Joe's Monologues - 4/9/24

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Joe's Monologues. This one is gonna be emotional and interesting as it gonna have interesting topics. I know you're disappointed that you'll have to wait another 20 years for the next total solar eclipse here, but don't be as I go over the topics today, savvy?

Skullgirls:

I have no words to say this. I am so dang speechless as to how astonished I am in this point of time. Between you and me, I am astonished on how everything turned out well. This shows how everything went smoothly. Especially that part when the Nintendo Switch update and the Xbox port entered active development so that players of these systems can join the launch party.

I'm gonna tell you this. Skullgirls first came out on April 10, 2012 and launched with eight base characters that are all female and Marie is the boss character. Later in 2013, it is back as Skullgirls Encore with five new DLC characters and a clone character to expand the roster to 14. And now where it stands, the Season 1 Pass has been announced to expand the roster to 18 and Marie has relegated into her playable self free from the Skull Heart's power. It has been one heck of a long road. I am so sad... well not sad, but glad... that the Skullgirls 2nd Encore Season 1 Pass is officially complete. The Season 1 Pass is done and dusted. I am very astonished at how far Skullgirls has gone.

Now, if I keep track of the history during the Season 1 Pass era, it unfolded like this.

2021:

March 2021 - The Season 1 Pass has been announced to contain Annie and the three TBA characters. Then she enters Beta and the Season 1 Pass is released first on Steam.

April 2021 - Umbrella was announced as the second Season 1 Pass character.

July 2021 -  Annie and the Season 1 Pass have been released on PlayStation and on the retail version on Steam. 

August 2021 - Umbrella enters Alpha on Steam literally in the last second.

December 2021 - Umbrella enters Early Access on Steam. Then Black Dahlia was announced as the third Season 1 Pass character.

2022:

April 2022 - Umbrella is officially released on Steam and PlayStation along with Annie.

June 2022 - Black Dahlia entered Alpha on Steam. Skullgirls 2nd Encore and the Season 1 Pass entered active development as an update for the Nintendo Switch and a new release for the Xbox.

August 2022 - Marie was announced as the final cherry on top Season 1 Pass character at EVO.

2023:

January 2023 - The update that matches with other platforms and the Season 1 Pass are released on the Nintendo Switch.

March 2023 - Black Dahlia is officially released on Steam, PlayStation and Switch in March. 

July 2023 - The Xbox port and the Season 1 Pass is released to match with other platforms.

October 2023 - Marie entered Alpha on Steam.

December 2023 - Marie entered Early Access.

2024:

March 2024 - Marie is officially released on all platforms to round out the Season 1 Pass.

It took four years, but the Season 1 Pass is finally rounded out. It has been a long road, man. I shifted to BBTAG music as a cherry on top and making BBTAG palettes out of characters who are assigned to themes that fit well with their personality. Annie got released, no Izayoi palette. Umbrella got released, no Platinum the Trinity palette. Black Dahlia got released, no Nine the Phantom palette. Marie got released, no Orie palette after looking through all of her palettess. That's four out of four.

The only thing about this is that when Marie hits Alpha on Steam, her boss version is renamed to Bloody Marie to distinguish things and all platforms now have it in light of her official release and it will stay that way forever. So I did one of the challenges with Marie to see how it goes. Turns out that Marie can fight her Bloody self in a challenge and on Arcade Mode.

I can play some Skullgirls now that Marie is fully released and I can record my online matches and edit them to play BBTAG music using. But my PS Plus has expired sadly and I wish they can offer free online multiplayer every weekend at least. I wish I can play it on Steam, but I need to buy a gaming laptop for this. I postponed my special online casual for the same reason.

In the meantime, I'll record the clips of playing through character tutorials and edit them to play BBTAG music as a warm up and publish them to YouTube on my gaming channel. But only the ones that are eligible for my currently postponed special online casual.

