Nintendo films

[Ashley]

Seeing the tweet below made me think; what franchises would you like to see expanded on through films? And more controversially; would you be happy if certain long dead franchises were only revived this way?

I think F-Zero could make a fun limited anime series. And I'm inclined to suggest Metroid as a film franchise, although I know we're supposed to be getting another game. 

Plus I think Splatoon could make a good film done by Lord/Miller, but I doubt Nintendo would team up with them as I think they're locked into Sony. Watching The Millers Vs The Machines at the weekend though it had a similar vibe.

 

[Julius]

Immediate thought is that you could have all of these shows and films about individual IP's, and through Smash Bros. you already effectively have a tournament arc built in if you want to do any crazy crossover stuff to rake it in. 

From the little I've played of Earthbound, I feel like the Mother series could make for a great anime. Assuming they seriously don't want to release Mother 3 (and I mean, do we have any reason to not assume this?) it could at least give fans in the west an opportunity to enjoy that story, as I think it might be easier for them to censor/alter certain things in a show rather than the game. And I think that's a much easier sell than releasing a censored version of the game at this point, to be honest. 

Star Fox feels like it's begging to be a Saturday morning show to be honest, and so does Paper Mario. Zelda would need a voiced Link (which I genuinely think would be the greatest hurdle to us seeing anything come of it) but would be awesome in the style of the Castlevania anime, and you could just as well base it somewhat off the manga. 

In terms of films though, a live-action Kirby would be the stuff of actual nightmares (I imagine a Stitch situation but instead half the town goes missing and it turns out it was the little pink guy all along). 

EDIT: okay but a Fire Emblem anime would actually kill, get ufotable all up and in on that. It already basically has a rabid anime community following given how many fans idolise characters and the art style too, and it has the gacha game to boot. It actually makes so much sense that that's exactly why we'll never see it 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Julius

[Glen-i]

28 minutes ago, Julius said:

EDIT: okay but a Fire Emblem anime would actually kill, get ufotable all up and in on that. It already basically has a rabid anime community following given how many fans idolise characters and the art style too, and it has the gacha game to boot. It actually makes so much sense that that's exactly why we'll never see it 

Yeah, we're never gonna see a Fire Emblem anim...

OH SNAP!

Yep, already happened. Marth's name was translated as Mars for some reason.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Glen-i

[Dcubed]

30 minutes ago, Julius said:

Immediate thought is that you could have all of these shows and films about individual IP's, and through Smash Bros. you already effectively have a tournament arc built in if you want to do any crazy crossover stuff to rake it in. 

From the little I've played of Earthbound, I feel like the Mother series could make for a great anime. Assuming they seriously don't want to release Mother 3 (and I mean, do we have any reason to not assume this?) it could at least give fans in the west an opportunity to enjoy that story, as I think it might be easier for them to censor/alter certain things in a show rather than the game. And I think that's a much easier sell than releasing a censored version of the game at this point, to be honest. 

Star Fox feels like it's begging to be a Saturday morning show to be honest, and so does Paper Mario. Zelda would need a voiced Link (which I genuinely think would be the greatest hurdle to us seeing anything come of it) but would be awesome in the style of the Castlevania anime, and you could just as well base it somewhat off the manga. 

In terms of films though, a live-action Kirby would be the stuff of actual nightmares (I imagine a Stitch situation but instead half the town goes missing and it turns out it was the little pink guy all along). 

EDIT: okay but a Fire Emblem anime would actually kill, get ufotable all up and in on that. It already basically has a rabid anime community following given how many fans idolise characters and the art style too, and it has the gacha game to boot. It actually makes so much sense that that's exactly why we'll never see it 

It would literally just be Thunderbirds.  I mean, Nintendo couldn't be THAT on the nose... could they?

I'd watch the crap out of it!

[Julius]

13 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Yeah, we're never gonna see a Fire Emblem anim...

OH SNAP!

 

Yep, already happened. Marth's name was translated as Mars for some reason.

Yeah, you know what I meant  also I might need to bleach my ears now...

I thought there might have been one just considering that there was one for Kirby that my brother enjoyed (to be fair it wouldn't surprise me if there was something out there for a lot of these), but this anime in particular looks like it was limited to OVA's, originally released in 1996 in Japan, and 1997 in the US - wasn't that a few years before the US even started getting Fire Emblem games? 

