Smashboards Creates: Battle of AGES, a SEGA platform fighter

[Speed Weed]

The submission period is closed!

Here's the picks:

Goho-M ( OrpheusTelos )
Pipe ( Flyboy )
Odette ( osby )
Rappy ( cashregister9 )
Roadkill ( AirMac1 )
Seaman ( YoshiandToad )

Vote for your top 3: you can't put your own submission in first or second place.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

1. Pipe
2. Goho-M
3. Seaman

 

[YoshiandToad]

1. Odette
2. Roadkill
3. Seaman

 

[osby]

1. Rappy
2. Seaman
3. Odette

 

[Megadoomer]

1, Odette
2. Seaman
3. Pipe

 

[cashregister9]

1.Odette
2.Pipe
3.Seaman

 

[Flyboy]

1. Roadkill
2. Seaman
3. Goho-M

 

[tonygameman]

1. Seaman
2. Pipe
3. Roadkill

 

[AirMac1]

1. Odette
2. Seaman
3. Roadkill

 

[OrpheusTelos]

1. Seaman
2. Pipe
3. Roadkill

 

[ImpostaWithDrip]

1. Odette
2. Goho-M
3. Seaman

 

[Speed Weed]

Voting time is over, gang. Here are the results:

Goho-M: 5 points
Pipe: 10 points
Odette: 16 points
Rappy: 3 points
Roadkill: 8 points
Seaman: 18 points

I'll be including the top 2 items from now on, so with that, Seaman and Odette will be our next items!

Now then, it's time for our next character prompt. But before that, here's the updated list of represented series I always share before we do another one of these:

Series mainly repped by characters: Sonic, Virtua Fighter, Alex Kidd, Yakuza, Sakura Wars, Space Channel 5

Series mainly repped by stages: OutRun

Series mainly repped by assists: Mushiking, Virtua Cop

Series mainly repped by items so far: early SEGA arcade machines in general (through the Periscope item), Golden Axe, Seaman, Bayonetta

Series mainly repped by VMU RPG mooks so far: 7th Dragon, Billy Hatcher, ChuChu Rocket, Ecco the Dolphin, Fantasy Zone, House of the Dead, NiGHTS, Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Space Harrier, Streets of Rage, ToeJam and Earl, Valkyria Chronicles, Doki Doki Penguin Land, Pengo

Series mainly repped by music so far: Pit Pot, Teddy Boy Blues, Scud Race/SEGA Super GT

Series mainly repped by Capsule Toys so far: Rhythm Thief, Arabian Fight, Virtua Racing, SEGA Rally, Cyber Troopers Virtual-ON, After Burner, Hang-On, Galaxy Force, Girl's Garden, 16t

So what will our next character be? Well, actually, the next few character prompts will follow a general theme among themselves. We won't do them all at once, but they all relate to the same general aspect of a character. What I'm talking about is that the theme of the next few character prompts is voting by decade. Basically, we'll be voting on a character from each major decade of SEGA's history with characters to pull from! That means we're going from the 80s to the 90s to the 2000s to the 2010s. Which hey, now that I mention it, we are of course starting off with...

Job #40: Submit a SEGA character that debuted in the 80s

For this job, we're going old-school!

So, like, our roster so far heavily favors 90s characters. 6/8 of the roster comes from that decade, with only one character from the 80s, one from the 2000s and none from the 2010s onward. So this'll be a good opportunity to explore this era of SEGA - their arcade golden age, the Master System, the early years of the Mega Drive, the pre-Sonic days! Even with no hedgehog in sight yet, this era still brought a good amount of iconic and important IPs worthy of inclusion. What's interesting is that Alex Kidd - the character who I personally think would have probably won this one otherwise - has already been added. So it's a bit more up in the air now as to who we could walk outta this with.

Worth noting that as usual, to keep things varied, only characters from series new to the playable roster are up for submission. Though with the way our roster's been so far, that only really takes out, like, Stella, I guess?

 

[tonygameman]

Oh yeah, time to re-submit someone back on a first submission from the very start of this thread!

