Joe's Monologues - Nintendo Switch 2

My series usually talks about general things, but this Joe's Monologues will be the first one to focus on a specific thing that I will be talking about, and that is Nintendo's upcoming new system, the Nintendo Switch 2. Now, because this is specific to the Switch 2, I will be talking about things that the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct has shown. I may not be able to cover everything, but here they are.

Immersive Features:

Right off the bat, I will be talking about the features that were introduced into the Switch 2. First off, HD and 4K support. The Switch 1's handheld mode uses 720p resolution and TV mode uses 1080p HD support. But the Switch 2 is a huge upgrade that its games are played in 4K on TV mode and in 1080p HD on handheld and tabletop modes. The Switch 2 having a bigger screen than the Switch 1 is how will games support HD resolution on handheld and tabletop modes. The graphics are insane and they are meeting up with standards that the PS5 and the Xbox Series X|S have.

Now let's go on to the next feature, which is the C button. The button was newly introduced on the new system. Pressing it gives you access to voice chatting with anyone on GameChat. It's like you're on Discord, but on the Nintendo Switch 2. It even supported a camera to put yourself into the game, which is cool. It is something that other platforms didn't have. It can also work on the Switch 1, although it doesn't have the C button. What is really cool is that we can see children play Pokemon while using this feature on the playground.

And last but not least, Joy Con 2s as mice. If you watched the announcement trailer, we did see one thing that became innovative, which is using Joy Con 2s as mice. It's something Nintendo innovated on that trailer. There are games that support this feature, like Super Mario Party Jamboree, the upcoming Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Drag x Drive, which only uses mouse features to play. That could mean that they can add a browser to it, right?

256GB of Storage:

The Switch 1 didn't have that much storage that we had to get a microSD card to expand storage drastically. But the Switch 2 will have a bigger space of 256GB. That is mighty big and we don't have to worry about running out of space for awhile.

Backwards Compatibility with Switch 1 Games:

The Direct has confirmed that the Switch 2 will support backwards compatibility to over 10,000 Switch 1 games, including 3rd party games that were released on the Switch 1. The developers said that at launch, they won't be able to make every Switch 1 game work on the Switch 2, but they are looking to test more Switch 1 games on the Switch 2 post launch. And we can be able to transfer our Switch 1 games to the Switch 2.

GameCube Emulation:

GameCube emulation has been a recurring demand since the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack came with Nintendo 64, GBA and SEGA Genesis. And now, it is finally happening as it is coming on the Switch 2 exclusively. We saw Soul Calibur II and its inclusion of Link from the Zelda franchise, F-Zero GX, which is something I really want to revisit because it's fun to crash on this game and the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. There are even more GameCube games coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 and this is exciting news.

Why is it exciting that I finally get to revisit GameCube games? Well, good question. GameCube games have a charming environment, use Dolby Pro Logic II, Sofdec and ADX like those of the PS2 and original Xbox games. Not only I get to revisit PS2 games I played back in the day. I also get to revisit GameCube games I played back in the day. But I got to get the Switch 2 and the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership if I want to revisit them.

Strong 3rd Party Support:

Remember what I said that the Switch 2 will have 4K and HD support like the Xbox Series X|S and PS5? Well, this can also apply to the Switch 2 getting a strong emphasis on 3rd party support. What it means is that many 3rd party games that were never released on the Switch 1 will be released well on the Switch 2.

I'll go into detail on one of the games that is coming to the Switch 2, Street Fighter 6. This game came out on June for the PS4, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. And now, thanks to its strong 3rd party support, Street Fighter 6 is coming to the Switch 2 with an exclusive game mode and DLC other platforms will have. That is great news that Street Fighter in its next gen glory is getting some love on a Nintendo console.

There even a lot of games coming to the new system, like Elden Ring, Hitman, Silksong, Final Fantasy VII Remake and tons more. There's even a new James Bond game in the works at IO Interactive coming to this new system and others, which is great because I remember playing older James Bond titles on older platforms when I was younger. Speaking of, since GameCube emulation is coming to the Switch 2 for those who own a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership, we might see a classic James Bond game get released on it. Who knows?

What is really funny is that a Mightykeef skit about MultiVersus shutting down becoming emotional has a dramatic part at the end about Nintendo not putting the game on the Switch 2. That part became true that we will never once again see the game make it to the light of day after five Seasons.

Now, these games will launch on the same day as the Switch 2, which is June 5. Beyond what we saw on the Direct, more 3rd party games will be coming to the Switch 2.

Mario Kart World:

The announcement trailer showcased a new Mario Kart game. It is officially unveiled to be Mario Kart World. It's a new open world take on the Mario Kart franchise that involves courses being connected seamlessly in one world and having real time elements that reflect on the current weather in real life. There's also a Free Roam mode where you can drive freely across the world, even off road. No highways were developed. This new Mario Kart is a real time take on the franchise is something that interested me.

Nintendo Switch 2 Edition:

Certain Switch 1 games are eligible for an upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, which has immersive visuals and graphics that reflect the 9th generation era. This also applies to games that were released on the PS4 and Xbox One get an upgrade to the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the Nintendo Switch 2 is set to become a much dedicated and powerful new console to catch up with PS5 and Xbox Series X in terms of its strong emphasis on 3rd party support by having a ton of 3rd party games, innovative features, 4K resolution, 120 FPS run and a bigger storage device. Again, the Switch 2 and all of its games we seen in the Direct are launching this year, with the console and its launch titles releasing on June 5. The price will be revealed later today. MightyKeef has a video about waiting for the Nintendo Switch 2 and it was just part one of the Switch 2 skit that covers the reveal trailer, so I will be expecting part 2 to come to cover everything the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct had to offer, along with the EVO 2025 skit, whichever comes first.

Joe's Monologues - 3/11/2025

Hello, everyone, KnockDownJoe here and today's Joe's Monologues is gonna ruffle people's feathers. I have interesting things to talk about, so read this.

Hidden Variable's Departure:

So that morning was so devastating. When I woke up, X dropped an article telling us that Hidden Variable is no longer involved in the development of Skullgirls. I am going to tell you what happened and why Hidden Variable left development of Skullgirls in any way, shape or form.

Let's start with what happened before Hidden Variable left Skullgirls development. The payments started to roll in on November 1, 2024 with the $131,000 payment. The same amount rolled in on November 15, 2024, December 1, 2024 and December 15, 2024, January 1, 2025 and January 15, 2025. Then the $139,000 payment was announced on February 1, 2025, February 15, 2025, March 1, 2025 and March 15, 2025. But publisher Autumn Games refused to pay any of the following amount they owed.

Now let's go on to why Hidden Variable left Skullgirls development. On March 5, 2025, Hidden Variable released their statement stating that as of January 21, 2025, they are no longer involved in the development of the Skullgirls IP due to their legal dispute with Autumn Games, which is the subject of litigation filed in the Los Angeles County Supreme Court. They are suing the publisher for the total of $1.2 million in unpaid fees in the Hidden Variable v. Autumn Games case. 

The post about Skullgirls Top 8 in Frosty Faustings from January 20th of this year from 2nd Encore's X account has turned out to be the final post, one day before Hidden Variable is no longer in the development of Skullgirls in any way, shape or form, which kind of reminded me of the dissolving transition from the Walt Disney Television logo to the Buena Vista International logo, which somehow gave me the same level of chills as the Cartoon Network skull. That explains why we haven't got any news regarding 2nd Encore for so long since the general balance update or this year's roadmap. They also added that they will not make further comments on the matter until the dispute is resolved, including a reason why Autumn refused to make payments they owed by breaching the 12th Amendment repeatedly.

Hidden Variable has thanked us for our endless support on Skullgirls for years and we allowed it to thrive. Other than creating and supporting Skullgirls Mobile, they promoted Skullgirls esports with the SGCS circuit, brought new characters to 2nd Encore through its first Season Pass, expanded 2nd Encore and the Season 1 Pass to Xbox and Nintendo Switch and produced a Webtoon adaptation. From December 2014 to October 2024, Autumn and Hidden Variable had provided a business relationship between them for Skullgirls Mobile. And by the time the lawsuit was filed, their business partnership between them and Hidden Variable's contract with Autumn for nearly a decade have been terminated and it was just a Frankenstein mess of ideas that weren't even fully cooked, because Autumn refused to pay the amount of money they owed Hidden Variable to. But there is one silver lining to this story.

