Saturday AM: Battle Manga - An Indie 2XKO in Developement?!

So, we came across something in the indie game department. It's seemingly an indie 2v2 tag fighter that is an "indie" 2XKO, but with characters from Saturday AM titles. Let's jump right in.

I'm here with a new post that has news that made me so excited. Before I begin, I want to say Happy New Year to each and every one of you. We closed out 2025 and rang in 2026 very strong. Here's to another great year.

But today, I want to mention now is something I came across is the new indie 2v2 tag fighter that is, in a sense, an indie 2XKO. That's right, an indie 2XKO. Son Studios has started development of their 2v2 crossover tag fighter, Saturday AM: Battle Manga. It is a 2v2 tag fighter that features a diverse roster of characters from various Saturday AM titles like Apple Black, Clock Striker, Hammer, Soul Beat and many more.

Right off the bat, the trailer opens up with Saturday AM manga dropping. As we ripped through the trailer, we saw the dramatic zoom when a launcher and a grounder land like in Dragon Ball FighterZ. The game's development cycle starts out with the first four characters being Sano from Apple Black, Cast from Clock Striker, Stud from Hammer and Dante from Soul Beat.

The trailer showcased its gorgeous visuals. We saw words pop up in game. That's because of having visuals taken from the English-written manga that is produced in the United States, not in Japan, meaning that they will have fully voiced English VO according to the hub on Steam. In fact, these visuals and the gameplay are so dang gorgeous that they resemble the art style and cel shading from Guilty Gear Xrd that is the start of bringing its visuals and art style to future fighting games. Just look at the visuals here. We also saw Cast kicking some butt with her gauntlet.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised that Cast would be inspired by Vi and Ekko down the line. I mean, she is quote unquote black and scrappy like Ekko. I think that's something that Ezreal could have if he ever comes to 2XKO. The trailer ends with telling us that the game's demo is coming soon, so we'll have to wait and find out when we're gonna play this 2XKO-esque indie 2v2 crossover tag fighter and its demo.

We seen crossover fighting games and they're are always so magical, especially in the case of BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. However, nothing has ever got as popular as it did with Guilty Gear Strive. Even so, we lost our crossover fighting game with Shonen Jump characters because the game's quality became dull. Thankfully, the one crossover fighting game we're getting is being developed by an indie dev. There are two reasons why this game is being developed by an indie developer and why it's a good thing.

The first reason is to have less money. They tend to avoid providing microtransactions and have their games reasonably priced so that players wouldn't spend extra money on a game they already purchased or spend $70 games.

The second reason is so that devs can have the freedom to develop this game however they wish and however they want. Without the constraints of a AAA studio, they can be able to take creative risks to bring unique innovations to this game like making it have up to four players to provide Duo Play on both offline and online to make it truly an indie 2XKO with Saturday AM characters.

I think what's really cool is that since Cast is inspired by Ekko and Vi because of the gauntlets and being scrappy, we can see future characters that could be inspired by the characters in the current roster in 2XKO, like Darius, Ahri, Warwick, Blitzcrank, Jinx, Illaoi and even Caitlyn Kiramman, which would also be cool for one of the Saturday AM characters that wields a rifle and a pistol that fires a bola, something that Caitlyn never has in League of Legends as it's an innovative approach. And Katarina, though she is not in the roster yet, but she is confirmed though. It's Sofdec and ADX being integrated into it. But one character that uses a hammer is Stud from Hammer, and if Poppy comes to 2XKO, she'll take some of the playstyle from Stud.

Since Evo 2026 is in order, the developers who are developing this game could attend there to give us a development update regarding it and possibly revealing new characters during Friday's Evo Showcase. We saw updates for a bunch of fighting games in the Evo Showcase, so Battle Manga could be showcased there in Evo. See, Evo is the E3 for fighting games that became the source of the ever-thriving FGC. In fact, it's the summertime Christmas for fighting game fans across the globe that provides fighting game news, reveals, demos and booths for games that are not out yet.

But the demo version of Saturday AM: Battle Manga is not the only thing that is coming in 2026 because a lot of things are also coming in 2026 and I have the post that talks about it. If you're interested in seeing what is on the docket for us fighting game fans in 2026, here's the link below. Have a happy 2026, everyone.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/12/2026-is-big-for-fighting-games.html

2026 is BIG for Fighting Games

2026 is set to become a big year for fighting games and the whole FGC. And because we got a handful of things coming on the docket for fighting games, 2026 is going to be one heck of a year for fighting games. So today, I'm gonna be talking about how 2026 is going to be a big year for fighting games.

Before we talk about what several things are coming in 2026, we need to talk about something good has happened in 2025 when it comes to fighting games. Tekken 3 has launched into the classics catalog on the PS4 and PS5. It is the final game to ever release on the PS1 before Bandai Namco moved on with the series to produce games on the PS2. It is indeed one of the classic fighting games I have played back in the day. Then Soul Calibur III came along, another classic fighting game I played back in the day and the first PS2 fighting game and the first PS2 game that uses ADX and Sofdec to ever come to the catalog. These threequels were the games I wished for and that met with excitement among the FGC that they want to revisit these games. These games are now available on the classics catalog, so go check them out.

Now let's move on to something interesting. It's about the two fighting games, Street Fighter 6 and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. What is so special about them? Well, there are four popular characters, Ken Masters, Chun-Li, Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui. So these characters have became guest stars in both respective games and they are available now on the store. With these characters, a fan demand for a new Capcom vs. SNK is very high and we could see it announced any day.

With that out of the way, we can now talk about exciting things coming in 2026 for fighting games. Now, I know that everyone's initial reaction would think that I'm gonna start with Skullgirls. But it's gonna be later on in this post because I need to talk about the bigger stuff first.

Back in June's State of Play, Sony has announced the upcoming new fighting game being developed by Arc System Works, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls. This is an innovative 4v4 tag fighter that features characters from Marvel Comics. Arc System Works had brought the Marvel fighting game foundation back into the limelight following Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite's poor reception and sales that had soured the relationship between both companies. Then the series has went on a hiatus for over eight years and we've been begging for a new Marvel vs. Capcom or a new Marvel fighter until Arc System Works has fulfilled our wish and took the mantle of developing a new Marvel fighter being Marvel Tokon: Fighting Sōuls.

While Marvel Tōkon is a 4v4 tag fighter, the four members of each team share with one health bar and uses multiple rounds unlike others where multiple teammates have their own health bar. But no new characters beyond the first eight characters were announced this year. However, there weren't any news for Marvel Tōkon at the Game Awards and no firm release date was announced yet.

These statements were cranked up when the second Closed Beta was announced to actually have Spider-Man and Ghost Rider in the roster with other characters. Since Sony announced that 2026 is gonna be big and they're going to bring in new characters beyond the first eight, including their all-time favorites, there are requests for Venom, Wolverine, Deadpool, the Punisher, Psylocke, Hulk, Luna Snow, and well, probably the loudest of them all, Emma Frost. These characters are great and I would like to see them. Who knows? Maybe these characters can potentially make their debut.

