I found some StarTropics cameos

[TV Eye]

^ He's right. Japan just doesn't want to reference American games. I don't even think Startropics got any stickers...

But it was in the Chronicle. Did it get a sticker?

[The Qu]

No, it didn't get any stickers. And the Chronicle, while a good enough reference, was locilized. Case in point: The Japanese have another console on their Chronicle: The Famicom Disk System. Games like Mother 3 & Donkey Konga 3 that have stickers & other representation don't get foot notes in the American Chronicle either.

[goombaking]

admin said:

Except it isn't! It isn't a counter-example at all! Because Zoda looks wizzle all like Zoda!

Where's my evidence? Please... Why do you think I was so shocked that a couple of SSBB stickers show Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters? Because it's the FIRST EVER reference to an America-only game EVER shown in a Nintendo Japan release.

FIRST EVER!

First of all, I meant counter-example as in a game only released outside of Japan. Secondly, is the capitalization really necessary? And finally, and most importantly, that's not true. What about Game & Watch Gallery 3, an international release, which featured Egg, a game only released outside of Japan?

[TV Eye]

goombaking said:

What about Game & Watch Gallery 3, an international release, which featured Egg, a game only released outside of Japan?

Game & Watch galleries are featured because Mr. Game & Watch is a character in the game, and unfortunately, the Game & Watch games stopped being released outside of the 80's, so the Game & Watch Galleries are in to further represent the Game & Watch series, international or worldwide, it doesn't matter.

[The Qu]

I'm not sure he meant in the Chronicle, right? And he does have a point: G&W 3, released in 1999, before Mr. Game & Watch became well known, did feature a prior unreleased game, Egg, in Japan. This is Nintendo acknowledging an American only release.

[Fryguy64]

Yeah kinda. It was the exact same game as Mickey Mouse which Japan did get. Game & Watch Gallery 3 had a few other references to non-Japan games in the museum, if I remember rightly.

OK, OK. First ever not-Game-&-Watch reference

[goombaking]

Well, almost, except Egg picks up the pace after a while. But more to the point, that shows that Nintendo cares about all games they released, regardless of region. I don't think it's fair to bias possible cameos based on this.

[Deleted]

goombaking said:

admin said:

Except it isn't! It isn't a counter-example at all! Because Zoda looks wizzle all like Zoda!

Where's my evidence? Please... Why do you think I was so shocked that a couple of SSBB stickers show Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters? Because it's the FIRST EVER reference to an America-only game EVER shown in a Nintendo Japan release.

FIRST EVER!

First of all, I meant counter-example as in a game only released outside of Japan. Secondly, is the capitalization really necessary? And finally, and most importantly, that's not true. What about Game & Watch Gallery 3, an international release, which featured Egg, a game only released outside of Japan?

Not to mention the same game Mickey Mouse which is Egg with Mickey Mouse release internationally.

[Fryguy64]

Shame that Zoda's still not a cameo then, isn't it! He's just not. They have the same name and that's all. I don't understand how I can say this any clearer. They share a name. They look nothing alike. In fact, Zoda (ST) has more in common with Black Shadow most of the time.

I'm not discounting it because it's an America-only release. That's just extra justification for not including it.

Find me something - anything - more concrete than his name. Maybe they had the same character designer. Maybe a few members of the same team worked on both Star Tropics and F-Zero X. Perhaps Zoda (FZ)'s back story references something from Star Tropics?

[parrothead]

admin said:

Shame that Zoda's still not a cameo then, isn't it! He's just not. They have the same name and that's all. I don't understand how I can say this any clearer. They share a name. They look nothing alike. In fact, Zoda (ST) has more in common with Black Bull most of the time.

I'm not discounting it because it's an America-only release. That's just extra justification for not including it.

Find me something - anything - more concrete than his name. Maybe they had the same character designer. Maybe a few members of the same team worked on both Star Tropics and F-Zero X. Perhaps Zoda (FZ)'s back story references something from Star Tropics?

