Nivek will you please check your talk page on impluasable alternate history wiki. I have left a small backlog of meassages for you thier. I hope don't mind that i left this meeasage on a timeline page but i had been leaving you perosonal meassage but you have not been responding to them
Player Two Start: An SNES-CD Timeline
- Thread starter RySenkari
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My proposal comes from the speculation that the removal of Hidden Palace from Sonic 2 was fairly last minute. Plus, there was that mysterious track (10 on the sound test.) Several magazines published screenshots from the zone as well so it would still be in the fandom's collective memory, albeit faintly. I do not know if SEGA deleted the data or disposed of any the beta builds, but I thought it would be worth a try.
...and the OTL version Sonic Jam implemented the spin dash into the original Sonic the Hedgehog so I do not believe it would be that much of a stretch.
umm pretty good points and would make sense if sonic team give effort for it between making Burning Rangers,umm will ask ry their two cents on it, i think as you say would make sense added an edition with the level as unlockable? wonder if the same would be for cyber/genocide city zone.
If I may offer a suggestion, perhaps STI would take point on that front since Sonic 2 was a joint Sonic Team/STI collaboration. They can handle (re)designing the cut levels while Sonic Team focuses on Burning Rangers.
Does SWAT Kats change at all ITTL? OTL, it was canceled in 1995 because it was too dark. Could it not be ITTL? Cartoons are clearly getting away with more mature stuff much earlier ITTL to the point where you've said that by 2000, the Nickelodeon show Constant Payne is getting away with stuff Steven Universe and Adventure Time are only just starting to get away with OTL. Those Butterflies saved Sailor Moon, can they save this too?
November 1996 (Part 2) - The High Water Mark Of The SNES-CD
“I think that sometimes when you spend so much time working on a game and it has so much anticipation from fans, it's always going to be a disappointment no matter what you do. I feel, and many others felt, that the game was a masterpiece. I'm very happy with Seiken Densetsu 3 and there isn't a thing I'd change about it.”
-Hiroki Kikuta, in the January 1997 issue of Famitsu magazine
“So, while developing Biohazard, I kept thinking of ideas for Super Famicom CD games, because Capcom wished for a big seller on both main consoles and they did not have as much faith in Mega Man 7 as they did initially. It did not take me a long time to think of the idea for Iron Combatant. It was the little details that were hard to work out!”
-Shinji Mikami
“You run out of ways to push the technology, past a certain point anyway. We saw what Argonaut was doing with Squad Four: Eclipse and we knew that we had hit kind of a wall. And by then we were working with the Ultra and going way further than we ever knew was possible. The development of Donkey Kong Country 3 made Goldeneye a no-go on the SNES-CD. By then, we said to ourselves, 'well, Tomorrow Never Dies will be out before we get this game finished'. But by 1996 we knew for sure that Goldeneye had to be on the Ultra.”
-Ken Lobb
“Ohohohoho! You heroes greatly amuse me but once I have the power of the God Beasts I will become the new goddess of the world!”
-Bigieu, Elements Of Mana
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Donkey Kong Country 3
Andrew: 9.0
Mark: 8.5
Mike: 9.0
Sushi-X: 8.5 (quote: “Though the gameplay's gotten a bit stale, this lush, colorful world is still full of fun challenges and wacky creatures.”)
Elements of Mana
Andrew: 9.0 (quote: “While not the transcendent classic that its predecessor was, it's still a feast of visuals and music and it's one of the SNES-CD's most epic RPGs.)
Mark: 9.0
Mike: 9.0
Sushi-X: 9.0
Lufia II: Rise Of The Sinistrals
Andrew: 8.0
Mark: 8.0 (quote: “It might be a bit dated in terms of its graphics, but it's still a wonderful old-school RPG adventure.”)
Mike: 7.5
Sushi-X: 7.0
Mega Man 7
Andrew: 7.5
Mark: 7.5
Mike: 8.5
Sushi-X: 8.5 (quote: “This game brings all the fun of old school Mega Man and gives it a massive graphical uplift.”)
NHL '97
Andrew: 6.5
Mark: 6.5
Mike: 6.0 (quote: “This series is really showing its age, and it's clear that most of EA's effort went into the Saturn version.”)
Sushi-X: 7.0
Super Bomberman 3
Andrew: 8.0
Mark: 8.0 (quote: “This great puzzle game remains a multiplayer treat.”)
Mike: 7.5
Sushi-X: 7.5
Science Fighters 2
Andrew: 7.0
Mark: 4.0 (quote: “The first game was so much fun, but despite adding several fun new characters, the gameplay is way too clunky.”)
Mike: 6.5
Sushi-X: 4.0
Slumlord: Back II The Streets
Andrew: 1.5 (quote: “One of the most unnecessary sequels I have ever played.”)
Mark: 3.0
Mike: 1.0
Sushi-X: 1.0
Dark City: A Death In The Family
Andrew: 8.0
Mark: 7.0 (quote: “While not quite as good as the brilliant second game in the series, it's still a great way to end this excellent trilogy.”)
Mike: 8.5
Sushi-X: 8.5
Stolen In Shadow
Andrew: 9.0
Mark: 8.0
Mike: 6.5
Sushi-X: 8.0 (quote: “Dark, thrilling, and intuitive, this is one of my favorite visual novels and continues the story of the previous game perfectly.”)
Iron Combatant
Andrew: 9.0
Mark: 9.0
Mike: 9.0 (quote: “One of the best action games I've ever played, there's not a single useless weapon.”)
Sushi-X: 9.0
The Human Body
Andrew: 3.0 (quote: “An extremely dull platformer that sees you fighting your way through a human body battling parasites along the way. This game is a parasite.”)
Mark: 4.5
Mike: 3.0
Sushi-X: 3.0
-reviews of November 1996's SNES-CD games in the December 1996 and January 1997 issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly
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“Amidst the huge releases of Nintendo's big holiday tentpole games Donkey Kong Country 3, Squad Four: Eclipse, and Elements of Mana came a mecha action game from Capcom called Iron Combatant. Starring a badass woman who piloted an even more badass mecha suit, the game managed to be the third best selling new SNES-CD game of November 1996, and one of the best selling new IPs of the year. It remains one of 1996's most highly regarded games, and started one of Capcom's most enduring franchises. In fact, apart from Resident Evil, it was Capcom's most successful home console game of the year, beating out two Mega Man titles and a Street Fighter game! How the hell did it do it? Never underestimate the power of a good ad campaign.”
-excerpted from “The Best Marketed Video Games Of All Time”, an article on the website The Business Of Gaming
Though Iron Combatant was conceived to be a game that would give Capcom a hit on the SNES-CD to parallel the expected success of Resident Evil on the Saturn, it was anything but an afterthought. Designer Shinji Mikami worked on the game throughout the last half of 1995 and the first half of 1996, and he would later on go to say he enjoyed working on it just as much as he did Resident Evil. The game was conceived as a shooter/action title, somewhat similar to games such as Major Hazard, that saw the player navigating a large battlefield, following mission objectives to take down hordes of enemies. However, it also had a side-scrolling action component for some of its levels, and in other levels, its protagonist Layla even climbed out of the house-sized mecha suit to fight enemies on her own. The game featured anime cutscenes with much higher production values than the much-maligned ones in Mega Man X3, and they were even better received than those in Mega Man X4, though this is largely in part due to the performance of Layla's voice actress in the first game, Sheri Candela (Candela would later be replaced by the much more well-known and prolific Jennifer Hale in 2000's Iron Battalion for the Ultra Nintendo). The game featured fast paced combat, Layla's mech was no lumbering behemoth, it was agile and very well-animated, allowing it to rapidly dash and run across battlefields, taking down hordes of enemies as it went. The combat is sort of similar to a 3-D Metal Slug, with dozens of enemies appearing and quickly being destroyed by the mech's many, many different types of weapons. In side-scrolling mode, the combat could be compared to Contra, though both Layla and her mech are far more versatile and mobile. The game is also known for featuring large bosses, though the toughest (and most fun) boss fights are largely considered to be Layla's battles against her fellow “Iron Combatants”, the six human antagonists who don mecha suits of their own to battle Layla with. The plot of the game is that Layla is a survivor of an apocalyptic war along with her fellow colonists, living in a small village that mostly subsists on finding and salvaging scrap. When a neighboring, much larger empire looks to absorb Layla's village and enslave its people, she alone must defend it using the mecha that she and her friends have managed to unearth. That's pretty much the game, in terms of plot twists there aren't too many, though there are a few instances of friends becoming foes and foes becoming friends, with one character (Layla's love interest Albrecht) even going back and forth between the two numerous times before the penultimate boss battle when Layla is finally forced to put him down after realizing he's irredeemable. The game is also memorable for its magazine ad campaign which featured numerous artworks of Layla just generally being badass. Most of the artwork showed off Layla, her body lined with lean muscle but still very much feminine, clad in a green tanktop and baggy brown pants and riding her mecha suit into battle. Her face became etched into the minds of gamers throughout the year (she was seen as the SNES-CD's equivalent to Lara Croft in a lot of ways) and when the game finally was released, it sold extremely well. Surprisingly, the game did better in North America than it did in Japan, though it was considered a success in both territories and in Europe when it released there in the spring of 1997. Iron Combatant is remembered as one of the best games to be released in the waning days of the SNES-CD, and for those who eschewed the DKC and Mana hype to give it a try, their curiosity was very well rewarded.
