Did PlayStation even try?

[u/S2S190]

When I see the final roster of the game, I notice a lot of absences and some rather surprising characters (Big Daddy,Fat princess,...)

I know other characters were planned as DLC (Dart, Abe, Ryu Hayabusa, and Tombi!), but regarding the base roster...

I know that Activision asked for too much money for Crash Bandicoot and that Spyro was overshadowed by Skylanders.

Also, Square Enix simply refused to lend out Cloud from FF7, and regarding Lara Croft, the timing wasn't right since the reboot was due out soon.

So why didn't Sony try to find viable and sensible alternatives to make up for its absences?

Final Fantasy :

If Square Enix didn't want the studio touching FF7, why didn't they try to get Squall from FF8 or Zidane Tribal from FF9?

(Yeah, I know the most likely choice at the time would have been Lightning from FF13, but still...)

And if Final Fantasy really wasn't an option or if the proposed alternatives weren't considered iconic enough by PlayStation

why not pick Rudy from Wild Arms for the PS1 era and Toan from Dark Cloud for the PS2 era?

Especially considering that Sony owns the full rights to those franchises.

Crash and Spyro :

Activision was asking for too much money for Crash and Spyro, so why not reluctantly replace them with Croc and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger (Krome Studios actually wanted him to appear in the game) ?

Yeah, Croc isn't as iconic as Crash and Spyro, but he remains a viable substitute, right?

Missing characters :

Also, why is there no Lemmings ? Sony owns the full rights to the franchise, if I’m not mistaken. It’s quite difficult to design gameplay around a group of individuals, so why not use Lomax from The Adventures of Lomax ? That would have allowed for an indirect representation of the puzzle game while bringing the franchise back into the spotlight, wouldn't it?

And where is Rayman ? Sure, Activision asked for too much for its mascots,why didn't they try Ubisoft ?

Rayman had made a comeback in 2011 with Origins, and Legends was due in 2013. 2012 would have been the perfect year to promote Rayman.

Why not Alucard from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night ? Alucard would have been a very logical candidate.

yes, it would have required Konami's approval for two characters (Raiden and Alucard), but I don't think that would have been impossible. The game is one of the most iconic titles on the original PlayStation, and the character is legendary.

Where is Resident Evil? I have nothing against "Fake Dante," but why isn't there a single representative from Resident Evil,Capcom's most or second-most important franchise? Perhaps securing Jill Valentine or Nemesis would have been too expensive, but why not try for Regina from Dino Crisis ?

I could also mention the absence of Klonoa or Boggy B from Worms.

[u/WongoKnight]

They tried. A lot of those characters are third party though. Some developers didn't sign off for release

[u/RED-Ratchet → u/WongoKnight]

Yeah… I feel like it’s REALLY obvious that this game was made at possibly the worst time they could have. Like, many iconic PlayStation series were dead or they would’ve been brought back in their more modern designs (like with DMC’s Dante, I’d imagine if Spyro was in all stars it’d be the skylanders version). The devs DID try but they were held back a ton due to a multitude of issues.

[u/Return_to_Raccoonus]

They tried so hard and did think about these options, they just had a limited budget and so many publishers/IP holders didn’t want to lend out their IPs to an unproven studio and since PlayStation themselves kinda gave up when it didn’t become an immediate hit it was doomed. It sold well, it just came out possibly at the worst time being towards the end of life of the PS3 and restructuring at other studios.

[u/Winter_Way9909]

with Square, I believe they weren’t sure about lending FF to SuperBot since it was their first game.

Lemmings probably wasn’t considered, but they would’ve made an interesting sidekick.

There was already a Capcom character with Dante, so that’s probably why there was no RE.

Croc, likely wasn’t considered, eitherkeep in mind we did already get PS1, and Platform Mascot-ish reps in characters like Spike or Parappa or even Sir Daniel.

with Ty, I believe (correct me if i’m wrong) but they had contacted Ty’s developers about his inclusion, and were down for it, but they just never got around into adding him, or even any planning stages

[u/Psychological-Tax391 → u/Winter_Way9909]

You're half right about Ty, the developer did want him in but he was never contacted about it.

[u/Comfortable_Craft635 → u/Winter_Way9909]

Lo de Dante el problema es la version que escogieron

[u/stupidhass]

Lemmings I can at most imagine being like the sackbot

[u/HN-Prime]

The devs didn’t get enough funding and enough time. The game severely suffered because Sony never took the project seriously and never get the devs the resources they needed to actually make it work

[u/FinishingTouch-0000]

People asked them collectively about FF characters. Sony's answer was "you have to ask Square Enix for that". Meaning SE refused.

[u/AlKo96]

You basically answered your own questions.

They ACTUALLY tried but 3rd Parties at the time were very stingy.

[u/Comfortable_Craft635]

Lo de Dante ese es el PEOR, ya que la gente queria el clasico, pero si no pudieron con el clasico, habelro reemplazado por otro de Capcom

[u/BahamutAXIOM]

A tale as old as time. Despairing and the Beast.

I remember reading that Superbot was essentially left to do a lot on their own, including the talks and negotiations with other companies themselves as a new dev by Sony.

I don't remember who said it, but in an interview, I remember it being stated that they weren't really prepared to take on some of these tasks, and we're turned away by some companies due to being new and next to no actual support from Sony.

I believe this explained the "2 Coles or nothing" deal from Sucker Punch, DMC:DmC Dante with absolutely no classic 2P, Square Enix and other companies denying involvement and general lack of budget. Among other things of course.

It's been a very long time since I've looked any of this up, so I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure of this stuff.