What SEGA vs. Capcom Can Learn From 2XKO

2XKO came out strong with a very large player base and it has been nominated for Best Fighting Game at the Game Awards that if it wins Best Fighting Game, the fan frenzy would go wild. Riot has confirmed that they will give us an announcement at the Game Awards about revealing the 12th character, likely Katarina. It isn't just a fighting game. It is a very special tag-based fighting game that became a huge success, knocked it out of the park at the competitive scene through its First Impact program and has no sign of providing predatory microtransactions that offer pay-to-progress scenarios.

This means that if any developer can take a crak at developing a free-to-play fighting game, they must use 2XKO as a masterclass of a successful free-to-play fighting game. That includes one developer that is behind their fan game, Madxruler and their fan game, SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level. It is essentially a fan made tag-team fighting game with characters from SEGA and Capcom's IPs, Exceed feature and all that. It pretty much lives up to the Sonic vs. Mega Man thing. It is arguably one of the great fan games. I realized why the game became ghosted before I go to a match. It's because I didn't had enough RAM that the game is memory-intensive. But I was able to upgrade my gaming computer to a 32GB RAM. The announcement regarding what's next for SEGA vs. Capcom is coming this month. This month is gonna be big for both games. We're getting an announcement regarding 2XKO during the Game Awards and an announcement regarding SEGA vs. Capcom this month.

The Modern Setting

Many modern fighting games weren't hated because they have innovations. 2XKO is an innovative tag-team fighting game with multiple rounds, characters having their own super gauge, you get the picture. Currently, SEGA vs. Capcom takes place in the setting where it involves pressing any button to choose a character. But we can modernize that so that they can pick a character with the button that chooses a character and go back with the the button that takes them back to the previous section. If they pick a character, they would be prompted to choose a palette. I believe that this can be done in the form of Invincible VS.

But this just the first thing, so in this post, we're gonna go over the following things that 2XKO did that SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level can learn from.

Duo Play

2XKO introduced Duo Play, a feature that allows each player on their team to control their character. Solo is when a player controls both characters. When you go on a lobby, you would find someone to duo up with because there isn't a feature that allows players to randomly duo up with someone through matchmaking. The survey has that and I put that on top of the list of potential features because duos are way more fun than solos and we want to duo up with a random player through matchmaking, especially when we're grinding the First Steps missions.

While SEGA vs. Capcom has four players on the Cross Fever game mode, I believe that this can be cranked up to eleven that it can have up to four players across multiplayer game modes, training mode and online play and follow 2XKO's footsteps so that one player would choose Sonic as the point character and the other on the same team would choose X as the assist character and vice versa. This requires the role select screen to take place before choosing our characters in most game modes.

Competitive Scene

Riot knocked it out of the park with their First Impact program that brings offline and online tournaments dedicated to 2XKO into the spotlight. The program became a hit and the game has unleashed its full potential on the competitive scene that it became a core backbone of the FGC.

They even went as far as offering direct support to existing events through the announced official 2026 Competitve Series for 2XKO to offer monetary support, promotion on official Riot channels and buffs to prize pools and have a format of one major and three challenger events tied to each of 2XKO's five ingame seasons, with Frosty Faustings XVIII being the major event and Genesis, Texas Showdown and Viennality being challenger events for Season 1 instead of spinning up their own league, making it a total of 20 events per year, which I think it's an adequate format since it's a free-to-play fighting game.

It's perfect timing along with 2XKO coming to console in January 2026, meaning that TOs will have to bring PS5s into venues where offline tournaments take place at going forward. And it won't just alleviate the technical issues when it comes to setting up controls, but make it so that the console versions would automatically be on offline mode when there is no Internet connection, also easier than launching the game on offline mode through the separate executable, especially since we can't launch the game on offline mode through the Riot Client while there is no Internet connection. Of course, they would still be able to allow the competitive scene to be the backbone of the FGC with 2XKO. However, nothing in the competitive scene was able to make it so with the ill-fated MultiVersus.

SEGA vs. Capcom was showcased at Combo Breaker 2025 as part of the Mystery Tournament, which is my favorite kind because it don't have to be limited to fighting games, but games with multiplayer as well. The part where SEGA vs. Capcom was showcased at Combo Breaker was met with widespread praise that it driven a lot of people to try this game out. And this can be amped up a bit so that the game can have its own tournament like others and can be showcased in multiple events. But since it's a fanmade game, it won't use the Competitive Series format that has 20 events divided by five seasons to have four events or have their own league. Instead, TOs can set up offline tournaments for this game if it's chosen.

