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[thefro]

Syn Sophia needs to co-develop a MMA game for someone.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

Syn Sophia needs to co-develop a MMA game for someone.

They could've made such a badass "Which Style Is Better" tournament style game like we constantly see in action movies. Hell, Fight For NY was halfway there, just way over the top.

 

[echoshifting]

Virtually all of the EA Sports Big franchises were great. Def Jam, SSX, NFL Street, NBA Street...to a lesser extent Sled Storm and Freekstyle...now look at them. Every single one of these franchises is effectively dead...isn't the Big studio itself shuttered, as well?

Just about the most depressing transition between this generation and the last was what happened to Big...those were among my favorite games in the PS2 era. =/ Fortunately many of them still hold up, including FfNY...still sucks though.

 

[Lemmy Caution]

I haven't thought about this game in quite a while. I may have to fire up my gamecube copy on the Wii when I get home and throw some poor sucka in front of a subway train.

I did get an N64 hooked up recently and have taken to playing some No Mercy while listening to records.

 

[Kintaro]

If you hated what they did to Def Jam, you're going to love what they're doing to Fight Night...

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-losing-fight-night/708957

Oi vey...

 

[I AM JOHN!]

This thread makes me so sad. I love Def Jam Vendetta so much.

 

[Xater]

I've read numerous times that they've responded to fan e-mails saying that they'd love to make more wrestling games, but don't have any studios asking.

Shit, that is depressing. I don't even understand how this is possible. They have proven multiple times that they can create an awesome wrestling title.

Personally I liked the first Def Jam but the real love started with FFNY. I played the shit out of that game. Of course I also enjoyed Aki's wrestling titles on the N64.

I really wished THQ had the balls to get rid of Yukes and give the money to Aki instead. Their wrestling series needed an overhaul for years and Yukes is clearly not going to deliver it.

 

[Bizzyb]

That's the thing, I knew a bunch of people who weren't deep into wrestling games, or fighters, yet they enjoyed the first 2 games a lot, especially in 4 player Free For Alls. They went and changed developers, and overhauled something that didn't need to be reinvented, or handed off to a different team. Unless there were some major internal problems between the AKI team, and the people at EA that couldn't be resolved, I truly don't understand the change.

Well, it seems to me EA wanted to do it in-house as to avoid having to increase pay to AKI. Everyone knew that the franchise was taking off and was successful. AKI probably wanted to use that as leverage for a Pay increase. EA probably said "fuck you, we'll get our superior fight night people to do it"

(cause obviously boxing is JUST like wrestling/fighting, right....right??)

Obviously EA fucked the franchise up, just like they're going to do with SSX....(I pray that I am wrong)

 

[bishoptl]

I never got around to playing Fight For NY. Is it still worth it?

Absolutely, I just replayed FFNY story mode on PS2 in early December. Gameplay is still tight as a drum, years later. If you can find a copy, snap it up immediately.

 

[rvy]

I love you, OP. Completely right.

 

[akilshohen]

Well, it seems to me EA wanted to do it in-house as to avoid having to increase pay to AKI. Everyone knew that the franchise was taking off and was successful. AKI probably wanted to use that as leverage for a Pay increase. EA probably said "fuck you, we'll get our superior fight night people to do it"

(cause obviously boxing is JUST like wrestling/fighting, right....right??)

Icon had some other silly stuff going on too. Wasn't one of the fighting styles called Jawbreaka
They thought the sales from the first two just gave them a free license to do whatever

Sidenote: I got a Kawanzaa present :lol .....the Wu-Tang game on PSOne. Anyone ever played it? Plays a bit like 4 player FFNY

 

[Kimosabae]

Never liked these games. I guess I can see why peeps found them fun, but I never could play them for any extended period of time. I was a huge EA Big fan at the time too, but I hated the direction they were taking their games at the time. They began to overextend themselves in regards to 'Gamebreaker' style systems. The 'Blazin' meter was a real turn off. Games in general felt slow and sluggish to me.

I tried hard to like these games, but couldn't. Last thing I ever rented was Def Jam FFNY, and I racked up a 300 dollar late fee, because I never wanted to return it without giving it a fair chance. That never happened.

To be fair, I never liked wrestling games.

That said, if AKI ever does revisit this franchise, I'll pay attention.

 

[The Antitype]

I LOVED Def Jam 2.

LOVED IT. And I HATE rap and hip-hop culture. It didn't matter. The gameplay was so damn good, I got over it and had a blast.

I loved building up a fighter and mixing fighting styles to create the ultimate MMA badass.

 

[Vandiger]

Tragic, agree with all the comments posted.

 

[ant_]

Loved the Def Jam series, played Icon - it was "OK" but it was definately no Fight For New York. I enjoyed the story progression of fight for new york, and creating my own character and stuff. Fun games, great gameplay

 

[yencid]

Def jam fight for new york was amazing to me. The fighting system, the variety of fighting styles and the character story where all fucking amazing. I was expecting an HD game with that kind of gameplay.... was greatly disappointed.

 

[Glix]

Icon had some other silly stuff going on too. Wasn't one of the fighting styles called Jawbreaka
They thought the sales from the first two just gave them a free license to do whatever

Sidenote: I got a Kawanzaa present :lol .....the Wu-Tang game on PSOne. Anyone ever played it? Plays a bit like 4 player FFNY

I'm pretty sure it uses the thrill kill engine!

 

[SolidSnakex]

I'm pretty sure it uses the thrill kill engine!

Yep, the developer had to make a different game after EA bought the original publisher and refused to release Thrill Kill or even sell it to anyone because they didn't feel that a game with its content should be on the market.

 

[Glix]

Yep, the developer had to make a different game after EA bought the original publisher and refused to release Thrill Kill or even sell it to anyone because they didn't feel that a game with its content should be on the market.

