2XKO 2026 Characters Theory (UPDATE 1)

Caitlyn Kiramman, the renowned Sheriff of Piltover, noble member of the Kiramman family, Vi's best friend, has been announced at the Game Awards as the guaranteed 12th character for 2XKO. This is not fake news or some rumor. We're getting Caitlyn before Katarina and this is actually great news. Let's jump right in.

Well, time is broken, war has been declared, Hell has turned blue and the nomadic tribe is enslaved. I want to give you all an update about my theory about what are the five characters coming to 2XKO in 2026. Now, if you have been living under a rock, I originally said that Katarina would be a guaranteed 12th character in a couple of my posts I made, but apparently, it's not the case. Instead, it's someone else. Ladies and gents, the next 2XKO character, Caitlyn Kiramman, the Sheriff of Piltover, is officially announced at the Game Awards as the 12th character.

Like Jinx and Teemo, Caitlyn is a Marksman character who is known wielding her powerful Hextech rifle. She is announced to come to 2XKO. As I typically knew, Caitlyn is confirmed because of that one video that talks about Warwick and Caitlyn being confirmed. See, there is something about Caitlyn being the character I wished for. She is Vi's best friend and they're looking forward for her to duo up with her best friend.

But Caitlyn is not the first character who brings a projectile weapon in 2XKO. Jinx was the first character who brings projectles in 2XKO. And she didn't just bring guns, she also brought a hammer seen in Arcane. Then Teemo came to bring not just his blow dart, but also his slingshot, a frying pan, a small axe and even a Sonic Spinball dash. And I think that Caitlyn is gonna have the same treatment as Jinx and Teemo, with firing her rifle with S1, firing a net with away S1, throwing Hextech grenades with S2 and placing Yordle traps with down S2. Sure, it'll feel like you're playing an FPS game like Call of Duty, but with Caitlyn, and you would believe that she would make a great Overwatch character.

I made a post on X explaining how Caitlyn would play in 2XKO, including the Hextech grenades part. You might be saying, "Wait a sec, why would you think that Caitlyn would carry grenades in 2XKO?" Well, because she is a sheriff and sheriffs typically carry grenades in their arsenal, but they are only less lethal to not kill victims. Since Caitlyn is the sheriff of Piltover, she would carry Hextech grenades like how Teemo carries his slingshot in 2XKO. This is a perfect example of innovations exclusive to 2XKO.

However, her gameplay remains a mystery because her trailer hasn't been dropped yet, but we can expect her moveset to be similar to the MOBA counterpart and she's gonna be a long-range zoner like Jinx, indicating that we're gonna experience the most frustrating duo consisting of Caitlyn and Jinx. It's gonna be the most annoying team we have ever dealt with. I usually hate playing against zoners, but Caitlyn can be a decent champion to play as. So, Riot, when are you gonna release us the Caitlyn trailer? Are we gonna find out how she would play in a fighting game?

Predicted 2026 character roadmap:

Season 1 - Caitlyn ✅
Season 2 - Katarina
Season 3 - Kennen
Season 4 - Akali
Season 5 - Miss Fortune

While the predicted character roadmap has changed a bit as Caitlyn is actually coming to 2XKO in Season 1 as the first 2026 character, not Katarina, she is one of the characters that I have theorized and wished for, so I put a checkmark next to her and that's one for one. If Katarina or any other predicted character actually comes in Season 2, it'll be two for two. 2XKO's Wikipedia page now has Caitlyn's name listed on the list of confirmed characters with a [b] icon after it for post-launch characters, meaning that future characters will have it.

Season 1 character roster:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Illaoi
Jinx
Teemo
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

Here is the official character roster during Season 1 that has 12 characters listed in ABC order. Now, let's divide the current roster by two sides of the character select screen, the SEGA and Capcom sides.

For the SEGA side, Ahri and Braum will remain on the SEGA side, but because Caitlyn is confirmed, Darius, Illaoi, Teemo and Warwick will be on the SEGA side with Ahri and Braum. For the Capcom side, Blitzcrank will remains on the Capcom side, but thanks to Caitlyn, who will be on the Capcom side, Ekko, Jinx, Vi and Yasuo will be on the Capcom side with Blitzcrank and Caitlyn.

SEGA side:

Ahri
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Teemo
Warwick

Capcom side:

Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Vi
Yasuo

We now have six characters on each side, totalling it to 12 characters. And to be honest, I think Teemo being on the SEGA side is perfect because of that spinball dash. So, SEGA and Capcom, do you have a character in one of your IPs not in the fan game that wields a rifle and will be a zoner like Caitlyn will be for a change?

And finally, Caitlyn is officially the fifth character to have her Arcane skin like others before her. However, it won't be obtained through the pack. It'll be obtained by purchasing the Ultra tier of the Battle Pass like Warwick's. 2XKO now has five Arcane characters, all polished up on a silver platter with their special skins and ready to go for cosplaying at EVO 2026 and EVO Japan 2026, which are chosen to be major events for 2XKO's 2026 Competitive Series, indicating that they might announce a character before Top 8 at EVO 2026, EVO Japan 2026 and even Frosty Faustings XVIII, though their planned Competitive Series is nothing like Capcom Pro-Tour or Tekken World Tour as it brings direct support to Riot-sanctioned events rather than creating their own league.

There has been some concerns if we're gonna see more Arcane characters after Caitlyn in 2026, but Riot has announced that after Caitlyn, they're done bringing Arcane characters for now, basically meaning that Riot is planning to launch one Arcane character per year, meaning that we can expect the sixth Arcane character in 2027.

While we didn't get an official trailer yet, hoping they drop it next week before they go on holiday break, Caitlyn is guaranteed and slated to launch on January 2026 along with the console launch and a new stage while PC players can get it on the same day.

Predicted 2026 character roster:

Ahri
Akali
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Illaoi
Jinx
Katarina
Kennen
Miss Fortune
Teemo
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

Predicted 2026 character roster on the SEGA side:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Kennen
Teemo
Warwick

Predicted 2026 character roster on the Capcom side:

Akali
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Katarina
Miss Fortune
Vi
Yasuo

And because Caitlyn is the character I theorized, all predicted lists above remain unchanged. But this is only the first update about my theory, so the next update will release when the next two characters after Caitlyn come out.