If you look at the placement of the character select screen that will last during the post Season 1 Pass period on Skullgirls 2nd Encore, Annie, Umbrella and Black Dahlia are located at the bottom of the default selection while Marie is located at the top of the default selection. She is literally the cherry on top. And for a better view, I selected the size to make the HUD appear on both sides. I am intrigued by this placement I've been looking. It happened first on Marie's Alpha on Steam. And now, it is happening on all platforms in light of her official release.

It is unclear that they are gonna put something on the empty slots Marie is between, but we do know one thing's for sure. Because this placement lasts during the course of the post Season 1 Pass period, the chraracter select screen will be updated to have a new grid with smaller squares to hold portraits of both current and future characters during the period of subsequent Season Passes to follow the footsteps of other fighting games that expanded theirs and that something we can look forward to.

Because Marie had to be on top, the timer that appears when you're selecting your characters online is now located at the bottom of the screen to prevent it from blocking her portrait. This is virtuously the same thing BlazBlue: Central Fiction has. The timer is enlarged a bit and darkened significantly to make it legible on the brightest spot the timer is on. This is gonna stay that way when the character select screen gets a new grid to hold current and future characters' portraits in eras of subsequent Season Passes.

Then there is something coming to Mobile called Guest Stars, which are assist characters that can perform an assist and they take way less development time than full fighters, so they are similar to Mortal Kombat 1's Kameo Fighters, Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax's Assist Fighters and so on. One of the Guest Stars is revealed to be Minette. She is being worked on and because Guest Stars take way less time, she will be finished in no time. The full roster for Guest Stars remains a mystery, so we don't know who are they, besides Minette. While they are Mobile exclusive, they'll always have a chance to be in 2nd Encore for subsequent Season Passes also.

And now, the general balance changes section has just started in the Beta version on Steam. They have the first set of balance changes released on Steam in the Beta version. One of the things that interested me is that Annie getting her upgrades to her Star Power. It's something I can agree with because Star Power upgrades offered her enhanced special moves, Distortion Skills and gives Star Cancel. That's why I wouldn't dare record her character tutorial and edit it to play Justice Sword until the balance patch drops.

That's the Overdrive system exclusive to Annie because you know that BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma introduced the Overdrive system? It's a system that enhances all of the characters' attacks. I am starting to feel like that with Star Power getting an upgrade, I am calling it Star Overdrive to reflect the changes to Star Power. It's hard to believe that I was playing BlazBlue, but with Annie, which is a fact that she is assigned to a BlazBlue theme and making an Izayoi palette would be the cherry on top.

I forgot to mention that the devs are still on the source of updating and replacing all of Valentine's fuschia crosses with pastel pink shurikens. That was supposed to come out in 2022, but it has been pushed back and we haven't gotten a single word about it because they had on multiple projects on their sleeve, like the update and the Season 1 Pass for the Switch, the Xbox port with the Season 1 Pass, Black Dahlia and Marie and the general balance patch. But all of that are completed. I feel that Valentine's cross update might be a part of the general balance and the process of it shouldn't be that long.

The Skullgirls Championship Series is going strong so far with online and offline events. Combo Breaker is almost upon us and that's where the Skullgirls World Championship will take place at. If they announced crossplay there now that the Season 1 Pass is completed because 2nd Encore is now available on all four digital storefronts, I'll be very hyped up for that. And hopefully, the general balance changes should be finalized and released on all platforms before the Skullgirls World Championship at Combo Breaker now that Marie is officially released on all platforms without an Orie palette, thus rounding out the Season 1 Pass and she will be legal for the remainder of the season.

I originally wanted the Season 2 Pass to be announced at Combo Breaker, but decided to want crossplay instead because the rest of the content, like the Season 1 Pass characters' fully voiced Story Modes, alternative voice pack for Annie and Japanese voices for the Season 1 Pass characters, are not gonna be released this year. It's because they require a lot of voice work and they need to make sure that they are up to their standards. In order to do this the right way, they will be released in 2025. Once that happens, then we can look forward to the Season 2 Pass. And when the Season 2 Pass releases, the character select screen gets a new grid with smaller squares.