Autumn has released a statement regarding an update on Skullgirls that contains a glimmer of hope. Jason Donnell stated that Skullgirls is more than a game. It is a passion project we poured our hearts into as they became an unwavering backbone and it involved in so many extraordinary ways because of support of various teams from Reverge Labs to Lab Zero Games, Future Club and Hidden Variable Studios.

But to get a small snippet of things, Skullgirls would get approved by Autumn Games to get developed under the Reverge Labs name and under the Konami banner. Then later, the game was removed because of Mike Z's antics, but came back as Skullgirls Encore developed under the Lab Zero Games name. Years later, Lab Zero Games has been dissolved by Mike's sexual harassment practice and others left Lab Zero to form Future Club and development of Skullgirls continued under both names of Hidden Variable and Future Club. And now, where it stands, the contract has been terminated as Hidden Variable is no longer involved in the development of Skullgirls because they are suing Autumn Games. Future Club didn't even bother negotiating between the companies so that the game can continue active development without a contract because according to their X bio, they are no longer involved in the development of Skullgirls, it seems.

Reason being is that they are developing their first original game called Part-Time Hero: I'm Broke, But I'm Here to Save the World. The Kickstarter for their first original game launches in two days, so back it and spread the word about it to anyone to make it happen. If they find a publisher for this game, their project will expand to more platforms because you know, a publisher like Modus formed an acquisition with MANE6 to benefit bringing Them's Fightin' Herds to consoles and wanting a character for BBTAG and using a SEGA vs. Capcom style of showcase was the cherry on top.

Donnell also stated that Skullgirls will continue development despite Hidden Variable's departure and they are stepping up to reinvest the project, so it's possible that they are going to pick up where Hidden Variable left off. Is it also possible that the development of Skullgirls can be much faster? Sure, it can be much faster since Autumn is a massive team of game developers, storytellers and passionate fans as the statement said. To make matters better, they are even planning to deliver on their promise to us fans as they are making changes now. Think of Epic Games. They are a massive team, which is why development of Fortnite took the shortest amount of time. Which reminds me; if we get a Skullgirls character in Fortnite, it can spark frenzy among fans of Skullgirls.

The statement has a hopeful paragraph written in bold. Guilds are coming to Skullgirls later this year and they are now actually in development since they have taken over in the past few months. That is indeed hopeful and it's only a taste as to how Autumn would usurp Skullgirls development while delivering on their promise to us; to bring new characters, new stories, new features and new game modes following Hidden Variable's departure, so this means additional VO consisting of Annie's alternative voice pack, Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters in combat and English (and hopefully Japanese) VO for the Season Pass characters' story modes, the Season 2 Pass, Roxie, the third Guest Star, the later quarters' monthly fighters, the second season of the Webtoon adaptation and more are still on the docket and thank goodness for that. It's because Hidden Variable provided Autumn the login information required to provide community support for the game after they refused to pay $1.2 million before suspending the Services in a way to not cause damage to the IP.

They also told us to stay tuned for updates soon after saying that they can't wait to take Skullgirls into the new chapter together and I am pretty dang excited for this, so updates should involve a detailed roadmap that contains news about the remaining things that are on the docket for not just Mobile, but 2nd Encore as well. In fact, with 2nd Encore being available on all four digital storefronts on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch, this new chapter is likely to be a fresh one.

Bottom line, if Autumn paid Hidden Variable the money they owed in the first place, then Hidden Variable wouldn't sue them and they would still be involved in the development of Skullgirls so that we can finally get word about what is coming on the docket sooner. In fact, if Future Club is still involved in the development of Skullgirls, they could negotiate between the companies to continue active development without a contract like Sony did to negotiate between Naughty Dog and Universal to make their kart racer without a contract.

But I think it's clear as to why Autumn Games would refuse to pay the total amount of money they owe to Hidden Variable. It's probably because Autumn was interested in pursuing a separate developer for the Mobile release after they failed to seek to sell their business. And to be honest, Autumn refusing to make payments to Hidden Variable is actually a wise decision as they will sell their business if they paid $1.2 million to Hidden Variable.

The Fall of MultiVersus:

Another devastating morning after we came across a tweet that MultiVersus is going to shut down at the end of May after Season 5. Warner Bros. Games has announced that because the game was not living up to its full potential. It was attributed by a relaunch strategy, a ridiculous handling of microtransactions and slow paced gameplay, which was fixed to be buttery smooth. I was able to do a livestream on my gaming laptop to showcase how the game ran well on it. Once May 30th comes, the game will be relegated to local play for the forseeable future, unless if there is enough fan support, the game could come back.

However, that is not gonna happen because weeks later, Player First Games has been shut down, along with other developers. What this means is that MultiVersus will never again see the light of day. As it turns out, the Mightykeef skit regarding MultiVersus shutting down has sealed the deal. I was darn shocked to see Player First Games shutting down, which is why the MultiVersus X account stopped making new posts. It hurts to see them and their game bite the dust despite Warner Bros. acquiring them. I was looking forward to seeing Harry Potter, Godzilla and a host of others make it too. It's just not cool to darn near shut down their platform fighter game prematurely, especially when it is multiplatform. I am planning to do a send off livestream if I don't have plans.

With MultiVersus shutting down soon, they intend to shift their focus to working on their collaborations and bringing them to other games like Fortnite, which is nice, but not as nice as having a platform fighter with Warner Bros. characters. But we are getting something nice from them, and it's a free-to-play hero shooter that is completely similar and akin to Marvel Rivals, but with DC characters. And I believe it can be called... DC Rivals?

Fortunately, there is only one free-to-play fighting game that I know will not take off or have a ridiculous handling of microtransactions, and that's 2XKO.

News Regarding 2XKO:

That's right, we have news regarding 2XKO. Shaun Rivera came with some news on X. The Pulse Fuse is being removed in favor of the autocombo setting each player will toggle on or off with at the character select screen. Fans delivered feedback regarding turning on autocombo while having a different Fuse. Now, I completely agree with having an autocombo setting on the character select screen while equipping a different Fuse. With the Pulse Fuse being removed, we are getting a new Fuse, which is the Sidekick Fuse. It allows the assist character to stay sidelined to support the point character, which gets more HP during the Fuse.

And as for the next Alpha Lab, we got info about it. But it's gonna be much smaller while devs build the infrastructure needed to ensure that they can bring the game to even more players and so that they can gear up for launch. Even if the the next Alpha Lab is gonna be smaller, Jinx is still on the docket to be playable.

Now, I made a suggestion of a new game mode where the assist character gets in battle with the point character on both sides recently. But since we're getting the new Sidekick Fuse, I am also going to make a suggestion of a new Fuse that allows the assist character to get in battle with the point character, so I think it's a Cross Fuse. This can go either way. It's either a new game mode or a new Fuse.

The February update was only just a taste, so the update coming in March will cover what they have been up to.

Crash Bandicoot Brawl:

Canadian Guy Eh recently posted a video about an official and fake game called Crash Bandicoot Brawl. I made a reaction while watching that. Even the page is fake that it showed the wrong ESRB rating of M. Activision's Facebook account shown a fake promotion of a fake game. Activision made that game, but it doesn't exist somehow. That crap was funny, though. He was ticked off at that practice Activision had done just to trick us into filling out the survey and he ended the video by exiting his room and closing the door to get some coffee, like oh my gosh, what a weird way to end the video. His phone rang during the video too.

On the upside, I think we all know that what the fake promotion of Crash Bandicoot Brawl means. Activision could be showing us their interest of maintaining the Crash Bandicoot brand to enlist somebody to make a new Crash game. If the alleged Crash Bandicoot Brawl game becomes real, I am interested in it and I am getting it now that I got a new phone with a bigger space. In fact, if it comes to Steam, I will get it on there if it takes a very small amount of space because I gotta get a 5 TB external hard drive to hold my games that use a lot of space like Mortal Kombat 1, which took a ridiculous amount of GB, and I wish we can play PS5 games directly though an external hard drive.

And speaking of Crash Bandicoot, I have neglected to tell you this on my post about finally being able to revisit my old stomping grounds. During my earlier days at high school in my old stomping grounds, I caused a conversation about how I loved Crash Bandicoot in any way, shape or form. What is special about that is that the franchise taken to a new direction when the 6th generation consoles came out. There was even a cancelled game called Crash Landed. That game didn't see the light of day because of the poor quality and the 4 hour gameplay spanning. I was reminising about the part where I talk about Crash Bandicoot at my high school back in the day on the time before I moved to Arizona too. It's all in good fun since Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. But hey, it was worth it.

