This preview chapter is the first of five chapters in a lengthy epic video. The rest won't go public until I've finished the whole thing, but I'm going to make each chapter available to patrons as I finish it. In the meantime, I'm going to do some short Metroid-related videos in-between, and you'll be seeing the first of those sooner than you think.
Love how you can take such a well trodden story and ask such basic questions as "Why Popeye?" and enlighten me to a completely different way of looking at video game history. Can't wait for Part 2!
Now having watched it: I would love for Nintendo to put out a compilation of their old pre-DK games. The Switch's Joycon IR sensor I think could adapt Wild Gunman pretty well, in a vein similar to 1-2-Switch, and honestly Radar Scope just looks like a lot of fun for a Space Invaders clone.
So I've observed something about Japanese pop culture. When something becomes popular in Japan, it becomes almost universally popular, only to fade away after a few years and be replaced with something else. This has to do with the idea of social proof: if a lot of people around you like something, that means it must be good and you should like it too. The "fifty million Elvis fans can't be wrong" effect. Except it's much greater in Japan because in the USA we are taught to value our own preferences whereas the Japanese are taught to go with the group. When I went there in 2011, everyone loved Lady Gaga because Born This Way had just dropped in Japan with heavy promotion. The other thing I noticed was that Stitch (from Lilo & Stitch) was all the rage. You couldn't avoid him, he kept cropping up in some really weird places and contexts. Well it turns out an anime had just come out starring Stitch that was being promoted by Disney Japan. If you remember watching Nickelodeon in the late 80s, it seemed that significant airtime was devoted to cartoon koalas. Well, there's a reason for that, too, it seems that in 1985 or so, the Australia Zoo had gifted some koalas to a Japanese zoo, triggering a wave of "koala mania" in Japan, leading to animes being produced about talking koalas that eventually got picked up by Nickelodeon. It's entirely possible that there was a wave of "Popeye mania" in Japan in the late 70s/early 80s that Nintendo was trying to capitalize on. That "Little Mario" thing reminds me of something. When I was a kid we had a neighbor who, as fortune would have it, was also an Italian guy who had a moustache and frequently wore overalls. But he was cue-ball bald. His daughter had a rubber doll, I guess it was supposed to be a farmer or something, but it was of a bald man in overalls. She drew a moustache on him and named him "Baby Daddy". It's pretty clear from context that Mario Segale himself was "Big Mario", leaving the game character to be "Little Mario".
REALLY EXCELLENT VIDEO!!!! The research is so evident as always, the presentation is fantastic. Love the period-accurate music. Phenomenal scripting, great job in totality. :D
Excellent research, excellent editing, the info you dig out is so new and fresh. I went "OH!!" when you started playing Spinach Power - Popeye in the last segment, which someone familiar with late 70s Japan will be very familiar with, but the layperson won't pick up on until it actually says Popeye out loud...which it does *after* you introduce the record's cover. Perfect pacing.
Woo, that was really great! You've been on the Popeye/Mario story for so long and the fine detail of this evolution presented here is amazing. Incredible work Kate, I learned a bunch of new things and I really enjoyed it! ^_^
@@ACriticalHit It's very obvious that "A Dream Walking" was the major inspiration to make Donkey Kong a Popeye game at first, as it not only had a construction sight, but it also has elevators going up and down, and Bluto was knocked off the building, landing on his head to then be unconscious. This animated short also became a level to a mid-2000s mobile phone remake of Nintendo's Popeye Arcade Game.
egg? interesting. Polish indie game Darkwood has a key item called "electronic game" that has an image showing something like a Game & Watch with two wolves catching eggs (one wolf in two possible positions). apparently an actual knock off device/game from Russia called Nu, Pogodi ("Well, Just You Wait!") based on a cartoon of the same name that features a wolf character
I had heard most of this story, though I had no idea at all popeye was huge in Japan way back in the day! Yeah kinda surprising they didn't go with mickey mouse I know they'd done licensed merch with mickey and disney stuff back before their videogame era with like board games and stuff.
Can't wait for the next one! I love Popeye. Watched the poor quality public domain cartoons growing up but since learning more about animation going back and watching the earlier Fleischer ones like Popeye meets Sindbad was really great so inventive and such a badass character could beat up Mickey any day. I am always curious about how popular movies and other media from outside Japan is perceived and learning about the companies Popeye representing over there helps see a bigger picture when it comes to influences in games and movies.
Hey, I got an idea for a juicy one! Now that "Mortal Kombat 1" recently debuted, you could address the similarities between the original MK1 and a game that came a couple of months prior to it, called World Heroes. It's starred by a blue and a fiery-colored couple of ninjas (1 of which is named Hanzou), it has only 1 female char that's blonde, it has a Bruce Lee lookalike, it has 1 stage with interactive spikes and another with bald monks in the background, and its last boss turns into all the other chars, just like the OG Mortal Kombat.
