Smashboards Creates: Battle of AGES, a SEGA platform fighter

[Qwerty UIOP]

1. Roo
2. Goji
3. Suketoudara

 

[Megadoomer]

1. Roo
2. Junpei
3. Elenor

 

[Deleted member]

1. Goji
2. Elenor
3. Roo

 

[OrpheusTelos]

1. Roo
2. Elenor
3. Witch

 

[osby]

1. Elenor
2. Jam
3. Witch

 

[tonygameman]

1. Elenor
2. Suketoudara
3. Junpei Iori

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright, time to close the vote.

Suke: 4 points
Velvet: 5 points
Jam: 3 points
Goji: 8 points
Roo: 15 points
Iori: 3 points
Witch: 8 points
Elenor: 14 points

This was close, but in the end, we have a winner - Roo will be our first Season 2 assist.

Moving on:

Job #239: Submit up to two items

Alright, this one's basic: this season will add two more items, so just submit up to two items. Have at it.

 

[osby]

Job 239: Ladder (Virtua Fighter)

It's absolutely criminal that Virtua Fighter, one of the most historied and revered franchises of SEGA, has no items whatsoever, despite featuring a wide variety of in-game items that would fit into Battle of AGES like a glove. Introducing... the ladder!

Sure, one may argue that a bow and arrow or a spear may fit better into a fighting game, but where's the fun in that?

When picked up, the ladder can be swung like a slow but long battering item. However, its real power is hidden when the user presses the jump button. Instead of jumping like normal, they will climb up to the ladder and will be able to perform their air attacks while standing still!

Of course, anyone can hit and topple down the ladder but that's the risk of playing with such dangerous forces.

 

[Captain Shwampy]

Job #239: Dreamcasko Grenade

Weapon from Phantasy Star Portable 2: Infinity modeled after Dreamcasko-Chan from the Sega no Game wa Sekai Ichi~i~i~i! comics by Takahiro Yoshimatsu whos famous for doing characters designs and animation for Trigun, Slayers, Overlord, etc. She makes cameos in games such as Shenmue, PSO, Dynamite Deka, Rent-A-Hero, and such. The weapon shoots out Dreamcast logo shaped grenades that scream out the classic SEGA chant.

This rules pic.twitter.com/jwzovKkeYC

— Grandis Gang Hideout (@Grandis_Granva) December 26, 2021

Job #239 Light Phaser/Zillion Gun/Ruby Bullet
Bringing this one back

Light Phaser (Master System)​

Light Phaser is a peripheral for Sega Master System and it's like NES Zapper, but it's made by SEGA and it's a light gun.
Light Phaser was made by SEGA and it was based on one of Weapons from "Zillion" anime, where Opa-Opa made an appearance.
The Light Phaser is used for shooting games that were on Master System console like Nintendo's Zapper and the Light Phaser was one of Master System's Accessories that were included with 3D glasses and controllers.

In Battle of AGES, Light Phaser could act like ray gun from Super Smash Bros, but with a charged attack if you charge the weapon.
Light Phaser shoots ray bullets that give normal damage, but w you charge the attack, it shoots out projectile that is shown by reticle like Duck Hunt's side smash attack.

I nominate Light Phaser, because it could represent SEGA's console hardware, since we never had an item based on console peripheral and it could be another shooting item after Periscope (Periscope was based on 1960's SEGA arcade game).

But im also gonna add one more thing, the weapon appeared in PSO as weapon name the Ruby Bullet, its very rare and can afflict burn on enemies in the game.

 

[Deleted member]

Golden Frog (House of the Dead)
This little guy restores a large amount of health. But you'll have to catch him first. He'll jump around the stage, and there's a chance your opponent could get it instead, so you better be quick.

Hand Scroll (Shinobi)
Magical Scrolls that allow the user to cast powerful magic techniques.

Picking this up will allow the user to cast a an ability, Ka'en, which unleashes fire around the fighter and burns any who gets close. This is an instent activation so be tactical with where and when you use it.

