Blake asks, I'm dying for some of those Adventure

RPGs Nintendo promised. So, any clue what Brownie Brown is up to? Can we expect a GC game

from them before Christmas? Hell, I'd be happy with a port of Secret Of Mana at this

point... at least that would be something.

TYP Says: Brownie Brown was founded with the GBA

in mind. I suppose plans can change, but BB will probably be GBA-only for at least another

year.

Daniel Says: Sorry, just because Brownie Brown has

staff that worked on Secret of Mana doesn't mean they can port it over. Squaresoft still

has full control over the series.

Jonathan Says: Brownie Brown has expressed a lot

of interest in GameCube development, and they are probably laying the groundwork for a

game now. Keep in mind though, they are a fairly small company with mostly 2D experience,

as far as I know. As for Secret of Mana, that could only happen through Square. On the

other hand, nothing is keeping BB from making a GBA or even GameCube title similar to

Secret of Mana, but with different characters, etc.

Max Says: Hey! No one mentioned the RPG Brownie Brown has made for GBA, Magical Vacation! It's been well received in Japan and should be making its way to North America sometime this year. Brownie Brown has recently been promoted to a Nintendo 2nd party, so we should be seeing lots more from them over the next few years on both GameCube and Game Boy Advance.

Tony asks, Do the makers of third party accessories have to pay royalties to Nintendo for

releasing their products for Nintendo systems?

TYP Says: Unless they're licensed products,

Nintendo doesn't make anything off of them. After all, these products must be reverse

engineered and don't sport the "Official Nintendo Seal of Quality."

Jonathan Says: I think TYP is correct here. An

officially licensed product is different... I believe MadCatz had an officially licensed

PS2 memory card up until recently, and you can bet that Sony got a cut of those. At the

same time, MadCatz hopes that Sony's seal of approval will promote sales and make up for

the money they lose on royalties. Nintendo used to occasionally license third-party

hardware, but they don't really do that anymore. Judging from some comments InterAct made

recently, Nintendo was just very difficult to deal with in terms of hardware, and the Big

N's quality demands were so strict that it was hard to make a profit at all. Third-party

hardware revolves around two themes: 1. Make a standard peripheral, but make it shittier,

so it's cheaper. 2. Make a unique peripheral that consumers can't get from the console

manufacturer. That's a crude way of putting it, but it's really quite true. And in the

console world, I'd guess that a lot more money is made from theme number one.

Billy Says: Yes, royalties are paid for officially

licensed products. It's like saying something is "Official NFL Merchandise". I'm

not exactly sure what the cut is, but there's some funds getting transferred here.

Nintendo does have quite a bit of officially Licensed merchandise, yet most of it falls

under plush toys, and Pokemon stuff. I don't think they do a whole lot of licensing for

video game accessories anymore. They do some, but mainly those are in Japan.

Sergio asks, with all of the old franchises that Nintendo has (Kid Icarus, Star Tropics,

etc.), I was wondering what old franchises you would like to see updated?

Mike H. Says: Aside from the obvious choices

(we've been there, done that), soon after I saw the Cel-shaded Zelda, I thought to myself

that that visual style would have been perfect for a Kid Icarus reincarnation. That is one

I would like to see.

I'm still a Punch-Out fan, stop laughing, so I would actually like to see that as well.

See how well I held back on my wish for GC Zelda to go back to the original style? Oops.

TYP Says: I'd love to see more old and forgotten Rare franchises make a return,

just like Sabre Wulf. I never got to really play a Battletoads game, and there

are always good games I wish I knew somewhere in the latest Scribes. I'd also love to see

a whole new Lolo game. This old HAL series was really challenging, and I think it's time

for the blue ball to return. 1st-party wise... Mario Advance titles are good and all, but

I'd go crazy for a 3D update to SMB3! Read the 1/13 Mailbag for more on Mario and Zelda

remakes... There are also plenty of other Nintendo titles I've never heard of that have

the potential for an updated port or a sequel.

