The Gaming Industry Knows Better Than This...

Wow... just wow. I went digging on the internet and I came across something. Someone who has been accused of sexual harassment in the past is continuing to have a leverage in the game industry because somebody has given the dirtbag a second chance. Let's jump right in!

I am here with a post and well, the spire crumbled, the moon is made of cheese and Outworld has officially frozen over. Before I talk about what happened recently, I want to talk about one thing that I have enjoyed.

The Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls Open Beta became a blast. I even came up with a team that consists of Magik, Star-Lord, Ms. Marvel and Green Goblin and that's gonna be my initial team for when the full game launches. But it's probably gonna be on PC since not only PlayStation is ending discs for games that release in 2028 in a way to shift to an all-digital format, but not for games that release prior to 2028. PlayStation Plus is a bit more expensive now. That driven me to get the PC version since PC versions offer free online multiplayer and true ownership rather than revocable licenses. In fact, Valve has no monopoly at all. However, the PC version has some gameplay and performance issues during the Open Beta like the stuttering in logos.

The funny thing about this is that I made Magik the leader of my team because she is a combination of Es from Xblaze and BlazBlue, and Annie from Skullgirls. Seems like an uncanny creation, don't you think? I mean, there's no evidence of that.

Then when I was playing the Marvel Tokon Open Beta, I have came across something that shocked me. This is in regards to the situation about someone who was accused in the past is involved in the development of Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, an Aquapazza-like fighting game that is developed by Gameplay Group International. You might know that they are the same developers that made Diesel Legacy: The Brazen Age. The PS5 and Steam versions are available to play, but the Switch 2 and Xbox versions are coming later. The Switch 2 version will release later on this year with the Standard Edition only. For the Xbox side of things, it has been delayed to September 3 due to unforseen circumstances.

Avatar Legends became the source of scrutiny earlier this month when Paramount Games confirmed that they found someone who is accused in the past working at Gameplay Group International as an individual contributor. Guess who Paramount found. Mike Zaimont. That is ridiculous. There's no way an accused individual like Mike Zaimont would have a future in the game industry after he destroyed Lab Zero with his refusal to leave the company, right? Well, I decided to go even deeper.

Six years later, Lab Zero Games posted a joint statement saying that Mariel Cartwright, Francesca Esquenazi and Mike Zaimont have agreed to resolve the lawsuit relating to the events at Lab Zero in 2020. The lawsuit was aborted and Mike remains passionate about game development and looks forward to continuing to create new games and contribute to the community through Lab Zero. I just can't wrap my head around this! I thought Mike Zaimont is not supposed to have a future in the game industry! Not especially since he sexually harassed his fellow employees. But how is that even possible?! There is one person who is responsible of this. That person is Christine Christina Seeyle. What did she do?

Back in 2023, three years after Mike was accused of sexual harassment, Seeyle was pressed by PC Gamer about his work on Diesel Legacy. Do you know what Seeyle has done? She approved Mike Zaimont's continued involvement in the game industry and his employment and defended her decision, acknowledging the validity of past allegations and went on to say that he "wanted the opportunity to have the redemptive arc that's in so many stories they love." I just can't believe this... I just can't... Can you excuse my G-rated rant because there are a few words to express how shocked I am about this.

During the One More Once stream in 2020, Mike Zaimont has made an "I can't breathe" joke following the death of George Floyd and people had uninstalled Skullgirls in making calls to get it off Evo, until he apologized about making a much too soon joke. I understand what he meant by much too soon because he should've waited until the stream is over before making that sadistic joke. Then he sexually harassed the two gamer girls. But I don't want to put a slant on them because sexually harassing those who are not a part of the game industry is something I understand. Then he did that to his fellow employees! That caused his fellow employees to leave Lab Zero and establish Future Club in September. That's how extra stuff were scrapped for Indivisible.