Rollback Netcode and Lobbies

Rollback is a type of netcode that offers buttery smooth online play and predicts the inputs instead of waiting for the signal to hit it before a character's action. 2XKO offers rich rollback netcode and lobbies. Riot did online servers before having offline game modes in Closed Beta and they're looking to improve netplay in Early Access and beyond with new features, including the ones I saw on the survey. SEGA vs. Capcom already has netplay available and it can be amped up significantly so that it can have rollback netcode and casual and ranked lobbies that use dedicated servers so that there wouldn't be disconnects and Duo Play across online game modes. This gives players a smoother online experience and they can simply enjoy netplay without any problems and offers an amped up experience.

Attention to Detail

There is a LOT of attention that 2XKO has. When Alpha Lab 1 has concluded, they missed this game. When Alpha Lab 2 launched, a lot of people didn't get invited, including myself because it was a disappointingly small playtest. Closed Beta opened the gates to being a final invite-only phase that those who participated in Alpha Lab 1 or 2 will automatically gain access to the game, including console players, who would automatically gain access to the game on the Riot Client on PC. SEGA vs. Capcom also has attention, but not as much as 2XKO. Deen and Noid played this game for their Father and Son Beatdown and it was showcased at Combo Breaker. My favorite part is the characters being locked out. Vyse and Morrigan are next in line and now that Vyse is finished, they're now doubling their efforts on finishing Morrigan, who shouldn't take too long to develop.

If the remaining characters are finished and the game gets esports-worthy, this game is gonna have even more attention, but hit close to the level of attention 2XKO has since Early Access.

Character Archetypes

Fighting games in particular has characters that are unique by archetypes. The characters in 2XKO come with unique archetypes of some characters in 2XKO having the same playstyle as characters in other fighting games, like Teemo's rolling dash to indicate that Teemo is the Sonic in 2XKO with it and it serves as an innovative approach.

But remember that I said in the last post that there is one of the planned characters in SEGA vs. Capcom is going to have the same playstyle as Yasuo in 2XKO? Well, one of the planned characters in SEGA vs. Capcom is most likely to hypothetically have the same playstyle as Yasuo is Sakura Shinguji from Sakura Wars. But how would Sakura play similarly to Yasuo when she is finished? Well, she is a samurai of the cherry blossom and she is likely to be a mid range character and this is the dopamine rush the game needs. But we won't know if it's true or not until Vyse and Morrigan are finished. But we do know one thing for sure. Sakura is likely to come out in 2026 alongside Linn Kurosawa, whose development time takes the longest due to her being multiple characters in one and none of the characters in League of Legends are faithful to her performance when they debut to 2XKO.

But here's another thing. The 11th and 12th characters have been already confirmed to be in development. If they ask who do we think the 11th and 12th character would be, I have two characters that I think can do well.

First off, for the SEGA side, I say Gilius from Golden Axe. Now, Gilius is the main protagonist in the Golden Axe series on the successive SEGA Genesis. If our axe wielding warrior is confirmed, I think he'll likely to have the same playstyle as Darius. There's no other axe swinging character in 2XKO.

Now let's go on to the next character that is a Capcom character, Jon Talbain from Darkstalkers. Why Jon Talbain, the wolf in Darkstalkers, would be a great addition? Well, there is one obvious reason. Warwick. Vander became a wolf to be called Warwick. He became a decent and less annoying character to play against than Teemo. There is a fresh concept that if Jon comes to SEGA vs. Capcom, he'll be able to do well and come close to how well Warwick performed in 2XKO.

And since Katarina is likely to be announced at the Game Awards, I wonder if any of the SEGA or Capcom characters that are not in the game can have the same playstyle as her if they make it into the fan game?

Combo Trials

2XKO has introduced Combo Trials in Early Access. The game mode helps you learn combos for each character. They earn you credits and they are rewarding depending on the difficulty. I think SEGA vs. Capcom needs to have Combo Trials to help them learn combos. It's something that players must do. Learn combos.

Peripherals

There are a lot of peripherals 2XKO uses, like controllers and arcade sticks across most brands. That unlocked endless possibilities for players that prefer to use a controller or use a stick. SEGA vs. Capcom allows controllers, but this can be amped up a bit so that the game wouldn't be only playable on controllers that it can also allow the use of arcade sticks across most brands.

