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. 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 part 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 now that the Season 1 Pass is complete, the process of updating all of Valentine's crosses continues and 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 by Insomniac Games like Crash Bandicoot 4 is or a reboot. We know one thing for sure. Since I heard Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time became on par with Naughty Dog's original trilogy and fixed plot holes created by previous games, Spyro 4 could also fix plot holes created by previous Spyro games, like Elora not being in Enter the Dragonfly or any other games and so on. 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 from Sonic Frontiers and Jak and Daxter with portals leading to Speedway levels and Orbs from Spyro 2 to progress through the story, but with different colors varying by element 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.

The Finish Line Has Been Crossed

I have no freaking words to say this. I am so dang speechless. I have no words on how I get to the point in time when I became dedicated to unlocking things. Between you and me, unlocking everything is key to making real fun happen. This makes me a pro of unlocking things. It's called dedication. I only play Competitive rounds to earn badges to unlock Heroes and Powers, not to win or lose. It's called playing Competitive for fun purposes.

Now, I am glad that I have officially unlocked every Hero and Power on Crash Team Rumble to cross the finish line. In fact, I was able to unlock every last one of them before the Super Bowl. I can watch it with a clear mind now that I have access to every Hero and Power. But for the remainder of Season 3 because more Heroes and Powers are coming in future Seasons. Going forward, I will unlock them during their Early Access as long as I am an active PS Plus member because without it, I can't play since it is online only and not free-to-play. I plan to get the Steam version of Crash Team Rumble since I am getting a gaming computer with a good amount of hertz if they ever port it to Steam so that a paid membership wouldn't be required to do online multiplayer since Steam versions offer free online multiplayer on both paid and free games. But I don't have that kind of money yet.

What really surprised me is that I came across a very formidable enemy team on that match. They got the P on me that I couldn't even score a single Wumpa. They got the best of me. I have came such a flawless enemy team that got the flawless victory, in a Mortal Kombat way. Good stuff.

Another thing that also surprised me is that I was going to town with Elora on that match. She is literally kicking some serious butt with them hooves. Especially that single combat moment of Elora vs. Tawna. It was pretty dang outrageous that Elora is the Reina from Tekken 8 while Tawna is the Chun-Li from Street Fighter II of Crash Team Rumble. Their combat is A-tier and it's old-fashioned violence. Good crap. This really given me some Gormiti vibes too. This can anticipate this year's EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan. There's Tekken 8, there's Street Fighter 6 and other great fighting games on both of the events. Except for one game only in EVO Las Vegas, which is Mortal Kombat 1, and that is because it's a fighting game franchise big in the West.

In honor of unlocking Ripto to cross the finish line on the Heroes department, I will be doing a special session where I can play as only Spyro characters and I will be livestreaming all of it. But this will be divided into two parts below.

Part 1: Play as Spyro characters in their default skins.

Part 2: Play as Spyro characters in any skin, including recolors.

This is also to encourage my support for Spyro 4, the fourth Spyro character for Crash Team Rumble (preferably Bianca), a live action film adaptation to star Chris Pratt as Spyro, Jim Carrey as Ripto and Brie Larson as Elora, who might appear in the post-credits scene to indicate that she will be featured in the sequel and for Sony to add not only Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, but also Spyro: A Hero's Tail to the classics catalog. The fourth thing may not seem to count as a desired thing, but it does because Activision may not remaster them when we want Spyro 4 to happen. Not realizing that SEGA wouldn't be a part of.

Now, let me tell you this. There was a point in time when I was a teenager, right? There was a point in time when I was a teenager, I was playing Spyro: A Hero's Tail and I was throwing tantrums every time I fail. I was struggling on the level where I had to deal with wizards. I couldn't stop throwing tantrums until I got me some Sierra Mist to calm my nerves down. I was 13 years old on that time and that applies to the situation I came across at my middle school. I just can't stop remembering that part.

And there was another point of time before this case I mentioned when I played the original release of Spyro: Year of the Dragon on the PS1. Bianca was keeping Spyro from collecting the dragon eggs, until she found the truth that the Sorceress is really using the power to kill baby dragons. That's when Bianca has gone to crap to help Spyro instead. Same with the Reignited Trilogy. This case is why I want Bianca to be the fourth Spyro character to make her debut to Crash Team Rumble so that she can meet up with Elora for the first time because she never met her in any of the Spyro games and she could be a Booster like Ripto, who I was able to unlock. This is something that Spyro 4 should have.

And this reminds me. I was watching some Tekken 8 action played on Frosty Faustings. Tasty Steve mentioned about Spyro to the co commentator who has Spyro in his screen name. That's what got me that he was also dealing with wizards. That's a Cinderella story I will never forget. But Nickelodeon? I thought it was SEGA.

Alright, folks, I present to you my random wheel containing dim portraits with the progression bar of my Hero mains in Crash Team Rumble. They are Tawna, Spyro, Ripper Roo, Elora, Dr. Neo Cortex and Ripto. There are currently six of them, two on each class, though the progression bar remains on each. But this might work out. This is gonna help me decide which Hero to play. I have two methods in using the wheel below.

Method 1: Play a match with the landed Hero. Then give the previously landed Hero a rest for one match and play the next match with next landed Hero.

Method 2: Play several matches with the landed Hero. Then give the previously landed Hero a rest and play the next several matches with the next landed Hero.

I can also use this wheel for Party Mode, but in select games, such as Get Lit!, Dig It!, What's Juicin'? and What's Cookin'?. This wheel will be updated to have more Heroes I found fun to play. The only best thing about this is that I have every Spyro character on my wheel as they are fun to play and it's to better support everything on all things Spyro the Dragon. I won't be needing the wheel during my Spyro characters only session. Instead, I can use the list randomizer.