Then Hidden Variable made a statement saying that they are no longer be working with Lab Zero Games and they plan to work with people who left Lab Zero to bring future Skullgirls content for years to come. In fact, Skullgirls stays alive because of the fact that a publisher like Autumn Games is the holder of the Skullgirls IP, which is a safe method. And despite the allegations, Mike Zaimont was involved in the development of the rollback netcode patch for Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Plus and was suspended from it.

Three years later, do you know what happened? Christine Christina Seeyle given that blasted dirtbag a second chance in the game industry for redemption and defended her decision to do so! No wonder he is involved and employed in the development of Avatar Legends! How dare she use a redemption stick on a person who was accused of sexual harassment in the past! She should know that those who are accused of sexual harassment and destroyed the company SHOULD NOT be given a second chance at the game industry, period! This is bull! I can't believe this! That woman defended her decision to give a garbage person a second chance in the industry, like we're gonna forget about the part where he sexually harassed his fellow employees at Lab Zero? This is some messed up garbage fest right there!

You can compare and contrast the part where Mike Zaimont sexually harassed his fellow employees and the part where Joey Cuellar, former Evo president, was exposed a pedophile after he paid young boys tokens to take off their clothes and jump in water hazard pools in the miniature golf joint and Mikey $20 to show his... donkey in the restroom. Hearing Mikey's allegations made players and supporters to withdraw from Evo Online in solidarity with those who has spoken out against abuse, like MANE6, NetherRealm Studios, Capcom and Bandai Namco. It shows that pedophiles are way worse than those who conducted sexual harassment towards their fellow employees since pedophiles don't deserve a second chance that they are more dangerous. Oh yeah! Joey Cuellar is way worse than Mike Zaimont!

I can't believe Seeyle defended her decision to give an accused individual like Mike Zaimont a second chance despite allegations of sexual harassment! It was a horrible move to make! I just don't understand why Seeyle given the sexual harasser a second chance in the game industry. This is the unforseen circumstances Gameplay Group International was referring to. People are returning this game and the game's Xbox release had to be delayed just hours before release because they found out that Mike Zaimont, of all people, is involved in the development of Avatar Legends. They are not playing this game on his behalf. Not even me.

Seriously, how could she defend her decision to give that garbage person a second chance in the game industry after being pressed by PC Gamer? I know he didn't abuse a single minor like Joey Cuellar did, but still. Where is her freaking honor? I mean, there are a lot of people who are never ousted from the industry like Isaiah Turner, Tom Cannon, Seth Killian and any of the other treasure trove of virtuous individuals that never sexually harassed anyone, but she turned around and employed that dirtbag like Mike Zaimont to work on Diesel Legacy? God!

I gotta calm down because that part I came across made me mad. I am basically passionate about this situation. Seeyle is responsible of giving Michael Zaimont a second chance and defending her decision. People are returning this game and/or not playing it on his behalf. I refuse to support that dirtbag. I don't care if Joey Cuellar is way worse than him. Does is sting that we found out that Seeyle has given Mike Zaimont, of all people, a second chance? Yeah, yeah, just a little bit. However, I do have a scintilla of interest in getting Avatar Legends. It's three reasons.

One is because of being an Aquapazza-like fighting game. I played Aquapazza before. It was a really niche game for the PS3 with characters from the Aquaplus visual novels and I loved it. Avatar Legends became an Aquapazza-like fighting game in terms of gameplay and selecting playable and assist characters.

The second reason is an opportunity to play this game on the behalf of people who are never accused. Since this game is making a first appearance on Evo France like Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is, they will be playing it there, but not on Mike's behalf.

The third reason is to add this game and Marvel Tokon to my livestreaming arsenal with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and 2XKO. I am investing in an Ethernet cord to fight lag and have a stable online experience so that I can play my matches well in these games without experiencing any lag with the exception of the lag from the ISP. See, I realized why I kept on experiencing the error screen in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. I was using Wi-Fi and investing in an Ethernet cord remedies that and that's gonna be my new standard going forward. I didn't sign up for the Avatar Legends Closed Beta, but I did sign up for the Marvel Tokon Betas. The Open Beta was a blast that I even get to have my team of Magik, Ms. Marvel, Star-Lord and Green Goblin.

