As for videogames summer CES was the big event till E3 was invented
Not disc yet xd
Dear Pesky Partners... - A Nintendo-Philips Timeline
- Thread starter SubparLario
- Start date
I guess Wacky Worlds has been renamed to Vortex, and I agree, Vortex sounds like the better title.
Yeah so they keep their original name,
. Wonder if they would do more than board games
You are correct! The name change is because Wacky Worlds sucks as a name (too similar to Super Mario World) and to better fit the altered premise. You see, instead of visiting real life locations and time periods, the Bros. go to Mario-ified versions of them. For example, the Ancient Greece/Rome world is replaced by "Fungica Antiqua."
Thank you! We've got 3-4 chapters left before Act II begins. That'll last from 1991 to about 1995 or so.
That was the idea,a direct? Sequel to world but vortex and your idea is far better
We got a lengthy prologue
The cut-off for Act I will be the Super Nintendo’s North American launch. Going forward, I'll only be covering the Western launches of various consoles and add-ons for the most part. The Japanese launches will get a passing mention, at the very least. I considered doing a small TV update about Muppet High and one other show as the last one, but that'll be the first chapter in Act II instead. I want Act I to go out with a big, meaty update.
I'll be returning home tonight, and will more than likely begin work on Chapter 12 tomorrow. Shouldn't take that long to write.
Chapter 12: Summer CES 1991 (Mid 1991 Part 1)
(Hey, I'm back! Wonder where I've been? Tl;dr: writer's block is a bitch. But I did come up with stuff further along in the TL while I wasn't writing Chapter 12.)
Summer CES 1991 (Mid 1991 Part 1)
June 1st-4th, 1991
Before the days of E3, the Summer Consumer Electronics Show was the big event where companies revealed and showed off their new software and hardware. And hardware was a pretty big element of this year’s CES. Nintendo would show off the Super Nintendo Entertainment System to Western audiences for the first time here, and Sega and Sony would do the same with their new Sega CD add-on for the Genesis/Mega Drive. The Super Nintendo was gearing up for its August 23rd, 1991 American release date, while the Sega CD was planning to release on December 12th, 1991 in Japan.
Several SNES games from Shoshinkai 1990 like Super Mario World, F-Zero, Pilotwings, Gradius III, Super R-Type, Darius Twin, Actraiser, Super Pinball, and Tetris were present as playable demos at CES. There were new games, too; Capcom had a demo of Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, the next game in their smash hit Ghosts ‘n Goblins series, present at the event. Philips, while still concerned with publishing ports, also showed off their first original IP, Hotel Fever. You play as a bellhop named Porter, who has to close all the doors in each level, which are constantly getting reopened by various monsters. While it looked to be an odd game, it happened to be surprisingly fun and addictive.
The SNES-CD was also present, but it wasn’t the main focus of Nintendo’s event. There was a closed-off demonstration of the device to the press, featuring two different demos. The first was the 3D spaceship demo from the previous year, while the second was a remake of the original Super Mario Bros., featuring enhanced graphics and CD-quality audio. Graphically, it looked to be on par with, if not better than Super Mario World, and according to the journalists present, the music far outstripped anything that the base Super Nintendo was capable of. It was a pretty great showcase of not only the jump from SNES to SNES-CD, but from the NES to the SNES, too. This demo would ultimately serve as the basis for Super Mario All-Stars, which would be the SNES-CD’s Western pack-in title.[1]
Meanwhile, Sega was blazing ahead with their Sega CD add-on. The only playable demo at CES was Sol-Feace due to the other games still being largely in Japanese, and more were available at Tokyo Game Show 1991. Also shown off for the first time was a Genesis-Sega CD combo unit. Produced by Sony, it would be called the Mega Station in Japan/Europe and the Play Station in North America/Brazil. Sony was able to help deliver development kits to third party teams on time, as well as reduce the manufacturing cost. Their relationship was looking very promising; with Sony by their side, there was a chance that the Mega Drive could claw its way out of its distant third place spot behind the Super Famicom and PC Engine. And even if they couldn’t, they were certain that the Mega CD would be a major success in the West. Only time would tell, of course.
