Jonnas

If FIFA start releasing a separate series called "FIFA [year]", then I can definitely see the public at large buying into that before checking the specific in-game licenses. Gonna be cathartic to see one of EA or FIFA eat some humble pie in the coming years.

2. Tokyo, anagram of Kyoto 4. They're all men 6. Nine days 9. 45

But that's because you revived them!

jayseven! Quite the blast from the past, long time no see. How have you been?

With a username like yours, the bias is evident

That looks like an N64 character...

Come on guys... Samurai Shodown came out in 2019, not 2020! I have no opinion on Trek to Yomi as of right now

Only Devil Survivor 2? What, do the other SMT games not exist? *grumbles while purchasing Stella Glow*

I mentioned it in another thread, but it deserves a more full fledged entry here: Katamari Damacy *gasp* So was I ! I mean... the game doesn't need introduction, does it? I knew about it for a long time, and it always intrigued me, but I hadn't properly played it until now, on my Switch. It's wonderful, absolutely delightful. It's just a very good, relaxing time. I'm always happy when I play it. The music is great. It can be jazzy, funky, soothing... The cow and bear levels are frustrating, I admit, but the variety is nice. I also wish I could simply restart levels, instead of leaving then entering, but not everything has to be QoL. And now I'm just looking to find all the remaining optional presents. It's a nice time. Maybe I'll aim for the comets at some point, too? I know my impressions are usually more detailed than these scattered thoughts, but this game definitely makes me feel more than think, if that makes sense. That's how it makes me roll. It's a five-star game. Maybe nine. Those who played it know what I mean.

Just now, huh? It hurts simply looking at your list! I wish you best of luck in fulfilling whatever you can before March 2023

I don't think Beastars is made by Netflix, only distributed by them. So I doubt they have a say on the series' future either way.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I took the deal (0,99€). I wasn't planning on buying it, but... the deal was crazy enough to take. Outside of MH, it's the only Capcom title from there that didn't make it to Switch, so that's likely the reason for the slash.

From what I can tell, they didn't miss that one, it's in the article. I personally would've included the other Final Fantasy games as well, instead of just mentioning FFX. ... Anyway, what I bought was Resident Evil Mercenaries on the 3DS for 0,99€. And my other purchase might be the DIsney Afternoon Collection on Steam (4,99€), because I don't feel like spending that much. I must admit, this year's Golden Week has many tempting discounts.

I mean... it still is. SC Legends may have been low-budget shovelware, and Lloyd's moveset is mostly copied from Cervantes (not playable in that game) but at least there's some basic respect for his character. By comparison, I utterly despise how he was written in DotNW. They turned an inspiring cheery idealist into the most lazily written brooding anti-hero I've ever seen. Dreadful. Lloyd was easily the worst part of that game.

It should be noted, Link's inclusion in Soul Calibur II shaped that series' identity going forward, and was by no means its low point. That dishonour goes to the incredibly rushed Soul Calibur V It's not a terrible game (there's still a solid, if unusual, gameplay foundation in there. Plus, the graphics look fine, the music's still great, and Ezio is an excellent guest), but between the incomplete (and terrible) story, the baffling cast, barebones DLC, and the fact that it was designed more like most typical fighting games than its predecessors (a.k.a. lost a lot of elements that made Soul Calibur unique), it just missed the mark on a lot of important points. You can easily blame that game for the series going into oblivion until SCVI soft-rebooted the franchise, restoring its dignity. Soul Calibur II HD for Switch when, Nintendo? Not sure if "Desperation" is the right word, but speaking of the Wii U days... Some weird crossovers were definitely gotten.

