StarTropics: The American Game Story! A 30th Anniversary Retrospective
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- Опубликовано: 26 июл 2024
- In 1990, Nintendo broke with tradition and gave The Western World a video game that Japan would never see. (More below…)
Episode Information
GTV 100 "The American Gamer" Season 5 Episode 17
Original Airdate: October 16, 2020
Produced September 21-29, 2020
Recorded at Butsudan Studios and edited on my 15" MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, which was starting to show signs of age, though rock-solid.
Produced with Final Cut Pro and Photoshop, which my job paid for!
This video is a little different. Of course everyone is welcome on this channel, and I appreciate it, but this video was made for the small, loyal group of people from Japan who watch me, have learned English from this channel and enjoy seeing their experiences from an American viewpoint. Now it’s time to reverse that, and deliver something more Americans are familiar with and Japanese don't know so much about. A way of saying thank you Japanese fans for sticking by me for so long!
The intro music was provided by Famicuber! A great musician who makes great chiptunes!
He is on Twitter here / famicuber You can also find his music on the game Eyra, The Crow Maiden. Check it out here!
www.second-dimension.com/store/35
The great artist who supplied artwork for this video is Dez! Check out his online comic at frivolesque.com/
Chapter Markers
0:00 GTV ID: Gokujou Television!!
0:08 Prologue: American Gamer
3:05 Open: StarTropics, The American Game Story
3:32 Chapter 1: StarTropics
9:52 CM 1: StarTropics for NES (1991), Promo: 3D Dot Game Heroes
10:32 Chapter 2: Zoda’s Revenge
13:37 CM 2: The New NES with MegaMan 6 & Zoda’s Revenge, Promo: Nuts From Nintendo
14:16 Chapter 3: More Secrets and Legacy of StarTropics
GTV is now on Odysee! Join us!! odysee.com/$/invite/@GTV-Japan:d
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Игры
This video is a little different. Of course everyone is welcome on this channel, and I appreciate it, but this video was made for the small, loyal group of people from Japan who watch me, have learned English from this channel and enjoy seeing their experiences from an American viewpoint. Now it’s time to reverse that, and deliver something more Americans are familiar with. A way of saying thank you for sticking by me for so long!
Now it's time for someone European living in Japan to do the same about those great Master System games that Japan didn't get, some of which not even America got (though quite a few made their way to Mexico).
Too bad Yakumo is a little too biased towards Japanese releases.
I would really like to see that. I am not sure who would be doing that, though. Thanks for watching as always 🌴
Startropics 2 is the best game of world NDVMP
@@edinhofofao7303 thanks for watching 🌴
Eu estou esperando ate hoje que a nintendo crie o Startropics 3 mas infelizmente a nintendo nao respeitou a serie Startropics e injusticou muito esse jogo que foi melhor jogo de todos os tempos ,nao dando continuidade a esta obra prima,uma pena ha ndvmp
I remember buying these at KB Toys in '96. They were pushing out NES stuff at the time, cheap, and I got both games for 3 bucks each. Helped get me through that first summer on my own.
Awesome deal! I eventually got close to 300 NES games around that time because used stores were dumping them as 8-bit was so passe. My how times changed. Thanks for watching as always 🌴
This was really well done, great job!
Thank you! And I will be making Dr. Wily's revenge the manga by the end of this year! So just hang on
This was a fantastic episode... great work
Slopes X GTV when?
@@Eric_Plunk have we not worked together before? this needs to change!!!!
A straight up 50/50 collab would be pretty fun, just come to japan and we can make it happen!
The code 747 is forever stuck in my mind, the feeling I had when I dipped the letter in water is unforgettable and unique. I wish Inti Creates would work on a 3rd Startropics they would do it justice.
That would be cool!
I really love how you put so much time into the small things in your videos. The time stamps, commercial breaks fixed in with retro commercials and opening images are really good! Great channel needs more subs!!!
I try to leave everything on the field. Thanks for watching 🌴
Yes I agree, it makes for a more complete experience.
One of the best RUclips channels. Accept no substitute. Context is everything and you are excellent at providing it.
Edit: Holy shit that’s Endless Mike from The Adventures Of Pete & Pete advertising StarTropics 2. Absolutely loved that show.
It is the one kids show I would not mind re watching, other than as a curiosity to see how it aged. It was brilliant and to me felt like it was written for adults and kids to get different jokes and see different points of view. I really loved how every character had intense depth and a backstory that they recalled over and over. And my fav endless Mike bit was when he pulled out his tooth so he could wrestle in Pete's weight class so he could kick his ass. Thanks for watching as always 🌴
It definitely holds up IMO. Would recommend watching again. My fave Endless Mike bit is when he agrees to lend Big Pete his car so he can take Ellen on a date to the drive-in. As he chucks Pete the keys he says “ride like the wind soul brother.” I’ve already quoted it elsewhere in the comments.
@@heyhonpuds yah the sad friend-zoning of Pete
If this game were released in Japan it might be known as “Journey to the Southern Cross”.
