Playstation All Stars Battle Royale

[kupomogli]

Since it hasn't been posted yet, decided I'd make mention of it. Hearing about it last year I thought it'd be a pretty garbage game. After seeing the first gameplay footage, it looks pretty amazing. Yes it's a Smash Bros clone, and now that that's out of the way, it looks damn good. According to the developer, there is going to be both first and third party characters.

http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/gametrailers-tv/152

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1bQSw7FOUQ

[heybtbm]

Does Sony ever come up with original ideas anymore?

[Ro-J]

I hope they also clone Nintendo's idea of including characters from their earlier days to help make it appeal more to retro gamers. I liked that Parrapa was in there, but I would like to see Crash, Spyro, Jumping Flash ....

[Aussie2B]

It would help if it contained characters that anybody gave a damn about. Too bad Sony lacks any actual "all-stars" for their All-Stars game.

Although seeing Parappa is cool. But he's about as relevant to modern gamers as Mr. Game & Watch. And the Patapon background was cute, but again, not "all-star" worthy.

[RCM]

Man, next thing you know Sony will come out with a controller like the Wiimote, and a handheld with a touch screen... oh, wait.

[markusman64ds]

Oh, so NOW Fat Princess decides she can jump and fight.

I have a feeling Cloud from Final Fantasy will be in this.

[Genesaturn]

I hope they also clone Nintendo's idea of including characters from their earlier days to help make it appeal more to retro gamers. I liked that Parrapa was in there, but I would like to see Crash, Spyro, Jumping Flash ....

Yeah, but would Crash and Spyro be considered Sony All-Stars anymore? They have been on other platforms, all of Super Smash characters are legit Nintendo only. I saw this article and couldn't help, but giggle...it feels like Sony is pissed over the PSVita to 3DS sales and they had a meeting labeled "how can we piss off Nintendo"

[Robocop2]

They might as well call it "Kratos, Sweet Tooth and Nathan Drake punch obscure characters into oblivion"

[j_factor]

Where's the list of characters?

[Tupin]

They might as well call it "Kratos, Sweet Tooth and Nathan Drake punch obscure characters into oblivion"
I don't know, was there much attention paid to the Twisted Metal franchise in recent years? Before the remake, there hadn't been one in seven years.

This game does look fun, though.

[frogofdeath]

Yeah, but would Crash and Spyro be considered Sony All-Stars anymore? They have been on other platforms, all of Super Smash characters are legit Nintendo only.
Uh, not to split hairs here, but Sonic and Snake aren't really Nintendo only.

Game looks okay. I'm more interested to see if it does do anything differently than Smash Bros. As of now, outside of aesthetics, I'm not really seeing how this game is unique.

[kupomogli]

The six characters included and their games are

Sweet Tooth(Twisted Metal)
Kratos(God of War)
Fat Princess
Sly Cooper
Colonel Radec(Killzone 2)
Parappa the Rapper

Games and a character from each that Sony could choose from. Probably missing some.

Cole Macgrath(Infamous)
Nathan Drake(Uncharted)
Jak(Jak and Daxter)
Ratchet(Ratchet and Clank)
Sackboy(Little Big Planet)
Wanderer(Shadow of the Colossus)
Dart(Legend of Dragoon)
Gabe Logan(Syphon Filter)
Sir Daniel(Medievil)
Chimera(Resistance)
Shu(Arc the Lad)
Toro the Sony Cat
Crash(Crash Bandicoot///Used to be first party.)
Spyro(Spyro the Dragon///Used to be first party.)


It would help if it contained characters that anybody gave a damn about. Too bad Sony lacks any actual "all-stars" for their All-Stars game.

Maybe not you to, but to other people that like the characters, sure. How many characters are in Super Smash Bros Melee and Brawl do you think most people cared about before playing? I guarantee not too many. As a Super Smash Bros fan myself, I can say while I knew of many of the characters as I've played the games they've been in, I've never really cared about too many of the characters outside of the main characters in their specific franchise. Super Smash Bros while a great game and easily one of the best fighters out there is nothing more than a big advertisement. People play as characters they've never played as before, happen to like the characters, possibly purchase the games they're based off. Kid Icarus would have never came to be if it wasn't for Super Smash Bros Brawl, and not because the original Kid Icarus is any good, but solely based on their perception of the Brawl character. Earthbound would never be as expensive as it currently is if it wasn't for the original Smash Bros and all subsequent games.

