Jump to content

How do you top the most prolific crossover in gaming? HOW!?


Kezay

Recommended Posts

I mean, really now... how does Smash Bros. as a series get topped?  Can it be topped?  And it's not just the fact it's a crossover of so many characters and elements of their universes but everything that surrounds the game right into its marketing.  The other day I was watching all of the reveal trailers from Brawl all the way through to Ultimate and it's amazing the care and attention to detail that goes into the reveals and all the characters and set pieces that are involved to usher them in.  To have someone at the helm that so thoroughly understands each character included that no matter how far away on the spectrum of likely match ups we could have ever dreamed that any two characters just seem to "work" when they are pitted against each other is insane.  I'm sure many of us thought of some kind of competition between Mario and Sonic as a dream match up one day and thought about how it would work out, but what about Cloud vs. Diddy Kong? Luigi vs Simon Belmont? Link vs. Pac Man?

 

I know this is kind of retreading ground a bit over the years as each new Smash game comes out but it's still kind of mind blowing to think about. Will there ever be anything as "right" as this series has turned out to be?  I almost feel as if a game like Playstation All Stars Battle Royale did everything right it still wouldn't be able to match Smash on its worst day.  But then that begs the question; where does Smash go after Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?

Link to comment

As as crazy as it sounds, get someone else than Sakurai to take over the next big thing. 

 

Seriously, he needs a long deserved break from Smash. A least for the next game. He's been stressed by constant demands by the fans, and that kind of thing could speed up his life. There has to be someone else who he can mentor. He's been at it for TWENTY years that I'm starting to worry about him. 

Link to comment

I do think Smash could be topped currently, but only by Nintendo. To me, I don't think another company has as many iconic characters and IPs as Nintendo currently does to make a crossover that tops Smash; however, I don't think Smash has hit its full potential as a crossover of Nintendo's iconic IPs either even with what Ultimate is doing. Smash as a series lacks extended references for the characters with the history to allow for more references. I still have an issue with alternate color swaps being the only other option beyond their standard look for several playable characters in the game. Samus has always had all of her different suits left out, and now we have Mario and Link having a lot left off the table following Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. If the history is there, it really needs to be a part of Smash at some point or another Nintendo crossover. Depending on the game's DLC plan, Smash Ultimate can better hit its potential as the ultimate crossover of these iconic IPs.

Link to comment
15 hours ago, XLW said:

As as crazy as it sounds, get someone else than Sakurai to take over the next big thing. 

 

Seriously, he needs a long deserved break from Smash. A least for the next game. He's been stressed by constant demands by the fans, and that kind of thing could speed up his life. There has to be someone else who he can mentor. He's been at it for TWENTY years that I'm starting to worry about him. 

The more you learn about his lifestyle, the more concerned you'll be.

 

When he gets home, he spends his evenings watching two TVs at once--recorded programs on one and new games on the other--while on an exercise bike. He's also blowing through new games while on the train, and reading manga before bed. All this with a wife and a cat (and a kid?), writing a weekly column, working late, and aging backwards.

 

In one of his recent columns he did acknowledge that he needs to prepare a Sakurai Jr., but he hasn't found anyone yet.

 

Jackie-Chan-WTF.jpg

Link to comment

Like @DranSeasona If Sakurai is not even thinking about the next Smash, (as much as we all want Sakurai to rest up) why should those who his fans of work worry as well.

 

We do this every cycle for Smash since Brawl; Sakurai says he doesn't know what's next for Smash when he's in the midst of developing or completed, shortly there after he says he'll not make another. Two Smash Bros later he still at it and somehow top his last endeavors.

 

And @IU Is right about Nintendo is the only video game company who can pull a game like Smash because of the IP they own. So when it comes Sakurai or anyone else at the helm for the next Smash, they have juggle all of Nintendo's IP and because of the success of Smash, I honestly don't see why any 3rd part wouldn't want to ride its coat tails. So That's the way to top Ultimate the IP and the clash of gaming icons and worlds colliding.

 

That right there is on one of the taglines of Ultimate. Start from there and build, we may never get game like Smash with all these characters and stages but if you can fill it out with Nintendo IP's we thought we never see in Smash (I'm looking at you piranha plant) and other surprise 3rd party characters. I think that is the way top Ultimate in my eyes.This started back in Brawl with Snake and Sonic, to Sm4sh and DLC and Ultimate is continuing it. In my opinion tho Sonic and Snake were great additions in Brawl, the all-star cast really got its start in Sm4sh. Brawl was a great starting point point but without Sm4sh we wouldn't have Ultimate and its lofty goals its attempting here.

