Jonnas

When I saw this mention, I wondered: could this game actually be dubbed in European Portuguese!? It's Brazillian Portuguese 😐 It's still cool (the voice actor sounds really good, actually), but man, my hopes got way up.

I just interrupted my holidays to say the following: (Full thoughts to come at a later date)

Freedom Planet 2 It's true, I bought the game as soon as it came out on the Switch. But it didn't take me 4 months to finish it, I've just been playing it really sporadically. I've kind of fallen into this bad habit where, if I don't have a full hour in a day to dedicate to a game I like, I just... don't. I end up playing something more simple and/or banal instead (which should explain the NSO list up there... and a couple of the ones before). For the past month, though, I decided to buckle up and actually find time for the game that I know I enjoy. SO! The first Freedom Planet, by GalaxyTrail, was a notorious Classic Sonic-like from 2014 that started out as a Sonic fangame before it evolved into its own thing. It featured talking animals, three distinct playable characters, fast-paced gameplay, and a saturday morning cartoon story (...with occasional moments of gruesome tonal dissonance). It started out on Kickstarter, and it infamously failed to deliver on two of its stretch goals: adding two extra playable characters (Torque and Spade). They were meant to be free DLC, but the developers claimed they couldn't make them work (whether they meant technical issues with their unique mechanics, or because their moveset didn't gel with pre-existing levels, is unclear). While that was happening, GalaxyTrail had already announced a sequel. They had a teaser trailer and everything, and they were clearly aiming for the stars. Progress seemed to be going smoothly, the game had a working demo as soon as 2017, aaaand several years went by, and the game only came out in 2022, PC only. Console versions would then take two extra years, only coming out this past April. I have no idea what caused such massive delays (I have to assume they prioritized quality over... everything else), but one thing's for certain: the game came out spectacular. Starting off with the art style, it very much feels like an improvement over the first game, in every area. They went from the chibi animals from the first game to... taller, more anatomically cohesive animals. Furthermore, many characters were redesigned for the better (Lilac no longer wears all-blue on her purple skin, going with a much better-looking white robe with blue highlights; Neera looks more like a panda; Milla saw a bunch of improvements to her outfit and mannerisms, etc.), and the new characters all look pretty dang cool. The spritework looks a lot more polished overall (no more jagged edges, no more sprites without visible outlines, every sprite in the game actually feels like they follow the same art style, etc.), and the animations have a lot more charm and character to them. Better use of colour overall, too, not just with the characters. I believe most of these improvements are thanks to Tyson-tan, the main Character Designer for this game, who apparently worked for free because he loved the first game so much. What a mad lad. Music may not feel like such a strict improvement, as the style feels very different from one game to the other. The main composer, Leilani Wilson, evolved a lot since 2014, and where she before worked on memorable compositions with "gamey" sounds, she's now much more geared towards ambient tunes with more subtle progression. Just compare Dragon Valley (FP1) with Dragon Valley (FP2) to see what I mean. For the record, I actually like the new soundtrack a lot more. It does a lot of heavy-lifting for worldbuilding, there's a lot of tasteful callbacks to the first game, and it's still super catchy. I just noticed that plenty of folk dislike the new direction, which is unfortunate, because I really dig this soundtrack, including the themes for the world maps and town hubs. But enough about presentation! The meat of the game is how it plays... it is phenomenal. Which shouldn't be a surprise, the first game was already immensely fun to play, and this game's engine was developed by Christian Whitehead, this was always going to be great. After so long without visiting the franchise, things did feel weird at first, a bit off. My muscle memory took a while to reawaken. Once I got into the ebb and flow of the game, it was pure fun. I imagine this is how new players will feel as well, learning the ins and outs of their character as the game goes on. Lilac's the resident speedster. Sonic's an inspiration for sure, but between a Sparkster-style boost, a fluttering double-jump, and a snazzy divekick, she's got plenty of options on moving fast and far. She's very similar to her FP1 self, her only new move being the ability to cancel her boost midway into a "burst" of energy; Carol saw some improvements. Compared to Lilac, she doesn't move as far, but her movement is more accurate, more refined (wall-jumps, multi-directional double jumps), and she's got a knack for dishing damage quickly, like a green Wolverine. Plus, she can still move fast with her motorcycle, which she can bring up fairly reliably. She now has a boomerang projectile, and can even roll like Sonic now, that's fun; Milla got significantly revamped. Not a naturally speedy character, she still double-jumps like Yoshi... but she now turns green blocks into ki, using it to fire bullets, strong energy blasts, or reflect enemy projectiles. She sort of feels like a Gunstar Hero that was tweaked to fit into Sonic levels. You can even use her blasts to propel yourself into any direction (either to gain speed, or downwards as a triple jump), but this is a tricky skill to master; Neera is our newcomer, and she's easily the slowest character, geared almost entirely for combat. She can fire powerful ice blasts in any direction, and even spread icicles on the ground. For mobility, she's only got a simple double jump and air-dash... or she can freeze enemies to jump off of them. She can also jump off her own ice spikes, but this is not a quick option. There's one new move that's shared between them: the dodge button. Think of it like an air dodge from Smash (except you can also do it on the ground), it's a nifty move to protect yourself from the occasional laser, or escape from a cluster of enemies. The specifics change slightly from character to character (Lilac can convert it into a dash, Milla also uses it to restore ammo, etc.), but as a universal move, it's very welcome for this kind of game. At any rate, these 4 feel incredibly distinct, each with a very unique moveset. It's mad that every level in the game works well for each of them. The levels are fantastic, by the way. In the first game, they felt long because they had 2 acts each, but FP2 does away with that, and each level goes by much quicker. Each of them has a distinct feel (in aesthetics, design, and