Spyro 4 in Development:

It's official. Spyro 4 is now officially in development. If any of you haven't played Spyro: Reignited Trilogy, be sure to play it as we are getting a new Spyro getting in development. This comes after Crash Team Rumble ceased active development after three Seasons following the part when Toys For Bob spun off to become an indie studio from Activision. This means Spyro 4, Crash Bandicoot 5 and future projects will not be published under the Activision umbrella moving forward.

Since the beginning of the Crash and Spyro games owned by Activision, Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy was developed by Vicarious Visions on the PS4 and Xbox One, now renamed to Blizzard Albany since they moved to Blizzard while Spyro: Reignited Trilogy was developed by Toys for Bob, which also developed the Nintendo Switch version of Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy in a process to develop a direct sequel to the original trilogy. I can see how Universal became awful to them.

Now, we don't know what Spyro 4 will offer. It is early in development, so we don't know if it's gonna be a direct sequel to the original Spyro trilogy like Crash Bandicoot 4 is or a reboot. We know one thing for sure. The studio has forged a partnership with Microsoft to publish their first independent game. But that doesn't mean their future games will be Xbox exclusives and Spyro 4 could be the first independent game. We don't know for sure. Know the message that says "keep your horns on" on the indie announcement? This term shows that Spyro 4 is officially in development.

What I like to see in Spyro 4 is some canon undertones we experienced in Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM, different breaths from Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, different playable characters, a fresh cast of characters from subsequent games in the original Spyro trilogy, an open world perspective with portals leading to Speedway levels and the fact that the goddesses in subsequent games in the original Spyro trilogy are iconic like Sally and Bunnie from Sonic SatAM. I want it to be a reboot rather than a direct sequel to the original Spyro trilogy.

In response to Spyro 4 getting in development, I made Annie a Bianca palette as a cherry on top. Shared this at the Skullheart forums weirdly enough. I am intrigued by it that Sagan is in his Spyro palette. And since Skullgirls Mobile is getting new palettes every month, including the ones that are never before seen, I can see a chance that this palette could make it on both 2nd Encore and Mobile. This is something I will support in parallel with supporting Bianca to be on Crash Team Rumble as the 4th Spyro character.

An Update on My Career:

The progress on my Wrapper: Offline career is coming along nicely so far. I am working on a special video that celebrates my channel reaching 100 subscribers. I got to make sure that everything goes smoothly first before publishing it on YouTube. There has also been some interesting development so far. I have been coming up with a ton of video ideas inspired by someone over on YouTube. Stay tuned for them.

Dream Logo Combos:

Since my inception to my career on YouTube on separate channels, I wanted to do something creative, like this. I am working on some dream logo combos. That will include the logos of defunct video game companies that I miss experiencing. The first one I am working on is a combo of EA Games, Sierra and Krome Studios (2002). I am using Wondershare Filmora to make them. But I am using the free version that limits to one minute and has a noticeble watermark. I plan to purchase it to break the one minute limit and remove that watermark. Now, when I make dream logo combos, I put the logos of my choice and it is for creative purposes, not to infringe on their copyright. That being said, I will upload them on my main channel on YouTube.

Conclusion:

This has been the first Joe's Monologues of April. Stay hyped for Spyro 4, folks. And also, play some Skullgirls now that Marie is officially released on all platforms to round out the Season 1 Pass.

Joe's Monologues - 3/20/24

Now before we get into today's Joe's Monologues, there's one thing that I want to address first. You know on that previous post, I used the introduction that lists the topics? I have decided to do away from doing that, so now, we reverted to the previous state. Now, on to the post and this is the first Joe's Monologues of March. Let's get right in.

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger:

There was a point in time when the franchise was originally released on the 6th generation consoles back in 2002. On that time, EA and Activision published their games. And now, it got an HD remaster, along with Bush Rescue, a sequel to the first game that has an open world perspective, a kart racing game mode, new boomerangs and an epic story. I bought the sequel when it was on sale and took a glimpse of the story, but I won't play it until I beat the first game.

