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[Arc Christelle]

Then you obviously have no idea how huge the Gundam VS games are.

Capcom really was awesome when it came to robot arena fighters, weren't they? They still need to remake this:

That's not TechRomancer is it? I didn't like neither that or Star Gladiator/Plasma Sword. But I'd be down for a reboot that improves on the system.

 

[TreIII]

I don't know where this "small rosters = ASW fighters" notion comes from.

Because it's how Arc usually operates.

GGX->XX->AC->AC+R is one thing. BB's got an nice-sized roster now too, by CP. But pretty much every other game they made always started out with a pretty small roster. HnK? SBX? Battle Fantasia? Those games' rosters started off around the 10-12 margin.

It's anybody guess how many XRD and any future games may start off with now that Arc has fully embraced polygons, but anything would be a welcome change from the usual trend.

So nobody played Gotcha Force?

Bought it when it first came out. Very fun game, it's a pity that most of the staff that made it has long since left Capcom (and formed ByKing aka the Gundam Vs. dudes).

I didn't really get into Gundam Vs. at all, because the first few entries (re: Federation vs. Zeon, Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam) were so sluggish compared to Gotcha Force. But then I checked in again by the time Next was out, and well, I was hooked!

Speaking of ByKing, their other arena fighting game has just gotten an update:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx8ECPdlOJ0

Two of the new characters introduced in this expansion have been designed by SF vet AKIMAN, while the other two have been designed by Nomura.

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/11/0...r-character-designer-worked-square-enix-game/

I've been interested in Gunslinger Stratos since it came out like a year or so ago. It's not really a "light gun" game in the traditional sense, since the guns themselves function as controllers, and the game otherwise plays similarly to Gundam Vs.

But it's anybody's guess if SE will even think of giving it a console port...

 

[Arc Christelle]

Speaking of ByKing, their other arena fighting game has just gotten an update:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx8ECPdlOJ0

Two of the new characters introduced in this expansion have been designed by SF vet AKIMAN, while the other two have been designed by Nomura.

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/11/0...r-character-designer-worked-square-enix-game/

I've been interested in Gunslinger Stratos since it came out like a year or so ago. It's not really a "light gun" game in the traditional sense, since the guns themselves function as controllers, and the game otherwise plays similarly to Gundam Vs.

But it's anybody's guess if SE will even think of giving it a console port...

I remember Gunslinger Stratos! I used to see it pop up back in the day on the arcadiamagazine rankings. I was pretty interested in it, and really wanted to see a console release considering motion controls like kinect,move,and the wiimote. It's pretty dope they were getting a sequel to it, I always thought SQEX developed and published it.

 

[A Huge Battleship]

Shanoa's design in Judgment always gets a lot of flak, but I want to attribute part of it to how uncharacteristically pathetic she looks in her main art. Personally, I really like it. Alright, it's not on the same level as her OoE design, but not much is as far as female character design goes.

 

[OmnipotentO]

I love that artist but jesus christ those character designs! W. T. F.

 

[Arc Christelle]

Shanoa's design in Judgment always gets a lot of flak, but I want to attribute part of it to how uncharacteristically pathetic she looks in her main art. Personally, I really like it. Alright, it's not on the same level as her OoE design, but not much is as far as female character design goes.

That is indeed a more flattering design of her, her main portrait's flaw is the face to me.

 

[RionaaM]

I never played the game, but as soon as I entered this thread and saw the pic in the OP I thought "Death Note" (I had finished watching the anime again last week). Then I realized it was weird, and this game had nothing to do with that, even though the logo is kinda similar. But then I read the OP, and I understood everything: the art of both was made by the same guy, so that's why it reminded me of DN.

Personally I think the characters look really cool, but then again I was never a fan of Castlevania. I can imagine how long time fans must have felt after the drastic art style change.

 

[leroidys]

Shanoa's design in Judgment always gets a lot of flak, but I want to attribute part of it to how uncharacteristically pathetic she looks in her main art. Personally, I really like it. Alright, it's not on the same level as her OoE design, but not much is as far as female character design goes.

Why is she wearing a wimple and veil though? What the hell is wrong with her arms?

 

[Arc Christelle]

Why is she wearing a wimple and veil though? What the hell is wrong with her arms?

Damn.

 

[Black Door]

Why is she wearing a wimple and veil though? What the hell is wrong with her arms?

The game centers around a time lord or something pulling CV characters out of time at various points in their lives to fight an anomaly. In Shanoa's case, she got pulled into the game when she had been part of Ecclesia for about a year or two and was still an initiate, Grant and Trevor are middle aged at time of game, Simon hasn't gone through the events of CV2 yet, etc.

