Poll: If a new Bloody Roar Series was made who would you want to take it on?

[Katie Thorne]

I've been hoping that a company would take on this legendary fighter (albeit the mechanics were rusty since it was an older game), and breathe new life into it. I figure there are people who share my sentiment. But obviously, a company would need to take it on. Since Capcom is falling to the ground in ruins, Namco's juggle system is turning off respectable players, and Tecmo Koei's anti-fun hold/counter system is a joke, that leaves 4 would-be contenders for picking the franchise up. Here are the 4:

1. Warner Home Video Games: Best known for Mortal Kombat and Injustice, it would be a twist to see an American company's take on a once Japanese series. But given WB's epic story-telling abilities and unique combat systems, I believe it would breathe a sort of life into the franchise that would definitely make it enjoyable, especially to the North American Market. Beast form fatalities? Yes please.

2. SNK. Come on, they had to be on this list. Makers of many famous fighting titles, to this day they still have a strong fanbase, particularly for King of Fighters, and the combat system is always balanced. They are also finally foraying into 3D territory for the first time, and in my opinion, would be the BEST fresh start for Bloody Roar, as the series enjoys using anime scenes to tell the story, similar to the very first Bloody Roar games. And who knows, maybe they'll have single and double fighter modes similar to KOF? One could only dream.

3. Bandai Namco. They're big games at the moment are Naruto Shippuden and Dragonball Xenoverse. Their special cell shaded style, as well as learning from the mistakes of their first games makes them a constantly evolving and graphically improving breed of fighting games. Despite this, their network capabilities are rather untrustworthy, and for a competitive game, this might hurt Bloody Roar's resurgence extremely. However, if BN can fix their network issues, they may have an incredibly solid release.

4. Aksys: The company that brought you Guilty Gear and Blazblue. Yes, they haven't touched 3D category, but that doesn't necessarily mean Bloody Roar would be bad as a 2d game. However, despite BlazBlue's success of improving upon its initial release, Guilty Gear Xrd is a pitiful shadow of its former glory, so Bloody Roar being released as an Aksys title would be a 50/50. On top of that, the 2D feel may improve the combat speed compared to the original BR series, but it would lack the weight and ferocity that the original series held if under Aksys I believe. Still an option, though.

So what do you believe would be the best developer for bringing back Bloody Roar? What would your feelings be, and what would you want the company of your choice to DO if they got their hands on the franchise? Speak up, vote, and let people know!

 

[Katie Thorne]

To be honest, I personally pick Bandai Namco. They're the only ones who have a platform that could support the original feel of the Bloody Roar series while smoothing out the rough edges. And if they improve their network capabilities, it could make one hell of a reboot/comeback.

 

[Katie Thorne]

Just to clear things up, when I refer to Namco compared to Bandai Namco. To me, "Namco" made Tekken and Soul Calibur, both series which have aged horribly as Tekken focuses on "the juggles", and Soul Calibur went full retard in Soul Calibur 5, so I don't trust "Namco" to make a good reboot. "Bandai Namco", on the other hand, I feel would treat the franchise with more respect. It would take elements from the first Budokai and mix it with some elements from Shippuden, and I think we could get something fun and competitive. There, at least now I've explained myself.

 

[Inazuma1]

Bloody Roar wasn't the best series even when it was new. It was a gimmick fighter series whose mechanics were even more basic than DoA's infamously basic system. Nowadays modern fighting games tend to specialize their mechanics to ensure they stay distinct from each other. Street Fighter rewards patient timing and spacing, Mortal Kombat and Injustice use quick chainable move strings after MK's old stance dance trend fizzled out, Guilty Gear is an over the top juggle fest, Killer Instinct uses a more refined take on the combo/breaker dynamic it pioneered 10 years ago, Tekken still uses its controlled limb fighting system while also rewarding combos and juggles, and Soul Calibur has turned full 360 degree weapon combat into an artform.

Bloody Roar's basic punch/kick system and transformation gimmick, combined with a 'throw shit at the wall and see what sticks' character design philosophy, isn't enough to sustain it in the modern fighting game world. The series flamed out for a reason, and now that Hudson Soft is gone, better to let the series stay dead while the above companies stick with what they know.