--
The developers have stated that they are going to have characters from third parties in the game as well. If you were to watch the video Michael, maybe this is what it could have been alluding to all along. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdWkKKSckNk

There are plenty of characters that while they're not exclusive to Sony consoles, are those that can easily be likened to Sony consoles despite the games themselves or future games being on other consoles.

A feature of the game is that each character is going to have a level one, two, or three super attack. The basis of the game is that there are no health bars and that doing damage to your opponents builds up the super attack gauge and that the super attacks kill the opponent in a single hit. So a player can't just hide in the corner, wait until there are others low on health, then go out there and clean up. If the player isn't remaining active and isn't hitting the opponent, then their special gauge won't fill up and they won't be able to kill an opponent.

[Genesaturn]

Uh, not to split hairs here, but Sonic and Snake aren't really Nintendo only.

Game looks okay. I'm more interested to see if it does do anything differently than Smash Bros. As of now, outside of aesthetics, I'm not really seeing how this game is unique.

True , true - Sonic doesn't have a specific home anymore, but I guess he does appear more often on Nintendo now a days than anything else. Snake STILL makes no sense to me as to why he ended up in SSB

Sony does have a decent sized backlog to call into play, but It's not like Nintendo. When someone asks me to name Sony mascots or characters - I would have to stop and think. I mean yeah it has its share of platform exclusives like God of War, Syphon Filter - but unlike Kratos, who gives a damn about Gabe Logan?

[kupomogli]

but unlike Kratos, who gives a damn about Gabe Logan?

The 1 2 P (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/member.php?20352-The-1-2-P)

Fans of the Syphon Filter games.

[Genesaturn]

The 1 2 P (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/member.php?20352-The-1-2-P)

Fans of the Syphon Filter games.

I'm not saying he doesn't have his fans, but Gabe Logan holds nothing on even the lowest Nintendo Mascot - I'm sorry to all the Sony Fanboys, but Sony just doesn't have the signature characters to make a fun brawl game like Nintendo has. Just my opinion of course.

[markusman64ds]

True , true - Sonic doesn't have a specific home anymore, but I guess he does appear more often on Nintendo now a days than anything else. Snake STILL makes no sense to me as to why he ended up in SSB

Remember, Metal Gear was on NES back in the 80's. I'm not sure if that's why he was in SSBB, but it counts. He was also in DreamMix TV World Fighters, which is kind of like SSB, only with Transformers.

[j_factor]

I'm not saying he doesn't have his fans, but Gabe Logan holds nothing on even the lowest Nintendo Mascot - I'm sorry to all the Sony Fanboys, but Sony just doesn't have the signature characters to make a fun brawl game like Nintendo has. Just my opinion of course.

By my count, Gabe has starred in 5 great games. I consider him much more worthy than some of the stupid crap characters in the Smash Bros. series. Ice Climbers anyone?

[Genesaturn]

By my count, Gabe has starred in 5 great games. I consider him much more worthy than some of the stupid crap characters in the Smash Bros. series. Ice Climbers anyone?

I didn't like anything past Syphon Filter 2, and Ice Climbers are classic

[Aussie2B]

Maybe not you to, but to other people that like the characters, sure. How many characters are in Super Smash Bros Melee and Brawl do you think most people cared about before playing? I guarantee not too many.

It's not about what characters people like. I like Parappa, but that doesn't make him an "all-star". It's about characters that are well-recognized and significant to the industry. An icon and mascot of gaming.

With Smash Bros., I'd say people care about: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu and the other Pokemon, Samus, Sonic, Snake, and Wario. That's being generous to you because I'm leaving out the characters that are still quite significant but aren't nearly as huge, and I'm leaving out the alternate versions of characters too. All of these characters are incredibly well-known (and the characters themselves are popular, not just the games like with Killzone), in hugely successful series that continue to be made and continue to see huge success, and they've been historically a part of and important to the industry for a very long time. Sure, it's great to include some lesser-known characters like Pit and the Ice Climbers, but that's not the backbone of Smash Bros. Sony's game is the equivalent of nothing but Ice Climbers.

Also, something significant to take note of with Smash Bros. is that it's made in Japan, so it's going to be designed with a Japanese audience in mind. Some of the characters that were totally unknown in the West were included because they are as significant to the Japanese as the other characters I listed off. Just because Fire Emblem is niche in the US (and unknown when Roy and Marth first appeared in Smash Bros.) doesn't mean that Marth isn't right up there with Mario, Link, and company in Japan. Same deal (to a somewhat lesser extent) with characters like Ness and Lucas.

