• Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!

    You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!

Smashboards Creates: Battle of AGES, a SEGA platform fighter

What's the roster number gonna be?


  • Total voters
    11
  • Poll closed .

Speed Weed

Smash Master
Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
3,755
Location
Portugal
Switch FC
SW-1814-1029-3514
Alright, so, yeah this thread's been having a bit of a dead period lately, and that's mainly for one reason: I'm......not sure how I proceed with this job.

Mainly because this kind of just didn't go as well as I was hoping for. The turnout was kind of low, and a lot of these kind of weren't really what I was asking for, whether they don't fit the criteria I set, have too much overlap with previous minigames or feel a bit too ambitious. I feel a bit weird about going forward with this lineup, especially since we were set to add two of those.

I feel pretty awful trashing on people's submissions like this - I know everyone means well here and I always worry if I'm being too demanding or invasive with the other ppl here - and maybe in an earlier time of this project I'd have proceeded anyway, but I feel like a lot of the time we've done jobs where, after the results came in, it wound up feeling not particularly necessary and like we were somewhat bloating the project. I want to avoid that from now on, I want to make sure the additions we make are meaningful, and I'm sorry to say I just don't like this lineup very much and a lot of it isn't really what I was asking for, and I also don't think there are enough submissions for us to go forward with adding 2 of them. So now we're at a bit of an awkward standstill here. If you disagree with me and think we have a solid lineup, by all means you're free to make your voice heard and I'm willing to reconsider. But yeah, I'm kind of at a loss as to how we move forward here. Any ideas?
 
Last edited:

darkvortex

Smash Champion
Joined
Jul 1, 2023
Messages
2,446
Personally I'm okay with writing this off if you don't feel comfortable adding any of these. could find another piece of bouns content
 

Captain Shwampy

Smash Master
Joined
Jul 20, 2014
Messages
3,074
I got confused with minigame and modes here, but I guess its the same thing? You can do a Key of Avalon style mini game with a board game style map, use cards of non plyable Sega characters to fight opponents that land on specific spaces on the map, etc. Its essentially just World of Light but like yea thats how these culdcept styles game usually go.
 
Last edited:

Speed Weed

Smash Master
Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
3,755
Location
Portugal
Switch FC
SW-1814-1029-3514
I got confused with minigame and modes here, but I guess its the same thing? You can do a Key of Avalon style mini game with a board game style map, use cards of non plyable Sega characters to fight opponents that land on specific spaces on the map, etc. Its essentially just World of Light but like yea thats how these culdcept styles game usually go.
I think the thing with the difference between minigames and modes is the former was supposed to be a shorter-form thing, but as things went on it kind of transformed into just any mode based on a preexisting SEGA property, to the point where as you've pointed out before it kind of felt like we were starting to lose the thread here and they were starting to not really feel like "minigames" anymore. That's one of the reasons I felt unsure about proceeding with this lineup the way it is
 

YoshiandToad

Smash Hero
Joined
Dec 24, 2001
Messages
7,123
Location
Still up Peach's dress.
Honestly I think the best thing to do would be to give an example of the minigame style you had in mind for people to base around that.

I don't neccesarily want to scrap the job, I just think the job ended up a tad confused. I read we were meant to be incorporating the basic Battle of Ages gameplay into a mini game mode, but I'm not sure everyone thought the same thing.

To use Super Smash Bros as the easiest example; I was thinking 'Break the Targets' or 'Smash Run' style but I think some may have thought more 'Coin Launcher' or 'Smash Tour'. Both being minigames in Smash but quite different gameplay wise.
 

darkvortex

Smash Champion
Joined
Jul 1, 2023
Messages
2,446
17331-chuchu-rocket-dreamcast-screenshot-game-play.jpg

ChuChu Rocket!
Based on the Dreamcast action puzzle game developed by Sonic Team. In the game players must guide nice known as ChuChus, into a rocket while protecting them from hungry orange cats known as KapuKapus. In the original game players do this by placing arrows down to guide them.

In this mini game adaption, fighters are placed into a maze where they must guide the little mice. The fighter must step on arrows to open up areas and paths to guide them, but avoid the KapuKapus. Fighters can attack the Kapus to stun them. You gain points based on how many ChuChus you save.
 