Ha! I could see that! Thanks for watching 🏝
Lol, it's the same story for being a Nintend fan living in the UK/Europe, we looked forward to seeing what America had released, then hoped Mattel (or later THE Games) would release it here in 6 months to a years time (if at all) we had to wait TWENTY SEVEN YEARS for Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG!!!
Also, no European focused games like this, closest we ever got to cultral refrences was what Rare snuck in their games under Nintendo's radar :D
30 years later, we're still banging on about how we got Terranigma and America didn't.
Yea, you know i never thought about that, but it does makes sense that if a game has been translated to English, then it is much more likely to come to UK/EU. I have heard many great stores about the import scene though which sounds pretty exciting too. Thanks for watching as always 🌴
In the next video, I lay out comparison of the "news" in EGM/Gamepro vs. Nintendo Power and use the line "If it didn't happen in Nintendo Power, it didn't happen" So you might like that bit haha Thanks for watching as always 🌴
We need a remake of startropics
Top comment!!!
The majority of Americans call it soda, calling it pop is a weird thing that only a small portion of us do and the rest of us think it's weird. Other than that, really enjoyed the video! :D
Being from Michigan, I can assure you soda is called pop there.
I grew up in Tennessee and in the 3rd grade a kid from Michigan moved to our school. Hearing him say “pop” was so foreign. Most people around here call everything “Coke”, regardless of what brand the drink actually is. “Want a Coke?” “Dr Pepper or Pepsi?” 😂
I did some research and will post it later today, but a plurality of Americans, do in fact say soda, however that number is not over 50% as the deep south calls it Coke regardless of what it is. As well a larger part of the US, though not by population say pop Thanks for watching 🌴
Best episode yet! Don’t see Startropics get enough love.
Yeah! It's the only video I know of about it that exists! Thanks for watching as always 🌴
I love this game. There were a couple of us at work with an NES. One of them recommended Star Tropics. I bought it, and we were in a competition to see who finished first.
I had to go through my trash to get the letter! That will teach me to throw away game boxes!
I finished the game first.
Our stories are similar. I had an Atari soon after it was released. The 5200, and 7800 too. My dad had a Tempest can and a Royal Guards pinball machine. I'm still playing today! Mainly Rocket League, Beat Saber, and my retro consoles.
Wow that’s some great memories you’ve got there. Thanks for sharing!
GTV Japan: "Most Americans don't say soda. They say pop!"
60% of Americans: wat
Everything’s “Coke” in the Southeast 😂
“Hi, what coke would you like?”
“I’ll have a Fanta please.”
“Sorry, fresh out of Fanta. Any other cokes you like?”
“Mountain Dew is my second favourite coke.”
“Mountain Dew coming right up.”
- A typical conversation in a southeastern restaurant, probably.
@@heyhonpuds 😂 😂 😂
Yes exactly! I lived in Florida a while and this was a daily struggle. Then there's the whole sweet tea thing and trying to find a decent pierogi!
I am going to make a post later today that gives the definitive answer
13:36 Endless Mike Hellstrom!
Ride like the wind soul brother.
Zack Fair for his good side
The Adventures of Pete & Pete AKA the greatest Nickelodeon show of all time!
The only folly of Pete and Pete was they waited way too long to make a full 30 minute show from the original shorts. By the time it got started they were getting too old for the parts. I wonder who was the Zoda hand?
@@GTV-Japan The Zoda hand was in all likelihood Mr. Tastee from Pete & Pete 😆 While were on the Pete & Pete train the 2000 film “Snow Day” was originally envisioned as a Pete & Pete movie but took way too long to get made and all the characters were changed to original characters. The film still somewhat had the vibe of the show.
15:26 The moving wiimote buttons are perfect with the music! 🤣
Yeah I meant to do that!!
Star Tropics brings back memories. Thank you so much for featuring it
You’re welcome! Unfortunately there’s no new game to follow up with but I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🏝
Wow, after going back to work its finally winter holidays, so its time to catch up with the GTV, chicken wings and some cold ones marathon! Lets see how much videos can I catch up before going back to teach. Happy holidays and thank you very much for your videos!
Hot dang! Well it’s time for a good rest so enjoy it! Have a great Christmas and new year with your family. We will meet up again in 22!
This channel is really pretty unique. There's nothing else quite like it on RUclips, both in its style and its content.
Thanks! Everyone is unique in their own way but I'm happy to know others see things this way Thanks for watching as always 🌴
That whole "dipping the letter included with the game in water to discover a radio frequency you need to use to progress in the game" is so much like how Hideo Kojima put Meryl's codec number on the back of the PS1 jewel case for Metal Gear Solid. I wonder if Kojima was a fan of StarTropics
Ahh maybe so!
I really liked this video, congrats!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching as always 🌴
The only time StarTropics was referenced in Smash Bros was on the chronicle in Brawl only in the North American version!