Compare that to today and it's a total no-brainer to make a modern Fire Emblem anime. Especially considering that everyone and their mother wants a political fantasy epic these days! I genuinely think it would be absolutely massive as an anime and could be the next step the series takes towards being part of the mainstream consciousness, a game following that (let alone one actually tied directly into it) would sell like crazy. 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Julius

[Glen-i]

6 minutes ago, Julius said:

Yeah, you know what I meant  also I might need to bleach my ears now...

I thought there might have been one just considering that there was one for Kirby that my brother enjoyed (to be fair it wouldn't surprise me if there was something out there for a lot of these), but this anime in particular looks like it was limited to OVA's, originally released in 1996 in Japan, and 1997 in the US - wasn't that a few years before the US even started getting Fire Emblem games? 

Compare that to today and it's a total no-brainer to make a modern Fire Emblem anime. Especially considering that everyone and their mother wants a political fantasy epic these days! I genuinely think it would be absolutely massive as an anime and could be the next step the series takes towards being part of the mainstream consciousness, a game following that (let alone one actually tied directly into it) would sell like crazy. 

Yeah, it's really strange that it got an official dub when the series was non-existant in the west. Like, who was the intended audience!?

A theoretical new anime series would defo perform better over here these days.

[BowserBasher]

I’d love to see some more Pokémon films in the same style as Detective Pikachu. I thought it was a great way they depicted them in the real world setting and in a live action film. I know we probably couldn’t get another Detective Pikachu since the way that ended, but there must be more stories to tell in that universe. I mean how many animated films has there been. 
 

There was once an Animal Crossing film too, I’d love to see another done that would get a western release. In fact I think that would make a good weekly show too. 
 

Id love to see a Metroid film if done right. I’m sure there is a way to do it. 
 

 

[Julius]

15 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Yeah, it's really strange that it got an official dub when the series was non-existant in the west. Like, who was the intended audience!?

A theoretical new anime series would defo perform better over here these days.

Right?! I mean, how many Japanese people emigrated to the States, got brain damage and forgot Japanese, and then only learned English as their primary language in the 90's?

Pretty niche audience for sure 

[Ike]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

Yeah, we're never gonna see a Fire Emblem anim...

OH SNAP!

Yep, already happened. Marth's name was translated as Mars for some reason.

Japanese doesn't have a letter for "th" so they most often use "ス", Marth's Japanese name is written マルス ( ma ru su), which could be translated as Mars or Marth. Whoever decided the translation flipped a coin and landed on the wrong side (or did the first thing they thought of). I'm not sure if there was an official romanisation at that point.

[Dcubed]

12 minutes ago, Ike said:

Japanese doesn't have a letter for "th" so they most often use "ス", Marth's Japanese name is written マルス ( ma ru su), which could be translated as Mars or Marth. Whoever decided the translation flipped a coin and landed on the wrong side (or did the first thing they thought of). I'm not sure if there was an official romanisation at that point.

Sorry buddy, they had already decided on "Marth"... Going by the original credits sequence in the original Famicom version of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light...

And yes, this IS the original Japanese version, not the localised version on Switch, as shown here: 

 

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, BowserBasher said:

I’d love to see some more Pokémon films in the same style as Detective Pikachu. I thought it was a great way they depicted them in the real world setting and in a live action film.

Nope, I'm out!

That aesthetic just does not look good to me. It gives me that "Realistic Mario" vibe.

It just makes the Pokémon look gross.

[Ike]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

Sorry buddy, they had already decided on "Marth"... Going by the original credits sequence in the original Famicom version of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light...

And yes, this IS the original Japanese version, not the localised version on Switch, as shown here: 

 

In that case, they didn't reference the original material. Although the credits aren't reliable since they spelt Minerva Minerba (it's the same character in Japanese, isn't Japanese a fun language)

[markderoos]

A modern take on Captain N would be cool. Let the main character be a Pro Smash player or something and warp into Smash Ultimate/World of Light.

[Ashley]

7 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Nope, I'm out!

That aesthetic just does not look good to me. It gives me that "Realistic Mario" vibe.

It just makes the Pokémon look gross.

I think it worked in the context of the movie (ie kid noir) but not sure how I'd feel if it was like a live action anime. It would be like that weird 3D one they did last year. 