-excerpted from “Made Of Iron: A History Of The Best Mecha Combat Series In Gaming” from Gamesovermatter.com, July 21, 2014
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“Before we begin, this Counselors' Corner video contains some HUGE spoilers for Lufia II: Rise Of The Sinistrals, so if you haven't played the game yet, do NOT watch this! I mean it, it will completely spoil the game's biggest secrets for you!
Okay, a LOT of people have been asking if there's a way to somehow keep Maxim and Selan alive at the end of Lufia II. And the answer is...yes! IF you're willing to put in a lot of work. At the end of the game, Maxim is told by Iris that he can save the world from the falling Doom Island if he can reach the controls at the island's core. However, what she does NOT tell Maxim, UNLESS you have beaten the 100 level Ancient Cave, is that there are three hidden emblems that Maxim can find and press on his way to the island's core. Now, here's the thing. You do NOT need to have beaten the Ancient Cave to activate those emblems. The intention of the game was that you will need to beat the Cave to learn about their existence, but since you have the counselors of Nintendo to help you out, you've just learned about them! However, they are well off the beaten path, and finding and pressing them will take you right to the edge of the time limit that the game gives you, so follow these exact steps to locate them. *tells you how to reach all three of them in time* Once you have activated all three emblems, activate the core and the game will end as normal. You'll get the normal ending, the world will be saved, Maxim and Selan's sacrifice is remembered through the ages, yada yada yada. However... now that the emblems have been activated, the game will ask if you want to save outside of Doom Island. Say yes and now you will end up just outside of Parcelyte. After you load the game, there will be a cutscene of an enormous island tower rising up from the ocean in the center of the three Triangle Islands. This is Sinistral Tower and this is the tower you will need to climb and beat if you want to unlock the game's secret ending.
Make your way to Sinistral Tower, you can access it via submarine. Sinistral Tower is a 25-floor tower with lots of puzzles and the game's toughest enemies. It is tougher than Doom Island, though, in this counselor's opinion it is NOT tougher than the Ancient Cave. It does not, for example, contain the super cheap Gold Dragons that lurked at the end of the Cave with their instant kill attacks that relied on luck for your party to survive. Now, a detailed strategy on Sinistral Tower would make this video too long for Nintendo Power CD. However, we DO have a guide on how to beat this tower's puzzles in this month's Epic Center, so look for that guide in the magazine. You should be around level 80 to challenge Sinistral Tower, beat up on Cores to get your party to this high level. Once you reach the top, Arek the Absolute, true leader of the Sinistrals, will be waiting. He is incredibly dangerous, with the attack Hell Storm and twice as much hit points as Daos, the normal final boss of the game. Use your strongest special attacks like Octo Strike to take him down. Once Arek is beaten, you'll automatically evacuate Sinistral Tower as it sinks into the sea. Then, just beat the game again as normal. After fighting your way through Sinistral Tower, Doom Island and the Sinistrals will be an absolute cinch. Once you beat Daos, enjoy your well-earned secret ending. We won't show it here, but rest assured, Maxim and Selan make it out alive. Obviously, this isn't the OFFICIAL ending of the game, since the events of the first game show Maxim and Selan falling at Doom Island, but for those of you who can't stand sad endings, this video has shown you how to earn a happier one. Good luck!
-from the Counselors' Corner video “Can I save Maxim and Selan in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals?” in the July 1997 issue of Nintendo Power CD
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Elements Of Mana: The Basics
Elements Of Mana, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 3, is the sequel to the acclaimed RPG Secret Of Mana, and plays largely the same way, but with many key differences. The game is an action RPG, featuring real-time combat against enemies. Combat is considerably faster than Secret Of Mana, due to the elimination of the need to charge up attacks before using them and also the replacement of combos with special attacks that are charged by damaging enemies. The game continues to utilize the “ring” item system from Secret of Mana and also continues the item storage system that appeared in the game IOTL and in Secret of Mana ITTL, allowing the player to enter a menu outside of combat to transfer items into their battle bag. Among the differences in the game from the OTL version: like in Secret of Mana, three characters can be controlled by humans at the same time, unlike only two as IOTL. All characters, not just magic characters, possess “magic”, though physical characters like Duran, Kevin, and Lise have physically-based “magic” abilities, similar to the Force characters in Chrono Trigger. The game retains some of OTL's more criticized aspects, such as the random items required for character class changes and the enemies toward the end of the game that can utilize potentially party-wiping attacks. However, Hawkeye's critical attack glitch, which severely reduced his OTL effectiveness, is discovered early in production and fixed. The game's graphics are significantly better than IOTL, and are on par with the graphics in Legend of Mana, similar to Chrono Trigger, with even better character animation. In battle, attacks display a combo count and a “total damage” count, allowing the player to see numerically the number of hits they've landed in a short span and even enabling them to recover magic points for making large combos.
The biggest change from OTL's version of the game is the plot, and though many of the basic elements of the game remain, many things are fundamentally overhauled, making for a game that's a significantly different experience from IOTL's game. First off, though the six playable characters are the same as IOTL, they now represent three different 'factions', the same factions laid down in the original Secret Of Mana: The natural world, the human world, and a balanced approach. Lise, princess of the valkyries, and Kevin, a beastman hybrid, represent the natural world. Charlotte, a half-elf of Light, and Hawkeye, of the thieves' guild, represent the balanced approach, and the human knight Duran and the ice princess Angela represent the human world. Lise and Kevin's main enemy, and the final boss of the game if you choose one of them as your main character, is the Dragon Emperor, who represents the crushing advance of humanity and the oppression that will destroy nature if technological progress is not kept in check. Charlotte and Hawkeye's main enemy is the Dark Witch Bigieu (who replaces the Dark Prince as the main villain from IOTL), who represents the worst mix of Mana energy with human ambition, and Duran and Angela's final enemy is the Mana God and its avatar, the Archmage Sevire, who represent the cruelty of nature and its desire to destroy mankind and halt technological progress. Depending upon the main character you select, the game's action is set off either by an attack by the Empire's forces on the Holy City of Wendel (the natural path), a mysterious series of magical killings in a desert village (the balance path), or an assault by beastmen on the port town of Jadd (the humanity path). Either way, the first half of the game involves your three chosen characters on the hunt for the eight Mana Spirits as the Empire, the Dark Witch, and Sevire battle both the heroes and each other for control of the world. Once the Mana Spirits are found, the conflict eventually comes to a head at the Mana Holyland, where an enormous battle between the Empire, Bigieu, and Sevire and his army of Beastmen is taking place. Unlike in OTL's game, where two of the factions are totally destroyed in the battle, here, all three main enemies survive, though one of them (Bigieu in the natural path, Sevire in the balance path, and the Empire in the humanity path) is left to battle you after the eight God Beasts are released after the events that transpire. After defeating one of the factions for good at the Mana Holy Land, the game once again branches off into three paths. Eight God Beasts must be defeated, but their locations and forms depend on which path you take through the game. In the humanity path, the God Beasts will appear largely as they do in OTL's Seiken Densetsu 3, though they'll be attacking different cities and you must stop them there (after fighting through a dungeon created smack in the middle of the city being attacked). In the balance path, the dungeons where you fight the God Beasts appear largely as they do IOTL, though their forms have changed as Bigieu has mutated them hideously with her dark magic. In the natural path, the God Beasts are being controlled by the Dragon Emperor to absorb the very elements of Mana from the Earth, and you must go into different large factory complexes to battle them, where they will appear as enormous, dangerous machines. During the game, the party, depending on which party members you choose, all have their own opinions about how the world should be, and they will quarrel with one another throughout the game, though unlike the villainous factions, the party members will come to all work together as a team to stop the evil that's taking over the planet. Once four of the God Beasts are defeated, the game takes a side trek as one of the two remaining main villains (Sevire in the natural path, the Empire in the balance path, and Bigieu in the humanity path) threatens to destroy the world and the party must take a break from their quest to defeat the God Beasts in order to handle this new peril. Once the villain is stopped, the game continues, with the remaining God Beasts hunted down and destroyed, only for the main villain to enact the final part of their plan: Sevire unleashes a horrible Mana plague to kill all the humans, Bigieu absorbs the Mana Sword to become a goddess, and the Dragon Emperor launches an assault on the Mana Tree. The final quest involves the party storming the final dungeon and finally defeating the main villain. Whatever happens, the ending is bittersweet: though the heroes all survive and the world is at peace, the events of the game have had severe consequences on the planet, which must recover for 1,000 years afterward.
November 11, 1996
Elements Of Mana is released in North America for the Super Nintendo CD. It becomes the second fastest-selling JRPG in North America, after Tale Phantasia and ahead of Chrono Trigger, but initial sales soon fade somewhat as word of mouth and critical reviews indicate that the game isn't quite as good as Secret Of Mana. Though a significant faction of fans do claim the sequel as superior, many more claim it to be a disappointment, despite largely excellent reviews from game publications. It's likely increased competition from other highly acclaimed RPGs that hurts the game's reputation somewhat (as when Secret of Mana was released, there weren't nearly as many RPGs to compare it to), but whatever the reason, Elements of Mana isn't considered a Game of the Year contender and it doesn't move SNES-CD systems nearly as well as Secret of Mana did three years before.