even story) without relying too much in level-exclusive gimmicks (though those exist as well, of course). There are 25+ levels, and it's legitimately hard to pick a top 5. One cool feature from this game is that, for certain segments, the camera will seamlessly zoom out from your character, showing a wider view of the level. Tighter spaces remain "zoomed in", whereas open spaces with larger enemies can be "zoomed out". It's really cool, as it gives off a semi-cinematic feel to plenty of set pieces. (There's an option to keep gameplay "zoomed out" or "zoomed in" at all times, and... I'm not sure how to feel about that. It's handy, and it kinda works as "modular difficulty", but it also feels like something that should be only in the developer's hands. Maybe it's a topic for another day.) There are plenty of large, bombastic bosses as well. Such a big variety of complex, elaborate designs, that a handful of sidequests are focused on them. In fact, it can be sometimes easy to forget bosses in games, since so many are one-and-done affairs. I commend the developers for actually using their bosses for more than just their story fight. It's not all about level quality, the structure is also worth talking about. Unlike the first game, this game operates on a hub world (think Super Mario World, or Shovel Knight), which means you can replay any level you want, for whatever reason (better rank, searching for hidden items, speedrun practise, sheer fun, etc.). It also allows for Town areas! These are great, they're silly little explorable segments where you can talk to silly NPCs, visit shops for items and collectibles, play minigames, do some sidequests (including extra "challenge" levels), and sometimes advance the plot. At first, I thought these would be massive timewasters, but they really don't need to be (even the shops can be accessed without having to enter the town, if you wish), and they're lighthearted fun if you do decide to engage. And what are the items that can you get from these shops? This is the new modular difficulty system in FP2: the equipment. Before entering any level, you can equip any two items, and a potion of your choice (despite being called "potions", they're not expendable, feel free to use them as often as you'd like). Some items make life easier for you (increasing max health, starting a level with a shield, etc.) but decrease your rank and reward for completing a level, whereas other items increase difficulty (take double damage, start a level with 0 lives, etc.), but they increase your rank and reward for that level. Indeed, the difficulty level you pick at the start of the game only defines your starting equipment, you can alter it at any time. (By the way, level rankings in this game do NOT take speed into account. This isn't immediately obvious, but rankings only depend on A. Which items you have equipped; and B. How many lives you lost. In other words, clearing levels for Rank and for Speed are entirely different things) It's a really cool system, truth be told. This isn't just about difficulty, you can use these to customise your gameplay to some extent (like altering speed and jump height), and even come up with specific fun builds (shield-focused builds really change how you approach a level). By the end of the game, I was clamouring for even more variety than what we got. There's also a "ressuscitation" mechanic here. If you run out of health, you can spend some currency (and a life, I think) to revive on the spot, instead of going back to the last checkpoint. I can see the developers took @Glen-i's criticisms from the first game seriously, finding several ways to make the sequel more forgiving to play. I've noticed that there are way fewer instant-death traps in this game as well (making it shocking during the few times they do happen). The story is a Saturday morning cartoon. These can be very fun, especially in a colourful game and world such as this, and unlike the first game, there's no sudden tone shifts just to include a beheading or a torture scene (if you haven't played the first Freedom Planet, those are genuine things that happen there. There was also a scene where the girls have a sleepover and joke about boys having cooties, that's how hard the shift was). Regardless, the game does try to be somewhat mature about things, including themes like discrimination, political propaganda, and even genocide... I wouldn't say it goes too deep into any of them, only enough for the game to never lose its lighthearted feel. There's no "edgy" moments here. There are more story moments sprinkled into the levels themselves. Large robots tearing down chunks of the stage (such as buildings) as you run through the level, NPCs showing up to help clear obstacles, and even a level where two armies fight each other. This is some good shit. One thing that kind of hurts the narrative is that each character goes through every stage in the game. This is impressive, gameplay-wise, but story-wise, the characters aren't allowed to have levels, bosses, or story beats just for themselves (in the first game, Pangu Lagoon, Trap Hideout, and Aqua Tunnel worked really well narratively to establish each character's identity, without a single line of dialogue). But on the other hand, something that helps the narrative is the worldbuilding that the hub and towns provide. NPCs will often comment on events that happen through the story, you can now literally see where the different countries are, and cutscenes don't need to run long, because they can be broken up by towns and world traversal. And overall, yeah, I liked the story. It's fun, the various characters are likeable, and my main gripes lie more with certain plot points that weren't fully explored, rather than anything particularly egregious with the narrative. Not everything is rosey, though... only one reptile in the entire game. I counted and double-checked myself. Sorry, @Glen-i, feel free to leave a scathing review on Steam. As you've seen from my screenshots, my first playthrough was with Lilac, and I spent a good chunk of time collecting items, replaying levels, and learning the ins and outs of the game ("Stage Time" is the combined record across all 25+ stages, whereas "File Time" is the actual time I spent playing). This is absolutely the sort of game that's just fun to explore and replay. I purposefully avoided collecting every Time Capsule, in order to see "Normal Ending" first. Then, during the postgame, I collected the remaining 4, unlocked the "True Final Level", and got the True Ending. In retrospect, the "Normal Ending" feels more like an "Incomplete Ending", so I should've gone for the True Ending right away. I'll eventually play the other girls' campaigns, I just need a rest between playthroughs. So yeah, if my constant praise didn't make it clear, I adored this game. Easy 5 stars, this is the sort of 2D platformer that makes other greats in the genre feel like they're only 4 stars, it's that good.

