Speaking of which, any chance that Nintendo makes a proper deal with Phillips in such a TL?
The Best Video Games Never Made
- Thread starter Duke Andrew of Dank
- Start date
It was Sony who already played dirty with the SPC-700 as they send it directly to third parties bypassing Nintendo's own development kits, meaning Nintendo smelled the rat, the whole deal with Phillips was a plan b to show Sony Nintendo didn't like be played dirty. If anything Kutaragi wanted all the videogame money for his department, the whole mess was PS2 CPU(ask Jez San) showing the common rat was Kutaragi
@RandomDSdevel is work on one
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True as all that is, it doesn't mean the scenario I've created can't happen. The key player on this front is Norio Ohga, Sony's CEO at the time, who covered for Kutaragi when a lot of Sony's board was less than impressed of his designing the SPC700. He IOTL covered for Kutaragi long enough to develop the Playstation, and when it scored big the complaints (understandably) stopped.
Now, how difficult would it be for Ohga to throw a bone to the doubters? Sony's executives still felt gaming was a fad, so if they can get Atari to wingman them (thus reducing Sony's development costs as well as their exposure if it falls on its face), that's a big plus to the board, plus if the whole thing flops and Atari keeps going they could simply make a bundle selling the designs of it to Atari.
Super Mario Kart
Released: 1993
Platform: SNES-CD
The game being delayed to June 1993 allowed for the developers to include Wario and Daisy, which when combined with the 8 OTL playable characters gives the game 10 playable characters. The move from the cartridge-based SNES to the SNES-CD allowed for more of the screen to be taken up by the course, making the HUD a fraction of the size of the OTL SNES version. The game also allows for four-player races and battles on certain courses. Grand Prix mode allows for two players maximum, rather than the one player of most OTL Mario Kart games. The game would be included in the SNES Combo Mini and the European SNES-CD Mini.
Released: 1993
Platform: SNES-CD
The game being delayed to June 1993 allowed for the developers to include Wario and Daisy, which when combined with the 8 OTL playable characters gives the game 10 playable characters. The move from the cartridge-based SNES to the SNES-CD allowed for more of the screen to be taken up by the course, making the HUD a fraction of the size of the OTL SNES version. The game also allows for four-player races and battles on certain courses. Grand Prix mode allows for two players maximum, rather than the one player of most OTL Mario Kart games. The game would be included in the SNES Combo Mini and the European SNES-CD Mini.
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Mario Kart 9
Released for the Nintendo Switch in September of 2019
(You know how Nintendo basically considers Tour to be a 9th mainline MK game? Let’s make a real Mario Kart 9 instead!)
Widely considered to be the best Mario Kart game, Mario Kart 9 can basically be considered as a ”Mario Kart Ultimate” of sorts, similar to the latest Smash Bros game. The roster includes all of the series mainstays, plus returning fan favorites such as Birdo, Diddy Kong, and Funky Kong, as well as unique newcomers, which includes Pauline, Hammer Bro, Kamek, and Spike. Battle Mode returns, but so does Mission Mode, which acts more like a story mode (it features missions that are basically the bonus challenges from OTL’s Tour, as well as boss fights). Special items from Double Dash return, and there are many new items like the Black Shell (green shell but with bob-omb like explosion), Ice Flower, Bubble (which acts differently from OTL, here it is a shield item), and the Magic Nine (which is like the Crazy 8 from MK8, but it adds a Black Shell). You can unlock characters and kart parts (there are many new karts, bikes, and atvs) by collecting coins and completing certain objectives or by firing out of a pipe (unlike OTL, each character and kart part has an equal chance to be unlocked, and it does not cost real money). The base game features 40 tracks, 20 nitro, 20 retro. The Egg and Bell cups from MK8 are now part of the base game (egg is nitro, bell is retro). Multiplayer and versus modes also return. Online mode consists of multiplayer, single player, and tournament modes (where you can also bet coins on other players, kinda like Smash). Starting in mid-2020, and lasting up to mid-2023, the Mario Kart World DLC Pass was released, it doubled the amount of tracks (from 40 to 80), and it also brought many new characters (from multiple Nintendo series, such as Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing, as well as a few retro characters and even an original character), new battle stages, new kart parts, and even a new Kart Maker mode where you can make your own tracks, battle stages, and cups to race on.
Released for the Nintendo Switch in September of 2019
(You know how Nintendo basically considers Tour to be a 9th mainline MK game? Let’s make a real Mario Kart 9 instead!)