Jumpman wasn’t officially called mario before june 1982,it was a joke in the first place from arakawa since he considered his boss mario in wich his name was mario segale,did looked like jumpman,and whether those later flyers did mention ‘little mario’ in it’s instructions,it wasn’t yet official,if jumpman was officially already renamed mario for the us market,then they should,ve changed the name jumpman into mario on those arcade cabinets wich they did not, Interestingly enough,so the ikagami team did indeed took inspiration from space panic, not surprising since space panic involves the player to climb up ladders and dig holes with a sledge hammer and you also can fall down in your own created gaps,in donkeykong you not only have to climb up ladders but also jump over barrels while in the last stage you don’t have to dig holes but instead create holes to let donkeykong fall trough it’s doom,also jumpman uses a sledge hammer for squashing barrels and fire balls,so this confirms that donkeykong was inspired by the team from space panic,if space panic didn’t exist,donkeykong would,ve be different,so donkeykong is a derivation of space panic,LET THE WORLD KNOW about this, the reason why nintendo did came up with popeye because they eventually did got a license to make a popeye game for the arcades.
This preview chapter is the first of five chapters in a lengthy epic video. The rest won't go public until I've finished the whole thing, but I'm going to make each chapter available to patrons as I finish it. In the meantime, I'm going to do some short Metroid-related videos in-between, and you'll be seeing the first of those sooner than you think.
In that case, I'll put a pin in this and come back in like 6 months.
Love how you can take such a well trodden story and ask such basic questions as "Why Popeye?" and enlighten me to a completely different way of looking at video game history. Can't wait for Part 2!
Why that inbecile just don’t call this video part 1 aside from the main title???
I freaking HATE if people do that.
Now having watched it: I would love for Nintendo to put out a compilation of their old pre-DK games. The Switch's Joycon IR sensor I think could adapt Wild Gunman pretty well, in a vein similar to 1-2-Switch, and honestly Radar Scope just looks like a lot of fun for a Space Invaders clone.
So I've observed something about Japanese pop culture. When something becomes popular in Japan, it becomes almost universally popular, only to fade away after a few years and be replaced with something else. This has to do with the idea of social proof: if a lot of people around you like something, that means it must be good and you should like it too. The "fifty million Elvis fans can't be wrong" effect. Except it's much greater in Japan because in the USA we are taught to value our own preferences whereas the Japanese are taught to go with the group.
When I went there in 2011, everyone loved Lady Gaga because Born This Way had just dropped in Japan with heavy promotion. The other thing I noticed was that Stitch (from Lilo & Stitch) was all the rage. You couldn't avoid him, he kept cropping up in some really weird places and contexts. Well it turns out an anime had just come out starring Stitch that was being promoted by Disney Japan.
If you remember watching Nickelodeon in the late 80s, it seemed that significant airtime was devoted to cartoon koalas. Well, there's a reason for that, too, it seems that in 1985 or so, the Australia Zoo had gifted some koalas to a Japanese zoo, triggering a wave of "koala mania" in Japan, leading to animes being produced about talking koalas that eventually got picked up by Nickelodeon.
It's entirely possible that there was a wave of "Popeye mania" in Japan in the late 70s/early 80s that Nintendo was trying to capitalize on.
That "Little Mario" thing reminds me of something. When I was a kid we had a neighbor who, as fortune would have it, was also an Italian guy who had a moustache and frequently wore overalls. But he was cue-ball bald. His daughter had a rubber doll, I guess it was supposed to be a farmer or something, but it was of a bald man in overalls. She drew a moustache on him and named him "Baby Daddy". It's pretty clear from context that Mario Segale himself was "Big Mario", leaving the game character to be "Little Mario".
REALLY EXCELLENT VIDEO!!!! The research is so evident as always, the presentation is fantastic. Love the period-accurate music. Phenomenal scripting, great job in totality. :D
I've heard this story before, but I never knew Japan had a thing for Popeye. Always love those extra insights
Excellent research, excellent editing, the info you dig out is so new and fresh. I went "OH!!" when you started playing Spinach Power - Popeye in the last segment, which someone familiar with late 70s Japan will be very familiar with, but the layperson won't pick up on until it actually says Popeye out loud...which it does *after* you introduce the record's cover. Perfect pacing.
That was fun and informative! Definitely looking forward to the rest. 😀
So am I, lol.
Woo, that was really great! You've been on the Popeye/Mario story for so long and the fine detail of this evolution presented here is amazing. Incredible work Kate, I learned a bunch of new things and I really enjoyed it! ^_^
Absolutely excellent video!! Production is fantastic! Looking forward to more!!
Been looking forward to this first part literally all year!!!
Remarkable work, Kate. Looking forward to the next parts! I know there's plenty of mystery yet to uncover.