And do you know what else is coming out in 2026? Invincible VS. It is an upcoming 3v3 tag fighter that features a handful of Invincible characters. The game had its Closed Beta couple weeks ago and is launching in April with 18 characters at launch, with more characters to come via a Season Pass. You know Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Mortal Kombat, right? Well, it's a combination between them and it's anything like these fighters. It uses 3D models and has bloody 3v3 tag combat with air combos, assists, a four-button control scheme, lv. 1 supers and lv. 3 supers that mutilate and dismember opponents' body parts when their HP is at 0 like Mortal Kombat X's Brutalities, but flashier. So basically, you can't play Invincible VS when you're not of age since it's an M-rated 3v3 tag fighter due to strong language and extreme violence. It's not a nice tag fighter for children under 17.

Marvel Tōkon and Invincible VS coming out in 2026 comes with the 2026 Competitive Series and the full launch for Riot's free-to-play fighting game, 2XKO.

2XKO is essentially the first free-to-play tag team fighting game based on a particular universe; Fuses, Duo Play, SEGA vs. Capcom-style of action and League of Legends characters. Ever since Closed Beta, the competitive scene for 2XKO has grown and unleashed its full potential that Riot has even went the extra mile to bring online and offline events into the spotlight with the First Impact program, coming to a close. To push the competitive scene even further, Riot is bringing direct support to 20 offline tournaments, divided by five seasons tied to 2XKO's ingame seasons sporting four events on each season, with one major and three challenger events through the 2026 Competitive Series.

Since 2XKO is launching on console in January, basically meaning that 2XKO will be officially released on PC and console beyond PC Early Access in January, that's where they come in to bring PS5s into offline events going forward. The first major event is Frosty Faustings XVIII to kick off the Competitive Series with 12 characters in Season 1, including Caitlyn, who will be legal from the get-go in Frosty Faustings and is one of the characters I have theorized. While their experience is most definetely an issue, it's actually great news that we're getting Caitlyn before Katarina. I am so eager to find out what will our rifle wielding chick's gameplay look like in 2XKO since she's a Marksman in League of Legends anyway. Yeah, move aside, Erron Black, we have a new sheriff in town. Wow, so banter.

However, her trailer and moveset showcase are likely to drop in the week of January 12 to be a week before 2XKO's console launch, so we just have to wait and find out how will our renowned sheriff perform in a fighting game.

Riot has released the console trailer. Then it was immediately put on private after fans spotted the release date for when 2XKO is officially launching on PC and console. So, Riot, why are you putting the trailer on private all of a sudden? Was there something we weren't supposed to see?

Fortunately, before it was put on private, Knoebel first spotted the leaked console and trailer art, with Gematsu confirming the shift to being multiplatform after Riot immediately put the trailer in private. The art with 11 characters that are launch characters in Early Access shows that 2XKO will leave Early Access on PC and officially launch on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S January 20, looking at the remaining time on Season 0. Since Early Access won't involve any more progress resets, our progress we made on PC during Early Access will be kept when the game officially launches on console, meaning that we don't have to worry about our progress being reset when switching to console unlike in Closed Beta where our progress we made on that window had to be reset that it was just a warmup phase. This art has something we're not supposed to see, the official release date for 2XKO being January 20th.

Riot could've just at least published the console trailer with the redacted release date then unredacted it when the time comes. When there are a lot of fans just excited for 2XKO coming to consoles on that day when they watched the trailer, Riot had to put the video on private without an explanation, like nothing happened. I think the reasoning for putting the console trailer on private is because they must have accidentally uploaded it a bit too early.

There is something exciting regarding the Competitive Series, but before we get to that, let's talk about only summertime Christmas for the FGC, Evolution Championship Series, or Evo for short. For years, Evo has become the most prestigious fighting game tournament. But Evo is more than just tournaments. It's also about showcases, booths for unreleased games, reveals. cosplays, art stations and demos, being the E3 of fighting games and the summertime Christmas for the FGC. Back in the day, they had nine games in the lineup, until in 2023 when they had eight games in the lineup. The event has cranked up when there are 12 games in one lineup in not just Evo 2026, but also Evo Japan 2026.

Here's a look at the lineups for both Evo Las Vegas 2026 and Evo Japan 2026. Both events are having 12 games in one lineup to have 12 champions to crown, the first time and the biggest step up since Evo 2023 when it had eight games in the lineup. I'm gonna take both lineups for Evo 2026 and Evo Japan 2026 and decipher the games across the board. Since there are a dozen games on both events, it'll have the top six games with the most amount of signups being played in the arena where Top 8 takes place and the bottom six games with the least amount of signups being played outside of the arena during Top 8 in Evo 2026.

Both of these lineups are having 12 games that BlazBlue: Central Fiction being in the Evo 2026 lineup piggybacked off wanting BBTAG so that we can see the 3.0 Character Pack or BBTAG 2, KOF XV and Melty Blood: Type Lumina made the cut in the Evo Japan 2026 lineup and both events have a free-to-play fighting game like 2XKO and they need to have Capcom Fighting Collection 1 to get Vampire Savior ready. It's faster than setting up the arcade cabinet. Let's get to deciphering the lineups. We'll start with the games that are in both events.

Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes and Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising are in both lineups as returning faces. The new faces in both events are Virtua Fighter 5 REVO: World Stage, Vampire Savior and 2XKO. Trust me, this is important to understand that since Vampire Savior is in both events, they need to boot up Capcom Fighting Collection 1. It's faster than setting up the arcade cabinet for this game.

Now for the games that are in one event. BlazBlue: Central Fiction is the only returning game being played in Evo while KOF XV and Melty Blood: Type Lumina are the returning games being played in Evo Japan. Invincible VS and Rivals of Aether II are the new games being played in Evo while Hokuto no Ken, means Fist of the North Star in Japanese, is the only new game being played in Evo Japan.

Games in both Evo events:

Street Fighter 6
Tekken 8
Guilty Gear Strive
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising
Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes
Virtua Fighter 5 REVO: World Stage
Vampire Savior
2XKO

Games in one Evo event:

BlazBlue: Central Fiction (Evo 2026)
Rivals of Aether II (Evo 2026)
Invincible VS (Evo 2026)
Melty Blood: Type Lumina (Evo Japan 2026)
King of Fighters XV (Evo Japan 2026)
Hokuto no Ken (Evo Japan 2026)

Returning games:

Street Fighter 6 (Both)
Tekken 8 (Both)
Guilty Gear Strive (Both)
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves (Both)
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising (Both)
Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes (Both)
BlazBlue: Central Fiction (Evo 2026)
Melty Blood: Type Lumina (Evo Japan 2026)
King of Fighters XV (Evo Japan 2026)

New games:

Virtua Fighter 5 REVO: World Stage (Both)
Vampire Savior (Both)
Rivals of Aether II (Evo 2026)
Invincible VS. (Evo 2026)
2XKO (Both)
Hokuto no Ken (Evo Japan 2026)

So we now have the games listed separately to have a clarification of which of these games are in both Evo events, in one Evo event, returning and new games, making it 15 different games being played in Evo 2026 and Evo Japan 2026 without a subjective listing. I am quite surprised that Marvel Tōkon isn't in any of the Evo events. It's because the firm release date has not been announced yet. Since both Evo and Evo Japan are gonna have a dozen games in the lineup, can Evo France have a dozen games in its lineup too? We will find out.

