I remember seeing something about the sales of Mega Man games being shockingly low compared to other Capcom games, to the point where it can maybe be accurately called kind of a "cult hit." Of course it is a media franchise with anime etc and maybe in Japan it's different but it kind of tracks with rumors of Inafune and his self-promoting/taking credit style personality.
Speaking of anime I think the increasing popularity of it(in the West)would have led to Legends also being more popular had it been released a few years later. And I think it's why Battle Network was popular with a young audience at that time too, I know I was familiar with the games and the Saturday morning cartoon version airing at the same time.
@HoyeBoye yeah and I hope people continue to use it to not let Embracer off the hook! Was a wild couple of years there but I think in hindsight people will look at them as a major destroyer of the "AA" gamespace, and all because of some failed Saudi deal? The hell?
Anyway, this is great and Volition was a very interesting company. Makes sense that lots of them were reluctant to do the Saints Row thing but I think they(or at least whoever stayed on with them) ended up "embracing" the ridiculousness of the genre and leaning into it obviously was a success. Hope somebody-- wink wink --does a "Where Are They Now" style piece on them someday!
Glad to see other opinions here from people who played it at the time. This was probably the entry I spent the most time with as a kid but I vividly remember wishing I had the 3rd one on PS1 instead, and when the 5th one came out I liked it so much better, felt like the true successor to Tekken 3.
Now I can see the perspective that 4 was an attempt at something quite different and "next level," and when that didn't work out 5 was modeled more after 3, with the rest of the series continuing in that direction.
And playing them back-to-back, you can actually see the work done on the graphics and art direction, with really nice and interactive stages, some of the best in the series. I always thought the music was the best out of all of them too, with some tracks lodged in the back of my head for decades. That gameplay though...oof, it plays so much worse than the previous or following games, so block-centric and just straight up annoying at times!
Love this idea and I'm all for a greater understanding of a given subject, rather than just deciding an "opinion winner" where there isn't any or "this media-driven narrative is wrong/actually true" in a simplified or clickbaity fashion.
The older I get the more I see unique perspectives on gaming from purely where you were born, based so much on when a particular console or game was released, or if it was ever officially released. The popularity of specific franchises or genres in one region vs. complete obscurity in another.
It's gotten to the point where I am more likely to trust somebody speaking on this subject the more they admit what they DON'T know, or can at least understand that any one person's opinion on games is going to be heavily biased based on where they were born, and the best you can do is try to fill in the blind spots over time.
Yeah while I don't think he's "right" per se I do think the increasing complication of 2D fighting games kind of felt like it heading towards a completely unnecessary dead end for a bit. No wonder it became such a niche for like a decade(saying this as 90's Capcom fighting games are one of my favorites of all time).
The article is funny as hell though regardless. Definitely comes off as a bit self-aware or tongue-in-cheek I think.
Gunstar Super Heroes is one of those ultimate "random game changed my life" situations. No idea how the game ended up in my position but it did and I immediately could tell it was one of the most awesome and badass games ever made up to that point. Definitely stoked a fire in my action game-loving heart that to this day is satisfied most by Treasure themselves or maybe Platinum, which I kind of consider a "successor" to them in a lot of ways.
Misinformation takes a much, much stronger hold on people than the "less interesting" truth. 30 years of people believing saying the same incorrect thing will probably take at least twice that time for it to be corrected on a grand scale.
I mean Death Crimson is kind of like "The Room" of Japanese games. Are there actually worse movies than The Room? Yeah, duh, but it's famously used as shorthand for "Worst Movie Ever" for a reason. Some rando's homemade never distributed software is bound to be worse than any major product, but I almost feel like such surely massive amounts of very obscure products deserve a separate categorizing.
Between this and the AKI saga there's a weird confluence of wrestler dudes, retro studios, and not fully understanding IP rights going on, but eh, sure, why not at this point?
I can predict something like Super Mario Bros for sure, especially as that leads to SM64 and then all the games that one in particular influenced. Doom is another good pick for many good reasons. Honestly it's kind of depressing but I feel that video games were never the same after COD4 as well. All "cinematic campaign" all "multiplayer perks" and so on
Comments 12
Re: Random: Keiji Inafune Believed "Arrogance" & Overconfidence Led To Mega Man Legends' Poor Sales
I remember seeing something about the sales of Mega Man games being shockingly low compared to other Capcom games, to the point where it can maybe be accurately called kind of a "cult hit." Of course it is a media franchise with anime etc and maybe in Japan it's different but it kind of tracks with rumors of Inafune and his self-promoting/taking credit style personality.
Speaking of anime I think the increasing popularity of it(in the West)would have led to Legends also being more popular had it been released a few years later. And I think it's why Battle Network was popular with a young audience at that time too, I know I was familiar with the games and the Saturday morning cartoon version airing at the same time.