[Jonnas]

10 hours ago, Ashley said:

I think F-Zero could make a fun limited anime series.

You mean a second one?

(As a bonus, this is the episode featuring "James McCloud" from Corneria)

10 hours ago, Julius said:

EDIT: okay but a Fire Emblem anime would actually kill, get ufotable all up and in on that. It already basically has a rabid anime community following given how many fans idolise characters and the art style too, and it has the gacha game to boot. It actually makes so much sense that that's exactly why we'll never see it 

I would love to see a Fire Emblem series - animated or even live-action - on one condition: to remain faithful to the series, the audience needs to believe that anybody can die. This should be a series that has the balls to kill off characters, whether that be Ogma, Sain, Lethe, Frederick, or Ferdinand von Aegir. Not to the levels of GoT (I'm not looking for a bloodbath), but just enough that the audience - even those who played the games - legitimately do not know if someone's dying in any given episode. Or if any character is safe from death.

Think of it this way, the current drama on my FE1 run is only made possible because a major character died. I want this hypothetical series to replicate that sort of shock and unpredictability.

...

Or we could just watch Heroic Legend of Arslan, which is basically already Fire Emblem as an Anime There's a Jagen character and everything!

9 hours ago, Julius said:

this anime in particular looks like it was limited to OVA's, originally released in 1996 in Japan, and 1997 in the US - wasn't that a few years before the US even started getting Fire Emblem games?

9 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Yeah, it's really strange that it got an official dub when the series was non-existant in the west. Like, who was the intended audience!?

Back in the late 90s, a few American companies were trying to "make Anime happen". To that end, they would localise several series directly to VHS or DVD, seeing f anything would stick (I believe the 90s Berserk went through this route as well, becoming a cult favourite in the process).

It makes sense that, looking at a two-episode OVA, publishers simply looked at an old-fashioned Medieval epic of low commitment (not a long series, I mean) and thought it was worth localising (Mars is even voiced by Spike Spencer, voice actor of Shinji Ikari!). The publishers likely had no idea it was based on a video game, and even less idea that its main character would star in a major Nintendo game in 2001.

Sadly, even in Japan this series was cancelled (in case there only being two episodes didn't tip you off). It reached as far as Navarre being recruited, but that's pretty much it. Japanese Cain had OoT!Link's voice actor though, which was uncanny to watch.

8 hours ago, Dcubed said:

Sorry buddy, they had already decided on "Marth"... Going by the original credits sequence in the original Famicom version of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & The Blade of Light...

And yes, this IS the original Japanese version, not the localised version on Switch, as shown here: 

 

Not the best argument, unless you want to also argue that "Falcion", "Paora", "Jeik", and "Rojar" were the intended spellings for Falchion, Palla, Jake, and Roger. Language is complicated, and we need to account for the fact that developers wrote those names like that for Japanese audiences. I think it was fair to translate the character's name as Mars, considering the amount of limited info those translators had.

[Glen-i]

9 hours ago, Ashley said:

I think it worked in the context of the movie (ie kid noir) but not sure how I'd feel if it was like a live action anime. It would be like that weird 3D one they did last year. 

That Mewtwo Strikes Back remake? Yeah, that wasn't much better. Looked really cheap.

I know I go on about my disapproval of Detective Pikachu a lot, but credit where it's due. At least they chose to base the movie on a game that made sense as a plot-driven movie. Instead of something stupid and low-hanging, like Pokémon Go or something.

Honestly the only way I can see live-action Pokémon being satisfying for me is if they pull a "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" with it. But the sheer difficulty of that would no doubt be too much of a risk for Hollywood to consider.

Then again, Space Jam 2 is happening, so I wouldn't say it was impossible.

You know what? Give me a PMD anime. A full one. Not a few 1-episode specials alongside the normal anime. Commission a separate anime studio, one with a proven track record, to make up their own plot set in that universe.

I'd watch the crap out of that, provided it was decent.

[Ashley]

Oh Glen, nobody but you cares about PMD  

[Glen-i]

3 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Oh Glen, nobody but you cares about PMD  

@Julius, GET IN HERE!

[Julius]

4 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Oh Glen, nobody but you cares about PMD  

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

I know I go on about my disapproval of Detective Pikachu a lot, but credit where it's due. At least they chose to base the movie on a game that made sense as a plot-driven movie. Instead of something stupid and low-hanging, like Pokémon Go or something.