Oh well sorry I didn’t add that. I never played it. Thanks for watching 🏝
Your videos are very well made🙂
Thanks!! I’m glad you liked them
What an amazing video. For how much I pride myself in my retro gaming knowledge it never dawned on me Japan missed out on Star Tropics. I often hunt out retro gaming experiences from outside perspectives but this video reminded me how special mine was. Thank you for the wonderful video good Sir!
He called the cola "pop!"
I hear that in an Adam Sandler voice haha Thanks for watching as always 🌴
I always suspected the letter was a elaborate "screw you" to the rental industry. On a more serious note, I wonder if 747 wasn't a reference to Boeing, makers of the 747 airliner. Then and now, they're the biggest employer here in the Seattle area, home of NoA and Mike Jones. ;)
That could have been the intent, but it would have been really easy for a rental place to just include a note telling you what the code was.
That's very possible, remember Nintendo took mom and pop rental stores to court and won because they were photocopying game manuals. I really don't know why they added it but it is a nice touch and sure as heck, we don't see it anymore. Thanks for watching as always 🌴
Always a unique and different take on things. Much appreciated!
Thanks 🌴
@@GTV-Japan always a pleasure!
I think the closest we're going to get to a continuation of the "StarTropics" saga is through fanfiction. The most notable, at least in my view, is "Follow the Southern Cross", which serves mainly as a midquel between the first and second games, though there are parts that take place during and after "Zoda's Revenge".
www.fanfiction.net/s/987106/1/Startropics-Follow-The-Southern-Cross
Well, I did not want to spoil the ending but if you played ST2 you know all the loose ends are tied up. So Who knows how they would handle ST3. Maybe Mike takes over the biz from Uncle Steve and is all grown up now...
This was awesome, love the little tip at the end.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching as always 🌴
I’m late to comment on this but I feel I must comment to show my gratitude towards your work. Amazing videos here. I love watching videos on the video games I grew up with. I was always a Nintendo kid. Born in 88 with two older siblings. I mostly got my sister or brothers hand me downs as far as games go but I turned out pretty lucky. Nintendo was my first system. We happened to have Startropics as one of the many games we owned. I always found it a little quirky but man was it fun. My memories playing with my Dad and my sister I’ll cherish forever. This game and this video brought me much joy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. From one American gamer to another 😊 🙏 ❤️
You’re never too late! I always read every comment and reply too. My brother was born in 88 and he too was lucky to grow up with a whole generation of games already collected. It must have been great! I’m glad you liked the video and very soon more will be coming. Comment any time! 🍻
This video was fantastic and criminally under-viewed!
Thanks I’m glad you liked it! 🌴
The first part of this was a total nostalgia hit for me. EGM and GameFan were 100% my import game experiences in my formative years. I'm willing to wager that I spent more time poring over magazines than I did actually playing games. In fact, Super Famicom coverage and importing games were the main reasons I got into learning Japanese in middle school. (haha, and why I was broke for nearly all of my teens and 20s) When I was doing my first homestay, my family had SuFami, Mega Drive as well as Neo Geo CD, but my host parents definitely played games way more than either of my brothers or sister. Older bro was on the baseball team and little bro had juku, but my host dad played the hell out of Street Fighter 2 and Puyo Puyo! Also, an unhealthy chunk of my life was spent watching TV in the early 90s, but I have legitimately never seen that Startropics CM before. Something new every day...
Sounds like we have much in common! 🏝️
Another great video by the GOAT.
Man you're making me want to play through both games again. This time I'll be using note pads since Zoda's revenge had some cryptic pointers
Go to it! Yea it is a tougher game. Thanks for watching 🌴
I sure wish Nintendo would give Star Tropics a 2nd Life like they did with Kid Icarus
For sure. One of my favorite games. I still have the cart.
@@SwashBuccaneer You mean for both of the Games ????
Be careful what you wish for. Ever since the Phantom Menace came out when I was a teenager, I’ve accepted the fact that long-dormant well-loved franchises should be left alone rather than revived. Always leave them wanting more, instead of leaving a nasty taste in the mouth.
I am torn. I would like another ST but yea, the chance it gets bungled (bung holed haha) is pretty high up there!
This is great! Would love to see a video like this about the Mother series!
Thanks I’m glad you liked it. For something about mother I would recommend press a to continue as he has done many videos on it
I played StarTropics when I was kinda young and I liked it, but Zoda's Revenge was fucking awesome. I remember borrowing Zoda's Revenge from a friend because I was bored one weekend, even after already having an SNES. Its a very well-made game. Top-10 NES game for me.
Same here! Who knew the NES would be rocking in 94?!
I knew the game was made w the US in mind but I didn't know it wasn't released in Japan. That could explain why Mike is not in Smash Bros....................... yet.
Yeah. That could be a reason. Thanks for watching 🌴
I love these games. I speedrun both of them, both have a different mindset to go in with that is fun. A mechanic both games have is buffering. You can buffer literally *every* input in the game, including text box advancement. This makes combat much easier when you can get used to it as you'll be attacking at a much faster rate than what mashing will give you. This aids StarTropics 1 the most with the 4 way movement and the fact you "lock" onto a tile when you move to it. ST1 also allows you to keep moving while attacking perpendicular so you don't have to stop.
