MVS Appeased the Smash Community + Feedback

I think MultiVersus has appeased the Smash community. No, I mean it. MultiVersus appeased the Smash community. Yes, I know that this is a bold take. I know that they are a bunch of naysayers that are against that, but it's alright. I am going to explain how, so let's get right into it.

Still here? Good. The main thing that they are gonna say is that MultiVersus did not appease the Smash community, but Smash Ultimate did. Sure, Smash Ultimate has an insane amount of sales since release and has every character released throughout the franchise, but the game has ceased active development after Sora from Kingdom Hearts came out. Then Smash Ultimate had landed in a very awkward position that makes things unbearable.

Because Nintendo is not gonna deliver future content to the game anymore, it took a turn for the worse when Steve from Minecraft remained OP. Fans that partake in tournaments were going to town as him because he is so OP that they would use him as a trump card to win tournaments. They want him nerfed, but there is no way to fix this because Nintendo is not patching the game anymore. Which means that Steve will stay that way forever. But TOs have taken drastic measures to globally ban Steve from tournaments and that's agreeable, right? Sure, people who partake in Smash tournaments would like to play as Steve as their trump card, but he had to be globally banned because he is OP and the game won't receive future balance changes.

Another awkward spot was encountered for the Smash community before this one. There is an ongoing trend regarding people hating Fire Emblem characters. The source started when Corrin was released on Smash Bros. for the 3DS and Wii U. Then the hate continues when Chrom made his debut to Ultimate and made things worse by sharing his moveset with Roy. Then things took a turn for the worse when Byleth was announced as the final Fire Emblem character and became the most hated character reveal. This hate became the fact that there are a lot of characters who use swords. That became a plothole on Smash. Except that all of this was debunked.

Smash has been a staple of EVO since 2007. But back in 2022, Smash has been taken out of EVO. It's not because Sony bought EVO. It's because Nintendo had to distance themselves and they have no intentions of working with Sony since they purchased the most prestigious tournament of the Summer. We haven't seen Smash being at EVO for three straight years. It turns out that Smash may not be at EVO ever again.

And there is a fun fact to this. Sora from Kingdom Hearts became the final DLC character for Smash Ultimate. Sakurai worked for Sora Ltd. The company name he worked for became a meme that Sora is the cherry on top. It's bold, but satisfying. Not that lukewarm mind you, but it all satisfies the fanbase of Smash. It's sad that Smash Ultimate is the final game of the Smash franchise that has every character introduced across titles.

After the release of Sora to close out the Smash franchise comes other Smash clones with different characters from franchises, like Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl and the critically acclaimed MultiVersus. How is it that MultiVersus has appeased the Smash community in general?

At an end of the Open Beta era, Player First Games creator, Tony Hunyh has announced that they would take down the Open Beta to prepare for launch after he said that they had a lot of work to do and had a clearer view of what they needed to focus on, specifically the endless content cadence of new characters, new maps, new game modes, better netcode, balance changes and more possibilities. This is where you would be disappointed that the servers had to be taken down. Well, it's a wise decision. It's probably one of my most favorite parts during MultiVersus' development and it's considered their moment of silence.

As we approached to the point when we get a big announcement regarding MultiVersus' development, their X account did some testing to make sure things are working properly for the big announcement. Lo and behold, MultiVersus has returned for launch with drastic changes, like the removal of Gold in favor of multiple currencies, the removal of the same attack decay, the shift to Unreal Engine 5, new eight-week Season cadence and Rifts and additional characters like Banana Guard from Adventure Time and Joker. These characters are considered a solid pass. The cast of characters is the main reason why MultiVersus had to be considered the best Smash like game. While this seems like a bold take, MultiVersus is the insanely Smashing game. No pun intended. I have a feedback to give to Player First Games later on this blog post, so you'll have to stay tuned for that.

And now, where it stands, Season 3 is going strong today and the midseason patch got some interesting developments. We got two new queues that I'll go over now. First is the Wacky Weekend game mode. It's a special game mode that have a randomized assortment of specialty game modes like Cart Racing, Volleyball, 3v1, Spotlight, Counter, Splat, etc. It is considered to be the Toys for Bob Labs of MultiVersus. Because it is called Wacky Weekend, the game mode gets available every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And there's another queue that we've been asking since the game launched, which is the Casual game mode. This is a game mode where we play against bots in 2v2 as a practice session for when we are not ready to play against real players yet. I have been using it to grind my Battle Pass and rewards.

Now let's go on to an even more interesting development, which is the release of the 7th DC character, and that is Nubia, Queen of the Amazons. Nubia is a heroine on DC Comics that wields the Staff of Understanding. For those of you who may not know, she is Diana's sister in Themyscira. That's what makes this an interesting development that we now have two Wonder Women, but call her Nubia to distinguish that.

Reason why Nubia deserved to be in MultiVersus is actually not the fact that we got two (four if you split the Powerpuff Girls) more female characters in Season 3. She needs the same level of attention as her sister and she deserves to unite with her sister. All regarding Nubia's debut became beneficial enough to honor the comic book series that feature her available in a comics shop and book store. And that is probably one of the most exciting events since... I don't know, Nelvana of the Northern Lights, perhaps? If we get an 8th DC character, I'll be ready for that. In fact, if the 8th DC character is a female, that would even the DC department by gender.

And yes, for those of you would say what about Iron Giant, well, his default variant tagged him as a DC character because he has an S on his chest. But Iron Giant is not originally a DC character despite his default variant having a DC tag and an S on his chest.

And that's not all. I have finally owned every single fighter permanently before Season 4 releases. It's no coincidence with the part where I unlocked every single Hero and Power in Crash Team Rumble before Season 4 releases because the game has ceased active development due to Toys for Bob spinning off from Activision to be an independent studio. Which means that their future titles will not be published by Activision going forward.