Now we can get to the exciting news regarding the 2026 Competitive Series. Both Evo 2026 and Evo Japan 2026 have 2XKO in the lineup. What this means is that since 2XKO is being played in both Evo events, they are both chosen to be major events for the 2026 Competitive Series, with Evo Japan 2026 as the Season 2 major event and Evo 2026 as the Season 3 major event. It even came close to how exciting the part where Skullgirls was chosen to actually be in the main lineup for Evo 2022, the first event since the COVID-19 pandemic has hit was. It is hopeful that 2XKO is being played in both Evo and Evo Japan in 2026 as major events for the Competitive Series, but it is unknown that 2XKO will also be played at next year's Evo France as a major or challenger event. It is ways to go and it's proven to be far from my sight.

Regardless, what would be amazing is that if there is a duo of Vi and Caitlyn, both outside and inside the competitive scene, it's gonna be very exciting as watching all-female matches in 2XKO, which I have been wondering if that has more kicks than women's tag team wrestling since Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the WB that she won't make it to MultiVersus due to the game's end of support. And since Caitlyn is the fifth female Champion and the fifth Arcane character, the odds of experiencing an all-female match and an Arcane match has increased a bit. But don't worry, more female characters after Caitlyn will make their debut to the game to increase the odds further and there won't be any more Arcane characters for the rest of the year.

Fighting games have been a staple for when it comes to online experiences and fails, especially with playing one match and then leaving. However, it is less dangerous than ragequitting when they are losing, whereas, rage quitting multiple times to annoy them applies to dying multiple times in a Tak game. This happens in most fighting games, including 2XKO.

But 2XKO will not the only tag fighter coming in Evo 2026 because Invincible VS is also being played. With 2XKO and Invincible VS being played at Evo for the first time, it's gonna be a blockbuster and a Cinderella story despite Mortal Kombat 1 being absent since Invincible VS has taken that spot. They knew that the lineup needs to have at least one M-rated fighting game that children under 17 can't play. But one Invincible character being Omni Man made his debut to Mortal Kombat 1 and that could serve as a tech demo for an Invincible fighting game that came into fruition.

Speaking of, did you know that there is a Mightykeef skit that covers the Evo 2026 lineup, but also covers everyone's reaction to how Mortal Kombat 1 couldn't be chosen? It came out on Christmas Eve and became so emotional that for years, Mortal Kombat has been on the lineup and it was rejected from next year's Evo. But that's not the first time it happened. The first time it happened was when they had an Evo 2020 lineup announcement, until the pandemic hit to relegate Evo to an online format to have online tournaments for games with rollback netcode and brought Mortal Kombat 11 back into the mix.

I think that in almost every Evo skit, I kept on hearing, "He ain't even out yet. He could flop," which has been the trope that has been used about games that came out before Evo. 2018 was BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, 2019 was Samurai Shodown, 2020 was Granblue Fantasy Versus, 2021 was Guilty Gear Strive and 2026 will be Invincible VS to come out before Evo.

And here's another thing. Back in 2007, Nintendo has worked with Evo to bring Smash into the events. It has grown for years until in 2022 when Nintendo has announced that they are pulling Smash from Evo in its entirety following Sony's purchase of the event. Evo 2022 was the first event since Nintendo has announced that they won't be a part of Evo. But one platform fighter being played in Evo 2026 is Rivals of Aether II, an indie platform fighter that is released exclusively on PC. And there is an indie tag fighter that is akin to 2XKO. I'll tell you more about it in a future post. Stay tuned for that.

Now we're ready to move to familiar territory. Someone ring up Valentine because it's time to operate. Back in 2021, Hidden Variable has taken over 2nd Encore development with the inception of the Season 1 Pass containing Annie and three characters. They released one character per year, but not during crunch time. 2021 was Annie, 2022 was Umbrella, 2023 was Black Dahlia, and 2024 was Marie being the cherry on top, literally, if you look at the character select screen. With all four characters in the Season 1 Pass and the update with the Season 1 Pass for the Nintendo Switch and Xbox ports came out, the general balance patch came to bring balance changes to the whole cast as the cherry on top.

The only thing that made me excited about it was the innovations introduced to Star Power, with H specials offering EX special moves and all that. That made me feel like I was playing BlazBlue, but with Annie that wanting her in BBTAG is like wanting her in Melty Blood: Type Lumina. By the time the update came out, Annie was having an audio issue on PlayStation, which I why I didn't record her tutorial and edit it to play Justice Sword in the background until the hotfix came. I made posts at the Skullheart Forums that praised how the general balance patch became so well done, but I got straight up humiliated by that pig slop low content post penalty smear. It makes no sense at all whatsoever. I praised the devs for their hard work on the general balance patch and they dare humiliate me, penalizing me for a low content post? No, humiliation is NOT a good thing.

Originally, Hidden Variable said that they would release the additional VO content consisting of English and Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters' story modes, Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters during combat and Annie's alternative voice pack. But they had to delay it to 2025, which is the year we're on now almost coming to an end. But we didn't get word about it because of what happened.

Back in November 1, 2024, payments started rolling in for Autumn to pay what they owe, but refused to make a single payment. They had until January 21 to make payments. However, when none of the payments came, Hidden Variable provided Autumn with login information needed to provide community support so that it wouldn't cause any damage, then filed a lawsuit against Autumn for alleged breaches of contract, et al. This exposed the main reason why we haven't gotten word about the additional VO content for 2nd Encore because Hidden Variable is no longer involved in the development of Skullgirls due to that legal dispute with Autumn.

Thankfully, Skullgirls is staying alive that Autumn is leading the development of this game and that's a good thing. It's definetely a good thing because there are couple pieces of content left over like Roxie, the third guest star, additional VO content consisting of Annie's alternative voice pack and English and Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters on Story Mode and for combat and user experience updates I heard about. However, we didn't get word about any of them because they were working on the long-awaited feature, Guilds. They have been promising this feature since they have taken over in the past few months. And now that the Guilds have launched back in November, the next chapter of Skullgirls development can REALLY begin in the New Year for both 2nd Encore and Mobile. In fact, it's gonna be a fresh new chapter since 2nd Encore is now available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.

The Skullgirls Community Tour has been announced to have a year of online and offline tournaments, like 2XKO's First Impact program, which has tournaments for the rest of the year since Early Access launched. 2nd Encore's X account has posted their first message on X since Autumn has taken over. Because of the Skullgirls Community Tour to energize the community after the delay of the additional VO content that frustrated us and with the Guilds have launched, it's a case to say that Autumn is gonna pick up the pieces Hidden Variable has left over. And not just that, but also grow as a team and make changes to their database to speed up development going forward for both Mobile and 2nd Encore.

