Smashboards Creates: Battle of AGES, a SEGA platform fighter

[tonygameman]

1. Gunstars
2. Cenes Crawford
3. Taro Yamada

Maybe we shouldn't keep pushing Fighting Vipers further away, as we just added a fighting game character (Pai Chan).

 

[Janx_uwu]

1. Ristar
2. B.D. Joe
3. Fighting Vipers

 

[OrpheusTelos]

1. Fighting Vipers
2. Gunstar
3. Cenes

 

[Flyboy]

1. Fighting Vipers
2. Cenes
3. King

 

[Deleted member]

1. Gunstar
2. Cenes
3. Fighting Vipers

 

[YoshiandToad]

1. Gunstar
2. Harrier
3. Fighting Vipers

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

1. Cenes. I'm lowkey a little surprised that we haven't seen any representation for Technosoft, and thinking about it, Thunder Force feels like a vital part of SEGA's history to actually represent here. It doesn't hurt that Cenes' whole vibe is incredibly unique, and I'd love to imagine some of their interactions with other shoot-em-up icons like Opa-Opa. Not only that, but the idea of cramming the whole concept of a ship into a character is something I'm already in love with. Sign me up!
2. Gunstar Red. I think this is a similar boat to Cenes in the whole "representation for a company thing", though in this case, that's a big focus. Treasure is a massive part of SEGA's history, and I think it'd be a crime not to represent them at least somewhere here. Not only that, but the unique take on a zoner with the ability to update their playstyle on the fly feels like it'd be a lot of fun to mess around and lab with, and I can already picture a number of comboes taking advantage of what's essentially a more focused Monado Arts.
3. Fighting Vipers. This is a pretty iconic fighting series from SEGA's library to pull from, and I think it makes a lot of sense to include. The only real problem I can imagine is that Honey is going to get a lot of votes purely on the basis of being the "icon" of the series (and it doesn't hurt that she's in Sonic, either), when a lot of other characters from the Fighting Vipers series could have awesome potential on their own, and might not get a really fair shake.

Massive shoutouts to B.D. Joe and King, the former primarily due to the sheer amount of personality he'd bring to the table here (not to mention Crazy Taxi being undeniably iconic!) and the latter primarily due to how unique a concept a tennis-based fighter actually is. Across the board, though, awesome submissions here - it's been pretty damn cool reading through them all.

 

[Megadoomer]

1. Ristar
2. King
3. Gunstar Red

 

[DragonRobotKing26]

1. Ristar
2. Gunstar Red
3. Sketch

 

[osby]

1. Cenes
2. Ristar
3. Fighting Vipers

 

[Speed Weed]

1. Red
2. Vipers
3. Harrier

 

[Qwerty UIOP]

1. Gunstar
2. Ristar
3. Headdy

 

[Speed Weed]

alright! It's time to finally show the results! Here. we. go:

Taro: 7 points
Vipers: 15 points
Sketch: 1 points
Ristar: 16 points
Harrier: 4 points
Red: 22 points
Cenes: 15 points
Joe: 3 points
Headdy: 1 points
King: 6 points

And so....we've done it. He's finally in. A character who's been submitted countless times. Someone who I know has been widely anticipated by most of this project's team. It's finally time. I am pleased to announce that Seaaon 2's third character will be Gunstar Red!!!!

Now we'll spend some time covering Gunstar content. Starting with:

Job #241: Submit a moveset for Red

it is moveset timeeeeeee

Here is the formula:

-General playstyle overview
-Notable normal attacks
-Specials and All-Star Move
-Misc./cosmetic info

Also:

Job #242: Submit a Gunstar Heroes stage

Yeah uh. He will come with a Gunstar stage. So. Submit a Gunstar stage. Have fun

 

[tonygameman]

Spoiler: Job #241 - Gunstar Red's Moveset

General Playstyle: Red's playstyle primarily focuses on zoning as he attempts to approach opponents and shoot them down with his Vulcan Gun's projectiles, also having average walk/dash/air (a bit faster than Mewtwo's) and fast falling speed stats (same as Pichu's). His melee attacks aren't quite powerful (given his usual strategy) and stamina/health is little low, though he can compensate for it with his strong throws/smash attacks (he has to get close towards opponents to use those moves) and the ability to perform a wall jump.

Notable Normal Attacks: Most of Red's moves are taken from both installments created for his home series; the original 1993 game and a Game Boy Advance sequel, Gunstar Super Heroes. I will only list those with inspirations for specific attacks.