I did a live stream of one of the nostalgic games I played back in the day. It was the GameCube version I was playing. On stream, I rescued all of the Bilbies, got all of the Opals and got all of the Thunder Eggs. But I didn't get all of the Golden Cogs used to get more boomerangs on Bridge on the River Ty. I was struggling to get the last Golden Cog on that level, until I realized that to get the last Golden Cog, I use the Freezerang to make a stepping platform near the pillar where the cog was at, so I did. And that Neddy battle was ridiculous, but I managed to beat him to get that Thunder Egg. Same with the part where I had a race with Shazza on the Outback Safari.

I was amazed that I was playing Spyro the Dragon, but with Ty because collecting Thunder Eggs progresses the story, Rainbow Cliffs is a main home world and has portals that lead to multiple levels. I couldn't imagine that Shazza and Boss Cass would be the Elora and Ripto of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger. What makes it so is that Shazza really likes Ty and Boss Cass can make those that are the bosses I beat, his slaves, like Ripto does to enslave Avalar and its inhabitants, so it is basically Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!. I realized it when I beaten Crikey on stream. I don't think it's Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, but the lore was no farce.

On stream, I showcased all of Ty moves on what will he bring to the table if he makes his debut to Crash Team Rumble since the original release of Night of the Quinkan was published by Activision. In addition to that, since I heard Shazza is the Elora, and Boss Cass is the Ripto after progressing through the story on stream, I already told you that like Spyro, Ty could be a Scorer to excel at breaking creates and scoring Wumpa, so like Elora, Shazza could be a Blocker to excel at knocking Wumpa and killing the enemy Heroes, while like Ripto, Boss Cass could be a Booster to excel at capturing Gems and depositing Relics to stations.

But that is no longer the case because it has come to my attention that Crash Team Rumble has subsequently ceased active development following the final content update at 13 Heroes and 10 Powers. This means there will be no more Seasons. Honestly, they should've at least given us Season 4 to give us a new Scorer and a new Booster to even out the classes before that final content update. But hey, if they decided to make a Crash Team Rumble 2 to be free to play and get continuous updates for years to come, who knows?

In the previous livestream, I finished the second part, so I am going to the third and final part where I will get green Opals, green Thunder Eggs and a Windarang. I got to finish it so that I can start playing Bush Rescue.

Browing Through PlayStation Store:

I was browsing through remasters on the PlayStation Store and something has caught really my eye. I heard Grandia is getting a compilation of the first two games and they are getting remastered too. The first Grandia for the PS1 is added to the catalog, yet it is getting a remaster along with the second Grandia game originally released on the PS2 in a collection. I originally told you that the PS1 releases of Crash and Spyro games that are remastered and compiled in a collection may not be added to the catalog, but this brings me to tell you this good news.

Since Grandia 1 is added to the catalog while I heard it is getting a remaster in a collection with Grandia 2, I see a good chance that the PS1 releases of Crash and Spyro games may eventually be added to the PS Plus Premium Catalog. The N. Sane and Reignited Trilogies are great, but I also want to play the original releases too because I miss the Sony Computer Entertainment America/Europe intro, the Universal Interactive Studios logo and the polygon models, hearing Crash saying "woah" often when he dies of getting burned, electrocution and when he hits TNT and Nitro crates, which is something N. Sane Trilogy doesn't have and Elora's PS1 design. I mean, Elora does look more savage in her modern design than she is in her PS1 design, but I want to see her PS1 design again.

And there's Legend of Mana on the catalog too, though it got remastered. But it makes sense for it to be added to the catalog of PS1, PS2 and PSP games along with Tales of Symphonia because these games were originally released on the first two Sony consoles. But why the heck would they had to add Secret of Mana to the catalog? It's a remake of a game originally released on the SNES, not a remaster.

PlayStation Plus Premium Catalog:

Sony has revealed the lineup of modern and classic games for March. I was browsing through them and one of them really caught my eye. Have you heard of Cool Boarders? It is an authentic snowboarding game originally released on the PS1. And it's one of the games in my wish list getting added to the catalog. This definetely deserves to be a part of Days of PlayStation Past, now called PlayStation Rewind and the name makes more sense because it points out to revisiting classic games from back in the day that are released on past PlayStation consoles and it can have both first-party and third-party games. I remember playing this game from back in the day as a kid. We can reminisce about the good old days while I play it.