Job #40 (80's Newcomer) - Opa-Opa (Fantasy Zone - 1986)

Now that Alex's in, we need only one mascot from SEGA's golden age, and I mean the first one (Professor Asobin and Dr. Games are declared "unofficial"). That guy is up here (I know you've been waiting for this, Speedy, so prepare for a long essay), and reasons why he deserves to be in this project is all below.

Fantasy Zone (which also include Space Harrier via shared universe) was important and had quite an impact for being one of the first shoot 'em ups with surreal, cartoonish graphics (hence a sub-genre "cute 'em up"), popularized the concept of a boss rush stage, and having surprisingly a dark PTSD-involving story compared to other games ahead of it's times despite it's cute appearance (not kidding).

The series itself, it's first stage music (performed live by S.S.T. Band) and Opa-Opa himself are iconic enough to show up many times afterwards such as Burning Rangers (a rescue survivor's helmet in Stage 3), Phantasy Star IV, Alex Kidd, Samba de Amigo, Daytona USA, Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf, an anime Zillion, Sonic Riders, Sega All-Stars Racing, Phantasy Star Online, Project X Zone 2, Darius, Taiko no Tatsujin, Tamagotchi, Hyperdimension Neptunia, Hatsune Miku, Shenmue, Yakuza (both a game and toy), Segagaga, High Score Girl, Muppet Babies, etc.

Like Nei, he also has a counterpart in the manga/anime World War Blue (also known as Aoi Sekai no Chushin de), as a female girl Opal, who has quite impressive accuracy with her shooting abilities, by both a bow and shooting energy beams from fingers, making her one of the series' prominent female characters and protagonists alongside Gear (Sonic) and Nel.

(after a long read of links with a sweat) That's a lot for such a popular series, you may think. It was called one of SEGA's early (pre-OutRun) arcade smash-hits alongside Hang-On and Space Harrier for reasons, after all.

Anyway, from his looks alone, Opa-Opa does seem unique for not being anthropomorphic or human-like (compared to every character on a roster right now) as a sentient spaceship, which gives out some potential for melee attacks like using his wings/legs to attack and head-butting opponents. He may clearly specialize in air-dashes for one of the parts on his playstyle.

As said before, his moveset (credit to LennyMcOhMyGod , give it a look) would involve shooting various projectiles (similarly to Mega Man's), flying around, dropping bombs, boosting via engines, etc. A shop balloon, one of the unique elements in the series, may also be a focus for Opa-Opa's own gimmick as he can buy limited-time weapons ("tons" of variety) via coins that drop from opponents when damaged enough.

His home stage would also be pretty much like Minecraft World by random/choosable worlds, but more dynamic with Golden Plains & Mushroom Kingdom's side-scrolling, lots of enemies flying around as hazards, destroying bases to get items (like candles in Dracula's Castle), and even fight a stage boss when doing so to all of them (which also ends a stage rotation until it's defeated).

 

[Megadoomer]

Job 40 (80's Newcomer) - Gilius Thunderhead (Golden Axe - 1989)

Just barely meeting the qualifications (it came out December 1989), any of the main trio of Golden Axe could work - I just figure that Gilius has a more distinct appearance than Ax Battler (who, despite the name, uses a sword) or Tyris Flare. He represented the series in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and as a side-scrolling beat-em-up character, his basic attacks seem like they'd be pretty straightforward.

For special attacks, he could used the mounts from the games, and his all-star move could be lightning magic from the arcade games. (I feel like the third type shown, where lightning slides across the screen from both ends, could work here.

 

[tonygameman]

And as a side-scrolling beat-em-up character, his basic attacks seem like they'd be pretty straightforward.

For special attacks, he could used the mounts from the games, and his all-star move could be lightning magic from the arcade games. (I feel like the third type shown, where lightning slides across the screen from both ends, could work here.

Oh yes, there's also a fighting game called "Golden Axe: The Duel", where Gilius' descendant, Rockhead, is one of the playable characters. Some of his moves can be adapted for an ancestor/great-grandfather (Thunderhead) here. And maybe even a stone magic from Golden Axe II as one of his specials.