Last edited:

Speed Weed

Smash Master
Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
3,755
Location
Portugal
Switch FC
SW-1814-1029-3514
Honestly I think the best thing to do would be to give an example of the minigame style you had in mind for people to base around that.

I don't neccesarily want to scrap the job, I just think the job ended up a tad confused. I read we were meant to be incorporating the basic Battle of Ages gameplay into a mini game mode, but I'm not sure everyone thought the same thing.

To use Super Smash Bros as the easiest example; I was thinking 'Break the Targets' or 'Smash Run' style but I think some may have thought more 'Coin Launcher' or 'Smash Tour'. Both being minigames in Smash but quite different gameplay wise.
Okay, yeah, just to be clear from now on: what I mainly intend with these minigame jobs is stuff along the lines of Break the Targets or Home-Run Contest or Race to the Finish or other "Stadium" modes from Smash. Smaller-scale, pick-up-and-play stuff that preferrably uses the normal gameplay as a base but isn't absolutely 100000% required to.

I guess I should now ask the question, do you guys want to keep this job going with this clearer criteria in mind?
 

darkvortex

Smash Champion
Joined
Jul 1, 2023
Messages
2,446
Okay, yeah, just to be clear from now on: what I mainly intend with these minigame jobs is stuff along the lines of Break the Targets or Home-Run Contest or Race to the Finish or other "Stadium" modes from Smash. Smaller-scale, pick-up-and-play stuff that preferrably uses the normal gameplay as a base but isn't absolutely 100000% required to.

I guess I should now ask the question, do you guys want to keep this job going with this clearer criteria in mind?
i'd be down
 

YoshiandToad

Smash Hero
Joined
Dec 24, 2001
Messages
7,123
Location
Still up Peach's dress.
Job #274: Minigame 1: Chain Chronicle (to replace Wonderland Wars submission)

Chain-Chronicle-Gameplay.png


Based off the super successful mobile hit title Chain Chronicle, this game mode is a beat the wave survival mode.

  • Players will be coerced into joining the Volunteer army by Yuri and Pirika where they must face off against waves of monsters.
  • Players work co-operatively trying to take out as many monsters and waves as they can.
  • From the menu players can select the amount of waves they wish to face.
  • Scores will be given to each player for the amount of kills they achieve. This is mostly for fun, but there are score multipliers for taking down 'boss' enemies.
  • There's also a 'Survival' mode which has up to four players try and last as long as possible against endless waves.
  • Capsule Toys can be farmed in this mode with the rarity and amount increasing as the wave amount grows.
  • This mode can be played on different battle stages, but also comes with it's own unique Chain Chronicle themed stage.
Some of the cast may be familiar with both Chain Chronicle and Yuri, namely Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Alicia Melchiott, Selvaria Bles, Sakura Shinguji and Joker, all of whom appeared as limited time cross over characters during events within the game.
 

KneeOfJustice99

Smash Champion
Joined
Oct 29, 2018
Messages
2,242
Location
the building from smash mouth's astro lounge
Job #274:
Since my original submission of literally just including Puyo Puyo is probably a little lazy, and unfitting for this job anyway, I'm opting to replace it with something based on an interesting piece of SEGA's history.

Minigame Name: Head-On
Minigame Origin: Head-On (1979)


Head-On is an early video arcade game by Sega/Gremlin, particularly notable for being the first maze game in which you run over dots - a concept that would be used in a lot of later games following that point. Interestingly, due to Japanese regulations about selling arcade machines without in-built games, a port of Head-On was also included with purchases of a NAOMI unit in order to fulfil this law. In the original game, you drive the red car clockwise and can change lanes on each cardinal direction, but must avoid the other car whilst collecting all of the dots.

As for what this game would be, your player character (selectible from the roster!) would be viewed from a top-down perspective, with the other car being replaced with some sort of villain or antagonistic figure to your playable character (some of whom are on the roster, some of whom aren't.) With that in mind, some characters might have more obscure antagonists more closely related to them - for instance, Tails's antagonist would be Witchcart from Tails's Adventure!

Simply put, you need to collect all of the dots in order to win. The faster you manage to do it without colliding, the better - you'll get increased score from it!
 

