A little while ago we covered the incredible work of @SpinaSanctuary and their Zelda 64-inspired, low-poly Star Trek creations. The last batch focused on the crew of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation, rendering them in brilliantly blocky 64-bit form with a variety of instruments — Data with his violin, Riker with his trombone, and Picard with his Ressikan flute.
Now the artist has moved onto Deep Space Nine, the darker 'underdog' series in the Star Trek stable that (much like Majora's Mask, in fact) is all the cool kids' favourite these days. That's not a slight — it really is very good! — but it's certainly taken longer for the wider Trek audience to embrace DS9 to its collective bosom with the same gusto TNG enjoyed during its run in the '90s.
As you can see in the tweet below, the first thing the artist took care of was the show's evocative intro, complete with a 64-bit rendition of Dennis McCarthy's main theme. Observe the introduction credits below, including the opening comet, the various graceful sweeps of the station, the appearance of the wormhole, and a swooping USS Defiant accompanying the title card reveal:
Not familiar with the DS9 intro? Er, why are you even here!?...
We kid, we welcome all-comers! Below is the original for your deep space delectation. What's that? You prefer the pacier, flashier Season 4-7 version with the Defiant and more ships? Well, around these parts we like the more contemplative earlier intro, even if SpinaSanctuary's version replaces the runabout with the Defiant. Complaints to the usual address:
SpinaSanctuary has also been working on characters from the show, including the fabulous definitely-not-a-couple-honestly Dr. Julian Bashier and Garak, the station's deliciously devious tailor:
More of a Next Generation fan? Don't worry, SpinaSanctuary's got you covered. Here's a Q for you:
We don't know about you, but the more we see of this project, the more we simply must play the imagined Star Trek 64 in some form. Make it so, please.
Let us know your thoughts on these 'niners below.
Further reading:
[source twitter.com]
Comments 32
It's like peering into an alternate reality where Star Trek got more games.
Question for the authoritarians around here:
If Paramount doesn't show up to issue a cease-and-desist or a DMCA takedown or whatever heavy-handed disproportionate nonsense one might use against the towering threat represented by fan tributes... does that mean that they are being negligent in the protection of their intellectual property?
If they don't, it says something about Nintendo's aggression, litigiousness, and paranoia, doesn't it?
Awesome work by Birb Trek 64.
@dartmonkey Are they a couple if one of them's not interested? I'm told they call this shipping nowadays...
Haha, that's amazing, I'd play the hell out of a DS9 N64 game. Honestly DS9 is just as good as TNG.
@CANOEberry Nintendo wouldn’t care at all since Star Trek aren’t any of their IP. They don’t care what people do with the game engines from old games, just Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc.
Paramount… not sure what ViacomCBS would do in this case. Don’t think they’re actively pursuing fan work with cease and desist orders (unlike Nintendo), this will probably be fine.
@CANOEberry One of them's not interested?!
@CANOEberry I'm pretty sure fan work regarding star trek was allowed by the IP holder as long as it didn't make any money and there is tons of fan content, including full length series and films. Some of which even features the original actors.
I remember they wanted something taken down around the time of star trek '09 and there was huge backlash and they reversed course and allowed it. Not sure what the current status of fan work is in the IP holders eyes.
But yeah, Nintendo are pretty Draconian in similar matters!
Thanks a bunch for sharing, it’s awesome! Articles like these are one of the many reasons why I like Nintendo Life.
@CANOEberry There was a massive poop storm a few years back because they changed the rules about fan content and drastically altered what they could and couldn't do. It not only caused a bunch of in-progress projects to get C&Ded but also existing and established fan content got put in the crosshairs.
They backed down a bit, saving the existing content but still crippled the new stuff. Time was Trek fans could produce entire seasons of content, now they are limited to very short films.
That's great. Love DS9.
I'm actually watching Voyager as we speak.
With an intro like that, I have no doubt it‘s real. Takes my mind back to a simpler time.
Wow! I would totally play a N64 style Star Trek Deep Space Nine game. Or any Star Trek game on the Switch.
Makes you wonder why the N64 wasn't flooded with space games. The graphics engine certainly lends itself well to dark space and blocky space ship designs. It would've been epic.
Wait, is this a real game? ....oh.
"Its a faaaaaaake"
Now all I want is a game made for this intro!! Deep Space Nine is my favorite Trek show and this opening is by far my favorite as well! This orchestra music just sends chills down my spine.
Well I loved DS9 & Ocarina and like the N64. This is therefore delicious to me.
Loved that, epic tune as well.
I'd imagine it would be like adventure puzzle game, pretty awesome!
Probably unpopular opinion, but the series (at least, the good ones like TNG and DS9) doesn't translate to video games at all. Star Trek's best elements have always been the talkie moments. The action sequences are just there as impetus and lubricant. You can't take something like The Inner Light or Lower Decks and make that into a video game outside of a walking simulator or "puzzle" game like Old Man's Story both of which would be a terrible misuse of amazing storytelling. All that said, this is really cool to see.