Anyway, if the people involved in this Sony project had a creative hair on their collective heads and actually came up with this concept many years ago, they would've been far better served by it. Most of the characters included or proposed haven't been relevant since the PS2, if not the PS1. This would've worked best as a late PS1 or early PS2 title. Then games like Crash, Spyro, Parappa, Medievil, Twisted Metal, etc. would've still been legitimately popular and well-known. Then they could've just got some good third party characters like Lara Croft and Leon or whoever from Resident Evil, and they'd have a half-decent line-up of somewhat mascot-worthy characters. Why they're making this game when they have essentially zero mascot characters is beyond me.

[kupomogli]

Also, something significant to take note of with Smash Bros. is that it's made in Japan, so it's going to be designed with a Japanese audience in mind. Some of the characters that were totally unknown in the West were included because they are as significant to the Japanese as the other characters I listed off. Just because Fire Emblem is niche in the US (and unknown when Roy and Marth first appeared in Smash Bros.) doesn't mean that Marth isn't right up there with Mario, Link, and company in Japan.

O rly? Marth is up there with Mario and such, huh? Is that why every Fire Emblem game released since, although doing fairly poorly in the US, does much better than they did in Japan? The series had no fanbase in the west, but don't bullshit and say it did so well in Japan when it hasn't and even now it isn't.

In comparison, Arc the Lad actually did well in Japan. Didn't do well in the US though.


Most of the characters included or proposed haven't been relevant since the PS2, if not the PS1.

Really now? Twisted Metal has had both PSP releases and the recently released PS3 title, Sly Cooper 4 was recently announced and along with others was in a PS3 game, Infamous is this gen, Uncharted is this gen, Jak and Daxter was in a PS3 and a PSP game, Ratchet and Clank had several PSP and PS3 games, LBP is this gen, Syphon Filter had two PSP games, Medievil had a PSP game, and Resistance had a few PSP and PS3 games. Most of their character roster is either newer, or has had some somewhat newly released titles.

When Smash Bros was released, how relevant was Samus with Super Metroid as the most previous release? Even now, Metroid hasn't been even remotely as popular as it has been since the SNES. When Melee was released, the last game Marth was in was on the SNES. I agree, these characters as well as others like Game and Watch, Ice Climbers, ROB, Pit, and Ness are all irrelevant based on the time period their Smash Bros title was released.


Why they're making this game when they have essentially zero mascot characters is beyond me.

Maybe because it's based on 17 years of Playstation history and not based around being able to milk the same few characters for nearly 30 years.

Not being a mascot character doesn't make the character any less liked. If you're a fan of the series of games, no matter if the series is dropped off like Arc the Lad, if the character has only been in a single game like with Shadow of the Colossus, or if it's a brand new series with a character like Nathan Drake. If you like the character then you like the character. The game is for Playstation fans then and now. If you don't give a damn about the characters and want to focus on the fact that the game is a ripoff of Smash Bros, then it's quite obvious the game isn't for you, because no matter how great a game it is or not, it wouldn't get the chance to prove it.

[Aussie2B]

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know how well the recent Fire Emblem games have done, but that has little to do with Marth or with the impact of the franchise as a whole. The original Fire Emblem (starring Marth) is basically the preeminent strategy RPG. It's to strategy RPGs what the original Dragon Quest is to traditional RPGs. Monshou no Nazo, the third Fire Emblem and first on Super Famicom, contains both a remake of the original and a direct sequel, and it was immensely popular and sold incredible well. It held the #1 spot in Famitsu for an entire year, which was highly unusual. It had an anime based on it, a whole slew of other related products, and it was remade yet again for the DS. Of course Marth isn't AS popular as Mario and Link, but he's definitely well-known and loved by the Japanese and the Fire Emblem franchise has been very important to Nintendo. Arc the Lad doesn't remotely compare.

Being relevant isn't purely a matter of having a recent release. Twisted Metal, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, Spyro, Crash, Parappa, Syphon Filter, Medievil, etc. etc. are all far, FAR past their high points as franchises OR mascots. No one cares about these series and characters anymore. Even if characters like Samus, Marth, and Ness hadn't seen a release in awhile, people very much still cared about the franchises and characters, everyone knew that the series would eventually continue, and Nintendo did indeed follow up. Characters like Pit, Ice Climbers, R.O.B., and Mr. Game & Watch are irrelevant to this conversation because they're essentially bonus content. They're extra lesser-known B-list characters for the super hardcore fans. Like I said, it's nice to add some more obscure characters, but the problem is that Sony's game is nothing but B-list characters.