A Jonnas NSO Update As of late, I've been pushing through a game I've really been enjoying. But I am also often tired, and sometimes all I have patience for is The games I already figured I wouldn't like ToeJam & Earl is a game I did play occasionally as a kid (at my cousins') and I never understood it. Makes sense, I didn't know English back then. I have since heard about how the whole point of the game is co-op, and how the maps and items are randomly generated (making this the first roguelike to ever grace a console, I believe?). With that in mind, I decided to have a go at it, as an adult... and I don't like it. Credit where it is due, this kind of off-beat charm was rare back then, and I appreciate how unique the gameplay was for the time. I just don't enjoy actually playing it, it's slow, it's hard to strategise (the items effects are unknown until you open them)... The humour doesn't do much for me either. As a kid, I didn't get it, as an adult, I get that I don't like it. Mighty Bomb Jack is an NES platformer that I definitely didn't like when I first tried it on the NSO, a few years ago. I wanted to have a different go, see if anything changed... I understand the physics better now, I get that you need to double-tab the jump button to make hops. Other than that, the game is just overcomplicated. Too many mechanics for a game without a tutorial, and it straight up punishes you if you do too well? It also swarms you with enemies, which would be fine if the levels were straight-to-the-finish affairs, but from Level 3 onwards, you need to search for hidden destructible blocks, and I can't do that with the relentless enemies, man. I very much disliked this one. Stunt Race FX is a SNES marvel, made to showcase the FX chip. The art direction is lovely, these cartoony cars feel more expressive than Pixar's Cars. I also like how the wheels on the monster truck react to walls, surprisingly immersive physics. The real downer is the same as in Starfox: the game itself gives me headaches. I don't usually care for framerates, but the one in this game is so low, it's painful. Furthermore, the draw distance is pitifully low, you can't see entire chunks of track until you get close enough. Interesting experiment that I respect, but I physically can't stand it. Super Mario Kart is famous. But I famously don't care much for the series. Still, this game deserves a chance, and... sure, the physics are weird to get a grip on, and if it was just that, I'd do the main circuits and call it a day (like with Super Circuit). The issue is that this game is extra annoying, giving you only half a screen to work with, even in singleplayer. I hate it. Only finished Mario Circuit in 50cc and called it a day. Mario Golf (GBC) is a 2D Golf game, another type of game I don't like. I decided to try this one out in any case, and... over the course of an exhibition match, I started to understand the physics, little by little. Still hate the concept, I was dying of boredom by the 9th hole. Didn't even attempt the RPG mode. Mario Tennis (GBC) is a 2D Tennis game. I figured the limitations would also make me dislike it, but... I actually liked playing exhibition matches? I didn't fully understand how to shoot or aim, but I was feeling it. Finally, a game where my initial impression was wrong I decided to step into the RPG mode... and I noped out before an hour went by. There is something I fundamentally dislike about an action game where the physics depend on stats (I want to learn how to shoot properly, not put points into Power and Aim until my racket does it on its own), and it was obvious from moment one: half of the challenges in the training section were literally unwinnable until I leveled up enough. Mix that into an awful lack of tutorial (so many words to describe Tennis terms like I'm familiar already, and not a single peep about what the A and B button actually do) and Camelot's worst tendencies in script-writing (the characters go on and on about inane stuff that doesn't matter), and I'm just left wishing the entire game was just Mario characters with different stats having a grand old time with matches and mini-games. 2 stars, because I still like that exhibition mode. --------------- Well, that was some negativity. But next time, I'll post about a game I figured I'd like a lot, and I did.