In conclusion, the real fun starts now that I have access to all Heroes and all Powers, but for the remainder of Season 3 because there will be more of them in future Seasons. I am looking forward to find out what will Season 4 have in store for me. I hope they added a Custom Game mode when it comes to esports.

Joe's Monologues - 2/8/24

Hello, everyone, KnockDownJoe here and welcome to the first episode of Joe's Monologues of February. Valentine's Day is fast approaching. So is the Super Bowl LVIII. These are not the ones that I'm gonna talk about today. I have a couple of things that I want to monologue today, including the one that interests me, so let's get right into them.

Crash Team Rumble:

So we'll start with the elephant in the room, which is my experience with playing Crash Team Rumble. I was playing some Competitive matches, not only the day before yesterday, but also the past weeks. I am on the verge on unlocking Heroes and Powers. I had a lot of fun kicking some butt and scoring Wumpa. And now where it stands, I have unlocked all of the powers just by donating Common and Epic Relic Stations and unlocked more Heroes by collecting certain badges. I also earned enough Relic Assist badges to unlock Spyro, yet I have already unlocked him during his Early Access. It has to be a bug that occured when I collected enough badges to unlock the Hero I have already unlocked during their Early Access. I was even able to win that match, become Top Performer and unlock N-Gin as a cherry on top before the EVO 2024 Announcement Show, which I'll tell you about later. That's the wild way to wrap things up.

I have crossed the finish line on the Powers department. And now, there is only one Hero left to unlock, which is Ripto. I earned 32 Assist badges so far and I am 18 away from unlocking him, so all I got to do is focus on earning the rest of the Assist badges and I can finally unlock Ripto to cross the finish line on the Heroes department and this is gonna be my ambitious thing to complete. I plan to make a random wheel of my Hero mains in the game to help me decide which Hero to play.

After that, I'm gonna do this; the same thing 1smash18 was doing during the 9b finale of his SSF2 Let's Play Series. Play one Spyro character on each match and I can use the list randomizer to help me decide the order of Spyro characters to play on Practice Match in a Spyro map as a celebration for unlocking Ripto to cross the finish line. But if I lose, I can't move on to the next Spyro character until I win a match. Then phase two will be playing only Spyro characters on Competitive on the next session after this one and all of that will be on stream. This is gonna convince Activision to make Spyro 4 and add a 4th Spyro character to the game. Preferably Bianca. Emphasis on "4th" because Spyro 4 needs to happen and a 4th Spyro character needs to be on there.

You know what? I just came across something interesting. I bought Ty the Tasmanian Tiger on my PS5 the day before yesterday and played it a throwback to my childhood when I played it originally on the PS2. It is a remaster and remasters of the original releases still retain a lot of charm. But that's not the only thing that interests me. What really interests me is that Ty would also be freaking dope in Crash Team Rumble like Spyro is, along with his map since the third game of the franchise, Night of the Quinkan, was published by Activision. Showcased his abilities and I was working on a dream logo combo of Activision, Krome Studios (current logo), FMOD and Unreal Engine weirdly enough as a cherry on top, so I'm gonna do a breakdown on what will Ty bring to the table if he makes his debut to Crash Team Rumble in a future Season, his map and his release now.

Hero Breakdown:

Like Spyro, Ty is a Scorer, who excels at breaking crates and scoring Wumpa to charge Power faster. He'll be capable of scoring Wumpa for the ally team.

Now for part two of the Hero Breakdown, abilities. The Primary Attack button allows Ty to throw one of his regular boomerangs. Pressing the Primary Attack button again allows him to throw his second boomerang. He will throw his boomerangs again if one of them is in his posession. Ty can glide by pressing the Jump button while in mid-air. Note that Ty must have two boomerangs in his possession to glide. Ty's Chomp is performed using the Secondary Attack button. Aerial Chomp is performed with the Secondary Attack button while in mid-air. His Super Chomp is performed with holding the Secondary Attack button. This only works when he is on the ground. And finally, Ty's Special is his Thunderangs. Note that Ty must have two boomerangs in his possession in order for it to work.

And since Ty's boomerangs are his weapon, they can be customizable to have various skins, but not from his games because changing appearances does not give the team an advantage.

Map Breakdown:

Ty's map is Rainbow Cliffs, a first home world where the first Ty the Tasmanian Tiger game takes place at, like the Artisans World from Spyro the Dragon and Summer Forest from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!. Like the Spyro maps, which uses gems, Rainbow Cliffs will use Opals instead of Wumpa Fruit and use containers that contain Opals. The Common Relic Stations can yield Talismans with powers while a Epic Relic Station can activate Bunyip Elder to grant the ally team knockback resistance.

Release Breakdown:

Like other Heroes, Ty will have both his Early Access and Full Release. During the Ty Early Access, there are Rainbow Scales scattered across each map on both Competitive and Party Mode. Collect the first three Rainbow Scales and Ty will be unlocked permanently. Collecting more of them rewards you exclusive rewards. If you don't unlock him during his Early Access, you'll have to wait until his Full Release to unlock him, by earning Hunter badges, similar to unlocking Elora.

Hero Badge:

Each Hero has their own Hero Badge, like if you're Elora, you can heal allies within range 100 HP with a single Heal Aura to earn the Heal Deal badge. But Ty has his own Hero Badge called Walk in the Park, which is earned by killing an enemy Hero on the team bank with Super Chomp.

And this is the breakdown on how will Ty bring to the table if he makes his debut to Crash Team Rumble. You're gonna love it.