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The success of the Super Nintendo CD put Capcom in a bit of a bind when it came to their classic Mega Man series. They'd intended to release Mega Man 7 as an SNES cartridge as their swan song for the system, but seeing how poorly the SNES version of Mega Man X2 performed led them to scrap their plans for Mega Man 7 entirely in favor of creating the game for the Super Nintendo CD. When it was finally released, in Japan in April 1996 and in North America in November, it was less of a continuation of the series and more of a “love letter”. The game combined elements and brought back Robot Masters from each of the six previous games: Cut Man (MM1), Heat Man (MM2), Top Man (MM3), Pharaoh Man (MM4), Star Man (MM5), and Yamato Man (MM6), revamping them to give them a weakness to one of the five other Robot Masters in the group. After Mega Man defeated these six, a NEW group of six new Robot Masters appeared after Bass and Treble, who'd been Mega Man's allies throughout his battle against the first six Robot Masters, betrayed him. However, Mega Man gained a new ally in Proto Man, who would advise Mega Man in his fight against these six new Masters: Burst Man, Cross Man, Fade Man, Scythe Man, Quake Man, and Gold Man. After defeating the six new Robot Masters, Mega Man then had to battle his way to Dr. Wily, first taking down Bass and Treble, and then being forced to battle against a brainwashed Proto Man before finally doing battle with Wily. The game, which featured graphics on par with Mega Man X3 and even some animated cutscenes, was considered a mild success, though it's clear Mega Man's stature had faded from its days on the NES. Despite this, it was considered to be one of the best games in the series and long-time fans of the series loved the callbacks to the original NES games. Mega Man 8 would be released in 1999.
-from the article “Mega Man 7: Tribute Or Trouble?” on Gamesovermatter.com
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The fading days of the Super Nintendo CD also saw the fading days of the detective game genre, and with it came the final installment of the Dark City trilogy, known by many as the pinnacle of the genre. This game, though not going to the human trafficking depths of its predecessor, still covered some pretty dark territory with a straight-up mob story. Dark City: A Death In The Family had the protagonist hired by a mob boss' beautiful daughter to find out the identity of her father's killer. As it turns out, the killer was a rival mob boss who begins coming after the detective's friends and family, leading him to question if he truly desired to remain on the job. It was a well-plotted and well-paced game and though hardcore purists disliked its drop in difficulty compared to the previous two games, most people praised it for being much more intuitive, and they enjoyed that in this game they could actually get to reach the ending, which provided a satisfying book-end to the series as a whole.
The month of November 1996 also saw the release of Stolen In Shadow, the sequel to 1995's cult hit Daughter of Pearl. In this game, protagonist Corrine Pearl is abducted by an evil syndicate similar to the real life myth of the Illuminati, and in order to earn her freedom, she must unravel the group from within. It's one of the most brilliant character studies in the history of video games, certainly ahead of its time, and also maybe the best deconstruction of the “secret society” trope that exists in all of fictional media. That said, with how brilliant the game's plot and characters were, the gameplay itself was a slog compared with the tight, intuitive gameplay of Daughter of Pearl. DoP's great action sequences are almost entirely absent in the sequel, and the puzzles in Stolen in Shadow are frustrating at worst and boring at best. Those willing to get through the crappy gameplay to uncover the game's secrets were rewarded with an amazing storyline payoff, but the game itself sold horribly and it's a miracle the franchise wasn't killed (it's likely that the low-budget nature of the games enabled the making of further sequels).
It's clear that by the end of 1996, video games were transforming. The detective genre, which had thrived in the early days of the CD-based systems, was fading away as the novelty of FMV gave way to the rendered cutscenes and advanced animation techniques made possible by systems such as the Saturn and the Ultra Nintendo. Though detective games and visual novels would always have a presence in gaming thanks to the groundwork laid during the fourth (and a half?) generation, they'd remain a niche genre until new technological opportunities arose to bring them back to prominence.
-excerpted from “Detective Games: A Fascinating History (Part 1)”, an article on Gamesovermatter.com
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“Before we get into the Mask II review, I know I've been getting a lot of comments and e-mails from people wanting to see a review of Space Jam. But to be totally honest, Space Jam just...wasn't that bad of a movie. Michael Jordan's acting was pretty bad but they knew that and put him in situations where it wouldn't be that much of a problem. There were a few jokes that fell flat, but the movie itself was pretty decent and there's not much material I can use for a review. So...sorry, Space Jam haters...or, I guess, fans with a masochistic streak? I won't be doing Space Jam, at least not for the foreseeable future. So with that out of the way, here's my review of The Mask II!”
-Doug Walker, in the November 13, 2007 episode of The Nostalgia Critic
Space Jam was released on November 22, 1996. The movie saw Michael Jordan team up with the Looney Tunes to save Looney Tune Land from an alien invasion by playing a game of basketball against an evil group of space aliens called The Monstars. Now, while that doesn't sound like a good concept for a film, the movie itself touched on some of the more interesting aspects of Michael Jordan's personality, making it a decent character study in addition to a reasonably fun film about the Looney Tunes and basketball. The movie spent a lot of time dealing with Michael Jordan's defeat in the 1994 NBA Finals at the hands of the Houston Rockets, and takes place between the 1993-94 season and the 1994-95 season. The superstar, mired in doubt over not being able to lead his team to victory, finds himself leading a new team when the Looney Tunes take him to their world to help them defeat a group of space aliens led by the evil Swackhammer (played by Danny DeVito) who wants to abduct the Looney Tunes to make them part of his interplanetary theme park. By this time, the Monstars have stolen the talents of Patrick Ewing, Muggsy Bogues, Larry Johnson, and Charles Barkley, but when Michael Jordan arrives, he shows off some moves that leave even the giant Monstars in the dust. But Swackhammer, who has been watching footage from the 1994 Finals, decides to have the Monstars complete their team by stealing the talents of Hakeem Olajuwon, the “only man ever to beat Michael Jordan”. Once the Monstars steal Olajuwon's talent, it leads to a crisis of confidence for Jordan, who must take a trip back to his childhood home and talk with his father James (played by James Jordan himself) over a one-on-one game of Horse. The sequence, considered the best segment in the film (the two play Horse together while Bugs and Daffy go to retrieve Jordan's old North Carolina jersey) involves the two men discussing what made Michael Jordan so good: it's that he elevates his teammates and enables them to carry some of the weight for him, and that he doesn't have to shoulder the burden of losing alone. The sequence includes a flashback to the aftermath of the 1990 Eastern Conference Finals, where Michael Jordan went back to the team bus and cried in his father's arms, and shows a moment of vulnerability for Jordan that was uncharacteristic of his brash image (Jordan didn't want to do the scenes at first, but Phil Jackson and Jordan's agent both recommended that he show a softer side to fans, who were becoming antagonized by Jordan's arrogance during the 1995-96 season). The pep talk gives Jordan the confidence he needs to lead the Looney Tunes to victory, and the NBA superstars' talents are returned. The film ends with showing scenes from Michael Jordan and the Bulls' sweep of the Houston Rockets in the 1995 NBA Finals. The movie was well received by fans, crossing $100 million at the domestic box office. The filming also led to a friendship between James Jordan and Bill Murray, the two can still be seen hanging out at golf tournaments today.
-from ”Welcome To The Jam: A Brief Review Of Space Jam”, on Bleacherreport.com, June 12, 2012
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Donkey Kong Country 3: The Basics
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, is the third game in the Donkey Kong Country series and plays similarly to the first two. It sees Dixie Kong, friend to Donkey and Diddy, teaming up with the young Kiddy Kong to rescue their two friends after the two of them are abducted by aliens. It's the first Donkey Kong Country game that doesn't feature K. Rool as a villain, instead the villain of the game is the alien lord Konqueror. The game takes place in the Northern Kremisphere, a land that's similar to Canada and the Pacific Northwest, and involves the two Kongs travelling between locations via various watercraft that are earned throughout the game. Just like the previous two games, DKC3 is chock-full of secrets, including collectible bonus coins and a secret world, and the two Kongs also interact with the Brothers Bull, 15 anthropomorphic bulls who team up with the Kongs to help them rescue their 15 girlfriend cows who were also abducted by the aliens. If the Kongs can rescue all 15 cows, the Brothers Bull help them to open the secret world, the ninth world of the game. The eight worlds are as follows:
World One: Funny Farm
A farm-based world that introduces the basic gameplay of the game. The boss battle takes place in a giant barn against a huge barrel named Belcha (the exact same boss from World One of OTL's game)
World Two: Kremwood Forest
A forest-based world similar to OTL's second world of the same name. The boss of the world is a giant spider named Arich (again, the same as IOTL)
World Three: Barrel Bay
A huge ice-bound bay similar to Hudson Bay, featuring ice and water based levels. The boss of this world is a giant polar bear who throws barrels.
