Microsoft's Super All Stars Smash Bros. Battle Royal? Nope.

[Nintendoga]

http://kotaku.com/59...mash-bros-clone

Sony PlayStation will soon have a Smash Bros. clone, a game called PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale that lets its most famous characters beat each other up. Why? Because it was a great idea when Nintendo first let Mario, Link, Samus and the rest of its best heroes beat each other up.

Surely, Microsoft should join the fray and make their own?

No way, Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft's game studios, told me during an interview at E3.

But first, he played along and tried to brainstorm a roster with me.

"I'd go back to Voodoo Vince," he said. "Voodoo Vince was my favorite. We could have Joannna Dark fighting..."

"...Blinx The Time Sweeper? With the vacuum?" I suggested.

Spencer laughed.

"Crackdown guy?" I offered.

"You could pick some of the Tao Feng fighters and put them together?" (Or, as the website Digital Battle imagines—and as you can see atop this post—all of the fighters could be Halo's Master Chief.)

Was this a confirmation that it was in development? No. The opposite. "You do not want that game," Spencer said. "Have you played the [PlayStation] All-Stars?"

Yes, I said. Even though I was initially cynical about the game, I couldn't help but enjoy it when I recently started playing a pre-release version of it. Once you're having Kratos battling Fat Princess, you realize it's fun.

"I'm not going to take a shot at Sony first-party [game development]," Spencer said, "I think they do some great games. We're going to try to build games that actually create new opportunity on our platform. I don't really need to go and fill genres with the teams that we have. I don't compete with games that are already on my platform. Sure, all games on some level compete for a dollar bill, but for us it's really going to be to try to innovate. I haven't played the game, so I'm not saying it's not innovative, but..."

I finished his sentence. "We're not going to get an Xbox mascot fighter?"

"Sorry," he replied.

So Microsoft won't make a Smash Bros. All Stars Battle Royal game with Xbox Mascots because we wouldn't want it? That sucks, there are so many potential characters that could've been in the game like

But I guess this won't ever happen.

P.S. Was that jab at Sony really necessary? I mean, at least they make a variety of IPs, unlike what Microsoft has put out this generation. Oh my bad, I forgot about the innovative projects they've put out, like

Kinect, Kinect, oh and Kinect!

Edited June 8, 2012 by Nintendoga

[The drunkard from space!]

So no game is in the making. Why is this a topic? O.e;

[sjmaster92]

that jab at sony makes him sound like a jerk. i know sony makes fun of other companies also but atleast it's lighthearted.

[Stritix]

He's right. I don't want it. I don't want this Sony clone either.

[Tornado]

"You could pick some of the Tao Feng fighters and put them together?" (Or, as the website Digital Battle imagines—and as you can see atop this post—all of the fighters could be Halo's Master Chief.)

Worked before.

[lounge]

I don't like the idea of stealing other company ideas, in any medium. That just reaks of unoriginality. I've seen footage of that sony one and was disgusted at how identical it looks to nintendo's.

However if they made the entire game in a 3d beat em up genre, that would be a really fun idea. Not copy nintendo's design.

[Tornado]

I don't like the idea of stealing other company ideas, in any medium. That just reaks of unoriginality. I've seen footage of that sony one and was disgusted at how identical it looks to nintendo's.

However if they made the entire game in a 3d beat em up genre, that would be a really fun idea. Not copy nintendo's design.

Not this shit again...

I must have forgotten the rulebook dictating how only one company is allowed to make a type of game, regardless of if other people would like to have it.

Also:

I've seen footage of that sony one and was disgusted at how identical it looks to nintendo's.

Yeah. Because that is a totally normal reaction.

Edited June 8, 2012 by Tornado

[SuperStingray]

I don't like the idea of stealing other company ideas, in any medium. That just reaks of unoriginality. I've seen footage of that sony one and was disgusted at how identical it looks to nintendo's.

However if they made the entire game in a 3d beat em up genre, that would be a really fun idea. Not copy nintendo's design.

If Playstation All-Stars is a rip off of Super Smash Bros., then Mortal Kombat is a rip off of Street Fighter. You can't own a fucking patent on a genre.

[lounge]

I'm not talking about genre, I'm talking about game design. They basically carbon copied nintendo's design of the game. The setup of the stages, the fighting, everything looks exactly the same. They should've went with another design to be unique.

That would be like Sony taking their own character and copying the game mechanics and game design of zelda.

[Tornado]

I'm not talking about genre, I'm talking about game design. They basically carbon copied nintendo's design of the game. The setup of the stages, the fighting, everything looks exactly the same.

So?

They should've went with another design to be unique.

"We think people want a SSB-style game, but using Sony characters and franchises."

"Okay. But let's make it so it isn't like SSB at all, because Nintendo totally called it first."

"Brilliant!"