I am starting to feel like 1smash18 because I am going to livestream my oldies from back in the day. I know what I said is redundant, but it's true because he played a couple of Cartoon Network browser games from back in the day, like Trick-or-Treat Beat and Samurai Jack: The Path of Destiny.

The Return of MultiVersus:

That's right. MultiVersus is back after a long hiatus since the Open Beta was closed. They had to close the Open Beta because they need to have a clearer view of a content cadence of new characters, new stages, new game modes and better netcode and matchmaking for launch. The new characters remain a mystery, so we don't know who they are. During the course of the game's hiatus, Tony Huynh and his friends at Player First Games have been working their butts off on making MultiVersus the AAA game it deserved to be.

At launch, MultiVersus has moved to Unreal Engine 5 to improve visuals and character lighting and I know you loved those as I do. Just look at the lighting. It looks so real. The gameplay footages you see on the launch monologue are development footages that do not reflect the final product. Everything is subject to change before launch. The trailer has confirmed the launch date of MultiVersus. May 29th is when the game fully launches. I want it to be a bit sooner than this, but this gives them ample time to give the game a lot of work that needs to be done and reveal what new characters are they adding at launch.

Conclusion:

This wraps up today's update. With MultiVersus launching in two months, your favorite WB characters return for some butt kicking action. And since Cool Boarders is coming to the PS Plus Premium catalog, I am in for a chilly and nostalgic ride.

SG X BBTAG Update #8

Hello, everyone. I am back with another Skullgirls X BBTAG update. This one is gonna be exciting as you're about to get into a learning curve today with the 21st character in their BBTAG palette you're about to see. Let's get right into the update now.

You guessed it right. Mrs. Victoria is the 21st Skullgirls character in her BBTAG palette of Elizabeth. Battle Hymn of the Soul is deemed to actually be a perfect theme for her and making an Elizabeth palette would be the cherry on top. A gray space was added to reserve a spot for the 22nd BBTAG palette.

Mrs. Victoria is now on my separate Twitch channel's offline loading screen.

Since I am on the point where I can spoil everything, I decided to keep it on the current period. Now, if Mrs. Victoria doesn't get her Elizabeth period, it will stay on this palette pack.

All rows have been filled out as Mrs. Victoria is located after Filia to be faithful with the order of character introductions on the Persona 4 Arena palettes. This will last until a 22nd BBTAG palette that is either a BlazBlue palette or a P4A palette is on there. The UNI palettes have reached the end and there won't be any more of them.

Repositioned the portraits on my fanmade character select screen and removed the random character selection in the process of repositioning the portraits. The portrait of Mrs. Victoria in her Elizabeth palette is on the top left corner.

This wraps up the post of the Skullgirls X BBTAG update series. But that will not stop here. More BBTAG palettes are coming your way, so stay tuned for them.

Joe's Monologues - 2/29/24

Hello, everyone. KnockDownJoe here and welcome to the final episode of Joe's Monologues of February. Today is a leap day because this is a leap year that happens every four years to add an extra 29th day of February. The previous one became the worst one because of that dang pandemic that spiraled out of madness.

Before I get started, I have a new format that can list what things I'm gonna talk about in this post. Here are the topics I'm gonna talk about in this introduction.

-Crash Team Rumble
-SEGA vs. CAPCOM: The Next Level
-More on Video Game Remasters
-PlayStation's Mass Layoffs
-Mightykeef's Upcoming EVO Skit

These are the topics that I'm gonna talk about today in this post. Enough intro, so let's dive right in.

