Player Two Start: An SNES-CD Timeline

[Colonel Levnekov]

A homage to I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, of all things, in a platformer? Spare Parts probably made plenty of kids lose several hours of sleep in your TL. Eric's thoughts were even more disturbing though, it's not like he wouldn't be willing to go kamikaze on a prison for real.

Everything about Arbiter of Sin seems edgy for the sake of edgy though, not just the plot. It's the FPS version of God of War.

Yep. That's...a bit more than terrifying, to say the least.

 

[Roger Redux]

WOW! I really enjoyed the write-up for TTL's Shenmue! I'm really liking all the additions, even with the Saturn's limits. Is there considered to be a 'cannon' love interest? Will the decisions and choices the player makes continue into the sequels? Is the music still the same? Did Tom make the cut to stay in the game? Can Ryo actually buy a hot dog from him now? Does Ryo actually eat now?
Val Kilmer: "It just raises too many questions."

When GameTV reviewed it, did they say that it was ONE disc? Even OTL's Dreamcast version was THREE discs. Even with lesser graphics and a slightly smaller world, the additions to this game make it seem like it should be at least two.
Don't worry I'm sure I'll think of more questions soon.

 

[RySenkari]

Oops, based on what Roger said about Shenmue it's time to do a quick retcon edit concerning the number of discs I could have sworn the original only had one (I never played it ), sorry about that. I'll change it to four.

 

[Nivek]

Oops, based on what Roger said about Shenmue it's time to do a quick retcon edit concerning the number of discs I could have sworn the original only had one (I never played it ), sorry about that. I'll change it to four.

Well how i missed that? well Xbox Shenmue 2 was a disc so maybe i slipped that(and the hurry), yeah, Saturn would be 4 in average, like OTL FF and others RPG of the era.

Everything about Arbiter of Sin seems edgy for the sake of edgy though, not just the plot. It's the FPS version of God of War.

Like the Doom fanfic every 90's teen? Well that was the idea of Arbiter of Sin, take doom popularity in the west and make our own with SEGA twist, yeah that is something SEGA'we got uncensored MK' Would have done having the chance.

 

[HonestAbe1809]

A homage to I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, of all things, in a platformer? Spare Parts probably made plenty of kids lose several hours of sleep in your TL. Eric's thoughts were even more disturbing though, it's not like he wouldn't be willing to go kamikaze on a prison for real.

Everything about Arbiter of Sin seems edgy for the sake of edgy though, not just the plot. It's the FPS version of God of War.

I like to believe that the computer was voiced by someone doing an impeccable impression of Harlan Ellison. And the reference to a "society" implies that this AI allows the humans under it's control a life (albeit one under strict control) rather than 24-7 torture for centuries like AM did.

The protagonist of Arbiter of Sin appears to come to understand what he did was wrong and looks to be on his way to rescuing the souls from hell. He isn't a violent bloodthirsty asshole like how Kratos ended up.

 

[woweed]

You know what would be hilarious? If Doug Walker (Nostalgia Critic), Brad Jones (Cinema Snob), and/or other Channel Awesome/Youtube personalities end up hosting MST3K instead. I would've put James Rolfe & Mike Matei (Motherf**ker Mike) on that list, but you've already established that AVGN is still a thing; on top of which he has a 'mainstream' Hollywood career. Though I guess Mike could still do it.

LINKARA
FILLER

 

[RySenkari]

Given the recent Kickstarter, I nhave to ask, have the Butterflies of TTL effected MST3K? Ihope that ITTL, it becomes like was suggested in the recent update where it just goes on forever like Doctor Who or SNL, cycling out hosts as time goes on.

MST3K is untouched at the moment and I have to imagine it gets canceled at the same time as IOTL. Any kind of revival/reboot, though, is still up in the air and could potentially happen at any time between 2002 and present day ITTL.

To paraphrase the old Beatles song, Polly, run for your life...