Thanks. :-)
@@ACriticalHit It's very obvious that "A Dream Walking" was the major inspiration to make Donkey Kong a Popeye game at first, as it not only had a construction sight, but it also has elevators going up and down, and Bluto was knocked off the building, landing on his head to then be unconscious. This animated short also became a level to a mid-2000s mobile phone remake of Nintendo's Popeye Arcade Game.
This was great. Thanks for following a new angle on this old story!
You're back!
Absolutely fascinating and so well done! Bravo!!
OMG, two parts?! 🎉
What if I said five parts?
Always a treat to see a new video from you!
Thanks!
I love that the generic version of the mickey game and watch is just 'egg.' One of the most expensive ones nowadays.
so goood, the rythym, the writing, the humor!!! congratulations!!
So good, worth the wait! Loved the Popeye history
Thanks. :-)
I miss this channel so much, some of the most in-depth research I've seen in on video game RUclips
aaaa so good! so excittid for the next part !!!!!
I'm excited for everyone to see the next part!
Critical Hit is definitively a apt name! Fabulous work as always, looking forward to the continuation!
This is excellent! I love how you structure these things.
egg? interesting. Polish indie game Darkwood has a key item called "electronic game" that has an image showing something like a Game & Watch with two wolves catching eggs (one wolf in two possible positions). apparently an actual knock off device/game from Russia called Nu, Pogodi ("Well, Just You Wait!") based on a cartoon of the same name that features a wolf character
Always worth the wait. Phenomenal video.
Very good. You make excellent videos, and this goes amongst them. I want to know what’s up with Popeye!!!
This is incredibly well-researched. The Metroid video was brilliant also and i'm looking forward to the follow up!
POPEYE is my favorite golden age cartoon character.
I had heard most of this story, though I had no idea at all popeye was huge in Japan way back in the day! Yeah kinda surprising they didn't go with mickey mouse I know they'd done licensed merch with mickey and disney stuff back before their videogame era with like board games and stuff.
Very nice video! Thanks for making it.
Excellent video, fascinating and thorough research!
Can't wait for the next one! I love Popeye. Watched the poor quality public domain cartoons growing up but since learning more about animation going back and watching the earlier Fleischer ones like Popeye meets Sindbad was really great so inventive and such a badass character could beat up Mickey any day. I am always curious about how popular movies and other media from outside Japan is perceived and learning about the companies Popeye representing over there helps see a bigger picture when it comes to influences in games and movies.
Been looking forward to this since i founnd your channel. Your metroid video was fantastic.
More Metroid is on the way too.
Your videos are so well designed and engaging to watch I'd like to buy them on Blu Ray. Looking forward to the other parts of this series.
Great video! Thanks
i like that this sounds like a video i'd see in school. very easy to listen to lol.
instant sub, incredible video
Excellent as always!❤
if someoe from the 1930's saw modern video games they would think Mario and Sonic are Popeye and Felix the Cat
If I use to play donkey kong in timezone
Lets fucking goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I need more!
CLIFFHANGER!!!
Yeah new vid wooooo
Hey, I got an idea for a juicy one! Now that "Mortal Kombat 1" recently debuted, you could address the similarities between the original MK1 and a game that came a couple of months prior to it, called World Heroes. It's starred by a blue and a fiery-colored couple of ninjas (1 of which is named Hanzou), it has only 1 female char that's blonde, it has a Bruce Lee lookalike, it has 1 stage with interactive spikes and another with bald monks in the background, and its last boss turns into all the other chars, just like the OG Mortal Kombat.
Could it be related to the _Popeye_ movie that came out in 1980?
Who doesn't really fvcking love Popeye? :P
Bluto
although that might be a cover for their poly relationship with Olive
there is definitely something sus going on there :P
Why Popeye? Because Japan. Which has become enough of an answer for me in my old age
Try harder old man.
And Link is a ripoff of Peter Pan!
Jumpman wasn’t officially called mario before june 1982,it was a joke in the first place from arakawa since he considered his boss mario in wich his name was mario segale,did looked like jumpman,and whether those later flyers did mention ‘little mario’ in it’s instructions,it wasn’t yet official,if jumpman was officially already renamed mario for the us market,then they should,ve changed the name jumpman into mario on those arcade cabinets wich they did not,
Interestingly enough,so the ikagami team did indeed took inspiration from space panic, not surprising since space panic involves the player to climb up ladders and dig holes with a sledge hammer and you also can fall down in your own created gaps,in donkeykong you not only have to climb up ladders but also jump over barrels while in the last stage you don’t have to dig holes but instead create holes to let donkeykong fall trough it’s doom,also jumpman uses a sledge hammer for squashing barrels and fire balls,so this confirms that donkeykong was inspired by the team from space panic,if space panic didn’t exist,donkeykong would,ve be different,so donkeykong is a derivation of space panic,LET THE WORLD KNOW about this,
the reason why nintendo did came up with popeye because they eventually did got a license to make a popeye game for the arcades.
*PromoSM* 🌺