Another reason why hacking consoles is good. Some people actually got to play Thrill Kill.

 

[MjFrancis]

Yeah, but it was still unfortunate that once you got past the blood and gore, the game sucked balls. If EA said they wouldn't release it because it sucked, that would have been better.

 

[eternaLightness]

I used to love these games so much. I think I enjoyed Vendetta more than FFNY because it was more of a pure wrestling game rather than a fighter. I'm tempted to get them again.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

I used to love these games so much. I think I enjoyed Vendetta more than FFNY because it was more of a pure wrestling game rather than a fighter. I'm tempted to get them again.

A lot of people felt like that at the time, and even I admittedly was a bit frustrated at the removal of Pins in FFNY, and at how quickly you could end the fights, but once you change your mindset and realize that FFNY is a FIGHTER with wrestling in it, I found it easier to just let go, and have fun.

 

[Ken Masters]

NBA Street being canceled was 100x the travesty of Def Jam fighting games being done


also, we went from NFL Street to the piece of shit that is called Madden Arcade

 

[Haunted]

FOCUSED ON FIGHTING TO MATCH THE ENVIRONMENT WHICH WAS BUMPING TO THE BEAT OF WHATEVER SONG WAS PLAYING AT THE TIME

I still think that's a pretty cool idea, in theory at least.

 

[RedSwirl]

Huh, apparently this developer was involved with the Yakuza PSP spin-off. I want to play it now.

 

[SnakeXs]

All those have Wu Tang: Shaolin Style to thank, which in turn has Thrill fucking Kill to thank. The deeper you go, the better things get.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

Huh, apparently this developer was involved with the Yakuza PSP spin-off. I want to play it now.

Yeah man, me and a couple of other folks had a discussions about that in a "Favorite Wrestling Game" thread a couple of weeks ago.

Some Gameplay

They're still using some of those classic AKI Engine animations.

 

[The Shadow]

People are shocked by this? This is pretty much EA's modus operandi.

 

[GhaleonQ]

Huh, apparently this developer was involved with the Yakuza PSP spin-off. I want to play it now.

Actua-

Yeah man, me and a couple of other folks had a discussions about that in a "Favorite Wrestling Game" thread a couple of weeks ago.

Some Gameplay

They're still using some of those classic AKI Engine animations.

I was beaten to it (and you should want to play it, anyway).

http://www.syn-sophia.co.jp/contents/index.html

Cross Treasures is supposedly not awful, either. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2rqfjjmXXo

 

[Soulstar]

Man that OP echos my experiences so well it's frightening. Those first to games got some much play in my group of friends and ICON was a major disappointment. Adding insult the injury Kudo Tsunoda even verbally trashed AKI and fighting games in general during the development of ICON.

 

[Messi]

If you hated what they did to Def Jam, you're going to love what they're doing to Fight Night...

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/exclusive-losing-fight-night/708957

Oi vey...

Would you rather the usual calendar going fight to fight? its boring and tired. I like where ea is going with this. The game will still have all the usual boxers in exhibition. I kinda admire EA for trying something new here. That trailer made me want to play it. It also gave me a wierd def jam vibe. It seems like a story that would fit in a def jam game.

But then again they fucked def jam when they tried something new.

 

[bluenatas09]

Ugh. I remember playing through the first Def Jam and being pleasantly surprised. The second, fell in love again.

Then I tried the demo for the third.

Walked away from the series right there...depressed.

 

[YoungHav]

why did EA switch devs?

 

[Aku-Audi]

I recently did an article for Hardcore Gaming 101 about AKI and their wrestling games which eventually formed into Def Jam. It's probably not as well written as it should be due to English being a second language but i tried to look at the evolution of Def Jam (and Ultimate Muscle) a bit at the end.

HG101: AKI Wrestling Games

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

I recently did an article for Hardcore Gaming 101 about AKI and their wrestling games which eventually formed into Def Jam. It's probably not as well written as it should be due to English being a second language but i tried to look at the evolution of Def Jam (and Ultimate Muscle) a bit at the end.

HG101: AKI Wrestling Games

AKI was free to make games for other promotions now and EA actually contracted them right away to develop WCW Mayhem 2, a sequel scheduled to be released on PS2. These plans were also scrapped when WWF bought out WCW to end the decade long war between them. There exist a few screenshots from WCW Mayhem 2 but not much if anything is known about WWF Backlash. AKI would never return to make another game for any major wrestling promotion.

:[

 

[MjFrancis]

I was able to grab a grubby Playstation 2 copy of Fight for New York for a little less than $20 at Gamestop. I could have found it for cheaper online, but the recollection of this thread made this an impulse buy for me. I wanted to play it immediately! I almost bought the Gamecube version, but I'm glad I passed on it after reading about the lack of a player VO, so I'm sure the port has other omissions as well.

I've only dabbled in the game for a bit, but I'm surprised how much of it is still holding up. It really emphasizes how much Icon got wrong. It has less than half the number of stages available in this game, for starters.

I've still got an eye out for Vendetta so I can complete the collection.

 

[dskillzhtown]

While Icon was the worst in the series and an abomination, on it's own I would have loved it more.
I do like the game and enjoyed playing it. I liked getting to play as Jeezy and T.I. and Sean Paul and remixing the music. The levels moving with the music and stuff was cool. But as a Def Jam fighting game, it was horrible.

Agreed to a point. I loved the look of the game (especially the backgrounds), the ideas they threw into it, and the music incorporated into the fights. But the actual fighting is what was the problem, IMO.

 

[MjFrancis]

You know you're in for it when you get just about everything right in a game except for the core game mechanics. Poor EA Chicago.