The point is... *sigh* they need to understand that those who are alleged of sexual harassment and killed the studio should not be redeemed. When I said that if a player like... I don't know... Hikari could win back to back Evo titles in a row, then anything was possible, I didn't mean Mike Zaimont showing his face in the game industry again, which he shouldn't. Not after he killed Indivisible with his refusal to leave Lab Zero that made everyone left to form Future Club. But Joey Cuellar is worse than Mike Zaimont in terms of sexual misconduct allegations anyway, so... maybe he deserves redemption.

NEW SEGA vs. Capcom Info Revealed!

The very first livestream for SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level went live and we have gotten a lot of info in regards to the passion project, including what has made me very excited. *drinks water* Let's jump right in.

I'm here with a new SEGA vs. Capcom post that has some great news for us SEGA and Capcom fans. Yesterday, I have watched the gameplay livestream and the info they given us during the livestream made me very hyped. Before I get to them, there is one thing that I need to explain.

Who is 4Cyde Studios? They are a small team behind the fangame. Currently, there are two people consisting of Madxruler and Fare'n'Hite, with Fare'n'Hite being the composer and Madxruler being the developer. There are two for now, but they will have more people to join. The more people, the better.

Now we can dive into the main meat of the post. First off, the characters department. A lot of characters have been confirmed to have a guaranteed playable debut. But I want to talk about which characters that interest me. First off, NiGHTS. The team has confirmed that NiGHTS is guaranteed to be in the roster. This brought me to say that NiGHTS would be amazing. He became a guest character in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. Our dream jester never appeared in a fighting game, so NiGHTS coming to SEGA vs. Capcom is an impressive deal to me that they don't have a shortage of characters to confirm.

Not only NiGHTS is confirmed to be a playable character because Ulala from Space Channel 5 is also confirmed to be playable right off the bat. Ulala would be dope as heck in SEGA vs. Capcom. What is cool is that since she is into music, landing a hit on her opponent can make music. I believe that delivering Ulala to SEGA vs. Capcom would literally be the best thing that 4Cyde Studios can do. Yes, I can hear people say, "Who will be an Ulala-like in 2XKO?" I'll get to that later.

Fare'n'Hite is the composer of the passion project. He straight up confirmed that there will be character themes for each character. However, they are gonna be in Season 2 as stage themes will come out in Season 1. This is something that has me very excited. Marvel vs. Capcom 1 and 3 have character themes and so will SEGA vs. Capcom. This brings me to ask this question. How will character themes work in SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level? There are three ways.

1. Through the setting that switches between stage and character themes. When set to character themes, it plays the character's theme for the character on the either side and the character theme for the character that comes in after the death of their teammate.
2. Taking the chapter from 2XKO's playbook. The stage theme plays during the first round and the character theme plays in subsequent rounds after a character KOs the last standing opponent, but plays the stage theme on subsequent rounds after a timeout.
3. Choosing a song.

This is important to remember that this can go only one way.

And finally, Special Partners. A while back, they confirmed that Special Partners will be brought to SEGA vs. Capcom at some point. They are NPCs that have assists and will be similar to the ones in Marvel vs. Capcom 1, and not just Marvel vs. Capcom 1, but also Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax and the Kameo system in Mortal Kombat 1.

See, 4Cyde Studios has a bevy, I mean, a bevy of characters just straight up confirmed to be in SEGA vs. Capcom for quite some time now and it's working. Zero, Jon Talbain, Ristar and even B.D. Joe have been confirmed, with favorites like NiGHTS, Ulala, Shadow the Hedgehog and Falcon from Power Stone to be coming to the game in the future. I have countless testimonies telling me that people would like to see Crash Bandicoot get added as a guest star, but that will never be the case. But I do know that since they have a bevy of characters confirmed, I would like to see Hugh and Diana from Pragmata get added to the roster. But as sort of a Ferra/Torr-like to make Diana sit on Hugh in game, not as separate characters.