Conclusion:

It has been one heck of a year so far with devastating mornings with news and a long string of announcements. Here's to many more.

Capcom's Plan for Reviving the FGC from Back in the Day

With the inception of the Fighting Collection series, Capcom is finally leveraging their classic fighting games from back in the day and their practice is gonna revive the FGC from back in the day. Let's jump right in and talk about it.

I am back with this post that is gonna bring us some great news for us fighting game fans in the community. You would know that fighting games in the arcades from the earlier years of the 80s to the early 2000s have been a huge hit right now, starting with Street Fighter to Darkstalkers, Tekken, King of Fighters and Mortal Kombat. These games have defined the genre and they were ported to home consoles to have multiple modes. But specifically, I want to talk about the company that has been alive for years, Capcom. This company has made numerous arcade fighting games from the 80s to the early 2000s.

Capcom tried giving leveraging their arcade releases of their fighting games with their collections a go. And it pretty much went well with the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, but four of the games out of 12 (13 for the Switch version) support training mode and online play, but a couple of them like Hyper Street Fighter II were absent. Then Capcom is shaking up their practice in leveraging arcade versions of their fighting game titles using their Fighting Collection series.

The Fighting Collection series is known for having arcade releases of their fighting games from the 90s to the early 2000s in their compilation with online play having rollback netcode, jukebox, gallery and more. It was started in 2022 when Capcom Fighting Collection 1 came out and went well with having every Darkstalkers game. And it pretty much came with some issues that consist of lacking quality of life changes and crossplay, Japan only releases of sequels to Vampire Savior and Night Warriors that were inside games that never been released outside of Japan, the exclusion of Street Fighter III, which is why they had to bring in CRTs into last year's EVO and the inclusion of Cyberbots, which was the only fighting game that seemingly has a mild level of profanity that other fighting games don't. We can even turn on the initial boot display on each game and that's something arcade versions of Capcom's classic fighting games have.

However, Capcom is not the only titan of their fighting games with 2D sprites from the earlier years because SNK is also the titan of their classics and they have their own compilations of the classic KOF games in the Orochi Saga and all classic Samurai Shodown games. This led to Capcom and SNK conducting a crossover switcheroo just by bringing Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury to Street Fighter 6 and Ken and Chun-Li to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves as DLC. That could mean they are showing their interests in making a new Capcom vs. SNK and a new SNK vs. Capcom, right? But the FGC wanted to garner fighting games that beared high status and caliber, like Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, King of Fighters, Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown and tons more.

We did see Marvel vs. Capcom 2 get ported to the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions until they were removed from the digital storefronts. Then Marvel vs. Capcom Origins came along to have Marvel vs. Capcom 1 and Marvel Super Heroes, but also removed from the digital stores. It was a compilation of original titles. That's why it lacked popular titles. Thankfully, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics came to reality to have every game of the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise in the 90s to the early 2000s. There's even a beat-em-up game that is outside the Capcom line of beat-em-up games called The Punisher and thank goodness Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics has that. To my knowledge, it's likely that they had to put The Punisher in the collection so that we can play it as sort of a break from playing fighting games.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 became a great game because of its huge roster of characters that included the ones we don't know much about, and stages that come in two variants. The game is free from jail, thanks to the collection of Marvel vs. Capcom games from the 90s to the early 2000s. And we're going to see it at EVO as this year's throwback game. I loved the goodness of the game that it became a charm of fighting in the city and the best themes, like the Clock Tower Stage. Yes, it has home console versions. If we get it on PS Plus Premium, it can make the fanbase unhappy.

Now, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 won't be the only throwback game we're seeing at EVO because there is another throwback game as part of the extended lineup, and that's Capcom vs. SNK 2. We're also seeing it at EVO because it is on Capcom Fighting Collection 2, coming out May 16. The collection led to sparking fan frenzy over the inclusion of Capcom vs. SNK 1 and 2, Power Stone 1 and 2, Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, a sequel to Star Gladiator, Project Justice, a sequel to Rival Schools, Capcom Fighting Evolution and Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper. These games deserved to be in the limelight, especially when they were released on the Dreamcast.

Over the years, we have experienced cases that were any different than the crazy stories we have came across. Soon, Capcom vs. SNK 2 follows the path of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 to be brought back into the limelight. EVO 2025 now has two legendary hitters that have a high caliber, a diverse roster of characters and dynamic 3D stages. All polished up on a silver platter and ready to go for characters to fight in the swamp and near the volcano.

Also, I received word from Keef that the EVO 2025 skit is under production. It's gonna be explosive because this year's lineup has a new extended lineup and has two of this year's throwback games that are high caliber. Since Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is on the lineup while it is not out yet, there might be a good chance that we can hear the "he could flop" phrase. We heard it on BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, Samurai Shodown, Granblue Fantasy Versus and Guilty Gear Strive so far. I am very excited for this.

There are so many fighting games from the 80s to the early 2000s waiting to be brought back into the limelight to be compiled into several collections and ported to modern platforms. Capcom knew how to compile their fighting games from the 80s to the early 2000s into several collections with modern features and port them into modern platforms, so they have the blueprints to do that since they have a compilation of their beat-em-up games. Quality and modern formula on a future collection, meaning if and when Capcom Fighting Collection 3 is announced, they can be able to make a third compilation of their older fighting games in the earlier years, including the games in the Street Fighter EX trilogy.

To sum it all up, Capcom is reviving the FGC from back in the day by having their Fighting Collection series to leverage their older fighting games from back in the day with netplay, training mode support, jukebox, gallery and much more modern features on every game and EVO 2025 is going to be even more of a blockbuster because of it. This is something Capcom is trying to do since the 8th generation era and that endeavor is achieved by their Fighting Collection series, especially the one for the Marvel vs. Capcom line of games.

I Visited My Old Stomping Grounds

It has been over 15 years since my family and I moved from Michigan City, my old stomping grounds in Indiana. It was the State that became my birthplace where I used to live. To add on to all of this, because of how my life in Indiana got the best of me as a kid, I did various agendas consisting of going to the bowling alley, having cousins, enrolling schools, making friends near me, going to the most charming mall on the street that is the very heart of the town I moved from, watching the basketball and football games in person, experiencing white girls wearing skinny blue jeans and a white hoodie at middle school and white women with big butts?! Yeah, it's a pretty dang bold-tail agenda, I know.

Rewind back to 2009, my family and I moved to Arizona. And it's not just because I couldn't handle the unbearable level of coldness created by the snow. It's also because of the bullcrap I put up with, like people treating me like crap, my bus driver's assistant making me sit with that freaking greedy kid and committing school violence on my middle school and getting torn up for that. I even got suspended for an untimely violence I shouldn't have done at middle school like holy crap, it was devastating at heck. I was 13 years old at the time. Not to mention that after I threw that tantrum, she got angry and yelled at me as I was able to tell from her bloodshot eyes.

You have to realize that I am happy that I moved to Arizona to get away from the dang challenges I experienced in the past. It given me time to not think about them. But the only exception is not being able to do the buzzer well, but being able to spin the wheel. Yes, I know you're asking why the live action Spyro the Dragon movie should take place in Indiana. Don't worry, I'll get to that later.

Originally, I didn't want to visit my old stomping grounds because of the challenges from back in the day I experienced. But fast forward to 2020, I suddenly felt a mild urge to visit Michigan City because I was thinking of what few things that driven me to do so, like visting schools I enrolled, going bowling at the bowling alley, seeing my old friends other than my cousins, looking at my old house, colorful houses and stores and fast food places that are not seen in Arizona, the style of houses and more importantly, forests.

There are forests out there and the fun thing about them is that during the spring and summer times, they make me think of one of the best girls in the Spyro franchise. And that's Elora the Faun. But how is it that the forests make me think of her? Why is that special? Well, Elora is one with the forest. Leaf dress, goat legs with the same color as the tree bark, healing powers and collectibles of Avalarian Leaves in Crash Team Rumble to collect to unlock her during her Early Access.

I wanted to visit there, but I need to go on an airplane because it's the fastest way. I am afraid of heights for that. I have been having dreams that take place at my old stomping grounds, like visiting my elementary school and its hallways smelling like peanuts, sitting near the forest at the park of my elementary school, visting my old house, etc.

