To RySenkari, Nivek and everyone who contributed to this TL:

This timeline was what brought me to this website in the first place. I came for the video games, stayed to witness a nuclear war(!) (‘just’ between 2 countries, but still…).

Thank you for your 8 years of dedication. Between extra-detailed coverage of video games, and world-shattering events different from OTL, I think few if any will be able to write a pop culture timeline anywhere near what this has achieved.
 
Holy shit!
Talk about going out with an Earth-shattering ka-boom!
I mean....does Pakistan even appreciate just how close to getting glassed off the face of the planet they came?
The extremists clearly don't, but then there's no reasoning with those types anyway...still though...

Oh and also RIP Steve Jobs. He was a bastard, but at least he kept good writers working on Sonic.

I'm gonna miss this TL when it's over, but I'm glad it's here!
I've thoroughly enjoyed it over the years and it's been one of the things that inspired me to work my own.
 
… … …okay, but I’m still hung up on the fact that (barring the 2021 epilogue) we ended this whole thing with what was essentially 9/11: The Sequel.
 
Rysenkia there games ideas I told you before your last hitaus that you said you were intersted but you forgot about theam. I hope you will use them in the epilogue. I hope you don't mind that I sent you Pm a resher on the ideas just in case you forgot them again. Ps I hope a seaguel to luckyy champ and possaibly a lucky cartoon are mentioned
 
Before going to the epilogue post, there are some deaths of the year that has been butterflied TTL. These were voice actor Brad Venable, actors Michael K. Williams, James Michael Tyler, Trevor Moore, Dustin Diamond, Coronji Calhoun Sr. and Heath Freeman and newscasters/anchors Allison Payne, Katherine Creag and Jovita Moore.
 
Didn't some of those people have congenital illnesses that contributed to their early deaths? I know a few of these get butterflied (Michael K. Williams for sure), but some of the others might stick unfortunately. Dustin Diamond is one who could have easily died earlier ITTL.
 
Can I just say.... how damn good of a job you've done in making this universe? So many hours of differences from our timeline, some for the better, others for the worse. As a Sonic fan, I must say you've done an amazing job with his franchise. Hope you take a long break from the site, cause u deserve it.

If there is a chance, I'd love to see,

A list of how much in units that each console sold, including the best selling game for each console.
Maybe a list of the other world series and stanley cup winners?

Thank you for everything.
 
BONUS: The Rebirth Of Amusement Parks
The Fall of Six Flags: 7 Years Later

2021 marks seven years since the bankruptcy of Six Flags. Many thought that would have been the end of the industry in the United States (excluding smaller parks, Disney, and Universal) but those fears never came to fruition. The industry as a whole has rebounded from the era of Six Flags and is now entering a new golden age. From the ashes of Six Flags, two of the five “Baby Flags” have risen to become the dominant players: Themeparks LLC and Premier Funtime, Inc.

Themeparks LLC was established by Kentucky Kingdom founder Ed Hart in 1999 to run Magic Springs in Hot Springs, AR. The company expanded in 2002 when it bought two Wet n’ Wild waterparks in Las Vegas and North Carolina, then in 2004 built Thrillopolis, a 340-acre park in Nashville, TN right off I-40. Three years later during the Six Flags-Cedar Fair consolidation they acquired Knott’s Berry Farm and with it the rights to Charles Schultz’ Peanuts characters who grace Themeparks LLC’s properties to the present day. Ed Hart resumed his management of Kentucky Kingdom in 2011 as well as acquiring Darien Lake in the first bankruptcy selloff before acquiring their current roster of parks from the Six Flags liquidation sale in early 2015. Themeparks LLC is known for their focus on cost effective, yet fun, attractions. The company has never worked with Intamin and has only worked with B&M three times. They instead prefer to work with companies such as S&S, Gerstlauer, Gravity Group, Chance Morgan, Zamperla, and Triotech. Recently the company has been working with Mack Rides, which could signal a change in strategy for the company. In line with Ed Hart’s focus on cost effective, yet fun, attractions, many older rides, even popular ones, have been removed due to maintenance costs. Many mourned the loss of coasters such as Demon and Rattler, but Themeparks LLC has replaced each one with worthy successors. While theming isn’t a huge focus, their few forays into it have been well executed, as was the case with the restoration of Frontier Town at Cedar Point, Spaceport Houston at Astroworld, and the Great Southwest at California’s Great America. Eschewing from season passes entirely, Themeparks LLC has used a membership system since 2015. There are several tiers offering increasing benefits from free refills all season to free preferred parking and fast passes.