Widely considered to be the best Mario Kart game, Mario Kart 9 can basically be considered as a ”Mario Kart Ultimate” of sorts, similar to the latest Smash Bros game. The roster includes all of the series mainstays, plus returning fan favorites such as Birdo, Diddy Kong, and Funky Kong, as well as unique newcomers, which includes Pauline, Hammer Bro, Kamek, and Spike. Battle Mode returns, but so does Mission Mode, which acts more like a story mode (it features missions that are basically the bonus challenges from OTL’s Tour, as well as boss fights). Special items from Double Dash return, and there are many new items like the Black Shell (green shell but with bob-omb like explosion), Ice Flower, Bubble (which acts differently from OTL, here it is a shield item), and the Magic Nine (which is like the Crazy 8 from MK8, but it adds a Black Shell). You can unlock characters and kart parts (there are many new karts, bikes, and atvs) by collecting coins and completing certain objectives or by firing out of a pipe (unlike OTL, each character and kart part has an equal chance to be unlocked, and it does not cost real money). The base game features 40 tracks, 20 nitro, 20 retro. The Egg and Bell cups from MK8 are now part of the base game (egg is nitro, bell is retro). Multiplayer and versus modes also return. Online mode consists of multiplayer, single player, and tournament modes (where you can also bet coins on other players, kinda like Smash). Starting in mid-2020, and lasting up to mid-2023, the Mario Kart World DLC Pass was released, it doubled the amount of tracks (from 40 to 80), and it also brought many new characters (from multiple Nintendo series, such as Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing, as well as a few retro characters and even an original character), new battle stages, new kart parts, and even a new Kart Maker mode where you can make your own tracks, battle stages, and cups to race on.
Nintendo even considered the fire emblem satellaview content an independent entry so that show not game is lesser for them
Maybe but I never really sorted that whole thing out. The Xbox in that universe is basically born from Microsoft organizing all of the non-Atari American video games developers to help them make the Xbox happen, Nintendo could be convinced to make the alliance with Phillips work. (Here, the Xbox is physically made by Flextronics (as IOTL) for Asian and European markets but Western Hemisphere ones are made by Seagate in the United States, and the Dreamcast is enough of a success that Sega stays in the console gaming market, resulting in the console wars becoming a four-way fight between Nintendo, Microsoft, Sega and the Sony-Atari alliance. All of the companies involved have partners in their systems - Atari uses Commodore video and sound chips piggybacking on the Playstation architecture (until the PS3, which Commodore plays a hand in developing), while the Xbox series of games use components from Intel, ATI and Seagate among others.
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Trojan Reborn (2022)
A modernized and vastly expanded look at a classic arcade game and NES title, this massive RPG takes place in the year 2165 following a century of war, upheaval, and technological loss following an agricultural collapse as one of the myriad effects of global climate change. New York City, one of (perhaps the last?) technological enclave in North America, has fallen to the armies of a man known only as Achilles, who plans to use its technology together with the resources of his Empire of New Troy (New England, New York, Canadian Maritimes, Quebec, southern Ontario, and northern Pennsylvania) to rebuild his own hellish version of what America should be. One man, a former member of Achilles elite and trusted warrior-bodyguards known only as Trojans, learns of the Empire's rape and pillage of his hometown along with the murder of his family as punishment for one townsperson being reported as a dissident - the Trojan himself. Sneaking into New York City a year after its fall, he finds the locals resistant to sharing their precious secrets with Achilles, whose own engineers are now able to make crude battery-powered helicopters, dynamite, improved armor, crude cybernetics, and restore the hydroelectric/ fusion powerplant Achilles is using as a base. His own monstrous soldiers and prototypes for a 'bioengineered' army as well underway, and only through guile, political dealings, and shrewd swordplay (and later marksmanship) will the Trojan prevail.
Its two bad endings leaving the Trojan or Achilles lieutenant Paris in charge was noteworthy for the gore and explicit depiction of executions and war crimes while the good endings of leaving the Trojan as president or simply the new Chief of Staff also won awards for storytelling in an electronic format.
A modernized and vastly expanded look at a classic arcade game and NES title, this massive RPG takes place in the year 2165 following a century of war, upheaval, and technological loss following an agricultural collapse as one of the myriad effects of global climate change. New York City, one of (perhaps the last?) technological enclave in North America, has fallen to the armies of a man known only as Achilles, who plans to use its technology together with the resources of his Empire of New Troy (New England, New York, Canadian Maritimes, Quebec, southern Ontario, and northern Pennsylvania) to rebuild his own hellish version of what America should be. One man, a former member of Achilles elite and trusted warrior-bodyguards known only as Trojans, learns of the Empire's rape and pillage of his hometown along with the murder of his family as punishment for one townsperson being reported as a dissident - the Trojan himself. Sneaking into New York City a year after its fall, he finds the locals resistant to sharing their precious secrets with Achilles, whose own engineers are now able to make crude battery-powered helicopters, dynamite, improved armor, crude cybernetics, and restore the hydroelectric/ fusion powerplant Achilles is using as a base. His own monstrous soldiers and prototypes for a 'bioengineered' army as well underway, and only through guile, political dealings, and shrewd swordplay (and later marksmanship) will the Trojan prevail.
Its two bad endings leaving the Trojan or Achilles lieutenant Paris in charge was noteworthy for the gore and explicit depiction of executions and war crimes while the good endings of leaving the Trojan as president or simply the new Chief of Staff also won awards for storytelling in an electronic format.
