PS Now Was Awful to the Community

This is another post about playing classics, I know. But I just want to get this off my chest. Are you wondering why am I so excited to revisit the PS1 games? Because PS Now was a terrible standalone video game subscription service and never had a single one. Let's talk about it.

So there has been some interests in the community that the PS1 era is the community's most favorite era of PlayStation. I strongly agree with the community. What makes it so is polygon models, Crash and Spyro games becoming the source of fueling the charm, compilations and more. But how can I be proud and excited on something I don't know of? There is one possibility. One that is obvious and factual is that PlayStation Plus will be offering PS1 games. Before you said that I am a PS Plus fan, let me explain this. It's actually not the fact that PS Plus is offering PS1 games. But better yet, it is what is not offering PS1 games or. That is PlayStation Now. So why am I talking about it? Why is that an issue?

Well, PS Now was known for offering cloud gaming on games released on the PS2, PS3 and PS4. The PS2 and PS4 games were downloadable locally. The problem to this is that PS Now lacked PS1 titles. It's really awful that PS Now never had a PS1 catalog. It's not the only problem because Sony hadn't added any more PS2 and PS3 games to PS Now. The community adored the PS1 era with polygon models. PS Now was first launched on January 28, 2014 here in North America during its closed beta on PS3.

PS Now grew as its development goes on and expanded to PS4 on May 19th and would expand to other electronics. Chronically, the PlayStation fanbase in some of its entirety gave it a go. But lacking a catalog of PS1 games is really insane. Now, this is where you can groan and say that PS Now was considered a good service. It's not really that good of a service. It just lacks a catalog of PS1 games and more PS2 and PS3 games weren't added.

If you remember the older PlayStation consoles, the PSP was the first to offer PS1 games back in 2006. PS3 followed suit to have them in 2007. And the cherry on top, the PSVita offers them, but had a small library. The PS3 is a winner to have a biggest library of them all. However, the majority of the PS1 games on these systems are no longer available on the PlayStation Store as the PSP is no longer having PSN features. But the PS3 and PSVita's PSN features are still live for the forseeable future.

Sony has developed a PlayStation Classic, a dedicated console that emulates PS1 games. It launched at 20 games and a weak library like that have blatantly excluded many popular titles, so to remedy that, many users who hated such a small library intend to mod the console using a flash drive so that any amount of PS1 game ROMs can be added to the console like an emulator.

Even though the PS5 came out, PS Now still remains awful and couldn't be any more decent, until there was one piece of information. One of the articles shown that a PS Now upgrade was suggested to have a vast selection of classic games, including the PS1 games. But later, Bloomberg has reported that Sony was actually working a three-tiered service codenamed "Spartacus" now becomes a beefed up PS Plus with three tiers Essential, Extra and Premium. Essential offers the same benefits the original PS Plus has. Extra offers the benefits of the previous tier a catalog of PS4 and PS5 games. And Premium offers the benefits of previous two tiers, game trials, streaming and access to a catalog of not just PS1 games, but also PS2, PSP and PS3 games, which are only available to stream.

PS Now has merged with the new PS Plus back in June 13th, 2022 and lit the way for the PS1 games. What makes it so is that PS Plus adds more PS1 games monthly, as well as more PS2, PSP and sometimes PS3 games. The PS1 and PSP games have a handy rewind feature. It helps when it comes to making mistakes. The Nintendo Switch Online catalog of NES, SNES, GB, GBA, N64 and SEGA Genesis games have that.

The process of adding PS1 games monthly is coming along nicely. Even the original MediEvil is on there, as well as the re-imagining of the first installment for the PSP, MediEvil Resurrection. What really got me the most in a while is that SingleTrac logo when I got ready to revisit Twisted Metal 2 on my PS5. I remember playing that game from back in the day. But that will not do it to fuel the charm.

What will be enough to fuel the charm are the Crash and Spyro games. But almost two years has passed since the new PS Plus launched and there has not been a single one yet. I don't care if we got remasters that have 8th gen graphics that killed the old school charm. We want them because not only the PSP and PS3 have them. Without the Crash and Spyro games, there can be no charm.