 

[Elijin]

Bloody Roar wasn't the best series even when it was new. It was a gimmick fighter series whose mechanics were even more basic than DoA's infamously basic system. Nowadays modern fighting games tend to specialize their mechanics to ensure they stay distinct from each other. Street Fighter rewards patient timing and spacing, Mortal Kombat and Injustice use quick chainable move strings after MK's old stance dance trend fizzled out, Guilty Gear is an over the top juggle fest, Killer Instinct uses a more refined take on the combo/breaker dynamic it pioneered 10 years ago, Tekken still uses its controlled limb fighting system while also rewarding combos and juggles, and Soul Calibur has turned full 360 degree weapon combat into an artform.

Bloody Roar's basic punch/kick system and transformation gimmick, combined with a 'throw shit at the wall and see what sticks' character design philosophy, isn't enough to sustain it in the modern fighting game world. The series flamed out for a reason, and now that Hudson Soft is gone, better to let the series stay dead while the above companies stick with what they know.

"I didnt like it, so it should stay dead."

Hardly fair. Apart from BR being lots of fun, it did have a tight combo system, with some pretty rewarding payoff. Plus it had, as you called 'the gimmick' which you dismiss out of hand, but lots of others found to be a hook to make it interesting and more than just a poor mans street fighter.

I'd also argue that it died away because it existed in an era which was loaded with many titles, and limited attention. Im sure we could all name pile upon pile of great titles from the ps1/ps2/xbox/gamecube era which have faded away.

 

[Mutant1988]

Someone else entirely really. And before you jump at me for stating things as if they ware facts - Everything any person ever writes is to be assumed to be opinion, unless stated otherwise. Having to preface everything with "In my opinion" is madness. So let's get on with my opinions then;

Warner Bros doesn't make good fighting games. Passable, at best. I've only played Injustice from their recent output, but it's ridiculously gimmicky and far too rigid in it's fight system and animations. It might play well enough (And definitely has a strong roster), but it looks and feels awful to me.

SNK can't make decent 3D fighters, period. And by that I mean 3D games with 3D movement. The Maximum Impact games were okay, but not better than their 2D games. SNK should just stay away from 3D as much as possible and stick to what they know. And this is coming from someone that loves SNK.

Namco I want kept away from it solely by merit of their habit of overloading any games they make with DLC. Especially on the on-disc on release variety. They are simply too greedy. Soul Calibur V, while good, was incredibly sparse in content and had extreme grind walls to access what content there was. But it had a ton of DLC - All which were pretty much locked on disc. Notably, one of the characters were and that's just a crappy thing to do.

That's just poor style, through and through. How about selling a game and not a market place?

Arc System Works is roughly the same as SNK. They make great 2D fighters and should stick to that. And again, I mean in terms of gameplay and not graphically (Guilty Gear Xrd looks delicious). They could probably make something good, but I wouldn't feel that they were the right pick. Especially not considering their current commitments to Blazblue, Guilty Gear and Persona Arena.

Capcom. Same deal as Namco. Too much DLC, to the detriment of the core game. Also, I hate how Street Fighter 4 looks. I really, passionately HATE it's design and disfigured 3D models. That is not to say that I'm against 3D models for 2D fighters. I think their Rival School designs are great, as is the third party Street Fighter EX games. But the Capcom brand of faux 2D employed in SF4 (And spin-offs) is just awful in every possible way.

Tecmo. Well, they make Dead or Alive (Last I checked at least) and... Well, that's about it. I think they would have the best ability to turn a Bloody Roar game into something playable. But I wouldn't really feel that they are the best pick either, mostly by merit of how bland their characters tend to turn out - Females in particular.

Pity they go overboard with DLC as well. Is it too much to ask for games that are just complete, with no need for extra bits (Or purchases, at all), on release? Hell, I prefer the Capcom revision system over DLC. Pity Capcom does both at the same time, making their games a mess to complete - Because before you know it, a new revision is out with new DLC and you practically have to start all over again.

I really don't like how the concept of unlockables have been replaced by purchases.

But yeah, short answer - None of the above. I'd rather give it to someone new, or at the very least to a tried but less common developer.

