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.

Joe's Monologues - 2/29/24

Hello, everyone. KnockDownJoe here and welcome to the final episode of Joe's Monologues of February. Today is a leap day because this is a leap year that happens every four years to add an extra 29th day of February. The previous one became the worst one because of that dang pandemic that spiraled out of madness.

Before I get started, I have a new format that can list what things I'm gonna talk about in this post. Here are the topics I'm gonna talk about in this introduction.

-Crash Team Rumble
-SEGA vs. CAPCOM: The Next Level
-More on Video Game Remasters
-PlayStation's Mass Layoffs
-Mightykeef's Upcoming EVO Skit

These are the topics that I'm gonna talk about today in this post. Enough intro, so let's dive right in.

Crash Team Rumble:

In the day before yesterday, I did part one of the special session where I can play as only Spyro characters in their default skin. What really interested me is that one of the players just getting my butt kicked several times in a row with the Tawna when I was trying to score the last set of Wumpa to win. But thank frick that I finally broken that killstreak and won that match as a cherry on top. You know how strategic I am with that crap, man. I was playing as Spyro on that match. The one match is not the only thing that surprised me. The enemy team hadn't scored a single Wumpa and we achieved a flawless victory against them on that match. It's because we were keeping the enemy team from scoring for the rest of the match.

Again, I left off with part one, which is playing as Spyro characters in their default skin, so later, I'm gonna go do same thing, but they will be wearing any skin, including recolors for part two. The list randomizer has determined that Elora goes first, then Spyro, and then Ripto, so I should be able to remember the order. It's even the fact that seeing the forest at my old stomping grounds made me think of Elora and it can be true to that because she is one with the powers of nature and healing and retains a lot of that charm. I think I am starting to pull a 1smash18 here.

I am hyped to see what Season 4 has in store for me. But apparently, it has come to my attention that a news feed popped up and stated that there is a final update coming in March 4th. This gives us a completely free 500-tiered Battle Pass that contains new and old rewards from Season 1 to Season 3 and past events for everyone to grind and Crash Coin purchases will turn off on that time. After that, development on Crash Team Rumble will cease.

I'll tell you what this means. There won't be any future Seasons. This means that there won't be any future Heroes, Powers and maps. This also means that I won't be expecting Bianca to make her debut. We have ended up with 13 Heroes and ten Powers, so it is gonna be like this forever. Unless if they plan to make a Crash Team Rumble 2 to have future maps, Heroes and Powers, but must be free-to-play and I plan to make a wish list for it.

However, that news won't stop me. I am still doing part two of my special session in a later date and it will be on stream. The show must go on, folks.

SEGA vs. CAPCOM: The Next Level:

The demo of the game has dropped recently. Madxruler did a great job developing their fan game. I played the demo and I am loving every second of it. Sonic and X are only available in this one I downloaded. Turns out that you can go 2v1 and can set the number of rounds on both Tag Mode and on Solo Mode like in Skullgirls. While I loved every second of it, the game didn't run well on this laptop I am currently using. It's the same thing I encountered on my Steam games. What can remedy that is getting a gaming laptop. But this is the first demo, so subsequent demos will come and they got to add a visual effect for when X is charging his buster and recovery animations. Plus that character select theme slaps that I was looking at Skullgirls' character select screen containing a full cast of 18 characters during the Season 1 Pass period.

They are now working on the next pair of characters, Akira Yuki from the Virtua Fighter franchise and Ryu from the Street Fighter franchise. Their basic movement is finished, so what's left are their attacks ranging from normals to hypers.

More on Video Game Remasters:

If you read the previous post, I told you about video game remasters. They are types of games that are faithful to the original releases' story and gameplay, but have better fidelity. The era when the PS4, Xbox One and Switch release marks the start of developing remasters. After I learned about remasters being faithful to the original releases' gameplay and story, they are also faithful to their charming environment despite them having better elements ranging from visuals to lighting.

It is kind of the fact that the PS3 having a unique structure is the reason why the modern Sony consoles weren't able to achieve full PlayStation backwards compatibility and that's why we had to stick with playing remasters. I don't think it's bullcrap, but remasters retain a charming environment original releases have.

PlayStation's Mass Layoffs:

I heard PlayStation has announced a reduction on their workspace recently. 900 jobs have been cut. If it's bad enough, Sony's London has been shut down in its entirety and several first-party games that were in development have been cancelled in light of this case, including the unannounced online only Twisted Metal game that uses live services by Firesprite. That game was early in development and it was cancelled in light of the reduction as Firesprite got affected by the impact. Other big studios among the PlayStation portfolio got affected, including Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games, developers that developed Crash and Spyro games on the PS1. That is not good.

But there is one good thing that came out of this. A Horizon online game is still in the works as Guerilla is still on track despite their reduction. They seem to be going strong. Now, I am kind of interested in an online game based on the Horizon universe, even though I never played the franchise. That reduction has shocked us. It is horrible. That reduction will not stop them. They announced March's lineup of monthly games that are available in all three tiers. In the later date in March, the additions to the Extra and Premium catalogs will be announced. I hope it has good additions. I will not let that reduction stop me from playing classic games. The show must go on.

MightyKeef's Upcoming EVO Skit:

The moment is upon us. Mightykeef is in the middle of working on an EVO skit. He announced it and I am looking forward to see how it unfolds since we have eight games on this year's EVO like last year's. Last year's didn't get uploaded, but this year's will be uploaded for sure. It's gonna be explosive because a new Street Fighter, a new Tekken and a new Mortal Kombat are on the lineup, as well as anime fighting games that go to their next installment. If Smash Ultimate is on the skit, there's no telling how emotional it will be since it didn't make it to EVO for the third year in a row. But that's not the reason why we are getting eight games in the lineup. This might deserve the Johnny Test Seal of Approval.

Conclusion:

And this wraps up today's post of my monologues and this is the final blog post of the series of this month as we are going into March tomorrow and it turns out that several things I am waiting for, like MultiVersus' return for its full release, Marie, SSF2 Beta v1.3.2, Nidra and Baihe might be happening well in March. You have a wonderful day. Also, you might want to brace yourselves for the big crap coming at you on social media...