I am aware that Universal was awful to Crash and Spyro, but overall, their original trilogies are considered the best and this is another reason why I want them. I also want their games on the PS2 era to be on the catalog. The PS3 era only had one Spyro game and no Crash game, but that era is no longer reverent to me since the PS3 games are only available to stream.

The PlayStation brand was established back in December 3, 1994 when the PS1 first came out in Japan and this is the year when PlayStation celebrates its 30th Anniversary, and now that we have PS Plus Premium, here's hoping either 30 more PS1 games or 10 more PS1 games, 10 more PS2 games and 10 more PSP games get added to the catalog. We'll see.

Here's to May's additions, hoping it has a decent classic game.

PS Plus Premium Revived the PlayStation Legacy

That's right. The PlayStation Legacy is back thanks to PS Plus Premium, and I'm dead serious. I am going to start from square one and talk about my perks of being a PlayStation fan because I been hastily getting into that point. Let's talk about it.

When the PS1 first came out, I have became a PlayStation fan. There was a point in time when I was playing Crash Bandicoot on the PS1. I played it back at my old stomping grounds. I also played it at my cousin's house. He had a PS1 and I was going to town playing Crash Bandicoot there. I liked the sound effects of breaking crates, collecting and hitting Wumpa Fruit. It's the fact that it made me think of the old Nick Jr. logo. Then boom, Eldritch Hounds come in on that point in time when the SPL starts.

Crash Bandicoot wasn't the only game I played because Spyro the Dragon is also one of the games I played, as well as others. The good ol' PS1 days. I've been reminiscing on those days. Especially the time when my friends and I were playing the PS1 in the kitchen back at my old stomping grounds I hope to visit once I conquer this fear of flying.

I remained a PlayStation fan on the PS2 era of gaming. I played the PS2 version Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. It is a better version. I was also going to town to that game. Especially the charming music in levels like Coral Canyon. That is the most charming level of them all. No, the best music in the game is Gold Rush's. It has that fast part of the music. I also played the original Xbox version, which had a long loading screen. That's why the PS2 version is better. The GameCube version was developed by Eurocom.

When the PS2 first came out, PlayStation backwards compatibility became an outright process as it can be able to play any PS1 game. The PS2 has became a great starting point for the Sly Cooper and Jak and Daxter franchises. I remember playing those games from back in the day. I was reminiscing on that time too.

I suspended myself from being a PlayStation player and played the GameCube versions of third-party games. I was also going to town on them, until the time when I was given a PS2 version of Crash Tag Team Racing. It is a great game. I was 15 years old on that time. It has the option to enter our 6-letter names. I was using it like crazy. I do miss playing that game. Crash Twinsanity is too, but it became a fail because of Universal's crappy way of publishing their games. It is an open world game like Jak and Daxter.

On the PS3 side of things, it is Sony's first console to mark the use of PSN, wireless controllers and updates on games. The only problem with the PS3 is that some of them can play PS1 games while some of them can play PS2 games. None of them can play both PS1 and PS2 games. It also has PS1 and PS2 games available to buy at the PlayStation Store, so I bought some of them, the ones I played before. I was playing them for years, until the PS4 was released.

Since the PS4 was released, it is the start of the modern era. The PS4 lacks backwards compatibility to past systems. Not even the PS4 Pro. Then years later, the PS5 was announced to be real. There was a livestream about a black man who monologued full PlayStation backwards compatibility. Watching it made me so hyped that I can revisit the old titles from back in the day.

But here's the kicker. Jim Ryan confirmed that the PS5 is actually backwards compatible to only PS4 games to mean that we won't be revisiting classics anytime soon. The kicker to this is that the PS3 bears a unique structure that became a hurdle, which is why the PS4 lacked backwards compatibility. That one article stated that we don't expect the PS5 to play PS3 games anytime soon. I guess it's for the better since I heard having full PlayStation backwards compatibility could take up a lot of space and I was inclined to agree with that statement.