2XKO 2026 Characters Theory

We're approaching the time when Riot is gonna announce the next 2XKO character at the Game Awards that is a Season 1 character of 2026, and they don't have to just announce the next character, but also show us some sort of Season Pass-style yearly character roadmap that has five characters, each labelled with a Season and also pull a Tekken 8 and reveal the Season 2 character at the end of the Season 1 character trailer. That or reveal the rest of the characters right off the bat. So today, I'm gonna list five characters potentially coming to 2XKO in 2026.

Before I begin, I need to make a statement that this post does not provide a firm information on who are the characters will actually be or confirm that these are actually the 2026 characters coming to 2XKO. This provides educated guesses and a theory on which of the five 2026 characters could be coming. But there are some small pieces of information across the Internet that can draw us closer to seeing who the characters will actually be in 2026.

That said, I'll be listing the five characters that I think could come to 2XKO in 2026, list the predicted 2026 roster and imagine the left side as the SEGA side and the right side as the Capcom side of the character select screen that would have the predicted 2026 roster of 16 characters. If you don't think that my theory could be true, it's fine. Just refer to the pieces of information I came across that can confirm it.

1. Katarina

If you remember what happened to Katarina, she was Thanos-snapped from the game's early stages of development because Riot had to go back to the drawing board after looking at the art style from League of Legends and changing the art style to something that fits well in a fighting game. But look at the game's Wikipedia page that is now updated to reflect when the game is launching on console, which is January 2026, a perfect date for the game's official launch, her name is on the list of confirmed characters with a [b] mark after her name representing that she is guaranteed to be announced at the Game Awards as the 12th character.

And it's not just her name being listed in the game's Wikipedia page that confirms this, but Arucelli did her magic in working on a concept art for Katarina and submitting it to the designers as well to also confirm this. The part of the video shows the game's early phase of development and it turns out that Katarina wasn't the only victim of being Thanos-snapped from the game because Jinx was also Thanos-snapped from the game in its early stages as well, but made her debut. So if Jinx can make her debut after she was cut from the game in its early stages, then Katarina can.

2. Caitlyn

The Piltover Sheriff and the noble member of the Kiramman family is known for wielding her Hextech rifle. You would know that Caitlyn is a Marksman character, so if she comes to 2XKO, her kit will be innovated into something that fits in the fighting game genre so that she can swing her rifle with normals and have not just Yordle traps, but Hextech grenades in her arsenal as well. So what is really cool is that like Teemo uses his slingshot with S1, Caitlyn would throw her Hextech grenades with S2.

There was one video on YouTube that talks about Warwick and Caitlyn being confirmed. Like, we know Warwick is confirmed, so I think that our rifle dudette of Piltover could potentially be confirmed to be in 2XKO as the guaranteed fifth character to come with an Arcane skin at launch. And I think it's also because she is Vi's best friend.

3. Kennen

As you watched the Teemo trailer, there is a Yordle in the background of Bandlewood Crossing. Since Riot has stated that no character is deconfirmed, this indicates that Kennen is likely to have a guaranteed chance of making his debut with 2XKO in 2026. But since Kennen is a Mage character, he'll swing his lightning and maybe have a Sonic Spinball dash Teemo has, but with lightning imbued in it. And he'll be a decent and less annoying Yordle than Teemo would be. But I do believe what Teemo did is offering a shining light of hope to any Yordle fans out there.

If you have doubted that your favorite Yordle could never make their way into 2XKO, whether if you're a fan of Rumble, Poppy or Lulu, a precedent has been set that if Teemo can be well-adapted into 2XKO, then any other Yordle can be well-adapted into 2XKO. Does it really sting that we found out that Teemo, of all characters, has confirmed to launch in 2XKO? Yeah, it does, but just a little. That includes that one Ionian Yordle in my wish list, Kennen, the Heart of the Tempest. But thankfully, because of the cameo in the background of Bandlewood Crossing, Kennen is confirmed to be one of the planned 2026 characters and he's gonna be a savage Yordle with lightning.

4. Akali

I have came across some fanart regarding what would Akali look like in a fighting game after Googling fanart of Akali in 2XKO. I think that Akali could have more a chance of coming to 2XKO, because of not just the fan art of her, but she banks on missing mechanics or aesthetics and has a unique matchup with Ahri in League of Legends in terms of builds. She may be hard to learn in terms of combos like Yasuo is. We can find out if she's gonna be easy or hard to learn. Either way, Akali would be peak and savage.

5. Miss Fortune

As I have said, since Sarah Fortune is a Marksman character, she'll have innovations to kit and personality that fits in 2XKO that would involve swinging her twin pistols. Because of the twin pistols she wields, not only she'll be mobile and agile and have the same performance and playstyle as Noel from BlazBlue, Eltnum from Melty Blood and Star-Lord in the upcoming Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls to deem her a rushdown character, but she'll be a short to mid-ranged character as well. This is a great definition of a missing mechanic or aesthetic from the current roster and also a little nugget of information that may confirm this.

And one Bilgewater stage being the Brazen Hydra has a decorative pirate ship attached to it and has couple pirates in the background. I think it's a safe case to say there is enough evidence that our red-haired pirate lady can have a guaranteed chance of coming to 2XKO as one of the 2026 characters. I was gonna put Gangplank in as one of the 2026 characters, but decided to put Miss Fortune on the list instead and he might come as one of the 2027 characters in Season 1 to pick up where Sarah's arrival in Season 5 of 2026 left off. We'll see.

Predicted 2026 Champion roadmap:

Season 1 - Katarina
Season 2 - Caitlyn
Season 3 - Kennen
Season 4 - Akali
Season 5 - Miss Fortune

We now have the predicted roadmap of Champions coming to 2XKO by order of seasons. Now let's move on to compiling the predicted characters of 2026 with the current roster.

Predicted 2026 character roster:

Ahri
Akali
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Illaoi
Jinx
Katarina
Kennen
Miss Fortune
Teemo
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

And here's the predicted roster for 2026. On to the final phase, imaging the left side as the SEGA side and the right side as the Capcom side of the character select screen.

Predicted 2026 character roster on the SEGA side:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Kennen
Teemo
Warwick

Predicted 2026 character roster on the Capcom side:

Akali
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Katarina
Miss Fortune
Vi
Yasuo

Again, this is just my imagination because they are not actually from both companies, so don't report me for defamation.

As I said before, this post does not provide a firm information on who would actually be the 2026 Champions for 2XKO nor confirm the full 2026 character roster or the actual order of launch. This is just an educated guess for what I believe on who they are and which Season that they will launch in. And honestly, I'm not surprised that the red-headed female characters known for wielding dual weapons would all be on the Capcom side.

