Yeah, I agree about Primal Rage and Eternal Champions, for sure. A few more I’d add:
Weaponlord
Bloody Roar
Darkstalkers
Toshinden
Martial Masters
Power Stone
Fighting Vipers
Bushido Blade
Last Blade
Red Earth
Last Bronx
Virtual On
I updated my list for Bloody Roar
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Hell yes to this. “Mace” was undoubtedly a flawed game, but it does have potential imo. Lord Deimos needs to come back - he’s just too cool to put aside.
I don’t know, I think the violence should be kept as it is, just because it gave “Mace” a really, REALLY dark and brutal edge. I mean, the story alone alludes to some really messed up stuff, even in relation to some characters and/or their endings, the bad endings especially.
Yeah for sure, and I personally don’t want to see the violence toned down, I only meant in the context of a theoretical MS IP purchase. KI 2013 isn’t as violent for its time as the original KI was in its time. That game was considered to be, while not exactly on par with Mortal Kombat in the violence category, still not all that far behind it. The MS KI is quite tame in that department, especially when compared to modern MK.
So no I wouldn’t want them to tone down the violence of a Mace sequel/reboot if that purchase were to ever take place, but would I take a toned down version if it had great gameplay from Iron Galaxy, a solid story, a similarly dark atmosphere that harkens back to the original and updated graphics that can somewhat compete with the current generation of titles? Absolutely.
True, although by the same token there are times where the 2013 KI went some really dark places, even when compared to the originals such as Sabrewulf’s arms, Cinder’s stage, etc. Eyedol’s design alone has me completely bemused as to how the game is still rated T given how gruesome he looks with the split head.
Going back to “Mace”, I would love to see a developer interview or like a Behind the Scenes article/video or something, just to get some insight as to what went on during production, if not what the developers were thinking in making this, future plans had it been successful, etc.
Here’s some food for thought - if you were given the opportunity to remake the game and its characters, how would you change the gameplay? What would you do in terms of character designs and/or special moves/projectiles? What would you do in terms of story? I don’t know if it’s just me, but in terms of projectiles, aside from Hellknight, I kind of thought the projectiles were the weakest parts of the game imo. What do you think?
EDIT: I came across this. Apparently there was going to a Pojo spinoff:
Beta + Cancelled Midway Games Video Games - Unseen64
Someone also made a pretty cool Lord Deimos mugen:
Projectiles in early 3D games were always pretty dicey. I remember how bad they looked in the early Battle Arena Toshinden games, War Gods, and stuff like that. Plus they were super easy to dodge. I remember that with Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance as well.
I think more recent games like Tekken 7 and Soul Calibur have been able to do projectiles better both in the way they look and in how they track.
To me, Soul Calibur VI is the model for the level of polish and gameplay design that I’d be striving for in any potential Mace reboot. The look and tone would definitely be much darker and more in line with a modern reimagining of the original game, though I’d probably scrap a lot of the humor and stuff like Pojo and what not.
I’d also double the roster size and expand the story significantly, which is to say, I’d give it a story mode that incorporates all of the characters. I wouldn’t do it the way Mortal Kombat does it, with chapters and what not. The story would likely be more of the guiding force than the gameplay in terms of who fights when and what not.
I also don’t know how much of the story I’d actually link to the gameplay. I know that sounds weird, but I feel like they can put a lot of the lore in other modes and have a story mode where the actual story takes center stage and you only fight when the story dictates it.
I know that doesn’t sound any different from the way MK handles it, but a few key differences: For one, I wouldn’t have a “each good guy fights five times in a row” or anything like that, and I wouldn’t have fights come up as quickly, with reasons for fights being relatively minor like “Cassie has been promoted, now she has to fight her mom because it’s tradition.”
I’d let the story breathe. Now, this is under the assumption I had unlimited resources to make the game the way I wanted. If it were more of say a KI budget, then I’d probably look to do something more like Soul Calibur’s Edge Master Mode where you travel to different locations on a map and you have battles under varying conditions (like you’re poisoned or you have to beat five opponents in a row or whatever) but I’d work the story in as much as possible, with as many cutscenes as possible.
It might come off a bit dry, but between a written story, cut scenes and lore, I think it’d be possible to put together a compelling narrative that involves choosing a character and going on their journey. By the time you’ve completed this mode with each character, I could see having a mode that allows you to watch all the cutscenes together as a sort of mini-movie that shows the player everything that happens in order.
So yeah, I’d make the game a perfect melding of Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur; a very grim SC set in the dark ages, with a much greater focus on storytelling and a (hopefully) better story than we usually get with SC.
I think there’s a space for such a game to exist, and while most of these ideas are admittedly half-baked as I’m saying them, I think the 3D fighting tent has shrunk so significantly over the years that it’d be nice to see a new entrant that had a bit more of its own identity as opposed to everything the Bandai-Namco 3D fighters and Virtua Fighter offers.
Indeed. Part of the problem with projectiles in general is not only the manner in which it’s delivered, but also how it looks as well.
Agreed, although part of me can’t help hoping that Pojo returns lol. I actually got a kick out of the idea that Asmodeus, this powerful giant dragon/demon thing, was so utterly humiliated that he ends up having a deep-rooted hatred for all things poultry-related. XD Still, I’d welcome an even darker story, so long as the writing is great.
Yeah, the NetherRealm style of story-telling is cool, but as revealed with subsequent iterations and SFV, there are some limitations to it. Ideally all the characters should be given the opportunity to shine.
I really like that idea of having lore available in other modes.
Yeah, one of the tricky things with the NR-style of story is coming up with a reason to justify the fighting between characters, just because sometimes there might be the odd encounter that ends up so ridiculous you can’t help think “really?”
That would be really cool imo.
Yeah, there aren’t a lot of 3D fighters that I’m aware of. I know of a couple recent 3D fighters like “For Honor”, “Absolver”, “Overgrowth” and “Pokken”, but that’s about it. I’d love to see “Mace” come back.
Out of curiosity, what characters would you want to keep, if not redesign?