Credit To osby for the idea and here's their original write up

Job #119: Hand Scroll (Shinobi)

View attachment 341748

In Shinobi (2002) and Nightshade, scrolls are limited items that allow the player to use one of three strong abilities peruse. Originally, you need a trained ninja to read this, let alone use it to cast ninjutsu but where's the fun in that?

In this game, any character who reaches one of these first will use Ka'en, a fiery area of effect spell that burns anyone and anything in its range aka big bomb magic. However, this move will be activated in seconds after you get the scroll so it's in your best interest to place yourself somewhere you'll cause the most destruction as possible. Keep in mind that while your character will be immune to the fire damage caused by this move if you accidentally set off any explosive, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

[Speed Weed]

Fellas. Fellas. It is time to vote. Here we GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

osby : Ladder
Captain Shwampy : Dreamcasko Grenade, Light Phaser
@Darkonedagger: Golden Frog, Hand Scroll

Vote for your top 2 picks - you can self-vote, but only in second place.

 

[cashregister9]

1. Dreamcasko
2. Golden Frog

 

[tonygameman]

1. Dreamcasko Grenade (time to finally bring the original SEGA Hard Girl herself in this project. Also, cue the choir!)
2. Hand Scroll

 

[Deleted member]

1. Ladder
2. Dreamcasko Grenade

 

[OrpheusTelos]

1. Hand Scroll
2. Ladder

 

[osby]

1. Light Phaser
2. Golden Frog

 

[YoshiandToad]

1. Golden Frog
2. Light Phaser

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

1. Light Phaser
2. Hand Scroll

 

[Qwerty UIOP]

1. Dreamcasko Grenade
2. Hand Scroll

 

[Speed Weed]

ALRIGHT HALF AN HOUR LEFT GET YOUR VOTES IN QUICK GO GO GO GO GO

 

[Captain Shwampy]

1. Golden Frog
2. Casko Grenade

 

[Speed Weed]

sorry for the wait i am Lazy

Anyway results time!!!!

Ladder: 3 points
Grenade: 8 points
Phaser: 5 points
Frog: 6 points
Scroll: 4 points

And there we have it: the two items to be included in Season 2 will be the Golden Frog and Dreamcasko Grenade!!!

And so, we'll finally move onto our next character job. And we've officially reached the new series half of this season, so that's exciting. So what'll it be? Well I originally had a female character job planned but our season is entirely women so far so I don't think we're in much of a hurry to add more rn. Instead:

Job #240: Submit a "classic" SEGA character or series

We're going old-school for this one. What does classic entail here? Basically any series that debuted before SEGA went third-party. That is the demarcation line we're using, and yes our next one after this one will be for "modern" characters. So you can submit any character that debuted before SEGA stopped making consoles, as long as they're from a series that doesn't have a playable rep yet. Alternatively, if a series has multiple options, you can just submit the series itself and if it wins we do a job to decide on who its rep will be. Have a good one.

 

[tonygameman]

Time for a re-submission. He's pretty much my current goal/mission in this project.

Cue the theme song sang by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi himself right below (which Masahiro Sakurai once searched up in Wii U's Karaoke Joysound), Sonic's motivational dress-up and a Dreamcast factory tour since having been friends as of 1991, the anime song legend Hironobu Kageyama (Dragon Ball Z fans out there may recognize that voice) joining Mitsuyoshi-san in a live duet, and HENSHIN!