Thoughts on Video Game Remasters

Okay, so I want to get this off my chest, that I want to monologue about video game remasters. I originally said that remasters kill the charm the original releases have because of better elements and they plaster logos of defunct video game companies and old logos of existing video game companies with existing logos, but after learning about them being faithful to the original games' story and gameplay, I was wrong to think that they kill the charm with improved visuals and better lighting because I learned that they are also faithful to their charming environment used in 6th generation-era games, so they still count as oldies despite them being remastered to have improved visuals and better lighting and they will still be a part of Days of PlayStation Past. It's not the fact that the old songs my parents grew up on that got remastered still count as oldies. That's the example of remasters.

There was a point in time when I came across a black guy who spoke of full backwards compatibility on the PS5. I watched the whole thing and I was shocked about it. Especially the remastering engine, which can remaster any classic game that uses standard definition without killing the charm. Mark Cerny has hosted a special monologue where he monologues the specifications of the PS5. What got me is the backwards compatibility part. I saw the PS4 logo, but not those for previous systems. They haven't said anything yet since I saw space.

We were waiting if the PS5 can actually support full backwards compatibility, until Jim Ryan has confirmed that the PS5 can actually only play PS4 games through backwards compatibility and also added that the PS3's architecture makes it so. That's why we had to stick with playing our remasters of games that are originally released on the past Sony consoles. Especially the first three Crash and Spyro games that got fully remastered to have better visuals and better lighting, but they retain a charming environment. Most notably, the goddesses in subsequent Spyro games released on the PS1 that are the Sally Acorn and Bunnie Rabbot of Spyro remain charming despite having better visuals and better lighting. But the only thing among them that I'll miss seeing forever is the Sony Computer Entertainment America/Europe presents tagline and the Universal Interactive logo. I bought the PS4 version of the two remastered trilogies to maintain the nostalgia.

There was another point in time when I was playing PS1 releases of Crash and Spyro games on the PS3. That's when the PS1 releases get playable on the PSP, PS3 and PSVita. I felt that nostalgia. And now, since their original games got fully remastered to have better resolution, better visuals and better lighting and are compiled in a trilogy, they might instead be added to the PS Plus Premium catalog like others. Some of them PS3s are backwards compatible to PS1 games while some of them are backwards compatible to PS2 games. But none of the PS3s are backwards compatible to both PS1 and PS2 games and that's what makes the PS3's architecture so hard to work with as it contains a unique structure and that is the main reason why the PS4 couldn't play PS3 games. Not even the PS4 Pro. That's why they started developing remasters during the modern era.

After hearing Jim confirming that the PS5 can actually play only PS4 games, I was looking at the cases of Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro: Reignited Trilogy in sadness that I miss the polygon models I won't be able to embrace again anytime soon. I gotta admit though. Their games do look insane as heck as they gotten modern visuals and fidelity. They are available on all platforms, but I bought the PS4 versions to pay homage to the original trilogies that got stunning new animations and graphics and retain the nostalgia.

Learning about remasters being faithful to the original releases' story, gameplay and charm has given me the liberty of adding Ty the Tasmanian Tiger to my PlayStation oldies as it will be a part of Days of PlayStation Past, along with its sequel, which I plan to buy, but won't play it until I beat the first game despite the fact that they got remastered. From the looks of it, I heard Shazza is the Elora of the franchise and it's more action-packed than the original and that's gonna be on my wish list for Spyro 4. It's also to better support his debut to Crash Team Rumble. So I am working on two dream logo combos, one consisting of Activision, Krome Studios, FMOD and Unreal Engine and the other consisting of EA Games, Sierra Entertainment and Krome Studios.

I guess it's for the better since I heard full PlayStation backwards compatibility could take up a lot of memory and I am inclined to agree with that statement. One of the articles stated that we don't expect any of the modern Sony consoles to play PS3 games anytime soon. But PS Plus Premium has given us access to playing classics, so who needs full PlayStation backwards compatibility when we have PS Plus Premium?

But the Xbox side of things is not the case because after I heard the Xbox Series X/S supports full Xbox backwards compatibility, the Xbox 360 has a straightforward architecture to get to the original Xbox. That's why the Xbox One X can play Xbox 360 and original Xbox games. Xbox fans can play both classic games and remasters of Xbox classics as a difference maker. I know already said this before, but I just want to inform you this, lest you get out of the loop. In fact, there is a Redneck Pudding video that has that part where he plays LEGO Star Wars on the Xbox One. It's facts.

While PS Plus Premium given us the power to revist classics, remasters are also added to the catalog of PS1, PS2 and PSP games, like Tales of Symphonia, originally released on the PS2, got a remaster, but still having that charm despite that among Ty the Tasmanian Tiger and others. But if Tales of Symphonia got a remaster and it is under the PS1, PS2 and PSP tab, should it also be under the remasters tab?

I know some people like to purchase the Premium tier to play classic games. But I prefer to buy them so that I can play them 24/7. I can't wait to see what March's additions are. I hope it involves a couple of classics I played before and the ones I never played or adding a remaster of a PS1 or PS2 classic. I want to see the Simpsons: Hit & Run get added to the PS Plus Premium catalog. I was playing it at my old stomping grounds when I was a teen. I told my brother and my dad about it and I liked the mission failed screen having the traffic part. Great game. I kind of want to see this get remastered, but Fox Interactive is no longer around and there has not been a new game based on one of Fox's animated shows.

Also, I think there is a consipiracy under the remakes part. Here, let's take Secret of Mana for example. It is an RPG game that was originally released on the SNES and it got a remake. But why the heck would they add Secret of Mana to the library of PS1, PS2 and PSP games? This is a remake of an RPG game originally released on the SNES, not a remaster and this does not count as a classic, so why add that? There is no reason to put Secret of Mana under the classics catalog when it is a remake that DOES NOT count as an oldie. Remakes are redesigns to video games. There is no purpose to this. It should be on the catalog of PS4 and PS5 games because Trials of Mana is on there.

Some existing companies had to add new content on remasters to meet up with the modern era. And then, the part when Activision fully remastered the first two Tony Hawk's games originally on the 5th generation-era systems is a miracle. Because when a 5th generation-era game gets fully remastered, there are improvements to visuals, better framerate, better resolution, better lighting and integrated menu. And sometimes better quality to the original music, which Crash and Spyro games have.