These are the things that SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level can learn from 2XKO so that it can be a phenomenonal game. This is more important than you think. Madxruler is an independent developer. They can develop their fan game however they wish and want. They don't have the burden of a big company and be riddled with the shareholding shackles of a AAA company. If Madxruler pours their hearts into this game, then I believe it can have much of a guaranteed chance to be featured as a core backbone of the FGC and have the same treatment as 2XKO.

If you like to play both SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level and 2XKO on stream or off stream, it's cool. Don't let me stop you. It's how you prepare yourself for both games' announcements coming this month. It won't be terrible like how SEGA had to restructure themselves to becoming a third-party developer like Capcom, Bandai Namco and even the 3DO Company and Atari before them following the failure of the Dreamcast. The link to the post covers it all.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/11/why-sega-quit-the-console-business.html

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

Indies are indeed better than AAA games because of the fact that indie game developers bear no burden or influence of a AAA company so they would they take risks, their games are reasonably priced and they can develop their games however they want. There are indies that feel like AAA, so I have thought to myself that if I could suggest 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.

How Weapons Can Be Used:

First off, we need to talk about weapons and how they are used. The Mana franchise is known for characters that use weapons. Trials of Mana handles characters that wield one weapon and while Visions of Mana has three weapons for each character, depending on the Elemental Vessel they equipped. And this can be innovated so that each character would have three weapons, but would switch between three weapons in their arsenal on the fly and during a combo, like in Tower of Fantasy where characters switch weapons on the fly.

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. But if this indie game comes to fruition, we can change that with this innovative approach, all six characters in a party instead of choosing three characters.

The Characters:

Now that I talked about the party and weapons, let's talk about the characters. When it comes to an idea of a Trials and Visions of Mana-esque indie game, the characters in a party would be three male characters and three female characters like in Trials of Mana. 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 it's perfect for a Darkness-type character.

Plus, there's a deep breath of fresh new ideas when it comes to developing characters and coming up with different combinations of 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.

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 so that all six characters can be in battle and would earn the same amount of EXP. Think of Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness where it has all characters in a party in battle. It's something that this game can really have as this is an innovative approach.

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 the player character must use. But I think an indie game can consolidate that so that each character would have their own Weapon Strike gauge like in Trials of Mana and would only have one cinematic Weapon Strike that would depend on the equipped weapon like in Visions of Mana. This is another thing that involves innovation.

Elemental Vessels:

They have been useful in Visions of Mana when it comes to what elementals enemies are weak, resistant and immune to 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.

The Synergy System:

And why would I forget about this one feature that I thought would be nice? Escape from Ever After, a Paper Mario-inspired game I came across, is known for having the Synergy system to have abilities that function and measure how strong they are based on the current party and a gauge that fills up when complimenting each other and nailing actions. Honestly, I think this could definetely work in an indie Mana game. Here's what I think of the Synergy system in this game.

What is really cool is that the like the Synergy system in Escape from Ever After uses a gauge that holds up to five bars of SP, generic and character-specific abilities that based on the current party, there would be a gauge that holds up to five bars of the Synergy gauge that is filled up when a player character impresses their allies with their performance only the player character uses and general and character-specific abilities. Think of .hack//G.U. where it uses a Morale gauge that fills up when Haseo impresses his allies with his performance. Speaking of .hack//G.U., there is one thing that could apply to having a Synergy system.

If you're unaware, subsequent volumes of the series introduced powerful Awakening. Vol. 2: Reminisce introduced Divine Awakening, and Vol. 3: Redemption introduced Avatar Awakening. I think we can use both of them for the Synergy system in an indie game inspired by Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. As I have said, there would be character-specific and general Synergy abilties, so Synergy abilities that consume four bars would work similar to Divine Awakening with a timing of a button press and Synergy abilities that consume all four bars would work similar to Avatar Awakening, but with a different twist that would fit the game's ecosystem to convert enemies into special materials. And they would be specific to each character, measure strength based on the current party. I seem to have a future post that talks about how would an indie game inspired by .hack//G.U. work, so stay tuned for that.

Skill Tree:

Most RPGs have skill trees and they are intended to upgrade 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 learn new skills, new magic and new Synergy abilities. Each character would have a skill tree, and just one, and they earn points from levelling up needed to unlock max stats and new abilities. Think of Tales of Xillia where you earn points for levelling up to increase max stats and new Artes through the Lillium Orb.

