The hardcore Nintendo fanbase have made their voices heard. They're sick of games with Miis and annoying rabbits. They want games with the characters from all the old-school games they know and love. They want fan service. Just look at Super Smash Bros Brawl, the definitive hardcore Wii game and a game that is 100% fan service. Sega may soon be delivering with MadWorld and House of the Dead: Overkill, but there's a lot of talk about what Nintendo's next "hardcore" game for the Wii will be. Kid Icarus? Disaster: Day of Crisis? Pikmin?
What if I told you there was already a game coming out for the Wii which combined fan favorite characters from Super Mario Bros., the Legend of Zelda, Punch-Out!, and more along with the side-scrolling fighting of Viewtiful Joe and the community activity of Animal Crossing? Sounds like exactly the kind of game we've been waiting for, right? Now what if I told you this game was coming out in Japan this very week? You'd probably ask when its coming out in the rest of the world, wouldn't you? Well, we don't know yet because Nintendo has yet to make any announcements regarding localization of Captain Rainbow. That's right, I'm talking about Captain mother-flippin' Rainbow here.
See that blue dude up there with the snarly teeth and tiny red boots, gloves, speedo and wings? You may remember him as Devil from Devil's World, a Japan-only NES game who also recently appeared as a particularly treacherous assist trophy in the aforementioned Brawl. In Captain Rainbow, you have to help him become the number one villain in the underworld. How badass is that? Remember Little Mac from Punch-Out!? He also showed up in Brawl as an assist trophy. Well he ain't so little anymore and you have to help him get back in shape to become world champion once more. Lip from Panel de Pon (Tetris Attack/Puzzle League) also needs your help, and her weapon of choice – Lip's Stick – has long been a staple of the Smash Bros. inventory.
Perhaps the most surprising, and welcome, comeback for this game is Crazy Tracy from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. That's her to the left, decidedly more... um... mature than the original Game Boy sprite made her seem. Remember her? Enter her house and she offers you a "special treatment" that will restore all of your hearts? Yeah, even when I was prepubescent I picked up on that subtext.Well, now it seems her greatest wish is to enslave all the men in the world. Hmm... knowing the way Nintendo games work, if she keeps on looking like that and cooking up more of that sweet medicine, I'd say her goal is well within her own reach, even without Captain Rainbow's help.
Other Nintendo b-listers making appearances include soldiers from Famicom/Advance Wars, Birdo from Super Mario Bros. 2, Tao the dog from skip ltd.'s own Chibi-Robo and others. North American gamers may not be familiar with all of the fan-service characters, but that didn't stop us from clinging to Marth and Roy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, eventually leading to the localization of the Fire Emblem games.
Despite its bright colors and playful presentation, Captain Rainbow promises enough superhero action and suggestive content to delight the longtime Nintendo audience who worries the Wii is a system for grandmas and babies. Moreso than Mother 3, this is a game that I think Nintendo needs to localize for the rest of us.
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