Gran Turismo 2 (2000)
Platform: Sony Playstation / Atari Jaguar
Producers: Polyphony Digital, Turn Seven Gaming
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
When your game has the tagline "Welcome to the Greatest Race" you had best deliver the goods, and the sequel to 1997's Gran Turismo had absolutely no difficulties making that point, as the teams at Polyphony Digital and Turn Seven Gaming (and their perfectionist bosses, Kazunori Yamauchi and Lance Markinen) created a masterpiece. For GT2, Polyphony Digital left much of the creative work to Turn Seven to focus on the technical side, this decision allowing Turn Seven to focus on expanding the number of cars and tracks in the game and the customization ability, which expanded further in GT2, while the game grew to include rally game modes (on dirt and pavement) and hill climb competitions, and a number of real tracks in North America (Laguna Seca, Riverside, Road Atlanta, Mosport, Watkins Glen, Bridgehampton, Mexico City) and Japan (Suzuka, Fiji Speedway, TI Circuit Aida, Tsukuba, Autopolis) as well as all of the tracks from the first game and a collection of new ones, while the Hill Climb championship included the famed Pikes Peak and Mount Washington hillclimb courses.
After thr runaway success of the original (and with a better idea of how to optimize space on the CD-ROMs the game was sold on), the car count swelled dramatically from roughly 320 to over 750, with the only notable holdouts being Ferrari (who were working with other developers) and Porsche (who had an exclusive deal with Electronic Arts, though Porsche tuner Ruf substituted for them). German, French, Italian and Korean makers made their appearance for the first time, and the collection of older cars from all involved swelled dramatically. The entire field from the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans outside of Porsche and Ferrari was present, along with grand touring cars from Japan, North America and Europe across multiple classes and rule sets. The series saw its first electric cars, while modification abilities expanded further with wide body kits, tubbed chassis (both to allow wider tires), chassis stiffening, cooling system modifications, changing engines, converting all-wheel-drive cars to two-wheel drive, rally suspensions, water-cooled and ceramic brakes and the use of nitrous oxide for additional power, and tuning setups gained the use of ballast weight, fuel capacity, wheel caster and toe and tire size stagger (as well as the spring and shock stiffness, anti-roll bar and camber settings present in the first game). With the success of the first game, companies took to paying the developers to put their logos in the game, with dozens of companies connected to the car industry doing so and allowing the companies to use their logos on "racing modifications" of many cars. The overall result was that players had a vast selection of choices of what cars to race and how to modify, tune and race them, on a sizable collection of tracks and in many challenges and championships. Even the intros to the game - on North American and European versions, set to the hit song "My Favorite Game" by The Cardigans, a poetic choice if ever there was one - were beautifully done and popular.
And to the surprise of few, it sold in vast numbers. Nearly 14 million copies of the game were sold between 2000 and 2005, not quite matching the success of the first game but a roaring success nonetheless.
Platform: Sony Playstation / Atari Jaguar
Producers: Polyphony Digital, Turn Seven Gaming
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
When your game has the tagline "Welcome to the Greatest Race" you had best deliver the goods, and the sequel to 1997's Gran Turismo had absolutely no difficulties making that point, as the teams at Polyphony Digital and Turn Seven Gaming (and their perfectionist bosses, Kazunori Yamauchi and Lance Markinen) created a masterpiece. For GT2, Polyphony Digital left much of the creative work to Turn Seven to focus on the technical side, this decision allowing Turn Seven to focus on expanding the number of cars and tracks in the game and the customization ability, which expanded further in GT2, while the game grew to include rally game modes (on dirt and pavement) and hill climb competitions, and a number of real tracks in North America (Laguna Seca, Riverside, Road Atlanta, Mosport, Watkins Glen, Bridgehampton, Mexico City) and Japan (Suzuka, Fiji Speedway, TI Circuit Aida, Tsukuba, Autopolis) as well as all of the tracks from the first game and a collection of new ones, while the Hill Climb championship included the famed Pikes Peak and Mount Washington hillclimb courses.
After thr runaway success of the original (and with a better idea of how to optimize space on the CD-ROMs the game was sold on), the car count swelled dramatically from roughly 320 to over 750, with the only notable holdouts being Ferrari (who were working with other developers) and Porsche (who had an exclusive deal with Electronic Arts, though Porsche tuner Ruf substituted for them). German, French, Italian and Korean makers made their appearance for the first time, and the collection of older cars from all involved swelled dramatically. The entire field from the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans outside of Porsche and Ferrari was present, along with grand touring cars from Japan, North America and Europe across multiple classes and rule sets. The series saw its first electric cars, while modification abilities expanded further with wide body kits, tubbed chassis (both to allow wider tires), chassis stiffening, cooling system modifications, changing engines, converting all-wheel-drive cars to two-wheel drive, rally suspensions, water-cooled and ceramic brakes and the use of nitrous oxide for additional power, and tuning setups gained the use of ballast weight, fuel capacity, wheel caster and toe and tire size stagger (as well as the spring and shock stiffness, anti-roll bar and camber settings present in the first game). With the success of the first game, companies took to paying the developers to put their logos in the game, with dozens of companies connected to the car industry doing so and allowing the companies to use their logos on "racing modifications" of many cars. The overall result was that players had a vast selection of choices of what cars to race and how to modify, tune and race them, on a sizable collection of tracks and in many challenges and championships. Even the intros to the game - on North American and European versions, set to the hit song "My Favorite Game" by The Cardigans, a poetic choice if ever there was one - were beautifully done and popular.
And to the surprise of few, it sold in vast numbers. Nearly 14 million copies of the game were sold between 2000 and 2005, not quite matching the success of the first game but a roaring success nonetheless.
