>there exists a timeline where the Popeye license wasn't lost and Mario/DK/Pauline were never created
How drastically do you think this would have this affected the gaming landscape as a whole?

how would they redesign bluto to be gay looking?

Honestly if all the Mario themed stuff was popeye themed, I might have been a nintendo drone. I love the old school americana of those vintage cartoon strips and fleischer cartoons

>>712620971
>you will never live in a timeline where Popeye is gaming's greatest icon

>>712618817 (OP)
It would've lead to more western cartoon IPs getting games, faster. They would be more closely intertwined with japanese vidya from the very beginning, leading to faster enshitification.

>>712621065
never understood how people could possibly be such big fans of mario. All Nintendo characters just seem so sterile to me

>>712621065
I can imagine a timeline where Popeye's revival was in the video game market causing him to be the spongebob of today, some obscure boomer cartoon mascot becomes a lovable household icon for all to enjoy, a fucking ugly sailor.

>>712618817 (OP)
Q-bert would've been the modern Deadpool.

>>712621334
Kinda agree. Mario himself is fine, but what I love is the item and enemy designs.

>>712621413
Popeye would be too powerful, he'd overtake Mickey as the face of animated entertainment.

>>712621086
You're forgetting that if Nintendo never creates OC donut steal placeholders, they never go insane over intellectual property, which would affect further changes.
>>712624798
Nothing exists in a vacuum.
Superman 64 for the Nintendo 64 Disc Drive console could overtake Popeye in this timeline.

>this could have been a Popeye game
Who would be player 2?

>>712626430
pappy

>>712621334
Mario is not sterile at all, how many other middle aged mustached italian midgets gaming icons do you know?

>>712621334
you are under 18

It's weird to imagine since Mario sold consoles. NES, SNES, Gameboy, N64 all had Mario games on launch or bundled with the system itself.

Would the Popeye games have evolved into platformers? Would they invent some other character to run to the right? Hard to say.

>>712621334
Because the games are fun. What are you, stupid?

>>712624798
Only if they leaned into the raw, unfiltered brute charisma of the guy. Imagine a Popeye platformer trilogy with dark rubber hose aesthetics, jazz-fueled boss fights, and Olive doing Bayonetta moves. Mickey wouldn’t stand a chance unless he picked up a pipe and hit the gym.

>>712624729
Its the physics really. Nothing feels nearly as good on the NES as mario

>>712627356
The games are fun obviously but the characters/stories aren't interesting enough to be absolutely obsessed like some people are. Especially considering nintendo releases basically the same games ad nauseam with gimmicky changes