Daniel Says: TYP, I think Tradewest held the

rights to Battletoads, so we probably won't be seeing that franchise again.

I also would like to see a new version of Punch Out. It would be a perfect candidate for

cel-shading. Still, I didn't even see a trophy from the game in Super Smash Bros.: Melee.

It seems Nintendo wants to forget about it.

Jonathan Says: Bless you for mentioning Star

Tropics. :-D I would shat myself if they announced a 3D Star Tropics sequel.

Billy Says: I've about had it will classic returns

and crap that 90% of us already had 10 years ago.

I would like Star Fox 2 (the one that never was) to be released. How about an ALL NEW

GAME, but a sequel to something that we already know and love. Like a Kid Icarus sequel,

or a NEW Mario 2-D platformer. That's something I'd like to see.

Other than that, we're getting piles and piles or remakes. Yay. Next thing you know

there's gonna be a Chase the Chuckwagon available.

Max Says: Chase the Chuckwagon?! That wasn’t a Nintendo game! I like remakes of Nintendo classics a lot more than Billy does, but I certainly share his thirst for new stuff. I think we’re getting a good mix of both and I hope this trend continues.

I’d LOVE to see new versions of long neglected franchises on GameCube and/or GBA: Kid Icarus, Punch-Out, Pro Wrestling, Mach Rider, Urban Champion, Ice Climbers, Star Tropics… There’s lots of great stuff that’s gone unused. Kid Icarus tops my list though; why Nintendo never continued this franchise is beyond me. I remember the Battletoads fondly and recently tried the arcade game at a local pizza place. I thought Tradewest owned the rights too, though Rare recently replied to an inquiry on its website saying that they might resurrect the Toads someday, but there’s a lot of stuff people want them to make sequels to…

And why would anyone laugh at Mike Hrusecky about liking Punch-Out? Whatever the reason, they can laugh at me too! I love the Punch-Out series and Super Punch-Out ranks as an all time favorites of the 16-bit era. Porting it, or the original to GBA would be nice, but an all new Punch-Out for GC or GBA would be amazing. A plethora of developers have been making their own arcade style over-the-top boxing video games lately—it’s high time Punch-Out made a comeback!

Lemme whip out my “bag of secret info” to correct Daniel on Nintendo forgetting about the Punch-Out series; they haven’t. Little Mac was actually planned as a trophy in SSBM (along with a couple others) but didn’t make it in because of time. Bummer!

Big bad bootie daddy asks, do you believe Metroid, Zelda and Mario Sunshine will all be

out this year? Nintendo seems to think so, how 'bout you?

Mike H. Says: Mario was slated to

be the first of the 3 titles to be completed, so I feel confident in that title coming out

this year. It's just gotta happen.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Zelda, and especially Metroid slipped into next

year.

Mike O. Says: Mario and Zelda will most likely be

out this year. But I'm pretty sure I remember hearing that Metroid Prime is set for 2003.

TYP Says: Nintendo knows it can't let Mario slip

past Christmas 2002...even that's a little late for Mario's GCN adventure! Zelda could

make it through, as Nintendo has been working on it long enough, but historically Zelda is

one of the most delay-ridden series in gaming history. Metroid Prime SHOULD be out this

year, but only recently has Retro gotten into the groove, making a polished, well rounded

game unlikely in 2002. It's a shame, really, but a console FPS requires a lot of care, and

I imagine a FPA must be even more difficult to refine.

Daniel Says: Can I answer this after E3? Just

kidding.

Miyamoto is deeply involved in both Mario and Zelda, so I think Zelda is more likely to

slip since Metroid is being developed by Retro. Also, you do have to question whether

Nintendo would want three (or even two) of its largest franchises competing in the same

year.