• Neutral Attack: A simple punch forward, which can be spammed repeatedly. Based on the inability to use firearms/weapons while fighting Curry and Rice in Dice Palace.
• Down Tilt/Dash Attack: Slides across the ground while kicking forward. A Down Tilt version has less distance and damage, but trips an opponent. Both has pretty much similar properties in the Genesis/Mega Drive game (a running slide can be performed by doing a "half-circle" + Button B input in it), with the Dash Attack version having Super Heroes' execution animation (standing during a slide) and able to knock opponents by tackling them.
• Side Smash: A downwards knife swing in-front of him, based on his/"her" melee attack in Gunstar Super Heroes.
• Up Smash: A hopping uppercut from Gunstar Super Heroes, except that he doesn't jump as high (more akin to Mega Man's Up Tilt/Mega Upper in Super Smash Bros. and Marvel vs. Capcom).
• Neutral Aerial: An aerial body slam, based on his Button C air attack in the Genesis/Mega Drive game.
• Forward Aerial: A jump kick, which is also his regular attack in Gunstar Super Heroes and Blue's Button C air attack from it's prequel, also used to peform jumps between walls.
• Up Aerial: A bicycle kick, based on the action he performs when climbing up to the platform while hanging below it.
• Down Aerial: A downwards dive kick that plummets towards the ground. Also based on Blue's drop kick attack in the Genesis game (down-control + C Button).
• Forward/Up Throw: Simply tosses the opponent away forward or upwards, able to hit others on their way.

Special Moves:

• Shield Special: Free/Fixed Shot - When pressing both shield and special buttons at the same time, Red can switch between two aiming modes, applying on both Neutral and Side Specials.
  • Free Shot allows him to fire in three directions (forward, diagonally upwards and straight upwards) while moving at the same time.
  • Fixed Shot gives him the ability to shoot in all eight directions while standing.
• Neutral Special: Vulcan Gun - Red pulls out his Vulcan Gun and then aims it forward, firing a current weapon type as described below. He can also move around/jump and aim in eight directions when using Free or Fixed Shot respectively above.
• Side Special: Homing Laser - Red aims his Vulcan Gun and shoots out a laser beam projectile that moves quickly and homes in on opponents close to him, also making use of Free Shot to both run and jump while firing them. Based on one of the weapon settings in Gunstar Super Heroes.
• Up Special: Helidroid - A bird-like drone (that drops items in Gunstar Super Heroes) appears above Red and then flies vertically upwards as he grabs it from below, dropping him once it reaches apex distance or when the player pushes a control stick down before that. During the special move, Red can also use his Vulcan Gun while hanging on a drone, similarly to how he attacks enemies in the games.
• Down Special: Shot Switch - During the match, Red is able to make use of a weapon system, which allows him to utilize two different weapon types out of four and even one from six combinations by holding the button, choosing with a control stick and pressing the normal/attack button to pick up. Simply tapping the special button will make him switch between two shot types and a weapon combination, akin to the original SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive game (which are all balanced in comparison).
  • Force: A default weapon type that rapid-fires weak projectiles by spamming or holding the button, pretty much acting like a machine gun. With two Forces, they will shoot large orange balls in a stream that constantly waves in it's aim.
  • Lightning: A stream of electricity which does multiple hits and passes through walls. With two Lightnings, it becomes a blue, straight powerful laser-like lightning beam.
  • Chaser: A quick laser that homes in opponents, even though it's slow and weak. With two Chasers, triangle projectiles will be replaced with stars and a weapon's speed & power are increased. Stars will circle around Red while in use and far away from opponents.
  • Flame: A short-ranged fiery burst, which is effective and capable of burning opponents. With two Flames, a weapon's range and damage are increased.
  • Force + Lightning: Rapid bolts of blue lightning projectiles, that goes in any direction and a spread is larger.
  • Force + Chaser: A stream of large orange balls, that has limited self-homing capabilities.
  • Force + Fire: Large orange balls, which's fire rate is the slowest, but can explode in a large radius if they hit anything.
  • Lightning + Chaser: The lightning bolt travels in a squarish path around Red/Blue, hitting opponents. Can also self-aim and gather in a small square around an opponent while firing at them.
  • Lightning + Fire: A light-saber like weapon that protrudes out of Red/Blue's gun, which has the shortest range, but does impressive damage.
  • Chaser + Fire: A large pulse of flame that travels around the screen, mowing down opponents. Extremely powerful, but quite slow.
• All-Star Move: Big Bang Shot - A orange spaceship from the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive game's sixth/shoot 'em up stage quickly flies in as it boosts towards opponents in-front of Red. When successful upon hitting at least one of them, they will be taken to outer space on the top of Emperor's Spacecraft where they get attacked by multiple projectiles shot from the both Gunstar twins (Blue is controlling a weapon satellite by default, unless you play as him instead), until Red finishes the All-Star Move by pulling out a cannon and then fires off a huge fireball that blows up into a gigantic explosion (based on Flame's special use in Gunstar Super Heroes), which sends opponents flying back into the stage.