Speed Weed

Smash Master
Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
3,755
Location
Portugal
Switch FC
SW-1814-1029-3514
Doing a bunch of Capsule Toys to fill things out

  • Ranger-X
    • Series: Ranger-X
    • System Debut: Mega Drive
A giant mech and the main player character in the Mega Drive run and gun game of the same name. A detailed artstyle and unique controls have granted this game a cult status with Mega Drive fanatics.
  • Kitsch
    • Series: Linkle Liver Story
    • System Debut: Saturn
A top-down action adventure game on the Saturn, starring Kitsch, a foxgirl who fights the forces of evil with the help of various animal companions. Developed by Nextech, of Crusader of Centy fame.
  • Pole
    • Series: Pole's Big Adventure
    • System Debut: Wii
An odd digital-only platformer starring Pole, a hero who goes off to save the princess but is faced with various odd moments along the way. The game's collection of "gags", influence from old Famicom platformers and Japanese comedy routines, and relatively low price at the time granted it a cult following.
  • Eliot Ballade
    • Series: Blue Stinger
    • System Debut: Dreamcast
The star of the infamous Dreamcast action adventure game Blue Stinger, developed by the same creator as Illbleed.
  • Mark
    • Series: Power Drift
    • System Debut: Arcade
One of the many colorful characters in the classic arcade racer Power Drift. The game's advanced sprite-scaling graphics and fast-paced racing action earned creator Yu Suzuki yet another feather in his cap.
  • Asphalt Cowboy
    • Series: 18 Wheeler
    • System Debut: Arcade
The all-rounder character in the famous truck driving game 18 Wheeler, where you deliver materials, battle against rival truckers, and more.
  • Li Huang
    • Series: Decathlete
    • System Debut: Arcade
One of several colorful characters in the arcade sports game Decathlete.
  • Asuka
    • Series: Burning Rival
    • System Debut: Arcade
A character from the early SEGA fighting game Burning Rival. Though not very well known, the game had a very advanced visual style for the time.
 

Speed Weed

Smash Master
Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
3,755
Location
Portugal
Switch FC
SW-1814-1029-3514

KneeOfJustice99

Smash Champion
Joined
Oct 29, 2018
Messages
2,242
Location
the building from smash mouth's astro lounge
  1. Bass Fishing: This one's honestly just really fun. I love some of the small elements that go together to make this such a fun experience - different SEGA fish, unique fishing attire for fighters, deadly beasts to avoid... this is such a fun idea.
  2. ChuChu Rocket!: This is such a unique way to represent the basic gameplay of the original but in a new and fresh context, and I really like the concept (even putting my bias for this game aside!)
  3. I'll Clean You Up!: Not one I would ever have thought of, but I do like the concept behind this one. The idea of it getting faster and faster as you have to mop the entire floor up whilst avoiding enemies is pretty simple, but lends really well to fun and replayability!
 

Speed Weed

Smash Master
Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
3,755
Location
Portugal
Switch FC
SW-1814-1029-3514
Alright, it's finally time to close the vote:

Bass: 14 points
Clean: 1 points
Ball: 1 points
Rocket: 6 points
Chain: 10 points
Head: 16 points

....so I know I'd said we might be keeping it to just one after all but I actually think we have a good enough lineup here to do two. Our two extra minigames will be Head-On and SEGA Bass Fishing!!!

Alright, we've been dragging our feet really hard lately, so let's kick things back up with our next character job:

Job #275: Submit a non-Megaten Atlus character (or series!)

So Atlus, huh? Pretty big part of SEGA's current output. Big acquisition, and one they've put a lot of focus on. So naturally we've added a few ppl from them. But so far all of them have come from the general Megami Tensei umbrella, and Atlus has some other notable stuff too. I'll admit I tend to be a bit reluctant to fill rosters up with Atlus stuff, but....this is our fifth character of 54 characters total. I think it's fine. So yeah, submit an Atlus character/series who has nothing to do with SMT, Persona, Devil Summoner, or anything of the sort.