2025 is coming to a close as we're approaching the New Year and the Game Awards is fast approaching. Just to be honest, I watch the awards show for game announcements and that's what the show is known for. Once 2026 comes, we'll find out if my prediction is true or not in couple updates regarding my theory in future posts.

This month is gonna be a strong Cinderella story because we have announcements regarding not just 2XKO, but SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level as well, as Madxruler is announcing something big and ambitious for their fan project that has something to do with the "Alpha" sign from the Street Fighter Alpha logo. But what does the "Alpha" sign mean? I don't know, maybe it's the game is having an Alpha Lab test or being akin to Street Fighter Alpha. But either way, we do know one thing for sure. One that obvious and factual is that SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level can learn from the things 2XKO has done to become a phenomenal game. If you want to know more about this, here's the link to the post.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/12/what-sega-vs-capcom-can-learn-from-2xko.html

What SEGA vs. Capcom Can Learn From 2XKO

2XKO came out strong with a very large player base and it has been nominated for Best Fighting Game at the Game Awards that if it wins Best Fighting Game, the fan frenzy would go wild. Riot has confirmed that they will give us an announcement at the Game Awards about revealing the 12th character, likely Katarina, and maybe also showing us a 2026 characters roadmap or graphic that contains the five 2026 characters, one on each season. It isn't just a fighting game. It is a very special tag-based fighting game that became a huge success. And it's set to launch on console January 2026, a perfect time when 2XKO officially launches with the start of Season 1.

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

The Modern Setting

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

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

Duo Play

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

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

Competitive Scene

Riot knocked it out of the park with their First Impact program that brings offline and online tournaments dedicated to 2XKO into the spotlight. The program became a hit and the game has unleashed its full potential on the competitive scene that it became a core backbone of the FGC. And now, Riot is set to offering direct support to existing local tournaments dedicated to 2XKO through the announced official yearly Competitve Series with monetary support, promotion on official Riot channels, buffs to prize pools and a format of one major and three challenger events tied to each of 2XKO's five in game seasons, with Frosty Faustings XVIII being the major event and Genesis, Texas Showdown and Viennality being challenger events for Season 1, making it a total of 20 events per year, divided by five in game seasons to each have four events.

It's perfect timing along with 2XKO coming to console in January 2026, meaning that TOs will have to bring PS5s into venues where offline tournaments take place at going forward. And it won't just alleviate the technical issues when it comes to setting up controls, but make it so that the console versions would automatically be on offline mode when there is no Internet connection, also easier than launching the game on offline mode through the separate executable, especially since we can't launch the game on offline mode through the Riot Client while there is no Internet connection. Of course, they would still be able to allow the competitive scene to be the backbone of the FGC with 2XKO.

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

Rollback Netcode and Lobbies

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

Attention to Detail

There is a LOT of attention that 2XKO has. When Alpha Lab 1 has concluded, they missed this game. When Alpha Lab 2 launched, a lot of people didn't get invited, including myself because it was a disappointingly small playtest. Closed Beta opened the gates to being a final invite-only phase that those who participated in Alpha Lab 1 or 2 will automatically gain access to the game, including console players, who would automatically gain access to the game on the Riot Client on PC.

One company being WB Games has a small chip on their shoulder on what happened to the free-to-play multi-platform crossover platform fighter like MultiVersus when it launched. It's a couple of things. It's because of predatory microtransations, player dissatisfiction and not listening to player feedback; they are the reasons why MultiVersus' fate was sealed after a year since launch. See, the leadership at Riot probably don't want 2XKO to suffer the same fate Multiversus has suffered. They listened to player feedback, kept microtransactions less predatory and fair by leaving Credits alone and multiplied and amplified what made the invite-only trilogy of playtests so appealing, basically meaning that they have learned from MultiVersus's failure and will continue the game's full potential when 2XKO launches on console January 2026.

SEGA vs. Capcom also has attention, but not as much as 2XKO Deen and Noid played this game for their Father and Son Beatdown and it was showcased at Combo Breaker. My favorite part is the characters being locked out. Vyse and Morrigan are next in line and now that Vyse is finished, they're now doubling their efforts on finishing Morrigan, who shouldn't take too long to develop.

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

Character Archetypes

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

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

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

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

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

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

Combo Trials

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

Peripherals

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

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

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

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

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

Indies are indeed better than AAA games because of the fact that indie game developers bear no burden or influence of a AAA company so they would they take risks, their games are reasonably priced and they can develop their games however they want. There are indies that feel like AAA, so I have thought to myself that if I could suggest an indie title, I say an indie game like both Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. But will an indie game like Square Enix's games work? Let's jump right in.

I am back with another creative post. So probably, it has come to my attention that indie games are better than AAA games. One of those things is wanting an indie game like both Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. I talked about this in private, so I'm going to monologue in how would it work in this post as a concrete answer.

How Weapons Can Be Used:

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

The Party:

Now let's go on to another important thing when it comes to an indie title inspired by the Trials of Mana remake and Visions of Mana, the party. You would know that in Visions of Mana, the party has up to five characters in a party while Trials of Mana has six characters, but can only choose three to be in the party. But if this indie game comes to fruition, we can change that with this innovative approach, all six characters in a party instead of choosing three characters.

The Characters:

Now that I talked about the party and weapons, let's talk about the characters. When it comes to an idea of a Trials and Visions of Mana-esque indie game, the characters in a party would be three male characters and three female characters like in Trials of Mana. There are a lot of possibilities for characters this game would have. Imagine if the indie devs make a character that would have dual fans, a spear and gauntlets in their arsenal like Careena, a character that would have cards, a sword and dual knives in their arsenal like Morley and a character that would have a flail, a scythe and boots for kick attacks like Palamena. And maybe they can also make a character that would have their original performance of having an original arsenal of weapons and maybe a character that would have dual knives, a broadsword and a scythe like Haseo from the .hack franchise, which I think it's perfect for a Darkness-type character.

Plus, there's a deep breath of fresh new ideas when it comes to developing characters and coming up with different combinations of weapons in their arsenal and that's something that indie devs that can take a crack of developing this game can really do without any constraints from a AAA company.