Others:

Aesthetics: Red's default appearance comes from the original SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive game, with his three palettes being based on his orange-haired "female" self from Gunstar Super Heroes (black with red accents & white boots), sister Yellow (specificially her GSH design's outfit colors & original's blue hair) and Dr. Brown (purple with brown accents/boots & white hair). For half of his palettes, his brother, Gunstar Blue, will act as an alternate costume with those referencing Green, Golden Silver (gold with silver accents & orange boots) and a last palette being from Treasure's other run-and-gun SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive game in 1995 (which also includes various different weapons and Seven Force as a boss), Epsilon-Eagle from Alien Soldier (silver with purple accents, orange boots & hair)

Entrance Animation: Yellow's ship flies in as it beams Red down onto the stage, who then assumes his idle stance.

Idle Animations:

• Red chucks his Vulcan Gun in a firing position before resuming to his idle stance.
• Red examines his knife's sharpness by poking it's tip.

Taunts:

• Taunt 1: Red pumps his fist while standing, referencing his usual pose in both games' promotional artworks and loosely a stage clear animation (which is fully shown in a victory pose below).
• Taunt 2: Red picks up his Vulcan Gun and then juggles it.
• Taunt 3: Red holds his Vulcan Gun upwards in-front of him in a firing position as he looks left and right as if surveying the area.

Victory Theme: A Stage Clear jingle from the original Gunstar Heroes on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive.

Victory Animations:

• Victory 1: Red is shown finding a Treasure/Mystic Gem on the ground and then picks it up, doing his stage clear pose from the original SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive game. When playing as Blue, the pose will change up (as shown in a video).
• Victory 2: Red is seen looking up at the sky, as Yellow's ship from Gunstar Super Heroes appears above and beams him back up before flying away.
• Victory 3: Red and Blue are seen bumping their fists together, before finishing with their poses from Gunstar Super Heroes' promotional artwork, side by side.

Job #242: Gunstar Heroes Stage - Dice Palace

Dice Palace is the main setting of a fourth stage in the original Gunstar Heroes game released on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, which Black (a high-ranking commander of Emperor Grey's Empire organization) has built as part of his own base, The Strange Fortress, during the Empire's dictatorship and the Gunstars, Red & Blue, has raided it to retrieve one of the four Mystical Gems to prevent the resurrection of Golden Silver, navigating through a silly dice maze inside the palace, which was littered with many rooms and bosses inside it. Because of it's unique premise compared to other stages where you just run and shoot things, Dice Palace is often declared among one of the most memorable levels/stages in Genesis/Mega Drive's library.

In Battle of AGES, the stage works similarly to that of WarioWare, Inc. in the Super Smash Bros. series (starting from Brawl), which makes it basically sort of a "mini-game" (and boss rush) stage. At the start of a match, players fight inside the room with a blue wall, which shows a board game-like map and they have to proceed by throwing a dice in turns (except players, who are defeated/KO'd out of the match), complete with a phrase as shown in the image: "THROW THE DIE!"

After completing challenges (going through obstacle courses or destroying a huge ship/machine), leaving item rooms or defeating mini-bosses (Valvalion, Phantom and Curry & Rice, who's fight permit players from using special moves, items & assists), players will be transported back to the main room and the winner (who makes it in first or defeats a boss) is awarded with a random item to help them in a fight against their opponents. If players end up on a second-to-last space (The Way Back) after throwing a dice, they will end up back to the beginning of the board (even though it doesn't reset any cleared spaces).

Once they get into the final space, they will face against a stage boss himself, Black piloting his Black Beat Stepper mech that moves on spaces by shooting a dice and uses different attacks depending on what space it stops on, like a single ricocheting beam (green), three bombs (blue) and criss-crossing lasers (yellow). When defeated, Black will toss a fake red Mystic Gem that explodes when a player picks it up (though he can be attacked during this), after which the stage will reset back.