This is something that I want to get off my chest that after learning about remasters being faithful to the original story and gameplay, they are also faithful to the old-school charm despite having better resolutions, better lighting, better framerate and better visuals. There is a remaster of a classic game in the works and it is slated to release in two days. If any of the classics get remastered to be on modern consoles, the original releases will not be added to the classics catalog. Instead, remasters will be added as they are the same game, but with better elements.

The Finish Line Has Been Crossed

I have no freaking words to say this. I am so dang speechless. I have no words on how I get to the point in time when I became dedicated to unlocking things. Between you and me, unlocking everything is key to making real fun happen. This makes me a pro of unlocking things. It's called dedication. I only play Competitive rounds to earn badges to unlock Heroes and Powers, not to win or lose. It's called playing Competitive for fun purposes.

Now, I am glad that I have officially unlocked every Hero and Power on Crash Team Rumble to cross the finish line. In fact, I was able to unlock every last one of them before the Super Bowl. I can watch it with a clear mind now that I have access to every Hero and Power. But for the remainder of Season 3 because more Heroes and Powers are coming in future Seasons. Going forward, I will unlock them during their Early Access as long as I am an active PS Plus member because without it, I can't play since it is online only and not free-to-play. I plan to get the Steam version of Crash Team Rumble since I am getting a gaming computer with a good amount of hertz if they ever port it to Steam so that a paid membership wouldn't be required to do online multiplayer since Steam versions offer free online multiplayer on both paid and free games. But I don't have that kind of money yet.

What really surprised me is that I came across a very formidable enemy team on that match. They got the P on me that I couldn't even score a single Wumpa. They got the best of me. I have came such a flawless enemy team that got the flawless victory, in a Mortal Kombat way. Good stuff.

Another thing that also surprised me is that I was going to town with Elora on that match. She is literally kicking some serious butt with them hooves. Especially that single combat moment of Elora vs. Tawna. It was pretty dang outrageous that Elora is the Reina from Tekken 8 while Tawna is the Chun-Li from Street Fighter II of Crash Team Rumble. Their combat is A-tier and it's old-fashioned violence. Good crap. This really given me some Gormiti vibes too. This can anticipate this year's EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan. There's Tekken 8, there's Street Fighter 6 and other great fighting games on both of the events. Except for one game only in EVO Las Vegas, which is Mortal Kombat 1, and that is because it's a fighting game franchise big in the West.

In honor of unlocking Ripto to cross the finish line on the Heroes department, I will be doing a special session where I can play as only Spyro characters and I will be livestreaming all of it. But this will be divided into two parts below.

Part 1: Play as Spyro characters in their default skins.

Part 2: Play as Spyro characters in any skin, including recolors.

This is also to encourage my support for Spyro 4, the fourth Spyro character for Crash Team Rumble (preferably Bianca), a live action film adaptation to star Chris Pratt as Spyro, Jim Carrey as Ripto and Brie Larson as Elora, who might appear in the post-credits scene to indicate that she will be featured in the sequel and for Sony to add not only Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, but also Spyro: A Hero's Tail to the classics catalog. The fourth thing may not seem to count as a desired thing, but it does because Activision may not remaster them when we want Spyro 4 to happen. Not realizing that SEGA wouldn't be a part of.

Now, let me tell you this. There was a point in time when I was a teenager, right? There was a point in time when I was a teenager, I was playing Spyro: A Hero's Tail and I was throwing tantrums every time I fail. I was struggling on the level where I had to deal with wizards. I couldn't stop throwing tantrums until I got me some Sierra Mist to calm my nerves down. I was 13 years old on that time and that applies to the situation I came across at my middle school. I just can't stop remembering that part.

And there was another point of time before this case I mentioned when I played the original release of Spyro: Year of the Dragon on the PS1. Bianca was keeping Spyro from collecting the dragon eggs, until she found the truth that the Sorceress is really using the power to kill baby dragons. That's when Bianca has gone to crap to help Spyro instead. Same with the Reignited Trilogy. This case is why I want Bianca to be the fourth Spyro character to make her debut to Crash Team Rumble so that she can meet up with Elora for the first time because she never met her in any of the Spyro games and she could be a Booster like Ripto, who I was able to unlock. This is something that Spyro 4 should have.

And this reminds me. I was watching some Tekken 8 action played on Frosty Faustings. Tasty Steve mentioned about Spyro to the co commentator who has Spyro in his screen name. That's what got me that he was also dealing with wizards. That's a Cinderella story I will never forget. But Nickelodeon? I thought it was SEGA.

Alright, folks, I present to you my random wheel containing dim portraits with the progression bar of my Hero mains in Crash Team Rumble. They are Tawna, Spyro, Ripper Roo, Elora, Dr. Neo Cortex and Ripto. There are currently six of them, two on each class, though the progression bar remains on each. But this might work out. This is gonna help me decide which Hero to play. I have two methods in using the wheel below.

Method 1: Play a match with the landed Hero. Then give the previously landed Hero a rest for one match and play the next match with next landed Hero.

Method 2: Play several matches with the landed Hero. Then give the previously landed Hero a rest and play the next several matches with the next landed Hero.

I can also use this wheel for Party Mode, but in select games, such as Get Lit!, Dig It!, What's Juicin'? and What's Cookin'?. This wheel will be updated to have more Heroes I found fun to play. The only best thing about this is that I have every Spyro character on my wheel as they are fun to play and it's to better support everything on all things Spyro the Dragon. I won't be needing the wheel during my Spyro characters only session. Instead, I can use the list randomizer.

In conclusion, the real fun starts now that I have access to all Heroes and all Powers, but for the remainder of Season 3 because there will be more of them in future Seasons. I am looking forward to find out what will Season 4 have in store for me. I hope they added a Custom Game mode when it comes to esports.

Joe's Monologues - 2/8/24

Hello, everyone, KnockDownJoe here and welcome to the first episode of Joe's Monologues of February. Valentine's Day is fast approaching. So is the Super Bowl LVIII. These are not the ones that I'm gonna talk about today. I have a couple of things that I want to monologue today, including the one that interests me, so let's get right into them.