Job #240: Classic SEGA Fighter - Taro Yamada (Rent-A-Hero)

(both images are original and Dreamcast/remake designs - his design may likely be an amalgamation of those with his Capsule Toy's shoulder pads in Shenmue)​

Taro Yamada is the main protagonist of a 1991 Japanese-exclusive action RPG game named Rent-A-Hero, which was released on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive and used the same graphic engine as Sword of Vermillion (which got a fan translation in 2015). The game follows Taro moving to the town of Corja in Japan alongside his family (mother has a nice Opa-Opa apron) and younger sister Alisa (somehow related to Phantasy Star's protagonist by name), after his eccentric father changed jobs. During their house-warming party, he ordered pizza from 'Sensational Cafeteria' (or SECA in short) and instead received the Super Energy Combat Armor (coincidence by name? - as part of the "Rent-A-Hero" program) by accident, which gave him superhuman strength (after accidentally knocking out his father in a "Dadzilla" suit) and other gadgets. After realizing that he is required to pay a fee to rent the armor, Taro decided to become a titular part-time hero for hire (who looks like Captain Commando), performing various odd-jobs for the townspeople of Corja such as delivering food or finding missing children, before ending up in more intensive missions involving corporate theft, counterfeit money and mafia, even an ancient undead pharaoh (King Glutenramen) and ESP telekinetics, all while going against a fellow part-time hero and rival, Ultra Salaryman (or in full title, as lengthy as it sounds, "Ultra Great Super Hyper Miracle Strong Dash Top Fighting Salaryman").

Instead of traditional turn-based battles, Taro will face enemies in a similar format to 2D fighting games, akin to Street Fighter, SNK's titles (like Fatal Fury & The King of Fighters) and others, which was an unusual innovation for the RPG genre at a time. Rent-A-Hero was a self-parody of SEGA, with multiple games from their history at the time getting shout-outs (even arcade ones like OutRun, Power Drift, After Burner, G-LOC: Air Battle and Space Harrier play their memorable tunes from 08:26 to 10:41 in a description), a decade before SEGAGAGA was released (with a same-named protagonist), alongside cultural references of Sentai, American superheroes and Japan's culture/society between the 80's and 90's (like a man injuring his leg for trying the moonwalk of Michael "Yakson").

Despite being lesser-known compared to other Genesis games, Rent-A-Hero has proven to be popular thanks to it's comical tone and self-aware humor (SEGA's known for not being afraid of poking fun at stuff as shown in titles like SEGAGAGA), having gained a modern reputation as one of SEGA's fondly-remembered cult classics. The game is one of the 42 pre-installed games on SEGA Genesis Mini's Japanese release, the Dreamcast/Xbox remake (Rent-A-Hero No. 1, which had a cancelled English localization - even with a promo video) with Segata Sanshiro himself as a dojo teacher (which also has beat 'em up sections akin to SpikeOut), a live stage show in Japan and a theatrical movie/film in works (though there's been no news since it was announced a few years ago). A idea of people renting hero suits was later revived by SEGA in a Nintendo 3DS game called Hero Bank.

Rent-A-Hero was referenced and Taro himself even made appearances throughout numerous SEGA games, like Shenmue as a capsule toy (given that Yu Suzuki's AM2 team worked on both games and a Rent-A-Hero No. 1 remake being close in gameplay), a cameo in SEGAGAGA's final cutscene, a SEGA 60th anniversary icon in Sonic Colors Ultimate, a collectable in Earth UFO Catcher, a "rental hero" system in Sonic Forces, a selectable song in Samba de Amigo, a poster on Sarah & Jacky's stage in Virtua Fighter 2, container trucks with "Nomoruwa" written on them in SpikeOut Final Edition (based on Corja's president who Taro saves from assassination; the original arcade game's project codename was "Rent a Hero Returns" - at 1997), a "OKA" name entry song in Daytona USA, a puzzle in Picross S: Mega Drive/Genesis & Mark III/Master System Edition and Akira Yuki & Kage-Maru's pre-battle dialogue with Captain Commando in Project X Zone 2. And finally, Fighters Megamix with his own vocal theme from Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, where he fought various characters such as Virtua Fighters themselves, Fighting Vipers and of all things, Hornet from Daytona USA. Perhaps the Part-Time Hero job from Yakuza: Like a Dragon got inspiration from this, as well? (imagine a potential cross-franchise costume and next-generation Dragon Engine remake of Rent-A-Hero, given Toshihiro Nagoshi's experience in both IPs and similar gameplay)