With that out of the way, here is the main point I like to make. Player First Games have been seamlessly giving us new content since the early access launch. They went from the extra mile to make MultiVersus the best game it can be without the need to cease active development, from chaging the currency output to shifting to Unreal Engine 5 and better netcode. That included making Season 3 more developing that we are getting more female characters, starting with the Powerpuff Girls to Nubia.

Because Smash Ultimate has ceased active development after the release of Sora to not patch the game anymore, Steve is gonna stay OP forever. But Player First Games is differentiating their enigma from Nintendo's, meaning that they have the resources to endlessly deliver future patches for years to come, including new characters, new stages and new game modes and balance changes that nerf overpowered characters and buff underpowered characters. Endless possibilities to make MultiVersus the best game it deserves to be, meaning that Season 4 is inevitable to release on November 17. I am hyped to see who are the new characters coming in Season 4 and what will it have in store for me.

I was hyped to see who are the new characters coming to Crash Team Rumble Season 4, but it fell short and ceased active development at 13 Heroes and 10 Powers. But on MultiVersus, it will never be the case, which means Season 4 is inevitable to expand the roster to 33 characters. So is Season 5 to expand the roster to 35 characters and launch early January. Season 3 is winding down as it enters the 7th and penultimate week, meaning that Season 4 is fast approaching and we're a week away from getting a Season 4 trailer on who to expect. If I plan to livestream both Crash Team Rumble and MultiVersus, it's gonna be a fun moment for me. Except that Crash Team Rumble is not free-to-play that I need to have my PS Plus Essential membership and there is no PC release.

And because of the reasons alone, MultiVersus has literally appeased the Smash community by having an endless content cadence of new characters, stages, game modes and balance changes. We are approaching the end of 2024 and the New Year. I am already excited to see what PFG has planned for MultiVersus in 2025, and we know that Season 5 will release early January. It's gonna be an intense moment we've been waiting for.

Before I wrap up my monologue, I want to point out that Player First Games is currently accepting feedback, so I have feedback to give to them. And the first thing I like to see implemented is end of match victory dialogues between two certain characters in 2v2s and 2v1s. MultiVersus has a plethora of character specific voice lines that are fun to hear. To make the game more enjoyable, I like to hear some victory dialogues in 2v2 matches and I believe that they are gonna be in a form of BBTAG where two certain characters have a victory dialogue between them. A perfect example for two certain characters having a victory dialogue could include Wonder Woman and Nubia having a victory dialogue between them as sisters. Stuff like that.

To forward this, I also like to see character specific victory lines in 1v1s. They are really fun and awesome to hear and I know you guys love those as much as I do. Now, an example would include that if Batman defeats the Joker in a 1v1 match, you would hear his voice line specific to the Joker. In total, in the voice department, I like to see post-match victory dialogue between two certain characters in 2v2s and 2v1s and character specific victory lines in 1v1s.

And next, the sorting options in the Fighter Gallery. MultiVersus has an ever growing cast and each character is gonna have their mastery level. What if we sort the gallery alphabetically, by ownership and by Mastery level? It's gonna work for sure. It makes things easy to tell. And also the role filter that filters characters by role.

Now for the third thing I want implemented, the overhaul of custom game lobbies. Currently, you can create a custom game lobby, but currently, because they are private, they are only for friends to join, not anyone else and it's a bit lukewarm to create custom game lobbies only for friends to join. Now, we can overhaul the behavior of custom game lobbies so that not just friends, but also anyone can join, making them really public

The fourth and penultimate thing, the pre-match lobby screen. Ever since the game launched, the UI received some drastic changes from the Open Beta era. But there is a Change Fighter button. Every time I select it, it takes me to the Fighters page and that flow doesn't make any sense at all. I feel like that the button should be removed along with the button with a picture of a hanger in favor of the pre-match lobby screen. Imagine queueing up for a match. If a match is found, we would enter the pre-match lobby screen where we select a character and their skin afterwards. If we choose a character, then we would select their skin afterwards. We had that flow in the Open Beta era, so we want it back.

Also, the fighter select screen in the pre-match lobby would look different for the Open Beta era so that it can be similar to Hi-Rez's games, by having role filters and three rows that have ten fighters on each row. Since we currently have 31 fighters, the scroll bar would appear on the right side of the selection, making a new row. So you would see the first three rows.

And last but not least, ultimate abilities. Since we entered the Wii era, the first Smash game that started having super moves was Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The super moves are called Final Smashes and they are performed when one of the characters cracked the Smash Ball open. That's one of the coolest things about it. And in Smash Ultimate, the Final Smashes are very very intense as some characters have cinematic Final Smashes.

However there is something to forward this on my feedback; cinematic ultimate abilities for all characters. Instead of thinking Smash Ultimate, let's think a little in line with Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 where the ultimate abilities were implemented. The ultimate abilities in MultiVersus would be far far too intense and all characters would have intensely cinematic ultimate abilities. How would they use ultimate abilities? Good question. We know that each character has a gauge that is consumed for dodging, parries, teching and the newly announced shielding mechanic, so I believe another gauge for ultimate abilities would suffice. They can fill the gauge up by collecting particles that appear when dealing damage to opponents. Once full, we simply press the special button without inputting a direction.

And this concludes my feedback that I am giving to Player First Games. Here's to a brighter future of the game we all love.

My Action RPG Idea Pitch

I was on the PS Store looking at RPG Maker. It's a franchise that involved players creating and sharing their own RPG to the world. I would love to try it out and make my own RPG. But I am into action RPGs more. They have more content and more plots and vibes than turn-based RPGs. That's why I wanted to do this pitch for my action RPG idea, so that being said, it's time to begin my pitch.