 

[AirMac1]

Job #40 (80's Newcomer) - Frogger (Frogger - 1981)

“Frogger (フロッガー, Furoggā) is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and manufactured by Sega.[1] In North America, it was released by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct frogs to their homes one by one by crossing a busy road and navigating a river full of hazards.” - Wikipedia

Frogger is one of Sega’s biggest arcade titles, and while it may have a bigger link to Konami these days (and maybe even back than), his Sega origins shouldn’t be forgotten.

There’s a fair share of Frogger movesets online, including here and here.

 

[Speed Weed]

Job #40 (80's Newcomer) - Frogger (Frogger - 1981)
View attachment 321561“Frogger (フロッガー, Furoggā) is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and manufactured by Sega.[1] In North America, it was released by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct frogs to their homes one by one by crossing a busy road and navigating a river full of hazards.” - Wikipedia

Frogger is one of Sega’s biggest arcade titles, and while it may have a bigger link to Konami these days (and maybe even back than), his Sega origins shouldn’t be forgotten.

There’s a fair share of Frogger movesets online, including here and here.

....Frogger's not a SEGA character

 

[cashregister9]

Job 40: Centurion (Altered Beast - 1988)

A Warrior Chosen by Zeus and the playable character of Altered Beast, Altered Beast is a side scrolling beat 'em up that was remembered for it's stunning visuals, The Centurion himself can shapeshift into several powerful beasts like a Wolf, Tiger or Dragon.

(Also Altered Beast itself inspired a fantastic set of songs from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard !gore warning!)

 

[AirMac1]

....Frogger's not a SEGA character

It was on the list of Sega arcade games, and Sega published the arcade game.

 

[Speed Weed]

It was on the list of Sega arcade games, and Sega published the arcade game.

It's probably there because technically SEGA released the game in North America, but they don't own the IP. Frogger belongs to Konami

 

[AirMac1]

It's probably there because technically SEGA released the game in North America, but they don't own the IP. Frogger belongs to Konami

I’d say it’s like a Banjo-Kazooie situation.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

I’m gonna resubmit Kurumi from Ninja Princess/Sega Ninja

She was one of the first female video game main characters ever and could have a pretty interesting move set based on ninja stuff.

 

[OrpheusTelos]

Job #40: Joe Musashi (Shinobi)

Joe Musashi is the star of Sega’s 1987 arcade hack-and-slash Shinobi. He’s a modern-day ninja tasked with taking down the terrorist organization Zeed after learning that they’re kidnapping his students.

I decided to go with Joe because not only was Shinobi one of Sega’s most iconic arcade action games along with Golden Axe, he would also be an incredibly versatile character. He has access to ninjutsu, swords, shurikens, and even firearms. There’s a ton to work with for a hypothetical moveset and it’d be fun to see what everyone comes up with for him.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Job #40: 80s newcomer (Nei-Phantasy Star II - 1989)

Similar to Gilius, Nei only JUST qualifies for this particular role.

Whilst we've thrown around the idea of Alis Lansdale a few times, I'd like to put forth another iconic Phantasy Star character, Nei from Phantasy Star II.

She's the prototype creation of the Numan/Newman race, a race of artificially created half human, half bio monsters that would later go on to populate the series throughout Phantasy Star IV and Phantasy Star Online series.

Nei's weapon is actually the legendary weapon of Myau, Alis Lansdale's feline partner from the first Phantasy Star that was modified for human hands. She's not particularly strong but makes up for that by her speed and her growth stats allowing her to grow stronger faster over time. She's also able to heal, although we'd have to see how we could make that work in a Smash style game.

Nei's a very popular character within the Phantasy Star series from what I've seen and is actually a bit of a trend setter:

Spoiler: WARNING SPOILERS:

Spoiler: Big spoiler

Nei is actually one half of the prototype Newman, Neifirst being the other. They split themselves in two after they overheard they were considered a failure and attempts were made on their life. Whilst Neifirst killed and plots to poison the Motavian humans, Nei constantly tries to do the right thing but is feared by the villagers for her distinctive ears and biomonster biology.

