Popeye the Sailor has quite the history with Nintendo. As most fans of gaming trivia will be aware, the original Donkey Kong arcade title was originally pitched as a tie-in for the burly sailor and his cavalcade of equally oddly-proportioned companions.
It supposedly would have seen ol’ Eye of Pops ascending a building to save the ever-shrieking Olive Oyl from the nefarious clutches of Brutus (or Bluto, or Brutusk depending on which incarnation of the series you’re looking at; yeah, I’m an animation nut, so what). Of course, the licensing deal fell through, and Ninty lost the rights to the IP; resulting in the creation of a different cast of eccentric, platform-navigating characters who you might just have heard of. Maybe. ‘Tis within the realms of possibility.
It seems some relationships are just meant to last, though – as now, all these years later, Nintendo is rekindling its brief flirt with the spinach-swilling seadog for a new outing on the Switch. It’s called… well, Popeye (for the moment) and appears to be harkening back to one of the character’s classic brawlers, as TechRaptor reports. Check out a screengrab below:
A new Popeye the Sailor Man
Based on what we’ve been shown, the graphics appear somewhat, shall we say, primitive? Everything is polygonal up the wazoo and there aren’t really any textures to speak of, but I guess in a way that kind of retro aesthetic suits a classic franchise like this. Whether it’s intentional or not, who can say? Still, I wouldn’t mind if they got Eugene the Jeep to zap the visuals a bit so they look a little nicer. Now there’s a deep cut reference.
Not that there’s a ton of time for him to do it – the release date is inbound pretty soon. You’ll be able to buy Popeye on the Nintendo Switch this Thursday, Nov. 4, for $12.99 (or yer regional equivalent.) Er, mark your calendars, folks?
Will you be picking up Popeye’s newest adventure? Let us know!
Via, TechRaptor.