One last note: always double-check if Atlus actually owns the property you plan on submitting. This is because in western regions they published a lot of games by other developers that they don't have anything to do with otherwise, and this has led to some confusion in the past. I've seen many cases of people looking at the NA/European boxart for a certain game, seeing the Atlus logo, and immediately uncritically assuming that they, and by extension SEGA, own it. They published a lot of stuff they don't actually own, mainly in the West, so always double-check and make sure your pick is eligible. Now HAVE AT IT
 

YoshiandToad

Smash Hero
Joined
Dec 24, 2001
Messages
7,123
Location
Still up Peach's dress.
Job #275: Spud (Puzzle Boy/Kwirk, Spud's Adventure and Amazing Tater)

Honestly, I wasn't going to go with this outside of a gag but then I discovered this potato starred in THREE Atlus titles. THREE.


ATLUS-Spuds-Adventure.png

Surely the saddest scene in any game. You could say his hopes of survival have been SQUASHed. Haha. Ah... it is sad though.

Spud, also known as Spud the Wanderer and Kwirk, is Atlus' late 1980's vegetable based hero of their Puzzle Boy series.

Within the Puzzleboy series Spud would make his way through various mazes, rotating L and T shaped blocks, pushing boxes, filling holes and making his way to the end goal flag. He could be joined by some of his friends who would help solve puzzles that would be impossible for a single player to achieve.

Within Spud's Adventure meanwhile this entrepid potato lad goes on a grand adventure to save Princess Mato from a devious beetle known as Devi. Along the way he gains the ability to throw what appears to be shadow clones of himself at his enemies, and even teams up with some vegetable allies in King Tomato's royals knights; Arnie Eggplant who wields a boomerang masterfully, Garrit Carrot who fights with explosives as well as Arnie's friend, Terry Turnip who fires stun bullets.

Should Spud make it somehow onto the roster, I imagine it'd be useful, like with Ness, to bake into his moveset the abilities of his allies to add required apeel. Imagine if you will mashing away with the shadow clone attack preventing an opponent from getting too close and causing their blood to boil, frying your enemies with a barrage of carrot bombs, or chipping away at their health bars with a well timed combination of boomerang and stun bullet barrage. And if all that fails, being able to force some blocks into the opponents path, rotate them and cause a last minute wedge between the two of you to buy some time.

Interestingly both Amazing Tater and Spud's Adventure are known to be amongst the rarest Game Boy titles to exist, which is certainly an interesting video game claim to fame for Spud. Amazing Tater sometimes goes for as high as $6,800(!!!) whilst Spud's Adventure goes for a comparitively low $3,500. That sort of price is not small potatoes, but even at their cheapest you're looking at $325 and $130 respectively.

The western version of Puzzleboy was known as Kwirk, in which Acclaim for no apparent reason swapped Spud from a potato to a tomato, complete with 90s cool shades. Potato, tomato. In response it seems Atlus made it even more apparent in the sequel and spinoff that Spud was in actual fact a...well...a spud.
 
Last edited:

Speed Weed

Smash Master
Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
3,755
Location
Portugal
Switch FC
SW-1814-1029-3514
So since submissions are going kind of slow, I figured I'd throw out a few suggestions for potential series' to pull from here:

-Etrian Odyssey
-Catherine
-Power Instinct/Groove on Fight
-Princess Crown
-Odin Sphere
-Dragon's Crown
-13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
-Snowboard Kids
-Trauma Center
-Growlanser
-Radiant Historia
-ESP Ra.De

Hope this helps!
 

osby

Smash Obsessed
Joined
Apr 25, 2018
Messages
24,058
I'm admittedly not very knowledgable on non-Megaten ATLUS but there's one game I really like:

Job #275: Vincent Brooks (Catherine)

1696426407610.png
1696426435677.png


Vincent is the protagonist of Catherine, an unconventional puzzle game and a romantic horror game from ATLUS, mainly created by the people behind Persona 3 and 4. During day, he's a coder with no ambitions or life goals whatsoever and finds himself in the middle of a love triangle (or square in the expanded version of the game). During night, he pushes human-sized blocks and climbs giant towers for his survival in his nightmares as a sheep. It's that kind of game.

As a fighter, Vincent would be a mix between a zoner and a run-and-hit character - anything that can get him out of harm's way the quickest. He'd treat every fight as a matter of life and death, constantly shivering, wincing and screaming for his dear life, especially when he goes into freefall. Bu using various blocks, he could create traps and recovery options for himself around the stage while defending himself with his pillow.

