PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is shaping up to be Sony’s biggest launch this year. The game – if players don’t already know – puts more than twenty of Sony’s PlayStation icons and has them beat each other to the death, a la super moves. The game’s stages are unique in which they blend two titles together, such as the Stowaways stage which blends elements of Uncharted and Bioshock Infinite together. That’s enough about the game, let’s get into the main point of the article – the kind of features one would expect in a Collector’s Edition.
For starters, seeing as this is Sony’s biggest launch, a Collector’s Edition is highly probable. However, since it is also a newly established title, that balances the same argument. All in all, a Collector’s Edition for a title with this many icons and this much PlayStation history would be absolutely fantastic, and has a lot of potential. Let’s get right into this:
PlayStation All-Stars Soundtrack
There are a lot of iconic songs in PlayStation’s history, crafted up by some of the greatest composers to date. Imagine the amount of history that can be packed onto one disc for this game? While these sort of things have practically gone full digital, I would prefer a physical CD as opposed to a digital download, solely because a soundtrack with this much history behind the music is definitely something collectors would take much pride with as opposed to solely listening to. Aside from original songs and scores, the soundtrack could also bring with it some iconic PlayStation Sound FX, such as the advertisement sound, the “Play-Sta-Tion” Chant and even the PS3′s iconic Trophy ding. Another spectacular idea for the soundtrack would be to organize the track list by eras. Let the PSOne era contain several songs from games like Ape Escape and Metal Gear Solid, while the PS3 Era has songs from games like Uncharted and Fat Princess. The eras can be separated by each system’s start up sound, a sort of intro to the era. I’ve compiled a track list of my ideal PlayStation All-Stars soundtrack, as well as a separate part for hopefuls based on characters I would like to make the final cut. Take a gander, and give any personal suggestions in the comments after the article:
- PSOne Era Intro (PSOne Start up Sound)
- “Twisted Metal” Theme (Sweet Tooth)
- “Ape Escape” Title Screen (Spike)
- Play-Sta-Tion! (PS Ads)
- “MediEvil” End Title (Sir Daniel)
- “Metal Gear Solid” Main Theme (Raiden)
- PlayStation Ad Sound
- As Bald As (Heihachi)
- I Gotta Believe! (PaRappa the Rapper)
- PS2 Era Intro (PS2 Start up Sound)
- Devils Never Cry (Dante)
- Helghan Forever (Colonel Radec)
- “God of War II” Main Theme (Kratos)
- Sandover Village (Jak & Daxter)
- “Sly 3″ Main Title (Sly Cooper)
- Veldin (Ratchet & Clank)
- PS3 Era Intro (PS3 Start up Sound)
- “Heavenly Sword” Main Theme (Nariko)
- Sleepyhead (Sackboy)
- The Ocean on His Shoulders (Big Daddy)
- Nate’s Theme 3.0 (Nathan Drake)
- PS3 Trophy Sound
- “Fat Princess” Main Theme (Fat Princess)
- Fade Away (Cole MacGrath & Evil Cole MacGrath)
- Genesis (PS All-Stars Theme)
Hopefuls:
- “Crash Bandicoot” Theme (Crash)
- “Spyro the Dragon” Theme (Spyro)
- Sanctuary (Sora)
- Castle in the Mist (Ico)
- If You Still Believe (Dart)
- “Final Fantasy VII” Theme (Cloud Strife)
- Resistance and Extermination (Kat)
- The Opened Way (Wander)
- Sgt. Nathan Hale Theme (Nathan Hale)
- Snake Eater (Big Boss)
Roster Statue
I fancy video game statues. Have a Nathan Drake statue, Batman statue and a Cole MacGrath statue. Prepared to be added to that list shortly is Kratos with God of War: Ascension. A statue for All-Stars could be difficult, what with the rather robust roster of the game, but two ideas come to mind on that note. For starters, it is entirely possible to craft together a statue fitting the entire roster. This could either be a rather large statue, showing them off perfectly, or even worked up to cram them in a somewhat smaller statue. The latter idea would be interesting to see, mainly because I can imagine numerous humorous ways they can get the characters to squander together tightly in one statue.