World Four: Konghenge
A sprawling ruin/toxic waste laden field where many aliens lurk. The boss of this world is a huge multi-tentacled alien beast named Kongthulhu.
World Five: Razor Ridge
Similar to OTL's Razor Ridge, with many cliffside levels and sharing the urchin boss Barbos from OTL's game.
World Six: K3
Similar to OTL's K3 world, this is an ice-bound mountain stage with lots of slippery terrain. The boss of this world is the evil snowman Bleak, similar to OTL.
World Seven: Kremling City
An urban-themed world with some allusions to the Game Boy's Donkey Kong game, depicting an attack on a Kremling-populated city by alien forces. The boss of this world is a massive UFO, and after the Kongs defeat it, they actually steal it and use it to enter the Mothership.
World Eight: The Mothership
A sci-fi themed world featuring lots of electrical-based hazards and alien enemies. The final boss of the game is Konqueror himself, a huge alien with lots of weapons.
World Nine: Krematoa
Similar to OTL's Krematoa, this is the secret world of the game with six very tough levels. The final boss is a souped-up version of Konqueror, though he's not as tough to beat as K. Rool in DKC2's secret world.
November 18, 1996
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble is released for the SNES-CD, and while it is well received by critics with mostly 8s and 9s, it, like Elements of Mana, is somewhat of a commercial disappointment compared to its predecessors. It's a hit, but not a runaway one, and by now it's clear that the SNES-CD is somewhat of an outdated system, despite a continuing stream of quality games. Where the previous two games broke new ground in graphical prowess, DKC3 looks dated despite being technologically better than the previous two games. Soon after the release of Donkey Kong Country 3, Rare announces that Donkey Kong Country 4 is in production for the SNES-CD for late 1997, despite coinciding with the expected release of the Ultra Nintendo. Rare is determined to make the game as good as it can possibly be so that it serves as a swan song for the now late-age console. Despite the disappointment of DKC3, the Super Nintendo CD is still selling quite well, seeing an uptick in sales due to the impending holiday season. With the Ultra Nintendo entering the latter stage of its development, the mood at Nintendo is optimistic, and company brass are getting ready to send the Super Nintendo CD off into the sunset.
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Brittany Saldita: Elements Of Mana is a really, REALLY good game and I love that you can pick your party and that the game differs so greatly based on who you pick. Seriously, it's worth playing through three times for that reason, you get a different experience every single time.
Alex Stansfield: I just didn't like how, especially toward the end, there are random enemies who can and WILL kick your ass. It sucks losing a half hour of work because some enemy you thought was a joke decided to whip out Vacuum Sword and cut your party to ribbons. You call it challenge, I call it bad game design.
Brittany: If you know which enemies can do it-
Alex: No, no, because sometimes they can do it while hiding out behind a tree or something!
Brittany: I have never been killed by an enemy hiding behind a tree.
Alex: I have and it sucked. This is a great game but there are some nasty flaws that Secret Of Mana didn't have.
Brittany: And once again, you're bashing a game because you aren't good at it.
Alex: I beat the game three times! It was just a lot harder than it needed to be!
Brittany: If you stay prepared....you can take nine full party heals into battle with you. There's magic to heal and you have nine magic restoring items too. There is no reason you should be caught unaware at any point in the game. You have everything you need to get through it.
Alex: No, this...this is worth docking a point over. I give Elements of Mana a 4 out of 5. It is a great game but seriously, seriously flawed.
Brittany: I'm giving it a 5, it's my third favorite RPG of the year.
-excerpted from the November 12, 1996 episode of GameTV
Ted Crosley: Donkey Kong Country 3 is the same fun Donkey Kong Country gameplay that I've come to expect from the series, but man...man, not a lot has changed.
Alex: If it's not broke, why fix it?
Ted: It doesn't need fixed but it could use a fresh coat of paint. And I don't just mean graphically. And even that looks like crap compared to Sonic 4.
Alex: I'm gonna agree that this game didn't do much to push the limits like, say, Sonic 4 did. I was hoping for some kind of 3-D boss fight but the closest thing to that was the snowball fight against Bleak.
Ted: If a snowball fight is the most unique aspect of your game, you've got issues.
Alex: Yeah, and even that snowball fight is wholesale copied from one of the minigames.
Ted: *laughing* That minigame is one of my favorite things about this game, seeing Cranky ranting and raving as you kick his ass is hilarious. The game had a lot of good humor, but it just didn't mix things up enough to really wow me. I'm giving it a 3.5 out of 5.
Alex: I'm gonna be a bit more generous and give it a 4, but wow, this is the first Donkey Kong Country game not to get a GameTV recommendation.
Ted: Well, if you want me to recommend you, you gotta mix it up a bit more.
(…)
Brittany: We're about to give you all an exclusive first look at Turok, but before that, we've got a GameTV exclusive music video that we put together, featuring some of the fine ladies of this holiday season's biggest games. Here it is, set to Blackstreet's hit song “No Diggity”, this one goes out to all the girls out there!
*cue a music video of video game moments featuring Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, Rebecca from Squad Four: Eclipse, Corona and Amy Rose from Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Dixie Kong from Donkey Kong Country 3, Lise, Angela, Charlotte, and Bigieu from Elements of Mana, and a few others, set to a somewhat abridged version of Blackstreet's No Diggity*
-excerpted from the November 19, 1996 episode of GameTV
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SNES-CD Power Charts: November 1996
1. Super Mario RPG
2. Tale Phantasia
3. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Dreams
4. Road Storm
5. Chrono Trigger
6. Tetris Attack
7. Grant Hill In NBA Basketball
8. Soul Matrix
9. Madden '97
10. Tobal No. 1
11. Fire Emblem: The Holy War
12. Super Mario World 2
13. WWF In Your House
14. Ninja Gaiden IV
15. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
16. Eternal Night
17. Super Mario World 3
18. Valis: Soldier Of Light
19. The War Between The States
20. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
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SEGA SATURN (including Sonic the Hedgehog 4!)- $249.99
SEGA SATURN VIRTUA ARCADE SET (including Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Racing, and Virtua Cop): $299.99
SUPER NINTENDO CD SYSTEM (including Donkey Kong Country!)- $99.99
SUPER NINTENDO CD: PLAYSTATION COMBO SET (including Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World 2, and Super Mario All-Stars)- $129.99
GAME BOY COLOR (including Donkey Kong Land 2!)- $59.99
ALL SUPER NINTENDO CD GAMES (including Elements Of Mana, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, Super Mario RPG, Squad Four: Eclipse, and more)- $39.99 or less
ALL SUPER NINTENDO CD PLAYER'S CHOICE GAMES (including Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World 2, Donkey Kong Country, Star Fox, Squad Four, and more)- $19.99
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 4- $49.99
VIRTUA FIGHTER 2- $39.99
RESIDENT EVIL- $39.99
NIGHTS: INTO DREAMS- $34.99
SUN AND MOON- $29.99
TOMB RAIDER- $49.99
DAYTONA USA- $29.99
SOUL EDGE- $29.99
TEKKEN- $19.99
-excerpted prices from Best Buy's day after Thanksgiving sale ad on November 29, 1996
“These shoppers are waiting outside of Wal-Mart this morning for the doors to open on what is considered by many to be the first shopping day of the Christmas season. Dubbed 'Black Friday' by some within the industry, so-called because it is said to be the first day that retailers turn a profit during the year, it's ranked as one of the year's top five shopping days since the early 90s, and for the last few years retailers have begun taking advantage of the day by offering sales on certain popular items. Appliances, furniture, and electronics all see price cuts today. One of the biggest selling items is expected to be the Sega Saturn. It normally retails for $300, but today in stores like KB Toys, Best Buy, and right here at Wal-Mart, it's being offered for $250, fifty dollars below its normal retail price. With hot games like Tomb Raider and the brand new Sonic the Hedgehog 4 being offered on sale as well, Sega games are going to be a hot commodity this holiday season. We're also seeing Star Wars toys becoming popular again in the wake of a theatrical re-release of the trilogy beginning in January of next year....”
-excerpted from a report from KWOC-TV on the morning of November 29, 1996
-Hiroki Kikuta, in the January 1997 issue of Famitsu magazine
“So, while developing Biohazard, I kept thinking of ideas for Super Famicom CD games, because Capcom wished for a big seller on both main consoles and they did not have as much faith in Mega Man 7 as they did initially. It did not take me a long time to think of the idea for Iron Combatant. It was the little details that were hard to work out!”
-Shinji Mikami
“You run out of ways to push the technology, past a certain point anyway. We saw what Argonaut was doing with Squad Four: Eclipse and we knew that we had hit kind of a wall. And by then we were working with the Ultra and going way further than we ever knew was possible. The development of Donkey Kong Country 3 made Goldeneye a no-go on the SNES-CD. By then, we said to ourselves, 'well, Tomorrow Never Dies will be out before we get this game finished'. But by 1996 we knew for sure that Goldeneye had to be on the Ultra.”
-Ken Lobb
“Ohohohoho! You heroes greatly amuse me but once I have the power of the God Beasts I will become the new goddess of the world!”