Romancing SaGa (SNES-CD)
Timeline it's from: A Saga of Parallel Worlds
Japanese release: January 1996
American release: July 1996
Australian/Scandinavian release: July 1996
Known as Romancing SaGa 3 in Japan, this expansive Role Playing Game is set in a fantasy world with a concept known as the Death Eclipse, an event that causes all newborn life born that day to die. The only survivor is imbued with a great destiny. The survivor of the first Death Eclipse was known as the Archfiend, who had taken over the world 610 years prior to the events of the game. 300 years after that, the survivor of the second Death Eclipse was the Matriarch, who defeated the Archfiend with the help of allies around the game's world. The third Death Eclipse happened ten years prior to the game's events, and marked the weakening of the Abyss Gates in which the Four Noble Devils are sealed. With eight possible main protagonists to choose from (each with their own ending), and hours upon hours of sidequests, this game is designed with replayability in mind. The game's graphics have some of the best pixel art on the SNES-CD, with fluid animation for both player characters and enemy bosses. Kenji Ito's soundtrack was among the first video game scores to be recorded by a live symphony orchestra, with five of the game's seven battle themes becoming among the most beloved RPG battle themes. The game released to great critical reception, and was a modest success during a year with many competing RPGs.
Timeline it's from: A Saga of Parallel Worlds
Japanese release: January 1996
American release: July 1996
Australian/Scandinavian release: July 1996
Known as Romancing SaGa 3 in Japan, this expansive Role Playing Game is set in a fantasy world with a concept known as the Death Eclipse, an event that causes all newborn life born that day to die. The only survivor is imbued with a great destiny. The survivor of the first Death Eclipse was known as the Archfiend, who had taken over the world 610 years prior to the events of the game. 300 years after that, the survivor of the second Death Eclipse was the Matriarch, who defeated the Archfiend with the help of allies around the game's world. The third Death Eclipse happened ten years prior to the game's events, and marked the weakening of the Abyss Gates in which the Four Noble Devils are sealed. With eight possible main protagonists to choose from (each with their own ending), and hours upon hours of sidequests, this game is designed with replayability in mind. The game's graphics have some of the best pixel art on the SNES-CD, with fluid animation for both player characters and enemy bosses. Kenji Ito's soundtrack was among the first video game scores to be recorded by a live symphony orchestra, with five of the game's seven battle themes becoming among the most beloved RPG battle themes. The game released to great critical reception, and was a modest success during a year with many competing RPGs.
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Wargame: European Escalation, Fatal Error DLC (alternate, December 2012)
Eugen System's new RTS is gaining a new free expansion including new game modes (Conquest and Economy), a brand new campaign set in 1979-1980, and most importantly a new set of unique units including Belgian and Dutch forces, balanced with new unique units for the Warsaw Pact (more Polish, Czech, East-German units).
Wargame: Maritime Strategy (2014, alternative stand-in for Red Dragon)
This third installment of Eugen system's Cold War-themed RTS series sees the fight expanding to the Mediterranean Sea and the Balkans with the introduction of Spain (reinforced by Portugal), Italy, Greece and Turkey on NATO's side, and the Southern Warsaw Pact (Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria) as well as Yugoslavia on the Redfor side.
The game includes 4 new campaigns to showcase new nations:
- One involving Italy in a border conflict with Yugoslavia over Trieste (you play Yugoslavia)
Edit: preferable alternative could be both blocs supporting different factions in a Yugoslavian civil war in the 90's if the Warsaw Pact never collapsed, or early civil war in the 80s)
- One playing the Southern WP in the invasion of Greece in the general context of WW3
- One playing Turkey with American reinforcements against Soviet and Southern WP
- One playing Spain as the Brunete Armored Division is sent to support the French in the south of Germany in WW3 against a Soviet+Czechoslovak attack
Edit: alternative if naval warfare in particular is included: Blue vs Blue campaign with Turkey against Greece.
New mechanics are also added to support amphibious warfare, such as vehicles for water crossings, swimming capability for some vehicles, areas you can ford, and light transport boats. (Alternative: actual naval units).
War in the Alps DLC: alternative stand-in for the Second Korean War DLC. Includes Austria and Switzerland as a standalone nation, and a dedicated campaign where Austrian and Swiss territory is violated by the Warsaw Pact during WW3 in its flanking maneuver to circumvent German Corps in southern Germany (author's sidenote: the campaign could also be set as a reference to EE's Able Archer campaign when the Soviets bypassed NATO through Switzerland to take the Albion Plateau).
Author's input: This idea is based on the fact that it was Eugen System's CEO Alexis Le Dressay who pushed for Asia and naval units in the third game of the series, with the company's historian/dev MadMat being opposed to both ideas for understandable reasons (difficult to fit the rest of NATO/WP in all of this, poor military capabilities of many Asian countries compared to the European theater, unsuitability of the mechanics and game's design for naval warfare).
Eugen System's new RTS is gaining a new free expansion including new game modes (Conquest and Economy), a brand new campaign set in 1979-1980, and most importantly a new set of unique units including Belgian and Dutch forces, balanced with new unique units for the Warsaw Pact (more Polish, Czech, East-German units).