A price was paid that the PlayStation Legacy was dead because of the PS3's unique structure that kept the modern consoles from ever achieving full backwards compatibility. That's why playing remasters of games originally released on the past PlayStation consoles is the best bet. I originally said that remasters killed the old school charm with modern visuals since they work on modern consoles, but after learning that remasters are faithful to the original games' gameplay and story, they are also faithful to the original games' charming environment.

Here, take Ty the Tasmanian Tiger for example. This is a platformer game originally released on 6th generation consoles remastered to be played in HD and work on modern consoles, but still has that old school charm despite being remastered. It's a partial remaster to retain that charm. I was livestreaming it too, so I will livestream the rest of the game and beat it so that I can play Bush Rescue. But fully remastered ones like Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane and Spyro: Reignited Trilogies have improved graphics and updated models that games in the modern era have, but killed that old school charm, though they are faithful to the original releases' story and gameplay, so they are considered remakes because remakes use modern visuals to match the capabilities of modern consoles while developing them from the ground up.

While we had to stick with playing remasters, the only thing they hadn't done was giving PS Now an overhaul. It was a crappy streaming service and Sony didn't bother adding more classics to it and there wasn't a PS1 catalog. That's why PS Now needed an upgrade to have a vast selection of classics. It was the only way to revive the PlayStation Legacy.

But two years later, Sony has planned a new three-tiered subscription service codenamed Spartacus to compete with Xbox Game Pass. The first tier is the same benefits PS Plus offers while the second tier benefits access to a catalog of PS4 and PS5 games while the third tier offers access to trials, streaming and playing classics released on PS1, PS2, PSP and PS3. This caught my eye and hearing that made me hyped. But turns out that PS Plus actually got an upgrade to have three tiers, Essential, Extra and Premium.

PS Now was retired in favor of the PS Plus Premium tier, which offers streaming, game trials and a library of classic games. The PS3 has a fantastic library, but they are only available for streaming because it is a hard to emulate system unlike the PS1, PS2 and PSP. The games of these systems are available to both download and stream and select games have trophies, which is a first and each PS1 and PSP game come with a rewind feature. It comes in handy when it comes to making mistakes. And we can even play PSP games on the big screen for the first time. That makes it even better. At launch, the catalog started out small, but monthly, it grows.

The process of adding more classics is coming along nicely. Even the original MediEvil on the PS1 was added to the catalog while the remake is present this month. This is the starting point for Sony to start adding classics that got fully remastered or remade to the catalog. This means that the Crash and Spyro games that got fully remastered for modern consoles can have a chance to be added to the catalog, as well as Crash Bash and the ones released on PS2, the Wrath of Cortex and Enter the Dragonfly. The reason why I want them is because the catalog hadn't got a single Crash or Spyro game yet since launch. They deserved to be on there. I'll tell you more about on why I want them to be in the PS Plus Premium catalog in a future post.

But hold on, the info says hits from past PlayStation consoles. A hit means a success. This could indicate that I won't be expecting Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex to be added to the catalog anytime soon since I heard it became a fail because of how crappy Universal was to Crash and Spyro that Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time became a hit to save the franchise. But we shall see. I want it added on there despite it being a fail. I just miss hearing the music in Gold Rush and experiencing the charm in levels like Coral Canyon. That explains why Sonic 06 isn't on there. That game became a fail because of glitches, awful camera handling and unbearable load times. But the music is excellent though. If SEGA hadn't rushed through that game, it would've been a hit.

The PlayStation Legacy is revived, thanks to PS Plus Premium. We will no longer have to stick with only playing remasters. We don't need full PlayStation backwards compatibility to revisit classics. We got PS Plus Premium with the option to use the rewind feature on PS1 and PSP games. And we can also purchase them to play them 24/7. If Sony decided to make a PS6, PS Plus Premium will carry over.

The things that made PS Plus Premium so important is that we can revisit our favorite classics from back in the day and every PS1 and PSP game use a rewind feature. PS3 games are a part of the tier, but they are only available for streaming.

