While we at PopChomp try to not be speculative artists, sometimes we sit down and wonder what production companies could produce. There are so many “could be” titles that never come to fruition, but that’s what makes writing about this stuff so appealing. There are so many What Ifs but in the world of video games, these dreams can come true much more often than we would think. Take Marvel vs. Capcom 3, for example. This game was slated to come out almost immediately after MvC2 but it took over ten years to see the light of day. Eventually it happened! Here are some ideas that I think would be fun to ponder for a bit.
A Real Marvel Fighting Game
Remember when Capcom originally had the Marvel Comics license? They would crank out some excellent games, like War of the Gems, X-Men Mutant Apocalypse, The Punisher, X-Men: Children of the Atom, and Marvel Super Heroes (fighting game). The last stood out as the first real fighting game involving solely Marvel’s lineup of excellent characters. Some heroes were taken right from X-Men: COTA but there were also newcomers like Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, and Shuma Gorath. This was the final gateway game to the eventual crossover series, known as the VS. series. Before The X-Men and Marvel heroes were fighting Street Fighter, both groups had their own games and they were great!
Now we need a new standalone Marvel game. In 2005 EA published a Nihilistic Software game called Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects. Yes that was the title, and the game was just about as good. It felt like a rushed Power Stone ripoff with a handful of Marvel characters and a group of newcomers EA created for a crossover book. It was terrible. We need a savior! I’m not sure if Capcom still has the rights to Marvel as typically only one company can hold those rights at a time, but it would be nice to have a fighting game that isn’t inhibited by any injection of Capcom characters. I love Capcom, but Marvel has so many great roster choices that you could easily put 50 different heroes and villains in a game. With the continued success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it would be great to see characters like Star Lord, Daredevil, Silver Surfer, and Mystique duke it out. I know MvC 3 covers quite a bit of characters across the Universe, but sometimes you want your Marvel without Capcom, SOMETIMES.
Something to do with Final Fantasy VI
I fought with this position for a while. It’s very easy to call for that Final Fantasy VII remake that gamers have cried over for the past decade. I still think that it won’t happen. I also wanted to call for a true sequel to Super Mario RPG, but there have been plenty of great Mario RPG games since 1996. I also thought I’d ask for a new “classic style” Final Fantasy, but I realized that Bravely Default IS classic Final Fantasy. I then came to Final Fantasy VI, a brilliant-yet-underappreciated game. I think FFVI is one of my favorite games ever made. It has a classic set of characters, beautiful music, and a great villain. With all the chatter of Final Fantasy going the way of the dinosaur or worse, going mobile, it’s hard to say what I want from the series. Though it would be nice to see the characters from Final Fantasy VI again. I think a HD/2D remake would serve the game the best. I’d love to see a cell-shaded “watercolor” version of FFVI. Something that looks similar to Okami or one of the older Tales games. Final Fantasy VI has always been a little bit more of a niche game, so it would make sense if the stylistic choices were also on the niche side. If they put it on the 3DS, I’d buy it instantly. It would even fit nicely on as a Download title as well. I just think that losing out on FFVI is a misstep. A new generation of gamers needs to experience it.
Capcom vs. Shonen Jump
For those of you not familiar with Shonen Jump, it’s a famous weekly Japanese manga magazine. It’s famous for giving the world greats like: Dragon Ball (and Z), Naruto, One Piece, Ruroni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Bleach. These characters have been in fighting games before, but it’s time for them to go head-to-head with the massive library at Capcom. Basically, Goku needs to fight Ryu. A few years back Capcom released Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and it was a great tag-team fighting game in the Vs. series, using the classic characters from the Tatsunoko universe. Shonen Jump has produced some of the most memorable anime characters of all time. It is a no brainer to put these two franchises together. It can play exactly like the other games in the Vs. series and fans will be incredibly happy. I’m dying for it! It’s almost as cool as Street Fighter Vs. Mortal Kombat.
A 2D Metroid
It’s been 10 years since Metroid: Zero Mission. It’s been 20 years since Super Metroid. It’s time for Nintendo to bring us a new 2D Metroid game. Many will consider Super Metroid to be one of the greatest games ever made, and I cannot disagree. While I always loved the Metroid Prime series, I long for the days of the moody echoes of Planet Zebes. I was surprised that Nintendo didn’t have Retro Studios make a 2D Metroid after they did such stellar work on Donkey Kong Country Returns. The 2D Renaissance is still very alive and of all the games to get the new 2D treatment, Metroid has been left out of all the fun. Maybe Retro is currently working on a 2D Metroid, or maybe we’ll have to suffer with Metroid: Other M for a few more years. Metroid fans are dying for a new game, and I think that Retro Studios is the only company who can give it to us. While the “Metroid-Vania” play style has been quite popular over the past few years (Steamworld Dig, Guacamelee), there’s only one Metroid. Get on it Nintendo!
Fallout 4
I mean….just make it already.
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