EVO 2024:

The EVO 2024 Announcement Show went live two days ago and Vicious and Majinobama were hosts of the show. Before I get to the announced games, changes are coming to EVO this year. This year and beyond, EVO is migrating from Mandalay Bay to a new venue in Las Vegas, the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center where everything is more spacious and bigger than what Mandalay Bay has to offer. Bigger BYOC and everything else that is bigger than before to make lines shorter. It is indeed big and that's what the key the mayor of Nevada offered the Cannon brothers is for. EVO has a YouTube channel named EvoFGC. Go check out their channel over on YouTube and give them 100,000 subscribers so that they can be eligible for their Silver Play Button.

What really interests me is that the finals of all games is gonna be played at the Arena on all three days. That's another improvement over EVO's Mandalay Bay-era. This year's EVO is gonna be a blockbuster, folks, as its West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center-era is gonna be a huge improvement, that the big screen with better lighting will contain reveals, finals will take place at the Arena in all eight games during both Saturday and Sunday, and more changes.

And now, on to the games they announced for this year's lineup.

Street Fighter 6 - This has the most signups last year and that's why it had to be played last in the Sunday Arena Finals. I called this one and it is also being played at EVO Japan. AngryBird became the first champion of this game at EVO, so kudos to him. We are gonna see it again this year. Ed is coming out this month and he will be tournament legal in EVO. As for Akuma, we don't know when he will come out.

Tekken 8 - I also called this one because we know that this game is gonna be in the lineup. I heard it looks mesmerizing. Like even Reina is mad dope and it's not just because she is a Mishima. It's also because she is licensed to kick a lot of butt like Elora is. Maybe I should main her. The only thing about this is that this is the first game to not have an arcade release and to not have Heihachi Mishima in the roster because as Raven said in the Story Trailer; Heihachi Mishima is dead. This is something we can experience both at EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan.

Mortal Kombat 1 - The gory fighting game series is going to the New Era as this is its first time making its debut at EVO. I was able to watch the whole MK11 finals to see how it unfolded. It was incredible, but what I don't like is the Fujin mirror match. And now, kombatants are shifting to the New Era crafted by Fire God Liu Kang so that no realms would be consigned to endless wars. Peacemaker from DC is set to come out this month and he will be legal for sure. However, because this is a fighting game big in the West, it will not be seen on EVO Japan.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising - It is a sequel to the original Granblue Fantasy Versus that has new content and this is the first time making its debut to the big show. The skybound clash continues both in EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan.

Guilty Gear Strive - Last year, Leffen, legendary Smash player won last year's EVO. He Strive to Smash his way to win two different titles at EVO. That's my quip as to when he won EVO in both Smash and Strive. And this one is gonna be in both EVO Las Vegas for third time and in EVO Japan for the second time. A third encore is being rocked.

The King of Fighters XV - The first time this one made its debut to EVO is that it made it to the Sunday Arena Finals to start things off. And now, it is coming for the third time at EVO and it's also gonna be played at EVO Japan. And players are stoked to Shatter All Expectations.

Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes - It is the first numbered sequel that is the final chapter to end all Hollow Nights. Back in 2019, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] made its debut and we get a trailer about UNICLR. I can see how strongly agreeing with Cerebella's Mika palette and Marie's Orie palette would have its perks. This is the first time we're seeing it in action on both EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan.

Street Fighter III: Third Strike - nearly 22 years ago, this iconic classic fighting game made its debut at EVO. This energized the FGC in the past EVOs from back in the dat. There was one iconic moment when Daigo was parrying all of Justin's moves and he finished it all after that. This is how it all started. And now, where it stands, it is coming this year as a throwback tournament on both EVO and EVO Japan and we are seeing it again this year, but in 4K if they have Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection.

These are all of the games in this year's lineup that will be played. We got all seven games that are on this year's lineup for EVO we are gonna see on this year's EVO Japan first, but as I said before, Mortal Kombat 1 is not in the Japanese event because it is a fighting game franchise that is big in the West like Killer Instinct. Turns out that there are eight games like last year. I am expecting a Mightykeef skit about this and it is gonna be explosive as Street Fighter 6 is being played again like last year, Tekken 7 has migrated to Tekken 8, Mortal Kombat 11 has migrated to Mortal Kombat 1, the vanilla Granblue Fantasy: Versus has migrated to Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising and so on. Last year's wasn't even posted and I was disappointed, so this year must be posted.

EVO 2022 is the most hype. What makes it so is that Skullgirls has made its debut as a mainstage game and revealing Marie is the cherry on top. I have already got her Orie palette settled, so the only thing left is her full release. It's the first time in a while since 2017 when it was a side event. I have never felt this emotional in that point of time.

Now, tickets are on sale and they are on the Early Bird Registration, so you got plenty of time to register. EVO starts earlier than before as it is gonna go live July 19-21 because of the new venue they are moving to. But this is only part one. The community showcase and everything else aren't revealed yet.

Conclusion:

This has been the first episode of the Joe's Monologues series of February. I did a breakdown on how will Ty perform on Crash Team Rumble, I am closer to crossing the finish line on the Heroes department and EVO Las Vegas is undergoing a lot of big changes as it is shifting from Mandalay Bay to the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center where everything is more spacious and the event will unfold differently as the finals of each game will be played at the Arena on Saturday and Sunday and the showcase will take place at the stage with better lighting. Here's to a wonderful 2024.

Joe's Monologues - 1/24/24

It's that time yet again. Welcome to the next episode of Joe's Monologues in the New Year. I have a couple of things to talk about, so let's dive right in.

SMITE World Championship Season X:

Eight teams, the Styx Ferrymen, Atlantis Leviathans, Oni Warriors, Jade Dragons, Solar Scarabs, Highland Ravens, Hex Mambo and the reigning champs, Camelot Kings have all qualified for Worlds. At the end during the quarterfinals, the Ferrymen, Dragons, Leviathans and Warriors have made it into the semi finals and one cycle has been broken, that we got a game three between the Atlantis Leviathans and Hex Mambo.