First off, a open world perspective with 3D graphics in Unreal Engine 5. When the Trials of Mana remake was announced, it shaked up the gameplay by being open world rather than having the top down view to have the Class System and an improved combat system. For Unreal Engine 5, the coolest thing about it is that it uses Nanite and Lumen, two major features that produce realistic rendering and lighting.

Now, picture playing an action RPG game developed in UE5. When the characters are in a cave, you would experience better lighting on them and photorealistic rendering on the stalagmites. When in a rainforest, you would experience its photorealistic rendering on trees. And when in a desert, you would experience the photorealistic rendering on the sand, cacti and oasis. In an objective sense possible, UE5 reigns supreme and it's a superior version over UE4 because of Nanite and Lumen.

Now let's move on to the next thing. A party of six characters with an even composition. When we entered the PS2 era, one of the RPGs that have the party of six characters with an even gender composition was Wild Arms 5. Now, I love Wild Arms 5. The game has a party of six that is even by gender. Three male characters and three female characters. I remember playing this game from back in the day. It's a great RPG.

However, since this is my ARPG pitch and Wild Arms 5 is a turn-based RPG, let's think Ys: Memories of Celceta. And I don't mean follow it up to be similar in terms of having up to three characters in the battlefield and other three outside the battlefield. But imagine an ARPG where you would have more than three characters in battle like in the Last Story, Valhalla Knights 3 and Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness. So again, while it would have all six characters in a party, the battlefield doesn't have to be limited to three characters. It would have all six characters in the battlefield and the player can switch between characters.

The next thing I like to see on my ARPG idea is dedicated combat system. Read my words carefully. Dedicated combat system. Let me explain about what do I mean by dedicated combat system. On the PS2 era, one of the action RPGs that have the dedicated combat system was Rogue Galaxy. What I mean is that outside of combat, the characters in Rogue Galaxy can't attack. And they can only attack during combat because of the attack gauge that depletes when attacking.

But to tone down the dedication, let's make it semi-dedicated combat system. Instead of thinking Rogue Galaxy. Let's think of something a little more in line with Trials of Mana because the player character can attack both inside and outside of combat and it involves earning EXP, money and items after defeating all enemies and bosses in area. That's what I mean by semi-dedicated combat system. That's why the two games that produced the best combat system were Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana.

A semi-dedicated combat system would also involve playing the in combat version of the map's music during combat to give regular battles the mood. Think of the original .hack games where the music plays the in combat version and gets out of the in combat state when outside of combat.

The next thing that I want to see on an ARPG idea that is admittedly an asset from Trials of Mana and that can be done in my pitch for the next Mana title, and that is one class on each character. Classes are specific to each character and they give them abilities, so this will be in my action RPG idea pitch. Each character would have one class that have up to four levels and each level would give you a Class Ability and each character would have their Class Ability gauge that can hold up to four levels. You can't level up a class until you have a special item required to level up classes.

For weapons, there are a lot of possibilities that characters can use weapons, so imagine if the male character that would be the main protagonist wields his greatsword like Val does. Maybe the first female character can wield her boots for kicking attacks like Palamena does. Maybe the 2nd male character wields his cards like Morley does. What would be cooler is that the 2nd female character wields fans like Careena does and a 3rd male character that is a young male character wields his umbrella like Julei does. But what about a magic wand? Is it gonna be left behind? Of course not! The 3rd female character would wield her magic wand, kind of like Angela.

The characters in a party of six are gonna play like that and the party of six is gonna work for sure. So would the class system. Which means the classes can be scale-agnostic and can bank off the fact of scaling as well.

Next up is interesting parts. You know that some RPGs have interesting parts. First off, the Johnny Appleseed bit from Wild Arms 5. If you aren't familiar with Johnny Appleseed, he was an American pioneer nurseryman, but in this case, the Johnny Appleseed part would be on my ARPG idea as a place like Wild Arms 5 has. The reason why I'm telling you this is because I enjoyed Wild Arms 5. I want to revisit that game and it's happening in the future because of PS Plus Premium.

Secondly in the interesting parts department is what I experienced on Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is getting into a cave located at an island. There is some degree to this when it comes to exploring dungeons. Like we know that we had to go inside the Pirate's Grotto. So what if we go into a cave located at an island on my ARPG idea? That can be a good idea to me, as long as it's not gonna be as tedious as the one in Enchanted Arms.

And speaking of tediousness, this is definetely one of the things I don't want in my ARPG idea. Annoying parts. Parts like these were always a struggle and the Enchanted Arms-style cave is not the only thing I don't want. There are other annoying parts I don't want implemented. First off is tedious puzzles. There has been one game that has the part where we must complete the puzzle in a limited amount of time. It's Genma Onimusha. I loved the game, but what I hate the most is solving the puzzle while a countdown is present. It became a tedious struggle. That's why I don't want any and I mean any bullcrap on my ARPG idea.

Second one under the annoying parts department is tedious directions in dungeons. Now that's another annoying thing I do not want to see in my ARPG idea. Take Tales of Graces f for example. The dungeon in the game is annoying to deal with. You just have to walk around in the dungeon until you finally make progress. To have annoying parts in an RPG is just a hassle to deal with and it's a waste of time. But there is one thing to alleviate that. The icon to represent your destination.

And last but not least, giant creatures for characters. If you played Final Fantasy XIII, it handled all six characters beating their Eidolon to earn it. And a TV cartoon that aired back in 2008 on Cartoon Network that involved teens using giant elemental creatures is Gormiti: The Lords of Nature!. Don't get me wrong. I do love me some Gormiti. Now, the characters have to summon their Gormiti in battle, so I thought that an ARPG would have that. But they would use it during giant battles and I think it's gonna be more Final Fantasy XIII than Gormiti in terms of giant creatures not being elemental.

