Player Two Start: An SNES-CD Timeline

[Bughuntertf]

What began with Koji Kondo's upbeat Super Mario Kart soundtrack ended with one of Ludacris' raps set to bone-crushing football tackles. On August 23, 1999, Madden NFL 2000 released for the Super Nintendo CD in North America and ended the illustrious run of the most successful video game peripheral ever released. Of course, it only began its life as a peripheral before becoming the successor to the Super Nintendo itself, eventually releasing a stand-alone version in 1995. When combined with sales of the Ultra Nintendo, which could also play SNES-CD games, then by some measures, more devices have been released that are capable of playing Super Nintendo CD games than any other console standard. Here's a breakdown of system sales.

My, those butterflies are far-reaching if Super Mario Kart is scored by Koji Kondo rather than Soyo Oka.

“
…and we have a bit of breaking news, some tragic news out of the world of video games today. Shigeru Miyamoto, known the world over as the creator of Super Mario, perhaps the most well-known video game character ever, has died as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident earlier today. He's known as the brains behind Nintendo, the world's leading video game company, not only responsible for the Super Mario games, but The Legend Of Zelda and many others. Miyamoto was 47 years old.”
-Bernard Shaw, from a news report on CNN, May 5, 2000 (North American time)

You killed off Miyamoto! Good lord. That certainly throws Kalinske's words on Miyamoto in a new light. Sega couldn't match them - but now, neither can Nintendo. I mean... what other creative figure within in Nintendo even begins to approach Miyamoto? Off the top of my head the closest I can think of right now is Masahiro Sakurai and/or Eiji Aonuma.

 

[RySenkari]

My, those butterflies are far-reaching if Super Mario Kart is scored by Koji Kondo rather than Soyo Oka.


You killed off Miyamoto! Good lord. That certainly throws Kalinske's words on Miyamoto in a new light. Sega couldn't match them - but now, neither can Nintendo. I mean... what other creative figure within in Nintendo even begins to approach Miyamoto? Off the top of my head the closest I can think of right now is Masahiro Sakurai and/or Eiji Aonuma.

Oops, that Super Mario Kart thing was a mistake. I can't go back and edit it now but it was Soyo Oka, not Koji Kondo that scored TTL's Super Mario Kart.

 

[Nivek]

We Will edit it in the 'book' version and the finished TL one, that should have been Super Mario World 2 that was Kondo affair.

 

[RySenkari]

We Will edit it in the 'book' version and the finished TL one, that should have been Super Mario World 2 that was Kondo affair.

Don't hold me to that, scouring 1,800 pages worth of material for minor typos would be rather difficult

I'll TRY to correct the obvious ones but plenty could slip through the cracks.

Also, the TL hasn't been added to Finished Timelines yet Not sure when they'll get to approving it but I won't bug anyone about it, hopefully they get to it eventually.

The Turtledove nominations end today, looks like we'll have four in total (one for Best TL, one for Best Quote, two for Best Character) which is fantastic! Be sure to vote for us when the polls go up!

In other news, I've planned out the first eight installments of Massively Multiplayer! The TL probably won't go up for at least two months yet, but at least I know where we're going to go with the first parts. We'll have room for reader contributions as well, either in-between those installments or after them, more information about those will be contained in the FAQ that we're planning to put in the initial post.

 

[The Walkman]

Just had time to catch up. And let me say: I give this timeline an emphatic round of applause. Super work all-around, and while it is sad to see this end (especially with the death of a titan of the gaming industry), just knowing it will continue in some form is a great feeling. The Turtledove nominations are definitely well-deserved.

Waiting for Massively Multiplayer with bated breath.

 

[TheAngryMan]

Also, the TL hasn't been added to Finished Timelines yet Not sure when they'll get to approving it but I won't bug anyone about it, hopefully they get to it eventually.

Well, the wait is over. I went over to the Finished TL section to continue reading another timeline I got into, and noticed Player 2 Start was there. For those interested, as of the time of writing it's up to "Mortal Monday" the Infamous SNES-CD launch of Mortal Combat, so there's a good chunk of content to read for those interested in looking back on the early days of this timeline.

 

[RySenkari]

Well, the wait is over. I went over to the Finished TL section to continue reading another timeline I got into, and noticed Player 2 Start was there. For those interested, as of the time of writing it's up to "Mortal Monday" the Infamous SNES-CD launch of Mortal Combat, so there's a good chunk of content to read for those interested in looking back on the early days of this timeline.