 

[Speed Weed]

oki doki, Dice Palace will be our Gunstar Heroes stage!!!!

Tracklist submissions are now open for it, as well as for Bailu Village which I forgot to mention lol

Anyway:

Job #243: Submit a Gunstar Heroes assist

Now it is assist time. Submit a GH assist

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

This is probably a bit of an odd one, but why not?

Job #243
Assist Name: Bravoo Man
Assist Origin: Gunstar Heroes (1993)

One of the many bosses you'll come across in the original game, Bravoo Man (the second boss you fight in Ancient Ruins) is a being made up of blocks, and primarily intended to showcase the Genesis's "3D" capabilities. In terms of how he functions here... pretty similarly to in the original game, truthfully. A little like Ultmate's Sukapon, he'll try and attack opponents using the different strikes he had in the original game, made up of punches and kicks. It should be noted, however, that these only do damage when a block is flashing green. Also, if you land a powerful enough attack on the head, Bravoo Man breaks up and becomes an inert pile of blocks before disappearing. (The rest of the body has a lot more defence, though, so he can essentially act as a wall when used!) He's also scaled down a little, so he's still on the larger side, but is around a similar scale to the rest of the fighters. (Mostly for balancing.)

Why him, though? Well, I think he'd be interesting. Being one of the earlier bosses in the first game (and briefly appearing in the second), he's pretty memorable for his unique visual flair and general vibe compared to other parts of the game - plus, his variety of different moves such as the Dragon Punch and Spinning Driver could make him an interesting being to cause a bit of chaos when put to use. Interestingly, he apparently also inspired a boss in Dynamite Headdy.

 

[Megadoomer]

WARNING! DANGER AHEAD
--MELON BREAD--​

There are many bosses in the Dice Palace, and Melon Bread is among the weirdest. A floating mouth, eyes, and clown nose, Melon Bread attacks by spitting out bombs. Melon Bread later appeared as a boss in another Treasure game, Alien Soldier, now with a gross-looking body and an extendable nose.

I'll be sticking with the Gunstar Heroes version, though. Much like in the GIF, he'll move his face around for a while, though he won't damage the opponent if he comes into contact with them. On rare occasions, he'll spit out a small bomb that does a relatively high amount of damage for an assist's attack to make up for his relative passiveness otherwise. Once the bomb explodes, he'll float away and vanish.

 

[tonygameman]

Job #243: Gunstar Heroes Assist - Smash Daisaku

A reoccuring villain who acts as Emperor Grey's subordinate in his evil Empire organization on their plan to resurrect Golden Silver, the ultimate weapon and God of Ruin, Smash Daisaku (or Colonel Red in the original game's English version/localization) appears throughout the game to oppose the Gunstars Red and Blue several times in their mission to retrieve the four Mystical Gems, operating the train in Underground Mines, bombarding them in a plane before they fought Orange on his flying battleship and threatened to kill their sister Yellow after kidnapping her if they didn't give up those gems to Grey before being ultimately defeated in the fifth level.

In Battle of AGES, upon appearing, Smash Daisaku will shoot either two magma blasts that flies in a zig-zagging pattern (Spiral Head) or a single homing fireball (Streaming Head) from his gun, leap into the air before performing a diagonally-downwards kick with an out-stretched foot (Bravoo Reg) and fly around at high speeds on his jetpack to ram opponents while dropping down a few bombs which explode when hitting the ground as he laughs maniacally (After Burner). Once his time period ends or takes enough damage, he will scream "I NEVER DIE!!!" before vanishing away.

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright it is vote time

Our three options are as follows:

• Bravoo Man
• Melon Bread
• Smash Daisaku

Here is da vote:

Le vote - Online Poll - StrawPoll

What's your opinion? Vote now: Bravoo Man, Melon Bread, Smash Daisaku...

strawpoll.com

 

[tonygameman]

Damnit, forgot to share up a tracklist for the stage earlier. Given that Gunstars Red & Blue are pretty much our Treasure representative/fighter, I decided to leave the last four slots to their other games developed for SEGA.

