Guest Article: All Content we could see from Half-Life in Super Smash Bros.

Below is a guest article submission from Source Gaming fan and discord member GTAYoshi. GTAYoshi wrote and submitted the content below, a number of details from which were utilised in the accompanying video. We would appreciate it if you watched the video and then read the article for the full experience.

Ever since Super Smash Bros Brawl we have been getting third parties, from fan requests like Sonic, Mega Man and Banjo to completely out of left field characters such as Solid Snake and Cloud. Today I will be talking about one such franchise that I think would be great in smash, Half-Life.

What is Half-Life?

Half-Life is a first-person shooter developed by Valve Corporation, it was the first game they ever released and it was met with great praise when it came out in 1998. Half-Life had many expansions, sequels and even mods that went on to become full games (e.g Counter-Strike).

The story is shown through the perspective of one, Gordon Freeman. After an experiment gone wrong in the Black Mesa research facility, he finds himself fighting through aliens and the Military who are trying to cover up the incident, he finds himself having to go to “The lambda complex” to try and cut off the aliens way of invading Earth. Unlike most games of its time, Half-Life told its story through scripted conversations that the player could move around in.

The series logo would be the Lambda logo

Gordon Freeman

Tagline: Gordon raises the bar!

The obvious pick for a Half-Life character in Super Smash Bros. would be the main hero of every game except the Half-Life expansions – Doctor Gordon Freeman himself. To start off I think his move set should have weapons from across the series. If he was to have the same restrictions with weapons that Snake had you could go for the more unique weapons of the Half-Life games.

To keep it brief I’ll just detail the specials however the standard attacks would mostly use the crowbar while the grab is unique, utilising the Gravity Gun for a ranged effect. This would have the same range as Young Link’s Hookshot but cannot grab onto ledges.

Move	Description	Image
Neutral Special: Tau Cannon	Gordon pulls out the Tau Cannon from Half-Life and can shoot 6 Tau particle beams at a time before he has to wait for it to recharge. If the player taps the special button he’ll use one of his beams and if the player holds the button down he’ll use two. There would be a little hud icon to show how much Tau particle he has like in Half-Life.
Side Special: MP5 Grenade Launcher	He shoots out a grenade from his MP5. However, Gordon can only use five grenades per stock.
Up Special: Displacer Cannon	Gordon uses the displacer cannon from Half-Life Opposing Force The Displacer Cannon is a weapon Adrian Shephard finds during his time at Black Mesa, it teleports him to the border world Xen where players can get ammo or health. In Super Smash Bros it would work similarly to Mewtwo’s up special.
Down Special: Snark	The Snark is an alien bug that Gordon can use as a weapon. When Gordon places it, the Snark chases opponents down and eats at them until it eventually explodes. In Super Smash Bros, Gordon can use one Snark at a time and it takes five seconds before they explode. There is a rare chance that a penguin will replace the Snarks, as a reference to Half-Life Opposing Forces multiplayer penguins which were just the same as Snarks.
Final Smash: Resonance Cascade	Gordon uses the Displacer and teleports opponents to the Black Mesa Test Chamber, he inserts the crystal into the beam and the chamber explodes.

Gordon doesn’t have any voice lines, rather his sound effects would be coming from his HEV suit. This includes sound from weapons,  movement, explosions, etc.

Gordon’s alternative outfits reference many different Half-Life characters. His overall design is based on Half-Life 2′s HEV suit.

1. Default the orange HEV suit
2. Blue Shift
3. Opposing Forces
4. A colour scheme based on the HEV suit worn by Gina Cross from Half-Life Decay has
5. a colour scheme based on the HEV suit worn by Collete Green from Half-Life Decay
6. Reference Gordon’s beta design, more commonly known as Ivan the Space Biker, as well as a Hazmat Suit
7. A Scientist outfit, this outfit has fewer sound effects than the normal outfit
8. A dark blue version of the Scientist outfit, a slight nod to G-man

His taunts would involve:

• Up: he pulls out a Headcrab before throwing it away
• Side: he grabs his crowbar and swings it around
• Down: he does the Scientist dance from Blue Shift

The Half-Life victory theme is a shortened version of Hazardous Environments.