Wargame: Maritime Strategy (2014, alternative stand-in for Red Dragon)
This third installment of Eugen system's Cold War-themed RTS series sees the fight expanding to the Mediterranean Sea and the Balkans with the introduction of Spain (reinforced by Portugal), Italy, Greece and Turkey on NATO's side, and the Southern Warsaw Pact (Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria) as well as Yugoslavia on the Redfor side.
The game includes 4 new campaigns to showcase new nations:
- One involving Italy in a border conflict with Yugoslavia over Trieste (you play Yugoslavia)
Edit: preferable alternative could be both blocs supporting different factions in a Yugoslavian civil war in the 90's if the Warsaw Pact never collapsed, or early civil war in the 80s)
- One playing the Southern WP in the invasion of Greece in the general context of WW3
- One playing Turkey with American reinforcements against Soviet and Southern WP
- One playing Spain as the Brunete Armored Division is sent to support the French in the south of Germany in WW3 against a Soviet+Czechoslovak attack
Edit: alternative if naval warfare in particular is included: Blue vs Blue campaign with Turkey against Greece.
New mechanics are also added to support amphibious warfare, such as vehicles for water crossings, swimming capability for some vehicles, areas you can ford, and light transport boats. (Alternative: actual naval units).
War in the Alps DLC: alternative stand-in for the Second Korean War DLC. Includes Austria and Switzerland as a standalone nation, and a dedicated campaign where Austrian and Swiss territory is violated by the Warsaw Pact during WW3 in its flanking maneuver to circumvent German Corps in southern Germany (author's sidenote: the campaign could also be set as a reference to EE's Able Archer campaign when the Soviets bypassed NATO through Switzerland to take the Albion Plateau).
Author's input: This idea is based on the fact that it was Eugen System's CEO Alexis Le Dressay who pushed for Asia and naval units in the third game of the series, with the company's historian/dev MadMat being opposed to both ideas for understandable reasons (difficult to fit the rest of NATO/WP in all of this, poor military capabilities of many Asian countries compared to the European theater, unsuitability of the mechanics and game's design for naval warfare).
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Tetris: The Grand Master: The Absolute
Released: 2003
Consoles: Arcade, Nintendo Wave, Sega Dreamcast (ITTL the Dreamcast uses DVDs), Microsoft Xbox
The first game in the Tetris The Grand Master series to get released outside of Japan was the console version of the second game in the series. Featuring the return of Master Mode from the Japan-only first game, the game introduces Doubles Mode where two players work together to get a certain level, a Normal Mode designed for casual Tetris players, and a Harder than Hard mode titled Death Mode. The console versions added a four-player multiplayer mode, and support for online play in Versus Mode and Doubles Mode. The game also features version-specific online leaderboards. The servers for the Wave and Dreamcast versions still exist as of TTL!2023.
Released: 2003
Consoles: Arcade, Nintendo Wave, Sega Dreamcast (ITTL the Dreamcast uses DVDs), Microsoft Xbox
The first game in the Tetris The Grand Master series to get released outside of Japan was the console version of the second game in the series. Featuring the return of Master Mode from the Japan-only first game, the game introduces Doubles Mode where two players work together to get a certain level, a Normal Mode designed for casual Tetris players, and a Harder than Hard mode titled Death Mode. The console versions added a four-player multiplayer mode, and support for online play in Versus Mode and Doubles Mode. The game also features version-specific online leaderboards. The servers for the Wave and Dreamcast versions still exist as of TTL!2023.
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Gran Turismo 3 (2002)
Platform: Sony Playstation 2 / Atari Ascension
Producers: Polyphony Digital, Turn Seven Gaming, Aftershock Creative Laboratories
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
What do you do when when you've made two of the greatest racing games of all times that are renowned for their depth and playability when the platform you've made them for is superceded? You move on to the new platform, of course, and you take advantage of everything that platform can offer you in terms of additional abilities for your game. For the developers at Polyphony Digital, Turn Seven Gaming and new partner Aftershock Creative Laboratories, this meant a new game to be ready for the launch of the Sony Playstation 2 and Atari Ascension.
While the landscape of gaming had changed, Sony had come to have huge respect for their American partners, and the PC-style separate GPU that had been developed for the Atari Jaguar by Commodore Technologies had made a point at Sony, and with it the Commodore Advanced Technology - Console 3 (known as the CAT-C3) would be integrated into the Playstation 2, dramatically improving its graphics capabilities, and it showed in the level of visuals offered by the Playstation 2 and Ascension, and with the PS2 Sony focused (knowing of Atari's integration work and the awesome power of the CAT-C3) on the performance of the CPU and systems, resulting in the Playstation 2 absolutely blowing its (already-revolutionary for its time) predecessor completely out of the water, and Gran Turismo took full advantage of this ability, even if it wasn't (as anticipated) released with the PS2 itself in early 2001. The game wouldn't hit the shelves until February 2002, but it turned out that it was every bit worth the wait.
