Burying the Hatchet: A Nintendo/Sega TL

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jamesownz

Didn't realize how old this thread is.

But damn can Nintendo make 3D Sonics that would be nice.

Our timeline Microsoft should have bought Sega
 

eldandythedoubter

jamesownz said:
Didn't realize how old this thread is.

But damn can Nintendo make 3D Sonics that would be nice.

Our timeline Microsoft should have bought Sega
Click to expand...
Potentially, a Microsoft/Sega alliance would have been good for their hardware divisions, but for software I think there would be teething issues.
 

WingWong223

Gaminguy010 said:
Now I'm imagining Omaha Beach as a Smash Bros stage.
Click to expand...
I could see it, The characters would fight on the beach mortar strikes as hazards that would create holes in the stage, in the backgound us soldiers would run up the beach as german soldiers try to gun them down (no one dies though) the battle ends with a us flag being raised up then the stage resets
 
The Sakura Blooms in America
  • Index

    • Gaminguy010

    1608325528308.png

    North American Box Art

    Sakura Wars
    Developer: Sega AM1
    Publisher: Nintendo
    Platforms: GCN
    Release Date: April 15, 2003

    Reviews
    Metacritic: 81/100 - User Score 9.0
    IGN: 9/10
    GameSpot: 7/10
    1Up.com: B+
    Nintendo Power: 9.5​


    While Sega had second thoughts on releasing Sakura Wars outside of Japan, Satoru Iwata encouraged Sega to release the game at least in the US, but what surprised both Sega and Iwata was how much Peter Moore pushed for the games success. Peter Moore gave Sakura Wars a noticeably large advertising budget and made it’s localization a high priority for Nintendo Treehouse.

    This was the first major localization effort for the newly enlarged Nintendo Treehouse which now had many members from former Sega of America’s localization team. While Wind Waker was very text heavy its western medieval fantasy theme and lack of major voice acting was small potatoes to the very Japanese centric and voice heavy Sakura Wars. The localization stays very close to the original Japanese text and with almost no censorship. The latter was a direct order by Peter Moore who thought censoring parts of the game would hurt sales. There was one exception however as one character sported a manji symbol on his forehead, in order to avoid anyone confusing it with a Nazi swastika the scenes, textures, and sprites we’re edited to remove the manji symbol from the character.


    1608326012491.png

    Side by side comparison. Original on the Left, North America on the Right


    The game itself is the same as OTL, but one unique change from is a reference to Nintendo’s Pre-Videogame History. The Hanafuda Cards used in the Koi-Koi minigame are replicas of actual Hanafuda made by Nintendo around the same time period as Sakura Wars. This is indicated by one of the cards featuring Nintendo’s original Kanji logo 堂天任. When read right to left reads Nin Ten Do.

    Overall, the game’s advertising campaign paid off as the game was a success selling over 1.2 Million copies in its lifespan.

    Main Characters
    Ichiro Ogami (Cam Clarke)
    Sakura Shinguji (Wendee Lee)
    Sumire Kanzaki (Michelle Ruff)
    Maria Tachibana (Lani Minella)
    Iris Châteaubriand (Sherry Lynn)
    Kohran Li (Dorothy Fahn)
    Kanna Kirishima (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn)
    Commander Ikki Yoneda (Charles Martinet)
    Ayame Fujieda (Lani Minella)
    Tsubaki Takamura (Jen Taylor)
    Yuri Sakakibara (Dolores Rogers)
    Kasumi Fuji (Karen Strassman)

    Villains
    Tenkai (Marc Biagi)
    Aoi Satan (David Humphrey)
    Crimson Miroku (Michelle Ruff)
    Jade Setsuna (Lani Minella)
    Silver Rasetsu (Cam Clarke)
    Inoshishi (Charles Martinet)
    Shika (Jen Taylor)
    Cho (Wendee Lee)


    Sakura Wars provides examples of:

    All There in the Manual: While not as extreme as some examples the game’s manual provides descriptions of the Japanese pronouns used by the characters that are likely lost on most English players.

    Base Breaking Character: Iris. While not actually hated by any fans some are squicked at the pedophilic implications of Ogami (Age 19) dating the nine-year-old girl Iris. The fact that she calls the player Mon Frère (Brother in French) doesn’t help. Though some fans have confessed to having been around Iris’ age when they first played the game. Besides that, pretty much everyone likes her for her sweet personality, backstory, and usefulness in combat as The Medic.

    Broken Base: There’s a reason the series is often jokingly called “Waifu Wars” as debates about who is “Best Girl” tend to get very heated.

    Fandom Rivalry: If there is one thing Shining Force fans and Fire Emblem fans agree on, it’s that they think of Sakura Wars as little more than a high budget visual novel with little to no gameplay. Sakura Wars fans will often cite quality over quantity in terms of its characters and claim that Fire Emblem’s and Shining Force’s characters are just “good looking chess pieces” with the main protagonist(s) being the only one(s) who get any kind of real character development.

    No Export for You: The Game didn’t receive a European localization anywhere. After the good sales numbers in North America the game did get released in Britain using the North American localization.

    Sidetracked by The Golden Saucer: The Koi-Koi minigame was so popular that Sega made an entire game dedicated to it (and other card games) for the DS.

    Woolseyism: Rather than use onii-chan, Iris will refer to Ogami as Mon Frère, the French word for brother.
     
  • Index

    • Gaminguy010

    This took longer than I wanted too. Not because of the graphic I had that done before even writing, it was finding a voice cast that gave me trouble. I didn’t want to rely on the OTL English voices because they were picked by a dubbing company rather than Sega themselves but I went with half of them anyway because I liked their voices/performances after sitting down and watching the 2001 Sakura Wars Movie. Plus, they did use Wendee Lee for Sakura’s very brief appearance in Sakura Wars 5.

    On to other business, any suggestions on naming the new GameCube model? I’m leaning towards Nintendo Hyper GameCube or something along those lines.

    Next Chapter: Gaming News Spring 2003
    Upcoming Chapter: E3 2003 / Shock and Awe at E3!
    Upcoming Chapter: Gaming News Summer 2003
    Upcoming Chapter: The Nintendo Mega GameCube
    Upcoming Chapter: Gaming News Fall 2003
     
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