If this game gets a lot of hype and love it deserves, maybe we put this game at a future Evo Vegas event like how it was featured at Combo Breaker last year as a part of the Mystery Game Tournament. Not as a main game, but as a part of the side tournament since SEGA vs. Capcom is a fanmade fighting game.

This oddities you saw in the gameplay livestream like the outdated screens that take place at BETA 2.75 will not be present in the final build as the livestream took place in a WIP build. That's why Beat was not in there. But what things that will be in the final build are the new in-game UI and new soundtracks that will release upon the launch of Season 1, including the new character select theme that I found actually more catchier than the other one that it sets the mood for the SEGA and Capcom universes. If the game comes out on my 32nd birthday, it's gonna be a birthday present for me. I have a birthday livestream planned and coming soon.

Do you know what I want in SEGA vs. Capcom? Duo Play. Duo Play is essentially a feature in 2XKO that involves playing as a duo by both players on the same team. Teammates have their own character to pick. It pretty much lives up to being played best as a duo. Duo Play in SEGA vs. Capcom sounds like an impressive feature to me. We do have a 4-player game mode, Cross Fever, but we can change that to being 1-4 players to apply to wanting Duo Play implemented in SEGA vs. Capcom in most game modes, including online modes.

Now let's talk about the only interesting thing. That is an Ulala-like in 2XKO. Like, we know that Lux, Samira, Kennen and Sett will be Ingrid, Dante, Sonic and Axel Stone-likes in 2XKO, so there is one character in League of Legends that could potentially be an Ulala-like in 2XKO since Ulala is straight up confirmed. And that is Sona. She is, in fact, a musician character. There is a lot more to talk about here that I won't fit into this post.

As I said before, a post that contains a list of 25 wanted characters for planned new 2XKO characters of 2027-2030 is in the works. I'm working on making wanted posters for future characters, so if the post is up, you can click the link below.

-Post coming soon-

And since SEGA vs. Capcom in its full-fledged glory is getting closer to releasing this month, it will definetely tide us over for Luxanna Crownguard's brilliant entrance in 2XKO and that's something we can look forward to. And not just Lux, but Samira as well. And during full release, this game can learn from the things 2XKO has done. If you're interested in learning more about Lux and Samira's launch in 2XKO and its nuances and the things that SEGA vs. Capcom can learn from 2XKO, here are the links to the posts below.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2026/07/2xko-2026-characters-theory-update-4.html

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2026/01/what-sega-vs-capcom-can-learn-from-2xko.html

PlayStation is Going All-Digital

We have some breaking news that PlayStation is undergoing a shift to all digital starting in 2028, meaning that new games that release beyond the date will be all digital while games that were released prior to the date will still carry physical discs. This is not a joke or a rumor. PlayStation is officially ditching discs and going all digital. Let's... jump right in?

I'm back a new post that left me quite shocked. Today, gaming has been having a lot of challenges, especially most recently with the gaming industry. With the PS6 and Project Helix on their way, everyone is petitioning for these systems to be priced reasonably. And there is a piece of news that shocked us.

PlayStation has announced that starting in 2028, they are going to cease production on physical discs and focus on releasing new games beyond the point digitally. This comes from the market shift and players making an approach on doing digital purchases, indicating that physical copies will have digital codes inside the cases. Then they went silent for six days and made a post again about the FlexStrike wireless stick, ignoring widespread backlash. This news was met with mixed reactions, with those hailing it as the end of an era for gaming and those that are lazy to put in discs hailed it as an agreeable decision that they prefer to buy them digitally since they can't break digital and those outraged to put #NoDiscNoBuy on their posts.

Why they are doing this is because the PS6 will not have a disc drive at launch. But they will have a separate disc drive to play previous gen games on disc, the ones that release prior to 2028. People are willing to treasure their physical games forever since PlayStation is doing away with disc production starting in 2028. One person believed that putting game discs on a shelf is not the future of gaming. They read the Arabic writing on the wall and said it's time to stop disc production and go all digital, so a Change.org petition was created to urge PlayStation to change their minds and continue producing discs for the foreseeable future.