Link to comment
4 hours ago, DLurkster said:

Like @DranSeasona If Sakurai is not even thinking about the next Smash, (as much as we all want Sakurai to rest up) why should those who his fans of work worry as well.

 

We do this every cycle for Smash since Brawl; Sakurai says he doesn't know what's next for Smash when he's in the midst of developing or completed, shortly there after he says he'll not make another. Two Smash Bros later he still at it and somehow top his last endeavors.

 

And @IU Is right about Nintendo is the only video game company who can pull a game like Smash because of the IP they own. So when it comes Sakurai or anyone else at the helm for the next Smash, they have juggle all of Nintendo's IP and because of the success of Smash, I honestly don't see why any 3rd part wouldn't want to ride its coat tails. So That's the way to top Ultimate the IP and the clash of gaming icons and worlds colliding.

 

That right there is on one of the taglines of Ultimate. Start from there and build, we may never get game like Smash with all these characters and stages but if you can fill it out with Nintendo IP's we thought we never see in Smash (I'm looking at you piranha plant) and other surprise 3rd party characters. I think that is the way top Ultimate in my eyes.This started back in Brawl with Snake and Sonic, to Sm4sh and DLC and Ultimate is continuing it. In my opinion tho Sonic and Snake were great additions in Brawl, the all-star cast really got its start in Sm4sh. Brawl was a great starting point point but without Sm4sh we wouldn't have Ultimate and its lofty goals its attempting here.

Just to clarify a bit here I think you're insinuating more than my intention in making this thread. I didn't make this to the extent that I'm wanting a direct answer of what comes after Ultimate but expressing curiosity at how can Smash be topped after Ultimate.  It's more of a "how do you go beyond something that's so full featured and direct at what it aims to do" and less of an assumed sit down with Sakurai asking him what his next plans are.  It's not so dramatic as all of that especially in the sense of "worrying" about what's next, it's pure curiosity and nothing more. Something like what Tyranogre, IU and even XLW posted about in just brainstorming what they would like to see for the future is more in line of what I'm talking about and less about the idea of haggling Sakurai or wanting him to push himself even harder to go beyond. (Plus Ultra!)

 

7 hours ago, IU said:

I do think Smash could be topped currently, but only by Nintendo. To me, I don't think another company has as many iconic characters and IPs as Nintendo currently does to make a crossover that tops Smash; however, I don't think Smash has hit its full potential as a crossover of Nintendo's iconic IPs either even with what Ultimate is doing. Smash as a series lacks extended references for the characters with the history to allow for more references. I still have an issue with alternate color swaps being the only other option beyond their standard look for several playable characters in the game. Samus has always had all of her different suits left out, and now we have Mario and Link having a lot left off the table following Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. If the history is there, it really needs to be a part of Smash at some point or another Nintendo crossover. Depending on the game's DLC plan, Smash Ultimate can better hit its potential as the ultimate crossover of these iconic IPs.

 

I would agree with you on the extended references thing but I think that would depend a lot more on the development team and what they can accomplish with the resources given to them.  I don't know how big the team for Ultimate is but I'm sure it's fairly extensive and with all of those people doing all of that work from pre planning to actual development and still some kind of constraint urged Sakurai to forego trophies then I think it would also have an effect on what other extensions they could to do to really promote more of the universes they're bringing together.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see it especially ideas of characters having more of their attire among other things to flesh out their history both in how they look and how they play. 

 

4 hours ago, Tyranogre said:

Personally, I’d love to see a Smash game that’s not a fighting game.

 

Maybe something like Project X Zone.

 

I've seen ideas like that pop up too where the kind of game it is sort of changes as well.  More often than not I see people bring up Power Stone but Project X Zone is definitely a new one.  It also makes me think back to when Kamiya said he originally wanted Wonderful 101's concept to be centered around Nintendo characters and ever since then I've wanted to see that idea come to fruition.

Link to comment

@Kezay I follow, just simple curiosity of what next, not what Sakurai has planned next for Smash. I made my own curiosity of your question delve deep into my critical thoughts as a whole with Smash and Sakurai.

