Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[LiveStudioAudience]

The contrast in sales of Banjo-Kazooie vs. Mario RPG is not really a surprise. Even with the difference in install base between N64 and SNES, the former was a strong centerpiece release during a console's prime in a very popular genre, while the latter was a bit of an experiment in a system's waning year and belonging to a genre that hadn't yet fully exploded in the West (thank you FFVII & Pokémon). The Mario brand likely carried Legend of the Seven Stars a lot, but given the timing and where the North American market was, it was going to have a ceiling in terms of sales realistically. The stronger profits of Superstar Saga circa 2003 I think suggests there stronger faith in the idea of a Mario role playing title as the years went on.

 

[Garteam]

I'm still honestly shocked that Resident Evil only got spirits in Ultimate. The series is so massive and iconic that you'd figure it would get at least a Mii Fighter costume, especially when tons of Capcom characters have got costumes during both Smash for and Ultimate. Jill would have been amazing, especially if she came with alts for Chris, Claire, and Leon.

 

[Dinoman96]

I'm still honestly shocked that Resident Evil only got spirits in Ultimate. The series is so massive and iconic that you'd figure it would get at least a Mii Fighter costume, especially when tons of Capcom characters have got costumes during both Smash for and Ultimate. Jill would have been amazing, especially if she came with alts for Chris, Claire, and Leon.

Yeah it's truely bizarre. Going into Ultimate, I recall thinking that Dragon Quest, Tekken and Resident Evil were the three biggest Japanese third parties without a playable rep in Smash...and in the end RE ended up being the loser of the bunch.

In general it's funny and sad how Ken ended up being the one and only Capcom newcomer for all of Ultimate. I remember people saying "Man, Capcom has so many amazing characters, which one could they choose?!"...the answer was none of them lmao.

 

[Chuderz]

At least Ken qualifies as a semiclone despite his echo status. I actually quite prefer him to Ryu though I prefer both Kazuya and Terry over them both. Primarily Kazuya over Ryu and Terry over Ken.

I sometimes forget Ken is even there since I stacked my echoes day 1 and never looked back. I was rewarded with a nice even screen at the end DLC for it too. Anybody else stack their echoes? I know I'm in the minority here but I just don't like them cluttering up the screen and with 7 of them it really feeds into peoples' overexaggerating about the roster size.

 

[Stratos]

Before Terry appeared as a DLC newcomer to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, I thought and hoped from SNK that Kyo Kusanagi would come. Now can I hope in the future game of the Super Smash Bros. series? Yes.

 

[Ivander]

Yeah it's truely bizarre. Going into Ultimate, I recall thinking that Dragon Quest, Tekken and Resident Evil were the three biggest Japanese third parties without a playable rep in Smash...and in the end RE ended up being the loser of the bunch.

In general it's funny and sad how Ken ended up being the one and only Capcom newcomer for all of Ultimate. I remember people saying "Man, Capcom has so many amazing characters, which one could they choose?!"...the answer was none of them lmao.

It's probably a matter of priority. Sakurai probably wanted some other characters more. But he certainly acknowledged quite a bunch of the popular wants.

And even then, if you look at the number of Third-Party IP representation in Smash Ultimate, Capcom is tied with Square Enix on the number of their IPs in Smash, with Microsoft behind them if counting Bethesda.

• Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Ghosts'n Goblins and Devil May Cry for Capcom. And 5 of those are part of Capcom's biggest franchises. Heck, if counting Ken's Shinryuken Final Smash, that would include a reference to the Vs. Capcom games.
• Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, Mana series, Octopath Traveler and Bravely Default for Square Enix.

And even then, 3 of Capcom's IPs that don't have a playable character have Mii Costumes whereas Square Enix's only Mii Costumes come from the series that have player characters. If anything, Capcom seems to have gotten the most acknowledgement regarding Third-Party franchises people wanted a character from.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Well, Microsoft can keep Rare for all I care, but why not at least sell the Banjo-Kazooie and Conker franchises back to Nintendo, and have Nintendo purchase the creators of Yooka-Laylee, who were the old staff from Rare afterward? That probably would not be happening, but that would be a good situation for everyone, right?