A fictional film about people walking around playing Pokémon GO would actually be kind of hilarious. But I genuinely also think that a documentary about Pokémon GO's players, it's rise, reception, etc., would be a fascinating watch. It dominated the summer of 2016, and that was an Olympics / Euro's year! 

 

And speaking about documentaries, uhhhhhhhh...yeah, let's see some Nintendo documentaries. We saw that footage come out over the last few years of their offices, and I really enjoy going back to watch and read the Iwata Asks stuff, it's brilliant to get more insight into the industry, especially a company which we generally don't get that great a look into. While we still have living legends over there like Miyamoto, let's see some direct-to-streaming documentaries on individuals, put the spotlight on relatively (or completely) unknown stories, and give us a peek behind the curtain. I absolutely adored Disney's Imagineering documentaries, so something similar about the history of Nintendo seems like such an obvious choice. 

[Ashley]

Fine, two people care about PMD.

I would like documentaries too but Nintendo seems so secretive they wouldn't let it happen. Perhaps when/if Miyamoto retires one about him but I can't see them doing much more than that.

 

[Glen-i]

2 minutes ago, Julius said:

A fictional film about people walking around playing Pokémon GO would actually be kind of hilarious.

Actually, that could make a great base for an episode of Black Mirror. Don't think TPC would be on board for that though.

4 minutes ago, Julius said:

But I genuinely also think that a documentary about Pokémon GO's players, it's rise, reception, etc., would be a fascinating watch. It dominated the summer of 2016, and that was an Olympics / Euro's year! 

 

And speaking about documentaries, uhhhhhhhh...yeah, let's see some Nintendo documentaries. We saw that footage come out over the last few years of their offices, and I really enjoy going back to watch and read the Iwata Asks stuff, it's brilliant to get more insight into the industry, especially a company which we generally don't get that great a look into. While we still have living legends over there like Miyamoto, let's see some direct-to-streaming documentaries on individuals, put the spotlight on relatively (or completely) unknown stories, and give us a peek behind the curtain. I absolutely adored Disney's Imagineering documentaries, so something similar about the history of Nintendo seems like such an obvious choice. 

I'm always on board for documentaries, one on Pokémon Go and it's sudden explosion of popularity would be quite fascinating as well.

2 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Fine, two people care about PMD.

@Dcubed, GET IN HERE!

[Ashley]

1 minute ago, Glen-i said:

 

@Dcubed, GET IN HERE!

Don't make me close my own thread to prove my own stupid point.

[Glen-i]

4 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Don't make me close my own thread to prove my own stupid point.

There are four PMD fans!

@drahkon had a decent time with the Switch version, but I wouldn't say he's quite at our level yet.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Glen-i

[Julius]

13 minutes ago, Ashley said:

Fine, two people care about PMD.

Quote

I would like documentaries too but Nintendo seems so secretive they wouldn't let it happen. Perhaps when/if Miyamoto retires one about him but I can't see them doing much more than that.

Agreed, and it's such a shame.

I think the next step the industry could greatly benefit from is us knowing more about what goes on behind the scenes, whether that be documentaries shining a light on development (like Raising Kratos which we got for God of War) and the history of the industry, and more transparency over budgets and unit sales.

At the moment, what constitutes success to these companies is almost impossible to figure out, as evidenced by Jason Schreier's recent article on Sony Bend and how Metacritic is now seemingly a factor in what success looks like too. Managing expectations better knowing whether you're walking into something being primed as a blockbuster or a smaller release based on their budgets I feel would help, though on the other hand, I guess it could also just further the split between some in the gaming community.

At the same time, though, knowing more names and faces to associate with games can only be a good thing in my opinion. Even as someone who has been following gaming news for a few years now, I feel like I know so little about the people behind the games and what they have to go through. Anyone with a shred of empathy should be able to understand to some extent Jason Schreier's work on investigating crunch, but at the same time, it's easier to attach emotions to people than it is simply an article on the matter. Kind of surprised he hasn't tried to put an investigative video together now that I think about it. 

Plus, it's genuinely interesting stuff! 

Edited May 5, 2021 by Julius

[drahkon]

2 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

@drahkon had a decent time with the Switch version, but I wouldn't say he's quite at our level yet.

Yup, that is correct.
However, I didn't like it because of Pokémon.