All of these developments would reach one man, who happened to be present at the event. Trip Hawkins. The founder of Electronic Arts, who were climbing up the ranks of video game developers thanks to their sports titles. At the time, he was still the company’s chairman, but was planning on stepping down and forming a new company; one would make not just games, but game consoles. A game console that was like a hardware-equivalent to a game engine, a platform that could be licensed out. After all, Hawkins believed that console manufacturers weren’t innovating with their systems.
At least, that was what he had believed up until this point. But now? Both Nintendo and Sega were moving ahead with their own CD add-ons for their consoles. Trip knew that CD’s would change the state of gaming forever. It would allow for orchestral music, voice acting, expansive worlds, and cinematic experiences that have never been seen before in gaming. Were the two companies really innovating now?
Perhaps it would be better if he held off on his dream console, at least for now. That way, he could see exactly how the two companies used the new hardware. Who knows? Maybe Nintendo and Sega don’t truly grasp just how much CD’s could change the gaming landscape. For now, he'd stay at EA, and kept the 3DO in the back of his head.[2]
Footnotes:
[1] According to the leaked source code found in the Gigaleak, one of Super Mario All-Stars’s codenames was Super Mario CD. It definitely seems like it was planned to be an early SNES-CD title in OTL, at the very least. Hence why it’s TTL’s pack-in.
[2] It'll be a bit before we see more of Trip Hawkins. Though be warned; the 3DO isn't butterflied. I have some plans in mind...
Summer CES 1991 (Mid 1991 Part 1)
June 1st-4th, 1991
Before the days of E3, the Summer Consumer Electronics Show was the big event where companies revealed and showed off their new software and hardware. And hardware was a pretty big element of this year’s CES. Nintendo would show off the Super Nintendo Entertainment System to Western audiences for the first time here, and Sega and Sony would do the same with their new Sega CD add-on for the Genesis/Mega Drive. The Super Nintendo was gearing up for its August 23rd, 1991 American release date, while the Sega CD was planning to release on December 12th, 1991 in Japan.
Several SNES games from Shoshinkai 1990 like Super Mario World, F-Zero, Pilotwings, Gradius III, Super R-Type, Darius Twin, Actraiser, Super Pinball, and Tetris were present as playable demos at CES. There were new games, too; Capcom had a demo of Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, the next game in their smash hit Ghosts ‘n Goblins series, present at the event. Philips, while still concerned with publishing ports, also showed off their first original IP, Hotel Fever. You play as a bellhop named Porter, who has to close all the doors in each level, which are constantly getting reopened by various monsters. While it looked to be an odd game, it happened to be surprisingly fun and addictive.
The SNES-CD was also present, but it wasn’t the main focus of Nintendo’s event. There was a closed-off demonstration of the device to the press, featuring two different demos. The first was the 3D spaceship demo from the previous year, while the second was a remake of the original Super Mario Bros., featuring enhanced graphics and CD-quality audio. Graphically, it looked to be on par with, if not better than Super Mario World, and according to the journalists present, the music far outstripped anything that the base Super Nintendo was capable of. It was a pretty great showcase of not only the jump from SNES to SNES-CD, but from the NES to the SNES, too. This demo would ultimately serve as the basis for Super Mario All-Stars, which would be the SNES-CD’s Western pack-in title.[1]
Meanwhile, Sega was blazing ahead with their Sega CD add-on. The only playable demo at CES was Sol-Feace due to the other games still being largely in Japanese, and more were available at Tokyo Game Show 1991. Also shown off for the first time was a Genesis-Sega CD combo unit. Produced by Sony, it would be called the Mega Station in Japan/Europe and the Play Station in North America/Brazil. Sony was able to help deliver development kits to third party teams on time, as well as reduce the manufacturing cost. Their relationship was looking very promising; with Sony by their side, there was a chance that the Mega Drive could claw its way out of its distant third place spot behind the Super Famicom and PC Engine. And even if they couldn’t, they were certain that the Mega CD would be a major success in the West. Only time would tell, of course.
