Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium

[RySenkari]

"The Ultra Nintendo has sold more units than any game console in history, and it continues to be the fastest selling game console in the world today. But even as the Ultra Nintendo continues to be the world's most popular video game console, technology moves forward. New innovations have arisen, making it possible to create bigger worlds and more unique experiences. We cannot ignore these innovations. We are beginning to reach the limits of what is possible on our current hardware. Nintendo has always been a place where the most talented and creative people in the industry have called home, and the creativity of our developers has begun to surpass even the Ultra Nintendo's groundbreaking capabilities. That is why Nintendo, in partnership with our friends at Sony, has created a new playground of the imagination. A new piece of hardware that will allow limitless freedom and creativity. And now, it has come time to reveal that hardware to all of you here today.

I give you... the Nintendo Wave. With this state-of-the-art game console, our amazing games can step forward into the new millennium, to provide the most astonishing and fun experiences our players have ever enjoyed. Today, here at Spaceworld, you'll get to play the Wave for the very first time. Allow me to show you some of the games that you'll be seeing here."
-Katsuya Eguchi, introducing the Nintendo Wave at Nintendo Space World, March 4, 2002

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Nintendo Announces The Nintendo Wave, Will Be Released In Japan Before End Of 2002

Today at Nintendo Space World in Kyoto, Nintendo creative director Katsuya Eguchi announced the company's next generation console, and showed it to a waiting public for the first time. Called the Nintendo Wave, the system resembles the Ultra Nintendo: it's a rectangular box, though it's a bit shorter and somewhat less long, coming in at about 70% of the size of the Ultra Nintendo. It's aqua blue in color, though Eguchi announced that additional colors would be made available. The console's controller (which is wireless, a receiver plugs into one of the console's four controller slots while the controller can be used up to 30 feet away) is in many ways similar to that of the Ultra Nintendo, with most of the same buttons, though there were some differences in button layout: the D-pad is now smaller, and placed where the left analog stick used to sit, while the left analog stick is now on the left side of the controller. In addition, the layout of the A/B/X/Y buttons has changed: the A button is now green, and quite large, sitting in the center of the right side of the controller, while the B button is red, much smaller, and placed on the lower left side. The X and Y buttons, now somewhat oblong, sit above the A button on the right side of the controller. While it looks strange, the buttons are ergonomically placed and sized in order of frequency of use, and when we played the actual games, it felt very comfortable once we got used to the button layout.

Like the Katana and Xbox, the Wave features online capabilities and DVD playback. In addition, the console will come with a 10 GB hard drive for storing game data. As it pertains to actual hardware specs, exact specs weren't provided, but the games we got to play absolutely blew the Katana away in terms of graphical clarity, and surpassed most of what we've seen from the Xbox. Ken Kutaragi, in the brief presentation he gave during the show, stated that the Wave is indeed more powerful than the Microsoft Xbox, and will have numerous exclusive games to take advantage of this power. If we had to guess, we'd say that the difference between the Wave and the Xbox is less than the difference between the Xbox and the Katana, but we'd have to see more games in action to be sure.

A few launch titles were announced, including Tekken 4 and Zone Of The Enders 2. However, the most notable launch title, at least in Japan, looks to be a new Mario Kart game that features teams of two racers to a kart, one of whom drives while the other is in charge of using items. The new Mario Kart game looked gorgeous graphically and introduced a number of tracks, including a Western-themed track based on the upcoming Super Mario Ranger. Other titles that we saw included two Final Fantasy games: Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy Online, and a very brief look at footage from an upcoming Zelda title. None of those games are expected to be available at launch, but looked extremely impressive on the Wave, especially the new Zelda game.

A launch window was given as December 2002, so it's likely North America will be getting the Wave sometime in early 2003. The price point was announced at 39,000 yen, putting it around $325. That means we'll most likely see either a $299 or a $349 price tag once the Wave is announced here. No information was given on the North American launch date or price, and it's probable we'll see details on those released sometime at E3 in May.

-from a March 4, 2002 article on Gamespot.com

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Ted Crosley: We're back with our Space World recap coverage, and right now, it's all about the games.

Janet Varney: That's right, there were a ton of games being shown off here at Space World, so let's get right into it!

*A brief highlight reel of Nintendo Wave footage is shown on the screen.*

Ted: Of course, the big story of the whole show was the Nintendo Wave, it's the whole reason Nintendo even threw this whole shindig, and in addition to the actual system...

Janet: Which I've gotta say, looks really pretty. It reminds me of the ocean!

Ted: It is the Nintendo Wave...I wonder if you can surf on it?

Janet: We better not.

Ted: There were a ton of games being shown off here. Some, we even got to play!

*Ted and Janet are shown playing the new Mario Kart game against two Japanese reporters*

Ted: Throw the shell, throw the shell, throw the shell!

*Janet throws a red shell at the reporters' kart, causing it to crash and tumble off the track*

Ted: Yeah, kill him! *high-fives Janet*

*The scene switches back to Ted and Janet reporting*

Ted: So there's a new Mario Kart coming and it looks really slick. Then, we played Star Siren, a brand new action game from Capcom.

Janet: Inspired by anime superhero shows like Sailor Moon, Star Siren puts you into a stylish sailor suit and sends you into battle! Check out the transformation action!

Saiyuki: Henshin a go-go! *twirls around and transforms into Star Siren before fighting a large horde of enemies with her magical powers*

Ted: It plays really fast and fierce, and the cel-shaded graphics are like something right out of an anime. It's one of the launch titles, along with Lunar 3, the latest title in the RPG series by Game Arts.

Janet: Lunar 3 takes place in a modern world where the adventures of Dragonmasters Alex and Hiro have faded into legend. After a mysterious evil threatens the land, it's up to a new hero, or perhaps a new heroine, to take up the sword, find the four dragons, and save the world.

*Footage of the game reveals a huge, 3-D world, with OTL Tales Of Symphonia-esque cel graphics as the protagonist explores dungeons and towns.*

Ted: We're hoping to see Lunar 3 stateside, but it might not be available immediately at launch. Another game that probably won't be ready for launch is the newest Squad Four. We got to play a short demo of this one, and I've gotta say I was probably more impressed with this game than I was with any of the others at the show. The graphics are spectacular and the fierce action gameplay of Squad Four: Rebellion is back in full force. In this new game, the heroes have landed on a distant planet to save a group of natives from being oppressed by an evil war criminal. We'll see if we get an official subtitle for this game when, hopefully, it's shown off later this year at E3.

Janet: And we can't forget the newest Gran Turismo game, which was shown off here at Space World for the first time. The game promises increased realism and a lot more cars, but it's going to be hard for them to squeeze in more cars than there were in Gran Turismo 2.

Ted: Yeah, especially if they all look as nice as they did in the preview video. Holy cow, it actually looks real.

Janet: And Konami showed off a brand new Castlevania game that takes the series into full 3-D gameplay for the first time. *footage is shown of a game resembling OTL's Lament Of Innocence* Castlevania: Belmont's Lament will see our favorite vampire hunting family step into the halls of yet another dark castle to battle the evil children of the night.

Ted: We'll be back with more Spaceworld coverage, including footage of some of this year's hottest Ultra Nintendo games.

Janet: Including Super Mario Ranger and Metal Gear War. That's coming up next on this G4 Weekly News Special: Space World 2002, right after this short break!

-from the March 11, 2002 episode of G4 Weekly News (Ted would also appear on Blister that very same day, having gone to Space World with Janet on the 4th and 5th, flown back to Los Angeles on the 6th, and taped the Blister episode on the 8th)

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But in addition to the Wave games, Nintendo showed off plenty of Ultra Nintendo titles as well. There was a massive display booth for Super Mario Ranger, which launches in Japan in June. The line to play Super Mario Ranger rivaled the line for any of the Wave games, and the footage we saw was extremely impressive, showing off more of Mario in the Western world, as well as battling aliens in the space world. It's been revealed that Mario will visit eight different worlds over the course of the game and will get a separate hat power-up for each one. The other big Ultra Nintendo game that we saw was Metal Gear War. There was another demo level made available, where players had to guide Solid Snake on a rescue mission. The footage revealed several new techniques for Snake, including the ability to take guards hostage and use them as shields. Metal Gear War releases late this year, but the footage shows a game that could be one of 2002's best. Though Velvet Dark: Synthesis is releasing this summer, it was largely absent from Space World, and is likely to be shown off at E3 as Nintendo's big Ultra title of that show. We did get to play a bit of Nintendo's new Star Tropics game, which looks to be a sort of 3-D puzzle platformer, a more action-heavy Zelda-type game. We explored several rooms, clearing out bad guys from one of them before needing to figure out how to access a switch pillar at the center of another. Once everything clicked and we got up to the platform, there was a real sense of accomplishment, and while we wish we could've seen more of the game's actual storyline, Star Tropics looks like it could be another big hit for Nintendo.

The Game Boy Nova lineup was possibly even more impressive than the Ultra Nintendo. While some were expecting the next generation of Pokemon to be revealed at the show, nothing was mentioned, and it seems Nintendo will continue to milk the success of Sun, Moon, and now Eclipse for just a bit longer before revealing the next generation of games. Instead, we got a fantastic consolation prize: new Zelda and new Metroid games that were both incredibly fun to play. The Legend Of Zelda: Elven Bell has Link exploring a hidden world of elves, using a magical bell to access various powers granted to him by those he helps along the way. Though Link has his familiar repertoire of items, the bell replaces some of them and introduces new powers into Link's arsenal, such as a magnet to pull distant objects and armored enemies and the ability to make plants come to life. The game promises to be as challenging and big as some of Link's greatest adventures, and the game looks excellent on the Nova, even better than the SNES-CD's Ocarina of Dreams. We also got to play Metroid: Revenant, which expands somewhat upon the Wrecked Ship civilization from Super Metroid. In this 2-D adventure, Samus will find herself locked in battle with ghostly adversaries as she tries to get to the bottom of what caused an ancient civilization to go extinct and prevent that calamity from happening to the current human civilization. Other games that impressed us included Triple Orb 2, Punch-Out Nova, and State: Crisis, a brand new horror RPG from Capcom that calls to mind games like Resident Evil and the Shin Megami Tensei series.

-from a March 5, 2002 article on Gamespot.com

 

[RySenkari]

Ultra Nintendo-

Ape Escape 2

Due to the success of 1999's Ape Escape, a sequel was assured, and Sony worked hard to make a sequel before the end of the Ultra Nintendo's lifespan. Ape Escape 2 isn't as big a progression from its predecessor as it was OTL (due to the OTL game being for the next generation Playstation 2), but is still a solidly good game that introduces a few new play mechanics. Spike returns as the protagonist, and is joined by Natsumi from the OTL Ape Escape 2 (her name isn't changed ITTL). The game's plot sees the original game's villain, Queen Saranya, return. This time, she has given five evil monkeys (the Freaky Monkey Five, also like OTL's game) superpowers, forcing Spike and Natsumi to hunt them down and capture their monkey servants as well. The Bananarang and the Water Cannon from OTL's game also show up in this one, along with a pair of additional gadgets original to TTL: the Gumball, a ball that explodes into sticky gum to catch monkeys after it's thrown, and Eek Fire, which lights monkeys on fire, flaming monkeys will run around and tire themselves out before rolling on the ground to put out the flames. Ape Escape 2 is positioned as a sort of counter to Sega's glut of platformers, in the same way that the original Ape Escape found a rival in Zodiac World. Reviews aren't quite as good as the original, but it's still one of January 2002's top selling games for the Ultra Nintendo.

Eternal SaGa

The latest in the SaGa series of RPGs by Squaresoft, Eternal SaGa is a procedurally generated RPG. After the player picks from among eight main characters, a quest is generated for that character, including dungeons, plot points, player characters, and even final bosses. Up to 40 quests can be randomly chosen for the player: ten are possible for each main character (so each possible quest/ending is shared by two characters). Before starting up the game, the player is prompted to make a system file. In this way, the game knows what endings the player has already beaten, and knows not to make the same quest twice. Each quest is about the same length as one of the individual quests in SaGa Frontier, so it will take players about 5-10 hours to beat each one. Certain side quests are accessible in every scenario, while others are available only in certain ones. Because each segment of an individual quest is procedural generation, no two quests are the same. Main characters include Sheppard, a young sword-wielding boy, Azalea, an emotionally distant young woman, Candor, a mercenary for hire, Lai, a ninja princess, Kobra, a snake-like member of the Monster race, Vial, a Mystic in line to be king, Luciya, a young mermaid, and Elbrik, a hammer-wielding gnome. The game's beautiful graphics and inspired character design are heavily praised, though the actual quest progression and overly non-linear nation that leads lots of players to get lost make the game somewhat polarizing. Sales are fairly low for a Square RPG.

Mario Party 3

The familiar party game returns once again. It features nine boards and plenty of mini-games, and, like OTL's game, introduces a Story Mode to the series (though with a different plotline from OTL: it introduces Koopetitor, an overly competitive Koopa who serves as the mode's antagonist, actively cheating to make things different for the player). It's favorably received like both previous Mario Party games, and its status as a fun multiplayer title makes it a solid seller.

Batman: Joker's Wild

A 3-D Batman game for the Ultra Nintendo, it's a brawler with some detective game elements, as Batman (voiced by Kevin Conroy) must investigate certain locations around Gotham in order to discover where to go next. The plot starts out as a typical Batman adventure with Joker and Harley Quinn (voiced by Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin) robbing banks around the city. However, things get really interesting when the Royal Flush Gang gets involved. ITTL, the Royal Flush Gang never appeared in Batman Beyond, though their appearance in this game is somewhat based on what they were in Batman Beyond OTL, with Ten an attractive woman who begins to form a romantic interest in Batman, while Ace is a dangerous robot who battles Batman several times over the course of the game. With Ten's help, Batman gets to the bottom of Joker and Harley's plans, though by the end of the game, Joker would find out about Ten's deception and takes her as a hostage (which turns the Royal Flush Gang against him, with the exception of Ace who is reprogrammed by Harley, though not very well, causing it to behave erratically in Batman's final battle with it). In the end, Batman (with the help of King, Queen, Jack, and of course his sidekicks Robin and Batgirl) defeats Joker and Harley, and though he rescues Ten, she has realized that Batman doesn't have any romantic interest in her and decides to move on with her life. The game gets decent reviews, though it's nothing special (the brawling isn't nearly as good as in the OTL Arkham games and the open world segments are fairly constricted), and sales are rather mediocre.

Green Lantern

Based somewhat on the film, though featuring its own storyline separate from the film's continuity, this game is notable for being considered somewhat better than Joker's Wild, featuring a somewhat larger world to explore and giving Green Lantern a bevy of both fun and functional powers that make the game's fighting among the best yet in a superhero game. Despite the excellent reviews received by the game, sales are rather poor. It's released the same day as Joker's Wild in a sort of cross-promotional event, but instead of complimenting each other in sales as was expected, Green Lantern is overshadowed by the more popular superhero and the game is somewhat of a flop.

Sega Katana-

Tick And Tock: Timebreak!

The third game in the Tick and Tock platformer series, and the first for the Sega Katana, this is yet another 3-D platformer about a sister/brother team named Tick and Tock. They use a magical time watch to manipulate time, but in this game, after a horde of strange creatures from all across the time stream appear near their home, they learn that their fun has created a series of time paradoxes that they must now travel around and correct if they are to restore everything to its proper state and prevent the destruction of the universe. Tick and Tock travel from place to place, collecting treasures and solving time problems. Though there are plenty of collectables in the game, they're all optional: the gameplay is mission-based, so that when Tick and Tock solve enough problems in one era, they'll be able to move on to the next. There are some choices about which eras to visit next, with a total of ten eras in all, ranging from dinosaur times to a city in the far future called Futuropolis. Timebreak is a fairly standard platformer (though Tick and Tock's various time tricks do add some spice to the gameplay), and while it's ultimately better regarded than Tick and Tock Too, the previous game in the series, it's not quite as popular as some of the other big Katana platformers to come out at this time. Still, sales are more than good enough to make it a success.

Broken Wings

The sequel to 1998's action-RPG Angels, Broken Wings is a somewhat more straightforward game: you're an angel named Sepharius who has been forced from heaven by a great war, and in order to return, he must solve the problems of various humans he finds along the way. As he is working to restore his wings, he's being hunted by a group of mercenary angel hunters. The subject matter is somewhat less dark than the previous game, though for that reason, the plot lacks a degree of pathos that the first game (considered to be one of the best RPGs on the Saturn) was praised for. The combat system is a bit more hack-and-slashy, and while that makes this game somewhat generic compared to other action titles of its day, it's still pretty fun to fight, and the game gets a lot of praise for that, even if the plot is a bit simplistic and there aren't as many memorable characters as the first game. The graphics are outstanding, considered one of the high points of the game. Its director is Takayuki Suguro (known for directing Resonance of Fate IOTL), and the game shares a lot of visual and thematic motifs with that title. Ultimately, Broken Wings is considered a major sales disappointment even if reviews are solid. Angels had the release of the Ring to prop it up, while Broken Wings is largely forced to stand on its own, and is ultimately unsuccessful in that regard.

Ogre Battle: In The Lap Of The Gods

The Katana's first (and as it would turn out, only) Ogre title, the game revolves around the world of Kashge, a world where several gods share dominion over certain parts of the world. These gods have begun fighting a war, and humans have taken sides. You start out as a young lord in the service of a minor god, who seeks to bring peace between the much more powerful gods fighting it out on the continent. Gameplay is typical Ogre Battle fare: build your armies and send them into battle in tactical-RPG style, with parties of five battling it out automatically. The graphical presentation has improved, and there are cutscenes and voice acting (albeit poor voice acting) between battles and in certain towns. It's fairly uninspired, and reviewers are rather harsh on the game, which averages around 6-7/10 in most review sources. Needless to say, sales (especially North American sales) are quite poor, and ultimately the failure of In The Lap Of The Gods leads Enix to consider abandoning the Ogre IP entirely. However, the series would ultimately get a new life on handhelds down the road.

Raigeki III

This comedy-based fighting series known for its outlandish characters and wacky announcer is back. The roster is streamlined somewhat (down to 16 characters), but the fighting action is as fun as ever and the new cel-shaded graphics give everything a comic-like feel. Raigeki III was a minor hit in the arcades, and its sales upon release are good, though nothing too major. It remains one of the top fighting franchises on the Katana, and one of the Katana's few fighting exclusives.

Cosmiconnection

A space-based puzzle/action title that combines elements of OTL’s Bejeweled, Chu Chu Rocket, and Kerbal Space Program. Essentially, the playing field consists of a planet and the skies above, which are filled with stars and planets. Players must rapidly accumulate materials to build a rocket, launch the rocket to the planets, and then connect the planets that are the same color in order to establish flight networks between the planets, all the while their fellow players are trying to destroy their rockets and take over their planets. The whole thing plays out in a fast-paced, spectacular, chaotic display. It’s one of the strangest puzzle games of the year (and probably of its generation), but hyperaddictive gameplay and online multiplayer make it a bona fide hit.

Duelists: Honorbound

The fighting series that focuses more on character development and plot than actual fighting returns. The game features ten playable characters, all new to the franchise, who share only one common thread between them: the desire to gain honor. While the gameplay isn't a big step up from its predecessor, the Katana allows for realistic character models, detailed backgrounds, and lengthy cutscenes that enhance the game's production values tremendously. It's a bit of a niche title for its single-player story mode focus, but it's not a failure.

Microsoft Xbox-

Operation Zero: No Tomorrow

The latest installment of a series that originally debuted on the Saturn (and was ported to the Ultra Nintendo), Operation Zero: No Tomorrow is an Xbox exclusive stealth/shooter title designed to take full advantage of the Xbox's graphical prowess. The protagonist is an assassin who gets hired to take out a woman who works as a business liaison between the government and an energy conglomerate, but who went rogue and became a whistleblower. This woman happens to be the assassin's girlfriend, and after refusing to kill her, is forced to go on the run himself, while protecting his girlfriend and trying to find out who ordered the hit. As it turns out, the hit goes all the way up to the top levels of the government, revealing a conspiracy that could threaten the stability of the entire world. The gameplay is reminiscent of games like Dead Midnight and Blackheart, with more shooting than stealth. This game features a somewhat new spin on escort missions: instead of being forced to protect NPCs, the player has the option to take control of the NPCs instead, to try and get them out of harm's way. The game is highly praised for its graphics and sound quality, including stellar voice acting, though the gameplay and plot are seen as somewhat generic. It's one of the Xbox's early top sellers, and establishes the series as a mainstay on the Xbox, one of several poached franchises that would become very successful as Xbox exclusives.

Homeworld

A space-based RTS ported from one of the top PC games of 1999, Homeworld's Xbox port is considered to be a perfect port in terms of gameplay, but a somewhat disappointing port in terms of graphics. When the game was originally released for the PC, it was considered groundbreaking in terms of graphical detail, and despite being the most powerful console system to date, the Xbox just can't reach that level of detail that made Homeworld such a breathtaking game when it was originally released. Though the game does get a lot of hype, it's not exactly the kind of game that most early Xbox buyers are looking for, and sales are a major disappointment compared to what Microsoft was expecting.

Unreal Championship

Released in late March 2002, Unreal Championship is one of the flagship games for the launch of the Xbox Live service, and thus is extremely highly anticipated prior to release. It doesn't disappoint: it becomes the top selling FPS for the console to date, and the most widely populated multiplayer game on Xbox Live until The Covenant is brought online later in the year. With Unreal Championship, Microsoft properly joins Sega in having a successful online console presence, and Unreal Championship solidifies FPS games as the most popular online titles for console players.

Relentless Lethality

Seen as a sort of rival game to Unreal Championship, Relentless Lethality has a plot similar to the 2000 game Future Fear: Enter The Arena: it takes place in the 22nd century, where convicted criminals are placed in an arena together and forced to fight to the death. The game has a short single-player campaign, but it's the multiplayer online aspect that is intended to be the game's selling point. The game is more violent than Unreal Championship and features a slightly larger collection of weapons, but it doesn't have the gameplay polish, and it ultimately fails to acquire the same level of fanbase that Unreal enjoys. Despite this, the FPS-hungry Xbox crowd still purchases enough copies of the game to make it a success, even if it ultimately loses the sales battle to Unreal Championship.

Dungeon Siege

An Ultima-like RPG that ITTL was released simultaneously for Xbox and PC, the game is ultimately more of a hit on PC than it is on the Xbox, but its action-packed gameplay does make it popular on both platforms. The Xbox version features downgraded graphics, but a more console-friendly control scheme that swaps out the point and click action for direct button control, making the game more like Diablo than its PC counterpart. It's not a full-fledged Final Fantasy-like game, but it does give RPG-hungry Xbox fans some measure of satisfaction.

Cryogenesis

An FPS centered on a protagonist, Dr. Wynter, who uses ice-based weaponry. In OTL, he’d get compared to Mei from Overwatch, but in TTL the game is nicknamed “Mr. Freeze the FPS”. Dr. Wynter has stolen an experimental ice weapon from a rogue nation that seeks to freeze its enemies, and now he must battle his way to safety while attempting to stop his former employers from carrying out their evil plans. The game is rather violent, Wynter can freeze his foes and then shatter them into chunks with melee attacks. It’s fairly unique for its day, though not quite as popular as some of the other FPS titles on the system.

Invisible Soul

Invisible Soul is a hack and slash title featuring a female protagonist: Malicia, a succubus-like woman who has the ability to siphon the souls from any enemy she kills. Certain souls gain Malicia more power, while other souls can be redeemed for items at various shops she encounters along the way. The game is inevitably compared to Devil May Cry, which releases a few months later, though the slower pace, clunkier combat, and more generic enemies of Invisible Soul ultimately relegate it to niche title status, compared to Devil May Cry which becomes a bona fide hit. The graphics are probably the best received part of the game, in many respects it looks even more visually impressive than Devil May Cry (though later on, reviewers would say that those graphics were a waste without any impressive bosses to show them off).

G-Darius: Hypershock

Microsoft revives the classic shooter series for the Xbox, commissioning Taito to create a brand new game with fully 3-D graphics and a huge variety of weapons and upgrades. The plot is fairly minimal (a massive alien incursion allowing powerful beasts to enter our dimension), and is mostly just an excuse to put big, impressive enemies on the screen. Though the game is a "hit" in Japan (it's the best selling launch title there, save for The Covenant), the Xbox doesn't do well enough in Japan to boost the game's sales all that much. Meanwhile, it's pretty much a flop in the States despite excellent reviews.

Illbleed

The survival horror cult classic, released only for the Dreamcast IOTL and an Xbox exclusive ITTL, takes place in a terrifying theme park filled with violent and evil horrors. It's somewhat campy, with a plot and characters almost identical to OTL's game. It didn't sell all that well IOTL, released at the tail-end of the Dreamcast's run, but ITTL as one of the first survival horror games for the Xbox, it performs considerably better, almost considered to be a minor hit. It would immediately be greenlighted for a sequel.

Azurik: Rise Of Perathia

An action-adventure title featuring a protagonist named Azurik who can control the elements of fire, water, earth, and air, this is your typical 3-D adventure game, with not very much improved from OTL's game (which got mediocre reviews). The game was influenced somewhat by TTL's exclusive Welcome To Magicka and Andrekah, making the power progression system somewhat different from what it was IOTL: Azurik will learn new skills as he uses elements a certain amount of times, adding some RPG elements to the game. Despite these improvements, Azurik's gameplay is considered mediocre and its plot simplistic, and it once again fails to attract the sales it was initially expected to.

Elite Squad: Deploy And Destroy!

A tactical war game where players must deploy soldiers to attack enemy armies. Sort of like OTL XCOM: Enemy Unknown, though not quite as complex or difficult. The soldiers have their own distinct personalities, and will talk to the player (and the other soldiers in their unit). The voice acting is a bit campy and cheesy, but it does add a layer of humor to the game, which draws comparisons to Major Hazard (and also to Ghost Recon). It’s a popular game, though not a huge hit.

Game Boy Nova-

Pokemon Eclipse

Released on February 25, 2002 in North America, Pokemon Eclipse is a third version of the Gen 2 games Pokemon Sun and Moon. It features a number of enhancements, some graphical (Pokemon now have more complex animations and there are new details added to certain towns and locales) and some gameplay. Eclipse introduces the idea of alternate Pokemon forms, similar to what was introduced to Gen 4 IOTL. Pokemon that receive alternate forms include Ho-Oh, Lunalux, Lugia, Tyranitar, and Blissey. The version mascot of Eclipse is Lugia, and the game introduces a new main plot element that requires Lugia in order to prevent Team Shrapnel from setting Ho-Oh and Lunalux against one another. Ho-Oh and Lunalux can both be captured later on in the postgame. The player also has the option to save Shrapnel's leader, Breaker (where he died in the original Sun and Moon games). There's also a new Pokemon League champion, Clair (Zacharias still appears, but the player doesn't have a final battle with him until the postgame, while Lance is the Blackthorne Gym Leader in Eclipse). The other major addition is the Battle Tower, which first appeared in Crystal IOTL. Little has changed with the Battle Tower, the player must engage in fierce strategic battles with trainers with standardized rules, and one loss means the player must restart from the beginning. Other than these small enhancements and changes, Eclipse is largely the same game as Sun and Moon were. Despite that, the game still sells extraordinarily well, especially among players who weren't able to acquire a Nova all the way back in 2000 and who are picking their first Nova Pokemon game. Eclipse continues the tradition of successful third installments for Pokemon games, and as of early 2002, Game Freak is well at work on Generation 3.

Dead Midnight: One Shot, One Kill

This is the first handheld Dead Midnight game, and it's sort of simplified from the console versions. In it, you play as a new protagonist: the sniper Kit, who is commissioned to assassinate a deadly warlord before he can launch a stolen nuclear missile. The game focuses heavily on sniper gameplay, with much of the game involving positioning Kit to get the best shot he possibly can. The graphics are 3-D but fairly primitive 3-D, with a top-down perspective that changes into a fully 3-D perspective when lining up a shot. Once the sniper mission is completed, the level ends and Kit moves on. The game isn't considered to be as fun as the original Dead Midnight series, but its quality wins it some high marks regardless, and sales are decent (though again, not on par with the console series).

Shantae: A Risky Showdown

Shantae, the genie with the wild purple ponytail, makes her first appearance on the Game Boy Nova. The gameplay is typical of Shantae titles, featuring Metroidvania-style 2-D platforming and a plot that doesn't take itself too seriously. Once again, Shantae is attempting to take down her rival, the dastardly pirate Risky Boots, and in order to do so she must find a way to win passage on Risky's flagship. In the process, she battles her way through deserts, jungles, and many other exotic locales, meeting many strange people, both friend and foe, along the way. A Risky Showdown is the first game in the series to be somewhat of a mainstream hit, its sales exceed WayForward's expectations, and paves the way for more Shantae titles on the Nova and other Nintendo systems.

Pocket Treasure Hunters

Blizzard's first game for the Nova, Pocket Treasure Hunters is a version of their classic dungeon crawling SNES-CD game. It's not a straight-up port of the SNES-CD title, but a whole new adventure with new dungeons and slightly better graphics. It's best to think of Treasure Hunters as a sort of more family-friendly Diablo-type game, lots of loot, lots of enemies to fight, and plenty of dungeons to explore: indeed, there are twice as many dungeons in Pocket Treasure Hunters as there were in the SNES-CD game. The influence of the Diablo games on the design of Pocket Treasure Hunters is clearly visible: Blizzard has learned a LOT about making these types of games after two hit Diablo titles, and so Pocket Treasure Hunters is generally considered superior to the SNES-CD game. Reviews are excellent, though the game itself isn't a hit right away. Price drops help, and it would become one of the more enduring hits throughout the Nova's lifespan, eventually reaching a million copies sold after several years on the market.

Syrielle and Friends

The Syrielle series returns back to basics with this Nova sidestory game: it's mostly a visual novel, though with a few of the action elements typical of the series. Though the spider-girl Syrielle is the main focus of the game, the player can also take control of Syrielle's friend Stacy and some of her other friends as well, as the game is divided into six chapters, the first four focused on Syrielle and her three best friends. The final two chapters feature Syrielle, though choices made in chapters 1-4 affect how 5-6 play out. Syrielle's built up quite a fandom over the past five years, and so this game is a decent seller, especially among girls. Fans who appreciated the more action-centric aspects of recent games in the series are a bit disappointed, though it isn't enough to ruin the game's success.

The Secret Sea 2

The Secret Sea sold just well enough to get a sequel, and in this game, Dazzer returns to once again save his oceanic kingdom from a dangerous threat: this time from a human explorer based on the classic documentarian Jacques Costeau. The explorer, named Pierre, seeks to capture all the rare and beautiful creatures in the sea, and deploys a horde of undersea robots capable of capturing anything they see. Dazzer must defeat all of Pierre's robots and hired thugs to protect his home from being destroyed. While still featuring the same highly praised swimming mechanics as the previous title, The Secret Sea 2 doesn't mix things up enough to be considered an improvement over the first. Dazzer's love interest, Ashlette, is nowhere to be found in the sequel, and Pierre isn't nearly as memorable a villain as the dark force from the first game. The Secret Sea 2 is a bit of a flop, and ironically, sales of the first game continue to be strong, meaning that ultimately, the first game would continue to sell better than the sequel even years after its release. Despite the second game being a flop, the success of the first ultimately ensures the creation of a third later on.

Bumblebee: Zooble's New Hive

The classic platformer series featuring a bee protagonist named Zooble comes to the Nova for the first time ever. The game features improved graphics and even some voice acting, and an array of new enemies for Zooble to do battle with. Unlike The Secret Sea 2, Zooble's New Hive is considered anything BUT a disappointment: it's ultimately considered the best game to date in the series, even better than the SNES-CD titles, and becomes another franchise to make a successful transition from the console to the Nova.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon

A scaled-down version of the tactical war game for the Nova, Ghost Recon features much of the same highly praised tactical gameplay of the console versions. It's not quite as complex, but it's good enough to be a critical and commercial success.

Tetris Nova

The most well known puzzle game series of all time finally makes it to the Nova. It's essentially the original Tetris with enhanced graphics and a bevy of new competitive and time attack modes. It's nothing special, but it doesn't have to be: it's Tetris. Reviews are great and the game is a sales success.