If I were tasked to develop an action RPG, this is how I would do it by bring assets from other action RPGs to this one. But this one is just on paper and there might be some check boxes that can be left unchecked. So if this gonna convert the Mana fans into buying this game, will they want this? If it was greenlit and the trailer to this game dropped, then people would dislike bomb the trailer to show that they wouldn't want it because their action RPG would be deemed a Mana-infused action RPG with its bland cast of characters because of what I said about their weapons, like the 1st female character would wield her boots for kicking attacks like Palamena does and the 2nd female character would wield her dual fans like Careena does and so on, male character 2 would be wield his cards like Morley does and so on and the combat.

To my knowledge, Concord became a perfect example of a flopped game. After two weeks, the game has flopped hard and was shut down in favor of Astro Bot, critically acclaimed game. What has happened is that the game has a bland and uninspirational cast of characters having their Guardians of the Galaxy style, slow-paced gameplay and the pricing of $40 on a hero shooter game. Fans are personally glad that Concord has flopped and shut down that they will never want to play this game since both trailers were dislike bombed and instead, wanted to play Astro Bot since its trailer has exploded with positivity. Guardians of the Galaxy is great, but in hindsight, if they planned to keep the Guardians of the Galaxy-infused mindset when Concord returns as a free-to-play title, they could literally make the characters and maps unique and inspirational.

However, if you catch my drift and have been living in a pineapple, any respective company can make an action RPG that would be inspired by Mana, the Last Story, Star Ocean and Valhalla Knights 3 to have several assets from the mentioned action RPGs. Besides, the company made a turn based RPG that was inspired by Final Fantasy, and that is Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360. Great RPG. I sort of want it to be remastered, but the company behind it is no longer on the console gaming business. They are on the mobile gaming business.

Also, this action RPG game I dreamed of may have Mana-infused characters in a party, but the companies must give the characters a lot of inspiration they need. They don't need to copy and paste the coding and physics from Visions of Mana and start from there as Square Enix can file a lawsuit against the outside developers that do. They can develop this game from the ground up and can be just on par with not just the open world Mana games, but also other action RPGs as well.

I have a pitch for the next mainline Mana title coming soon, so stay tuned for that.

My Love for Retro Gaming

Retro gaming has become a golden standard for gamers who were born in the 90s play these games as a child. As a child, I have been playing retro games in all my life. The thing is, they are more charming than the modern age. There was a point of time when I was playing the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 1. Those are great systems. I played the SEGA Genesis and SEGA Saturn at my aunt's house. Those moments were cherishable. Especially when I played Crash Bandicoot at my cousin's house. I was thinking of the old Nick Jr. logo when hearing the sound of hitting Wumpa fruit. I was going to town on that game too, hitting or collecting Wumpa Fruit.

There was also a point of time when the PS2, GameCube and original Xbox generation came in. The games have a lot of charm in them and have charming copyright screens and logo flows. On the Xbox, I went to town on playing Whacked!. And you see, I mainly play both the GameCube and PS2 versions. I have reignited my love for them and going to town on the retro titles. Even retro RPGs like Wild Arms. I love the franchise so much and I've been wondering if we are gonna get a new Wild Arms or not. There has not been a new game in the works for so long.

I have been holding these games to my heart today that ever since the PS4 came out, I wanted to revisit them. But they have been fizzled out except the ones that were on PS Now, which had a limited selection of PS2 games and lacked a PS1 catalog. I expected full backwards compatibility to be on PS5, but Jim Ryan has confirmed that the PS5 can only play PS4 games and the reason being is that the PS3's architecture is hard unlike the Xbox 360's structure that is easy enough for full Xbox backwards compatibility to be established.

I was looking forward to revisit retro titles, like Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. It was a great game that the levels' music and environment are so charming. Especially the trolley level inspired by Donkey Kong Country. It does make sense for Crash Bandicoot to be inspired by Donkey Kong in terms of levels that involve underwater and riding on trolleys and Mario in terms of boxes that come in different varieties. The game has more sales than the original trilogy that it received a Greatest Hits accolade. It represents that Wrath of Cortex is actually a success, not a flop. I hold the game dear in my heart today.

Even the ones that have the Sofdec and ADX logos that are seen in 3rd party titles until the Xbox 360 and PS3 era when the CRIWARE logo appears. Most importantly, the subsequent games in the original Dragon Ball Z: Budokai trilogy. I have enjoyed playing those games. The moves were cinematic that the HUD disappears during moves in subsequent games in the Budokai trilogy. The first game in the Budokai trilogy was GameCube exclusive.

That was never the case except for using PS Now. After hearing the disappointing news, I just let it go and stick with playing remasters that kill the old school charm like Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy and Spyro: Reignited Trilogy; two remastered trilogies that became a starting point. To this day, I will never get my possibility to revisit those games. To not revisit Wrath of Cortex, the subsequent games in the original Budokai trilogy and other PS2 games I played as a child after hearing that the PS5 can only play PS4 games due to the PS3's unique structure made it sting more than hearing that both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X support full backwards compatibility. It really does sting real bad that I can never revisit these games.

Until back in 2022 when Bloomberg has reported that Sony was working on a new service that competes with Xbox Game Pass. The only thing that caught my eye is that we can be able to revisit older titles released on the PS1, PS2, PSP and PS3 games on the Premium tier as it offers a vast selection of retro titles, including those I loved as a child and given us three retro titles every month, unlike PS Now.