The difference between the Skullgirls Community Tour and the 2XKO Competitive Series is pronounced. While the Skullgirls Community Tour has offline events, it also has online events, with TNS Online as the first online event starting in January 4, unlike the Competitive Series, which only has local tournaments. And while TNS Online is the first event for the Community Tour, it's actually a warmup event before the first offline tournament, Frosty Faustings XVIII, which is the event to kick off both the Skullgirls Community Tour and the 2XKO Competitive Series that the new chapter of Skullgirls development really begins while 2XKO launches on console with Season 1 in January 2026 and fair enough. If we get announcements for both games, it'll be exciting, and wouldn't that be cool?

However, while both Skullgirls and 2XKO are being played at Frosty's to kick off their competitive scenes, the difference between both games' competitive action in Frosty's is the schedule depending on how many players have registered. See, Skullgirls is going to be played on one singular day being Friday due to it having a small amount of players that signed up while 2XKO is going to be played throughout the whole event along with Guilty Gear Strive, Street Fighter 6, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising and Tekken 8 due to the largest amount of player registrations. If the final leaderboard shows that if 2XKO tops registration for Frosty Faustings XVIII, it'll show that 2XKO would be the last standing game to close it out and that the game will unleash its full potential in January 20 when 2XKO comes to consoles.

Additionally, I'm going to innovate listening to BBTAG music while playing Skullgirls. I play the theme of the stage at the beginning of the match until one character dies on both teams and solo matches. On teams, I play the point character's theme upon arrival after the death of a teammate, while on solos, I play the stage's theme at the beginning and play the theme of the character who wins that round, like how 2XKO plays the theme of the character that takes the round by KOing an opponent before time is up. But it's gonna be on certain stages.

I want to show you some palettes I made on the Skullheart Forums to honor the upcoming new chapter of Skullgirls development. First off, we'll start with the elephant in the room, an update regarding my projects. Here's a look at the BBTAG palettes for Skullgirls characters. You will notice that it has a gradient to give slots flair and updated some of the characters' images as they are in HD. These palettes are so neat that Zone-Tan is actually eligible for her Yukiko Amagi palette. I'm sorry that no new characters were added beyond Zone-Tan because submissions are temporarily closed as they are reworking submission progress. But don't worry, they'll reopen soon. Probably in the New Year.

I find it weird that big sisters usually boss little sisters around, so I made the Renoir sisters the palettes of Pelekai sisters, with Parasoul in her Nani Pelekai palette and Umbrella in her Lilo Pelekai palette and Hungern in his Stitch palette. When I first made them, I was intrigued by the flair and happy with how well they turned out. Shout outs to watching the live action Lilo and Stitch for driving me to do this endeavor. I didn't have the time to look for a Hawaiian background to give it flair because I was lazy to do that.

Why stop at the Renoir sisters' Linda and Louise Belcher palettes when I have more Bob's Burgers' palettes to share here. Here is Cerebella and Feng in their Jocelyn and Tammy Larsen palettes. After I made them, I find them intriguing and the quality is astonishing as those of the Pelekai sisters palettes.

And finally in the Bob's Burgers palettes department, Beowulf and Annie in their Bob and Tina Belcher palettes with Sagan in his Gene Belcher palette. We have a clear look at these palettes as new submissions were added. Just look at the quality. It's so much better.

I wouldn't dare announce what I have been working on behind the scenes until the time is right. And now that the time is right as Autumn is bringing the development of Skullgirls to the next chapter really beginning in 2026 as they set their sights on new features as they grow as a team, here it is, the Skullgirls X Bob's Burgers collection. We have a full view of these palettes without a subjective viewing. A special shoutout to 20th Century Fox, now renamed to 20th Century Studios as Disney now owns Fox and even a dream combination of Wilo Productions, Buck & Millie Productions, DiC and Buena Vista International, Inc. Autumn is going to take Skullgirls to the next level.

And speaking of taking it to the next level, Madxruler has announced something very big for their fan project, Sega vs. Capcom: The Next Level.

Right off the bat, the trailer starts out with Sonic and X getting an update to their art style, indicating that each character is having an update to their art style that fits with the BG of the stage. The trailer also shows new moves for existing characters and two new characters, Vyse from Skies from Arcadia and Morrigan from Darkstalkers. We also saw Sonic shooting waves out of his kicks like in Sonic Frontiers and even Vyse summoning the Skull Shield and using it as his Persona.

You know, I have discovered that after looking at Vyse's gameplay, it turns out that Draven won't be the only character to have the same playstyle as when he comes to 2XKO because Katarina will also have the same playstyle as Vyse when she comes to 2XKO. The end of the teaser trailer shows that the full game will come out in July 2026 for Season 1 with the possibility of releasing the game at Dream Con, which would be way after 2XKO's big and global launch in January 20, 2026 for Season 1 and the kickoff of the Competitive Series 2026 with Frosty Faustings XVIII.

Now, because it was a teaser, they haven't shown any new features, new characters beyond Vyse and Morrigan or when is the next Beta yet. We will see when the full trailer drops in January. I was gonna do a reaction video regarding the short trailer, but decided to wait until the full trailer comes out, but no promises, though.

Fighting games in general involves rage quitting and playing or winning one match and leaving then. And there is another thing I like about fighting games; one button auto combos and one button specials with directional influence. They are introduced in Street Fighter 6 and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves through its modern controls settings. Tekken 8 also has them through the Special Style and 2XKO uses Pulse Combos.

Not to throw shade at Smash because really, I do think that it became a game for those who aren't into fighting games and I am a fan of Smash, but if there was a player who turned on Special Style in Tekken 8 or is using modern controls in Street Fighter 6, they have no skill at all and that's the definition of a scrub. A player who has no skill and uses auto combos. That's why quarter circles, half circles, dragon motions, charge motions and even pretzel motions are the way. 

But the scrubs term doesn't just refer to players that use autocombos in fighting games. The term also refers to people who use store bought cake and brownie mix and store brought cookie dough rather than starting from scratch and even to players who use Dokuro in Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax.

We are approaching the New Year and headed into 2026, the year that is gonna be a strong and a big year for fighting games because we got 2XKO launching with the Competitive Series, the next chapter of Skullgirls development with the Community Tour, Evo and Evo Japan having 12 games, Invincible VS and Marvel Tōkon coming out and Sega vs. Capcom: The Next Level going to officially launch with an overhaul in 2026. Here's to a wonderful New Year. Now, the moral of the story for the FGC, never play one match and then just dip or rage quit online.

2XKO 2026 Characters Theory (UPDATE 1)

Yesterday, Riot has revealed the next 2XKO character at the Game Awards to be Caitlyn Kiramman, the renowned Sheriff of Piltover, noble member of the Kiramman family and Vi's best friend. This is not fake news or some rumor. In a not cursed timeline imaginable, we're getting Caitlyn before Katarina and this is actually great news. But how is it great news? Well, let's jump right in.

Well, time is broken, war has been declared, Hell has turned blue and the nomadic tribe is enslaved. I want to give you all an update about my theory about what are the five characters coming to 2XKO in 2026. Now, if you have been living under a rock, I originally said that Katarina would be a guaranteed 12th character, but apparently, it's not the case because it's someone else, but is indeed one of the characters I theorized, though. Ladies and gents, the renowned hitwoman, Caitlyn Kiramman, the Sheriff of Piltover.