Not being a mascot character doesn't make the character any less liked. If you're a fan of the series of games, no matter if the series is dropped off like Arc the Lad, if the character has only been in a single game like with Shadow of the Colossus, or if it's a brand new series with a character like Nathan Drake. If you like the character then you like the character. The game is for Playstation fans then and now. If you don't give a damn about the characters and want to focus on the fact that the game is a ripoff of Smash Bros, then it's quite obvious the game isn't for you, because no matter how great a game it is or not, it wouldn't get the chance to prove it.

Where on earth did I fixate on it being a Smash Bros. rip-off? My point is simply that Sony does not have the caliber of characters at this point in time for a concept like this. Maybe it'll be a good fighting game, I don't know, but I'll still scoff at the "All-Stars" title.

If a character can't hit mascot status and be identifiable with the company or hardware, then, yeah, it does mean that it's less liked. For half of the modern games being mentioned in this topic, I couldn't even tell you anything about who stars in them. I could name the hero (or at least describe him) in plenty of games I haven't played because the characters are so entrenched in the minds of the gaming populace, but nearly every mainstream Sony game this gen is popular just for the game, not for the characters. If some people like the characters, okay, but that doesn't mean they're "All-Stars". For that, a character needs to be ubiquitous.

[Bojay1997]

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know how well the recent Fire Emblem games have done, but that has little to do with Marth or with the impact of the franchise as a whole. The original Fire Emblem (starring Marth) is basically the preeminent strategy RPG. It's to strategy RPGs what the original Dragon Quest is to traditional RPGs. Monshou no Nazo, the third Fire Emblem and first on Super Famicom, contains both a remake of the original and a direct sequel, and it was immensely popular and sold incredible well. It held the #1 spot in Famitsu for an entire year, which was highly unusual. It had an anime based on it, a whole slew of other related products, and it was remade yet again for the DS. Of course Marth isn't AS popular as Mario and Link, but he's definitely well-known and loved by the Japanese and the Fire Emblem franchise has been very important to Nintendo. Arc the Lad doesn't remotely compare.

Being relevant isn't purely a matter of having a recent release. Twisted Metal, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, Spyro, Crash, Parappa, Syphon Filter, Medievil, etc. etc. are all far, FAR past their high points as franchises OR mascots. No one cares about these series and characters anymore. Even if characters like Samus, Marth, and Ness hadn't seen a release in awhile, people very much still cared about the franchises and characters, everyone knew that the series would eventually continue, and Nintendo did indeed follow up. Characters like Pit, Ice Climbers, R.O.B., and Mr. Game & Watch are irrelevant to this conversation because they're essentially bonus content. They're extra lesser-known B-list characters for the super hardcore fans. Like I said, it's nice to add some more obscure characters, but the problem is that Sony's game is nothing but B-list characters.



Where on earth did I fixate on it being a Smash Bros. rip-off? My point is simply that Sony does not have the caliber of characters at this point in time for a concept like this. Maybe it'll be a good fighting game, I don't know, but I'll still scoff at the "All-Stars" title.

If a character can't hit mascot status and be identifiable with the company or hardware, then, yeah, it does mean that it's less liked. For half of the modern games being mentioned in this topic, I couldn't even tell you anything about who stars in them. I could name the hero (or at least describe him) in plenty of games I haven't played because the characters are so entrenched in the minds of the gaming populace, but nearly every mainstream Sony game this gen is popular just for the game, not for the characters. If some people like the characters, okay, but that doesn't mean they're "All-Stars". For that, a character needs to be ubiquitous.

I have to say that I strongly agree with you. When I heard about this title initially, I was skeptical. When I saw the first screens a few days ago, I couldn't help but feel that it is a desperation move. I love most of the games where they are drawing these characters from. At the same time, I have zero interest in playing a fighting game with those characters.

[The 1 2 P]

Does Sony ever come up with original ideas anymore?

I think you are being too hard on them. They have still been innovative this gen. For instance, they came up with Trophies completely by themselves and decided to launch their system with two sku's. I mean, it's not like they copied Microsoft for both of those ideas.


It would help if it contained characters that anybody gave a damn about. Too bad Sony lacks any actual "all-stars" for their All-Stars game.

LOL. I think they have characters that people care about but as you already pointed out it's just not on the same level as Nintendo.


The 1 2 P (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/member.php?20352-The-1-2-P)

Fans of the Syphon Filter games.

Nicely done Kupo. But as I always say during these times, I think I'm the only one who cares about Syphon Filter. I have had my PS3's(all three) since early 2011 and theres been no new PS3 Syphon Filter to play on them. To me thats akin to Nintendo deciding not to make any new Metroid games during the N64 gen. Both series have/had multiple million sellers at the time but their companies decided not to release new versions(N64 for Metroid and PS3 for Syphon Filter).