Jesus, that is too young. Rest in Peace, Rachael Lillis

So, I thought for sure this would be another edition where Portugal would take 0 gold medals home. We had plenty of moderate hopes in various sports (canoeing, judo, athletics), and throughout the events, a bronze in Judo and a silver in Triple Jump were the best we could achieve (kudos to Patrícia Sampaio and Pedro Pichardo, of course). And then, out of the blue, we get two medals in Cycling! A silver in Omnium and gold in Madison. This is the first gold medal Portugal has ever had outside of athletics. The Olympics have always been great as a way to give the spotlight to less-appreciated sports and modes, and I think that definitely just happened with Cycling. Anyway, I'm just happy to see a good achievement by our Portuguese athletes.

They're adding scenes for Ortega? That's pretty cool! So this is the sort of thing Horii was talking about. Simão is now officially written in the Portuguese way! He was always called "Simao", and some translations simply went with "Simon". The fact that a significant localisation is bothering with the proper spelling of Portuguese tildes is huge for my language's representation. This too Oh, that's another name change. An understandable one: it used to be called "Isis". It was a very fitting name, but real life mucked it up.

Dolphins are also river creatures Honestly, I figure that they only called them "Sea" Zoras because there are, in fact, a few games where they live in the sea (Majora's Mask & Oracle of Ages, off the top of my head). The more monstrous Zora have only ever been featured in rivers. Would've been much simpler to just say "Lean Zora" and "Green Zora" Ah, good catch. I remembered the Zora village in Oracle of Ages (one of the few times where they indeed live in the sea), but I didn't recall the river Zora being an enemy in that game. I just checked, and yeah, they're obviously there. I also just found out that OoA was the first game to coin the term "River Zora". The quote in question: "Don't think us noble sea Zoras the same as those savage, vulgar river Zoras!" It seems they've had this conflict in their pocket since 2001. Deeper cut than I thought.