After hearing that PS Plus Premium offers a vast selection of retro titles, I made an original wish list on Google Docs that has PS1, PS2, PSP and PS3 games and remove the ones that are being added. But it was scrapped, so I made separate wish lists. One for PS1 games and one for PS2 games. And put in an asterisk next to the title to represent that it includes sequels to a particular game. After PS2 emulation came to PS Plus Premium, the older PS2 games like Fantavision didn't not shift to the PS Plus Premium line, so I added the older PS2 games to my wish list and added two asterisks to represent that the older PS2 game exist, but lacks emulation features. I didn't plan to make a wish list for PSP games, even though we can play them on the big screen. But if I do, it'll be the ones that are first party and PSP exclusive. And now, since Google Docs now has tabs, I unified my wish lists of PS1 and PS2 games into one document to have two separate tabs. Here is a link to my unified PS Plus Premium wish list.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XmFK2Y8tle13iNoRycy1cA2o2DLOk9JlpP-EDAohRdU/edit?tab=t.4wijuswkh2v4

I am not making a wish list of PS3 games because they hit a special rule I'll explain now. PS3 games are only available for cloud streaming since the PS3 is hard to emulate unlike the PS1, PS2 and PSP, the three systems that are easy to emulate that the games of these systems are available to both download and stream. If you really want to download PS3 games, you're better off getting a PS3. That and playing remasters of PS3 games. I know that they are not the same as the originals, but they tend to give them better visuals and be faithful to the originals' gameplay and story.

Last month, they have released one of the fun retro games called Mister Mosquito. It is a game where you can control the mosquito to suck blood from people without being noticed because you are playing as an unwanted guest. I better pick this game up to see how it cranked up to be in the future. And maybe livestream it. Then there's Secret Agent Clank, a PSP spin-off of Ratchet and Clank where you play as Clank to uncover the mystery behind someone impersonating Ratchet. I'll give this a go in the future too.

I am intrigued at the way that new retro titles are being added month to month. And we got new PS2 games coming. As a result, I can finally be able to revisit Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, the Simpsons: Hit & Run, subsequent games in the original Budokai trilogy and more PS2 games I loved as a child and been holding them dear to my heart if they ever released them. I miss hearing Gold Rush's theme, exploring the goodness of Springfield, performing cinematic moves and switching fighting styles. Except that the games that I played as a child included the 3D era Mortal Kombat games that I wasn't supposed to play because they are rated M and the franchise is marketed towards those that are 17 and up.

Since PS2 emulation came, Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus became available and I was able to revisit that game. This is a throwback game I played back in the day and I didn't beat it on that time when I was a child because I rented it from a rental place called Hollywood Video, now defunct and was restructured into American Mattress when I came to my old stomping grounds to find out what has changed. But on the time when PS2 emulation came, I beaten it. I was going to town on that game like the previous time. Especially looking at the Dolby Surround Pro Logic II logo. It was worth it.

For the PS1 side of things, we get to revisit them as unlike PS Now, PS Plus Premium offers PS1 games and we haven't seen a new PS1 game since we saw new PS2 games for three months, until we heard that we got two new PS1 games coming out this year in honor of the PS1's 30th Anniversary, Dino Crisis and Blood Omen. That is great, but what would me more ecstatic is that if they released the Crash and Spyro games, as well as the ones published by Universal Interactive; they have a lot of charm. I was in those streets embracing polygon models. And now, I get to embrace them again, but they have 1080p up-rendering.

In fact, in the PS1 era, Universal Interactive has games that have a lot of charm that they were the publishers of the Crash and Spyro franchises. The best games they ever published were the original trilogies. They have a good average score and a good average number of sales and they should be released on the catalog anytime soon. On to the PS2 era, Universal gave passing them along to different studios to continue their franchises a go. The only thing about this is that their games are still having a lot of charm despite them being released on different platforms on the 6th generation era. Turns out that after Naughty Dog and Insomniac parted ways to pursue Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank, Universal was awful to Crash and Spyro. I am aware they they were a terrible company that none of their games after the original trilogies came close and they fell short, but I'm willing to revisit them if they released at least one on the back catalog.

The PS1 and PS2 eras are the best eras in all of PlayStation because of opening the disc reader, the NTSC and PAL labels, memory cards, wired controllers and Multitap accessories. With PS Plus Premium, I can finally be able to revisit PS1 and PS2 games that I have been playing as a child and holding them in my heart. And PSP games are also in the back catalog and we get to play them on the big screen. In fact, I have found a decent PSP game to livestream soon.

If I keep track of the pieces of the PS Plus Premium era so far, PS Plus Premium offers a vast selection PS1, PS2 and PSP games with up-rendering, rewinds, quick saves and video filters, including the original releases that got remade or remastered like MediEvil, new retro titles get added every month and we're seeing new PS2 games get released. But there is one piece of the PS Plus Premium era that has not yet been put in. It is shifting the PS2 games from the PS Now line into the PS Plus Premium line.

Just now, Sony has revealed the lineup for October. This month's additions in the classics department came with an interesting development. And it's not the fact that Dino Crisis is one of the announced PS1 games coming this month. But better yet, it's one of the PS2 games on track to undergo a shift from the PS Now line of PS2 games to the PS Plus Premium line of PS1, PS2 and PSP games after wondering if it's possible to do that now that PS2 emulation is here to complete the PS Plus Premium era. That is Siren. But why is it exciting? How is that important?

Well, there has been some arguments that Siren is already on the catalog per se. But to clarify, despite the fact that you need a PS Plus Premium membership to play this game, Siren is currently on the PS Now line of PS2 games with others, which accompanies only up-rendering for PS2 games on PS4. What makes it so exciting is that Siren will be the first PS2 game to undergo a shift to the PS Plus Premium line of PS1, PS2 and PSP games to have not just up-rendering, but also emulation features such as rewinds, quick saves and video filters on both PS4 and PS5, as well as the option to switch between NTSC and PAL versions. Sony is doing this because they intend to work towards shifting their PS2 games to the PS Plus Premium line, starting with Siren as the first PS2 game to undergo a shift.

