One Of The Former Arcade Giants: The General Midway Games Support/Discussion Thread

[AlteredBeast]

What is Midway Games?

Midway Games was an American video game developer who developed some iconic franchises for the world of video games such as Mortal Kombat, Rampage, Tapper, Spy Hunter, NBA Jam, Joust and more. The company was founded in 1958 as an amusement game manufacturer. Then, the company was purchased by Bally Manufacturing in 1969 and used the Bally name in the 1980s. However, in 1973 is when midway took on the video game market with their first mainstream hit being them being responsible for distributing Space Invaders in the United States. Bally then moved their pinball division into Midway in 1982. Then, in 1988, Midway was then purchased and re-introduced by WMS Industries Inc.

Beyond their time in the arcades, Midway moved to the home video game market beginning in 1996, the same year the company publicly offered their stock. In 2000, Midway Games was ranked the fourth largest-selling video game publisher out there. However, after 2000, the company faced financial problems and large annual net losses. Come 2009 and Midway Games is filed for bankruptcy. However, in 2010, Warner Bros. purchased the majority of Midway Games's assets. Therefore, Midway became no more but the majority of the brand is now owned by Warner Bros. Their legacy on the video game world shall not be forgotten.

The video game IPs Warner Bros owns have yet to be represented in MultiVersus. I feel Midway Games deserves a good chunk of representation in MultiVersus due to the legacy their brands have such as Mortal Kombat's success and Rampage receiving its own movie in 2018. Here is where we can discuss about characters from Midway Games we want in MultiVersus as well as potential stage ideas and the liking.

Character Specific Threads for Characters from Midway Owned IPs/General Support Threads for Midway IPs

George, Lizzie and Ralph (Rampage)
Goro (Mortal Kombat)
Liu Kang (Mortal Kombat)
Root Beer Tapper (Tapper)
Shao Kahn (Mortal Kombat)

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

I don't really care for Multiversus, but Knight & Ostrich would absolutely get me to check it out. (as would a Chowder rep)

 

[fogbadge]

gamer kid from lego dimensions? no? ok ill see myself out

 

[AlteredBeast]

gamer kid from lego dimensions? no? ok ill see myself out

I just remembered Midway had a pack in LEGO Dimensions. I could imagine the Gamer Kid being like Mr. Game and Watch with his moves each referencing a different Midway game.

 

[SneakyLink]

I am all in on a character from Midway Arcade getting in, my personal preference is the Robotron 2084 Hero. Mostly because I enjoy the atmosphere and gameplay.
Gamer Kid from Lego Dimensions would also be neat.

 

[Wademan94]

At the very least, I wouldn’t mind a few music tracks from Dimensions making it into the game

 

[AlteredBeast]

Spoiler: MultiVersus Game Leak

Okay, Thanks

Spoiler: Click, If You Dare.

Velma is a playable character and she has everything working including her moveset and voicelines.

Rick and Gandalf were found in the datamine alongside four new characters
Scorpion(Mortal Kombat)
Godzilla
Taz(Looney Tunes)
and Lebron James(NBA/Space Jam)

There were two more datafiles and other lines from characters that suggest Joker, Morty, Ruby Rose/Grim, and Maxwell are coming to the game too, though few of those are unknown.

Seems Scorpion is getting in! Yay to a classic MK/Midway Games character getting in. I knew he was gonna get in, no matter what! I guess Lebron counts as a Midway rep due to NBA Jam as well. Victory for us!

 

[Oracle Link]

What is Midway Games?

Midway Games was an American video game developer who developed some iconic franchises for the world of video games such as Mortal Kombat, Rampage, Tapper, Spy Hunter, NBA Jam, Joust and more. The company was founded in 1958 as an amusement game manufacturer. Then, the company was purchased by Bally Manufacturing in 1969 and used the Bally name in the 1980s. However, in 1973 is when midway took on the video game market with their first mainstream hit being them being responsible for distributing Space Invaders in the United States. Bally then moved their pinball division into Midway in 1982. Then, in 1988, Midway was then purchased and re-introduced by WMS Industries Inc.