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 companies 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 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 risks to provide innovation to this game. I think people might want this to happen to reflect the fact that people prefer indies over 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, but why all six characters are in battle?" 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 respective innovations that would be callbacks to Tower of Fantasy and Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness like switching weapons in game, even during a combo, and having the whole party in battle. Devs that can take a crack of making this game can literally make a character that feels like Careena and another that feels like Haseo to add a little bit of .hack//G.U, which would be nice for such an indie Haseo character. This applies to 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 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 with its entry of being an indie Final Fantasy game nominated for Game of the Year at the Game Awards. 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 game that is purely inspired by Kingdom Hearts coming next year is Duskfade. There is literally one indie title 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

Why NOW Is the Time for a NEW SNK vs. Capcom

SNK vs. Capcom is a game that I think needs to come back from hibernation. And because of the popular characters that were released in both fighting games, I think now is the perfect time for SNK and Capcom characters from their fighting game IPs to clash once more, so today, I'm gonna be diving into a classic crossover fighting game that has been dormant for 26 years, SNK vs. Capcom.

I'll be the first to say that I am a huge fan of fighting games. SNK vs. Capcom or Capcom vs. SNK, in particular, brings the magic to the FGC. I like to investigate some details and hints towards a brand new Capcom vs. SNK. Will it come back? Is there's any evidence for it? Are the rumors true? Let's find out now.

Now, I like to preface that since SNK vs. Capcom was founded in 1999, 2024, the previous year marks SNK vs. Capcom's 25th Anniversary, so something did good happen in 2024. But for context, I'm gonna rewind back to 1999 when the series was founded, so I'll be right back into the present.

In 1999, SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium was released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color as the first title of the franchise. Then it was ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2021. This is a game that features two on two tag battles and three on three queue battles from the King of Fighters franchise. The game was met with positive reception over the representation of SNK and Capcom characters battling it out. This franchise has characters from their fighting game IPs unlike in the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise where the Capcom side has various IPs.

Back in 2000, Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000, the first title published by Capcom, released on Arcade, Dreamcast and PlayStation. It uses a ratio system that has up to four characters, but the combined ratios must equal and can't go any higher than four and two Grooves, with the SNK Groove based on the Extra mode used from KOF '94 to KOF '98 and the Capcom Groove based on the gameplay from the Street Fighter Alpha series. When 2001 came, Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, another Capcom published title, came out for Arcade, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, GameCube, original Xbox and PlayStation 3 through the PS2 Classics and uses the expanded Groove system that utilizes the core gameplay seen in classic Capcom and SNK titles. 2003 saw the release of SNK vs. Capcom: SvC Chaos, which received a mixed reception over a bland representation and then it was ported to PS4 and Switch in 2024 by Code Mystics with modern features.

After the release of SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS, the series has went on a hiatus for 18 years and fans are demanding for a new one. In 2021, Hideaki Itsuno had confirmed at one point that they were plans for Capcom vs. SNK 3 to use 3D models, but it was cancelled due to SNK's bankruptcy. There were interviews with SNK that it would be possible to renew their contract with Capcom for more titles, but both companies had agreed to not agree to collab with each other ever again in another interview and it's on the fault of games that are developed by SNK being met with mixed reception, but not the ones developed by Capcom and they're met with widespread positivity.

But fast forward to 2022, Eisuke Ogura and Shinkiro have done the hypest thing. They created special promotional posters that feature both companies' characters to celebrate EVO 2022, the first live tournament since the COVID-19 pandemic. The artwork at EVO paved the way for further collaborations between SNK and Capcom, sparking speculation and fan demand for SNK vs. Capcom's revival.

To push the speculation and fan demand even further, if we fast forward to 2024, multiple crossovers between SNK and Capcom came throughout the year in time for the franchise's 25th Anniversary. During the Summer Game Fest in June, Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui were announced as guest characters that are a part of Street Fighter 6's second season, and during the Tokyo Game Show in September, Ken Masters and Chun-Li were also announced as guest characters as DLC for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. These announcements have sparked speculation and fan demand for a new Capcom vs. SNK game. The fan demand is very high and the odds for a revival weren't impossible, but in an interview, Oda stated that there were hurdles in the way.

However, while there was a big hurdle as Oda stated, SNK vs. Capcom could come back from hibernation because fast forward into today, the present time. If you have been living under a rock like Patrick, Mai Shiranui and Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury have been released on Street Fighter 6 while Ken Masters and Chun-Li from Street Fighter came out in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. These four popular characters have received innovations in two respective fighting games, with Terry and Mai's usage of the Drive system and Ken and Chun-Li's usage of the REV system. Their gameplay was universally met with total praise in both games, fueling fan demand and speculation for a potential a new game even further.

