As someone who actually enjoyed Playstation All-Stars Battle Royal, I still know the game was in much need of improvement. The over all mechanics were flawless, and really should have been given more of a chance. Unfortunately a lack of interesting game modes and roster of characters people really wanted tanked it before it had a chance.

Roster:

This is the biggest issue with the game. It is filled with far too many 3rd Party characters that die hard PS fans who bought the game don't relate to the brand. Here is a better list of what to do....

-Crash Bandicoot: This one should have been character #1! Having a reunion of PS mascots without him felt like sacrelage. His Double Jump and twister move set could be quite comically handy as attacks. Also the Fruit Gun and Akha Akha Mask could be utilized as speacials.

-Dart(Legend of Dragoon): This one was suppose to appear but never made it into final roster. He has a host of special attacks that would work well in a fighter setting. His Dragoon form cound be used to get him more air than most characters, and have him turn into the Rainbow one for finisher.

-Spike(Ape Escape): they got this one right on the head luckily.

-Kratos: tone down his power a bit. He feels like Link in Smash.

-Sackboy

-Nariko(Heavenly Sword): this was spot on as well.

-Dante: Not new DMC Dante but they one that PS fans really identify with from DMC3. Capcom knew this just how they knew ppl wanted Megaman but instead we got what they wanted us to want...

-Cloud Strife(FFVII): when I think of Playstation, this guy comes imediately to mind.

-Lara Croft: She has a very strong tie to the PS brand, even if she was never exclusive.

-Nathan Drake.

-Kat(Gravity Rush): This girl is godlike. She may have been DLC but became my fav of them all.

-Ratchet and Clank

-Jak and Daxter

-Spyro: unfortunately this one is highly unlikely

-Radec(Killzone 2)

-Cole Megrath(Infamous): and not as 2 characters. That was a cheap move. Give him the ability to utilize either good/evil abilities.

-Delsin Rowe(Infamous SS) We haven't played him yet but he looks awesome.

-Sly

-Heihachi/Kazuya: Swappable maybe

-Sir Daniel

-Solid Snake

-Raiden

-Toro

-Emmett Graves

-Zeus

-Jodie and Aiden: Oh yes, this duo would be splendid. It would mostly consist of Aiden acting as a shield and weapon for Jodie but if you can get past him she can't take much damage. He can force push others or possess them to make them do her bidding.

-Parrapa the Rapper

-Sweet Tooth

-GT Racer: Just for kicks have an unknown racer with helmet on. Most of his moves entail calling different cars to run you over.........silly maybe. This could be a "Dan" teir character.

-Chimera Trooper

-Patapon/Iota(Tearaway)

-Protaganist (Persona 4): This would personally make me super happy.

Art Style:

It was fairly obvious that PSASBR simply stole the character models from the games they derived from. While i'm sure this made development quicker, it really marred the over all look of the game. Some characters felt jarringly different than everyone else. Especially the mroe realistic looking characters. A sequel needs a cohesive art style, that ALL characters fit into without taking away from who that character really is. You can't make it too cartoony as that doesn't fit with Kratos/Nariko/Dante but not to realistic that Crash/Spike/Sackboy feel out of place.

Menu and User Interface:

This was a universal complaint for the game. They put little to no effort into designing the U.I. This needed serious work.

Incentives:

The game lacked any incentives to keep you playing beyond the well balanced combat. The close they had were these horid wallpaper like badges that were very half assed, or minions. Minions were ok as an addition. What they could do to expound that is way more costumes per character. Taunts and Winning Fanfares were cool too, just needed more. I would also like to see more game modes like an Arcade so I can continuously be challenged. THe fact theire wasnt an endless Dojo/Arcade mode really bugged me. Unlockable stages would be nice as well.

Actual Marketing:

Per usual, Sony puts many IPs out to fend for themselves or die. THat really needs to stop. A bit of adverts could have taken the first much farther. Maybe not millions but to decent level. I find it strange that they can blame the game for not selling when most never knew it even existed due to little marketing.

The Name:

Its sorta stupid and long. Just shorten it to Playstation:Battle Royal. The All Stars really cheapens the name for me. Like Nintendo, Sony should stay away from plain numerical upgrade like "2" because consumers have the inate fear of jumping into the middle of a series. This is why most Nintendo games are given sur-names instead of incriments. New players are far more likely to try it. PS Battle Royal Alpha etc.

What do you think it needs?

"What do you think it needs?"

Characters that people actually give a shit about.

You're a bit clueless about Smash, unless you're talking about the N64 game

Less Characters with guns.

Have gameplay similar to MVC3

God no. In any case, the gameplay similar to Tatsunoko Vs Capcom.

If it were me... I'd probably go the exact opposite way.

I feel like the demographics are too different to make a mascot fighter in the vein of a Smash brothers to work. Which is the kind of artstyle you'd need to make Crash and Kratos look like they belong together.

Were it me, i'd focus soley on the more realistic humanoid characters. Kratos, Nathan Drake, Lara Croft etc.

Make it less Smash brothers, more DC vs Mortal Kombat.

Hell bring the Ed Boon and those guys in and have them do it!

Make a cohesive (well for this kind of game) gritty story like the latest versions with various realistic playstation mascots banding together and fighting moves that allow the characters to look more brutal, and be a spectacle. (Like Injustice)

I feel like that would have a better chance to hit with the target demo.

how to make PSAL 2 more successful? dont make it. there you go. thread/

He doesn't play like Link, just he exudes some really over powered techniques. Every Tourny I've watched of Smash mostly has Meta Knight and Link owning all else. Or how Ryu is over powered in Streetfighter, or Jin in early Tekkens. Kratos isn't meant to be the face of the game so their is really no excuse for it.

Here's my list of people that'd be great in a sequel

Knack: could be very cool and actively scale based on how much AP he has stored up.

Iota: represent the Vita man!

Jodie and Aiden: could have some amazing moves

Crash: please the oldies

Echo: a good replacement for Radec

Joel: freaking heck yes

Delson: new infamous, new character

Sir Moustache: guy from the order

The fire spirits in uncharted 3: wicked!

The gameplay should be like GOW's multiplayer.

Probably a conflict of interest.  They have their own nostalgia fighter in Dissidia.

THey probably want Dissdia to be the only series you can play cloud in.  Etc.