Dice Palace's Tracklist

1. Military on the Max-Power (Remix)
2. Rolling Chaser
3. Theme of Seven Force (Remix; already used in the base game's boss fight)
4. Stairs Too High
5. Dice-Dance-Days
6. Empire - The Final Assault (Remix)
7. Theme of Smash Daisaku
8. Last Party on the Moon
9. Theme of Golden Silver (Remix)
10. Neo City (Gunstar Super Heroes)
11. Fate
12. Ex-Boss
13. Runner AD2025 (Alien Soldier; Remix)
14. Rough and Ready/Fighters of Pain (Guardian Heroes; Medley)
15. You're Izayoi (Dynamite Headdy)
16. Light Crusader (Light Crusader; Remix)

 

[Speed Weed]

JOB'S DONE

Melon Bread will be our Gunstar Heroes assist!

Now it's time for us to decide on Season 2's last character. And it is......

Job #244: Submit a "modern" SEGA character or series

We are doing the opposite of what we just did: now it's time to talk about IP that popped up after SEGA went third-party. Any series that isn't on the playable roster yet is eligible, and you can choose between submitting a specific character or a whole-ass series depending on how many worthy candidates there are from said series. HAVE AT IT

 

[osby]

Job #244: 7th Dragon

I'm suggesting this franchise once again. It's a really cool series of first person (battle) dungeon crawlers with cool characters designs, music and themes. There are classic fantasy classes for your customizable party but also quite a few unique urban fantasy ones such as hackers, idols and maids/butlers. It'd make a fun addition to our fighter pass while being a unconventional pick that makes a lot of sense with four games under its belt.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Endless (2012-current)

Just a small selection of unique and wonderful characters from this IP...and this is only TWO of titles worth.

Ah, Endless. One of the unsung modern SEGA subsidary IPs. Many of you probably haven't even heard of the franchise, largely because it hasn't had much in the way of cross overs with other franchises unlike say...Total War or Football Manager, but the Endless series is frankly ripe with character potential.

--------------------

Games in the series
It may surprise some, but there's actually a surprising amount of games in the series with surprisingly diverse genres between RTS', rogue lites and even a freaking dating sim. Let's have a quick look at the titles!

• Endless Space: The game that started it all; a 4X RTS where you pick a race of space warring factions with anything from bog standard humans(the United Empire or a rebellious subclass known as the Pilgrims who are fighting against their oppressors), to a sentient species of amoeba to a gaggle of space geckos who like to play god to a man who decided to say screw it, I'm my own species now and created himself a clone army of himself. You can read about these factions here.
  
  
• Endless Legend: A fantasy take on the above featuring knights, dragon people and space settlers who decided to settle down on this medieval world. You can read about the many factions here.
  
  
• Dungeon of the Endless: A rogue lite based around a prisoner ship crash landing onto the planet of the titular endless. Now the prisoners and officers have to work together to escape alive. Players will have to utilise limited resources to build turrets and useful machinery to keep them alive as they explore a dark dungeon filled to the brim with man eating monsters. Victory is achieved by escaping the dungeon after clearing enough floors.
  Fun fact: The Team Fortress 2 cast of Heavy, Medic, Pyro and Engineer guest star as 'prisoners' in this title making it the second time Heavy and Pyro guest star in a Sega title after Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed. You can read about the cast here.
  
  Oh, and currently you can get a free copy of Dungeon of the Endless that activates on Steam by signing up for an account at Amplitude's community site (while stocks last anyway) so if you fancy trying this one for yourself, nab it quick!. Also available on Switch.
  
  
• Endless Space 2: A direct sequel to the first title, with some factions having changed. New factions include the Lumeris, a group of mafia frogs who believe gold is everything, the Vodyani a space vampire species who worship the Endless in a cult like religion, a sentient group of ancient space tree creatures who take over galaxies by absorbing them through their roots and the polygonal Riftborn creatures who come from another dimension. Like before victory can be achieved by diplomacy, war, science, etc. Many gameplay improvements happened, and it's one of the best games in the series.
  
  I recommend checking out this video for more indepth(if slightly tongue in cheek) overviews of the factions:
  
  If you're curious from that, watch the whole video. It does an incredible job explaining the game in a comedic way. Alternatively, you can read more about the factions here.
  
  
• Love Thyself: A Horatio Story: A dating sim of all things, Love Thyself follows the tale on one particular faction; the Horatio as you play a member of one of his many beautiful clones and find love amongst your clone army.
  
  It's free on Steam if you want to play it, and done in a more cartoony art style compared to the rest of the series.
  
  
• Endless Dungeon: an upcoming sequel to Dungeon of the Endless, Endless Dungeon takes the rogue lite sprite game and boosts it into 3D environment full of colourful fully voiced characters. Can be played with friends. It will likely be hard as hell, as are all the Endless titles. Just like in Dungeon of the Endless you must navigate monster filled dungeons whilst protecting your crystal; the only thing that can keep you alive and power the elevator to escape.
  