Another idea would be to create various Collector’s Editions to the game. Instead of creating a statue of the entire roster, perhaps a statue for one particular character. While it would be extremely more difficult and probably more cost-worthy, Sony and SuperBot could solve these in a variety of ways. For starters, each edition could be entirely reserve based, meaning create a very limited supply of each edition (named the Nathan Drake Edition, Kratos Edition, etc.) and ship them out to each store based on pre-orders. Another way to solve the issue would be to have Sony put out a poll, allowing players to vote for which character they would rather see in a Collector’s Edition, similar to what they did recently with the EU box art.
While both are great ways of getting around the roster issue for a statue, I would prefer the first simply because there are so many characters in the roster I would want a statue of. I’m sure there are many gamers out there with that same mindset.
Art Book
Along with video game statues, I’m a sucker for art books. Being someone aspires to enter this field in the long run, it is always interesting for me to take a look at the many steps it takes to craft these masterpieces we play. With that, concept art for the title is a must – stages, character designs, etc. However, an art book based on a game based on PlayStation icons also has a lot of room for extras that will leave PlayStation fans in awe. Throw in some never before seen concept art for hard hitting PlayStation classics like PaRappa the Rapper and the original MediEvil, and the art book would be more than satisfying to fans. While these titles are fairly old, it is still entirely possible. Only recently, new Ratchet and Clank concept art from original titles surfaced online. North American and European gamers can also get a never-before-seen look at some of Japan’s bigger characters like Toro Inoue and Spike (his design being based on a Japan exclusive ‘Ape Escape’). With the variety seen in the roster, and art book composing of PlayStation’s history falls in suit with the general theme of the actual game.
Strategy Guide
One thing a lot of fighting game fans use – a strategy guide. For other games, gamers look down on strategy guides as a method of cheating. For fighting games, however, it is a different ball game. Fighting games are about building strategies up and mastering character’s moves, combos, etc. For fans who want the jump start, why not throw in the strategy guide as well. While details aren’t out on what the strategy guide will include, it goes without saying it will break down character’s combos and strategies, teach players how to grab all the unlocks and the such. A must for most fighting game fans, throwing in the game’s official strategy guide would sure appeal to the masses.
DLC Voucher
Pre-order costumes
One thing I am a huge fan of is exclusive digital content with Collector’s Editions. ‘Batman: Arkham City’ brought with it a challenge map and a skin, ‘inFamous 2′ brought some exclusive powers and skins and All-Stars should be no different. While a pre-order bonus of exclusive alternate costumes was already revealed, this DLC voucher could push a lot of sales if it contains one of two things – exclusive characters or a Season Pass. A Season Pass could bring the retail price of this Collector’s Edition a bit high, so I would prefer exclusive characters. Four exclusive characters would be pushing boundaries, so two would be the more fair affair. On that same note, the characters would have to mean something to PlayStation gamers, not just last minute decision characters. Leave it to SuperBot, and I’m sure we won’t be disappointed. Also included in the voucher could be PlayStation Network Avatars, utilizing each of the character’s in-game icons, perhaps with the logo’s ‘AS’ branded on the avatar to show it’s from the game. Digital content is the future, and All-Stars will make use of it so why not let the collectors get an early start?
This is what I would like to see if a PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Collector’s Edition was to be announced. The CE could cost a pretty penny, but if this kind of content is what players can expect to see, it’s a pretty penny well worth it. Other items I would have liked to see include a poster of the entire roster and a Behind the Scenes Blu Ray, but the list above is what I would definitely shell the money out for. Is there any chance of this happening? Well, in the words of an inspirational, young MC: “You gotta believe!” Anything you wanna see in a possible Collector’s Edition? Let us known in the comments section below!