In anticipation of Halo 3, I thought it might be a hoot to look back on other highly anticipated gaming 3's from the past, and the effect they had on that paticular game series and the world of gaming in general. On Tuesday we looked at Mega Man 3, a game that taught Capcom that if they half ass a sequel to a popular series every year or so, they will make big money until people get totally sick of them. Wenesday it was Street Fighter 3, a game that taught Capcom that putting tons of time, money and talent into a game wont mean sqwat if they already have three other games out that meet the exact same needs of the player audience. Yesteday it was Grand Theft Auto 3, the game that made ultra violent sandbox games the flavor of the half decade.

Next up, the holy trinity of Super Mario 3, Legend of Zelda 3, and Metroid 3. They all do basiclly the same thing, ignore the mistakes made by the 2nd game in there respective series and focus on the ist, but extrapolating on them in every possible area. Super Mario Bros 1, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid are the protypes, the betas. Super Mario Bros 3, The Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past, and Metroid 3: Super Metroid, those are the finished products.

Anyone who truly loves Nintendo today will likely tell you it's because of one or more of those three games of yester-year. People who got into gaming after the SNES or just didn't own one can't understand. All they know of Nintendo is the embarrasing cartridge based N64 with it's grand total of five good games, or the Gamecube which has probably the worst over all rep of any concole since the Jaguar.

In the face of all that crap Nintendo put us through for the past ten years, we still love them. The people out their reading this who have lost their virginity to someone they actually were into will understand why.



For those that haven't, let me tell you that the girl or guy you lose it to will always be special to you. A part of you will always love them. And if they were hot, a part of you will always want them back, even if they eventually get fat and ugly. For most adult Nintendo fans, SMB3, LoZ:LttP, and SM took their platforming, puzzle/adventure, and puzzle/action virginity.


To further this gross sex/gaming analogy, you could say that the original games in these series (SMB, LoZ, Metroid) were like a vigin's foreplay. You don't yet know the true magic of sexual bliss, but you get the sense of what it could be. Their direct sequels (SMB2, LoZ:The Adventure of Link, and Metroid 2: The Return of Samus) were like an accidental fart in the middle of foreplay. No big deal, you like them enough to look beyond it as long as they eventually put out. And the 3rd sequels (SMB3, LoZ:LttP, and Super Metroid) were like finally going all the way. It's better than you ever thought it could be, and you just can't get enough.

If you had them all on the SNES, it was like you could have a three way at anytime.

What a sexy time. Faces obscured to protect the innocents.



And people wonder why we Smash Bros fans are so horny for that Brawl to come out. It should be called Super Smash Bros: Orgy. But I guess that wouldn't go over well with teh kiddies.



Ok, I'm starting to gross myself out.

But here's my real point. SMB3, LoZ:LttP, and SM are all seen in the West as classics in gaming history, worthy of any top ten list. But in the country where they came from, the same can't be said. Can you guess which one of these games failed in Japan?

No, it's not the one with the plumber uppercutting floating brick walls to procure brown leaves that turn him into a racoon-man. And no, it's not the one with a little boy taking it upon himself to save a princess from a giant blue pig man/magician, turn into a bunny at times, able to find (and presumably eat) human hearts inside trees that he cuts down with a gigantic sword, and hang out with old men inside rock tombs that he blows open with convienintly carried high explosives.

No, not those games. The game with some semblance of conventional logic, the one with a simple stereotypical sci-fi setting, a faceless hero in an armored suit, and mission based only around exploring and blowing up aliens. That's the one the Japanese could pass on. Be it called Metroid or Halo, made in Japan or made in America, on the NES, SNES, GameCube, XBox, or XBox 360, the Japanese just aint gonna go for it.

I've said for years that the notion that the 360 and it's predessosor fail in Japan due to bias against American product is complete bollocks. The Japanese love American stuff, be it clothes, movies, rock stars, shoes, everything BUT our sensibility towards the visual arts. American oil paintings, comic books, animation, and now video games just don't make sense to the Japanese culture.

The reasons for this are three fold.

First, the Japanese visual arts tradition is based on surealism and iconography, with focus on inner emotional reality. This is in comparison to Western tradition of visual art which is based on realism and literal recreation of our outer, physical reality. This is the same reason why Japanese Manga and Anime rarely has realisticly drawn human faces compared to it's Western counterparts. Since the days of Ozamu Tezuka in the 60's to the Naruto's and Bleach'es of today, Japan has held fast to the notion that a realistic depiction of human beings in their anime, manga and video games is inferior to a cartoonish one.

It's this...




Vs this.



Second, the Japanese culture is extremely emotionally repressed. As a result, the Japanese traditionally look to their entertainment for emotional release. They do so by living vicariously through their tv, manga, anime, and videogames. Due to this, no successful Japanese anime, manga, or video game character has ever worn a mask or face covering helmet. To wear a mask is be contained, to be repressed, to again have to hold in or hold back your true emotional state. This something the Japanese already have to do constantly, they wear a emotional mask day in and day out, as is the tradition in their culture. Thus, those brought up in this Japanese culture thrive off watching someone scream at the top of their lungs with a mouth the size of a bowling ball, change their hair color from black to blond to red to pink, and kick the living crap out of something witht he most overly exagerated and espressive karate possible. They love game shows with people screaming in suprise, fear, excitement or pain. And they love it in their anime, manga, and video games as well. That couldn't be farther from what Master Chief, SpiderMan, and Samus Aran have to offer.

So it's basicly this...



Vs this...



The one exception to the no mask rule are shows like Kamen Rider and Power Rangers. They are allowed to wear masks. But those shows are live action, and don't count. I could go into why, but that will have to be saved for another time. Sorry, I know you are desperate to read even more wall of text, but it will just have to wait.

And finally, the Japanese want their anime, manga, and video games to have some sort of surrealistic logic all their own. Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Resident Evil all have this to some degree. Mario is pretty much packed with it, Zelda has th above mentioned eating of human hearts found in trees, Metal Gear has the "!", they all have something. Metroid and Halo do not. They more or less folow the logic of any American Sci-Fi film. This is probably the least key reason why both Halo and Metroid fail in Japan, but it's still significant. Everl little bit counts, and it all adds up to fail.

The 360 fails there not because it's made by an American company, but because nearly all the games for the console are made with an American sensibility. Realistic characters, lack of huge over dramatic storylines, emphasis on real world logic all make 360 games dull to the Japanese market. Blue Dragon is the exception, and that game did move consoles for a brief time, but it was more or less just piss in the wind.

If Halo 3 had identical gameplay but with a giant pig boss at the end of every level, an illogical coin collection system leading to balloon filled bonus levels, cel shaded graphics, and a main character with a huge mouth, pink hair, I guarentee it would sell better in Japan.



What do you guys think? Am I way off base on this? And would you be willing to play Halo 3 if it was changed in the way I suggest to appeal to the Japanese culture?

And isn't Reon a sexy one? Yowza.