Fast forward to 2024, I have finally visited my old stomping grounds. When I arrived at my old stomping grounds for the first time since I moved to Arizona 15 years ago, I experienced what has changed. American Mattress is on the building that was once Hollywood Video, which I already told you about, Walmart has moved to a new location to pave the way for three stores I am not familiar with, there are food places that I thought they were supposed to be Arizona-exclusive like Panda Express and Chipotle, there is a Franklin St. Family Restaurant that was Lindo's, Big Lots was moved to a building that was Toys R Us, Citgo was rebranded to Golo, St. Anthony was rebranded and restructured into Franciscan Health and the inn is no longer called Holiday Inn. I forgot what it is now called.

Indiana is known for having places that Arizona doesn't have like Menards, Meijer, Schoop's, Holly's, Rio's, Albino's... And these places remained open for years despite economy changes even at a distance. If any of these places that remain alive get affected by the economy changes, then they would take off. But that will not be the case. Heck, I never had Schoop's or went to Holly's in my life. And personally, I am glad that these mentioned places remained open. But what I'm not glad is that the mall on Franklin St. has closed because of the economy changes. It was the only mall that was so charming that I explored there. I even threw a coin in the fountain and wished for something amazing. There was an arcade joint that had a lot of fighting games. That mall shouldn't close.

To add on to this, I visited my old stomping grounds twice last year. Once to attend at my brother's wedding and once to attend at my father's funeral. The first time was during the summer and it was a happy time while the second time was during the fall that it became a sad time. It kind of does fill out the Indiana-shaped sadness in my heart that 2024 became a nostalgic year for me and my family. Even the font on the text that reads "Putting the Magic Back Into Software" on the Silicon Knights logo made me think of the fact that a quality Chinese restaurant like Fortune House Chinese Cuisine was no longer there when I booted up Blood Omen. I kind of glued in to holding on to places that were taken out when we arrived.

The first time was better, and it's not the fact that I attended at my brother's wedding. It's the road trip me and my family had and it's considered the best road trip because of three things below.

The first thing is going through the highway between forests. They have been a staple during our road trip that they produce oxygen. We went through the road between forests when we arrived at Missouri on the way to Indiana and until we arrived at Oklahoma on the way back home. And I started thinking of Elora when we go through the road between the forests when we arrived at Missouri and until we arrived at Oklahoma. That was effective during the spring.

The second thing is stopping at gas stations. It is the most important thing to do when you're running low on gas and without fuel, your vehicle can't move. That's why it's important to fill up when you're running low on fuel.

And the third and final thing, Checkers. And I'm not taking about a board game. I'm taking about an American fast food restaurant and it has the same menu as Rally's, but different name, like Hardees and Carl's Jr. have the same menu. When we were at Illinois, I stopped by to get me some Checkers. The quality there is off the chain and I was astonished at it.

When I got back to Arizona, I couldn't stop thinking about the new stuff I haven't done on the time before I moved out, like telling the purple haired woman who works at the place where I got my tuxedo for my oldest brother's wedding about my opinion about how I think of Elora every time look at the forests, even while on the road when I get to Missouri on the way to Indiana and until I get to Oklahoma on the way back home to Arizona, experiencing Lerner and Rowe's 222-2222 Chicago phone number on TV when I was at Blue Chip Casino and had Rio's for the first time. When I was astonished at how they handled the taco meat, I pulled a Palamena. In fact, the taco meat is a bit higher in quality there than Taco Bell's. My visit to Indiana sank in to thinking of Elora when near the forest while doing something new and productive, which is listening to the Cave Stage theme from Marvel vs. Capcom 2, which is considered to be the best theme along with the Clock Tower Stage theme and thank God we have Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics.

It also sank in to doing nostalgic and old things that I have done at the time before I moved to Arizona. I went to Menards, but to look for a portable air conditioner, had hot dogs at Carlson's, went through areas my bus driver has taken me through and had a look at my old house and my local elementary school. But I did not visit Meijer or any of my schools I enrolled back in the day.

Yes, I know you are trying to ask what about Aldi. Well, yes, it's a store I visited at my old stomping grounds. But in this case, there are multiple Aldis across the US and it was franchised across the nation to help make money for all parties. Meijer, however, is located in the midwestern States.

And to visiting places with a lot of people to bolster coming across people I'm not familiar that resembles the quality of my old friends I have not come across other than my people, including the one who... straight up looked like Hinna from Visions of Mana?! Yes, I know it's bold.

If I am planning to visit there now that I conquered my fear of flying in a plane on the time I attended at my father's funeral to do a nostalgic experience, it's gonna be during the spring and summer times because of the warmth. It is gonna be my preference for when I plan to visit my old stomping grounds. That's why the first time was better that it was during the summer time when the trees have fully grown leaves and the weather was nice.

However, my oldest brother was going to set me a room when I visit my old stomping grounds and announced that I'm gonna be staying there for the rest of my life when the time comes. But I am here with a strong opinion. It's finally high time that I put my foot down and get my markdown on how I feel about this and explain why. I AM NOT moving back to Indiana. Not one bit. And I believe setting me up to live in Indiana again would literally be the worst practice they can do. The days in Indiana during the fall and winter; not one, became nice as the days in Arizona, so in the objective sense possible, the nicest place to live during the fall and winter times is Arizona. And it has higher degrees every day. Not just by a little bit, but by a landslide.

And instead of me telling you, let's take a look at the degrees of each day on both States. I will be using WeatherBug to state the degrees so that you will understand the gist.

Here's a look at degrees of the two States. It is currently winter and will soon be spring. The lowest temperature will be 33 degrees next Sunday. So with no nostalgia goggles on, no bias. Looking at the numbers, Arizona's weather during the fall and winter reigned supreme. None of the days in Indiana came even close to how nice the days are in Arizona during the fall and winter. The highest temperature in Indiana will be 46 degrees on Wednesday. Why the heck would my oldest brother want me to move back to Indiana for the rest of my life?

I love to visit my old stomping grounds, but I know in the back of my mind that I shoudn't be moving back there because of the unbearable level of coolness.

I want to point out that spring and summer are the best times to visit because of the nice level of crispness and forests having new green leaves. If we attempt to visit Indiana during the fall and winter times, then the nice level of crispness will not be present on these times. Think about this. Would you risk getting the flu? Do you understand what I'm saying?

Now let's talk about what I want in this post. And that's a live action Spyro movie. So why is it that the live action film adaptation of Spyro the Dragon should take place in Indiana and its fictional city? There are three reasons.

The first reason is my birthplace. This is a State I was born 30 years ago. I made a lot of cousins and friends and enrolled at schools there. I lived there for 15 years and I moved to Arizona 15 years ago, and it's considered emotional.

The second reason is a padding that I had during my visit to Indiana is that I like to look for a woman as my movie girlfriend for the live action Spyro movie. To my knowledge, the Sonic movies featured a white man named Tom Wachowski and a black woman named Maddie Wachowski, so I intend to look for a white woman as my movie girlfriend for the live action Spyro the Dragon movie there. It might be the one who I saw working at Carlson's.

Third and final reason, forests are there and it is perfect for the post credits scene for Spyro Movie 1 to entail Spyro meeting Elora. Forests are common of the environment today and it's largely applied to the Mana franchise with its entry of the Tree of Mana. To have forests in our environment is a very smart and important practice as during the spring and summer times, they produce healthy oxygen and Mana, especially for living.

Why I'm telling you about this is because I want to express my feelings and opinions about my experience in my old stomping grounds, especially coming across people I am not familiar with and places that were rebranded and restructured into. 2024 became a crazy year when I visited Indiana twice. It's no fun staying in Arizona all my life because of the nice weather, but it's gonna be a matter of time before my third visit to Indiana since I conquered my fear of flying in an airplane.

What I Want for miHoYo's Next Project

If miHoYo is planning their next project, I am thinking of a free-to-play open world action RPG that is a hybrid between Genshin Impact and Visions of Mana. And I believe a game like that could work. But can it actually work? Let's jump right in.

And man, I am obligated to make this post that will not ruffle people's feathers, but make them interested. If you're living under a rock like Patrick Star, you would know that miHoYo has great timeless games ported to consoles, starting with Genshin Impact, to Honkai Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero. These games became a huge hit right now, which is nice.