Now, in honor of PS Plus Premium reviving the PlayStation Legacy, I will be doing a live streaming series called PlayStation Rewind, formerly Days of PlayStation Past. How this works is that I'll be live streaming old games from back in the day. Remasters will not be a part of it despite them being faithful to the original games' story, gameplay and charming environment. They work on modern consoles and are played in HD. Same with remakes.

Since this is called PlayStation Rewind, I will be live streaming games originally released on past PlayStation consoles. PS3 games aren't a part of it due to them being available only to stream, so it will be games originally released on the PS1, PS2 and PSP. These systems are easy to emulate, which is why they are downloadable and also available to stream. I also took the liberty of creating a list that contains classics I played called PlayStation Oldies, refers to games released on past PlayStation consoles.

PS Plus Premium is the only thing we need so we can revisit old games from back in the day. Here's to May's additions.

Joe's Monologues - 4/9/24

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Joe's Monologues. This one is gonna be emotional and interesting as it gonna have interesting topics. I know you're disappointed that you'll have to wait another 20 years for the next total solar eclipse here, but don't be as I go over the topics today, savvy?

Skullgirls:

I have no words to say this. I am so dang speechless as to how astonished I am in this point of time. Between you and me, I am astonished on how everything turned out well. This shows how everything went smoothly. Especially that part when the Nintendo Switch update and the Xbox port entered active development so that players of these systems can join the launch party.

It has been one heck of a long road. I am so sad... well not sad, but glad... that the Skullgirls 2nd Encore Season 1 Pass is officially complete. The Season 1 Pass is done and dusted. I am very astonished at how far Skullgirls has gone. Especially that part when back in Summer 2020, the former Lab Zero Games employees have left because of Mike Z's actions that created a unsafe environment. I really thought that we won't get to try Annie out, but thankfully, she became so inevitable.

The reason why I am so relieved of that bullcrap I experienced is because Autumn Games owns all of Skullgirls' IP so that we can get Annie and future content regardless of that fiasco. I am so dang proud that my baby girl didn't suffer from all of the heck we encountered a while back. As a treat, I made her a new palette that you'll find out later on.

Now, if I keep track of the history during the Season 1 Pass era, it unfolded like this.

2021:

February 23, 2021 - Annie was announced along with the first Season Pass to have Annie and the three DLC characters.

March 4th, 2021 - The Season 1 Pass arrived on Steam in light of Annie's Beta.

July 8, 2021 -  Annie and the Season 1 Pass have been released on PlayStation and on the retail version on Steam. 

August 31, 2021 - Umbrella entered Alpha on Steam literally in the last second.

December 16, 2021 - Umbrella entered Early Access on Steam.

2022:

April 14, 2022 - Umbrella is officially released on Steam and PlayStation along with Annie.

June 16, 2022 - Black Dahlia entered Alpha on Steam. Skullgirls 2nd Encore and the Season 1 Pass entered active development as an update for the Nintendo Switch and a new release for the Xbox.

2023:

January 6, 2023 - The update that matches with other platforms and the Season 1 Pass are released on the Nintendo Switch.

March 29, 2023 - Black Dahlia is officially released on Steam, PlayStation and Switch. 

July 2023 - The Xbox port and the Season 1 Pass are released to match with other platforms.

October 18, 2023 - Marie entered Alpha on Steam.

December 12, 2023 - Marie entered Early Access on Steam.

2024:

March 26, 2024 - Marie is officially released on all platforms to round out the Season 1 Pass.

It took four years, but the Season 1 Pass is finally rounded out and 2nd Encore is available on all platforms. It has been a long road, man. I shifted to BBTAG music as a cherry on top and making BBTAG palettes out of characters who are assigned to themes that fit well with their personality. Annie got released, no Izayoi palette. Umbrella got released, no Platinum the Trinity palette. Black Dahlia got released, no Nine the Phantom palette. Marie got released, no Orie palette after looking through all of her palettes. That's four out of four.

The only thing about this is that when Marie hits Alpha on Steam, her boss version is renamed to Bloody Marie in game to distinguish things and all platforms now have it in light of her official release and it will stay that way forever. So I did one of the challenges with Marie to see how it goes. Turns out that Marie can fight her Bloody self in a challenge and on Arcade Mode.