Looking into the 3DS VC games I bought recently, one of them drew my attention with its exotic allure... Defenders of Oasis ...the Golden Sun? Oh nevermind, those were Djinn. I don't quite recall how my attention was brought into this game, but I certainly added it into my wishlist at some point. This is a Dragon Quest-style RPG released in 1992 for the Game Gear. If you are unfamiliar with that console as I am, you know that any darling or cult classic barely gets any mention outside of VC releases, so anything here is a potential surprise. This particular surprise was developed by Sega themselves. So yeah, a handheld Dragon Quest in 1992. Unheard of. And also not literally Dragon Quest, as the name implies, this setting is middle eastern fantasy. I guess Disney's Aladdin really stoked the fires of the 1001 Nights in creators all over the world. (If I had a nickel for every impressive technical achievement from 1992 that I played in 2022, I'd have two nickels. And if I had one for every adventure/RPG game played in 2022 with "Oasis" in its name and set in fantastic middle east, I'd have two more nickels. It's not much, but it's weird that the games I'm playing this year tick such specific boxes) Anyway, this is a pleasant RPG. The story is fairly simple, with an evil empire trying to revive an ancient evil Demon by collecting 3 rings, and our protagonist is the Prince from the good nation, who's supposed to stop it. The part that's refreshing is that, despite the simplicity, it avoids typical and tired RPG tropes. For example, imagine your typical RPG party of the era, or even of nowadays: I assure you the party you'll get for this game is different than that. I'd say the most striking difference is that there's only one party member who can cast magic: the Genie. And also, the Genie cannot gain experience points. He can also only learn new spells by exploring dungeons properly and finding them written somewhere. Oh, and there's no item that restores MP. All I'm saying is, Defenders of the Oasis does things differently instead of following all the same D&D tropes as everybody else, and that's kind of neat. Technically, this game looks pretty dang good. Colourful world, weird enemies (shame that there's so many recolours, though), catchy tunes... There's no world map, but the game's designed to not be traversed that way. Most impressive of all is the auto-save feature, which is excellent, and ahead of its time. If your Game Gear runs out of batteries, you'll lose no progress (except for battles, as the game doesn't save during those). So yeah, not much else to say. Very pleasant game that avoids many clichés, and is an absolute treat. Took me roughly 12 hours to beat (or 18 AAA batteries, in 90s currency). To all fans of Dragon Quest, I say give this one a shot before the 3DS eShop closes. ... Now, every time I feel happy about something that Sega made or did, fate has it that I'm to be disappointed by them shortly after (see: the Sonic Origins thread). With that in mind... Virtua Fighter 2 (Mega Drive) ...I figure I'd pick my own poison. Virtua Fighter 2 was a solid and memorable 3D fighting game for arcades and Sega Saturn back in the 90s. I have fond memories of playing it. But for whatever reason, they decided to port the bloody thing to a console that can't do 3D. And then they kept porting that version more and more! It came in the Mega Drive pack for the Steam (which is why I have it), and I knew from the start it was not going to be good. But when I played it... ... It's terrible, couldn't make it past the first couple of fights. Just delete this port from memory, stop including it in Mega Drive packs, and rerelease the proper 3D games from this series instead, Sega! STOP DAMAGING YOUR BRANDS, YOU ALWAYS DO THI-

So I came across this video on youtube A retrospective on the development of the Sonic franchise, from Adventure to Shadow, through Sega's most troubling times. It's comprehensive and quite the interesting watch, even if the author lets his personal conclusion get in the way a bit (though it's believable, there's no solid proof that Jak II or Ratchet&Clank inspired Shadow the Hedgehog. Nevertheless, he brings this up a handful of times as though it's fact) I had heard of Sega of Japan having their heads buried in the sand for a decade or so, but this is the first time I'm hearing that Peter Moore story! It's hilarious.

You know, I'm not even sure. If they had just launched this as a 40€ game with everything, there'd be a small amount of complaining about the higher-than-expected price, but otherwise not much of a fuss. But then they specifically decided to say "And for 5€ less, you can get a deficient version of the game!"... It's like, why even?

Man, I was actually excited for this before I saw that needlessly complicated release plan. Stop sabotaging your best efforts, Sega! Anyway, I doubt I'll be getting this, considering I already have all of these 4 games throughout Steam & Switch. The missions/challenges look really nice, but not enough to justify the 35€... on the other hand, Sonic 3 & Knuckles on Switch is also a really compelling product...

That's fair. I love the open-endedness at that point, but I can see how it can become too much. It also doesn't help that the ocean prison is so difficult to run into, even when you know what to look for. Hm, that's some pretty odd advice. The only class-changing in this game involves a promotion to "Sage" after Level 20, and it's a straightforward upgrade for mages/clerics, anyway. If there is any other kind of class change, I don't think I ever found it.

Ah, what an apropos thread. You know what We have been playing as of late? Very few games before this one featured Katamari, much less one so Damacy.

"A delayed game is eventually good, but I'd also really like to play the new Xenoblade this summer, you know?" -Shigeru Miyamoto, probably

I mean... I hope so For once, they could be focusing properly on a new direction for the franchise instead of perennially rushing to meet strict deadlines.

So, a few semi-famous internet personalities (those being Maximillian Dood, Matt "Wha Happun?" McMuscles, and the MvC2 savant himself, Justin Wong) decided to start a fighting game podcast recently, called Triple K.O. Each week they pick a general theme regarding fighting games and talk about it. It usually amounts to a lot of gushing about favourite games, characters, mechanics, or memories (like in their KOF episode), but there's plenty of discussion on what has worked and hasn't in specific titles (like in their Street Fighter episodes), as well as educated guesses for what the future could hold. I've already binged their previous episodes, it's a great listen in any case (their Street Fighter 6 episode being a highlight for me). Here's a link to the playlist (though the account exists exclusively for these videos anyway). If nothing else, I definitely recommend the 6th (also latest) episode, as it's a relevant question to the industry as a whole: what kind of free-to-play model could work in a fighting game? They give a fair shake to plenty of stuff that gaming circles usually ignore (like the upcoming Multiversus, that mobile Tekken game, and even League of Legends), while still talking about more desirable examples like Killer Instinct and Virtua Fighter 5.

Aren't they doing Sonic Frontiers?