Bucky The Beambot

A platformer game with Vectorman-style graphics about a futuristic robot who can blast enemies with his laser beam. It has a kind of Iron Giant motif to it, in fact, it's considered a MUCH better game than the Nova Iron Giant adaptation. The controls are fairly simple, just run, jump, and shoot. Bucky can equip only two weapons at a time: his primary laser and a secondary weapon, which can be anything from a simple missile to a giant chainsaw. The tutorial menus have a sort of old-time 1950s comic book look to them, the cutscenes take the form of motion comics, and the music is a whimsical mix of songs that could have come out of a superhero or science-fiction movie. The game is extremely well reviewed and sells more than enough to start a franchise.

Dog Dash 2

Doom II: Hell On Earth

Frederico

Dog Dash 2 and Frederico are essentially straight-up ports of their SNES-CD counterparts, while Doom II is a port, albeit slightly downgraded from the Saturn version. Dog Dash 2 sells the best of the three, though Doom II is right behind. The relatively paltry sales for Frederico indicate to Silver Sail that the next Nova Frederico title should be an original spin-off and not a port.

Multiplatform-

Fatal Frame

A survival horror based game centering around protagonist Miku Hinasaki, Fatal Frame has Miku arrive at the mansion searching for her disappeared brother Mafuyu, using her camera, the Camera Obscura, to defeat a series of deadly ghosts that appear. The plot and gameplay are much like the OTL title, though in TTL's game, Miku is a bit more athletic and has the ability to fight the spirits using other means than her camera once she locates certain special enchanted objects in the mansion, making the game into a bit more of an action-based title (though for the most part it's still a survival horror game, with many enemies unable to be fought using physical means, indeed, the physical moves are mostly used to stun enemies when Miku is running low on film). The final chapter of the game once again sees Miku confronting the spirit of the deceased sacrificed maiden Kirie, who has captured Mafuyu so that she may have a companion and not have to live out eternity in the mansion alone. However, ITTL, once Kirie's spirit is calmed, the Malice itself appears and must be fought by Miku and Mifuyu. The game is released on both the Ultra Nintendo and the Katana in January 2002, and the Xbox in August 2002. The Ultra Nintendo version is graphically downgraded from the Katana/Xbox versions and lacks the final Malice fight and the entire third chapter (instead, the second and third chapters' events are combined into one chapter), the game is also two discs on the Ultra Nintendo and only one on the Katana and Xbox. The game is pretty much a sales flop on the Ultra (and later on, the Xbox), but is a minor hit for the Katana.

Glimmer Grab

A fairly standard 3-D platformer where the protagonist must pick up lots of jewels and shiny things. While it’s not all that special of a game (reviews are mediocre, in the 5-6 range), it does have a somewhat effective marketing campaign that enables it to sell more than it probably should have. The game's protagonist is a wacky looking goblin-type character who speaks in a strange gibberish almost reminiscent of OTL's Crazy Frog character. The advertising for the game is annoying but turns into a sort of earworm that puts the game on people's minds and gets lots of kids to ask their parents to buy it. The game would eventually be ported to the Nintendo Wave.

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Top Selling Console Games In North America (in terms of sales over the first four weeks of release):

January 2002

1. Mario Party 3 (Ultra Nintendo)
2. Ape Escape 2 (Ultra Nintendo)
3. Ridge Racer 3 (Sega Katana)
4. Need For Speed: Unleashed (Game Boy Nova)
5. Operation Zero: No Tomorrow (Microsoft Xbox)

February 2002

1. Pokemon Eclipse (Game Boy Nova)
2. Blackheart 2 (Ultra Nintendo)
3. NASCAR 2K2 (Sega Katana)
4. Need For Speed: Unleashed 2 (Ultra Nintendo)
5. Need For Speed: Unleashed 2 (Sega Katana)

March 2002

1. Burnout 2 (Sega Katana)
2. Wheelman 2 (Ultra Nintendo)
3. Wheelman 2 (Sega Katana)
4. Burnout 2 (Ultra Nintendo)
5. Unreal Championship (Microsoft Xbox)

 

[RySenkari]

(ITTL, Bret Hart and Vince McMahon began to reconcile in 1999 (after Owen Hart's title run). By 2001, the two have patched things up somewhat (not entirely, but Hart is no longer pissed at McMahon). By the time WWF purchases WCW, Hart has McMahon's ear, and convinces him to show more respect to the incoming WCW wrestlers. He also helps to convince McMahon to buy out more WCW contracts, including Nash, Hall, and Luger. He is also able to bring back Hogan, though not until later on. The only major WCW wrestlers who sit out the Invasion are: Scott Steiner, Goldberg (the two of them decide to hold out for more money), and Sting (who is nursing a back injury he sustained in late 2000). The idea to have WCW take over Raw completely still falls through (fans just don't want it), but the Invasion itself features the WCW newcomers far more prominently.)

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During the early months of the Invasion (March-June), the WCW wrestlers are introduced in a sort of “slow drip”, with WCW wrestlers largely facing off only against other WCW wrestlers. Chris Benoit (who remained in WCW for the duration) was holding the World Heavyweight Title at the time of the buyout, and he defends it against Booker T at Backlash. Meanwhile, the McMahon-Helmsley/Austin feud continues, though Vince and Triple H are at each other's throats somewhat since Austin's Wrestlemania win. Vince declines to help Triple H deal with Austin, as he's too busy trying to keep Shane and Stephanie's WCW down. Meanwhile, ECW wrestlers are also gradually beginning to trickle in, and instead of joining with WCW in an alliance, they become “free agents” of sorts, with Vince and Shane attempting to win their services. A pattern emerges: most of the face ECW wrestlers (like Rob Van Dam) go to WCW, while most of the heel ECW wrestlers (like Tajiri) go to WWF. Starting in May, WCW and WWF wrestlers begin to face off in matches. DDP begins to feud with Chris Jericho, while The Rock gets into a brief feud with Lex Luger (one of the few WCW heels). Meanwhile, Austin continues to defend his title. He beats Triple H at Backlash, then beats Kurt Angle at Judgment Day. He's seemingly ready to put his feud with Triple H behind him, but Shawn Michaels begins to interfere in Austin's matches, and it's clear he's trying to get Austin to fight him at King Of The Ring for the WWF Championship. While this is going on, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash seem to have left the NWO behind. They're wrestling for WCW, though they're wrestling as heels and feuding with Kane and the Undertaker. Things culminate at King Of The Ring, which features eight WCW wrestlers and eight WWF wrestlers, along with a main event of Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels. Rob Van Dam beats Edge in an epic King of the Ring final, while Stone Cold loses to HBK after Hall and Nash run in, announce that they're defecting to the WWF, and help Michaels beat down Austin. Triple H then joins them, and the four hug in the ring just like they did at Madison Square Garden in 1996.

During all of this, Bret Hart is nowhere to be found. He's taking a sabbatical from the ring, and the popular rumor is that his contract wasn't bought out and that he's too pissed at McMahon to come back to the WWF. In the weeks after King of the Ring, Triple H, Michaels, Nash, and Hall declare themselves to be a new stable: The Kliq (complete with its own Motorhead theme) and announce their domination over both WWF and WCW. WWF/WCW matches pick up, and an Invasion PPV is announced for the end of the month. Rob Van Dam challenges Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship, but Vince McMahon only agrees to approve it if a WWF wrestler gets to challenge for the WCW title (which is held by Booker T after beating Benoit at Judgement Day). Triple H lobbies for it to be him (to give the Clique both titles), but McMahon decides on Kurt Angle instead. At Invasion, Kurt Angle loses to Booker T and Rob Van Dam loses to Shawn Michaels (due to rampant cheating from The Kliq). At the next Raw (which takes place in Montreal), Shawn Michaels comes down to the ring to relish in the fan taunts. He taunts the crowd and Bret Hart, working the crowd into a near riot state when all of a sudden, Bret Hart's theme plays. And unlike in OTL 2005 (which it was just a tease), it's for real. Bret Hart comes out, grabs a chair, and beats the living hell out of Shawn Michaels. He'd probably kill him if not for the arrival of the Kliq, who save Michaels and get him out of there. Hart demands a title match with Michaels at Summerslam, but McMahon refuses. Instead, he sets up a tag-team main event: Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Triple H and Shawn Michaels. If Hart and Austin win, the one of them who gets the pin will get a title shot. Meanwhile, Hall and Nash challenge Edge and Christian for the tag team titles, and Owen Hart gets a WCW title shot against a freshly heel Booker T. At Summerslam, Owen Hart wins the WCW title, bringing it to the WWF, while Hall and Nash win the WWF Tag Team titles and Triple H and Shawn Michaels beat Austin and Hart after the two of them fight over who will get the pin, costing them the win. Just when it seems like everything is coming up WWF, Owen Hart defects to WCW in September due to his brother Bret's influence. The defection leads the Kliq to exert even more of an iron fist influence over WWF, beating down anyone who defies them. This will eventually lead to a split between the Kliq and the rest of WWF that WCW exploits. Shane hires Paul Heyman as the kayfabe general manager of WCW, and Heyman takes a ruthless stance against WCW. By the time Survivor Series rolls around, the lines between heel and face in both WWF and WCW are heavily blurred. Instead of a match between WWF and WCW for total control as IOTL, the main event is a five-way elimination match between the Kliq (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and X-Pac) and Stone Cold's faction (Stone Cold, The Rock, Undertaker, Kane, and Big Show) for control of WWF. Other matches include Bret Hart vs. Kurt Angle, Booker T (who won his WCW title back at No Mercy) vs. DDP for the WCW title, and Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam. Stone Cold's faction wins, and the Kliq's influence over WWF wanes. However, this gives Vince McMahon much of his influence back, leading into the final phase of the storyline.

In the leadup to Wrestlemania, Vince McMahon tries to become friends with Stone Cold Steve Austin (who wins back his championship from Shawn Michaels at Vengeance). He sees Austin as his tool to get rid of WCW, but Austin favors letting WCW go their own separate way. Meanwhile, in the WCW faction, Paul Heyman begins talking to Owen Hart, subtly exerting influence over him and pulling him away from his brother Bret. The other WCW wrestlers have rallied around Bret, and Owen, who the WCW wrestlers don't respect as much (because he never went to WCW) is slowly becoming jealous. Paul Heyman, who not only wants to influence Owen but to put WWF out of business entirely, begins to push the idea of a “final showdown” at Wrestlemania. A number of feuds begin to emerge. Things come to a head when Hulk Hogan makes a surprising entrance at the Royal Rumble, eliminating a number of wrestlers before being eliminated by The Rock (setting up their eventual Wrestlemania match). However, it's Owen Hart who wins the Rumble and the right to challenge for either the WCW or the WWF title at Wrestlemania. While retaining his right to challenge for the WWF title, Owen suddenly turns on DDP to provoke him into a WCW championship match at No Way Out. Owen beats DDP, and immediately challenges Stone Cold to unify the two championships. When Bret Hart confronts Owen, Owen beats him down brutally, signifying that he has fully turned. Heyman then persuades Shane to challenge his father for total control at Wrestlemania. A challenge is proposed: 11 matches between WWF and WCW superstars. The faction that wins the most matches wins total control. The matches are:

WWF vs. WCW Championship Unification Match
Owen Hart (WCW Champion) vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin (WWF Champion)

Icon vs. Icon
Hulk Hogan (WCW) vs. The Rock (WWF)

Bret Hart (WCW) vs. Triple H (WWF)

Intercontinental Title vs. United States Championship Unification Match
Lex Luger (WCW United States Champion) vs. Chris Jericho (WWF Intercontinental Champion)

Tag Team Championship Unification Match
Chavo Guerrero and Rey Mysterio Jr. (WCW Tag Team Champions) vs. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash (WWF Tag Team Champions)

Booker T (WCW) vs. The Undertaker (WWF)

European Championship vs. WCW TV Championship Unification Match
Chris Benoit (WCW TV Champion) vs. Dean Malenko (WWF European Champion)

Hardcore Championship
Rob Van Dam (WCW) vs. Edge (WWF Hardcore Champion)

Cruiserweight Championship vs. Light Heavyweight Championship
Billy Kidman (WCW Cruiserweight Champion) vs. Christian (WWF Light Heavyweight Champion)

Diamond Dallas Page (WCW) vs. Shawn Michaels (WWF)

Submission Match
Lance Storm (WCW) vs. Kurt Angle (WWF)

Lance Storm and Kurt Angle's submission match leads off the night. It's an excellent technical display that goes for 18 minutes before Kurt Angle gets the win, putting the WWF up 1 to 0. Next up is the Hardcore Championship that sees Rob Van Dam and Edge give it their all in a match that turns into a high-flying battle of ladders and chairs. A bloodied Rob Van Dam wins, tying it up at 1 win a piece and giving him the Hardcore Championship. Diamond Dallas Page and Shawn Michaels are up next. DDP puts up an excellent fight, hitting two Diamond Cutters on Michaels, but eventually Shawn Michaels takes the win with a powerful Sweet Chin Music. Benoit vs. Malenko is perhaps more impressive of a match than Angle/Storm was, though it only comes in at 11 minutes after Malenko taps out to the Crossface. After Billy Kidman gets an upset win over Christian, the count stands at 3 for WCW and 2 for WWF. In the Intercontinental Title/US Title match, Chris Jericho goes over Luger to knot things up at 3 a piece. Undertaker extends his streak by beating Booker T, putting the WWF back in the lead. In the tag team title match, Rey and Chavo manage to get the upset in the tag title unification match (thanks to some timely interference by Eddie Guerrero, who defects to the WCW during the course of the match) to tie things back up at 4, leading to the final three matches that will determine the fate of the WWF and the WCW.

First up, it's Rock vs. Hogan. The Rock vs. Hogan plays out much like it did IOTL: cheers for both men, especially for Hogan. The Rock survives two Leg Drops, Hogan takes two People's Elbows to finally be finished off. WWF was now ahead 5 to 4, and WCW would have to win the final two matches to survive. The next match is Bret Hart vs. Triple H. This has been a fierce, bitterly personal feud where Bret Hart blamed Triple H for everything that he believes has gone wrong with the WWF for the past six years. This match got extremely bloody, with both men bleeding all over the ring by the time things were over. Triple H beat Bret Hart senseless with a sledgehammer and hit him with the Pedigree, but somehow, Hart managed to kick out at two (and seemed to the fans like 2.999). Bret Hart eventually got Triple H into the Sharpshooter, and Triple H was forced to tap out. Bret Hart's victory ties things up at 5 a piece, and now it all comes down to Stone Cold vs. Owen Hart for all the marbles. Just before the two are about to begin, Paul Heyman reveals one more dastardly machination.... Bret Hart, bandaged up from the previous match, has been inserted as special guest referee. Stone Cold vs. Owen Hart is every bit as brutal and competitive as Stone Cold vs. Bret Hart from Wrestlemania 13, and with Bret as special guest referee, it's bitterly personal. By now, it's been established that Bret and his brother Owen are bitter enemies, and that Bret is torn between wanting WCW to survive and wanting to save the WWF. Bret calls the match fairly at first. Owen and Austin both get several near falls. But with each near fall, either of them begins to get frustrated with Bret. Finally, Owen's frustrations explode, and he uses a weapon on Austin. He gets Austin pinned, but Bret refuses to count the three, sending Owen into a furious rage. The two get into a shoving match, and this enables Austin to hit Owen with a Stunner. Austin pins Owen, but as Bret's arm comes down for the three, he once again stops. His hesitation enables Owen to kick out, and Austin furiously attacks Bret, stomping him into the corner and re-opening his wound. As Austin is stomping a mudhole in the bloodied Bret and walking it dry, Owen suddenly has a pang of compassion for his brother and hits Austin with a low blow from behind. He puts Austin in the Sharpshooter, and applies it with such brutality that Austin, unlike with Bret back at Wrestlemania 13, actually taps out from the pain...but Bret is unconscious and unable to ring the bell. Owen and Austin collapse in the center of the ring, covered in blood and groaning in pain. Another referee arrives and begins counting the two men out. As the ref reaches 5, Bret crawls to Owen and begins to help him up. Owen is staggering to his feet, and makes it up as the ref gets to 8. The ref gets to 9...the WWF is one count away from being destroyed forever. But Austin staggers to his feet as well and makes it up just a split second before the 10 count. Bret and Owen now begin teaming up to beat down Austin, but Austin shoves Owen away and hits Bret with the Stunner, putting him out for good. Owen goes for a Piledriver on Austin, but Austin reverses it into another Stunner (the fifth Stunner that Owen's taken during the course of the match). Austin doesn't pin Owen so much as pass out on top of him, but it's good enough for a 3 count and good enough to give Austin the unified titles, and to give total control of the wrestling industry to the WWF. The Invasion ends with the WWF victorious and an uncertain future for the WCW wrestlers....but a certain 16-time World Heavyweight Champion will have something to say about that the following night on Raw....

 

[RySenkari]

Fairytale 2

Fairytale 2 is Squaresoft's sequel to 1998's hit RPG Fairytale. The game is directed by Tetsuya Takahashi, who previously directed Final Fantasy VIII for Squaresoft. Much of the staff working on Fairytale 2 is the same staff who followed Takahashi to start MonolithSoft IOTL, making Fairytale 2 the first real “MonolithSoft” game, though the company will never come to being ITTL. Joining them are a few of the people who worked on the original Fairytale (mostly Chrono Trigger staff), including Yasunori Mitsuda who composes the game's musical score. Tomomi Kobayashi returns as the game's character designer. Fairytale 2 retains some elements from the original game, including the Active Time Battle system, but also introduces a great deal of new elements to the series. Indeed, the OTL game that can most be compared with Fairytale 2 is Xenosaga Episode I. Many elements of that game, including gameplay, plot, and thematic elements, appear in Fairytale 2, though Fairytale 2's mythos leans much more on classic fairytales and legends than on the religious themes that are a hallmark of Takahashi's OTL works (the religious themes present in the OTL Xenosaga series would make their way to a future Takahashi RPG). Elements from OTL Xenosaga that appear in Fairytale 2 include the character Febronia (a major NPC in Xenosaga whose character becomes the basis for one of the primary deuteragonists of Fairytale 2), four powerful entities who are colorcoded by Red/Blue/Black/White (the Testaments in Xenosaga, the Omnifae in Fairytale), the Gnosis (in Xenosaga, they are spirits who have refused to accept death, in Fairytale, they are dark manifestations of forbidden magic use), and a number of other names and elements that appear in Fairytale 2 in some form. The game's battle system is a sort of hybrid of Chrono Trigger and Xenosaga, in that battles utilize the ATB system, but characters can now attack multiple times in a turn if they have built up enough AP to do so. Like in Xenosaga, characters can learn additional attacks and utilize powerful special attacks with the right combination of button presses. Characters also have the ability to use MP to cast magic spells that are learned as they spend Ether points gained by winning battles (another element from OTL Xenosaga). Boost commands also make an appearance, giving characters the opportunity to immediately fill their ATB bar to make a second attack. Enemies can also do this, so it's important for players to know which enemies can use a Boost and plan accordingly. There are no longer any combination attacks involving more than one character (since each character can combo with themselves). Navigation is somewhat streamlined: there's no overworld map, like in Fairytale, but there are plenty of teleportation waypoints to use to get from place to place quickly (players need them, the game's world is huge). Like Xenosaga, Fairytale 2 features a collectible card game minigame featuring characters and elements from the game. There are few in-game rewards to be won from this, but it's a fun diversion.

Graphically, Fairytale 2, while a step above its predecessor, lags somewhat behind games such as Chrono Infinite and Final Fantasy IX in terms of technical prowess, in the same way that the original Fairytale lagged somewhat behind Final Fantasy VII. It's a very pretty game, but it's not a real demonstration of the Ultra Nintendo's power (and certainly nowhere near some of the next gen offerings of the day). The music is rich and varied, with more than 60 different tracks. Most are completely original TTL, though a few of the songs from OTL Xenosaga Episode I appear in some form. The game isn't as cutscene heavy as OTL Xenosaga was (few games are), though for its day and compared to other RPGs on the system, it does have a decent amount of them (which, thankfully, are skippable). The voice acting, like that of its predecessor, is considered among the best of its day, with a number of popular voiceover actors landing major roles. The game comes on two discs, and is considered to be one of the longer Ultra Nintendo RPGs, with 40+ hours of total gameplay.

Unlike in the original Fairytale, which depicted a war between humans and fairies, Fairytale 2's cast is entirely comprised of fairies, who have the same physical properties as those in the original game (completely humanlike but with transparent wings on their backs that allow them to flutter short distances). The game takes place in a world completely different from that of the original, though as the game goes on, there are a few connections between the worlds of the two games, with the actions of characters in the original game having a direct effect on the world of the second. Fairytale 2 has fewer playable characters than the original game, which had eight. Fairytale 2 has six, and like the original, only three can be in the party at once. The player characters are:

Balian: The primary protagonist of Fairytale 2, Balian lives in a small village deep in an isolated area of the Great Forest. After Balian's forest home is attacked by the Gnosis, he sets out on a journey to discover the cause of the deadly invasion, but soon comes into contact with the increasingly dangerous ruling authority. Balian works as a farmer and is calm and steadfast, but eventually comes to realize his hidden strength. He specializes in sword strikes, but later in the game he obtains powerful magic. He is voiced by Kirk Baily, who also voiced Schrall in the original Fairytale.

Febronia: Febronia is a mysterious woman who Balian meets soon after the Gnosis attack on his village. She is quiet and demure, and has much in common with her namesake from the OTL Xenosaga games. She wields powerful light magic and her presence allows nearby Gnosis to be fought and killed. As the game progresses, Febronia is hunted for her power. She is voiced by Mary Kay Bergman.

Jove: Jove is Balian's friend and mentor. As his name suggests, Jove is quiet jovial, and as it turns out, Jove turns out to be a younger version of the mythical character Santa Claus, sharing much of his magic and a desire to bring happiness to children. Jove wields heavy weaponry and utility magic to buff the party. Jove is voiced by Keith Silverstein.

Midnight: Midnight is a fairy who wields powerful dark magic. Her fairly stern demeanor hides a secret guilt stemming from when she used her dark powers to perform a very dangerous spell with terrible results. This deed may hold the answer to why the Gnosis are now attacking. Midnight is voiced by Jennifer Hale.

Scrap: Scrap is a sort of undead hybrid fairy, created from the biological components of deceased creatures and bound together with dark magic. He is a ruthless and brutal fighter but he becomes a valuable ally and Midnight seems to have some influence over him. Scrap uses a variety of ranged weapons, and also spells, mostly spells that cause status debuffs. He is voiced by Crispin Freeman.

Kitty: Kitty is a hybrid creature, humanoid but with cat-like properties. She is hunted by the ruling authority because she is viewed as a “freak”. She's very scrappy and excitable and has powerful physical combat abilities (and as it turns out, some magic). She's voiced by Nika Futterman.

Fairytale 2 starts out with Balian at home in the village of Secul. Secul is located deep in the Great Forest, a continent-spanning forest where all the fairies live. The fairies live under the benevolent rule of the Fae Council, a council of fairy elders who have kept peace and harmony for many centuries. The rule they enforce most rigorously is a ban on all dark magic, which Balian and his fellow fairies have no trouble following. One day, Secul is attacked by mysterious creatures who Balian's friend Jove identifies as the Gnosis. As Jove stays behind to help the people evacuate safely, Balian goes deep into the forest and discovers a woman encased in a glass coffin. He frees her, only for the Gnosis to corner them both. The woman, who calls herself Febronia, has a mysterious power that allows Balian to attack the Gnosis (before, all he could do was watch as they killed his fellow villagers, whose attacks did nothing to harm them). The Gnosis are defeated, but the village is destroyed. Balian reunites with Jove, who asks Balian and Febronia to come with him to get to the bottom of these Gnosis attacks. The three set out on a journey together. Over the course of that journey, they meet up with Kitty, a catlike humanoid fairy who claims that the Fae Council discriminates against her and her kind. After helping Kitty out, she joins the group, hoping that by helping to stop the Gnosis, it will win more respect for her fellow Felinifae (the name of her species). The group has several encounters with a strange, hostile fairy named Scrap, who attacks in the same vicious manner as the Gnosis despite not being one of them. Eventually, the group comes across Midnight, whose dark magic causes the group to be hostile toward her at first. It's thought that use of dark magic is what's causing the Gnosis attacks, but Febronia and Kitty want to trust Midnight, and Balian and Jove eventually agree to do so as well. By this time, the group has had a number of run-ins with the White Guard, a group of soldiers working under the authority of the Fae Council. They are led by a white-cloaked man named Pharos (the game's main villain, whose personality can be described as a sort of cross between the unhinged homicidal nature of Xenosaga Episode I's Albedo and the arrogance of Xenosaga Episode II's Patriarch). After seeing Febronia's power to stop the Gnosis, Pharos wants her for himself, but his ruthlessness and brutality (destroying several towns suspected of harboring dark mages) lead the group to defy him. Balian realizes that the Fae Council has become deeply corrupt in its pursuit of the dark mages, even if many of them are dangerous. As the game progresses toward the end of the first disk, much of the game's plot begins to revolve around the mysterious Midnight. First, she manages to tame Scrap and recruit him to the party. Then, when the party reaches Midnight's hometown (which is now a deserted ruin filled with dangerous Gnosis and dark spirits), her full backstory is learned: Midnight was once a talented fairy mage named Sara. Her lover was a brave soldier fairy named Kaden. One day, Kaden was struck down by a monster after Sara's magic proved too weak to hold the beast off. Sara began to research forbidden dark magic, and used it to bring Kaden back as the tormented undead fairy Scrap. Consumed with guilt, Sara became Midnight and tried to escape her dark legacy. She too believes that the Gnosis are attracted to dark magic, though she doesn't know why, all she knows is that she considers herself to be a burden and (after a major boss fight with a massive Gnosis and a confrontation with Pharos), Midnight takes Scrap and leaves the party. A short time later, Febronia (who has become convinced by a genuinely honorable member of the Fae Council, an elderly man named Zamos, that the Fae Council has a way to get rid of the Gnosis with her help) leaves the party as well, allowing Pharos to bring her to the Fae Council's headquarters. However, once Febronia arrives, Pharos initiates a coup. He kills the members of the Fae Council and takes over, using Febronia's powers to grant himself the ability to defeat the Gnosis on his own. Balian, Jove, and Kitty launch a rescue mission and manage to save Febronia, but it's too late to stop Pharos, who has consolidated his power. He launches a massive attack on a group of benevolent dark mages, killing them all as the party watches on helplessly. This ends Disc 1.

Disc 2 reveals more secrets about the world and about the origins of the Gnosis. There are four beings known as Omnifae, who it is said have the power to reach across dimensions and transform the world in their image. The first Omnifae was the Black Fairy, Ysidra (the villain of the original Fairytale). Ysidra's evil power grew so great that it leeched across dimensions, corrupting all dark magic, even dark magic used with benevolent intent. This corruption is what led to the creation of the Gnosis: souls tainted by the use of dark magic: both its victims and its users. These Gnosis exist in the rift between the dimension Ysidra called home and the dimension Balian and his friends currently occupy. The next Omnifae, the White Fairy, is Pharos, who ascended to his current status after exploiting Febronia's power. Pharos now has the power to control the Gnosis, and he begins doing this to attack those who defy his will. The identity of the next Omnifae, which Balian and the others learn early in Disc 2, is Febronia. As the Blue Fairy, she has the power to grant wishes (similarly to the Blue Fairy in the classic work Pinocchio). However, Febronia cannot access this power while in this dimension: she must traverse to the space between dimensions. But while Pharos yet lives, Febronia can't leave this dimension, because if she does, the Gnosis will be unstoppable. The only way for Febronia to counter Pharos' power is if the final Omnifae, the Red Fairy, is discovered in time. Soon after these revelations, Midnight and Scrap return to the party. Though Midnight acknowledges that she made mistakes and that the Black Fairy's corruption is within her, she is determined to use her dark powers for good to stop Pharos once and for all. After a few more quests, the party learns more secrets and revelations, including the fact that Febronia is an artificial being created from magical technology: the Fae Council created her as a failsafe to restore the world in the event that the corruption of dark magic became too great. In other words: Febronia was created to fulfill a purpose that Pharos has taken it upon himself to fulfill, which is to say the destruction of all dark magic and dark magic users, and all other fairy species including the Felinifae. This leads to Scrap attempting to attack and kill Febronia, who does not resist....the discovery of her initial purpose has led her to become consumed with guilt. It's Midnight that stops Scrap from killing Febronia, and she looks poised to kill him, as he doesn't seem to be stopping...but she manages to get through to Kaden's soul within Scrap's twisted body, and calms him down, telling him if there's anyone he should kill, it should be her. Meanwhile, Balian manages to comfort Febronia, telling her that only she can choose what she does and that he knows she'll make the right decision. She was born to protect people, not to kill them, and that's what she's been doing this whole time. Eventually, the heroes are able to reach Pharos' lair: the floating fortress Merkabah. They invade the fortress with the help of their allies and battle their way to Pharos himself. After defeating Pharos, he calls forth the powers of darkness, creating a twisted amalgam of light and dark magic that the heroes must fight and defeat. Beating this second form is the end of the battle, though Pharos refuses to surrender, opening up a dark rift that threatens to overwhelm the entire planet with Gnosis. Febronia is ready to cast herself into the void to stop him by becoming the Blue Fairy, but Balian doesn't want her to sacrifice herself. Instead, his own powers begin to activate...the final Omnifae is Balian. Balian is the Red Fairy. Balian and Febronia combine their powers to beat Pharos back, and Pharos is eradicated by the overwhelming wave of magical energy, ending the threat to the world forever. Merkabah falls and all seems well....but the threat of the Gnosis has not passed, and without Pharos to control them, they threaten to completely overwhelm the planet. Midnight realizes that it's her original sin, her use of dark magic and her acceptance of the taint of Ysidra, that is causing the continued presence of the Gnosis. Febronia realizes what must be done, and Balian, Kitty, and Jove realize it as well. Midnight asks to make a wish. She wishes that she'd never used dark magic and that she could move on from Kaden's death. Febronia grants this wish, becoming the Blue Fairy and removing the corruption from Midnight and Scrap. The removal of the dark magic tears Scrap apart....and Midnight begins to fade as well, having been kept alive for hundreds of years by the dark magic she's used. The souls of Sara and Kaden emerge from their bodies, finally free and finally able to move on. The others bid them farewell as they fade into the afterlife. Then, Febronia begins to fade....as the Blue Fairy, she must now inhabit the space between worlds to grant the wishes of those who need her. Febronia and Balian bid a tearful goodbye before Febronia disappears to fulfill her duties.

The world is now at peace. Jove begins his own new life: as Santa Claus, delivering presents and happiness to young fairies all over the world. Kitty starts a grand colony in a giant tree for outcasts, both human and non-human, where all of them can live together at peace. And Balian relinquishes his powers as the Red Fairy to live a peaceful life in his rebuilt village. Fifty years pass. Balian stands by a lake outside his village, now an old man. Though he missed Febronia, he lived a fulfilling life and is now ready to die. As he begins to pass away, he sees a light appear above the lake. It's Febronia. She extends her hand to Balian and asks him if he'd like to make a wish. He wishes for another life... a life with her. Febronia grants the wish, and Balian finds himself young again, returned to the age he was when he and Febronia first met. He takes Febronia's hand, and the two disappear into the interdimensional realm to live together at last.

Fairytale 2 is released in Japan in February 2002 and in North America on April 22, 2002. The game is a massive success in Japan, but is not an immediate smash hit in North America like the original game was. The reason for this is that while Fairytale was boosted by Squaresoft's momentum after the release of Final Fantasy VII, Fairytale 2 doesn't enjoy a similar boost, despite the recent release of Final Fantasy IX. Despite the somewhat low early sales, Fairytale 2 enjoys great word of mouth and remains a strong seller for quite some time, eventually selling almost as many copies in North America as the original game did. Combined with stronger sales in both Japan and especially in Europe, and Fairytale 2 eventually sells more total copies than the original Fairytale. Critical reception for the game is highly positive as well. Even with next generation games outpacing it significantly in graphics, Fairytale 2's art direction is highly praised, as are its plot and gameplay, and overall review scores are about even with the original, if not slightly more (Fairytale got a 91.37% rating on GameRankings, while Fairytale 2 receives a 92.02%). In a year that's somewhat down for JRPGs compared to the banner year of 2001, Fairytale 2 is considered by many to be the best JRPG of the year, and one of the better games overall. The game's success solidifies both Tetsuya Takahashi's role at Squaresoft and the status of Fairytale as one of the company's top franchises. When Squaresoft asks Takahashi to direct Fairytale 3 for the Nintendo Wave several years later, he quickly accepts.