But specifically, I like to point out the direction of the topic on this post regarding what I want from miHoYo for their next project. If they have the next project in the works, this is gonna be what I want from them that I will be talking about. I have talked about this during my Wuthering Waves gameplay once, so it's time that I am going to tell you what I want for miHoYo's next project. And that is an action RPG that is a hybrid between miHoYo's popular open world action RPG Genshin Impact and Square Enix's critically acclaimed Visions of Mana.

When making a game that is a hybrid between two games in terms of gameplay, the first thing you must do is to find common denominators for both games you're taking their core DNA from and combining them to make a hybrid game. And what falls into common denominator should be a straightforward transition to a game drawing inspiration from other multiple games, so let's take a look.

Genshin Impact and Visions of Mana are both anime-style open world action RPGs. They involve two attack buttons. They have a marker to represent your next destination. The characters have Elemental powers to wield. There are dungeons and towns on the world map. There are side quests to partake and completing them gives you rewards. There are enemies located outside of every town.

And that's it. Those are the common denominators between Genshin Impact and Visions of Mana. They are both charming open world action RPGs, but they have different mindsets.

The Visions of Mana mindset is about the player character being followed by their two companion characters and a non-playable support character and having characters outside of battle. There are eight Elementals to wield and they cost MP. The Class Strikes are cinematic, but only the player character can use them. During combat, there is a border that appears when you confront monsters and can run against it to escape, but not in certain battles where the border is red. You can't earn EXP, Lucre and items until you defeated all enemies in the area. There are Elemental Vessels to use and they can change their playstyle. Each character has up to three classes depending on the Elemental Vessel they are equipped with. There's even collectibles scattered across the world and they are spent on items at the Dugbear's shop. There are even elemental Aeries to partake and Elementites to absorb energy from with Elemental Vessels.

Then you have the Genshin Impact mindset. While the game does has Elementals, they are also used as classes for each character. There is no companion characters. You can only see the player character the player can switch and they can defeat enemies alone outside of town. The Traveller is the main character. The world doesn't have any segmented areas when exiting or entering a part of town that there is no loading screen. It's just has great scaling and freedom with a day and night cycle. And there's no damage when you fall down on the ground from greater heights.

Making an action RPG hybrid between two games is easy, so here's what I think will work for a hybrid between Genshin Impact and Visions of Mana by miHoYo.

First off, in Genshin Impact, the main character is a Traveller while in Honkai Star Rail, the main character is a Trailblazer, so in a Genshin Impact meets Visions of Mana action RPG, the main character would be called the Guider. The Guider would be the main character for an action RPG I want for their next project. But like other games, they can be both a male and a female and you would give the Guider a name. It is easy to give them a name. That is the first thing to do when you're playing a gacha game for the first time.

There would be eight elemental classes of Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Moon, Wood, Light and Darkness. The male Guider would be a Light type character, like Val, who is both the Alm of Light and a Soul Guard and the female Guider would be an Earth type character, like Liza, who was both the Alm of Earth and a Soul Guard. Sure, the Mana franchise has these elementals, but they can be used as classes. Each character would have ultimate attacks that are cinematically faithful to both how Visions of Mana handled cinematic Class Strikes and Honkai Star Rail handled ultimate attacks.

When you enter a town, you would only see the player character and you can't attack until you leave town. You would earn EXP from using materials in the characters menu and earn money and get items after defeating all enemies in an area. Each character would have up to five tiers, so if they make it to level 20, they would be able to go up a tier to learn new moves and increase their max stats. Every 20 levels go up a tier. There would be three weapons depending on the class each character would have and they would switch between weapons on the fly and during their combos like in Tower of Fantasy.

Instead of me telling you, let's take a look at the elemental classes and their three weapons. I went to Google Spreadsheets to determine what elemental classes that have three weapons and they leave less room for error. Now, let's take a look at the three weapons on each class.

Among the Fire, Earth and Darkness classes, characters of these classes can have their own performance and they won't be non playable like Hinna, Liza or Aesh. What this means is that the Water, Wind, Moon, Wood and Light type characters are gonna be faithful to the performance of the playable characters in Visions of Mana's party among these classes, so you will expect every Water-type character to have an arsenal of a scythe, boots and flail to be faithful to Palamena's performance in this game, and if we get a female character that resembles Palamena in this game, it may either alienate fans and ruffle people's feathers, which means spark backlash and/or controversy or attract fans into playing this game and spark excitement.

We know that we can switch characters in Genshin Impact by pressing the D-pad buttons and you can only see the player character. I believe that we can amp it up a bit for this Genshin Impact meets Visions of Mana action RPG, by having the player character being followed by their two teammate characters and a non-playable assist character in game outside of town, and they can be capable of switching weapons on the fly like the player character, but not using their ultimate attack. Only the player character can. And because there is an endless cast of playable characters, there would be multiple team slots that hold up to four characters. Wuthering Waves handled that, except that it has team slots that hold up to three characters.

One more thing to make regarding the situation in Genshin Impact and it's a gambling issue. Since Genshin Impact came out, players were addicted to gambling on that game. They spent real money trying to get the character they desire and it failed because of their bad luck. It's technically gambling. Like for instance, in the Mightykeef video, Keef was trying to get Diluc, but his chance of getting the character remained slim and spent real money trying to get it. That's what happens if you play games with gambling mechanics. That's why you must gamble responsibly. This means that if you run out of in game currency trying to get the desired character, just move on and get some more by playing through the game.

But we can alleviate the gambling issue and frustration for this hybrid of a Genshin Impact and Visions of Mana action RPG game so that players can get their desired characters without spending a dime. Free lootboxes. They are earned when you complete daily side quests and missions. They contain characters, weapons, items and gear. Every ten free lootboxes would guarantee you a five star character and every five loot boxes would guarantee you a four star character. However, the RNG system would still be present, but use it responsibly and wisely to avoid having a gambling issue.

Now, if miHoYo is planning their next project, this I what I want from them. If it comes into fruition, will people want this? I think they do because they like action RPGs as much as I do. Besides, there are action RPGs that are inspired by Genshin Impact, so I believe that a Genshin Impact and Visions of Mana inspired action RPG from them could work for their next project and it must be completely profanity free like others.

Sonic Movie Changed Everything in the Video Game Movie Department

I think the Sonic Movie franchise has changed everything in the video game movie department. No, I am serious. I know that there are some naysayers that would say that it did not. But it's okay, because I am going to explain on how did it change everything from a plot and development perspective, so let's jump right in.

Now, there are some people that Sonic Movie did not change everything in the video game movie database, but the Super Mario Bros. Movie did. Sure, the movie made over a billion dollars in box office in a way, but it is a CGI animated movie.

Since the inception, live action film adaptions based on video games from back in the day started kicking in. And it pretty much flopped with the live action Mario Bros. Then Mortal Kombat came along, but rated PG-13 to have watered down violence instead of R. But it has special moves seen in the games. Then a sequel came to become an absolute garbage due to its crappy design on characters. Then the department shifted to Street Fighter. The live action film was was okay, but lacked fireball moves. And then comes the absolute dumpster fire of a movie called Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Don't watch it. The design on characters is terrible. And finally, Tekken got its movie, but the design looked so abmysal.

These mentioned movies weren't critically successful. They all fell short and they bombed because of their poor quality on the plot and characters. Companies couldn't be able to figure out how to make a decent video game movie without alienating fans.

But here's another issue. The mentioned video game movies from back in the day have created plotholes. For example, did you know that in a live action Street Fighter movie by Jean-Claude Van Damme, Ryu and Ken wear their gi, but they don't have Hadoukens? That is a prime example of a plothole. Another one involves the fight between Chun-Li and Vega turning out to be an abysmal fight because Vega doesn't have a claw and Chun-Li doesn't have her Kikoken. That created yet another plothole.

The plotholes in the sequel to the 1996 film for Mortal Kombat are even more obvious. The dragon is CGI animated and Raiden relented, but allowed Shao Kahn to snap Johnny Cage's neck. And there are a few characters that are very low and subpar in quality.

The department had backfired because none of the companies knew how to make a decent live action film adaptation based on a video game on that time. Now, how do we make a high quality video game movie that caters the best quality for fans without alienating them?