-----------------------------

Why Endless?
Amplitude Studios is one of Sega's modern subsidery companies, and the IP contains a whole universe full of characters with various abilities and designs.
It's also had very few cross overs with any other Sega media outside a small item collab with Two Point Hospital, so we'd truly be getting something unique in the game by drawing attention to it.

The most fascinating thing to me about this universe is...it's all interconnected.

The events of Endless Legend lead into Dungeon of the Endless, that leads into Endless Space 2, the events of Endless Space 2 have an effect on Love Thyself, and whilst I'm not entirely sure where Endless Dungeon will end up in the timeline, I do know that the character Blaze is a corrupted Craven from Endless Space 1 and 2.

My personal pick for the series will not come as a shock to those who have been with the thread a while; I'd personally side with Horatio:

"Make Horatio great again" - Horatio Prime...or maybe Horatio the fourth. We're not clear anymore.

Not only does Horatio appear in two of the Endless Space titles, got his own dedicated game in Love Thyself, and even gets referenced in Two Point Hospital with a custom item dedicated to him, but the comic books reveal he was involved in the events of Dungeon of the Endless too. You can read how he screws over the Endless version of Samus Aran(no I'm not kidding) here if you're curious. There's actually a lot of lore suggesting that maybe the current leader of the Horatios...may not be the original now...and he's not above splicing other species DNA in a big blender in order to make an even more perfect Horatio. He fascinates me.

However, this 'beautiful' mad billionaire who decided to clone himself to create a species of 'true beauty' isn't the only option and there's so soooo many other options from across the series, each with their own in depth personality and quirks. Many factions for each game have beautifully done introduction videos for Endless Space and Endless Legend and are absolutely worth taking a look.

--------------------------------

Amplitude are a pretty big company now working for Sega, and I think it'd be nice to celebrate their efforts with a fighter addition to Battle of Ages.

Why let Atlus, Sports Interactive and Creative Assembly have all the fun with being repped in this game?

 

[Captain Shwampy]

Momomeno from 7th Dragon
Part of the princess class from the original 7th Dragon game on the DS. Their singing voices give their friends encouragement, and steal away the strength of their foes. With enough time, they can even control the thoughts of all around them. The Main objective of princess class in 7th Dragon is too strike fear on the opponent with their controlling voice. princess can evoke status ailments of all kinds and debuff/buff enemies and allies greatly. They can even forcibly make enemies commit suicide or be used as meat shields from the other incoming attacks. SO how do make this working a fighting game? by Summoning and abusing dragons from the series to submit to her doings. There's alot of dragon enemies, each with their own gimmick and the point is too kill them all to get to the final boss.

Also enjoy music from the series, done by famous Streets of Rage composer, Yuzo Koshiro.

 

[Deleted member]

Jack Cayman
From Madworld, the stylish action game developed by platinum games. We do have Bayo on our roster. But Jack has enough to stand on his own. He'd have a playstyle inspired by his own game. He'd mainly use his chainsaw. A stage in black and white could be really cool. He'd also bring elements from Anarchy Reigns, a multilayer Brawler set jn the same universe.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

Character Name: Derek Stiles
Character Origin: Trauma Centre: Under the Knife (2005)

Atlus is in a strange position where it's become pretty much synonymous with the Persona series, which itself is a spinoff of another series they're particularly well-known for. The funny thing is, though, they do have another particularly interesting series to delve into that - whilst generally lacking in high school students murdering gods and demons taking over entire planets - still has a lot to bring to the table! For context, Derek Stiles is the main protagonist of the Trauma Centre series, which has had a total of five games overall. The series itself has gameplay that's essentially a combination between a surgical simulation and a visual novel. Interestingly, Derek has what's known as the "Healing Touch", making him exceptionally skilled at aiding patients.

As for his moveset, I think it'd be interesting to extrapolate the concept of surgery into his moves and general vibe. A lot of his attacks would have very specific sweet spots, utilising surgical equipment such as scalpels or even defibrillators, and typically rewarding precision over anything else. Overall, he relies on getting close, but needs to be careful and evasive to prevent himself from utterly eating people's combo attacks. I also think he'd be particularly interesting if he were to act as a support character when in doubles, being able to heal himself and his allies in some way using his medical expertise to his advantage.

Whilst the Trauma Centre series hasn't really been active for a while, it's had a large number of games and was a pretty solid Atlus presence during the mid-to-late 2000s, and I think it'd be interesting to represent.