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Take me back to Fairytale 2.

After Final Fantasy VIII, I was definitely wondering where I would go from there. I'd already been told that Final Fantasy IX would be directed by someone else, and so for a brief time I pondered striking out on my own to create my own games. But soon after the North American release of Final Fantasy VIII, Sakaguchi asked me if I would like to direct the sequel to Fairytale. I'd enjoyed the original game, though I knew there were elements of it that I would change if I could. Now I would have that chance! I assembled my team and we immediately began working on the game.

Fairytale 2 is different from your usual work, at least thematically. There are less religious themes in the game, for example.

During development of Fairytale 2, the team and I realized that it would best serve the game to take a different approach. The series is called 'Fairytale', and so focusing on more of that type of content was more fitting. We did start writing down philosophical ideas that came to us over the course of the game. Those, we knew, we could save for something in the future. Fairytale 3, for example, does have a lot more allusions to religion, and of course Final Fantasy XII and XIII do as well.

What was your favorite thing about working on Fairytale 2?

Santa Claus! The character of Jove, it was a lot of fun to create situations to put him in. I know some people complained that certain parts of the game were sort of spoiled by including a Santa Claus character, but I felt he added a great deal of comic relief when things got too serious. Nothing like that had ever been done. Secret of Mana had the actual Santa Claus for one quest, but having him as an actual playable character was tremendously fun. I've tried to get Santa Claus into some of my other games like Final Fantasy XII, at least in a cameo.

Did you prefer to work on Fairytale or Final Fantasy?

Well, I'd have to say Final Fantasy, because I feel that series is more flexible, whereas there's a definite rigidity to Fairytale's format that sometimes made it difficult to stray too far from expectations. With Final Fantasy, I could do just about anything. With that said, it was a lot of fun to work on Fairytale, particularly on the characters, who interact in such unique ways.

-a Gamesovermatter.com interview with Tetsuya Takahashi, October 19, 2014, on the week of the release of the game Panopticon, which he co-directed with Takashi Tsukamoto

 

[RySenkari]

"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE TUROK. HE'S EVERYWHERE."
-from one of the advertisements promoting May 6, 2002 as the "Day Of Turok", underneath these words it depicted the logo for Turok: Evolution along with a Katana logo and an Xbox logo, the logo for Turok Trilogy along with an Ultra Nintendo logo, and the logo for Turok: Dinosaur Hunter along with a Game Boy Nova logo

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Turok: Evolution

Turok: Evolution is the fourth game in the Turok series, the first to be released on the sixth generation consoles, and the first not to be a Sega exclusive upon its release, as it's released for the Katana and the Microsoft Xbox. Unlike OTL's Turok: Evolution, which was a prequel, TTL's Evolution is a reboot. While maintaining some elements of the original trilogy, it begins its own storyline with Tal'Set as the legendary Native American dinosaur hunter Turok, who must protect humanity from dangerous beasts and the evil humans who seek to exploit them. Like previous games in the series, it's a first-person shooter, and the gameplay hasn't really changed much from previous titles. The game is focused on exploration, with numerous large levels that Turok must search for ancient artifacts to help him advance in the game, along with weapons and items to help make him stronger against his enemies. The game features more than 50 different weapons and a number of different apparel items that can be equipped to enhance Turok's abilities, along with one-time use items. Many of these can be found throughout the levels by simply exploring, but others must be bought or bartered for via the use of currency or spoils dropped by enemies, a first for the series. The game is noticeably better looking than the Saturn trilogy, with the Xbox version looking even better than the Katana version, though the game's graphics aren't quite up to snuff with the best games offered on each console. Both versions feature local multiplayer, though there's no online mode (Acclaim says that they didn't have time to perfect it and that the next Turok title will feature online play). The multiplayer mode is about the same fare as previous titles in the series, typical deathmatch play with a few AI modes for co-op.

The game itself starts out in modern times: Tal'Set is living on an Indian reservation in Colorado. He works as a research assistant to a professor of anthropology, and spends much of his time exploring old ruins and educating both tourists and members of his tribe in the history of the local indigenous peoples. One day, while Tal'Set is helping to excavate a newly discovered ruin, he is pulled through a portal back in time to meet his ancestor, Tarkeen. Tarkeen tells Tal'Set that his ancestors had two castes: a hunter caste and a warrior caste. One day, the warrior caste was called away to the Lost Lands to help defend time and space from the incursion of evil. Tal'Set is a descendant from this warrior caste, and must now take up the mantle of Turok to accept his destiny. Tal'Set asks what will happen if he refuses, and Tarkeen tells him that soon, more portals will open in his world, and that innocent people will be attacked by unspeakable creatures. It falls to Tal'Set to accept this heavy burden and defend his world, just as his ancestors before him have done. Once Tal'Set accepts the mantle of Turok in an ancient ritual, he remembers his past lives and gains their warrior prowess. Turok then enters the Lost Lands, a place where time and space mix and mingle, bringing forth both ancient creatures and modern technology. There are six levels in all to explore, fewer than in previous games (though the levels are quite large, so there's plenty for Turok to do). He starts out fighting average mooks and small dinosaurs and creatures, but eventually he begins to do battle with much larger creatures, and soon, some of these creatures "evolve", hence the game's title. T-Rexes evolve into massive carnivorous beasts three times the size of any dinosaur ever seen, raptors evolve into highly intelligent bipedal hunters, sabre-toothed tigers evolve into tank-sized beasts with two heads, etc. The radical evolution is destabilizing the Lost Lands, which is what threatens to open the portals back to Tal'Set's world. This evolution is being caused by General Gary Creed, a modern military leader who has captured the Crystal Of Mutation, a crystal that can force evolution in any creature. He has been testing the crystal on the creatures of the Lost Lands, but ultimately plans to use it on himself once it's fully tested, in order to transform into a god. Eventually, Turok raids Creed's HQ, but he's too late: the general has used the crystal on himself. Instead of becoming a god, he transforms into a massive, hideous being. Turok defeats Creed and smashes the crystal, and the Lost Lands return to normal. He returns to his world as Tal'Set, but Tarkeen warns him that his services could be called upon at any time.

Turok: Evolution is somewhat more positively received than OTL's version of the game was, though it's not a major critical hit. Katana reviews average around 7.5/10, while Xbox reviews average somewhere around 8/10. The music gets the most criticism: in contrast with the scores for previous games (especially the first Turok, which Jeremy Soule assisted with), Evolution's music is considered repetitive and uninspired. Some critics also believe that even though the game itself looks a lot better, it's still the same old Turok. In the words of one critic: "The creatures have evolved, but Turok hasn't." Ultimately, though, Turok: Evolution is considered a success. It's released on May 6, 2002 for the Katana and Xbox, on a day hyped for weeks beforehand as "Day Of Turok" (the day also sees the release of the Turok Trilogy for the Ultra Nintendo and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Game Boy Nova). Evolution wouldn't be ported to the Ultra Nintendo, but it would be released on the Wave in 2003. The continued success of the Turok franchise helps Acclaim to stay afloat during the 2000s, and work immediately began on the series' next game, a direct sequel to Evolution.

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Turok Trilogy

Released on May 6, 2002 for the Ultra Nintendo, the Turok Trilogy is simply a port of the original three Turok games, which before were exclusive to the Sega Saturn. The games are released largely intact from their original incarnations, though the multiplayer components of the second and third games are removed to save disc space (the compilation is released on a single Ultra Nintendo Gigadisc). The compilation release does well in sales, though critics do decry the lack of any sort of graphical enhancement for the Ultra Nintendo. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter especially looks somewhat dated compared to 2002 Ultra Nintendo games, and even compared to games like Velvet Dark from 2000, it looks very primitive. Still, the three games were critically acclaimed hits on the Saturn, and the singleplayer campaigns are as fun as they always were, pleasing appreciative Nintendo fans who looked on with jealousy at the games when they were exclusive to the Saturn. Critical reviews of the compilation are overall very positive, and notably, the Turok Trilogy has a higher GameRankings score than Turok: Evolution on the Xbox or the Katana (83.27%, as opposed to 80.60% for the Xbox version of Evolution and 76.15% for the Katana version)

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Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is a Nova remake of the original Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for the Sega Saturn. The game is significantly downscaled in both graphics and size from the original, with only six levels on the Nova as opposed to 15 on the original Saturn game. It's still an FPS, and interestingly, most of the weapons from the original game return, though the firing effects of some of the more powerful weapons (like the Chronoskimmer) are reduced. The six levels are amalgamated/abridged versions of the Saturn game's levels, with the main plot involving Shema and the evil Campaigner remaining intact (though a lot of the filler is removed). The game is significantly shorter: not only are there only six levels, but they tend to be smaller than the Saturn versions of the levels they're based on. The graphics are decent, but very blocky, with jaggies all around, a good deal of fog, and slowdown when a lot is happening on screen. It's one of the Nova's better looking FPS titles, but it's still clear that the system's limitations prevent the game from being as good as it could have been. Critical reviews are quite mixed, though there are a few highly positive ones (Victor Lucas on Judgment Day gives it an 8/10, Nintendo Power gives it a 7.6). Sales are very good, it's one of the top selling Nova games of 2002. Even with the mediocre word of mouth, Acclaim's Day Of Turok marketing campaign proved to be a success.

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"The Day Of Turok was a success, one of Acclaim's biggest successes since their arcade glory days. Combined, Turok games sold more than a quarter of a million units on May 6th alone, and continued to sell strongly throughout the summer of 2002. But now, the pressure was on Dienstbier to come up with something new. In four games, the series hadn't seen a significant leap in gameplay, and it was clear from the lukewarm critical reception to Evolution that Turok was getting stale. For the first time, Dienstbier was going to give Turok a change of venue. He got his inspiration from The Lost World: Jurassic Park. In it, a Tyrannosaurus rex escapes containment and goes on a rampage through the streets of San Diego. Now, Turok was about to experience the same type of cross-time culture shock. Dienstbier was going to bring dinosaurs into the modern world."
-from G4's Icons episode "David Dienstbier", which aired on October 7, 2009

 

[RySenkari]

(Authors' Note: This will be the last update before Christmas. We have one more news update and POSSIBLY E3 2002 planned before the start of the New Year, though before moving on to E3, we'd like to finish our outlines of 2003's original games. So depending on how much work we can do on that, expect either one or two more updates before the start of 2017.)

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The formal marketing blitz for Sonic Neon began at the 2002 MTV Video Game Awards. The familiar Reggie Fils-Aime didn't take the stage to promote the game, as he'd done with some of Sega's upcoming titles in 2001. Instead, there was just a two-and-a-half minute trailer. It began with a beautiful panorama of a colorfully lit-up city, showing off shopping malls, skyscrapers, and casinos. Everything was lit up, like a fantastical version of Las Vegas, with a bit of carnival-like whimsy tossed in. Then, a cloaked figure appeared on the observation deck of the city's tallest structure, a building resembling the Eiffel Tower except even taller. The cloaked figure smiled, then opened his cloak to reveal wisps of darkness that began dimming every light in the city. On the streets below, Sonic and Tails walked, taking in all the sights. People began running and screaming all around them. Then, Sonic and Tails saw the coming darkness. Sonic nodded to Tails, and the two sprang into action. The trailer then showed off about a minute and a half of raw gameplay, showing Sonic and Tails, but also some of their friends like Amy and Espio, running around inside of large, open environments. Curiously, many of these were indoor environments, somewhat like the huge theme park casinos lining the Las Vegas Strip. The trailer ended by showing Sonic and the cloaked figure running around a gigantic roulette wheel before leaping into the air and punching at one another. The crowd cheered, clearly impressed by the colorful graphics, but aside from the graphical sheen, the game didn't show much that we hadn't seen in some way or another in Sonic the Hedgehog 5. Still, it got people plenty hyped, and Sega was more than happy to keep that hype going over the next few months.

Starting in March, signs began to pop up at various game and electronic stores around the country. Huge displays, depicting the game's characters and logo. Once again, Sonic and friends were everywhere. The first preview footage also began to roll out, on channels like G4 and on websites like IGN. Electronic Gaming Monthly had a Sonic Neon cover article in May, while the Official Saturn Magazine began to devote several pages an issue to the game as early as January 2002. A brand new toy line went into production that spring, while the anime Sonic X, which began airing in Japan in late 2001, was hastily localized for the Disney Channel's Animagic block so that it could premiere in front of the game. Sega was putting all of its marketing muscle into Sonic Neon; arguably to the detriment of many of its other games that probably could've used it more.

-from "The Chase: Sega's 20-Year Struggle To Take Down A Giant"

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Zodiac World 2

Zodiac World 2 is the sequel to 1999's hit platformer game Zodiac World. The original game was developed by BlueSky, the development team responsible for creating Vectorman, but Sega went with a new development studio for the sequel: Archeon Software, a team that emerged in 2001, largely made up of the developers of King Crab 2, with a few members of the Arbiter of Sin team and a few newcomers. Zodiac World 2 takes place five years after the original game. Juni, the young protagonist of the original Zodiac World, is now a teenager. After the events of Zodiac World, Juni's family gave up on exploring to start a quieter life, but Juni wanted to continue, and eventually ran away from his family to keep pursuing what he loves. Zodiac World 2 is an action-based platformer where combat is a major focus, and in this game, Juni starts out with most of the powers he earned in the original Zodiac World, meaning that enemies start out significantly stronger than in the previous game to account for this. Juni has teamed up with a teenage girl named Cyra, whose origins are mysterious at the start of the game: all we know about her is that she shares Juni's love of treasure and is an adept fighter, with a powerful energy rifle she can use on enemies. Players can switch freely between Juni and Cyra as they progress through the game, and the two can help each other to access hard to reach areas. The game generally has a more mature feel than the original Zodiac World, though at its heart, it's still aimed at younger players. The game is given a "Teen" rating by the ESRB, even though its content would more readily receive an E10 rating had that rating existed at the time. It's one of the games that directly leads to the creation of that rating later on ITTL. The game features colorful and detailed graphics that rank among the best to date in a Katana game, and the voice cast is significantly improved from the previous game (which didn't feature many voice acted lines). The cast includes a few minor celebrities, including Devon Sawa as Juni and Lindsay Felton (who at the time had just finished working on the Nickelodeon show Caitlin's Way) as Cyra.

The game begins by placing the player right smack dab in the middle of the first temple. Juni and Cyra are exploring it in the hunt for an ancient staff that is buried in its lowest level. The temple functions as a tutorial level, but once players learn enough of the ropes to reach the underbelly of the temple, the tutorials stop and the player must use what they've learned to get Juni and Cyra through the rest of the way. As players progress through the game, there are moments where both Juni and Cyra get background exposition: we learn more about Juni's relationship with his family and about Cyra's mysterious past. The first thing we learn is when Cyra holds the staff retrieved after the first temple boss is defeated: strange glyphs appear on Cyra's body and she passes out, forcing Juni to take her to the nearest town to get looked at. This town, called Junker City, is the sort of "hub" level for the game, it's the place Juni and Cyra will return to numerous times after exploring. Ultimately, there are eight temples that need to be explored during the course of the game. There are also a few smaller locales visited between temple exploration as a sort of breather level for players. Early on in the game, a group of villains emerge: mysterious robotic beings known as the Clanks, who try numerous times to abduct Cyra. She's able to fight them off, most of the time on her own, sometimes with Juni's help. Eventually, we learn that the Clanks have been built by and are commanded by Koda, Cyra's twin brother, who demands that Cyra return with him to their world. Cyra, who has forgotten Koda and their world entirely, have no idea what he's talking about. But eventually, once seven of the temples are explored and their artifacts are gathered, Cyra does remember. She's the Keeper of Magic on her world, while Koda is the Keeper of Knowledge. Their father was an ancient god who could not decide which among the two of them would inherit his world, and when he died, his powers split between the twins: Cyra gained control over magic and ancient wisdom, while Koda gained control over knowledge and technology. Koda sees to take Cyra's powers and knowledge to give himself absolute power. Before the twins' mother died, she cast a spell to disperse all magic and magical artifacts from their world to another world, but in the process of casting the spell, Koda attacked and their mother was forced to send Cyra away. Unfortunately, the trauma of the spell caused Cyra to lose most of her own knowledge in the process. Before Juni and Cyra can reach the eighth temple, Koda threatens to unleash a great mechanical titan on the world unless Cyra surrenders to him. Cyra agrees to do so to save Juni's world, and she and the eighth temple are taken away. Juni decides to reconcile with his family, and manages to convince them to help him find Cyra. Liza comes along with Juni, with her residual zodiac magic able to replicate most of Cyra's abilities to help him through the first part of the final temple. Halfway through, Juni and Koda do battle, and eventually, Cyra is able to get free and join Juni in his fight. Enraged, Koda retreats deeper into the temple. He once again activates the mechanical titan, and the final boss battle is a fight between Juni and Cyra (with Juni's family's help) and Koda's giant mech. The mech is defeated and Koda is badly hurt, but even though he tried to kill them all, Cyra still sees him as her brother and refuses to kill him. She also doesn't want to bear the responsibility of ruling her world, as she's seen too much of Juni's world to want to leave (and she's fallen in love with Juni). Juni and Cyra instead convince Koda to rule with kindness and fairness, and Cyra heals Koda of both his wounds and the hatred in his heart as she passes her knowledge and power to him. Koda remains to rule as a benevolent king, while Cyra goes back with Juni to Earth. The ending consists of Cyra meeting Juni's family for the first time (with humorous results) and Cyra and Juni once again becoming adventurers. Though Juni's family remains retired, they occasionally join the young couple on their adventures.

Zodiac World 2 is released in North America on April 22, 2002. Released during a time when Sega was heavily promoting platformers, it's a hit, though it's in the shadow of Sonic Neon's promotional blitz and is a bit of a sales disappointment. It does outsell Fairytale 2, that week's other major release, by a wide margin, which it was expected by most analysts to do. It's remembered as a good, though not groundbreaking game, with review scores hovering around the 8-9 range. Unlike its predecessor, which was remembered as a platforming classic, Zodiac World 2 is lost somewhat among its contemporaries, showing that all the Katana platformer/action releases of the time, though mostly good in quality, were starting to blur together.

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May 1, 2002

Reggie Fils-Aime looked around inside the Los Angeles area Gamestop for several minutes. He wasn't there to purchase a game, he was there to check out the Sonic Neon promotional displays. There was a large Sonic stand-up by the door, several posters on the walls, and up by the cash register was a small display depicting one of the game's new characters, Sting the Scorpion, and a reminder for Sonic fans to pre-order the game, which was being released on August 5, 2002. Sting was one of the more major new characters in Sonic Neon, he was a mercenary who aligned himself with both Sonic and the mysterious cloaked man over the course of the game, and in both an amusing allusion and an attempt to draw in more curious players, Sting was voiced by the wrestler Sting. It was something that a number of the major game journalism sources somewhat decried at the time, but it was generating buzz for Sonic Neon nonetheless, and in Fils-Aime's eyes, that was a good thing.

"Ah, here to pre-order Sonic Neon?" asked the clerk at the counter, who didn't recognize Fils-Aime right away. "Just five dollars reserves your copy of the game. It'll be hard to find after release if you don't."

"Well I would certainly hope so," said Fils-Aime. "It's supposed to be the biggest game of the year."

"Eh, I don't know," said the clerk. "I'm kinda waiting for Grand Theft Auto: Miami myself. Do you have an Xbox? You can put in a pre-order for that game too if you want."

Reggie had to stifle a loud groan. He'd been hearing a lot more about the Xbox recently, about the huge number of hotly anticipated games coming out for it over the coming months: Splinter Cell. The Slayer. Techno Angel. Divine Wrath 2. The Dark Tower. And of course, Grand Theft Auto: Miami, the sequel to last year's mega-hit Grand Theft Auto. All Xbox exclusives, save for Splinter Cell, which was coming out for the Katana down the road... maybe.

"I'm just looking today," said Fils-Aime, as a customer walked up to the counter pushing a baby stroller.

"Well, if you see anything you want to preorder, let me know," said the clerk, before turning to face the customer who wanted a game rung up. "Oh....Brittany Saldita?"

"Hey there," said Saldita, with a friendly smile. She had brought up a copy of Zodiac World 2 for the Sega Katana, and wanted the cashier to ring it up. "How's it going?"

"Great!" said the cashier, much more excited to see Saldita than the less-recognizable Fils-Aime. "Doing anything with video games lately? I mean, I guess you don't get much of a chance to talk about games on the news."

"Nope, not really," replied Saldita with a laugh, before looking down to check on her 13-month-old son. As she did, she caught a glimpse of Fils-Aime and recognized him immediately. "Wow, Reggie? Sega Reggie? Small world, huh?"

Fils-Aime turned to Saldita and smiled, he'd met her for the first time at E3 2000 and the two were occasional acquaintances, though Saldita's current job didn't involve gaming enough to bring the two of them together very often. Saldita handed three $20 bills over the counter to pay for the game as she and Fils-Aime continued to talk.

"Buying Zodiac World 2 I see," said Fils-Aime with an approving smile. "I'd have thought you'd have bought that game last week when it came out."

"You know, it completely slipped my mind," Saldita replied, taking back her change. "I went to buy Fairytale 2 and I didn't even remember that Zodiac World 2 was out! ...it's not a knock on your game, I swear, it's just....well I play RPGs a lot more than action titles and I don't really have time to play every single game that comes out anymore, isn't that right Arturo?"

Saldita bent over for a few moments to dote on her young son, smiling and making silly faces at him before turning his stroller to face Fils-Aime.

"Look, it's Reggie! Say hi to Reggie!"

"Hi Wedgie!" said Arturo, waving the small Charmander plush he was holding at him. Fils-Aime smiled and waved back, just as the cashier handed Brittany's game back to her in a GameStop bag.

"No, it's Reggie, with an 'R'," his mother corrected softly.

"It's all right, back when I was in school kids would call me 'wedgie' on purpose, so having him call me that on accident isn't so bad," said Fils-Aime with another laugh.

"Oh, no, I bet you were the coolest kid in school," said Saldita, placing her new game in the back of Arturo's stroller.

"Ha ha, I wish," said Fils-Aime. "I was a super nerd. Played Nintendo all the time."

"Well, you and me both," Saldita replied. "Funny, the places it take us, hmm?"

"Let me know if you enjoy the game," Fils-Aime said.

"I will, but Chris will probably be playing it before I do," Saldita replied. "I'm still pushing through Fairytale 2... but....I'm sure I'll get to it eventually. It looks like a lot of fun! Hey...looking forward to seeing what you guys do at E3 this year, I really miss going! I want to see lots of Sonic Neon!"

Saldita left with her son, and Fils-Aime took one more look at the Sonic displays inside the GameStop before leaving himself. It stung a bit, hearing that Brittany Saldita shared the opinion of a lot of her fellow game journalists that Fairytale 2 was the more compelling game. It wasn't just her personal taste in RPGs, it was the opinion of most of the gaming community that Fairytale 2 was just better. But Zodiac World 2 was selling better, and in the game industry, that was all that mattered.

And she was looking forward to Sonic Neon. Once Sonic Neon came out, people would be buying Katanas and Sega would be on top again.

And at E3, Reggie would make sure Sonic Neon was the game of the show.

But something bothered Reggie as he got in his car. He'd been so focused on checking out the Sonic Neon displays that he hadn't noticed something else. Something more troubling.

"It's twelve days before Herzog Zwei comes out. Where's all the signage for that game?"

-

Herzog Zwei

The Katana remake of Herzog Zwei is released in North America on May 13, 2002. It's a modern reboot of the series, designed with next-generation graphics and considerable gameplay updates to make the original gameplay more accessible to modern players. It's a real-time strategy game where the player controls a giant mech and operates as a general of sorts, deploying additional combat units across the battlefield in order to defeat the enemy. Players must capture the enemy's main base while at the same time capturing outposts that give them additional resources and to give them additional places from which to deploy their troops on the battlefield. The game contains 16 levels in all, each with a different style of terrain that effects the combat units in different ways. Overcoming the various challenges is the only way for the player to have success in battle. The original Herzog Zwei was considered an early Genesis classic and possibly one of the greatest games of all time, and when the Katana remake was announced at E3 2001, it was applauded by the crowd and considered one of the biggest and most hyped games of the show. The hype continued as screenshots and game previews appeared in various magazines and on various websites for the remainder of 2001 and early 2002...but ultimately, the finished product itself was considered a major disappointment. A number of new gameplay systems were added, including numerous statistical menus and dozens of different kinds of units. The game moved away from the original's simplicity and became extremely complex: menus were clunky and slow, the different available options were confusing, and gameplay turned into a slog compared to the original game. The storyline missions were considered to be repetitive: even with the different terrain in each stage, players could find easy success with just a few very good units, turning what should have been a strategic game into an exercise in boredom. The two-person multiplayer mode was fun when both players knew what they were doing, but online gameplay was slow and the development of a few optimal strategies ultimately made online games as boring as the single player campaign, with no patches made available to rebalance the broken gameplay. The game would garner many comparisons to Nintendo Wars 2 on the Nova, which was released at around the same time. Said Gamespot's Alex Navarro: "It's a shame that Nintendo Wars 2 turned out to be much more like the original Herzog Zwei than the Katana's terrible excuse for a remake." Ultimately, Herzog Zwei is considered one of 2002's biggest disappointments, both critically and commercially. The game, while hyped heavily online, was barely marketed by Sega in the runup to Sonic Neon, and sales were low from the get-go, and remained low due to the bad critical reviews. The failure of Herzog Zwei was a serious disappointment to Sega at a time when the company needed non-platformer exclusive hits.

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Sonic Neon To Headline Sega's E3, Two More Sonic Games On The Way

Sega is making a big deal out of promoting Sonic Neon, which comes out this August, as their premiere game at E3 this year. The company is buying out a massive amount of booth space for Sonic Neon demo kiosks, and it'll be plastering Sonic's face all over the show in an attempt to get people buzzing about the blue hedgehog and his brand new game. Sonic Neon is perhaps the year's most anticipated new title, and screenshots and gameplay footage look extremely promising, revealing a colorful new world rendered beautifully by the Katana's advanced graphics, and showing off a refined version of the gameplay featured in the critically acclaimed Sonic the Hedgehog 5.

But Sonic Neon won't be the only Sonic game Sega plans to show off at E3. Early screenshots have been revealed of Sonic Revolution, a brand new racing title serving as the sequel to Sonic R. Sonic and friends are shown to be racing on go-karts throughout a variety of locales from all over the Sonic series, and in addition to go-kart racing, the game is said to be featuring skateboarding and snowboarding as well. And Knuckles and Bit is planned as a platformer spin-off of Sonic Neon, depicting Knuckles and a little computer hacking robot named Bit exploring cyberspace together, joined by Knuckles' familiar companion Corona. The game will introduce more new characters to the Sonic franchise, and is said to expand on the story of Sonic Neon. Sega has promised to reveal much more about these two games at E3, and it's clear that the company is leaning heavily on Sonic as it attempts to compete with its rivals Nintendo and Microsoft. The Katana continues to trail both the Ultra Nintendo and the Xbox in sales, but analysts predict that Sonic Neon is likely to reverse that trend.

-from a Gamespot.com article posted on May 10, 2002

 

[RySenkari]

Mike Joy: And they're going into the second turn now, Senna still in the lead with Dale Jr. close behind him. There's a big pack behind them right now, Rusty Wallace leads the way running side by side with Jeff Gordon.

Darrell Waltrip: Yeah, lot of 'em bunched up together right now behind the leaders.

Joy: Senna's been leading most of the way but Junior's really pushing him right now, the two are heading into the third turn and-

Waltrip: Oh, oh, big wreck! Big wreck on the straightaway! OH! The 18 car just went hard into the wall, so did the number 40!

Joy: That's Bobby Labonte and Sterling Marlin...and Kurt Busch's car!

Waltrip: Oh my goodness, Busch's car is going end over end...

Joy: Flames shooting out of Kurt Busch's car!

Waltrip: Everyone's getting taken out, multiple cars involved, Tony Stewart, Ricky Rudd....

Joy: Dick Trickle is upside down. Kurt Busch and Dick Trickle's cars are upside down.

Waltrip: Bobby Labonte took a really hard shot...so did Sterling Marlin. Oh, my goodness.

(...)

Joy: And on the replay...on the replay you can see Dale Earnhardt go into Bobby Labonte from behind and just send him right into the wall. Labonte's car came to a very sudden stop.

Waltrip: And those, I tell you, are the kind of crashes you don't want to be in. They don't look so bad when you're watching at home. I mean, Kurt Busch's crash, that looked awful but he got right out and he's gonna be all right. But the ones where you go into the wall, those are the ones where you get injured, those are the ones where....

Joy: We've got word now that Dick Trickle is okay, he's one of the drivers who ended up upside down and he got out of his car and he's okay.

Waltrip: Well, any time you see a car go upside down like that, you know, it's a bad situation.

Joy: And so...right now we've got 13 cars involved, and everyone except for Bobby Labonte and Sterling Marlin have gotten out of their cars. Labonte and Marlin are still being tended to right now. The red flag is still out.... *keeps talking as the replay of the crash plays* right now the race is stopped and we'll just take a look at this again and see what happened. Darrell, what do you see here?

Waltrip: You know, at Talladega all these cars get bunched up together and people go into each other. Dale Earnhardt, you can see his car go into the back of Labonte and send him into the wall, and then Sterling Marlin gets loose and-

Joy: Sterling Marlin's been pulled out of his car. He's waving his arm. He's being put on a stretcher but he's awake and he's waving his arm.

Waltrip: *very relieved* Oh, thank God. Do they have any news about Bobby?

Joy: He's still in his car right now.

(...)

*The race has been resumed and Jeff Gordon is now leading as the announcers continue their commentary.*

Joy: And of course, an hour and a half ago Bobby Labonte was taken to the hospital here in Talladega. We've got an update now from NASCAR about Labonte's condition, and.... *takes a deep breath* Folks, uh....um, this is never...this is never an easy thing to report, but it's our duty to report to you now that Bobby Labonte has passed away from injuries sustained earlier in today's race.

Waltrip: *choked up* I uh....you know it's....it's a thing that we all love to do, to race every week....and everybody who does it knows the risks and, every time you climb into that car... every time you climb into the car there's always a risk. And it's.... it's never...it never gets easier. We know...we know there's a chance someone could go out there and never come back. It's...it's the risk you take. Bobby, I'm...I'm gonna miss you brother. We're all gonna miss you. *starting to cry a bit* I...I'm sorry.

-from the FOX Sports telecast of the 2002 Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 21, 2002

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"The death of Bobby Labonte at Talladega in 2002 during a NASCAR race from a basilar skull fracture sustained after his car crashed head first into a wall was a wake-up call for all of stock car racing concerning the use of the now ubiquitous HANS device, which had not been mandated beforehand and which many drivers refused to wear. Drivers refused to wear the device for a number of reasons, including discomfort and a fear that the device itself might cause injury in a crash. Notable NASCAR drivers who used the device prior to Labonte's fatal wreck included Ayrton Senna and Jeff Gordon, though a majority of drivers did not use the device. Even after Labonte's fatal wreck but before the device was mandated in 2005, a few drivers, most notably Dale Earnhardt, refused to wear it. Earnhardt in particular had to be convinced by his family in what his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., called a 'come to Jesus meeting' in which Earnhardt's son begged him to use the HANS device, saying that he wanted his kids to have a grandfather when they got older. Since the HANS device was mandated, no NASCAR driver has been killed or seriously injured during a race or a practice session, an unprecedented run of safety for what's still considered to be a dangerous sport."
-from "Better Safe Than Sorry: A History Of Protective Equipment In Sports", an article on bleacherreport.com, posted on June 15, 2016

-

On April 22, 2002, a scheduled flight from Kansas City, Missouri to Los Angeles, California went down in a field just west of Olathe, Kansas. The plane was an American Airlines A300-600 Airbus that had just aking off from Kansas City International Airport and had encountered wake turbulence from another plane. The first officer made numerous rudder inputs in an attempt to steer out of the turbulence, but the inputs caused the plane's vertical stabilizer to break off of the plane, leading to a sudden and catastrophic crash. Because the plane landed in an empty field, no one on the ground was killed, but of the 247 passengers and crew on the plane, there were no survivors.