Catherine isn't a big franchise but it was a surprise hit, as well as a cult classic. I think having a character from it would be fun, even if Vincent's current role as an assist also fits him well enough.
 

Captain Shwampy

Smash Master
Joined
Jul 20, 2014
Messages
3,074
Bringing this back
Job #265: Etrian Odyssey

The last of the popular Atlus series not featured, this fun and harsh Dungeon crawler was created Kazuya Niinou who also created the 7th Dragon series. The series shares some noticeable Atlus and SEGA DNA, Yuzo Koshiro for one does the soundtrack for the series, even using the Mega Drives and various SEGA arcade machines FM synthesis. Hiro of Space Harrier, Hang-On, and Outrun fame has even done arrangements for the series. EOII even has a reference to Princess Gradriel from Princess Crown, a saturn title both by Atlus/SEGA featuring pre-Vanillaware devs and a cameo of Derek Stiles from Trauma Center. EO features dozens of unique classes that can easily be turned into an actual fighter. WE consider some things however: The series has a big focus on using your imagination with the team of characters you create for your guild so these characters are gonna be technically nameless blank states and also these games are designed around building team to fill each niche to win your battles so we also have to give this character a team to help them in fights. Let's start with the most obvious character:

Gunner
View attachment 372974
The favorite of Atlus, I mean she has Jack Frost on her hat! Of course she's the favored one! Gunner can use elemental bullets like Flame/Ice/Volt, Snipe bodies parts and bind them so they cant be used for short periods of times, charge their guns up, cause shell shock, and even ricochet their bullets! This were a special part of this character comes in, A gunner has to pinpoint an enemy's weakness so In reference to PSO2 were gonna give her an ability similar to WEAK BULLET, an ability learned by the Ranger class in PSO2. What happens to an opponent that gets hit by a bullet its weak to? they get debilitated for a short period of time making them prey to the gunner and other opponents. Be wary though Gunners are ranged fighters for a reason, they have incredible attack power but their health and defense make them literal Glass canons. You can call in several guild party member to help out in surviving though just like in the LABYRINTH. A War Magus can heal you, A Paladin can increase your defense, A Hexer can curse an enemy, A troubadour is a jack-of-all-trades,

Lets add a Couple more suggestions

Landsknecht

The go to Balanced well rounded fighter, perfect and easy to use for any teams, appears in almost a majority of EO games.

Harbinger


Reapers that use Miasma, a shadowy substance of death to debilitate creatures and shroud themselves in it to give them Miasma Armor which enables certain abilities and heightens their speed, protection, healing, and ailment and damage infliction.

Fafnir Knight


1696486174799.png

A story mode exclusive class from the EO2 Untold remake used only by the protagonist. A class just made for doing Massive damage, there's a reason why its story mode exclusive. Can build his Force boost to transform and unlock further abilities of destruction.

Yggdroid

Androids created by Yggdrasil. They debilitate themselves and sacrifice HP to strengthen themselves to wreak destruction on enemies.

Farmers

A class not made for fighting but for harvesting items in the dungeons, preventing traps, gaining exp, healing etc. But its not like people haven't done crazy stuff with a Farmer. Also pay close attention to the blue and blond farmer being a reference to Alice from SMT.
 
Last edited:

darkvortex

Smash Champion
Joined
Jul 1, 2023
Messages
2,446
Sorceress_lg.png

Sorceress (Dragon's Crown)
From the side scrolling action RPG Dragon's Crown. Developed by Vanillaware , Dragon 's Crown focuses on an adventurer as they journey across the world of Hydeland and search for the magical Dragon's Crown. It's a sort of mix of an RPG and a side scrolling beat em up= which I think would make for some fun gameplay in this game

There are six classes, sorted by the skill level they required to use correctly, with sorcereress being in the higher end. She's the moat popular judging by what I've seen online and I think she could have a cool gimmick with her mana, where she collects mana from her normals in order to better power up her specials. She could possibly also summon the other classes in her super s.
 