StarTropics 2 also has the buffering system, but with the unlocked grid the game becomes much more about reaction to enemy randomness than it does walking a specific path, though there's still a general path you want to take.
I'm one of the few who prefers 2 over 1, but I love both. We can only hope the series is given more recognition in the future.
Ya thats true, and that does help out in a few tough parts Thanks for watching 🌴
I say soda, ha ha. Excellent video, man. Learned a few new things. I have a love/hate relationship with StarTropics, and I want to tell that story someday.
I'd love to hear that. The game is clunky in a few parts but the drive to get to the next town always kept me playing because it was so fun. Thanks for watching as always 🌴
Call it pop, yinz guys! Don’t be such a jagoff! Loving these videos!
Yea! Don’t forget Donnie Iris is playing dahn at the Regatta
I never heard about this game, I dont even know if it appeared in my country, (probably not), anyway the game and its background looks very interesting, for sure enough to deserve a video so thanks for share it.
Hey no prob! Where you hail from?
@@GTV-Japan I am from Spain 🇪🇸
@@Indalord. ah ok. Maybe it did not come out there
Awesome video as usual. I love StarTropics. One of those games where I still have my copy. Along with FF6 and PS3.
nice! Keep it in mint condition ! Thanks for watching as always 🌴
Damn it. RUclips did not inform me about this video. Just now got to see it. Arigatou Gozaimasu!
You’re not so late!
Awesome video! I love this very underrated NES game. Not sure why Nintendo never did anymore StarTropics games. Imagine how cool it would've been on the SNES? Or a remake on Switch? 🍻
That would be cool! and some mags "speculated" that ST would get a remake like Mario All Stars. Of course no, it didnt TT Thanks for watching as always 🌴
Ah, I remember being a kid, and learning that (most) video games and even many shows I liked came from Japan. I imagined that it must be like living in the future over there. Occasionally I'd get my hands on an imported Gameboy game that I'd never heard of and brute force my way through despite the language barrier, or get a Japanese Pokémon card featuring a new Pokémon I had never seen before, or maybe even rent a subtitled Dragon Ball Z movie featuring characters that I had never seen before because despite being the coolest show in school it took forever for new episodes to come out. I'd watch the whole series through only to get like one new episode, two if I was really lucky, and then the next day it was right back to the first episode. I'd imagine how cool it would be to learn Japanese and go to Japan where I could get all of the new Nintendo games way early and experience who knows how many awesome games we never got.
Then, in the early 2000s, I discovered the amazing world of emulation and file-sharing. Thanks to fan translation patches and subtitles, I could not only play these classic games we never got but also understand the most popular ones. I could discover awesome new animes and watch every episode well before they would air on Adult Swim if they ever did. Thanks to the information age, and a lot of piracy, in my teenage years I got to live out that childhood dream in a way all without having to leave home or learn another language that wasn't even an option in school (or even the college I went to).
Of course there are still games that don't officially get global releases, or end up delayed for one reason or another, but I feel like things have improved. Now, a lot of big games like Pokémon have simultaneous worldwide releases, or minimal delay. Classics like Live A Live and Seiken Densetsu 3 have been remade and officially released in the west. And while I now know that not every great video game was originally developed in Japan, it feels like the next great game could come from anywhere, and be available almost everywhere.
You think it’s like living in the future until you realize the best snack is a potato yanked right out of the ground cooked on hot coals.
3:10 - You did an amazing job on the Startropics full-screen title card! Love the sunset transition.
Thanks!
I thought startropics was a golf game due to the front cover until I played it 😂
Starttopics was amazing
In my top 10 nes games for sure
Perfect timing as I've been on a GTV binge the last few days, rewatching my favorites and checking out videos I might have missed, and when I got this notification on my phone couldn't wait to get home to watch it.
Star Tropics was always an interesting title to me, the sequel especially, and was a great topic to cover. I too was one of those kids who was severely jealous of Japanese gaming culture growing up (some of the spreads in Nintendo Power stick with me well over twenty years later) so it was interesting to see something we got that they never did. I know that for quite a bit Advance Wars: Days of Ruin was a US exclusive but cool that this predates that by quite a bit.
Great! I am glad you like the channel so much. The strange thing is that in my re-researching issues of NP, they do not really mention the game was a western exclusive. It seems to have been reported on more after the fact. One game i thought was an unusual choice for US only was Gumshoe, the light gun game where you make the guy jump by shooting, but most games by rare and a lot of the movie and tv based games never came out in Japan. Anticipation would have a good one for trying out English ability, but oh well Thanks for watching as always 🌴
Great video as always! Big hello from Croatia 😃
Ima nas još 😉
@@Bole_ZG pozz iz ST 😀!
@@dorcyvor2981 Poz Splitu!
Hello to all my brothers over there! If i can even mention Croatia in a video and have it make sense , I will!
A pleasure to watch -- thank you GTV!