You mean "Black Shadow". "Black Bull" is the name of the F-ZERO machine he drives.

And no, StarTropics wasn't an America-only release, it was also released in Europe on August 20, 1992. Its sequel, Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II is an America-only release.

[Fryguy64]

parrothead1983 said:

You mean "Black Shadow". "Black Bull" is the name of the F-ZERO machine he drives.

Fixed! I actually wrote Bald Bull originally I was waaaay off.

parrothead1983 said:

And no, StarTropics wasn't an America-only release, it was also released in Europe on August 20, 1992. Its sequel, Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II is an America-only release.

I tend to ignore European releases as a rule when discussing these things. Japan and America are the key markets, and they're the focus of NinDB's research.

Europe's even worse than America for regional published games, and they only have like 2 games that weren't released anywhere else in the world (the original Game Boy Gallery, and Pocket Soccer).

So when I say "America only" I simply mean "Not Japan".

[goombaking]

Replace F-Zero Zoda's headgear with Zoda Manifest's helmet and get rid of the body and I really don't see how you couldn't see the similarities. In the show, they both have a teenager as an archrival that looks similar. They are both from other worlds.

[Nester the Lark]

admin said:

Find me something - anything - more concrete than his name. Maybe they had the same character designer. Maybe a few members of the same team worked on both Star Tropics and F-Zero X. Perhaps Zoda (FZ)'s back story references something from Star Tropics?

This may be a little loose, but how about this: The original StarTropics used important dates in American history as ID codes for the Sub-C. For instance 1492 is the year Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic, and 1776 is the year the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Well, the weight for the Death Anchor, Zoda's machine in F-Zero, is listed as 1620, which is the year the Mayflower brought the Pilgrims from Plymouth, England to Cape Cod, and it eventually led to the celebration of the first Thanksgiving, a major American holiday, in 1621. The Mayflower is considered quite significant in American history.

[Fryguy64]

This is his first attack form:

Which doesn't look nearly as much like Zoda-FZ as you keep saying it does.

And these are his common (cloaked) and true (alien) forms:

Which looks nothing like Zoda-FZ (but his alien form does look like the sexy offspring of Ridley and Kraid!)

And while we're being pedantic, then you have the other Zodas from Zoda's Revenge:

Look at 'em there, all alieny.

Now, not being funny, but if Zoda is an intentional reference to Star Tropics, then we have to go by his original appearance in F-Zero X.

Wow! Look how uncanny the resemblance is!</sarcasm>

The only thing LESS likely than Zoda-FZ being a cameo of Zoda-ST is Zoda-FZ being retconned into being a cameo of Zoda-ST in later F-Zero titles. That way doth madness lie. So... ignore the bloody anime and F-Zero GX unless they bring you REAL references to Star Tropics. Not "He fights a ginger kid in the anime as well, you know!" I mean stuff like "Sub-C" or "C-Island" or "This one time I was defeated by Mike Jones in the hit NES classic Star Tropics!"..... OK, that last one's just silly

I rest my case.
"You rest your case?"
I'm sorry, I thought that was just a figure of speech. Case closed!

[Fryguy64]

coreywoods said:

This may be a little loose, but how about this: The original StarTropics used important dates in American history as ID codes for the Sub-C. For instance 1492 is the year Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic, and 1776 is the year the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Well, the weight for the Death Anchor, Zoda's machine in F-Zero, is listed as 1620, which is the year the Mayflower brought the Pilgrims from Plymouth, England to Cape Cod, and it eventually led to the celebration of the first Thanksgiving, a major American holiday, in 1621. The Mayflower is considered quite significant in American history.

Those are some fancy straws you're picking at there. Careful, Dan Brown might hear you and write a book about it

That's about as tenuous a link as you can get. It's Bible Code kind of thinking. And - as with the Bible Code - a sure sign that there's no evidence whatsoever worth using.

OMFG! Admin double posted!!