The Combat System:

The Trials of Mana remake has an innovative combat system that Visions of Mana has that finishing battles earns you EXP, money and items. It involves a border that appears during combat and can escape battles. But not in certain battles where the border is red, meaning that you can't escape. A combat system in an indie game like Trials and Visions of Mana can work like that, but can be innovated so that all six characters can be in battle and would earn the same amount of EXP. Think of Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness where it has all characters in a party in battle. It's something that this game can really have as this is an innovative approach.

Weapon Strikes:

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

Elemental Vessels:

They have been useful in Visions of Mana when it comes to what elementals enemies are weak, resistant and immune to and they change their class and appearance. But this can be innovated so that if characters are equipped with an Elemental Vessel, they offer elemental powers to their arsenal and appearance to change the way how Weapon Strikes work, but they would still switch weapons on the fly. And without an Elemental Vessel equipped, there are no elemental powers on their arsenal and appearance.

The Synergy System:

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

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

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

Skill Tree:

Most RPGs have skill trees and they are intended to upgrade a character's stats and learn new skills. Trials of Mana uses class switching and Visions of Mana uses points you receive from activating Elementites using Elemental Vessels and levelling up. But I think an indie game like these two games should use a skill tree to have increases to max stats and learn new skills, new magic and new Synergy abilities. Each character would have a skill tree, and just one, and they earn points from levelling up needed to unlock max stats and new abilities. Think of Tales of Xillia where you earn points for levelling up to increase max stats and new Artes through the Lillium Orb.

The Pilgrimage to the Mana Tree?:

I would love to see an indie game like Trials and Visions of Mana that would involve going on a pilgrimage to the Mana Tree, but it might have copyright issues. But I think we can change that so that the destination would be the Magic Fountain instead of the Mana Tree to avoid copyright issues. That said, the story would involve the party going on a pilgrimage to the Magic Fountain in the Sanctuary to see the world's goddess that maintains life and mana in the world needed for elementals to thrive. Along their way, they'll come across Elemental Vessels. But let's not forget about the threat that could tarnish the world if the fountain falls into evil hands.

I think this could lower the chance of an indie dev of this game getting sued by Square Enix over copyright infringement in terms of the story.

The Story:

I had to talk about this after highlighting the journey to get some details on how would the story unfold and now that the details I need, I can highlight how would story unfold.

The game's storyline would involve a protagonist, who would go on a pilgrimage to the Magic Fountain. Along the way, they meet companies who would join the protagonist on their journey. The forces of evil would come to awaken the threat that can plunge the world into a void of life when the fountain falls into evil hands. Once the fountain falls into evil hands, the threat would emerge and the world would tremble before the threat, which has been a trope villains embrace. It's up to the party to stop the forces of evil from awakening the threat and save the world.

These are the things that I think could work in an indie title inspired by Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana. If this game goes into production, they can be able to develop this game however they want without the shareholding constraints from a AAA game company and release it on both PC and console. And without the shareholding constraints, they will never be laid off, which has been the bone of contention and an ongoing issue among the game industry for years, or rely heavily on microtransactions and greed so that this game would be reasonably priced below $30, appease fans and they'll take some risks to provide innovation to this game. I think people might want this to happen to reflect the fact that people prefer indies over AAA games.

See, when you watch the official trailer and look at the screenshots of this game, you might say, "Dang, this indie game feels like Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana, but why all six characters are in battle?" and "Hold on a sec, am I seeing this character... play like Careena and... Haseo?! And how are they able to switch weapons?!" And that's because it will feel like Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana and have respective innovations that would be callbacks to Tower of Fantasy and Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness like switching weapons in game, even during a combo, and having the whole party in battle. Devs that can take a crack of making this game can literally make a character that feels like Careena and another that feels like Haseo to add a little bit of .hack//G.U, which would be nice for such an indie Haseo character. This applies to that Mightykeef video about Ananta being an upcoming free-to-play anime GTA clone with combat taken from Spider-Man, Sleeping Dogs and the Batman Arkham trilogy. Except that it's not a free-to-play indie title.

Indie games that feel like Square Enix's games are not as common of the game industry today, and it's largely dominated by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 with its entry of being an indie Final Fantasy game nominated for Game of the Year at the Game Awards. To have indie games inspired by Square Enix's games is a great choice as there is a lot of attention, feedback and not a lot of money, especially to avoid greed. Now, if I recall, there is one indie game that is inspired by Kingdom Hearts and Devil May Cry and it's not an action RPG, and that is Geno Kids, which is now in Early Access. The only game that is purely inspired by Kingdom Hearts coming next year is Duskfade. There is literally one indie title that an indie Mana title can compete with if it goes into production. This means it'll likely do well if this game comes out to bank on the fact of attention.

Some of the things I mentioned in this idea of an indie Mana title can be used for the next Mana title, which may or may not be announced at the Game Awards. If you're interested in knowing more about my pitch to the next Mana title that is called Seasons of Mana or whatever it will be called, here's the link.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2024/10/seasons-of-mana-pitch.html

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOLLOWING Things 2XKO REALLY Needs

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

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

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

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

Custom Lobbies

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

An Ability to Duo with a Random Player

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

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

The Return of Two Characters Posing After a Round Win

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

Cross-Region Play

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

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

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

Wi-Fi Indicator

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

Character-specific Voice Lines for Tags

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

Tag Team Ultimates

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

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

Jukebox

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

Casual Queues in Training

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

More Female Characters:

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

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

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

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

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

Why SEGA Quit the Console Business?

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

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

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

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

Now, if you don't know what Sonic X-treme is, it was a 3D platformer for the Saturn. This game uses open levels like Bug!. The storyline of this game follows Sonic's journey to stop Dr. Robotnik from stealing the six magic rings from Tiara Boobowski and her father and use them for evil. However, it was cancelled because both teams behind this game were crippled two months before the deadline as SEGA announced in early 1997. It was after SEGA instead concetrated on making Nights Into Dreams and a port of the Genesis game, Sonic 3D Blast and the compilation, Sonic Jam for the 1996 holiday season.

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

Because of an original Sonic the Hedgehog game like Sonic X-treme's cancellation and absence, the Saturn became a commercial failure and was slid into a bad Juju land. None of the ports of Sonic games from previous consoles were even able to save the Saturn, but it ended up in the top three with the PS1 and Nintendo 64, which is not bad. After the Saturn was discontinued in North America in 1998, SEGA went on to move on to their next console, the SEGA Dreamcast.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SG's New Chapter is BIG

According to the statement, Jason Donnell of Autumn Games has stated that the next chapter of Skullgirls development is gonna be big and Autumn is stepping up to leading the development of Skullgirls. But how is this chapter big? Let's take a dive into the post.