Thanks for watching as always 🌴
great work.
i would make a compliment to the design, that, there wasn't a lot of fun rumors in America, about how to PLAy the Japanese video-game, differnt from the Western one. Learning this was different.
Thanks for watching 🌴
Nintendo! Put Startropics 2 on Switch already!! Still wishing for Startropics 3.
Yeah what the H! Release it already
A little extra thing about the score that we've been able to find out: The lower your score in a dungeon, the more enemies will drop stars and hearts. So if you keep dying and restarting the dungeon over and over again, the game activates a sort of pity mode because your score just keeps going down and down because after a few deaths you'll have killed quite a few enemies by that point. This pity mode resets after every dungeon, so you can't just die a lot in Chapter 1 and get more drops in future dungeons.
Wow that’s really cool! I love little secrets old games have. Unfortunately I can’t easily re-edit the video and put that in there but I wish I could
Despite this game not being released in Japan, I imagine a Japanese box art of this game. A dark rainforest full of the monsters and aliens and Mike Jones on the middle fighting them off with Japanese symbols on it.
Hmm. Maybe so!
I can't tell you how excited I am this game is being talked about. This channel is aweomse, keep up the great work.
Thanks. I think it’s talked about a lot. But that’s not enough to push a remake or new game. Anyway startropics fans are the best in the world. Thanks for watching 🌴
Love this some mucho, great content.
Thanks for watching as always 🌴
Just want to give a shout out to the actor in the NES commercial Rick Gomez who played the local bully named 'Endless' Mike Hellstrom in the fantastic TV show on Nickelodeon called The Adventures of Pete and Pete.
the dude so bad he yanked out a tooth so he could be in the same weight class as Pete and kick his ass!
Fantastic video as always coming from you. My music used in the intro seems to work very well too which I'm happy for. Cheers and stay safe!
No problem! It was a perfect fit!
another great episode! i always wanted to see a continuation of startropics.
You and me both! Maybe someday....
This was great! I've been wanting to try this game, and this is pushing me towards giving it a go.
Thanks as always for the beautiful video and knowledge bombs
Get to it and start a great adventure!! 🌴
I saw the thumb and thought it was Shesez. I never realized that this is how he pulled that avatar from, just adding sunglasses. :)
Same
Same.
So now we know two things: He got his avatar from this game and Nintendo doesn't care about this enough to send him a cease and desist.
Now I have to go see who this Shesez person is Jesse...
@@Eric_Plunk His channel is called Shesez but his main show is called Boundary Break where he uses modded cameras in games to show various secrets or other hidden pieces of information. I've been a subscriber to his channel for years. ruclips.net/user/Shesezvideos
Well I don't know anything about that, but I'm sure it is way too much work to track down every little thing and shut it down. But they sure try anyways
Nintendo accomplished it's mission by tuning a entire game in with american culture....part two dropped the ball...get your save states ready...your gonna need em. Great video gaijillionaire
Thanks for watching 🌴
@@GTV-Japan only on GTV
Another fun fact about how the score works!
Each dungeon starts off at that set score that you showed already, decreasing by a certain amount after you kill enemies. This number gets saved as long as you're in the same dungeon, and will start over again when you enter the next dungeon. But the interesting part is how the score affects the drops in the game!
Whenever you defeat an enemy, it has a chance to drop a heart or a star, or just nothing at all. As your score decreases, the game increases the chance of you receiving either a heart or a star. So, if you keep killing enemies and keep getting Game Overs, you'll need to kill enemies you already killed last on your last attempt, which further and further decreases your score. This means that if you are having a particularly hard time, the game has a way of helping you by giving you additional health pickups!
This always resets after you complete a dungeon, so you can't just die a bunch in the first dungeon of the game and be set for easy heart drops for the rest of the game.
Yea I did not know all of that. But i did play thru many times before saying, ok lets try to get 999999 and it drove me crazy it never happened! The big tell is in ST2, because in chapter 1 you do nothing but get a score. Thanks for watching 🌴
There are some familiar things in this game to me. First of all, the game looks like Minecraft, and the hoodoo doll boss looks like the sculpture from the jomon period.
I’ll have to look that up to see what that is, but the boss, yeah I totally see it!
The in game artwork has that unmistakable Japanese attempt at Western style artwork, but still retaining anime-esque quality. Something you'd see in a lot of 1980's cartoons either outsourced or co-produced by Anime firms. Think Transformers, G.I. Joe, or especially Galaxy High School. I've always liked that aesthetic. As for the soda thing, yeah. That's a regional thing in the US. I use it all the time, myself. Some regions call it tonic, and then there are those that use the term "soft drink," but that can apply to non-carbonated beverages like lemonade and Kool-Aid. But I've never used the term "pop."
I've only ever seen "soft drink" used in restaurant menus.
U.K. here. We say soft drinks all the time.
