Nintendo's ace pilots take flight! Time to Switch gears for the Ultimate Battle! Pilotwings for Smash Ultimate!

[smashkirby]

Hear hear, mate.
It’s even more insulting when they represent extremely obscure junk as spirits when StarTropics has a strong cult following and Gumshoe comes from the iconic NES Black Box series (and is the only Nintendo Zapper series with absolutely 0 reference).

I don’t know all that much about the Pilotwings series as a whole but watching some Pilotwings 64 footage I can say that it was undoubtedly a big step up from the SNES game, mostly for how much personality they gave it with its set of memorable and unique characters. It really is baffling and insulting that this entry in particular has 0 representation, specially when it came out in Japan like you said, considering Nintendo’s weird bias for its home country. And on top of that it was even the N64’s launch title along with Super Mario 64. It is certainly deserving of a character, at least imo.
I sure would love to see Hawk duking out with Captain Falcon and other old school Nintendo icons, but it seems some things are just too much to ask for, even tho they shouldn’t be.

Thank you! You know, they say Smash is a celebration of gaming, but with stuff like StarTropics and Gumshoe still not getting ANY meaningful references in Smash, I... have my reservations on that claim.

As I've said, PW64 at least released in Japan and I almost forgot that it was one of the N64's launch titles, too! Honestly, how not even ONE piece of music from this game is Smash yet baffles me to no end.

Mind you, I've legit gotten in contact with Dan Hess, the composer of PW64 (Very nice guy, by the way. Give him a shout-out on his YouTube channel when you get the chance!), and he says that Nintendo owns any and all music found in PW64, so ownership issues don't seem to be an issue here. Heck, even he was a tad surprised at hearing that there was finally a Pilotwings stage in Smash 4, and it apparently had none of his music in the game.

Heck, the great thing about Pilotwings 64 is that the pilots are fully realized characters unlike the first games protagonist who we literally don't see until the ending. As someone who got into video games through PW 64 it surprises me that Nintendo hasn't at least reference this game through spirits, mii costumes, and music tracks. Heck, a Pilotwings 64 character such as Lark was top on my list of video game characters I wanted to see in Smash. So it's pretty frustrating to see it get ignored in Smash Ultimate.

Exactly! It's like I always say. Ever since Smash Ultimate revealed that Spirits would serve as the game's collectable instead of Trophies, I imagined that PW64's chances of getting representation via that were pretty darn good. Imagine my surprise (and slight annoyance) that things didn't pan out. Heck, I was even hoping for at least ONE PW64 song to be available, like the Gyrocopter theme, the Birdman theme, or even a PW64 medley. Still nothing...

 

[Mr. Stevenson]

Thank you! You know, they say Smash is a celebration of gaming, but with stuff like StarTropics and Gumshoe still not getting ANY meaningful references in Smash, I... have my reservations on that claim.

As I've said, PW64 at least released in Japan and I almost forgot that it was one of the N64's launch titles, too! Honestly, how not even ONE piece of music from this game is Smash yet baffles me to no end.

Mind you, I've legit gotten in contact with Dan Hess, the composer of PW64 (Very nice guy, by the way. Give him a shout-out on his YouTube channel when you get the chance!), and he says that Nintendo owns any and all music found in PW64, so ownership issues don't seem to be an issue here. Heck, even he was a tad surprised at hearing that there was finally a Pilotwings stage in Smash 4, and it apparently had none of his music in the game.



Exactly! It's like I always say. Ever since Smash Ultimate revealed that Spirits would serve as the game's collectable instead of Trophies, I imagined that PW64's chances of getting representation via that were pretty darn good. Imagine my surprise (and slight annoyance) that things didn't pan out. Heck, I was even hoping for at least ONE PW64 song to be available, like the Gyrocopter theme, the Birdman theme, or even a PW64 medley. Still nothing...

Tbh that statement has always been bull**** to me.
I see Super Smash Brothers as a celebration of Nintendo history first and gaming in general as a distant second. I mean if it was of gaming as a whole then why would all the characters on the cover of Ultimate be Nintendo? Why would Banjo Kazooie be prioritized over someone like Steve? Why would most of the content in the game be Nintendo, and why would they still add more Nintendo characters (who aren’t even that iconic) in the FP instead of balancing out with so called “big shots” in gaming? Don’t get me wrong I wholeheartedly accept 3rd parties but I despise those with little to (specially) no history with Nintendo, when it comes to Smash speculation.