I have compared the descriptions of Siren weirdly enough. The current description reads "Experience Siren, originally released on PS2 with up-rendering and trophies." while the blog post reads "Experience Siren, originally released on PS2, now enhanced with up-rendering, rewinds, quick saves and custom video filters." The rest of the description in the blog remained the same as the current description. That's the only indication that Siren is on track to be the first outdated PS2 game to undergo a shift, so I purchased it a la carte to find out how will Siren shift to the PS Plus Premium line. It's either an update for the existing game or replacing the PS Now release with the PS Plus Premium release.

To shift outdated PS2 games from the PS Now line of PS2 games to the PS Plus Premium line of PS1, PS2 and PSP games is possible and a very smart choice because they need to have emulation features too. In the case of Ape Escape 2, its logo you're seeing now represents the European PAL version, which is why we can't purchase it a la carte and there are potential issues on it due to it still having the PS Now algorithm. That's why Ape Escape 2 definetely needs to undergo a shift to the PS Plus Premium line. And so do the Jak and Daxter trilogy and its racing game, though their hub has the logos, Fantavision and others that are in my library so that they can also have rewinds, quick saves, video filters and the option to switch between NTSC and PAL versions.

Sure, I know that you would jump up and say what about Max Payne. And yes, it is available on the store, but in this case, it, along with Bully, currently has the PS Now algorithm. Since Siren is launching into PS Plus Premium to have emulation features, it is possible that both Max Payne and Bully will shift to the PS Plus Premium line to have emulation features at some point since we're seeing more PS2 games getting released and the ones like Siren shifting to the PS Plus Premium line. Especially the Rockstar line of older games that were delisted from the store.

Regardless of the fact that the PS3 games are only available to stream, because we're revisiting PS1, PS2 and PSP games and they have up-rendering, rewinds, quick saves and video filters, new retro titles get added monthly, including the original releases that got remade and remastered and it's possible for PS2 games in the PS Now line like Siren to be shifted to the PS Plus Premium line of PS1, PS2 and PSP games, the only thing that will reign supreme over PS Now is PS Plus Premium. We, the gamers who were born at the 90s, can finally be able to revisit games we loved as a child and held dear to our hearts today. Here's to the later months' additions in the classics department, besides Blood Omen, which we know that it will be added later this year.

What SHOULD and SHOULDN'T Be in 2XKO

2XKO is an upcoming free-to-play fighting game set in the world of League of Legends we are quite excited for. Its Alpha Lab has ended weeks ago and I am so sad that it's over. It's not just the gameplay in general. It's also the work Riot Games have been put into after they got our feedback. There are endless possibilities 2XKO will have. I had to get a brand new DualSense controller because my other one just keeps on drifting on me despite rubbing isopropyl alcohol on the analog sticks. And now that I got a new controller, I have been enjoying the game every second of it. And I was able to play Visions of Mana well on my new controller.

If you know me, I have been a part of the FGC since the time when Naruto: Clash of Ninja comes out on the GameCube. I have never been a part of an offline tournament because it is a thinking thing when it comes to watching what my opponent is doing and I don't think I'll be ready to participate in one of them.

For this post, I have the things that I want to see and things I don't want to see in 2XKO. First, I'll monologue the things I want, then I'll monologue the things I don't want and this will be my big feedback for Riot to get.

The first thing I want to see is an endless roster of characters. League of Legends has an endless roster of characters and they keep adding more of them endlessly. While the game has skins, 2XKO will be getting more characters during pre-launch development. But it's unknown if the game is gonna get more characters post-launch. If the game launches, we can find out. There is one thing we do know for sure. On future playtests, future characters will be locked and they would be unlocked by using currency or completing missions. For the stages, we can get more of them and they can be unlocked by default.

The second thing I want to see is different voices and effects on skins. You know that League of Legends handled having skins with different voices and effects. We know that 2XKO will have different skins, so they should also have different voices and effects.

The third thing I want to see is new tag team mechanics. We know that there is already a tag feature that allows the point character to launch the opponent into the air so that the assist character can follow up to a point position to continue the combo and there is already a fuse that grants the assist character to come in to perform their super during the point character's super. But I want is new tag team mechanics.

First off, the Variable Cross feature. Since we entered the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, one of the fighting games that flopped was Street Fighter X Tekken. I loved playing Street Fighter X Tekken. This game has the Cross Assault feature that allows the player to use both characters together for a limited time and the jingle plays during the time depending on the composition. That is the coolest thing the game had. And it has the game mode where Cross Assault is permanent and this is a game mode 2XKO must have since the game has up to four players like Street Fighter X Tekken and Mortal Kombat.

However, like Tekken Tag Tournament, the round ends when the point character dies on Street Fighter X Tekken and doesn't have assists, so let's think a little more in line with SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level. Assist characters have their own super gauge and it is the first game to have that until Beta 2 where assist characters no longer having their own gauge and now share the super gauge with the point character on Tag Mode and has the Variable Cross feature. Then 2XKO came along to have the super gauge on each character. But I think each character having their own super gauge is a bit absurd, so each side needs to have one super gauge. For the Variable Cross feature in 2XKO, it can burn all three bars of your super gauge and becomes unavailable when you're down to one character.

Now let's move on to the next one, which is cinematic tag supers. Street Fighter X Tekken handled Cross Arts. They burn all three bars of the super gauge. But let's think a little more in line with Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2. It has tag supers per se, but I don't mean follow it in terms of gameplay because there are not that many unique tag supers in Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2. But 2XKO would have a lot of unique cinematic team supers depending on what characters you have on your team and they are executed by pressing down twice and two special buttons and the tag button simultaneously. They require all three bars of your super gauge. However, the feature is unavailable like the Variable Cross feature when you have one character left on your team.

