All-Stars Racing Transformed: The Racer Roster Thread

[Crazizzle]

Yeah, an Ecco cameo ala Ristar's in the original would be nice. He could've swam around in Seaside Hill. Or even the water of the After Burner course.

It's funny, mentioning characters from recent games being hard to include. I remember Sakurai made this point with Brawl. The only recent IP they had was Pikmin, nothing else stood out. It's interesting that this is true for Sega as well, though mostly because Sega's new IPs are photo realistic or XBLA/PSN fare.

[Stritix]

Shame they cut some of the Sonic characters out. I was hoping for the ones who were cut out to be replaced by other Sonic characters.

[DaN]

They only cut Big the Cat, and to be honest, I would have liked to see Blaze taking his spot, but if I think about it, it is better this way.

[S0L]

S0L, by what definition of established are you going for here? Is it simply being around for a long time, or if the series or characters are well known enough to warrant its appearance?

Well... In Ash's case, Hell Yeah wasn't even signed up by SEGA when we started and went through the character process, so that excluded him pretty much from the start.

Cast selection is always a tough process, but I can't give you some form of predetermined set of rules as so many factors have to be accounted for - like...

Character design visual appeal

Legal clearance

Desire for a mix of male and female characters

Suitability for vehicle design / gameplay

Scale

Age Rating

Desire for a mix of SEGA IP old and new

Marketing concerns

Approvability (in terms of how difficult is it to achieve sign-off with the original IP holder)

Available reference

Available VO

...and that's the tip of the iceburg. Generally it's a mix of me and Rex who vet the shortlist and come up with our preffered list. It's done on feel and what we know you guys like, but also with a mind to mixing the roster up. That then gets whittled and adjusted by SEGA to it's final incarnation, but even then, if we can get an agreed concept and design through, we still lose some characters along the way.

What you can't do (and I'm sure some of you would love too!) is use our selection rules to prove a case where a character should be included. It simply doesn't work that way

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S0L

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[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Why does everyone hate Billy Hatcher? I've been reading the past few pages and it seems you guys dislike Billy. Billy has every right to be in as he's a SEGA character and his debut game was an okay game. Not to mention Billy's kinda awesome.

[PsychoJosh]

Billy sucks.

[Teoskaven]

Billy sucks.

Have Billy killed your pet when you was young or something? I really, really don't get all this hate/prejudice.

[Marcello]

I like Billy. Nice design and he stems from a really unique and fun game.

[Komodin]

Billy sucks.

You know, it would be much easier to understand where you're coming from with your disinterest for Billy if you actually explained why you do. Just sayin'.

[buba]

Have Billy killed your pet when you was young or something? I really, really don't get all this hate/prejudice.

I don't like both his design and voice. Good lord that cock-a-doodle-doos really get on my nerves.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Tmsp

[Sega DogTagz]

You know, it would be much easier to understand where you're coming from with your disinterest for Billy if you actually explained why you do. Just sayin'.

I think Billy gets on people's nerves because he's a character that had 1 game, yet is always a lock to make these kinds of cross-overs. There are plenty of Sega IPs that saw multiple releases in their respective franchises that have yet to make the cut - So it looks like people take out that frustration of Billy.

[Marcello]

Amigo has only had one game and has been in all of the Allstars games and no one get's annoyed about him, though. The Chus Chus, too too.

[Sega DogTagz]

Amigo has only had one game and has been in all of the Allstars games and no one get's annoyed about him, though. The Chus Chus, too too.

Samba got an upgrade/sequel on the Wii a few years back, and I'm pretty sure he had a stint in the arcades as well.

Lets say he had 2.5-ish games.

As for the Chu's, they make a ton of cameo's, but they aren't the insta-lock that Billy has been in these kind of crossovers.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Sega DogTagz

[#EndyGate]

I think Billy gets on people's nerves because he's a character that had 1 game, yet is always a lock to make these kinds of cross-overs. There are plenty of Sega IPs that saw multiple releases in their respective franchises that have yet to make the cut - So it looks like people take out that frustration of Billy.

I can understand not liking the character on his own merits, but hating him simply because he got into these cross-over games over their favorite franchises just seems a bit petty and stupid. I personally like Billy, with his bright and cartoony personality, and all of the charm and wackiness found in his game, especially the unique concept behind it

Amigo has only had one game and has been in all of the Allstars games and no one get's annoyed about him, though. The Chus Chus, too too.

Amigo had about 3 games, actually (4 counting the arcade version)

[Sega DogTagz]

I can understand not liking the character on his own merits, but hating him simply because he got into these cross-over games over their favorite franchises just seems a bit petty and stupid. I personally like Billy, with his bright and cartoony personality, and all of the charm and wackiness found in his game, especially the unique concept behind it

Eh, its the principle of the matter. I hold no ill-will against Billy. He fits in pretty well to be honest.

But I'm not about to say the character isn't grossly over-represented in the annals of Sega's history. Nor would I be upset if someone else got a shot in his place.

[Marcello]

Samba got an upgrade/sequel on the Wii a few years back, and I'm pretty sure he had a stint in the arcades as well.

Lets say he had 2.5-ish games.

As for the Chu's, they make a ton of cameo's, but they aren't the insta-lock that Billy has been in these kind of crossovers.