A collaboration between SEGA and Atlus might produce something good, if the care for stylistic design from Atlus is applied. That is, to have character designs that stick out even when their actual properties aren't radically different. No one has made school uniforms look as cool as Atlus. And you know that Atlus could make the animal forms look good, because they know their transformations (Digital Devil Saga anyone?).

SEGA made Virtua Fighter after all, which is by many regarded as the most technical 3D fighter of all. Something like that, but simplified to make comboing more intuitive and easy to pull off could be good.

 

[GhostHunter]

From Software, seriously that series frequently had dark themes and i would love to play in an all beastmen (i forgot the special term they used) world and how awesome would it be to transform randomly or as part of some meter. if it had to be strictly fighting i'd go with Bandai Namco because they have a great awakening system they could modify and the limited 3d plane style always seemed kind of weird for beastmen to be confined to.

 

[Inazuma1]

From Software

A company that has no experience making fighting games apart from Frame Gride; a Dreamcast mecha fighting game that was never released outside Japan. That sounds like a good idea.

"I didnt like it, so it should stay dead."

Hardly fair. Apart from BR being lots of fun, it did have a tight combo system, with some pretty rewarding payoff. Plus it had, as you called 'the gimmick' which you dismiss out of hand, but lots of others found to be a hook to make it interesting and more than just a poor mans street fighter.

I'd also argue that it died away because it existed in an era which was loaded with many titles, and limited attention. Im sure we could all name pile upon pile of great titles from the ps1/ps2/xbox/gamecube era which have faded away.

"I like it, so that means you're wrong."

The combo system lacks any means of escape if you get caught in a juggle or wallbounce situation; locking you in a near-infinite loop situation if you get cornered by a strong opponent. Tekken, Soul Calibur, MK, and KI have ways for you to break a combo or juggle. BR does not. Can you do a side roll or side recovery on wakeup after being knocked down from a juggle in BR2? You can in Tekken 3, and it was released a year before BR2.

I think I should mention that I only played Bloody Roar once as a kid before I really got into fighting games, so my memory of it is sketchy at best. Plus, I'm a player that likes to noodle around in training mode figuring out characters' movelists before picking favorites. A 2 button system presents what I see as an obvious flaw: Lack of normals. And before you say anything, pressing forward and punch to get a different kind of punch isn't a normal. It's an extended normal or special normal. The lack of normals also effects the combo system and robs it of some extra potential depth.

And regarding the 'gimmick,' it really did become a gimmick in later games and reached its nadir in Primal Fury. As SCXR points out in his retrospective, a good way to cheese your way to quick victories is to insta-shift to beast mode as soon as the round starts despite it depleting your health and do Beast Drives to restore a portion of the lost health and hit the enemy for big damage if they land. If the Beast Drive doesn't land, it doesn't matter because there's no downside. Beast Drives don't force you out of Beast Mode in Primal Fury, and despite tanking a third of your health for the quick change, the game inexplicably leaves a third of that depleted health as potential damage to be regained by performing the Beast Drive. That means two players could just spend the match quick shifting and spamming Beast Drives until one of them falls over. That sounds incredibly boring and insulting to watch.

 

[Username Redacted]

4. Aksys: The company that brought you Guilty Gear and Blazblue. Yes, they haven't touched 3D category, but that doesn't necessarily mean Bloody Roar would be bad as a 2d game. However, despite BlazBlue's success of improving upon its initial release, Guilty Gear Xrd is a pitiful shadow of its former glory, so Bloody Roar being released as an Aksys title would be a 50/50. On top of that, the 2D feel may improve the combat speed compared to the original BR series, but it would lack the weight and ferocity that the original series held if under Aksys I believe. Still an option, though.

First off because I don't think anyone has corrected you on this but Guilty Gear, BlazBlue and Persona 4: Arena where developed by Arc Systems Works not Aksys Games (North American publisher for GG and BB). As far as improving on the initial release BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger was such a piece of shit that it would have been hard not to improve on that even if it took a couple of tries before the improvement resulted in an enjoyable product for those whose character didn't win the top tier in this version lottery. Which is a roundabout way of saying that you have an awfully strong opinion on Guilty Gear Xrd without actually knowing who made it which makes me suspect that you haven't actually spent a lot of time with the game before writing it off.