Here's the fourth thing I like to see implemented to 2XKO. That is cinematic lv. 3 supers. We know that there are currently cinematic supers that burn two bars of your super gauge, but two bars doesn't fit with the cinematic flavor on supers. What would really make sense is that cinematic supers must burn all three bars. Think of Them's Fightin' Herds where level three supers are so cinematic and are similar to BlazBlue's Astral Heat.

The fifth and final thing I like to see is the dynamic BGM system. Them's Fightin' Herds is known for its dynamic music system to give battles a lot of flow. I loved hearing the dynamic goodness of the stage's BGM. It give matches a distinctive flow, so I like to see this implemented in 2XKO.

And finally, it's time to give you the sixth and final thing I want implemented. A new fuse that grants the point character to execute two different supers, but not the same super back to back. When Beta 2 of SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level was unveiled, it introduced the character's option to perform two different supers to make the combo longer. There is already a fuse that grants the assist character to perform two assists, so I think a new fuse like that is gonna work.

Now for the things I don't want to see in 2XKO. The first thing I don't want to see is picking the same stage that fights lag over and over on both offline and online. We know that 2XKO will have rollback netcode to alleviate lag. If you remember other fighting games, Bonne Wonderland is the only legal stage in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 because it fights lag on both offline and online while the Coliseum is the only stage that fights lag in Granblue Fantasy Versus. Even with Rising available, the organizers made it clear that they had to pick the Coliseum only at EVO. But since rollback netcode is coming to 2XKO, it will definetely never be the case as rollback netcode is intended to predict the inputs instead of waiting for the signal to hit the server before your character performs an action no matter the stage.

The second thing I don't want to see is touch of death combos. These types of combos are annoying to see. I watched videos that shows the touch of death combos. They are unbearable, yet entertaining to watch. I was shocked that they did a long combo with Ekko. Simply flabbergasted at that. We got bursts to prevent that, but the gauge fills up faster by taking damage.

The third thing I do not want implemented to 2XKO is microtransactions. Microtransactions are often featured in free-to-play games. We know that you need to pay with virtual currency to purchase the premium track of the Battle Pass when the game launches and unlock Champions and skins. Picture 2XKO having microtransactions. If there is a skin that I can own by paying real money in game, that is a prime example of microtransactions. This is something I DON'T want in 2XKO no matter the circumstances even though it's a free-to-play game. Dorkly has a video showing if every game had microtransactions. Go watch it on YouTube.

And lastly, the the fourth and final thing I don't want implemented is matching with opponents with a higher skill level. Ranked matches are usually stressful when it comes to ranking up and ranking down. That's why I refrained from doing ranked matches. We know that the game will have more game modes, but one thing I don't want is to be matched with opponents with a higher skill level. I want matchmaking to be skill based so that we can be matched with opponents with the same skill.

And that's it. These are the things I want and don't want implemented in 2XKO. There is a lot of work Riot needs to put into the game. That means getting things polished and refined for launch in 2025. I hope we get some 2XKO news and another playtest soon. If that news involves revealing the next character, I'll be ready for that. But when are we gonna get into the next playtest? And who is the next Champion? We just have to wait to find the answers to our questions. I believe it might be soon.

PlayStation's 30th Anniversary Could Be Bigger

The celebration of the brand is almost upon us. PlayStation has posted their 30th Anniversary celebration page that updates as they got more stuff to come. I believe that PlayStation's 30th Anniversary is gonna be bigger. A couple of weeks ago, they given us the first things, Shapes of Play, My First GT. the soundtracks, the bundle that has the PS5 equipment sporting the gray color of the very first PlayStation console and the Last of Us Part I's launch into PlayStation Plus. I can hear them say what about a lineup of PS1 games, and I'll get to that later. First off, I'm gonna talk about that game that received a Universal Acclaim rank with a score of 93 on Metacritic and became the gem of PlayStation. That is Astro Bot.

Astro Bot became an acclaimed gem PlayStation really needs. It celebrates the ultimate PlayStation heritage accompanied by VIP bots that dress up as references to PlayStation characters. A lot of people have praised the heritage and the way Team Asobi, the developers behind Astro Bot did with their game. I am planning to get Astro Bot to celebrate the ultimate PlayStation heritage. I am in the middle of Astro's Playroom to hold me off until I get Astro Bot.

However, things have took a turn for the worse. After the PS5 Pro was revealed, the price of it was revealed to be $700. They don't want to spend that much money for a console they've been waiting, so the trailer showing the PS5 Pro was dislike bombed over the $700 price. It's not the first thing that happened because both of Concord's trailers got disliked bombed over the game's bland Guardians of the Galaxy mimicry in the characters department, slow pacing and the pricing of $40 for a hero shooter game, as well as the eight-year development cycle that Firewalk has threatened to shut the game down and delist it from digital stores. But Ellis has said the game would be shut down while they explore better options including those that can better reach their players. That could mean that Concord may come back in a different form. Or wind up being shut down permanently.

After the players became critical of the $700 price tag of the PS5 Pro, Sony decided to blind them with nostalgia by announcing the 30th Anniversary bundle that has the PS5 consoles, controllers and the PlayStation Portal sporting the colors of the PS1 and the old red, blue yellow and green PS logo to pay homage to the brand. The bundle goes available on November. I have a feeling that they want to get the controller since they are critical of the PS5 Pro's $700 price tag. I really want to get the PS5 Pro, but $700 is a bit too absurd.

The first piece of the celebration is the Shapes of Play collection that came in three types, Recharge, Battle and Create, the free-to-play experience, My First GT, the soundtrack that contains music from PS1 games and winning a PlayStation's 30th Anniversary avatar from winning one of the PlayStation Tournaments events. During the recent State of Play, they announced the next milestone to the celebration. That is adding the Last of Us Part I to the PlayStation Plus Extra catalog.