She has a bounty placed on her head as a child by one of the scientists responsible for her creation, her adoptive parents are killed by a bounty hunter in an attempt to kill her, she is forced to wander the wilderness cold and scared and is only able to escape the bounty hunter that killed her parents thanks to the kindness of a Motavian agent who is amongst the first people to treat her with respect, Rolf, who just so happens to be Alis Lansdale's desendant.

He is later sent on a dangerous mission to discover why the super computer that controls life on the planet and making it hospitable is creating bio-monsters that are ravaging towns. Nei insists on travelling with Rolf terrified of being left alone again, and after some convincing Rolf agrees to accept her.

Well it turns out it's Neifirst, Nei's other half, that is creating the monsters. Neifirst informs Rolf, Nei and their party that if she dies so will Nei. Nei, refusing to let Neifirst continue to attempt to kill humans like Rolf fights her one on one.

If Nei defeats Neifirst she dies in Rolf's arms, having killed her other half.
If Neifirst wins, she kills Nei and Rolf and the rest of the party have to fight her.

Either way...Nei dies.

Nei is the first true scripted tragic death of a party member in a RPG, predating Aerith's iconic death by about eight years.

Needless to say this was kind of a big deal, and cemented Nei as a firm fan favourite as nothing like it had been seen before. Her status as a tragic heroine and developed backstory compared to other party members went a long way.

Aside from the above spoilers, Nei also appears in Segagaga as a cameo and fightable opponent, she appears alongside both our current girls Ulala and Sarah Bryant in the Sega Gals collection, she's the very first cameo character in the Sega Ages line and she is the main influence for the main female lead in the anime series based off of the Nintendo vs. Sega wars: World War Blue, with the male lead being based off of Sonic himself.

 

[Flyboy]

I just want to say, I'm super impressed with this selection! This is going to be tough. Might as well throw my selection in, though.

Job #40: Space Harrier

My guy! My dude! Space Harrier! Yes, Opa-Opa got pitched, but I think that this cool dude would be just as fun. He's the protagonist of an iconic 1985 SEGA arcade game of the same name by Yu Suzuki as well as sequels, ports, and remakes. He could have a movement based on chip damage and slowly annoying your enemy to death with a constant barrage of bullets. His stage would be trippy and neon-infused, an awesome tribute to how unique the graphics in his games are, and I think there's a lot you can do with a character that can flip from running to free flight.

Fun fact, did you know the Master System had special 3D glasses that could provide extra depth in games? And that there was a Space Harrier port that took advantage of that? The more you know.

 

[osby]

I’d say it’s like a Banjo-Kazooie situation.

I don't think it's quite the same thing. Nintendo fully owned Banjo until they sold him off. SEGA never had anything to do with Frogger other than making his arcade machines.

Companies publishing smaller IPs yhat don't belong to them is actually quite common. For example, Nintendo publishes Shin Megami Tensei V in some regions but it's a ATLUS/SEGA game nonetheless.

 

[OrpheusTelos]

I don't think it's quite the same thing. Nintendo fully owned Banjo until they sold him off. SEGA never had anything to do with Frogger other than making his arcade machines.

Companies publishing smaller IPs yhat don't belong to them is actually quite common. For example, Nintendo publishes Shin Megami Tensei V in some regions but it's a ATLUS/SEGA game nonetheless.

Honestly if there’s any character that comes kinda close to a Banjo situation for Sega and was someone I was strongly considering submitting for this job before realizing Sega didn’t own them, it’d probably be Wonder Boy. Sega published the arcade cabinets and helped develop the Master System versions of those games, but they aren’t involved at all with any of the modern releases or remakes of those games. I wouldn’t say it’s exactly a Banjo situation because I’m not totally sure what the deal with Wonder Boy’s rights were during the Master System era, but that’s the kinda vibe I got from what research I did before going with Joe. This isn’t meant to dogpile or anything, I just thought it was interesting and didn’t know where else I would be able to bring this up at lmao.