Initially, terrorism was suspected as a cause of the crash, but subsequent investigations quickly ruled that out. It was easily the most tragic air disaster on American soil since the tragic events of 9/11, and the crash quickly pushed coverage of NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte's death out of the news. The crash also had minor consequences for the entertainment world: young actress Alexis Bledel, who played Dawn's best friend Lydia on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was on board and was killed in the crash, necessitating the character's off-screen death between seasons 6 and 7.

-

April 2002 proved to be a challenging month for President Al Gore. Foreign trials and domestic tragedies marked the difficult month, starting with an airliner crash just outside Kansas City that killed 247 people. Just three days later, tragedy again struck the same part of the country: a violent tornado outbreak struck eastern Kansas and western Missouri on April 25, 2002. Among the most notable tornadoes of the outbreak included an F5 tornado that wiped the small town of Lyndon, Kansas off the map. The tornado killed six people in Lyndon, and would have killed many more had it not been for the excellent warnings that gave residents 22 minutes to take shelter. An F3 tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri killed three, while the outbreak's deadliest tornado, an F4 that swept through the southern side of Belton, Missouri, killed 14. As Gore was touring the tornado damage on April 27, 2002, tragedy struck halfway around the world in Islamabad, Pakistan, where a pair of coordinated bombings killed a total of 64 people. One hit a crowded hotel lobby, while the other targeted the American embassy. In the embassy bombing, a group of terrorists attempted to breach the heavily guarded front gate, but upon failing to do so, detonated a large bomb, killing three guards. Al-Queda quickly took credit for both bombings, criticizing the "blasphemous American presence" in Pakistan. This latest foreign policy challenge emphasized to the Gore administration the importance of continued vigilance in Pakistan, though the bombings put further pressure on the Musharraf presidency, and further strained the alliance between the two countries.

The Pakistan bombings re-emphasized the importance of the war against Al-Queda to the Gore presidency. During the spring of 2002, Gore's attention was split between the continued hunt for Al-Queda terrorists in Pakistan and the growing fallout from the Enron scandal, which had come to light in February 2002 and which Gore was using to push Congress to pass a bill that would both strengthen penalties for white collar crime and would also put more resources into enforcing finance regulations. Gore's response to the growing turmoil in Pakistan would come to dominate the next few months, while regulatory legislation was largely pushed to the back-burner. Meanwhile, Gore's approval rating, while still quite high in the post-9/11 period, had begun to drop steadily after continued economic stagnation and what was seen as a somewhat ineffectual presidency. Gore had few legislative triumphs save for the passage of CERA, which had not improved the prospects of average Americans, and though the swift victory in Afghanistan was a cause for celebration, the continued embroiling of American troops in both Afghanistan and Pakistan and the failure to catch Osama Bin Laden or any of his top lieutenants was starting to wear on the American public as the midterms loomed. A watered-down version of Gore's recommended financial legislation would pass in July, stiffening penalties on white-collar crime and slightly expanding the SEC's regulatory power, but it would ultimately do little to protect average Americans from financial malfeasance.

 

[RySenkari]

(Here's part 1 of E3 2002! E3 is always a big undertaking, so we did the first half today and I'm hoping to work on part 2 either tomorrow or Friday. Today's update covers Microsoft and Sega's keynotes as well as a couple of big FPS titles. Part 2 will cover Nintendo, the big multiplats, some smaller games and PC titles, and the overall reaction to the show including the Game Critics Awards. Enjoy!)

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Microsoft Keynote - E3 2002

Microsoft's E3 keynote began with a brief introduction by Robbie Bach, touting the Xbox's successes and stating that it was the best selling console in North America since the day of its launch back in November. He said that more than four million people had already purchased an Xbox, and that the Xbox will only get better, with more games, expanded services, and more innovative uses for its technologically advanced hardware. He then announced that the Xbox Live service was being rolled out that very day, with The Covenant among the numerous games now available for online play. After a brief Xbox Live presentation in which numerous features were demonstrated, a video was played showing off more than a dozen upcoming Xbox exclusive titles. Afterwards, he welcomed a staff member from Rockstar (not one of the Housers, but a top-level marketing executive) to the stage to help him present Grand Theft Auto: Miami. This game, the flagship game of Microsoft's presentation, was shown off for nearly ten minutes, with gameplay footage accompanied by a rundown of the numerous new features available for the game. This included the ability to enter and exit buildings, the ability to swim freely, and the ability to utilize many more weapons simultaneously. The main character, Tommy Vercetti, was introduced, and the game was compared to movies like Scarface and television shows like Miami Vice, both set in 1980s Miami like the game itself. The game was also shown to include more than 40 hit songs from the 1980s that could be played on the radio of numerous vehicles that can be driven, including, for the first time, motorcycles. The game looked extremely impressive, and received loud applause from the crowd numerous times, including when it was first introduced, when the speedboat chases were shown off, when Tommy Vercetti was shown going into a mall and mowing down shoppers, and when the size of the city, more than two and a half times the city of Liberty City, was revealed. Grand Theft Auto: Miami looks to be one of the year's best games, and should be just as if not more successful than its predecessor, the original Grand Theft Auto. The game is scheduled for an October release. After the GTA: Miami presentation, footage from Divine Wrath 2, which releases to arcades next month and which releases for consoles in September, was shown. The game's graphics have received a significant boost, and there are more deities and religious figures in the game, including Artemis from ancient Greece, Isis from ancient Egypt, the archangel Michael from Judeo-Christian tradition, and Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl from the Aztec pantheon. At the end of the impressive looking video, Bach announced that not only were Divine Wrath 2 machines available to play at Microsoft's booth, but that the game would be playable at X-Zone arcades starting on Saturday. The next game that was shown off was Techno Angel. We heard a lot about this game at E3 2001, but now there was a much more robust gameplay preview video to show off, along with several quick cutscenes from the game. The main character of Techno Angel is a soldier named Adriana who works for a secret military unit and fights with the aid of an experimental exoskeleton that allows her to move with incredible agility while interfacing with a battle computer. This battle computer forms a major component of gameplay, as the game's HUD demonstrates. There's an enormous amount of information made available to the player constantly: from information about targeting, to weapons systems, to terrain, and more. Adriana can see her enemies' heart rates at a glance, in order to tell which of her enemies are confident, reckless, or nervous, in real-time. She can scout out the best locations to fire from, and also which enemies are armed and which aren't. One would think that such a detailed font of information would make the game easy, but the information doesn't tell the player what to do: instead, it lets the player enjoy the game based on their own playstyle and strategic interpretations, making decisions on the fly about what Adriana's next course of action should be. Techno Angel really wowed the crowd: its graphics are far better than those in Grand Theft Auto: Miami, and the cutscenes, which showed Adriana rescuing a fellow soldier on the battlefield, hint at a deep and complex plot.

The next part of the presentation was a brief segment showing off several more games in rapid-fire fashion, including the port of 1999's hit PC game Junction Point, a promising looking new Contra game, and a Batman title that showed Batman exploring a massive open Gotham City and swinging from a helicopter to a rooftop in order to investigate a crime taking place in an adjacent building. We were then treated to footage of a beautiful looking Ninja Gaiden game that showed off very rapid, hack-and-slash style fighting. The crowd cheered the next game, which showed Duke Nukem spouting crude one-liners before showing lots of first-person shooter action. Duke was back in fine form, hunting down pigs while rescuing beautiful babes, and the end of the brief snippet showed Duke about to get intimate with a lady before the title, Duke Nukem XXX, was displayed on screen. There was then a cinematic trailer for a game about a man whose identity is stolen by a computer hacker and must fight to clear his good name after the hacker's employers start to come after the man's loved ones. The game, called They Stole My Name, looked to be a stealth title, and if the exciting trailer is any indication, it could be an NYPD Narcotics Squad style sleeper hit when it's released in November.

After these trailers, a representative from Psygnosis was brought up on stage to show off some gameplay footage from Klepto 2. However, the bulk of the Psygnosis segment was devoted to a new futuristic FPS called Cyberwar. Cyberwar takes place in the year 2029, and depicts a futuristic world and a war being fought with futuristic weapons. Though the weapons themselves are sci-fi inspired, the game itself looks to have a lot in common with Medal of Honor, from its cinematic presentation to its excellent graphics and serious mood. Cyberwar seemed to really impress the crowd, but the game shown off looked to be in an early stage of development, and the Psygnosis rep said to expect the game's release to be sometime in 2003. After the Cyberwar presentation, gameplay footage was shown of The Dark Tower. The footage shown was for the PC version of the game, set to be released in June, and depicted the grim world from Stephen King's acclaimed book series, with the player character investigating a series of murders outside a Western-styled town. The player was shown finding a gun outside of a barn and modifying it with parts gathered from exploring. A clue to the murders was discovered, and the player was shown getting into and winning a fight with a couple of bandits before the footage ended. An Xbox release window of fall 2002 was given for the console version of the game. After the Dark Tower preview ended, a brief presentation for Blizzard's upcoming Warcraft III was given, showing off footage of the game and giving a 2003 release date.

Next, Robbie Bach introduced a pair of original and exclusive Xbox platforming titles. The first was a game we'd seen only briefly at E3 2001: Between Two Skies, the extremely visually impressive game shown at the end of that presentation, depicting the protagonist navigating the space between two worlds. Much more of the game was shown off this time around, including snippets from the game's plot (the two worlds are about to crash together after a million years of equilibrium, unless the protagonist, a young boy, can gather up items to restore the worlds' gravitational balance). The game's unique physics became apparent in the gameplay footage that was shown, which made the crowd cheer and gasp on numerous occasions. The player will freely traverse between the worlds hundreds of times over the course of the game, and must navigate the strange gravity that exists in the realm between worlds. Gravity can change on the fly, and only by tethering oneself to objects or gathering certain items can the player mitigate gravity's effects. There is a sort of puzzle element to the platforming, in that with the right tether or item, a jump that was impossible can become possible so that the player can advance through the game. A December release date was announced for Between Two Skies, which was one of the Xbox's most impressive games of the show. Another game shown off was Grizzly, a more straight-forward platformer but with a time travel mechanic. The protagonist of Grizzly is an anthropomorphic bear who has the ability to manipulate time, fast-forwarding it, freezing it, or rewinding it as he pleases. The mechanic differs greatly from its use in the Sega franchise Tick and Tock, because Grizzly uses the Xbox's hard drive itself to create the effect in an impressive and innovative use of the hardware. The time travel mechanic, however, is only one aspect of Grizzly: the game also utilizes spacial distortion and teleportation as well, allowing the player to disappear into a different dimension where the game's physical laws may be entirely different. Grizzly actually started as a project involving a cat character, and time travel played a much larger aspect, but as development dragged on, more ideas came into the process. Grizzly is still early into development, but along with Between Two Skies, appears to be one of the more innovative and fun platformers of the whole show.

The last part of Microsoft's keynote took the form of a quick little skit in which a Star Trek and Star Wars fan argued about video games and whose games were better. Bill Gates then came in to settle the argument, saying that both of them could enjoy the Xbox because it had both the hottest Star Trek and Star Wars games around. This segued into a segment introducing both Star Trek Online, a massively multiplayer game where players could operate their own Federation ship, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, a Bethesda-developed RPG that takes place many thousands of years before the films. Star Trek Online was announced for early 2003, while Knights of the Old Republic, clearly in a much earlier stage of development, was not given a release date. We didn't get much about Knights of the Old Republic, and so it's hard to judge the game's overall quality, but Star Trek Online could be the best game the franchise has ever received, and it'll be one of the first MMO games for the Xbox Live service. After the Knights of the Old Republic segment, Bach thanked the audience for coming and instructed them to stop by the Microsoft booth to check out even more games. Though Microsoft's keynote came and went without a mention of a sequel to The Covenant, it didn't disappoint. The company's clear focus is on quality software, and the Xbox can definitely boast some of the hottest exclusives of the show.

-from Gamespot.com's recap of E3 2002

-

*A man is sitting at his kitchen table, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. His wife is making breakfast and the kids have already boarded the bus for school.*

Radio: It's a sunny day, 67 degrees, traffic is.... *static noises*

Man: Gonna be another rough day at the office.

Wife: You'll manage. You always do.

Radio: Strange reports coming in from all over the... *static noises*

Wife: What's going on with the radio?

Radio: Oh God- *static noises, the radio cuts out*

*The lights begin flickering.*

Man: What the hell? *stands up just in time to feel a loud rumbling* Charlotte, get under the table! *runs outside to see an enormous, Independence Day-style alien ship coming into view in the sky, followed by dozens of smaller alien ships zooming toward the neighborhood* Oh my God.....

*The ships begin firing, blowing up houses and cars. The man and many of the other neighbors begin to panic. Some of the ships land, aliens come out of them and just start shooting humans randomly. There's chaos and screams. Explosions everywhere.*

ENCOUNTER

*After the game's simplistic logo is shown, the trailer continues. The man runs back into his house. Charlotte is dialing 911, while the man runs for his bedroom and grabs a pistol out of a dresser. He goes up to Charlotte.*

Man: Charlotte, take the car, get to the school, find the kids!

Charlotte: What's going on?

Man: It's an invasion, they're everywhere! Oh God, they're everywhere!

Charlotte: Ken....! *she tries to stop her husband as he runs outside*

Ken: *sees an alien in the driveway of the next house over, it's got his neighbor pinned with its foot while it extends an enormous needle-like appendage from its mouth to try and impale him* No...! *he shoots at the alien with the pistol, but that just pisses it off, the alien roars and spits an acid-like substance which barely misses Ken, it hits the car as Charlotte is fumbling with the keys to get inside, melting a large portion of it*

Charlotte: *shrieks in fright* KEN!

Ken: Just run! JUST RUN! *shoots at the alien a few more times to no effect, the alien just ignores him this time and brutally kills Ken's neighbor* God dammit!

*More aliens are coming, they're about to kill Charlotte. Ken rushes to protect her, the two cling to each other tightly as the aliens quickly surround them. They're about to be killed when suddenly the aliens are peppered with a burst of automatic fire from an assault rifle. This causes the aliens some injury and distracts them long enough for a soldier to grab Charlotte and put her into the back of a military jeep.*

Soldier: Come on, hurry! *he reaches to grab Ken, only for one of the injured aliens to impale him* AAAAAAGGGH! *he's pulled out of the jeep, the other soldiers fire at the aliens to try and save their comrade, but after the soldier is ripped to shreds they speed away with Charlotte, leaving Ken to fend for himself*

Charlotte: KEN!!!!

Ken: I'LL BE ALL RIGHT! FIND THE KIDS! *one of the aliens attacks him, he grabs an assault rifle from the dead soldier and manages to keep it back with a burst of gunfire, then he begins running* Oh god, oh god....!!!

*Eventually, Ken sees a wrecked school bus in flames. The bus is surrounded by aliens. The sound of kids screaming can be heard.*

Ken: JOHNNY! ELIZABETH! NO! *summoning all the courage he has, Ken charges the bus, using the assault rifle to kill the aliens. There's one alien left, and it's trying to attack Ken's son. He fires, but he's out of bullets. The alien has the boy and is about to impale him* JOHNNY!

Johnny: *screams* DAD!!!

Ken: *beats the alien upside the head with the butt of the assault rifle, the alien roars, turns, and immediately pins him* AAAAGH! *he tries to crawl away but the alien is about to impale him* No! NO! *he slams the butt of the assault rifle into the alien's face, giving a primal scream, somehow the adrenaline helps him and he's able to fatally wound the alien, saving himself* Aaagh....agggh....

*The kids from the bus are in a state of shock but safe. Elizabeth and Johnny tend to their injured and bruised and speechless father. We see Ken's terrified expression as hundreds of alien ships fill the sky.*

2003

-the first trailer for Encounter, shown at EA's booth at E3 2002

"One of E3's most exciting games wasn't shown off at any of the keynotes. That's because it's planned to come out for all three of the major next-generation systems next year. Encounter, developed by Parabola Games and published by Electronic Arts, is a first-person shooter about an ordinary man named Ken Buckley who finds himself in an extraordinary situation: an extraterrestrial invasion of Earth. Ken must protect his family and his planet as an apocalypse descends upon mankind. EA's display for the game was one of the most crowded of the whole show, behind only Nintendo's Wave display and the display for Doom 3. In addition to the riveting trailer, visitors who could endure a very long wait in line could play the game itself. The gameplay, which is said to be from a very early level of the game, has players controlling Ken as he navigates his devastated town to reach the local military barracks, where the army is taking all recruits. On his way, Ken must carefully avoid any aliens he encounters, as he doesn't have nearly enough firepower or ammunition to take down more than one or two (and they usually travel in packs). While trying to get to the barracks, we saw horrifying scenes in the background of businesses and homes in flames and innocent civilians being brutally killed, either via the aliens' energy weapons or through sheer, unforgiving force. We can't wait for Encounter when it's released next year."
-from IGN's live updates on E3 2002, posted on May 22, 2002

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Sega Keynote - E3 2002

Sega's E3 2002 keynote was presented by Reggie Fils-Aime in all his energetic glory, and it mostly centered around one thing and one thing only: Sonic the Hedgehog, and particularly the upcoming new game Sonic Neon. The Sonic Neon segment of the presentation took more than 20 minutes, and showed off a brand new trailer and loads of gameplay footage featuring a variety of characters both old and new. That's not to say that Sonic Neon wasn't impressive: it was extremely impressive, both visually and from a gameplay perspective. The neon lights and colorful sights of Lumina City, where most of the game's action is said to take place, were absolutely gorgeous. Make no doubt about it, Sonic Neon is easily the best looking Katana game to date, and outpaces many Xbox games in terms of technical prowess. There were even moments from the Sonic Neon footage that outshined Between Two Skies, said to be the best looking Xbox game of the show (aside from possibly Ninja Gaiden). Sega seems to have perfected Sonic's trademark speed in a 3-D plane by interspersing heavily choreographed loop sequences with areas of wide-open exploration while making the whole thing contained in a way that provides both the illusion of a huge open world and the necessary structure to make sure Sonic doesn't go off the rails. The game features expansive indoor environments resembling some of the Las Vegas Strip's most outlandish casinos, but on steroids: imagine if Vegas' resort hotels were about 50 times bigger, and you understand just how vast Lumina City and its environs really are. Sonic Team has given the blue hedgehog and his friends a glimmering neon playground to enjoy, and Sonic fans will almost certainly enjoy it too. Reggie concluded the long presentation by restating Sonic Neon's release date (August 5, which was first announced at the MTV Video Game Awards back in February) and also announcing a special Katana bundle featuring both the system and game that will go on sale the same day for $199.99. After the Sonic Neon segment was done, Reggie spent a brief time touching on next year's Sonic Revolution, a combination go-kart/extreme sports title featuring numerous Sonic characters, and Knuckles and Bit, a platformer spinoff featuring Knuckles (the first since Knuckles: Renegade back in 1995), both of which are set to be released next year. We were far more intrigued with Knuckles and Bit, which looks to have a different gameplay aesthetic than Sonic Neon (closer to a hack-and-slash title than a platformer). Sonic Revolution's skateboarding segments look fun, but maybe a bit too similar to the Tony Hawk games to really draw in serious skateboarding game fans. Still, Sega's definitely doubling down on the hedgehog, which is likely a wise choice considering their recent sales decline and the fact that Sonic remains the company's most lucrative franchise.

The heavy Sonic Neon focus did take a lot of time away from discussing other titles, of which only a few were featured during the keynote itself, but we did like what we saw. The first franchise Reggie talked about after Sonic Neon was Phantasy Star. Reggie briefly talked about the online community for Phantasy Star Online, and thanked those who were still playing the game. He then said that the world of Phantasy Star Online was about to get a lot bigger, and showed off a trailer for Phantasy Star Online Vol. 2, a massive expansion of the original game, with several new worlds and dozens of new quests. Vol. 2 would expand the original game's level cap and introduce new collectible items and equipment into the game. After announcing that existing Phantasy Star Online accounts would carry over to Vol. 2, he stated that the game would be offered at a reduced price: $19.99, when it was released that December, drawing cheers from the crowd. After discussing Phantasy Star Online Vol. 2, Reggie then showed off Phantasy Star: Journey, an enhanced remake of the RPG classic, featuring next generation graphics and gameplay updates to transform the original game into a modern day RPG. Following the Phantasy Star segment, Reggie introduced Narcotics Squad: Undercover, and showed a trailer. While the trailer wasn't quite as effective as the trailer for the original game (which drew one of the biggest crowd reactions at E3 1999), it was still an intriguing trailer nonetheless. The game features a brand new protagonist, Marco Vasquez, and shows him infiltrating a gang of drug dealers, getting involved with one of the dealers' girlfriends along the way. The trailer seemed to emphasize the relationships formed by Marco during his undercover work, and introduced a great deal of conflict between his duties as a police officer and his newfound friendships amongst the gang. The game's release date was announced as July 15th. After the Narcotics Squad: Undercover trailer, Reggie segued into a brief preview for Virtua Cop 3, which looked quite excellent on the Katana and introduced a lot of new gameplay mechanics to spice up the somewhat outdated arcade-style gameplay.

After the cop games, Reggie brought out Keiji Inafune to show off gameplay footage from the upcoming Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny. Onimusha was one of the best looking games on the original Saturn, but even so, the step up to the Katana is a clear boon for the franchise. Environments are much bigger with much less pop-in and characters and enemies are much more detailed, with the pace of the gameplay increasing as well. Not much has changed fundamentally from the original game, but the step up in graphics should make Onimusha 2 quite pleasing to fans of the original. After the Onimusha 2 demonstration, Inafune introduced a trailer for Capcom vs. SNK, which Reggie made sure to emphasize was a Katana exclusive. After the Capcom segment ended and Inafune left the stage, a brief trailer was shown for Arbiter of Sin 3. Sega was clearly trying to downplay the franchise, considering its infamous role in the Valentine's Day Shooting of 2001, but despite the tragedy, sales for Arbiter of Sin 2 remained strong, and there are still plenty of fans clamoring for the third and final game, as the cheers accompanying the trailer clearly demonstrated. After the Arbiter of Sin 3 trailer, Reggie enthusiastically previewed Extremis: Human Nightmare, the sequel to 2000's hit survival horror game Extremis. Other than Sonic Neon, Human Nightmare had more time devoted to it than every other game of Sega's keynote, and looked like one of the more impressive titles of the entire show, with Amy returning as the protagonist, teaming up with a CDC official named Greg. Amy and Greg are working to deploy the CDC's cure to the virus that ravaged the planet, bringing the cure to remote areas that the CDC hasn't yet been able to treat. Rather than dealing with animals as the primary enemies, in Human Nightmare, infected humans are the main threat, and they have taken a number of hideous and twisted forms as the virus has mutated within them. These aren't the typical Resident Evil-style zombies: Extremis: Human Nightmare is a gallery of the grotesque. Humans have been transformed into some truly disturbing creatures, there's body horror everywhere you turn, and it's clear that some of the mutated humans are too far gone and have to be put down. The crowd audibly gasped at some of the creatures seen in the gameplay footage, but Human Nightmare got one of the most positive reactions of the entire show. The game is scheduled to be released next year.

Reggie concluded the presentation by announcing a brand new Vectorman game and showing off about a minute of footage. It's not a fully 3-D platformer: instead, Vectorman alternates between traditional 2-D platforming and track-like tunnels that branch off into multiple paths. Despite the somewhat old-school play style, Vectorman is as much a technical marvel now as he was back on the Genesis: the game features perhaps the best looking Katana graphics we've ever seen. Sega's presentation was somewhat scarce on games (though Reggie promised plenty more playable titles back at Sega's booth), but the games they did show looked, for the most part, to be very impressive, with Sonic Neon looking like possibly the best game at E3. Only time will tell whether Sega's strategy will pay off, but Sonic's never let them down before.

-from Gamespot.com's recap of E3 2002

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Of all the games at E3 2002, perhaps Doom 3 was the most impressive. id Software revealed the game for the very first time at the Activision booth, and the graphics, easily better than anything the consoles, even Nintendo's impressive Wave system, could produce, blew everyone away. The game's terrifying scenery, depicting the hero making his way through narrow tunnels and ruined military bases as the sound of demons bellowed in the background, made more than one player jump when the first enemies actually showed themselves, and most everyone who played the short but sweet demo had to agree that the franchise was back in a major way, after id spent most of the last seven years working on the Quake and Daikatana franchises.

Doom 3 is being developed for PCs, specifically high-end PCs running Windows. Few PCs of today could actually run the game at the settings we experienced playing the demo, but despite the advanced graphics and the clear PC focus of the game, John Romero mentioned the possibility of a port to Nintendo's Wave system at some point down the road.

"We're absolutely not going to compromise any aspect of the game in order to make it playable on the Wave, and it's likely we're not even going to begin to work on a port until the game is released on PC," said Romero in our brief conversation with him on the show floor. "However, I'm very impressed with what I've seen from Nintendo's new console, and we've had great experiences working with the company's hardware before. Doom came out extremely well on the SNES-CD, and both original Doom titles play great on the Nova. So there's precedent there, and I think getting Doom 3 on the Wave in some form is a possibility that we can explore in the future."

It's certain that any version of Doom 3 to appear on the Wave will have to be severely watered down. However, the Wave has been shown to be capable of some amazing visuals: Squad Four: Upheaval and Killer Instinct 3 were considered by most to be the best looking console games at the show, and looked absolutely spectacular. A version of Doom 3 with Squad Four: Upheaval's graphics, while not as astonishingly, jaw-droppingly pretty as what we saw from the PC version of the game, would be more than playable. Doom 3 has been announced as being a likely late 2003/early 2004 release, so if what John Romero says is true, it would be 2005 at the absolute earliest before we'd see Doom 3 hit the Wave. Still, for stubborn console-only gamers, it might be worth the wait.

-from Electronic Gaming Monthly's coverage of E3 2002, from the August 2002 issue

 

[RySenkari]

Nintendo Keynote - E3 2002

Nintendo's keynote began with Satoru Iwata, along with Howard Lincoln making his return to the E3 stage. Lincoln thanked the attendees for coming, then ceded the podium to Iwata, who began to discuss the history of the Ultra Nintendo and his vision for Nintendo's future. This vision, of course, included the Wave, and after showing off the Wave and its logo, Iwata introduced a short video showing off more than a dozen Wave titles. Some, like Killer Instinct 3, Mario Kart, Final Fantasy X, and Squad Four: Rebellion we'd heard of before, but others, including new Ken Griffey, Peyton Manning, and Grant Hill sports titles, a new Wave Race game, what looked to be a new Aeroboy game, a platformer starring Wario, a new FPS taking place in some sort of laboratory, a new Twisted Metal game, and a platformer that resembled Pilotwings somewhat, all looked totally new. The biggest cheers that the video got were from snippets of the new Gran Turismo game, which looked utterly stunning. The video wasn't quite as uplifting or dramatic as the "Where The Streets Have No Name" video we got previewing the Ultra Nintendo, but it was nonetheless a great exhibition of games coming for the console. We then saw the Wave itself, and Iwata and Lincoln revealed a good deal of information. Most of it, including the backwards compatibility with both Ultra and SNES-CD titles, the DVD playback, the online capabilities, and the wireless controller, we knew from Spaceworld. We didn't get an exact release date, but a launch window of spring 2003 was given, and the price was announced at $299.99, which most of us expected. After the Wave introduction, Iwata gave one final quick speech, then he and Lincoln left and Bill Trinen took the podium to discuss some of the upcoming games for the Wave.

The first game shown was Killer Instinct 3, which drove the gathered crowd wild. Trinen announced that the game would feature a total of 24 characters, and would feature online play on launch day, in addition to the return of Quest Mode and the addition of a new single-player mode resembling a beat-em-up game, along with another mode called "Rivals" which functions like a modified arcade mode, only there are different fight conditions every time you play. Trinen then announced that the arcade game would launch in July, and that finished arcade consoles were available at the Nintendo booth to try out the game. The thing that most impressed us about Killer Instinct 3 was the graphics: it was easily the best looking console game of the show, and because the arcade board and the Wave share the exact same hardware, the Wave version will play just as it does in the arcade. The Killer Instinct 3 presentation was followed up by the introduction of Mariokart: Double Dash!!, another launch title. The big innovation of Double Dash is that players will control two racers at once: one to drive the car and one to throw items. The two can be swapped at any time, allowing for two items to be held at once. After a brief gameplay demonstration of the new Mariokart, the lights dimmed, and we saw the first preview trailer for Squad Four: Upheaval. The trailer explained that after the Lockstar Civil War, the galaxy fell into chaos as its most powerful military was forced to pick up the pieces and rebuild. Warlords and criminals began to take planets of their own, knowing that there would be no one to stop them. One of these planets was captured by an escaped convict who broke out of prison in the same prison break that Squad Four initiated in Rebellion, and now the four heroes volunteer to go to the planet to liberate it from the criminal they inadvertently set free. In the gameplay footage, we could see that the game plays much like Rebellion, though with a somewhat improved interface and significantly improved graphics. The planet that the Squad is fighting to liberate looks absolutely gorgeous, and the occasional pop-in and distance fog of Rebellion is completely gone in Upheaval. Characters fight with more fluidity, resembling a bit more closely the rapid-fire battling of modern hack-and-slash games, though ranged combat is still a big factor. We'll definitely see more of Squad Four: Upheaval in the future, as the game is still at least a year from release and won't launch with the system.

After the "big three", so to speak, were shown, we got somewhat more brief looks at a number of other Wave games set for release in 2003. We saw footage from the new Aeroboy game, and another, similar platformer, the Pilotwings-like game from the video called Paradventure. While Aeroboy does most of his fighting from the sky, in Paradventure you need to pick your landing spot before you can fight the enemies on the ground, and Paradventure, once you land, plays much more like a typical platformer, while Aeroboy focuses on navigation and ranged combat, retaining its Balloon Fight roots while also adding in a bit of rail shooter elements to the mix. We then got a look at Warioworld, and in the absence of a traditional Mario game anywhere in the Wave's launch window (since Nintendo has been devoting all of its Mario energy to Super Mario Ranger), it's Warioworld that's going to be the Wave's first big first-party platforming title. In Warioworld, Mario's nemesis Wario goes around beating people up and taking their treasures like the bully he is. The game features lots of platforming elements, but the main emphasis seems to be on fighting and gathering treasure. After Warioworld, Sony's representative took the stage and showed off a number of upcoming Sony titles, starting with Twisted Metal: Nightmare, which focuses on Sweet Tooth and has a horror aesthetic. But even though Twisted Metal got a few cheers, the real cheers came when Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec was shown off. Not too many words were necessary, as the selection of new tracks, the beautiful new cars, and the incredible visuals told most of the story. Gran Turismo 3 looks like the most realistic racing game ever made, and it's never looked better on the Wave. The Sony segment segued fairly nicely into the Naughty Dog segment, and after the Naughty Dog representative showed off Team ND Racing 2 (which even he had to admit wasn't as cool as Gran Turismo 3), he showed off a trailer for Valor II, the sequel to 2000's hit World War II adventure title. Valor II takes place in Vietnam, and the trailer depicts a soldier who fights off a squadron of Viet Cong, then enters a nearby village, where he's told by his commander to slaughter everyone. The soldier looks unsure as the trailer ends. It's clear that Naughty Dog's game is going to depict the ethical conflicts soldiers faced in the Vietnam War, and while controversial, could end up being one of the most powerful war games ever made. A brief Nintendo sports trailer showed off more of the brand new NFL, MLB, and NBA games that'll be coming up for the Wave, and announced Ken Griffey: Hall Of Fame as a launch title. A brief trailer was then shown off for a game that looks like a cinematic adventure title, showing a young woman reporter named Jade as she snuck into a factory where anthropomorphic animal creatures were being held captive. She took pictures of the cruelty in the factory, but as she tried to sneak out, she was caught by robotic guards, and had to escape by fighting them off with some skillful staff moves. Jade escaped the factory and eventually boarded a speedboat that turned into a flying vessel in order to escape. The game's title, Beyond Good and Evil, was revealed, and the trailer got one of the biggest rounds of applause of Nintendo's presentation, behind only Killer Instinct 3 and Gran Turismo 3. After the Beyond Good And Evil trailer, a Capcom representative showed off footage from ports of both Devil May Cry and Victory, before revealing Star Siren, a sidescrolling beat-em-up with a transforming superhero schoolgirl as the main character. Between the cel-shaded graphics, spectacular magic spells, and somewhat cheesy soundtrack and dialogue, it looked like it was cribbed straight out of an anime, and the crowd got a serious kick out of it. It was revealed as a launch title, and that it could be played at Nintendo's booth. The next third party to give a presentation was Squaresoft, and they showed off several games, starting with Datacore, a cyberpunk based action RPG with gameplay somewhat resembling Parasite Eve but with a heavier emphasis on gunplay. Characters could score combinations and even use spells, known as Guncasting, in real time. Following Datacore, which got a fairly extensive preview, Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy Online were presented. For Final Fantasy X, we only got a few screenshots and a very brief video showing small wisps of light emanating from a beautiful landscape as characters, including a woman named Aki who was the only named character out of everyone, walked past. The theme of the game was revealed as "The Spirits Within", and spirits are said to play a heavy role in the game. Even less information was given about Final Fantasy Online, except that it will launch simultaneously on the Wave and the PC, it takes place in a land called Vana'diel, and it will be a subscription-based game. Then we saw a few screenshots of what the game might look like on the Wave. The idea of an online Final Fantasy is definitely intriguing, but we'll have to wait to see more before making any serious judgments.