The game took a vast step up in graphic ability, though the developers had worked hard to ensure the game physics, car and track list and customization abilities and tuning possibilities were up to the standards of the original two. The car list narrowed to just over 500, but the list was still highly impressive and the additional graphical abilities were added to with the game now supporting up to 18 cars on the track at the same time. The track list, however, was bigger than the first two, with both a selection of newly-designed tracks but also a number of new real-world circuits joining the series, including some very famous ones from around the world, with Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone, Oulton Park, Zandvoort, Bathurst, Kyalami, Monza, Philip Island, Sepang, Dover Park, Potrero de los Funes, Bushy Park, Road America and Mont-Tremblant among these. The corporate support of Gran Turismo 2 expanded further with the new game, with the customization also now including the ability to have logos on one's car and many cars having selections of designs for visuals. The hillclimb mode expanded, and Gran Turismo 3 introduced open wheel race cars based on Formula One and Indycar competitors, with Lotus, Williams, Brabham, Reynard and Lola all joining the game. The additional space offered by the use of DVD-ROM discs also allowed for much-better sounds in the game and a sizable soundtrack, and the game including a sizable soundtrack that included (in the North American version) tracks from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Motley Crue, Lenny Kravitz, Junkie XL, Cirrus, The Cult, Dr. Dre, Incubus, Linkin Park and Judas Priest.
The main complaints from the game came from a fairly steep difficulty level - newcomers to the series did at times find the difficulty of the new AI challenging - but had few complaints for the game's realism (which was improved even from the two previous titles), or the spectacular graphics, which were many leagues above what came before it, a result of the massively-more-powerful new platform it was played on. Once mastered, though, the game proved as incredibly rewarding as anyone could have hoped, and it was indeed just as successful as its predecessors, continuing the remarkable success of the games into the next generation of consoles.
Platform: Sony Playstation 2 / Atari Ascension
Producers: Polyphony Digital, Turn Seven Gaming, Aftershock Creative Laboratories
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
What do you do when when you've made two of the greatest racing games of all times that are renowned for their depth and playability when the platform you've made them for is superceded? You move on to the new platform, of course, and you take advantage of everything that platform can offer you in terms of additional abilities for your game. For the developers at Polyphony Digital, Turn Seven Gaming and new partner Aftershock Creative Laboratories, this meant a new game to be ready for the launch of the Sony Playstation 2 and Atari Ascension.
While the landscape of gaming had changed, Sony had come to have huge respect for their American partners, and the PC-style separate GPU that had been developed for the Atari Jaguar by Commodore Technologies had made a point at Sony, and with it the Commodore Advanced Technology - Console 3 (known as the CAT-C3) would be integrated into the Playstation 2, dramatically improving its graphics capabilities, and it showed in the level of visuals offered by the Playstation 2 and Ascension, and with the PS2 Sony focused (knowing of Atari's integration work and the awesome power of the CAT-C3) on the performance of the CPU and systems, resulting in the Playstation 2 absolutely blowing its (already-revolutionary for its time) predecessor completely out of the water, and Gran Turismo took full advantage of this ability, even if it wasn't (as anticipated) released with the PS2 itself in early 2001. The game wouldn't hit the shelves until February 2002, but it turned out that it was every bit worth the wait.
The game took a vast step up in graphic ability, though the developers had worked hard to ensure the game physics, car and track list and customization abilities and tuning possibilities were up to the standards of the original two. The car list narrowed to just over 500, but the list was still highly impressive and the additional graphical abilities were added to with the game now supporting up to 18 cars on the track at the same time. The track list, however, was bigger than the first two, with both a selection of newly-designed tracks but also a number of new real-world circuits joining the series, including some very famous ones from around the world, with Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone, Oulton Park, Zandvoort, Bathurst, Kyalami, Monza, Philip Island, Sepang, Dover Park, Potrero de los Funes, Bushy Park, Road America and Mont-Tremblant among these. The corporate support of Gran Turismo 2 expanded further with the new game, with the customization also now including the ability to have logos on one's car and many cars having selections of designs for visuals. The hillclimb mode expanded, and Gran Turismo 3 introduced open wheel race cars based on Formula One and Indycar competitors, with Lotus, Williams, Brabham, Reynard and Lola all joining the game. The additional space offered by the use of DVD-ROM discs also allowed for much-better sounds in the game and a sizable soundtrack, and the game including a sizable soundtrack that included (in the North American version) tracks from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Motley Crue, Lenny Kravitz, Junkie XL, Cirrus, The Cult, Dr. Dre, Incubus, Linkin Park and Judas Priest.
The main complaints from the game came from a fairly steep difficulty level - newcomers to the series did at times find the difficulty of the new AI challenging - but had few complaints for the game's realism (which was improved even from the two previous titles), or the spectacular graphics, which were many leagues above what came before it, a result of the massively-more-powerful new platform it was played on. Once mastered, though, the game proved as incredibly rewarding as anyone could have hoped, and it was indeed just as successful as its predecessors, continuing the remarkable success of the games into the next generation of consoles.