Well, we're coming up on April 1999, if that is indeed the month ITTL where Eric pulls something. There will be at least one more update on her before the "thing", if there is a thing, happens.

In regards to Masi Oka, it makes me wonder if his breakout role as Hiro Nakamura on Heroes will be butterflied away. Given the time between the POD and the series premiere, something tells me that Heroes probably will not come into fruition TTL.

I can already confirm that Heroes is gone ITTL. However, with some sci-fi shows achieving popularity as early as 1998 ITTL, something LIKE Heroes might crop up sooner. Or it might not. The TV butterflies are still flapping.

A homage to I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, of all things, in a platformer? Spare Parts probably made plenty of kids lose several hours of sleep in your TL. Eric's thoughts were even more disturbing though, it's not like he wouldn't be willing to go kamikaze on a prison for real.

Everything about Arbiter of Sin seems edgy for the sake of edgy though, not just the plot. It's the FPS version of God of War.

Heh, more of a few vague allusions to I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream. The computer in Spare Parts is bad, but not THAT bad. It still needs its ass kicked though. And yeah, parts of Arbiter of Sin are pretty much "let's see how edgy we can make an FPS".

WOW! I really enjoyed the write-up for TTL's Shenmue! I'm really liking all the additions, even with the Saturn's limits. Is there considered to be a 'cannon' love interest? Will the decisions and choices the player makes continue into the sequels? Is the music still the same? Did Tom make the cut to stay in the game? Can Ryo actually buy a hot dog from him now? Does Ryo actually eat now?

There is not a canon love interest. Let's just say that the Saturn successor will be able to work with the Saturn's memory cards to some extent. Of course, if you didn't play Shenmue 1, there might be a work-around. Tom is in the game, but nope, Ryo does not eat. The music is mostly the same.

The protagonist of Arbiter of Sin appears to come to understand what he did was wrong and looks to be on his way to rescuing the souls from hell. He isn't a violent bloodthirsty asshole like how Kratos ended up.

Arbiter of Sin, I have planned to be a trilogy.

 

[MightyMatilda]

Wasn't Daikatana that game where the most useful weapon in stage one was the gun that wastes all of its ammo in one shot, because at least it didn't kill you half the time?

People can be really selective in their outrage. Doom has you play as a soldier fighting against the legions of Hell and everyone throws a fit. Persona 3 stars teenagers who shoot themselves in the head to summon monsters and no one seemed to care.

 

[TheAngryMan]

Now THAT is what I call an update. I'm really glad to see that the Ring, while still not making the Saturn even with the UNES, is still capable of bringing quality games to the system. Ultimately, I think the Ring's ability to keep up with the Ultra really comes down to when Sega plans to put out the Katana. If it comes out in 2000, then I have little doubt that the Ring can hold the line, but if it doesn't show up until 2001, then I'll be worried for Sega (though they're still far better off than they were OTL, not that the people of TTL have any way to know that. ). It so weird how I really want to see Sega stay strong, since I've never been into their work.

But enough of my rambling about this timelines future. I'm really pumped for 1999, mostly because my TTL self is finally old enough to get into gaming, probably on Gameboy with Pokemon as I did OTL, though whether it will be with Pokemon Yellow on the Gameboy Color or Pokemon Moon on the Gameboy Nova is up in the air (This is also presuming that I was actually born TTL, my birthday was on November 8th, 1994, and I know you guys said earlier on the Butterflies started to majorly affect whether or not people from OTL are conceived in late 1993, so I'm kind of on the razor's edge here. ). Either way, I cannot wait!

 

[Roger Redux]

Oops, based on what Roger said about Shenmue it's time to do a quick retcon edit concerning the number of discs I could have sworn the original only had one (I never played it ), sorry about that. I'll change it to four.

Well how i missed that? well Xbox Shenmue 2 was a disc so maybe i slipped that(and the hurry), yeah, Saturn would be 4 in average, like OTL FF and others RPG of the era.