Adrian Shephard

Tagline: Adrian wrenches in!

If you wanted an echo for Gordon Freeman then the best choice is Adrian Shephard from Opposing Force.

There are a few differences between Adrian and Gordon that put him in the Dark Pit-tier of echo fighter. These involve:

• Penguins having a slightly higher chance of replacing the Snarks;
• The crowbar is replaced by a wrench;
• His grab is a Barnacle Gun from Opposing Force
• His final smash is the HECU airstrike and functions the same way as Gordon. Adrian uses the Displacer to teleport foes to a minefield in Black Mesa and then a HECU Osprey bombs them.

His sound effects are also from the first Half-Life but he has HECU marine voice lines rather than HEV suit lines.

Unlike Gordon, Adrian doesn’t get any special alternative outfits.,

1. Green
2. Red
3. Orange
4. Purple
5. Civil Protection
6. Combine Overwatch
7. Combine Elite
8. Black Ops

Stages

We had two ideas for stages, the first from the original Half-Life and the second from Half-Life 2.

From the first Half-Life, we suggest Black Mesa. It would be a stage that teleports the player through many different sections of the Black Mesa facility. Before transitions, G-man will show up, straighten his tie and then the stage is surrounded by a greenish teleporter with Half-Life’s teleport sound playing.

The Test Chamber: Scientists, Security Guards and Headcrabs cameo. G-man shows up in the small window before the transition.
Surface Tension Cliffside: Cameos appear from HECU marines and Ospreys. G-man is seen on a part of the cliff before the transition.
Lambda Core: Houndeyes, Security Guards, Scientists and Alien Controllers all cameo. G-man comes out around the end of the teleporter and before the transition.

Then from Half-Life 2, we suggest City 17. This stage is a travelling one and takes place during the City 17 uprising. You are on a floating platform, with a combine look, that travels around the city like on Isle Delfino. You get to see many locales that players visit during the events of Half-Life 2 however you only get dropped off at three locations.

Plaza: The plaza outside the train station. It has a flat terrain with Dr Breen appearing on the propaganda screen in the background. This occasionally flickers over to the G-Man. City Scanners occasionally show up – they do no harm but they can be climbed on and destroyed, Sometimes they may even have a small item inside. Characters like Alyx, Grigori, Rebels and Combine Soldiers occasionally show up in the background.
The Overwatch Nexus: The rooftop of what was once a bank or a museum. Its layout is similar to Peaches Castle Melee however the spire part in the middle can be destroyed by Combine Gunships that sometimes appear. This creates a hole in the middle of the Nexus players can fall down. In the background you can see Striders striding around, G-man stands in the background from time to time.
Foot of the Citadel: Based on the final map of “Follow Freeman” this part is also a simple flat terrain with a second layer above. You can see the Citadel right behind where you are fighting. Characters like Barney, Rebels and D.O.G show up in the background. Manhacks are seen flying around as well.

For the rest of this article, we will assume that Black Mesa is the stage added. For the music that plays during these fights we have a selection from both the first and second Half-Life games. With recent DLC we’ve had composers like Grant Kirkhope and Toby Fox do remixes for their respective games, I think it would make sense if Kelly Bailey arranged a remix for the Half-Life series. Perhaps he could remix Hazardous Environments?

• Hazardous Environments (Valve theme) (new remix)
• Adrenaline Horror
• Diabolical Adrenaline Guitar
• Drums and Riffs (new remix)
• Nuclear Mission Jam
• Credits (new remix)
• Apprehension and Evasion
• You’re not supposed to be here 
• Particle Ghost (new remix) 
• Triage at Dawn (new remix)
• Hard Fought (new remix) 
• LG Orbifold 

Classic Mode

The route for Gordon is called Run! Think! Shoot! Live! based on an old tagline for the series. Gordon’s classic route is centred around Half-Life.