Last edited:

Olekidsf

Smash Apprentice
Joined
May 29, 2013
Messages
76
Location
California
3DS FC
2552-2900-3603
Job #275: Derek Stiles (Trauma Center)
1696583419815.png

Dr. Derek Stiles is an intelligent but rather bumbling surgeon gifted with the Healing Touch, a mystical power originating with the Greek god of medicine Asclepius that allows surgeons to perform superhuman feats while operating on patients (in Stiles' case, the ability to slow down time), as well as giving them amazing medical knowledge. He works for Caduceus International, an arm of the World Health Organization focused on the research and application of cures to intractable diseases, on the forefront of the fight against the artificial disease GUILT. He serves as the protagonist of Trauma Center: Under the Knife and it's sequel, as well as the Wii game Trauma Center: Second Opinion which is a retelling of Under the Knife.

Funny story: I first heard of Dr. Stiles when I saw someone put him as a 3rd Party character for a fan SSB4 roster they uploaded on their Youtube channel way back in like 2010 or 2011. The roster maker's justification was that Trauma Center was a series exclusive to Nintendo systems which had sold fairly well (indeed the series was created as attempt to bring the sort of simulation games that were usually only seen on PC to consoles through the use of the DS' unique features, with Stiles' initials being a nod to this fact), and that a surgeon who fights by cutting opponents up with a scalpel or shocking them with a defibrillator would bring a unique fighting style Smash hadn't seen yet. Honestly, I thought it was a neat idea! Enough to remember it all this time later, apparently. :p Commenters naturally made fun of the choice because well, it was Youtube, but also because at the time nobody really considered Atlus on the same level as the big third party companies everybody was clamoring for characters from. Also, this was before Villager and Wii Fit Trainer so everyone was sure it was impossible for characters who don't "fight" in the strictest sense in their home series to be included. And while I suppose it might seem a little out of character for a surgeon of the non mad scientist-y variety to use surgical tools in a fight, I don't personally think it would be much worse than the likes of Phoenix Wright in Marvel vs. Capcom or the aforementioned Villager and WFT.

Of course, the first point they made wouldn't apply for Battle of AGES because it's roster is specifically designed around showing off everything Sega has to offer, including Atlus stuff. And he would certainly expand the variety on offer - I don't think we have a visual novel rep yet (unless you count Sakura Wars maybe), and we certainly aren't representing surgery simulators. I do think people often overlook Trauma Center after assuming it's just a straightforward medical sim, but I hope based on the description of his backstory I provided you can see the games are a lot weirder and more interesting than one might assume.
 

Champion of Hyrule

Smash Master
Writing Team
Joined
Sep 15, 2018
Messages
4,394
Location
*doxxes myself*
Oume & Otane

A while ago I submitted Solis from Groove on Fight, but upon further consideration I think I might prefer a character that can better showcase Power Instinct's most famous quality: it's sense of humour. So why not the two old women? Otane and Oume are the leaders of the Goketsuji clan. The clan that held all the tournaments through out the Power Instinct series and the protagonists of the series. They're the only characters who were added to Power Instinct's next-gen sequel Groove on Fight. Groove on Fight was the only time they were playable as a duo fighter but we could have them take their techniques from all through out the Power Instinct series. Power Instinct is Atlus's big fighting game franchise and it's a cult classic at this point, so it makes a lot of sense for them to be added.
The two fight with martial arts but also tons of weird stuff from the series. Transformations is the big gimmick of Power Instinct and these two have the abilities to transform into their younger selves. They can also summon their mom which is pretty impressive as she's 105 years old. I imagine these two would fight very similarly to their source game with of course a little bit of changes to make it work in a platfighter. More duo fighters could be cool too since we only have one slot for them!
 

Speed Weed

Smash Master
Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
3,755
Location
Portugal
Switch FC
SW-1814-1029-3514
Alright, time to throw my own submission into the ring. This character's been submitted as an assist before, but I wanted to give them a shot in a bigger role because I do think this would be a really cool property to represent. Here goes:

Job #275: Irori Mimasaka from ESP Ra.De.
Ex_d1OyXIAQqGcG.jpg

ESP Ra.De is a bullet hell shooter developed by Cave in the late 90s and published by Atlus. This game is notable for having you play as human characters instead of ships, which was by no means a new concept at the time but still helped it stand out. The game was a hit in Japanese arcades and is considered one of the big fan favorites from Cave's output - which is saying something considering their status as modern shmup royalty.