Oh, one more thing. I think Derek's splash screen should be "Derek Stiles Breaks the Hippocratic Oath!" because it'd be really funny

Spoiler: also rez from earlier (i'll keep this around in case i ever get to resub it)

Character Name: Avatar
Character Origin: Rez (2001)

Right at the end of the Dreamcast's lifespan, a new experience was released on the platform (and the PlayStation 2, simultaneously.) An experience of synesthesia, of colour, of something wholly unique. That experience was Rez, a fundamental reinvention of the "shooting game" and "rhythm game", and one that's still somewhat relevant today. The playable character is an avatar of a hacker, using their avatar in order to defeat viruses and awaken a being deep within cyberspace known as Eden. (Their name is never given due to the game purely using visual storytelling, hence the name of the character here being "Avatar".)

First, relevance. Despite Rez only technically having one game in the series, it's actually got a solid history, being rereleased as Rez HD in 2008 on the Xbox 360, and then recieving an expanded release for the PlayStation 4 in 2015 as Rez Infinite, designed for the PSVR system. Said game is also being ported to the PlayStation 5 this year, and will be compatible with the PSVR2. As such - despite being a more obscure series overall, it has an element of promotion to its inclusion.

Secondly, importance. Rez might be one of SEGA's more obscure series overall, but with reception to the game being near-universally positive as time has passed, it's hard to say that the series isn't an appealing one despite low sales of the first game. Its utterly unique visual style and interesting music, as well as its continued relevance both in concept and in terms of releases, make the series an interesting one to represent despite its obscurity.

Thirdly, potential. I think having the avatar be able to shift between its different forms over time could be interesting, though it also makes sense if you were to go with the most iconic look - that being their second iteration - and have them shift forms for certain attacks. Furthermore, whilst they lack outright combat in their source material, it's possible to imagine them as a lightweight and complex character who relies on a sense of "tempo" and "rhythm" in order to exceed - for example, I can imagine a forward strong attack consisting of three rising polygons that becomes more powerful if performed at a consistent tempo. Avatar would most likely have a primarily mid-ranged playstyle and would generally struggle when in close-up confrontations due to their lightweight nature, but would excel at aerial movement and control.

Avatar would inevitably be one of the single strangest characters on the roster, but I think they'd warrant inclusion due to the amount of potential there is in exploring the concepts and gameplay of Rez and translating them into this game. Plus, the game's got some solid music to include too!

 

[OrpheusTelos]

It’s once again time to resubmit Phantom R

Job #54: Phantom R (Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure)

Phantom R is the titular Rhythm Thief from the cult classic 3DS game. By day he’s Raphael, an unassuming 18-year-old boy living in an apartment by himself and his dog Fondue in Paris. But by night, he dawns the persona of Phantom R, a suave gentleman thief infamous for stealing famous works of art only to return them days later. He does this in hopes of finding the whereabouts of his father, who disappeared three years prior to the events of the game. If you own a 3DS and you haven’t given Rhythm Thief a shot yet, I’d strongly urge you to change that as soon as you can. It’s a really fun, unique, and charming game that I’d whole-heartedly recommend to both rhythm game fans or those looking for something with a similar vibe to the Professor Layton series.

While Phantom R might not be as flashy as the other Phantom Thief on our roster, he offers a ton of his own unique flavor to help him stand out. He’s proficient in both hand-to-hand combat and dancing, which could be translated into a super unique rhythmic fighting style where timing your moves just right results in a higher damage output (and because we actually have rollback in this game we won’t have to worry about this being an issue online ). You could also pull moves from Rhythm Thief's various minigames and have Fondue help out for some attacks. As far as extra content goes, Rhythm Thief has a lot of fun options. There’s quite a few neat locations that could make for really unique stages, and it should come as no surprise that a rhythm game has a lot of bangers we could add to our tracklist.

 

[Speed Weed]

Job #244: Love and Berry (Oshare Majo Love and Berry)

These two have been submitted before, and I've decided it's my turn to go to bat for them. Oshare Majo Love and Berry was a card-based arcade game released by SEGA in the 2000s, being one of several arcade games they made at the time that used card-based technology. This crop of games also includes stuff like Mushiking, Dinosaur King, World Club Champion Football, Key of Avalon, etc. This one, however, sticks out for being mainly aimed at a female audience - the two eponymous main characters are princesses with the power of fashion magic, and the gameplay mixes dress-up and rhythm sections.