I'm just happy to see that this isn't the LttP map again. The game's looking quite good! Is this the first time we see Sea Zora and River Zora in the same game? And why are they called Sea Zora when they clearly live in rivers in most games?

As someone who doesn't watch boxing, this thing about female boxers being disqualified (or stripped of their titles) due to some "excessive testosterone" nonsense was something I was completely unaware of. The Imane Khelif incident in the Olympics really drew attention to some fucked up transphobic hysteria going on in official competitions.

Well... Sadly, that's one game I already know I don't like. I remember being really excited to play it back in the day, but the gameplay just doesn't fit with me. Still, very happy to see more Pokémon spinoffs on the service

A Jonnas NSO Update Sometimes, it feels like my progress slows down. Some other times, I look into the games I've occasionally been casually delving into, and find that the list is bigger than I thought: The Brains Solomon's Key is an NES puzzle game. As a child, I remember playing the Game Boy version. The NES version doesn't seem to be the same game, as there's no level select... and the levels seem to be more action/platforming focused, rather than about solving a concrete puzzle (heck, you even have very limited lives, and a useless scoring system). As a puzzle game, it is unimpressive, and the one music track gets a bit grating, but the game was mechanically fun enough to play for a bit. I simply have no desire to continue beyond the couple dozen of levels I've beaten. Mystery Tower seems to be more designed like a proper puzzle game... but it is horrid. Between L~shaped blocks that take forever to learn how to navigate, to blocks that only obey gravity under specific circumstances, this is the most unintuitive puzzle game I've ever seen. Even Bombuzal was easier to understand than this. Oh, and there's lives too, because this game wasn't bad enough. Solomon's Key 2 known in the USA (and therefore the NSO) as Fire 'n Ice, on the other hand, turned out to be the biggest surprise of the NSO so far. It bears some resemblance to the first game, but it very much has its own, strong identity. Levels are properly designed to be puzzles, no lives system, there are multiple music tracks (and they're all good)... and the level design is fantastic. It's good enough that the game has a level select system, but if you do them in order, you'll be greeted by one of the smoothest difficulty curves I've seen in the genre. And it's not like this game's short on ideas. The production values are also surprisingly high, with a story, cutscenes, unique framing device, and some of the most fluid sprite animation I've ever seen in an NES (helps that it's a 1992 release). This game even has a level editor (!), that's actually amazing. The only flaw I can pinpoint on this game is that the password system is super clunky (not an issue on the NSO, thankfully). Playing through this game's 150 puzzles has been a delight. I'd say it's on par with Mole Mania, as puzzle games go, and I mean it. 5 stars. Legitimate hidden gem. The Brawns Urban Champion is charming. Knowing what fighting games looked like at the time, I see that this one has a lot of character going for it, and it's easy enough to understand. Easier to control, too. Myself, I fought through the first set of matches, and I was done with it. It's more valuable as a fascinating look into gaming of yesteryear, rather than as a fun fighting game nowadays. The NSO is the right place for this game. Kung-Fu Heroes is a top-down beat'em up, for the lack of a better descriptor. It's not particularly fun, and any mistake is quite punishing. Dropped it after a few levels. Killer Instinct is a darling: a SNES fighting game that can compete with Mortal Kombat! I had played it before, but wasn't really feeling it back then... and after giving it more of a chance, I still don't feel it. I don't like the game-feel, I don't like how the punches and kicks feel, I don't like the sound design, and I can't get to grips with the combo system. I do like some of the character designs, and the music is great. But otherwise, this is a game that just doesn't click with me at all. It's got