*ahem* With regards to Bloody Roar which I will confess to initially confusing with Primal Rage (an IMO defensible mistake) I would say that the amalgamation of studios that it took to re-release Killer Instinct on modern consoles (currently a co-operative work between Iron Galaxy Studios and Microsoft Studios) as a mostly playable experience are the ones who should be tasked with reviving Bloody Roar.

That said if I was going to revive a fighting game nostalgia property I'd probably opt for Battle Arena: Toshinden which I actually remember being fun (if completely broken) as opposed to Bloody Roar which I clearly barely remember.

Lastly this topic sent me down a bit of a Wikipedia rabbit hole and lead to an interesting discovery. The company that developed Bloody Roar (Raizing) eventually became known as Eighting. As Eighting they, according to Wikipedia, are credited as co-developers for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 which I feel explains a lot about the suspect quality of both of those titles.

 

[AJ_Lethal]

I'd go with SNK, because it would be cool to see a 2D Bloddy Roar brawler. And it would be cooler if there was a KOF x BR crossover.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Either SNK or Arksys. I haven't played a Bloody Roar since Primal Fury but I remember the series being a bit slower and 3D than what either of those developers generally make...this is because I would like a new Bloody Roar to be 2D and played at a faster pace. I could be mistaken about the game being a bit slower than other fighters...if a new Bloody Roar is made similarly to older ones, (3D arenas and somewhat slower combat) than Warner Bros would be the way to go. I would still consider SNK or Arksys as the best choice for a new developer though...if nothing else, I would expect either to make an insane backstory and character stories for everybody.

 

[go-10]

I'm gonna say Aksys on the basis that Xrd is really good, but honestly they would have to get rid of the 3D aspect, I think most fighting games are just better with a 2D system

if 3D is necesary give it to the team that makes Soul Calibur games or Team Ninja

 

[Elijin]

"I like it, so that means you're wrong."

There's a fair difference between those two stances though, isnt there?

One says 'I enjoyed something, so sure why not let more of it exist, for everyone to partake in or passover as it suits them.'
The other says 'I didnt like this series, so no one should ever get to play a new title in this series again.'

 

[Sonicron]

I have no idea who should tackle this task, I don't know much about the whole genre or its development scene. Working off your descriptions and suggestions, I guess I'd go for SNK.
That said, this totally needs to happen. I'm a casual visitor to the lands of fighting games at best, but Bloody Roar? These games are still a part of my most cherished childhood memories. Fucking awesome.
In my hands Bakuryu was a one-mole wrecking crew. That character's beast form throw attack is probably still the greatest piece of fighting game animation in history.

 

[Bizzaro Stormy]

I have no idea who should tackle this task, I don't know much about the whole genre or its development scene. Working off your descriptions and suggestions, I guess I'd go for SNK.
That said, this totally needs to happen. I'm a casual visitor to the lands of fighting games at best, but Bloody Roar? These games are still a part of my most cherished childhood memories. Fucking awesome.
In my hands Bakuryu was a one-mole wrecking crew. That character's beast form throw attack is probably still the greatest piece of fighting game animation in history.

Bakuryu did make moles awesome for a time. Personally it doesn't really matter to me who does the job so long as they do it well. The mix of animals and human fighters may have been a gimmick but it was fun!

 

[hermes]

Tecmo.

I believe their experience with the DOA series makes them the best to get into Bloody Roar, which always felt like a DOA with animorphs to me.

 

[Lunar Templar]

"I don't like it so it should stay dead prt 2"

lol.

dude. REBOOT

Your thinking it'd just be a copy paste reboot and I doubt that'd be the case. Personally I'd like to see it rebooted as a 2 1/2 D fighter like the new KI and well, fuck it. KI clone. that's what I want Blood Roar as a KI clone that isn't shackled to the fucking Xbox (of all the retarded places to make a fighter exclusive, 'lets put on the 'dudebro' console' -.- fucking idiots)

last people I'd wanna see get it is any one that has anything to do with Soul Calibur or Tekken, they'll just make it a worse button masher then before.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

I would say Namco but heh I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious what Netherrealm would do.
Sadly though, NRS can't really make solid 3D fighters.

 

[EHKOS]

Microsoft Studios. It hurts to say, but the new Killer Instinct looks like it actually has passion poured into it. Failing that, it always had a Tekken feel to it, so Namco could take a swing I guess.