Actually, yes it would.

 

[Stratos]

I read somewhere that because Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard, there was speculation that Nintendo would be next. I do not believe so, because first of all Nintendo is a very strong company to be acquired by someone. After all, Microsoft tried it 23 years ago and everyone at Nintendo burst out laughing as we all know. If they try again it will have the same effect. Nintendo will remain independent as we want it and no one will ever buy it.

 

[Chuderz]

I read somewhere that because Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard, there was speculation that Nintendo would be next. I do not believe so, because first of all Nintendo is a very strong company to be acquired by someone. After all, Microsoft tried it 23 years ago and everyone at Nintendo burst out laughing as we all know. If they try again it will have the same effect. Nintendo will remain independent as we want it and no one will ever buy it.

It was probably just somebody joking around. Microsoft's strategy is to court Nintendo and Playstation not buy them. The goal is to get Gamepass on their respective hardware and I hope they succeed to that end. The only thing I'd hope for is an option to bundle them altogether considering that a lot of customers would have multiple systems for gaming.

For me, it's a matter of "what are the most common archtypes in gaming". i.e. what Miis would translate into the largest number of crossover characters.

IMHO, the top 2 contenders are definitely Mages and Ninjas.

Like, every RPG ever has mages. And ninjas are in, like EVERYTHING, especially every fighting game or beat-em-up. And while swordfighter CAN be a ninja, it's moveset is really more RPG swordsman.

For Mages, there's:
Ashley [WarioWare] (converted from Swordfighter)
Viridi [Kid Icarus] (converted from Swordfighter)
Lip [Panel de Pon] (converted from Swordfighter)
Veronica [Dragon Quest] (converted from Swordfighter)
Aerith [Final Fantasy] (converted from Swordfighter)
Eggplant Wizard [Kid Icarus]
Kamek [Super Mario Bros.]
Reimu [Touhou]
FF1 Black Mage [Final Fantasy]
FF1 White Mage [Final Fantasy]
Magus [Chrono Trigger]

And dozens of other JRPG Mages.

For Ninjas, you got:
Hayabusa [Ninja Gaiden]
Shinobi [Shinobi]
Strider [Strider]
Guy [Final Fight]
Ibuki [Street Fighter]
Taki [SoulCalibur]
Goemon [Mystical Ninja]
Gray Fox [Metal Gear]
Galford [Samurai Shodown]
Scorpion/Sub-Zero [Mortal Kombat]

Plus, a short-blade, agility based moveset could also be applied to any thief/rogue characters.

Forgot to reply to this.

Yeah that's a pretty valid consideration and I really had to reach for Mii Dancer. I think I pretty much found the only viable hand combat specialized that could differentiate itself away from Brawler enough to be its own archetype.

I think Archer could work for this with the major problem being that lots of video game archers only use it as a supplementary skill set. I think there's enough to get some use out of the concept though. If 3 Mii archetypes were added I think Mage, Ninja and Archer would be my own personal ideal.

I really would like Smash to introduce some dedicated archers though like Sylvannas, Aloy or Hanzo. It'd really be refreshing and get some of the negative stigma off of the swordsmen archetype.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Archer doesn't really translate too well into Smash I feel. They tried with Pit, and Sakurai gave his bow double dagger function for close ranged attacks, which are about 90% of the standard attacks in Smash.

Byleth too, he's shoehorned with the Failnaught in his moveset because they need to stick to their gimmick, and Byleth uses just 2 moves with the bow, a Neutral B projectile just as Link and Pit have, the only other bowmen, and a Neutral Air that's shamelessly borrowed from Pit, just to have another bow attack.

