Super Roster Maker - Xbox Superstar Deathmatch

Nintendo and Sony both have large rosters of first-party characters and a good number of third-party developers willing to do business with them. So, seeing them create crossover fighting games with the large stable of characters they have access to would make sense to drum up a lot of attention for them. Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers series has now become one of the developer’s heavy hitters and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, while not as big, still has a cult following. One would think that Microsoft and the Xbox would jump on that bandwagon, but interestingly, they didn’t.

Despite the jokes about the Xbox One having no games, Microsoft has its own roster of exclusive, first-party series and characters that they could use to form their own big crossover blow-out. However, one could argue that platform fighters don’t seem to be their thing. What is their thing though would be shooters and since the characters would be the focus of a game like this, it would probably make more sense for an Xbox crossover title to be a hero shooter similar to Team Fortress, Overwatch, or Paladins.

That’s what we’ll discuss as the topic of this Super Roster Maker, Xbox Superstar Deathmatch.

For this article, we’ll focus mainly on Microsoft’s first-party series, picking one or two characters from each to add to the roster. Then at the end, we’ll pick a few third-party characters that would fit well with the main cast to add as well. We’ll also touch a bit on what kinds of weapons or abilities each character might bring into battle.

Now, let’s select our characters.

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The Big Names

This section will talk about the big first-party characters to include. Including big blockbuster franchises and series that Microsoft acquired the rights to, these are among the first characters that gamers think of when they think of the Xbox.

The picks are:

Master Chief (Halo)

First and foremost among these characters is Master Chief from Halo. He is so well-known that he is practically the mascot for the Xbox. He is not short on weapons either, with some stand-outs for his loadout including the Spartan Pistol, Battle Rifle, Needler, Energy Sword, Bubble Shield, and the Spartan Laser.

Marcus Fenix (Gears of War)
Agent Alpha (Crackdown)

After him, we have a couple more shooters with Marcus Fenix from Gears of War and “Agent Alpha” from Crackdown, standing in for the Agent characters that players control in the Crackdown games. Marcus is more of a military styled character with the chainsaw-machine gun hybrid, the Lancer, being his main weapon. While Agent Alpha could use basically any kind of firearm for this, the main draw of this would be his enhanced physical abilities, which could make more obvious use of his heightened agility, speed, or strength.

Sparrow (Fable)
Steve (Minecraft)

The first of the more fantastical picks is a main character from the Fable series. Sparrow from Fable II was selected for being the only named player character. He can use a sword or an old flintlock pistol and, for his abilities, can cast magic spells. Another fantastical pick is Steve from Minecraft, the first character to really clash stylistically against characters like Master Chief and Marcus Fenix, but that’s what games like this are about. He could use a sword, pickaxe, or bow as weapons and could even include a digging mechanic or have a Creeper appear as an ultimate attack.

Black Orchid (Killer Instinct)
Joanna Dark (Perfect Dark)

Banjo & Kazooie (Banjo-Kazooie)
Zitz (Battletoads)

A good place to pull some quirky characters from would be the franchises of Rare. It is here that we get our first female additions to the roster, Black Orchid from Killer Instinct and Joanna Dark from Perfect Dark. Orchid could use her tonfa to shoot lasers, use fighting moves when close to an opponent, or use her Firecat ability to become temporarily intangible. Meanwhile, Joanna has an arsenal of different futuristic guns and spy equipment to pull from. Continuing with Rare properties, two more characters are Banjo & Kazooie (counted as one character) from Banjo-Kazooie and Zitz from Battletoads. Banjo would essentially use Kazooie as his gun firing different kinds of egg projectiles like in the second game, while Zitz would be a mostly melee fighter, using his shapeshifting abilities to morph his body parts into different weapons.

The Fan Favorites

To get a slot in this section, a series can’t just be beloved by Xbox fans, they also need to have unique characters that can fit well within the mechanics of a shooter, preferably without being too similar to other characters. To get the characters for this section, I looked at different Xbox fan forums that talked about potential crossover games and tallied which characters were mentioned frequently, then from those characters, determined which ones would actually work well in a shooter. Some popular characters like Voodoo Vince and Alan Wake didn’t make the roster because the way their games are set up don’t lend themselves to shooters very well.