The game's story is as follows: in the far future of 2018, a newly-revitalized Tokyo is constantly under attack by the criminal acts of ESPers - people with psychic powers - and the Yaksa, a powerful criminal organization that brings the ESPers together and controls them. The Hanshin International Police then establishes the anti-ESP crime organization JUDGE and dispatches people to take care of the Yaksa, who have grown so powerful that they've taken control of the Self-Defense Forces. JUDGE isn't the only opposition factoring in here, though, as characters from all walks of life join in to defeat the Yaksa (for example, one of the other playable characters was sent to Japan by the Russian government).

So there are three playable characters: Yusuke, Irori and J-B 5th. Irori is the one character in the trio who was actually sent by JUDGE, and she's an orphan who intends to seek revenge on the Yaksa, whose leader, Gara, killed her parents. I think she's the right move because she's easily the most popular character and the "face" of the game at this point.

So the rights situation with ESP is.....interesting. So as has been mentioned, Cave made the game, but Atlus published it. The game was never reissued for the longest time because of rights and publishing issues between the two, but it was M2 who recently came in and saved the day, with a souped-up port of the game as part of their Shottriggers line of shmup reissues. Looking into the copyright on the game is what's interesting though. Intitially it just listed Atlus/Cave as the copyright holders, likely due to the aforementioned combo of one publishing it and the other making it, but after a while, that copyright switched to just being for the original game, and who are listed as the actual rights holders now? Atlus and SEGA. So it's safe to assume that at some point, Atlus took full ownership of the rights, meaning it's a SEGA property, meaning it's eligible for this project. And I don't know about you, but I think if we have the opportunity to include a Cave shooter in our project, we take that opportunity.

I also feel like Irori herself would be a really fun fighter! Characters in ESP have three types of shots - regular shots (Irori's has her rain down green bullets, eventually gaining a bird pattern), piercing shots which have limited uses but are stronger (Irori's has her shoot out blue orbs), and charge shots, where your character can charge a force field around them and release a powerful shot. Mixing all these together plus any upgrades, I think Irori could be a really fun archetype as this sort of floaty projectile-based psychic fighter with alot of air mobility. She'd be a really cool type of character to get in our roster, and ESP would be a really cool game to represent
 
Last edited:

Speed Weed

Smash Master
Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
3,755
Location
Portugal
Switch FC
SW-1814-1029-3514
Gamers.....voting time has arrived

Here are our choices:

Spud ( YoshiandToad YoshiandToad )
Vincent Brooks ( osby osby )
A character from Etrian Odyssey ( Captain Shwampy Captain Shwampy )
Sorceress ( D darkvortex )
Derek Stiles ( Olekidsf Olekidsf )
Oume & Otane Goketsuji ( Champion of Hyrule Champion of Hyrule )
Velvet ( cashregister9 cashregister9 )
Irori Mimasaka (me)

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

Also bears repeating once again: this is our last season and this is also like 99% going to be our last Atlus character, please vote carefully and responsibly. Try to really think about what would be the best choice.
 

Olekidsf

Smash Apprentice
Joined
May 29, 2013
Messages
76
Location
California
3DS FC
2552-2900-3603
1. Etrian Odyssey (I feel like a character from this would really compliment our existing 7th Dragon rep - the two series are both class-focused RPGs that share the same director for their first entries and were in their prime on DS and 3DS. Especially since Etrian Odyssey was the better selling franchise, so not repping it while having the other one just feels wrong)
2. Derek (It was a tough choice to put him below EO, but I think I said all I needed too when I wrote up my proposal for him. Except that I like the idea of recreating those silly Chinese The Good Doctor memes :p)
3. Velvet (I admittedly don't know too much about Vanillaware, other than they're a studio with a strong cult fanbase that makes interesting niche RPGs, so I wouldn't mind them receiving a rep. As for why Velvet specifically, I just like whip users, and I don't think the roster has one yet)

anyone but the catherine guy pls. no hate to anyone that voted for him i just think it'd dipping too much from the persona team well

(Also sorry I edited this post, idk if that's allowed or not. I didn't change any of my votes, just wanted to expand on the reasoning for my choices)
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom