Chapter 864: Fires of Life

On Chen Xu's official Weibo account, there was only a very simple piece of information, yet it made many players reveal expressions of astonishment.

“《Star Smash Bros.》， an entertaining action game that pleasantly sends various popular game characters flying.”

As Chen Xu's Weibo post went live, all the players were instantly filled with excitement.

Various classic characters brought together? It's indeed an IP game!

Regarding this, although it wasn't unexpected given Nebula Games' series of actions, it still made many players very excited.

Lord Guan fighting Qin Qiong, a cross-time and cross-dimensional comparison of combat power—this is one of the players' favorite things to do.

Taking a character from Game A and pitting them against a character from Game B, then trying to find a series of arguments to convince the other party. It's safe to say that this type of topic has never been absent from any community forum.

This also includes various character model MODs, bringing characters from one game into another; players have done no shortage of such things.

And now, there's actually an official version of a game that brings together major IP characters?

Many players were surprised and excited, but along with that came some astonishment.

“Pleasantly send various popular game characters flying?”

What kind of gameplay is that?!

Looking at Chen Xu's official Weibo post, many players were baffled.

As if anticipating the players' confusion, less than ten minutes after releasing that message on the official Weibo account, Nebula Games' official Weibo account posted a video attachment.

And the content of this video stunned both players and major game developers.

It wasn't a very long video, only about ten seconds, showing a demo animation.

In the animation, Mario the plumber uncle, wearing a red hat, was battling Bowser on a wide platform.

After a series of attacks, Mario was knocked off the platform. Bowser then rushed up, grabbed Mario, and unleashed a mutual annihilation move, rapidly plummeting downwards.

Accompanied by a “GAME!”, the video abruptly ceased.

However, this short ten-second video already revealed enough content.

If Chen Xu's earlier statement on the official Weibo account about it being “an entertaining action game that pleasantly sends popular game characters flying” had baffled many players and game industry designers,

Then the current video allowed many players and industry developers to see the truth.

What action game?! This isn't a fighting game?!

And it's a side-scrolling fighting game at that!

This instantly sparked countless discussions.

“No way? Did I see that right? Isn't this just a fighting game?”

“Holy cow, a fighting game? Is Mr. Chen planning a literary renaissance?”

“Honestly, such a massive IP compilation plus a fighting game, if it weren't Nebula Games, I'd feel it was a money-grabbing product right now.”

“Fighting games, how many years has it been since a new one came out?”

“Since Mr. Chen launched a fighting game, he must have some ideas!”

“So this will be a revolutionary fighting game?”

“What revolution can there be in a fighting game?”

“No, didn't you notice? The combat performance in this video is a little different from traditional fighting games!”

Innumerable players and the gaming industry were buzzing with discussion.

After all, this was truly astonishing.

For any other game developer, this approach of combining IPs with a fighting game would generally feel like a money-grabbing game, but this game was made by Nebula Games.

At the same time, compared to ordinary players, major developers in the gaming industry had more acute information.

Before this, Nebula Games had been discussing various IPs, and many couldn't figure out what Nebula Games wanted to do, but they never expected it would be to make a fighting game.

This could be said to be an extremely niche genre.

Sales of several hundred thousand could be called excellent.

Sales exceeding a million could be called a major IP.

As for fighting games that could break ten million in sales for a single title, excluding those with frequent discounts, they generally remained in the past decade or so.

In fact, compared to horror games, fighting games seemed even more niche.

Although Nebula Games had managed to revive the declining MMORPG genre with Warcraft back then.

Its latest 'Wrath of the Lich King' expansion even made other major developers wary of its prowess.

But MMORPGs and fighting games still had quite a difference.

And Nebula Games' Star Smash Bros. title, from the demo animation, was even a side-scrolling fighting game.

Even with VR implementation, a side-scrolling fighting game like this clearly wouldn't be focusing on technological prowess.

The reason Warcraft became globally popular back then was partly due to the potential market brought by the Warcraft IP, and partly because Warcraft at the time represented the cutting-edge technology on the VR platform. The vast continent of Azeroth was equivalent to a huge open world, and the lifelike NPCs and rich dungeons were what made it an instant hit.

However, Star Smash Bros. clearly couldn't showcase Nebula Games' power in terms of technology.

So, would it rely on gameplay?

The inherent flaws of fighting games were already there; how would Nebula Games solve them?

……………………

The fighting game genre surprised many players and also sparked a lot of controversy.

Of course, many players still trusted Nebula Games, as years of high-quality games had filled them with confidence.

“Everyone, stop guessing. Even if it's a fighting game, I believe Chen Xu can still make it shine, and with such a large investment, there’s no way Chen Xu is just messing around again, right?”

But whether they believed it or not, Star Smash Bros. had clearly become a hot topic of discussion.

Even the news of Arthas's first kill in the 'Wrath of the Lich King' new version was overshadowed.

This made the guild that successfully achieved the first kill incredibly frustrated.

In the past, when Warcraft had a first kill or broke a dungeon record, major media websites would all make it their headline.

Now, the new version hadn't been out for long, and they got a first kill, but why was no one paying much attention?

However, their exasperation had just begun.

Because on the afternoon of the very day they achieved the first kill, Nebula Games' official website released a brand new URL.

The moment the URL was opened, countless players instantly perked up.

At that moment, no one cared about dungeon first kills anymore.

Because on this day, when countless players opened the Nebula Games Platform, a pop-up window appeared directly.

The promotional CG for the new game, which had been discussed by players during this period, was revealed.

As Nebula Games' LOGO appeared, the theme song, titled 'Fires of Life', began.

Numerous characters familiar to players appeared on the screen.

Mario, Link, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Cloud, Pyra and Mythra, Luigi...

What surprised players was how harmonized the art style of these characters was.

This was also the most complex aspect of Star Smash Bros..

Although all characters retained their original art models, they still needed subtle adjustments.

For example, as one of the first participating characters, Mario the plumber uncle, his appearance in the game still required artistic modifications.

In multiple Mario games, Mario's image has always been cartoonish, but in Star Smash Bros., the art team had to find a way to make this Mario less cartoonish.

Yet, they couldn't change the overall image of the Mario character. The original Mario is a classic cartoon character; you couldn't make him a truly realistic character just to make him less cartoonish. That would be a joke to players, not to mention whether it fit the overall harmonious art style of the game; the players' complaints alone would drown you. Conversely, it's impossible to make a realistic character completely cartoonish.

So, to modify it, they could only work on Mario's clothing materials.

For example, his hat and his jeans could be replaced with more realistic materials.

The same operation happened to other characters.

These IP characters, incredibly familiar to players, gathered together, looking up at the firmament as if awaiting something.

“Today, we settle this!”

Someone in the crowd spoke.

As the words fell, the firmament was torn apart by a giant plaster-like hand.

Then, a monster enveloped in light, like a seraphim, appeared in the sky.

Mysterious power surged from its body, and under the control of this power, countless plaster hands emerged.

“Since it has come to this, we can only fight.”

“If it's us, we can definitely win.”

Facing the mysterious enemy, countless popular characters from different game worlds encouraged each other, standing ready for battle.

As light bloomed in the firmament, that mysterious power rushed towards every hero.

Bowser's flames were enveloped by a mysterious light, Sirens flying in the sky were pierced by colorful light, Link's shield, which could parry, was directly penetrated by the powerful beam after a single block, and Yoshi, who tried to swallow the light, was disintegrated by this mysterious force. The Undead, clad in armor, attempted to dodge with invincibility frames from rolling, but couldn't last even a second. Mario, who had eaten a Super Star, could only be devoured by that mysterious power along with Bowser once the Super Star's effect wore off.

All characters from different IPs perished.

Only a pink orb managed to escape under the pursuit of the light beam, transforming into stars and fleeing the crisis.

Some hardcore players recognized this character as Kirby from the Switch platform.

Chen Xu had actually developed some classic games from his previous life.

However, they weren't released as standalone titles, but rather as complementary games on platforms like the Switch.

For example, Kirby and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

For Star Smash Bros., choosing who would be the protagonist wasn't a big problem. Compared to other characters, many players might not even know about Kirby, this pink demon.

But after some thought, Chen Xu still chose Kirby as the protagonist for the story mode.

This was a tribute to the story behind the birth of Super Smash Bros. in his previous life.

Furthermore, from a game promotion perspective, the Kirby character was quite suitable. Firstly, its Q-style cute, cartoonish art style appealed to all ages; it might not make players feel the character was incredibly cool or instantly fall in love, but they definitely wouldn't dislike it. And this was extremely important, as Star Smash Bros. was positioned as an entertainment and casual game suitable for all ages.

The video continued with Kirby's escape.

The camera gradually zoomed out, and the entire universe appeared on the screen.

In a white light, the universe experienced a Big Bang.

After a brief black screen, in a world like a deep abyss, countless light clusters appeared out of nowhere, containing the heroes from before.

Mario, Yoshi, Link, Pyra and Mythra... they were all imprisoned.

Next, in the distant sky, light flashed, and Kirby, who had escaped on a star, returned once again.

At the same time, the theme song 'Fires of Life' echoed.

Standing on the edge of a cliff, Kirby gazed into the distance. The once beautiful world was now ravaged, and of countless heroes, only Kirby remained.

Cities, mountains, oceans, the underworld—everything was shrouded in mist, and at the deepest part was the mastermind behind that mysterious power.

In the next second, the scene shifted to a dark world. Mario, with eyes closed, was bound by blue chains, and golden liquid poured onto his head.

Then, at Mario's feet, a gray character identical to Mario appeared. Mysterious light was injected into it, and its eyes flared with a scarlet glow.

Behind Mario were countless other heroes in the same predicament.

The mysterious mastermind was using evil power to create copies of these heroes.

Finally, the camera returned to Kirby's perspective. Traversing mountains and forests, Kirby was going to save his companions.

In the next second, the screen went black.

On the pitch-black screen, a line of gold-gilded characters slowly reappeared.

“The Star Smash Bros. Direct Presentation Launch Event will be officially held on August 8th!”

(End of Chapter) <>