Crash Team Rumble:

In the day before yesterday, I did part one of the special session where I can play as only Spyro characters in their default skin. What really interested me is that one of the players just getting my butt kicked several times in a row with the Tawna when I was trying to score the last set of Wumpa to win. But thank frick that I finally broken that killstreak and won that match as a cherry on top. You know how strategic I am with that crap, man. I was playing as Spyro on that match. The one match is not the only thing that surprised me. The enemy team hadn't scored a single Wumpa and we achieved a flawless victory against them on that match. It's because we were keeping the enemy team from scoring for the rest of the match.

Again, I left off with part one, which is playing as Spyro characters in their default skin, so later, I'm gonna go do same thing, but they will be wearing any skin, including recolors for part two. The list randomizer has determined that Elora goes first, then Spyro, and then Ripto, so I should be able to remember the order. It's even the fact that seeing the forest at my old stomping grounds made me think of Elora and it can be true to that because she is one with the powers of nature and healing and retains a lot of that charm. I think I am starting to pull a 1smash18 here.

I am hyped to see what Season 4 has in store for me. But apparently, it has come to my attention that a news feed popped up and stated that there is a final update coming in March 4th. This gives us a completely free 500-tiered Battle Pass that contains new and old rewards from Season 1 to Season 3 and past events for everyone to grind and Crash Coin purchases will turn off on that time. After that, development on Crash Team Rumble will cease.

I'll tell you what this means. There won't be any future Seasons. This means that there won't be any future Heroes, Powers and maps. This also means that I won't be expecting Bianca to make her debut. We have ended up with 13 Heroes and ten Powers, so it is gonna be like this forever. Unless if they plan to make a Crash Team Rumble 2 to have future maps, Heroes and Powers, but must be free-to-play and I plan to make a wish list for it.

However, that news won't stop me. I am still doing part two of my special session in a later date and it will be on stream. The show must go on, folks.

SEGA vs. CAPCOM: The Next Level:

The demo of the game has dropped recently. Madxruler did a great job developing their fan game. I played the demo and I am loving every second of it. Sonic and X are only available in this one I downloaded. Turns out that you can go 2v1 and can set the number of rounds on both Tag Mode and on Solo Mode like in Skullgirls. While I loved every second of it, the game didn't run well on this laptop I am currently using. It's the same thing I encountered on my Steam games. What can remedy that is getting a gaming laptop. But this is the first demo, so subsequent demos will come and they got to add a visual effect for when X is charging his buster and recovery animations. Plus that character select theme slaps that I was looking at Skullgirls' character select screen containing a full cast of 18 characters during the Season 1 Pass period.

They are now working on the next pair of characters, Akira Yuki from the Virtua Fighter franchise and Ryu from the Street Fighter franchise. Their basic movement is finished, so what's left are their attacks ranging from normals to hypers.

More on Video Game Remasters:

If you read the previous post, I told you about video game remasters. They are types of games that are faithful to the original releases' story and gameplay, but have better fidelity. The era when the PS4, Xbox One and Switch release marks the start of developing remasters. After I learned about remasters being faithful to the original releases' gameplay and story, they are also faithful to their charming environment despite them having better elements ranging from visuals to lighting.

It is kind of the fact that the PS3 having a unique structure is the reason why the modern Sony consoles weren't able to achieve full PlayStation backwards compatibility and that's why we had to stick with playing remasters. I don't think it's bullcrap, but remasters retain a charming environment original releases have.

PlayStation's Mass Layoffs:

I heard PlayStation has announced a reduction on their workspace recently. 900 jobs have been cut. If it's bad enough, Sony's London has been shut down in its entirety and several first-party games that were in development have been cancelled in light of this case, including the unannounced online only Twisted Metal game that uses live services by Firesprite. That game was early in development and it was cancelled in light of the reduction as Firesprite got affected by the impact. Other big studios among the PlayStation portfolio got affected, including Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games, developers that developed Crash and Spyro games on the PS1. That is not good.

But there is one good thing that came out of this. A Horizon online game is still in the works as Guerilla is still on track despite their reduction. They seem to be going strong. Now, I am kind of interested in an online game based on the Horizon universe, even though I never played the franchise. That reduction has shocked us. It is horrible. That reduction will not stop them. They announced March's lineup of monthly games that are available in all three tiers. In the later date in March, the additions to the Extra and Premium catalogs will be announced. I hope it has good additions. I will not let that reduction stop me from playing classic games. The show must go on.