Nice! I'll start adding the rest later this morning.

 

[RySenkari]

All right, the timeline is complete in the Finished Timelines forum.

A quick note, if you've contributed material to the timeline in the form of a post and you don't see yourself credited within the TL, please let us know in this thread. I'm going to go back over the next week or two and add in contributors' names next to their posts (and also probably look for remaining typos or boo-boos). I know with some of the contributors who did a LOT of posts, we credited them at the very end of the TL, but we've probably missed some people and with all the folks who did submit contributions, we want to make sure that credit goes to where it's due!

 

[Goldwind2]

I told Nivek an idea i for an original game for ready player two called Guardians of Nature. He said that he would tell you about. Even he forgot or you didn't like it because it never appeared in the timeline.

 

[RySenkari]

I told Nivek an idea i for an original game for ready player two called Guardians of Nature. He said that he would tell you about. Even he forgot or you didn't like it because it never appeared in the timeline.

Let me know about it and I could see about putting it in Massively Multiplayer.

 

[Lavanya Six]

I'm a bit of a slowpoke here, but I wanted to say that I really enjoyed the finale for this timeline. While it's primarily been about the games themselves, and the fun of imagining an alternate industry, I definitely liked the recap of the various narrative strands at the very ending. All the people whose lives had been changed for the better, despite the things that went wrong for others.

 

[Goldwind2]

Let me know about it and I could see about putting it in Massively Multiplayer.

\
RySenkari I left you a message about Guardians of Nature in your personal messages folder

 

[Bughuntertf]

Another minor nitpick - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (Or New Generation as it's known ATL) was scored by the team of Ryuji Sasai and Yasuhiro Kawakami - Sasai handled the 'harder' tracks while Kawakami did the 'soft' tracks. (from the First Post.)

 

[RySenkari]

Another minor nitpick - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (Or New Generation as it's known ATL) was scored by the team of Ryuji Sasai and Yasuhiro Kawakami - Sasai handled the 'harder' tracks while Kawakami did the 'soft' tracks. (from the First Post.)

Thanks for letting us know, I went ahead and edited the finished timeline to reflect that.

Someday I need to detail more of the changes made to New Generation, it's definitely no longer an "entry level" RPG as Mystic Quest was! It's tougher than FFIV Easytype but still easier than FFIV Hardtype or FFV.

And in other news...

Look at this. LOOK AT IT!

http://kotaku.com/pokemon-moon-and-sun-logos-pop-up-1761230439

Jesus Christ, Nintendo, why not take some of my actual GOOD ideas? You can have Squad Four for free. I don't know why you're ripping off my second-tier ideas.

 

[The Walkman]

And in other news...

Look at this. LOOK AT IT!

http://kotaku.com/pokemon-moon-and-sun-logos-pop-up-1761230439

Jesus Christ, Nintendo, why not take some of my actual GOOD ideas? You can have Squad Four for free. I don't know why you're ripping off my second-tier ideas.

Hmm...wonder if there any Nintendo employees who are lurkers here?

 

[Roger Redux]

Thanks for letting us know, I went ahead and edited the finished timeline to reflect that.

Someday I need to detail more of the changes made to New Generation, it's definitely no longer an "entry level" RPG as Mystic Quest was! It's tougher than FFIV Easytype but still easier than FFIV Hardtype or FFV.

And in other news...

Look at this. LOOK AT IT!

http://kotaku.com/pokemon-moon-and-sun-logos-pop-up-1761230439

Jesus Christ, Nintendo, why not take some of my actual GOOD ideas? You can have Squad Four for free. I don't know why you're ripping off my second-tier ideas.

Wow! Life imitating art much?

POINT OF CONVERGENCE! SEGA RISES FROM THE ASHES! SEGA PHOENIX 2017! SEGA PHOENIX TWENTY SEVENTEEHEEHEEHEEEEEEEEEEEENNNN!! *breaks down into sobs*

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Seriously though, I'd say it's just more a case of "Great minds think alike", or inevitability, they are good names. On a related note: one of the names registered but never made sounds like something you'd need to collect in a Sonic game, Delta Emeralds. Maybe in the Massively Multiplayer equivalent of Sonic Rush the Delta Emeralds replace the Sol Emeralds?

 

[TheAngryMan]

And in other news...