Anyway wow that’s quite an achievement, and I had no idea that the music in the game was composed by a non-Japanese composer, interesting. Truly what makes this all the more baffling is that Pilotwings actually has good representation in Smash, heck it even has a stage. I don’t know why they see this entry in particular as the black sheep of the series when ironically it’s arguably one of the best. Wasn’t Miyamoto behind it? If I remember correctly I think he was behind the original one.

Also I remember seeing Mecha Hawk making a cameo in a more recent Pilotwings game, which I guess does show that Nintendo hasn’t completely forgot about Pilotwings 64 but then again if anything it only makes it all the more hard to believe there is no Pilotwings 64 reference in Smash. It truly was a missed opportunity not at the very least having Mecha Hawk appearing as a stage cameo in the Pilotwings stage.

 

[smashkirby]

Tbh that statement has always been bull**** to me.
I see Super Smash Brothers as a celebration of Nintendo history first and gaming in general as a distant second. I mean if it was of gaming as a whole then why would all the characters on the cover of Ultimate be Nintendo? Why would Banjo Kazooie be prioritized over someone like Steve? Why would most of the content in the game be Nintendo, and why would they still add more Nintendo characters (who aren’t even that iconic) in the FP instead of balancing out with so called “big shots” in gaming? Don’t get me wrong I wholeheartedly accept 3rd parties but I despise those with little to (specially) no history with Nintendo, when it comes to Smash speculation.

Anyway wow that’s quite an achievement, and I had no idea that the music in the game was composed by a non-Japanese composer, interesting. Truly what makes this all the more baffling is that Pilotwings actually has good representation in Smash, heck it even has a stage. I don’t know why they see this entry in particular as the black sheep of the series when ironically it’s arguably one of the best. Wasn’t Miyamoto behind it? If I remember correctly I think he was behind the original one.

Also I remember seeing Mecha Hawk making a cameo in a more recent Pilotwings game, which I guess does show that Nintendo hasn’t completely forgot about Pilotwings 64 but then again if anything it only makes it all the more hard to believe there is no Pilotwings 64 reference in Smash. It truly was a missed opportunity not at the very least having Mecha Hawk appearing as a stage cameo in the Pilotwings stage.

Yeah, I love Smash Bros. and I always will, but... lot of holes in that claim. Well, unless he's also counting characters repped via Spirits and whatnot, in which case... I GUESS he's on his way to making it happen? Still, serious lack of Western games. Just feel like I need to point that out...

Yeah, it was quite an experience to speak to Mr. Hess! Seriously, he's such a cool guy. By the way, he's working remaking PW64's soundtrack, so support him on his Patreon. I'll send the link for anyone who wants it. You know, I wonder if Dan being a Western composer has something to do with PW64 not getting its music in Smash? Considering what's been said about Grant Kirkhope (the composer for Banjo-Kazooie and DK64) and all, it's possible. All this said, it IS odd why this game is seemingly the black sheep. Also ironic as this is the game with truly defined characters whose designs wouldn't look out of place in Smash, provided they got some touch-ups here and there. You're right in that Miyamoto had a big hand in developing this as well.

Yes, Mecha-Hawk shows up in the most recent game, Pilotwings Resort for the 3DS. Speaking of which, it also doesn't sit right with me that not even HE made a cameo appearance in the Wuhu Island portion of the stage either.

 

[Mr. Stevenson]

Yeah, I love Smash Bros. and I always will, but... lot of holes in that claim. Well, unless he's also counting characters repped via Spirits and whatnot, in which case... I GUESS he's on his way to making it happen? Still, serious lack of Western games. Just feel like I need to point that out...

Yeah, it was quite an experience to speak to Mr. Hess! Seriously, he's such a cool guy. By the way, he's working remaking PW64's soundtrack, so support him on his Patreon. I'll send the link for anyone who wants it. You know, I wonder if Dan being a Western composer has something to do with PW64 not getting its music in Smash? Considering what's been said about Grant Kirkhope (the composer for Banjo-Kazooie and DK64) and all, it's possible. All this said, it IS odd why this game is seemingly the black sheep. Also ironic as this is the game with truly defined characters whose designs wouldn't look out of place in Smash, provided they got some touch-ups here and there. You're right in that Miyamoto had a big hand in developing this as well.

Yes, Mecha-Hawk shows up in the most recent game, Pilotwings Resort for the 3DS. Speaking of which, it also doesn't sit right with me that not even HE made a cameo appearance in the Wuhu Island portion of the stage either.

The more we bring up the more I’m baffled at the non-existent Pilotwings 64 content in Smash. The characters themselves are very memorable and their designs scream Nintendo. Hell some could easily pass as Mario characters if you ask me. So yeah they’d definitely feel right at home in Smash imo.

