"Under the Southern Cross, Anything is Possible!" | Mike Jones Support Thread

[NintenRob]

Just popping to ask about the thread title, southern cross?

Does that play a part in Star Tropics, is the game set in Australia or New Zealand? I never knew this.

 

[PigmaskColonel]

Not quite, but you're on the right track; StarTropics takes place in the real-life Coral Sea. In the game, the Southern Cross acts as a religious figure of sorts to the island natives, who believe the stars can foretell future events (shooting stars, said to be an omen of bad things to come, are also a recurring theme).
The thread title in question is a reference to the infamous game over screen:

Interesting you should say that. I actually find it quite easier with the joystick, up to the point where the grid-based movement is actually bearable. I mean, the 2nd Startropics will forever be my preferred favorite of the series, with its 8-way movement, but my opinion of the first is rising now.

It bears mentioning that my Joy-Cons are a little on the finicky side as it is, so that might make a difference, depending on what controller you're set up with or the quality of your Joy-Cons. I never had this much trouble with the game on Wii U, even when playing with a joystick.

 

[ChronoBound]

Thanks! I added you to the list.

By the by, do you have any more info on that Nintendo Power article? I wasn't aware that anything like that existed, but I'll see if I can't dig it up some time.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

No I do not. It was part of a feature called "Playback" that ran in the late 2000's in Nintendo Power (2007 onward). For these sections they would talk about a particular retro title. I remember reading somewhere that in one issue, that Zoda's Revenge was the title feature for a "Playback". The only thing I remember from what was talked about in regards to the Zoda's Revenge Playback article is that it mentioned that Zoda's Revenge was completed sooner than 1994, and that is was basically shelved for a while before being brought back to help promote the top-loader NES (NES-101).

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1103097867810541568

Excellent news guys! Startropics is coming to Nintendo Online!

I find it very amusing that StarTropics and Kid Icarus are being released together. Those were the two NES titles that got me interested in retro gaming back in the very early 2000's. They both are quite challenging and somewhat rough around the edges, but they are also both must play classics for the NES in my opinion. Another quality both of these titles share is that they both received a sequel very few fans of those titles knew about (Of Myths and Monsters and Zoda's Revenge).

On a sidenote, Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II has turned 25 years old. It is strange to think that StarTropics actually did receive a new installment during the SNES era but it was on the NES of all things. As I said before, Zoda's Revenge is a great game, and anyone that is a big fan of StarTropics should definitely check out the sequel.

 

[amazonevan19]

Great to hear Nintendo Switch Online is already bringing in new fans! I reckon you'll enjoy the game. Don't be afraid to use save states, though -- it can be a grueling challenge for first-timers.

I finished up my playthrough a few hours ago, actually:

If there's one downside to playing on Switch, it'd have to be the lack of a proper D-pad. I found myself making accidental inputs with the joystick a little more frequently than I'd like to admit.

Haha thanks! I don't like using save states for the most part, only to help speed up convenience to skip cutscenes or something - not actual progress, if that makes sense.

I found this mockup on KrazyBonesTV twitter and thought it was pretty dope.

 

[PigmaskColonel]

No I do not. It was part of a feature called "Playback" that ran in the late 2000's in Nintendo Power (2007 onward). For these sections they would talk about a particular retro title. I remember reading somewhere that in one issue, that Zoda's Revenge was the title feature for a "Playback". The only thing I remember from what was talked about in regards to the Zoda's Revenge Playback article is that it mentioned that Zoda's Revenge was completed sooner than 1994, and that is was basically shelved for a while before being brought back to help promote the top-loader NES (NES-101).