Mage and Ninja are good safe options, but to me they're not the most exciting of ideas. Mage especially is covered in a lot of Gunner's moveset, and the moves I'd borrow too. Ninja has more to offer but would basically be a faster Swordsman.

Brawler, Swordsman and Gunner seem fine to me. I was sort of surprised Miis ended up like that, I always thought they would get a moveset based around the Mii games, Mii Sports and Miitopia specifically.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

I still think having the Miis three different options for generic movesets was a bad idea overall, but it also might have helped the Sans costume happen, so I can't complain.

 

[Stratos]

The Cuphead has the right moves to come as a newcomer to the next game in the Super Smash Bros. series, but in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate chose to put him as a DLC Mii costume for the Mii Gunner.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Any talk of Microsoft buying Nintendo is something that can be almost always dismissed. While I think some purchasing of Japanese corporations by outsiders might be okayed if the money was right, the sheer amount of resistance Microsoft would get trying to purchase an incredibly profitable 130 year old company would be significant.

 

[Chuderz]

Archer doesn't really translate too well into Smash I feel. They tried with Pit, and Sakurai gave his bow double dagger function for close ranged attacks, which are about 90% of the standard attacks in Smash.

Byleth too, he's shoehorned with the Failnaught in his moveset because they need to stick to their gimmick, and Byleth uses just 2 moves with the bow, a Neutral B projectile just as Link and Pit have, the only other bowmen, and a Neutral Air that's shamelessly borrowed from Pit, just to have another bow attack.

Mage and Ninja are good safe options, but to me they're not the most exciting of ideas. Mage especially is covered in a lot of Gunner's moveset, and the moves I'd borrow too. Ninja has more to offer but would basically be a faster Swordsman.

Brawler, Swordsman and Gunner seem fine to me. I was sort of surprised Miis ended up like that, I always thought they would get a moveset based around the Mii games, Mii Sports and Miitopia specifically.

Well I think Neutral-Air's in particular are kind of hard to come by. I'd take the standard bow twirl for any of 'em. I think there's enough potential for an archer or two to join the cast and just because they'd be a dedicated archer doesn't mean they wouldn't have other sources of power to pull from. It just takes a little creativity is all.

I disagree about Mage being covered by Gunner. I think there's a world of potential for a decent Mii Mage moveset and would be a much better fit for loads of other costumes.

I think Ninja has about as much potential as Mage as DarthEnderx pointed out. There are just as many thief/assassin characters as mages.

 

[Yamat08]

• Final Fantasy VII, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, Mana series, Octopath Traveler and Bravely Default for Square Enix.

Fixed it for you.

 

[Geno Boost]

I think it'd be cool to add another Mii or 2 to the next Smash for the added Mii costume opportunities.

Here are some of my ideas:

• Mii Mage
• Mii Ninja (Shinobi)
• Mii Archer
• Mii Dancer

I think Mii Mage is wholly unique while Ninja acts as an alternative to Swordfighter just as Archer does for Gunner and Dancer for Brawler. You could do a bunch of weapon specialists Miis but I feel that's more or less covered by the current Miis like Arthur and Aerith being Mii Swordfighter costumes despite wielding a lance and staff respectively.

While I'm on the topic I'd like to say that it'd be really cool for the updated Nintendo Switch Sports "Miis" to eventually become standardized as personalized avatars. They look great and it'd be quite the new coat of paint for the Mii concept that I feel Nintendo should always keep up to date.

i think mii mage and mii sport would be the best options

as for the nintendo switch sports avatars well i disagree due to the fact it has more limits towards the creativity like i dont want to keep making human/furries miis with the same face type miitopia switch has provided the best mii customization
like just look at this mii that i made in miitopia

will i ever be able to make this using the sport switch miis? probably not

 

[chocolatejr9]

There was a problem fetching the tweet

I'll admit, I've never heard of SRD Co. prior to today, but looking at what they helped to make for Nintendo... yeah, this makes WAY too much sense.