Sonic Movie director, Jeff Fowler had a perfect example on how they make a great live action video game movie. They laser-focused on what made video game movies so low in quality. And instead of rushing and bringing low quality video game movies to theaters, they take their time to make them high quality. When the first trailer for Sonic Movie 1 came out, the trailer received negativity over Sonic's ugly design and it convinced Paramount to redesign him to make him on-par with his game counterpart. So they did and the second trailer received positivity.

Right off the hop, I will be going over the events in each iteration that are faithful to the events in the games' events in order. This is the movie that started it all for a live action Sonic X. The events of the first movie entails Sonic, voiced by Ben Schwartz, visiting Earth to team up with an officer in Green Hills named Thomas Wachowski to stop Robotnik, voiced by Jim Carrey, from using Sonic's powers for world domination. In the first movie, Dr. Robotnik's design isn't faithful to his design used in the games. But there is one event in Sonic Movie 1 faithful to one of the games. It's Sonic defeating Robotnik. This movie became the final movie to play in cinemas before the pandemic hit to close cinemas everywhere.

Then a sequel came to be greenlit. You'll notice that the yellow "2" with two tails symbolized Tails' debut to the franchise. The second iteration has a couple of events faithful to the games, like Sonic teaming up with Tails, voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey, to defeat Robotnik, looking nearly in line to his game counterpart by shaving all of his hair and a wild mustache. It's an event faithful to the event in Sonic 2. And Knuckles, voiced by Idris Elba, is on there to team up with Robotnik to get the Master Emerald at the floating palace until the betrayal. That is an event in the movie faithful to the event in Sonic 3 and Knuckles. But the Master Emerald in the movie is smaller than in the games to have tiny Chaos Emeralds inside it. That brought Super Sonic in the movie. It's first seen in Sonic and Knuckles. This movie became the first to play in theaters since the pandemic.

The third iteration came out in 2024 and it became my first movie of the New Year to see in theaters. The movie featured Shadow the Hedgehog, voiced by Keanu Reaves, being trapped in a tube until he wakes up. Despite Ro The movie has a lot of faithful events to what we saw in Sonic Adventure 2. They include having two Robotniks, Ivo and Gerald, Maria keeping Shadow company in the past, Shadow transforming into Super Shadow, Sonic and Shadow teaming up to destroy the space cannon and the cannon peeing on the moon. Let's not forget about Shadow holding a gun while riding in a motorcycle. That is from his own game. Also, the red "3," though the movie featured Shadow, actually represented Knuckles joining the team to establish the iconic Team Sonic trio on the big screen.

And lo and behold, after the fourth iteration is greenlit to extend beyond the trilogy, the pink "4" appears to symbolize Amy Rose's debut to the big screen to give her more love in the fourth iteration. She is first seen in the post credits scene along with Metal Sonic, who is also confirmed to be in the fourth iteration as well. Amy's voice actress is unknown, but I think Carly Rae Jepsen would be a perfect voice actress for our hammer wielding feminine pink hedgehog, so call her maybe, Paramount. I went to X and came across an article that shows that because Metal Sonic is confirmed and there are pieces of content cut from the theatrical release of Sonic Movie 3, Sonic Movie 4 will feature a time travelling narrative taken directly from Sonic CD.

Instead of me just telling you, let's take a look at the inserts to show you what I want for Sonic Movie 4. I am using screenshots from my Wrapper: Offline career to show you what I want for the fourth iteration.

Instead of Sonic Movie 4 entailing Sonic and Amy going on a time travelling adventure, let's amp it up a bit. Sonic Movie 4 should entail the iconic Sonic quartet going on a time travelling adventure to save the future. They must travel back to the past to fix the future, by destroying the transporters with one butt to kick.

If the transporters remain intact, the bad future created by Dr. Robotnik and Metal Sonic ruling the world will remain.

But destroy the teleporters and the good future will be created to have flowers and animals living in peace with no trace of evil coming. In Sonic CD, you go straight into to the future in Act 3 to fight the boss. And you can be able to fight the boss in the level's good future by travelling back to the past to destroy the transporter in Acts 1 and 2. And to be honest, this is quite interesting.

And since Sonic Movie 4 is gonna feature Amy Rose, I believe that she should join Tom and Maddie Wachowski with her pals before her.

That said, Sonic Movie 4 is going to enter production on February and premiere in cinemas March 19, 2027.

We now have four iterations of the Sonic Movie franchise. The franchise came this far. The sequel numbers in different colors have an interesting touch. There's the yellow "2" with two tails for Tails' debut, the red "3" for Knuckles debut to the team and the pink "4" for Amy Rose's debut. But I like the yellow "2" better because it has two tails at the end, giving it a unique flair.

Also, there has been some speculations about introducing Silver the Hedgehog in the fourth iteration because of the fact that it's gonna be faithful to Sonic CD by having a time travelling narrative. It would be awesome if he gets introduced. But it's likely that Silver is gonna be introduced in the post credits scene of Sonic Movie 4 to set the stage for Sonic Movie 5.

If Sonic Movie 5 is greenlit, maybe the "5" can be white to symbolize Silver's debut. And maybe if Keanu Reaves returns as Shadow, it can have the event faithful to Sonic 06 where the three hedgehogs team up.

If Paramount plans to put the franchise together to establish an ultimate Sonic Movie experience, they can literally cut ending scenes like the baseball part in Sonic Movie 2. However, it will not be in theaters due to its length, but can be put on streaming services, digital and physical releases.

With that said and done, here's a point I want to make. There are so many companies trying to figure out how to make a high quality live action video game movie. However, none of them were critically successful because of their terrible quality on that time. But Paramount has figured out this problem.

They made a video game movie that is high quality, meaning that now other companies can be able to figure out how to make a decent video game movie by learning from what Paramount did to make Sonic a high quality movie. Quality choices and possibilities for future live action video game movies, meaning that if and when Universal plans to make a live action Spyro the Dragon film, they can know how to make it high quality. They can literally learn from Paramount and do that. In fact, there is one company that followed Paramount's footsteps and made a high quality live action video game movie. That is Warner Bros. Pictures.

Warner Bros. went on to develop an R-rated Mortal Kombat movie reboot. It deserved an R rating so that it can be faithful to the games' extreme violence. Not only that. They went from the extra mile to avoid plotholes video game movies from back in the day created. And it's a second critically acclaimed live action video game movie.

Following Paramount's footsteps, Warner Bros. laser-focused in on what is the Mortal Kombat franchise known for. And instead of giving it a PG-13 rating to have toned down violence, they give it an R rating to have an extreme level of violence faithful to the games and of course, strong language. The sequel to it is confirmed and will also receive an R rating to have not just extreme violence and strong language, but also gore that can be done in the style of Gladiator II. Great movie.

Reasons above, Sonic Movie literally changed everything in the video game movie department just by being a high quality video game movie, which was something companies been trying to achieve for years. But that endeavor was achieved by Paramount in a high quality setting.

PlayStation Plus Premium Saved PS2 Games

PlayStation Plus Premium is a service that has saved PS2 games. I am going to explain on how did PS Plus Premium save PS2 games, so let's jump right in.

Hello, everyone, and I am back with another post that is gonna be interesting to talk about. So, as we all know, the PS2 became the best selling console by Sony. So what makes the PS2 so special? There are several things on what makes it so special.

The PS2 has platformers that have their charming environment, like Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, which got remastered, but retains the original's charming environment, accompanied by the characters' smooth model evolved from their polygon model from the PS1 and the level design.

The shift to the new direction involved developers launching child-friendly franchises, starting with Jak and Daxter, to Ratchet and Clank and Sly Cooper. These franchises were considered child-friendly so that any child can play these games since they are rated E10+. The franchises as a whole became prevalent in the past market. Ratchet and Clank is not a nostalgia-centric franchise, but Jak and Daxter and Sly Cooper are nostalgia-centric because these franchises haven't got a new game in this generation yet. But Astro Bot's wild performance can change everything.

You know the part where after Naughty Dog and Insomniac parted ways with the Crash and Spyro franchises, they shifted to the 3rd party era where their games were also released on non-PlayStation consoles? The PS2 era allowed Universal to give passing along to a different studio to continue their franchises a go, and I believe that there is one interesting thing that was created.

Twinsanity and A Hero's Tail came along to be open world to shake up the franchises a bit. And lo and behold, both franchises were shaken up to be beat-em-up games where Crash and Spyro are given the ability to perform combos against enemies after being passed to a different studio. Both franchises were caught into an abyss of confusion just by passing it on to different developers. And to be honest, that was interesting to experience that.