This backlash-worthy news is tantamount with the physical copies of GTA VI just having a code that gives players access to the game. After Rockstar has announced a cover art for the game that fits well with the fictional setting of Leonida where GTA VI will take place at, pre-orders went live and the physical copies' lack of discs is gonna be a disaster for retailers that are planning to boycott the game until Rockstar starts printing discs for physical copies. This doesn't just apply to AAA titles, but indies as well. This just tells me that Sony is absolutely tone-deaf, acting like children while sticking their fingers in their ears and screaming, "I'm not listening!" as the petition has hit over 150,000 signatures.

The only bad thing about PlayStation undergoing a shift to going all-digital is that it's gonna be a total nightmare for retailers since digital purchases offer revocable licenses, not ownership. Ending support for discs comes with something even worse than that. Our accounts will be deleted after three years of inactivity. This is the stupidest and the most retarded agreement Sony has ever enforced. The fact that PlayStation ending disc support in 2028 and deleting our accounts after three years of inactivity should be a crime against humanity and nature of gaming themselves. Xbox and Nintendo never do this. The stupid decisions Sony had made; they became backlash-worthy. It was worse than when Pokemon in their possession were wiped out from Pokemon Home after people pivoted to the Switch 2.

Another problem with Sony's disc-free future is that PS5 games that are in an external storage device can't be played, but PS4 games in an external storage device can be played. This is Sony's attempt to have a monopoly over the gaming market with their greed. If Sony keeps ignoring to the fierce backlash, if players are going to buy games digitally, they are seriously switching over to Steam since digital purchases on Steam provide ownership rather than revocable licenses and Steam games are also playable through the external hard drive. When they made an announcement to end physical media on 2028, they went silent. Then they made a post about the FlexStrike wireless stick, ignoring backlash, like nothing happened.

Now, this is not the first time something like this has happened in the department of backlash-worthy decisions among the gaming community. The first Mortal Kombat was ported to home consoles by Acclaim to spark the creation of the ESRB, Cards Unbound was implemented to Paladins in the OB64 update, free Hextech Chests were removed in League of Legends, content and art have been censored in Skullgirls 2nd Encore, aggression was encouraged in Tekken 8 at the beginning of Season 2, predatory microtransactions were implemented in Skate. and there are AI-generated assets in several games. This has been a continuous point of contention. These decisions angered the gaming community and caused them to make calls to boycott these games and companies until they fix things. Trust me, if you keep track of and live through the era of backlash-worthy decisions; decisions that are worthy of sparking backlash, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

In other news, not only PlayStation is ending physical media. They announced that they will also be closing the PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita in select markets this year and the rest of the markets next year as they focus their support on modern consoles since the PS3 is deemed a retro console like the Xbox 360 and the Wii despite it being a tough nut to crack because of the notorious Cell processor that prevented modern consoles from ever having full backwards compatibility. But who needs full backwards compatibility when we have emulation? After the dates, games you bought in the PS Store will remain playable while physical PS3 games will still work.

This seals the deal. I agree with the backlash against Sony's decision to stop producing discs for games that release in 2028. If Sony doesn't listen to the backlash and reverse their decision by 2028, I'll be taking my digital purchases on Steam. But I don't want to put a slant to indies or retro games because indies have less space and are less-memory intensive and I get to revisit my games I played during my childhood. I like to make myself clear that when I buy games digitally, I own them, not being granted a revocable license.

And Sony, if you're going all-digital, please don't take away our ownership rights at least. Digital purchases should at least provide ownership like physical purchases do, not revocable licenses. Heck, might as well follow Xbox's footsteps by having a disc-to-digital feature and they're keeping discs relevant and not killing them. Also, PLEASE remove the agreement regarding deleting our accounts after three years of inactivity from the EULA. I don't care if three years is a long time. It is a very dumb agreement to make gamers mad. That's all I beg of you, Sony. Please listen to the mass backlash or you'll be facing a major boycott from players that are shifting to Steam until you do.