After the Squaresoft representative left the stage, Bill Trinen returned and a brief trailer was shown. The trailer announced Soul Calibur II for the Nintendo Wave, and then a familiar tune played...it was the Legend of Zelda theme. Link was shown fighting several characters, sending the crowd into hysterical cheering. The game was announced for 2003, and after revealing it, Bill Trinen started to segue away from the Wave...only for another video to play. Once again, we saw Link, but this time he was in his own game...a brand new Legend Of Zelda. The video didn't reveal any plot information, it only showed Link fighting against a horde of black knights, but what the crowd saw was enough: the footage looked spectacular, and once again the crowd cheered. When the lights came back up, Bill Trinen restated the Wave's release window, spring 2003, and its price, $299.99. Then he began to discuss a number of Ultra Nintendo games. Super Mario Ranger was up first, and we got the most information yet about the game, including its North American release date (September 30, 2002) and information about more of Mario's new abilities. We now know six of the eight hats Mario will be wearing in the game: the already revealed Ranger Mario (cowboy hat), Astronaut Mario, Firefighter Mario, and Hero Mario, and now we also know about Chargin' Mario (in a football helmet) and Wizard Mario, who can use Magikoopa-like spells on foes. Nintendo didn't spend nearly as much time on Super Mario Ranger as Sega did on Sonic Neon, but both games look like they'll be some of the best platforming action we've enjoyed in a long time, and we can't wait to play them both. Next was a look at Velvet Dark: Synthesis, revealing more about the game's AI-based mechanics. Joanna's sister Velvet has lost her body, and now lives in the cyber world, assisting her sister Joanna who can access Velvet's AI via equipment worn on her body. As Joanna completes missions, she can help Velvet gain access to more of the grid, enabling Joanna's abilities to be powered up in a sort of Deus Ex-like system. Joanna's goal in the game is to restore her sister to her body and to find the people who tried to kill her. The game is set to be released on August 19th. For the next presentation, Trinen brings Masahiro Sakurai up to speak. This next game is, of course, Super Smash Bros. 2. Super Smash Bros. 2 features improved graphics and a number of brand new modes, including an Adventure Mode and a trophy collection mode where players can collect trophies of their favorite Nintendo characters by accomplishing tasks within the game. We've also been introduced to a number of new characters. We already knew about Ganondorf, Peach, and Bowser, but in addition to those three new characters, we can also expect to see Cless (from Tale Phantasia), and, in an E3 first reveal: Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid, the reveal of whom triggered another massive burst of applause from the crowd. Sakurai promised that 28 total characters would be featured in the game, so in addition to the original 18 and the five newcomers, we can expect five more yet unrevealed newcomers to be revealed closer to the game's December launch.

The next segment was a brief trailer video for a game called Kingdom Quest, which depicts a Mario-styled 3-D platforming world, complete with a pair of plumbers, a princess in distress, and an evil villain named King Barathus. The whimsical art design and what looks like very fun platforming could make Kingdom Quest a big hit, and a release window was announced as January 2003. The Kingdom Quest segment was followed up by a trailer for a sci-fi space adventure called Infinity Age. The game features a mix of Squad Four-style third person shooting gameplay and exciting space-based shooter action, giving the game a definite Star Wars feel to it. The protagonist of Infinity Age is a young man named Scott, who is tasked with liberating his world from a totalitarian government. The space-based combat actually looked more exciting and fun than the ground-based gameplay, though both parts of the game looked highly polished. The game itself is published by Sony, as was the next game shown off, Carpathia. We saw a LOT more of the game than we've seen previously, proving that finally, Carpathia is nearly completed after a long, three year development cycle and many delays. We saw a full trailer for the game, revealing its story: the game's protagonist is a young boy, lost high in the mountains. As he explores, the landscape morphs and moves according to his mood, and goes from being a realistic mountain environment to a fantastic dreamscape filled with creatures, spirits, and astonishing sights. The game bears somewhat of a resemblance to last year's Sarasvati, though it doesn't seem to emphasize puzzles like that game did. Instead, Carpathia is all about exploration and discovery. The release date wasn't given, but Bill Trinen promised that the game would be released before the end of the year. We then got to see more of Star Tropics, though, in a bit of a disappointment, most of what was shown was already shown at Space World earlier in the year. Mike Jones clears out a number of rooms of enemies before making his way to a room with a large switch pillar which he must activate to advance in the game. However, we did get a new glimpse at another temple that resembled a 3-D version of one of the iconic temples from the original game. Star Tropics looks to be a fun mix of nostalgia and the gaming advancements of the last decade, and is positioned as one of Nintendo's biggest releases of the year. It's released on November 4th. The last segment of the Ultra Nintendo portion of Nintendo's presentation centered around the two new Metal Gear games coming out later this year. Metal Gear Gaiden was shown off first: it's a hybrid brawler/RPG much like the earlier Hybrid Heaven, starring Solid Snake in a prequel adventure to the original Metal Gear Solid. Solid Snake can target enemy limbs in strikes, and the fighting system itself is even more complex than the one found in Hybrid Heaven, allowing Snake to level up his own body parts and gain new techniques from winning fights and from reading fight manuals. But the real gem of the presentation was Metal Gear War, and the gameplay video shown got the crowd really fired up. It began with Solid Snake exploring the top floors of a skyscraper, and ended with a mysterious figure clad in blue and gray and wearing a bodysuit that concealed their identity crashing through a window and attacking Snake. The attacker quickly got the best of Snake, but before they could land the killing blow, a new person arrived, unseen, distracting the figure with a burst of gunfire and allowing Snake to escape just before the footage ended. Hideo Kojima, who was sharing the stage with Bill Trinen, told the gathered crowd that they could play through the entire segment themselves and a bit more at the Konami booth. The Metal Gear War kiosk was easily one of the most crowded at E3, and nearly everyone who played came away satisfied.

Nintendo's keynote concluded with a look at some upcoming Game Boy Nova games. We got to see footage of games both old and new: ports of Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario All-Stars, and Final Fantasy V were highlights, while we also got a glimpse of a new Zombies Ate My Neighbors game, Mega Man Blast 2, and a remake of the original Seiken Densetsu game, called Birth Of Mana. However, the highlight of the Nova segment was preview footage of The Legend Of Zelda: Elven Bell and Metroid: Revenant. In the absence of any new Metroid games for the Wave, and with only a brief tease of the Wave Zelda, it was nice to see both games well represented on the Nova. Elven Bell looked fantastic, it's the first top-down Zelda we've gotten since The Mystic Mirror on Game Boy Color, and it looks bright and colorful. But Metroid: Revenant looked amazing; seeing Samus exploring dark and haunting landscapes, seeing spirits and hideous creatures pop up out of nowhere, and hearing the game's quiet, tension-inducing soundtrack gave the game an eerie feel, and Revenant could end up being the scariest Metroid ever.

The Wave didn't disappoint, though the lack of a next-gen Mario platformer did, at least somewhat. Still, games like Killer Instinct 3 more than made up for it, and it's also great to see the Ultra Nintendo still going strong. Nintendo's still the reigning king, and that showed no signs of ending at this year's E3.

-from Gamespot.com's recap of E3 2002

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"Coming back to E3 after a year away was a strange experience. Working for G4, I didn't quite get the same VIP treatment I'd gotten as a host on GameTV. There were no limo rides, no exclusive scoops, no awestruck reverence from the other journalists present. ...okay, maybe there was still a little, I was still a FORMER GameTV host after all. But coming back still felt like I was coming home...and it really was a great year to be there. G4 was planning to cover the show in even more depth than we had on GameTV, which gave me and my fellow G4 hosts a lot of fun stuff to do!"
-Ted Crosley, discussing E3 2002 in his "E3 Memories" guest column on Gamesovermatter.com, posted on May 28, 2015

Alex Stansfield: We're back, live at E3, and right now, we're looking at Soul Calibur II. Now, this is the arcade version of the game, which is launching later this year, but the big news is that this game will be on all the major consoles.

Victor Lucas: Yeah, the Xbox, the Wave, and the Katana are all getting their own versions of the game, and each is gonna have an exclusive character! The Xbox is getting Spawn, freaking Spawn, can you believe it?

Alex: That's nothing, Nintendo's getting LINK! The Link, the hero of The Legend Of Zelda. I want to play it right now.

Victor: Easy, buddy.

Alex: I want to play it right now, where's my Link? 2003 needs to get here!

(...)

Alex: And this is Lunar 3. Now for those of you who played the first two Lunar games, you might notice something a bit different about this one.

Victor: And what is that?

Alex: Lunar 3 is the first game in the series to boast a fully fleshed out, 3-D world. It looks amazing, it's got a real anime feel to it and I love exploring just the first town, it looks gorgeous.

Victor: Yeah, and it's coming out right when the Wave launches in North America. So for those of you waiting on Final Fantasy X, this game could be right up your alley.

Alex: It's a traditional RPG with a ton of modern stylings, Lunar 3: Green Destiny is my kinda game.

(...)

Bill Sindelar: Tell me this ain't cool, we're checking out some DC Super Clash!

Tina Wood: It's got all your favorite DC superheroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, you name it, all in one incredible game.

*DC Super Clash is shown on the screen, it's a 2-D fighting game with graphics resembling a comic book, it's cel-shaded and nothing like OTL Injustice, playing more like an SNK fighter than a Mortal Kombat type game*

Bill: The characters look like they're ripped right from the pages of a comic, you can see Tina using the Lasso of Truth on me right now...

*Bill is playing with Green Lantern while Tina fights him with Wonder Woman, it's a close fight between the two as Green Lantern snaps the lasso*

Tina: Next year you'll get a chance to enjoy DC Super Clash on all three major consoles, the Wave, the Katana, the Xbox, all of them!

(...)

Bill: Battlefield 1942 is a World War II shooter with a focus on multiplayer.

Tina: That's right, you can be either the Axis or the Allies and engage in realistic combat, both on foot and utilizing a variety of World War II vehicles. It's really fun and it looks fantastic on the PC, though it's also going to be coming to consoles later on.

*Footage from aerial combat is shown on the screen, a bomber is strafing an Allied position, sending soldiers ducking for cover*

Tina: This game is the most realistic World War II game I've ever played, and I've played a lot of Medal of Honor so that's definitely saying something. Of course, where Medal of Honor was all about the single player campaign, this game is designed to play with both your friends and with people all around the world.

Bill: Battlefield 1942, so far, is one of my favorite games of the show. It's so much fun to play.

(...)

Alex: Reunited and it feels so good, I'm here with my buddy Ted Crosley and we're about to step into The Chamber!

Ted: Let's do it buddy!

*Footage from The Chamber is shown, it's a 3-D fighting game taking place in an enclosed room, sort of like a less bloody version of Thrill Kill. The fighters use grappling moves and brutal strikes on one another, displaying a variety of combat styles.*

Alex: We're playing a four player match with two other people and right now we're getting our butts kicked!

*Ted and Alex's characters are on the ground, Ted's character is being strangled while Alex's character is getting repeatedly punched, Alex manages to kick his assailant in the groin, enabling him to get back up and back into the fight.*

Ted: And as you can see, everything is legal! Alex just kicked that guy in the family jewels and it's totally legal!

Alex: Yeah, anything goes in The Chamber.

(...)

Wil Wheaton: Right now I am playing me some Dead Midnight 3! And it's co-op, and I'm here with Alyson Hannigan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

Alyson Hannigan: And I'm going to be the guy, because why not?

Wil: And that makes me the girl, I am Darla Mystic and we've got to save our mom Raya from some very bad dudes.

*Derek and Darla are in a large enemy encampment, the two have to sneak around and Derek has to create a distraction so Darla can go in and kill the guards in the camp.*

Alyson: They give you a lot of ways to make a distraction in this game. Can we just go in without one or do we have to sneak?

Wil: We could.

Alyson: Let's do that, sneaking's no fun.

*Derek and Darla rush in and get a faceful of lead, soon both of them are dead and it's game over.*

Alyson: Well that was a bad idea. *groans*

Wil: Looks like we gotta sneak, I think.

Alyson: No, no, let's try rushing in again.

*This time Derek and Darla are a bit more successful, they manage to kill a few of the guards but quickly get outflanked and gunned down a second time.*

Alyson: No....! Come on!

Wil: *laughing* That was fun though!

Alyson: Yeah, we got killed but that was pretty fun.

-from G4's coverage of E3 2002

-

In addition to G4's live coverage from E3 2002, the network also put together a number of special episodes of their various shows to deliver more reactions from the event itself. One of these specials was an episode of Filter, G4's countdown show, where fans were asked to vote for their top 10 games of E3. Games where only small short trailers were shown, like The Legend Of Zelda, weren't included, but any game where gameplay footage was available or where there was a lengthier trailer was allowed to be voted on. Here were fans' picks for the top 10 games of E3.

10. Battlefield 1942
9. Beyond Good And Evil
8. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
7. Soul Calibur II
6. Sonic Neon
5. Encounter
4. Killer Instinct 3
3. Super Mario Ranger
2. Doom 3
1. Grand Theft Auto: Miami

-

Game Critics Awards E3 2002

Best Of Show: Killer Instinct 3
Best Original Game: Encounter
Best Console Game: Killer Instinct 3
Best PC Game: Doom 3
Best Peripheral/Hardware: Nintendo Wave
Best Action Game: Doom 3
Best Action/Adventure Game: Beyond Good And Evil
Best Role Playing Game: The Dark Tower
Best Racing Game: Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
Best Sports Game: Ken Griffey: Hall Of Fame
Best Fighting Game: Killer Instinct 3
Best Shooter: Doom 3
Best Online Multiplayer: Phantasy Star Online Vol. 2
Special Commendation Awards: Nintendo Wave, Doom 3, Encounter, Paradventure, Roaming Rover
Best Booth: Nintendo

-

At E3 2002, everyone knew that the place to be would be Nintendo's booth. That was the year that Nintendo formally unveiled the Wave, their sixth-generation console, in North America, and it didn't disappoint. There were a slew of great games revealed, though many of Nintendo's big franchises such as Mario and Metroid were completely absent, and Zelda was only briefly teased at the end of the Wave reveal. The "killer app", so to speak, was Killer Instinct 3, and arcade machines lined Nintendo's booth. As many machines as there were, the lines to play stretched for a great distance, and the wait was typically more than an hour for a single match. Still, those who waited said it was worth it: Killer Instinct 3 would finally put the literal "killer" in "killer app".

The other big story at the show was the resurgence of the PC, led by Doom 3, easily the most beautiful game we'd ever seen. The graphics were stunning, a clear cut above even the Wave's awesome capabilities. Speaking of the Wave, a port of Doom 3 was hinted at, but none of us who got to check out the game at Activision's booth had any clue how the game would even work on the Wave. There was just no contest. Other fantastic PC games included Battlefield 1942 (which was confirmed to have console ports, but the PC was getting first dibs), World of Warcraft, and Ledrith's Sail, a seafaring epic RPG that made Tales Of The Seven Seas look like a rubber ducky in comparison. Even Macintosh had a great-looking exclusive: Roaming Rover, a platformer title designed to utilize the player's iPod library to create procedural stages. What seemed like a rather pedestrian gimmick actually turned out to be one of the hottest games of the whole show, and the platforming itself was excellent.

Microsoft had another strong showing, highlighting a new Grand Theft Auto game but also showing off an online Star Trek RPG and an offline Star Wars RPG, both of which were introduced by a poorly acted Bill Gates sketch beforehand that didn't do either game justice. Sega made Sonic Neon the highlight of their keynote, showing the game for nearly half of the presentation. While it got fans plenty hyped for the game, a lot of people there were worried that Sega might be putting too many eggs in one basket. Sega seemed to be going for nostalgia at E3, hyping up new Vectorman, Virtua Cop, and Phantasy Star games. After a lot of their exclusive third parties bolted, the company seemed to be turning inward at a time when it was clear they'd need to start moving Katana units, and fast.

Fighting games were back at E3 2002, and in a major way. Killer Instinct 3, Divine Wrath 2, and Soul Calibur II could easily have been the three biggest games of the show. Nintendo's Smash Bros. sequel was another major hit, and other titles like The Chamber, Capcom vs. SNK, DC Super Clash, and Tekken 4 drew big crowds as well. Many of the big games had their already-completed arcade versions available for play, and in a way, it was like the mid-90s all over again, with enthusiastic crowds huddled around arcade machines, cheering on friends or waiting their turn to play. It gave the event a nostalgic feel that a lot of people appreciated, and got us hyped up for all the big fighting games that would be rocking our consoles over the next year and a half.

Another genre that had a big showing at E3 was the FPS. In addition to Doom 3 and Battlefield 1942, there was Encounter, Velvet Dark: Synthesis, Cyberwar, Load 2, and Duke Nukem XXX, among many others. A lot of this had to do with the growing online gaming crowd: the FPS was king among online players, and game companies were eager to take advantage. With the opening of the Xbox Live service immediately after Microsoft's presentation and the confirmation of online gameplay for Nintendo's Wave, all three consoles were going to have online play for the first time, ensuring that we'd continue to see FPS titles well into the future.

The theme of E3 2002 could have easily been "the future". We saw Nintendo's future, Microsoft was proud to show off just how bright their future was, Sega revealed the game they were banking their entire future on, and PC gaming got its future back in a major way. But after E3 2002 was over, a lot of us came away thinking that the future was fuzzy. There were so many great games, we didn't have a clue what the future held and whose future was the brightest. But over the next twelve months, the future of at least one major game industry player was about to become incredibly, shockingly clear.

-from IGN's report on E3 2002 (based on this OTL article: http://www.ign.com/wikis/e3/E3_2002)

 

[DanielXie]

Gihren's Greed: Legacy of Axis is TTL's equivalent to Gihren's Greed: War for Zeon Independence AND Axis no Kyoui V, except produced with the Saturn, it was released in August 28 of 2002 and a port was released TTL on the Katana in November 15th, 2003. It has 2 disks, one with a Federation Campaign and another with the Zeon campaign. The timeframe goes from the One Year War to the Second Neo Zeon War of Char's counterattack.

The game plays the same as every other game in the title, research, build units, have a specific amount of turns to defeat enemy, invest in research and intelligence operations, and can change events in regards to the Universal Century Gundam metaverse. Yet the campaign is far more open ended and expansive and larger than earlier titles TTL, and all titles OTL. The game also makes use of a "reputation" system which is the equivalent of OTL's alignment system in Axis no Kyoui V. As with AnKV, operations are available at any reputation to plunder money or resources. These raise 3000 funds or resources and incur a -5 reputation penalty. If reputation falls below 40: An operation is available (for 5 turns) to improve PR. This costs 12000 and restores a small amount of reputation. At below 35% reputation, an operation is available (for 5 turns) to steal enemy technology. This will add 30% to the Enemy Tech Level bar and incur a -10 reputation penalty. Committing "war crimes" such as using superweapons(ie: Solar Ray) and nukes, as well as event-only colony drops will also cost a hefty amount of reputation.

Each turn, the player gains more reputation. Various choices can move the gauge to the left or right. It's very easy to decrease reputation, but more difficult to maintain it (other than the incremental move each turn).

Higher reputation means the player would be more accepted by neutral colonies and the Jupiter energy fleet, and gain resources as well as special Mobile suit designs.

Campaign--Part 1:

Regardless of the side the player picks, Federation or Zeon, the game opens up to a decisive battle involving said faction. For Zeon it's the battle of A Baoa Qu, for Federation it's the battle against Char's forces in Char's Counterattack. Regardless of what the player does in moving their units or attacking enemies, the battles end the same way in canon. If playing on Disk 1(Zeon), then the narrator tells the player that Zeon has fallen, and the various splinter groups and remnants will not be able to achieve the "glory" they once had and subsequently raises the question of if Zeon's fall could be prevented. In the Federation Opening battle, the narrator states that through the Federation was saved due to Amuro's sacrifice, they were destined to stagnate and eventually collapse with the narrator asking if the Federation's collapse was inevitable or could they have transformed into a benevolent force, rather than remain a corrupt one. The game then begins in the early days of the One Year War.

The Federation campaign for the One Year War remains the same for the most part(except that the player could keep Yuu Kajima after the Blue Destiny events), however the Zeon campaign has the most changes.

• In OTL Gihren's Greed games it is not possible to keep Norris, Ghineas and Aina, and complete the Apsalus project, as the events play out the same way it does in canon(8th MS team). However in Legacy of Axis it is possible to both complete the Apsalus project AND not lose any of them.
• When the Federation launches Operation Star One, the player could TTL send Dolzle to defend Solomon in his Big Zam, which would decrease the enemy force. However if the battle lasts longer than one turn(each turn, battles have 5 phases), the player will be asked in the next strategy phase if they want to resupply Dolzle, if Dolzle is not resupplied, he dies the same way he does in canon. If he survives, the player can get the plans for mass-produced Big Zams, and the Big Zam Zabi family custom
  
• A major change comes from Garma surviving. If Char dosen't off Garma, Degwin dosen't try to talk to Revil, so the Solar Ray could be fired off when the Federation invades A Baoa Qu without Kycilia coming to kill Gihren for killing off their father. Firing the solar ray here actually incurs more losses from Federation forces.

Winning part 1 however is different, in OTL's AnKV, the player has 100 turns to win or suffer a game over. However here there are two endings that segway into part 2.

• Total Victory: As the Federation, capture Side 3, and as Zeon, capture Jaburo
• Stalemate: Fail to defeat the enemy by turn 100. If this ending is reached, no side takes the advantage in the OYW and instead the Earth Sphere settles into a Cold War

Campaign--Part 2:

Part 2 begins dependent on how Part 1 ends. If Part 1 ends with a Cold War, Part 2 begins with renewed hostilities between the Earth Federation and Zeon as a response to the EF producing the GP-series Gundams(Gundam 0083). If Part 1 ended with total victory, then Part 2 begins with the EF dealing with Zeon remnants under the Delaz fleet, or Zeon deals with the Titans under Jamitov, if Zeon's reputation is low enough, then they would have to deal with the AEUG too as the populace found the Zabis to be oppressors of another kind.

For Zeon, if Degwin was not blown up by Gihren earlier, Degwin dies of old age after victory over either the Titans and possibly AEUG if Part 1 ended with a total victory, or the Federation if Part 1 ended with a stalemate. If Degwin lives, part 2 opens with the player being able to choose who would succeed him: Gihren, Garma(provided he survived) or Kycilia. Garma provides a gain in reputation, Gihren provides a drop in reputation, and Kycilia gives no change. If Degwin dies as a result of Gihren firing the solar ray(meaning Garma is also dead too and Gihren dealt with Kycilia), than part 2 assumes that Gihren is the chosen successor and the player won't get any choice.

Also if Zeon hasn't dropped the colony onto Jaburo, they could do the same event in part 2. They can also create Cyber Newtype labs of their own after taking Titan(Or EF) bases in North America and using that data to reverse-engineer the Psycho Gundam, which creates the Psycho Gundam MK II.

For the Federation, Operation Stardust still happens if Part 1 ended with a stalemate, only this time ordered by Gihren himself to break the spine of the Federation.

Now here's the big thing about Zeon. After defeating initial enemies, a inevitable Zabi family civil war happens. Degwin dies, his sucessor takes power, and the other members of the Zabis will contest whatever decision he makes. This could be one on one or a three way battle depending on if Garma lived through the OYW or not. If Garma lives, and is picked as sucessor, the enemy will be Gihren no matter what. Kycilia will remain loyal to Garma and will not fight him. If Kycilia is picked as sucessor, the enemy will be Gihren, but if the player's reputation is low enough, it turns out on his deathbed, Degwin, fearing Kycilia will become another Gihren, tells Garma to "stop the madness", and the player has to deal with both of them. Obviously this does not happen if Garma bit the bullet. If Gihren is picked as the sucessor he will face Kycilia, if Garma survives the events of part 1 this becomes a three way battle.

If Gihren killed Degwin and is successor by default, Kycilia escapes from house arrest and rallies supporters agains Gihren.

Now some other events:

• If Dolzle survived the events of Solomon, then he will fight for either Garma or Kycilia if Garma is dead. He will not fight Garma even with low reputation and Garma selected as the sucessor.
• After a specific amount of turns the Axis fleet arrives led by Haman, they will side with whomever has the best reputation. If they player has bad reputation scores however, they can receive a message about Glemmy Toto deflecting from Axis, and if they accept Glemmy and his allies, they can build all the Axis mobile suits as well as recruit the Puru clones as pilots.
  
• Unless the player's reputation is high, any member of the Newtype Corps that survive the One Year War will join Kycilia, if Kycilia is selected as the sucessor, they will not leave Kycilia even with very low reputation points.
  
• There is a special three way battle with Gihren or Kycilia. However, it requires both Garma and Dolzle biting the bullet in Part 1. Normally this would just mean a 2 way between Gihren vs. Kycilia, however if both Garma and Dolzle die in part 1, Axis will still show up....and join the fray as it's own faction with Haman using Minerva as a puppet. In this case Glemmy and his allies will join Gihren no matter what(even if the player chooses Kycilia)

For the Federation, the big choice is to whether support the Titans or the AEUG. Establishing the Titans was either in response to renewed hostilities with Zeon or to deal with Zeon remnants if part 1 ended with total victory. As with canon they go out of control and start gassing colonies and the AEUG forms in response and the player could choose to side with either of them. If the player sides with the Titans they take a dip in reputation, but can gain the services of Paptimus Scirocco as a pilot and his mobile suit designs(culminating in The O and the Titania), build the cyber newtype institutions and assorted MS as well as Zeon-esque monoeye mobile suits such as the Hizack and the Marasi. Siding with the AEUG allows the player to build the Rick Dias, Hyaku Shiki, as well as the Zeta, ZZ and Sentinal series Gundams, as well as keep the adult versions of the White Base crew(they were with the AEUG ally organization Karaba) and Zeta-era Bright, as well as gain Kamille and eventually Judau as newtype pilots.

• An AEUG-Allied Federation can prevent Blex Forer's assassination with high intelligence, this leads to an early discrediting of the Titans
• No matter who the player sides with, Axis appears torwards the end of the Gryps conflict and plays the role they have at the end of Zeta Gundam, they become the enemy after either the Titans or the AEUG are dealt with.
  
• If the player sides with the AEUG, and Kamille is deployed in the final battle at Gryps, and the Titans have Scirocco, Kamille is rendered braindead if the battle is concluded beyond a certain amount of turns, through he would have also killed Scirocco as well.
• After the defeat of either the Titans or AEUG, Axis will invade earth and take some key points that the player will have to take back
  
• If the player sides with the Titans, but manages to restore their reputation to above 60%, Scirocco, after the defeat of the AEUG, asks for support of his plan of "reforming" the Titans. If the player agrees, than Jamitov and Bask are removed from the campaign and an event chain is started to rein in the more eregious excesses of the Titans, but maintain the authoritarian elements as a whole.
  
• If the player sides with the AEUG, they can try to reform the Federation from within and grant more autonomy and rights to the colonies, as well as get rid of hardliners and corrupt officials. A key result of this is that you get to organize a more successful evacuation of civilians when Axis tries to drop the colony on Dublin when it comes time to deal with Haman, as in canon extremely corrupt elements of the federation gridlocked efforts to save the population in order to enact population control
  
• The Titans do not have to deal with the colony being dropped when it comes time to deal with Axis, as they will blow it up with Gryps II.
  
• Axis' presence being removed from Earth in the Neo Zeon war will lead to Glemmy breaking away from Haman as he did in canon

Campaign--Part 3:

Part 3 is pretty much the CCA story, and for the most part similar to what it is in AnKV, but with a few differences.

• In the Zeon campaign, Char's movement is called the "True Zeon" movement, not "Neo Zeon" movement.
  
• In the Zeon campaign, if Lalah is still surviving at this point, on the Zeon Side, she will deflect to Char's True Zeon.
• If the player has really low reputation, and picked Kycilia as the sucessor to Degwin, and she wins the Zabi family civil war, then all the newtype corps will deflect along with Lalah to Char.
  
• If Apolly and Roberto are still with Zeon at this point, they will join Char instead. Same goes for if the player sides with the AEUG and gains their services as pilots
  
• In the Federation campaign, if Kamille dosen't go braindead, but an AEUG-allied Federation has low reputation, he will deflect to Neo Zeon and the latter will get the ability to create Zeta Gundams
• If the player allies with the AEUG, has low reputation in the Federation campaign, Judau will leave for Jupiter. Otherwise, he will remain with the Federation forces.
  
• In the Federation campaign, if Char takes Luna 2, he will attempt to drop it onto Earth. In both campaigns, if either Axis and Luna 2 are dropped onto Earth, the player gets a game over as earth is rendered uninhabitable. The player has less turns to capture them in contrast to OTL AnKV. Amuro can sacrifice himself to stop one of them assuming the player sided with AEUG and then created Londo Bell. Note that, unlike in canon, Char will not die with Amuro and thus cannot be killed in this manner.
  
• Initially Char cannot invade earth. However if the player takes Axis he gives up his plans of using the asteroid to force mankind into space and instead opts to force them through invasion of Earth.

Endings:

OOC NOTE: I understand these endings will be somewhat controversial(and they are the source of the controversey I mentioned). I do not endorse any political positions reflected in the endings, so I hope a mod understands this if I get complains about the nature of these endings.

The endings for the Federation and Zeon are dependent on various factors, the choices made by the player through the campaigns, as well as their reputation. This leads to a wide range of "good" and "evil" endings.

Zeon endings:

• If Degwin dies at the end of the OYW, or he lives and resigns to accepting Gihren as his sucessor, and Gihren defeats Kycilia(and also Garma if he lives), as well as Char's "True Zeon" movement, than in Gihren's evil ending he essentially rules as a totalitarian Nazi-esque Supreme Leader of the Earth Sphere. If the player selects Gihren as the sucessor and ends the game with max reputation(very hard to get as it pays better/is more rewarding to be "evil" in a Gihren playthrough), then Gihren remains a totalitarian Fascist, but drops his master race rhetoric and actually tries to use his genius intellect and the power afforded to him by his position as Supreme Leader to mastermind the Earth's recovery and engineer a new era of prosperity. In both good and evil endings, Gihren draws up plans to colonize Mars and Venus(in the evil ending, he specifically states that these planets will be "home to the master race") through it's implied that in the max reputation good ending, he has more resources to colonize and terraform these planets without needing to use his resources to "clense" earth of supposed undesirables
  
• If Degwin picks Kycilia as his sucessor, and she defeats either a still surviving Federation or the Titans(and the AEUG with low reputation), and after that defeats Gihren(or with low reputation, a surviving Garma too), as well as Char, then she rules as Supreme Empress of the Earth Sphere with an iron heel in her "evil ending, using an army of Newtypes and Cyber Newtypes and appropriating the Augusta and Murasame labs for Zeon's own uses to create said army(her "evil ending" cinematic shows an army of Psyco Gundam mk IIs and Perfect Zeongs marching down a city). Alternatively, in her good ending she is still an absolute monarch, through authoritarian to a degree, and works with Garma to rebuild the Earth sphere and achieve a degree of reconciliation between Earthnoids and Spacenoids, through there is still unrest. Eventually Zeon gradually transitions into a constitutional monarchy after her death, when Minerva becomes her sucessor with Kycilia herself childless.
  