Like Jinx and Teemo, Caitlyn is a Marksman character who is known wielding her powerful Hextech rifle. As I typically knew, Caitlyn is confirmed because of that one video that talks about Warwick and Caitlyn being confirmed. It's actually great news that we're getting Caitlyn Kiramman, the renowned Sheriff of Piltover, before Katarina, the Sinister Blade of Noxus. It is unknown on how will Caitlyn perform in 2XKO, but we do know one thing for sure. The one that is obvious is that she will be the fifth Arcane character and I want to find out how our rifle chick is gonna play in 2XKO.

Now, this is the part where you might say that I'm an Arcane shill, but before you do, I gotta explain myself. Why is it great news? It's actually not the fact that Caitlyn is the fifth Arcane character and I want to find out how she would actually play in a fighting game. But better yet, Caitlyn and Vi are BFFP, which stands for Best Female Friends of Piltover. Have you heard of the World's Finest? Well, here's Piltover's Finest.

A lot of people are willing to have a team that involves the Piltover duo. It lives up to the fact that Caitlyn is often paired with Vi, acting as a cool counterpoint to her partner's impetuous nature. The duo is pretty much bullets and punches, with Caitlyn all about the bullets and Vi all about the punches. That's why it's great news that we're getting Caitlyn before Katarina. Adapting a gun character like Caitlyn to a fighting game is indeed possible and it's legally in accordance with the Geneva Convention, or in this case, the Piltover Convention.

But Caitlyn is not the first gun character who was adapted to 2XKO. Jinx was the first character who brings a minigun, and a rocket launcher in 2XKO. And she didn't just bring guns, she also brought a hammer seen in Arcane. And I think that Caitlyn is gonna have the same treatment as Jinx. Sure, it'll feel like you're playing a mainstream shooting game like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Rainbow Six, ARC Raiders and even Destiny, but with Caitlyn.

I made a post on X explaining how Caitlyn would play in 2XKO, including the Hextech grenades part. You might be saying, "Wait a sec, why would you think that Caitlyn would carry grenades in 2XKO?" Well, because she is a sheriff and sheriffs typically carry grenades in their arsenal, but they are only less lethal to not kill victims. Since Caitlyn is the sheriff of Piltover, she would carry Hextech grenades like how Teemo carries his slingshot in 2XKO. This is a perfect example of innovations exclusive to 2XKO. Now, let me tell you; Caitlyn is indeed the character I wanted anyway. When I saw her, I felt the same way when one of the games that use Sofdec and ADX is launching on PlayStation Plus.

However, her gameplay remains a mystery because her trailer hasn't been dropped yet, but we can expect her moveset to be similar to the MOBA counterpart and she's gonna be a long-range character like Jinx, but no zoning play as she's is going to deliver headshots, indicating Caitlyn can be a decent Champion to play as. I do want to pop some heads with this chick. That is the dopamine rush I need as a fan of shooting games.

Predicted 2026 character roadmap:

Season 1 - Caitlyn ✅
Season 2 - Katarina
Season 3 - Kennen
Season 4 - Akali
Season 5 - Miss Fortune

While the predicted character roadmap has changed a bit as Caitlyn is actually coming to 2XKO in Season 1 as the first 2026 character, not Katarina, she is one of the characters that I have theorized and wished for, so I put a checkmark next to her name and that's one for one. If Katarina or any other predicted character actually comes in Season 2, it'll be two for two.

Season 1 character roster:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Illaoi
Jinx
Teemo
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

Right off the bat, I'm gonna take the Season 1 character roster and divide it by two sides of the character select screen, the SEGA and Capcom sides, across the board. The Season 1 character roster has an even number of 12 characters that it has an Ionian on each end of the list. But don't worry, it's benefical.

Now, I went to 2XKO's Wikipedia page and discovered that Caitlyn's name is listed on there as she is confirmed with a [b] label like with Katarina, basically meaning that future characters beyond Warwick will have it. I'm leaving out Katarina because she's not in the roster yet. Now, let's get to dividing the roster. We'll start with the SEGA side.

Ahri and Braum remain on the SEGA side, but Darius, Illaoi, Teemo and Warwick will move to the SEGA side with Ahri and Braum. The SEGA side has Ahri, Braum, Darius, Illaoi, Teemo and Warwick. Now, this is important to remember as the characters are listed in ABC order.

Blitzcrank remains on the Capcom side, but Ekko, Jinx, Vi and Yasuo will move to the Capcom side to pave the way for Caitlyn to be on the Capcom side with Blitzcrank, Ekko, Jinx, Vi and Yasuo. That puts Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Ekko, Jinx, Vi and Yasuo on the Capcom side.

SEGA side:

Ahri
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Teemo
Warwick

Capcom side:

Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Vi
Yasuo

So we now have six characters on each side, totalling it to 12 characters as Caitlyn is the new gal on the Capcom side at the moment. An even number of 12 characters Season 1 will have without a subjective information. It has one Ionian on each side, with Ahri on the SEGA side and Yasuo on the Capcom side.

But here's a possible fun fact regarding the SEGA side that you didn't know. Did you know that Illaoi is not actually black despite being voiced by a black voice actress? Yeah, she's not black. Notice that her skin is light brown, has an idol with an octopus inside it and the type of hair from a white person? That's because she is actually Polynesian like Yasuo is Japanese that he has to be on the Capcom side to apply to the Onimusha franchise where you play as a samurai.

See, Illaoi being on the SEGA side applies to the one online game released on the SEGA Dreamcast that has a Polynesian feel, Ooga Booga. And Illaoi, while doesn't have fire powers, is Ooga Booga in both League of Legends and 2XKO. I went to the League of Legends homepage looking through Illaoi's skins and she apparently doesn't have a volcano skin yet. But one day, she will have one.

Key points:

Ahri on the SEGA side = NiGHTS
Darius on the SEGA side = Golden Axe
Illaoi on the SEGA side = Ooga Booga
Warwick on the SEGA side = Altered Beast
Ekko on the Capcom side = Viewtiful Joe
Blitzcrank on the Capcom side = Mega Man X
Caitlyn on the Capcom side = Alien vs. Predator (Arcade game)
Yasuo on the Capcom side = Onimusha

This has been a natural deal because both SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level and 2XKO have announcements this month. But there is a difference between Vyse and Morrigan's launch in SEGA vs. Capcom and Caitlyn Kiramman's launch in 2XKO. And that difference is pronounced.

See, when Caitlyn launches, she'll be obtainable for free through redeeming enough Battle Pass XP to complete a Recruitment Event or purchasing the Ultra Battle Pass tier and in the store for 1,000 KO Points or one Champion Token. Then she gets available to purchase for 10,000 Credits in the store once the first three weeks time window is up. But Vyse and Morrigan get available from the get-go.

"Oh my god, another Arcane character? It should've been Katarina or a non-Arcane character!" Riot has guaranteed us that after Caitlyn. who will have an Arcane skin, they are done with Arcane characters for now. But that doesn't mean we're not gonna see any more Arcane characters after Caitlyn. The sixth one will likely be coming in late 2027 for Arcane's sixth anniversary. I mean, I don't mind seeing more Arcane characters, but trust me, this is important to remember that characters that are in Arcane get a special skin.