Premier Funtime was formed in the aftermath of the liquidation sale by a variety of investment firms, the largest being Chinese firm Wanda Group. The backing of this Chinese behemoth allowed the corporation to swipe up most of Six Flags’ most visited parks, including their flagship park, Six Flags Magic Mountain. During the US coaster drought of the mid-2000s and early 2010s Chinese amusement park companies such as Wanda Group kept roller coaster manufacturers such Intamin afloat. When Premier Funtime was formed, Wanda Group secured a bulk purchase deal at a great price from Intamin leading to new Intamin coasters added at all their parks. B&M is another popular supplier of rides for the chain, as is Chinese-based Jinma Rides. The use of Jinma Rides as a supplier has caused much controversy due to potential patent issues and rising tension between China and the United States. Premier Funtime also has the exclusive right in North America to use IPs related to Cartoon Network. Premier Funtime originally offered the traditional season pass but phased it out in 2018 in favor of a membership system like Themeparks LLC. Premier Funtime has taken the membership system further than their rival, offering members reward points for accomplishing certain tasks such as riding a particular ride X amount of times in one day or spending X amount of dollars over the course of a season with the ability to redeem the points for rewards such as limited versions of the perks of higher membership tiers. Plans are currently in place to test universal virtual queuing (think Tapu Tapu at Volcano Bay but you can queue for more than one ride at a time) at two parks in 2021 with the intention of rolling it out chain-wide by 2024. Despite their innovating and healthy profits, the future of Premier Funtime is uncertain as government crackdowns in China might force Wanda Group to dump the chain in the not-so-distant future.

The Themeparks LLC-Premier Funtime duopoly on the North American amusement park market might soon be broken by up-and-coming player, Kennywood Amusement Company (KACO). In a stark contrast to the two titans of the industry, KACO has prided itself on its preservation of classic amusement park attractions and the installation of new version of classic models like the S&S Steeplechase at Mt. Olympus and Lake Compounce. Their emphasis on the theme of “classic amusement park” (or in the case of Mt. Olympus, Greco-Roman mythology) and attention to detail saw their attendance numbers increase year after year. Their attendance records have soared since they partnered with Vekoma in 2017 and began adding Vekoma's newer and incredibly popular models to their parks. KACO has also stuck by the traditional season pass model as part of its branding as a "classic amusement park experience" with no sign of switching to the membership system anytime soon.

Despite being the first company to greatly benefit from Six Flags’ decline, Palace Entertainment has been the worst off. Declining revenues, increasing debt, and a lack of capital investments over the past decade have forced them to put Indiana Fun Park up for sale in late 2020 with rumors floating around that KACO and Premier Funtime are looking to acquire the chain.

The weirdest of the Baby Flags is definitely Ultratainment LLC. Six Flags Japan (Nagashima Spa Land) had been majority owned by Nintendo and Sony, leaving them without an operator come 2014. At the same time, Triple 5 Group, the owner of Mall of America, was forced to close their incredibly popular Super Nintendo World and was afraid of having to permanently close it. Both had a vested interest in keeping their parks open, so talks were held and eventually Ultratainment was formed. Originally two investment firms, one Japanese and one American, had an ownership stake in the group as well but they quickly sold their shares to Merlin Entertainment. Merlin’s management expertise and bundling with its other attractions such as Sealife and Legoland Discovery Centers have seen attendance increase at all Super Nintendo World parks as well as more capital investment, ultimately culminating in the transformation of Six Flags Florida into a Super Nintendo World in 2016 and a third at American Dream in 2017. Construction is currently underway for Triple 5’s newest megamall, Great Cascadia Mall, which will feature a 4th Super Nintendo World when it opens in 2022. Merlin themselves bought Six Flags Great Adventure outright at the liquidation sale and have since turned it into the Great Adventures Resort with the opening of Legoland New Jersey in 2017.