 

[IzukuXYang4Life]

Speaking of Modes.

This should have An Arcade Mode.

And a Home Run Contests Mode

 

[tonygameman]

I just want to say, I'm super impressed with this selection! This is going to be tough. Might as well throw my selection in, though.

Job #40: Space Harrier

My guy! My dude! Space Harrier! Yes, Opa-Opa got pitched, but I think that this cool dude would be just as fun. He's the protagonist of an iconic 1985 SEGA arcade game of the same name by Yu Suzuki as well as sequels, ports, and remakes. He could have a movement based on chip damage and slowly annoying your enemy to death with a constant barrage of bullets. His stage would be trippy and neon-infused, an awesome tribute to how unique the graphics in his games are, and I think there's a lot you can do with a character that can flip from running to free flight.

Fun fact, did you know the Master System had special 3D glasses that could provide extra depth in games? And that there was a Space Harrier port that took advantage of that? The more you know.

You know, I once had a idea for making both Harrier and Opa-Opa into one character with a latter assisting former like Nana (Ice Climbers), Luma (Rosalina) and pretty much options from shoot 'em ups, with even a lock-on, Flash Bombs, Bit shields, a ring projectile borrowed from enemies and Uriah/Heavy Bomb akin to Rayquaza's Brawl boss fight and Ness/Lucas' PK Starstorm as their All-Star Move.

But given how Opa-Opa has more moveset/gimmick potential, I decided to just go with him alone.

Speaking of, I'll also bring up a Capsule Toy submission from a obscure, cancelled crossover between two series.

• Shop Lady
  • Series: Fantasy Zone/Space Harrier
  • First Appearance: Space Fantasy Zone (Cancelled; 1991)
  • System Debut: PC Engine

 

[King Sonnn DeDeDoo]

Lots of great choices here, but I’m glad someone else thought of Altered Beast, I think the Centurion (Beast Warrior in Japan) could have a really neat move set.

I’m imagining since his base form is kind of underwhelming in terms of moves, the character instead will be the werewolf form from the get go and will able to switch into the weredragon and werebear forms on the fly with down special.

The different forms would alter some of the properties of the character and his moves. In the original game he would have a projectile move (neutral special) and a dash move (side special).

As the Wolf, you’d get a weak but spamable fireball projectile and a extremely quick vertical jump kick that can be used in rapid succession. In this mode you’d also have a faster ground movement speed.

As the Dragon, you’d get a very long range electric beam as a projectile as well as an electric barrier side special that can block projectiles and damage enemies next to you. In this mode you’d gain 2 additional jumps.

As the bear, you’d get a short range projectile that petrifies (or stuns) on hit, as well as a high damage spinning attack that travels in an arc. While in this mode you’d gain armor on many of your normal attacks



—————

The intro animation is the tombstone exploding after being struck by lightning and a heavily compressed “RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!” Sound bite.



Also at the victory screen, a clapperboard snaps and you hear a “cut!” from an offscreen director as the Centurion takes off his mask with majestic amounts of sweat, revealing it to be a movie costume as a reference to the end credits where everything in the game was a movie production.

 

[Speed Weed]

Submissions are ending in a few hours

Lots of great choices here, but I’m glad someone else thought of Altered Beast, I think the Centurion (Beast Warrior in Japan) could have a really neat move set.

I’m imagining since his base form is kind of underwhelming in terms of moves, the character instead will be the werewolf form from the get go and will able to switch into the weredragon and werebear forms on the fly with down special.

The different forms would alter some of the properties of the character and his moves. In the original game he would have a projectile move (neutral special) and a dash move (side special).

As the Wolf, you’d get a weak but spamable fireball projectile and a extremely quick vertical jump kick that can be used in rapid succession. In this mode you’d also have a faster ground movement speed.

As the Dragon, you’d get a very long range electric beam as a projectile as well as an electric barrier side special that can block projectiles and damage enemies next to you. In this mode you’d gain 2 additional jumps.

