Flashback - September 2001

So, inspired by the Best Year in Gaming thread, I've had an idea.

What if, we all pretend that's it's September 2001 again, but we're all posting on this forum here. So obviously, no knowledge of future events/future game releases, we're all 2001 gamers again. We can react to gaming news, releases, pretend as if we're playing through the recent releases of that time. The idea is that today is September 1st 2001 in this thread, and we go through the month of September like that.

September 2001 is notable for the Japanese launch of the Gamecube, being very close to the launch of the Xbox and various game releases including the US launch of Advance Wars.

Of course, it's also the month the WTC terrorist attack occurred - but do you guys think we should leave non-gaming news items out of this thread?

Also, if you're posting as a 2013 gamer, put your post in italics to distinguish. If you're posting a link to a review or a gaming news story, make sure it's been written by the date you're posting it on. Remember, it's September 1st 2001 in this thread right now. Bonus points if you subtly refer to a "future" release without explicitly saying "LOL CALL OF DUTY" or whatever.

Some useful links:

• List of all GBA games - click on the column "Year Released" to find the 2001 games.
  

• List of all Gamecube games - click on "Year Released" to see the launch titles
  

• List of all PS2 games - same deal as above for finding the 2001 releases
  

• A Google news search for video gaming articles posted in September 2001 - you can alter the search if you'd like.
  

So, I'll kick us off with talking about a game that was just released over in the US, but is yet to be released up here. Everything below this line break, unless posted in italics, is in September 2001. Let's go!
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So Gamespot have just dropped their review for Mario Kart: Super Circuit. In amongst all the hype for the Japanese Gamecube launch, this almost passed my radar. I can't wait till the 14th to play this - looks just like Super Mario Kart on the SNES, but handheld! Imagine playing Mario Kart on the bus, and it's coming at a good time as well - my poor GBA needs some games, there was nothing at launch that really grabbed my attention.

What a beautiful month! I am sure that this month is just going to be the best month ever! Nothing could possibly go wrong...

...apart from MK:SC, which I am heavily sceptical about. The GBA really does want to be a portable SNES with link cables, doesn't it? We've had the very arcade-feeling F0MV, an old Mario game (I despair of ever passing 7-1. I could give myself ten years and I bet I wouldn't have beaten it), and now SMK2. If I were a teenager, I'm sure I'd be hyped out of my mind for it, but my increased age and experience tells me that I will not like unlocking things using coins. I'll get hit by a Spiny Shell on the last lap of the last race of the Grand Prix and miss out on the top rank and chuck my GBA out of the window.  

Graphics look nice though. Like I say, it really does want to be a portable SNES, bless it.

Another review: 9.5 from IGN. Seems like this is shaping up to be a must-buy! I do love the fact you only need one copy of the game to play multiplayer, it's a great way to let your mates try the game as long as they have link cables and GBAs... so there is a catch, I guess.

Man, I can't wait until my eleventh birthday on the eleventh of this month. That's gonna be such a fun, exciting day and nothing in the world could possibly ruin it. It's gonna be all anyone talks about four the whole day and I'm gonna come home from school and watch Digimon on ITV and its gonna be the best day ever!

Been reading my games master magzine that just come though the door, they've done a preview on the gamecube, I am tempted to import Japanese GameCube with Luigi’s Mansion it looks beautiful, should I. They also had a preview of Shenmue II in there hope this makes it out over here.

Poor yanks there only just getting Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2. I’ve been playing that for ages online.

Who remembers the computer games of September 2001?

I don't play PC but bound to be something good this month on a computer.

Can I just moan about how there's been nothing released fro the N64 of note for ages? I hope that Nintendo support their later home consoles a bit better towards the end of their lifetimes.

lol someone already breached the rules

beemoh wrote:

JayMoyles wrote:

Of course, it's also the month the WTC terrorist attack occurred - but do you guys think we should leave non-gaming news items out of this thread?