If we count ports as additional games, Billy Hatcher was ported to Windows and Mac in 2006. So, I don't think we should count ports, even if they are slightly updated.

Also, Chu Chus were in the original Superstars and All Stars Racing just like Billy. Both of them were missing from Tennis. How exactly is Billy an "insta-lock"?

Amigo had about 3 games, actually (4 counting the arcade version)

He was in one with some upgraded ports. AFAIK, only one of them actually made it outside of Japan.

[#EndyGate]

If we count ports as additional games, Billy Hatcher was ported to Windows and Mac in 2006. So, I don't think we should count ports, even if they are slightly updated.

Also, Chu Chus were in the original Superstars and All Stars Racing just like Billy. Both of them were missing from Tennis. How exactly is Billy an "insta-lock"?

He was in one with some upgraded ports. AFAIK, only one of them actually made it outside of Japan.

I think the problem with Billy is more that he got three levels in the previous games, some of which could've been dedicated to other franchises.

As for Amigo, I know for a fact that both the Dreamcast and Wii games made it out of Japan, (though I'm not certain about version 2000), each of which had different selections of songs and new modes

[Sega DogTagz]

If we count ports as additional games, Billy Hatcher was ported to Windows and Mac in 2006. So, I don't think we should count ports, even if they are slightly updated.

Samba's Wii game might have not been a sequel, but it was bigger than a basic port.

On top of an Arcade release, I think 2.5 is a fair number.

Also, Chu Chus were in the original Superstars and All Stars Racing just like Billy. Both of them were missing from Tennis. How exactly is Billy an "insta-lock"?

This isn't an ASR issue. Its a Sega crossover one.

If Billy has pulled down a playable appearence in Transformed, then that would net him a spot in 2/3rds of Sumo's efforts, on top of playable appearances in both Sonic Riders games. Compared to the Chu's, you can't deny that Billy gets crazy over-exposure.

[Autosaver]

Is DLC locked in for current IPs or could we see a totally new IP brought in? I'd love to see a new character/map pack going for $4.99+ instead of just taking an already included IP.

Could we also see "Classic Packs"? As in, more levels brought in from the original that are retooled to fit the new game?

[Marcello]

OK, Sonic Riders, I didn't know he was in. However despite that, I don't think he's overexposed.

ChuChus were in Sonic Battle and had missions with them included in Tennis, though =P Ironically the cat from the series also could be hatched in Billy Hatcher.

I think the problem with Billy is more that he got three levels in the previous games, some of which could've been dedicated to other franchises.

I can agree with that. Thing is, that most likely won't happen with this game.

As for Amigo, I know for a fact that both the Dreamcast and Wii games made it out of Japan, (though I'm not certain about version 2000), each of which had different selections of songs and new modes

I mean only one port made it out and I was thinking of the Wii version. It has a lot of the same songs with some new ones.

[Chooch]

Billy wasn't playable in the first Sonic Riders game. It was NiGHTS, Ulala, and AiAi. They removed Ulala and AiAi in Zero Gravity and added Amigo and Billy Hatcher in their place.

..Aaaaand that's part of the reason Zero Gravity sucks. XP

Edited October 7, 2012 by Chooch

[#EndyGate]

Samba's Wii game might have not been a sequel, but it was bigger than a basic port.

On top of an Arcade release, I think 2.5 is a fair number.

This isn't an ASR issue. Its a Sega crossover one.

If Billy has pulled down a playable appearence in Transformed, then that would net him a spot in 2/3rds of Sumo's efforts, on top of playable appearances in both Sonic Riders games. Compared to the Chu's, you can't deny that Billy gets crazy over-exposure.

Billy was only playable in the second Sonic Riders (and there are actually three of them), also just because he made it into this one and the one before, it doesn't guarantee a return from him. So really this would only be his 4th time crossing over with other games (5th if you count his little cameo in Riders 1). The chu chus do have their fair share of cameo appearances, seeing as they have made cameos in games like Sonic Riders, Billy Hatcher, Sonic Battle, Sonic Riders (I believe Zero Gravity too), Sega Superstars, Sega Superstars Tennis, and possibly a few others that I can't name off the top of my head. So you can't say that they don't get a nice amount of exposure.

Billy wasn't playable in the first Sonic Riders game. It was NiGHTS, Ulala, and AiAi. They removed Ulala in Zero Gravity and added Billy Hatcher in her place.

..Aaaaand that's part of the reason Zero Gravity sucks. XP

Technically he replaced AiAi, who was the power type Sega guest of that game :U

Edited October 7, 2012 by The Marvelous Munchlax

[Chooch]

Yeah, I edited after I remembered that detail. Don't really remember much about Zero Gravity off the top of my head.

Still, yeah, he wasn't in the first Riders.

[Blue Blood]

Yeah, I like Billy but he's just a bit of a wash-out really. He was only ever in a very experimental game that didn't really take off and it was what, 9 years ago now? He's got an interesting design but that's it. Unlike NiGHTS, Ryo, Ulala, Beat, the ChuChu's or pretty much anyone else from SEGA's roster of dead franchises, Billy doesn't even have so much as a cult following.

[Chooch]

Well obviously an HD re-release of Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg is in order.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Chooch