I'm back with another standalone Skullgirls post. Also, as you can see, it has been a year since my father died and will soon be a year since I attended at my father's funeral at my old stomping grounds. But let's not talk about that and move on to something very interesting. Anyway, let's get right into the post.

Autumn Games has owned the rights of the Skullgirls IP from the get-go. For years, they have worked behind the scenes as the unwavering backbone of Skullgirls, ensuring its grouth. They have been working with multiple teams like Reverge Labs, Lab Zero Games, Future Club and Hidden Variable, who is no longer involved in Skullgirls development. Now, before I tell you why Hidden Variable quit Skullgirls development, I like to rewind back to the point where Hidden Variable took over for 2nd Encore's development.

Back in 2020, the developers had left Lab Zero Games because of Mike Z's behavior and went on to form their own development studio dubbed thee Future Club. This is a development studio they formed and it's basically the same people without Mike Z. They also stepped up for the development of the Skullgirls IP with Hidden Variable because they stated that they planned to work with the people who left Lab Zero, which is a great thing. Back in 2021, the next chapter of Skullgirls development has began with the Season 1 Pass that contains four new characters. Back in 2024, the Season 1 Pass containing Annie, Umbrella, Black Dahlia and Marie is complete and the update for the Nintendo Switch and Xbox ports were done and dusted so that they would double their efforts on the general balance patch. Originally, they wanted to bring in the additional voice content, but they decided to release it in 2025 for quality so that there wouldn't be problems. But what happened, and why we haven't gotten word about them?

Well, let's get to what is factual on what we heard on the grapevine of things. In November 1, 2024, the payments have rolled in and Hidden Variable stated that Autumn must make that payment to them. But Autumn refused to make a single payment they owed, not one. Because of Autumn's refusal to make payments, Hidden Variable has quit Skullgirls development because of the legal dispute with Autumn Games for alleged breaches of contract, implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and for goods and services rendered according to the court papers and for $1.2 million in unpaid fees. That explains why we haven't gotten a roadmap in January. They also added that they wouldn't make further comments until the dispute is resolved. But we haven't heard from Hidden Variable yet because they are still having a legal battle with Autumn for eight months.

It wasn't just Hidden Variable that is no longer involved in Skullgirls development, but Future Club as well, the same people minus Mike Z that quietly quit Skullgirls development as they were working on their first original indie title, Part Time Hero: I'm Broke, but I'm Here to Save the World. But it did not reach the funding goal. It fell way short from it. And now, they are on hibernation, but they'll be back at some point. And now, with literally no developer in sight, there's no way Skullgirls can continue active development... until one glimmer of hope came.

Jason Donnell of Autumn Games had released a statement saying that Skullgirls is more than just a game, it's a passion project. They are stepping up to reinvest in the IP. To make it even more groundbreaking, Guilds are coming to Mobile later this year and we're getting close to their release as they are in the final stages of testing. That is nice, but that's only just a taste on how Autumn would usurp Skullgirls development. Skullgirls is about to be taken into the next chapter and the Mobile release is going strong that we're even getting more Silver Variants every month and Guilds are getting closer to launch.

How is that possible? Well, Hidden Variable has said that they gave Autumn until January 21 to make payments they owe to them. However, when none of the payments came, Hidden Variable has provided Autumn with all of the account login information required to continue providing community support for the game so that it wouldn't cause a single damage to it so that Mobile and 2nd Encore would continue active development regardless. They done that before quitting Skullgirls development and suing Autumn.

Speaking of 2nd Encore, this brings me to my point. Remember what I said that additional VO for the Season Pass characters are still on the docket? I don't think that we're get the additional VO for the Season Pass characters this year Hidden Variable had originally planned before they quit Skullgirls development, so I have thought about this for a while and believe that Autumn is not gonna pick up where Hidden Variable left off during the development of 2nd Encore this year because they got to get the extraordinarily long promised feature being Guilds out of the way first before taking over 2nd Encore development. But that's just me speculating and spitballing. But it can be true because if we go back to Jason for a second here...

"However, it has become especially clear that we have not been delivering on our promises to you the fans; to bring new characters, stories, features, and game modes in the way you deserved. To be blunt, that is why we're making changes now."

"We are not a massive corporation stepping in to take over; we are game developers, storytellers, and passionate fans, just like you."

Now, this is something you need to hone in on. This means Autumn is making changes to guarantee us to bring in new characters, stories and all that to not just Mobile, but 2nd Encore as well in the way we wanted, so Roxie and the Season 2 Pass are thankfully still on the docket and this is considered as big. Just so you know, I don't think that Autumn is gonna poke the bear when it comes to Skullgirls that they wouldn't release new characters or pick up where Hidden Variable left off with development of left over content like additional VO for the Season Pass characters in 2nd Encore until the Guilds are released as Guilds are an extraordinarily long promised feature being the most important one and fair enough.

Since Skullgirls is staying, this also means the second season of the Webtoon adaptation is still on the docket, living up to the fact that the people at Autumn are not just game developers, but storytellers as well. I want to know what will happen next because Season 1 left me on a cliffhanger. And hey, you know what would be also cool? A Skullgirls anime adapatation on Netflix. With all of the awesomeness that would be Pokémon: Advanced Battle, Arcane, Sonic Prime, Johnny Test, League of Super Evil, Looney Tunes, Bob's Burgers, Kim Possible, Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM and even a little bit on Super Mario Bros. Z, an anime adaptation on Netflix would be awesome.

See, you would know that the 2nd Encore post from January 20th being the final post before January 21st when Hidden Variable stated that they're no longer involved in Skullgirls development due to Autumn being the subject of litigation reminds me of the transition between the Walt Disney Television logo to the Buena Vista International, Inc. logo. However, it did not get as close as it did with the Cartoon Network skull logo. While Autumn taking over Skullgirls' ongoing development is a great deal, there is one thing that could've happened that serves as a silver-lining of all this.

Now, if I remember correctly, Naughty Dog and Sony had worked together under a licensing deal from Universal to make Crash Team Racing after Sony negotiated between the companies after Universal treated Naughty Dog poorly by turning off the air conditioning to the building, right? So, if Future Club was still involved in Skullgirls' development while Hidden Variable is still having a legal dispute with Autumn, then maybe they could negotiate between the companies so that both Hidden Variable and Future Club would work together under a licensing deal from Autumn so that Hidden Variable would have the least amount of contact with Autumn as possible.