MightyKeef's Upcoming EVO Skit:

The moment is upon us. Mightykeef is in the middle of working on an EVO skit. He announced it and I am looking forward to see how it unfolds since we have eight games on this year's EVO like last year's. Last year's didn't get uploaded, but this year's will be uploaded for sure. It's gonna be explosive because a new Street Fighter, a new Tekken and a new Mortal Kombat are on the lineup, as well as anime fighting games that go to their next installment. If Smash Ultimate is on the skit, there's no telling how emotional it will be since it didn't make it to EVO for the third year in a row. But that's not the reason why we are getting eight games in the lineup. This might deserve the Johnny Test Seal of Approval.

Conclusion:

And this wraps up today's post of my monologues and this is the final blog post of the series of this month as we are going into March tomorrow and it turns out that several things I am waiting for, like MultiVersus' return for its full release, Marie, SSF2 Beta v1.3.2, Nidra and Baihe might be happening well in March. You have a wonderful day. Also, you might want to brace yourselves for the big crap coming at you on social media...

Thoughts on Video Game Remasters

Okay, so I want to get this off my chest, that I want to monologue about video game remasters. I originally said that remasters kill the charm the original releases have because of better elements and they plaster logos of defunct video game companies and old logos of existing video game companies with existing logos, but after learning about them being faithful to the original games' story and gameplay, I was wrong to think that they kill the charm with improved visuals and better lighting because I learned that they are also faithful to their charming environment used in 6th generation-era games, so they still count as oldies despite them being remastered to have improved visuals and better lighting and they will still be a part of Days of PlayStation Past. It's not the fact that the old songs my parents grew up on that got remastered still count as oldies. That's the example of remasters.

There was a point in time when I came across a black guy who spoke of full backwards compatibility on the PS5. I watched the whole thing and I was shocked about it. Especially the remastering engine, which can remaster any classic game that uses standard definition without killing the charm. Mark Cerny has hosted a special monologue where he monologues the specifications of the PS5. What got me is the backwards compatibility part. I saw the PS4 logo, but not those for previous systems. They haven't said anything yet since I saw space.

We were waiting if the PS5 can actually support full backwards compatibility, until Jim Ryan has confirmed that the PS5 can actually only play PS4 games through backwards compatibility and also added that the PS3's architecture makes it so. That's why we had to stick with playing our remasters of games that are originally released on the past Sony consoles. Especially the first three Crash and Spyro games that got fully remastered to have better visuals and better lighting, but they retain a charming environment. Most notably, the goddesses in subsequent Spyro games released on the PS1 that are the Sally Acorn and Bunnie Rabbot of Spyro remain charming despite having better visuals and better lighting. But the only thing among them that I'll miss seeing forever is the Sony Computer Entertainment America/Europe presents tagline and the Universal Interactive logo. I bought the PS4 version of the two remastered trilogies to maintain the nostalgia.

There was another point in time when I was playing PS1 releases of Crash and Spyro games on the PS3. That's when the PS1 releases get playable on the PSP, PS3 and PSVita. I felt that nostalgia. And now, since their original games got fully remastered to have better resolution, better visuals and better lighting and are compiled in a trilogy, they might instead be added to the PS Plus Premium catalog like others. Some of them PS3s are backwards compatible to PS1 games while some of them are backwards compatible to PS2 games. But none of the PS3s are backwards compatible to both PS1 and PS2 games and that's what makes the PS3's architecture so hard to work with as it contains a unique structure and that is the main reason why the PS4 couldn't play PS3 games. Not even the PS4 Pro. That's why they started developing remasters during the modern era.