And because of Terry and Mai's debut to Street Fighter 6 with their usage of the Drive system and Ken and Chun-Li's debut to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves with their usage of the REV system, it's safe to say that a new Capcom vs. SNK is likely to come into fruition instead of a new SNK vs. Capcom. Now, the reason why a new Capcom vs. SNK could be confirmed is because of not just Terry and Mai's usage of the Drive system and Ken and Chun-Li's usage of the REV system, but the ones published and developed by Capcom were met with acclaim while the ones developed by SNK were met with mixed reception, so I think it's best for a new Capcom vs. SNK to come to fruition since Capcom vs. SNK is very appealing.

Street Fighter 6 and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves have shown that with the rich innovation, the right studio behind it, the right environment and the right controls, a fighter-esque masterclass of a game outside the AAA line of companies can be made by Capcom's small teams. They can take a crack at developing a new game with the freedom to develop the new Capcom vs. SNK title however they want without the shareholding shackles and constraints of a big AAA company. After all, bigger doesn't always mean better and smaller companies have agility and can take risks, but less money to mean that small or indie studios have no place for greed so that their games would be reasonably priced. However, playing as Terry and Mai in Street Fighter 6 and playing as Ken and Chun-Li in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves could be used as an example to pitch a brand new title and to get that title approved by Capcom.

Both games featuring Terry, Mai, Ken and Chun-Li as guest stars have already shown that it serves as a masterclass of a crossover fighting game. In that masterclass is already gonna be the blueprints and DNA for a modern Capcom vs. SNK as playing as Terry and Mai on Street Fighter 6 and Ken and Chun-Li on Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves on Training Mode could serve as tech demos for a modern Capcom vs. SNK. And that modern Capcom vs. SNK game can use the RE Engine and must be based off of Capcom vs. SNK 2 to have a KOF-style 3v3 queue battles format and the CAPSNK Grooves format to have Grooves that utilize the gameplay based on Capcom and SNK's 2.5D games, two control types consisting of Arcade and Modern control types and a huge roster with an even number of characters.

This is a perfect legitimate way to confirm a brand new Capcom vs. SNK game that uses the RE Engine, six Grooves that utilize all of the core aspects from both companies' 2.5D games with Arcade and Modern controls and English voices in mind, so a new game like that sounds like an absolute blast to not just me, but to the rest of the FGC. So will it be a Capcom vs. SNK 3 or whatever it's gonna be called? I don't know and I don't care. I just want to see SNK and Capcom characters face each other again in a modern era with Grooves that utilize the core aspects used in 2.5D games and the RE Engine.

I think we're at the point in time when the Game Awards is fast approaching, so I think that a potential new Capcom vs. SNK might be announced at the Game Awards. We'll just have to wait and see.

The thing is, wanting SNK vs. Capcom to come back in a modern twist is not the only thing that we, the members of the FGC. Porting classic fighting games to modern consoles are also what we wanted. If you want to know more about it, here is the link below.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/10/blog-post-%20companies-plan-of-porting-classic-fighting-games-to-modern-platforms.html

FOLLOWING Things 2XKO REALLY Needs

The new patch for 2XKO came out recently and it looks dead on arrival with targeted nerfs for Yasuo, Ekko and Teemo, buffs for Blitzcrank and UI changes that involved the mode select screen with the all new Learning Hub tab that has tutorials, training, Bot Beatdown, combo trials and advanced, the polished fight card screen with both teams listed horizontally with the red and blue background, etc. But I figured that there are things 2XKO really lacks, so in this post, I'm gonna go over the following things that 2XKO really needs.

But before we get to the things I want, I like to preface that Shaun stated that they are working hard on bringing 2XKO to consoles in its full form as soon as possible. I'm glad to hear that because I want 2XKO to be brought to consoles as soon as possible so that we don't have to keep on playing the PC version when we want to play it on the big screen and that tournament organizers don't have to set up the PC version in offline tournaments as setting up the PC version of a fighting game in offline tournaments comes with problems when it comes to setting up controls and playing it on PS5 in offline tournaments would alleviate that.