Jonathan Says: "Nintendo seems to think

so..."  Trust me, no one at NCL thinks Zelda is coming out this year, in Japan

or otherwise. It is simply not happening. Remember when Nintendo said Project Dolphin

would be out in fall 2000, and everyone know it was total BS? This is the same thing.

Nintendo wants to please its shareholders, and a good way to do that is to make it seem

like Mario and Zelda could both come out the same year. But they won't. Remember when FFX

and FFXI were supposed to both come out in 2001 for Japan? Yeah right. Don't even bother

getting your hopes up. Zelda is a summer 2003 title at the EARLIEST, and we're much, much

more likely to see it that Christmas. Forget 2002 and save yourself some future anguish

when the game is officially "delayed".

Billy Says: Out of the Three of these titles, I

foresee we will probably get 2 out of the 3 if we are lucky. 2002 is definitely the year

of Mario. We will get a Mario title sometime this fall. This will probably be Nintendo's

biggest holiday titles ever. Mario will be all over everything.

Metroid? Feeling lucky out there? Think Retro can pull it together? My mind says yes, but

my gut says Spring 2003.

Zelda this year? No way in hell. 2003. It may be playable this year, but it won't be on

sale here until 2003. My guess, Zelda will be 2003's big holiday game. I also think Zelda

will be pulled from playable software at E3, and that'll be the reason many of us make the

trek back to Spaceworld this fall.

Max Says: Ah Mario, Zelda and Metroid. Could we be so lucky to get ‘em all this year? Maybe, but the longer games like Star Fox Adventures & ED are pushed back, the less likely it seems to me. Like the rest of the gang, I’m confident Mario Sunshine (or whatever it’ll be called in the US) will make 2002. Retro Studios has said Metroid Prime will be in development “as long as it takes.” From all accounts, Retro definitely has its act together, with Metroid Prime on track and looking great. Is it good enough for release in 2002? I hope so, but we’ll see at E3. As for Zelda, I’d be convinced that it would be delayed too—especially with word that Miyamoto is tweaking the look. But Miyamoto also promised at SpaceWorld that the game would be ready in 2002. Previous to that had said work on the Zelda title was progressing very well and would be released early on in the GC’s life. Of course, Nintendo release dates are very much like what Mary Poppins would call a “pie crust promise;” they’re easily made and easily broken.

Peaceview asks, would it be possible for a 3rd party to release some kind of

peripheral that would allow the GameCube to play DVD's? Maybe via an external disc drive?

Mike H. Says: An external disc drive is possible

in theory, but aside from the GameCube's audio/video outputs, there is nothing the

GameCube hardware would be "overlapping" with the DVD add-on that makes it a

practical solution.

You might as well buy a DVD player. You can get them for under $100 now, and the add-on

would cost at least that much anyway.

Mike O. Says: You cannot even fit a DVD (or CD) in

the GameCube. They are too big. The GameCube was designed to be a game machine and nothing

else. That's why it doesn't play DVDs. If you do want to play DVDs on your GameCube, you

will actually need to import a modified Panasonic Q player. Thankfully,

href="http://www.lik-sang.com/catalog/product_info.php?category=52&products_id=1575&">Lik-Sang

can now mod them so that they are region free on DVD and have a region switch for games.

Jonathan Says: The MailMan is right on the money

here. It's probably feasible as an external device, but that would cost well more than

what you could simply buy a real DVD player for. (And since you're obviously in the market

for one, here's a tip: find the model you want and search for it at

href="www.mysimon.com">MySimon.com. I got a $300 Panasonic progressive-scan player for

$180, brand new, from an online merchant. Prices for electronics can vary quite widely

online, so look around thoroughly and you can score an incredible deal.)

Billy Says: You can always push a DVD in your

GameCube really hard and pray to the DVD fairy and hope it works.

No, don't do that. Go buy a Q.

