Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the first in what has turned out to be a number of recent delays, both high and low profile. But while Nintendo bandied their stock explanation of having more time to polish the game to perfection, Perrin Kaplan, their outgoing vice president of marketing in the U.S., gave an additional reason for the delay, one that seems to be a growing trend: getting the hell out of the way of the holiday onslaught.
Kaplan said the following about the new February 10, 2008 release date:
"Sunday is actually a really good launch day of the week for products. And I think we're actually starting to look at the annual calendar differently. The first two quarters of the year tend to be more quiet. But now we've seen some evidence of sales in that period. Other than the holiday quarter, I think the traditional way of viewing it is not necessarily a slam dunk. I think a really good product can be a slam dunk any time of the year."
Of course, Kaplan also said the extra time for polish contributed to the delay, saying "we see it [as] a little bit of a perfection program to make sure the game is absolutely as perfect as Japan knows it can be and it will." But for anyone who has ever complained about the glut of holiday releases -- as if publishers don't realize we like to play games all year round -- it's nice to see the message is being heard.
Fighting games and music have a long and storied history together. Here are five of the best fighting game stage themes throughout video game history.
Tekken Tag Tournament 1 Arcade OST - Nina Williams
Street Fighter 2 - Ken stage, Ryu Stage, Vega (Claw), and Guile
Street Fighter Alpha 3 - Karin theme
Tekken 3 Arcade OST - Hidden Characters Theme
Super Street Fighter 2 - Fei Long CPS1 version (found on Hyper SF2 A.E.)
Tekken 2 Arcade OST - Kazuya and Devil theme
Marvel vs Capcom 1 - Strider Theme, Ryu, and Roll
Should be some tunes from the first Mortal Kombat in any list tbh.
I really like the use of Mozart’s Dies Irae in Wolfgang Krausers stage in Fatal Fury 2.
Developers should always strive to make their products as balanced and fair as possible. Sometimes, video games feature a incredibly overpowered characters that just break the game.
You may have head of The 7 Deadly Sins in Christianity, but what about The 7 Deadly Sins of Game Design? Jason Capp is here to break it down.
Ya, find three items, kill three mini bosses, go to three dungeons. Things of three is a tired video game sweet spot number.
For me, it's collect-a-thons. They weren't fun in Donkey Kong or Banjo and Kazooie and they still aren't fun now. Why create these wonderfully oversized, detailed worlds if you are going to just supplement gameplay with ambiguous item fetch-quests.
There are exceptions, of course, But by and large, it just shows laziness on the part of the developer.
Good article, by the way!
Yeah. It is funny some of the design decisions made by developers. Another one that irks me is unskippable cutscenes, especially after you die after the cutscene and are forced to rewatch the unskippable cutscene AGAIN. I mean, who thinks that a great idea?! haha
how about not allowing cutscene skipping
that's flat out inexcusable in any game in the last 10 years
this comments are demanding a "The 4 Horsemen of The Apocalypse of Game Design Flaws" sequel
Did Nintendo forget about MGS4? >>;
Ehhhhh sounds like a lame excuse. I don't buy it.
But I will be buying Smash, regardless of when it comes out!
GOTY 07 has been moved to be GOTY 08 for that I'm not buying it only if ninty pushed it by 1 month i could deal with it's making me CRAZY!!!!!!!!
"Kaplan also said the extra time for polish contributed to the delay"
This is likely the reason. Let's face it, if Brawl is anything less than perfection, riots will break out.
That perfection takes time.
I don't buy all the timing. They know Brawl will sell 365 days a year, wgenever the release is.
SSB Melee was enough for me, I think i'll wait till Brawl hits the "greatest hits" category, and till the Wii hits the $99 price point. Until then, I'll play next-gen.