Crash Team Rumble:

So we'll start with the elephant in the room, which is my experience with playing Crash Team Rumble. I was playing some Competitive matches, not only the day before yesterday, but also the past weeks. I am on the verge on unlocking Heroes and Powers. I had a lot of fun kicking some butt and scoring Wumpa. And now where it stands, I have unlocked all of the powers just by donating Common and Epic Relic Stations and unlocked more Heroes by collecting certain badges. I also earned enough Relic Assist badges to unlock Spyro, yet I have already unlocked him during his Early Access. It has to be a bug that occured when I collected enough badges to unlock the Hero I have already unlocked during their Early Access. I was even able to win that match, become Top Performer and unlock N-Gin as a cherry on top before the EVO 2024 Announcement Show, which I'll tell you about later. That's the wild way to wrap things up.

I have crossed the finish line on the Powers department. And now, there is only one Hero left to unlock, which is Ripto. I earned 32 Assist badges so far and I am 18 away from unlocking him, so all I got to do is focus on earning the rest of the Assist badges and I can finally unlock Ripto to cross the finish line on the Heroes department and this is gonna be my ambitious thing to complete. I plan to make a random wheel of my Hero mains in the game to help me decide which Hero to play.

After that, I'm gonna do this; the same thing 1smash18 was doing during the 9b finale of his SSF2 Let's Play Series. Play one Spyro character on each match and I can use the list randomizer to help me decide the order of Spyro characters to play on Practice Match in a Spyro map as a celebration for unlocking Ripto to cross the finish line. But if I lose, I can't move on to the next Spyro character until I win a match. Then phase two will be playing only Spyro characters on Competitive on the next session after this one and all of that will be on stream. This is gonna convince Activision to make Spyro 4 and add a 4th Spyro character to the game. Preferably Bianca. Emphasis on "4th" because Spyro 4 needs to happen and a 4th Spyro character needs to be on there.

You know what? I just came across something interesting. I bought Ty the Tasmanian Tiger on my PS5 the day before yesterday and played it a throwback to my childhood when I played it originally on the PS2. It is a remaster and remasters of the original releases still retain a lot of charm. But that's not the only thing that interests me. What really interests me is that Ty would also be freaking dope in Crash Team Rumble like Spyro is, along with his map since the third game of the franchise, Night of the Quinkan, was published by Activision. Showcased his abilities and I was working on a dream logo combo of Activision, Krome Studios (current logo), FMOD and Unreal Engine weirdly enough as a cherry on top, so I'm gonna do a breakdown on what will Ty bring to the table if he makes his debut to Crash Team Rumble in a future Season, his map and his release now.

Hero Breakdown:

Like Spyro, Ty is a Scorer, who excels at breaking crates and scoring Wumpa to charge Power faster. He'll be capable of scoring Wumpa for the ally team.

Now for part two of the Hero Breakdown, abilities. The Primary Attack button allows Ty to throw one of his regular boomerangs. Pressing the Primary Attack button again allows him to throw his second boomerang. He will throw his boomerangs again if one of them is in his posession. Ty can glide by pressing the Jump button while in mid-air. Note that Ty must have two boomerangs in his possession to glide. Ty's Chomp is performed using the Secondary Attack button. Aerial Chomp is performed with the Secondary Attack button while in mid-air. His Super Chomp is performed with holding the Secondary Attack button. This only works when he is on the ground. And finally, Ty's Special is his Thunderangs. Note that Ty must have two boomerangs in his possession in order for it to work.

And since Ty's boomerangs are his weapon, they can be customizable to have various skins, but not from his games because changing appearances does not give the team an advantage.

Map Breakdown:

Ty's map is Rainbow Cliffs, a first home world where the first Ty the Tasmanian Tiger game takes place at, like the Artisans World from Spyro the Dragon and Summer Forest from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!. Like the Spyro maps, which uses gems, Rainbow Cliffs will use Opals instead of Wumpa Fruit and use containers that contain Opals. The Common Relic Stations can yield Talismans with powers while a Epic Relic Station can activate Bunyip Elder to grant the ally team knockback resistance.

Release Breakdown:

Like other Heroes, Ty will have both his Early Access and Full Release. During the Ty Early Access, there are Rainbow Scales scattered across each map on both Competitive and Party Mode. Collect the first three Rainbow Scales and Ty will be unlocked permanently. Collecting more of them rewards you exclusive rewards. If you don't unlock him during his Early Access, you'll have to wait until his Full Release to unlock him, by earning Hunter badges, similar to unlocking Elora.

Hero Badge:

Each Hero has their own Hero Badge, like if you're Elora, you can heal allies within range 100 HP with a single Heal Aura to earn the Heal Deal badge. But Ty has his own Hero Badge called Walk in the Park, which is earned by killing an enemy Hero on the team bank with Super Chomp.

And this is the breakdown on how will Ty bring to the table if he makes his debut to Crash Team Rumble. You're gonna love it.

EVO 2024:

The EVO 2024 Announcement Show went live two days ago and Vicious and Majinobama were hosts of the show. Before I get to the announced games, changes are coming to EVO this year. This year and beyond, EVO is migrating from Mandalay Bay to a new venue in Las Vegas, the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center where everything is more spacious and bigger than what Mandalay Bay has to offer. Bigger BYOC and everything else that is bigger than before to make lines shorter. It is indeed big and that's what the key the mayor of Nevada offered the Cannon brothers is for. EVO has a YouTube channel named EvoFGC. Go check out their channel over on YouTube and give them 100,000 subscribers so that they can be eligible for their Silver Play Button.

What really interests me is that the finals of all games is gonna be played at the Arena on all three days. That's another improvement over EVO's Mandalay Bay-era. This year's EVO is gonna be a blockbuster, folks, as its West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center-era is gonna be a huge improvement, that the big screen with better lighting will contain reveals, finals will take place at the Arena in all eight games during both Saturday and Sunday, and more changes.

And now, on to the games they announced for this year's lineup.

Street Fighter 6 - This has the most signups last year and that's why it had to be played last in the Sunday Arena Finals. I called this one and it is also being played at EVO Japan. AngryBird became the first champion of this game at EVO, so kudos to him. We are gonna see it again this year. Ed is coming out this month and he will be tournament legal in EVO. As for Akuma, we don't know when he will come out.