But rest assured that this will be a good difference that if Autumn get Guilds out of the way in November or December, the new chapter of Skullgirls development can REALLY begin in 2026. That will hopefully light the way for a brilliant future for both 2nd Encore and Mobile. They will not make a lampoon out of themselves in both sections like they did to get themselves wound up getting sued by Hidden Variable for breach of contract and $1.2 million after their refusal to pay what they owe.

Speaking of making a lampoon out of themselves in both sections, did you know that moderators of the Skullheart forums made a lampoon out of themselves with their pig slop low content post penalty smear, on both the Beta thread and the visual issue reporting thread? I have the link to the post that covers all of that if you're interested.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2024/06/low-content-post-penalty-rant.html

PlayStation 2 Turns 25!

It's official, gaming fans. The PlayStation 2 has turned 25 when it came out in Japan and in North America. This is the console that became developer-friendly and has most popular and critically acclaimed titles. In fact, it is arguably one of our most favorite Sony consoles of all time. I'm gonna start from the beginning on playing PS2 games during my childhood as well as the life cycle.

October 26 is when the PS2 came out in North America. There was a point of time when I was playing PS2 games during my childhood when I was a kid. I have enjoyed a lot of them and I was astonished at them. This console became the most popular because of backwards compatibility to every PS1 game and accessory, most popular and acclaimed titles and all that. It became developer-friendly unlike other platforms that failed and didn't come close to the renowned Sony did in both eras. This has exposed a reason why I'm into PS2 games as I am with PS1 games because both consoles became renowned and so appealing.

I remember what former PlayStation boss, Jim Ryan, has said about PS1 and PS2 games while he was at a Gran Turismo event. He has disrespected and infuriated us retro gamers to our face by spurning retro gaming just because they looked ancient. He said all that about what we love and cherished for years. How dare he talk down to the golden media that is playing PS1 and PS2 games.

When the PS3 came out, none of the models support full backwards compatibility. Some are backwards compatible to PS1 games while some are backwards compatible to PS2 games. The PS3 has a vast library of PS1 games, but a limited selection of PS2 games, which doesn't do us any good. Then PS Now came to have a limited selection of PS2 games and that's not nearly enough. I have been wanting to revisit my PS2 games from my childhood other than the ones on PS Now, but none of Sony's modern platforms were fully backwards compatible to classic generations because of the PS3's Cell processor and PS Now has had a limited selection, rendering it terrible. For years, we've been requesting for an upgrade to PS Now that would bring in a PS1 catalog and a vast selection of games.

But fast forward to 2022, Sony has planned to compete with Xbox Game Pass by developing a beefed up PlayStation Plus with two additional tiers, Extra and Premium. The Premium Tier caught millions of players' eye that it offers a vast selection of PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games. This was met with fan excitement about those that are looking forward to playing their games they played during their childhood. However, when the service launched, there aren't any new PS2 games so far, until in 2024 when Sony has a brand new PS2 emulator to pave the way for more PS2 games. Finally, my endeavor to revisit PS2 games I played during my childhood has been claimed after all these years.

It went well with revisiting Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus, a PS2 game I played during my childhood. I pretty much loved it and I have beaten it, but not when I was a kid. It also went well with revisiting the sequel. I loved the innovations the game has made, having a Mickey, Donald and Goofy-style trio. I am looking forward to revisit Sly 3 and its crazy adventures soon. I gave my shoutout to Kevin Miller for killing the voice acting of Sly Cooper, both when I was a kid and in this generation.

And I heard Sucker Punch is eyeing on the return of Sly Cooper or the third Ghost game. I recalled that Sucker Punch has announced that they don't have a new Sly Cooper or a new Infamous in developement because they were working on Ghost of Yotei, and now that it's done and released, Sucker Punch must bring Sly Cooper back into the limelight and resolve the cliffhanger that was left off in Thieves in Time. Sly is stuck in Egypt and we need them to get him out of there lickety-split and maybe have an episode where the Cooper Gang goes to Hawaii in search of a new member of the Cooper Gang because none of the games involved a Hawaii episode.

To support a Hawaii episode for the new Sly Cooper, I made an Old Man Sly video where the Cooper Gang are going to Hawaii in search of a new member. I have the link, so go check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkREGugNbRI

Of course, I had to make this video that features the new gal from Hawaii where Old Man Sly throws a tantrum over desserts at Boss' Pizza & Chicken. I have the link to it below as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4BTFMhNsfk

So originally, this video was supposed to cover that place I want to go in my old stomping grounds, Wana Pizza, but decided to make it Boss' Pizza & Chicken instead. How ironic that being around those people in big places at my old stomping grounds to bolster seeking my old friends and the Lerner and Rowe 222-2222 phone number on screen would apply to this.

I was able to put the whole Cooper Gang together, including the new gal from Hawaii between Penelope and Sly. Her name is Moana and this character's name is NOT affiliated with Disney in any way, shape or form or appear in any of the games. You need to understand this. Also, I have the next Old Man Sly in the works that is gonna be big. Keep your eyes peeled for that. Of course, Hawaii being a charming place I want to visit since I conquered my fear of flying is because of its names that originate there. However, nothing in that has ever got as close as it did with the part where I watched Moana 2 and the live action Lilo and Stitch remake, so I listened to Yasuo's theme in 2XKO for honor. Great movies by the way.

The process of releasing PS2 games is turning out to be smooth so far and had not backfired. Not one time. If I recall correctly, they have been releasing a lot of PS2 games so far to make things up, especially when PlayStation turned 30, three new PS2 games were revealed with a little bit of Sly Cooper news and it became a big win for us. See, I loved some of these games as a kid and been holding dearly to my heart today. Even the ones that are revolutionary.

However, while the PS2 does have critically acclaimed and most popular titles like the PS1, there are two outliers that have games that were released on the PS2, but none of them were successful, and they are orange marsupial of unhingedness Crash Bandicoot, and the fiery purple roast master Spyro the Dragon. Both of them became kings of the PlayStation during their time in their original trilogies that became the most popular. Naughty Dog and Insomniac had a three-game contract with Universal to develop the original trilogies after the release of Way of the Warrior and Disruptor. They are the developers of Crash and Spyro that made Universal so amazing even though they treated them like crap just by turning off the air conditioner to the building during crunch time, which is just not cool.

