I saw a newspaper headline yesterday mentioning the fact that airline delays were much less frequent this year due to the “sour economy.” I stumbled across said headline while waiting for a connecting flight at DFW; I had a little extra time to kill because not only did all three flights I take yesterday depart perfectly on time, each one landed between 20-40 minutes ahead of schedule. What initially looked to be a high-stress hell of rushing to make multiple connections turned out to be a pleasant, leisurely trip in which I had the perfect amount of time to stretch my legs and get a bite to eat between each segment of the trip. I’d always been under the impression that flying for free with bonus mileage was supposed to be awful, but yesterday was anything but. In fact, two of my three flights were half-empty. For the longest portion (the three hours between DFW to SFO), I had the entire front row of the economy plus section to myself. I totally stretched out and leaned back and watched the two-and-a-half-hour sunset. And then to top it off the in-flight movie was Star Trek. It was almost like the airline industry was apologizing for all the lousy flights I’ve had to suffer through over the past few years!
Of course, the root of my pleasant journey has to do with everyone (including me and mine!) pinching their pennies, and I’m sure we’ll see yet another wave of airline bankruptcies all too soon. But at least the ride to hell is a comfortable one.
Star Trek, incidentally, was actually better the second time around. On a crappy little screen! With bleeped-out language! And a cropped image! It’s just that good.
Speaking of that good, I’m really proud of 1UP’s sequels we want feature. (It says 1UP Staff, but I drafted all except two of those entries.) We tried to come up with a really broad range of franchises, and I spent a lot of time thinking about what a sequel would need to do in order to be worthy of each series’ respective legacy. Any idiot can dredge up a forgotten franchise, but the efforts usually stink. If even two or three of these suggestions ever saw the light of day, I would be a happy boy indeed.
Also, I posted a piece on the Retronauts blog that would normally go up here due to its more personal, anecdotal nature. Let’s see if anyone complains!
Commenters on 1up like your story so far!
I had a similar experience with the NES game Ninja Crusaders, except with two main differences: it was hard to find because it was crappy, and my payoff was low because it was crappy. If you’ve never heard of the game, think Ninja Gaiden, but not as good, and depending on the weapon you’re carrying, you can transform into different animals. I could transform into a tiger! That concept lured my ten-year-old self in.
Although I actually did have a similar experience with Castlevania 4 for the SNES. For some reason I was late to that party and couldn’t find a copy anywhere. I had rented it before, so I knew how awesome it was. A good friend actually picked it up for me while on a trip with his family to Utah. I still have that copy, and I still play it.
I’d actually be hugely against trying to go and make a Phantasy Star 5. PS3 was a weird side-story aberration by the B-team which, had it been the style at the time, would have ended up with some wacky subtitle, freeing “Phantasy Star 3” free for 4 to use. If we ignore that one, PS1 2 and 4 actually work together as a nice coherent trilogy with a definitive ending.
The one upside to having a severely underrated series as your pet project is that you can actually finish it and walk away, and it stays a nice dignified self-contained thing… well, at least for a few years before your parent company decides to whore out the name with a console Diablo clone that recycles the plot of the side-game the same B-team already made earlier.
Me, I’d rather just see a Skies of Arcadia sequel, and/or a brand new RPG.
Why do some 1up articles simply list the author as “1up Staff”? Why not post the multiple authors?
A genuinely good sequel to Blaster Master would make my season. That and a Matsuno-helmed Vagrant Story sequel would be my top picks from the list. Mmm, delicious things that will never be.
My Miami – SFO flight this weekend, on the other hand, was 45 minutes delayed – but since unexpected delays and traffic caused us to arrive extremely late, we made the flight we would have otherwise missed. Hooray for airlines!
What’s with the sequel box arts? PS3 and Xbox, seriously? Most of these would be on the DS and then the Wii.
I miss Pan Am
@Sami — All the idiots would pitch a fit if it weren’t otherwise.
Also, nice job Jeremy.
When I began reading that sequels article on 1up, I scrolled back up to see the author at the point at which you made yet another jab at Bionic Commando. I should have known it really was you, despite the “staff” attribution.
While Streets of Rage 4 sounds good by itself I also want to see a sequel to River City Ransom – and I don’t mean the EX version or anything like the Bouncer. With pretty much everything that was mentioned for the new Streets sequel but with the cel-shading being a little more cartoony than Street Fighter 4. And they better not forget the “BARF!” Or else.
Great list Jeremy, and thanks for including Out of This World. Nice to see Axelay on the list as well. I agree that Rampart is ripe for an XBLA/PSN update, if done properly. Sadly, NiGHTS and Samba de Amigo prove one should be careful what one wishes for, but a nerd can dream!
Kind of surprised to not see MM Legends 3 in that article.
What you forgot to add in the necessities of a Vagrant Story 2, would be more ass-less chaps, and a FMV intro with a dancing chick that’s completely unrelated to the game and story. I could leave item forging and attack chains on the cutting room floor, but a VS2 definitely needs those first two things.
There must be something about Flint, Michigan that brings out the personal anecdotes.
Ken, that dancing chick is the priestess Mullenkamp.
@Tim: !?
Ken, Mullenkamp was the priestess who founded the cult to which Syndey and his crew belonged. She wasn’t directly involved in the story (having presumably died quite some time before the game’s events) but she cast a long shadow nevertheless.
For starters, VS creator Yasumi Matsuno needs to be at the helm. Half the appeal was Matsuno’s baroque narrative and game design sensibilities (not to mention his cinematic eye). The other half was Akihiko Yoshida’s gorgeous artwork.
You forgot the other, other half: Sakimoto’s sublime music.
Oh, I didn’t think to mention Sakimoto ’cause he’s a total whore about composition. No trouble to get him on board.