2XKO 2026 Characters Theory (UPDATE 4)

The final two remaining characters of 2026 have been unveiled at Evo and both of them are the characters I wanted, but not the ones I theorized in the initial post. Let's jump right in!

Boy howdy, the announcement at Evo became a quite a bombshell. I originally thought that we won't be able to get something special after 2XKO Top 8 at Evo Vegas, but we actually got something special. Anyway, let's get to the main meat and the knitty gritty of the final update regarding my theory of who will be the 2026 characters coming to 2XKO.

Now, on the previous post, I originally said Lucian is likely to be the fifth and penultimate character of 2026 and Katarina would be the final character of the year to make it synonymous to Spyro: A Realm Beyond. Well, guess what? It is officially none of them. See, I understand that when people expect to see Katarina on every reveal trailer, they get let down and disappointed every single time. Now, she might be a Year 2 character, but in terms of expecting Katarina being tantamount to expecting Sora from Kingdom Hearts, don't get your hopes up.

Riot has revealed the final two Year 1 characters after 2XKO Top 8 at Evo and guess what? None of them are the ones in my Year 1 wish list, but they are the two characters in my general wish list though. Who are the last two Year 1 characters? Let's roll the trailer and find out who they are.

She looks peak and broken. Lux, the Lady of Luminosity and Samira, the Desert Rose, have been officially revealed as the last two Year 1 2XKO characters of 2026. It's time for the breakdown.

As you watched the trailer, Lux swings her two-sided baton, comes with a Demacia-themed stage and has an intro dialogue with Senna. For any eagle-eyed fans who are watching the trailer, the stage has statues of Galio and Kayle in the background. Looking at her short gameplay, Lux could be the Ingrid of 2XKO and this gets me very excited. Lux's full trailer is coming out in Fall 2026, meaning that her launch is a week after her full trailer drops, just in time for Evo France. At the end of the trailer, Lux will not be the only upcoming character because Samira, the Desert Rose, is also revealed to be the final Year 1 character.

Now let's go over the things on why am I excited for both characters. I have several reasons specifically for Lux and Samira, a general reason and one concern.

Very First Demacia Character:

2XKO never had a Demacian character yet. League of Legends' commemoration of Demacia is going strong so far and the story is developing. I wanted a Demacian to be in the roster and it's working. Lux will be the first Demacian to ever come to 2XKO, and it's a developing story to honor League of Legends' Demacia Rising event.

Setting the Stage for Garen and Other Demacia Champions:

Since Luxanna Crownguard will be the very first Demacia Champion to ever come to 2XKO with a Demacia-themed stage to honor League of Legends' Demacia Rising event, a precedent has spoken. Garen Crownguard, Luxanna's brother, is now likely to have more of a chance to potentially make his debut to 2XKO with his sister in the future, and so are a few others like Vayne, Sona, Shyvana, Galio, Quinn, Kayle and even Locke, who is the most recent Demacian character. I have some countless testimonies telling me that Tianna Crownguard might potentially be a playable character in League of Legends.

Filling in the Lines:

If you don't know what do I mean by this, if you scroll down on the League of Legends homepage, you'll see the Classes section of the homepage that says Choose Your Champion. As you click on a class symbol, it shows the character as an example of a certain class. Akali is an example of an Assassin character, Yasuo is an example of a Fighter character, Jinx is an example of a Marksman character, Thresh is an example of a Support character and Lux is an example of a Mage character. And when you click on a Tank symbol, it displays Leona as an example of a Tank character.

I do not think that this is a simple coincidence. Leona displaying on the site when clicking on the Tank symbol suggests that the Radiant Dawn is likely to come to 2XKO as the very first Targonian character to come with a Targon-themed stage, which would be nice because I love to see Leona in 2XKO, but as a full-fledged playable character since she is in the background of Kiramman Yacht with other characters in their Pool Party skins. This suggests that the characters in the background other than Ahri and Caitlyn could mean that they could potentially become playable characters, making fans of League of Legends and fighting games swoon and lose their minds.