After hearing Jim confirming that the PS5 can actually play only PS4 games, I was looking at the cases of Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro: Reignited Trilogy in sadness that I miss the polygon models I won't be able to embrace again anytime soon. I gotta admit though. Their games do look insane as heck as they gotten modern visuals and fidelity. They are available on all platforms, but I bought the PS4 versions to pay homage to the original trilogies that got stunning new animations and graphics and retain the nostalgia.

Learning about remasters being faithful to the original releases' story, gameplay and charm has given me the liberty of adding Ty the Tasmanian Tiger to my PlayStation oldies as it will be a part of Days of PlayStation Past, along with its sequel, which I plan to buy, but won't play it until I beat the first game despite the fact that they got remastered. From the looks of it, I heard Shazza is the Elora of the franchise and it's more action-packed than the original and that's gonna be on my wish list for Spyro 4. It's also to better support his debut to Crash Team Rumble. So I am working on two dream logo combos, one consisting of Activision, Krome Studios, FMOD and Unreal Engine and the other consisting of EA Games, Sierra Entertainment and Krome Studios.

I guess it's for the better since I heard full PlayStation backwards compatibility could take up a lot of memory and I am inclined to agree with that statement. One of the articles stated that we don't expect any of the modern Sony consoles to play PS3 games anytime soon. But PS Plus Premium has given us access to playing classics, so who needs full PlayStation backwards compatibility when we have PS Plus Premium?

But the Xbox side of things is not the case because after I heard the Xbox Series X/S supports full Xbox backwards compatibility, the Xbox 360 has a straightforward architecture to get to the original Xbox. That's why the Xbox One X can play Xbox 360 and original Xbox games. Xbox fans can play both classic games and remasters of Xbox classics as a difference maker. I know already said this before, but I just want to inform you this, lest you get out of the loop. In fact, there is a Redneck Pudding video that has that part where he plays LEGO Star Wars on the Xbox One. It's facts.

While PS Plus Premium given us the power to revist classics, remasters are also added to the catalog of PS1, PS2 and PSP games, like Tales of Symphonia, originally released on the PS2, got a remaster, but still having that charm despite that among Ty the Tasmanian Tiger and others. But if Tales of Symphonia got a remaster and it is under the PS1, PS2 and PSP tab, should it also be under the remasters tab?

I know some people like to purchase the Premium tier to play classic games. But I prefer to buy them so that I can play them 24/7. I can't wait to see what March's additions are. I hope it involves a couple of classics I played before and the ones I never played or adding a remaster of a PS1 or PS2 classic. I want to see the Simpsons: Hit & Run get added to the PS Plus Premium catalog. I was playing it at my old stomping grounds when I was a teen. I told my brother and my dad about it and I liked the mission failed screen having the traffic part. Great game. I kind of want to see this get remastered, but Fox Interactive is no longer around and there has not been a new game based on one of Fox's animated shows.

Also, I think there is a consipiracy under the remakes part. Here, let's take Secret of Mana for example. It is an RPG game that was originally released on the SNES and it got a remake. But why the heck would they add Secret of Mana to the library of PS1, PS2 and PSP games? This is a remake of an RPG game originally released on the SNES, not a remaster and this does not count as a classic, so why add that? There is no reason to put Secret of Mana under the classics catalog when it is a remake that DOES NOT count as an oldie. Remakes are redesigns to video games. There is no purpose to this. It should be on the catalog of PS4 and PS5 games because Trials of Mana is on there.

Some existing companies had to add new content on remasters to meet up with the modern era. And then, the part when Activision fully remastered the first two Tony Hawk's games originally on the 5th generation-era systems is a miracle. Because when a 5th generation-era game gets fully remastered, there are improvements to visuals, better framerate, better resolution, better lighting and integrated menu. And sometimes better quality to the original music, which Crash and Spyro games have.

This is something that I want to get off my chest that after learning about remasters being faithful to the original story and gameplay, they are also faithful to the old-school charm despite having better resolutions, better lighting, better framerate and better visuals. There is a remaster of a classic game in the works and it is slated to release in two days. If any of the classics get remastered to be on modern consoles, the original releases will not be added to the classics catalog. Instead, remasters will be added as they are the same game, but with better elements.