I've never heard it spoken often, except for early McDonalds Happy Meal commercials that explain what menu items it's comprised of. I guess, back then because they used to have flat orange drink on the menu. Seems it's more a general term for both soda and flat flavored Hi-C type things. I do see it on the packages of the latter all the time, though. Guess there really isn't a unique term for non-carbonated, non-juice fruit flavored drinks. And the term always confused me when I was little because I didn't know that liquors were referred to as "hard drinks," though I've never come across that one.
It seems to have begun in Appalachia where Coke and Moxie and other "vitality tonics" were bottled and shipped rather than served at a fountain, and the pop refers to the sound of released carbonation. So when you say Soda pop it meant a bottle while soda meant from a fountain, as well in that area, where i grew up a sods meant something like an ice cream float where the shop mixed something together for you. I guess over time the meaning drifted away. pretty interesting and I can't believe I got at least 20 comments on this! Thanks for watching as always 🌴
Just gotta comment on this video (as I'm going through them all) - Loving the content - loving the commercials - the mix of otaku and nostalgia in me is just enjoying this all too much!! The only thing I could ask for is to have all of these recorded on VHS tape and watch it while eating Nintendo Cereal.
Hah! Thanks I appreciate the comment! I have thought of the idea of putting them on VHS, even if I took a loss, but shipping from Japan really makes it expensive. Maybe someday!
Under the southern cross, anything is possible.
Yes it is!🌴
The reason why this game was never released in Japan was because that Genyo Takeda wanted something different. He wanted a perfectly great game but instead of releasing it in Japan, he wanted to release it in North America and Europe because he was truly fascinated in the American market and translating games into Japanese was hard and the game would lose its comedic effect. Thanks :D
You’re welcome! Didn’t I say that? 🏝
Man this was really good
Thanks for watching as always 🌴
Great video as always...... I live in Missouri and I have always called it soda pop
Yay!!
The episode awesome very entertaint, great video, the next time i see the two games i gonna Buy it's. Great video camarada, in the North of México we call soda to the pop.
Thanks for watching as always 🌴
i just LOVE that you used IPA correctly in your phonetic transcription. as a linguist it's so frustrating to see people doing bad 'phonetic' transcriptions (although i can hardly expect everyone to learn the IPA i guess)
When you major in communication they make You learn that stuff! Thanks for watching
A beautiful episode, even if you do commit the high crime of calling it “pop”!
It’s fun seeing how other cultures perceive Americans in takes like this, and refreshing to see something other than “blond-haired blue-eyed guy who eats only hamburgers and pizza”.
Thanks! Maybe you know, but If you come to Japan and you say you don't eat burgers and fries every day, and actually like Japanese food, they look at you funny. I often leave little references to where I grew up and saying pop is a huge tell. Thanks for watching 🌴
1:57 Oh man, I remember Lunar both the first and second games and I have that EXACT package you displayed! It was awesome back in the day, when you could have a physical thing to touch and display. Versus today where most of it is just virtual. It was just a great thihg to show off and fans or just gamers interested in more than just box art and a disc would see it and would always ask me about it and many didn't even know about these advanced special editions.
2:50 Remember Star Tropics with a fondness. They hyped it up in Nintendo power and I didn't even know what it was. Like you said, usually there was some backstory from Japan but this was different.
7:20 It seemed like everything had "Cola" somewhere in the names. And yes... that does sum up lots of American culture. I liked Cola but craved Mountain Dew! I lived on that to get thru High School!!
9:42 Dude!! I've been leaving these College Essays trying to be a Top Commenter! What do I have to do to get listed? Is the amount of comments or just words? I'm really trying here!!
15:50 Copyright reasons? What was the To-Yo infringing on? I remember the Goonies DID have a Yo-Yo as your main weapon and that's a great game in its own light. A great platformer where you needed to think a bit and you could explore more with having some RPG elements as well. Great game for its time! We're off to save Annie the Mermaid! (I think that was her name?)
17:36 "They say Pop!" (Instead of Soda) Damn right, we do!!
Great video GTV! As Always!! Keep em' coming!!!
Yo-Yo was originally a trademarked name, but it became genericized in 1965. (See www.consumerreports.org/consumerist/15-product-trademarks-that-have-become-victims-of-genericization/) I don't know why Nintendo would need to change it for the virtual console releases.
@@KasumiKenshirou Hey, thanks for clarifying that. It does indeed seem strange... I know there were games and the Anime industry had a certain delinquent shoujo series that used a yo-yo in a total badass way. But having to change it, like you said, seems strange that they would change it. I remember yo-yo's being an American thing, at least until I got older and saw more, but still... feels like its taking a significant part of the game that helped make it "Star Tropics"!!
It turns out the trademark is still in effect in canada. as an aside Love Me Do by the Beatles is public domain up there so now its used a lot on tv, supposedly.
I've heard soda, pop, whatever is more so a region thing, with different states calling it different things typically?
Good video as always! I was afraid to try the Switch Online release because of that note thing, but I might have to give it a try now!
(Also, it's a bit strange how they put Japanese games untranslated on the American Switch Online but not English games untranslated on the Japanese Switch Online, hmm)
Yea that is weird. I wonder how big the demand is to play English games? maybe not much Thanks for watching as always 🌴
Fun game. I have a sealed copy!