I see. It seems that my theory proposed in the OP was right after all. Not that it was particularly difficult to piece together, considering all the factors pointing towards Zoda's Revenge being completed (or at least having a considerable amount of work done) much earlier than 1994.
Super Punch-Out!!, a game for a completely different console, hit the US market only seven months after the release of Zoda's Revenge -- that alone strongly implies that the game was just once-canceled filler revived for the sake of the NES top-loader, rather than developed alongside a larger game for the Super Nintendo. After all, if Nintendo was going to dedicate the attention of an entire development team towards new software for the NES, why would a sequel to StarTropics of all things be their first choice?

Anyhow, thanks for the insight regarding that rare Nintendo Power bit. I'll have to track down a copy of the issue (which I now believe to be Volume 227, after some research) and document this nugget.

 

[pupNapoleon]

To be fair with BF, Sakurai had thought what any regular fan would: how would he do anything after his balloons got popped?

In the meantime, at least some of his concept has been incorporated in a way.

The same way half the roster does anything- by interpretting the gameplay of the world and utilizing it.
My suggestion- after his balloons get popped, he gets the parachute that launches him very slightly upward, and allows him to float down to a platform where he can re-inflate. The enemies in Balloon Fight do this, it would be a perfect solution in my eyes.

 

[KirbyWorshipper2465]

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/20...e_startropics_without_the_original_nes_manual

Ay ay ay, good thing Gamefaqs exists.

 

[smash puffle]

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/20...e_startropics_without_the_original_nes_manual

Ay ay ay, good thing Gamefaqs exists.

Welp... I hope they at least address this with a tweet telling you the code or something.

 

[smash puffle]

Before the next piece of #SuperSmashBrosUltimate DLC gets revealed we want to hear what your top three choices for this DLC are! Follow the link below and let us know: https://t.co/0ByanpwL9B pic.twitter.com/y0H6Ghm1dz

— Source Gaming (@AllSourceGaming) March 27, 2019

Source Gaming is making a poll about DLC characters, lets go and vote for our boy Mike! This may spread some awareness for him!

BTW, here's the ST subreddit, just in case nobody has posted it yet:
https://www.reddit.com/r/startropics/

 

[darkcat1]

I've kinda said Mike since the N64 days. Let's hope a few Nintendo employees are fans

 

[smash puffle]

Ok, so over the past few weeks I've been thinking about a ton of ideas for the campaign. I'm not ready to share these ideas just yet, but I'm still unsure about one thing... The campaign's name.
What could the name of the campaign be? Share your ideas in the thread, and make sure it's catchy and self-explanatory, your help will be really appreciated.

 

[GoodGrief741]

I think we could call ourselves C-Islanders? Like, a name for campaigners, like the Kutthroats did.

 

[PigmaskColonel]

... I'm still unsure about one thing... The campaign's name.
What could the name of the campaign be? Share your ideas in the thread, and make sure it's catchy and self-explanatory, your help will be really appreciated.

"The Colaition". A play on the first game's cola motif.

 

[smash puffle]

How about SmashCola? I think this one gets the point across... Unless the name's already taken for something else.

 

[smash puffle]

just wanted to share this

 

[Oddball]

How about SmashCola? I think this one gets the point across... Unless the name's already taken for something else.

Maybe SmashTropics?

 

[smash puffle]

Ok, this may be a bit of a messy post, but I'll do my best to write a condensed and simple explanation of the ideas I've come up with so far.
I may edit some things later on based on feedback, but this is all I have at the moment:

