Topic: Now that the impossible has happened and Goldeneye is getting a rerelease on modern hardware, would anyone like to see the Popeye game Nintendo made for the Arcades and NES make a return on Switch?

I know there's not as much demand for Popeye as there is for Goldeneye, but I have fond memories of playing it on the NES and I remember playing it in arcades a few times when I found a machine, and I always enjoyed the game.

Goldeneye was often seen as impossible when it came to a rerelease on modern hardware since there were so many hands in the pie that had to all agree to allow the game to come back out. Nintendo owned the overall game, Rare as developer held rights, Microsoft held rights due to owning Rare, and of course, MGM(or Amazon who owns them now) had to agree to all this and that's not even getting past the fact that there were questions regarding the game since it used the likeness of Bronson's Bond.

But somehow, all that red tape was cut through and we have seen more of this in recent years. It was once thought to be impossible for the TMNT games based on the 1987 series to ever get a rerelease on modern platforms, but Konami made it happen.

My point here is that I can't see any reason why Nintendo can't get the rights to put Popeye out on the Switch either as an NES game on NSO, an arcade archive of the Arcade version, or hell, even both versions.

It always felt odd that we got pretty much all of Nintendo's early arcade games on Switch(barring Radarscope) including Sky Skipper which never even saw a release, but Popeye which was a fairly popular arcade game is missing.

So, would anyone be interested in Nintendo's Popeye game getting a new release on the Switch?

@Caryslan I think HAMPSTER might re-release it if it does happen.

I have no issue with that, they did a great job with Nintendo's other arcade games.

@Caryslan Their Donkey Kong port is fantastic.

I remember the game in the arcade. I would probably buy it. My guess is licensing would be the biggest issue

I'd think the key difference is that GoldenEye was a signature hit for the N64, not only selling in the millions but also going on to be a big influence over the development of the genre as a whole, so the sort of game worth the effort of navigating a licensing minefield in order to bring back.

Popeye just isn't held in that kind of regard, even though it'd require a similar amount of legwork, so I don't fancy your chances much.

Ah well, it's not that hard to emulate it.

Oh my gosh, I would be all over this. I played that game when it originally hit the arcades. The NES translation isn't bad, but the arcade version is better.

Surely it's most likely to happen on the 1st of January 2025 when the US copywrite on the character expires and Popeye becomes public domain in the US (the character is already public domain in most countries).

Although it's not something I'm absolutely desperate to have on my Switch it is certainly a good and notable game from Miyomoto.

@StuTwo Unfortunately, it's a bit more complex than that, as the copyright is only expiring on the earliest comic strips created by EC Segar. He died in 1938, so his work became public domain 70 years later in most countries and the strips can be reprinted freely there. In the US it's 95 years after initial publication (because Disney) so only expires at the end of 2024.

I'd note that none of this applies to the comics, films, video games, etc. created since Segar's death, which would also have to wait for similar periods after the deaths of their creators to pass. They're not public domain anywhere and won't be going that way for quite some time either.

Mainly though, the character of Popeye is still actively trademarked and this will never expire so long as the owners, King Features Syndicate, continue to keep renewing it. It's this that Nintendo would need to re-license for the game to be re-released.

TL;DR - Don't wait up. Popeye will be in licensing hell for a long time.