Greater than ten years after its debut on the Xbox 360, the colourful, chaotic world of Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds is storming again onto trendy platforms.
Spearheading this revival is Rocket Panda Video games, below the management of CEO “Mikey” McNamara, with the aptly named Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Final.
Promising cross-platform multiplayer insanity for as much as 8 gamers, a large roster together with fan-favourite enemies, and vital visible upgrades, this goals to be the definitive model of the beloved anime-style beat ’em up.
We caught up with Mikey to get the within scoop on taking stewardship of the franchise, the challenges of growth (together with a associate who “dropped the ball”), and why now was the proper time to unleash the Final expertise for veterans and newcomers alike.
Please might you introduce your self. What’s your function at Rocket Panda Video games and on Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Final?
My title is “Mikey” McNamara, CEO of Rocket Panda Video games – I run the corporate and discover the appropriate expertise / companions to manifest recreation concepts into actuality. I work with the director to make sure inventive is as much as par, and the producer to maintain the schedule and price range on observe.
So promote it, why ought to we be enjoying Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Final?
The true query is… why WOULDN’T you play PBBGU?
Facet-scrolling anime-style beat’em up with as much as 8-player cross-platform VS and 6-player co-op multiplayer, with 12 playable “essential” characters and 24 playable enemy characters.
It’s been greater than a decade since we have been enjoying Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds on Xbox 360, so why are you bringing it again to life now?
Whereas I thank MAGES for bringing the Phantom Breaker franchise to life, below their reign the releases have been fragmented throughout platforms, leaving customers confused about what content material / options have been obtainable on which platforms, and which variations had on-line play.
And, as the brand new stewards of the Phantom Breaker franchise/IP, PBBGU was the proper undertaking to point out the world we’re taking our function significantly.
And the way lengthy have you ever been engaged on this Final model? Has it been within the pipeline for some time?
We began the undertaking with a couple of individuals again in 2022, however actually scaled up the workforce in the direction of the top of 2023 by our launch this month.
It’s taken longer than anticipated – our unique growth associate (whose title I’ll hold nameless for his or her sake) dropped the ball and fell wanting their growth guarantees. Their shortcomings have been a blessing in disguise, because it pressured us to create our inside growth workforce.
The primary change appears to be the ‘Final’ tag on the top of the title. What precisely does that convey?
“Final” appeared acceptable, given this model consists of the whole lot from previous variations and much more, together with all of the objects highlighted within the “So promote it” query.
It’s the model of the sport that our producer Masaki Sakari envisioned for the sport over the previous 10 years.
May you inform us extra concerning the visible overhaul? How has the ability of Unreal Engine 5 helped with the re-creation?
The most important visible change comes from the UI and visible results. UE5’s Niagara software has been instrumental in pushing our visible results to the following degree. The UI of the unique recreation felt a bit dated, so we labored with our designer to convey it into 2025.
Multiplayer is clearly an enormous a part of Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Final, however how vital was the chance to drop cross-platform play in too? Have been there any hurdles to leap with a purpose to get that working as you wished?
Getting cross-platform multiplayer to play good with an indie recreation that has so many characters and objects on the display at one time was a **** ** *** ***, shall we embrace.
Our engineers needed to dig actually deep in Unreal Engine and Epic On-line Providers to make the expertise potential on an indie price range.
And what’s there for solo gamers to contain themselves with? How deep is the only participant expertise?
There’s Story and Arcade modes, and gamers can play “Co-op” with CPU-controlled allies offline.
You’re promoting this on the promise of ‘all of the characters’, gamers shall be accustomed to, plus ‘extra..,??’ Something you’ll be able to disclose with regard the dimensions and number of the roster?
First, all of the enemy characters shall be playable in PBBGU, along with all characters that have been DLC in previous variations, which brings the overall playable characters at lunch to 38.
There’ll clearly be an enormous quantity of gamers coming to Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Final on the again of the unique recreation. However are there any huge surprises in retailer for these veterans of the sport?
The most important shock is unquestionably playable enemy characters, together with one of many dev groups’ favorites: the Truck and the Drake.
What ought to newcomers to Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds be most enthusiastic about?
PBBGU provides quite a bit for beat ’em up followers with an “straightforward to select up / laborious to grasp” studying curve. However one of many largest “enjoyable components” goes to be the chaos individuals will expertise with 6-player co-op and 8-player VS multiplayer.
The dev workforce can be trying ahead to seeing chaotic streams.
And will you communicate extra concerning the achievements which might be tied to the sport? Are we plentiful boosts to our Gamerscores for normal play, or will there be more durable achievements that want chasing?
I’m going to cross this one off to my producer, Masaki Sakari:
Masaki: “A lot of the achievements/trophies may be earned naturally whereas having enjoyable enjoying the sport – and it’s balanced in order that extreme ability or repetitive play will not be required.
Moreover, there are in-game challenges that aren’t tied to achievements, so gamers who wish to dive deeper into the sport can goal to finish the challenges as a substitute. By finishing these challenges, gamers can receive new graphics and elements to customise their profile playing cards.”
If there’s one a part of the sport you might be most happy with, what would it not be?
Each recreation launch, no matter its reception, is a tiny miracle. The truth that somebody midway the world over can swipe their bank card and obtain our recreation and play it with their associates is loopy. Particularly with all of the methods recreation growth can go sideways.
Joking apart, we’re happy with all of the little “consideration to element” parts that got here collectively to create the “Final” expertise. For me personally…? I believe making the Truck playable was an enormous W. I hope to see individuals enjoying Truck-kun at EVO 2025.
And at last, do you see a time and place additional down the road for an much more improved model of Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Final? Will we be seeking to play Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Final Final in 2037? 😉
We’d like to see extra characters added to the sport as DLC, as soon as we get by the sport’s launch. And, with the instruments we’ve developed inside Unreal Engine 5, we would add extra options and modes sooner or later.
I actually hope the franchise will nonetheless be round in 2037. Maybe by then, we can have Cyberpunk variations of all our characters. :p
From unifying the Phantom Breaker expertise to navigating sudden growth setbacks, Mikey McNamara and Rocket Panda Video games have clearly invested closely in making Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Final a actuality. It’s fairly secure to say that there are a lot of explanation why you ought to be seeking to get this added to your library within the coming weeks. We’ll level you to the Xbox Retailer.
Large thanks exit to Mikey for permitting us a few of their time within the build-up to the launch of Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Final.
You’ll discover Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Final releasing on Xbox One, Xbox Collection X|S, PlayStation, Nintendo Change and PC come April seventeenth 2025. We’ll be seeking to comply with this piece with a full overview.