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Link to original post: [drupal=3011]SSB4 Ideas Vol.1: The Art Style[/drupal]
Welcome to the first of a series of SSB4 ideas. In general, these will focus on what I would like to see, and I intend to go in as depth as possible. I'm making these to get a diverse amount of people to think of new ideas outside of characters and modes. Sorry, but the official thread doesn't cut it.
I'm starting these because I was not all that satisfied with Brawl compared to its predecessors. As such, take into account anything discussed is solely my opinion and nothing more.
As a result, a good amount of this series will consist of proposed gameplay changes and additions. Most of these come from the SSB4 Gameplay Discussion Group I founded a while back. Without further a due, let's start by focusing on the aesthetics of the game.
Chapter 1: The Art Style
When I first saw Brawl's art style for its characters, I thought it looked like an enhanced Melee. At the time, which was back around 2005, I liked this. However, I've run into other games with different takes on art styles such as the steroid-calligraphy-esque style of Street Fighter IV, the lanky look of Bayonetta,and the anime-esque Final Fantasy XIII to remind me that there are different styles that I found more appealing than Brawl's.
One of the things I found annoying was that the colors were very washed out which gave the game this bland look. Peach, who you will see mentioned a lot in regards to this subject, is a prime example of this.
Compare her Brawl look vs. her look in New Super Mario Bros. Wii
As you can see, Peach's design in the former is much more intricate and detailed, but you'll also see that her colors in the latter are more vibrant and saturated despite the lack of those details. Aside from the less vibrant colors on the former picture, there's an even bigger problem with all this, and you can't tell from the picture: Peach's designs behave as if they're painted on. Here's a good example of this problem:
Had Peach's details been better animated, this wouldn't be a problem. Alternatively, using the original, less detailed style would've done a trick.
So, what does this all lead to? Well, with Brawl, Sakurai had to design the characters in a way that they don't all overly clash with each other due to their differing art styles. As a result, he went with something that's something very similar to Twilight Princess considering that Link, Ganondorf, and too an extent Zelda, look like they were almost extracted from that game.
I don't believe this really worked all that well. Here are two ways I see of changing the style:
1. Every series retains their native art styles.
Now this one is very tricky, but beneficial if done right. On one hand, all the characters look like they do in their regular games. This would mean Samus would look like something akin to the 2D Metroid game and Other M, and Toon Link would keep his cel-shaded look intact.
However, there's are some problems. Retro characters like Pit and the Ice Climbers would look incredibly out of date and would not appeal to the present audience necessarily. One thing to do would be to give them an extensive makeover like what has happened in the past. Another problem is that the dissonance in art styles might be too much for some people.
2. Go with an entirely new style.
Kingdom Hearts, as well all know, managed to combine two radically different properties: Final Fantasy and Disney. Surprisingly, this game was successful and so was the art style. This art style managed to fall somewhere between anime CG, Disney animation, and realism in the case of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Interestingly, the characters in Super Smash Bros. already fall in one of these categories somewhere in between. It might be the best idea to go for something along these lines. Take a look at this video to see what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InDNryd2qgI
I'm not saying that the series should emulate this completely, just use it as a reference of some sort.
That's all for Volume 1. I hope to update with Volume 2 next Saturday.
Welcome to the first of a series of SSB4 ideas. In general, these will focus on what I would like to see, and I intend to go in as depth as possible. I'm making these to get a diverse amount of people to think of new ideas outside of characters and modes. Sorry, but the official thread doesn't cut it.
I'm starting these because I was not all that satisfied with Brawl compared to its predecessors. As such, take into account anything discussed is solely my opinion and nothing more.
As a result, a good amount of this series will consist of proposed gameplay changes and additions. Most of these come from the SSB4 Gameplay Discussion Group I founded a while back. Without further a due, let's start by focusing on the aesthetics of the game.
Chapter 1: The Art Style
When I first saw Brawl's art style for its characters, I thought it looked like an enhanced Melee. At the time, which was back around 2005, I liked this. However, I've run into other games with different takes on art styles such as the steroid-calligraphy-esque style of Street Fighter IV, the lanky look of Bayonetta,and the anime-esque Final Fantasy XIII to remind me that there are different styles that I found more appealing than Brawl's.
One of the things I found annoying was that the colors were very washed out which gave the game this bland look. Peach, who you will see mentioned a lot in regards to this subject, is a prime example of this.
Compare her Brawl look vs. her look in New Super Mario Bros. Wii
As you can see, Peach's design in the former is much more intricate and detailed, but you'll also see that her colors in the latter are more vibrant and saturated despite the lack of those details. Aside from the less vibrant colors on the former picture, there's an even bigger problem with all this, and you can't tell from the picture: Peach's designs behave as if they're painted on. Here's a good example of this problem:
Had Peach's details been better animated, this wouldn't be a problem. Alternatively, using the original, less detailed style would've done a trick.
So, what does this all lead to? Well, with Brawl, Sakurai had to design the characters in a way that they don't all overly clash with each other due to their differing art styles. As a result, he went with something that's something very similar to Twilight Princess considering that Link, Ganondorf, and too an extent Zelda, look like they were almost extracted from that game.
I don't believe this really worked all that well. Here are two ways I see of changing the style:
1. Every series retains their native art styles.
Now this one is very tricky, but beneficial if done right. On one hand, all the characters look like they do in their regular games. This would mean Samus would look like something akin to the 2D Metroid game and Other M, and Toon Link would keep his cel-shaded look intact.
However, there's are some problems. Retro characters like Pit and the Ice Climbers would look incredibly out of date and would not appeal to the present audience necessarily. One thing to do would be to give them an extensive makeover like what has happened in the past. Another problem is that the dissonance in art styles might be too much for some people.
2. Go with an entirely new style.
Kingdom Hearts, as well all know, managed to combine two radically different properties: Final Fantasy and Disney. Surprisingly, this game was successful and so was the art style. This art style managed to fall somewhere between anime CG, Disney animation, and realism in the case of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Interestingly, the characters in Super Smash Bros. already fall in one of these categories somewhere in between. It might be the best idea to go for something along these lines. Take a look at this video to see what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InDNryd2qgI
I'm not saying that the series should emulate this completely, just use it as a reference of some sort.
That's all for Volume 1. I hope to update with Volume 2 next Saturday.