I hope you can still play the game somehow Thanks for watching 🌴
Only someone that refers to soda as "Pop" would think to vacation in...florida. OOF lol
It’s cheaper to go dahn to Florida and watch the Jacksonville Jagoffs play dem Stillers than pay a scalper at Heinz Field ‘n’at
I’m florida
Missouri here. I call it Soda pop 😅
Florida rules!!
I played this as a kid on a bootleg CD on the PS1 claiming to be "Super Mario Advance" (but was actually just a PS1 NES emulator). There were lots and lots of duds on that disk, but Startropics was one of the standout games that stuck with me for years.
After watching this, I'm thinking maybe I should actually go fijnish it some day...
Ha that’s funny. Yes finish it’s great’
I originally saw Zoda in F-zero (was it x or gx that he was in...or both). I didnt realize ST had a sequel! Great job with the videos!
Thanks for watching! Oh yea Zoda did come back in fzero!
The first game is on the NES classic edition!
Yeah! But not the FC classic mini! Sad!! Thanks for watching 🏝
I would have never played this game except my family bought it along with Mission Impossible and Phantom Fighter.
I think that's the best of the 3 hands down
@@GTV-Japan Oh I agree. I wanted to avoid it because it gave the impression of "easily missable stuff" which I hate in games. But I'm happy they DID buy it. And yeah we did need to order a replacement letter from Nintendo.
@@XX-sp3tt ya its funny to think but you could buy replacement boxes / manuals for a long time from them.
In addition to Startropics being on the NES, Wii & Wii U Virtual Console & NES Online, I believe it was also on the NES Classic mini console. It’s one of those games I’ve always meant to play but never did. This video may have just pushed me towards playing it and the sequel though! Well done!
Yea I kind of forgot about that, but was writing for the point of view from Japan, where the NES mini is impossible to get, FC minis are also long gone. sadly Thanks for watching as always 🌴
@@GTV-Japan I sold my NES & SNES mini a couple of years ago and don’t see them very often here now. This weekend I did run across one of the NES mini controllers at a game shop for $8 and immediately snagged it. I also found one of the SNES controllers for the same price a couple of months ago. They’re perfect for playing virtual console games on my Wii U by connecting them to a Wii remote.
@@Eric_Plunk Winning!
Oh dang! I have been a pure PC gamer since about 1993, but Startropics is one of a tiny number of games from my brief Nintendo phase that I genuinely loved and thought of fondly. Crazy to think they missed out over there.
You dipped in just at the right time. Thanks for watching! 🌴
Finished watching finally, and I do have to say that a Hawai'ian vacation at least is definitely something that I got the idea Americans dreamed of (certainly not Guam or Saipan though, no). I also for some reason thought the game was "supposed" to really be set there, though I am not sure why I thought that.
It could be but I’ve never felt it. But here in Japan they really hold up Hawaii as some ideal
@@GTV-Japan I think for a lot of people, its not that its an undesirable destination, but the travel time needed to get there is difficult for people's work schedules. If you're on the east coast a flight to Florida will be no more than a few hours. Flying to Hawaii or the South Pacific and back, crossing so many time zones, and jet lag recovery, means you're losing two days just from travel alone. Obviously those are amazing places to go, but its a time issue.
Yea. It’s a long flight but I was meaning more how it truly is a life’s dream in Japan to go to Hawaii. To them it’s greater than like going to Mars or something
I remember hearing about the merits of StarTropics from when Happy Video Game Nerd covered it years ago. I, for some reason, never got around to playing it until earlier this year, and, after finishing it, I was kind of disappointed that nothing really came from the series aside from an NES sequel. I had my gripes here and there, but it was something that I enjoyed a lot. There's still more that could be done with this concept.
This video was also fantastic to gain more of an insight into the smaller things that I missed when playing and researching the history. I figured the US-only release didn't help with it being remembered decades later, but I hadn't realized that it shared a release window with so many bigger games. I never got the Zoda to Soda joke until this video. My dummy self always thought that it was a weak Star Wars joke because 'Z' is just one letter after 'Y'; so, Yoda -> Zoda.
Ah yea Yoda/Zoda. I could see that! I’m glad you liked the video. It’s one of those things that’s just become part of Nintendo’s quirky history. Strange they recycle so much but not this! Thanks for watching as always 🌴
17:37 Yinz must be from Pittsburgh n'at.
Here we go Steelers here we go 👏🏻 👏🏻
I remember buying this the day it came out at bradlees in Dorchester, you know the Wahlbergs and the new kids on the block neighborhood along with an ICEE drink
Nice artwork
The dolphins and submarines are my favorite
@@GTV-Japan good stuff
@retropalooza or like Vince McMahon says “that’s good $#!£ pal!!”
@@GTV-Japan YES YES YES I REMEMBER
Games look really interesting,I would definitely play something like that as a kid. In my country we didn't even have stores with console games until mid to late 90s,I think. Here computers like C64,Amiga, Spectrum and PC(MS Dos) were more popular. Maybe because you can just record game without buying it.
