We Need Another Ikari Warriors

In 1986 SNK released Ikari Warriors, it had all the makings of a classic title. Cool weapons, time strategies, two player action and a great challenge. We’re now seeing folks reproduce some of the essence of classic games by creating platformers like Little Big Planet and Mega Man 9, where is the love for the top-down scrollers?

Ikari Wariors was one of the first game titles to use a rotary joystick along with a directional system. Looking at the current generation Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 it’s plain to see the joystick is equipped with this design. We’ve seen Geometry Wars utilize the analog stick to create a 360 directional attack, so it’s possible to utilize this behavior for Ikari Warriors.

Given SNK is still alive under the name SNK Playmore the intellectual property must still exist to breath fresh life into an Ikari Warrior remake, with about six to eight months development time a classy title could be re-developed using old concepts brought to the current generation hardware.

Blast grenades, RPG’s, smart bombs, air strikes the options are limitless and the concept has been proven to work. Given the gamer demographic of 18-34 it’s plain to see old gamers of the Arcade and NES would recall and rebuild their love for the title while attracting younger audiences whom have never seen an Ikari Warriors title; if it worked in 1986 are we so adverse to it working again?

Games do not have to implement full 3D perspective graphics to be cool, we’ve seen proof in that with the Wii and the demand for titles like Little Big Planet. We neeed another Ikari Warriors.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Exclusive Artist Deals In Rhythm Games Not Good?Exclusive Artist Deals In Rhythm Games Not Good?

Rhythm games are the new FPS for a lot of gamers, a broader audience of gamers, and the market is thriving and demanding new titles. Harmonix and Activision are at the front of the battle with Konami following a bit behind but still contending (we think) very soon.

Each company plans to up each other with cooler instruments, tighter controls and new in-game options and multi-player fancies. It’s a business and each competitor tries to gain a lead by whatever means needed to win… or do they?

Harmonix stops short when it comes to purchasing exclusive rights to music artists, for now at least. Harmonix’s Eric Brosious went on blogger record saying, “We prefer not to sign exclusive deals with artists because while it seems like the competitive “business” thing to do, in the long run, it’s really not good for anyone. We think we should be working to get more music out to more people.” (kotaku)

As Marky Mark once said, we need “Music for the people” not for in-game exclusives making us choose between Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles. We’ve seen what EA has done to the football franchise by taking control of the NFL roster, money talks and the best game doesn’t always win.

If Activision decides to buy up a ton of great exclusive content and you’re a rock band gamer, you’ll lose out in a ton of great content. For some gamers, that might mean losing out in some artists you’ve never heard before which also means the artist loses out in new fans. We’ve seen younger gamers fall in love with the sounds of Boston and The Police, bands famous way before the birth of many of the Rock Band fan base.

You can tell Harmonix is a development group with roots in music while Activision is a development group with their roots in business. While exclusive access brings you an advantage, in terms of broadening the culture of music, it does very little. Harmonix may be in the right but will that matter in the end when business deals hit the table?

p.s. sorry about the Marky Mark reference, but it had to be done. Bringing out a bit of my own childhood there…

Episode 718: PatchesEpisode 718: Patches

This podcast is full of patches and updates, but the guys also discuss Destiny finally getting Horde mode, PS VR2 production reportedly being paused as Sony seeks to move backlog of unsold units, the Stellaris spin-off changing its name to Nexus 5X, and Assassin’s Creed Jade likely delayed to 2025.

The news includes:

  • Stardew Valley‘s 1.6 update is finally live
  • Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection gets first patch following troubled launch
  • Marathon fan revival coming to Steam with Bungie’s blessing
  • Ubisoft reveals generative AI project for NPC dialogue
  • Palworld propels Xbox to best ever month of console playtime

Let us know what you think.

Episode 475: Sterling ReviewsEpisode 475: Sterling Reviews

This week’s episode is 50% longer as the first 20 minutes or so are devoted to the reaction to Jim Sterling’s explosive review of Hellblade and his subsequent recanting later that day. This week has no Gaming Flashback or Gaming History, but there are six news items to make up for it.

The items include:

  • EA talks about Nintendo Switch support
  • Rainbow Six: Siege “Operation Blood Orchid” update launches August 29
  • Myth-inspired RTS Deadhold charges into Early Access later this month
  • No Man’s Sky “Atlas Rises” update adds story content and “limited” online co-op
  • EA says Star Wars: Battlefront “lacked long-term goals”
  • Moons of Madness is Lovecraftian horror on Mars

Let us know what you think.