I can play some Skullgirls now that Marie is fully released and I can record my online matches and edit them to play BBTAG music using. But my PS Plus has expired sadly and I wish they can offer free online multiplayer every weekend at least. I wish I can play it on Steam, but I need to buy a gaming laptop for this. I postponed my special online casual for the same reason.

In the meantime, I'll record the character tutorials and edit them to play BBTAG music as a warm up and publish them to YouTube on my gaming channel. Preferrably the ones that are eligible for my currently postponed special online casual.

If you look at the placement of the character select screen that will last during the post Season 1 Pass period on Skullgirls 2nd Encore, Annie, Umbrella and Black Dahlia are located at the bottom of the default selection while Marie is located at the top of the default selection. And for a better view, I selected the size to make the HUD appear on both sides. I am intrigued by this placement I've been looking. It happened first on Marie's Alpha on Steam. And now, it is happening on all platforms in light of her official release. The placement is so complete that Marie is literally the cherry on top since she is the current Skullgirl others have to battle and her Story Mode is a visual novel to entail how she gained control of the Skull Heart.

It is unclear that they are gonna put something on the empty slots Marie is between, but we do know one thing's for sure. Because this placement lasts during the course of the post Season 1 Pass period, the chraracter select screen will be updated to have a new grid with smaller squares to hold portraits of both current and future characters during the period of subsequent Season Passes to follow the footsteps of other fighting games that expanded theirs and that something we can look forward to.

Because Marie had to be on top, the timer that appears when you're selecting your characters online is now located at the bottom of the screen to prevent it from blocking her portrait and the text of it is now darkened so that it can be legible on the brightest part of the screen. This is virtually the same thing BlazBlue: Central Fiction has. This is gonna stay that way when the character select screen gets a new grid to hold current and future characters' portraits in eras of subsequent Season Passes.

Then there is something coming to Mobile called Guest Stars, which are assist characters that can perform an assist and they take way less development time than full fighters, so they are similar to Mortal Kombat 1's Kameo Fighters, Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax's Assist Fighters and so on. One of the Guest Stars is revealed to be Minette. She is being worked on and because Guest Stars take way less time, she will be finished in no time. The full roster for Guest Stars remains a mystery, so we don't know who are they, besides Minette. While they are Mobile exclusive, they'll always have a chance to be in 2nd Encore for subsequent Season Passes also.

And now, the general balance changes section has just started in the Beta version on Steam. They have the first set of balance changes released on Steam in the Beta version. One of the things that interested me is that Annie getting her upgrades to her Star Power. It's something I can agree with because Star Power upgrades offered her enhanced special moves, Distortion Skills and gives Star Cancel. That's why I wouldn't dare record her character tutorial and edit it to play Justice Sword until the balance patch drops.

That's the Overdrive system exclusive to Annie because you know that BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma introduced the Overdrive system? It's a system that enhances all of the characters' attacks. I am starting to feel like that with Star Power getting an upgrade, I am calling it Star Overdrive to reflect the changes to Star Power. It's hard to believe that I was playing BlazBlue, but with Annie, which is a fact that she is assigned to a BlazBlue theme and making an Izayoi palette would be the cherry on top.

I forgot to mention that the devs are still on the source of updating and replacing all of Valentine's fuschia crosses with pastel pink shurikens. That was supposed to come out in 2022, but it has been pushed back and we haven't gotten a single word about it because they had on multiple projects on their sleeve, like the update and the Season 1 Pass for the Switch, the Xbox port with the Season 1 Pass, Black Dahlia and Marie and the general balance patch. But now that the Season 1 Pass and the process of bringing Switch and Xbox players to the launch party is complete, the process of updating all of Valentine's crosses continues and it shouldn't be that long.

The Skullgirls Championship Series is going strong so far with online and offline events. Combo Breaker is almost upon us and that's where the Skullgirls World Championship will take place at. Now that the Season 1 Pass is completed, Marie will be legal for the remainder of the season and hopefully, the general balance changes should be finalized and released on all platforms before the Skullgirls World Championship at Combo Breaker. The devs will set up their booth there and they are gonna give us a special announcement. I have a feeling that we're gonna get some Minette news. Neglected to mention that if Minette makes her way to 2nd Encore, she will be eligible for my currently postponed online casual as Crystal Forest is perfect for her.