Rolling back to the first semifinals match, the Ferrymen won the first two games and the Dragons follow up to win the next two set of games. And in the end, the Jade Dragons did a reverse sweep against the Styx Ferrymen. That's probably history at Arlington, Texas right there. And finally, there is the match between the Atlantis Leviathans and the Oni Warriors. The Warriors were keeping their undefeated run going. It is Genetics' Warriors-era and he remained undefeated as they moved to fight the Dragons in Grand Finals. So there was Grand Finals between the Jade Dragons and the Oni Warriors and this paves the way for new World Champions.

This is the only iconic matchup we've seen often throughout the course of Season X and they have gone up against each other in each Grand Finals of the Kickoff Tournament. It is like a picnic, though and that's a Maggie and the Ferocious Beast story we experienced. The Grand Finals of Season X World became longer than the one in Season 9 Worlds. It's because the Dragons won the first two games. Then the Warriors won the next two games. So in the end, the curse has finally broken as the Jade Dragons finally kicked the Oni Warriors' butts and won Season X Worlds as a cherry on top. This makes it true that 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. This is the Year of the Jade Dragons, folks!

This could be the final SMITE World Championship before SMITE 2, a sequel to the successive third-person action MOBA that uses UE5. It was announced during their Keynote. Alpha releases in March. The Year 11 patch just dropped today and it now uses Cross-Gen Passes. SMITE 2 may be a sequel, but SMITE 1 isn't going anywhere and it will continue to receive updates for the forseeable future and skins you get in SMITE 1 will also be available to equip in SMITE 2.

Crash and Spyro History and Beyond:

Alright, so you know how Mario and Sonic had a history? Well, this is not the only rivalry the video game industry experienced. There is another rivalry between Crash and Spyro. Their first three regular games were released on the PS1 and were PlayStation exclusives, until they went third-party for their games to release on the multiple platforms beyond PlayStation. They were released by Universal Interactive Studios on that time, and that's one of the defunct game companies.

There were the Wrath of Cortex and Enter the Dragonfly. I heard they turned out to be a fail despite their charming environment their games have beared. They are both on my wish list of classics I want for PS Plus Premium. And I expect it to count as a charming thing. And then, their games that don't involve lives release next.. On that time, they were released by Sierra Entertainment, another defunct video game company. All of their games on the 6th generation-era have a lot of charm. Especially the ones that switch universes.

Then there were three Spyro games that is a reboot. The third and final one was released by Activision, along with Crash: Mind Over Mutant. It's a step forward to the modern-era when the first Crash and Spyro games originally released on the PS1 get a remaster on the 8th generation-era of gaming. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time was announced to be a sequel to Crash Bandicoot: Warped, but they still haven't announced a Spyro 4 yet and it is supposed to be a sequel to Spyro: Year of the Dragon. Then there is a 4v4 game called Crash Team Rumble. There are Spyro characters on it and Elora is officially released recently and I am on the source of earning assist badges to unlock Ripto. I hope this convinces Activison to make Spyro 4, but Elora has to be playable too on it because she is a savage faun that can shoot tornadoes with her kicks. It needs to happen. Perhaps I should call it Elora: Renegade Faun.

I have been grinding my Battle Pass to get more rewards on Party Mode and I was about to play some Competitive rounds off stream, but I wasn't ready yet, until I realized that I can switch sides. If I lose with the team that sucks balls, I can switch over to another one that doesn't suck. I think I'm ready to do some Competitive soon, but the Summer Forest event is gonna expire and I know I may not have enough time to get all of the rewards and I'm still on the verge of unlocking Heroes. I was pulling a 1smash18 when I get on the verge of unlocking things. I was able to unlock Spyro and Elora by collecting Dragon Eggs and Avalarian Leaves. They are the Sonic and Sally of Spyro, though. So for Mightykeef's sake, kicking butt is the way.

Now, when I do Competitive on Crash Team Rumble, I don't play just to win or lose. I also play to have fun. And having fun also means earning the corresponding badges to unlock Heroes and Powers. And since I am five Booster badges away from unlocking Dr. Neo Cortex, who is a Booster, I'll play the first few rounds with Coco because she is a Booster who excels at capturing Gems and activating Relic Stations and pairs of Relics are only on the Boosters' perspective. Then I can shift my focus to earning Blocker badges to unlock Dr. N. Tropy and Ripper Roo. Once I do, my next focus is earning Saboteur badges to unlock N-Gin and earning KO and Relic Assist badges to unlock Ripto. After that is having fun.

This is the fact that Crash and Spyro games have a lot of charm during the 6th generation era of gaming. I got them on my wish list, but after some thought, I learned that after they put remasters in the PS Plus Premium catalog, like Secret of Mana, I don't think it's possible for the PS1 releases of Crash and Spyro to be added to the catalog. Instead, their remasters can be added and they lack a lot of charm the original releases have. Mightykeef's video about how remasters killed the charm says it all. Don't get me wrong. I do like remasters, but I prefer to play the original releases since they have more charm.

That pretty much stops the history of Crash and Spyro here as I monologued what they had to offer. That's not all. There is a thin line between the rivalries. Mario and Sonic recently have their games came out. Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Sonic Superstars are the recent games rivals have. SEGA has released their open zone game that is Spyro, but with Sonic. But minus Sally Acorn because SEGA doesn't want to make any more Sonic games that take place in the SatAM universe. It's the best universe I loved so much. The third season of the show is in the works too as they are nearing the finish line of the animation phase.

But then, I realized something. Sally is not the only character who didn't get enough love because I also found that Elora too didn't get enough love as well and that's why she doesn't appear in many Spyro games. I can see a thin line between Sally and Elora, whose destiny is unknown and we know how the gaming ecosystem works. But no, Sally only appeared in one Sonic game, which is Sonic Spinball. It took place at the SatAM universe. They probably didn't know it exists.