The Last of Us is Naughty Dog's dark franchise known to be beloved for the PlayStation community. They are adding their beloved game to celebrate the Last of Us Day. The milestone comes in several activities. There is a PlayStation Stars Campaign activity. Players that play the Last of Us Part I would receive the Clicker digital collectible until November 26. There are new PS Plus avatars that can be received when redeeming a voucher code until October 26. And finally, the Last of Us merch gets a 10% discount when using the promo code. And that's all what the Last of Us Day has to offer today.

They announced the Shapes of Play collection, My First GT, the soundtrack of music from PS1 games, the chance to earn a special avatar by winning a tournament, a special bundle and launched the Last of Us on the Extra catalog today. Now let's talk about the next piece of celebration they announced recently, but didn't hear much about yet. That is a lineup of PS1 games for PS Plus Premium.

"Like why would anyone play this?" This is a super rude out of context quote from former PlayStation boss, Jim Ryan. He went in for the record and just said that after he said that the PS1 and PS2 games looked ancient. He was at the event where Gran Turismo Sport on the PS4 was showcased. But then he has addressed what he said. And just to answer the question, it's because there's lot of love for the back catalogue as we approach the 30th Anniversary of the brand.

On the past post, I mentioned about the one thing I like about both the PS1 and PS2 and it remained a mystery. Well, one thing I like about both the PS1 and PS2 is two things. First off, their Multitap accessory. the first two consoles only have two ports while there are some games that have up to four players. But it's possible for the four players to play any PS1 or PS2 game that have up to four players when you plug your Multitap to any controller port. Plug in two Multitaps and it can expand up to eight players. The PS Plus Premium catalog has PS1 and PS2 games that have multiplayer and you don't need a Multitap. All the third player got to do is to turn on their wireless controller. Same with the fourth player when playing on the same system.

Now, over to the second thing, the NTSC and PAL versions. The cases of both systems have a label to make it easy to tell if it's North American or European. NTSC is for the North American versions while PAL is for the European versions. When playing a PS1 or PS2 game on the PS4 or PS5, it's possible to switch between the NTSC and PAL versions on settings. I prefer to play the NTSC version.

The PS1 era has become the community's most favorite era for years, being known for their 3,000 pixel graphics, the buttons only controller, the upgrade to the controllers with analog sticks, which are required to play Ape Escape and other titles that were released in 1999, the original Crash and Spyro trilogies, as well as titles published by Universal Interactive, the creation of franchises and more.

When the PS4 came out, the retro titles were fizzled out, except the ones on PS Now, which didn't offer a catalog of PS1 games. That's why PlayStation's 25th Anniversary didn't turn out to be big. It's also the fact that the PS4 lacked backwards compatibility while the PS5 is only backwards compatible to PS4 games due to the PS3's hard to develop structure. But hey, who needs full backwards compatibility when we have PS Plus Premium?

During the recent State of Play, Sony has announced two PS1 games. They are Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Dino Crisis. These are the two fan favorite PS1 games coming later this year and they are a part of PlayStation's 30th Anniversary set to be bigger than ever like Days of Play did because of it, though I don't have any of these games on my wish list. To have PS Plus Premium offering PS1 games in the back catalog along with PS2 and PSP games is a very smart business choice as we are seeing two PS1 games get added to the classics catalog during the celebration later this year.

They had to announce that Blood Omen would be released on the classics catalog later this year because Soul Reaver 1 and 2 are getting remastered and put in a compilation as Blood Omen is the first game of the Legacy of Kain franchise they have to play first before playing Soul Reaver to understand the story. While Soul Reaver 1 and 2 are getting remastered, the original releases might be released on the catalog one day. Releasing original releases on the catalog while the remakes and remasters are present and vice versa has no conflict today, and it went well with their entry of MediEvil and Star Wars: Bounty Hunter.

Soul Reaver is not the only PS1 game celebrating its 25th Anniversary to get remastered along with its sequel, so for context, the other two PS1 games also celebrating their 25th Anniversary this year are Ape Escape and Xena: Warrior Princess. Which means the remasters for both games might be confirmed because if there is a PS1 game that is at least 20 years old, the likelihood of its remaster is high. Also, there is literally one PS1 game Sony must release to the classics catalog. So what are the common denominators for both of these games? I'm glad you asked. Let's highlight the common denominators between both games that are celebrating their 25th Anniversary this year.

Ape Escape and Xena: Warrior Princess are both platformers that involve Spike and Xena having an arsenal of gadgets and weapons to defeat enemies. They have intros that involve friendships, whereas Spike and his best friend Jake entering the laboratory and Xena and her best friend Gabrielle walking through the trail while making a joke and both Spike and Xena can save their best friends. Both games have a training grounds where Spike practices his gadgets and Xena practices her weapons. And these are the common denominators between these two games that are turning 25 this year.

To have both games having good common denominators is ideal and there is not a lot of competition between these two games today. Also, Xena: Warrior Princess, though is a third party PS1 game turning 25 this year, is based on the show with the same name. You need to remember that the show first premiered back in 1995 before the PS1 game adaptation came out in 1999 with Ape Escape and others, so the show is having its 30th Anniversary next year in 2025, hoping Warner Bros. Discovery owns the show's rights to stream it on Max, make a LEGO Xena: Warrior Princess and put Xena into MultiVersus while the PS1 video game adaptation of the show with the same name is having its 25th Anniversary this year. Maybe Aspyr could remaster it.

So, I believe that PlayStation's 30th Anniversary is gonna be bigger than previous milestones. We have the Shapes of Play collection, My First GT, PS1 music soundtrack, a chance to win a special avatar by winning a tournament, the bundle that sports the colors of the very first PlayStation console, the launch of the Last of Us on the Extra catalog with various items to get and more importantly, two PS1 games being a part of the celebration of the brand turning 30 this year like others that turned 30, including me. Here's to a wonderful future of the brand we all know and love.