This resulted in setting up an offline tournament for Them's Fightin' Herds on the PS5 version to alleviate problems of setting up controls completely. The control settings have unfolded really quick and that's the only thing that porting Them's Fightin' Herds to consoles has benefitted. Since they're working hard on bringing 2XKO to console as soon as possible, it can be either in early December or after the Game Awards, which I think it's perfect.

Now that you're caught up on my rambling about console, on to listing the things I want.

Custom Lobbies

I know that there are already custom lobbies, but currently, they are private lobbies. But this can be cranked up to 11 so that custom lobbies can be both public and private like in any traditional fighting game, especially when players claim that duos are better than solos. However, rewards can't be earned as they are only earned in Casual and Ranked matches.

An Ability to Duo with a Random Player

The survey has a page that lists the potential new features and one of them I put on top is the one I've been wanting since the game entered Closed Beta. It's the ability to duo up with a random player through matchmaking on both Casual and Ranked lobbies so that I wouldn't invite anyone for duos, especially when they're grinding the First Steps missions. It would be nice to have that.

Now, if this proves me right, there was a duos-only online tournament that became a hit. That is BoxJam Slam. It's like Sajam Slam, but dedicated to 2XKO and duos and hosted by Sajam and BoxBox. Riot saw this and decided to encourage duos at some point.

The Return of Two Characters Posing After a Round Win

Ever since Alpha Lab 1, 2XKO used to have a part where both the point and assist characters perform their win pose together when the assist character landed a killing blow. But now, it's removed and I like to see it return because I love seeing two characters perform their win pose. It's bars and I like to see it again.

Cross-Region Play

Riot has planned to support cross-region private matches, which is great, but I think it needs to be amped up a bit so that cross-region play can be done not just in private lobbies, but also in Casual and Ranked lobbies. This makes matchmaking lengths much shorter and since Riot is planning to improve netplay, if a player in North America is playing against a player outside of North America, the lag can be alleviated no matter what region or how high the ping count would be. Think of MultiVersus. There's no lag when playing against an opponent with high ping. If the game comes to console, crossplay will be supported, but not just for players in the same region, but across the globe as well.

Tony Cannon did an awesome monologue talking about how 2XKO handles online play and how they're looking to improve netplay. If you want to learn more about it, I have the link to it below.

https://2xko.riotgames.com/en-us/news/dev/how-2xko-handles-online-play/

Wi-Fi Indicator

Many fighting games like Tekken 8 use a Wi-Fi indicator. The only thing about this is that when lobby owners see the indicator, they kick those who use Wi-Fi out because of the fact that Wi-Fi is less stable than wired. I think 2XKO needs a Wi-Fi indicator to make it easy to tell if players are using Wi-Fi. I am welcoming Wi-Fi players, but they must check their connection first.

Character-specific Voice Lines for Tags

Closed Beta introduced intro dialogues between certain characters. The ones I like best are the ones between Yasuo and Darius and they slap because this duo became the most popular so far in Early Access. So I said to myself, what if 2XKO gets character-specific voice lines for tagging in like in BBTAG? I think they can work, only on those who have intro dialogues between them.

Tag Team Ultimates

2XKO has introduced something that draws inspiration from tag team wrestling. Duo Play is an inspiration from typical tag team wrestling. To make things interesting, 2XKO needs to have Tag Team Ultimates. Have you heard of tag team finishers? Well, here it is.

They can be performed with S1+S2+T when both teammates' super gauge is full. But the catch is that they are only available if the 2X Assist, Double Down or Freestyle Fuse is equipped and if the assist character is alive. They vary depending on the combination of characters, but only to certain characters that have intro dialogues between them. This may be quite a balancing act, but I think they could work in 2XKO.

Jukebox

I would love 2XKO to have a Jukebox feature to change the lobby music. It doesn't have to have music that play in a lobby, but music ranging from character themes to stage themes. I want to listen to Yasuo's theme in the lobby because it slaps to be the "Nothing personal, kid" type of vibe you would experience in Samurai Champloo. To add on to this, I also want a setting that changes the way the music plays in game.

Casual Queues in Training

Riot has confirmed that they are planning to bring Ranked queues in Training so that they don't have to exit and go to a Ranked lobby, which is nice, but I think Casual queues in Training should also be planned. Other fighting games have this and Ranked is a bit too serious and stressful, especially when it comes to ranking up.

More Female Characters:

Forgive me for making this point a dumb choice. I know this may be controversial, but hear me out as I talk about this. Female characters have been very important in fighting games. They are allowed to fight and they're welcome to join a tournament, especially in the very first Mortal Kombat where Sonya Blade is the only female character in the roster. This shows that women and girls need the same level of attention as men, especially in esports leagues.