The picks are:

Arbiter (Halo)

General Raam (Gears of War)

Jack of Blades (Fable)

Fulgore (Killer Instinct)

First are the secondary reps for popular franchises, Arbiter from Halo, General Raam from Gears of War, and Jack of Blades from Fable. While there is a chance they might have some moves similar to Master Chief, Marcus Fenix, and Sparrow respectively, there should still be enough variety within their franchises to draw enough material from to set them apart. Another secondary rep would be Fulgore from Killer Instinct, a robot character that could use lasers, claws, or any number of special moves from his series.

DeMarco Singh (Sea of Thieves)

Joule Adams (ReCore)

DeMarco Singh was a character from the recent Rare-developed Xbox title Sea of Thieves, introduced through tie-in comics and the PvP expansion The Arena. He can potentially use pirate-centric weaponry like flintlock pistols, blunderbusses, bombs, and cutlasses, or even call in pirate crew members or off-screen cannon fire for abilities. Similarly, Joule Adams from ReCore has several weapons she could use, as well as a grappling hook and rocket shoes for mobility, but she can also call for help from her corebot companions (robot helpers within her game’s world).

Ori & Sein (Ori and the Blind Forest)

Cuphead (Cuphead)

A couple of Xbox-exclusive indie games that made a big splash on the platform were Ori and the Blind Forest & Cuphead. The protagonists from both games would add some more variety to the roster and show some love to the indie scene on Xbox. Ori, with his companion Sein, would work as a pair, like Banjo and Kazooie, and use magical spirit attacks in a battle. Cuphead would use his finger guns to shoot projectiles and possibly use his super moves from the game.

Conker (Conker)

Kameo (Kameo: Elements of Power)

Two more Rare protagonists to add to the roster are, from their own self-titled series, Conker and Kameo. In Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Conker has a wide variety of weapons to pull from, including guns, throwing knives, raptors, and more, some of which can be found in the game’s own deathmatch multiplayer mode. As for Kameo, she can use her shapeshifting abilities to take on various monstrous forms to fight against her opponents.

Blinx (Blinx: The Time Sweeper)

Samson (Fuzion Frenzy)

As two of the first games for the original Xbox, these older titles hold a classic status among Xbox fans and characters from these games can be throwbacks to the early days of the console line. From the platformer Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Blinx could use a modified version of the TS-1000 Vacuum Cleaner to perhaps suck in and blow out items from the environment or simply shoot out some on-theme ammunition and use it to manipulate his own time flow in a match. From the party game Fuzion Frenzy, Samson (one of the playable characters) could use power-ups in the game like a hammer or a lightning bolt to aid himself in attacking or moving around or have one of the props or vehicles from one of the game’s minigames appear around him to ride as part of his abilities. (They could digitize around him since Fuzion Frenzy has a somewhat futuristic tone.)

The Third-Parties

Our last characters to add to the roster are third-party characters from games or seires that have sold well on Xbox platforms. All developers involved here have had games that have sold at least a million units on Xbox consoles and characters that would work well in the gameplay of a first or third person shooter.

The picks are:

For Activision: Capt. John “Soap” MacTavish (Call of Duty)

For Bethesda: Dovahkiin (The Elder Scrolls)

For Capcom: Frank West (Dead Rising)

For EA: Commander Sheppard (Mass Effect)

For Rockstar: Franklin Clinton (Grand Theft Auto)

For Tecmo: Ryu Hayabusa (Ninja Gaiden)

Soap and Franklin are the most conventional of these characters, with both having access to more modern weaponry and equipment. Dovahkiin, like Sparrow and Jack of Blades, would be likely to use medieval weapons and magic, Sheppard has several high-tech weapons that he could use or he can even call in support from the Normandy, Hayabusa has several powerful weapons or Ninpo Arts (which work like magic) he could use, and Frank has perhaps the largest arsenal of any character mentioned here, able to use conventional weapons, strange items, combinations of different items, and even an exosuit that increases his physical abilities.