 

[HyperSomari64]

I'm not surprised if Nintendo makes "more-reasonable" acquisitions after the ones of Next Level Games and this one.

What other company will Nintendo buy with a contextual reason?

 

[chocolatejr9]

I'm not surprised if Nintendo makes "more-reasonable" acquisitions after the ones of Next Level Games and this one.

What other company will Nintendo buy with a contextual reason?

Well, the only company I can think of with a longer contract-for-hire with Nintendo than SRD is Hal Labs...

 

[DarthEnderX]

I should probably expand on what I said. Notice that they are not doing more characters for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

That we know of. They might release some new characters for free alongside these new courses.

It takes time to do those characters.

Not if they port them from Tour like they are most of these tracks.

but their weight, acceleration, cornering, top speed, etc. still have to be taken into account.

Those are literally just sliders that they move around.

I remember bringing up years ago that I thought it would have been cool to try to imitate the original artwork from FFVII in Remake instead of going the hyper-realistic look like Advent Children but no one seemed to agree with me at the time.

The realistic look fits FF7R because it's obvious that's what they always WANTED it to look like all along.

Now Chrono Trigger, or any Dragon Quest game, should look like goddamn Dragon Ball FighterZ!

I'm not surprised if Nintendo makes "more-reasonable" acquisitions after the ones of Next Level Games and this one.

It's too bad there's no AlphaDream left for them to acquire...

 

[CannonStreak]

That we know of. They might release some new characters for free alongside these new courses.

Not if they port them from Tour like they are most of these tracks.

I do think I did say some of those characters, if they were in past games, could be easier to do, something like that. Also, for the first thing you quoted, I probably should have used the word "yet" at the end of the sentence.

 

[Geno Boost]

i just realized that Taito does have a single content in smash ultimate and that is a spirit of Orville which i am surprised i didnt know about it before and it was in the base game

 

[Stratos]

One game, Warlocked that was released in Game Boy Color, becomes the choice for one of the two sides, the human or the beast and their leaders are Queen Azarel and Chief Zog. If they came in the Super Smash Bros. series. as newcomers, their movements could be inspired by their troops.

Queen Azarel

Chief Zog

 

[Diddy Kong]

Well, the only company I can think of with a longer contract-for-hire with Nintendo than SRD is Hal Labs...

Intelligent Systems?

 

[chocolatejr9]

Intelligent Systems?

Wait, I knew IntSys had a long relationship with Nintendo, but how long are we talking?

 

[HyperSomari64]

Game Freak is another contender.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Game Freak is another contender.

Okay, I should probably get this fact-checked, but would Creatures be okay with Nintendo buying Game Freak? Because it turns that, if they did, then Nintendo would end up with a majority ownership of The Pokemon Company (ownership is currently split between Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures).

 

[SPEN18]

Wait, I knew IntSys had a long relationship with Nintendo, but how long are we talking?

Since the early/mid 80s, apparently.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Since the early/mid 80s, apparently.

So THAT'S why people are saying they're gonna be next...

 

[Chuderz]

Well, the only company I can think of with a longer contract-for-hire with Nintendo than SRD is Hal Labs...

Well this acquisition is interesting because they were basically a 1st party Nintendo studio in all but officialization of such which means Nintendo feels the need to secure these types of partners.

One major partner that has this same presence with Nintendo would be Tose. Then there are obvious ones like taking Hal and Intelligent systems from 2nd party to 1st party. Smaller ones could be the likes of Good-Feel, Inti Creates, Mercury Steam, and Grezzo.

I think it'd be a great investment for them to acquire SEGA's entertainment division. I think out of all the major ones thrown around that SEGA would obviously be the best fit with Nintendo and there's a lot they could do with them. Obviously gain select SEGA IP, the rights to emulate SEGA consoles and the accompanying SEGA published games on them for Nintendo's retro streaming service, gain a valuable workhorse for long-neglected Nintendo series, and maybe even make some movies/animations of with respective two studios SEGA has specializing in each.