That would be like Sony taking their own character and copying the game mechanics and game design of zelda.

Let's play a game. It's called "How will lounge logically react to these classic games based one what he's said in the thread."

"Sickening."

"A crime against humanity."

"Disgusting."

"I think I just threw up in my mouth a little."

"Get that shit out of here."

Edited June 8, 2012 by Tornado

[lounge]

I never played any of those games so I don't know their history or how they play compared to what games they were inspired from. What was Streets of Rage even inspired from? It's so long ago nobody knows. I get that Crash Team Racing is supposed to link to Mario Kart but I've never seen footage so I don't know how or if they tweaked or differentiated their game mechanics from Mario kart. If not, then yes CTR is unoriginal. I'm not saying it's not fun.

It's different with smash bros. We live in the internet age. Crash Team Racing isn't a game I ever hear people talking about until you brought it up. Seeing that sony footage was shocking for me because I didn't think it would look and play exactly like nintendo's. Interface and everything. This is a game that I'm guessing is very well known, and the fact that it looks and plays exactly like another very well known game is more shocking, especially in this day and age.

How would you like it if you came up with a game with your own concept.

And then your rival company takes your concept and puts in their charactes, doesn't add any of their own unique design ideas to differentiate their game from yours. Would you like that?

[Sami]

It's different with smash bros. We live in the internet age. Crash Team Racing isn't a game I ever hear people talking about until you brought it up. Seeing that sony footage was shocking for me because I didn't think it would look and play exactly like nintendo's. Interface and everything. This is a game that I'm guessing is very well known, and the fact that it looks and plays exactly like another very well known game is more shocking, especially in this day and age.

The only reason nobody talks about Crash Team Racing is because it's an old game for a dead franchise. At the time of release, it was a really popular, really well-received game.

How would you like it if you came up with a game with your own concept.

And then your rival company takes your concept and puts in their charactes, doesn't add any of their own unique design ideas to differentiate their game from yours. Would you like that?

Assuming my own franchise was still making tons of money, I really wouldn't give a shit.

[Jango]

Fuck, copy or not, since the game is fun it's all that matters. And don't dare talk bad about Crash Team Racing, it does uses Mario Kart 64 style, but is 9000 better than it, so get over it.

Edited June 9, 2012 by Jango

[Dummy Bear]

What was Streets of Rage even inspired from? It's so long ago nobody knows.

Final Fight.

Sony's making a Smash Bros. That's not illegal. Get over it.

Edited June 9, 2012 by Slash

[Tornado]

I never played any of those games so I don't know their history or how they play compared to what games they were inspired from.

You don't know how modern Castlevania titles play (ie. Almost exactly like Super Metroid)? Or how old Resident Evil games were designed?

What was Streets of Rage even inspired from? It's so long ago nobody knows.

It's different with smash bros. We live in the internet age. Crash Team Racing isn't a game I ever hear people talking about until you brought it up.

What? So you're saying that copying game design concepts was okay until everyone knew about it?

Because I can let you in on a secret: Everyone already did. Kart racer is a genre purely because of MK64, and most of the games in it were straight up clones of it. You know what they used to call the entire FPS genre? Doom clones. Fighting games? Until Virtua Fighter came out, every single game was a SFII ripoff (to the extent that Capcom successfully sued some developers over it). Sandbox games? Driver clones originally, then after GTA III they were GTA clones.

Seeing that sony footage was shocking for me because I didn't think it would look and play exactly like nintendo's. Interface and everything. This is a game that I'm guessing is very well known, and the fact that it looks and plays exactly like another very well known game is more shocking, especially in this day and age.

Because there was at one point some doubt that Sony wasn't going to do exactly that?

How would you like it if you came up with a game with your own concept.

And then your rival company takes your concept and puts in their charactes, doesn't add any of their own unique design ideas to differentiate their game from yours. Would you like that?

I think if I saw that and had some massive problem with that, I probably would realize that I was in the wrong fucking industry. Because when someone does something in a particular way, and they do it very well, it has always been copied.

In the late 80s, all point and click adventure games used similar systems. All beat-em-up games were designed in the same general style (ie. complex like Double Dragon or simple like Final Fight).

In the early 90s, all platformers either directly copied Mario or Sonic. All fighting games were like SF with whatever minute changes were implemented to put on the back of the box to make them standout.

In the mid-late 90s, every platformer lifted things from Mario 64. Every powerup-based racer lifted things from either Mario Kart 64 or Wipeout. Every (console) FPS was designed like Goldeneye. Every third-person game was designed like Tomb Raider.

In the early 00's, companies were falling over themselves to make "Halo Killers," Tony Hawk copycats and GTA III ripoffs.

Now, Modern Warfare clones are the spice of life.

Edited June 9, 2012 by Tornado

[Dummy Bear]

However if they made the entire game in a 3d beat em up genre, that would be a really fun idea. Not copy nintendo's design.