• If Garma survives the One Year War, and Degwin picks Garma as his sucessor, he would rule as Emperor of the Earthsphere. The good ending has him achieve a quick reconciliation with Federation remnants, particuarly with the help of his earthborn wife, Icelina. He also rules as a constitutional monarch, and democracy is restored in the Earth Sphere. This leads to a golden age of peace and prosperity, as well as space colonization and exploration, through the Earthsphere. Alternatively, if the player gets the evil ending, he gradually gets corrupted by power and rules the Earth Sphere with an Iron fist.

Federation endings:

• If the player chooses to back the Titans at every single opportunity, and end the game with low reputation, the evil ending sees Revil gets shafted by Jamitov and Bask, who rule the Earth sphere with an Iron fist as the Titans gradually dominate the Federation military and the government. Alternatively, if the player somehow manages to recover their reputation, Jamitov and Bask are sidelined and put out to pasture, and the Titans are reformed and fall under the control of Scirocco. Society remains oppressive, but Scirocco is not as wanton about using nukes and chemical weapons as the former leadership did and focuses more on using his charisma and a degree of soft power. Everyone who toes the line essentially gets to live a peaceful and orderly life. Sure, this is an order imposed by a fascist, military dictatorship. It's not going to be nice. But at least there is no desire to use harsh force and mass murder to achieve everything. So essentially we get an unpleasant, but somewhat quasi-benevolent dictatorship.
  
• If the player turns against the Titans and integrate the AEUG into the Earth Federation forces, and then go on to defeat Haman and later Char, the max reputation good ending has the Earth Federation's corruption rooted out and referendums being held in regards to the colonies to determine independence. Newtypes are treated with more dignity rather than being used as weapons. The hardliners in the Federation government are removed and replaced with moderates and progressive politicians open to more space migration and autonomy/self-rule for the colonies. Finally, Revil retires, and is succeeded by Bright. The Earth Sphere settles into a golden age of peace and space exploration/colonization, and this is the "optimal" ending compared to everything else.
  
• The most depressing ending however, is if the player sides with the AEUG.......and ends the game with low reputation. The "evil" ending is that the Federation fails to reform and remains corrupt and negligent, eventually stagnating. This is the ending closest to how "canon" went down in the Universal Century.

Reception:

While very popular in Japan, Legacy of Axis received mixed reviews in western reviews. Critics criticized the tedious nature of the game and steep leaning curve, as well as the difficulty, but praised the open ended scenarios and the storyline. The game sell modestly in the west however, and is a cult classic among Gundam fans, through fans criticized that the extra factions are more of bonus scenarios that aren't as deep as the Federation and Zeon grand campaigns.

The game has also received a degree of controversy for some of the endings, particuarly the "good" Gihren and Scirocco endings due to their intrepreted implications that a Fascist dictatorship could allow for prosperity and stability if they "acted nice". Jack Thompson himself had caught word of the content of the endings and tried to sue SEGA for "pro-Nazi" content, through said lawsuit was a failure.

 

[RySenkari]

(Authors' Note: I've been discussing with a reader about what the name for TTL's alternate history timeline depicting OTL should be, where the POD is Nintendo and Sony never coming together for the SNES-CD. Should it be Game Over, or Abandoned At The Altar? Feel free to give feedback on this, it'll be utilized in something we're working on down the road.)

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(And now it's time for the annual network TV recap for the 2001-02 season!)

ABC:

ABC had a rough season in 2001-02. Their top rated gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? pretty much fell off the map in the fall of 2001, and their top rated drama The Practice had a significant ratings decline and fell out of the top 25. The lone bright spot was sophomore sensation Sheffield, which not only was the fifth highest rated show of the year, but won a slew of awards at the 2001 Emmys, including Best Comedy. The show, described by some as "Friends, but smarter" and by others as "Thirtysomething for Generation X", became somewhat more of a dramedy in its second season, but retained its sharp sense of humor and remained a fan favorite. The Mole's second season had a slight ratings boost, remaining TV's second most popular reality show, and new action series Horizon, which revolves around a Delta Force captain who is contracted by a mysterious government agent for secret missions, was a ratings bright spot in an otherwise disappointing year.

CBS:

CBS and NBC continued to battle it out for primetime domination in 2001-02. Mighty Megan became TV's #1 show for the year, narrowly edging out fellow CBS show Survivor for the top spot. Between her hit TV show and her role as the titular villain in Disney's The Snow Queen, Megan Mullaly had become one of entertainment's biggest stars, and the network made sure to remind people of that fact every chance they got. CBS' biggest new show was Stone, a police procedural starring Dana Delany as a no-nonsense police chief. Stone beat out CBS' other big cop show, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which continues to do well in the ratings but hasn't become the breakout hit it was once expected to be. Though CBS' shows skew somewhat older than rival NBC's (which caused the network to lose to NBC in the key 18-49 demographic), the network is still quite profitable and looks to have a very good crop of shows for 2002-03.

NBC:

NBC has begun to enter its post-Must See TV era, though it continues to lead the way with younger-skewing comedies. In particular, new comedies Inside Schwartz and Speed Dating were big successes in their rookie years, and Friends and Freaks And Geeks continued to chug along. Will and Grace saw a bit of a decline, but remained in the top 25, while Frasier at #13 continues to be a hit. It was a great year for NBC's dramas, with ER, Law and Order, The West Wing, and The Fixer all finishing within the top 11, while Friends and The Fixer finished in the top 5 among viewers aged 18-49. NBC continues to be the #1 network among younger adults, and ads for top shows like Friends continue to command some of the highest ad rates on TV. It's likely that NBC will continue to target younger viewers with its next crop of new shows, though its current hits don't show any signs of slowing down.

FOX:

Fox saw most of its new hits from last year, including Temptation Island, collapse in the ratings. However, the network debuted an excellent crop of new shows that should ensure the network will see better days in the years ahead. The highest rated new show was Gainfully Employed, a sitcom about four brothers working in various jobs out of college. One brother has found fortune as a high-ranking executive, another brother slaves away as a cubicle jockey, another is working a blue collar factory job, and the final brother is working at a fast food place and mooching off the others. It's said to be Fox's funniest new live action comedy since Married With Children, and has been an unexpected but massive ratings smash. Fox has also had success with a pair of action dramas: Line Of Fire, a cop show starring Sinbad, and 24, an action show that's found itself suddenly very timely due to its terrorism-related subject matter. While 24 finished just outside the top 25, Line of Fire finished just inside, and both will be getting new seasons. Perhaps Fox's most intriguing success has been Fear Factor, hosted by actor Kiefer Sutherland, a reality show where contestants perform incredible stunts and conquer their fears for a $100,000 cash prize. Though the show has been compared to last year's You'd Have To Be Crazy!, Fear Factor relies less on gross-out stunts and more on action (indeed, Sutherland only agreed to host the show if the initially planned "gross out" stunts were replaced with more action-based stunts). Fox also plans a singing competition show, American Idol, for this summer.

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Top 25 Rated Network Television Programs Of 2001-02:

1. Mighty Megan (CBS)
2. Survivor (CBS)
3. Monday Night Football (ABC)
4. Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS)
5. Sheffield (ABC)
6. ER (NBC)
7. Friends (NBC)
8. Stone (CBS)
9. The West Wing (NBC)
10. Law And Order (NBC)
11. The Fixer (NBC)
12. 60 Minutes (CBS)
13. Frasier (NBC)
14. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
15. Gainfully Employed (FOX)
16. The Mole (ABC)
17. Freaks And Geeks (NBC)
18. Speed Dating (NBC)
19. Judging Amy (CBS)
20. Fear Factor (FOX)
21. Million Dollar Mayhem (NBC)
22. Inside Schwartz (NBC)
23. Horizon (ABC)
24. Will And Grace (NBC)
25. Line Of Fire (FOX)

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Sinbad, 24, And The Fox Network Foxtrot

When Fox debuted 24 in the fall of 2001, the timing couldn't have been better. 9/11 had the public's mind focused on terrorism, and 24 based itself around counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer's efforts to stop an assassination attempt on the first black presidential candidate for a major party, Senator David Palmer (played by Dennis Haysbert). Though the show, which took place over the course of one 24 hour day, was certainly riveting, some key stumbles in both casting and execution ultimately doomed the show after only two seasons. To play Jack Bauer, producers had originally wanted Kiefer Sutherland to take the part. However, Sutherland had other commitments at the time (he was playing a supporting role in the film Lost And Forsaken, a forgettable period drama that took in $48 million in North America) and was unable to take on the demanding role. Instead, the role of Jack Bauer went to actor Richard Burgi, a casting move that in retrospect would come to be considered a mistake by critics. Sutherland did show interest in working with Fox on a project later on, and would become the host of Fox's Fear Factor, contributing greatly to that show's success. Leslie Hope played the role of Bauer's wife Teri, while young Canadian actress Kristin Fairlie won the role of Jack's daughter Kim (initially the part had been designed for an older actress, but Fairlie so impressed the producers that Kim was re-written as a 14-year-old middle schooler).

At the same time that Fox was getting ready to debut 24, they were also getting ready to debut Line of Fire, a police procedural centering around a cop named Lyle Mitchell, played by comedian Sinbad. Sinbad had expressed interest in working on a more serious project, and in Line of Fire, his character would investigate and pursue especially dangerous criminals, frequently saving people from meeting violent ends. His "partner", so to speak, was newspaper writer and wannabe crime novelist Ellie Sinclair (played by Lyssa Fielding), who frequently helped Lyle on his cases. Initially, he's reluctant to let Ellie help him out, but after realizing that they make a good team, he starts letting her help him more. Ellie became a fan favorite, and Fielding's chemistry with Sinbad helped the show gain fans. Though Lyle and Ellie were never in a romantic relationship (Ellie was dating a schoolteacher played by Michael Hollick), the two worked very well together and fans speculated that they might eventually start a romance down the road. However, it was not to be. In the midseason finale, which aired on December 12, 2001, Ellie was killed by a bullet meant for Lyle. Ellie wasn't killed off because of anything having to do with Fielding (indeed, producers regretted killing her character off because they and the cast enjoyed working with her so much). It was a writing decision meant to bring more drama to the show and to demonstrate that just because Sinbad was playing the lead role, that the show really was serious. The fan backlash threatened to doom the show, but ratings bounced back quickly and Line of Fire remained one of Fox's strongest shows that year, as the show covered the fallout from Ellie's death and Lyle's quest to bring justice to her killer.

Which brings us back to 24. After Jack Bauer had brought down those responsible for the assassination attempt on Palmer (not a white nationalist group or a domestic terrorist group as initially speculated, but instead a group of Serbian war criminals who wanted revenge on both Palmer and Bauer for a military strike gone bad during the Yugoslavian War), he returned to CTU to find that his wife Teri had been taken hostage by Nina Myers, a CTU agent and former paramour of Bauer who revealed herself to be a mole in the season finale. Bauer found his wife tied to a chair, but she was unharmed, and Bauer, his wife, and his daughter were left relieved that the harrowing day was finally over. Initially, however, producers had something different in mind: Bauer was to find his wife Teri dead, having been shot by Nina on her way out of CTU. However, producers changed their mind after the reaction to Ellie's death on Line of Fire, not wanting 24 to suffer the same ratings drop that its cousin show had. "We chickened out," producer Joel Surnow would say, realizing later on that he should have gone with the initial "Teri dies" ending. 24 was renewed for a second season, but ultimately, ratings went into a decline due to Burgi's ineffectual performance as Bauer and the lack of intrigue following the cliched ending to season one. Line Of Fire would go on to have a successful five season run on Fox, showing that ultimately, despite the initial fan shock at losing such a beloved character, a show could indeed survive killing off a major character early in its run.

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Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones was released on May 16, 2002. The film continued 10 years after the events of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, with Jonathan Brandis playing an older Anakin Skywalker, still a Padawan under his Master Obi-Wan Kenobi's tutelage, but on the cusp of becoming a Jedi Knight. Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, and Samuel L. Jackson all reprised their roles from Episode I, while Christopher Lee plays Darth Sidious' new apprentice and the leader of the Seperatists, Count Dooku. Catherine McCormack plays Dooku's trusted lieutenant Asajj Ventress, who Dooku is secretly training as his own apprentice in order to usurp Sidious at a later time. Haley Joel Osment reprises his role as Anakin Skywalker in a number of flashbacks that chronicle Anakin's early Jedi training and his emotional turmoil at being separated from his mother and his home planet of Tatooine, which are used to develop Anakin's current misgivings about his role as a Jedi Knight.

The film focuses heavily on Anakin Skywalker, and in the middle of the film, there is a somewhat lengthy romantic sequence between Anakin and Padme on the planet of Naboo. This part does drag on a bit long, though it does receive some praise for its dialogue and the realistic development of the romance between Anakin and Padme. This stands in somewhat stark contrast to the film's initial script, which contained a great deal of cringeworthy dialogue bordering on cheesy. The change can be attributed to the work of Carrie Fisher, who was brought in as a script doctor for all three prequel films. Initially, George Lucas was reluctant to take many of Fisher's suggestions, but once again, it was Lucas' friend Steven Spielberg who convinced him to swallow some of his pride and allow Fisher to make the changes she believed she needed to make. Spielberg praised Fisher's work on the script for 1991's Hook, and told Lucas that Anakin's character was at the heart of the entire trilogy and that his dialogue needed to be realistic and believable or the film wouldn't work. Lucas relented, and Fisher's changes became a part of the final script, including Anakin's dialogue to Padme after slaughtering an entire camp of Tusken Raiders following the murder of his mother. The initial script had Anakin blatantly stating to Padme that he had killed the women and children of the camp. The final script still has Anakin stating that he slaughtered the entire camp, but instead of going into detail about it, he talks about how the Jedi have allowed chaos and criminality to fester throughout the galaxy, echoing sentiments expressed by Dooku and Ventress in a conversation they have earlier in the film.

As for Ventress, she too plays an important role as a sort of parallel to Anakin. She receives significantly more dialogue than Darth Maul did in Episode I, and Dooku is shown to be much closer to her than he is to Sidious, casting him in a sympathetic light as he treats Ventress more like a daughter than an apprentice. During the final confrontation on Geonosis, while Obi-Wan Kenobi does battle with Dooku, Anakin squares off with Ventress, and Ventress tries to pull him to the dark side by appealing to the sympathies Anakin already holds with the Separatists' goals, attempting to seduce him (with logic, not with her body) even as the two engage in a fierce lightsaber battle that both shows how formidable Ventress is and how far Anakin has come as a Jedi. After seeing that Anakin will not be swayed, however, Ventress goes all out and eventually gets the upper hand (and after Anakin has a momentary distraction realizing Obi-Wan is in danger, she cuts one of his hands off). However, before Ventress can finish off Anakin, Dooku informs her that they need to escape (because Yoda has shown up and bested Dooku). The film ends with a realization that the Clone Wars have begun (due to the Separatists declaring all out war on the Republic and the Republic coming into possession of a massive clone army), and a secret wedding between Anakin (now with a new artificial hand) and Padme on Naboo.

Ultimately, Episode II is considered a flawed, but good, Star Wars film. It drags on at times (in terms of length, it's the longest Star Wars film), the romance between Anakin and Padme especially. But the initial script, before Carrie Fisher's work on it, shows how bad the film could have been. Asajj Ventress received special praise and became one of the most popular cinematic characters (and though she would play only a small role in Episode III, she would feature heavily in the Clone Wars animated series, with Catherine McCormack reprising her role). Jonathan Brandis' performance as Anakin Skywalker was also praised, though his somewhat cocky performance did annoy a segment of the fanbase. Brandis would later credit the role with helping him greatly during a time when he was suffering from depression and anxiety, and would go on to a number of other film and television roles after performing as Anakin in Episode II and Episode III (and, like McCormack, reprising his role in The Clone Wars).

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May 12, 2002

"Oh my god...!"

Lyssa Fielding couldn't contain her excitement as she walked, half-skipped over to Carrie Fisher. Fisher was with her guest that night, film legend Debbie Reynolds, and the two smiled at Lyssa as she went over to them. Carrie knew Lyssa, though Debbie had trouble recognizing her.

"Lyssa, glad you could make it," said Fisher, looking over at her mom. "Mom, this is Lyssa Fielding, she's an amazing young actress and she was also in a show on MTV about video games."

"That's why I don't recognize her then!" said Reynolds with a laugh, before leaning over to give Fielding a hug. "You are so beautiful!"

"Oh, so are you, both of you!" said Fielding, hugging Reynolds tightly. "I love your work, I grew up wanting to sing just like you."

Lyssa grew up loving Singin' In The Rain, The Unsinkable Molly Brown was another favorite of hers, and Charlotte's Web was one of her favorite animated films growing up. Of course, what she really loved was Star Wars, and as amazing as getting to meet Debbie Reynolds was for Lyssa, getting to see Carrie Fisher again, especially at the premiere of a Star Wars movie, was even more incredible.

"I'm still kicking myself that we never got you on GameTV," said Fielding, placing a hand on Fisher's shoulder.

"I know, I didn't have the time," she replied. "It looked like fun though. I saw when you had Mark on there."

"Yeah, that was awesome," said Fielding, recalling when Mark Hamill came on GameTV during the week that Episode I was releasing in theaters. "How are you and your mom doing these days?"

"Well, it's been kind of rough, to be honest," said Fisher, looking over at her mother and smiling. "But now we're closer than ever and I love spending time with her."

Lyssa felt a brief pang of sadness go through her...she and her own mother had been estranged for more than a decade, only seeing each other very rarely. Fisher could sense Lyssa's sadness and responded with a question of her own.

"What about you and your mom, are you two still...?"

"It's been so long," said Fielding, shaking her head. "I'm doing okay. I don't think about her very often, I've been so busy."

"Oh, I'm sure she wants to see you, even if she hasn't reached out," said Reynolds warmly. "You should call her, at least, let her know you're doing okay. I'm sure she misses you."

"Believe me, mothers and daughters can go through some really rough patches, but they can patch things up too," said Fisher. "It's up to you, though. If you feel like you're better off without her, that's your decision to make and don't let anybody tell you otherwise. But if you feel like you need her, then there's no harm in reaching out."

Lyssa nodded and smiled.

"Thank you," she said, pulling Fisher in for a quick hug. "It was really nice to see the two of you."

"Mom, you should listen to her sing," said Fisher, smiling as she and Fielding parted from the hug. The young blonde blushed at being put on the spot in front of two of her idols like this. "Go on, just a couple of bars really quick."

Lyssa sang a quick verse from Megan Mullaly's showstopping villain song from The Snow Queen. Her voice was strong and even though she was nervous, she was perfectly in tune, her voice only breaking for a brief moment.

"Oh, lovely!" said Reynolds, who sounded impressed. Fielding wasn't on her level, but was definitely good enough to make a career of singing professionally if she wished. "Fantastic!"

"Told you she was good," Fisher said, patting Fielding on the back.

"She'd better be good, she's got this enormous thing to sing out of!" said Reynolds, hovering her hands over Fielding's chest and causing her to break out into hysterical laughter.

"I love you!" giggled Lyssa, smooching Reynolds on the cheek before turning to Fisher. "If things don't work out with my mom, I'm gonna take yours home with me!"

The three women laughed together, even posing for some pictures as reporters came by. Eventually, the three parted, and Lyssa made a mental note to get in touch with her mother as soon as possible.

"Hopefully we can have something like they have..."

 

[The Walkman]

And now, I present to you all: the first five in my countdown of THE TOP 100 QUOTES FROM GAME OVER!

All the usernames aside from RySenkari's are bad puns on actual commenters' usernames around here.

#100.

After learning the original Game TV hosts are nobodies ITTL, I’m wondering what will happen to the hosts that have recently been announced for the reboot. You’ve already mentioned Austin Watson, saying he breaks a record of some sort ITTL…

I will give you a hint on Austin’s record: he breaks it along with two other people.

Um…OK. Now I’m stumped. What the hell kind of record do you share with two other people?

#99.

I will never forgive you guys for depriving me of knowing the joy of the beautiful Lyssa Fielding. Her amazing cleavage helped me through puberty.

Excuse me…I need a moment. (catches breath)

#98.

I still can’t believe you guys killed Jeff Buckley. Just because his father met an untimely end, doesn’t mean he has to…look at Hank Williams, Jr. for reference!

#97.

I’m legitimately scared for the development of the Game Boy systems now that Yokoi-San is out of the picture. Why did you kill off such an awesome man?

I think you’ll be pleased to hear that the Game Boy’s legacy will at least turn out roughly the same as OTL. Also, Yokoi may be out of the picture, but certain others will still be in it ITTL.

#96.

Wait, wait, wait…Tales of the Seven Seas is butterflied away, but somehow One Piece still exists? How does THAT happen?

Indeed. I can sense the ASBs at work…

It was initially a mistake on our part, but now that I look at the history of One Piece, I can say that we’ve decided to keep the manga and anime intact ITTL. Eiichiro Oda still works writing for Rurouni Kenshin in late 1995, and he has said before that he was not only inspired by Tales of the Seven Seas, but also by an obscure German-produced anime called Vicky the Viking. This is what ultimately morphs into his inspiration to create One Piece ITTL, and even though there are significant changes to it from OTL, it’s still around.

I can live with this. One Piece is one of my favorite manga series (the fact that I dressed up as Monkey D. Ruffy for Halloween two years ago should prove that!), so I’m happy it survives.

 

[RySenkari]

Spy School

Created by Skyward Animation (the new name of Curious Pictures after its acquisition by Vincent Chalvon-Demersay), Spy School is a joint French-American animated series, created by Tom Warburton and Mo Willems, and written by Warburton, Willems, and Robert and Michelle Lamoreaux. The series is a sort of hybrid of the OTL cartoons Codename: Kids Next Door and Totally Spies. The animation is in a style that resembles Japanese anime, halfway between OTL Teen Titans and Totally Spies. The series revolves around a large school complex (think a high-tech Hogwarts) where teenagers are trained to be international superspies in order to battle evil villains of all shapes and sizes. Unlike in Totally Spies, where the spies are pulled out of their normal, everyday lives to serve as secret agents, the agents in Spy School live at the school, and in addition to their spy classes, they also learn normal subjects. Also, the spies' immediate family members know about their double lives, though if they have friends outside of the school, they are expected to keep it a secret from them (though over the course of the series, people outside the school DO learn about the spies' double lives, which sometimes leads to them becoming students at the school themselves). Like Codename: Kids Next Door and Totally Spies, much of the fun of the series comes from the huge variety of unique and special gadgets employed by both the heroes and villains over the course of the series. There's also plenty of slick combat moves and acrobatics, and the show takes numerous tropes from classic spy thrillers like James Bond and also from shows like Charlie's Angels.

There are many, many characters, both hero and villain, that appear over the course of the show. There are six "main" characters who form the central spy team and who get the most screen time and character development. These characters are:

Nigel: Like his OTL counterpart from Codename: Kids Next Door, Nigel is the leader of the team. He shares some traits with his OTL counterpart (he's a tough, determined leader and he has a British accent), but in other ways he's different (for example, he's not bald). Over the course of the series, Nigel develops from a stern, no-nonsense, overly bossy leader to a deeply sensitive leader who can perfectly manage a group of agents and inspires nearly all of them. Like his OTL counterpart, Nigel is voiced by Ben Diskin.

Jeremy: Jeremy is the team jock, a musclebound kid with red hair who is SORT of like Lee from the OTL Totally Spies spinoff The Amazing Spiez. He's a bit of a brickhead, but unlike many typical cartoon jocks who are stereotypical bullies, Jeremy is quite nice, even if he's a bit overconfident. Over the course of the series, Jeremy realizes that there's more to the world than sports and weightlifting, and discovers that he's actually quite intelligent. He's voiced by Greg Cipes.

Howie: Howie is somewhat of a tech nerd, whose OTL equivalent would be Hoagie from Codename: Kids Next Door. A bit of a klutz and a social outcast, Howie is sort of Jeremy's opposite in that he has a major self-confidence problem, and often chokes during important moments. Over the course of the series, he gains confidence in himself and becomes an invaluable member of the team, capable of not only technical wizardry, but some surprisingly impressive spy moves. He's voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.

Chloe: Chloe is a blonde, bubbly valley girl, whose OTL equivalent is Clover from Totally Spies. Despite her boy-crazy, makeup-obsessed nature, she's a true friend and a quick learner. Despite occasional bouts of whining at a broken nail, Chloe is brave and fierce and will jump into the fray to protect her friends. Over the course of the series, Chloe goes from being a somewhat selfish stereotypical valley girl to a confident, capable spy and a true heroine. Chloe is voiced by Andrea Taylor.

Sara: A redheaded overachiever, Sara is sort of a hybrid of the OTL Sam and Alex from Totally Spies. She excels in both academics and athletics, and can be compared somewhat to OTL Kim Possible, without Kim's confidence. Though Sara is talented and blessed, she's also extremely insecure, and doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. Over the course of the series, Sara finds her true calling and how to utilize her gifts to help everyone. She's voiced by Jennifer Hale.

Cree: Cree is the character who undergoes the most development in the series. She's a hybrid of OTL Abigail and Cree Lincoln from Codename: Kids Next Door, a fierce, determined, brave girl who, over time, starts to be swayed away from the heroic spies toward the forces of evil, ultimately betraying the team at the end of season two, and for the rest of the series, sort of goes through a "Heel Face Revolving Door" phase before finally realizing that the spies at the school are her true friends and that she should renounce evil for good. She's voiced by Cree Summer.

Spy School starts out very slapstick and comedic, with season one consisting of nearly entirely "villain of the day" episodes with little in the way of an overarching plotline. It's not until season two, which introduces the villainous Syndicate of Evil, that the series begins to morph into a blend of comedy, action, romance, and drama that ultimately make it one of the most beloved cartoons of the decade. The Syndicate of Evil, which remains a villainous presence throughout seasons 2-5, starts out as a sort of stereotypical villainous organization with a leader cloaked in shadow, a sort of riff on SPECTRE from James Bond. However, the Syndicate is much, much more: it perpetuates itself by recruiting especially talented heroes and persuading them to become villains. Ultimately, it's two characters: Cree and Elliot, who are the most consequential Syndicate members. Elliot and Cree both start out as recruits at the school, and Elliot's betrayal early in season two deeply affects Cree. When she joins the Syndicate, it's because of Elliot, but ultimately, Elliot's goals go much deeper than Cree's, and by season five, Elliot has become the main villain of the series, while Cree has permanently rejoined the team. Elliot has twisted the Syndicate's mission from a typical international criminal organization to an entity that seeks to find and brainwash all competent teen spies in order to use them to rule over the world and eventually conquer the entire universe. The final confrontation, which brings together heroes and villains from the entire series in one climactic final battle (whose final four episodes air as a Cartoon Network TV movie special in 2007) is as epic as they come, and a fitting end for the series that sees all the team members graduate from college and begin their adult lives.

Spy School starts out as a moderately successful show after its debut on April 26, 2002. It would air five seasons of 26 half-hour episodes each, airing the finale movie during the summer of 2007. During that time it would become one of Cartoon Network's most successful shows (at a couple points during its run it's the highest rated show on the network) and a massive international hit, with a fandom all over the world and especially online. It essentially supplants Teen Titans (which doesn't exist, at least in cartoon form, ITTL) as Cartoon Network's big "fandom show" of the mid-2000s, with tens of thousands of fics on fanfiction.net, hundreds of thousands of pieces of fanart, huge fan communities, and enormous shipping wars. Though the "canon" ships end up being Nigel/Rachel (Rachel is an analogue of OTL's Rachel/Numbuh 362 from Codename: Kids Next Door and is voiced by Rachael MacFarlane), Howie/Sara, Jeremy/Chloe, and Cree/Victor (Victor is a character brought in during season 4 who is a sort of "bounty hunter" who at first has a deep distrust of Cree but ultimately helps to bring her back from her final heel turn), there's plenty of material for every major pairing in the show, with all 21 possible "main six" pairings having some sort of fan community based around them (especially Nigel/Cree, which was an actual pairing at certain points in the show, is one of the show's three most popular pairings, and when the ship was finally sunk in season five, a massive fan backlash erupted). Its impact is still being felt as of TTL 2016, and it remains one of the most popular cartoons of the new millennium.

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*A scene of space is shown, zooming in on a lush, Earth-like planet.*

Narrator (Peter Cullen): On an ancient world, three great kingdoms have been engaged in a decades-long war.

*Scenes of warfare are shown.*

Narrator: And a new discovery threatens to upset that delicate balance...

*Takudo leans over a small flame, which engulfs him to the horror of onlooking villagers.*

Narrator: Out of the fires of the past and into the winds of the present come great fighting machines known only to the ancients as the legendary Gundams...

*The Flaming Gundam stands tall with its fire sword weapon.*

Serai: *gasps as she comes up from being held underwater* Help me!!!

*Takudo pilots the Flame Gundam and attacks a bunch of soldiers.*

Narrator: A thousand years ago, their power ravaged the world. Now, only their power can save it.

*Scenes of the Oceanic Gundam, the Stoneheart Gundam, the Metalwork Gundam, and the Yggdrasil Gundam are shown.*

Serai: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaah! *screams as she pilots the Oceanic Gundam toward a large monster*

Soldier: What are they? Are they gods?

Soldier #2: Their power is incredible!

Lasht: I don't believe it...

Kakui: Taste the fist of the Stonehearted King! *pilots the Stoneheart Gundam into a giant siege tower*

*The Flaming Gundam and the Metalwork Gundam clash as the ground shakes around them.*

Narrator: But old habits die hard, and the temptation of power is hard to resist.

Arcturus: With these new weapons, we could be unstoppable.

Lasht: But at what cost?

Algan: *as he walks through a flaming city* I will never forgive you for this.

Ashura: *smiling as an eclipse falls across the sky*

Narrator: A new generation of heroes takes flight.

Takudo: Everyone, join me! We'll do this together!

Virei: Yeah, let's go! *flies into the air on the Windswept Gundam*

Serai: Takudo, I'm here. *holds his hand*

*More scenes of battle and a variety of other Gundams are shown, both in battle and emerging from the bodies of various characters.*

Narrator: The 20th anniversary Gundam celebration comes to Western shores in the greatest clash of giant robots ever witnessed.

*More battle scenes are shown, concluding with Takudo and his Flaming Gundam leaping into battle.*

Takudo: I'll never let you kill those people! My burning fire protects the innocent and scorches evil!

*The Flaming Gundam is seen clashing with the Savage Gundam, a massive Gundam with military green armor, a huge cannon on its chest, and huge blades for arms.*

Narrator: Gundam Soul. Premieres Monday, June 3rd. It's heart...

*Takudo is shown holding hands with and facing Serai.*

Narrator: And soul.

*The five main heroes are shown summoning their Gundams.*

Narrator: Only Toonami.

-from the Gundam Soul Toonami promo ad, which began airing in May 2002

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Gundam Soul

Written and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, Gundam Soul was created as part of the 20th Anniversary Celebration for the Gundam series. It was created alongside Gundam Unity, a 16-episode OAV series which was designed to unify the stories of all the previous Gundam series into the same continuity. Taken together, the two works effectively replace OTL's Turn A Gundam, with Gundam Unity released in 1999 and Gundam Soul in 2000. Ultimately, Gundam Soul, which takes place in a new continuity without any link to previous Gundam series, would become far more popular in both Japan and in the West. Gundam Soul is the most fantasy-based Gundam to date. Its Gundams utilize biotechnology and spiritual energy, and the series has less of a sci-fi aesthetic to it than previous series. There are five main heroes: Takudo, Serai, Kakui, Algan, and Lasht. Their Gundams correspond to the five elements of the Wu Xing: Fire, water, earth, wood, and metal. There are other Gundams throughout the series, some with elemental properties and others that don't correspond to a specific element at all. The final villain of the series, for instance, wields the Millennium Gundam.

