Wha Happun? (Matt McMuscles)

Matt covers a series cut down out because of miscommunication and jealousy, Eternal Champions.

Holy crap I remember that magazine advertisement.

Even as a child it screamed of pathetic insecurity. Could never take EC seriously.

Neither could Sega Japan.

On the one hand, that kind of advertising becomes super Hilarious in Hindsight because it always comes from also rans like Clayfighter and Time Killers. It shows a lack of confidence in their own product that they need to bash the competition.

On the other hand, it was clear there was care put into the lore. It’s sad in a way that the creator of the series had all these grand plans for lore and comics and claimed there was interest in an Animated Adaptation, only to see Virtua Fighter take all his glory, and see it get a cartoon instead.

Then again, the people behind Cheetahmen thought they had a hit franchise on their hands as well.

Edited by Beatman1 on May 4th 2020 at 9:49:56 AM

But then EC was a success, so clearly it wasn't unfounded. It was mostly one half of the company wanting to kill the other. It's pretty sad since there's a distinct lack of communication between the two and one branch hated the other (like the Sonic game for Saturn being turned down because it was made by Westerners).

The whole thing honestly comes off as Sega really getting lucky with their success especially when you look at their history prior to their "we develop and publish games now".

Edited by Ookamikun on May 5th 2020 at 10:40:49 PM

I noticed how Sega Japan fucked over Sega of America multiple times now. It's amazing that they're still in business with how many fuck ups they've had.

To be fair Sega of Japan never fucked Sega of America over nearly as bad as Sega of America fucked Sega of America over.

That Saturn launch...

I thought that was because from the higher ups in Japan making a call.

Huh remember when the Iliad got a Warriors game?

That probably the most boring Musou game i ever seen. Like the point is the spectacle, been realistic doesn't help that.

Though really making Warriors games out of epic conflicts with legendary figures is a pretty damn good idea.

And Iliad’s a perfect setting since it’s already known for larger than life superhero figures plus you can involve the Greek Gods for added insanity.

It also had gloriously beefy Penthesilea so it wasn't all bad.

But as a longtime Warriors fan I do gotta say it was a... Misstep.

Huh, maybe I should delve into the Flophouse Files too. Some interesting stories there.

Speaking of EC, the spin-off X-Perts would deserve its own Wha Happun, because yeesh.

edit: Oh, speaking of which

Edited by Lyendith on May 6th 2020 at 5:20:21 PM

... I played a lot of Turok Evolution because it came bundled with our Gamecube. Honestly, while always knowing it was half-baked, now that I've heard what kind of circumstances they had to work on it I'm actually surprised it came out as good as it did.

Generally speaking, if a game came out half-baked there were some serious shenanigans going on in the kitchen.

On a side note, I just realized I love the word "shenanigans". Almost as much as I love using the word "culmination".

Honestly, watching this show has made me realize how often these kinds of messes happen in the video game industry. It's honestly rare that developers are actively not trying to make a good game, unless it's some douche peddling asset flips on steam or something.

Edited by Draghinazzo on May 6th 2020 at 12:05:04 PM

Game industry is like movie industry, due to the creative process involved a lot of parties with difference priority that can lead to conflict of priority.

> Honestly, watching this show has made me realize how often these kinds of messes happen in the video game industry

Those are the ones we know about,there bound to be way worse stories buried beneath a mountain of ND As and legal threats

Can't wait for the spinoff series "This happun" where they delve into a production that started strong, went off without a hitch and delivered a decent product while treating all the workers humanely.

But who cares about trains that run on time?

"This time we'll discuss The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The producers were overly ambitious, trying to create a product of an unforeseen scope for the series on a dying console, leading to multiple delays. The execs responded by giving them all the time, funding, and creative freedom they needed, including porting the game to a more successful SKU. It ended well for all involved."

The thing is, there's a reason he doesn't cover more Nintendo games. Nintendo plays its cards very close to the chest and doesn't like letting this sort of info leak.

It's a bit of a shame. Games like Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, and Metroid: Other M are all interesting stories I'd like to know more about as far as the most high-profile series go.

One game I can think of that does have a decently-documented development cycle from Nintendo is Metroid Prime, my favorite game of all time.

It... did not have a smooth development at all. Given the episode on Doom (2016)I could definitely see Metroid Prime being prime Wha Happun? material, since even with its success the road it took to come out was a rocky one that we didn't know about until relatively recently.

I kind of want him to tackle FF XV.

That would probably be a multi-part.

Although XIV is the one that has the most absolutely insane development cycle in video game history.

Edited by ShirowShirow on May 7th 2020 at 1:51:04 PM