Why not try it out! It's fun and not so hard
What if Mike Jones from Star Tropics could've made an appearance as an NPC in Captain Rainbow or as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros Ultimate ?????
Captain rainbow cameo would have been cool!
@@GTV-Japan Yeah. BTW, when will the Next Video be a coming our way ????
@@BENULTIMAN2000 Friday. It’s 1 hour long!! I’ll be doing the final screening tomorrow
I love all the Japanese advertisements. Gosh I’m in a Canadian Otaku heaven.
Haha great. This is one of the few with English only CMs
A crystalis video might be cool. Saw it was number 7 in nintendo power. Nobody talks about it, but it was a fun game.
I loved that one!
I love the series, sucks that Nintendo didn't give it respect
Same here!
thx for this!! i fucking love this game MY FAVOURITE GAME OF ALL TIME!
No problem! Glad you liked it 🏝
In Seattle, _coral_ and _cola_ are pronounced pretty similarly: kɔr-əl kɔl-ə, with the O on both being a "short O" (Tho, that's not what it's called be U.S. teachers here. They don't acknowledge it as different from "long O" despite it being different.). Tho, we also tend to say "cola" as koʊ-lə, probably from saying "Coca-Cola" and wanting the O's to sound the same.
And people here say "soda" about as often as "pop", at least they did when I was young. Many who used "soda" despised the word "pop". I think "soda" has become the dominant word, at least among my age, with the parents and grandparents possibly holding onto "pop" like they hold onto "Nintendo" as a generic term for video games. Those who used it anyway. I think it was just people from certain locations, like if they moved here from Minnesota or something. My great-great granpa came from there, so my family uses "pop" and pronounces short A's as é, so bag becomes beg, lag becomes leg. It's upsetting. Lol. I know it's common in words like thank becoming thenk, but Minnesotans take it too far. XD
That’s interesting! Thanks for letting me know! I always called it short o and learned these in first grade. I can’t imagine what you call it otherwise
@@GTV-Japan Here, "short O" is what teachers call the A in "father" and "spa". Lol, okay, a better example would be: got and sorry. Unless you're from down south (got) or Canada (sorry). We tend to consider the actual "short O sound" as "long O", claiming to not hear a difference. Like the voiced and voiceless TH (Thy vs thigh). It's insane how many rules and things about English native speakers only know -subconsciously!_
Yeah it’s funny how you can follow the rules of language but can’t explain them sometimes
The sad thing about the Startropics series is that had both games got a Japanese release, Mike Jones would've been in Smash Bros
by now or at least gotten a trophy, spirit, Mii Fighter costume, sticker or whatever because he would fit the criteria when it comes
to Nintendo representation.
Does this series have a history with Nintendo?
Yes.
Why is this series important to Nintendo's history?
Because it was Nintendo's attempt to make a game that would cater to the Western audience.
(And they didn't need to darken one of their own franchises to do it. Though keep in mind, this was the early 90s)
What was the most notable thing about this series?
The letter that you got had a secret code if you dipped it in water. Unless you
rented the game or played it on Virtual Console in which the manual was digital along with the letter.
Humorously enough that the very first Fire Emblem game also came out during 1990 back in Japan. Eleven years later a certain blue
haired swordsman and his red headed acquaintance appeared in a little game called Super Smash Bros Melee. Since then after many
trials and errors that series managed to catch the eye towards Westerners everywhere. For better or for worse. So why not do the same
thing for Startropics, but for the Japanese? It would be a great way to show that Smash Bros has come full circle when it comes to
introducing a character that no one knew about before to another part of the world.
Yeah it is a tragedy that it has become forgotten. I wonder who is still hanging around the Nintendo offices from back then and remembers the game? thanks for watching! 🌴
18:20.. or a prophecy of speedrunning that now had been fulfilled.
I will have to go back and see this. I’m not tuned into speed runs
@@GTV-Japan Just saying that to get the best score (as a speedrunner), you literally need to rush through the game, not wasting time killing enemies, etc. This game miraculously knew about this philosophy way back then. Found that interesting.
Ah I see. Yeah that’s really unusual in a game
... literally never heard the term "pop" in regards to soda until I was 24.
Ha! You must be from not Pennsylvania
@@GTV-Japan North Carolina. I didn't hear the word "pop" in reference to soda until I moved to Washington State. Beforehand, "pop" either meant "to burst", or "to be hit swiftly in the head with something".
@@kildaver I’m from North Carolina as well. Most of the state says soda but I have relatives in Wilkes county who grew up calling it pop.
@@GTV-Japan NEPA here, nobody I know calls it pop man. You from Erie or something?
The burgh
Good morning, Captain Bell.
Do me so far do me
This game is like Moana because of all the islands and village people and Mike Jones is like a boy version of Moana but Maui’s not there and instead of a magic fish hook it’s a yo-yo.
That’s an interesting take on it 🏝