Platinum Games are probably eventually gonna be bought out and I think it'd also be a worthwhile investment for Nintendo to go ahead and grab 'em especially if they get SEGA because then they'd have the developers of Bayonetta and Astral Chain. Hell maybe even give Wonderful 101 another chance.

Just baseless speculation though. Only offering what my opinions are using the Acquisitions Wars and Nintendo's established working relationship with other companies as context to inform them.

 

[dream1ng]

If anything I think Nintendo is much likelier to acquire devs that aren't basically subsidiaries like IntSys, HAL and, to a lesser extent, GF are. Those three are going absolutely nowhere else, and Nintendo would step in if they were being eyed by others, but they aren't going to be.

I think they only get bought out if they go the same route as NLG and SRD: looking to cash out, and Nintendo not wanting to lose them. I don't think there's any reason to believe the status quo changes with them though, so I don't see an acquisition until and if it does.

Not that Nintendo seems likely to acquire other devs, but if they want to make a proactive acquisition instead of just a defensive one, these longstanding, all-but exclusive partners don't seem like they'd be the ones in question.

Of course I don't think Nintendo has ever actually made an offense-oriented acquisition. I think they've all been reactive. When it comes to full acquisitions, at least. The closest would probably be co-founding Retro, but they only fully acquired the dev to pay out Spangenberg and be rid of his ****ery. Also, that was when NoA had a lot more autonomy, which is an era long gone.

 

[CapitaineCrash]

It's probably a matter of priority. Sakurai probably wanted some other characters more. But he certainly acknowledged quite a bunch of the popular wants.

And even then, if you look at the number of Third-Party IP representation in Smash Ultimate, Capcom is tied with Square Enix on the number of their IPs in Smash, with Microsoft behind them if counting Bethesda.

• Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Ghosts'n Goblins and Devil May Cry for Capcom. And 5 of those are part of Capcom's biggest franchises. Heck, if counting Ken's Shinryuken Final Smash, that would include a reference to the Vs. Capcom games.
• Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, Mana series, Octopath Traveler and Bravely Default for Square Enix.

And even then, 3 of Capcom's IPs that don't have a playable character have Mii Costumes whereas Square Enix's only Mii Costumes come from the series that have player characters. If anything, Capcom seems to have gotten the most acknowledgement regarding Third-Party franchises people wanted a character from.

Technically Namco and SNK have more IP represented:
Namco have Pac-Man, Tekken (Playable characters), Tales of (mii costumes), Baten kaitos, Bravoman, Libble Rabble, Mappy, Metro cross, Sky kid, Yokai dochuki (individual music), Babylonian castle saga, Dragon spirit, Thunder ceptor, Valkyrie, Wonder momo, Rally-X (in the numerous Namco retro medley), Baraduke, Bosconian, Dragon buster, Katamari, King & Balloon and Taiko no tatsujin (in the Pac-man taunt)

Snk have Fatal fury (playable characters), The king of fighters (stage), Alpha mission, Art of fighting, Athena, Metal slug, Psycho soldier, Samurai shodown (music) and Ikari warriors (cameo in the King of fighters stadium stage)

So Namco have 22 different franchises in Smash and SNK have 9.

 

[Yamat08]

One game, Warlocked that was released in Game Boy Color, becomes the choice for one of the two sides, the human or the beast and their leaders are Queen Azarel and Chief Zog. If they came in the Super Smash Bros. series. as newcomers, their movements could be inspired by their troops.


View attachment 346035 Queen Azarel View attachment 346034 Chief Zog

View attachment 346036

Seems doubtful that they'd ever get playables, especially after they failed to even get Spirits. As I'm sure I said earlier in the thread, first-party (or Nintendo-published) games that never released in Japan tend to get ignored, with the sole exceptions of games that already have Japanese equivalents like Elite Beat Agents and Rusty Slugger. And even looking beyond what's been represented in Smash, I think something like Star Tropics would be the most recognizeable internationally-exclusive Nintendo IP. Hardly anyone seems to remember Nintendo of America's small ventures during the Game Boy Color era like Warlocked (at least I didn't know it even existed until you brought it up).