 

[Arc Christelle]

So I've been playing Gotcha Force on the Dolphin Emulator and,

HOW COME NO ONE TOLD ME THIS WAS BASICALLY THE GAMECUBE VERSION OF GUNDAM VS?!! lol I've been enjoying myself, collecting all the different types of borgs and battles as well as mocking the hell out of the characters and voice acting (It's Saturday Morning Cartoon as FUCK.). It's pretty fun, pretty tragic that it was overlooked. Seen it on shelves at Gamestop so many times and never bought it. Now I just feel bad.

 

[Ken]

That Castlevania game looks pretty cool.

 

[KDR_11k]

Control style B on the Wiimote worked well, that uses shaking only for the super attack.

So I've been playing Gotcha Force on the Dolphin Emulator and,

HOW COME NO ONE TOLD ME THIS WAS BASICALLY THE GAMECUBE VERSION OF GUNDAM VS?!! lol I've been enjoying myself, collecting all the different types of borgs and battles as well as mocking the hell out of the characters and voice acting (It's Saturday Morning Cartoon as FUCK.). It's pretty fun, pretty tragic that it was overlooked. Seen it on shelves at Gamestop so many times and never bought it. Now I just feel bad.

I bought it for ~30€ back in the day, absolutely loved it. From what I read it's the ancestor of Gundam VS so I guess back in the day there was no GVS series to compare it to.

 

[Nudull]

Arena fighters are legit and should be able to flourish alongside Super Smash Bros. With that said, Castlevania Judgment was an interesting venture with an awesome soundtrack and good online play, but was marred by it's rather godawful character designs (no offense to Obata, Death Note is among my all-time favorite manga and anime) and the general lack of an audience for Wii fighters (having to compete with both Brawl and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom didn't help, either). Would I want a sequel? Maybe. A Castlevania fighting game isn't bad on paper, and can definitely work a lot better with effort and better designs.

Shanoa's design in Judgment always gets a lot of flak, but I want to attribute part of it to how uncharacteristically pathetic she looks in her main art. Personally, I really like it. Alright, it's not on the same level as her OoE design, but not much is as far as female character design goes.

*snip*

It's honestly a step up from her more fanservice-y outfit from OoE (although a mix of the two would be ideal), and one of few designs I liked from Judgement.

 

[dragonlife]

It's honestly a step up from her more fanservice-y outfit from OoE (although a mix of the two would be ideal), and one of few designs I liked from Judgement.

Oh, come on. It's just a bit of leg because her dress is parted, but even then it's nothing scandalous. It's a classy and awesome design overall. The real crime is that such a beautiful design was pretty much wasted on such a one-dimensional personality (that I found oddly endearing), but, you know, story reasons, etc.

 

[KDR_11k]

Also Shanoa needs a bare back because that's where her absorption glyph is.

 

[Arc Christelle]

Just an observation after completing a set of missions only to see the map once again covered in black lol. I saved then turned it off thinking, "That was fun."

But it just struck me.

One thing about Gotcha Force that probably wouldn't sit well with most mainstream audiences and reviewers is probably the single player campaign's pacing. For me, I get it, you enjoy short rounds of fierce battles while increasing your collection and overall force, after clearing a wave, you're brought to face another wave of missions after that with no diversion or intermission from the central gameplay. (Personally I kinda enjoy the fact that it chooses to focus on "just being a game", but audiences might struggle with it, feeling as though it's repetitive.

Kinda reminds me of playing through the campaign in Anarchy Reigns. Some battles can be exhausting as hell, and I'd have to take a break from it, yet yearning to go back in.

It's more like the type of games you take your time to enjoy, instead of rushing through in one sitting. It's something I really like because of the fact I could see keeping it in my collection for years on would be worth it. (Although Anarchy requires online and a community for full enjoyment, GF luckily has local.)

How do y'all feel about that style of pacing in design?

 

[KDR_11k]

Gotcha Force has the fight->loot->equip->fight harder loop that hack&slashes have except instead of stat boosts you get varied gameplay experiences.

 

[OnimaruXLR]

This is definitely one of my favorite genres, and one I wish there was more of., Will have to just make do with Gundam sequels for now, though.

However, despite this being one of my favorite genres, I just couldn't stomach Castlevania Judgement. The combination of the Death Note guy's art (a good artist, more or less, but his style for this kind of thing gets on my nerves BAD), crummy Wii graphics, really questionable generic-ass Japanese characterization (poor Maria) and the terrible English dub was like being punched in the face every time I saw it.