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FINAL RESULTS

The Roster: Master Chief, Arbiter, Marcus Fenix, General Raam, Sparrow, Jack of Blades, Black Orchid, Fulgore, Agent Alpha, Steve, Joanna Dark, Banjo & Kazooie, Zitz, DeMarco Singh, Joule Adams, Ori & Sein, Cuphead, Conker, Kameo, Blinx, Samson, Capt. John “Soap” MacTavish, Dovahkiin, Frank West, Commander Sheppard, Franklin Clinton, Ryu Hayabusa

The final roster has 27 characters from a total of 23 different franchises, a somewhat big number for a hero shooter and a few characters more than when Overwatch first launched. Halo, Gears of War, Fable, and Killer Instinct all had two characters while all the other series only had one. Rare got a lot of love in this roster with seven characters being from Rare titles, and third-party characters take up another big chunk of the roster with six.

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What did you think of this roster? What characters would you want to see in a large first-party crossover game for the Xbox? Do you think having it made as a shooter would make more sense than a fighter? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thanks for coming!

Ten Games to Watch from E3 2017

Like previous years, the 2017 Electronic Entertainment Expo showed us several video games to look forward to in the near future and while some may complain about the presentations themselves (in some cases, rightfully so), the games were still present. Here, we’ll look at some of the games that grabbed the public’s attention. 

For this list, we’re focusing on games that were shown at the convention, and that we know a good deal about. While it’s good to know that Metroid Prime 4 and a new main series Pokemon game are coming to the Nintendo Switch, no one outside Nintendo’s circle knows much about them other than the fact that they exist.

Here are Ten Games to Watch from E3 2017.

1. Anthem

Most of EA’s press conference was a prime example of the fluff that gamers don’t like when watching E3 presentations. Not enough gameplay shown, too much extra stuff shown. Of the games that were shown, very few of them caught much attention, but one of the ones that did was the game Anthem. A new sci-fi title developed by BioWare, Anthem revolves around the Freelancers, a group of soldiers exploring a lush and dangerous new environment. The game looks to be a multiplayer co-op game where players can work together to fight monsters and bands of marauders while exploring the jungles of this new world.

2. Far Cry 5

After already stirring up some controversy before the show even began, more information was revealed about Ubisoft’s latest entry into this first-person shooter series. The game is set around the area of Hope County, Montana with the main antagonist of the game being a religious extremist preacher named Joseph Seed, who seeks to force everyone in the county to join his militaristic doomsday cult, Eden’s Gate. The player takes the role of a sheriff’s deputy assigned to arrest Seed after a previous attempt to take him down resulted in the deaths of several officers. Players can customize their appearance with a new custom character creator, the game will have several weapons to use (with an increased emphasis on close-quarters combat), and local people and wildlife (as seen in Far Cry Primal) can even be recruited to help your character.

3. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

After their partnerships with PlatinumGames, Koei Tecmo, and Namco Bandai working on Nintendo franchises, Nintendo is now letting Ubisoft take a crack at one of their franchises. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is a turn-based strategy game and a crossover between Ubisoft’s Rabbids series and Nintendo’s Super Mario series. Players control Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, and four Rabbids dressed like the four Mario characters as they go to stop a swarm of mischievous Rabbids from terrorizing the Mushroom Kingdom. With gameplay that has been compared to series like XCOM, the eight characters can move around the map, fighting enemies with different weapons, including laser cannons resembling the arm cannons used by characters like Samus, Mega Man, or the Mii Gunners from Smash 4. 

4. Monster Hunter: World

Capcom announced during the show that the latest entry in the Monster Hunter franchise would be coming to PS4 and Xbox One in early 2018 with a PC release sometime afterwards. (Sorry, Nintendo fans.) Players take the role of different hunters tasked with killing or capturing large monsters around the village they are staying at. To accomplish this all weapon types from previous game Monster Hunter Generations are available, along with some new equipment like ghillie suits and the grappling hook-like Slinger. The game is said to have large open environments with no loading screens between zones, four player co-op, and will allow players from Japan and Western regions to play together.