Spyro 4 in Development:

It's official. Spyro 4 is now officially in development. If any of you haven't played Spyro: Reignited Trilogy, be sure to play it as we are getting a new Spyro getting in development. This comes after Crash Team Rumble ceased active development after three Seasons following the part when Toys For Bob spun off to become an indie studio from Activision. This means Spyro 4, Crash Bandicoot 5 and future projects will not be published under the Activision umbrella moving forward.

Since the beginning of the Crash and Spyro games owned by Activision, Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy was developed by Vicarious Visions on the PS4 and Xbox One, now renamed to Blizzard Albany since they moved to Blizzard while Spyro: Reignited Trilogy was developed by Toys for Bob, which also developed the Nintendo Switch version of Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy in a process to develop a direct sequel to the original trilogy. I can see how Universal became awful to them.

Now, we don't know what Spyro 4 will offer. It is early in development, so we don't know if it's gonna be a direct sequel to the original Spyro trilogy by Insomniac Games like Crash Bandicoot 4 is or a reboot. We know one thing for sure. Since I heard Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time became on par with Naughty Dog's original trilogy and fixed plot holes created by previous games, Spyro 4 could also fix plot holes created by previous Spyro games, like Elora not being in Enter the Dragonfly or any other games and so on. The studio has forged a partnership with Microsoft to publish their first independent game. But that doesn't mean their future games will be Xbox exclusives and Spyro 4 could be the first independent game. We don't know for sure. Know the message that says "keep your horns on" on the indie announcement? This term shows that Spyro 4 is officially in development.

What I like to see in Spyro 4 is some canon undertones we experienced in Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM, different breaths from Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, different playable characters, a fresh cast of characters from subsequent games in the original Spyro trilogy, an open world perspective from Sonic Frontiers and Jak and Daxter with portals leading to Speedway levels and Orbs from Spyro 2 to progress through the story, but with different colors varying by element and the fact that the goddesses in subsequent games in the original Spyro trilogy are iconic like Sally and Bunnie from Sonic SatAM.

I want it to be a reboot rather than a direct sequel to the original Spyro trilogy. It's because unlike the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy the original Spyro trilogy has multiple antagonists. Gnasty Gnorc is the main antagonist from Spyro the Dragon and is also featured in Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled. Ripto is the main antagonist from Spyro 2 and is also featured in Crash Team Rumble. And the Sorceress is the main antagonist in Year of the Dragon. I prefer Ripto to be the main antagonist in Spyro 4.

In response to Spyro 4 getting in development, I made Annie a Bianca palette as a cherry on top. Shared this at the Skullheart forums weirdly enough. I am intrigued by it that Sagan is in his Spyro palette. And since Skullgirls Mobile is getting new palettes every month, including the ones that are never before seen, I can see a chance that this palette could make it on both 2nd Encore and Mobile. This is something I will support in parallel with supporting Bianca to be on Crash Team Rumble as the 4th Spyro character.

An Update on My Career:

The progress on my Wrapper: Offline career is coming along nicely so far. I am working on a special video that celebrates my channel reaching 100 subscribers. I got to make sure that everything goes smoothly first before publishing it on YouTube. There has also been some interesting development so far. I have been coming up with a ton of video ideas inspired by someone over on YouTube. Stay tuned for them.

Dream Logo Combos:

Since my inception to my career on YouTube on separate channels, I wanted to do something creative, like this. I am working on some dream logo combos. That will include the logos of defunct video game companies that I miss experiencing. The first one I am working on is a combo of EA Games, Sierra and Krome Studios (2002). I am using Wondershare Filmora to make them. But I am using the free version that limits to one minute and has a noticeble watermark. I plan to purchase it to break the one minute limit and remove that watermark. Now, when I make dream logo combos, I put the logos of my choice and it is for creative purposes, not to infringe on their copyright. That being said, I will upload them on my main channel on YouTube.