There are Fox Interactive and Radical's two legendary games based on the Simpsons, Road Rage and Hit & Run. These are the two legendary games developed by Radical and they were all polished up on a silver platter. Except that the scoring differed that Road Rage received a mixed reception over poor graphics and bugs while Hit & Run received a positive reception. I'll have a post in regards to going into detail about two of the Simpsons games developed by Radical and what makes them so special to us Simpsons fans in the future, so stay tuned for that.

The PS2 era has top down RPGs with 2D sprites by the hands of Nippon Ichi Software, or NIS for short. We don't deem Disgaea or Atelier as nostalgic because these franchises got iterations on modern generations. But the Atelier series is no longer under the NIS umbrella because it is now under the Koei Tecmo umbrella since Atelier Ayesha. There are PS2 games by NIS that have games in the franchises that are nostalgic, like of course Disgaea 1 and 2 and Atelier Iris, as well as Mana Khemia and Ar Tonelico. The fun thing among them is that they are charmingly nighttime-evident -- remember the phrase? I used that term because the PS2 games by NIS are well playable at night. And it's nothing to do with the fact that the characters in these games say bad words at a mild to moderate level I am not allowed to say.

We don't consider existing companies as a whole, like SEGA, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Square Enix, Konami, Ubisoft, Koei Tecmo, WB Games, EA or Activision nostalgia-centric because these companies that produced PS2 games still exist to produce titles in this generation as they remain relevant in today's market. No, the ones that are centric to nostalgia were Namco, SquareSoft, Enix, Koei, Tecmo, Midway, Acclaim, Hudson, THQ, Eidos, Sierra and Universal. These are the nostalgic ones that got defunct before going to the later generations of gaming.

And let's not forget about nostalgia-centric elements and middleware PS2 games use, like Renderware, Dolby Pro Logic II, THX, Sofdec and ADX. The ones that aren't nostalgia-centric are Havok, Unreal Engine, Criware, Unity, Wwise and Bink Video.

And that's it. Those are the things that make the PS2 so special. There is a bit of a concept that you take the half community who doesn't want to hold on to the past and move on and the other half who likes to revisit the past. Unifying them is extremely difficult and quite the balancing act. And sadly, the PS2 database has landed in a very awkward spot.

After consoles of later generations came out, Sony tried offering PS2 games on its digital storefront. And it pretty much flopped with having a small selection of games that doesn't include the ones that I played back in the day. Then PS Now came to have multiple catalogs. There were PS2 games on there and it only included a few games that I played back in the day. The library is small and it's how PS Now became a terrible service.

Rewind back to 2022, Sony had the blueprints for a new service that can compete with Xbox Game Pass, the beefed up PlayStation Plus. It has three tiers, with the Essential tier offering the same benefits the original PS Plus has, the Extra tier offering PS4 and PS5 games and the Premium offering game trials, cloud streaming and classic games released on PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP. The process of releasing classics turned out well, but there has not been a new PS2 game for two years because their old PS2 emulator backfired.

Starting June 2024, we're finally getting new PS2 games releasing on PS Plus Premium and the process of releasing them is turning out to be smooth and their new PS2 emulator did not backfire so far. Not one bit. Like the PS1 and PSP games, PS2 games have up rendering, rewinds, quick saves, video filtering and the option to switch between the NTSC and PAL versions.

We were wondering if the PS2 games that have the PS Now algorithm are gonna get a patch to give them emulation features. Apparently, despite the fact that PS Plus Premium versions of existing PS2 games are being available, the PS Now versions of them will remain available. It pretty much went well with Siren. Then the first Jak and Daxter came along during the 30th Anniversary celebration.

Now, how did the PS2 games get saved to appease and excite fans that were born in the 90s? Well, the only thing that changed everything is PS Plus Premium. It became the hero to revive retro gaming. PS2 games have been a recurring demand that it became the bestselling Sony console and has games we loved, ranging from NIS' nighttime quality PS2 games to Radical's two Simpsons games, platformers with a charming environment and Crash and Spyro's shift to the 3rd party era. Sony was able to release new PS2 games well because of their brand new PS2 emulator after two years since the launch of the new PS Plus. They laser-focused on bringing back their cherished games monthly and allowing the catalog of PS2 games to grow to include many games I have played back in the day.

Fast forward into now, this month's lineup of classics have dropped recently. And we're getting two classics this month instead of three. The lineup has MediEvil II, a sequel to the original MediEvil that never got remade despite it being critically acclaimed. And Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, in preparation of the new Indiana Jones game that might be powered by Unreal Engine 5. I believe that one of the games has met my expectations and that's Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings. So how did this game meet my expectations?

First off, an existing game developer that was formerly known as their previous name. We now have a retro game developed by a AAA developer, Artificial Mind and Movement or A2M for short. They are known for developing games based on forms of media under the A2M name, like Monster House, Scooby-Doo!, Happy Feet, Teen Titans, the Ant Bully and more. They still exist, but they are now once again called Behaviour Interactive like they are on that time before they rebranded themselves to A2M.

And next, a good flow of logos. The cinematic LucasArts and A2M logos came first. Then the logos with text below came on each page. There is even the Havok and Bink Video logos on the third page. We got a first PS2 game that uses Havok, but it's the current logo that is yellow and it has the intact circular blade used as an "o". The old one is black and has pieces of the two blades. I think it's possible for us to see a PS2 game that has the old Havok logo, which I like better than the current one.

There are PS2 games on the PS3's storefront and on PS Now. But none of the libraries had that much games I played back in the day. They just fell short. And not only that. None of the modern PlayStation consoles were fully backwards compatible due to the PS3's architecture being hard to develop for. But PlayStation Plus Premium has resolved this enigma.

It is on the process of getting a lot of PS2 games endlessly, including the ones I played back in the day because of their brand new PS2 emulator. They were even able to release games produced by defunct companies, like Namco and Eidos, existing PS2 games with emulation features on both PS4 and PS5 like Siren and the first Jak and Daxter and the games in the original Sly Cooper trilogy, indicating that they have the technology to release new PS2 games well, allowing the catalog to be much bigger than PS Now's catalog of PS2 games and the PS3's catalog of PS2 games.

Possibilities and choices for endlessly releasing new PS2 games, meaning if and when more existing PS2 games with the PS Now algorithm and games produced by Midway and other defunct companies are gonna be released, they can be able to release these PS2 games well. Even Crash and Spyro games, which I am aware that none of them were critically successful as the original trilogies after looking at their Metacritic scores that produced mixed reviews and the sales and I know we already have remasters, but along with the original trilogies, they deserve to be on the catalog despite that because I wanted to revisit the charming goodness of them and the original trilogies' polygon models.

I went to CoolROM to look for PS2 games released on the PS Plus Premium so far. The games released so far that are not available to download on the website are the sequels to the first Sly Cooper out the butt, so this indicates that PS2 games that are not on CoolROM's list will be released on PS Plus Premium. It has less room for error that I went on ahead and add a few more of them to my wish list. Now, if February's lineup of classic games is revealed, I'll be expecting at least one retro game to meet my expectations. My expectations include the following below.

-Produced by a defunct video game company and/or an existing video game company that was formerly known as their former name (i.e. Behaviour Interactive, formerly known as Artificial Mind and Movement)
-Has at least three logos of existing and/or defunct video game companies, cinematic or not
-Has an old logo of an existing company
-Has a silent copyright screen and logos
-The one I played back in the day when I was a kid
-The one that is in my wish list

On what I said, PlayStation Plus Premium has literally saved PS2 games by having a new PS2 emulator to pave the way for new PS2 games with emulation features. It is something that Sony was struggling to do when the digital library of PS2 games came out on the PS3 and when PS Now came. But this endeavor is finally achieved with PlayStation Plus Premium including many games I played back in the day and 2025 is gonna be a fresh year for the retro titles department now that we're seeing new PS2 games get added, along with PS1 and PSP games. Here's to us gamers that were born in the 90s revisiting more PS2 games we loved as a child.

Joe's Monologues 1/6/2025

Happy 2025, everyone, and welcome to the very first Joe's Monologues of 2025. This one will be special because I will be talking about what things are coming this year I am quite excited for and the one event I have done, so without further ado, let's jump right in.

