What were older consoles swan songs?

[J T]

In the final years of a console's life span, it spurts and sputters its last breaths. Those last few breaths usually reek of yet another madden, some random lame bowling game, something licensed off a semi-popular children's cartoon, or some horrible shovelware title. But even on their death bed, most consoles manage to lean forward and whisper some final revelation, some beautiful game that stands the test of time and surprises all that it came from a console they had presumed dead.

In recent memory, the PS2 seemed like it was on its last legs, then BAM! Persona 4 came out and rocked my world. The PS2 still had more in it too and released a string of other reasonably good games such as Sakura Wars: So Long My Love, Devil Summoner 2, and Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier. I still consider Persona 4 the swan song game, but one could argue for others.

A generation before that, just when I thought the N64 was all said and done, Conker's Bad Fur Day came out and was a huge surprise of a good game.

On the SNES, Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Super Mario RPG both came in at the very end of the console's life (at least in the West. I understand it had an extended lifespan in Japan).

On the NES, I remember Mighty Final Fight came out of nowhere when it seemed like everyone had moved on to 16 bit.

What other games would you argue were the last great games for a console?

[Flake]

Mega Man 6 and Star Tropics II for the NES were great twilight years games.

And let's not forget Kirby's Dream Land 3 for the SNES.

[Xeogred]

There's a second Star Tropics? I was watching HCBailey's LP of the first game last night, can't believe I've missed out on that one. Looks awesome.

Although we never got them, they were popular emulation wise years ago, Seiken Densetsu 3 and Megaman & Bass for the SNES come to mind. Definitely pushing the system to its limits. MM&B came out after MM8 I'm pretty sure, seems odd, but it's a better game in every single way to me.

[Flake]

There's a second Star Tropics? I was watching HCBailey's LP of the first game last night, can't believe I've missed out on that one. Looks awesome.

Moments like this are why this forum rocks. You need to play Star Tropics 2. It is silly as fuck but way too fun.

Although we never got them, they were popular emulation wise years ago, Seiken Densetsu 3 and Megaman & Bass for the SNES come to mind. Definitely pushing the system to its limits. MM&B came out after MM8 I'm pretty sure, seems odd, but it's a better game in every single way to me.

Yeah, there is a story about Rockman and Forte coming out on the Super Famicom...I just don't know what it is! I disagree about MM8 being inferior, though.

Supposedly, Seiken Densetsu 3 was fully translated and ready to go but for some reason never made it to market.

[Xeogred]

Damn that sucks about SD3. I'd chase after a CIB copy if it existed over here. Just a bit too late for the US market I'd guess... plenty of other late SNES JRPG's we didn't get either, Tales of Phantasia, Treasure of Rudras (guess there was too much GOD in this one), etc.

Just a random theory, but maybe by the time MM&B was rolling out it was apparent Megaman was kind of becoming a budget series? I definitely remember X5-X6 coming out brand new for like $30 I think, with almost no marketing. Maybe they went back to the SNES for MM&B after 8 since it'd be cheaper to produce or something... but I really have no idea, lol.

[Flake]

Just a random theory, but maybe by the time MM&B was rolling out it was apparent Megaman was kind of becoming a budget series? I definitely remember X5-X6 coming out brand new for like $30 I think, with almost no marketing. Maybe they went back to the SNES for MM&B after 8 since it'd be cheaper to produce or something... but I really have no idea, lol.

It is important to divorce Megaman from Rockman. Megaman is always a consequence of something that was produced for Japan in the form of Rockman. Because the series has historically been so simple to localize (A little bit of text here and there), most of the early titles made it to the US/EU markets with no problem.

X5 and X6 are a little 'weird' compared to the previous four games because of internal shake ups at Capcom, and the awkwardness that was dealing with Sony during the 32 bit days. Sony was pretty damn bipolar about what games they would and wouldn't license. If it had not been for Sega, odds are Megaman 8 and X4 would never have made it to the US.

I think it is safe to say that Rockman and Forte was probably Capcom's wanting to release a Rockman game for an established market with a convenient partner. Nintendo has never said no to a Capcom game, afterall.

[Xeogred]

I learned something new today. I guess that explains the weirdness about X5-X6's releases.

[Flake]

I learned something new today. I guess that explains the weirdness about X5-X6's releases.

Fun fact: Inafune intended X5 to be the final Megaman X game. X6 was produced against his wishes and most of the canon conflicts in the story are a result of this. Imagine how much more coherent the Zero story would have been if X6 never happened?

Did the N64 have a swan song or was it whimper time at the end?

[Xeogred]

Yeah I think I recall us talking about that in the big Megaman thread. X5 would've been a decent ending point. From there, yikes...

Good call on the N64. I definitely have no idea. Was the US not as behind with its Japanese library as it was with the SNES? Maybe there was less games produced all around, but yeah it's never seemed like the N64 really missed out on many localizations or anything. Of course, basically losing the JRPG genre probably is a big factor as well... lol.

[AppleQueso]

Did the N64 have a swan song or was it whimper time at the end?

Paper Mario and Conker's Bad Fur Day?

Those are the last notable releases I can think of.

They were both in 2001, so it was after the Ps2 came out. N64 was pretty irrelevant by then.