Conclusion:

This has been the first Joe's Monologues of April. Stay hyped for Spyro 4, folks. And also, play some Skullgirls now that Marie is officially released on all platforms to round out the Season 1 Pass.

Joe's Monologues - 3/20/24

Now before we get into today's Joe's Monologues, there's one thing that I want to address first. You know on that previous post, I used the introduction that lists the topics? I have decided to do away from doing that, so now, we reverted to the previous state. Now, on to the post and this is the first Joe's Monologues of March. Let's get right in.

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger:

There was a point in time when the franchise was originally released on the 6th generation consoles back in 2002. On that time, EA and Activision published their games. And now, it got an HD remaster, along with Bush Rescue, a sequel to the first game that has an open world perspective, a kart racing game mode, new boomerangs and an epic story. I bought the sequel when it was on sale and took a glimpse of the story, but I won't play it until I beat the first game.

I did a live stream of one of the nostalgic games I played back in the day. It was the GameCube version I was playing. On stream, I rescued all of the Bilbies, got all of the Opals and got all of the Thunder Eggs. But I didn't get all of the Golden Cogs used to get more boomerangs on Bridge on the River Ty. I was struggling to get the last Golden Cog on that level, until I realized that to get the last Golden Cog, I use the Freezerang to make a stepping platform near the pillar where the cog was at, so I did. And that Neddy battle was ridiculous, but I managed to beat him to get that Thunder Egg. Same with the part where I had a race with Shazza on the Outback Safari.

I was amazed that I was playing Spyro the Dragon, but with Ty because collecting Thunder Eggs progresses the story, Rainbow Cliffs is a main home world and has portals that lead to multiple levels. I couldn't imagine that Shazza and Boss Cass would be the Elora and Ripto of Ty the Tasmanian Tiger. What makes it so is that Shazza really likes Ty and Boss Cass can make those that are the bosses I beat, his slaves, like Ripto does to enslave Avalar and its inhabitants, so it is basically Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!. I realized it when I beaten Crikey on stream. I don't think it's Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, but the lore was no farce.

On stream, I showcased all of Ty moves on what will he bring to the table if he makes his debut to Crash Team Rumble since the original release of Night of the Quinkan was published by Activision. In addition to that, since I heard Shazza is the Elora, and Boss Cass is the Ripto after progressing through the story on stream, I already told you that like Spyro, Ty could be a Scorer to excel at breaking creates and scoring Wumpa, so like Elora, Shazza could be a Blocker to excel at knocking Wumpa and killing the enemy Heroes, while like Ripto, Boss Cass could be a Booster to excel at capturing Gems and depositing Relics to stations.

But that is no longer the case because it has come to my attention that Crash Team Rumble has subsequently ceased active development following the final content update at 13 Heroes and 10 Powers. This means there will be no more Seasons. Honestly, they should've at least given us Season 4 to give us a new Scorer and a new Booster to even out the classes before that final content update. But hey, if they decided to make a Crash Team Rumble 2 to be free to play and get continuous updates for years to come, who knows?

In the previous livestream, I finished the second part, so I am going to the third and final part where I will get green Opals, green Thunder Eggs and a Windarang. I got to finish it so that I can start playing Bush Rescue.

Browing Through PlayStation Store:

I was browsing through remasters on the PlayStation Store and something has caught really my eye. I heard Grandia is getting a compilation of the first two games and they are getting remastered too. The first Grandia for the PS1 is added to the catalog, yet it is getting a remaster along with the second Grandia game originally released on the PS2 in a collection. I originally told you that the PS1 releases of Crash and Spyro games that are remastered and compiled in a collection may not be added to the catalog, but this brings me to tell you this good news.

