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.