As the bear, you’d get a short range projectile that petrifies (or stuns) on hit, as well as a high damage spinning attack that travels in an arc. While in this mode you’d gain armor on many of your normal attacks



—————

The intro animation is the tombstone exploding after being struck by lightning and a heavily compressed “RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!” Sound bite.



Also at the victory screen, a clapperboard snaps and you hear a “cut!” from an offscreen director as the Centurion takes off his mask with majestic amounts of sweat, revealing it to be a movie costume as a reference to the end credits where everything in the game was a movie production.
View attachment 321656

Nice to see you here! I like the idea of the victory screen referencing the ending lmao

Honestly if there’s any character that comes kinda close to a Banjo situation for Sega and was someone I was strongly considering submitting for this job before realizing Sega didn’t own them, it’d probably be Wonder Boy. Sega published the arcade cabinets and helped develop the Master System versions of those games, but they aren’t involved at all with any of the modern releases or remakes of those games. I wouldn’t say it’s exactly a Banjo situation because I’m not totally sure what the deal with Wonder Boy’s rights were during the Master System era, but that’s the kinda vibe I got from what research I did before going with Joe. This isn’t meant to dogpile or anything, I just thought it was interesting and didn’t know where else I would be able to bring this up at lmao.

Yeah the situation with Wonder Boy is complicated. I think they own the IP nowadays, but I'm not 100% sure. Worth noting that SEGA not having a hand in recent installments doesn't necessarily mean they don't own the series - Streets of Rage 4 and Shenmue 3 also have little to no involvement from SEGA themselves, but these two series are still their properties. Also worth noting that one of the games was rereleased as part of their SEGA AGES line for the Switch a couple years back.

Honestly I think I'll go do some research just to be sure. I'm in the official SEGA Forever Discord, and that place is filled with people who would know, so I think I'll just ask around

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright, so on the Wonder Boy situation, I didn't get any replies on Discord. Otherwise, though, from some digging done by not just me, but our very own YoshiandToad , it seems like it's owned by SEGA. Yoshi found the credits to the recent Monster World IV remake, which do have a SEGA trademark at the end, and I looked for information about the series in various places - all of which seemed to indicate the same thing: that it was owned by SEGA.

However, I did find something interesting. Here's an interview from last year with Steve Lycett, executive producer on the SEGA All-Stars Racing games:

Interview: Steve Lycett on The Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing 10th anniversary

Feb. 23, 2020 marked the 10th anniversary of the release of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing for the Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Windows (via St

www.megavisionsmag.com

In it, he states that they did consider Wonder Boy, but had to research the legal situation, and when looking into it, they found out that SEGA did own the Wonder Boy name, but it wasn't clear-cut who owned the character design.

This does make things a bit more confusing, but something kept coming to my head: the fact that one of the games got to be in the SEGA AGES line of Switch rereleases. When looking at the list of games, all of them are SEGA-owned (iirc they acquired Technosoft's properties a few years ago, which explains the likes of Thunder Force). If SEGA didn't own it, it'd be the outlier here. Plus, back when SEGA Heroes was alive, they did a survey for what characters we'd like to see, and it had a BUNCH of IPs, and I think Wonder Boy was there. And it was just SEGA IPs and then ToeJam and Earl, whose actual owners let SEGA use anyway. So if it was on there (which I'll check real quick), that's another point in its favor. So these two things, plus the fact that the places I saw all considered it a SEGA property, plus the fact that Streets of Rage 4 and Shenmue 3 show that SEGA not being involved with the newest game in the series doesn't necessarily mean they no longer own it...I'm inclined to believe they do indeed own Wonder Boy. It's still not a 100% guarantee, but for now, I'll be considering it eligible.

(EDIT: Just checked: Wonder Boy was indeed on the SEGA Heroes survey!)

 

[OrpheusTelos]

Alright, so on the Wonder Boy situation, I didn't get any replies on Discord. Otherwise, though, from some digging done by not just me, but our very own YoshiandToad , it seems like it's owned by SEGA. Yoshi found the credits to the recent Monster World IV remake, which do have a SEGA trademark at the end, and I looked for information about the series in various places - all of which seemed to indicate the same thing: that it was owned by SEGA.