After watching the videos I can say that I'm not too excited about this game. But if Gabe Logan is in it I will get it for that reason alone. Because nothing beats tasering people from across the map with reckless abandon.

[substantial_snake]

I don't think the roster being iconic enough is a legitimate criticism. The original brawl was the only one to be truly filled with iconic Nintendo characters the rest seem to be more of filling out the roster then anything else. Just because the characters aren't important to you doesn't mean that millions of people grew up with them on the Sony consoles feel the same way. Its a pretty weak argument that breaks down to "I don't like Sony IPs" more then anything else. I can make the exact same criticism of SSB without having anything legitimate problem of the game outside of the purely subjective "I don't like Nintendo IPs". Its a PlayStation themed crossover fighting game selling on the latest PlayStation console..I don't think its going to be a problem for the people they are aiming at.

Which transitions into another common criticism I see about the game, the fact that Playstation characters come from widely different worlds and would never fit in one game. I reminds me of how the professional racer you never see outside of a car, anthropomorphic mercenary fox in a space fighter, power suit genocidal bounty hunter, and boy-man-wolf elf (depending on game) all totally fit into the same fighting game universe easily with some using some sort of gun and other using crude homemade explosives. I find all of that just as ridiculous as Kratos fighting PaRappa but maybe I just completely ignorant about much different Nintendo is. :roll:

That being said this game initially looks just like SSB with Sony characters and I'm pretty surprised its taken this long considering how big of a success that series has been for Nintendo. I really like the idea behind the weird mash up stages with things like Hades having to fight off the creatures from Patapon. I don't really care how much of a carbon copy it is, if its a good game then its a good game and that's all that really matters.


After watching the videos I can say that I'm not too excited about this game. But if Gabe Logan is in it I will get it for that reason alone. Because nothing beats tasering people from across the map with reckless abandon.

I haven't been a fan on the Syphon Filter games in general but the memory of tasering people till they caught on fire was so sweet back then. :p

[Aussie2B]

You don't think that characters like Bowser, Ganondorf, Marth, Peach, Snake, Sonic, Wario, and Zelda are iconic? Because those are all additions made after the original Smash Bros. But of course the first game is going to have the best of the best characters and the sequels are going to expand the roster. That's only logical. Any other approach would be stupid.

It's really not a matter of liking Nintendo or Sony IPs. It's a matter of name recognition. Even if a gamer doesn't care for Nintendo games, I bet he could still name a large percentage of the characters in Smash Bros. If someone doesn't like Sony games, I highly doubt that gamer could hit the same percentage. Heck, even if a gamer DOES like Sony games, I bet a ton of gamers will be left scratching their heads because they don't recognize the character at all or they're wondering "Yeah, I remember playing the game that this dude was in, what the heck was his name again?"

I wasn't making the argument regarding the characters not fitting together, but I've been seeing talk of that too. It think it's a pretty fair argument, actually. Nintendo characters may come from vastly different games, but they're all pretty family-friendly. Even the villains included in Smash Bros. don't feel THAT sinister. They're like Disney villains. Threatening, but not enough to give kids nightmares. I think there is indeed a wider divide between cute, sweet Parappa and hyper-violent bloodthirsty characters like Sweet Tooth and Kratos. Although with the nature of a game like this, I don't think it matters that much. It's more a concern for Sony to worry about, so they don't alienate one potential audience or the other.

By the way, I didn't even know until learning about this game that the evil clown from Twisted Metal is named Sweet Tooth. That seems somehow relevant, haha.

[Ryudo]

Snake was in SSBB because Kojima wanted him in Melee. It was too late in devlopment so he asked again for Snake to be in Brawl and by then made more sense after Twin Snakes on GCN.

As to this game. Meh not enough interesting characters. I can't name more than maybe 5 or 6 Sony created/owned characters. Prefer Smash Bros. I know them all despite not playing some of them. Also knowing the Monondo should show up in the next SS in some way. Hoping Mega Man makes the cut and maybe Travis Touchdown as a trophy.

[j_factor]

I can't believe we're arguing over how "iconic"/recognizable the characters are as if that's the only relevant factor. Apparently even its fans don't think Smash Bros. has very good gameplay.

[Bojay1997]

I can't believe we're arguing over how "iconic"/recognizable the characters are as if that's the only relevant factor. Apparently even its fans don't think Smash Bros. has very good gameplay.

