Dinoman96

So in light of recent news, I'd like to bring up this old interview with Matt Booty of Xbox Game Studios fame.

“But then obviously we’re going to have our big franchises like Forza, Halo and Sea of Thieves, where those games are designed from the outset to really exist on Xbox, I think that will continue.”

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My hot take is that once Microsoft announced Sea of Thieves as one of the first four Xbox games to go multi-platform last year, I knew then and there that it was the beginning of the end of Xbox as a console manufacturer, or at least a serious competitor to Sony and Nintendo.

Some people tried to hand wave the initial batch of games as "making sense" because they were smaller games or alternatively in Hi-Fi Rush's case, from Bethesda and not "Xbox Game Studios proper"...but like, Sea of Thieves, while newer I guess, was still nonetheless a tent-pole premiere Xbox exclusive as noted above, created by one of Xbox Game Studios' oldest subsidiaries. Once it went multi-platform, I knew it was only a matter of time before stuff like Halo and Forza would follow.

It's an interesting thought that the Wii remains the only Nintendo platform that could, at least at the time, play all Smash Bros. games released by that point: besides the obvious Brawl, Melee was playable via BC and Smash 64 was on Virtual Console.

In comparison, the Wii U could only play obviously Smash 4, and Brawl via BC (worth pointing out that it never got a digital re-release unlike other Wii games), and the Switch can literally only play Ultimate (jury's out on if or when we get Smash 64 via NSO). At least you can say that the Switch 2 will have Ultimate, Smash 64 if it ever comes out on N64 NSO, and whatever comes next playable.

"T-they can't just redesign DK after all of these years, that's erasing/ruining Rare's legacy!"

Meanwhile, Rare with their own characters in 2008:

“Banjo’s new look resulted from Rare’s opinion that he needed an update. The previous games were very young-looking and the industry has moved on. Even younger gamers do not want their games to look overly young. We think the updated look has a distinctive style and really suits the whole theme of the new game (of course this means absolutely nothing to you at the moment as we haven’t revealed what it is).

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This did not age well

Pretty wild to think that Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye 007, Jet Force Gemini and Blast Corps all made it to Nintendo Switch Online before Donkey Kong 64 did

Jet Force Gemini is such a funny and wacky choice for the third Rare game on N64 NSO. Like, you first start off with Banjo-Kazooie, and then GoldenEye and you just kinda nod and go "of course," but you get to Jet Force and it's a record scratch moment if there ever was one lol. You'd think DK64 or something would be next in line.

But that is what makes it exciting, in that it feels like the sky is now the limit for Rare's games on NSO. Outside of maybe like, Mickey's Speedway if they don't feel like dealing with Disney for a middling game (but then again, they put ****ing Quest for Camelot on there so who knows).

In hindsight, it's really unfortunate what a catch-22 situation rebranding Pro-Am 64 into Diddy Kong Racing turned out to be. On one hand, it was a good move because Diddy was obviously a much bigger draw at the time than Timber and thus got way more people to buy it than they would have otherwise. It also jump started the concept of the DKU.

On the other hand...it made it a complete licensing hurtle to actually re-release post 2002, lmao. Had it not been for the last minute inclusion of Nintendo owned DK characters, we'd 100% have Pro-Am 64 readily available through Rare Replay by now. But as DKR, the most we could get was that lackluster DS remake (that also had to remove Banjo and Conker due to once again licensing problems) and now we're desperately hoping that Nintendo can figure something out with Microsoft and Rare to get the original released through NSO.

Rereading old Rare scribes is really funny.

Ever get tired of those stinking Killer Instinct questions? Does it give you writer’s cramp responding to those darn questions? Does it make your head hurt trying to figure out how you can respond in a sarcastic way to such questions? Well here is the answer, just give the license to someone else! Remove the words Rare and Killer Instinct altogether! Then everyone will be happy! Why? Well Rare will no longer have to answer such questions and the fans can at least get some game from some developer! Hell, sell it to EA, it looks like they’ll buy anything these days.
John Meyer


Killer Instinct questions? We don’t get any Killer Instinct questions. Anyway, I’m not sure “remove the words Rare and Killer Instinct altogether” is strictly speaking the best way to make a new Killer Instinct game. And in spite of all our teasing, we wouldn’t be too happy with the series degenerating into “some game from some developer”. If we brought it back, we’d want to do it right. Until we have the manpower, incentive and backing to do that, or an extremely persuasive argument for outsourcing it, this one’s on the back burner (along with a lot of other Rare franchises, so there’s no sense in taking it personally).

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And then some years later...

So Nintendo's willing to add a critically panned WB licensed, Tidus developed game to NSO, eh?



Let's f***ing go, bros

Thanks for letting me know that Donald Duck is 89 years old today, Transformers Wiki.

To be honest this user makes a good point but it emphasizes something I've been feeling for awhile: Modern Paper Mario and Modern Donkey Kong Country, despite both being produced by Tanabe, kinda go to complete opposite extremes of each other.

As in, Modern Paper Mario tends to rely far too much on pre-existing Mario iconography while keeping new characters to the bare minimum. Meanwhile, Modern DKC seems all too eager to completely move away from the pre-existing Rare stuff and making up its own new cast while keeping the returning veterans from DKC1-DK64 to a bare minimum.

Like, it's kinda odd hearing stories about how Miyamoto "suggested" for the Paper Mario Sticker Star dev team to only rely on established Mario characters, but then turn around and say (or at least come to a mutual agreement with Tanabe, to be fair) "do we really need King K. Rool back? Why not just make new characters?" when getting DKC Returns off the ground.