Yay, I helped!

It so weird how I really want to see Sega stay strong, since I've never been into their work.

Probably for the same reason I enjoy reading about the awesome things Nintendo's doing, despite being a SEGA Brat:
Because we've come to accept that they really were each other's One True Worthy Competitor, and good to see them actually making a good fight of it instead of routinely shooting themselves in the foot at every given opportunity.

But enough of my rambling about this timelines future. I'm really pumped for 1999, mostly because my TTL self is finally old enough to get into gaming, probably on Gameboy with Pokemon as I did OTL, though whether it will be with Pokemon Yellow on the Gameboy Color or Pokemon Moon on the Gameboy Nova is up in the air (This is also presuming that I was actually born TTL, my birthday was on November 8th, 1994, and I know you guys said earlier on the Butterflies started to majorly affect whether or not people from OTL are conceived in late 1993, so I'm kind of on the razor's edge here. ). Either way, I cannot wait!

I suppose that depends on whether or not your parents were gamers before you were born. If they weren't, you're probably safe; if they were, then it is our sad duty to inform you that your parents were too busy playing Secret of Mana to have sex that night. You no longer exist, but thank you for playing.

Also, happy belated birthday!

 

[Crunch Buttsteak]

What memes would the TTL games of this generation have ended up spawning?

And what were the "my uncle who works at nintendo" rumors?

Given the better texture capabilities of the Ultra over the OTL N64, "L is real 2401" probably wouldn't have happened.

Would people be trying different ways to get into the light temple / get the triforce in ToT?

 

[ANARCHY_4_ALL]

I suppose that depends on whether or not your parents were gamers before you were born. If they weren't, you're probably safe; if they were, then it is our sad duty to inform you that your parents were too busy playing Secret of Mana to have sex that night. You no longer exist, but thank you for playing.

Also, happy belated birthday!

Happy belated birthday as well...

I'm just glad I was born in September 1990. The events of TTL have been shaping around my entire life.

On Arbiter of Sin, I can't help but think that someone ITTL makes the remark that. "Doom had you killing the spawns of hell and the religious freaked out. Let's see what happens when you kill angels instead, oh they freaked out again. Is there deicide in the sequel, I sure hope so. Just to see the religious really freak the fuck out."

 

[Nivek]

Now THAT is what I call an update. I'm really glad to see that the Ring, while still not making the Saturn even with the UNES, is still capable of bringing quality games to the system. Ultimately, I think the Ring's ability to keep up with the Ultra really comes down to when Sega plans to put out the Katana. If it comes out in 2000, then I have little doubt that the Ring can hold the line, but if it doesn't show up until 2001, then I'll be worried for Sega (though they're still far better off than they were OTL, not that the people of TTL have any way to know that. ). It so weird how I really want to see Sega stay strong, since I've never been into their work.

But enough of my rambling about this timelines future. I'm really pumped for 1999, mostly because my TTL self is finally old enough to get into gaming, probably on Gameboy with Pokemon as I did OTL, though whether it will be with Pokemon Yellow on the Gameboy Color or Pokemon Moon on the Gameboy Nova is up in the air (This is also presuming that I was actually born TTL, my birthday was on November 8th, 1994, and I know you guys said earlier on the Butterflies started to majorly affect whether or not people from OTL are conceived in late 1993, so I'm kind of on the razor's edge here. ). Either way, I cannot wait!

Happy Birthday too, depend a lot of variable, (luckilly i'm pre-pod too) but who knew maybe the happy man post In-universe AH.com in a similar TL?

What memes would the TTL games of this generation have ended up spawning?

And what were the "my uncle who works at nintendo" rumors?

Given the better texture capabilities of the Ultra over the OTL N64, "L is real 2401" probably wouldn't have happened.

Would people be trying different ways to get into the light temple / get the triforce in ToT?

