InFamous, the gritty action-adventure series where the main character gains superpowers for the benefit of good or evil, initially had a cheerier inspiration, Sucker Punch Productions co-founder Chris Zimmerman recently told Gamespot:
The original idea for InFamous, believe it or not, was that it was kind of Animal Crossing, but you were a superhero. ... We worked on that for about a year in that direction. So much more stylized, much more cartoony than what you end up seeing. We worked hard to see if we could make that work.
Considering that before InFamous, Sucker Punch had become well known for the Saturday morning cartoon-like antics of its anthropomorphic characters in the Sly Cooper series, the idea that the studio would first attempt a similar angle isn't too farfetched. According to the article, however, one of the original pitches featured a gang of purple gorillas stealing balloons. That's... maybe a little harder to swallow.
InFamous: Second Son is launching for the PS4 soon. While it likely won't contain any nods to the peaceful, social game Sucker Punch first wanted to run with for inspiration, one can dream.
Come on, Sucker Punch. Just one little Mira doll tucked away somewhere. Please?
[source gamespot.com]
Comments 44
animal crossing > infamous
How bizarre! I never would have made this connection otherwise!!
I've played both games, and I never once thought "hey, I bet this was inspired by Animal Crossing!" XD
...if there was ever someone who thought that without knowing this first, they're insane. XD
Throws up How the heck did a game about living with friendly animals inspire InFAMOUS?
Anyways, I only beat InFAMOUS as evil. So maybe I shouldn't be talking.
Almost as mindblowing as learning that Sonic was inspired by Mario.
" the original pitches featured a gang of purple gorillas stealing balloons. "
Gorillas and balloons you say, hmm?
I once had to choose between saving my girlfriend or a group of scientists hanging from the top of a skyscraper in order to return a necklace to my buff male neighbor. Spoilers, she died either way
@AshFoxX don't you hate it when games like that only pretend to give you choices? But regardless of what you choose, the outcome is the same?
@bizcuthammer Absolutely. The illusion if choice really ruins the replayability of these games, even more so than playing through the same linear story again.
InFamous was pretty good, but the second one left me kind of disappointed, I doubt I'll get a PS4 for Second Son. I'm not sure what my second console will be between XBone and PS4, TBH, but I can't do both this go around.
It may be surprising, but, It isn't a new that some videogames in its development stage, had a different destination as we know them today.
@6ch6ris6 Umm....I don't think so. However, it's opinion...just like yours.
@Daisaku36
You could always buy the games for both systems when they go on sale.
And wait until the end of this Generation or the beginning of the next Generation and buy the PS4/XB:O on sale and play all the games at that point...
I still wonder why and how Animal Crossing is so popular. It's basically #2 to Pokemon in sales.
While I do wish they'd gone for a more stylized look (the cut scenes are gorgeous), I absolutely love Infamous. It's amazing how few games manage to pull off super powers, and it's story is one of my favourite super hero origin tales ever.
@K-Gamer Animal Crossing was semi-niche before New Leaf. New Leaf took the franchise mainstream. The biggest reason for New Leaf's success is social media sites like Twitter and Instagram.
@Peach64 Spiderman 2 for PS2/GCN/Xbox was a pretty damn good superhero game, and one of the only movie tie-in games to have actual quality. The webslinging mechanics were perfect in that game. Most of the physics in that game still hold up today.
Honestly, that "direction" sounds a lot more interesting than the final product o__o
Living in a town of superheroes, meeting them and becoming friends? Who doesn't want THAT?
That original plan sounds way more interesting and fun than the final product. I played the first infamous game for several hours and never really enjoyed it. The characters were horrendous and unlikeable, the story dull as heck, and bad illusion of choice. The combat was kinda fun for a very short time before the novelty of electric super powers ran out. I did liked the "surfing on the train tracks" ability, thou.
An Animal Crossing-type game where you can become a super hero at night, unbeknownst to your neighbors, sounds hella fun.
Surprising.
Whoa... Did not see that coming. I play Animal Crossing everyday on 3DS everyday, I'm hooked on it. As for the Infamous games, the 1st game was pretty good, but I couldn't not get into the 2nd game. Hopefully Second Sons will be good.
After you get the ability to call down lightning from the sky you can use it to knock down the UFO from the sky easier!
So it'd be like the Incredibles story/setting, with your "normal" everyday family of superheros? I've always preferred the normal guy superheroes, like the X-Men or Static Shock, so that'd be pretty cool.