• Making a team for the campaign: First things first, there has to be leading people that will organize this well. People passionate enough and that have enough time and dedication to something like this. We still need to decide a name for the campaign as well...
• Building the community: We need to grow as a community. We always been a small and quiet group of people, and this needs to change. There's the C-Island Forums, the ST Discord and the subreddit. We need to join forces and fight for the same cause. We can discuss the campaign, Smash Bros or just the ST series itself just for fun either in those places or in this thread. The more active this thread is, the better.
• The basic push for Mike: Naturally we have to push the requests for Mike in Smash and the series itself to people, just like how K. Rool fans did it.
• References inside the game itself: Thanks to the 3.0 update, we can post ST themed stages and Mii characters, this could be helpful and fun to do.
• Introducing the series to newcomers: In order to introduce the series, we need to exlpain the basics. A little bit of history, the basic gameplay and why we love the games so much. Since they can easily play the first game now it will make things way easier.
• The Japanese Audience: This is probably the most important part. The name StarTropics is not even remotely known and it's presence is pretty much nonexistent... So its about time to change that. This may be a bit tricky with the big language barrier, but with the right people to help out, it could be possible. Since the Switch is technically region free, the Japanese players and maybe even Sakurai himself can now play the game with almost no issues... almost that is, except for the game being only in English... if only there was a Japanese translation either officially or fanmade. It would also be nice if an introduction to the series video could be made in their language and of course push the Smash campaign of course. Sites like nicovideo would be ideal. NoJ refuses to acknowledge the series, but with this recent rerelease and how accesible the game is now to everyone, they have no excuses anymore, we must demand at least SOMETHING StarTropics related to get into Smash Bros. and it's still early enough to do so.
• Memes (yes, really): It's the year 2019, and having a noteworthy internet presence is very important. And what other way of having a presence is there than memes? Let's be creative with it and make sure that it doesn't feel forced or made to promote the campaign... I mean if Ridley and Chrom got memed so hard in Smash 4 and got in in Ultimate and Waluigi is at this point a lock in the next installment, then Mike could have a chance, right?
• Let's Players and Streamers: Thanks to the accessibility of the first game, popular streamers and such can start playing this game live. It's just a matter of them getting interested and having enough time to do so. Can you think of any streamers you like that you think would enjoy the game?
• YouTuber Support: Support from popular people on the internet is really helpful, and Youtubers are no different. AntDude, Nitro Rad and Shesez from Boundary Break are already on board for Mike in Smash, maybe we can ask them for help? Maybe request more StarTropics content from them? Maybe there are more people on the platform that would talk about the game and leave more exposure to the series.
• Ask for a rerelease of the sequel: Nintendo miraculously rereleased the first game on their online service. That leaves only Zoda's Revenge for a new rerelease. Ever since the Wii Shop shut down earlier this year, buying a cart is the only legitimate way of owning the game. A new rerelease needs to happen and we need to be loud about that. It's one of those rare instances of being likely, but we need to speak up anyway.

Now of course this is just a series of ideas I have, so feel free to give feedback or new ideas. We still have enough time to make this work out, we can make this happen if we work hard enough, and do our best. Our boy Mike deserves to be at least present in Smash in some form, and it's up to us to help him out.

 

[Oddball]

One thing I think we need to get going is a really good render of Mike. Some people have made Smash-like renders, but none of them really stick out as being a great render that can be used to help promote him. If anybody has any real skills here, that could be a help, or if anybody knows any good artists that take commissions that could work.

Maybe get a couple of different artists who have followings to do a render or two.

 

[smash puffle]

I don't know if the Smashified guys would be interested but asking them wouldn't hurt.

 

[shinhed-echi]

I like those pointers.

Does anyone know just how crippled the language is when google translates to Japanese? (Although broken Japanese could become a meme itself).

Then we could at least research to make the puns make sense or replace them with ones that work. (Kind of how Dragon Quest does in reverse).

I had this ok 2D animation in progress, it was going to be 5 minutes long. But my laptop couldn’t handle the amount of ram that Flash demanded off the project... so it’s pretty much dead... I’ve tried investigating how to save it. Or how to export the file to some other project, but I haven’t the foggiest idea of what to do to save it.
(It was supposed to be a music video about Mike being constantly ignored by Sakurai and Nintendo, and I was less than a minute away from finishing it... it still pains me to this day).

 

[GoodGrief741]

I like those pointers.

Does anyone know just how crippled the language is when google translates to Japanese? (Although broken Japanese could become a meme itself).