-Bigieu, Elements Of Mana
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Donkey Kong Country 3
Andrew: 9.0
Mark: 8.5
Mike: 9.0
Sushi-X: 8.5 (quote: “Though the gameplay's gotten a bit stale, this lush, colorful world is still full of fun challenges and wacky creatures.”)
Elements of Mana
Andrew: 9.0 (quote: “While not the transcendent classic that its predecessor was, it's still a feast of visuals and music and it's one of the SNES-CD's most epic RPGs.)
Mark: 9.0
Mike: 9.0
Sushi-X: 9.0
Lufia II: Rise Of The Sinistrals
Andrew: 8.0
Mark: 8.0 (quote: “It might be a bit dated in terms of its graphics, but it's still a wonderful old-school RPG adventure.”)
Mike: 7.5
Sushi-X: 7.0
Mega Man 7
Andrew: 7.5
Mark: 7.5
Mike: 8.5
Sushi-X: 8.5 (quote: “This game brings all the fun of old school Mega Man and gives it a massive graphical uplift.”)
NHL '97
Andrew: 6.5
Mark: 6.5
Mike: 6.0 (quote: “This series is really showing its age, and it's clear that most of EA's effort went into the Saturn version.”)
Sushi-X: 7.0
Super Bomberman 3
Andrew: 8.0
Mark: 8.0 (quote: “This great puzzle game remains a multiplayer treat.”)
Mike: 7.5
Sushi-X: 7.5
Science Fighters 2
Andrew: 7.0
Mark: 4.0 (quote: “The first game was so much fun, but despite adding several fun new characters, the gameplay is way too clunky.”)
Mike: 6.5
Sushi-X: 4.0
Slumlord: Back II The Streets
Andrew: 1.5 (quote: “One of the most unnecessary sequels I have ever played.”)
Mark: 3.0
Mike: 1.0
Sushi-X: 1.0
Dark City: A Death In The Family
Andrew: 8.0
Mark: 7.0 (quote: “While not quite as good as the brilliant second game in the series, it's still a great way to end this excellent trilogy.”)
Mike: 8.5
Sushi-X: 8.5
Stolen In Shadow
Andrew: 9.0
Mark: 8.0
Mike: 6.5
Sushi-X: 8.0 (quote: “Dark, thrilling, and intuitive, this is one of my favorite visual novels and continues the story of the previous game perfectly.”)
Iron Combatant
Andrew: 9.0
Mark: 9.0
Mike: 9.0 (quote: “One of the best action games I've ever played, there's not a single useless weapon.”)
Sushi-X: 9.0
The Human Body
Andrew: 3.0 (quote: “An extremely dull platformer that sees you fighting your way through a human body battling parasites along the way. This game is a parasite.”)
Mark: 4.5
Mike: 3.0
Sushi-X: 3.0
-reviews of November 1996's SNES-CD games in the December 1996 and January 1997 issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly
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“Amidst the huge releases of Nintendo's big holiday tentpole games Donkey Kong Country 3, Squad Four: Eclipse, and Elements of Mana came a mecha action game from Capcom called Iron Combatant. Starring a badass woman who piloted an even more badass mecha suit, the game managed to be the third best selling new SNES-CD game of November 1996, and one of the best selling new IPs of the year. It remains one of 1996's most highly regarded games, and started one of Capcom's most enduring franchises. In fact, apart from Resident Evil, it was Capcom's most successful home console game of the year, beating out two Mega Man titles and a Street Fighter game! How the hell did it do it? Never underestimate the power of a good ad campaign.”
-excerpted from “The Best Marketed Video Games Of All Time”, an article on the website The Business Of Gaming
Though Iron Combatant was conceived to be a game that would give Capcom a hit on the SNES-CD to parallel the expected success of Resident Evil on the Saturn, it was anything but an afterthought. Designer Shinji Mikami worked on the game throughout the last half of 1995 and the first half of 1996, and he would later on go to say he enjoyed working on it just as much as he did Resident Evil. The game was conceived as a shooter/action title, somewhat similar to games such as Major Hazard, that saw the player navigating a large battlefield, following mission objectives to take down hordes of enemies. However, it also had a side-scrolling action component for some of its levels, and in other levels, its protagonist Layla even climbed out of the house-sized mecha suit to fight enemies on her own. The game featured anime cutscenes with much higher production values than the much-maligned ones in Mega Man X3, and they were even better received than those in Mega Man X4, though this is largely in part due to the performance of Layla's voice actress in the first game, Sheri Candela (Candela would later be replaced by the much more well-known and prolific Jennifer Hale in 2000's Iron Battalion for the Ultra Nintendo). The game featured fast paced combat, Layla's mech was no lumbering behemoth, it was agile and very well-animated, allowing it to rapidly dash and run across battlefields, taking down hordes of enemies as it went. The combat is sort of similar to a 3-D Metal Slug, with dozens of enemies appearing and quickly being destroyed by the mech's many, many different types of weapons. In side-scrolling mode, the combat could be compared to Contra, though both Layla and her mech are far more versatile and mobile. The game is also known for featuring large bosses, though the toughest (and most fun) boss fights are largely considered to be Layla's battles against her fellow “Iron Combatants”, the six human antagonists who don mecha suits of their own to battle Layla with. The plot of the game is that Layla is a survivor of an apocalyptic war along with her fellow colonists, living in a small village that mostly subsists on finding and salvaging scrap. When a neighboring, much larger empire looks to absorb Layla's village and enslave its people, she alone must defend it using the mecha that she and her friends have managed to unearth. That's pretty much the game, in terms of plot twists there aren't too many, though there are a few instances of friends becoming foes and foes becoming friends, with one character (Layla's love interest Albrecht) even going back and forth between the two numerous times before the penultimate boss battle when Layla is finally forced to put him down after realizing he's irredeemable. The game is also memorable for its magazine ad campaign which featured numerous artworks of Layla just generally being badass. Most of the artwork showed off Layla, her body lined with lean muscle but still very much feminine, clad in a green tanktop and baggy brown pants and riding her mecha suit into battle. Her face became etched into the minds of gamers throughout the year (she was seen as the SNES-CD's equivalent to Lara Croft in a lot of ways) and when the game finally was released, it sold extremely well. Surprisingly, the game did better in North America than it did in Japan, though it was considered a success in both territories and in Europe when it released there in the spring of 1997. Iron Combatant is remembered as one of the best games to be released in the waning days of the SNES-CD, and for those who eschewed the DKC and Mana hype to give it a try, their curiosity was very well rewarded.
-excerpted from “Made Of Iron: A History Of The Best Mecha Combat Series In Gaming” from Gamesovermatter.com, July 21, 2014
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“Before we begin, this Counselors' Corner video contains some HUGE spoilers for Lufia II: Rise Of The Sinistrals, so if you haven't played the game yet, do NOT watch this! I mean it, it will completely spoil the game's biggest secrets for you!
Okay, a LOT of people have been asking if there's a way to somehow keep Maxim and Selan alive at the end of Lufia II. And the answer is...yes! IF you're willing to put in a lot of work. At the end of the game, Maxim is told by Iris that he can save the world from the falling Doom Island if he can reach the controls at the island's core. However, what she does NOT tell Maxim, UNLESS you have beaten the 100 level Ancient Cave, is that there are three hidden emblems that Maxim can find and press on his way to the island's core. Now, here's the thing. You do NOT need to have beaten the Ancient Cave to activate those emblems. The intention of the game was that you will need to beat the Cave to learn about their existence, but since you have the counselors of Nintendo to help you out, you've just learned about them! However, they are well off the beaten path, and finding and pressing them will take you right to the edge of the time limit that the game gives you, so follow these exact steps to locate them. *tells you how to reach all three of them in time* Once you have activated all three emblems, activate the core and the game will end as normal. You'll get the normal ending, the world will be saved, Maxim and Selan's sacrifice is remembered through the ages, yada yada yada. However... now that the emblems have been activated, the game will ask if you want to save outside of Doom Island. Say yes and now you will end up just outside of Parcelyte. After you load the game, there will be a cutscene of an enormous island tower rising up from the ocean in the center of the three Triangle Islands. This is Sinistral Tower and this is the tower you will need to climb and beat if you want to unlock the game's secret ending.
Make your way to Sinistral Tower, you can access it via submarine. Sinistral Tower is a 25-floor tower with lots of puzzles and the game's toughest enemies. It is tougher than Doom Island, though, in this counselor's opinion it is NOT tougher than the Ancient Cave. It does not, for example, contain the super cheap Gold Dragons that lurked at the end of the Cave with their instant kill attacks that relied on luck for your party to survive. Now, a detailed strategy on Sinistral Tower would make this video too long for Nintendo Power CD. However, we DO have a guide on how to beat this tower's puzzles in this month's Epic Center, so look for that guide in the magazine. You should be around level 80 to challenge Sinistral Tower, beat up on Cores to get your party to this high level. Once you reach the top, Arek the Absolute, true leader of the Sinistrals, will be waiting. He is incredibly dangerous, with the attack Hell Storm and twice as much hit points as Daos, the normal final boss of the game. Use your strongest special attacks like Octo Strike to take him down. Once Arek is beaten, you'll automatically evacuate Sinistral Tower as it sinks into the sea. Then, just beat the game again as normal. After fighting your way through Sinistral Tower, Doom Island and the Sinistrals will be an absolute cinch. Once you beat Daos, enjoy your well-earned secret ending. We won't show it here, but rest assured, Maxim and Selan make it out alive. Obviously, this isn't the OFFICIAL ending of the game, since the events of the first game show Maxim and Selan falling at Doom Island, but for those of you who can't stand sad endings, this video has shown you how to earn a happier one. Good luck!
