Knockout City Likely Won’t Include Princess Charm, But It Should

I’m here to champion for Princess Charm, the standout character from the reveal trailer for Knockout City, which aired during February’s Nintendo Direct. Princess Charm deserves to be added into Knockout City in some capacity going forward–heck, she should have her own game. But according to her creators, it looks like she won’t be a part of Knockout City beyond this first trailer.

Turns out the vulgar and sassy princess is primarily a marketing tool for the multiplayer-focused dodgeball game, according to freelance artists Anaïs and Martí.

“I don’t think she will [appear in Knockout City],” Anaïs tweeted. “Each character from the trailer interview is just there to represent [a] famous video game genre–she’s just meant to be a punk Princess Peach parody! But who knows.”

They also added that everything else in the trailer was made by NŌBL, an art direction and animation studio. “They’re the ones who made it look so good,” Anaïs tweeted.

I think that this is a shame. Princess Charm is hilarious–her commentary, alongside the other video game character stand-ins who are being interviewed in the trailer, adds a humorous life to the Knockout City gameplay. The game looks pretty fun, but–as you can see in our gameplay video embedded below–everything is oddly silent during a match, save for background noises like car horns. It’s almost a completely different vibe from what’s seen in the trailer.

“Ah the game and animated trailer were made by totally different studios,” Anaïs tweeted. “We were hired for freelancing with the animation studio knowing barely anything about the game.” They added that seeing the trailer during the Nintendo Direct was a complete surprise. “We weren’t even aware it was complete,” they tweeted.

Knockout City isn’t a hero-based game like Rainbow Six: Siege or Overwatch, so characters are simply avatars for the player, not fleshed-out individuals. I’m not saying the game needs hero characters in order to be fun, but watching gameplay with Princess Charm shouting over it and commenting on the action made Knockout City look like a much more enjoyable game to play.

So yeah, Velan Studios or Electronic Arts, please recruit Princess Charm to star in Knockout City. Make her an announcer or something who comments on the action–like Bruce Buffer’s announcer in Destruction AllStars or Zehra Fazal’s announcer in Apex Legends’ Fight Night Ring. You shouldn’t show off your game with a character that well-designed and voiced and then just leave her out entirely. I think her inclusion would add some laugh-out-loud highlights to the moment-to-moment of Knockout City.