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Round 4:

Round 5:

Round 6:

Final Round:

The credits theme is… the Credits theme from the original Half-Life. The Classic clear image is Gordon on top of the spirit train with his scientist outfit, a homage to chapter 1: Black Mesa Inbound.

Then with Adrian, his route is called Opposing Forces. Most of his route is set around Adrian helping villains fight their rival heroes. Then the last match before the Nihilanth boss is based around Adrian fighting his own enemy: Gordon Freeman.

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Round 4:

Round 5:

Round 6:

Final Round:

The credits theme for Adrian would be the Diabolical Adrenaline Guitar and his classic clear image is him in front of the Osprey cameo on the Black Mesa stage.

Spirits:

Spirit Name	Details	Image	How to secure
Gordon Freeman	Fighter Spirit		Beat Classic Mode as Gordon
Gordon Freeman (Scientist outfit)	Fighter Spirit		Purchase from the Vault Shop
Adrian Shephard	Fighter Spirit		Beat Classic Mode as Adrian
Barney Calhoun	Primary Spirit; Advanced		Spirit Board
Headcrabs	Support Spirit; Novice		Spirit Board
Vortigaunts	Support Spirit; Novice		Spirit Board
Black Ops Assassin	Support Spirit; Advanced		Spirit Board
G-Man	Support Spirit; Ace		Spirit Board
Alyx Vance	Primary Spirit; Advanced		Spirit Board
Isaac Kleiner	Support Spirit; Novice		Spirit Board
Wallace Breen	Primary Spirit; Novice		Spirit Board
Nihilanth	Primary Spirit; Legendary		Defeat the Nihilanth boss

The background of the spirit board is based on the original Half-Life’s menu. The music that plays is “Drums and Riffs”.

Mii Costumes

The Mii costumes should be from Half-Life with a few from other Valve franchises. We think they could add:

Headcrab Zombie

Type: Mii Brawler
Hat: Headcrab
Body: Zombie Citizen

Chell

Type: Mii Gunner
Hat: Chell Wig
Body: Aperture Science outfit
Music: Want You Gone (new remix)

The Heavy

Type: Mii Gunner
Hat: Heavy Mask
Body: Heavy’s Vest
Music: Team Fortress 2 Main theme (new remix)

The extra music for both Chell and The heavy is arranged by Kelly Bailey, and the music should play on the Half-Life stage rather than misc stages (like how the extra SNK music plays on the King of Fighters Arena).

Items

For a Half-Life item, you could have Half-Life 2’s Bugbait. When it drops the player can lift it and throw it at another player. Antlions will jump at the player it’s thrown at and attack them.

For an assist trophy, there is Barney Calhoun. He would be in his Half-Life 2 outfit and would assist the player by shooting their opponents. The weapon he spawns with is random, either a pistol, SMG, or AR2. If you happen to summon him as Gordon Barry will say some unique lines when he appears.

Another assist could be a Vortigaunt. It acts how the enemy does in Half-Life Episode 2. Anyone who summoned the Vortigaunt gets healed by 25% while foes get blasted by their beam attacks.

Final Word

As unlikely as it is, Half-Life would be a very cool series to have in Super Smash Bros. I personally think it deserves to have a place alongside other iconic gaming series like Metal Gear or Dragon Quest. I know not everything I said here would happen in DLC but I had so much fun I wanted to go all out for the article. Thank you very much Source Gaming for letting me do so.

If you are interested in submitting a guest article then please join our discord and seek one of the staff members, or contact us on Twitter @AllSourceGaming.

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Joshua 'NantenJex' Goldie

A historian and avid gamer, NantenJex is the Editor-in-Chief for Source Gaming, overseeing videos and reviews for the site. He has a passion for obscure gaming so any article you see on uncommon titles like Nazo no Murusame Jo, Yuyuki and Marvelous, to name a few, are most likely from him. He also likes game design leading to the creation of Dream Smashers, a series on potential newcomers for Super Smash Bros. He wants you all to know that Yoshi is objectively the best Nintendo character.

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