Imagine being one of the few actual Burger King employees that has to live with the knowledge that these exist. That's me every day, since I owned them all at one point before being an employee.
I think what most interests me about these three games is how they basically shot the king into memebait before that was known to be a thing thanks to the high quality but easily rippable and riggable 3D models. Like, they let the king get put into Gmod and source before anyone else, and it made him leave a far more lasting impact on the meme community then any other major corporate mascot. Like... You know the burger king. Not just recognize him, you *know* him. You know his personality, his habits, what he's like, you know who he is. Can you say that for grimace? Wendy? Fuckin Ronald? No! And it's because they tapped into that meme culture so early. They knew what they were doing with the King back then, and if I'm gonna be honest, it paid off. Hell, there's a series I'm watching right now called "burger brawl" that's just an object show with the BK as the host, and at no point does any of the violent murders feel out of character. If a character is so recognizable and usable it can enter remix culture and remain stable, you did something right. Bubbsy ain't ever gonna be part of someone's passion project. The noid ain't ever gonna be more then a shit post on legs. The McDonalds crew is only ever gonna be pointed and laughed at for how weird they used to be or for Anti-capitalist propaganda. But the king? He's gonna remain long after burgers cease to exist when the ecofascist world government of 2042 executes all bovines for fart crimes. Also I can't believe you guessed my favorite color, OMG besties
Ronald McDonald _did_ have stuff establishing his character...including a weird-ass show made by Klasky-Csupo (yes, _that_ one), but the only thing McDonald's managed to launch into specifically memedom was -Sexy- *_Handsome_* Hamburglar, so you have a point there.
Expecting a story out of Sneak King was more realistic than expecting a game out of MGSV the Phantom Pain. And no I didn’t listen to every single cassette tape, I just sat there wondering why the game was ridiculously easy, like shockingly easy, then I realized that getting a C grade for every mission didn’t mean I did well like it did in high school.
I played all these back in the day. And you're pretty much on point for them all. Sneak King was my least favorite cause didn't like stealth games in general. I think I did make it to the town at least. Big Bumping is a Big nothing, though should be noted Bumper cars can pivot basically on a dime. Least the one's I've been on. But I will defend Pocket Bike Racer as actually being a solid racer. The Power Up system really is the glue that holds it together and enjoyed going through all three classes.
yes we're definitely best friends by now :) ! the entire development of these games is kinda crazy, i didnt even know about it until now. sneak king is hilarious though
Interesting thing about the item system in the bike game, the PS1 game Lego Racers has a very similar item system, but a bit more simplifyed. I hear great thing about the game itself, so, there's your "good idea in a better game" you were asking about.
You mention the idea of a subversive mascot, and one restaurant did try that. Rax tried a mascot known as Mr. Delicious that was a monochrome balding divorcee. He flopped HARD, and Rax had to file for bankruptcy no more than *THREE MONTHS LATER.*
Hey, some people could program a functioning walk cycle in that time! Look at sega, all those storybook series games had a programming time of around a year, on the shelves within a year and a half!...Wait, that actually proves your point.
Holy shit I remember this I remember asking my dad for one of them he got pocket bike racer (thank god) played it on the original Xbox….can’t believe I still kinda remember this
*gasp* Blue is my favorite color. Yay, I can still be friends with Bumbles! Also the Burger King train station fact is actually pretty interesting. Edit: Also for the longest time, I thought Wambo was wearing striped pajamas and a nightcap, until I just realized it’s just his green hair tied back in a ponytail.
It's not completely identical, but Gensou Skydrift is an actually good racing game with a pretty similar item mechanic as Pocket Bike Racing. Whenever you go through a boost ring (and just over time) you build meter, and you can spend a small amount of meter for a minor speed boost, half a meter for a Tier 1 item, or the full meter for a Tier 2 item. And there's a lot of strategy around spending meter, do you only use it for boost to maintain your lead, do you spend the time building up a Tier 2 in the hopes of getting a powerful catch-up tool, or do you take the Tier 1 to get an item quicker? It's a lot of fun.
LOL, you actually guess my favorite color before twelve seconds in. Burger King was my favorite fast food place (aside from maybe Long John Silver's) for my early childhood and teens. Then in my early 20s suddenly all the locations near me started serving me cold burgers, giving bad service, charging me more than the menu price for things that were advertised as on sale for a much lower price...their fries are still better than McDonalds' though.
Is it weird that this video is one of my most rewatched videos from your channel? Maybe it’s the jokes, the presented information, or maybe it’s just the fact that you know my favorite color?
Of course we have a personal relationship!! You know my favorite color, and I know all the Yu-Gi-Oh cards you'd form a deep and personal relationship with!!
24:50(ish) - "...like expecting a horse to crap ice cream-- theres Something there, but its Not That" ...as a guy who loves analogies, im totally pinning that one in my mental catalog...
My first job as a 16 year old was working at Burger King, I went for 2 hours a day so I could get my employee meal because it was just me and my mom and we didn’t have much money. Oh and, don’t eat at Burger King…
It’s at this point I realized that Hideo Kojima was trolling with MGSV. Everyone expected a story driven final act regardless of the setting. We didn’t get that at all. We got the exact opposite. A game with great mechanics but literally no story. Sure there’s objectives, but it almost doesn’t matter. Sure there is a degree of progression, but nothing is told to you, nothing is really explained. Just suddenly a villain who wants to destroy the English speaking world because he was born without a face arrives out of the smoke to wax philosophical.
I took a break from watching the video and forgot who wambo was and when I resumed it I thought snoop dogg with a green bandana was driving the motorbike
If I was in charge of making a BK game I'd make an action RPG were you play as the king and fight musou style wars against satirical versions of the Colonel, Ronald McDonald, and Wendy's.
Don't worry, Burger King video game Pocketbike Racer didn't invent that power up system. Lego Racers, a vastly superior racing game for the N64, had a very similar one. The game also had AI that cheated to hell and back on later races so y'know. That isn't an exaggeration the final boss can teleport. He is canonically cheating.
![The Burger King Xbox Games [Bumbles McFumbles]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