Tekken 8 - I also called this one because we know that this game is gonna be in the lineup. I heard it looks mesmerizing. Like even Reina is mad dope and it's not just because she is a Mishima. It's also because she is licensed to kick a lot of butt like Elora is. Maybe I should main her. The only thing about this is that this is the first game to not have an arcade release and to not have Heihachi Mishima in the roster because as Raven said in the Story Trailer; Heihachi Mishima is dead. This is something we can experience both at EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan.

Mortal Kombat 1 - The gory fighting game series is going to the New Era as this is its first time making its debut at EVO. I was able to watch the whole MK11 finals to see how it unfolded. It was incredible, but what I don't like is the Fujin mirror match. And now, kombatants are shifting to the New Era crafted by Fire God Liu Kang so that no realms would be consigned to endless wars. Peacemaker from DC is set to come out this month and he will be legal for sure. However, because this is a fighting game big in the West, it will not be seen on EVO Japan.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising - It is a sequel to the original Granblue Fantasy Versus that has new content and this is the first time making its debut to the big show. The skybound clash continues both in EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan.

Guilty Gear Strive - Last year, Leffen, legendary Smash player won last year's EVO. He Strive to Smash his way to win two different titles at EVO. That's my quip as to when he won EVO in both Smash and Strive. And this one is gonna be in both EVO Las Vegas for third time and in EVO Japan for the second time. A third encore is being rocked.

The King of Fighters XV - The first time this one made its debut to EVO is that it made it to the Sunday Arena Finals to start things off. And now, it is coming for the third time at EVO and it's also gonna be played at EVO Japan. And players are stoked to Shatter All Expectations.

Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes - It is the first numbered sequel that is the final chapter to end all Hollow Nights. Back in 2019, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] made its debut and we get a trailer about UNICLR. I can see how strongly agreeing with Cerebella's Mika palette and Marie's Orie palette would have its perks. This is the first time we're seeing it in action on both EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan.

Street Fighter III: Third Strike - nearly 22 years ago, this iconic classic fighting game made its debut at EVO. This energized the FGC in the past EVOs from back in the dat. There was one iconic moment when Daigo was parrying all of Justin's moves and he finished it all after that. This is how it all started. And now, where it stands, it is coming this year as a throwback tournament on both EVO and EVO Japan and we are seeing it again this year, but in 4K if they have Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection.

These are all of the games in this year's lineup that will be played. We got all seven games that are on this year's lineup for EVO we are gonna see on this year's EVO Japan first, but as I said before, Mortal Kombat 1 is not in the Japanese event because it is a fighting game franchise that is big in the West like Killer Instinct. Turns out that there are eight games like last year. I am expecting a Mightykeef skit about this and it is gonna be explosive as Street Fighter 6 is being played again like last year, Tekken 7 has migrated to Tekken 8, Mortal Kombat 11 has migrated to Mortal Kombat 1, the vanilla Granblue Fantasy: Versus has migrated to Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising and so on. Last year's wasn't even posted and I was disappointed, so this year must be posted.

EVO 2022 is the most hype. What makes it so is that Skullgirls has made its debut as a mainstage game and revealing Marie is the cherry on top. I have already got her Orie palette settled, so the only thing left is her full release. It's the first time in a while since 2017 when it was a side event. I have never felt this emotional in that point of time.

Now, tickets are on sale and they are on the Early Bird Registration, so you got plenty of time to register. EVO starts earlier than before as it is gonna go live July 19-21 because of the new venue they are moving to. But this is only part one. The community showcase and everything else aren't revealed yet.

Conclusion:

This has been the first episode of the Joe's Monologues series of February. I did a breakdown on how will Ty perform on Crash Team Rumble, I am closer to crossing the finish line on the Heroes department and EVO Las Vegas is undergoing a lot of big changes as it is shifting from Mandalay Bay to the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center where everything is more spacious and the event will unfold differently as the finals of each game will be played at the Arena on Saturday and Sunday and the showcase will take place at the stage with better lighting. Here's to a wonderful 2024.

Joe's Monologues - 1/24/24

It's that time yet again. Welcome to the next episode of Joe's Monologues in the New Year. I have a couple of things to talk about, so let's dive right in.

SMITE World Championship Season X:

Eight teams, the Styx Ferrymen, Atlantis Leviathans, Oni Warriors, Jade Dragons, Solar Scarabs, Highland Ravens, Hex Mambo and the reigning champs, Camelot Kings have all qualified for Worlds. At the end during the quarterfinals, the Ferrymen, Dragons, Leviathans and Warriors have made it into the semi finals and one cycle has been broken, that we got a game three between the Atlantis Leviathans and Hex Mambo.

Rolling back to the first semifinals match, the Ferrymen won the first two games and the Dragons follow up to win the next two set of games. And in the end, the Jade Dragons did a reverse sweep against the Styx Ferrymen. That's probably history at Arlington, Texas right there. And finally, there is the match between the Atlantis Leviathans and the Oni Warriors. The Warriors were keeping their undefeated run going. It is Genetics' Warriors-era and he remained undefeated as they moved to fight the Dragons in Grand Finals. So there was Grand Finals between the Jade Dragons and the Oni Warriors and this paves the way for new World Champions.

This is the only iconic matchup we've seen often throughout the course of Season X and they have gone up against each other in each Grand Finals of the Kickoff Tournament. It is like a picnic, though and that's a Maggie and the Ferocious Beast story we experienced. The Grand Finals of Season X World became longer than the one in Season 9 Worlds. It's because the Dragons won the first two games. Then the Warriors won the next two games. So in the end, the curse has finally broken as the Jade Dragons finally kicked the Oni Warriors' butts and won Season X Worlds as a cherry on top. This makes it true that 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. This is the Year of the Jade Dragons, folks!

This could be the final SMITE World Championship before SMITE 2, a sequel to the successive third-person action MOBA that uses UE5. It was announced during their Keynote. Alpha releases in March. The Year 11 patch just dropped today and it now uses Cross-Gen Passes. SMITE 2 may be a sequel, but SMITE 1 isn't going anywhere and it will continue to receive updates for the forseeable future and skins you get in SMITE 1 will also be available to equip in SMITE 2.