Then we could at least research to make the puns make sense or replace them with ones that work. (Kind of how Dragon Quest does in reverse).

I had this ok 2D animation in progress, it was going to be 5 minutes long. But my laptop couldn’t handle the amount of ram that Flash demanded off the project... so it’s pretty much dead... I’ve tried investigating how to save it. Or how to export the file to some other project, but I haven’t the foggiest idea of what to do to save it.
(It was supposed to be a music video about Mike being constantly ignored by Sakurai and Nintendo, and I was less than a minute away from finishing it... it still pains me to this day).

I wouldn't trust Google Translate with anything, it's bound to be awfully broken and literal. A translator is needed for a thing like this.

As a matter of fact, I'm learning Japanese right now, but I'm way far from being able to translate anything. Hopefully, a few years down the line I'll be able to tackle something of this scale.

 

[NonSpecificGuy]

I have this weird infatuation with the fact that I feel like Mike would listen to Weezer on repeat. A specific song came to mind when I was brainstorming a potential StarTropics 3 and I feel like this would be a really nice fit to the StarTropics world. I envisioned it as the title screen theme but I think it could fit just about anywhere in the game.

I really feel like this song fits the very mellow but adventurous mood that StarTropics has always had.

 

[Rubberfrog]

Here's a render not-render of Mike Jones that popped up in the last few months. While it's very well done, I'm a little disappointed that it's modeled after his instruction manual art instead of the in-game art. He looks a lot better with the taller, thinner face.

Also, he looks kinda like a monkey in this one.

 

[Oddball]

That's probabaly the best render I've seen of him so far, but you're right about the face.

 

[PigmaskColonel]

Here's a render not-render of Mike Jones that popped up in the last few months. While it's very well done, I'm a little disappointed that it's modeled after his instruction manual art instead of the in-game art. He looks a lot better with the taller, thinner face.

I never understood why everyone tries to redesign Mike in those fan renders. Every time a new one shows up, it's always either too masculine or too baby-ish for my tastes. Many people seem to operate under the assumption that retro characters need some amount of "redesigning" if they're to be brought to Smash, but I fail to see how that applies to Mike.
Unlike most NES characters, Mike actually had a very well-defined and fully realized design, one that I reckon would work just fine for the purposes of Smash or any other modern 3D appearance. You can tell the characters of StarTropics were designed with a bit more foresight than, say, the simplistic in-house art style of Nintendo's earlier characters & games. I mean, look at Pit -- it's serviceable for a basic action game made in the 80s, but there's a reason he got a makeover for his grand return in Brawl.

On the other hand, Mike was a character design built to last. I'm still impressed by how well-executed his final in-game design was, and it's a shame the preliminary concept art used in the game's manual is the version most people have come to know him for. It's apparent that the design depicted in the credits slideshow is the intended look, since, beyond having a great deal more depth and appeal than the child-like Mike seen in concept art, Zoda's Revenge makes full use of this version.
I'll always consider this the ideal design for Mike. It's refined, modern, and captures the Americana feel of the character perfectly.

One of my favorite Mike fanworks (courtesy of our very own Oddball , incidentally) paints a perfect picture of how I think Mike should appear in Smash. The original design, no strings attached. It's too bad none of the talented folk out there have tried translating this to 3D.

Spoiler

 

[Rubberfrog]

If Mike were to get in Smash, I think he'd have his Startropics 1 outfit + alt colors and his Startropics 2 outfit + alt colors. Maybe another alt outfit where he's dressed as a girl.

 

[TempahRelapse]

Please add me as a supporter

 

[smash puffle]

Guys we need to make a poll to decide once and for all the name for the campaign. We also need to share it to the subreddit and the C-Island forum members to truly make it definitive. who's up for making the poll?

The May lineup for the NSO service was oddly announced in their site. No sign of Zoda's Revenge, but here's hoping it'll show up next month.