It's not one or the other though, it's both. Smash Bros. is a great series because it has iconic characters mixed with addictive game play. I think people are simply pointing out that even if the gameplay on this is fun, it will never come close to Smash Bros. because people don't relate to the characters in the same way.

[Gameguy]

I can't believe we're arguing over how "iconic"/recognizable the characters are as if that's the only relevant factor. Apparently even its fans don't think Smash Bros. has very good gameplay.
It really doesn't from the time I've played any of the games in the series. It's like the Cannonball Run of video games, you're just there for the cameos of people you know from other better sources. You don't expect there to be anything of substance.

[Genesaturn]

It's not one or the other though, it's both. Smash Bros. is a great series because it has iconic characters mixed with addictive game play. I think people are simply pointing out that even if the gameplay on this is fun, it will never come close to Smash Bros. because people don't relate to the characters in the same way.

100% agree'd. This can be the most fun fighting game ever made, but if the characters i'm fighting with are boring then I don't care how fun it is to play. If SSB came out with all original characters instead of iconic Nintendo characters I can safely say it would not be the smash hit it is today. I own a p1-3 and I've been gaming on a Playstation since FFVII's release. I've played all these games, but none of the characters to me are very memorable or iconic to Sony as Mario or Fox is to Nintendo. This is the only reason I have no interest in this game whatsoever.

[kupomogli]

Been awhile, but characters announced so far are Fat Princess, Sly, Kratos, Parappa, Sweet Tooth, Radec, Nathan Drake, Big Daddy, Heihachi, Toro the Sony Cat, Cole Macgrath, and Jak and Daxter.

According to his Twitter, Kevin Butler won't be the last boss. So no idea who. Funny quote though.


Fans: thanks for suggesting me as the final boss in ‪#PSAllStarsBattleRoyale‬. But research shows you like a game you can actually beat.

Anyways. Four characters have been announced in the span of two weeks, so more than likely they're done and just polishing up, but holding off letting us know who's in the game. Here's some videos of the new characters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSvLQDUQ858

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v77RwbxaLog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ce3j0OBviw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I95qNBgyypo

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Open Beta for Vita for Playstation Plus started yesterday.

The only thing you can do is fight online in a 4-player match. The servers were FUCKED for most of the day but they took them offline around 10PM EST and when they came back up everything was good.

As far as bad connection speed/lag goes, in every match I played it was completely non-existent. I'm sure there's a possibility for that to occur, but I don't have the greatest internet connection with Time Warner in Northern NJ, my ping and upload/download can be flaky at times, but EVERY. SINGLE. MATCH seemed to feel like it was playing local. That was one of my favorite things about the game.

The character roster in the beta isn't full. You only have access to Sly, Parappa, Radec, Kratos, Fat Princess and Sweet Tooth (I think that's it, there might be one more).

The gameplay is good. Exactly what you'd want from a Smash Bros. style fighter. As many other people have already said, they ape the formula and do it really well. The only significant difference being no ring outs and instead of a rush to get your opponent to a high damage percentage, you're rushing to build your own super meter to a level 1, 2, or 3 (3 being the coolest and most effective result).

My only complaint is that the characters and environments are all very similar color palettes .... where Smash Bros has lots of characters with REALLY bright reds, greens, yellows, pinks, etc. making it easy to follow your character in the flurry of the action, it's a bit easy to loose track of where you are on the Vita's relatively small screen. Though, that complaint didn't keep me from enjoying what's there.

Looking forward to spending more time with the beta. It's very good stuff. If you're a fan of Smash Bros. gameplay style and you're not somehow offended by Sony apeing the formula, I see no reason not to pick this up.

Good netcode, good graphics, good gameplay.

This game is going to be a great addition to Sony's lineup of 1st party games.

[kupomogli]

Mostly the same with what Frankie said, but one fourth of the matches I was in I was teleporting all over the place the entire match. I have a good internet connection though, but it could have been dropping, or other people could have had a bad connection. The other three fourths it played silky smooth without a problem at all.

I played quite a bit with everyone but Fat Princess, who I didn't try at all. Sweet Tooth has an amazing level three, but he's also the worst character. Kratos, Radec, Parappa, and Sly, are all good characters if you know how to use them. Sly and Radec have overpowered level specials because they last way too long. Almost every time I've used their specials I'd get six kills or almost six kills. Both characters also have very good level one and level two specials. While I'd get atleast six kills with Sweet Tooth, it's so hard to build his special meter up, like he gained too much in the prior beta, and now he gains too little in this beta. In the larger more open stages, I think characters like Sweet Tooth and Kratos won't be able to get the amount of kills Sly and Radec will because they'll have to travel all around the map chasing everyone, while all you have to do with Slyy and Radec is come in close proximity and target the enemies hitting R2.