Busch Gardens purchased Six Flags St. Louis in early 2013 as part of the 2nd selloff and rebranded it Busch Gardens St. Louis (unofficially Busch Gardens America) with its theme set to the Americas. The company has spent the past 8 years bringing the park up to the standards of the other two Busch Gardens, but still remains behind in theming and ride collection. Despite this, the park has seen significantly more care and attention since its days as a Six Flags park.

Not every Six Flags amusement park survived the company’s fall. White Water in Marietta Georgia and Six Flags Maryland met with the wrecking ball during 2015 and 2016, joining parks such as Six Flags Marine World and Kings Island in being relegated to the history books.

As for Kings Island itself? During mid 2006 to early 2007 Six Flags chop shopped the park and stripped it of most of its rides, most finding their way to other Six Flags parks across the country. By the 1-year anniversary of the Son of Beast tragedy Six Flags had sold the land to a developer who immediately announced plans for a new mixed use development centered around a new lifestyle center. The project was only able to demolish the water park to redirect Columbia Road and the Northeast section of the park for the first phase of the project, along with pouring the foundations for the lifestyle center, before the project’s backers went bankrupt as a result of the Great Recession. A new developer was brought in to complete the project in 2010 but they, too, went bankrupt. Various developers have come forward with plans of their own but have always fallen through. The remains of the park have since become overgrown and a popular place for urban explorers. Some have claimed the park is haunted with intense paranormal activity, many examples of which have been posted online. It doesn’t help that the park’s Eiffel Tower observation tower still stands as a landmark visible from the road, its slightly rusty finish adding a sense of eeriness to the area.

Below is a a list of the Six Flags successor companies and the parks they own, including non-Six Flags parks.
P2S Six Flags Fate.png
 
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I also have other lists such as the fate of Kings Island's attractions, when each Six Flags park was sold off, and the coaster lineup of Cedar Point as of 2021 if anyone is interested.
 
Just wanted to drop in to say thanks for everything to Ry and Nivek. You've created something special here, and while it's sad to see it close, it still feels complete and the fact that you made it up until the present day is very commendable.

Good luck with whatever the two of you do next, and thanks for everything.
 

AeroTheZealousOne

Monthly Donor
The Fall of Six Flags: 7 Years Later

So Geauga Lake (a.k.a Six Flags Worlds of Adventure) stlll stands ITTL? I used to live within reasonable driving distance from the site IOTL hence me being able to pronounce "Geauga".

I remember back when I was a little kid and seeing some of the rollercoasters and the filled parking lots from the car window. I don't ever distinctly remember going there myself, of course, but the rollercoasters were probably a sight to see from Route 43. Now the whole place is deserted and abandoned, the rides are gone, and what hasn't been cleaned up and hidden away is pretty derelict. Sometimes it's hard to believe there was a large amusement park there where there's mostly overgrown fields and remnants of asphalt. The big box stores and chain restaurants that sprung up around the area, some after the park closed permanently, have for the most part done well enough for themselves in full spite of this.

Who knows? Maybe my semi-parallel counterpart would have been able to partake in an outing or two or three over at the still-open park with friends and family. Maybe not on the rollercoasters, with the Son of Beast disaster still lingering in peoples' memories and me not caring for that kind of adrenaline. On the other hand, it would probably be that much harder to get a table at wherever my folks or I wanted to go for dinner in the immediate vicinity during the summertime. But as I've been known to do, I digress heavily.

As for Cedar Point, the more things change the more they stay the same. Never went there for whatever reason; my parents hated fun were never inclined to plan a day trip to Sandusky. Still glad to know they made it through the turbulent era of theme parks after the Son of Beast disaster and Six Flags going under.