-from the Counselors' Corner video “Can I save Maxim and Selan in Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals?” in the July 1997 issue of Nintendo Power CD
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Elements Of Mana: The Basics
Elements Of Mana, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 3, is the sequel to the acclaimed RPG Secret Of Mana, and plays largely the same way, but with many key differences. The game is an action RPG, featuring real-time combat against enemies. Combat is considerably faster than Secret Of Mana, due to the elimination of the need to charge up attacks before using them and also the replacement of combos with special attacks that are charged by damaging enemies. The game continues to utilize the “ring” item system from Secret of Mana and also continues the item storage system that appeared in the game IOTL and in Secret of Mana ITTL, allowing the player to enter a menu outside of combat to transfer items into their battle bag. Among the differences in the game from the OTL version: like in Secret of Mana, three characters can be controlled by humans at the same time, unlike only two as IOTL. All characters, not just magic characters, possess “magic”, though physical characters like Duran, Kevin, and Lise have physically-based “magic” abilities, similar to the Force characters in Chrono Trigger. The game retains some of OTL's more criticized aspects, such as the random items required for character class changes and the enemies toward the end of the game that can utilize potentially party-wiping attacks. However, Hawkeye's critical attack glitch, which severely reduced his OTL effectiveness, is discovered early in production and fixed. The game's graphics are significantly better than IOTL, and are on par with the graphics in Legend of Mana, similar to Chrono Trigger, with even better character animation. In battle, attacks display a combo count and a “total damage” count, allowing the player to see numerically the number of hits they've landed in a short span and even enabling them to recover magic points for making large combos.
The biggest change from OTL's version of the game is the plot, and though many of the basic elements of the game remain, many things are fundamentally overhauled, making for a game that's a significantly different experience from IOTL's game. First off, though the six playable characters are the same as IOTL, they now represent three different 'factions', the same factions laid down in the original Secret Of Mana: The natural world, the human world, and a balanced approach. Lise, princess of the valkyries, and Kevin, a beastman hybrid, represent the natural world. Charlotte, a half-elf of Light, and Hawkeye, of the thieves' guild, represent the balanced approach, and the human knight Duran and the ice princess Angela represent the human world. Lise and Kevin's main enemy, and the final boss of the game if you choose one of them as your main character, is the Dragon Emperor, who represents the crushing advance of humanity and the oppression that will destroy nature if technological progress is not kept in check. Charlotte and Hawkeye's main enemy is the Dark Witch Bigieu (who replaces the Dark Prince as the main villain from IOTL), who represents the worst mix of Mana energy with human ambition, and Duran and Angela's final enemy is the Mana God and its avatar, the Archmage Sevire, who represent the cruelty of nature and its desire to destroy mankind and halt technological progress. Depending upon the main character you select, the game's action is set off either by an attack by the Empire's forces on the Holy City of Wendel (the natural path), a mysterious series of magical killings in a desert village (the balance path), or an assault by beastmen on the port town of Jadd (the humanity path). Either way, the first half of the game involves your three chosen characters on the hunt for the eight Mana Spirits as the Empire, the Dark Witch, and Sevire battle both the heroes and each other for control of the world. Once the Mana Spirits are found, the conflict eventually comes to a head at the Mana Holyland, where an enormous battle between the Empire, Bigieu, and Sevire and his army of Beastmen is taking place. Unlike in OTL's game, where two of the factions are totally destroyed in the battle, here, all three main enemies survive, though one of them (Bigieu in the natural path, Sevire in the balance path, and the Empire in the humanity path) is left to battle you after the eight God Beasts are released after the events that transpire. After defeating one of the factions for good at the Mana Holy Land, the game once again branches off into three paths. Eight God Beasts must be defeated, but their locations and forms depend on which path you take through the game. In the humanity path, the God Beasts will appear largely as they do in OTL's Seiken Densetsu 3, though they'll be attacking different cities and you must stop them there (after fighting through a dungeon created smack in the middle of the city being attacked). In the balance path, the dungeons where you fight the God Beasts appear largely as they do IOTL, though their forms have changed as Bigieu has mutated them hideously with her dark magic. In the natural path, the God Beasts are being controlled by the Dragon Emperor to absorb the very elements of Mana from the Earth, and you must go into different large factory complexes to battle them, where they will appear as enormous, dangerous machines. During the game, the party, depending on which party members you choose, all have their own opinions about how the world should be, and they will quarrel with one another throughout the game, though unlike the villainous factions, the party members will come to all work together as a team to stop the evil that's taking over the planet. Once four of the God Beasts are defeated, the game takes a side trek as one of the two remaining main villains (Sevire in the natural path, the Empire in the balance path, and Bigieu in the humanity path) threatens to destroy the world and the party must take a break from their quest to defeat the God Beasts in order to handle this new peril. Once the villain is stopped, the game continues, with the remaining God Beasts hunted down and destroyed, only for the main villain to enact the final part of their plan: Sevire unleashes a horrible Mana plague to kill all the humans, Bigieu absorbs the Mana Sword to become a goddess, and the Dragon Emperor launches an assault on the Mana Tree. The final quest involves the party storming the final dungeon and finally defeating the main villain. Whatever happens, the ending is bittersweet: though the heroes all survive and the world is at peace, the events of the game have had severe consequences on the planet, which must recover for 1,000 years afterward.
November 11, 1996
Elements Of Mana is released in North America for the Super Nintendo CD. It becomes the second fastest-selling JRPG in North America, after Tale Phantasia and ahead of Chrono Trigger, but initial sales soon fade somewhat as word of mouth and critical reviews indicate that the game isn't quite as good as Secret Of Mana. Though a significant faction of fans do claim the sequel as superior, many more claim it to be a disappointment, despite largely excellent reviews from game publications. It's likely increased competition from other highly acclaimed RPGs that hurts the game's reputation somewhat (as when Secret of Mana was released, there weren't nearly as many RPGs to compare it to), but whatever the reason, Elements of Mana isn't considered a Game of the Year contender and it doesn't move SNES-CD systems nearly as well as Secret of Mana did three years before.
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The success of the Super Nintendo CD put Capcom in a bit of a bind when it came to their classic Mega Man series. They'd intended to release Mega Man 7 as an SNES cartridge as their swan song for the system, but seeing how poorly the SNES version of Mega Man X2 performed led them to scrap their plans for Mega Man 7 entirely in favor of creating the game for the Super Nintendo CD. When it was finally released, in Japan in April 1996 and in North America in November, it was less of a continuation of the series and more of a “love letter”. The game combined elements and brought back Robot Masters from each of the six previous games: Cut Man (MM1), Heat Man (MM2), Top Man (MM3), Pharaoh Man (MM4), Star Man (MM5), and Yamato Man (MM6), revamping them to give them a weakness to one of the five other Robot Masters in the group. After Mega Man defeated these six, a NEW group of six new Robot Masters appeared after Bass and Treble, who'd been Mega Man's allies throughout his battle against the first six Robot Masters, betrayed him. However, Mega Man gained a new ally in Proto Man, who would advise Mega Man in his fight against these six new Masters: Burst Man, Cross Man, Fade Man, Scythe Man, Quake Man, and Gold Man. After defeating the six new Robot Masters, Mega Man then had to battle his way to Dr. Wily, first taking down Bass and Treble, and then being forced to battle against a brainwashed Proto Man before finally doing battle with Wily. The game, which featured graphics on par with Mega Man X3 and even some animated cutscenes, was considered a mild success, though it's clear Mega Man's stature had faded from its days on the NES. Despite this, it was considered to be one of the best games in the series and long-time fans of the series loved the callbacks to the original NES games. Mega Man 8 would be released in 1999.
-from the article “Mega Man 7: Tribute Or Trouble?” on Gamesovermatter.com
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The fading days of the Super Nintendo CD also saw the fading days of the detective game genre, and with it came the final installment of the Dark City trilogy, known by many as the pinnacle of the genre. This game, though not going to the human trafficking depths of its predecessor, still covered some pretty dark territory with a straight-up mob story. Dark City: A Death In The Family had the protagonist hired by a mob boss' beautiful daughter to find out the identity of her father's killer. As it turns out, the killer was a rival mob boss who begins coming after the detective's friends and family, leading him to question if he truly desired to remain on the job. It was a well-plotted and well-paced game and though hardcore purists disliked its drop in difficulty compared to the previous two games, most people praised it for being much more intuitive, and they enjoyed that in this game they could actually get to reach the ending, which provided a satisfying book-end to the series as a whole.