Conclusion:

This wraps up this episode of Joe's Monologues, so in conclusion, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon for the Jade Dragons to win Worlds as a cherry on top. You have a wonderful day.

An Idea of an Online 5v5 Mario Game

You all know that the Mario universe had his blockbuster movie, RPG, sports games, racing games and party games. But the franchise is missing one thing and that is an online team game. The Sonic universe has an open zone game that is Spyro the Dragon, but with Sonic characters, so I think it's time that the Mario universe gets a third-person online 5v5 game that is Crash Team Rumble, but with Mario characters and it has to be completely free-to-play on Switch and a future Nintendo console potentially called Switch 2 with crossplay and cross-progression between them to so that everyone can play this game, including those without a Nintendo Switch Online membership. I originally want it to be 4v4, but decided to make it 5v5 instead to make a healthy composition.

I want this to be announced at E3, but since it is dead because of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic and not Geoff Keighley, I want this to be announced at their future Nintendo Direct, the Summer Game Fest or on MAR10 Day. I told you about it in an episode of Joe's Monologues, so I'm gonna start from the very beginning and fully explain the meta for a desired dream online 5v5 Mario game to be called Super Mario Team Arena and that's what the online 5v5 Mario game is gonna be called.

Seasons:

First off, I'll start with talking about the game idea's cadence of Seasons. A new Season releases every nine weeks. Each new Season has a content cadence of a new Battle Pass, three new Heroes, two new maps, balance changes, limited time events, etc. On the fifth week on each Season, there will be mid-season balance changes.

Development Phases:

Some free-to-play game use four phases and an idea of a team-based Mario game I want can be developed into four phases below.

Pre-Alpha - Work is being done on the game, but not yet ready for public release.

Alpha - The game is publicly available and starts out with ten starting Heroes, but to get it, players must either enter their email and choose which Nintendo console to play on the website or purchase one of the Founder's Packs. Once the time when the game gets into Alpha, codes get sent out and they can redeem it on the Nintendo eShop.

Beta - After the Alpha phase is complete, the game enters its Beta phase with 22 Heroes and is available for everyone to download on the eShop, but needs a lot of tuning.

Official Launch - The game is fully tuned and launched with all of the bells and whistles and 28 Heroes.

During the pre-release phases, bugs will occur and some functions may not work properly like it should. New Heroes and maps will be added during the phases above.

Heroes:

Heroes are playable characters in online team games that have abilities. Each Hero across the Mario universe will have primary and secondary attacks and an Ultimate attack that can turn the tide of battle and use cutouts in your perspective and use a circular meter that fills up overtime when not doing anything, but fills up a bit faster by doing actions. There will be skins and emotes for each Hero. Three new Heroes get added every season, like in Crash Team Rumble and others, but they will be locked. To unlock them, there is currency called Arena Coins. They are divided into three classes like in Overwatch and Crash Team Rumble. You'll see what they are later on. Each Hero has accolades specific to them and they have challenges.

And since I monologued the pre-release phase, here are the Starting Heroes you will see during the Alpha.

Starting Heroes:

Mario
Luigi
Peach
Bowser
Yoshi
Wario
Waluigi
Daisy
Donkey Kong
Birdo

These are the Starting Heroes that will have on the start of the Alpha phase of the game. More Heroes will be added during the course of the Alpha. The reason why I wanted the number of Starting Heroes to be ten is because Ranked usually bans the option for one member of a team to pick the same Hero the member of the other team has.

Arena Coins:

It is a currency used to unlock Heroes, directly purchase skins, purchase the Premium tier of each Battle Pass and skip levels. They are earned by spending real money on the eShop and reaching certain levels.

Founder's Packs:

I mentioned Founder's Packs on the point when I mention development phases, so I am gonna give you what benefits each of the three Founder's Packs comes with.

Mushroom Pack - Offers access to all Heroes, forever, full game access, exclusive avatar and title and an Epic skin for Mario. - $29.99

Flower Pack - Offers all benefits of the Mushroom Pack, 500 Arena Coins, exclusive emotes for the first 10 Heroes during Alpha and an Epic skin for Peach. - $59.99

Star Pack - Offers all benefits of the Flower Pack, exclusive banner and pedestal, exclusive emotes for the first 22 Heroes during Alpha and a Legendary skin for Bowser. - $99.99

These Founder's Packs will be available on the eShop during the course of the Alpha.

Maps:

There will be maps across the Mario universe, from the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond. I'll list the objectives each map will have.

Coins - They are scattered across each map, dealing damage to enemy Heroes knocks them off and they are needed to donate to their team bank. You can carry up to 120 coins.

Power Stars - Like coins, they are also scattered across each map and they can activate Powerup Stations. You can carry up to 15 Power Stars.

Team Banks - Each map has two team banks and they can convert coins into points.

Buff Points - They are capable of buffing the ally team's scoring on each map. They start out gray, but capturing them changes their color to blue or red. Capturing it gives the ally team a 25% buff and it comes with ratios of 1:3, 2:2 and 4:0 captured Buff Points. If your team manages to capture all four Buff Points, you and your allies will receive a Team Buff Frenzy, which grants total boosting to scoring intervals and coins are given every three seconds. When the team buff is expired, you have to wait until the Buff Points are available to capture again.

Stations - They are capable of causing map-specific events and each map has three Stations below.

Powerup Stations: They yield powerups to any Hero that deposits 5 Power Stars. Activating them yields a map-specific powerup to any hero.

Normal Obstacle Stations - They favor the ally team that deposits 10 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Activating them activates obstacles on the ally team's favor. They come in two stations.