For Battle of AGES, Taro Yamada would be a super fun character, who's not only a relatively deeper cut and legacy character pick, but also bring really cool moveset possibilities and tons of personality, given some tokusatsu-based and comical moments (given him being cheerful and curious, who always has interest in new things and sometimes gets himself into trouble because of this, talk about being a easygoing everyman-turned-hero like One Punch Man's Saitama) in his series, being able to perform various martial arts moves such as punches and kicks for primary attacks, but he also has projectile attacks (a slashing projectile's named Sonic Cutter and used at 1:42 in this tweet's video) with Super Energy Combat Armor's weapons/gadgets, even being able to charge up for powerful special moves with electric/energy properties in Rent-A-Hero No. 1 (techniques like Rent-A-Somersault, Energy Sword, Dragon Thunder which acts like 's Power Wave in Fighters Megamix below, Self Recover for healing, Space Barrier, etc. - above a linked section), which also apply for smash/strong attacks.

Borrowed from both the original game and Fighters Megamix (with his command/move list below), Taro's Super Energy Combat Armor has a gimmick/mechanic, the battery meter which depletes over time and lowers much faster when using special moves or fully-charged smash attacks consecutively. Once it drops to zero, his armor wil shut down and disappear into a civilian form (front/back; with a different SEGA shirt depending on palette), making him weaker in stats and unable to use special moves in their full potential, unless he's either KO'd or charged up it's batteries with a special move (likely the downwards input), which fully refills his suit meter and allows him to use the Super Energy Combat Armor again.

Taro's female counterpart, Rent-A-Hiroko (who has appeared in various promotional materials, some merchandises like instruction books, plush dolls, even an afore-mentioned live stage show and seemingly her own cancelled spin-off, as told in Rent-A-Hero No. 1's ending credits (which didn't become a thing, however) would show up in his All-Star Move consisting of a tag-team beatdown with powerful martial art/energy techniques, and likely as one of the possible Capsule Toys for this series' line-up.

 

[cashregister9]

Fighting Vipers

Fighting Vipers is a fighting game series created by Sega

The series has a roster of unique and interesting fighters.

 

[Janx_uwu]

Sketch Turner

The witty, effortlessly cool protagonist of Comix Zone, a Genesis sidescroller beat-em-up that plays very similarly to a traditional fighting game and has you leaping between comic book panels to beat up bad guys. The game's super impressive for the console in terms of presentation and Comix Zone even holds up very well today. The main protagonist, Sketch Turner, is a comic artist who gets sucked into his own work-in-progress, "Comix Zone", and has to defeat the very foes he created for said comic. He's also a freelance rock musician and an overall really cool guy with some funny dialogue and impressive combat skills.

As far as gameplay goes, Sketch has a ton of melee attacks, and a bunch of items (including, but not limited to, his pet rat Roadkill, a knife, and a bundle of dynamite). We may also find a way to incorporate his fourth-wall breaking, reality manipulation, all that jazz. Not a whole lot more to say other than I think Sketch Turner just fits into Battle of AGES super well. Also, Comix Zone is getting a movie sometime. A fact I'm still processing.

 

[Deleted member]

Ristar

I know we've avoided doing the obvious scrimblo characters you see in every fan roster. And I think thay has been an extremely smart decision for our game and allowed us to give a lot of cool series their shot.

But truth be told, both of the characters we added this pack have been anime-styled characters . Not that there's anything wrong with that, I think they're great picks personly. But I think a DLC pass should try to appeal to everyone.

Ristar to me is the most worthy pick of the SOA gang. He was actually relatively popular in Japan, making cameos in other games. He's also a pretty easy fit for a platform fighter.

He would use his long arms, and could shoot himself around the stage.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

I think this could be a pretty neat change of pace!