Memes are mostly youtube and games related, ry have the masterlist but other will come and happen as tl come and goes.

We need to do those, we missed the train with both Ultra and Saturn, maybe for Katana and Next gen will happen, i knew you used those in your tl too, again we forgot do those.

Happy belated birthday as well...

I'm just glad I was born in September 1990. The events of TTL have been shaping around my entire life.

On Arbiter of Sin, I can't help but think that someone ITTL makes the remark that. "Doom had you killing the spawns of hell and the religious freaked out. Let's see what happens when you kill angels instead, oh they freaked out again. Is there deicide in the sequel, I sure hope so. Just to see the religious really freak the fuck out."

Well, Luckily Shin Megami Tensei is slipping under radar even when SMT 1 bombed, almost give Jerry Fawel a heart attack, SMT2 would have give both Fawell and Pat Roberson a double aneurism

 

[Nevermore]

You know what would be hilarious? If Doug Walker (Nostalgia Critic), Brad Jones (Cinema Snob), and/or other Channel Awesome/Youtube personalities end up hosting MST3K instead. I would've put James Rolfe & Mike Matei (Motherf**ker Mike) on that list, but you've already established that AVGN is still a thing; on top of which he has a 'mainstream' Hollywood career. Though I guess Mike could still do it.

If you're going to go that route, the most obvious choice would be Noah Antwiler (aka, the Spoony One). The Spoony Experiment started OTL as a project of his to basically make Not MST3K; it's the reason he has Burton the robot in the first place. He had quite a bit of chemistry with Walker and Lovhaug in their crossover review of Alone in the Dark OTL. That'd defeat the point of having the 'bots, though...

That said: even if it would probably never happen, if we're talking celebrity roles in a revival of the show, it'd be epic to have a post-alt-Colbert Show Stephen Colbert as a Mad.

Anyway: lots of awesome stuff in the update, guys. I'll echo some of the others stating that even if he ends up not doing anything overly violent that someone or something brings Eric down. Poor Polly; she has no idea what might be coming.

Clinton not getting impeached is the single most significant thing to happen this update, politically and culturally, but it's sort of strange how it only got a paragraph. Then again, this is a pop culture TL. Guess that means Gore will probably win the election in 2000 against whatever Republican opponent is picked given the hints of a VP Lieberman in '06.

I wish I could comment more on Parasite Eve or Shenmue other than saying 'awesome, but well, awesome. I actually haven't played either game OTL but even from what you've written I'd like to. PE comes off like a Japanese attempt at aping John Carpenter's The Thing or David Cronenberg and I'm guessing that probably wasn't too far off for the source material (it's based on a book, right?). Regardless I do hope that Yu Suzuki at least gets to continue the Shenmue franchise and doesn't have to resort to alt-Kickstarter to fund it past the first sequel.

Arbiter of Sin's reception not being seen as more widely offensive does puzzle me, though. Even with the neutering of much of the current crop of evangelical conservatives' power in media at the moment it seems to me like it really wouldn't sit well with many people. I suppose that the general consensus is naturally "It's just a game," but I'm sure it's touched quite a lot of nerves with people even outside of the usual suspects for this kind of thing. That said, I really like the concept and I think that Romero has a lot of his work cut out for him with DOOM: Inferno. AoS seems like a pretty logical 'perfection' of the DOOM formula from a story standpoint (to me anyway) that I'm not quite sure where they could go to differentiate themselves. Sounds like trouble for Ion Storm.

Good ol' Kalinske just can't catch a break, it seems. Much as I love Nintendo I always root for the guy ITTL. Guess it's the American in me liking the underdog he represents, I suppose. That said it does seem like Sega is stuck between a rock and a hard place right now, which won't be made easier by a third competitor to the market space in a few years. One wonders if the end goal isn't to have them end up similarly to Nintendo OTL: technically someone who competes in the industry but largely marches to the beat of their own drum. One just hopes they're more flexible in dealing with other companies than the Big N in our world, though.