RebelKnight asks, In the latest Mailbag, a question was asked about video game

prices, and it turned into an international discussion. So what I want to know is, why ARE

there different versions of software and hardware for different countries/markets? Why

isn't there just one International GameCube with a built in translator? Don't they have

this technology?

Mike O. Says: While they don't

have the technology for a built-in translator it would be possible for Nintendo to release

one GameCube for the entire world. But, it's not smart in a economic sense. It's kind of

like DVD regions. DVDs have regions to keep people from importing DVDs from all over the

world. This is done for a few reasons. One of those reasons is that films are released at

different times of the year (sometimes even in different years) in different countries. So

let's say for example that "American Pie 2" is finally going to open in

China next month. Well, American Pie 2 is already out on DVD in America. People could just

import the DVD from America. Also, the different regions help keep piracy down somewhat.

It's a little different for games though. Here's an excellent example. The GameBoy Advance

is universal. You can play any game from any country on it. Lots of people don't know

that. In Japan, a game called GT Advance was released. It's an excellent racing game. The

game was also released in America, but it was released by a different company (THQ). THQ

decided that they wanted to make more money every time they sold a copy of GT Advance. So,

they removed the battery from the game (thus removing the ability to save progress) and

replaced it with an awful 16-character long password system. If GBAs weren't universal

then you would have to buy the US version. But they are universal. So, how do you think

THQ feels about people importing the Japanese version of the game? They don't like it,

because they don't make ANY money off of the Japanese versions. Well that's what it's sort

of like with the GameCube. If people buy games from Japan before they come out in the US,

then Nintendo of America doesn't make any money.

Now, Europe is a whole different story. TVs in Europe use a different kind of signal. It's

called "PAL." In America and Japan, TVs use a signal called "NTSC."

Games have to be rewritten to play on PAL TVs. This is one of the main reasons that Europe

always gets games later than the US and Japan (if they even get them at all).

Daniel Says: You have to keep manufacturing time

in mind as well. If Nintendo decided to release a system or game simultaneously worldwide,

they'd need to have a huge stockpile of unused product building up. It just isn't

an advantage economically. They would need to find and pay for more warehouse space and

also delay release dates until there is enough product to ship. By doing this, they'd

certainly miss out on regional sales that could be made during key seasons like Christmas.

Finally, there isn't always enough space to throw in an alternate version of the game in

another language. It's nice that Smash Bros.: Melee, Batman: Vengeance, and Doshin the

Giant have the option, but it's not always doable.

Jonathan Says: One of Microsoft's most interesting

moves is to release the Xbox region-free worldwide... making importing a snap. The irony

is that probably not many Japanese people will care about Xbox enough to import anything,

and few Japanese-developed Xbox titles will be worth importing to North America. There

could be interesting possibilities with Europe though.

Why is MS going that route? For one thing, they don't really have much to lose. Nintendo

and Sony have a very established presence in all the major worldwide markets, while

Microsoft is operating almost totally out of America. And, in the end, MS may actually

lose money because of the region-free decision...after all, these things are done for a

reason. It all comes down to marketing; you know Nintendo has very distinct (and

expensive) marketing schemes in each market, and apparently Microsoft does not or simply

doesn't anticipate any adverse effects from the importing sector. We'll see...

Now, to expand upon something Daniel said: Nintendo could actually SAVE manufacturing time

if they only had a single international model of GameCube, but they still could never

manufacture enough to accomplish a simultaneous worldwide launch. In fact, it's probably

for the best that launches are staggered. Heh, easy for me to say when I've already got my

GameCube, but it really is true. Nintendo learns from each launch and does a better job on

the next one. That's not even mentioning the impossible financial and employee resources

it would take to unleash 2-3 million units of a brand new console to people all over the

world at one time.

From the Mailbag Editor: We get a lot of email asking about the status of specific games

and products, and questions regarding any plans to bring them to the GameCube at all. As a

bonus for the Mailbag, we're killing all birds with one stone. Here is the list of games

that are the most often asked about, and their current status.