a Training Mode, at least, for 1994, that earns it 2 stars, at least. Meanwhile, Joy Mech Fight is a fighting game made by Nintendo for the Famicom just one year prior... And it's really good! It's got a solid story mode, a command list with demonstrations (even in Japanese, you can understand them), a unique look, lots of charm, incredibly catchy music, and the commands are all quite simple to learn and execute. More importantly, the game is incredibly fluid, fun to play, and every principle of fighting game fundamentals is here. Now, though the roster is impressive (36 characters, a number which wouldn't be surpassed until King of Fighters '98), the truth is that it is obviously imbalanced, and a good chunk of it is made up of clones with strictly improved stats. Regardless, I believe that, if this game had come out in the west, it would be a reference in the genre nowadays. I don't hand out 5 stars to fighting games that easily, but this game is good enough for me to feel tempted. For now, 4 stars. Comix Zone Yup! It is finally time to tackle Comix Zone. This is a game I never saw for the original Mega Drive, only finding out about it in collections and whatnot. Every time I tried to play it, I'd always be taken aback by its uniqueness, and so I ended up putting it off for years. Until I pledged it. So yeah, this is a Beat'em up starring Sketch Turner, a totally radical comic book artist who gets sucked into his own unfinished comic pages, and must now battle the gnarly mutants he was writing about. Thankfully, his pet rat Roadkill got comic'd along with him, so he's got some help. Aesthetically, this game is amazing. The American comic look is fantastic, the action is segmented through panels, the art style is very 90s, and even the somewhat choppy animation contributes to the comic feel. There are also dialogue bubbles popping up all over the place, and the soundtrack pushes the MD to play the most 90s rock it can. Design-wise, and very unlike most beat'em ups, CZ is not about defeating hordes of enemies at all. It's actually more about navigating each panel, deactivating traps, pressing switches, finding hidden items... Roadkill is an item too, being useful for certain puzzles, or to help with certain fights. Each level has branching paths, and the player may choose whichever works best for them. This is a game that's quite short (6 levels in total), and it's meant to be replayed, retried, and properly learned. This was a common design philosophy of the time, but often applied to 2D platformers, not Beat'em ups. It's a unique combination for sure. The game's big flaw... is that the fighting itself is fairly boring. You have a few punching&kicking options for approach, but none of them work in satisfying ways (whether your kicks will outrange the enemy or not seems to depend on pure luck), and combos are virtually non-existent. Even the basic punch-punch-kick sequence isn't guaranteed to work, and heck, even basic movement (like jumps) is too inaccurate and janky to be enjoyable. Every time I played Comix Zone, I engaged with it as it was meant to: from the beginning, every time. I did get progressively better at it, and found plenty of enjoyment in learning it. But the moments where a projectile didn't go where it was meant to, or one of my jumps tripped on a hazard... those moments got more frustrating with time instead. I eventually reached the final boss, and save stated at the beginning of the fight. I wasn't going to go through the game again to see both endings. Hilariously, the first time I defeated the boss, the game bugged and wouldn't proceed to the ending (I would've gotten the bad ending. Thanks to the save state, I ended up watching both anyway). I found a lot of bugs in fact, I didn't expect a visually polished game like this to be so buggy. So, as much as I would like to give this game 4 stars, I can't, in good conscience, give it more than 3 stars. It's a good game, but it's brought down by some serious flaws. ... With Comix Zone cleared, I only have 99 NSO titles left to clear Finally cleared that minor threshold (as long as Nintendo doesn't suddenly add 7 games to the service again...). And also: Half of the pledge is done, but the remaining games on it are quite long...