Now that I think about it, this whole weird bias against Pilotwings 64 kind of reminds me of the case for R.O.B. like you have him in the game as a fighter so naturally you’d at least expect a Gyromite stage and spirits for Professor Hector and Vector, along with the Smicks but nope. They’d rather have R.O.B. being the only character with no stage than to easily give him one based on the games he was purposely created for. Like what kind of logic is that???


Y’know it’s funny I kinda brought that as a possibility in my mind when you told me who composed the music, but tbh I doubt even Nintendo is that xenophobic (and boy do I hope not). Also I’m lost here, what’s been said about Kirkhope?

 

[smashkirby]

The more we bring up the more I’m baffled at the non-existent Pilotwings 64 content in Smash. The characters themselves are very memorable and their designs scream Nintendo. Hell some could easily pass as Mario characters if you ask me. So yeah they’d definitely feel right at home in Smash imo.

Now that I think about it, this whole weird bias against Pilotwings 64 kind of reminds me of the case for R.O.B. like you have him in the game as a fighter so naturally you’d at least expect a Gyromite stage and spirits for Professor Hector and Vector, along with the Smicks but nope. They’d rather have R.O.B. being the only character with no stage than to easily give him one based on the games he was purposely created for. Like what kind of logic is that???


Y’know it’s funny I kinda brought that as a possibility in my mind when you told me who composed the music, but tbh I doubt even Nintendo is that xenophobic (and boy do I hope not). Also I’m lost here, what’s been said about Kirkhope?

Totally. It's so off-putting that it's almost not even funny. While PW64 is the only PW game that had an assortment of playable characters, they at least had memorable designs that really should not have been limited to just one game.

It's funny... I've always felt like 75m could be easily reskinned into that of a Gyromite stage. Yeah, it'd be a hassle to play on, but at least R.O.B. would have a home stage. Heck, it still bugs me that Smash has made little to no reference to Professor Hector and his assistant Professor Vector for all of this time. I legit thought those two would get Spirits, if nothing else. It all makes R.O.B. feel like 'too much of a bonus character', if that makes sense.

Yeah, I hope Nintendo isn't that xenophobic either... As for Kirkhope, Sakurai reveals in the B-K presentation that Kirkhope is the first Western composer he's ever worked REALLY closely with, and that jumping between countries like that isn't easy. Considering how PW64 is sort of on the lower end of BIG Ninty games, I (sadly) don't see Sakurai consulting Dan anytime soon over PW64's music. That said, it'd be interesting to see someone like Yoko Shimomura do remixes of PW64's music.

You know, I'm on a bit of a PW64 kick right now (if it wasn't obvious), so here's a question for everyone. What moveset would you craft for a PW character? It can be anyone from the series, it doesn't have to be only Lark.

 

[smashkirby]

Hey, anyone remember this?

 

[lady_sky skipper]

Hey, anyone remember this?

View attachment 325595

Yeah, I might have reblogged it before when I first saw it but it was awesome that someone made a Super Mario Maker costume of Lark. It made me want to see character costumes of the rest of the SNES/N64 Pilotwings cast.

 

[smashkirby]

Yeah, I might have reblogged it before when I first saw it but it was awesome that someone made a Super Mario Maker costume of Lark. It made me want to see character costumes of the rest of the SNES/N64 Pilotwings cast.

I'm the one who requested it! Just wish I could find the original tweet that had that.

Speaking of which, I wonder what Makerfied is doing these days. Haven't from them since after SMM1's hype truly died down.

 

[smash puffle]

I'm just here to say in behalf of the StarTropics fandom, that we fully advocate Pilotwings 64 for Nintendo Switch Online!

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Of all the 1st party Nintendo 64 games, PW64 needs a rerelease the most. For the longest time, this was the last game where StarTropics had a direct reference, and was also the last game made by R&D3, so PW64 means a lot to us.
Here's hoping that both PW64 and Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II finally become widely available on the Switch. We must support each other more than ever!

 

[smashkirby]

I'm just here to say in behalf of the StarTropics fandom, that we fully advocate Pilotwings 64 for Nintendo Switch Online!

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Of all the 1st party Nintendo 64 games, PW64 needs a rerelease the most. For the longest time, this was the last game where StarTropics had a direct reference, and was also the last game made by R&D3, so PW64 means a lot to us.
Here's hoping that both PW64 and Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II finally become widely available on the Switch. We must support each other more than ever!

Thank you so much! We all really appreciate it! Honestly, I'm a bit sad... PW64 doesn't look like it'll be one the NSO's N64 launch games, which really throws me off, because of it was one of the N64's launch titles! I mean, come on Nintendo! You've had two console generations and STILL nothing for that game in particular???