Crash and Spyro History and Beyond:

Alright, so you know how Mario and Sonic had a history? Well, this is not the only rivalry the video game industry experienced. There is another rivalry between Crash and Spyro. Their first three regular games were released on the PS1 and were PlayStation exclusives, until they went third-party for their games to release on the multiple platforms beyond PlayStation. They were released by Universal Interactive Studios on that time, and that's one of the defunct game companies.

There were the Wrath of Cortex and Enter the Dragonfly. I heard they turned out to be a fail despite their charming environment their games have beared. They are both on my wish list of classics I want for PS Plus Premium. And I expect it to count as a charming thing. And then, their games that don't involve lives release next.. On that time, they were released by Sierra Entertainment, another defunct video game company. All of their games on the 6th generation-era have a lot of charm. Especially the ones that switch universes.

Then there were three Spyro games that is a reboot. The third and final one was released by Activision, along with Crash: Mind Over Mutant. It's a step forward to the modern-era when the first Crash and Spyro games originally released on the PS1 get a remaster on the 8th generation-era of gaming. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time was announced to be a sequel to Crash Bandicoot: Warped, but they still haven't announced a Spyro 4 yet and it is supposed to be a sequel to Spyro: Year of the Dragon. Then there is a 4v4 game called Crash Team Rumble. There are Spyro characters on it and Elora is officially released recently and I am on the source of earning assist badges to unlock Ripto. I hope this convinces Activison to make Spyro 4, but Elora has to be playable too on it because she is a savage faun that can shoot tornadoes with her kicks. It needs to happen. Perhaps I should call it Elora: Renegade Faun.

I have been grinding my Battle Pass to get more rewards on Party Mode and I was about to play some Competitive rounds off stream, but I wasn't ready yet, until I realized that I can switch sides. If I lose with the team that sucks balls, I can switch over to another one that doesn't suck. I think I'm ready to do some Competitive soon, but the Summer Forest event is gonna expire and I know I may not have enough time to get all of the rewards and I'm still on the verge of unlocking Heroes. I was pulling a 1smash18 when I get on the verge of unlocking things. I was able to unlock Spyro and Elora by collecting Dragon Eggs and Avalarian Leaves. They are the Sonic and Sally of Spyro, though. So for Mightykeef's sake, kicking butt is the way.

Now, when I do Competitive on Crash Team Rumble, I don't play just to win or lose. I also play to have fun. And having fun also means earning the corresponding badges to unlock Heroes and Powers. And since I am five Booster badges away from unlocking Dr. Neo Cortex, who is a Booster, I'll play the first few rounds with Coco because she is a Booster who excels at capturing Gems and activating Relic Stations and pairs of Relics are only on the Boosters' perspective. Then I can shift my focus to earning Blocker badges to unlock Dr. N. Tropy and Ripper Roo. Once I do, my next focus is earning Saboteur badges to unlock N-Gin and earning KO and Relic Assist badges to unlock Ripto. After that is having fun.

This is the fact that Crash and Spyro games have a lot of charm during the 6th generation era of gaming. I got them on my wish list, but after some thought, I learned that after they put remasters in the PS Plus Premium catalog, like Secret of Mana, I don't think it's possible for the PS1 releases of Crash and Spyro to be added to the catalog. Instead, their remasters can be added and they lack a lot of charm the original releases have. Mightykeef's video about how remasters killed the charm says it all. Don't get me wrong. I do like remasters, but I prefer to play the original releases since they have more charm.

That pretty much stops the history of Crash and Spyro here as I monologued what they had to offer. That's not all. There is a thin line between the rivalries. Mario and Sonic recently have their games came out. Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Sonic Superstars are the recent games rivals have. SEGA has released their open zone game that is Spyro, but with Sonic. But minus Sally Acorn because SEGA doesn't want to make any more Sonic games that take place in the SatAM universe. It's the best universe I loved so much. The third season of the show is in the works too as they are nearing the finish line of the animation phase.

But then, I realized something. Sally is not the only character who didn't get enough love because I also found that Elora too didn't get enough love as well and that's why she doesn't appear in many Spyro games. I can see a thin line between Sally and Elora, whose destiny is unknown and we know how the gaming ecosystem works. But no, Sally only appeared in one Sonic game, which is Sonic Spinball. It took place at the SatAM universe. They probably didn't know it exists.

Conclusion:

This wraps up this episode of Joe's Monologues, so in conclusion, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon for the Jade Dragons to win Worlds as a cherry on top. You have a wonderful day.

An Idea of an Online 4v4 Mario Game

You all know that the Mario universe had his blockbuster movie, RPG, sports games, racing games and party games. But the franchise is missing one thing and that is an online team game. The Sonic universe has an open zone game that is Spyro the Dragon, but with Sonic characters, so I think it's time that the Mario universe gets a third-person online 4v4 game that is Crash Team Rumble, but with Mario characters and it has to be completely free-to-play on Switch and a future Nintendo console potentially called Switch 2 with crossplay and cross-progression between them to so that everyone can play this game, including those without a Nintendo Switch Online membership.

I want this to be announced at E3, but since it is dead because of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic and not Geoff Keighley, I want this to be announced at their future Nintendo Direct, the Summer Game Fest or on MAR10 Day. I told you about it in an episode of Joe's Monologues, so I'm gonna start from the very beginning and fully explain the meta for a desired dream online 4v4 Mario game to be called Super Mario Team Arena and that's what the online 4v4 Mario game is gonna be called.

Seasons:

First off, I'll start with talking about the game idea's cadence of Seasons. A new Season releases every nine weeks. Each new Season has a content cadence of a new Battle Pass, three new Heroes, two new maps, balance changes, limited time events, etc. On the fifth week on each Season, there will be mid-season balance changes.

Heroes:

Heroes are playable characters in online team games that have abilities. Each Hero across the Mario universe will have primary and secondary attacks and an Ultimate attack that can turn the tide of battle and use cutouts in your perspective and use a circular meter that fills up overtime when not doing anything, but fills up a bit faster by doing actions. There will be skins and emotes for each Hero. Three new Heroes get added every season, like in Crash Team Rumble. But they will be locked. To unlock them spend currency or purchase one of the Founder's Packs, which I'll tell you about later. They are divided into three classes like in Overwatch and Crash Team Rumble. You'll see what they are later on. Each Hero has accolades specific to them and they have challenges.

