the DBZ games

 

[nessokman]

Dude, just watch the beginning of the Smash direct, Sakurai himself says he works at the NB office. I even recall a interview with him where he told he even moved to somewhere near the NB building so he can work with the team daily. This game is all NB's work except for the fact they're basically working from the same base that Brawl ran on. He even nostalgicly referred to the old Brawl team during the Lucario veteran reveal. There really is no reason at all to think the ninty team is doing the most work on this game.

1.I never said he didn't work at their office.
2. This game is FAR from all their work.
3. It would make sense for the ninty team to be doing the most work on a NINTENDO game.

I already said it, Namco isn't solely working on smash, they obviously have other projects currently running, and it is more than likely a small team of the working on smash with the nintendo team.

 

[Zink Imp]

I already said it, Namco isn't solely working on smash, they obviously have other projects currently running....

OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7OhmanTekken7.

Sakurai said he hand picked the team. Supposedly a lot of people working on the game are apart of the Tekken and Soul development team, according to Tekken director Harada. Harada said he isn't working on the game, though.
I think it should also be pointed out that it's Namco's internal team- no one from CyberConnect is helping out.
At least, I don't think.

 

[Zzuxon]

I'm worried they'll turn smash into Tekken.

Holy crap, I can't believe I actually said this.

 

[Shariq]

Well when I first found out about Namco's involvement I was sorta disappointed and worried, but not anymore. It still looks like the Smash I have grown up with and love

 

[Jiggy37]

Whether it's 2012, 2014, or 2003, all of the negative things about Namco are filtered out just by virtue of teaming up with Nintendo. They're great at making actual gameplay, but it's things like their ridiculous Soul Calibur outfits, expensive and frivolous DLC, and bizarre localization decisions that drag them down as a company. With Nintendo as the main controllers of the project, there's no risk of those things happening, so Namco could only ever have been a neutral influence at absolute worst.



And wow is it a good thing that I somehow didn't know until reading this thread today that the Tales of Vesperia producer is working on Smash 4. If I'd found out in 2012, then for two years I would have been hoping for Tales characters. Now that we know about Pac-Man and we're only about a month away from the Japanese release, I don't have hopes for anything besides maybe a few assist trophies.

...oh, wait. Now I'm starting to hope for Namco to create a Tales of Smash down the road because of all the experience Higuchi's acquired. blasted optimism why did I have find out this news noooooooo

 

[Rocket Raccoon]

Good, the more the merrier. And we got a new character anyway.

 

[ryuu seika]

And wow is it a good thing that I somehow didn't know until reading this thread today that the Tales of Vesperia producer is working on Smash 4. If I'd found out in 2012, then for two years I would have been hoping for Tales characters. Now that we know about Pac-Man and we're only about a month away from the Japanese release, I don't have hopes for anything besides maybe a few assist trophies.

...oh, wait. Now I'm starting to hope for Namco to create a Tales of Smash down the road because of all the experience Higuchi's acquired. blasted optimism why did I have find out this news noooooooo

I highly doubt we'll see a Tales Smash game ever. We'll probably not even see a Tales of VS 2 given how badly received (and rightly so) the first one was. I'd love a good quality Tales crossover fighter or simply a Tales character in place of one of the overabundant FE folks in this game but the best I expect to see is a few mechanics crossing over (maybe scaling knockback will feature in another Tales game) and Better gameplay in Digimon Rumble Arena 3.

 

[HeavyLobster]

The Smash 4 dev team could well be the best of any Smash game, and should be a substantial upgrade over the Brawl dev team. This game appears to have a lot more thought put into it than previous Smash games, and so far it appears to be reasonably balanced. Namco also is as good as anyone in terms of netcode, so we should get a quality online experience this time around. I think they'll have a noticeable positive effect on the game's quality.

 

[LancerStaff]

When the hell did they confirm that namco was doing 60-80%???

Obvious made up numbers much.....

I highly doubt they did THAT much on the game. They probably had a select group of employees join Sakurai's development team for this project, nothing more, nothing less. It means nothing other than they wanted to have other people work on it to speed the process up.

Sakurai's own team is like, two people. Sakurai, and his assistant/menu designer/waifu.

 

[Nat Perry]

You know, teaming up in game development with your wife sounds awesome. I mean, if you really love and understand each other, and if she knows what she's doing, and if the collaboration is an overflow of your relationship to each other. I'm not married or anything but that sounds like a dope bonding experience.

 

[CrimsonYoshi]

I think they have a good overall track record and will be able to balance the game well while still giving it depth. Besides, Sakurai's decision is final, and we already know it'll play well due to demos.

 

[.Alone]

I like the collaboration. Namco is experienced working with these types of games, so they should be able to lend a helping hand with balancing issues, something Smash has had difficulties with in the past. Not saying it will be perfect, but it should be better at the very least. As someone above me pointed out, Sakurai still has the final say in what happens. Whether or not you believe that to be a good thing or not doesn't really matter. Namco should be able to improve the game, pending on Sakurai's approval.