Super Obstacle Stations - They favor the ally team that deposits 30 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Activating them activates game-changing obstacles on the ally team's favor.

These are the objectives each map will have. Two new maps are added every Season.

Gameplay:

The gameplay of Super Mario Team Arena is this. Each of the Mario characters are divided into two teams of five, like in every MOBA, but this is not a MOBA. The object of the game is that this is a combination of Crash Team Rumble, SMITE's Domination and Paladins' Onslaught. The first team that reaches 5,000 points wins the match. To earn points, Heroes must get kills and donate coins to their team's bank. Each kill earns you 100 points while donating coins to your team's bank converts them into points based on the amount of coins you donated.

When I said the gameplay is a combination of Crash Team Rumble, SMITE's Domination and Paladins' Onslaught, the following is below.

Part Crash Team Rumble - The first team to score 5,000 points wins. Coins and Power Stars are scattered across each map. Each map has two team banks, three stations consisting of one Powerup Station that requires 5 Power Stars and gives any Hero their powerup, one Normal Obstacle Stations that favors the ally team that deposits 10 Power Stars before the enemy team does and a Super Obstacle Station that favors the ally team that deposits 30 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Capturing a Buff Station buffs the ally team's scoring and donating converts coins into points based on the amount of coins you have. Dealing damage to the enemy knocks coins out.

Part SMITE's Domination - Capturing a Buff Point grants the ally team a boost to their scoring intervals. Capturing all four Buff Points grants Team Buff Frenzy to give the ally team coins per second and grants a total boost to their scoring intervals.

Part Paladins' Onslaught - The first team to score 5,000 points wins and each kill earns you 100 points.

Controls:

The default controls for Super Mario Team Arena are obvious below.

Jump: A
Primary Attack: B
Secondary Attack: X
Ultimate Ability: Y
Ping: R
Emote Wheel: ZR

Classes:

As said above, each Hero is divided into three classes that I will explain now.

Donator: Heroes of this class excel at breaking containers and donating coins to their team's bank.

Blocker: Heroes of this class excel at knocking coins off the enemy Heroes and killing enemies.

Buffer: Heroes of this class excel at capturing Buff Stations to buff allies' scoring and depositing Power Stars to Stations.

Aa a mental note, your team must have at least one Donator, one Blocker and one Buffer to have a good team composition. A great team composition has three Donators, one Blocker and one Buffer. All Heroes can break containers donate coins, knock coins off the enemy Heroes, kill enemy Heroes, capture Buff Stations and activate Powerup Stations, but a Donator breaks containers and donates coins to their team bank, a Blocker knocks coins and kills the enemy Hero and a Buffer captures Buff Stations and activates Powerup Stations to charge their Ultimate ability faster. I listed the Starting Heroes, so I'll do it again, but this time, they will be divided into classes.

Starting Donators:

Mario
Luigi
Yoshi

Starting Blockers:

Bowser
Donkey Kong
Wario

Starting Buffers:

Peach
Daisy
Waluigi
Birdo

Cosmetics:

Every online multiplayer game use cosmetics, so like any others, there will be cosmetics, consisting of Hero skins, including the ones on Mario Kart Tour and on Mario sports games, emotes, weapons on certain characters, donate effects, death cards with a quip that shows on your perspective when you got killed by another player, avatars, banners, titles and pedestals on the Hero select screen.

Hero Mastery:

Each Hero will have Mastery Levels. Certain levels grant you rewards and they require the same amount of Hero EXP to go up a level to make things faster.

Battle Pass:

Every new Season, there is a new Battle Pass. Battle Passes have a ton of rewards, like banners, avatars, donate effects, titles, pedestals, Hero skins, weapons, death cards, team banks and currency. Each Battle Pass will come in two tracks instead of one to have up to 50 levels. The Premium track, which requires 400 Arena Coins, has all rewards while the Free track has some rewards. Each level requires the same amount of Battle Pass EXP so that you can gain levels faster. And since I mentioned pre-release phases, there will be a preseason Battle Pass that will last during the Alpha and Beta phases.

Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom:

Similar to Paladins' Trials of the Realm, Super Mario Team Arena's Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom has a ton of rewards, consisting of currency, EXP and emotes. Every new Season, there is a new Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom and the first two trials are available at the start of each Season, but more trials unlock every week throughout the Season. Each trial has three challenges. Example: if you're playing as Bowser and if you kill Mario and Luigi with him, you'll earn rewards on that match. But the Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom won't be until the game's official launch.

Game Modes:

Let's not forget the core part for Super Mario Team Arena, game modes. Choosing certain game modes get you in a matchmaking state that involves a timer that goes up. I'll list the game modes below that you'll see during the Alpha.

Casual - All matches of this game mode will not affect your rank. This queue is for fun purposes and you don't have to worry about your ranking. If you quit in the middle of the match on this mode, you will be penalized, so don't do it until you finish your matches. Duplicate Heroes are allowed.

Ranked - All matches of this game mode will affect your rank. You'll start out at the Rookie rank. Subsequent ranks won't use colors. Instead, subsequent ranks will be Mushroom, Flower, Shell, Star and Boomerang. If you're at a Rookie, Mushroom or Flower rank, you don't have to worry about losing points and getting demoted when you lose a match or quit in the middle of a match until you're at the Shell rank. You will get penalized if you quit in the middle of a ranked match. Duplicate Heroes are banned.

Co-op vs. AI - This is a game mode that Crash Team Rumble totally needs when it comes to practicing. This one will have it. Rewards will be earned after each match. There is no penalty for quitting in the middle of a match in this game mode where you and your team of real players go up against bots on the enemy team, so you can quit anytime. If you're not quite ready to go against the real players on the enemy team yet, this game mode is the way. Duplicate Heroes are allowed.