I can just imagine a place like Brewster's being the hangout for superheros getting off of "work".
I would definitely have preferred that. I kind of liked Infamous, but it got really repetitive and tried way too hard to appeal to rebellious teenagers.
Fighting, platforming and seek quests killed Infamous for me. The hour long full trial on PS+ confirmed it: cool concept, decent storyline, somewhat interesting characters and horrible execution. I'd take Mario I can play over Infamous I can watch any day, and Mario's definitely not my favorite game. It's just impossible not to enjoy.
You know you're on a Nintendo-oriented site when literally no one stylizes inFAMOUS correctly. Lowercase i and n, capital "famous", got it?
(Sorry, it just bugs me for some reason. I'm a Nintendo fan through and through, but I thought inFAMOUS [at least the first one] was a really good game.)
Lol at people saying Animal Cross is superior, fanboy harder please. Apples and oranges folks, apples and oranges.
@Jowy
I like inFAMOUS more, should I fanboy harder?
swear word
@SetupDisk You like both, therefore you're obviously not some blind Nintendo or Sony fanboy.
how come I didn't see this before!?!
well time to start spamming the link to this page somewhere else, just for fun!
I bet both fanboy sides will go mad at this(including MS and PC ones for not having either game)
Mario Galaxy was inspired by Nascar Racing...true story.
Seeing how sucker punch first game (surprised it wasn't mentioned) was a n64 exclusive rocket: robot on wheels this doesn't surprise me. Still pretty interesting and am hyped for second son.
What makes Animal Crossing so much fun? Don't take this question as trolling because I'm really not. I was tempted to buy the game but I didn't want to buy into the hype and potentially regret it, so before I do I want to know what makes it so much fun. I looked at videos and everyone praises it to high heaven but I can't for the life of me see what's so interesting.
@noctowl Nah, I see you as an open-minded gamer.
I for one think more games should be inspired by Animal Crossing.
I mean, can you imagine a zombie game in the style of Animal Crossing? You live in a little town with a few other people and you have lots of mundane tasks to do during the day, but at night the zombies come and you have to fight them! You could also travel to your friends' towns and help them fight zombies.
Wait... that should be an Animal Crossing game!
@Brickbuild101
If you want an antagonist, invite a jerk to your town and see how evil he/she can be.
@IceClimbers Animal Crossing is the perfect game for the casual gamer who doesn't have time to play a game for hours at the time. Everything happens in real-time so, unlike the Sims, there isn't the pressure to finish an event right away because you literally have all day to do it. The gameplay is rather simple which makes it easy for everyone to play.
Now, for the avid gamer, Animal Crossing taps on their internal drive for achievements and completion. Even though the game is open-ended, there are soooo many things to do and complete (furniture sets, house expansions, museum collections, clothing collections, etc.), that make the game becomes truly addictive.
And the characters are just too cute to resist! LoL
@Peach64 I believe the series became popular all the way back in Wild World with the ability of play and chat online with anyone in the world via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service AND sites like this (the original social media) that allowed us to exchange FC information with others around the world.
@Excep7ional See my comment above this
@noctowl That's cool. I was young in the SNES and Genesis era so I don't remember much, but I did grow up with every other console after that (except the Wii). There are great games all around no matter what company.
Also, thanks for answering my question. Looks like I will rent it before I buy it.
@Haywired Your comment is highly ironic considering what that poster said following their initial comment.
@Dark-Link73 Haha, thanks.
Ha so my favorite series was inspired by Animal Crossing ?
I love inFamous a lot more than AC but they are both really amazing games. Nice to see one inspired the other.
Even though the outcome was completely different the concept is still there.
@noctowl Apples and oranges, you can't compare the two. Nothing wrong with liking one and not the other, but Nintendo Life is infested with fanboys who hate something because Nintendo's name isn't plastered over it. If someone doesn't like inFAMOUS because <justified non-fanboy reason here> then I couldn't care less.
inIMAL Crossing: Second Son
@bizcuthammer Actually it changes some of the dialogue in meaningful ways. If you have been evil up until that point with her dying breath she tells you how she despises you, and is disgusted because of what you have become. On the other hand, if you're good she'll thank you for all the good you've done and say how proud she is of what you've become. Plus being good or bad will determine what powers you get, and in the second one, the fate of humanity.
Huh. I wouldn't of guessed that the Infamous series was inspired by Animal Crossing. Welp, time for Delsin to put the Villager in his place.
mind=blown!
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