Design Update:

As the trailer unfolds, someone pops up and I was like, "Who is that teaming up with Senna?" It is clearly Lux, but in her 2XKO design. Notice that she is wearing her boots and her royal dress of the Crownguard family in the medieval times? This shows that Lux's design in 2XKO is completely different than her League of Legends design, and that's the point of this. Champions feature visual adjustments to better fit the fighting game environment.

Second Noxus Character:

As I have said, during her childhood, Samira was once a Shurima character until she hails to earn her true calling in Noxus to become a stylish daredevil with her stylish moves accompanied by her twin pistols and a blade, deeming her a Noxian. Darius won't be the only Noxian in the roster because we're getting the second Noxian being Samira. You know, I woudn't be shocked if we are eventually gettng a Shuriman turned Noxian daredevil. I mean, Samira was a Shuriman in her childhood.

A Dante-Like in 2XKO?:

When I was watching 2XKO Pools at Evo 2026, the commentators had a conversation about a female character in League of Legends that could be a Dante-like in 2XKO, and it's working. We are officially getting a Dante-like in 2XKO, so who is gonna have Dante's playbook in 2XKO? Samira. She is a stylish daredevil in Noxus with her twin pistols and a blade to indicating her a Dante-like, hence "stylish". This is the buzz that I have been hearing on social media and from the commentators.

The 17th Character:

The excitement focuses on 2XKO's character select screen.

If you look at the current placement that holds up to 16 characters, there are currently 15 characters in the roster. We are one character away from filling out the bottom right row. The 16th character that will fill out the bottom right row is Lux. Having 17 characters this year gives us an opportunity to find out what the selection will look like once the 17 character, which is Samira, launches. But what will it look like? Well, there are two ways to manipulate the selection to make room for more characters after Lux. I went to MS Paint and worked two ways on how will the devs manipulate the selection of characters to make enough room for the 17th character and beyond.

For the first method, I am going to compare and contrast with the character select screen in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

The select screen has three rows and 59 character portraits on it. I'm using this as a re-enactment on how will they manipulate the selection to pave the way for Samira and beyond.

How will they do it is that they shorten the height and the width of the character portraits to have a third row in and narrow the random selection. This method uses Tekken Tag 2's style of a selection of characters that has 48 portraits.

For the second method, let's compare with the old and unpolished character select screen from Alpha Lab 1.

And in it are the narrower character portraits and a smaller Random selection button.

If they go for this method to manipulate the selection of characters, they can narrow the portraits and the random selection by . This one doubles the number of portraits to 32, which I think this method can be done first before doing the Tekken Tag 2-style placement.

These are my two designs to suggest on how are they gonna manipulate the portraits to make enough room for the 17th character and beyond. Again, the top design that holds up to 32 characters is actually ideal to go with first. Once the 33rd character launches, the bottom design would be next to hold up to 48 characters. After all, I am excited to see more characters get added becuase of a small roster on a tag fighter.

More Girls?!:

Yes, 2XKO is getting more girls as the last two Year 1 characters are both female characters. The funny thing about this is that when I was watching the Father and Son Beatdown covering SEGA vs. Capcom, Deen said it's gonna have four more girls at the end of the video. That one made me laugh. But there are actually three more girls. Vyse is the only male character on the docket.

I know that there are some people that fighting games don't need more female characters, but the majority of the FGC do. Heck, I want a fighting game to have more female characters and 2XKO is one of them to tell you that I don't want to be a sexist, like those who were critical about an upcoming God of War featuring a female protagonist. Year 1 has, in fact, five female characters and one male character. There is an excellent chance for the roster to have more female characters than male characters when Samira launches.

Double-Header Release:

This has to be my concern because if the remaining two characters were released simultaneously, the 16-character roster wouldn't be given a chance. We were supposed to have a 14-character roster, but Thresh's release had to coincide with Senna's release to give the 15-character roster a chance to honor the lore that surrounds the part where Thresh traps Senna in his lantern until she broke out of it to gain powers of the Black Mist.