Gran Turismo Track List
Fictional Circuits
- Apricot Hill Raceway
- Autumn Ring / Autumn Ring Mini (Autumn Ring Mini not present in GT3)
- Cape Ring / Cape Ring North / Cape Ring South / Cape Ring Outside / Cape Ring Inside
- Deep Forest Raceway
- Dragons Trail Raceway
- Grand Valley Speedway / Grand Valley East
- High Speed Ring
- Midfield Raceway
- Special Stage Route 5 / Clubman Stage Route 5
- Special Stage Route 11 (revised for GT3)
- Test Course (heavily revised for GT3)
- Trial Mountain Circuit
- Grindelwald (GT2)
- Red Rock Valley Speedway (GT2)
- West Ridge Circuit (GT2)
- Autodromo Lago Maggiore (GT3)
Real World Circuits (starting at GT2, GT3 intros are shown)
- Laguna Seca Raceway (USA)
- Riverside International Speedway (USA)
- Road Atlanta (USA)
- Watkins Glen International Raceway (USA)
- Bridgehampton Motorsports Park (USA)
- Road America (USA, starting with GT3)
- Stardust International Raceway (USA, GT3)
- Suzuka Circuit (Japan)
- Fuji Speedway (Japan)
- Autopolis Circuit (Japan)
- TI Circuit Aida (Japan)
- Tsukuba Circuit (Japan)
- Twin Ring Motegi (Japan, GT3)
- Mosport Park (Canada)
- Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant (Canada, GT3)
- Dover Raceway Park (Canada, GT3) [1]
- Bushy Park (Canada, GT3) [1]
- Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (Mexico)
- Autodromo Guadalajara (Mexico, GT3)
- Circuit Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium, GT3)
- Silverstone Circuit (UK, GT3)
- Oulton Park Raceway (UK, GT3)
- Zandvoort (Netherlands, GT3)
- Autodromo Nazionale Monza (Italy, GT3)
- Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit (South Africa, GT3)
- Sepang International Circuit (Malaysia, GT3)
- Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst (Australia, GT3)
- Philip Island Grand Prix Circuit (Australia, GT3)
- Lago Potrero de los Funes (Argentina, GT3)
Street Circuits (Real Cities only here)
- Seattle Circuit / Seattle Short
- Rome Circuit / Rome Short
- Nagoya Castle
- Tokyo Expressway
- Tokyo Route R246
- San Francisco (GT2)
- Telluride (GT2)
- Rome Night (GT2)
- New York Midtown (GT3)
- New York Hudson (GT3, Real Circuit)
- Long Beach (GT3, Real Circuit)
- Halifax (GT3, Real Circuit)
- Vancouver (GT3, Real Circuit)
- Riviera Maya (GT3, Real Circuit)
- Madrid Circuit (GT3)
- Hong Kong Central (GT3)
- Adelaide (GT3, Real Circuit)
Hill Climb Circuits (starting at GT2, GT3 intros are shown)
- Beverly Hills Hill Climb
- Hakone Turnpike (Real Course)
- Mount Washington Hill Climb (Real Course)
- Norikuya Skyline (Real Course)
- Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (Real Course)
- Cardrona Valley (GT3, Real Course)
- El Espinazo del Diablo (GT3, Real Course)
- Himalayan Approach (GT3)
- Rechbergrennen (GT3, Real Course)
- Stelvio Pass (GT3, Real Course)
[1] Important note here: In the universe these games are set in, the English-speaking Caribbean Islands all became part of Canada in the 1960s, thus Dover, which is in Jamaica, and Bushy Park, which is in Barbados, are both in Canada here)
Fictional Circuits
- Apricot Hill Raceway
- Autumn Ring / Autumn Ring Mini (Autumn Ring Mini not present in GT3)
- Cape Ring / Cape Ring North / Cape Ring South / Cape Ring Outside / Cape Ring Inside
- Deep Forest Raceway
- Dragons Trail Raceway
- Grand Valley Speedway / Grand Valley East
- High Speed Ring
- Midfield Raceway
- Special Stage Route 5 / Clubman Stage Route 5
- Special Stage Route 11 (revised for GT3)
- Test Course (heavily revised for GT3)
- Trial Mountain Circuit
- Grindelwald (GT2)
- Red Rock Valley Speedway (GT2)
- West Ridge Circuit (GT2)
- Autodromo Lago Maggiore (GT3)
Real World Circuits (starting at GT2, GT3 intros are shown)
- Laguna Seca Raceway (USA)
- Riverside International Speedway (USA)
- Road Atlanta (USA)
- Watkins Glen International Raceway (USA)
- Bridgehampton Motorsports Park (USA)
- Road America (USA, starting with GT3)
- Stardust International Raceway (USA, GT3)
- Suzuka Circuit (Japan)
- Fuji Speedway (Japan)
- Autopolis Circuit (Japan)
- TI Circuit Aida (Japan)
- Tsukuba Circuit (Japan)
- Twin Ring Motegi (Japan, GT3)
- Mosport Park (Canada)
- Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant (Canada, GT3)
- Dover Raceway Park (Canada, GT3) [1]
- Bushy Park (Canada, GT3) [1]
- Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (Mexico)
- Autodromo Guadalajara (Mexico, GT3)
- Circuit Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium, GT3)
- Silverstone Circuit (UK, GT3)
- Oulton Park Raceway (UK, GT3)
- Zandvoort (Netherlands, GT3)
- Autodromo Nazionale Monza (Italy, GT3)
- Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit (South Africa, GT3)
- Sepang International Circuit (Malaysia, GT3)
- Mount Panorama Circuit Bathurst (Australia, GT3)
- Philip Island Grand Prix Circuit (Australia, GT3)
- Lago Potrero de los Funes (Argentina, GT3)
Street Circuits (Real Cities only here)
- Seattle Circuit / Seattle Short
- Rome Circuit / Rome Short
- Nagoya Castle