Gundam Soul takes place on the planet Reshita, in a distant arm of a distant galaxy. The planet's technological level falls somewhere between medieval and early industrial. On Reshita there are three great kingdoms (Ishida, Mokudei, and Hagane) who hold sway over their own domains but who occasionally clash for land or resources. On the outskirts of one of one of these kingdoms lives Takudo and his friend, a young woman named Serai. Takudo and Serai's village is only rarely touched by war, though many farmers in the village make a decent living selling food to the nearby towns in Ishida and Hagane territory. One day, the village is set upon by a large winged beast, and Takudo discovers a mysterious flame as he takes a group of villagers out of the area. He is drawn to the flame, and when he touches it, it consumes him. The horrified villagers, thinking Takudo has been killed, flee the area, but Takudo isn't dead, instead, he's accepted the core of the Flaming Gundam into his body, and now has the ability to summon it at will. Takudo uses the power of the Flaming Gundam to fend off the bird, but the fire nearly destroys Takudo's village in the process. Takudo vows never to use the Flaming Gundam again, and keeps its power a secret...though Serai, who was watching, knows of the Gundam. One day, members of the Ishidan Army raid the village because they believe Hagane fugitives are in hiding there. They take Serai hostage and threaten to kill her by drowning. Takudo reluctantly uses the Flaming Gundam to fight back, revealing its existence. However, Takudo doesn't want to fight close to the village, which the soldiers use to their advantage and are able to get him to dissipate the Gundam so they can capture him as a human. As they are about to kill him, another Gundam appears: the Oceanic Gundam. The Oceanic Gundam chases off the soldiers. It is then revealed that Serai, while she was being held under the water, made contact with the core of the Gundam and accepted it into her body. Takudo and Serai decide to go to the nearby Ishidan kingdom on a peacekeeping mission to try and keep the Ishidan soldiers out of the town. There, they meet the Ishidan king, Kakui. Kakui is young and strong, boisterous and brave, and despite Takudo and Serai's fears, Kakui is a good man. His soldiers, however, can be overzealous and at times cruel, because they don't respect the young king whose only desire is to make peace and protect his people. Most of the Ishidan people admire Kakui, and Takudo and Serai inspire him to join them on their peacekeeping journey. In an early episode, Kakui accepts the core of the Stoneheart Gundam, gaining its power. It takes somewhat more time to recruit Algan and Lasht. Algan and his Yggdrasil (wood) Gundam are in fact the last to join Takudo, and at first, Algan is the main villain of the series, after Takudo's Gundam accidentally burns the Mokudei capital (a massive loss of life is only prevented by Serai and her Gundam's interference at the last minute). Lasht and his Metalwork Gundam come on somewhat reluctantly, but Lasht, like Kakui, joins Takudo and Serai because he also desires the war between the kingdoms to end. It's from Lasht's kingdom that the series' true main villain emerges: Arcturus, the lead engineer of Hagane. A brilliant inventor, it's Arcturus who tries to encourage Lasht's kingdom to reverse engineer the Metalwork Gundam once it emerges, and who discovers that Reshita was once home to an extremely advanced civilization that destroyed itself a thousand years before in an apocalyptic clash of Gundams. Arcturus' main lieutenant is Ashura, a beautiful woman who was once Lasht's betrothed. She pilots the Eclipse Gundam and leads a coup against Lasht's family after Lasht leaves his kingdom. Eventually, it's Arcturus and Ashura's acceleration of the war that causes Algan to abandon his vendetta against Takudo and join up with him. There are other Gundam-piloting characters, some friend, some foe, including Virei, pilot of the Windswept Gundam. Virei starts out as a somewhat excitable, energetic girl, but becomes sort of the Woobie of the series (in the same way that Allenby did in G Gundam to some extent). Virei eventually finds her happy ending (and romance with Kakui), but goes through a lot in order to get there. Eventually, Arcturus discovers much of the ancient technology, and uses it to turn Hagane into a technological fortress from which he hopes to conquer all. He eventually discovers the Millennium Gundam, which was the Gundam that caused much of the destruction of the world 1000 years before. In the next to last episode, Ashura turns on Arcturus and sacrifices herself after declaring her love for Lasht, putting up a fierce fight with her Eclipse Gundam but ultimately falling to the Millennium Gundam's power. It takes the five main heroes and their allies working together in one enormous, epic battle to defeat Arcturus and his Millennium Gundam and save the world. After Arcturus' defeat, the heroes all agree to renounce their Gundams and extract their cores to prevent another war like the one that once ravaged their world.

Gundam Soul debuts on Toonami in late spring of 2002. Its 52 episodes air daily from June to August of that year, and the show ultimately surpasses Gundam Wing as the most popular Gundam show in the west. Gundam Soul, along with Spy School, become Cartoon Network's two most successful new show debuts of 2002. Gundam Soul's somewhat more lighthearted tone (it's still plenty dark at times, and less comedic than say, G Gundam, but it's definitely not as dark as Gundam Wing) endears it to a wider array of fans, and it, like Spy School, is embraced by the growing fan community crowd. Though it only lasts for 52 episodes (it also gets three movies that will air on Toonami in 2003/2004), it's continually aired in reruns on Toonami well into 2005, and would make reappearances on Cartoon Network numerous times in the future.

 

[RySenkari]

(Authors' Note: This sports update will be covering the NBA, while the 2002 World Cup is going to be covered by someone else, so that's why it's missing from this post!)

-

The 2001-02 NBA season was dedicated to the memory of NBA legends Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, who were tragically killed in the 9/11 attacks after the plane they were traveling in that morning was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Bird had been the head coach of the Indiana Pacers, leaving the team in somewhat of a bind. The Pacers promoted one of Bird's assistants, Mike D'Antoni, to the head coaching position.

The Portland Trailblazers started out extremely strong, winning their first 16 games before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in a 122-81 rout. After that, the story of the regular season was Lakers domination. The defending champions went 65-17 behind the efforts of Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, and Steve Francis, leaving the other NBA teams in the dust and finishing seven games above the 58-24 Blazers, who finished with the league's second best record. The Eastern Conference ended up being a dogfight between three teams: the Washington Wizards, led by Allen Iverson, the Boston Celtics, led by Grant Hill and Penny Hardaway, and the Indiana Pacers, who were playing a new run-and-gun style offense led by their point guard Steve Nash, who had a breakout year. Iverson managed to avoid controversy during the year, and the Wizards finished 56-26, earning the #1 seed in the East, just ahead of the 55-27 Celtics who had to settle for the #3 seed (they had a better record than the 53-29 Pacers, but because the Pacers won their division, they wound up #2). In the West, the Lakers were #1, the Blazers #2, and the Golden State Warriors #3. Though their familiar 90s core had aged somewhat, they were now led by Kobe Bryant, perhaps the league's most electrifying player.

The first round featured a shocking upset when the #8 seeded Chicago Bulls managed to knock off Iverson's Wizards in a five game series. The Bulls had rebuilt the previous summer, trading star Chris Webber to the Phoenix Suns for their #1 overall pick Shane Battier (upsetting coach Doc Rivers, who'd lobbied heavily for Battier to be the team's top pick, but was ultimately convinced that trading for Webber would be a better idea than keeping Battier) and a couple of utility players including Jermaine O'Neal. Battier and O'Neal blossomed, pushing the Bulls into the playoffs, and ultimately, the young tandem was enough to stifle Iverson, who was clearly frustrated in game 5. The rest of the first round went generally as expected, with the Celtics and Pacers winning their series. The Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic, the #5 and #4 seeds respectively, played an excellent five game series that saw the Raptors' young star Jonathan Bender and the Magic's European big men Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol clash in numerous exciting showdowns that ultimately saw the Magic come out on top. The deciding game went down to the wire, with the Magic pulling it out 90-88 for a date with the Bulls in the conference semifinals. In the West, the Lakers advanced easily, and they would play the San Antonio Spurs in the second round, while the Warriors would battle the Blazers.

The Magic beat the Bulls in a somewhat competitive six game series, while the Celtics took out the Pacers in five. The pick and roll tandem of Steve Nash and Zach Randolph was a bright spot for the Pacers, but in the end, the veteran brilliance of Hill and Hardaway won the series. In the West, the Lakers knocked off the Spurs in another sweep, while the Warriors and the Blazers played six games that saw Kobe Bryant come out on top. Bryant would average 36 points a game in the series to take out the Blazers, whose season had started so promisingly. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Gasol and Nowitzki played tough and looked like they might outmuscle the Celtics' backcourt stars. The Magic were up 2-1 after Game 3, and jumped out to an 81-70 lead with less than ten minutes to play in Game 4. Then Grant Hill took over. He scored an incredible 26 points in the last nine minutes of the game, leading the Celtics to a 100-94 victory in Orlando. The win sucked all the momentum out of the Magic, and the Celtics took the last two games of the series with relative ease, making their way back to the Finals for a likely showdown with the Lakers. The Lakers were favored to beat the Warriors, with many analysts picking the Lakers to sweep. But it was during the 2002 Western Conference Finals that Kobe Bryant truly emerged as the best player in the NBA. He averaged an incredible 40.9 points per game over the course of an epic seven game series that saw some of the most amazing highlights in the history of the league, including an iconic dunk in Game 3 that saw Kobe dribble around Tim Duncan before leaping up into the air and dunking the ball right into Shaq's face (an ecstatic Marv Albert would shout at the top of his lungs: "KOBE BRYANT WITH THE MOST INCREDIBLE DUNK I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!"). The Warriors clawed their way back from a 2-0 deficit to take the series lead 3-2, but the Lakers came back on a 37 point, 22 rebound performance from Shaq to win in Oakland in Game 6, bringing the series back to Los Angeles for what looked to be a Laker victory. Nobody told Kobe Bryant, whose 46-point performance (including eight huge three pointers) in Game 7 will go down in NBA legend, as the Warriors won the deciding game, 100-98.

That would set up a Finals match between the Celtics and the Warriors, and the Warriors, who were 56-26, were favored to win after knocking off the Lakers. The Celtics stole game one, but the Warriors won game 2 to even things up, then stole back home court advantage with a Game 3 win. The Celtics won game 4, then won Game 5 in a 118-97 rout to take the series back to Oakland with a 3-2 lead. Game 6 and 7 were both close. Game 6 went to overtime, but Kobe rose to the challenge to keep the Warriors alive, 101-96. That led to Game 7 and the showdown between Grant Hill and Kobe Bryant, the Celtics' hero vs. the Warriors' young superstar. The two awesome talents traded highlights back and forth, Hill scored 13 points in the first quarter, Kobe scored 10. The two ended the first half with 22 points each as the Celtics led, 56-54. Kobe was furious in the third quarter, scoring 15 points, but he was the only Warrior playing well, while the Celtics got a full team effort, with Hardaway and Rashard Lewis taking over after Hill got into foul trouble. The Celtics led 78-71 at the end of the third quarter, but Kobe wouldn't quit, and with seven quick points, got the game tied at 78. Hill came back in and the two teams traded the lead up until the 3:02 mark, when the Celtics' Dion Glover hit a three and was fouled. Glover's free throw put the Celtics up 93-91, and there they would stay. The Celtics won the game by a score of 102-96. Kobe Bryant was heroic in the loss, scoring 56 points, but it wasn't enough, and the Celtics had their third NBA Championship in four years.

The 2002 NBA Draft featured one hugely hyped player (Chinese superstar Yao Ming). The Phoenix Suns once again had the #1 pick, after Chris Webber, acquired in their trade with the Chicago Bulls, suffered a bad leg injury in the tenth game of the season. The Suns would pick Yao and would hope to pair him up with Webber in the hopes of forming a Shaq/Duncan-like tandem in Phoenix. Jay Williams would go second to the Los Angeles Clippers. Notably, high school phenom Carmelo Anthony would be picked up by the Detroit Pistons, who were assembling a good amount of young talent on their roster, including Rookie First Teamer Tyson Chandler.

 

[Paradox-less]

(Note: Thanks for letting me cooperate!)

FIFA World Cup 2002

The World Cup of 2002, between May and June was hosted by Australia.

Although FIFA considered South Korea, Japan, a joint bid by these, and Mexico, the honor of hosting the 17th World Cup fell to Australia.

FIFA wanted a country in which football wasn't widespread but Australia was prefered over the other candidates.

Holland and Australia were the first to qualify, as reigning champion(the last time the champion qualified to the next World Cup) and host.

Surprises before the World Cup were many. The CONMEBOL fight for the third, fourth and fifth spot between Uruguay, led by its new star Álvaro Recoba, Ecuador, led by its star striker Agustín Delgado, Paraguay, led by goalscorer goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert and Chile, led by its captain Raimundo Tupper. In the end of the qualifiers, the injuries of Delgado in Ecuador, Abreu in Uruguay and Zamorano in Chile harmed the teams' attack. Unfortunately for Ecuador, when Delgado got injured, the replacements couldn't match him. In Uruguay and Chile, Forlán and Salas led their teams to third and fourth places, respectively. Ecuador fought until the end but it lost important points and ended sixth.

Despite a 28-0 win in the Oceania qualifiers, New Zealand lost 1-0 to Paraguay, with a penalty goal from José Luis Chilavert for the last spot for Australia 2002.

In a surprising match, Ireland and France played for a spot in the World Cup. Ireland shockingly won with a score of 4-1 in Dublin, that was seen as a national catastrophe in France before the match in Paris. France was superior to Ireland. Zidane scored three times, Laurent Blanc score another time and finished Ireland off. France turned it around to make the global score Ireland 4-5 France.

Another bit from the qualifiers was the England-Germany fight for first place in their group. A fight between Miroslav Klose and David Beckham saw the two get a red card in London at the 10 minute mark. The result was a 3-3 tie. Bierhoff once and Ballack twice for Germany, Owen, Campbell and Southgate for England.

In Africa, against all odds, Lesotho qualified, shocking South Africa.

For another time, Serbian manager Bora Milutinović had led a team to the World Cup. This time it was Japan. Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, the US in 1994 and Nigeria in 1998.

The qualified were:

• Australia
• Holland
• England
• Belgium
• France
• Germany
• Denmark
• Croatia
• Rumania
• Spain
• Italy
• FR Yugoslavia
• Turkey
• Poland
• Portugal
• Sweden
• Russia
• Argentina
• Brazil
• Uruguay
• Chile
• Paraguay
• Algeria
• Cameroon
• Senegal
• Nigeria
• Lesotho
• Japan
• South Korea
• Mexico
• United States
• Costa Rica

Group A

• Australia
• Algeria
• Rumania
• Paraguay

Group B

• Spain
• Senegal
• Sweden
• Japan

Group C

• Brazil
• FR Yugoslavia
• Costa Rica
• Croatia

Group D

• Holland
• Nigeria
• United States
• Denmark

Group E

• Uruguay
• South Korea
• Lesotho
• Germany

Group F

• Belgium
• Turkey
• England
• Mexico

Group G

• Cameroon
• Chile
• Poland
• Italy

Group H

• Argentina
• Russia
• Portugal
• France

Australia 2002 saw a lot of stars. Landon Donovan, Ronaldinho, Hidetoshi Nakata, Fernando Hierro, Davor Suker, Iván Zamorano, Gabriel Batistuta and Michael Ballack.

Group A

Australia 7 pts
Paraguay 6 pts
Algeria 2 pts.
Rumania 1 pt.

Australia-Rumania(2-1)

Algeria-Paraguay(0-1)

Australia-Paraguay(1-0)

Algeria-Rumania(2-2)

Australia-Algeria(1-1)

Rumania-Paraguay(1-2)

Group B

Japan 7 pts.
Spain 7 pts.
Sweden 3 pts.
Senegal 0 pts.

Spain-Sweden(2-1)

Senegal-Japan(2-3)

Spain-Japan(1-1)

Senegal-Sweden(0-2)

Japan-Sweden(3-1)

Senegal-Spain(0-1)

Group C

Croatia 9 pts.
Brazil 6 pts.
Costa Rica 3 pts.
FR Yugoslavia 0 pts.

Brazil-Croatia(2-3)

FR Yugoslavia-Costa Rica(0-1)

Brazil-Costa Rica(4-0)

Croatia-FR Yugoslavia(3-0)

Brazil-FR Yugoslavia(4-2)

Croatia-Costa Rica(3-0)

Group D

United States 7 pts.
Holland 6 pts.
Denmark 2 pts.
Nigeria 1 pt.

Holland-United States(0-1)

Nigeria-Denmark(2-2)

Holland-Denmark(3-1)

Nigeria-United States(1-2)

Denmark-United States(0-0)

Nigeria-Holland(1-3)

Group E

Germany 9 pts.
South Korea 6 pts.
Uruguay 3 pts.
Lesotho 0 pts.

Uruguay-Germany(0-3)

South Korea-Lesotho(6-0)

Uruguay-Lesotho(5-1)

Germany-South Korea(3-0)

Lesotho-Germany(0-18)

Uruguay-South Korea(1-2)

Group F

Turkey 6 pts.
Mexico 5 pts.
England 4 pts.
Belgium 0 pts.

Belgium-England(0-1)

Turkey-Mexico(0-0)

Belgium-Turkey(0-2)

England-Mexico(1-1)

Turkey-England(1-0)

Mexico-Belgium(2-1)

Group G

Cameroon 5 pts.
Chile 5 pts.
Italy 4 pts.
Poland 1 pt.

Chile-Italy(2-1)

Cameroon-Poland(3-0)

Cameroon-Italy(2-2)

Poland-Chile(1-1)

Italy-Poland(4-1)

Chile-Cameroon(2-2)

Group H

Portugal 5 pts.
France 4 pts.
Argentina 4 pts.
Russia 3 pts.

Argentina-France(2-3)

Russia-Portugal(0-1)

Argentina-Portugal(1-1)

France-Russia(1-2)

Portugal-France(0-0)

Argentina-Russia(1-0)

The group stage saw many stories, the underdogs from Lesotho, cheered on by the Australian crowd in every match. Argentina's elimination due to their loss to France. England's elimination after missing a penalty and Turkey's goal being another penalty, in the 90th minute. This loss was so dramatic it made Sol Campbell, the player who committed the penalty foul retire from international football. Campbell returned four years later for the next World Cup. Group G saw Chile take revenge for the 2-2 tie of 1998, without a referee from Niger calling a penalty on the final minutes this time. Lesotho's catastrophic 0-18 defeat to Germany, the biggest defeat ever in a World Cup. Goalkeepers also shined. Oliver Kahn, mainly. Davor Suker proving his quality as a striker, with seven goals in the group stage. Miroslav Klose, with seven as well, but close behind Suker, who had played 14 minutes less than Klose. Although three of these were given to Suker after the national team of Yugoslavia(Serbia and Montenegro, in 2006) saw five players getting a red card in a nasty brawl, that saw three men in Croatia sent off as well.

Knockout round:

Australia-Spain(0-1)

The host, Australia, played Spain. It was a boring match, where Hierro scored once to eliminate the hosts.

Japan-Paraguay(1-2)

Hidetoshi Nakata scored once, but Cardozo equalised and Chilavert brought Paraguay to the quarterfinals.

Croatia-United States(1-2)

On a surprising match, despite all the Croatian efforts, Donovan and Reyna got the United States a win over Croatia.

Holland-Brazil(0-1)

The reigning champions against Brazil. An exciting match where the goalkeepers shined. Ronaldo scored a great goal(the best goal of the World Cup) with a magnificent overhead kick to eliminate the champions.

Germany-Mexico(1-0)

Germany defended itself from the Mexican attacks. A header was barely sent away by Oliver Kahn. Miroslav Klose scored and eliminated Mexico. The day after, football legend Franz Beckenbauer said that only Kahn, Ballack and Klose deserved their spot on the German team.

Turkey-South Korea(1-2)

A match that dragged on and South Korea only won on a golden goal by Hong Myung-Bo.

Cameroon-France(1-2)

Zidane scored twice and Eto'o scored for Cameroon. Eto'o signed for Ajax after the World Cup.

Portugal-Chile(4-3)

Figo scored once and Rui Costa twice for Portugal, Zamorano, Salas and Tupper scored for Chile. But on the last minute, Pauleta scored, bringing Portugal to the next stage.

Quarterfinals:

Spain-United States(0-1)

Landon Donovan scored just fourteen seconds in, with a violent strike and the match continued with desperate but futile efforts by Spain.

Paraguay-Brazil(0-2)

Paraguay didn't stand a chance against Brazil. Ronaldinho(with a marvelous free kick) and Ronaldo sent Brazil to the semis.

Germany-France(1-0)

A repeat of the past match. Kahn stopping everything that approached the German goal, despite the numerous shots on goal by France. Ballack scored. Criticism against Germany intensified.

South Korea-Portugal(0-2)

Portugal was a much better team than South Korea. The South Korea team was exhausted. They got two shots on goal and none were dangerous. Nuno Gomes and Rui Costa eliminated the Asian surprise.

Semifinals:

United States-Brazil(1-4)

A good team, against a world class team. The US were outclassed and outplayed. Reyna got a goal when the score was 0-2.

Germany-Portugal(1-0)

This match was outrageous to German fans. With very little when it came to merit, Germany eliminated Portugal, who were becoming a candidate for the World Cup with every passing match. But Oliver Kahn said 'no' and Germany went to the finals.

Third place match:

United States-Portugal(1-0)

Portugal sent their B-team versus the United States, not caring for the bronze medal. Landon Donovan, the Young Player of Australia 2002 scored and the US got the bronze medal.

Final:

Germany-Brazil(1-2)

Oliver Kahn had kept a clean sheet for 540 minutes, an impressive record that Ronaldo stopped at 612 minutes. Klose equalised two minutes later but Ronaldo scored again after eleven minutes.

Brazil had won the World Cup for the fifth time.

Golden Ball: Oliver Kahn(Germany)

Silver Ball: Ronaldo(Brazil)

Bronze Ball: Luis Figo(Portugal)

Young Revelation: Landon Donovan

Golden Boot: Miroslav Klose(Germany, 9 goals, 598 minutes)

Silver Boot: Ronaldo(Brazil, 9 goals, 622 minutes)

Bronze Ball: Davor Suker(Croatia, 8 goals)

Fair Play Award: Portugal

-From the website World Cup History

 

[RySenkari]

Devil May Cry

Like IOTL, Devil May Cry was initially conceived as Resident Evil 4, with a more action-centric feel. For a brief period, even after development on the game had begun, the game was being developed as a Resident Evil spinoff title, inspired by the success of Squad Four: Rebellion. While intended from the beginning of its development to be featured on a Nintendo system, Hideki Kamiya and Capcom execs soon realized that the game would be too big and too detailed to appear on the Ultra Nintendo, and it was ultimately decided to release the game initially for the Katana and Xbox, after Kamiya briefly considered delaying the game until 2003. Once plans for release were finalized, development on the game as its own separate IP began in earnest, and it was decided upon to name the game Devil May Cry. The gameplay of Devil May Cry has many similarities to OTL's game, though the importance of ranged weaponry is somewhat increased, and there are a few segments that resemble third-person shooters more than hack-and-slash titles, reflecting the game's Squad Four: Rebellion influence. However, for the most part, the game is still at its core a very fast-paced, action packed, combo reliant hack and slash title with a few RPG elements (the acquisition of health and equipment upgrades, the collection of treasures, the acquisition of additional moves over time, etc.). The Squad Four influence is also present in the form of the two other main changes from OTL's game: the game now consists of 26 missions (not 23), and Trish is playable for certain segments of the game. Trish is a much more gun reliant character than Dante, though she also possesses a pair of twin blades (in an homage to Squad Four's Rebecca). Like OTL's game, players are given certain letter grades based on their performance, with S being the highest grade. This increases the game's replayability, as players will attempt levels multiple times in an attempt to get the best grades and the highest score. Though this element was present in OTL's game, it's seen ITTL as another influence from Squad Four: Rebellion (which had similar level scoring mechanics, though it didn't include actual grades). Levels are also slightly larger and more open-ended, with more than one way to complete numerous levels. Ultimately, the game plays mostly like OTL Devil May Cry, but with more open stages and shooter elements due to the Squad Four influence on development.

The game's plot follows the same basic structure as the OTL game, though the game's first couple of missions are introductory missions, and Dante's fight with Trish from OTL's game, which played out as a cutscene, is adapted into a full boss fight at the end of mission two. Dante doesn't reach Mallet Island until mission three, at which point the game proceeds much like OTL's. However, the missions themselves progress somewhat differently, with more one-on-one fights with humanoid characters (in similar fashion to the Nero Angelo fight in OTL's game). There are still several fights with very large and elaborate bosses, giving the game a nice mix of combat styles. Again, thanks to the Squad Four influence, there are more boss fights in Devil May Cry. 15 missions end with boss fights, and there are a few mid-level boss fights as well. This does cut down on the puzzle solving elements of the original Devil May Cry, making the game more focused on combat and exploration. Like OTL's game, Trish betrays Dante at a certain point during a late game mission, as she is under the influence of the demon Mundus. There is another human besides Trish and Angelo working under Mundus: his name is Prince Carus, a member of the aristocratic family who owns the castle on Mallet Island. Carus called forth Mundus in order to grant himself enough power to make his family influential again in a modern world that increasingly rejects the old royal families. However, Mundus ultimately betrays Carus and after one final boss fight between Carus and Dante during Mission 23, consumes the prince alive. Like OTL's game, Dante starts out not caring for Trish after her betrayal, but when he realizes her resemblance to his mother, he comes to care deeply for her, and ultimately, after she sacrifices herself for him, Dante saves her from Mundus and defeats the demonic foe, rescuing Trish from the island and resuming his demon hunting business with Trish as his ally.

Devil May Cry is released in Japan in February 2002 for the Sega Katana, and in North America on June 17, 2002 for the Katana and the Xbox. The game is developed primarily with the Katana in mind, and so the Xbox version has few if any significant graphical improvements over the Katana version. When the game is brought to the Wave in 2003, it gets a full graphical overhaul with bonus missions and improved gameplay, making the Wave version of the game the definitive edition (though a "Director's Cut" version would be released later in the year for the Katana and the Xbox that contains most of the bonus content from the Wave version). The game is seen as a continuation of the influence of Squad Four: Rebellion, and a cousin of sorts to The Covenant, with The Covenant expanding on the shooting aspect of Squad Four: Rebellion, and Devil May Cry expanding on the melee aspects. However, Devil May Cry takes hack and slash combat to a level Squad Four: Rebellion never even approached, and as a result, receives an exceptional amount of praise. It's a major critical success, becoming one of the year's best reviewed games, and a top seller on the Katana AND the Xbox. Like OTL's game, it's not only the beginning of a franchise, but a major influence on subsequent action titles as well.

-

"As good as Squad Four: Upheaval looked at E3 2002, here comes Devil May Cry, and all of a sudden Upheaval looks really sluggish in comparison. Running up to enemies with Shad or Rebecca to unleash a flurry of blows used to be great fun, but here comes Dante who can juggle guys up into the air, perform 50-hit combos with ease, gain special attacks and actually keep them from level to level... and the guys at Argonaut really didn't get the memo. Upheaval was starting to look like the victim of its own success, with the games it inspired really outdoing it in every single way. That said, people were still really hyped for Upheaval, thanks to how good Rebellion was. So it remained to be seen whether the game would live up to its increasingly impressive hype."
-Dan "Shoe" Hsu, discussing Squad Four and the games it influenced the 2014 article "An Oral History Of Squad Four", on the Electronic Gaming Monthly website

 

[Pyro]

Very few will argue the point that the first X-Men film was an unqualified success, but the troubled production of X-Men 2: Children of the Atom became a victim of its predecessor’s success. A perfect form of executive meddling and in-fighting amongst the cast and crew, ultimately led to a critically panned (though financially successful) final product. Most fans and some cast members laid the blame on then-20th Century Fox president, Tom Rothman, for his micromanagement of the franchise. Others cite the ugly and very public feud between Russell Crowe and Bryan Singer, leading to the latter’s departure and an extremely costly production delay while the studio scrambled to find a replacement.

The roots of the feud trace back to Crowe’s contract that had promised a measure of creative control, particularly when it came to Wolverine. While the two men had managed to work together on the first film without incident, Crowe had begun to overstep his boundaries by acting as the film’s “ghost director” and undermining Singer’s decisions. Matters came to a head when Singer locked Crowe out of the editing suite; Crowe lost his temper and screamed a string of expletives and slurs at the openly-bisexual Singer. Chief among them was “a miserable little faggot,” which infamously leaked after a member of the production crew recorded it on camera.

Crowe’s outburst precipitated in not only Singer’s departure, but caused a storm (no pun intended) of controversy in Hollywood with strong protests from the LGBT community. Something that strongly resonated with the fanbase as the X-Men were an allegory for the civil rights movement and minorities since the title’s inception in 1963. Longtime X-Men scribe, Chris Claremont condemned Crowe along with a slew of other creators. While Crowe had apologized for the incident, Singer made it clear that he would never work on X-Men as long as Crowe was a part of it. Michael Biehn, who had also disliked Crowe, also vacated the role of Cyclops saying that he couldn’t work with his co-star.

Given the increasing tensions on set between Crowe and the rest of the cast and crew (most of whom had supported Singer) as well as the blowback from the public, Fox had opted to release Crowe from his contract after X-Men 2. That left the studio in a quandary as without a director and an actor to play Cyclops, production ground to a halt as Fox scrambled to find replacement and pushed the release date from July 2001 to August of 2002. Ultimately, they brought in Jonathan Mastow to replace Singer and cast Jim Cavizel as Cyclops.

Cavizel made it no secret that he had felt uncomfortable working on the film. “As an outsider, it dismayed me to see the gloom that hovered over the production. People barely spoke to each other and I got the impression that everyone just wanted to get the bloody thing over with. It was the single most joyless experience of my life.”

Along with the dismal morale on set, the producers ordered constant rewrites to where the screenplay credits could fill a phone book. Actors often complained that scripts changed so often that it was pointless to memorize their lines and many of them simply stopped trying. In addition to that, the studio shoehorned more characters (notably Courteney Cox as Rogue and Dougray Scott as Gambit) into the story. Partially to tie in the anime series that had aired on Fox Kids, but to also appeal to those grew up on the animated X-Men series of the nineties. However, most critics complained that the cast had become too bloated though fans generally applauded the move.

In terms of story, the original intent of X-Men 2 was to be the start of a trilogy of films that would chronicle the seminal “Phoenix Saga” that began with [Uncanny] X-Men #97 in February 1976 and culminated with “the Dark Phoenix Saga” five years later. The film begins with Stephen Lang (played by Willem DeFoe) one of the project leaders of the Sentinel Program) finds himself before a Congressional hearing on the future of the Sentinels. The attack on Washington D.C. by the Sentinels Magneto reprogrammed in the previous film called their effectiveness into question. While Lang passionately defends his creations by bringing up the appearances of the Fantastic Four and a “Spider-Man” in Queens, and how humanity needs an effective counterweight to the growing superhuman and mutant threat, though to no avail. General “Thunderbolt” Ross of Incredible Hulk fame (played by Nick Nolte) testifies that “Project Gamma” is ready to proceed and the committee scraps Lang’s Sentinels and gives the go-ahead to Ross.

A bitter Lang storms out of the chamber when Emma Frost approaches him in the hallway with an offer from some “very powerful people with an interest in the mutant question.” An intrigued Lang agrees, and the story picks up six months later with Charles Xavier receiving a vision of a small spacecraft chased by three larger warships in deep space when he hears a voice (played by Helen Mirren) calling out for help. A confused Xavier asks for her name, and she answers, “Lilandra.”

The experience prompts him to recall the X-Men, including Wolverine who was investigating the ruins of an abandoned Weapon X facility in Canada at the time. The character’s immense popularity had led to the studio’s insistence that X-Men 2 lay the groundwork for a Wolverine spinoff (that was cast into production hell upon Crowe’s post-X2 departure.) We receive a few glimpses into Wolverine’s past, including his escape, before he receives the call from Xavier. It feels a bit out of place in the film, especially with the awkward transition to the iconic Danger Room scene.

