A Few Overlooked All-Stars
The roster for Playstation All-Stars Battle Royal has been finalized. 20 characters ranging from classic Playstation to future prospects are on the table, with the chance of others being announced as DLC. I also don’t think it’s out of the question that there could be hidden characters. After all, hasn’t every Smash Bros. had plenty of unlockable goodies and characters that were never talked about beforehand? Still, as a fan of the oldies there are a few characters I would have loved to see on the official roster. I know it’s too late to do anything about it now but here’s the guys I think would have made fantastic additions to this game:
//Cloud Strife
Predictable I know, but when I saw that there wasn’t a single Final Fantasy character on the roster I was a little stunned. FF has been a staple of Playstation ever since Cloud’s break out into 3D character models. I think he’s a simple pick for a game like this, especially with his Advent Children set up. His moves could easily translate into the gameplay having multiple close range attacks with different swords and finishing combos with it fully formed. Quick fire spells could make for ranged attacks and add some variety to his fighting style. Most important though, he lends himself so well to the special attacks of the game. Here’s how I’d have done it.
Level 1: Braver – Cloud jumps into the air and slashes down on one opponent
Level 2: Fenrir – Cloud rides his motorcycle slashing back and forth at enemies
Level 3: Omnislash – Cloud grows a black wing alla Kingdom Hearts and flies around slashing enemies
//Crash Bandicoot
Now this guy I remember spending a whole lot of time with. At one point, Crash Bandicoot WAS Playstation. It’s hard to think that a game like this, that focuses so heavily on nostalgia, would overlook one of the most beloved Playstation characters of all time. Crash could be a particularly fast character, kicks and punches making up most of his attacks but fast moving spins and dashes would even him out. His style would also include summoning his cast of characters (much like Fat Princess) to do some of the fighting for him. His specials would break down like this:
Level 1: Bounce – Simple enough, crash jumps on an enemies head, crushing them for a kill
Level 2: Tiki Mask – Aku Aku attaches to crash making his attacks instant kills for a short period of time while the Crash Bandicoot super music plays in the background
Level 3: TNT – An animation of TNT boxes counting down is triggered as Crash runs for cover, everyone on screen is instantly killed
//Raziel
For those who don’t know who Raziel is, he’s the ghostly vampire fella from Legacy Of Kain. How cool would it be to see this guy in modern graphics? Raziel gains enough skills and abilities during his adventure that he’d be a dead ringer for a character in Playstation All-Stars. Simple but effective fighting coupled with devastating attacks from the Soul Reaver, double jumps and upward attacks using his wings, a DLC costume of Raziel before he was zombified, it’s hard to believe he didn’t make the cut. Of course, his specials would include:
Level 1: Soul Suck – Raziel devours 1 enemies soul
Level 2: Reaver – Raziel performs a dashing attack with the Soul Reaver, killing any enemy on the ground
Level 3: Spectral Realm – Raziel takes the stage to the Spectral Realm, the background becomes blue/green, all enemies are slowed down, and Raziel can kill with the Soul Reaver
//Vivi
I know, I know, I already suggested a Final Fantasy character at the beginning of my list but hear me out. The black mage has been an important part of FF from the very beginning, and after FF9 Vivi became, for many of us, the quintessential mage. He was a tragic hero, he was incredibly powerful, and he was downright adorable! Not to mention, he would be a crazy fun character to play. With all the magic of FF9 at his disposal he would be a long range champ but a close quarters chump. His specials would break down like this:
Level 1: Magic Sword – Steiner crashes down on a foe with a random magic sword that Vivi enchanted for him
Level 2: Mage Army – Black Mage robots from FF9 appear around Vivi and cast magic in 4 directions
Level 3: Trance – Vivi goes into Trance mode, taking on his trance appearance and casts high tier magic for a short amount of time
So there you have it, 4 picks for characters I would have loved to see announced or implemented as DLC. Like I said at the beginning of this little rant, just because there were 20 characters announced, that doesn’t mean there are 20 characters in all. There could be other fighters waiting in the wings to be unlocked, and I believe a huge profit could be made from releasing additional fighters as downloadable content. One thing is for sure, anyone who claimed Playstation didn’t have the star power to pull off a game like this is probably feeling pretty ridiculous right about now.
So, who would you have liked to see in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale? Send us your picks along with their 3 super attacks and we’ll post the 4 best ones on the site! Until then guys, game on.
About the Author
Zac Grubb+ I've never been good at talking about myself. I like to think of myself as a professional appreciator of games. My love of video games goes so deep that I wrote my senior thesis on Bioshock as a digital re-imagining of Atlas Shrugged, needless to say I will never play that game again.
Related Posts
Tiny Tina is Back in Action →
Poker Night 2 Review →
Is Gran Turismo 6 gearing up for a release on PS3? →