Most of my playtime has went to Parappa. He's just a fun character to play as. He can get some distance with his skateboard attacks, he has good ground to air attacks, although lacking a bit on good downward attacks. I'd recommend against the downward multikick as you have to hit right on them or you're open for a second or two before you can dodge out of the way, and if you do hit them, you're open for an attack if anyone else is nearby.

Parappa's also the only character I've found a bug with so far. Standing O he'll throw his mic out and if hitting an enemy he'll pull them towards him. At one time, Radec had Sly in a grab, punching him in the face, and I grabbed Radec with the mic and did my level one on him. Sly stayed in that animation of getting punched over and over even though there was no Radec there. I was going to report it today so doesn't go into the final game.

On the Playstation Blog it says you can do either four player matches or two vs two matches when inviting a friend. So you can invite a friend to play against two other people. I saw the invite thing there. You hit R2. Just didn't try it out since everyone was playing different games.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

http://youtu.be/rPRXZiffNAQ

I really like this commercial. Same people who made the "Michael" commercial last year with all of the Sony characters.

[duffmanth]

I just saw the new ad for it on ign.com. The gameplay footage looks great, hopefully the game will deliver some great multi-player mayhem.

[kupomogli]

The game is amazing. For PS+ members you can download it now. All others can download it once the PS Store updates today. This and Twisted Metal are game of the year contenders in my opinion. I'd probably say this is better since it didn't take three months to get the online working well, because of which the only community on Twisted Metal are the people who literally play 12 hours a day at the game and will destroy you because they've memorized every bit of it. Seriously. It tracks time by all time, month, and week, and when going online the other day, a few of the people that were in the match I was playing were in the top 10 on all the leaderboards, and one person played 13 hours on the weekly leaderboard and it was on a Sunday(so a brand new week.)

The lag in the game is more than likely player specific, because there haven't been any updates and I've had far less matches in the past few days with lag compared to the first day I've played the game. Although there's still the ever so slight lag that you normally won't notice, such as if you jump above Radec's sniper and it still hits you even though you're slightly above it, because on his screen you're still in front of it.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I do really enjoy the game, but I wish the beta was open to PS3 as well.

It looks and plays great on the Vita and I'm THRILLED that the physical brick/mortar copy of the game for PS3 will come for a Vita download cross-buy voucher .... but I'm probably going to put more time into in on PS3 based on how crazy the action can get on the (relatively speaking) diminutive Vita screen.

[kupomogli]

It's available for the PS3. It's one of the PS+ free downloads.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

It's available for the PS3. It's one of the PS+ free downloads.

ORLY?

Since the whole time or just added this week?

[kupomogli]

It was added the same day the beta was added for the Vita version, so a week ago.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

It was added the same day the beta was added for the Vita version, so a week ago.

SONAMAGUN! How did I miss that? I thought it was a Vita-only beta.

Off to download and enjoy on the big screen....

*EDIT*

YES, MUCH better on the big screen! Day 1 purchase!

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

http://youtu.be/RxTYkuSIjk4

The swag looking opening sequence, reminds me of Street Fighter 4's opening and original theme song.

Also, they dusted off POLYGON MAN to star as the final boss!

http://2muchgaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/polygon-man-600x300.jpg

[kupomogli]

Kat from Gravity Rush and Emmett whoever from Starhawk are the first announced DLC. Will be released sometime in early 2013. Free if you download during the first two weeks.

Also. Only posting this since my name got publicly announced because of my mad Parappa skillz.


As the full game is being released in just a few days, I wanted to use this opportunity to shout-out the top 5 PSN PASBR beta players (in order):

XxSPADEZxX
PerfectCell21
orpheus_telos61
Deadpoolite
NeithZanar

I personally sent them messages on PSN (name: Strider_Doom) to reward them with a SuperBot gift, but only one responded! If you know any of these beta monsters, tell them to check their PSN messages to claim their prize.

Also, a few weeks ago we had an event where I played the beta online and recorded the matches of me losing for our YouTube page. Unfortunately, there was a technical glitch and that footage was unusable. My record that night was 10-2 FFA and doubles was 6-0 (I had Ed and Maj on my team!). The two players that beat me were kupomogli, who had a really impressive PaRappa, and xTatsumaki, who won with Kratos. We'll be doing these more in the future, and we've already made sure that glitch won't happen again. Sorry about that.

