Yeah...I really don't like what they were trying to do with Alex/Kunio here. It just looks too weird doing this in the SD style, so it looks too much like a kid trying so hard to look mature.
I mean, it's one thing if you want to try and make for a design that depicts him as being older and more mature. But if you really want that, you should have stuck closer to his design from the non-SD games (re: "Renegade" and etc.)...
...and worked your design from there.
Thankfully, at least the battle system concept looks good.
Even they were not happy, and settled more on the refined concept that became the in-game "card":
SD has nothing to do with "kids" though. In NES games, it's more of a way to make features and small details identifiable. I understand why one feels that way, but it's really something that should be gotten over; it's employed, artistically, to show a whimsical, light hearted nature, often times to counterbalance serious situations, which is a perfect fit for "River City Ransom", really.
I would agree that Renegade has more of a style feature-set that's fitting for a US company to work from... but no one remembers Renegade nearly as well, and fans of the localization have no love for the Super Famicon sequels. I wish Million or Miracle Kidz would work with that style more, since they should have the chops for that direction, but they seem to want to stick to the SD stuff as well.
A sequel to a localization, huh? That's probably why Million let them make it: it's not exactly Kunio anymore in all but gameplay (which honestly is really the only thing that matters here). Surely the industry can stomach another beat-em-up style game that incorporates RPG-like elements into the design?
I agree with the "sequel to localization" bit, I actually find it an interesting angle, overall. Industy can stomach loads of them, ha; it's not like enough are made for anyone to really complain, and there aren't even many solid indie ones available, in the grand scheme of things. I feel like smaller devs fall back on platformer, runner, and "roguelike" designs much more now-a-days.
Still, aging up the characters: why? Why do western developers do this when they get a hold of eastern properties (see: Rocket Knight)? Strange. Gotta have that grit, I guess.
I think it's because of the fact that Asia... never really does it. Square is stuck with giving everyone 14/15 year olds, Anime finds that time to be the richest points in a characters life... even when situations could USE maturity, they just toss in "A young man with an old soul", or something of the like.
I also think it's nice because... those who remember NES are about the age of these characters. If they pull out something nostalgic for the gamer, it's more like "Oh, they remember and like what I did" instead of "Oh, it's a 14 year olf who likes 80s collectables!".
Hm. Might back this, might not. Might just wait until it's available for purchase, I already have too much on my plate as is. Pulling for a good, solid game though.
Yeah, I understand that feeling! New systems, loads of games on current systems... it's getting kinda ridiculous. I'd be much more willing to support these recent KS booms much more, if they were better spaced out, and started to pop up over, say, the past 3 years, rather than all within the same 2 weeks...
