i don’t have any pictures ready, but i want to make a thread about this any.
“super modes” in games. specificially ones where you transform from your regualr mode into super mode, rather than the super mode being a selectable character.
so super sonic in sonic 2 counts, but super sonic in sonic adventure does not.
off the top of my head i can think of:
the player’s mech in side arms
super sonic/tails/knuckles in the mega drive sonic games (and sonic mania too? i can’t remember)
the various forms in altered beast
the various forms in metamorphic force
certain characters (mostly saiyans, but maybe cell and freeza too, i can’t remember) can power up into different forms in super dragonball z. some other dbz games also do this, but a lot of them have super forms as seperate characters
hyper mode in dodonpachi daifukkatsu and dai-ou-jou
a few robots in the dynasty warriors gundam series have super forms, like the unicorn gundam, god gundam, master gundam. presumably other games with these mecha in them also have this feature.
Boost Mode and Double Boost Mode in Crimzon Clover
Animal suits in Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Powerups in Super Mario Bros. (too obvious?)
Drinking a potion in Zombies Ate My Neighbors
(I can’t say what my very favorite example of this is because it’s a complete surprise when it happens in the game in question. I don’t even want to risk spoiler tags.)
another one like this is the incredible hulk game on mega drive and snes. when you take too much damage, you shrink down into defenceless bruce banner and you’ve got to try and find a pill to make you turn back into the hulk
I’m trying to think of meaningful changes for specific characters that are either temporary or climactic and would involve using different character art or, at least, a palette change. This would rule out things like Bullet Bills in Mario Kart (since it’s not character specific) and powerups in general (unless they are temporary).
For some reason I’m struggling to come up with any that haven’t been mentioned. So far I’ve got:
The end of Super Metroid
Some final smashes, but specifically Bowser’s in Smash Brawl
Alastor in Viewtiful Joe
A bunch of invincibility powerups (Starman in mario, Lollipops in Kirby, etc. etc.)
Some of the souls in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (specifically thinking of the ones where you transform into a huge monster and rush forward, like Valkyrie)
In Kirby: Planet Robobot, every level has a mech in it you can get into and smash shit up. The mech can used superpowered versions of all Kirby’s copy abilities.
Both Eric Lecarde and John Morris from Bloodlines get a super weapon mode of sorts after collecting enough weapon upgrades. Although they lose it if they get hit once and that’s pretty cool.
Athena Asamiya and Sie Kensou turning into a phoenix and dragon, respectively, in Psycho Soldier. God, I wish more of that game’s weirdness made its way into KOF.
the bloody roar games are this, especially when you take into account this interview, where it’s said that they wanted to make a fighting game with super saiyan-like transformations