Character Name: Harrier
Character Origin: Space Harrier (1985, Arcade)

The defender of the Fantasy Zone, called upon by the dragon Uriah as a last resort to stave off the evil creatures that had attacked Dragon Land, Harrier usually rides alone - with only his wits beside him. (Oh, and a huge jet-propelled laser cannon!) He might have faced off legions of opponents before now, but can he hold his own in a new kind of battlefield?

In terms of moveset, Harrier would be pretty much one of a kind, being unique in that he's a generally light character with solid aerial mobility and great speed, at the cost of some damage output. Otherwise, picture him being a solid midrange fighter - close-up, he'll use kicks and smack the barrel of his cannon against opponents, but he could just as easily cause chaos from the other side of the screen with a flurry of projectiles. This lightweight nature, however, means he absolutely relies on evasiveness - because he utterly eats combos as a result of it. This mixture of evasive and offensive play would really mirror his original game series to a tee.

And speaking of: it's undeniable that Space Harrier and the series it spawned is an unmistakably important part of SEGA's library. He's an awesome opportunity to represent Yu Suzuki's Super Scaler games, as well as SEGA's earlier arcade history - but the series has continued since then, with not only ports to systems like the Game Gear and Master System, but also later ports to the 32X, Saturn, and even the 3DS and other modern platforms. It also helps that the game's been featured in other places - whether it be in arcade form in Shenmue and Yakuza, the sequel's place as a Genesis launch title, or even its myriad appearances in SEGA AGES releases. It's undeniably a series that's important not just to us, but to SEGA, too.

Overall, I think Harrier's in a unique spot where he'd be an interesting representative for an entire genre of culture-defining arcade games, showing off some of SEGA's most innovative concepts at the time, and still lauded today for their lasting impact.... but he's also got some unique moveset potential to his name. (I think the only real problem is deciding which look to go with! I'd personally suggest his look from the 3D Classics Collection.) And hey - he could even have some unique interactions with Opa-Opa, considering they're apparently buddies!

 

[Megadoomer]

I'm going to nominate Gunstar Red (with Gunstar Blue as an alternate costume like Olimar and Alph in Smash), because I really want to see Gunstar Heroes make it in here.

Gunstar Red/Gunstar Blue (Gunstar Heroes)

Gunstar Red's the one in the very front, while Gunstar Blue is the blonde one who's kicking. They'd presumably be alternate costumes of one another, since they play identically.

We've already got a boss from Gunstar Heroes, so why not include a playable character? Gunstar Heroes is a run-and-gun game in the vein of Contra, developed by Treasure. (who also made Sin & Punishment, Ikaruga, and Wario World) The game offers four different kinds of weapons - flamethrower, machinegun, homing stars, and lightning. You start out with one of these, but picking up another weapon combines the two (even if it's two of the same weapon), resulting in some ridiculous power-ups like a stream of fire that you manually control or a bolt of lightning that homes in on an opponent. (the sound quality of the video isn't great, but it's the best/quickest that I could find that demonstrates a variety of weapons)

Gunstar Red (or Blue) would act as a zoner - they have some melee attacks like kicking, diving at the enemy, or grabbing and throwing them, but they largely run and gun, and they aren't super durable, particularly if an enemy gets close.

Here's some gameplay to give a visual of what the game is like:

 

[osby]

Job 240: Alien Storm

A beat-em up style shooting game relesased for the arcades in 1990, Alien Storm could be a fun, unexpected retro throwback game. There are three characters with their own normal attacks and special finishers so there's some leeway in who could be picked but I think the best option would be the robot who can self-desctruct to eliminate his enemies, Scooter.

 

[Speed Weed]

Job 240: Alien Storm

View attachment 366259

A beat-em up style shooting game relesased for the arcades in 1990, Alien Storm could be a fun, unexpected retro throwback game. There are three characters with their own normal attacks and special finishers so there's some leeway in who could be picked but I think the best option would be the robot who can self-desctruct to eliminate his enemies, Scooter.