Look at this. LOOK AT IT!

http://kotaku.com/pokemon-moon-and-sun-logos-pop-up-1761230439

Jesus Christ, Nintendo, why not take some of my actual GOOD ideas? You can have Squad Four for free. I don't know why you're ripping off my second-tier ideas.

Just watched today's Pokemon Direct, Pokemon Sun and Moon have been confirmed for a Holiday 2016 release on the 3DS. I think that may finally be the last push I needed to get a 3DS, I've been out of the Portable Gaming scene for far too long. But man, that's one hell of a coincidence, I just love how this stuff keeps popping up with things in the timeline being replicated in real life.

Oh, and before I forget, thank you guys for the awesome TL. I look forward to Massively Multiplayer whenever it ends up coming out. You certainly deserve a break after all the hard effort you put into making Player 2 Start into the masterpiece it is.

 

[Bughuntertf]

Oh, and before I forget, thank you guys for the awesome TL. I look forward to Massively Multiplayer whenever it ends up coming out. You certainly deserve a break after all the hard effort you put into making Player 2 Start into the masterpiece it is.

Agreed. Player 2 Start really has been one of the best alternate timelines I've ever read. Even the bits I didn't enjoy I appreciated - I didn't much enjoy the Polly storyline (or the GameTV, or the exceptionally long listing of differences between an OTL game, or how an ATL game works, etc. etc. let's just say that I enjoyed the whole more than its parts because I'm exceptionally fickle) but kudos to you for including a more human element apart from the business and the plumber-eat-hedgehog world of videogaming. Seriously, that was well-done stuff there.

The amount of effort that has gone into it is and was absolutely tremendous. Very, very impressive. I will be looking forward to Massively Multiplayer when it comes, but please take all the time you need.

 

[RySenkari]

Agreed. Player 2 Start really has been one of the best alternate timelines I've ever read. Even the bits I didn't enjoy I appreciated - I didn't much enjoy the Polly storyline (or the GameTV, or the exceptionally long listing of differences between an OTL game, or how an ATL game works, etc. etc. let's just say that I enjoyed the whole more than its parts because I'm exceptionally fickle) but kudos to you for including a more human element apart from the business and the plumber-eat-hedgehog world of videogaming. Seriously, that was well-done stuff there.

The amount of effort that has gone into it is and was absolutely tremendous. Very, very impressive. I will be looking forward to Massively Multiplayer when it comes, but please take all the time you need.

Thank you very much!

We did spend a LOT of time describing individual games. I know that in previous video game timelines I've seen, a lot of people basically just did lists of the major games that came out at the time, and I felt like more was necessary because obviously butterflies would change those games, some to the point of being barely recognizable. That's also why we had to include so many totally original games: butterflies made it necessary. There's no way such a massive thing like the SNES-CD could happen without erasing lots of games from existence and bringing lots of games into existence in their place.

I'll admit that the GameTV stuff, looking back, is a bit fillerish. I was looking for a way to properly discuss/describe games that weren't notable enough to get a section of their own but needed to get more than just a one line description. Also, I was looking for a way to fuse 90s pop culture with gaming and show a mainstream gamer perspective on the decade's gamer scene.

Massively Multiplayer will aim to have a lot less filler-type stuff. GameTV is already scheduled to be canceled just a few months into the timeline (and we're only going to do a few more GameTV segments for the summer of 2000), and we're going to stop listing every single notable game, in lieu of detailing the year's most notable games and leaving out most of the rest. More details will be revealed once the topic actually goes up!

 

[Roger Redux]

I'll admit that the GameTV stuff, looking back, is a bit fillerish. I was looking for a way to properly discuss/describe games that weren't notable enough to get a section of their own but needed to get more than just a one line description. Also, I was looking for a way to fuse 90s pop culture with gaming and show a mainstream gamer perspective on the decade's gamer scene.

Massively Multiplayer will aim to have a lot less filler-type stuff. GameTV is already scheduled to be canceled just a few months into the timeline (and we're only going to do a few more GameTV segments for the summer of 2000), and we're going to stop listing every single notable game, in lieu of detailing the year's most notable games and leaving out most of the rest. More details will be revealed once the topic actually goes up!

Well I for one am going to miss GameTV, I've been thoroughly enjoying it to the point of wishing I could look it up on Youtube & watch it for real. I never thought it was "fillerish" at all; it may've taken a few installments to find its groove, but most TV shows do.