With the "Masterpieces" feature in Brawl outlined in the Dojo update on Friday, many different possibilities in terms of potential upcoming Virtual Console releases have come to light. Because you can't link directly to the site i'll just quote what Sakurai has said in terms of what i am basing my speculation on.
My speculations begin with this comment,
"Here you can relive the greatest battles of the biggest star characters through demo versions of their games." This basically states that every playable character in the game, or at least the series that they come from, will have their own "Masterpiece" representation. Considering the diverse cast of charatcers this means there will be a considerable amount of titles to sample from. Games that are not availabale in the Virtual console yet, like a Metal Gear game for instance (as a represenatative of Snake) would be playable, or even game that have never been released in North America, such as a early console Fire Emblem game could be sampled. Why should you be excited about demos of old games? I'll tell you why in this next point.
"If you take a liking to one of the trial versions, you can always buy the full game through the Shop Channel! You might even find a couple titles that divert your attention from Brawl for a while." Sakurai speaks as if each game in the "Masterpieces" will have their own represenatative in the Virtual Console. If Nintendo is to follow Sakurai's claim, before Brawl is released we can expect a flood of classic and imported titles being released before March 9th.
Going even further, the upcoming Virtual console releases may reveal some unannounced playable characters aswell. Albeit this is a little farfetched, it is still a plausible under the previously discussed logic. However, considering the Japanese release is in less than a week, this last specualtion is kind of useless for I imagine everything about the game is going to revealed within minutes of the first purchase. But there is one last VC Monday before Brawl is released, so there is a chance that one of the games may reveal a character (or the series in which they come from at least) before the imminent information explosion. Here's hoping for a Megaman release tomorrow.
(# 0) on 01/27/2008 12:29
(# 1) on 01/27/2008 12:33
(# 2) on 01/27/2008 12:39
Interesting lil piece of logic ya have goin' there, too bad it's too close to the release of the game for this to possibly pan out as you propose.
(# 3) on 01/27/2008 12:53
(# 4) on 01/27/2008 12:57
(# 5) on 01/27/2008 13:09
Although I would rather have Phoenix Wright as the last 3rd party rep, Simon next on my list.
@Jonathan Holmes
Agreed. It is a slim chance. If you look at the Japanesse Dojo you'll see Mother 2 on the list so perhaps they'll only have Earthbound represent the whole series.
Now that I think about it, the fact that Mother 2 is only on the Japaneses Dojo is slightly worrying. Will we not get some demos in America? I can understand why they wouldn't have the original Fire Emblem (It to is listed on the Japanesse Dojo) in SSBB as it was never translated, but Mother 2 was released here, why excluded it?
(# 6) on 01/27/2008 13:10
I doubt that every character will get their own game, but rather the entire series will be represented by one game. For instance Super Mario Bros will be the rep of Mario, Princess, and Bowser (and Luigi too, there's no way he's not in the game). Kirby, Metaknight and Dedede by Kirby's Adventure, and etc. With Earthbound its a little problematic. The Japanese version of the post there was a picture of Earthbound/Mother 2 as one of the game samples. Will that serve as the rep for both Lucas and Ness even in spite of Lucas not being in the game? It's really too hard to tell.
(# 7) on 01/27/2008 13:19
That's the beauty of this masterpiece part of the game. If Sakurai is to follow his claims these games have to be released on the VC. Earthbound was already released here so it would be completely illogical to not include it in Brawl. It was probably only included in the Japanese post only due to its overwhelming popularity there. As for Fire Emblem, a translated version seems rather iminent to me. Perhaps thats one of the reasons Brawl was delayed.
(# 8) on 01/27/2008 13:30
I didn't even think that it might herald a release of Earthbound on the VC. Now we just need the Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG and we'll have all the great SNES RPGs. It would make sense to include the Mother 2 demo only as it is the only game in the series that has been released outside of Japan and Ness is still playable.
It seems kind of pointless to fully translate the original Fire Emblem for the VC since it is going to be released in the US and Japan as DS remake.
I doubt all franchises will get a Masterpiece though as for some, like Pikmin, it would be impossible.
BTW, Great banner picture! Is it from Seven Samurai?
(# 9) on 01/27/2008 13:41
I never thought of the problem Pikmin brings. That really changes everything. Unless they put a single world or level from the game (i never played it, i don't know the seperation of the game). It is a double layered DVD, maybe it can hold a small portion of the game. But nevertheless, we will never see GC games on the VC, so i guess its irrelevant in the localised Fire Emblem argument.
As for the banner its actually from Yojimbo. Close enough though.
(# 10) on 01/27/2008 14:01
I could see them having the first day included on the disk as the masterpiece and then a movie montage for the series.
As for Fire Emblem, perhaps they could have a downloadeble demo of FEDS for the DS on the new channel they announced.
I had the director right at least. I love how both Yojimbo and Seven Samurai are like Fistful of Dollars, one of my favorite movies(although I liked The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly more) and Magnificent Seven set in Japan. (Although technically it's the other way around.) Do you know if the other two Man with No Name films were based on Akira films?
(# 11) on 01/27/2008 14:56
Don't you guys think it's possible?
(# 12) on 01/27/2008 15:11
Also your kefka avatar = win
(# 13) on 01/27/2008 16:58
I think its extremely likely that will happen. It has to be represented in some shape or form.
@ Pig mask
That a good question. I'm not too sure if they were based exactly, but without a doubt there are some parallels (both stylistic and thematic). I know that after Fistfull of Dollars became an international successful Kurosawa sued Leon for stealing his idea, and demanded some of the profits. That probably prevented anymore direct reimagining of his films.
(# 14) on 01/27/2008 17:20
Thanks for the info! I was wondering because although I did see certain aspects in both, I didn't see anything as direct as Yojimbo/Fistful of Dollars and I didn't know if there weren't any or if was just to slow to catch them. Good to see another fan of great cinema on Destructoid!
Seeing your knowledge of Kurosawa, I assume you already know about the Hidden Fortress/Star Wars connection?
(# 15) on 01/27/2008 23:23
I've heard of it, but unfortunatley have not seen the Hidden Fortress yet. I try to avoid theories and connections like that if i haven't seen the films myself. I only got into Kurosawa recently actually, so am not familiar with all of his work. I knew about the Leon/Kurosawa lawsuit more from the Leon side of the spectrum.
I have that shot from Yojimbo as my banner because i am completely obsessed with the badassery of Mifune and overall composition of the action sequences. The power and beauty of the final showdown haunted my dreams for weeks.
(# 16) on 01/27/2008 23:24
(# 17) on 01/28/2008 06:17
Hidden Fortress is great, I highly recommend it. I to got into Kurosawa from The Man With No Name trilogy, from hearing about the connection.
Although I love the end of Yojimbo, nothing can top the showdown in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The music from that part was incredible.
This is reeeeaaaaly off topic though.