Worth noting that we added the Alien Storm gang as assists last season so they're ineligible for now

 

[osby]

Worth noting that we added the Alien Storm gang as assists last season so they're ineligible for now

Oops, my bad.

I'll think up another submission and replace them later.

 

[Speed Weed]

I'll just put Cenes forward again, Thunder Force is deserving and she is Way Too Cool

Job #240: Cenes Crawford from Thunder Force V
View attachment 361195
Thunder Force is a series of shmups created by the now-defunct developer Technosoft. The series originally started as an obscure multi-directional overhead shooter, before transitioning into a horizontal shooter with its third installment. The series never exactly set the world on fire, but it has a significant following among retro gamers and is often held up as one of the finest shmup franchises of its kind. Unfortunately, as mentioned, Technosoft eventually went defunct. However, as of September 2016, SEGA now own the rights to all their properties. So we can add Technosoft stuff to our project now!

I think adding a Thunder Force rep makes sense, as ever since they acquired Technosoft, SEGA have been making pretty good use of the series when it comes to legacy stuff, particularly in joints involving developer M2. Thunder Force IV and AC both got SEGA AGES Switch ports, while the third game got on the Mega Drive Mini and the aforementioned fourth one is coming to the MD Mini 2. Not to mention how they've also been using other Technosoft IP like Herzog Zwei and Elemental Master. But TF is the biggest one, so it makes the most sense. It feels like they're keen on establishing the series as a part of the retro SEGA library, which makes sense! Thunder Force has always had a strong SEGA association, the third and fourth ones are very well-regarded big titles for the Mega Drive, and the fifth one was notably on the Saturn as well. In a way, it's always been somewhat part of the SEGA family - it just went from honorary member to actual member.

Cenes herself is the main protagonist of the fifth game. Born in Berlin, Germany, Cenes is the head of the combat unit 222 and pilot of the RVR-01 "Gauntlet". While the previous Thunder Force games mainly focused on the ever-present conflict between the Galaxy Federation and the ORN Empire, the fifth game shifts the focus to Earth. On there, the wreckage of the Rynex ship from Thunder Force IV is discovered and renamed "Vasteel", with its technology reverse-engineered to better mankind. However, **** hits the fan when the Guardian, an advanced AI made for the aforementioned purpose, goes haywire and uses the tech it created from Rynex to wipe out the human race - but not before humanity manages to fight back with their own "Vasteel".

So why Cenes? Well the situation with playable Thunder Force representation is interesting. The other idea I've seen thrown around is just adding Rynex as a playable fighter, and suffice to say I'm not really fond of that idea. Like, at all. I'd personally just rather have something with a bit more character, and my personal choice for an Actual Character would be Cenes because while there are canon pilots for other ships in the series, including Rynex, I'd go with Cenes cause A. she's by far the coolest of all of them, and B. TFV is noticeably more story-heavy than the previous games, and as such Cenes is much more involved in the actual game, which makes her more visible of a protagonist, and thus, more well-known - rather than the other canon pilots who aren't that prominent on their own and kinda just exist to be the pilots of their respective ships besides some lore tidbits in the later games, meanwhile Cenes is more of her own defined character. She might be the series' most iconic Actual Character, so she's a good choice if we're to take that angle.

So how could she fight? After all, she's a shmup character, she spends the game in a ship so she never really shows off much of her own combat chops. I still think you could easily spin something out of her, though. See, I was looking into how the Star Fox characters were implemented in Smash, and inspiration struck me when I saw the theories on how some of their moves seemed to be based on things the ships could do in Star Fox. And....that'd actually be a pretty dope way of implementing Cenes. Make her basically fight like a human RVR ship, give her a bunch of weapons that do the same stuff as all the different abilities you can get in the game, just make her this balls-to-the-walls bat** crazy projectile character. This way, you can incorporate all the crazy shmup bull** that comes with the territory while still adding someone with a bit more character than just A Ship. To me, she's sort of a Captain Falcon type, where she has a cool enough design that you can get away with kinda making things up and basing her more on the general series gameplay and it still feels natural.

