Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

People remember this game, right?  It was Sony's attempt at making their own version of Super Smash Bros., but unfortunately they didn't quite make the mark.  Personally I think one of the reasons for that was that Sony was more concerned with making money (and not off those who would buy the game) than actually making a decent end product and because of this, future DLC for the game had been cancelled and any possible sequel is kaput.  Which is a shame because I am a Sony fan as well as a Nintendo fan and would have liked to have played this game.

Now if there was going to be a possible sequel, here's a few things that I believe should either be cut or added to make the game work.

We'll start off with the characters.  Evil Cole is definitely a character that should be cut as aside from a different personality he doesn't seem to play any differently from his good counterpart.  The other characters I would cut would be the five third-party characters.

To those who don't know, the five third-party characters on the roster are Heihachi from Tekken, Raiden from Metal Gear Rising, Big Daddy from Bioshock, Donte from DmC, and Isaac Clarke from Dead Space.  Now as to why I believe they should be cut, it's because of why they were added in the first place.

When Nintendo added third-party characters to SSB, they at least waited until the third game in the series to do it and even then it feels like the SSB series celebrates these third-party characters and their success in doing so.  With Sony on the other hand it felt like more like a cash grab and advertisement, especially since all but Heihachi had games that were coming out after PSASBR came out.  This is much more blatant with them using Raiden and Donte over Snake and Dante to represent the Metal Gear series and Devil May Cry series.

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale was released on November 20, 2012.
DmC: Devil May Cry was released on January 15, 2013.
Dead Space 3 was released on February 5, 2013.
Metal Gear Rising was released on February 19, 2013.
BioShock Infinite was released on March 26, 2013.

As you can see, the inclusion of the third-party characters feels more like they were added just to advertise the upcoming games more than anything else.

Now that is not to say Nintendo hasn't done something similar.  Roy was added to Melee to advertise Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, but since that is a Nintendo owned game that is technically okay.  Snake's inclusion in Brawl helped advertise Metal Gear Solid 4 (even more obvious with the inclusion of Gekko and a MGS4 music track) and Ryu's inclusion in SSB4 could be seen as advertisement for Street Fighter V.  The only difference here is that both MG4 and SFV are Playstation games and haven't and won't be on Nintendo consoles.  Nintendo makes no money by advertising games that are only on a rival console, so by advertising these games despite of them not being on their own consoles Nintendo is saying "these are great games from fantastic series, so you should go by them regardless".  So to reiterate, third-party characters in SSB feels more like a celebration of those characters and their success while in PSASBR it's a cash grab.

Anyway, to get back on track after that mini rant, we move onto characters I feel should be added to the roster and why they should be.

Robbit from the Jumping Flash! series - Jumping Flash! was first released on November 1, 1995 here in the US and while I never played it, I have played the sequel and it was one of my favorite games from the original Playstation, so it was disappointing that he wasn't on the roster.  I feel that since Robbit comes from such a unique Sony series that he should have had some sort of representation.  Some might say that it's because he hasn't had a new game since 1999, but PaRappa hasn't had a game since 2001 and he still got in.  Anyway, go check out the first two Jumping Flash! games, both of which can be found on the PSN on the PS3.

Dart from Legend of Dragoon - For those who don't know, Dart was originally going to be DLC for PSASBR before they decided to stop all future DLC.  This is a shame as LoD is a fantastic game, especially if you're a fan of RPGs, and has become a cult classic because of this.  Sony should have allowed any and all DLC they had left to be released so fans could have played as Dart and usher in a whole new wave of fans.

Toan from Dark Cloud - Can I just say that I love this game?  I love the concept of having to rebuild the villages by having to collect the buildings and villagers from the dungeons.  Plus, by setting up the villages in certain ways will you get extra rewards.  Anyway, Toan, being the main character of the game, would be a perfect addition to the roster.

Wander from Shadow of the Colossus - One would think that since it has become one of Sony's most successful games, that there would be some sort of representation for it is PSASBR, but there is nothing.  Adding Wander to the roster would bring this game back to the forefront and a stage to represent this game could have players fight on top of a Colossus.  Also, since Shadow of the Colossus is a prequel to Ico, that game could also get some exposure in the process.

Mister Mosquito - Coming from the self-titled game, this character might be obscure but he's still part of Sony's first-party library.  The game might be weird because of the concept, but much like Robbit, I feel he would bring some uniqueness to the roster and having to fight on a Mister Mosquito stage while having to dodge the Yamada Family is strangely interesting.

Jaster from Rogue Galaxy - Rogue Galaxy is a rare gem on the PS2.  It's an RPG, but doesn't play like an RPG.  Plus, it has a grid level up system, something that I really like in video games like this.  Jaster, the main character, is a space pirate of sorts and I feel that given his personality that he'd fit perfectly on the roster.

Joel from The Last of Us - Personally, I do not care for this game.  I don't like zombie games and Ellie and her personality were also a big turn off for me, but I did like Joel and would like to see him playable in a possible PSASBR sequel.  Joel had this personality that put him on the middle ground; he was an evil man, but he wasn't outright good either.  He was just a man trying to survive in the world he lived in and I feel he'd be different from all of the other Sony characters.  Plus, Nathan Drake is already on the roster, so it wouldn't be too hard to come up with a moveset for Joel since he's somewhat similar to Nathan Drake in terms of abilities.

Hm, I guess that would be it in terms of characters as my mind is drawing a blank as to what other Sony characters could be on the roster.  You'll notice though that I did not list Crash Bandicoot or Spyro the Dragon as they are no longer Sony character but third-party characters now, so they can't be included in this.  If any fans of PSASBR out there would like to add their thoughts on which Sony characters they'd like to see in a possible sequel, feel free to say so in the comments.