All of these developments would reach one man, who happened to be present at the event. Trip Hawkins. The founder of Electronic Arts, who were climbing up the ranks of video game developers thanks to their sports titles. At the time, he was still the company’s chairman, but was planning on stepping down and forming a new company; one would make not just games, but game consoles. A game console that was like a hardware-equivalent to a game engine, a platform that could be licensed out. After all, Hawkins believed that console manufacturers weren’t innovating with their systems.
At least, that was what he had believed up until this point. But now? Both Nintendo and Sega were moving ahead with their own CD add-ons for their consoles. Trip knew that CD’s would change the state of gaming forever. It would allow for orchestral music, voice acting, expansive worlds, and cinematic experiences that have never been seen before in gaming. Were the two companies really innovating now?
Perhaps it would be better if he held off on his dream console, at least for now. That way, he could see exactly how the two companies used the new hardware. Who knows? Maybe Nintendo and Sega don’t truly grasp just how much CD’s could change the gaming landscape. For now, he'd stay at EA, and kept the 3DO in the back of his head.[2]
Footnotes:
[1] According to the leaked source code found in the Gigaleak, one of Super Mario All-Stars’s codenames was Super Mario CD. It definitely seems like it was planned to be an early SNES-CD title in OTL, at the very least. Hence why it’s TTL’s pack-in.
[2] It'll be a bit before we see more of Trip Hawkins. Though be warned; the 3DO isn't butterflied. I have some plans in mind...
Next time, we'll be popping back over to Sega/Sony to take a look at Sonic 1, and the beginning of development on Sonic 2. See you there!
Nice Update buddy, going forward with the TL
[1] According to the leaked source code found in the Gigaleak, one of Super Mario All-Stars’s codenames was Super Mario CD. It definitely seems like it was planned to be an early SNES-CD title in OTL, at the very least. Hence why it’s TTL’s pack-in.
Later on did was bundled with new SNES too. Maybe it was a plan before Phillips failed to deliver(seems Nintendo did was serious with the add-on but Phillips just fumble the ball badly)
[1] According to the leaked source code found in the Gigaleak, one of Super Mario All-Stars’s codenames was Super Mario CD. It definitely seems like it was planned to be an early SNES-CD title in OTL, at the very least. Hence why it’s TTL’s pack-in.
Later on did was bundled with new SNES too. Maybe it was a plan before Phillips failed to deliver(seems Nintendo did was serious with the add-on but Phillips just fumble the ball badly)
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Oh yeah, the All-Stars + World cart, right? I forget that it was the pack-in title used later on in the system’s lifespan in some regions. Could definitely give my theory a bit more credence like you said!
In two stages, first All Stars bundled alongside world and later on, both games on a single cart too. Nintendo know how people would buy those snes bundles for mario
Awesome! Also, how is the animation scene looking like at this point?
No. Player Two Start has a 1991 POD, while this timeline has a 1987 POD. I'll be doing things quite differently compared to P2S, though I will sneakily reference it from time to time (like Sharp i-Twin SNES-CD combo unit - surprised no one's picked up on that yet!) But don't expect any original franchises from that timeline like Squad Four to appear here. As Mr Red Stone said, if you're looking for a P2S B-Side, check out Minus World: New Game Plus.
There hasn't been enough time for any major changes to take place yet. However, there's a season 3 episode of Captain N: The Game Master based on Earthbound, making 8 new episodes and 5 edited-down reruns. Expect an update on animation in 1993, as that's when stuff starts getting really interesting.
I do still intend to get back to working on that more seriously at some point, preferably/hopefully starting soon.
Similarly, Minus World: New Game Plus has a 1988 PoD, at least for now/at the moment.
(Let's keep further discussion of each thread mostly contained to themselves, though.)