Overall point: I think a better middleground can be found between these approaches. How much of this is due to personal developer choice or weird evil mandates from above, I don't know.

I find SonSon to be the most peculiar of MVC2's original characters, mainly because, unlike Ruby Heart and Amingo, she actually IS technically based on a pre-existing Capcom IP, known as, well, SonSon. What makes her weird however is that she herself is still an OC, being the granddaughter of that game's protagonist.

It'd be kinda like if in say, Smash Bros. Brawl, its update of Pit was actually said to be the grandson of the original Pit from the NES Kid Icarus, as opposed you know, just being Pit.

This big clumsy bear dreams of one day becoming a great ballet dancer. But instead, he ends up being...

A Little Panda Fighter.

While he sees himself as a ballet star, he'll have to get into the ring, and fight. And more than just a day of training, he will experience thrilling and moving moments, while trying to reconcile boxing and balleting.

The Little Panda Fighter.

Funny how then literally none of these characters proceeded to make it in

Some real "notice me senpai" vibes here

It's really funny how people actually thought Rare was being serious with the Banjo-Threeie tease at the end of Tooie, considering how utterly nonsensical that name is lol.

"Tooie" works because it's just a dumb pun, as "Two" happens to rhyme with "Kazoo". If anything, in a timeline where Rare had the will to make a third platformer Banjo game like BK/BT, it'd make more sense to call it "Banjo-Kazoothree". Get it? Because "three" rhymes with "ie".

Nonetheless, if we ever do get a new Banjo game in the future, even if its more in line with the 64 titles I'd suspect they'd just call it "Banjo-Kazooie", similar to how recent revivals of other Rare properties like Killer Instinct, Perfect Dark and Battletoads have been titled.

NSO may have its problems but I do appreciate how more a bit more ambitious Nintendo's been with the N64 lineup. Pretty delightful seeing all of these N64 games that were never even re-released on the Wii or Wii U Virtual Consoles, like Dr. Mario 64, Mario Party 1 & 3, Pokemon Stadium 1 & 2, Pilotwings 64, and even getting frickin' Rare and Microsoft involved starting with Banjo-Kazooie and Goldeneye, and hopefully more Rare classics to come.

It's a weird thought that these two have literally the same character designer

While we're talking about Rare, I do legitimately think it's a bummer that their only representation in Smash currently is through their Scrimblo Bimblo games, Donkey Kong and Banjo-Kazooie, featuring guest appearances from Dinosaur Planet Star Fox Adventures on the side.

I guess it's because Rare had such a diverse range of games that differed in aesthetics and genres, so it's kind of a bummer that their only Nintendo era games that get playable representation are just their animal platformer games. It'd be nice to get Fulgore or Joanna Dark to counterbalance that and showcase the "darker/edgier" side of the company's repertoire, to show that they weren't just a Cereal Mascot factory.

My hot take is if there ever was to be one and only one non-video game character in Smash Bros., it shouldn't be Goku or Spongebob, but James Bond, specifically the Pierce Brosnan version. Mainly because of how legitimately important GoldenEye 007 is to the legacy of the N64, Rare, Nintendo and gaming in general.

It's still wild to think that GoldenEye technically already HAD representation in Smash at one point: the Motion Sensor Bomb/Proximity Mine in Smash 64 and the western versions of Melee.

Nearly fours later and it's still wild to me that Banjo & Kazooie of all characters were the only ones on the Grinch Leak that actually eventually made it into the game.

(yeah there's also Ken, but he was already leaked beforehand anyways, so...)

For centuries, the bottom of the deepest Smash Bros. speculation scene have been shrouded in mystery and superstition. Some say it is a hostile place, inhabited by the strangest creatures. Others that its a prison, for the most dangerous outcasts.

Legend has it, that the only hope of ever getting out of there, is an envelope, that every video game character has been craving for years. An envelope they say, everyone is prepared to fight for, and risk their life to posses. But the only way of ever finding out, is to go there, and see for yourself.

You know as much as I love Palutena as a character in Smash and KI Uprising, I do have to admit that objectively speaking she's kinda one of the weirder picks on the roster lol.

FTR it's not really herself that's weird, she IS the most important character in the series besides Pit and its even named after her in Japan ("Light Mythology: Palutena's Mirror")...but I guess it's just because Kid Icarus itself is such a super minor franchise, so ignoring the Sakurai connection, it just seems weird to give it another fully unique newcomer when the likes of Wario, Pikmin, F-Zero, Punch-Out!!, etc all still only have one rep each. Hell, even series like Star Fox and Mother only really have additional characters outside of Fox and Ness, just because said additional fighters are so heavily based on their movesets, whereas Palutena is obviously a full blown effort.

I think if Kid Icarus was at least on the level of Metroid, as in a long running and highly influential series with tons of critically acclaimed games under its belt, Palutena's inclusion would be much more justified outside of "uh Sakurai directed Kid Icarus Uprising lol". As it currently stands, it's just three games across like 36 years, and only two of those games even got a proper worldwide release when they came out. Still love her being in Smash though!

Sorry for potentially getting personal but how come you were banned from Resetera?

GRAND DAD! FLEENSTONES?!

Assuming you were the Palutena main? If so, then yeah. lol you stomped me pretty bad

Do you go by Brandon in Smash Tourneys?

Hey! Do you think you could get on Skype today? We're trying to see if we can get a game night going on.

Hey! Do you think you could get on Skype today? We're trying to see if we can give the podcast another go.