Re: Strong Museum Announces Huge Preservation Haul From Saint's Row Dev Volition
@HoyeBoye yeah and I hope people continue to use it to not let Embracer off the hook! Was a wild couple of years there but I think in hindsight people will look at them as a major destroyer of the "AA" gamespace, and all because of some failed Saudi deal? The hell?
Anyway, this is great and Volition was a very interesting company. Makes sense that lots of them were reluctant to do the Saints Row thing but I think they(or at least whoever stayed on with them) ended up "embracing" the ridiculousness of the genre and leaning into it obviously was a success. Hope somebody-- wink wink --does a "Where Are They Now" style piece on them someday!
Re: The Sega Classic OutRun Is Coming To The Big Screen, With Michael Bay Attached To Direct
imo file this under the same BS press releases as the "Candyland Movie" and countless other examples lmao
Although the Battleship movie with Rihanna ended up being real somehow, so...
Re: Billy Mitchell Has Won His Defamation Lawsuit Against The YouTuber Karl Jobst
Removed
Re: "I Didn’t Have A Single Ally" - Katsuhiro Harada Opens Up About The Stress Of Making Tekken 4
Glad to see other opinions here from people who played it at the time. This was probably the entry I spent the most time with as a kid but I vividly remember wishing I had the 3rd one on PS1 instead, and when the 5th one came out I liked it so much better, felt like the true successor to Tekken 3.
Now I can see the perspective that 4 was an attempt at something quite different and "next level," and when that didn't work out 5 was modeled more after 3, with the rest of the series continuing in that direction.
And playing them back-to-back, you can actually see the work done on the graphics and art direction, with really nice and interactive stages, some of the best in the series. I always thought the music was the best out of all of them too, with some tracks lodged in the back of my head for decades. That gameplay though...oof, it plays so much worse than the previous or following games, so block-centric and just straight up annoying at times!
Re: Looking Beyond America - How Game History Is Connected On A Global Scale
Love this idea and I'm all for a greater understanding of a given subject, rather than just deciding an "opinion winner" where there isn't any or "this media-driven narrative is wrong/actually true" in a simplified or clickbaity fashion.
The older I get the more I see unique perspectives on gaming from purely where you were born, based so much on when a particular console or game was released, or if it was ever officially released. The popularity of specific franchises or genres in one region vs. complete obscurity in another.
It's gotten to the point where I am more likely to trust somebody speaking on this subject the more they admit what they DON'T know, or can at least understand that any one person's opinion on games is going to be heavily biased based on where they were born, and the best you can do is try to fill in the blind spots over time.
Re: 30 Years Ago, The Grandfather Of Game Journalism Told 2D Fighting Game Fans To "Get A Life"
Yeah while I don't think he's "right" per se I do think the increasing complication of 2D fighting games kind of felt like it heading towards a completely unnecessary dead end for a bit. No wonder it became such a niche for like a decade(saying this as 90's Capcom fighting games are one of my favorites of all time).
The article is funny as hell though regardless. Definitely comes off as a bit self-aware or tongue-in-cheek I think.
Re: "A Lot Of People Hated Me For That Job" - Gunstar Super Heroes Director Opens Up About The Challenges Of The GBA Sequel
Gunstar Super Heroes is one of those ultimate "random game changed my life" situations. No idea how the game ended up in my position but it did and I immediately could tell it was one of the most awesome and badass games ever made up to that point. Definitely stoked a fire in my action game-loving heart that to this day is satisfied most by Treasure themselves or maybe Platinum, which I kind of consider a "successor" to them in a lot of ways.
Re: "Poorly Analyzed US-Centric Garbage" - Why Do Americans Keep Ignoring European Gaming History?
Misinformation takes a much, much stronger hold on people than the "less interesting" truth. 30 years of people believing saying the same incorrect thing will probably take at least twice that time for it to be corrected on a grand scale.
Re: Is This Really Japan's Worst Video Game?
I mean Death Crimson is kind of like "The Room" of Japanese games. Are there actually worse movies than The Room? Yeah, duh, but it's famously used as shorthand for "Worst Movie Ever" for a reason. Some rando's homemade never distributed software is bound to be worse than any major product, but I almost feel like such surely massive amounts of very obscure products deserve a separate categorizing.
Re: Acclaim Skirts Around The Issue Of Which Of Its Classic IP It Actually Has Access To
Between this and the AKI saga there's a weird confluence of wrestler dudes, retro studios, and not fully understanding IP rights going on, but eh, sure, why not at this point?
Re: What's The Most Influential Video Game of All Time? BAFTA Needs Your Help To Decide
I can predict something like Super Mario Bros for sure, especially as that leads to SM64 and then all the games that one in particular influenced. Doom is another good pick for many good reasons. Honestly it's kind of depressing but I feel that video games were never the same after COD4 as well. All "cinematic campaign" all "multiplayer perks" and so on