Try to imagine

Discuss classic and favorite computer or console games here.
User avatar
VikingBoyBilly
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 4158
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:06
Location: The spaghetti island of the faces of dinosaur world for a vacation

Try to imagine

Post by VikingBoyBilly »

Imagine a world where sonic the hedgehog was just a cult classic. There are no garg cartoons, no merchandise, and the genesis trilogy are the only 3 games in existence (sonic 3 is complete with + knuckles, of course). Also, Super Mario World is the last mario game, with no mario 64 and such beating a dead horse. This also means there's no mario kart or mario rpgs, which are good games but still not part of the main series, and no McDonald's toys either.

What kind of world would this be? Would you prefer to live in this world?
Image
"I don't trust players. Not one bit." - Levellass
User avatar
KeenRush
Android Dummy
Posts: 2560
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 20:57
Location: KEEN1.EXE
Contact:

Post by KeenRush »

To me that world more or less exists, I don't see Sonic or Mario around in the real world, and I've only played a few levels of the early games.
My newest mod - Commander Keen: Sunset: viewtopic.php?t=8568 | codename H.Y.E.N.A.
User avatar
DaVince
lazy/busy Keener
Posts: 1476
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 15:34
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Contact:

Post by DaVince »

I don't care a bit. If the world was like that, we wouldn't know about all the cool games that came out afterwards, anyways.
Last edited by DaVince on Sat Apr 03, 2010 16:31, edited 1 time in total.
Wow look at me I'm lurking
User avatar
Nospike
Keen Minecrafter
Posts: 1402
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2010 13:56
Location: Czech Republic

Post by Nospike »

I wouldn't be able to play CS Source and Unreal Tournament! No way I'm going to this world.
User avatar
Deltamatic
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 1418
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 12:55
Location: Shreveport, Louisiana

Post by Deltamatic »

World minus Super Mario Galaxy equals slightly less fun.
It would be interesting to discover obscure fan forums for Mario and Sonic, though.
User avatar
Grimson
The Dragoner
Posts: 1833
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:55

Post by Grimson »

I would only like to see how things had gone different if a) id Software had kept developing TuiT, b) Westwood Studios had not been sold to Electronic Arts (and had developed the Command & Conquer RTS series further). My two "lost" franchises :(
"All those thousands upon thousands of junk foods made for me on the various planets I explored make me wonder how I'm still alive."
User avatar
TerminILL
Skypest
Posts: 589
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:59
Location: In a box.
Contact:

Post by TerminILL »

If there was only SMW, that would be a shame, because I personally think the series peaked with SMW2, and none of the games have ever matched that for me. Also SMRPG was pretty good, despite only being passingly related to the main Mario series (Nintendo doesn't love Luigi :P)
User avatar
VikingBoyBilly
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 4158
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:06
Location: The spaghetti island of the faces of dinosaur world for a vacation

Post by VikingBoyBilly »

Draik wrote:If there was only SMW, that would be a shame
I said SMW was the LAST mario game, not the ONLY one :dead :crazy :yorp :| :pumpkeen :pogo :poison

....

bouncing on a yorp
:pogo
:yorp

bouncing on a slug
:pogo
:poison

bouncing on lindsay
:pogo
:lindsey :rollin :moon
Image
"I don't trust players. Not one bit." - Levellass
User avatar
thehackercat
Yorp Doctor
Posts: 669
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 0:05
Location: Slug Village

Post by thehackercat »

Hmm, I second the notion about ID completing TUIT. If Mario 64 hadn't come out, then TUIT would've been a reality. Ask Tom Hall. :lol
Image
User avatar
lemm
Blorb
Posts: 696
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:18
Location: canada lol

Post by lemm »

Meanwhile, in this parallel dimension, the countless Keen titles (and all the other apogee games) have made sales in the billions?
Genius314
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 843
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 0:13

Post by Genius314 »

lemm wrote:Meanwhile, in this parallel dimension, the countless Keen titles (and all the other apogee games) have made sales in the billions?
And this forum is overrun with noobs.
User avatar
Grimson
The Dragoner
Posts: 1833
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:55

Post by Grimson »

Like me! :D

No wait...
"All those thousands upon thousands of junk foods made for me on the various planets I explored make me wonder how I'm still alive."
User avatar
VikingBoyBilly
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 4158
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2008 2:06
Location: The spaghetti island of the faces of dinosaur world for a vacation

Post by VikingBoyBilly »

Genius314 wrote:
lemm wrote:Meanwhile, in this parallel dimension, the countless Keen titles (and all the other apogee games) have made sales in the billions?
And this forum is overrun with noobs.
Instead of Sega and Nintendo consoles we would have had the Super Apogee and the Epic Genesis :crazy
Image
"I don't trust players. Not one bit." - Levellass
User avatar
DaVince
lazy/busy Keener
Posts: 1476
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 15:34
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Contact:

Post by DaVince »

Pfah. No self-respecting company names their console after their company name.

Oh wait... :crazy
Wow look at me I'm lurking
User avatar
Lava89
Vorticon Elite
Posts: 1087
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 15:28

Post by Lava89 »

We would probably have people who believe Keen should have never went 3D.

Now, what would have to occur to have this alternate timeline happen? I believe it's one of three things.

1) Both companies, Sega and Nintendo, would've had to go out of business.

Both of their mascots brought Sega and Nintendo revenue (which is why they were mascots). So in order for them to drop two very successful characters without changing their focus away from platformers? They would have to be unable to make their games. This could come from competition or maybe there could've been internal problems. If both companies did go out of the business, the gaming world would've been much different and I don't believe Sony would've been in the gaming race, at least not for a while. Perhaps it would be an earlier entry for Microsoft, in their attempt to enter and sweep up the mess? (like Nintendo did after the crash with the NES)

One thing's for sure: If both companies went under, at a time when they almost shared the market equally, I think it would've been as drastic as the Video Game Crash of 1983. And yes, I'm being dramatic.

2) Their games would've have had to be flops.

As mentioned about the revenue, if Sonic and Mario didn't bring in their companies money? They would've been dropped like a bad habit. A good example of this is Alex Kidd-- who you could say was Sega's unofficial mascot. Both Sonic and Alex were platformers, so it was not a shift of style. More than likely Sega dropped Kidd because his games weren't cutting it when competing against Nintendo.

3) A change in the companies focus could have occurred.

A great example of this was id's shift to first person shooters and dropping TUIT. I don't believe Keen was an unsuccessful character for id software. But as Tom Hall was losing influence, the rest of the company wanted to focus on first person shooters.

Another example of focus shifting that came close was the development of Sonic X-Treme (a cancelled Sonic game for the Saturn). The game received alot of development hardships when Sonic's own co-creator Yuji Naka refused to let the team use his Nights into Dreams engine, and because of Naka's influence, Sega abidded. As such, the game eventually got cancelled. Now this shift was not as ideological as id's "Keen killing", but it still showed how a company would change their focus, while hurting their mascot.

Also, as of now, the platformer genre is dying. It does not have the influence of the 2D days when everyone and their dog was creating a Mario clone. Now consoles like the Xbox have first person shooters as their flagship titles. So if the platformer genre died out sooner? Maybe both of the companies would have shifted their focus. Just maybe.
thehackercat wrote:Hmm, I second the notion about ID completing TUIT. If Mario 64 hadn't come out, then TUIT would've been a reality. Ask Tom Hall. :lol
Mario 64 would have come out regardless. It just wouldn't have been considered as revolutionary as it is today.
Post Reply