Review: Dragon Ball Z – Ultimate Tenkaichi (PS3)

With the announcement of Solid Snake as a playable character in Super Smash Bros Brawl at E3 2006, a door was opened by Nintendo for major speculation on what other third party characters might be up for inclusion in the fan-favorite fighting game. Since Nintendo’s not ready to let those cats out of their money-filled bag just yet, I’m going to do what any responsible writer would do: make something up so you have something to read. So here’s my top ten list of likely third-party characters in Brawl. These are not the ones I want the most, just the ones that I think have the best chance of appearing. So we’ll call them educated guesses.

10. Sam Fisher [Splinter Cell, Ubisoft]

Sam’s too serious for the game. Even Snake has his comedic moments, but the gritty… and IMHO boring… adventures of Sam Fisher might not be a good background for a Smash Bros game character. On the other hand, he might be a great balance to Snake, and it certainly would be fun to see the two duke it out.

9. Rayman [Rayman, Ubisoft]

Rayman’s irrelevance in the hit Wii launch title Rayman Raving Rabbids notwithstanding, the franchise has made several appearances on Nintendo’s platforms. Nintendo’s relationship with Ubisoft is clearly very strong right now, with so many of their titles being so successful right off the bat, something which is not particularly common on previous Nintendo platforms. Rayman originates from a genre that Mario and Sonic share, so could be a reasonable fit to the roster, even if some of us would rather see a Rabbid as a Brawler.

8. Pac-Man [Pac-Man, Namco-Bandai]

The only thing keeping Pac-Man from the game is logistics. How do you involve a character with no features but a mouth in a 3D fighting game? The only way to do it right is to keep him a 2D construct, no arms, no legs, no eyes… and then how does it work? It would make more sense to see Soul Calibur characters in Brawl perhaps, of Namco-Bandai’s properties, but the series did not appear on a Nintendo platform until last generation when we saw the second Calibur on the Gamecube. Pac-Man appeared on the NES in its near original form, and many Pac-Man games have appeared on Nintendo’s other platforms.

7. Mega Man [Mega Man, Capcom]

The robot that launched a thousand spinoffs, the original Mega Man could be a great fit for Brawl. He’s versatile and agile, distinctive, and easily recognized. He’d appeal to long-time gamers and new arrivals alike with his retro charm. And best of all, he’s very unlikely to say something like, “Mega-Hi!” as he did in the intro to that terrible cartoon back in the 80s.

6. Joe [Viewtiful Joe, Capcom]

How many hours have I spent replaying the same grueling stages of VJ 1 and 2, as well as Double Trouble? Uh, very many. Joe is a character in a side-scrolling brawler, so is a perfect fit. His Gamecube debut is another tip in that direction. His appearance in the terrible Red Hot Rumble is another push. Take into account his creator’s departure from Capcom and you lose the only voice that would be even remotely likely to oppose the move. Joe’s as good as in, as far as I’m concerned.

5. Simon Belmont [Castlevania, Konami]

Perhaps more wishful thinking than anything, Simon Belmont, star of more Castlevanias than any other character in Konami’s continuously growing pantheon, would be really great to see in Brawl. Whipping a suitless Samus Aran into submission might have to be handled with a certain amount of delicacy, but I’m sure everyone involved is up to the challenge. This one’s been speculated on before to some extent, but Konami’s inclusion and the character’s similarity in proportion to Solid Snake could make this one an easy in.

4. Leon S. Kennedy [Resident Evil, Capcom]

Leon’s first appearance was in Resident Evil 2, which I played on the Nintendo 64. His second was in Resident Evil 4, which was a timed exclusive on the Gamecube and is getting a Wii-make this year. Nintendo likes to lean on Resident Evil to counter some small amount of the “Nintendo is kiddy” arguments that still persist, and it’s certainly a better direction for them to lean than Manhunt 2. Leon is, again, a similar enough character to Solid Snake where we could see this happen.

3. NiGHTS [NiGHTS into Dreams, Sega]

NiGHTS could be nearly certain to be a character in the game except for the fact that NiGHTS was not a game that involved any fighting, right? I never played NiGHTS, but as I understand you flew around and collected things, trying to do stunts while zipping around. Mario jumps on evil chestnuts and turtles, even Kirby eats his enemies. What can NiGHTS do? That said, I’m sure Sega’s got both hands and feet on NiGHTS’ back, trying to get him into the game if he’s not already there.

2. Ryu Hayabusa [Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo]

Didn’t think of Ryu early on but he makes perfect sense now with the original NG showing up on Virtual Console, Project Rygar coming to Wii and a Ninja Gaiden game coming to Nintendo DS. Ryu’s been in the Dead or Alive fighting games on Xbox, so many moves are probably already worked out that could be easily moved over to Wii. Personally, I’d love to see Ryu as a playable character in Brawl.

1. Sonic [Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega]

I have trouble working out Sonic in Brawl but it’s all but guaranteed. He is by far the most wanted third party character and we know Sega’s amenable, and with the recent reveal of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, it’s practically obvious at this point. Let’s just hope they have a decent character model. 3D Sonic models have really been terrible lately.

HONORABLE MENTION

Spyro [Spyro the Dragon, Vivendi Universal] and Crash [Crash Bandicoot, Vivendi Universal]

Despite popular appearances on Nintendo platforms, both these titles debuted as PlayStation exclusives (by Naughty Dog and Insomniac, in fact), so even though they belong to Vivendi Universal now like Blizzard, I’d be surprised to see Nintendo want them in. Compounding the issue is that very few of the games starring these characters have been any good since they left Sony’s hands.

Cloud Strife [Final Fantasy VII, Square-Enix]

It says Cloud, but you can plug anyone in there if you like. Dragon Quest doesn’t have memorable characters and Final Fantasy’s characters don’t seem a good fit before Final Fantasy VII. They tried this with Ehrgeiz, I believe, and that didn’t work out well, did it? FFVII in particular has never seen a release on a Nintendo platform. This is a relief to me, because I just find him annoying.

Lara Croft [Tomb Raider, EIDOS]

While Tomb Raider has touched Nintendo platforms, it’s mainly associated with PlayStation, which goes along with the Spyro/Crash effect. With a Tomb Raider remake coming to Wii this year, it might seem like a good idea, but it still feels pretty unlikely.

Yugi Mutou [Yu-Gi-Oh!, Konami]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters is enormously popular in both the US and Japan, and as I understand is something akin to Pok?