The month of November 1996 also saw the release of Stolen In Shadow, the sequel to 1995's cult hit Daughter of Pearl. In this game, protagonist Corrine Pearl is abducted by an evil syndicate similar to the real life myth of the Illuminati, and in order to earn her freedom, she must unravel the group from within. It's one of the most brilliant character studies in the history of video games, certainly ahead of its time, and also maybe the best deconstruction of the “secret society” trope that exists in all of fictional media. That said, with how brilliant the game's plot and characters were, the gameplay itself was a slog compared with the tight, intuitive gameplay of Daughter of Pearl. DoP's great action sequences are almost entirely absent in the sequel, and the puzzles in Stolen in Shadow are frustrating at worst and boring at best. Those willing to get through the crappy gameplay to uncover the game's secrets were rewarded with an amazing storyline payoff, but the game itself sold horribly and it's a miracle the franchise wasn't killed (it's likely that the low-budget nature of the games enabled the making of further sequels).
It's clear that by the end of 1996, video games were transforming. The detective genre, which had thrived in the early days of the CD-based systems, was fading away as the novelty of FMV gave way to the rendered cutscenes and advanced animation techniques made possible by systems such as the Saturn and the Ultra Nintendo. Though detective games and visual novels would always have a presence in gaming thanks to the groundwork laid during the fourth (and a half?) generation, they'd remain a niche genre until new technological opportunities arose to bring them back to prominence.
-excerpted from “Detective Games: A Fascinating History (Part 1)”, an article on Gamesovermatter.com
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“Before we get into the Mask II review, I know I've been getting a lot of comments and e-mails from people wanting to see a review of Space Jam. But to be totally honest, Space Jam just...wasn't that bad of a movie. Michael Jordan's acting was pretty bad but they knew that and put him in situations where it wouldn't be that much of a problem. There were a few jokes that fell flat, but the movie itself was pretty decent and there's not much material I can use for a review. So...sorry, Space Jam haters...or, I guess, fans with a masochistic streak? I won't be doing Space Jam, at least not for the foreseeable future. So with that out of the way, here's my review of The Mask II!”
-Doug Walker, in the November 13, 2007 episode of The Nostalgia Critic
Space Jam was released on November 22, 1996. The movie saw Michael Jordan team up with the Looney Tunes to save Looney Tune Land from an alien invasion by playing a game of basketball against an evil group of space aliens called The Monstars. Now, while that doesn't sound like a good concept for a film, the movie itself touched on some of the more interesting aspects of Michael Jordan's personality, making it a decent character study in addition to a reasonably fun film about the Looney Tunes and basketball. The movie spent a lot of time dealing with Michael Jordan's defeat in the 1994 NBA Finals at the hands of the Houston Rockets, and takes place between the 1993-94 season and the 1994-95 season. The superstar, mired in doubt over not being able to lead his team to victory, finds himself leading a new team when the Looney Tunes take him to their world to help them defeat a group of space aliens led by the evil Swackhammer (played by Danny DeVito) who wants to abduct the Looney Tunes to make them part of his interplanetary theme park. By this time, the Monstars have stolen the talents of Patrick Ewing, Muggsy Bogues, Larry Johnson, and Charles Barkley, but when Michael Jordan arrives, he shows off some moves that leave even the giant Monstars in the dust. But Swackhammer, who has been watching footage from the 1994 Finals, decides to have the Monstars complete their team by stealing the talents of Hakeem Olajuwon, the “only man ever to beat Michael Jordan”. Once the Monstars steal Olajuwon's talent, it leads to a crisis of confidence for Jordan, who must take a trip back to his childhood home and talk with his father James (played by James Jordan himself) over a one-on-one game of Horse. The sequence, considered the best segment in the film (the two play Horse together while Bugs and Daffy go to retrieve Jordan's old North Carolina jersey) involves the two men discussing what made Michael Jordan so good: it's that he elevates his teammates and enables them to carry some of the weight for him, and that he doesn't have to shoulder the burden of losing alone. The sequence includes a flashback to the aftermath of the 1990 Eastern Conference Finals, where Michael Jordan went back to the team bus and cried in his father's arms, and shows a moment of vulnerability for Jordan that was uncharacteristic of his brash image (Jordan didn't want to do the scenes at first, but Phil Jackson and Jordan's agent both recommended that he show a softer side to fans, who were becoming antagonized by Jordan's arrogance during the 1995-96 season). The pep talk gives Jordan the confidence he needs to lead the Looney Tunes to victory, and the NBA superstars' talents are returned. The film ends with showing scenes from Michael Jordan and the Bulls' sweep of the Houston Rockets in the 1995 NBA Finals. The movie was well received by fans, crossing $100 million at the domestic box office. The filming also led to a friendship between James Jordan and Bill Murray, the two can still be seen hanging out at golf tournaments today.
-from ”Welcome To The Jam: A Brief Review Of Space Jam”, on Bleacherreport.com, June 12, 2012
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Donkey Kong Country 3: The Basics
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, is the third game in the Donkey Kong Country series and plays similarly to the first two. It sees Dixie Kong, friend to Donkey and Diddy, teaming up with the young Kiddy Kong to rescue their two friends after the two of them are abducted by aliens. It's the first Donkey Kong Country game that doesn't feature K. Rool as a villain, instead the villain of the game is the alien lord Konqueror. The game takes place in the Northern Kremisphere, a land that's similar to Canada and the Pacific Northwest, and involves the two Kongs travelling between locations via various watercraft that are earned throughout the game. Just like the previous two games, DKC3 is chock-full of secrets, including collectible bonus coins and a secret world, and the two Kongs also interact with the Brothers Bull, 15 anthropomorphic bulls who team up with the Kongs to help them rescue their 15 girlfriend cows who were also abducted by the aliens. If the Kongs can rescue all 15 cows, the Brothers Bull help them to open the secret world, the ninth world of the game. The eight worlds are as follows:
World One: Funny Farm
A farm-based world that introduces the basic gameplay of the game. The boss battle takes place in a giant barn against a huge barrel named Belcha (the exact same boss from World One of OTL's game)
World Two: Kremwood Forest
A forest-based world similar to OTL's second world of the same name. The boss of the world is a giant spider named Arich (again, the same as IOTL)
World Three: Barrel Bay
A huge ice-bound bay similar to Hudson Bay, featuring ice and water based levels. The boss of this world is a giant polar bear who throws barrels.
World Four: Konghenge
A sprawling ruin/toxic waste laden field where many aliens lurk. The boss of this world is a huge multi-tentacled alien beast named Kongthulhu.
World Five: Razor Ridge
Similar to OTL's Razor Ridge, with many cliffside levels and sharing the urchin boss Barbos from OTL's game.
World Six: K3
Similar to OTL's K3 world, this is an ice-bound mountain stage with lots of slippery terrain. The boss of this world is the evil snowman Bleak, similar to OTL.
World Seven: Kremling City
An urban-themed world with some allusions to the Game Boy's Donkey Kong game, depicting an attack on a Kremling-populated city by alien forces. The boss of this world is a massive UFO, and after the Kongs defeat it, they actually steal it and use it to enter the Mothership.
World Eight: The Mothership
A sci-fi themed world featuring lots of electrical-based hazards and alien enemies. The final boss of the game is Konqueror himself, a huge alien with lots of weapons.
World Nine: Krematoa
Similar to OTL's Krematoa, this is the secret world of the game with six very tough levels. The final boss is a souped-up version of Konqueror, though he's not as tough to beat as K. Rool in DKC2's secret world.
November 18, 1996
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble is released for the SNES-CD, and while it is well received by critics with mostly 8s and 9s, it, like Elements of Mana, is somewhat of a commercial disappointment compared to its predecessors. It's a hit, but not a runaway one, and by now it's clear that the SNES-CD is somewhat of an outdated system, despite a continuing stream of quality games. Where the previous two games broke new ground in graphical prowess, DKC3 looks dated despite being technologically better than the previous two games. Soon after the release of Donkey Kong Country 3, Rare announces that Donkey Kong Country 4 is in production for the SNES-CD for late 1997, despite coinciding with the expected release of the Ultra Nintendo. Rare is determined to make the game as good as it can possibly be so that it serves as a swan song for the now late-age console. Despite the disappointment of DKC3, the Super Nintendo CD is still selling quite well, seeing an uptick in sales due to the impending holiday season. With the Ultra Nintendo entering the latter stage of its development, the mood at Nintendo is optimistic, and company brass are getting ready to send the Super Nintendo CD off into the sunset.
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Brittany Saldita: Elements Of Mana is a really, REALLY good game and I love that you can pick your party and that the game differs so greatly based on who you pick. Seriously, it's worth playing through three times for that reason, you get a different experience every single time.
Alex Stansfield: I just didn't like how, especially toward the end, there are random enemies who can and WILL kick your ass. It sucks losing a half hour of work because some enemy you thought was a joke decided to whip out Vacuum Sword and cut your party to ribbons. You call it challenge, I call it bad game design.
Brittany: If you know which enemies can do it-
Alex: No, no, because sometimes they can do it while hiding out behind a tree or something!
Brittany: I have never been killed by an enemy hiding behind a tree.
Alex: I have and it sucked. This is a great game but there are some nasty flaws that Secret Of Mana didn't have.