---

...and as a treat for having to wait for the LoZ TV series' debut, here's a sneak peek at most of the major players in its cast. Thanks to Nivek and Ry for helping iron it out.

Michael Reisz as Link
Jennifer Hale as Princess Zelda
Keith David as Ganondorf Dragmire
Jim Cummings as Rusl, Link's uncle
B.J. Ward as Impa
Ron Perlman as Ekkadan
Cree Summer as Nabooru
Casey Kasem as Agahnim
Paige O'Hara as Marin
Joshua Seth as Gaddis
Mark Hamill as Calavir
Deedee Magno as Nayru
Melissa Disney as Farore
Kimberly Brooks as Din
Robin Williams as King Gustaf Hyrule

Also, since it's based on the fact they've been misattributed to this song so much in OTL, System of a Down gets tapped to do the series' theme song here because I like dumb jokes.

 

[ANARCHY_4_ALL]

On Clinton, ironically I was listening to my local rock station which uses short sound-bytes between songs. It was, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." I couldn't help but think of TTL and lol. On Gore winning in 2000 and VP Lieberman, a Republican could still win in 2000 but lose in the 2004 mid-terms. This could mean we still get Bush but there is no 9/11 and no sympathy mid-term win. Because I really hope there is no 9/11 and I'm sure he would still fail miserably.

Ninja edit by Nevermore: LMAO on that song you could always go for Gogol Bordello who also sound like they could do that song. They are a legitimate band of gypsies.

 

[Pyro]

Sounds like trouble for Ion Storm.

Just a reminder. Romero is still with (or rejoined) id and Ion Storm is with Sega producing the Commander Keen games. In fact, I'm working on the synopses for the eleventh and twelfth games.

Good ol' Kalinske just can't catch a break, it seems. Much as I love Nintendo I always root for the guy ITTL. Guess it's the American in me liking the underdog he represents, I suppose. That said it does seem like Sega is stuck between a rock and a hard place right now, which won't be made easier by a third competitor to the market space in a few years. One wonders if the end goal isn't to have them end up similarly to Nintendo OTL: technically someone who competes in the industry but largely marches to the beat of their own drum. One just hopes they're more flexible in dealing with other companies than the Big N in our world, though.

Well, one can hope things will look better for Sega next-gen. Like you said, these Kalinske vignettes make Sega look like the Rocky Balboa to Nintendo/Sony's Apollo Creed. Despite the awesome games Big N and Sony are producing part of me really, REALLY wants to see them suffer a serious setback because Americans (and some Canadians, in my case) love a good underdog story. If the Rocky parallels continue, Nintendo might get beaten to death by a large Russian.

Granted, Kid Icarus: Guardian's disappointing performance could be considered a setback but not a sizeable one in the larger picture. Something tells me the sixth generation will be a decisive one.

Also, when is Dragon Quest VII set for release? That might help Sega's fortunes in Japan for a spell.

 

[RyderWest]

Should Degrassi: The Next Generation be coming in 2 years? The first episode was on October 14, 2001; I think butterflies shouldn't affect it too much, unless certain actors get changed or something.

 

[MightyMatilda]

If the Rocky parallels continue, Nintendo might get beaten to death by a large Russian.

You're saying that a Dendy console is going to break into the Japanese market? Because that's how I have decided to interpret it.

 

[ANARCHY_4_ALL]

You're saying that a Dendy console is going to break into the Japanese market? Because that's how I have decided to interpret it.

I was thinking that whoever becomes the third competitor names the console something Russian, Microsoft-Apple ComRad or IVAN(Intense Visuals And Networking)?

 

[MightyMatilda]

I was thinking that whoever becomes the third competitor names the console something Russian, Microsoft-Apple ComRad or IVAN(Intense Visuals And Networking)?

Or, perhaps, the "Kha-korobka".