Not sure. If- heaven forfend- some atrocity should happen this month, it might have an effect on the release date of a specific game. Some non-gaming context might help matters, too. Here's the music charts for the month, by example.

That's 2011, beemoh, not 2001!

Mas: Also 2001 - because of the GC launch, 9/11, also the idea is to have it running through the same month, just in a different year. A random choice really! Erm, as to how I'll decide next/how recent I'll go: random choices, and not within 5 years.

@Balladeer - I know what you mean. The last decent release for the N64 was Conker a few months back. Hoping to see some good Rare games on the Cube.

There's Star Fox Adventures, of course.  Hoping that Rare can out-Zelda Nintendo with that one, although I'm concerned about the possibility of Slippy Toad getting more spoken lines.  Not to mention the sexy-looking Donkey Kong Racing, FMV though it has been so far.

I'm a tad wary about that. I mean, it's no secret that Starfox Adventures was adapted from the scrapped (and awfully named) Dinosaur Planet (hell, IGN previewed it as Dinosaur Planet back at the start of the year) and I'm concerned that they're just slapping the Starfox IP onto it. I didn't sign up for Dinosaur Zelda in my new Starfox, I want more aerial dogfights - and less Slippy, natch.

(I'm assuming everyone is treating this as if you were your current age in 2001? I don't want to post as an eight year old )

Balladeer wrote:

I'm definitely not being 14 again.  Cripes.

And I'm certainly not being 32 again.

Erm, I mean, 16. Yes. Sixteen.

Do as you wish!  I'm only doing it as my current age but in 2001 because as an 8 year old all I played was WWF Smackdown and Pokemon.

Anyone hyped for the US launch of Advance Wars? Nintendo showed off some new stuff for the game today at a European press conference according to IGN. I think it's grand to have a strategic game made by Ninty on its way - it's unlikely we'll see a Fire Emblem game over here, after all.

I've got Golden Sun on my radar. Camelot, not known for much beyond the Shining Force games and a couple of Mario sports games, might be able to pull out something impressive here.

I'm also interested in ICO on the PS2. The Gamespot writeup got me very interested in this. It looks like something special indeed, and could be a very big game for Sony.

Also, finally got around to playing Conker, even though it's been out for a few months. I don't know quite what to make of this.

Spoiler:

EDIT: Totally forgot to bring up Space World! Man, news reaches us slow, even in 2001!

So Mario Sunshine as it's called looks like a tropical setting, but beyond that we have nothing. We've got the big news that the next Zelda will be cel-shaded. The Internet is going to EXPLODE about this.

Being a well-informed human being who enjoys RPGs, rather than a confused child who doesn't know what videogames he likes, I am finding Golden Sun very interesting! Sounds likes just my cup of tea. I should invest in a copy. However, if I don't, I'm sure that I'll like the sequels just as much!

SMS... It's a 3D Mario platformer. I doubt very much that anything will meet the standards of SM64, but I'm expecting it to be good nonetheless.

As for Conker... just... whatt.  

What happened to Mario 128.

masofdas wrote:

What happened to Mario 128.

They're still working on it I think, it will feature loads of Marios and spherical worlds. Sunshine is like a placeholder game.

Buskalilly wrote:

masofdas wrote:

What happened to Mario 128.

They're still working on it I think, it will feature loads of Marios and spherical worlds. Sunshine is like a placeholder game.

That looks to have been a tech demo to produce that creature plant RTS game announced back at e3, sorry forgot the name of it.

That'd be Pikmin, IGN have been covering it pretty heavily.

Looks gorgeous - can't believe how much crisper Gamecube looks compared to the N64. I don't know how they'll improve beyond this, all the Cube footage I've seen so far is stunning. It'll be interesting to see Nintendo tackle an RTS, but it'll probably be a one-off. Having said that, I thought Super Smash Bros. would have been a one-off thing from Nintendo but that's getting a sequel soon. Footage from Space World has me so hyped - Samus in 3D looks AMAZING.