But then it would be a ripoff of Power Stone.

[Komodin]

I don't like the idea of stealing other company ideas, in any medium. That just reaks of unoriginality. I've seen footage of that sony one and was disgusted at how identical it looks to nintendo's.

Hm, I used to hold this same opinion towards stuff like this (Diddy Kong Racing, for instance)... but then, I came across this trope here. Now... eh, I don't really care as long as it's fun in its own right.

[lounge]

I'm not saying it's illegal, I'm saying it's rather pathetic and unoriginal. I see it as a bad practice. I'm not saying the game's not going to be fun. When somebody calls something a direct ripoff, that's not something to be proud of. If you copy something at least tweak it to make it's identity different and unique. People called Banjo Kazooie a Mario 64 clone, but it wasn't like the case I see here with sony smash bros. Banjo had it's own mechanics, ideas, and design heavily influenced by Mario 64. This sony game i see absolutely no difference in anything from nintendos. This is my problem. To call this game an influence of Smash Bros is wrong. It is a direct ripoff with (as of from what I've seen) no original ideas of its own.

Diddy Kong Racing was in cooperation with Nintendo at least, that and they gave it some new ideas like being able to fly and use a boat, and an adventure mode, bosses. Gave it it's own unique identity.

But then it would be a ripoff of Power Stone.

I'm not talking about having the same genre.

[SuperStingray]

I'm not talking about genre, I'm talking about game design. They basically carbon copied nintendo's design of the game.

Again, how much different is Street Fighter from Mortal Kombat in terms of design? Besides, the rules for Smash Bros. and All-Stars aren't even that similar; the whole idea of Smash Bros. is about knocking around other players until they're "loose" enough to knock out of the ring where in All-Stars, attacking other players builds up your own attack power, then you earn points unleashing that; sure the interface and premise may be similar but the gameplay is pretty much the converse. Plus, rather than simply taking levels out of games they took the clever approach of fusing themes from multiple games in each level, which I think is frankly an original twist.

Edited June 9, 2012 by SuperStingray

[lounge]

Just because people did this in the past doesn't suddenly make it okay to do it today. Standards should improve over time. Yeah back then everybody wanted their game to be like the hottest one on the market, so everyone did it, doesn't make it okay to do today where expectations, tech, and standards have changed.

Again I'm not talking about just the design or just the genre. Everything and no tweaking from a competitor is what shocks me.

[Blacklightning]

Who says an all stars crossover has to be a fighting game, anyway? To the best of my memory, most of the Xbox's star IPs are shooters in some form, so the way I see it they'd be better off making some kind of shooter crossover where their franchises are generally better off. Hell, you could play around with perspectives a little and introduce a game that could have FPS Master Chief square off against corner-covering Marcus Fenix or some shit like that.

[lounge]

Yeah, exactly that would be 10 times more interesting than what they're doing with it now. My guess is they were too lazy to come up with anything interesting.

[Danj86]

A couple of things...

1, I'm not sure what the purpose of this topic is. 2, I get the sense lounge is being attacked for expressing his opinion, (an opinion I agree with) and 3, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter weren't identical in design. One had drawn sprites, the other used special technology to have actors as the characters. One had nasty finishing moves, the other didn't. One had you beating up a car, while the other had you button smashing to break a type of object. One was dark and gloomy, while the other was light and hyper.

They may be a lot similar now, but they didn't start like that...

[Lux Klonoa]

"Nothing is original. Everything should be permitted."

As long as something simply appeals to me and/or it's simply fun, that's all it matters, really.

[SuperStingray]

Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter weren't identical in design. One had drawn sprites, the other used special technology to have actors as the characters. One had nasty finishing moves, the other didn't. One had you beating up a car, while the other had you button smashing to break a type of object. One was dark and gloomy, while the other was light and hyper.

I know they weren't completely identical, but neither are Smash and All-Stars is my point; the gameplay isn't all that similar to begin with. It doesn't look better, but it's far from looking like they copy-pasted the design document. Besides, if you want to create a mascot get-together game, the only real options besides a fighter are party games or kart racers, and if Sony vied for those one could just as easily say they were ripping off Mario Party or Mario Kart.

Who says an all stars crossover has to be a fighting game, anyway? To the best of my memory, most of the Xbox's star IPs are shooters in some form, so the way I see it they'd be better off making some kind of shooter crossover where their franchises are generally better off. Hell, you could play around with perspectives a little and introduce a game that could have FPS Master Chief square off against corner-covering Marcus Fenix or some shit like that.

That would appeal to an entirely different market, though. It could work, but it would be awkward to include some of their IPs that would be better suited to a brawler like Splosion Man, Banjo or Blinx.

Edited June 9, 2012 by SuperStingray