Revival of PlayStation's Nostalgic IPs:

As we know, Herman Hulst has confirmed that Sony is looking set to revive their back catalog of classic IPs. Not new news, but I just want to mention this again because I am so excited for the nostalgic IPs to make a comeback. It's all because of Astro Bot's wild and wacky performance over its VIP Bots that dress up as PlayStation characters. We are gonna see classic IPs, like Ape Escape, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, the Legend of Dragoon and tons more make a nostalgic comeback with remasters. Crash and Spyro made a comeback with their remastered trilogies, so other nostalgic IPs can follow up. The PlayStation we know and love is coming back for an ultimate experience.

The news from Hulst is indeed hopeful that classic IPs are making a comeback, but the rest of the games of the franchises must be released on PlayStation Plus Premium's back catalog to put them together. January's lineup of classic games is a mystery, so we can be in the know on what this month's lineup of classics soon. We have been begging them to bring the franchises back, but it's finally happening. The Sly Cooper franchise came together, thanks to PS Plus Premium and so will other classic IPs like Ape Escape, Jak and Daxter (not counting the PS Now versions of them in the franchise), Twisted Metal, Wild Arms (the third iteration is the PS Now version) and a lot more.

While this is exciting news, Sucker Punch confirmed that they have no plans to develop a new Sly Cooper since they are working on Ghost of Yotei, the sequel to Ghost of Tsushima. But the thieving raccoon's comeback is inevitable. It's just that it won't be under the Sucker Punch umbrella. Not only that because they were supposed to make a fifth Sly Cooper game to resolve the cliffhanger left off in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, but it was scrapped because Sanzaru has released a statement saying that they are not developing a future title. Fortunately, since Hulst confirmed that PlayStation is reviving their back catalog of IPs after being driven by Astro Bot's wild performance to receive GOTY, it can change everything.

I have loved the series since 2002 when Thievius Raccoonus came out. The games in the original PS2 trilogy are available on the back catalog. Why I'm telling you this is because I beaten Sly 2. I'm glad that I got to revisit this game and its wild moments. I have Sly 3 in my library and I am going to revisit it and its crazy adventures. But some areas are in 3D mode and I gotta get some 3D glasses for them before I get started.

2XKO:

Now let's move on to the next thing I am excited for. 2XKO's first playtest, the Alpha Lab has ended a while ago and the next one is coming in March with the seventh character, Jinx, also known as Powder in Arcane's case, of course. Jinx's forte is all about the bang bang and the explosion her arsenal is known for. She is making her debut to honor Arcane Season 2. The show was godlike as heck that there were a ton of action. The team is returning to work to develop the game and they are giving us an update on February.

I am excited for this and now that I have a gaming laptop, I can be able to join the next playtest on both PC and console. We know that 2XKO is coming out in 2025, which is now this year. But once launched, we don't know if the roster is gonna continue to grow or not. Let's not forget that there will be differences in the official launch and you will be expecting jankiness, which can decrease in the next playtest. That's why they need to polish everything for launch. If they plan to announce the eighth character for the next playtest, we don't know who will it be. Sure, I can hear them say let it be Vi. I strongly agree, because it can make things more canon with Arcane since Jinx is coming in the next playtest.

Additional VO Content:

What is an additional VO content, you asked? The additional VO content I am referring to are Annie's alternative voice pack, the Japanese combat VO for the Season Pass characters' and the English (and hopefully Japanese) Story Mode VO for the Season Pass characters for Skullgirls 2nd Encore.

The devs had originally planned to include them in the Season 1 Pass, but as it turns out, the logistics of them have been a bit more involved than they have originally anticipated. That's why they could not release it in 2024. But they still plan to release it in 2025, and now that 2025 is here, this is the point of time when we can expect news about it. I hope it's soon because I am eager to hear and find out what will Annie's alternative voice pack and what will the Season Pass characters' Japanese VO during combat sound like. It might be early 2025 because the next characters in the Season 1 Pass came out in early stages of previous years.

It is a rightful and wise decision to recalibrate their efforts a bit, by releasing the additional VO content in 2025 first before diving right into a Season 2 Pass in a way to ensure that everything is done to the quality level we expect. Which means future characters' Story Mode will be launched with VO and they will launch with Japanese voices in combat. That's why 2nd Encore is going on a brief hiatus and we had to get Guest Stars news on Mobile. If this content drops, maybe we can hear some intro dialogues. Maybe we can hear some new voice lines. And maybe we can see alternative voice packs for characters that haven't got one yet.

That said, I will take it online on both console and PC either after additional VO content come out or after my new laptop stand comes. We'll see.

Speaking of Guest Stars, Minette and Brain Drain are now available in Mobile. They are only equipped with a Gold or a Diamond fighter. But they are not done with the Guest Stars department yet because they have one more to work on, and that's Roxie. The development of her shouldn't take that long now that Minette and Brain Drain are out.

Nintendo Switch 2:

So, rumors and leaks continue as we hear more about Nintendo's upcoming new system, the Switch 2. I am very excited to get news about the Switch 2. Nintendo has confirmed that they will deliver the info about it by the end of March and that it will be backwards compatible to every Switch game. There has been some speculation about stronger 3rd party support and its integration with Nvidia to handle running big 3rd party games well and in 4K resolution. It is unclear if the Switch 2 is the official name, but they will reveal it by the end of March.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3:

I have went to my local movie theater to see Sonic Movie 3 and I gotta say that it's freaking dope and full of action. Keanu Reaves did a great job voicing Shadow the Hedgehog. Simply shocking. What is really interesting is that Jim Carey is back to have a role of two Robotniks. That is history there. Usually, Carrey plays the villain, but that has things that never experienced in the games. While watching the movie, I felt some Sly Cooper vibes that Tails is the brains like Bentley while Knuckles is the brawn like Murray. The part involved sabotaging the evil plans. I have loved every second of it.

The post credits scene showed a lingering shadow when Sonic was lost in the forest while in the middle of the race and it's none other than Metal Sonic. More Metal Sonics come to corner Sonic, until an object taken them all down, spins and turns pink. It is none other than the one and only baby girl finally making her debut. And that's Amy Rose.

Now, Amy Rose is the character that I wanted since Sonic Movie 2. She looks so freaking dope and her hammer looks so lit, beating Thor's Mjolnir. After seeing Amy on the post credits scene, I wildly reacted to it at the same level of hype Mightykeef has on his reaction to Sora's debut to Smash Ultimate. It's because she is the character I wanted to make her debut since Sonic Movie 2. The golden age is coming as our one and only baby girl is making her debut, along with Metal Sonic, thus setting the stage for Sonic Movie 4, which is greenlit and in production.

The best thing about the Sonic Movie franchise is a padding that we have with them. They like to feature new characters in each sequel to create a Sonic Cinematic Universe, Sonic Movie 2 featured Tails and Knuckles. Sonic Movie 3 featured Shadow, Gerald Robotnik and Maria Robotnik. And Sonic Movie 4 will feature Metal Sonic and Amy Rose. To my knowledge, each sequel featured several new characters.

I can't wait to see Sonic Movie 4. They have confirmed that it is in production and I am already excited for that. We don't know how Sonic Movie 4 would unfold, but we know one thing's for sure that the new characters are going to be featured are Metal Sonic and Amy Rose. But it is coming out in 2027. But no complaining about that, though because there are several video game movies coming out this year. And they are the sequel to the R-rated 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot and the Minecraft Movie.

Also, I heard Jim Carrey is returning as Robotnik for Sonic Movie 4 and beyond to be faithful to his resillence in the games after his power rest. But can Keanu Reeves return as Shadow too? I hope so because in case Sonic Movie 4 is gonna introduce Rouge also, he needs to return.

You would know that video game movies are usually low in quality because of the poor character design, abysmal dialog and terrible plots. That's why they flopped. But one quality video game movie has broken the curse to pave the way for more quality video game movies, and it's Sonic the Hedgehog. Then the Super Mario Bros. Movie came along to change everything in the video game movie department and become the next quality video game movie.

Sonic got his live action film adaptation. But what would be spectacular is if one of the child friendly video game franchises also gets a live action film adaptation. And it's for Spyro. I made a post about how would a live action Spyro unfold, so here's the link.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/01/how-live-action-spyro-dragon-movie-works.html

Conclusion:

And boy, this first Joe's Monologues of 2025 could be enough to ruffle people's feathers. We rang in the New Year and it's gonna be set to be another greatest year. Here's to a wonderful 2025.