One of major changes X-Men 2 made over its predecessor were the costumes. Where the original eschewed the colourful costumes from the film’s source material, the sequel met halfway. The uniforms contained more colour and more closely resembled those from the comics i.e. Wolverine’s cowl and Rogue’s jacket and tights, though Gambit and Jubilee lost their iconic trench coats in favour of slightly-more-functional leather jackets like Rogue’s.

The reenvisioned costumes combined with the Danger Room scene won the hearts of the fanbase, and ultimately placed them at odds with the critics who dismissed the scene as pure eye candy. This scene also introduces an important plot point where Jean Grey loses control of her powers during a training session, endangering her teammates. Despite Cyclops’ concerns, she insists that she is fine and just needs some rest. Xavier remarks that Jean’s powers have been increasing exponentially over the past six months, though he is at a loss as to an explanation. Wolverine arrives to overhear part of their conversation and inquires about her well-being, sparking a jealous response from Cyclops to re-establish the romantic triangle.

Xavier intervenes and gives Wolverine a brief of the coming mission. Lilandra gave him the coordinates to her planned landing site in upstate New York. Wolverine maintains his skepticism, but still agrees to assist the X-Men. Partly out of his “debt of honour” to Xavier, and partly out of his feelings for Jean. He also reconnects with Jubilee who is well on her way to becoming an X-Man herself but is dismayed that Xavier is not allowing her to accompany the X-Men on the mission. She begs Wolverine, who reluctantly sneaks her aboard the Blackbird.

Things go sideways when Black Tom Cassidy (played by Liam Cunningham) and perennial X-Foe, Juggernaut (Brian Thompson) ambush the X-Men when Lilandra appears. Juggernaut engages the X-Men while Tom makes off with Lilandra, which presents a problem with the film… at least from the perspective of newcomers to the series. While Juggernaut does make oblique references to his relationship with his step-brother, Professor X, his appearances comes off as contrived, despite their involvement in the animated Phoenix Saga.

Jubilee’s surprise intervention distracts the Juggernaut, allowing her teammates to regroup and remove his helmet so that Jean can attack him telepathically. Jean loses control of her powers again; a fiery aura in the shape of a bird appears around her as she accidentally places the Juggernaut in a vegetative state to the shock of her teammates. Professor X, intent on finding Lilandra to the point of obsession, reasons that he can use Cerebro to locate his stepbrother’s partner. Meanwhile, the romantic tension between Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine amps up when a concerned Cyke wants to bench Jean. She naturally protests and Wolvie agrees with her, driving in the wedge.

Meanwhile, Black Tom speaks with the person who hired him and the Juggernaut to kidnap Lilandra and demands to how “bloody important” she has to be for him to lose his partner. His employer, who refers to himself as “Erik” evades the question telling him that it’s of the utmost importance to his employer. Then the X-Men mount their rescue mission when they find themselves ambushed (again), this time by the Sentinels. After a brief scuffle, the Sentinels sedate the X-Men, Tom, and Lilandra.

What happens next is a rough adaptation of [Uncanny] X-Men #100, where half the team wakes up aboard an orbital platform, where their teammates attack them for seemingly no reason. However, it is soon revealed that Lang had kidnapped them and built special “X-Sentinels” to act as replacements/trojan horses to destroy the mutant community from within. He also goes on a lengthy rant of the “superhuman” menace to a captive audience (whose features remain in shadow.) Wolverine realizes that something is wrong when he uses his sense of smell and runs his claws through Jean to the collective horror of his teammates, causing Cyclops to go berserk. After a brief, but intense, battle Wolverine decapitates Cyclops to reveal that he was a Sentinel and the film reveals that the real Cyclops and Jean are the among Lang’s captives. After a showdown with the Sentinels, the X-Men rush to free the their teammates, Lilandra, and Tom. Lang perishes when he tries to escape and Jean telekinetically interferes with the controls of his gunship.

Things get worse when the X-Men realize that they are both in space, and that a “radiation storm” is headed their way. As with X-Men #100, Jean knocks out Cyclops and pilots the shuttle while her teammates take refuge in a hardened compartment. What comes next is the dramatic cliffhanger of an finale as Cyclops regains consciousness and screams Jean’s name. Jean’s telekinetic shield begins break down and the radiation burns her alive. Both call out each other’s names as the shuttle reenters Earth’s atmosphere.

X-Men 2: Children of the Atom was a smash success, or so a casual observer would assume with an $83 million opening weekend on July 4, 2002. However, the film deeply polarized opinions; critics generally panned the film, calling it “repetitive and contrived” and “embodied the worst comic book tropes.” Perhaps it was because of the latter that film proved extremely popular with fans and younger demographics. Fans who grew up on the animated series of the nineties lauded the film and older fans had few bad things to say. Ultimately the film grossed nearly $600 million worldwide, performing nearly as well in Asian markets as the original. However, with Hollywood accounting and a large promotion budget, the costly delay brought on by Crowe’s outburst damaged the profitability of the film, which was modest compared to the first film’s.

Given that X-Men 2 ended on a cliffhanger, a sequel was inevitable yet the departure of Singer and Crowe cast a long shadow over the franchise. With positive buzz surrounding Iron Man and Robert Zemeckis’ Spider-Man (starring Joshua Jackson and Scarlett Johansson) seeing release next summer, Fox felt relatively secure with its slate. Yet the entry of more studios into the superhero genre and Warner’s Justice League buzz would accelerate their plans. Sony announcement of its partnership with Acclaim Entertainment to bring its comic line to the big screen, which included Shadowman and Quantum and Woody was of particular concern. It was the announcement that Bryan Singer signed on to direct Harbinger (which saw release in summer of 2005) in November 2002 that lit a fire under Fox’s collective butts.

Determined not to let the “upstart” Sony and Singer get the better of them, Fox greenlit X-Men 3 with a tentative release date of July 2005 shortly after the announcement of Harbinger. This was a task that would prove Herculean as the studio would have to find a new Wolverine, a new director, and reassemble assemble a fractured cast. Yet a ray of optimism shined when Fox sighed Kiefer Sutherland as Wolverine, and the Superhero Wars began to get hot.

-Tales From The Superhero Wars, sequentialhistory.net, September 9, 2010

 

[RySenkari]

Magicka 2

Magicka 2 is the sequel to Ubisoft's 1999 hit Welcome To Magicka, which sold 1.6 million total copies worldwide and was, at the time, one of the company's biggest hits ever. Magicka 2, like its predecessor, is an action/adventure title where you play the role of a young magician who must gain the use of a variety of spells in order to help people and to liberate the land from evil. In the wake of the success of Welcome To Magicka, Ubisoft gave development company Mirasoft a much bigger budget with which to make the game, and it shows, as Magicka 2 boasts some of the best graphics to date on the Ultra Nintendo (and the updated Katana version released later on has some of that system's best graphics as well). While the gameplay is basically the same (your character can run, jump, and perform a variety of spells mapped to various controller buttons), the game's pacing has changed. The original Welcome To Magicka featured a total of 24 levels, which, while open-ended, were fairly small. Magicka 2 features nine worlds (eight, plus a very large "hub" world), but these worlds are much, MUCH bigger, making this game about twice as long as the original. Many critics compare the pacing of Magicka 2 to the original Turok, in that, while the game's progression itself is fairly linear, there's plenty of exploration within the large individual worlds.

The protagonist of Magicka 2 is a girl named Elise (voiced by Aria Curzon). Elise is a young magician's apprentice who attends a magic school in a modern-world type setting. One day, Elise's professor, Giorgio, mysteriously disappears, and when Elise goes to look for him, she finds a mysterious book. When she opens the book, a portal appears that sucks her into an enormous world called Magicka. From there, Elise must continue looking for Giorgio while learning all the magic she can with the help of a cat familiar named Louie (voiced by Dom DeLuise). There are 60 spells total that can be learned in the game, though only about 20 or so of the spells are necessary to progress, with about half of the game's total spells completely optional. Elise must venture to the eight magical realms and defeat the Eight Usurpers if she is to find her professor. The eight realms are accessed as Elise learns certain spells. The realms are explored as follows: Fire, Ice, Lightning, Wind, Darkness, Light, Time, and Gravity. Each realm contains an Usurper who has mastered that realm's magic and who is in possession of a special spell Elise will need to access the next world. As Elise ventures through the realms, she meets many creatures along the way, animals and humans and others, that she'll need to help in order to find certain spells or access certain areas. Elise can use certain spells in creative ways, meaning that there's not just one single way to accomplish a task (indeed, Elise has a lot more options to accomplish certain tasks than the protagonist of the original Welcome To Magicka did). While there are enemies and combat in the game, many times combat can be avoided entirely by using spells in a certain way, meaning that players are given a lot of choice whether they want the game to focus more on action/combat or on puzzles/logic. Every single boss can be defeated through a non-combat/puzzle method in addition to just straight up fighting them with spells. Eventually, once the Eight Usurpers are defeated, Elise learns that her professor Giorgio is the one behind the evil that has infected Magicka. He had recruited all of the Usurpers from Elise's magic school, and was planning to take over, but lost his spellbook that he intended to use to conquer Magicka once and for all. In the end, Giorgio forces Elise to trade her spellbook for Louie's life, giving him the power he needs to complete his evil work. However, Elise realizes that she doesn't need her spellbook to use her magic, and takes on Giorgio in one final epic battle (that, like the others, can be won in a non-combat way). Professor Giorgio is taken into custody by the magical authorities of Magicka, and Elise is allowed to return home to her school (where Milena, the former Usurper of Light, reforms herself and takes over as Elise's new magic teacher).

Magicka 2 is released for the Ultra Nintendo on June 3, 2002, and for the Sega Katana on November 18, 2002. While the Ultra Nintendo version is reviewed similarly to the original Welcome To Magicka (which itself got excellent reviews), the Katana version is reviewed even more favorably and considered one of the top games of the year for that system. Both versions of the game sell over a million copies worldwide, continuing the excellent sales for the series and ensuring that the franchise continues in the future. Ubisoft would purchase Mirasoft outright in July 2002, adding that company's stable of outstanding developers to their team (with Michel Ancel picking a few of them to help with Beyond Good And Evil). It's another major hit for Ubisoft, which, as IOTL, is becoming one of the strongest and most profitable game developers in the industry.

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Michel Ancel is one of the most creative and forward-thinking game designers in the business. He's currently at work on a number of highly anticipated games, including the upcoming next-generation action title Beyond Good and Evil. While Ancel wasn't at liberty to reveal much more about the game than we already know, he was willing to discuss how excited he was to be working on such an ambitious project.

GameInformer: What can you tell us about Beyond Good And Evil?

Michel Ancel: It's not quite a platformer, and it's not a Zelda clone either. It's the best of both worlds, in a sort of way. It works out well for us that Nintendo hasn't yet announced a new Mario or Zelda game, because this will beat them to the punch!

GameInformer: And what about the main character, Jade?

Ancel: What I can say about Jade is that she's very curious. She wants to learn everything she can about the world around her. She wants to know the truth. She's a reporter, and she'll do anything she can to get to the bottom of things.

GameInformer: In the trailer, we saw Jade kicking butt with a staff weapon. Will she be doing a lot of that in the game?

Ancel: She can defend herself, yes. She knows how to take care of herself in a pinch, but I won't say just how much fighting she'll actually do. At the core of her being, she's a seeker of the truth.

GameInformer: How big is the game, compared to, say, Nintendo's latest Zelda title?

Ancel: It's hard to really say because the player has a lot of choice in how they want to progress through the game.

GameInformer: So there'll be a lot of side missions?

Ancel: Yes. You won't be limited to just the story.

GameInformer: Is it an open world game?

Ancel: Mmm..... let's see how things shake out. I don't want to say just yet.

GameInformer: So not in the Grand Theft Auto sense then?

Ancel: Grand Theft Auto is a game, I think, that's influencing a lot of my fellow game designers right now. And that's fine, because it's an outstanding game. But it's not the kind of game that I drew influence from for Beyond Good And Evil. The influences for this game go a lot further back, I think. Zelda is more of an inspiration. Super Mario Dimensions. Tales Of The Seven Seas, perhaps. Those are the kinds of games I looked to for inspiration. But in the sense that you can go anywhere, do anything...it's more complicated than that.

GameInformer: Are there any other inspirations you're drawing from for this game?

Ancel: Well, certainly you can look at a character like Lara Croft, and see how much she's influenced the way we look at female characters in games. Again, I think Jade's different in the sense that Jade's entire goal in doing what she does is to help people. Lara, at least at first, does what she does for the thrill of treasure seeking, and it's only later on does she come to realize that the world depends on what she's doing. Jade, being a reporter, being that type of person, knows immediately that what she does is going to have an impact. We're going to see her go way, way out of her way for people and so....I want the player to get attached to Jade's friends in the same way that Jade does, because that's her motivation. That's the kind of story I want to tell. It's almost like the first Silent Hill in a way, where all these horrible things were happening and you had to try and protect whoever you could and if you couldn't protect them, that was it. Without spoiling anything else about the game, Jade's main mission is to protect people. You are going to be spending a lot of time in this game protecting people you care about.

The other major game that Ancel is currently working on is Rayman 3: Tricky Treasures. While Ancel isn't spending as much time on Rayman 3 as he is on Beyond Good and Evil, he's still a major contributor to the game's storyline and gameplay.

GameInformer: Rayman 3, it seems, is a lot less complicated than Beyond Good And Evil, at least from a storyline perspective.

Ancel: That's right! *laughs* Rayman 3 is just a traditional platformer, but with a lot of crazy twists. Rayman's got to hunt down a bunch of treasures, but each of the treasures is alive because it's possessed by a weird little trickster spirit that causes it to make all kinds of mischief, and if he doesn't find all the treasures in time, his home's gonna get really messed up.

GameInformer: And the game's being developed exclusively for the next generation consoles and PC. Was there ever any thought given to making an Ultra Nintendo version?

Ancel: The game was originally developed for the PC, and at first, yes, we were going to port it to the Ultra Nintendo, but with everything that we decided to put into the game, we figured it would be prudent to just bring it to the next gen consoles, specifically the Xbox and the Wave. It'll hit the Wave first, as a launch title, and then the Xbox at some point later on.

GameInformer: The game's on track to make the Wave launch?

Ancel: The game's almost done on PC, so at that point, all we've got to do is port it over. The Wave is an outstanding platform, it can do a lot of neat things that none of the other consoles on the market can do, so we were all really excited to work with it. We'll probably be bringing Magicka 2 to the Wave at some point down the road, but that'll probably have to wait until after Beyond Good And Evil is out.

GameInformer: And what's the difference between Rayman 3, Magicka 2, and Beyond Good And Evil?

Ancel: Oh, that's a good question! Rayman 3, it's so simple. You can learn it quick, there's not much complicated with the game, just kick, and punch, and jump, and grab treasures, and keep moving. Magicka 2, there's a little more strategy. It's a more involved game, there's hardly any actual platforming, it's more of a puzzle title with action elements. And Beyond Good And Evil, I won't say too much about but it plays differently than either one of those. I think many players will enjoy all three, but I know each game will have its own fanbase as well. It's so exciting to know that so many games are on the way!

Finally, we asked Ancel a bit about his RPG series, The Darkest Ritual and The Darkest Night. While there aren't any future games in the franchise on the way, there is a port in the making for the Game Boy Nova of the original title.

GameInformer: Can we expect a new game in The Darkest series for the Nintendo Wave or any other consoles?

Ancel: You know, I get asked that a lot! *laughs* We were all surprised that those games got as big as they did, that so many people were so enthralled in Kris and Etienne's story that they want it to continue. Of course, Etienne's story ended in The Darkest Night, and in a way, Kris' did too. Kris defeated Sephora, avenged Etienne, and moved on. Certainly, I think, there might be stories to tell with others in that world, and that could be something we'd do down the road. At the moment, though, I think Kris' story has been told and we've got so many other games to work on. Perhaps after Beyond Good And Evil we could go back and revisit them.

GameInformer: How's the port of The Darkest Ritual coming along?

Ancel: Swimmingly! Of course, we've also been working on the Harry Potter RPGs for the Nova, and having that template from The Darkest Ritual there made it easy to do the Harry Potter games in that style. The Nova is a really powerful little system, certainly in a lot of ways it's more powerful than the SNES-CD. We really didn't use all that much of the SNES-CD's power for The Darkest Ritual. There weren't any cutscenes, there wasn't any voice acting, so the game itself can be ported over really easily. Even the music, which was CD audio, can be redone with the Nova sound chip. So there aren't really any problems at all and the port should be ready early next year.

GameInformer: Is The Darkest Night coming next? Most fans feel that's the better game of the two.

Ancel: Right, as do most of us here at Ubisoft. Of course, it'd be trickier because it was an Ultra Nintendo game with 3-D graphics and full voice acting, so a port to the Nova would be a definite downgrade. It'd be tougher to do. I think maybe it might have to wait for whatever Nintendo does after the Nova? Has Nintendo even said anything?

GameInformer: So far, no. The Nova's doing great.

Ancel: As it should, it's a great system. But yeah, porting over The Darkest Night would be tough. If the fans could stomach a downgrade, then we might be able to do it. I know it's really popular.

-from the August 2002 issue of GameInformer magazine

 

[RySenkari]

No One Lives Forever

No One Lives Forever is a first-person shooter and an homage/parody to classic spy media, including the James Bond series, Get Smart, and others. The game is developed by Monolith Productions (no relation to the OTL MonolithSoft, which doesn't come into being as a result of Tetsuya Takahashi remaining with Squaresoft), and is published by Fox Interactive in partnership with Sega. While Fox Interactive was the first company to come on board with Monolith to back the game, Sega approached the company in late 1999. With hype building for Velvet Dark, and Sega looking for an FPS that would give the Katana an edge, the company extended an offer to co-produce the game in exchange for exclusivity in the home console market. Monolith agreed, and with Sega assisting with production, the game's budget grew somewhat significantly from OTL's game, becoming one of the more big-budget releases of the early sixth generation of gaming. The name of the game remains as No One Lives Forever, not gaining the subtitle The Operative like it did IOTL. Sega's influence extended to the PC version of the game as well: IOTL, No One Lives Forever came out in late 2000 for the PC, but ITTL, with Monolith spending more money and time on the game, its PC release was pushed back to August 23, 2001. This date turned out to be somewhat unfortunate, as 9/11 muted the public's desire for an old-school spy thriller somewhat, and the PC version of the game was a disappointment as a result. However, Sega doubled down on the game, and ramped up promotion for the Katana release. Monolith added more content to the game, and fine-tuned the graphics to match the Katana's capabilities, giving it a much more polished appearance than the version of the game that came out IOTL for the Playstation 2. Sega also assisted with the game's cooperative co-op mode, which became exclusive to the console version. As a result, No One Lives Forever boasts both competitive and cooperative online multiplayer. Like IOTL's game, No One Lives Forever allows players to take both a stealthy route and an action route to complete missions. Players can choose to go in guns blazing, or carefully incapacitate enemies with the help of one of Cate Archer's many, many gadgets. There are also dialogue trees present in the game, which can influence the outcome of certain missions: if the player answers certain questions correctly, or gives a particularly intelligent response, entire segments of missions can be avoided. The game plays heavily off of 60s spy thrillers, though it isn't as bawdy or dirty as the Austin Powers series. Despite this, in promotion, Sega does play up certain similarities between the game and the upcoming Austin Powers in Goldmember movie in order to drive up sales. In addition, the Katana version of the game includes a few shots at Nintendo's Velvet Dark franchise, such as a character who at one point remarks: "My sister's a computer! Isn't that just silly?"

The game's plot itself is largely similar to that of OTL's game, though a few details and some of the characters Cate meets and locations she visits have been altered by cultural butterflies. Cate Archer is a secret agent working for the organization UNITY, recruited to the organization after giving up a life of cat burglary. After a number of UNITY agents are killed within a short span of time, Cate gets a promotion and is given a series of extremely vital and dangerous missions. Unlike IOTL, there's already been another female agent at UNITY: Anais Beloit. Anais is one of the agents who was seemingly killed, but she later resurfaces as an agent of H.A.R.M., the evil organization attempting to take over the world. Cate goes around the world, tracking down H.A.R.M. agents and uncovering a grand conspiracy to infect the world with a dangerous bioweapon. She obtains an antidote to the weapon, but must find the list of those who have been infected with it in order to cure them and prevent the spread of the virus. She encounters a number of friends and enemies along the way, both from the OTL game (Wagner, Armstrong, Baroness Dumas) and original TTL (a yacht captain named Howard who shuttles rich and important people around the world and ends up being a valuable ally to Cate, and an obese but surprisingly agile spy named the Bubble Man who serves H.A.R.M. and has a memorable boss fight with Cate toward the middle of the game). Cate gets into a final confrontation with Anais, who turns out to be a double agent and ends up sacrificing herself so that Cate can get back the antidote after she gets infected with the biological agent. Ultimately, after stopping the threat from the bioweapon and saving the world, the ending of the game is pretty much like OTL's, with one, and then two of Cate's fellow UNITY agents revealed as moles during a graveyard confrontation. In a postscript mission similar to the one from OTL, Cate goes on vacation and discovers a secret H.A.R.M. base, revealing that the threat from the evil organization is not yet over. After Cate takes down this base, the remainder of the credits roll, with a James Bond-like message at the end that reads: "Cate Archer will return in No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way", revealing that despite the disappointing PC sales, a sequel has already entered development.

No One Lives Forever's release for the Katana was hyped since the beginning of 2000. The game appeared at both E3 2000 and E3 2001, and despite a couple of production bumps along the way, it received a fairly steady stream of hype that continued to build until the game's release for the Katana on June 24, 2002. Unlike the OTL PS2 version, which got mixed reviews, the TTL Katana version of the game gets outstanding reviews that match those of the PC game (which was considered one of the best if not the best PC game of the year for 2001). The stellar reviews compare the game to such titles as Velvet Dark and Blackheart, but distinguish its gameplay and storyline from those two games, stating that it has a sense of humor that's much more light-hearted than Blackheart, and that Cate Archer is an even more well-developed and interesting character than Joanna Dark (who was one of the most praised female characters of the fifth generation of gaming). The game also draws comparisons to the Commander Keen series, with Gamespot's Alex Navarro stating (in his 9.6/10 review of the game) that: "Sega's Katana has cornered the market on games that both spoof their genres and provide some of the best examples of gameplay those genres have to offer." It's easily the best reviewed Katana game of the year to date, and sales are outstanding, easily surpassing those of the PC version to become one of the best selling Katana games yet. With the game cementing its status as a potential all-star franchise for Sega, the company would buy out full publication rights from Fox Interactive in late 2002.

 

[RySenkari]

Jungle Queen

Jungle Queen is a platforming action title released exclusively for the Microsoft Xbox on May 13, 2002. The game takes inspiration from the classic comic series Sheena, Queen of the Jungle with the protagonist being a Tarzan-like woman named Ketaya, who rules over a massive jungle in an uncharted land. Ketaya has domain over all the wildlife and people of the jungle, and keeps them safe from dangerous animals who seek to kill them. Ketaya wields a spear in combat, which she uses with extreme efficiency. She is incredibly athletic, able to jump across treetops and swing from vines with ease. The game takes the form of a fairly traditional 3-D platforming title, though unlike other platforming titles in its genre, Jungle Queen is an M-rated game that isn't afraid to depict visceral, realistic violence. Though Ketaya herself isn't a bloodthirsty person, she doesn't shy away from killing if it's needed in order to protect herself or the people she watches over. The game takes place over 25 levels, each with their own objectives to complete. The main "collectable" in Jungle Queen is hearts: living, beating hearts that Ketaya rips out of those she kills, whether it be animals or (later on in the game) hostile human hunters. The plot starts out fairly simple, with Ketaya protecting her village from a group of ferocious carnivores. Later on, a team of heavily-armed mercenaries led by the game's main villain, Major Russett, invade the jungle to pillage it for its resources, including rare animal pelts and human slaves. Ketaya must slaughter them all if she is to save her jungle from being exploited.

Jungle Queen receives moderate-to-good reviews. The gameplay itself is fairly pedestrian: the platforming is only average, and the combat isn't as complex as what is seen in some of the contemporary hack-and-slash games, with Ketaya only utilizing a few moves to kill enemies. Still, the controversy surrounding the game and its sexy but brutal main character win it plenty of fans among the Xbox faithful, with one online reviewer calling it "a platformer with balls". Sales are decent, and a sequel is immediately greenlighted for 2003.

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Daikatana 2

id's sequel to their 1998 hit FPS title Daikatana was originally intended to be an Ultra Nintendo game, but after John Romero's vision grew too ambitious for the Ultra, he decided instead to release the game as an Xbox exclusive. This was somewhat difficult for Romero, who'd been enamored with Nintendo ever since the enormous success of the SNES-CD port of Doom. However, he and his fellow developers knew that Daikatana 2 would be a success with the Xbox audience and that the console's capabilities were more than enough to make the game work (and would be close enough to the PC version of the game, which would be released later in 2002). Daikatana 2 has pretty much the same gameplay as the original game (which was vastly improved from OTL's version). The main weapon is the titular sword, the Daikatana, which can both be swung at enemies and can be used to channel special powers to attack them at range. In addition, the protagonist can wield firearms such as guns and grenade launchers, but most fighting will be done with the sword, which charges its special attacks by either collecting power-up items or killing enemies. For the most part, it's a fairly standard FPS with an emphasis on melee combat. Daikatana 2 keeps the sidekick system of the previous title, which again was improved from OTL (IOTL, you got a game over when a sidekick died, but ITTL's game, losing a sidekick simply deprived you of their help in combat for the remainder of the level).

Daikatana 2 takes place in the far future, after Hiro Miyamoto and his allies, Superfly Johnson and Mikiko Ebihara, saved the future by reclaiming the Daikatana and using it to slay a time-altering villain. However, it's now the year 3600, and the future is a wasteland, ruled by a tyrannical warlord, Lord Shikado. A young man named Slaughter finds the discarded Daikatana sword in a trash dump, and when he wields it, he learns of its great power and decides to start a rebellion against Shikado's rule. To aid him in his quest, Slaughter teams up with a young woman named Lake and a dog made of scrap robot parts named Bonecrusher. The three venture through eighteen levels filled with Shikado's soldiers, and as they continue to fight, the Daikatana grows stronger and stronger. Eventually, Shikado is defeated, and Slaughter raises the Daikatana (with Shikado's body still impaled on it) to show that the world is liberated from his rule.

Daikatana 2 is released on May 13, 2002, the same day as Jungle Queen. It sells substantially better in its first day than Jungle Queen does, though Jungle Queen ends up having slightly better sales over time. Though the game has a multiplayer mode, it's not online like Quake III Arena, and so Daikatana 2 just doesn't have the staying power that id's other franchises have. The reviews for Daikatana 2 are decent, but it and its predecessor ultimately come to be known as "just another FPS with a big awesome sword". Ultimately, the game marks the end of the series.

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id's Post-Daikatana 2 Plans Include Original Wave Exclusive

While many Ultra Nintendo fans of id Software and its various franchises might be disappointed that they won't be getting the sequel to Daikatana, they shouldn't stay that way, at least if they're planning to catch the Wave sometime next year. John Romero has already promised that a Quake III Arena port is on its way to the Wave, and that they should also be aware that there's a brand new IP on its way for the system as well.

"I'm not saying that it's definitely going to be an FPS, but I'm also not saying that it definitely won't be," said Romero when we asked him about the new title at id's E3 booth this year. "I've got something in mind that's going to take full advantage of the Wave's new technology, and when you see it, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."

Romero was just as cryptic about the prospects of getting a Doom 3 port to the Wave as well. When asked about that, he simply said "we'll see".

Let's hope that we'll be seeing all three of these exciting games riding the Wave to Nintendo players over the next couple of years!

-from the July 2002 issue of Nintendo Power

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The Slayer

The Slayer is an open-world WRPG, created by Vermilion Software (who also developed the major Ultra Nintendo hit Rise a Knight) and published by Microsoft. The game takes place in a country called Stratharc, and the protagonist is a monster slayer who the player can customize at the start of the game (but the Slayer can only be a male, an aspect of the game that would draw some controversy). The Slayer is a hunter who tracks down and kills deadly monsters in order to collect their spoilers and sometimes to collect bounties (somewhat like the gameplay in Monster Hunter). While The Slayer is doing his deadly work, Stratharc is in turmoil. The king and queen have been assassinated, and there are a number of would-be claimants to the throne, including the prince, Lord Cathar, a princess, Melusine, who has mysteriously vanished at the same time as the assassination, a knight named Alzan who heroically saved Stratharc from invasion, and a number of other figures both great and insignificant. The Slayer becomes caught in this intrigue when the various factions begin recruiting him to their cause, and all the while, Stratharc is being invaded by bigger and deadlier monsters. The Slayer must thus decide who he will aid in their quest for the throne (or, perhaps, will decide to take the throne himself).

The game is known for both its fierce monster battles and its backstory, which is compared to George R.R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire book series (the most recent title of which, A Storm Of Swords, was published in 2000 both IOTL and ITTL). The game contains a great deal of political intrigue, though of course the player can choose to ignore all of that and simply go monster killing. There are a bevy of weapons and equipment that can aid the Slayer on his quest, though unlike the protagonists of many RPGs, the Slayer is incapable of learning magic (however, he can have certain magic using characters fight alongside of him). The game is rated M and many of the fights can be quite bloody and brutal, while the cutscenes don't skimp on violence either. Depending on the Slayer's actions, pretty much every named character can meet a grisly fate at some point. The Slayer himself is, for the most part, a barbarian. Though the player's actions can make him act somewhat more civilized, the Slayer usually takes the form of a very violent hunter who enjoys what he does and who knows a thousand different ways to kill a beast. Said one online commenter: "It's like Gaston: The Game!" With that said, The Slayer is a very complex and open-ended RPG, one of the best to date for the Xbox, with a massive open world and the possibility for more than a dozen different endings. It allows the player to drive the story at their own pace: advancing the main storyline and helping to determine the heir to Stratharc's throne, or simply to go around killing increasingly powerful monsters. It's, in a lot of ways, Monster Hunter before Monster Hunter, with a fantastic storyline to boot.

The Slayer is one of the most hyped Xbox releases of 2002, and upon its release on June 10th, it sells very strongly. Reviews are quite favorable to the game, though some do criticize its repetitive monster killing quests and the inability to play as a female Slayer. Ultimately, the game is one of the best early Xbox titles and one of the first major non-Ultima WRPGs to do well on a console. At the time of The Slayer's release, Vermilion Software had been working on their sequel to Rise a Knight for nearly a year, and the game would give them a template on what to do with that game's sequel. It would also convince the company to make Rise a Knight 2 a multiplatform title, after initially conceiving it as a Wave exclusive. That would put off the development of a Slayer sequel for some time, but ultimately the company decided that it would be best to wait for the Xbox's eventual successor to work on a follow-up game.

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Xbox Sales Remain Strong, But Still A Close Second To Nintendo

Microsoft's Xbox sales continued to push hard through the month of June. According to the latest NPD reports, Microsoft sold a total of 710,000 units worldwide in the month of June 2002. While this was significantly more than the 405,000 Sega Katana units sold during the same time frame, the five-year-old Ultra Nintendo system remained in the lead with 754,000 total units sold worldwide. This can largely be attributed to the recent price cut to $99 for the Ultra Nintendo, but the fact remains that Microsoft's system has never beaten the Ultra Nintendo over a one-month span. Despite the age of the Ultra Nintendo, hardware sales remain steady, and are likely to continue to grow as a succession of highly anticipated titles, including Super Mario Ranger and Metal Gear War, are released. Industry analysts believe Ultra Nintendo sales won't begin to decline significantly until the release of the Wave console in Japan at the end of the year. However, the Xbox has exceeded expectations, and continues to hold a significant majority of the next-generation console market over its rival Sega, which is hoping the release of its new Sonic the Hedgehog game can reverse the Katana's fortunes.

-from the July 26, 2002 issue of the Wall Street Journal