I remember playing A Bug's Life on the PS1 Yeah, it's awfully clunky I only played the first couple of levels, anyway. With older licensed games, their limited budget means the result will always be somewhat generic, and their limited knowledge of the source material means they will always take some creative liberties here and there. Sometimes it worked, and mostly, it didn't!

First time I ever played it, I didn't finish the game with everybody alive, either. Allowing your mistakes to have consequences is part of what makes FE so memorable. In fact, it can even be liberating to cease the perfectionism, and allow someone to stay dead by the end of a chapter. This might say something about human nature...

Very interesting answers from everyone, thank you very much By reading this thread, I have realised that a lot of online gaming culture passed me by, as well. I don't usually play socially, so MMOs have always been outside of my interest, for example. Ditto for the Battle Passes and Battle Royales that thrive on FOMO and regular engagement (that said, I did play Fire Emblem Heroes for a very long time, so I can say I have experience with the Gacha genre, as well as games that live off FOMO). And now that you mention it, this is a gap of mine, too. I mean, I did play a bit with DMC, the original GOW, and even God Hand, back in the PS2 days, but I never sat down and played a 3D action-game (or hack&slash) properly from beginning to end. I suppose the Warriors/Musou games technically fit this genre as well... but I haven't finished Three Hopes, either (Incidentally, if you ever wish to get into fighting games at some point (like you mentioned in the MvC thread), I can give you some tips on where to begin, or what to expect)

The moment I looked at that screenshot, my literal first thought was "Huh, this looks like that awful bomb-puzzle game on the SNES NSO, the one that was called Yeah, makes total sense. Thank you for that minor tidbit of gaming history

Oh snap! This is the weird one! The one that wasn't made by Capcom, but by the remnants of a defunct SNK. Never played it, but here's the general popular opinion on it: it's a passable, possibly mediocre, fighting game, but it's got a distinct look, a distinct style, and an inspired roster (both the Capcom and the SNK picks are highly unusual, and the game's better for it). It also does plenty of unique character dialogue, which is crossover gold. I'm putting this on the wishlist for sure. I'm curious to see how wild it gets. Fun facts: This is the first time that Zero and Firebrand (a.k.a. Red Arremer) ever participated in a crossover. It's also the only SNK fighting game with a Metal Slug representative.

The Olympics have plenty of "performance arts" sports already, between events such as artistic gymnastics, dressage, and synchronized/artistic swimming, I imagine breakdancing would count as just another one of those where they're judged by a panel of experts. In that sense, it's not a particularly odd choice. The real issue is that breakdancing still feels like counter-culture art, not a prestiged establishment. The Olympics is all about prestige, so it just doesn't feel like a good fit at all.

Apparently, only a small handful of institutions were affected in Portugal (and my current occupation only requires Linux, so all's good). The biggest impact was from international flights affecting our airports' schedules. Love the irony of a cybersecurity company being responsible for this, though.

"You know Samus can't crawl in this game, right?"

The main game I remember from that console is the "complete" version of Splinter Cell, while PS2 and GC had to settle for an inferior, unfinished version. But I think the Xbox Splinter Cell also released on the PC, and is now the version you can purchase on Steam and GOG.

I see. So, a highly simplified version of the map&compass from Zelda games, applied to the world map? Would the map stations from Metroid count? Both the 2D games and the Prime series feature them.

This might be a weird, or overly specific topic, but the subject has been on my mind for the past week or so. Since we regularly discuss various aspects of the industry and art form, we are all plenty aware of several industry trends, popular genres, and even fandoms of cult classic titles. We all have our favourite niche, whether that be a specific series, an entire genre, or just a specific aesthetic. Now, surely, we can't like every type of game, or every genre, but... is there a part of gaming that feels important or major, but you just never engaged or interacted with it at all? Like, maybe everybody knows what a Metroidvania is, but you never played one yourself? Or you have somehow never played an RPG with random encounters? I'll give a couple of examples of my own: I have never played a Soulslike game. This type of game sounds appealing and all, but somehow, not a single one has ever made it to my backlog (unless you count Blasphemous, which is 2D). I have played Dandara, which takes heavy inspiration from it (but it's clearly not a soulslike), and I have once played the opening minutes of Bloodborne, which is no time to learn anything about it. As such, I have this weird gap in my gaming curriculum: I have no idea whether I like Dark Souls or not. Besides that, I still don't really know what a "Ubisoft Tower" is. I never really found Assassin's Creed appealing, and my reduced gaming time means I don't really play many modern open-world games, if any. As such, I don't really picture what people mean when they say they're tired of "Ubisoft Towers". Are they easily-climbable towers to get a view of the world? Beacons you can set yourself? Mission checkpoints? I know all about concepts like save points, fast travel, and skill trees, but "Ubisoft Towers" kind of escapes me. So yeah, is there any aspect of gaming (major or otherwise) that somehow feels entirely unknown to you?

Is this what that EMIO thing was about?

It's from the ResetEra thread that @Dcubed linked to earlier.