Custom Game - Each online only multiplayer game allows you to create your own game or join a game with the desired set parameters. It's also something Crash Team Rumble definetely needs for when it comes to esports. You can also add bots and set their difficulty to your lobby. Spectator slots will also be available to go to so that you can spectate matches to analyze what the Heroes are doing. Duplicate Heroes are allowed.

Practice Range - All Heroes are unlocked on this game mode and this is where you can try out Heroes and their abilities.

Tutorial - This teaches you the basics on how to play the game.

Content from the Sonic the Hedgehog Universe:

Crash Team Rumble has content from the Spyro the Dragon universe, so I thought it would be awesome if Super Mario Team Arena has content from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe in a Season if they get SEGA's permission. Imagine Sonic as the Donator, Dr. Robotnik as the Blocker and Sally Acorn as the Buffer. Each map of the Sonic universe will use rings instead of coins. Cosmetics will be involved. That includes a banner of chibi dolls of Mario, Peach, Sonic and Sally, a banner of Mario holding a coin and Sonic holding a ring and so on.

In-Game Accolades:

Doing certain actions earns you accolades during gameplay and they give you Hero and Battle Pass EXP. I'll list the core accolades.

Core Accolades:

Donator - Donate coins to your team's bank.

Top Donator - Donate the most coins.

Blocker - Knock coins from the enemy Heroes.

Top Blocker - Knock the most coins.

Buffer - Capture Buff Points.

Top Buffer - Capture Buff Stations the most times.

First Blood - Be the first to kill an enemy Hero.

Double Kill - Kill two enemy Heroes within five seconds.

Triple Kill - Kill three enemy Heroes within five seconds.

Quadra Kill - Kill four enemy Heroes within five seconds.

Penta Kill - Kill five enemy Heroes within five seconds.

Hunter - Kill enemy Heroes without getting killed.

Revenge - Kill the enemy Hero that previously killed you.

Sneaky - Donate coins while an enemy Hero stands on your bank.

Pave the Way - Kill an enemy Hero standing on your team's bank.

Bank Dive - Kill an enemy Hero standing on the enemy team's bank.

Brawler - Deal damage to the enemy Hero.

Saint - Heal allies.

-Powerup Station name- - Activate a Powerup Station

-Normal Obstacle Station name- - Activate a Normal Obstacle Station

-Super Obstacle Station name- - Activate a Super Obstacle Station

Power Star Assist - Assist in depositing Power Stars.

Kill Assist - Assist in killing enemy Heroes.

And this is an idea of wanting Super Mario Team Arena, a desired 5v5 online Mario game I want. The reason why I am making a blog post about this is because I watched the Super Mario Bros. Movie at my local movie theater and the franchise didn't have a team-based online multiplayer game yet. I hope you like it. And Nintendo, if you're reading this, please make this happen and get SEGA's permission to add Sonic characters and maps to my Mario game idea.

Joe's Monologues - 1/9/24

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the next episode of Joe's Monologues, the second of the series in the new year. I have a couple of things I want to mention, so let's get started.

The Holidays are Over:

2023 has come to an end and the holiday break is over. This means everything can resume as normal, including the developers. 2024 is set to be another blockbuster year with a lot of exciting things. Work can resume operations as normal.

SMITE World Championship Season X:

That's right. The SMITE World Championship is three days away and it is set to be a blockbuster Worlds yet. I got the popcorn prepared for the big show. You all know that the Styx Ferrymen, Atlantis Leviathans, Oni Warriors and Jade Dragons have qualified for Worlds. The four remaining teams have all set for Worlds. We got the Highland Ravens, Solar Scarabs, Hex Mambo and Camelot Kings qualified. This one is gonna be a blast soon, so get ready to strap yourselves in. We can't wait to find out who is crowned Season X World Champions. I can see upcoming Maggie and the Ferocious Beast and WWE stories coming.

Nature is Healing in Crash Team Rumble:

You guessed it. Nature is healing in Crash Team Rumble as Elora the Faun made her way onto the roster last week during her Early Access. I used the "Nature is Healing" quip and I find it satisfying because Elora is capable of healing and is one with nature with her leaf dress. It's the fact that embracing the forest by the park at my old stomping grounds where I used to live made me think of her. And since I am going to my brother's wedding, it's something I can do again. But the only thing standing between me and going to my old state is the fear of flying in a plane I must conquer.

After I unlocked her by collecting the first three leaves, I showcased all of her abilities and she's freaking savage as she can shoot tornadoes with her kicks. Originally, I said that Elora is gonna be Booster since she can heal herself and allies within range, but apparently, she is actually a Blocker despite her health being C-tier. It's because charging her tornado kicks knockbacks enemies, which classified her a Blocker.

When I showcased her abilities, I played a few Party Mode rounds with Elora as part of her showcase. That being said, I plan to play a couple of Competitive rounds with her as the next phase of her showcase while I am on the verge of unlocking Heroes and Powers. But there is a new Power in the works set to enter Early Access. I can unlock it forever, by collecting Dragon Essence. Never underestimate the titular purple dragon and the most savage faun of nature to kick butt in Crash Team Rumble. There are a couple days of Elora Early Access left, so be sure to collect Avalarian Leaves in Competitive or Party Mode to unlock her forever, as well as exclusive rewards before the next one that introduces the new Power, Portal Bank. If you don't, you'll have to wait until January 23rd for her full release, but a paid membership is required to play since this is a paid game only on consoles at the moment.

I pulled a Mightykeef when I tried Elora for the first time. You know how it is since I am a huge fan of his videos. Especially the Honkai: Star Rail skit I desired. This is how I feel when trying Elora out for the first time. She shoots small tornadoes with her kicks. Judging from her abilities, it's no coincidence that she is half Rashid from Street Fighter 5 and half Cetrion from Mortal Kombat 11.