Okay, this was awesome. DS9 is my favorite Star Trek series, so to see it rendered like an N64 game was a real treat. I actually found myself humming along with the music. I wish the world of Star Trek was real, because I want to live on DS9.
But I do have a few quibbles. First, the video is based on the DS9 intro from Seasons 1-3 (my favorite version of the intro, actually, because the music sounds more regal than the version heard in Seasons 4-7), but they had the USS Defiant in the fly over the title.
In the show, the Defiant only showed up in the intro from Seasons 4-7 (despite first appearing in the Season 3 premiere; not in the intro, though: the episode itself), and actually at the end of the intro, not the beginning. It was actually a shuttlecraft (looked to be a Danube-class runabout) that flew over the title, not just in Seasons 1-3, but Seasons 4-7 as well.
Second, there was no shuttlecraft that flew over the station at the end of the video, right as the Bajoran Wormhole opens up, like there was in the TV intro (again, in Seasons 1-3; once the Defiant showed up in the intro from Seasons 4-7, it had the Defiant undock from the docking ring, fly over the station, and then fly into the wormhole).
Third, when the camera cut to different parts of the station, it was no transition to each new shot; whereas in the TV version, there was a cross-fade to transition to each shot of the station.
Overall, I enjoyed this (mostly) faithful rendition of the DS9 intro, but it would have been nice if a bit more research was done to make it even more faithful to the TV version.
DS9 has always been my 2nd favorite Star Trek show (right behind TNG, obviously). I never understood the hate, nor did I even know about it until the early 2000s and finally getting easy access to the internet. I loved it, and think it had the best ensemble of all the Trek shows ... until Jadzia was replaced by Ezri in the last season.
Now, DS9 has (hands down) the BEST Star Trek intro. From the asteroid at the beginning to the worm hole at the end, just beautiful. The music was also perfect. So, this N64 intro just makes me wish there was a game to go with it. Wow!
However, the biggest crime is that there never was a DS9 movie. The closest we ever got was the Defiant in First Contact (it's not a little ship!), and the cut scene with Quark in Insurrection.
@RantingThespian I agree - as a kid I assumed each series would get at least a couple movies. It's really a shame they didn't. Think of the kind of cinematic universe they could have built with those three shows, ten years before Avengers.
I also don't understand why they don't put DS9 on blu-ray. I know about the whole compositing problem, but at least re-scan the original scenes that lacked special effects, and then upscale the rest, like they did with Babylon 5. A visually uneven release would still be better than no release at all, in my opinion.
@CANOEberry Paramount set out rules for fan video creations, limiting them to 15 minutes, so this fits into that.
(This unfortunately scuppered the great Star Trek Continues range of fan films, which Paramount had officially endorsed, but the Star Trek Axanar fan series attempting to raise money on Kickstarter was the catalyst for the crackdown)
That music is bad even by N64 standards.
That was great! I just finished watching DS9. I love all the Star Trek series, but TNG and DS9 are my favorites. I wish there were more Star Trek videogames on Nintendo consoles.
Loved that Star Trek rip off of Babylon 5, but he shows the defiant at the start and it should be a shuttle, and it should show Defiant taking off and going in to the wormhole.
Geeking out
Great work though
Fantastic! I want to play even if it’s not a game. Lol.
This is great. Man I love DS9. Dear Lord, please give us some good games set in the TNG / DS9 / VOY universe.
Wow! That is awesome!!!
This brings back memories of me almost being late for my job often because I was making sure the VCR was set to record so I could watch the show after work. Haha
@wollywoo
Star Trek died for me after Voyager.
I signed up for Paramount+ to check out the new shows. For some reason I went with the animated shows first.
Prodigy is so-so, definitely geared towards a younger audience and is pushing more of a Star Wars feel than typical Trek.
Lower Decks, oh man, I LOVE Lower Decks! It recaptures that TNG era so well, and the cast and characters are all genuinely great in both writing and acting. I haven't felt this good about Star Trek in forever, I never would have expected an animated comedy series to be the one to bring me back.
I hope Strange New Worlds is as good as I hear. I've heard Picard has been going downhill, and I dont remember the details, but I recall there being some kind of hate towards Discovery.
@HexagonSun
I just wish there were more good Star Trek games period.
@BoilerBroJoe
It's not? Dang!
I adore DS9, well, until the later seasons focused on one overarching plot about the worst part of the show. The prophets and Bajor.
I much preferred DS9 when it was like TNG and Voyager in which each episode was it's own story with the occasional two part storyline.
@Kang81 Strange New Worlds is the only one I’ve liked since 2009. And even with that show I need to tell myself it’s a remake, not a prequel (despite what the creators claim). If I do that, I’m able to enjoy the stories and tone for the most part.
That said, the most recent episode soured me considerably, for a number of reasons. So the jury is back out, but overall it’s been an improvement so far.
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