Both "999" and "Virtue's Last Reward" delve into and acknowledge that you, the player, are playing the game multiple times, and differently, as you go down the different story branches. "Virtue's Last Reward" does this much more than 999, and a core game-play element is getting a "bad ending" and returning to a previous point in the story with the knowledge that you just gained. In fact, the game can't be beaten without dying many times via different endings, and having your character use what he learned. It's essentially using the concept of "going back to a previous save" and making a story around it.
As for the Star Fox mercenary angle, in Star Fox 64, after the credits rolled there was an invoice for services rendered. The cost was based on the number of units you shot down.
If you did OK, the dog-guy from corneria (who presumably hired you) would stamp it while saying "It's a high price, but it's worth it."
If you did well, the dog-guy said "WHAAAAAAT???" because the price was so high. The first time I heard it I fell out of my chair/beanbag.
Also, I didn't read the author's name, but read "she has a dope cape" and knew it was Austin.
Dope stuff only happens when Austin is around. Otherwise it's "Alright" (Jeff), "Pretty Good" (Brad) "Really Great" (Dan), or "I reluctantly admit this is okay" (Alex).
@austin_walker , piloting the Kingdom Come but not on a pirate playthrough? Too bad - although now I totally have to to do something with cyber-zombified space pirates.
This has made me very tempted to get a Wii U, way more than I expected it to.
Yeah, me too. I was hoping to swoop in at end-of-console-generation prices but getting in on this madness is super tempting. Who would have thought Nintendo would convince me to give them money based on an online-focused game?
TravisMccG's comments