Since Grandia 1 is added to the catalog while I heard it is getting a remaster in a collection with Grandia 2, I see a good chance that the PS1 releases of Crash and Spyro games may eventually be added to the PS Plus Premium Catalog. The N. Sane and Reignited Trilogies are great, but I also want to play the original releases too because I miss the Sony Computer Entertainment America/Europe intro, the Universal Interactive Studios logo and the polygon models, hearing Crash saying "woah" often when he dies of getting burned, electrocution and when he hits TNT and Nitro crates, which is something N. Sane Trilogy doesn't have and Elora's PS1 design. I mean, Elora does look more savage in her modern design than she is in her PS1 design, but I want to see her PS1 design again.

And there's Legend of Mana on the catalog too, though it got remastered. But it makes sense for it to be added to the catalog of PS1, PS2 and PSP games along with Tales of Symphonia because these games were originally released on the first two Sony consoles. But why the heck would they had to add Secret of Mana to the catalog? It's a remake of a game originally released on the SNES, not a remaster.

PlayStation Plus Premium Catalog:

Sony has revealed the lineup of modern and classic games for March. I was browsing through them and one of them really caught my eye. Have you heard of Cool Boarders? It is an authentic snowboarding game originally released on the PS1. And it's one of the games in my wish list getting added to the catalog. This definetely deserves to be a part of Days of PlayStation Past, now called PlayStation Rewind and the name makes more sense because it points out to revisiting classic games from back in the day that are released on past PlayStation consoles and it can have both first-party and third-party games. I remember playing this game from back in the day as a kid. We can reminisce about the good old days while I play it.

I am starting to feel like 1smash18 because I am going to livestream my oldies from back in the day. I know what I said is redundant, but it's true because he played a couple of Cartoon Network browser games from back in the day, like Trick-or-Treat Beat and Samurai Jack: The Path of Destiny.

The Return of MultiVersus:

That's right. MultiVersus is back after a long hiatus since the Open Beta was closed. They had to close the Open Beta because they need to have a clearer view of a content cadence of new characters, new stages, new game modes and better netcode and matchmaking for launch. The new characters remain a mystery, so we don't know who they are. During the course of the game's hiatus, Tony Huynh and his friends at Player First Games have been working their butts off on making MultiVersus the AAA game it deserved to be.

At launch, MultiVersus has moved to Unreal Engine 5 to improve visuals and character lighting and I know you loved those as I do. Just look at the lighting. It looks so real. The gameplay footages you see on the launch monologue are development footages that do not reflect the final product. Everything is subject to change before launch. The trailer has confirmed the launch date of MultiVersus. May 29th is when the game fully launches. I want it to be a bit sooner than this, but this gives them ample time to give the game a lot of work that needs to be done and reveal what new characters are they adding at launch.

Conclusion:

This wraps up today's update. With MultiVersus launching in two months, your favorite WB characters return for some butt kicking action. And since Cool Boarders is coming to the PS Plus Premium catalog, I am in for a chilly and nostalgic ride.

SG X BBTAG Update #8

Hello, everyone. I am back with another Skullgirls X BBTAG update. This one is gonna be exciting as you're about to get into a learning curve today with the 21st character in their BBTAG palette you're about to see. Let's get right into the update now.

You guessed it right. Mrs. Victoria is the 21st Skullgirls character in her BBTAG palette of Elizabeth. Battle Hymn of the Soul is deemed to actually be a perfect theme for her and making an Elizabeth palette would be the cherry on top. A gray space was added to reserve a spot for the 22nd BBTAG palette.

Mrs. Victoria is now on my separate Twitch channel's offline loading screen.

Since I am on the point where I can spoil everything, I decided to keep it on the current period. Now, if Mrs. Victoria doesn't get her Elizabeth period, it will stay on this palette pack.

All rows have been filled out as Mrs. Victoria is located after Filia to be faithful with the order of character introductions on the Persona 4 Arena palettes. This will last until a 22nd BBTAG palette that is either a BlazBlue palette or a P4A palette is on there. The UNI palettes have reached the end and there won't be any more of them.

Repositioned the portraits on my fanmade character select screen and removed the random character selection in the process of repositioning the portraits. The portrait of Mrs. Victoria in her Elizabeth palette is on the top left corner.

This wraps up the post of the Skullgirls X BBTAG update series. But that will not stop here. More BBTAG palettes are coming your way, so stay tuned for them.