The game still looks generic and bland, and the sound design, particularly on attack hits, is noticeably weak. The months since the EVO 2017 reveal trailer have brought some much needed improvements and polish to the game, but this can’t cover up some of the most stinging criticisms raised in response to that reveal trailer. They appeal to the existing fanbase with some derivative characters to draw them in while they can flex their creative muscles elsewhere, crafting their own unique identity.īut as someone who played in the beta from time to time, and now has full access to the character roster (I bit the bullet and bought a Pro Account), I can’t help but feel like this is all a fool’s errand. On paper, what they’re doing makes sense. The characters are speedy on the ground and fall fast, eschewing the floaty nature of the other Smash games. The core pricing model is free to play, and there have been minor system gameplay changes, such as the removal of L-canceling, a mechanic often considered a purely technical skill barrier, for universally lowered endlag on aerial attacks. And there are concessions made to appeal to a wider audience too. The intent is clear: to appeal to Melee players. Ashani and Xana look very much like Captain Falcon and Ganondorf. Kidd is a cute homage to professional Melee player Mango (because he’s the G.O.A.T., get it?), but he’s also very openly a “spacie” (Fox/Falco) rip-off. The initial trailer drew a fair share of criticism for having many of its character animations lifted directly from Melee, and it’s deserved. The shared influence is clearly visible in its gameplay as well. Icons falls into this weird uncanny valley of trying too hard to be Melee and distinctly not feeling like it at all. (Though it should be noted that it truly is just a handful- Icons is often paired with the phrase “developed by the former PMDT,” but it’s not that many people, though Strong Bad, one of the primary PMDT developers, is the lead game designer.) A Zhurong (aka female Marth) “ditto” match. Brawl play more like Melee before it evolved into its own entity. Icon’s development team also notably has a handful of former PMDT members-developers of the Project M mod, which aimed to make Super Smash Bros. The creative director of Icons, Jason Rice, might be more recognizable to old-school Smashers as M3D, a former competitor turned tournament organizer who ran Melee events as part of MLG’s professional circuit in the mid-2000s. The studio behind the game is called Wavedash Games, after one of the advanced movement techniques only possible in Melee (and technically originally from Tekken, though I would say that at this point the term wavedash is probably more strongly associated with Smash). They are inextricable, one game so clearly inspired by the other. Is following in the footsteps of Melee really a good idea? Icons hopes to usher in the new age of platform fighters-but can it pull it off in the face of the monolithic entity that is Super Smash Bros.? What is Icons: Combat Arena? But Melee is a game that attracts unabashed love as well as occasional controversy, a game whose beautiful idiosyncrasies are split between intentional and accidental constructions, a game disavowed by its creator, a game buoyed by a fervently passionate but sometimes insular hardcore community. As the game that birthed, then carried, the competitive Smash scene to prominence, it should come as no surprise that Melee in particular serves as a strong inspiration for some of these games. But the shadow of Smash, and Melee in particular, looms tall over them all. Many have a strong competitive bent to them as well, trying to build and cultivate their own hardcore communities. Brawlhalla, Brawlout, Rivals of Aether, Icons: Combat Arena, Slap City, and more have all released or gone into early access within the last couple of years. However, recent years have brought forth a new wave of platform fighters. For years, Smash was the only platform fighter of note amid a sea of licensed shovelware, fanworks, memes, and games that were simply lacking polish. For the longest time, it was a moniker applied solely to Super Smash Bros., and even then often only to differentiate the series from “traditional” fighting games-part of a long-running, probably fruitless discussion to determine whether or not Smash is a “true” fighting game. The “platform fighter” genre has existed for decades, even if the specific phrase to describe them didn’t reach mass relevance until years later. Meet the Newest Generation of Platform Fighters
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