I also have other lists such as the fate of Kings Island's attractions, when each Six Flags park was sold off, and the coaster lineup of Cedar Point as of 2021 if anyone is interested.
You know what? If you still have the blessings of the authorship to do so, I don't see why not. Anything more to flesh out the storied history of modern-day Ohio in this universe. :)
 
Anderson Cooper: And in addition to this apparent horrible bomb attack on Times Square, there has been a large explosion, reportedly a truck bomb, in New Delhi, the capital of India. And we're already hearing of eye witnesses reporting the same strange... pins and needles feeling, that Ryan, you and I felt moments after the explosion before they rushed us to this shelter we're now reporting from.

Ryan Seacrest: This is, um, this is a nightmare, Anderson.

Cooper: We're being told that Geiger counters are going off all across Times Square and now... now even outside Times Square, blocks from the explosion, so speculation is that this bomb and quite possibly the other one in India, they were what counterterrorism experts and others refer to as "dirty bombs", that there may have been some nuclear material in these explosive devices, and... and if that's the case... *looks a bit worried* We've actually got a Geiger counter here in the studio, and we're picking up increased measurements right now, but compared to the measurements down on Times Square, they're quite low.

Seacrest: They're actually testing people who were nearby us, Anderson, and really, I don't feel anything other than.... well, all those people we saw caught in that blast down there... it's terrible. I don't feel sick from the radiation, but I absolutely do feel sick from that.

Cooper: They're telling us that everyone up here is likely fine, but I don't want to imagine what's going on down there with all those people who were close to the blast... there are usually a million people or more gathered at Times Square for the New Years celebration, and now we're getting word that there may have been tramplings and crowd crushes down there as well. I don't have any word on the death toll, but I can speculate that it's going to be massive and I just hope that the radiation isn't as severe as what some sources are telling me from down there.

Seacrest: God help all those people.

Cooper: Um, I'm getting more news about the explosion in New Delhi, so I want to quickly go to our correspondent in India because I'm hearing that that was a much larger explosion, and certainly...

-from ABC's live coverage of the 2021 New Year celebrations, which then became ongoing coverage of the 2021 New Year's Day terrorist attack, at 12:08 AM on January 1, 2021
Like the OTL Avril Lavigne would sing:
~So much for my happy ending~
 
Some OTL things that went swallowed TTL:

But I think two of Argonaut's titles of 1994: Vortex for the SNES and Creature Shock for the DOS is seemingly butterflied away in favor of that first installment in the Squad Four franchise, of which Michael Powell worked on the game.

Q-Games and Incognito Entertainment were probably butterflied in favor of Argonaut (Dylan Cuthbert would later left in 2020) and SingleTrac.

The newest game of the year would be Metroid Dread, which was for the newest Nintendo platform, and a new game Skatebird, for the ninth generation of gaming consoles, which somewhat The Medium might be butterflied.

Stay tuned for the epilogue post, which was in a few days later immediately.
 
Hey, slow down! Ry and Nivek are both working on it. This timeline is a labor of love that has veen worked on for many years. I think it can't hurt to be polite and be patient a bit.

Thanks for being patient, I've been working pretty hard on the epilogue and I HOPE to have it up Monday or Tuesday, but don't hold me to it because life happens and stuff XD

On another note, has anyone else been watching Arkane? If anyone's seen episode 3, the scene at the end with Vi and Powder is pretty much EXACTLY what I was going for with Lyte and Darke's big blowup fight at the end of season 3 (I mean, there's no giant magic fight in Arkane, but Powder's reaction to Vi getting upset is exactly how I imagined Darke reacting to Lyte attacking her after Lyte finds out about Theresa). If Lyte and Darke was an OTL show, Mia Sinclair Jenness (the voice of young Powder in Arkane) would DEFINITELY voice Darke, that much I know for certain. Also, the critical reception Arkane is getting right now is pretty much identical to how I imagine people reacting to Lyte and Darke ITTL.
 
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