PixlBit

The Trails/Legend of Heroes series is bigger and older than you thought. The first Legend of Heroes game released in 1989 on the PC-Engine CD. In turn, LoH was originally the sixth installment of the Dragon Slayer series, which began in 1983 and includes two NES titles, Faxanadu (based loosely on the second DS game, Xanadu) and Legacy of the Wizard, which was Dragon Slayer IV.

Nice! Falcom is a complete gap for me. I know very little about their games. I did own Faxanadu and Legacy of the Wizard though!

The first Legend of Heroes game even got localized for the TurboGrafx-16 CD by Hudson Soft. It's obviously quite rare, but it's out there.

Stage Select: Favorite Game Over Screens

The Game Over sequence in Banjo-Kazooie is definitely one of the best game overs, but I figured you guys would probably talk about it during the podcast and I don't have much to add except that Grunty looks a bit like Posh Spice in the Game Over sequence.

1. Moonfall in Majora's Mask. Doesn't really need much introduction, but I strongly believe that Aonuma's team must have been thinking of the scene in Terminator 2 where Sarah Connor dreams she's at a playground when a nuclear weapon hits downtown L.A, because the last few seconds of MM's bad ending looks an awful lot like that scene, though made slightly more family-friendly. "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

2. Ninja Gaiden.  Tecmo literally tries to ransom Ryu Hayabusa for quarters. In the arcade version, he is tied down, with a buzz saw slowly descending towards his chest.  If you don't insert a quarter before the timer runs out, the screen turns red just as the buzz saw reaches him, and you hear Ryu groaning in pain as the screen fades out.

3. When you lose Missile Command, the screen has an explosion that displays the words "The End," rather than game over.  That was a deliberate design choice. The game's lead programmer said working on the game gave him nightmares of nuclear war. While the 2600 version was sanitized to be an alien civilization under attack by another alien race, the arcade version was meant to be a Soviet nuclear attack on the United States. Originally, the cities had name labels on-screen, specifically the names of six cities in Atari's home state of California. Atari removed the names to make the game's objective more personal, to encourage players to see the setting as their own home states and cities. Part of why this was an effective  game over was the fact that you were only delaying the inevitable. In the end, despite your best efforts, your cities, and all human life, were doomed. This sense of futility really comes into play if you run out of antiballistic missiles, at which point you can only watch helplessly as your cities are annihilated. Keep in mind that Missile Command was developed at a time when Cold War tensions were the worst they'd been since the Cuban Missile Crisis. With just five seconds of a flashing octagonal shape on a red background, Missile Command hits home with the point that in an all-out nuclear exchange, everybody loses.

Cage Match:

Two weak games in their series. I'm going to give it to Dante. He could kick Kain's ass. That's Dante's job, after all.

Damn this Stage Select is really awesome but it's so hard to remember some of them and even harder to find some online. Just typing [Insert Game Title] Game Over scene doesn't always work. 

Stage Select: Game Over

3. Street Fighter 2: I used to love the beat up faces of fighters after you got done beating down your friend. I don't know if this trend has continued since I don't remember any past Street Fighter 2 despite playing up til 4. 

2. Dead Space Series: Not sure if this counts but damn does Issac have some horrible deaths in that game. They are gruesome and as definitive as Game Over as you can get. Bonus points to the new Tomb Raider trilogy for also throwing some of these horrible deaths in. 

1. Chrono Cross: It isn't flashy but it was the one that popped into my head first. A somber tone played with a message from the narrator saying, "Fate has no forgiveness for those who date stand against it." I didn't see it very much but the few times I did, stuck with me. This list would most likely be totally different if I could recall every Game Over screen I've seen but I think these did them well. Also lets give a shout out to the Super Meat Boys/Celeste game overs in the world which are quick and painless.

Cage Match: It has to be Dante. It's freaking Dante. Sure it kinda isn't Dante in this one but it's Dante.  

3. Banjo-Kazooie- The villain wins, gets everything she wants, and Banjo's sister suffers the consequences. The game is basically telling the player that they WILL complete this game and get all the jiggies. Unless they're an asshole.

2. Batman Arkham series- The first person view giving each villain lines while standing over Batman's beaten body did so much to add to the atmosphere of the game. I found myself dying on purpose to get all the lines from each new villain.

1. The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask- The only time a video game gave me nightmares. The game is relentless in showing the destruction of everyone and everything while Link makes his suffering noises. And then the Mask Salesman asking "You've met a terrible fate haven't you?" with his creepy smile for those planning to sleep that night.

Stage Select

I haven't played either but I can say this: We have a DMC3. We have a DMC 4. We have a DMC V. We even have a DMC reboot that tried way too hard to be hip with the kids. Kain has been MIA for almost two decades. So DMC2 wins.