Shanoa's design in Judgment always gets a lot of flak, but I want to attribute part of it to how uncharacteristically pathetic she looks in her main art. Personally, I really like it. Alright, it's not on the same level as her OoE design, but not much is as far as female character design goes.

why's she dressed like a harlequin tho

 

[Arc Christelle]

Gotcha Force has the fight->loot->equip->fight harder loop that hack&slashes have except instead of stat boosts you get varied gameplay experiences.

Yeah, that nuclear missles mission was kinda crazy as hell, I survived on the first try, but damn I really wish I went in with Acceleration Ninja. Shit was kinda epic.

EDIT:Also Chainsaw Knight may be sluggish as hell, but he's damn near the Anti Air God lol.

 

[abadguy]

If that was at all their thought process, then it still doesn't make any sense. Dissidia was never meant to be Psychic Force (or a replacement), and Taito had/has a healthy arcade market thanks to the X/X2 series of hardware.

They could have at least rode the bit of "resurgence hype" that the PS2 collection fostered and see what happened with a new, PS3-level game for arcades and then consoles back around 2006/2007.

It's all I can hope that maybe PF2012's port on NESiCA earlier this year may mean that some day, Taito will try again with "Project Psychic".

While I'm on the subject of PF, I might as well bring up the other arena fighter that caught my eye back during the PSX-era: "Destrega".

Before Omega Force became the "Musou/DW company" that most know it for today, they actually made a pretty nifty arena fighter for PSX that you could tell drew some inspiration from "Psychic Force". But I came to like it as its own beast, due to the much more "ground-based" take on projectile-shooting combat.

To this day, I still wish that Koei would go back and give this game another shot in a modern market. Not only would they stand to diversify their catalog a bit more, but Destrega could possibly find a following from those who already like some of the arena-style fighters that are present on the market today.

Hey i remember Destrega..being really really awful. As far as "arena Fighters" are concerned i feel nothing was quite as good as the first Powerstone game. I remember buying Ergeiz before that and it was a decent game but that final boss battle where you have to beat the fucker before the end of the credit roll was bullshit. I guess Square/Dream factory thought it was clever or something. It wasn't.

Psychic Force was one of my favorites at the time as well, though i felt it would have been so much better without that damned cube. Though more of a "cardbattle" game than fighter, Phantom Dust always seemed to me like a much better version of Psychic Force. A new version where you could fly anywhere you wanted and use chunks of buildings/concrete , pick up cars , buses etc, and use them as projectiles would be cool as hell. Like something right out of the latter half of Akira!

 

[Arc Christelle]

Hey i remember Destrega..being really really awful. As far as "arena Fighters" are concerned i feel nothing was quite as good as the first Powerstone game. I remember buying Ergeiz before that and it was a decent game but that final boss battle where you have to beat the fucker before the end of the credit roll was bullshit. I guess Square/Dream factory thought it was clever or something. It wasn't.

Psychic Force was one of my favorites at the time as well, though i felt it would have been so much better without that damned cube. Though more of a "cardbattle" game than fighter, Phantom Dust always seemed to me like a much better version of Psychic Force. A new version where you could fly anywhere you wanted and use chunks of buildings/concrete , pick up cars , buses etc, and use them as projectiles would be cool as hell. Like something right out of the latter half of Akira!

Destrega wasn't bad, it was alright for the time. (Since things could be a bit more experimental. As for the cube in Psychic Force, It's actually pretty nice once you start implementing it's use in creative way. (wall bounce combos) also I liked the fact it reminded me of X. (FUN FACT: Taito also developed an X fighting game using the Psychic Force Engine and a few of the assets from 2012.)

If Psychic Force would be revived, or a new entry, I'd love to see either a take in the direction of a full 3D arena fighter, or to resurrect the old gameplay with new and interesting mechanics.

Also I'd like to wonder the visual direction it would take since the earlier games used a lot of the old school 90's anime aesthetic. It'd be interesting to see the result and visual evolution of the characters and world.

As for Phantom Dust, is there anyway I can get an old copy to work on a 360 slim?

 

[Arc Christelle]

So who's downloading Rise of Incarnates today?

Thinking about adding it to the list of Arena Fighters.

http://www.riseofincarnates.com/static/beta-direct/

If you have Steam just click the link.

 

[That Dude John]

played a bit of it early this morning. need to play some more to get some ranked matched against actual people. It felt similar to the alpha to me, tho.

 

[petran79]

another missed opportunity was the arcade version of cv.
That game works with whip controls.
The wii would have been the perfect platform

 

[DAREALGUMMY]

I'm just disappointed in the lack of Carmilla ......fan art, from this title.