 

Okay with that out of the way. I agree with Ty and Project X Zone, I think that is perfect avenue for Smash to look into. The story can be ridiculous as it wants and more IP's outside Nintendo can join in. I just don't know how regular multiplayer will work. Either they go full real-time strat like Project X Zone or build stages like in Smash for this world where they characters go in the story. We cannot have courses like SSE define the world, I think just having cutscenes and the fights are done on stages modeled after the cutscenes. I think I prefer the former as it get the same job done as the latter without changing the flow to a platformer fighter all of a sudden.

Link to comment

As much as I don't care for the games themselves, Kingdom Hearts manages to crossover with entertainment franchises generally more prolific than gaming.  I think people forget that Disney is kind of a huge fucking deal lol.

 

Frankly the reason Smash works is that it doesn't need any more context other than childhood dickwaving contests of "my virtual dad can beat up your virtual dad".  Actually trying to establish context or make a coherent narrative outside of that otherwise would be a complete shitshow and likely be bomb/be awful.  Then again,  "Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage" and "Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue" exist so people can learn to eat shit and like it even if it doesn't make any fucking sense.

Edited by luca
Link to comment

First, on something being a non-fighter...  An all-star racing game just doesn't do what fighter would do in terms of bringing out the individuality of a character and their associated game series.

 

*******

 

I'm sure Sony and Microsoft could cobble a roster out of their ips to try but, very few games come on their systems as 1st party like Nintendo games on their systems.  Also, who from their respective companies could make that call to a studio to get their character thrown in?  Like they say, it's not what you know, it's who you know.

Link to comment

Just in terms of character roster I can't imagine what they could do for a post-Ultimate game. Ultimate already has over 70 characters, and after all DLC drops it'll be over 80. Would a theoretical Smash sequel push the roster size all the way up to 100? That'd be intense for a fighting game—you could play 100-man melee with actually characters and not repeat any! Obviously there are tons of Nintendo/Nintendo-related characters that could be added, but in terms of realistically balancing a fighting game any sequel to Ultimate would either have to return to cutting old characters or tackle a monstrous task.

 

I'd echo Tyranogre though that a non-fighting game Nintendo crossover game would be interesting. It's already happening in the Mario Kart franchise, and a Project X Zone/strategy game would also be a natural fit. Or, somewhat in the vein of fighting/action, a Musou game with all different kinds of Nintendo characters could work.

Link to comment

Does it need to be topped? We already had PS Ass Stars drop the ball and it's not like other companies have nearly the same amount of original characters. Sega has a bunch but most are far more niche than any Nintendo mascot. I was gonna say I'd prefer to see more games top the gameplay instead since Smash itself can't even do that. But I forgot that there actually are a few Smash-style games out there now. They're just... not very interesting either. Rivals of Aether seems alright

Link to comment
8 minutes ago, DLurkster said:

@Pichi: That game you mentioned Rival of Aether is on the top 10 blatant ripoff of Super Smash Bros.

>watchmojo
howww about no.

Of all the Smash-style fighters, saying Aether is a blatant ripoff is the least convincing. Something like Icons? Sure.
But the whole reasons Icons exists is because Nintendo won't give us another Melee and neutered Project M...
That's the reason for a lot of these, actually, since they didn't really start gaining ground until after that happened.
But there was like Airdash Online or w/e the hell it was called before Project M gained ground. So people have always been lookin for a proper successor.
(Icons blows though lol)

aside from that, it's also dumb as hell to suggest that anything that uses the platform-fighting style of gameplay is ripping off Smash Bros. That's as true as saying any fighter is ripping off Street Fighter 2. It's a whole freakin genre and watchmojo is shitty, creatively-bankrupt clickbait

Edited by Pichi
Link to comment
1 minute ago, Pichi said:

>watchmojo
howww about no.

Of all the Smash-style fighters, saying Aether is a blatant ripoff is the least convincing. Something like Icons? Sure.
But the whole reasons Icons exists is because Nintendo won't give us another Melee and neutered Project M...
That's the reason for a lot of these, actually, since they didn't really start gaining ground until after that happened.
But there was like Airdash Online or w/e the hell it was called before Project M gained ground. So people have always been lookin for a proper successor.
(Icons blows though lol)

I had a feeling I'd get that response with watchmojo, just thought throw the vid out there despite their reputation.

 

I think it was on the list because it floating platforms, percentages and knocking someone off really and I guess if that's all it has despite different mechanics it's Smash like to those know Smash.

 

Anyways Rivals of Aether came in at number 3 on that list.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...