Brittany: And once again, you're bashing a game because you aren't good at it.
Alex: I beat the game three times! It was just a lot harder than it needed to be!
Brittany: If you stay prepared....you can take nine full party heals into battle with you. There's magic to heal and you have nine magic restoring items too. There is no reason you should be caught unaware at any point in the game. You have everything you need to get through it.
Alex: No, this...this is worth docking a point over. I give Elements of Mana a 4 out of 5. It is a great game but seriously, seriously flawed.
Brittany: I'm giving it a 5, it's my third favorite RPG of the year.
-excerpted from the November 12, 1996 episode of GameTV
Ted Crosley: Donkey Kong Country 3 is the same fun Donkey Kong Country gameplay that I've come to expect from the series, but man...man, not a lot has changed.
Alex: If it's not broke, why fix it?
Ted: It doesn't need fixed but it could use a fresh coat of paint. And I don't just mean graphically. And even that looks like crap compared to Sonic 4.
Alex: I'm gonna agree that this game didn't do much to push the limits like, say, Sonic 4 did. I was hoping for some kind of 3-D boss fight but the closest thing to that was the snowball fight against Bleak.
Ted: If a snowball fight is the most unique aspect of your game, you've got issues.
Alex: Yeah, and even that snowball fight is wholesale copied from one of the minigames.
Ted: *laughing* That minigame is one of my favorite things about this game, seeing Cranky ranting and raving as you kick his ass is hilarious. The game had a lot of good humor, but it just didn't mix things up enough to really wow me. I'm giving it a 3.5 out of 5.
Alex: I'm gonna be a bit more generous and give it a 4, but wow, this is the first Donkey Kong Country game not to get a GameTV recommendation.
Ted: Well, if you want me to recommend you, you gotta mix it up a bit more.
(…)
Brittany: We're about to give you all an exclusive first look at Turok, but before that, we've got a GameTV exclusive music video that we put together, featuring some of the fine ladies of this holiday season's biggest games. Here it is, set to Blackstreet's hit song “No Diggity”, this one goes out to all the girls out there!
*cue a music video of video game moments featuring Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, Rebecca from Squad Four: Eclipse, Corona and Amy Rose from Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Dixie Kong from Donkey Kong Country 3, Lise, Angela, Charlotte, and Bigieu from Elements of Mana, and a few others, set to a somewhat abridged version of Blackstreet's No Diggity*
-excerpted from the November 19, 1996 episode of GameTV
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SNES-CD Power Charts: November 1996
1. Super Mario RPG
2. Tale Phantasia
3. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Dreams
4. Road Storm
5. Chrono Trigger
6. Tetris Attack
7. Grant Hill In NBA Basketball
8. Soul Matrix
9. Madden '97
10. Tobal No. 1
11. Fire Emblem: The Holy War
12. Super Mario World 2
13. WWF In Your House
14. Ninja Gaiden IV
15. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
16. Eternal Night
17. Super Mario World 3
18. Valis: Soldier Of Light
19. The War Between The States
20. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
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SEGA SATURN (including Sonic the Hedgehog 4!)- $249.99
SEGA SATURN VIRTUA ARCADE SET (including Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Racing, and Virtua Cop): $299.99
SUPER NINTENDO CD SYSTEM (including Donkey Kong Country!)- $99.99
SUPER NINTENDO CD: PLAYSTATION COMBO SET (including Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World 2, and Super Mario All-Stars)- $129.99
GAME BOY COLOR (including Donkey Kong Land 2!)- $59.99
ALL SUPER NINTENDO CD GAMES (including Elements Of Mana, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble, Super Mario RPG, Squad Four: Eclipse, and more)- $39.99 or less
ALL SUPER NINTENDO CD PLAYER'S CHOICE GAMES (including Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World 2, Donkey Kong Country, Star Fox, Squad Four, and more)- $19.99
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 4- $49.99
VIRTUA FIGHTER 2- $39.99
RESIDENT EVIL- $39.99
NIGHTS: INTO DREAMS- $34.99
SUN AND MOON- $29.99
TOMB RAIDER- $49.99
DAYTONA USA- $29.99
SOUL EDGE- $29.99
TEKKEN- $19.99
-excerpted prices from Best Buy's day after Thanksgiving sale ad on November 29, 1996
“These shoppers are waiting outside of Wal-Mart this morning for the doors to open on what is considered by many to be the first shopping day of the Christmas season. Dubbed 'Black Friday' by some within the industry, so-called because it is said to be the first day that retailers turn a profit during the year, it's ranked as one of the year's top five shopping days since the early 90s, and for the last few years retailers have begun taking advantage of the day by offering sales on certain popular items. Appliances, furniture, and electronics all see price cuts today. One of the biggest selling items is expected to be the Sega Saturn. It normally retails for $300, but today in stores like KB Toys, Best Buy, and right here at Wal-Mart, it's being offered for $250, fifty dollars below its normal retail price. With hot games like Tomb Raider and the brand new Sonic the Hedgehog 4 being offered on sale as well, Sega games are going to be a hot commodity this holiday season. We're also seeing Star Wars toys becoming popular again in the wake of a theatrical re-release of the trilogy beginning in January of next year....”
-excerpted from a report from KWOC-TV on the morning of November 29, 1996
It MAYBE lasts another season but I doubt it goes on past 1996.
Well, I'm taking the cutoff for being butterflied out of existence as 9 months after the North American release of the SNES-CD, which means that anyone born after September 1, 1993 is butterflied away and it's all OCs after that. Victoria Justice, Liz Gillies, and Ariana Grande BARELY slide in under the gate. Either way, Victorious is WAY down the road if it gets made at all. Dan Schneider's next show (it's a Nicktoon) will be released in the fall of 1997. More on that later.
Butterflying millions of people out of existence because of a video game POD seems a bit too much to me. My parents don't give a damn about video games, and I doubt my own birth, or that of my sister, would've been affected by the release of the SNES-CD. Well, my father went through a phase when all he did when he wasn't at work was playing the Medal of Honor, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil games, but that was around the turn of the millennium.
I like Brittany, by the way. She's an RPG encyclopedia in human form.
Butterflying millions of people out of existence because of a video game POD seems a bit too much to me. My parents don't give a damn about video games, and I doubt my own birth, or that of my sister, would've been affected by the release of the SNES-CD. Well, my father went through a phase when all he did when he wasn't at work was playing the Medal of Honor, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil games, but that was around the turn of the millennium.
I like Brittany, by the way. She's an RPG encyclopedia in human form.
Depend, butterflies are sensible and we've a lot of alternate events, including a lot infamous one(different mcveigh terror attack, atlanta happening worse,etc), just is butterflies are difficult to calculated, some people would still exist but would be different both physical and personality, again something butterflies tends to be strong or weak, bur still a lot of stuff to do.
Your father didn't was a gamer before? i think he would love snes-cd and saturn,
.Yeah, she is maybe the earlier otaku in television now.
Butterflying millions of people out of existence because of a video game POD seems a bit too much to me. My parents don't give a damn about video games, and I doubt my own birth, or that of my sister, would've been affected by the release of the SNES-CD. Well, my father went through a phase when all he did when he wasn't at work was playing the Medal of Honor, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil games, but that was around the turn of the millennium.
I like Brittany, by the way. She's an RPG encyclopedia in human form.
I rather agree with this point of view a PoD doesnt butterfly everything
I was the one who got the PlayStation back in 1998, and he didn't know anything about video games back then, but he soon took a liking to the survival horror, military shooter and stealth genres. He even got mad at me when I finished Metal Gear Solid 2 before him.
He doesn't play games anymore though, it's been years since the last time he's had enough free time to do it; on the other hand, I moved from console to PC gaming and emulators out of necessity, since console gaming is a hobby that's too expensive for me right now.
I don't think he was implying everyone born after the POD will be butterflied away. Just, any person born after September 8th, 1993 has the possibility of being butterflied away. Most OTL people will probably still be born after that. It's just that their existence is not guaranteed.
Yeah, maybe I phrased it a bit wrong, I was thinking of the "strict" rule of POD butterflies where even a tiny little shift in DNA could totally change a person, and so once a POD really sets into motion, every single person after the POD is different. The butterflies don't have to be so strict, though, we could do it differently.
I think it would happen eventually and once it does The Mask II might get heavily referenced.
She's a huge RPG fan, as is Alex Stansfield. I think I'll go more into depth about the biographies of the GameTV hosts in the making-of special I'm going to post sometime during 1997 so you guys get a better idea of the show.
I think it would happen eventually and once it does The Mask II might get heavily referenced.
She's a huge RPG fan, as is Alex Stansfield. I think I'll go more into depth about the biographies of the GameTV hosts in the making-of special I'm going to post sometime during 1997 so you guys get a better idea of the show.
I'm glad I was born in 1990, I literally get to grow-up through out the events of this TL. And I'm still doing that Ultra post to show this.
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So for Lufia 2, what is that secret ending supposed to be? More or less an analogue to the DS version's alternate ending?
Yes, an analogue to that, i can imagine Neverland got for it as a bonus for 100% completion as the counselor said it but there is exploits. the rest was that original bonus for the game, thanks to CD space,
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