We have some interesting new details on Bungie’s upcoming game Gummy Bears.
We reported on Gummy Bears around this time last year, while Bungie has remained reticent in sharing further details. We already heard that the game takes inspiration from Super Smash Bros., but we didn’t exactly know how until now.
As reported by The Game Post, Gummy Bears takes Satoru Iwata’s idea of replacing healthbars with percentage based damage for Super Smash Bros. For the 1999 Nintendo 64 game, Iwata and Masahiro Sakurai intended to make a system that novice players would enjoy more, as opposed to the skill check nature of 2D fighting games that took after Street Fighter II.
In Gummy Bears, your percentage damage goes up depending on how much damage you have received. But the percentage can also go up in certain contexts where you deal damage. Presumably, you can go beyond 100 % and still stay on the map, but if you get attacked enough, you can get knocked off the map completely.
The Game Post also shared these other details about the game:
- A PvP team-based competitive game.
- While fundamentally a MOBA, the game’s “Smash Bros.” influences mean it feels distinct from other entries in the genre; falling off maps, and replacing health-bar eliminations.
- Multiple game modes are planned.
- Gummy Bears is described as having lo-fi and cozy vibes, a sharp departure from Bungie’s usual dramatic, high-stakes sci-fi worlds.
- The project has been praised internally as Bungie’s “most fun” project out of incubation.
- The game is targeting a younger demographic with vibrant, colorful visuals.
- Expect a variety of roles, including Support, Attack, and Defense classes.
- Gummy Bears has been in development for at least three years.
While several other potential Bungie projects were shelved, Sony saw enough potential in Gummy Bears that they decided to spin the game off into its own project. Along the way, the developers working on the title left Bungie to form their own dedicated studio under Bungie.
The Game Post doesn’t have details on when Sony plans to officially reveal or launch Gummy Bears, and that may be because it still needs some more time to polish. Given Sony’s own history with Super Smash Bros.-like platform fighting games, they may desire to get a second chance at it, but they don’t want to once again be embarrassed with releasing another dud.
Given the dire state of Bungie today, Gummy Bears is one of the few positive pieces of news coming out of it lately. It’s certainly created curiosity on just how good it is if Sony felt it was worth doubling down on. Is Sony betting right this time? Hopefully, we’ll find out soon enough.