5. Destiny 2

After a lackluster launch, Bungie’s hybrid shooter-RPG Destiny has managed to gain traction as a worthwhile game. So, when a sequel was announced to be released in September 2017, a lot of people were actually looking forward to it. Like the original game, players can play both with and against each other in PvE (player vs. environment) and PvP (player vs. player) game modes. Players can also level up their characters by gaining experience points through combat, complete quests from NPCs to receive rewards or further the main story, and customize their character’s attributes, including species, gender, and skin color. Weapons and armor have also been reorganized in this new game, from Primary, Special, and Heavy weapons to Kinetic, Energy, and Power weapons.

No big overhauls here, but you know what they say about something that’s not broken.

6. Call of Duty: WWII

After a long period of setting their games in the modern era or the future, Activision is taking the Call of Duty series back to its roots by making a World War II game, with players will control soldiers from the Allied nations fighting against the Axis powers. Several mechanics are being changed with this installment. Health regeneration has been removed, so players must rely on the medics in their squad for health packs. They will also need their squad to provide extra ammunition, the unlimited sprint mechanic from previous games has been removed, and the campaign mode has no difficulty settings, with the game automatically set to “Hardcore Mode”. The game’s multiplayer also shows a back-to-basics approach with several features from previous games removed and more of a focus put on “boots-on-the-ground” combat. 

And yes, this game has a Zombies mode.

7. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite

More information was shown about Capcom’s latest collaboration with Marvel Comics with their crossover fighting game series, including a new trailer. The game draws a lot more cues from the Marvel Cinematic Universe for their characters and story and several characters from the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy are included in the roster. Though notably, characters from X-Men or Fantastic Four are absent from the game. The story itself revolves around the heroes’ fight to defeat Ultron Sigma, a fusion of Ultron from Marvel Comics and Sigma from Capcom’s Mega Man X series, and looks to include a full story mode with cut scenes.

8. God of War

One of Sony’s biggest franchises, God of War, will soon be getting a new installment in the series and more was shown about this new game at this year’s show. Taking place after the events of God of War III, the setting has changed from one of Greek mythology to one of Norse mythology and series protagonist Kratos is now taking a second shot at raising a family, taking care of his new son Atreus. He will now have to fight against a new stable of monsters and warriors, while raising his son and trying to master the rage that has driven him for so many years. Kratos’s signature dual chain blades have been replaced with a magical battle axe and a folding shield and a button on the controller can be used to control Atreus to hep Kratos throughout the adventure.

9. Marvel’s Spider-Man

Developed by Insomniac Games as their first licensed game, this title is not tied to any movies or comics and is instead an original story set in the Spider-Man world. The game is an open-world action-adventure game where players will be able to fight criminals and super-villains as the web-slinger himself, traversing the city through different methods including parkour, web-swinging, and wall-crawling. At this point in the story, Peter Parker is close to graduating from college and has been Spider-Man for about eight years, so he’s gotten the hang of being a superhero by this point. But after defeating Kingpin at an early point in the story, a new gang called the Inner Demons starts taking over Kingpin’s turf and now Spider-Man must deal with this new threat.

There’s also a cameo in the E3 trailer from Miles Morales, but no word yet if he’s playable in any way.

10. Super Mario Odyssey

Finally, here is the game leading the charge for the Nintendo Switch. While this game was revealed earlier along with the early lineup of Nintendo Switch games, a new trailer was shown at E3 along with new gameplay and several new mechanics and worlds. The game is a 3D open-world adventure game, inspired by titles like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, where players can guide Mario through large expansive environments. The main driving mechanic in this game is Cappy, a ghost-like top hat creature that takes the form of Mario’s signature cap after it is seemingly destroyed. Mario can use Cappy to grab items, fight enemies, manipulate the environment, or even possess different enemies, objects, or characters and use their abilities for himself.

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Of course, this is far from a definitive list. Several games were shown at this year’s E3 and these were only a few of them. So, what do you think? Are you looking forward to any of these games? What games caught your eye at this year’s E3? Make your voice heard in the comments below and have fun gaming once these titles come out.

Thanks for coming!