And since I monologued the pre-release phase, here are the Starting Heroes you will see during the Alpha.

Starting Heroes:

Mario
Luigi
Peach
Bowser
Yoshi
Wario
Waluigi
Daisy
Donkey Kong
Birdo

These are the Starting Heroes that will have on the start of the Alpha phase of the game. More Heroes will be added during the course of the Alpha. The reason why I wanted the number of Starting Heroes to be ten is because Ranked bans mirror matches.

Arena Coins:

It is a currency used to unlock Heroes, directly purchase skins, purchase the Premium tier of each Battle Pass and skip levels. They are earned by spending real money on the eShop and reaching certain levels on each Battle Pass that reward them.

Founder's Packs:

I mentioned Founder's Packs on the point when I mention development phases and Heroes, so I am gonna give you what benefits each of the three Founder's Packs comes with.

Mushroom Pack - Offers access to all Heroes, forever, full game access, exclusive avatar and title and an Epic skin for Mario. - $29.99

Flower Pack - Offers all benefits of the Mushroom Pack, 500 Arena Coins, exclusive emotes for the first 10 Heroes during Alpha and an Epic skin for Peach. - $59.99

Star Pack - Offers all benefits of the Flower Pack, exclusive banner and pedestal, exclusive emotes for the first 22 Heroes during Alpha and a Legendary skin for Bowser. - $99.99

These Founder's Packs will be available on the eShop during the course of the Alpha.

Maps:

There will be maps across the Mario universe, from the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond. I'll list the objectives each map will have.

Coins - They are scattered across each map, dealing damage to enemy Heroes knocks them off and they are needed to donate to their team bank. You can carry up to 120 coins.

Power Stars - Like coins, they are also scattered across each map and they can activate Powerup Stations. You can carry up to 15 Power Stars.

Team Banks - Each map has two team banks and they can convert coins into points.

Buff Points - They are capable of buffing the ally team's scoring on each map. They start out gray, but capturing them changes their color to blue or red. Capturing it gives the ally team a 25% buff and it comes with ratios of 1:3, 2:2 and 4:0 captured Buff Points. If your team manages to capture all four Buff Points, you and your allies will receive a Team Buff Frenzy, which grants total boosting to scoring intervals and coins are given every three seconds. When the team buff is expired, you have to wait until the Buff Points are available to capture again.

Stations - They are capable of causing map-specific events and each map has three Stations below.

Powerup Stations: They yield powerups to any Hero that deposits 5 Power Stars. Activating them yields a map-specific powerup to any hero.

Normal Obstacle Stations - They favor the ally team that deposits 10 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Activating them activates obstacles on the ally team's favor. They come in two stations.

Super Obstacle Stations - They favor the ally team that deposits 30 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Activating them activates game-changing obstacles on the ally team's favor.

These are the objectives each map will have. Two new maps are added every Season.

Gameplay:

The gameplay of Super Mario Team Arena is this. Each of the Mario characters are divided into two teams of five, like in every MOBA, but this is not a MOBA. The object of the game is that this is a combination of Crash Team Rumble, SMITE's Domination and Paladins' Onslaught. The first team that reaches 5,000 points wins the match. To earn points, Heroes must get kills and donate coins to their team's bank. Each kill earns you 100 points while donating coins to your team's bank converts them into points based on the amount of coins you donated.

When I said the gameplay is a combination of Crash Team Rumble, SMITE's Domination and Paladins' Onslaught, the following is below.

Part Crash Team Rumble - The first team to score 5,000 points wins. Coins and Power Stars are scattered across each map. Each map has two team banks, three stations consisting of one Powerup Station that requires 5 Power Stars and gives any Hero their powerup, one Normal Obstacle Stations that favors the ally team that deposits 10 Power Stars before the enemy team does and a Super Obstacle Station that favors the ally team that deposits 30 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Capturing a Buff Station buffs the ally team's scoring and donating converts coins into points based on the amount of coins you have. Dealing damage to the enemy knocks coins out.

Part SMITE's Domination - Capturing a Buff Point grants the ally team a boost to their scoring intervals. Capturing all four Buff Points grants Team Buff Frenzy to give the ally team coins per second and grants a total boost to their scoring intervals.

Part Paladins' Onslaught - The first team to score 5,000 points wins and each kill earns you 100 points.

Controls:

The default controls for Super Mario Team Arena are obvious below.

Jump: A
Primary Attack: B
Secondary Attack: X
Ultimate Ability: Y
Ping: R
Emote Wheel: ZR

Classes:

As said above, each Hero is divided into three classes that I will explain now.

Donator: Heroes of this class excel at collecting and donating coins to their team's bank.

Blocker: Heroes of this class excel at knocking coins and killing enemy Heroes.

Buffer: Heroes of this class excel at capturing Buff Stations to buff allies' scoring and depositing Power Stars to Stations.

As a mental note, your team must have at least one Donator, one Blocker and one Buffer to have a good team composition. A great team composition has one Donator, two Blockers and one Buffer. All Heroes can break containers donate coins, knock coins off the enemy Heroes, kill enemy Heroes, capture Buff Stations and activate Powerup Stations, but a Donator breaks containers and donates coins to their team bank, a Blocker knocks coins and kills the enemy Hero and a Buffer captures Buff Stations and activates Powerup Stations to charge their Ultimate ability faster. I listed the Starting Heroes, so I'll do it again, but this time, they will be divided into classes.

Starting Donators:

Mario
Luigi
Yoshi

Starting Blockers:

Bowser
Donkey Kong
Wario

Starting Buffers:

Peach
Daisy
Waluigi
Birdo

Development Phases:

Some free-to-play game use four phases and an idea of a team-based Mario game I want can be developed into four phases below.

Pre-Alpha - Work is being done on the game, but not yet ready for public release.

Alpha - The game is publicly available and starts out with ten starting Heroes; three Donators, three Blockers and four Boosters, but to get it, players must either enter their email and choose which Nintendo console to play on the website or purchase one of the Founder's Packs. Once the time when the game gets into Alpha, codes get sent out and they can redeem it on the Nintendo eShop.

Beta - After the Alpha phase is complete, the game enters its Beta phase with 22 Heroes and is available for everyone to download on the eShop, but needs a lot of tuning.