While it sucks that we won't be able to see the trailer until in the New Year as the holiday break is approaching, Caitlyn is guaranteed to not only to be slated to launch on the same day when 2XKO launches on console and Season 1 launches. She could also have the same treatment and performance as Erron Black, with using her fists with low normals, swinging her rifle with medium, high and launcher normals, throwing Hextech grenades and getting her rifle out to shoot and then putting it away, but gonna have unlimited ammo. I'm speculating that Caitlyn might be the Erron Black of 2XKO. We will see if my speculation is true or not once the trailer comes. But we do know that she'll fire her rifle with S1 like Ahri and Jinx and it's something that future ranged characters will have.

A precedent has spoken that if Jinx and Caitlyn, the characters that use guns, can be well-adapted into 2XKO, then other gun characters in League of Legends can be well-adapted into 2XKO, including the one character I'm theorizing that is red-headed like Katarina and Vi, and uses not one gun, but two guns, who goes by the name of Sarah Fortune. But thankfully, since Shaun has announced that they already have Caitlyn and numerous future Champions planned well and locked in way ahead of time, and with the Brazen Hydra having pirates in the background and a decorative pirate ship and Illaoi being in the game, Sarah may have more of a chance to make her debut to 2XKO.

Predicted 2026 character roster:

Ahri
Akali
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Illaoi
Jinx
Katarina
Kennen
Miss Fortune
Teemo
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

Predicted 2026 character roster on the SEGA side:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Kennen
Teemo
Warwick

Predicted 2026 character roster on the Capcom side:

Akali
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Katarina
Miss Fortune
Vi
Yasuo

And because Caitlyn is the character I theorized, all predicted lists above remain unchanged. But this is only the first update about my theory, so the next update will release when the next two characters after Caitlyn are announced.

2XKO 2026 Characters Theory

We're approaching the time when Riot is gonna announce the next 2XKO character at the Game Awards that is a Season 1 character of 2026, and they don't have to just announce the next character, but also show us some sort of Season Pass-style yearly character roadmap that has five characters, each labelled with a Season and also pull a Tekken 8 and reveal the Season 2 character at the end of the Season 1 character trailer. That or reveal the rest of the characters right off the bat. So today, I'm gonna list the five characters potentially coming to 2XKO in 2026.

Before I begin, I need to make a clear statement that this post does not provide a firm information on who are the characters will actually be or confirm that these are actually the 2026 characters coming to 2XKO. These characters I'm listing are hypothetical. But there are some small pieces of information I came across on the Internet that can draw us closer to seeing who the characters will actually be in 2026.

That said, I'll be listing the five characters that I think could hypothetically come to 2XKO in 2026. If you don't think that my theory could be true, it's fine. Just refer to the pieces of information I came across that can confirm it. But before I get to those five characters, I'm gonna go over the honorable mentions that may not make it as one of the 2026 characters.

Gangplank

I was gonna put Gangplank in as one of the five 2026 characters, but this had to be a honorable mention because I think he may be likely to be one of the 2027 characters. He is in my wish list that I found him to be peak in 2XKO, with his cutlass, pistol and explosive barrels in his arsenal. Seeing Gangplank in 2XKO in some way, shape or form is a possibility.

Ashe

I didn't mention one of the characters that wields a bow in the post that talks about the cadence of releasing five new characters per year, so I decided to make Ashe an honorable mention to make things up. It's possible to put characters that wield bows in fighting games, the ones that use a four-button control scheme. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has Hawkeye, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax has Yukari Takeba, Mortal Kombat X has Kung Jin, Injustice has Green Arrow, so who will 2XKO answer with? Ashe, the Frost Archer of the Freljord. If Ashe comes to 2XKO, she could probably swing her frost bow and have one of the normals that involves kicking. I think that the Frost Archer might have a chance, but I don't think she's gonna be one of the 2026 characters. We'll see, though.

Riven

Sadly, Riven is gonna be the honorable mention because I don't think that she can have a chance in 2026. Regardless, I would love to see Riven in 2XKO. There is a piece of information on the internet about how would Riven perform in 2XKO on Reddit. It has a bare minimum on her performance and her voice actress. I went on and said that Riven is gonna do well in 2XKO, with an install super that offers EX special moves and cancel options Warwick has. It's a perfect mechanic in a fighting game.

Garen

Garen would be an interesting honorable mention because League of Legends is honoring Demacia in 2026. I would love to see our Demacian Might in 2XKO, but I don't think that he's gonna be one of the 2026 characters. He may come to 2XKO someday. But I wouldn't hold my breath prematurely.

Now, let's get to the top five characters that I think could potentially have a chance of making their debut to 2XKO in 2026.

5. Katarina

If you remember what happened to Katarina, she was Thanos-snapped from the game's early stages of development because Riot had to go back to the drawing board after looking at the art style from League of Legends and changing the art style to something that fits well in a fighting game. But look at the game's Wikipedia page that is now updated to reflect when the game is launching on console, which is January 2026, a perfect date for the game's official launch, her name is on the list of confirmed characters with a [b] mark after her name representing that she is guaranteed to be announced at the Game Awards as the 12th character.

And it's not just her name being listed in the game's Wikipedia page that confirms this, but Arucelli did her magic in working on a concept art for Katarina and submitting it to the designers as well to also confirm this. The part of the video shows the game's early phase of development and it turns out that Katarina wasn't the only victim of being Thanos-snapped from the game because Jinx was also Thanos-snapped from the game in its early stages as well, but thankfully made her debut. So if Jinx can make her debut after she was cut from the game in its early stages, then I believe that Katarina can. Thankfully, Katarina is confirmed because of her name being listed on the game's Wikipedia page, she is spotted during the game's early stages and Arucelli's work on her concept art to submit to designers for her redesign process. Even if our red-headed assassin doesn't make it as one of the 2026 characters, there is still hope.

4. Caitlyn

The Piltover Sheriff and the noble member of the Kiramman family is known for wielding her Hextech rifle. You would know that Caitlyn is a Marksman character, so if she comes to 2XKO, her kit will be innovated into something that fits in the fighting game genre so that she can swing her rifle with L and H normals and kick with M normal and have not just Yordle traps, but Hextech grenades in her arsenal as well. So what is really cool is that like when Teemo uses his slingshot with S1, something that never been done in League of Legends, Caitlyn would throw her Hextech grenades with S2 because typically, sheriffs carry grenades in their arsenal, but not the ones that are lethal.

There was one video on YouTube that talks about Warwick and Caitlyn being confirmed. Like, we know Warwick is confirmed, so I think that our rifle dudette of Piltover could potentially be confirmed to be in 2XKO as the guaranteed fifth character to come with an Arcane skin at launch. And I think it's also because she is Vi's best friend.

3. Kennen

As you watched the Teemo trailer, there is a Yordle in the background of Bandlewood Crossing. Since Riot has stated that no character is deconfirmed, this indicates that Kennen is likely to have a guaranteed chance of making his debut to 2XKO in 2026. But since Kennen is a Mage character, he'll swing his lightning and maybe have a Sonic Spinball dash Teemo has, but with lightning imbued in it. And he'll be a decent and less annoying Yordle than Teemo would be. But I do believe what Teemo did is offering a shining light of hope to any Yordle fans out there.