Now, in this case, 2XKO currently has four female characters. To add on to this, Closed Beta introduced all-female matches as Vi made her debut and they are the best, especially when they draw inspiration from WWE Women's Championship. And the best thing about them is that they make me think of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer promo on the WB, which is now the CW. Plus, a fifth female character is coming to 2XKO, and that's Katarina, the Sinister Blade. We can be able to expect an all-female match to feature our red-haired assassin in 2XKO. More after Katarina are coming too.

The reason why I'm highlighting this is because this is in response to sexists who claimed that women are not allowed to participate in esports leagues. They should know that they are also allowed to be in esports leagues. Umisho is a perfect example of a female competitor. She won Guilty Gear Strive in EVO 2022 to show and convince sexists that women are also allowed to participate in fighting game tournaments. There's no rule against it. They need to understand that or they'll be made as enemies.

These are the following things that 2XKO definetely needs. I'm not saying that these are guaranteed, but what I'm just saying is that these are the things that NEED to be in the game and Riot will listen to my feedback here. And one of the planned things Riot is planning is the annual cadence of releasing five new characters per year, with Katarina being the guaranteed 12th character and the first 2026 character and it driven me to break down the characters I want. I have the link to the post that covers all of it below if you want to know more about it.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/10/2xkos-plan-for-releasing-five-new-characters-per-year.html

Why SEGA Quit the Console Business?

A lot of the gamers think they know exactly why SEGA had to abandon the console manufacturing business. But even SEGA fans may not know every detail. One X user named SuperSisi has prompted us to analyze SEGA's biggest mistakes that caused them to quit the console manufacturing business, so I'm gonna follow her advice and explain why SEGA had to quit manufacturing consoles to restructure themselves to being a third-party developer to release their games on non-SEGA platforms. But before we actually answer why SEGA has quit the console business to restructure themselves to being a third-party developer, we need to talk about the only things that were sold poorly.

First off, SEGA has released the SEGA CD. The SEGA CD plays games that use discs. The one that serves as a tech demo on how the SEGA CD works was Sonic the Hedgehog CD. However, upon release, reception was mixed with praising certain games, but criticizing its value for money and limited upgrades. It has become a dumpster fire of an add-on SEGA has developed that the SEGA CD's fate has been sealed because of its mixed reception.

Over to the 32X. It is another add-on for the SEGA Genesis as a low cost option for 32-bit games. The 32X was also met with poor reception to be criticized for its poor quality that it failed to attract third-party developers and consumers, its weak library, market fragmentation of the Genesis and poor marketing. SEGA sold 800,000 32X units and the rest at huge discounts until it was discontinued as they shifted their focus on the Saturn.

So, the SEGA Saturn is the 5th generation console that uses 64-bit games came out in 1994 in Japan and 1995 in North America. The console is successful in Japan, but failed in North America because of its 1995 rush here. The Saturn's game library was met generally with praise, but it was criticized for having a rushed 1995 release date and lacking a key Saturn-exclusive Sonic title, Sonic X-treme. The Japanese and American divisions exacerbating strategic chaos, which was caused by the Saturn's success in Japan and failure in America.

Now, if you don't know what Sonic X-treme is, it was a 3D platformer for the Saturn. This game uses open levels like Bug!. The storyline of this game follows Sonic's journey to stop Dr. Robotnik from stealing the six magic rings from Tiara Boobowski and her father and use them for evil.

However, it was cancelled because both teams behind this game were crippled two months before the deadline as SEGA announced in early 1997. It was after SEGA instead concetrated on making Nights Into Dreams and a port of the Genesis game, Sonic 3D Blast and the compilation, Sonic Jam for the 1996 holiday season. Because of an original Sonic the Hedgehog game like Sonic X-treme's cancellation and absence, the Saturn became a commercial failure and was slid into a bad Juju land.

Fortunately, there are later Sonic titles that use elements from X-treme, like Sonic Lost World and Sonic Frontiers. The concepts from the cancelled project do belong to SEGA, so they could use them for a brand new Sonic game, including the art of Tiara Boobowski, who seems to be Sonic's first love interest before Amy Rose and Sally Acorn. But that was way before Spyro the Dragon came out to have open levels akin to Sonic X-treme and before Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! released to have Elora serve as Spyro's love interest and it's something that Sonic X-treme could have if SEGA had materialized it instead of cancelling it.