If anything I think Nintendo is much likelier to acquire devs that aren't basically subsidiaries like IntSys, HAL and, to a lesser extent, GF are. Those three are going absolutely nowhere else, and Nintendo would step in if they were being eyed by others, but they aren't going to be.

I think they only get bought out if they go the same route as NLG and SRD: looking to cash out, and Nintendo not wanting to lose them. I don't think there's any reason to believe the status quo changes with them though, so I don't see an acquisition until and if it does.

Not that Nintendo seems likely to acquire other devs, but if they want to make a proactive acquisition instead of just a defensive one, these longstanding, all-but exclusive partners don't seem like they'd be the ones in question.

Of course I don't think Nintendo has ever actually made an offense-oriented acquisition. I think they've all been reactive. When it comes to full acquisitions, at least. The closest would probably be co-founding Retro, but they only fully acquired the dev to pay out Spangenberg and be rid of his ****ery. Also, that was when NoA had a lot more autonomy, which is an era long gone.

Was the purchase of Monolith Soft a defensive one? I don't recall them having an especially close relationship to Nintendo prior to the buyout, and gleening over this, it sounds to me like the purchase was more of a willing request on Monolith's end (though wasn't the staff at Rare also hopeful for a Nintendo buy-out? Granted, Nintendo themselves may've learned not to repeat such a mistake after the fact).

Technically Namco and SNK have more IP represented:
Namco have Pac-Man, Tekken (Playable characters), Tales of (mii costumes), Baten kaitos, Bravoman, Libble Rabble, Mappy, Metro cross, Sky kid, Yokai dochuki (individual music), Babylonian castle saga, Dragon spirit, Thunder ceptor, Valkyrie, Wonder momo, Rally-X (in the numerous Namco retro medley), Baraduke, Bosconian, Dragon buster, Katamari, King & Balloon and Taiko no tatsujin (in the Pac-man taunt)

Snk have Fatal fury (playable characters), The king of fighters (stage), Alpha mission, Art of fighting, Athena, Metal slug, Psycho soldier, Samurai shodown (music) and Ikari warriors (cameo in the King of fighters stadium stage)

So Namco have 22 different franchises in Smash and SNK have 9.

Yeah, but can we really say that a company boasts representation through sheer number of IPs alone? Several of the ones you've listed aren't even series so much as they are singular entries, many of which have gotten nothing outside of compilation re-releases for the past three decades. And within Smash, several of the Namco IPs would be completely non-existent if not for Pac-Man's taunt and/or Pac-Man's stage themes including a couple medleys (likewise, SNK would be missing a lot if not for the VERY generous number of BGMs within Terry's Challenger Pack).

 

[dream1ng]

Was the purchase of Monolith Soft a defensive one? I don't recall them having an especially close relationship to Nintendo prior to the buyout, and gleening over this, it sounds to me like the purchase was more of a willing request on Monolith's end (though wasn't the staff at Rare also hopeful for a Nintendo buy-out? Granted, Nintendo themselves may've learned not to repeat such a mistake after the fact).

No, it wasn't defensive, but it wasn't offensive either. It wasn't Nintendo seeking out Monolith to bolster their catalogue, or to secure their support - it was, like you linked, the result of Monolith execs approaching Nintendo to be purchased from Namco after the dev felt it was being stifled under their current ownership.

Obv Nintendo wouldn't acquiesce if they didn't consider Monolith worthwhile, but it still stemmed from Monolith's volition, not Nintendo's.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

No, it wasn't defensive, but it wasn't offensive either. It wasn't Nintendo seeking out Monolith to bolster their catalogue, or to secure their support - it was, like you linked, the result of Monolith execs approaching Nintendo to be purchased from Namco after the dev felt it was being stifled under their current ownership.