Ace Combat - Namco has no known plans to

bring Ace to GameCube.

Dance Dance Revolution - We've heard

absolutely nothing about Dance Dance Revolution on GameCube. However, DDR is getting

increasingly popular worldwide. It'd be a great franchise for Konami to bring to GameCube

and other next-gen systems for that matter too.

Devil May Cry - Sony has 1 year

exclusivity contract on the title, announced way way back at last year's E3. If there's a

port planned, they won't talk about it until the contract expires.

Dragon Ball Z - Multiple Dragon Ball Z

games are planned for GameCube and Game Boy Advance. A GBA version will be unveiled in

February. It's still scheduled for a Q1 release, but expect that to be pushed back to

April or May. The console version is still under wraps and probably will stay that way

until E3, but it's definitely coming to GameCube. We wouldn't be surprised to see it as an

exclusive. Infogrames is apparently dedicated to making these games good. Official

information will begin appearing VERY soon.

Earthbound - There are no plans to bring

Earthbound to GameCube, and Mother 3 is NOT being retooled for the GameCube. There is some

positive news: Satoru Iwata expressed interest in continuing the series at Spaceworld

2001, so it's possible we'll see it on GBA and/or GameCube some day.

Final Fantasy - NO!!!!!!!!!111

GameCube GameShark - Slated for Early

April.

GTA3 - Confirmed NOT gonna happen. What

a bummer. This was a huge game for Rockstar/Take Two and the demand for it on Cube is

immense. Sony dropped a BIG pile of money on Rockstar, and that was it. Maybe we'll get a

port someday? Maybe GTA4? Maybe it IS too adult and raunchy for Nintendo? But that could

be Rockstar's opinion as much as Nintendo's.

Jet Grind Radio Future - Set to

"premiere" on Xbox, it's quite possible that JGRF will appear on PS2 and

GameCube at some point in the future. Microsoft has been touting this game as an

"X-Box exclusive" so it may be later than sooner. Yet, we're not quite sure of

anything. But unless Microsoft has given Smilebit a moneyhat, Sega's "platform

agnostic" strategy may include plans for JGRF to land on Cube at some point. Here's

hoping.

Kameo: Elements of Power - According to

Rare's Scribes, Kameo was displayed at E3 2001 to give a taste of the future. It has since

been put on the backburner while Rare finishes up the belated Star Fox Adventures, Sabre

Wulf, Diddy Kong Pilot, and Coconut Crackers. Whether DoKR will come out before Kameo or

not is uncertain, but Kameo was certainly further along at the trade show. :-)

Metal of Honor - SPOnG has recently

confirmed that a GameCube version is possible, but they have not yet committed to a

definitive answer.

Metal Gear Solid 2 - The MGS Series WILL

continue following MGS2, though Hideo Kojima will no longer be directing it. MGS2 may come

to GameCube eventually, though it seems more likely that Solid Snake may grace GameCube in

a sequel, as opposed to a port. Whatever happens with Metal Gear, it's likely that

whatever Kojima does next will appear on GameCube. He's expressed interest in developing a

game for the system.

PilotWings - No known plans. Nintendo

keeps these kinds of surprises very close to its chest until it's ready to show it to the

world. If it's ever announced, you WILL know about it.

Tekken 4 - Apparently, Tekken in some

way/shape or form was planned for GameCube. Like VF4, Tekken 4 is a PS2 exclusive for 1

year. Namco very well could release future Tekken games on Cube, but it's possible Sony

will pay to make them exclusive as well.

Virtua Fighter 4 - Sony has a 1 year

exclusive for VF4 on PS2. After that, who knows. Yu Suzuki is another developer who is

supposedly excited about Nintendo's new machine.

WWF Wrestling - We're FINALLY seeing the

first pictures and details of WWF Wrestlemania X8., and we're quite happy with the results

of a 50% completed title. This looks to be a late summer smash.