Beyond their time in the arcades, Midway moved to the home video game market beginning in 1996, the same year the company publicly offered their stock. In 2000, Midway Games was ranked the fourth largest-selling video game publisher out there. However, after 2000, the company faced financial problems and large annual net losses. Come 2009 and Midway Games is filed for bankruptcy. However, in 2010, Warner Bros. purchased the majority of Midway Games's assets. Therefore, Midway became no more but the majority of the brand is now owned by Warner Bros. Their legacy on the video game world shall not be forgotten.

The video game IPs Warner Bros owns have yet to be represented in MultiVersus. I feel Midway Games deserves a good chunk of representation in MultiVersus due to the legacy their brands have such as Mortal Kombat's success and Rampage receiving its own movie in 2018. Here is where we can discuss about characters from Midway Games we want in MultiVersus as well as potential stage ideas and the liking.

Character Specific Threads for Characters from Midway Owned IPs/General Support Threads for Midway IPs

Goro (Mortal Kombat)
Rampage General Support Thread
Root Beer Tapper (Tapper)
Shao Kahn (Mortal Kombat)

I made a Liu Kang Thread!

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

I gather this is related: here's a concept I made for Robotron Hero!


First appearing in Robotron 2084, the Midway-released arcade title in 1982 praised for its high-speed gameplay and innovative twin-stick control scheme, I think he'd be quite a fun pick to represent Midway's arcade works to a certain extent. Whilst there are other candidates that I'd note for their particular prominence (aside from Mortal Kombat, characters like Joust's Ostrich Jockey, Tapper's Bartender, and Paperboy's titular Paperboy stand out), I think that Robotron Hero would be a pretty fitting character with a lot to pull from, plus providing a unique moveset that wouldn't really be like any other character in the roster as of yet.

His default appearance is based on the Atari 5200 box-art, but he also has:

Robotron Hero (X/64)
Robotron Hero (Classic)
Robotron Hero (Promotional Posters)
Robotron Hero (Atari Lynx)
Robotron Hero (LifeMeter)

And a sort of alternate character though with the same moveset and a slightly smaller build so as to fit the model better,
Robotron Grunt (Classic)
Robotron Grunt (Atari 5200)
Robotron Grunt (X/64)
Robotron Grunt (Posters)

I think a lot of his attacks are fairly self-explanatory, but I should explain a few:

The Mines can be tossed in an arc and will land on the ground when this occurs. Similar to Snake's Mines, they explode when stepped on (even by the Hero!), or after a short period of time.

The Flamethrower in the air is a multi-hit move that deals a lot of flinching damage, but on the ground creates a pillar of flame that deals quite a meaty hit!

The Rapid-Fire Lasers, as with in the source material, are able to be fired in eight directions. Picture them as being roughly equivalent to Falco's lasers but with the added versatility in their directional input - however, they don't do all too much damage.

The Gas Gun actually works almost identically to Pirahna Plant's Side-B, doing poison damage to opponents whilst letting the Hero hide inside it. However, this one's unique in that the cloud can move in a slow upward or downward arc depending how you hold the stick when inputting it.

The Tractor Beam is based on the transition between stages in Robotron X/64, and other fighters caught in it fall upward too! It's a small gravity field that literally makes the Hero fall upward - notably, this means he's not left helpless upon using it.

The Energy Shield is able to absorb attacks and heal Hero a little, similar to PK Shield. However, it's much faster to come out, more like Shine (though not frame 1) and only acts as a reflector if perfectly timed, similarly to a parry.

Overall his moveset is almost completely focused on mid-to-long range tools intended to keep opponents at a safe distance and break them down with lots of low-powered attacks. However, because of this, Robotron Hero somewhat lacks in kill power, relying on closer attacks such as his Mines or Flamethrower to properly get rid of opponents. I wanted his gameplay to sort of represent his in-game nature in the original Robotron titles, whilst also taking from other titles such as Robotron X for moves in the form of Power-Ups. Overall, he's skilled at handling long-distance pressure but struggles up close, meaning he'd work well as a long-distance assistant to a rushdown character such as Arya.

I think he'd be fun to see!

 

[Kirby Dragons]

I'd certainly be down for getting some old Midway characters. We don't have any video game characters on the roster yet, and Midway characters would both give us those, and serve as fun deep cuts.