Everyone already knows! Guardian Heroes is coming to XBL in widescreen with crazy 12 player vs mode. But what I didn't know is Sega's blog is leaking out new and old high res Guardian Heroes art. As the sort of person who occasionally hordes digital art, these are must-save files for me--you could print your own art book with it. I really hope Sega keeps posting it, I want more! More!
The thing that really surprised me is the quality of the new art up-close. It's all jaggedy--did he scan it into high res line art, or did he just get in there really intricately with a mouse? Or is it some kind of vector output? Even the color is sharp and jagged around the edges. It looks like the high res version of the sort of thing I would have created back when I didn't have a tablet, or any sort of fancy art programs. And the eyes! Is he using the circle tool?
Honestly I don't even really care for the new art, and even the old art was not all that special, except that it has a special place in my heart (aww) and likewise, I have a certain fascination with Han so I'm really curious to know how he works and any biographical information that might allow me to stalk him better.
The way I scan any form of lineart is to use a scanner, then use the threshold tool to separate it into white and black, which also has the effect of adding aliased edges. As an added bonus, it allows colouring with a fill can tool.
The end result looks pretty much the same as here (except my lineart sucks, so I stick to 3D.)
It took me about five years to discover Layer > Multiply. Now I can colour my lineart like I'm using felt tip pens! Which is great, because anything other than the paint tool is all high-tech wizardry for hipsters. Kids on my lawn, etc.
A lot more of these have gone up (maybe all of them?) but not all are in high res, I am disappointed to say. They've also gone completely crazy in terms of avatar items.
I was surprised to see those, I couldn't believe Guardian Heroes was big enough to have its own avatar store.
Is this update meant to have an original pixelized mode? Because that looks way better than the inkwash piss filter they're using to "update" the graphics to HD. There is no way to make HD graphics out of sprites designed for 15 year old technology without redoing them from the ground up, and frankly, even that Street Fighter 2 HD thing was hideous.
Either way, I guess I should be ashamed to say my avatar is now dressed as Ginjirou.
Yeah, it has a "classic" and "arrange" mode for the visuals.
I heard (I forget where) that the reason they're doing the game at all is because Treasure wanted to make another sequel, but Sega wanted them to "strengthen the brand" with a re-release of the original first. I suppose the reason they're really pushing it with stuff like the avatar store and whatnot is to increase awareness for the new game that comes later. If that's true and not just something I made up, anyway!
That's going to be an uphill battle for Sega. But hey, I really would love to see a new GH so I hope it proves more popular than I'm expecting. Also how is releasing it exclusively on one console helping to build awareness.
So it's out, you can now support any future GH-related decisions by buying the game rather than avatar items (though I guess you can do that too!) I've had some time with the arrange mode and it's certainly playable (the different control layout is hard to get used to), though it seems like they've opted to emphasize some different elements. Whereas the original had block on a face button, now it's a shoulder, and where the backstep was sort of "hidden" (block+weak attack), now it's a face button instead! The input priority is also different for blocking and shifting planes, which makes playing defensively a bit harder to do. That coupled with a new counter system makes me think they wanted to change up the way people played the game and be more aggressive.
The new translation is awesome and actually made me laugh out loud in places. I'm not sure if it's more accurate or just more coherent, at the very least, someone made an effort to make real sense of the story and it all comes clear easily now. There are a lot more funny lines compared to the relatively straight dialogue in the Saturn version, and that is a bit of a shift, especially for the main characters who we may not think of as a bunch of wise-crackers, but I think it really works. The Godats/Muscleheads are now called "Glutes" and everything they say is in rhyme, and Macho speaks in the third person. They changed the name of the best level name ever (formerly Insane Dance Party), but Zur makes surprising anachronistic statements ("I think I left my spine in the car") and even a reference to the old "Genesis Does" ad campaign. I love it!
And if you don't love it, you still can't outright skip the dialog, but the 360's back button kicks it into fast-forward mode, so Kanon's lengthy mid-game plot dump can now be passed in the space of a few seconds. Fantastic!
The counter system feels completely unnecessary (I'm still getting the hang of it) but I suppose will add some depth for multiplayer vs. I wonder if it's included as a reference to the counter-reliant Advance Guardian Heroes, or if it's something we'll need to get used to for the planned sequel? I've had the impression from the games Han works on specifically that he's been steadily working towards a kind of ideal counter/throw-based game mechanic that climaxed with Rakugaki Showtime (Advance GH is clearly influenced by it). I'd really like to see a more deliberate and refined take on the Rakugaki system for a GH sequel.