However, I did find something interesting. Here's an interview from last year with Steve Lycett, executive producer on the SEGA All-Stars Racing games:

Interview: Steve Lycett on The Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing 10th anniversary

Feb. 23, 2020 marked the 10th anniversary of the release of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing for the Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Windows (via St

www.megavisionsmag.com

In it, he states that they did consider Wonder Boy, but had to research the legal situation, and when looking into it, they found out that SEGA did own the Wonder Boy name, but it wasn't clear-cut who owned the character design.

This does make things a bit more confusing, but something kept coming to my head: the fact that one of the games got to be in the SEGA AGES line of Switch rereleases. When looking at the list of games, all of them are SEGA-owned (iirc they acquired Technosoft's properties a few years ago, which explains the likes of Thunder Force). If SEGA didn't own it, it'd be the outlier here. Plus, back when SEGA Heroes was alive, they did a survey for what characters we'd like to see, and it had a BUNCH of IPs, and I think Wonder Boy was there. And it was just SEGA IPs and then ToeJam and Earl, whose actual owners let SEGA use anyway. So if it was on there (which I'll check real quick), that's another point in its favor. So these two things, plus the fact that the places I saw all considered it a SEGA property, plus the fact that Streets of Rage 4 and Shenmue 3 show that SEGA not being involved with the newest game in the series doesn't necessarily mean they no longer own it...I'm inclined to believe they do indeed own Wonder Boy. It's still not a 100% guarantee, but for now, I'll be considering it eligible.

Thank yall so much for doing the research I was somehow both too busy and lazy to do. I was getting conflicting information regarding who owned the rights when doing my own research. I was aware that Streets of Rage 4 and Shenmue 3 had very little Sega involvement and are still eligible, but I had no idea if Sega was still credited in the newer games like they were with those. Thanks for clearing that up! I’ll keep that in mind for future submissions where Wonder Boy might be eligible.

 

[Speed Weed]

So with that out of the way, it's time to proceed to voting!

Here are our picks:

Opa-Opa ( tonygameman )
Gilius Thunderhead ( Megadoomer )
Centurion ( cashregister9 )
Princess Kurumi ( Champion of Hyrule )
Joe Musashi ( OrpheusTelos )
Nei ( YoshiandToad )
Harrier ( Flyboy )

(Sorry AirMac1 , but I can't take your submission as, again, SEGA doesn't own Frogger at all)

Vote for your top 3 picks - you can't put your own submission in first or second place.

1. Nei
2. Opa-Opa
3. Joe Musashi

 

[YoshiandToad]

1. Opa-Opa: The idea of having Sega's three official mascots over the years in a single game greatly appeals to me as a lover of mascot characters, and we haven't got a shoot em up character yet which is probably the genre I associate with 80s arcade titles most.
2. Gilius Thunderhead: Golden Axe is a title I've played a great deal of over the years both at home and in arcades, and whilst all three Golden Axe cast members have merits, Gilius was always my warrior of choice.
3. Princess Kurumi: Ninja Princess/Sega Ninja is the best game on the SG-1000 for my money, and it just so happens to be the only home console we currently don't have a fighter associated with.

 

[cashregister9]

1. Kurumi
2. Opa-opa
3. Nei

 

[OrpheusTelos]

1. Opa-Opa
2. Nei
3. Gilius Thunderhead

 

[Flyboy]

1. Nei (It'd be really cool if Rolf showed up in her moveset! I love Phantasy Star II!)
2. Gilius Thunderhead (My favorite Golden Axe character by far)
3. Opa-Opa (The classic)

I just want to say that I genuinely believe everyone on this list deserves a slot so I hope to see more re-submissions once the criteria makes sense. Extremely impressive set of picks this time around and I loved to see it.

 

[Megadoomer]

1. Opa-Opa (seems like they'd make for a unique character)
2. Centurion (Wise fwom youw gwave!)
3. Gilius Thunderhead (my nomination)

 

[ImpostaWithDrip]

1. Opa-Opa
2. Nei
3. Centurion