After Naughty Dog and Insomniac left for Sony to make Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank for the PS2, things took a turn for the franchises after the IPs were passed to different studios to continue the franchises. None of the games that came out after the original trilogies came close to the renowned the originals did. We can all agree that they all fell short because Universal became a terrible company and they had NO idea what they were doing. But I do love some of these games as a kid and been wanting to revisit them today. I don't care if none of them came close to how well the originals have performed. I just want to revisit the Wrath of Cortex, which sold more units than the average sales of the original trilogy being an excuse to defend it and its great music.

See, the PS2 has games that have a charming environment, including the Crash and Spyro games, though none of them were successful as the original trilogies. Jak and Daxter meets the criteria. It's an open world game filled with a vibrant and charming world, you get the picture. They got undertones that we experienced in browser games. Of course, the gaming industry would like to tackle charming open world games, especially given to the game industry today. However, nothing in it has ever got as close as it did with video games that define us who we are back in the 2000s and 2010s. Even so, while the PS2 has launched to critical acclaim, it came with a flaw; the system having two controller ports when other systems have up to four controller ports.

Not only the PS2 is developer-friendly, but has great games based on TV shows, movies and anime, but some of them were met with mixed reception. The Simpsons: Hit & Run became a perfect example of a great child-friendly GTA game based on a TV show. While not critically acclaimed, it's a decent game overall. The plot is bearable and based on the unhinged moments we seen in the Simpsons. Then Buffy the Vampire Slayer came along to receive a video game adaptation. There are games based on anime like Dragon Ball Z, One Piece and Naruto. They became successful. These games are what made the PS2 so appealing. Japanese companies were able to develop games for the PS2 well without losing any money, including the .hack games, which come in volumes.

Japanese companies developing games on the PS2 led to releasing games by NIS, Square Enix, Bandai Namco and other companies. There is a vast majority of games released on the Japanese market. The GameCube also did do somewhat well in the Japanese market, but the original Xbox however, didn't do well in the Japanese market because the system was well-liked in the American market. This exposed why the PS2 became the bestselling system in the 6th generation because it was developer-friendly like the PS1.

Couple things to conclude with on what makes the PS2 generation the best generation like other consoles in the 6th generation is first off, the use of elements and things like Dolby Pro Logic II, Sofdec, ADX and THX, advanced power and games produced by nostalgic defunct video game companies. These respective elements have less room for error and their respective logos were present in retro 3D generations. And the first game that use Sofdec, ADX and THX to come to the classics catalog since the launch of the beefed-up PlayStation Plus is Soul Calibur III, marking it a big win with Tekken 3. However, there won't be any trophies since it's a Bandai Namco title. But who cares about trophies? What matters is us revisiting this game.

I looked more about this and the iconic THX Certified Game logo is experienced not just on the 6th generation-era games, but on the 7th generation-era games as well. And I think we can agree as to why both generations were considered the best is because of the iconic logo being THX. And now, we no longer experience it in the 8th and 9th generations of gaming and beyond.

Now let's go on to the next thing, nostalgic video game companies. I have to stress out nostalgic defunct video game companies. What do I mean is that I'm talking about nostalgic companies that started developing games on the 3rd generation-era and went defunct during the 5th, 6th and 7th generation eras, like Midway, THQ, Universal (not the movie company), Namco, SquareSoft, Enix, Koei and Tecmo. The ones that aren't nostalgic are SEGA, EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Koei Tecmo, and WB Games. They aren't considered as nostalgic because they are still prevalent and around in today's market and in this generation.

This gaming generation does suck because of greed banked by AAA companies' handling of microtransactions, $70 games that caused frustration and the pricing on most things the Switch 2 has to offer. See, AAA games were great during the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th generations of gaming. But when we get to the 9th generation of gaming, greed is being banked on. The only accepted conception a lot of people agree with is that indies and AA games are better than AAA games due to the fact that they have less money to avoid greed.

I prefer to play my oldies on PS5 rather than buying a PS2 or PS1 and its games because downloading classics on PS5 and PS4 is much faster and they have shorter load times when playing them in any of the modern systems. You don't even have to purchase a PS2 and its physical games. Heck, Tekken 3 launched in the classics catalog and this was met with excitement from nostalgic gamers.

When it comes to not just PS2 games, but also PS1 games that have silent copyright and trademark notice screens and logos after them, they have been my favorite part in gaming. I would reset my console to watch the flow over and over. Fast forward to now, playing PS1 and PS2 games given me an option to record the flows and that's something I would do. They don't take up too much space. See, embracing the copyright and trademark notice screens and the logos after them was the reason why the 6th generation of gaming had to be the best and I am still embracing them today once I record them.

All of this is why the PS2 is our most favorite console of all time. We can be able to celebrate the console's 25th year by playing PS2 games on the PS4 and PS5, including Tomb Raider: Anniversary and Soul Calibur III, which are the two new PS2 games launching on the classics catalog this year and they are going to be a part of the PS2's 25th year celebration to make things even more exciting.

However, the lackluster one classic game per month release cadence was slammed by many, especially when there are many of their fan-favorites are just itching to be on the classics catalog. But Sony is listening to the criticism surrounding the one classic game per month release cadence. They will never return to their lackluster cadence ever again and hopefully picking up the pace by releasing five classic games per month, so this means the Simpsons Hit & Run, Ape Escape 3, Ratchet and Clank (Not the PS3 release) and other heavy hitters will have more of a chance. Regardless, the PS2's 25th anniversary will still be hype because we can play PS2 games on the PS4 and PS5, including the ones with emulation features.

There are endless possibilities for us retro gamers that will cherish the golden standard and fair enough, even on the PS6 and the PSVita 2 or whatever the new handheld console is gonna be called Sony is planning is being greenlit to have backwards compatibility support on PS4, PS5 and PS6, but not on PS1, PS2 and PS3 sadly due to two obvious things; the PS3's Cell processor and its notoriously weird structure. This hurdle prevented modern Sony consoles from achieving full backwards compatibility and is why the PS3 games are only available through streaming and it requires an Internet connection that playing remasters of games released on the PS3 is the way.

But the beefed up PlayStation Plus will continue on the new handheld console so that retro titles, with the exception of PS3 games, would be played on the go. I'm not getting the PS6 since it's gonna be more expensive, but I'm getting the new handheld console to play not just new games on the go, but to also play games I played in my childhood on the go, including PS2 games. But I look specifically at third-party games as they would be catering to using the respective elements and being produced by defunct game companies.

