Wednesday, March 20, 2024

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.

Monday, March 11, 2024

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.