While the Saturn became a commercial flop due to its lack of a key original Sonic title, it ended up in the top three with the PS1 and Nintendo 64, which is not bad. After the Saturn was discontinued in North America in 1998, SEGA went on to move on to their next console, the SEGA Dreamcast.

The Dreamcast came out in 1998 in Japan and 1999 in North America and other countries. You probably didn't realize what made the Dreamcast so special. It was praised for innovation and its great library of games, including original Sonic platforming games. Not only SEGA didn't make a SEGA Pluto or whatever the name of the next console after Dreamcast. They knew that the Dreamcast would be their last console before they restructure themselves into being a third-party developer after it also slid into a bad Juju land with the Saturn, so we have to answer this question. Why did SEGA abandon the hardware market and restructure themselves as a third-party developer to release games on non-SEGA platforms, and what has caused the Dreamcast to fail and discontinue in 2001?

There is one obvious reason. The Dreamcast's commercial failure was caused by the PS2's launch being the eye of the storm SEGA was in. When the Dreamcast has launched, it was off to a rousing start for online play, until in 2000, Sony came along with the exceptional launch of the PS2. It has ruined SEGA's reputation as Sony was financially able to do everything SEGA couldn't that the PS2 became renowned in sales, even at launch.

Can you even believe that SEGA blatantly struggled on the Dreamcast so hard? The PS2 has nailed the grand slam with selling an outstanding number of units at launch. Sony made a nearly perfect developer-friendly console that has great games and key games exclusive to their platform. This exposed a HUGE reason why SEGA had to quit the console manufacturing business to restructure themselves into being a third-party developer in the software business because they were caught in the eye of the storm being the PlayStation 2's exceptional launch.

I have looked more into this and it turns out that SEGA wasn't the first company that restructured themselves as a third-party developer because of the Dreamcast's commercial failure because there are two companies that did this before SEGA did, like the 3DO Company and Atari. They are first two companies that restructured themselves into becoming third-party developers to release games on non-3DO and non-Atari platforms following the failures of the 3DO platform and the Atari Jaguar. It was clearly dunked on.

Now, I say that it's easy, but it's not. Shifting from being a console manufacturer to being a third-party developer is extremely difficult. They had to call it quits on manufacturing consoles and reorganize tech to develop games and release them on other consoles.

SEGA's shift from the console business to being a third-party developer comes with Microsoft taking their place as the console manufacturer for their first console, the original Xbox, to succeed what SEGA has failed with the Dreamcast. Following SEGA's shift to being a third-party developer after the Dreamcast dropped the ball because of the PS2's launch going off to a blazing start, they began porting their games that were released on the Dreamcast to the GameCube like Sonic Adventure 2 and Crazy Taxi. It became a starting point for SEGA being a third-party developer.

It turned out well that they went on to release games not on the GameCube, but other non-SEGA platforms in the 6th generation-era and beyond like Sonic Heroes, the first new Sonic title they ever released since their shift to being a third-party developer. Super Monkey Ball and Jet Set Radio Future would be launch titles for the GameCube and original Xbox. So far, SEGA releasing their games on non-SEGA consoles, even on this generation, went well so far and will never return to the old console manufacturing business following the failures of the 32X, Saturn and Dreamcast.

SEGA didn't have the time to come up with strategies or urge EA and SquareSoft to develop games to keep the Dreamcast alive because Sony has ruined their reputation. In fact, the Dreamcast's fate was sealed, it was reported that the PS2's overwhelming launch sales is a great sign that Sony was able to financially do everything SEGA couldn't because of the fact that the PS2 is developer-friendly and became the bestselling console of all time. It did well in both the American and Japanese markets that many third-party developers, including SEGA, were able to develop and release their games well on it without losing money. And if you were in the eye of the storm of the other console's launch, guess what you're doing almost every day! Imagine if your reputation was ruined. When your console gets off to a great start in your console manufacturing business, your foe's console launch has skyrocketed in sales and you had to restructure your business to being a third-party developer to release games on other platforms.

And it wasn't just the PS2 that became the most popular console, but the PS1 as well, Sony's very first console that is turning 31 years old soon. If you want to know more about the PS1 and PS2's spectacular launch sales and how both of them became a grand slam, I have the link to the post that covers it all.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/07/blog-post-the-ps1-and-ps2-became-gems-of-the-gaming-industry.html