We can be able to celebrate the console's 25th year by playing PS2 games on the PS4 and PS5, including Tomb Raider: Anniversary and Soul Calibur III, which are the two new PS2 games launching on the classics catalog this year and they are going to be a part of the PS2's 25th year celebration to make things even more exciting.

We saw the brand's 30th anniversary celebration become even more hype because of PlayStation Plus Premium that we can be able to play PS1 games on the PS4 and PS5. I have the link to the post that covered it all right here.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2024/12/playstation-30th-anniversary-is-here.html

Companies' Plan of Porting Classic Fighting Games to Modern Platforms

There are diehard classic fighting game fans of the FGC that are wanting to revisit fighting games from back in the day and their wish has been fulfilled. Several companies are porting their beloved classic fighting games to modern consoles and I have some groundbreaking news to give you, so you must stay tuned until the end of the post. Anyway, let's dive right into the post.

If you're a big fan of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, you probably played any of these games in the 90s when you were younger, and that's nice. But specifically, I like to point out to the practice the companies are planning to do. It has come to my attention that companies like Capcom are open to porting their classic fighting games to modern platforms with online play with rollback netcode and a ton of other modern features. Diehard FGC members are itching to revisit classic fighting games back in the day and it's exactly happening.

First off, Capcom was able to compile their retro fighters into several compilations, like Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection and Capcom Fighting Collection 1 and 2 and Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics.th All of the compilations became successful among those of the FGC who like to revisit them when they were kids. All of the collections are available now, so go check them out.

Now, there is not one, but two companies that are following Capcom's footsteps. Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios have announced the Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection. It's a compilation that has every classic Mortal Kombat game, including the two spin-offs that were universally hated, Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. Both games were critically panned over bland and repetitive gameplay, poor storytelling and unbearable difficulty. Both games were universally hated. I am suprised that they revealed the two critical pan-worthy spin-offs instead of the 2000s 3D-era trilogy that involves switching between three fighting styles, so they might be seen in Vol. 2. Who knows? The collection is available now, so go check it out.

The FGC is in a bit of a thriving moment. Modern fighting games weren't hated. They have innovations that people favored. Marvel Tokon became a perfect example of being an innovative tag team-oriented fighting game with 4v4 combat that teams share with one health bar unlike typical tag-oriented fighting games. Marvel Tokon is developed by Arc System Works, the Japanese company that is not a part of Sony, so it is a AA developer free from influence of a AAA company, meaning that Arc System Works has somewhat of a freedom to develop their games however they want and they met the critieria indie and AA devs have met.

I have to cut to the chase and explain why I love to revisit fighting games from back in the day. When it comes to classic fighting games, they don't bear bad influences of AAA developers they have today, especially to the fifth, sixth and seventh generations of gaming, which I think it's perfect. I ignored compilations of retro fighting games as we have compilations of them in this generation today. That said, I like to talk about classic fighting games from retro 3D generations that are available in the classics catalog today.

Very loosely, there are classic fighting games currently available in the classics catalog. On the Nintendo side of things, Killer Instinct Gold is now available on the N64 Classics catalog and Soul Calibur II is available on the Switch 2-exclusive GameCube Classics catalog, so you need a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership to play them. And on the Sony side of things, Tekken 2, Tekken 6 for the PSP and Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny are available now on the classics catalog and they are also purchaseable so that you can play them 24/7. And here's the groundbreaking part regarding classic fighting games.

During September's State of Play, two additional classic fighting games have been revealed. They were revealed to be Tekken 3 and Soul Calibur III. Bandai Namco, or should I say Namco's, threequels of fighting games are coming to the catalog later this year and this marks a less lackluster lineup. However, since they are Bandai Namco's titles, it will not have trophies. So why these games deserved to be in the classics catalog? Let's get to the topic.

First off, Tekken 3. This game is the peak of the franchise and the final game to ever be released on the PS1 before later games of the franchise get released on the PS2. It released in arcades before being ported to consoles. There's even a Tekken Force side scrolling beat-em-up game mode and a Tekken Ball game mode. My brother played this game when he was young. I played it when I was young as well and I pretty much loved it. I have been wanting this game to come to the PS3's library of PS1 games and it's finally available on classics catalog on the PS4 and PS5 along with Tekken 2. This month's lackluster lineup may have one game, but what matters is that it's one game I wished for and that's Tekken 3.

Interestingly, Tekken 3 won't be the only threequel under the Namco name because Soul Calibur III is also coming to the classics catalog later this year. This is another fighting game I played back in the day and it's a direct sequel to Soul Calibur II. I have rented it from Hollywood Video in my old stomping grounds and I loved it. This is the very first game that uses Sofdec and ADX and the very first THX-certified game to ever come to PlayStation Plus since the launch of the beefed up PlayStation Plus and this is another one of the games I wished for. Sure, I can hear them say, "But what about Jak X: Combat Racing?" Well, yes, this game is THX-certified, but this game has launched with PlayStation Now along with the original trilogy and was grandfathered into PlayStation Plus Premium along with other PS2 titles.

And I have received another piece of groundbreaking news. Edia is open to bringing the original Battle Arena Toshinden trilogy released on the PS1 to modern consoles. This was met with excitement among fans who played these games before. I know I never played Battle Arena Toshinden, but I'm interested in these games. This is another big win for us in the fighting game community, along with Tekken 3 and Soul Calibur III launching this year, exciting the ever thriving FGC as they became a unwavering backbone of the community.

We're seeing more classic fighting games released in 3D retro generations coming to the classics catalog. This means the first Tekken, Bloody Roar, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja and Clash of Ninja, the 3D-era Mortal Kombat games that involve switching styles and even wrestling games that are more charming and revolutionary under the THQ umbrella than the ones under the 2K umbrella, especially the ones released on 6th generation titles, may have more of a guaranteed chance to release on Nintendo and Sony's classics catalog on their modern platforms because they ported retro fighting games into modern platforms well without any problems, potentially exciting TOs to create their fighting game tournament dedicated to retro fighting games. That's something we can chase for.

Retro fighting games from back in the day being ported to modern platforms aren't the only things to chase for because we're also chasing for not one, but two things; two of the Simpsons games developed by Radical and the original Crash and Spyro games. I have two links to two posts covering the following.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/04/radicals-two-simpsons-games.html

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/10/playstations-two-legendary-ips.html