Who's hype for next week!?

Clock

http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-All-Stars-Battle/For-all-the-Beta-players/m-p/38813841#U38813841

[kupomogli]

So I've put a bit of time into Playstation All Stars. As everyone here already knows, the game has a lot of fan favorite characters, and has 12 normal stages plus six training stages, three plain flat stages small medium and large, and a the other three like it could have potentially been another stage but in the training stage background.

At first, I was disappointed with their choices of third party characters, and I still am somewhat, but Big Daddy, a character I expressed disgust for being in the game since it was exclusive on the 360 for a year before, is actually a great addition to the game for the reason that they did so well to create a unique character based off of him. He's slow, but he's got a lot of armor so it might take a couple attacks before he actually gets stunned. Like every other character he also has a completely unique skillset.

For those who have only experienced Super Smash Bros, and not bashing the game for this, but you have no more than four special attacks and everything else is either your four attacks on ground or air, and your three smash attacks on the ground. Every character isn't really the same as they have speed differences and obviously different attacks, but all characters are "similar." On Playstation All Stars, each character in the game is very different in control, even the combo oriented characters. Not just their move set, but the same as Smash Bros, their AP gain from their attacks, speed, extra armor like Big Daddy or Sir Dan(but only on certain situations with Sir Dan.)

Now since the basic style of the game is similar to Smash Bros, here's a comparison. Smash Bros Brawl has an adventure mode. This has an arcade mode with a mini story with each character. Playstation All Stars also features a list of trials, but unlike most fighting games that have a feature like this, this game doesn't assume you're already professional and could go from a jump kick, high medium punch, low weak punch, low high punch, hold L/R to interupt immediately after the attack connects for an unblockable, tap forward forward to cancel, random special attack, random super attack. On the trials of Playstation All Stars, you'll need to do stuff like land a certain amount of supers with infinte supers, earn AP to gain supers with one set of attacks(square, triangle, or o, and of course, use each attack in an amount to . Basically stuff that in a way is teaching you how to get used to each character. There's also more advanced trials as well like ones where only combos gain AP, etc, and in all of them you're given a certain time limit. Multiplayer is the exact same, where you can choose stock or timed, but this also has reverse stock, so whoever or whichever team reaches a certain amount of kills first. There's slight customizability to your characters, as you can put your characters in different costumes and alter between four color schemes for each costume, choose one of four opening scenes after you level enough to acquire them all, choose one of four taunts, and choose one of four win scenes. There's also a Call of Duty like card thing where you choose the background and icon, and then you can choose one of two different labels, one for free for all and one for 2v2, but instead of being like Call of Duty where you get them for killing someone a certain way, you have to win a certain belt before the tournament has ended. So getting black belt during nine tournaments will get you every single label(black belt takes quit a few wins, where every second third or fourth place will count as a loss.)

Now it's not perfect. You kill only with specials, and while the system is great, the problem with it is how cheap level one attacks are and not every character has a confirmed level one. While the game is "somewhat" well balanced to the point where you can get good with most characters and do just as good as any other character, the two characters that are easily the worst of the bunch are Dante and Toro. Toro might be good in any situation with his transformations, but he's more like a jack of all trades kind of characters. Dante has very poor AP gain unless you get someone in a full combo, which is more difficult with this characters play style using his handgun as cancels to link into other attacks, and when this character does attack, he doesn't have very good range and a massive recovery if he misses. These two characters have something else in common though, you can't guarantee a level one attack from a combo, which makes them even worse off.

The other thing is when both you and your opponent are good players in a 1v1. Like Smash Bros, battles turn into fishing the same few attacks with blocks and evades until one connects and then you can combo your opponent, then if you get a level one, you're usually alternating for AP gain or fishing for the attack that will get you a confirmed level one l, level two, or level three kill(s.) Five stock 1v1 can sometimes take between 10-30 minutes to finish.

Overall, the game is very good. If you're interested in fighting games at all, even if it's interest in Smash Bros clones, then it's worth getting.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Played some multiplayer matches at NAVA and picked up my copy today.

Even if people want to hate on it for being a Smash Bros. style game, it's got a shit ton of polish and I get the feeling that a tremendous amount of thought and play testing went into it.

I'm pretty sure that even the characters that seem unbalanced/broken will be fixed with future updates and ones that don't seem to be top tier will be mastered by dedicated players and be shown to be formidable in practice.

I totally love it, it's just good fun for people who want a Smash-type game on PS3.

With the free cross-buy this is a super value for PS3 and Vita owners.