The story behind Keith Courage

[Arkhan]

So really,  who the f*ck came up with turning Wataru into Keith Courage?

Does anyone know, or have interviews/stories about it?

I just want to know what prompted them to turn a like 9 year old kid into a 45 year old with a mullet, wearing paintball armor.

They could have done so much better with the naming.

They could have just called it Alphaman, Alphaknight, or anything that sounded cool as f*ck.

and then draw him in his full getup instead of a halfassed motocross suit with a toy lightsaber.


what the f*ck.


I like the game alot, but what the f*ck lol.  Its so stupid.


and why is he posing like Bender at the end of The Breakfast Club? 

[Michirin9801]

According to this article with interviews: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/225466/stalled_engine_the_turbografx16_.php
which is a pretty good read might I add,  they've done it to appease their big boss at the time, whose name was Keith... Not sure about the extra details you ask about though...

[DragonmasterDan]

So really,  who the f*ck came up with turning Wataru into Keith Courage?

Does anyone know, or have interviews/stories about it?

I just want to know what prompted them to turn a like 9 year old kid into a 45 year old with a mullet, wearing paintball armor.

They could have done so much better with the naming.

They could have just called it Alphaman, Alphaknight, or anything that sounded cool as f*ck.

and then draw him in his full getup instead of a halfassed motocross suit with a toy lightsaber.

Besides Westerners lack of familiarity with Wataru, If they kept it as is there may have been licensing issues from Sunrise. So at least from a packaging perspective they tried to adapt it.

[turboswimbz]

NEC American side shit the bed all day long the Japan side did little about it.  This is what happens when you leave it up to a bunch of people from Chicago to handle anything.    .  All kidding aside it was clearly "video game and marketing people" who thought they had to be different and knew better.  Following stereotypes, they are hilarious now as they were then.

If they had just kept the PC engine design, and only changed the logo life would have been so much better.

I've though about this so much, I am working on a redesign of the artwork and such, in a "what could have been" way.  hind sight is 20/20 but it'd still be cool to reimagine it!

[lukester]

Keith courage was boring and repetitive either way. But I guess it was a pack in since it was a 1st party game.

Those who want a less shitty version with excellent level design need to check out Momotaro katsugeki. Highly recommended

[Gypsy]

I'd think Dan is right that they had to change it in some way due to licensing.

NEC American side shit the bed all day long the Japan side did little about it.  This is what happens when you leave it up to a bunch of people from Chicago to handle anything.    .  All kidding aside it was clearly "video game and marketing people" who thought they had to be different and knew better.  Following stereotypes, they are hilarious now as they were then.

If they had just kept the PC engine design, and only changed the logo life would have been so much better.

Yeah, back then it couldn't be that people wanted stuff as close to the source material as possible. It was the age of heavily cut/edited films and mangled box art.

[Arkhan]

Besides Westerners lack of familiarity with Wataru, If they kept it as is there may have been licensing issues from Sunrise. So at least from a packaging perspective they tried to adapt it.

Right but how did we arrive at 40 year old with a mullet in hockey pads?

They basically turned him into a super hero you see at the dentist or some shit, lol.

[Zero_Gamer]

If they had just kept the PC engine design, and only changed the logo life would have been so much better.

I love the look and design of the TG16, aside from one controller, and only RF out. It was a black sexy beast.

With CD player attached however, it looks wonky. It reminds me of a Klingon warship lol.

[Arkhan]

I don't mind the TGs design, but I don't understand why they made it the way they made it.  It makes little sense outside of the whole "bigger is better" thing.


Color wise, the Black/Orange setup was pretty tight, though.

[turboswimbz]

Color wise, the Black/Orange setup was pretty tight, though.

Picture a nice black/orange coregrafx like set up for the TG-16.  woulda been nice.  IMO anyway. 

Bigger would have been fine too if they added another controller port.

[Arkhan]

what would have been tight is if they made the IFU a doublestack like MegaDrive+CD model 1

You could put the CD on top.  Since the HuCards slide in a slot, you'd only need to have exposed a bit to get your cards in/out, and get your fingers in there too.

We would have had basically a Gamecube sized setup.

Way to f*ck that one up, guys.

[DragonmasterDan]

They basically turned him into a super hero you see at the dentist or some shit, lol.

Well Captain Colgate is a hard act to follow.

[Gredler]

Did someone say hockey pads??? Where, I don't see them.

[Arkhan]

I said it, just making fun of how doofy he looks



And then there's shit like this

How is he in that suit.

What are his legs doing?

Is he just sitting indian style in that thing?


They went through all that trouble to get a comic, and they called it the dumbest thing ever, lol.

The comic style they were emulating basically dictates that you are *something*Man, or *really cool name*

Alphaman, Novaman, anything like that would have been cool.

You've got shit like Gambit, Cyclops, Venom, Spiderman, Deadshot, Cloak, Dagger, Jubilee, Nightcrawler, Human Torch, Galactus, etc.   The names all sound cool.

there's a reason its not "Peter Parker in Spider Zones"

It sounds stupid.

"Bruce Banner in Angry Zones", lol.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Besides Westerners lack of familiarity with Wataru, If they kept it as is there may have been licensing issues from Sunrise. So at least from a packaging perspective they tried to adapt it.

Right but how did we arrive at 40 year old with a mullet in hockey pads?

They basically turned him into a super hero you see at the dentist or some shit, lol.