Official Launch - The game is fully tuned and launched with all of the bells and whistles and 30 Heroes.

During the pre-release phases, bugs will occur and some functions may not work properly like it should. New Heroes and maps will be added during the phases above. Consequently, after the Beta phase, the game's online servers may be taken down to pause updates in a way to prepare for official launch while they have a clearer view on what they need to focus working on. Particularly the content cadence of new Heroes, new maps and new game modes, as well as a smoother experience no matter how high the ping is and significant improvements to matchmaking.

Cosmetics:

Every online multiplayer game use cosmetics, so like any others, there will be cosmetics, consisting of Hero skins, including the ones on Mario Kart Tour and on Mario sports games, emotes, donate effects, death cards with a quip that shows on your perspective when you got killed by another player, avatars, banners, titles, team bank skins and pedestals on the pre-match lobby screen.

Hero Mastery:

Each Hero will have Mastery Levels. Certain levels grant you rewards and they require the same amount of Hero EXP to go up a level to make things faster.

Battle Pass:

Every new Season, there is a new Battle Pass. Battle Passes have a ton of rewards, like banners, avatars, donate effects, titles, pedestals, Hero skins, weapons, death cards, team banks and Arena Coin rewards. Each Battle Pass will come in two tracks instead of one to have up to 50 levels. The Premium track, which requires 400 Arena Coins, has all rewards while the Free track has some rewards. Each level requires the same amount of Battle Pass EXP so that you can gain levels faster. And since I mentioned pre-release phases, there will be a preseason Battle Pass that will last during the Alpha and Beta phases.

Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom:

Similar to Paladins' Trials of the Realm, Super Mario Team Arena's Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom has a ton of rewards, consisting of currency, EXP and emotes. Every new Season, there is a new Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom and the first two trials are available at the start of each Season, but more trials unlock every week throughout the Season. Each trial has three challenges. Example: if you're playing as Bowser and if you kill Mario and Luigi with him, you'll earn rewards on that match. But the Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom won't be until the game's official launch.

Game Modes:

Let's not forget the core part for Super Mario Team Arena, game modes. Choosing certain game modes get you in a matchmaking state that involves a timer that goes up. I'll list the game modes below that you'll see during the Alpha and Beta phases.

Casual - All matches of this game mode will not affect your rank. This queue is for fun purposes and you don't have to worry about your ranking. If you quit in the middle of the match on this mode, you will be penalized, so don't do it until you finish your matches. Mirror matches are allowed in this game mode.

Ranked - All matches of this game mode will affect your rank. You'll start out at the Rookie rank. Subsequent ranks won't use colors. Instead, subsequent ranks will be Mushroom, Flower, Shell, Star and Boomerang. If you're at a Rookie, Mushroom or Flower rank, you don't have to worry about losing points and getting demoted when you lose a match or quit in the middle of a match until you're at the Shell rank. You will get penalized if you quit in the middle of a ranked match. Mirror matches are banned in this game mode.

Co-op vs. AI - This is a game mode that Crash Team Rumble totally needs when it comes to practicing. This one will have it. Rewards will be earned after each match. There is no penalty for quitting in the middle of a match in this game mode where you and your team of real players go up against bots on the enemy team, so you can quit anytime. If you're not quite ready to go against the real players on the enemy team yet, this game mode is the way. Mirror matches are allowed in this game mode.

Custom Game - Each online only multiplayer game allows you to create your own game or join a game with the desired set parameters. It's also something Crash Team Rumble definetely needs for when it comes to esports. You can also add bots and set their difficulty to your lobby. Spectator slots will also be available to go to so that you can spectate matches to analyze what the Heroes are doing.

Practice Range - All Heroes are unlocked on this game mode and this is where you can try out Heroes and their abilities.

Tutorial - This teaches you the basics on how to play the game.

Content from the Sonic the Hedgehog Universe:

Crash Team Rumble has content from the Spyro the Dragon universe, so I thought it would be awesome if Super Mario Team Arena has content from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe in a Season if they get SEGA's permission. Imagine Sonic as the Donator, Dr. Robotnik as the Blocker and Sally Acorn as the Buffer. Each map of the Sonic universe will use rings instead of coins. Cosmetics will be involved. That includes a banner of chibi dolls of Mario, Peach, Sonic and Sally, a banner of Mario holding a coin and Sonic holding a ring and so on.

In-Game Accolades:

Doing certain actions earns you accolades during gameplay and they give you Hero and Battle Pass EXP. I'll list the core accolades.

Core Accolades:

Donator - Donate coins to your team's bank.

Top Donator - Donate the most coins.

Blocker - Knock coins from the enemy Heroes.

Top Blocker - Knock the most coins.

Buffer - Capture Buff Points.

Top Buffer - Capture Buff Stations the most times.

First Blood - Be the first to kill an enemy Hero.

Double Kill - Kill two enemy Heroes within five seconds.

Triple Kill - Kill three enemy Heroes within five seconds.

Quadra Kill - Kill four enemy Heroes within five seconds.

Hunter - Kill enemy Heroes without getting killed.

Revenge - Kill the enemy Hero that previously killed you.

Sneaky - Donate coins while an enemy Hero stands on your bank.

Pave the Way - Kill an enemy Hero standing on your team's bank.

Bank Dive - Kill an enemy Hero standing on the enemy team's bank.

Brawler - Deal damage to the enemy Hero.

Saint - Heal allies.

-Powerup Station name- - Activate a Powerup Station

-Normal Obstacle Station name- - Activate a Normal Obstacle Station

-Super Obstacle Station name- - Activate a Super Obstacle Station

Power Star Assist - Assist in depositing Power Stars.

Kill Assist - Assist in killing enemy Heroes.

And this is an idea of wanting Super Mario Team Arena, a desired 4v4 online Mario game I want. The reason why I am making a blog post about this is because I watched the Super Mario Bros. Movie at my local movie theater and the franchise didn't have a team-based online multiplayer game yet. I hope you like it. And Nintendo, if you're reading this, please make this happen and get SEGA's permission to add Sonic characters and maps to my Mario game idea.

UPDATE:

After some long thought, I have decided to bump the idea of a team based online Mario game down to 4v4 to make it on par with other 4v4 online multiplayer games.