 

[Gallowglass]

Hey I'm glad to see this thread pop back up. I've been playing StarTropics on my Switch since it was release. Though to be honest the Wii version was a better remake with the whole manual trick but I'm just glad its being represented on the Switch. One reason I've been replaying it is for inspiration for stage ideas. Also I have a Mii I will be sharing once I get the chance.

 

[OnyanRings]

I fully support Creamy Dreamy Mikey.

I don't think he's really "likely" per se but he has a few things going for him.
He doesn't have a spirit and we didn't get a"retro/niche" rep in ultimate, he'd be perfect for that role !

 

[Oddball]

I was thinking about the titles characters get on the Punch-Out stage.

What do you think Mike's would be? I'm going "the Island Kid" myself.

 

[Rubberfrog]

I was thinking about the titles characters get on the Punch-Out stage.

What do you think Mike's would be? I'm going "the Island Kid" myself.

I think the Ace-Pitchin' Whiz works too

 

[smash puffle]

That also reminds me... What would his Classic mode route be? His Palutena's Guidance? His DLC Spirit Board? What ST music remixes would you like to see?

 

[Deleted member]

Who is Mike Jones?

 

[Gallowglass]

Well here is my Mii of Mike Jones

ID: 5H6BJS26
I made him into a swordfighter mainly because beside his yo-yo his main form of attack is throwing objects. The blue jeans and T-shirt also looks good on him.

 

[GoodGrief741]

Who is Mike Jones?

Guy from StarTropics.

But you might know him better as the guy from StarTropics II.

 

[smash puffle]

Well here is my Mii of Mike Jones

ID: 5H6BJS26
I made him into a swordfighter mainly because beside his yo-yo his main form of attack is throwing objects. The blue jeans and T-shirt also looks good on him.

I'm happy I'm not the only one making this kind of stuff to share online. Also looking up the Shared Content I was pleasantly surprised that there were more than 3 Mike Miis overall, I saw more than 7.

Also there's this:

Wow, Nintendo, very cool. pic.twitter.com/aWmwe9aXgl

— AntDude 🦋 (@antdude92) April 18, 2019

 

[Oddball]

Who do you think Mike Jone's Adventure mode battles would be?

I'd say start it off with ROB and end with Ridley but inbetween, I'm not so sure.

 

[Deleted member]

I think that the only problem regarding Mike’s chances is the lack of a japanese release of Star Tropics.

Besides that, he would be cool to put in.

 

[smash puffle]

Who do you think Mike Jone's Adventure mode battles would be?

I'd say start it off with ROB and end with Ridley but inbetween, I'm not so sure.

Oh, you mean Classic Mode? Because I thought up with something that could work.

Title: Trouble in Paradise/Test of Island Courage
Theme: It loosely follows the progression of the first game. One stage features a tropical like stage with fighters that have gone to a vacation in the past/been on an adventure on a tropical setting, followed by a dungeon esque stage featuring monster-like fighters. It all goes in that pattern until the final round. In some rounds he's accompanied by a blue for an ovbious reference.

R1: in Delfino Plaza
R2: Giant
R3: in Pirate Ship
R4:
R5: in Kongo Falls
R6: x6 in Great Cave Offensive
-Bonus Game-
Final Round: Vs. Dracula (with the appropiate StarTropics 2 final boss music, preferably a remix, you might have realized why.)

Ok, with that out of the way....

I do really wish Mike is in the Fighters Pass. Next year marks the series 30th anniversary, and the Fighters Pass ends in February 2020... it just fits so perfectly.

I will work on a speculation video about the remaining 4 DLC fighters sometime this month before E3 week and you bet Mike is gonna be on the list.
I might do a Twitter account for the campaign as well, though I still don't know how I'm gonna name it. Maybe you guys can help me out with that.

One last thing I want to mention here:

(Now I know this is a Wind Waker reference, but the first time I saw this in WoL I honestly thought it was C-Island. I want to dream.)