Now here's the deal. This game? Huge hit in Japan. The card arcade games in general were a very successful endeavor, but L&B sticks out as being among one of the bigger hits. It was massively successful, to the point that if I'm not mistaken, the DS game was the second highest-selling SEGA game of all time in Japan, only behind Virtua Fighter 2. And yes, there was a DS game. And an OVA. So this success naturally means SEGA always put it in stuff, it always gets the nod, etc etc.

So not only do these two girls represent an extremely successful SEGA franchise that I don't think has gotten any major representation in our project yet, they could be really fun unconventional fighters. Personally, I'd just go ham with the fashion theming, make em like these Style Savvy Smash movesets, while also throwing in some magic (cause they're well uh, witches) and some cues from the rhythm sections, like having them play a tambourine for one of their moves. They are very fun and I like them a lot

 

[cashregister9]

Resubmitting Landsknecht

Landsknecht (Etrian Odyssey)

The Landsknecht is one of the only classes to appear in every Etrian Odyssey game. (Except 3 but that game is unique).

Etrian Odyssey is a First Person JRPG with a character customization system and a unique feature of having to map out the dungeons yourself as you play it.

Etrian Odyssey has seen some good success in the past and It even has an official crossover-ish game with Persona being Persona Q.

The Landsknecht could be a pretty interesting fighter if you incorporate the creation aspect of their game in their moveset.

I wanted to submit an obscure character that can draw people their original series.

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright, time to vote!

Here are our picks:

A 7th Dragon character ( osby - Captain Shwampy also submitted a character from this series)
An Endless character ( YoshiandToad )
Jack Cayman (@Darkonedagger)
Derek Stiles ( KneeOfJustice99 )
Phantom R ( OrpheusTelos )
Love and Berry (ya boy)
Landsknecht ( cashregister9 )

Vote for your top 3 picks - you can self-vote, but only in third place.

1. 7th Dragon
2. Landsknecht
3. Love and Berry

I am putting my full weight behind 7th Dragon here, it's basically the perfect inclusion out of this batch. Popular series with a decent presence in SEGA stuff, vast world and cast to pull from, connections to old-school SEGA via references and people who worked on it, it has quite literally made it to a tie in this project before. This is basically the perfect time to get it in.

 

[HyperSomari64]

1. Love and Berry
2. Phantom R
3. Jack Cayman

 

[Deleted member]

1. Endless
2. 7th Dragon
3. Love & Berry

 

[cashregister9]

1. 7th Dragon
2. Endless
3. Jack Cayman

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

1. 7th Dragon
2. Jack Cayman
3. Love and Berry

 

[Qwerty UIOP]

1. 7th Dragon
2. Phantom R
3. Endless

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

Alright, time to vote!

Here are our picks:

A 7th Dragon character ( osby - Captain Shwampy also submitted a character from this series)
An Endless character ( YoshiandToad )
Jack Cayman (@Darkonedagger)
Derek Stiles ( KneeOfJustice99 )
Phantom R ( OrpheusTelos )
Love and Berry (ya boy)
Landsknecht ( cashregister9 )

Vote for your top 3 picks - you can self-vote, but only in third place.

1. 7th Dragon
2. Landsknecht
3. Love and Berry

I am putting my full weight behind 7th Dragon here, it's basically the perfect inclusion out of this batch. Popular series with a decent presence in SEGA stuff, vast world and cast to pull from, connections to old-school SEGA via references and people who worked on it, it has quite literally made it to a tie in this project before. This is basically the perfect time to get it in.

1. Phantom R. Huge amount of bias from me here, but "rhythm-based gentleman thief" is such a cool prompt you could do so much with, and I think he'd be an awesome and fresh inclusion. Yes, he lacks a little in recent releases, but he'd be so cool dammit!!
2. 7th Dragon. Honestly it makes a lot of sense to include something from this. I don't know a lot about it, but it feels reasonable from the limited research I've actually done into it.
3. Jack Cayman. I really like his game's artstyle, and I think his moveset could really bring something fresh to the table. I don't know much about him but he looks pretty cool.

 

[tonygameman]

1. 7th Dragon
2. Love & Berry
3. Derek Stiles

 

[Captain Shwampy]

1. 7th Dragon
2. Love and Berry
3. Jack Cayman

 

[Flyboy]

1. Love & Berry
2. 7th Dragon
3. Derek Stiles

 

[OrpheusTelos]

1. 7th Dragon
2. Love and Berry
3. Phantom R