- Tokyo Expressway
- Tokyo Route R246
- San Francisco (GT2)
- Telluride (GT2)
- Rome Night (GT2)
- New York Midtown (GT3)
- New York Hudson (GT3, Real Circuit)
- Long Beach (GT3, Real Circuit)
- Halifax (GT3, Real Circuit)
- Vancouver (GT3, Real Circuit)
- Riviera Maya (GT3, Real Circuit)
- Madrid Circuit (GT3)
- Hong Kong Central (GT3)
- Adelaide (GT3, Real Circuit)
Hill Climb Circuits (starting at GT2, GT3 intros are shown)
- Beverly Hills Hill Climb
- Hakone Turnpike (Real Course)
- Mount Washington Hill Climb (Real Course)
- Norikuya Skyline (Real Course)
- Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (Real Course)
- Cardrona Valley (GT3, Real Course)
- El Espinazo del Diablo (GT3, Real Course)
- Himalayan Approach (GT3)
- Rechbergrennen (GT3, Real Course)
- Stelvio Pass (GT3, Real Course)
[1] Important note here: In the universe these games are set in, the English-speaking Caribbean Islands all became part of Canada in the 1960s, thus Dover, which is in Jamaica, and Bushy Park, which is in Barbados, are both in Canada here)
I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream
Released: 1995
Platforms: Mac, DOS, SNES-CD
Timeline: A Saga of Parallel Worlds
Console publisher: Sony
One of the games that marked Sony's push for more mature games on the SNES-CD was a game based on Harlan Ellison's classic science fiction story I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream. In this game, the player controls five characters with their own scenarios in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by a sentient supercomputer named AM. With multiple endings (including one unique to TTL's version), and having AM voiced by Harlan Ellison, the game became one of the best adventure games on the SNES-CD. The Japanese SNES-CD version has AM voiced by Hisao Egawa.
Released: 1995
Platforms: Mac, DOS, SNES-CD
Timeline: A Saga of Parallel Worlds
Console publisher: Sony
One of the games that marked Sony's push for more mature games on the SNES-CD was a game based on Harlan Ellison's classic science fiction story I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream. In this game, the player controls five characters with their own scenarios in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by a sentient supercomputer named AM. With multiple endings (including one unique to TTL's version), and having AM voiced by Harlan Ellison, the game became one of the best adventure games on the SNES-CD. The Japanese SNES-CD version has AM voiced by Hisao Egawa.
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Two more RepublicCommando games
The third Battlefront game by Pandemic studio
The third Force unleashed Game
NASCAR Thunder 2023
Released: 2023
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S and X, Switch, PC
EA Sports' first NASCAR game since 2009 features many requested features. They include
Released: 2023
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S and X, Switch, PC
EA Sports' first NASCAR game since 2009 features many requested features. They include
- A revamped career mode where you start in ARCA, and work your way up to the top.
- A season mode where you can control any driver.
- SpeedZone is back!
- Lightning Challenges are back, as you must control of a driver from a race in the 2022 and 2023 NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, Truck, and ARCA series.
- Online mode
- Thunder License featuring Dale Earnhardt Jr
- Team Control, like in NASCAR 06
- A team manager mode
- Paint Scheme Makers
- #1 Donnie Allison
- #2 Rusty Wallace
- #3 Dale Earnhardt
- #5 Terry Labonte
- #6 Mark Martin
- #7 Alan Kulwicki
- #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr
- #9 Bill Elliott
- #11 Cale Yarborough
- #12 Bobby Allison
- #14 Tony Stewart
- #15 Michael Waltrip
- #16 Greg Biffle
- #17 Matt Kenseth
- #18 Bobby Labonte
- #20 Tony Stewart
- #21 David Pearson
- #24 Jeff Gordon
- #26 Ricky Bobby
- #28 Davey Allison
- #29 Kevin Harvick
- #31 Jeff Burton
- #32 Ricky Craven
- #39 Ryan Newman
- #40 Sterling Marlin
- #42 Kyle Petty
- #43 Richard Petty
- #48 Jimmie Johnson
- #75 75 Years of NASCAR
- #86 Fred Jones
- #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr
- #97 Kurt Busch
- #99 Carl Edwards
Star Wars: Fallen Empire (2020)
An expansion pack/dlc for 2019's Jedi: Fallen Order, putting the player in the role of former trainee Lictor Yuliyanne Meryn, telling her story up to the events of the main game, and after the ending, following her quest to find other Fel loyalists and aid in the fight in restoring the empire against the Sith usurper Darth Krayt.
An expansion pack/dlc for 2019's Jedi: Fallen Order, putting the player in the role of former trainee Lictor Yuliyanne Meryn, telling her story up to the events of the main game, and after the ending, following her quest to find other Fel loyalists and aid in the fight in restoring the empire against the Sith usurper Darth Krayt.
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