Did I mention that the Thunder Force games have some kickass music? Because they totally do.

 

[Qwerty UIOP]

Submitting Dynamite Headdy

 

[osby]

I'm resubmitting B.D. Joe again for this job

Job #240: B.D. Joe (Crazy Taxi)
View attachment 338782

B.D. Joe appeared in several SEGA crossovers before so you might recognize him. He's one of the four playable cabbies in the unconventional 1999 arcade racing game Crazy Taxi, which is most well-known for its Dreamcast port. Crazy Taxi was a pretty successful series and it's still fondly remembered to this day (it even got a spin-off mobile game a few years back).

While B.D. Joe is not the face of his game (that honor goes to Axel), he's a popular character among fans and developers alike, and makes quite an impression thanks to his friendly and cheerful personality. As his game features no violence whatsoever unless you count everyone driving their cabs like four-wheeled murder machines, he'd be a humorous fighter who would nonetheşess be a force to be reckoned with in right hands. Other than using various car-related tools like wrenches and tires in battle, he can also make use of his drumming and card play skills to attack with oil cans and playing cards. As we know he's a good performance artist, he can even be a dance fighter who almost accidentally hurts his opponents!

While Crazy Taxi can be included with side content just as effectively, I think a fighter from that series can be pretty fun. We don't have many non-combatant playable characters and I think B.D. Joe can fill the role nicely. Depending on his moveset, his fellow drivers Gus, Axel, and Gena can also join him as alternate costumes but that's probably not very likely.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Job #240: King (Virtua Tennis)

This moustachio'd gentleman is the ultimate rival in the vast majority of Virtua Tennis titles and someone who can not only hang with but absolutely obliterate the real life Tennis pros in the game. He may look like a dapper chap, but you're going to get a proper slap when King enters his kingdom and let's there be known there will be no Love lost between him and his opponent.

King debuted in Virtua Tennis in 1999, sporting(ha) a different, more square jawed and less gentlemanly design, before later changing it to the above look which he kept throughout the rest of the series.

Naturally the Virtua sports series has been a huge arcade hit, and Virtua Tennis is amongst it's most successful sporting series, with no less than 7 titles to it's name, all of which contain some of the very best tennis legends such as Venus Williams, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Tommy Haas, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova amongst many, many more.

And King's beat them all as the final boss of each entry!

What could King, a pretty normal looking tennis player, actually do in a fighting game?

So our man King would likely have a strong counter game, able to knock projectiles and opponents away with his backhand, have a strong projectile game with his powerful Ace shot, capable of putting serious spin on a ball and causing his opponent to be spun away when hit. He'd very much be a character focused around placement and projectiles as well as an anti projectile character.

Naturally, this would be the start of his character design, because whilst that's a solid foundation, it's not a Sega game without some silliness too;

For the uninitiated, Virtua Tennis is a...well a tennis game, but it's a tennis game that features all kinds of wackiness outside the main mode.

For example: Virtua Tennis 4 features bizarre minigames such as the below

And that is but one game's worth of minigames. We could lean as wacky as you like with the minigames being included into his moveset in fun ways.

 

[Speed Weed]

Submissions close tomorrow - if you still have anyone you want to get in, do it

 

[Speed Weed]

Alright it is finally time to vote

Here are our picks:

Taro Yamada ( tonygameman )
A Fighting Vipers character ( cashregister9 )
Sketch Turner ( Janx_uwu )
Ristar (@Darkonedagger)
Harrier ( KneeOfJustice99 )
Gunstar Red ( Megadoomer )
Cenes Crawford (ya boy)
Headdy ( Qwerty UIOP )
B.D. Joe ( osby )
King ( YoshiandToad )

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

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

1. Taro
2. Fighting Vipers
3. BD Joe

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

1. Gunstar Red
2. Ristar
3. Harrier

 

[cashregister9]

1. Taro
2. Cenes
3. Ristar