If you have doubted that your favorite Yordle could never make their way into 2XKO, whether if you're a fan of Rumble, Poppy or Lulu, a precedent has been set that if Teemo can be well-adapted into 2XKO, then any other Yordle can be well-adapted into 2XKO. Does it really sting that we found out that Teemo, of all characters, has confirmed to launch in 2XKO? Yeah, it does, but just a little. That includes that one Ionian Yordle in my wish list, Kennen, the Heart of the Tempest. But thankfully, because of the cameo in the background of Bandlewood Crossing, Kennen is confirmed to be one of the planned 2026 characters and he's gonna be a savage Yordle with lightning.

2. Akali

I have came across some fanart regarding what would Akali look like in a fighting game after Googling fanart of Akali in 2XKO. I think that Akali could have more a chance of coming to 2XKO, because of not just the fan art of her, but she banks on missing mechanics or aesthetics and has a unique matchup with Ahri in League of Legends in terms of builds. She may be hard to learn in terms of combos like Yasuo is. We can find out if she's gonna be easy or hard to learn. Either way, Akali would be peak and savage.

1. Miss Fortune

What is interesting is that Caitlyn is not the only gun character and Katarina is not the only red-headed character I'm theorizing because I have a character in my theory that meets the two criteria. She's a red-headed character who wields not one gun, but two guns in her arsenal and she goes by the name of Sarah Fortune, the Bounty Hunter of Bilgewater. Because of the twin pistols Sarah wields, not only she'll be mobile and agile enough to have the same performance and playstyle as Noel from BlazBlue and use Harley Quinn's performance in Injustice 2 to deem her a rushdown character, with shooting her pistols with S1, but she could be a short ranged character as well and she can execute her Love Tap with S2. This is something that defines a missing mechanic or aesthetic from the current roster and also a little nugget of information that may confirm this.

And one Bilgewater stage being the Brazen Hydra has a decorative pirate ship attached to it and has couple pirates in the background. I think it's a safe case to say there might be enough evidence that our red-haired pirate lady might have a guaranteed chance of coming to 2XKO as one of the 2026 characters, hypothetically. We do have one pseudo-Polynesian Bilgewater character being Illaoi, who is related to this character according to the universe page. This may confirm this as well.

Predicted 2026 Champion roadmap:

Season 1 - Katarina
Season 2 - Caitlyn
Season 3 - Kennen
Season 4 - Akali
Season 5 - Miss Fortune

Here's the predicted 2026 roadmap of planned Champions coming to 2XKO. Trust me, this is important to understand that this is a theory that it may not be a planned roadmap I am theorizing.

Predicted 2026 character roster:

Ahri
Akali
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Illaoi
Jinx
Katarina
Kennen
Miss Fortune
Teemo
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

I'm gonna take the predicted 2026's 16 character roster and divide them by two sides, the SEGA and Capcom sides, imaging the left side as the SEGA side and the right side as the Capcom side of the character select screen across the board. Because these characters are listed in ABC order, it goes left and right in ABC order, and the 16-character roster for 2026 is perfect for a 2v2 tag fighter like in X-Men vs. Street Fighter. Let's get to dividing the roster. We'll start with the SEGA side as usual.

Ahri, Ekko and Jinx remain on the SEGA side, but Blitzcrank, Teemo and Warwick move to the SEGA side with Ahri, Ekko and Jinx to pave the way for Caitlyn and Kennen on the SEGA side with Ahri, Blitzcrank, Ekko and Jinx, Teemo and Warwick. The predicted 2026 SEGA side is Ahri, Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Ekko, Jinx, Kennen, Teemo and Warwick in 2026.

Darius and Illaoi remain on the Capcom side, but Braum moves to the Capcom side with Darius and Illaoi, paving the way for Akali, Katarina, Miss Fortune, Vi and Yasuo to be on the Capcom side with Braum, Darius and Illaoi. That puts Akali, Braum, Darius, Illaoi, Katarina, Miss Fortune, Vi and Yasuo on the predicted 2026 Capcom side.

Predicted 2026 SEGA side:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Kennen
Teemo
Warwick

Predicted 2026 Capcom side:

Akali
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Katarina
Miss Fortune
Vi
Yasuo

So we now have the predicted SEGA and Capcom sides for 2026's 16 character roster containing eight on each side. Again, this is just my imagination because they are not actually from both companies, so don't report me for defamation. And honestly, I'm not surprised that the red-headed female characters known for wielding dual weapons would ALL be on the Capcom side.

As I said before, this post does not provide a firm information on who would actually be the 2026 Champions for 2XKO nor confirm the full 2026 character roster or the actual order of launch. This is just an educated guess for what I believe on who they are and which Season that they will launch in.

2025 is coming to a close as we're approaching the New Year and the Game Awards is fast approaching. Just to be honest, I watch the awards show for game announcements and that's what the show is known for. Once 2026 comes, we'll find out if my prediction is true or not in couple updates regarding my theory in future posts.

Can an Indie Game Like Trials and Visions of Mana Work?

Indies are indeed better than most AAA games because of the fact that indie game developers bear no burden or influence of a AAA company so they would they take creative risks, their games are reasonably priced and they can develop their games however they want. There are indies that feel like AAA titles, so I have thought to myself that if I could have an idea of an an indie title, I say an indie game like both Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. But will an indie game like Square Enix's games work? Let's jump right in.

I am back with another creative post. So probably, it has come to my attention that indie games are better than AAA games. One of those things is wanting an indie game like both Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. I talked about this in private, so I'm going to monologue in how would it work in this post as a concrete answer.

Weapons:

First off, we need to talk about weapons and how they work. The Mana franchise is known for characters that use weapons. Trials of Mana handles characters that wield one weapon and Visions of Mana has three weapons for each character depending on the Elemental Vessel they equipped. I think we'll go with having three weapons for each character instead of one, but with an innovative approach.

The Party:

Now let's go on to another important thing when it comes to an indie title inspired by the Trials of Mana remake and Visions of Mana, the party. You would know that in Visions of Mana, the party has up to five characters in a party while Trials of Mana has six characters, but can only choose three to be in the party. If this indie game comes to fruition, we'll go Visions of Mana's party of five. I was gonna go with a party of seven, but I think a party of five is adequate, but with an innovative approach that weapons would have and can only have three in battle and two outside of battle.

The Combat System:

The Trials of Mana remake has an innovative combat system that Visions of Mana has that finishing battles earns you EXP, money and items. It involves a border that appears during combat and can escape battles. But not in certain battles where the border is red, meaning that you can't escape. A combat system in an indie game like Trials and Visions of Mana can work like that, but can be innovated to have the following approaches; switching weapons on the fly and during a combo like in Tower of Fantasy and putting the whole party in combat like in Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness.