I feel like that if Bianca makes her way to Crash Team Rumble during her Early Access, I can collect spellbook pages to unlock her. I don't think it's possible, but I want her to make her debut and she would be freaking dope like Elora is. Well, Elora and Bianca are S-tier girls like Sally Acorn and Bunnie Rabbot from Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), which is a Cinderella story to tell in front of the audience as it is getting a third season after over 30 years since the original show was cancelled after two seasons on ABC by Team Sea3on.

Skullgirls Championship Series 2024:

Back in 2021, the Skullgirls Championship Series was announced and the previous one was online only because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions that relegated us to playing fighting games online with rollback netcode. After three years, the SGCS is returning and it is gonna be bigger than before as they migrated to a new equipment to be both online and offline, like Capcom Pro-Tour and other fighting game circuits. More info about that is coming this month and it's gonna kick off with Frosty Faustings and end at Combo Breaker where the Skullgirls World Championship will take place at. Only the eight players will qualify and one champion can take home the Skull Heart. It is similar to other circuits this year per se, but it's shorter than others because the Skullgirls community is small.

I have a feeling that Marie will not be released before Frosty, but on the upside, 2nd Encore and the Season 1 Pass are available on all four platforms. I hope we get word about her soon, as well as the general balance changes for the whole cast because I can't be left in the dark without any info again. Are we gonna see a special announcement after Top 8 at Frosty like back in 2021 when they given us an Annie trailer for 2nd Encore? If so, are they gonna give us the general balance patch trailer or whatever? Who knows?

In the previous season, SonicFox became champion rocking out the Annie, who received an upgrade to her Star Power, which should be now called Star Overdrive in Marie's Early Access patch because she can now use all of her moves during her Star Power like we're playing BlazBlue, but with Annie. It makes sense that Annie is assigned to a BlazBlue theme dubbed Justice Sword and making her an Izayoi palette would be the cherry on top. Are we gonna see another Cinderella or a WWE story in Skullgirls Championship Series 2024?

Conclusion:

This year is gonna be big. With the SMITE World Championship and the return of the Skullgirls Championship Series coming on the same month, the excitement surges. Expect a WWE story to be told.

Joe's Monologues - 1/2/24

Happy New Year to all of my friends out there and welcome to the first Joe's Monologues of 2024. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year and holidays. We have closed out 2023 with a bang and have opened 2024. This is a new year, but still the same old me, so I'll kick the New Year off with this first episode of Joe's Monologues of 2024.

Progress On My Wrapper: Offline Career:

Did you guys like my newest video, YOLO Funtimes: Ding-Dong-Ditch? What made it so viral is that there wasn't any script on it. I know I said that I wouldn't go full blast on my career until I get a new laptop, but there is one good news. After my new hard drive came, I plugged it in and it greatly sped up my work and the data transfering process. Practically speaking, it takes better specs to speed up work, and thanks to my new hard drive that have such a savage speed, I can be able to go full blast on making more videos.

The Return of the Skullgirls Webtoon Series:

After a long hiatus, the Skullgirls Webtoon series have finally returned. Episodes 20 and 21 are up, so go check it out. As a treat, the series have returned in a big way. We have the flexibility to fast pass to three episodes. To do that, we need to earn coins and spend the fast pass episodes. The series have came a long way, man. It started back in 2022 and new episodes drop every Friday. Starting in Episode 10, it marks the start of a new production, which is why the quality looked different. Most notably, their legs are so darn thick as heck.

And now, where it stands, the Skullgirls Webtoon series has finally returned with a juicier episode. I've been waiting for Episode 20 to drop after reading Episode 19 so that I can get to the juicy part of the series. The lore and the awesomeness among Naruto and Johnny Test, man. When Episode 20 released for free, episodes 21, 22 and 23 became available to read, but they require coins to fast pass them. I spent my coins on fast pass episodes because it's the best way to ensure a second season since the first season is nearing the end. Then Episode 21 is available to everyone for free and Episode 24 also dropped for those who spend coins to fast pass it.

Now, I am waiting until the coming Friday for Episode 25 and I have more than enough coins to fast pass to it. I am starting to feel like if it gets an anime adaptation, this could be rated TV-14 because there is blood and gore on it, courtesy of Black Dahlia tearing Ms. Fortune and the Fishbone Gang from limb to limb. Again, that's Johnny Test and Naruto goodness there. We didn't get to see the Fishbone Gang in the game, but we did get to see what the Fishbone gang looks like in the comic.

Crash Team Rumble:

Playing my Party Mode rounds is in full swing so far. I was able to achieve Top Performer. I've been grinding my Battle Pass to earn more skins. I had to play some Party Mode rounds because I am not yet ready for more Competitive rounds. Elora's Early Access is upon us and to unlock her forever, I must collect Avalarian leaves scattered across all maps. Both in Competitive and Party Mode. But I prefer to do it in Party Mode like I did with collecting dragon eggs to unlock Spyro because again, I am not ready for more Competitive yet. Unless if they can put in skill-based matchmaking, of course.

In addition to that, first of all, Switch and PC players want to get in the fun too. Second of all, Elora is the Sally Acorn of Spyro, so don't get it twisted when her Early Access drops January 4th. And third of all, I want more Spyro characters. That being said, I have linked my PSN account to my gaming channel on YouTube, which now has two subscribers. I'm gonna need more of them. I am five Booster badges away from getting Dr. Neo Cortex and I am keeping my PS Plus membership active for Elora's Early Access when I can collect Avalarian leaves to forever unlock Elora the Faun, the Sally Acorn of Spyro.

Hello, 2024:

That's right. This is the year that just opened as this is the first Joe's Monologues of 2024. We have a lot of things on the docket this year. Here's to another brighter year we will love. Nothing will stymie our endeavor.