Obv Nintendo wouldn't acquiesce if they didn't consider Monolith worthwhile, but it still stemmed from Monolith's volition, not Nintendo's.

Ah, so that's why there hasn't been a new PXZ game in like 6 years.

 

[dream1ng]

Ah, so that's why there hasn't been a new PXZ game in like 6 years.

This was before PXZ, it was around the Gamecube/Wii transition. Monolith clearly doesn't hold grudges with Namco, since they made those games after joining Nintendo. Nor does Namco seem to harbor ill-will towards Monolith, contracting them for the titles, and letting them use KOS-MOS. Though they also made Namco x Capcom, so I guess they'd be the go-to.

I'm not sure why there hasn't been more PXZ. It could be that sales declined to the point it wasn't worth it; those games must be quite complicated to maneuver with all the IP and companies on board. Or it could just be that Monolith has been too busy working with Nintendo.

 

[Guynamednelson]

Or it could just be that Monolith has been too busy working with Nintendo.

Well they have helped out with BotW so I assume they're doing the same with the sequel, not to mention they were helping out with PLA at the same time. And of course there's XC3.

I wonder if part of the reason why there's no PXZ3 is because its usage of sprites might seem dated now, and they would have to make models for everything. Sure there's HD-2D games on the Switch but PXZ's pixel art wasn't about doing a retro throwback.

 

[Hadokeyblade]

Well they have helped out with BotW so I assume they're doing the same with the sequel, not to mention they were helping out with PLA at the same time. And of course there's XC3.

I wonder if part of the reason why there's no PXZ3 is because its usage of sprites might seem dated now, and they would have to make models for everything. Sure there's HD-2D games on the Switch but PXZ's pixel art wasn't about doing a retro throwback.

I guess it would be too expensive to do the highly detailed sprites it's sister series does.

Imagining that kind of sprite detail but with PXZ's battle system sounds like a nightmare for the sprite animators.

 

[Yamat08]

Well they have helped out with BotW so I assume they're doing the same with the sequel, not to mention they were helping out with PLA at the same time. And of course there's XC3.

I wonder if part of the reason why there's no PXZ3 is because its usage of sprites might seem dated now, and they would have to make models for everything. Sure there's HD-2D games on the Switch but PXZ's pixel art wasn't about doing a retro throwback.

There's nothing stopping any developer from using sprites on a modern console, and if anything, the notion of "sprites out, 3D models in" is more of an out-dated one, stemming from the N64/PS1 days when it seemed like every franchise out there felt like it HAD to go for this hip, new concept of 3D just for the sake of it (a move which some series fared pretty well in, but which turned out to be absolutely disastrous for others). Also, Project X Zone may not've been going for a retro style, but it was heavily anime-themed (with most if not all of the IPs featured using 2D artwork in their concepts and promotional material, whether or not the original games themselves were 2D), so sprites worked well for it.

I guess it would be too expensive to do the highly detailed sprites it's sister series does.

Imagining that kind of sprite detail but with PXZ's battle system sounds like a nightmare for the sprite animators.

Now this seems like the better answer. Yeah, nowadays, I don't think anyone has a problem with sprites as a style, but compared to models, they are an absolute chore to work with, given that they need to be rendered frame-by-frame (and it doesn't help that innovations like cel-shading can make models look good or fit particular styles while also having the benefit of being easier to animate). And while I'd argue it's not an absolute necessity, if a developer wanted to make their 2D game appear to have production values on par with several of the megahit 3D games, going for HD artwork like in the example shown in that video would be ideal (though if Vanilla Ware's any indication, they are also capable of using Flash-like tools to animate a lot of 2D images).

 

[Perkilator]

On the topic of PxZ, we’re doing a creation thread for a PxZ 3 if anyone’s interested.