The Characters and Their Arsenal:

Now that I talked about the party, combat system and weapons, let's talk about the characters and their arsenal of three weapons. There are a lot of possibilities for characters this game would have. Imagine if the indie devs make a character that would have dual fans, a spear and gauntlets in their arsenal like Careena, a character that would have cards, a sword and dual knives in their arsenal like Morley and a character that would have a flail, a scythe and boots for kick attacks like Palamena. And maybe they can also make a character that would have their original performance of having an original arsenal of weapons and maybe a character that would have dual knives, a broadsword and a scythe like Haseo from the .hack franchise, which I think could add a little bit of .hack//G.U. gameplay.

Plus, there's a deep breath of fresh new ideas when it comes to developing characters and coming up with different combinations of three weapons in their arsenal and that's something that indie devs that can take a crack of developing this game can really do without any constraints from a AAA company.

Weapon Strikes:

You would know that Trials of Mana offers four Class Strikes and each character has their own Class Strike gauge and Visions of Mana has one cinematic Class Strike and one Class Strike gauge only the player character uses. But in this game, they would be called Weapon Strikes and we can can consolidate that so that the player character and the teammate characters would have their own Weapon Strike gauge like in Trials of Mana and would only have one Weapon Strike that would depend on the equipped weapon like in Visions of Mana and be in the form of Kingdom Hearts.

Elemental Vessels:

They have been useful in Visions of Mana when it comes to what elementals enemies are weak, resistant and immune to, activating Aeries and they change their class and appearance. But this can be innovated so that if characters are equipped with an Elemental Vessel, they offer elemental powers to their arsenal and appearance to change the way how Weapon Strikes work, but they would still switch weapons on the fly. And without an Elemental Vessel equipped, there are no elemental powers on their arsenal and appearance. You would get Elemental Vessels along the way when progressing through the story.

Synergy Awakening:

If you're unaware, the .hack//G.U. series introduced the Awakening system that involves the use of the Morale gauge that fills up when Haseo impresses his allies with his performance. Vol. 1: Rebirth introduced Beast and Magical Awakening, Vol. 2: Reminisce introduced Divine Awakening and Vol. 3: Redemption introduced Avatar Awakening.

Now, the hypothetical indie Mana title is gonna answer with having the Synergy Awakening system that would involve a gauge that fills up when the player character impress two teammate characters and only the player character use called the Synergy gauge and measure by effectiveness based on the current party and it doesn't just limit to the ones in battle. It can also be open to those who are not in battle.

Each character would have three Synergy Awakening abilities, with lv. 1 Synergy Awakening skills that burn one level of the Synergy gauge restricted to the three characters in battle, lv. 2 Synergy Awakening skils that burn two levels of the Synergy gauge and restricted to four characters in a party and cinematic lv. 3 Synergy Awakening skills that burn all three levels of the Synergy gauge and opens to everyone in a party, like how Escape from Ever After uses the Synergy system to have abilitles based on the current party. The catch is, the gauge is unlocked when the party has at least three characters. Let me give you a clarification.

Now, Character A, being the main character of this game, begins their journey. Then Character B joins the party. Characters A and B travel together, then they meet Character C, who would then join the party. Synergy Awakening is unlocked when Characters A, B and C are in a party, starting with a lv. 1 Synergy Awakening skill given to each character. When Character D joins the party, each character is given a lv. 2 Synergy Awakening skill for three characters in battle and one character outside of battle. And finally, when Character E joins the party, all characters in a party are given a lv. 3 Synergy Awakening skill for all five characters to perform.

Skill Tree:

Most RPGs have skill trees and they are intended to increase a character's stats and learn new skills. Trials of Mana uses class switching and Visions of Mana uses points you receive from activating Elementites using Elemental Vessels and levelling up. But I think an indie game like these two games should use a skill tree to have increases to max stats and new magic. Each character would have one skill tree and they earn points from levelling up needed to increase max stats and learn new magic abilities. Think of Tales of Xillia where you earn points for levelling up to increase max stats and learn new Artes through the Lillium Orb. It has to work.

The Pilgrimage to the Mana Tree?:

I would love to see an indie game like Trials and Visions of Mana that would involve going on a pilgrimage to the Mana Tree, but it might have copyright issues. But I think we can change that so that the destination would be the Magic Fountain instead of the Mana Tree to avoid copyright issues. That said, the story would involve the party going on a pilgrimage to the Magic Fountain in the Sanctuary to see the world's goddess that maintains life and mana in the world needed for elementals to thrive. Along their way, they'll come across Elemental Vessels. But let's not forget about the threat that could tarnish the world if the fountain falls into evil hands.

I think this could lower the chance of an indie dev of this game getting sued by Square Enix over copyright infringement in terms of the story.

The Story:

I had to talk about this after highlighting the journey to get some details on how would the story unfold and now that the details I need, I can highlight how would story unfold.

The game's storyline would involve a protagonist, who would go on a pilgrimage to the Magic Fountain. Along the way, they meet companions who would join the protagonist on their journey. The forces of evil would come to awaken the threat that can plunge the world into a void of life when the fountain falls into evil hands. Once the fountain falls into evil hands, the threat would emerge and the world would tremble before the threat, which has been a trope villains embrace. It's up to the party to stop the forces of evil from awakening the threat and save the world.

These are the things that I think could work in an indie title purely inspired by Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. If this game goes into production, they can be able to develop this game however they want without the shareholding constraints from a AAA game company and release it on both PC and console. And without the shareholding constraints, they will never be laid off, which has been the bone of contention and an ongoing issue among the game industry for years, or rely heavily on microtransactions and greed so that this game would be reasonably priced below $30, appease fans and they'll take some creative risks to provide unique innovations to this game. I think people might want this to happen to reflect the fact that indies are better than most AAA games.

See, when you watch the official trailer and look at the screenshots of this game, you might say, "Dang, this indie game feels like Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana," and "Hold on a sec, am I seeing this character... play like Careena and... Haseo?! And how are they able to switch weapons?!"

And that's because it will feel like Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana and have unique innovations; like switching weapons in game and even during a combo like in Tower of Fantasy. Devs that can take a crack of making this game can literally make a character like Careena and another like Haseo. Heck, they can also make a character like Palamena, Morley, Julei or even Val. This even applies to what I saw on that Mightykeef video about Ananta being an upcoming free-to-play anime GTA clone with combat taken from Spider-Man, Sleeping Dogs and the Batman Arkham trilogy. Except that it's not a free-to-play indie title.

Indie games that feel like Square Enix's games are not as common of the game industry today, and it's largely dominated by Sandfall Interactive with the entry of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. To have indie games inspired by Square Enix's games is a great choice as there is a lot of attention, feedback and not a lot of money, especially to avoid greed. Now, if I recall, there is one indie game that is inspired by Kingdom Hearts and Devil May Cry and it's not an action RPG, and that is Geno Kids, which is now in Early Access. The only games that are purely inspired by Kingdom Hearts coming this year and 2027 are Duskfade and Luminous Nights. There are literally two indie titles that an indie Mana title can compete with if it goes into production. This means it'll likely do well if this game comes out to bank on the fact of attention.

Some of the things I mentioned in this idea of an indie Mana title can be used for the next Mana title, which may or may not be announced at the Game Awards. If you're interested in knowing more about my pitch to the next Mana title that is called Seasons of Mana or whatever it will be called, here's the link.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2024/10/seasons-of-mana-pitch.html