This question comes to mind. If Lux and Samira are coming to 2XKO, are they releasing simultaneously? No, I don't think they are. Riot wants to release a character and make them legal before each Major event in the Competitive Series. Caitlyn came out before Frosty Faustings, Akali came out before Evo Japan, Senna and Thresh came out before Evo Vegas, Lux will come out before Evo France, and Samira will come out before Battle Coliseum. The correlation between five Major events and six new characters and the lore are how we had to experience a double-header release.

However, Lux and Samira coming to 2XKO isn't the only thing I'm very excited for because there's another thing that I am also quite excited for. A new character beyond the first ten has been revealed at end of the Sakura Shinguji trailer for SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level. That is Beat from Jet Set Radio.

That's right, Beat is officially coming to SEGA vs. Capcom as the 11th character to commemorate Jet Set Radio's 26th Anniversary. He is in fact shown on the art to indicate that he has been confirmed and in development for quite some time now. Our rollerblading lad is gonna step into the roster at launch while Akira Yuki from Virtua Fighter is being reworked and will be returning in a post-launch update with the release of the confirmed 12th character that is likely a Capcom character. 4Cyde Studios is having their first ever gameplay livestream for SEGA vs. Capcom on July 9th. Be sure to catch the livestream if you're interested.

If you're eager to try out Demacia's luminous angel, well, I have good news for you. Since it's currently July, SEGA vs. Capcom is nearing its full-fledged release with the Season 1 launch. It is the perfect time and opportunity to play SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level in its full-fledged level to tide us over for Lux's release.

Instead of ending this post empty-handed, to make us hyped about both SEGA vs. Capcom's full-fledged launch in July and Lux's launch in 2XKO in fall, let's take a look at where the SEGA and Capcom sides and the key points will stand now that Lux and Samira are revealed at Evo after Top 8. Again, this is just for creativity and imagination, so please don't lawsuit me for defamation.

Characters so far:

Ahri
Akali
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Illaoi
Jinx
Lux
Samira
Senna
Teemo
Thresh
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

I'm gonna take the 17-character roster and divide it into the SEGA and Capcom sides across the board and state the key points this roster will come with. Since this year is seeing 17 characters, the Capcom side will be short by one character on the SEGA side until we get an 18th character. Let's divide the roster. As usual, we'll start with the SEGA side.

Samira is initially introduced, Ahri, Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Ekko, Jinx, Teemo, Vi and Yasuo remain. The SEGA side puts Ahri, Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Ekko, Jinx, Samira, Teemo, Vi and Yasuo.

Lux is initially introduced, Akali, Braum, Darius, Illaoi, Senna, Thresh and Warwick remain. That puts Akali, Braum, Darius, Illaoi, Lux, Senna, Thresh and Warwick on the Capcom side.

SEGA side:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Samira
Teemo
Vi
Yasuo

Capcom side:

Akali
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Lux
Senna
Thresh
Warwick

Key points:

Ahri on the SEGA side = NiGHTS
Blitzcrank on the SEGA side = Vectorman
Caitlyn on the SEGA side = Valkyria Chronicles
Ekko on the SEGA side = Pulseman
Jinx on the SEGA side = Jet Set Radio
Samira on the SEGA side = Valkyria Chronicles
Vi on the SEGA side = Jet Set Radio
Yasuo on the SEGA side = Blood Will Tell: Tezuka Osamu's Dororo
Akali on the Capcom side = Power Stone
Darius on the Capcom side = Knights of the Round
Lux on the Capcom side = Star Gladiator
Senna on the Capcom side = Devil May Cry
Thresh on the Capcom side = Ghosts n' Goblins
Warwick on the Capcom side = Darkstalkers

Now, with no fighting game goggles on, no bias. Looking at the info, it is really developing and all coming together as all six new characters have been revealed.

It sucks that we will not get to see Katarina make it to the light of day this year, but thankfully, Samira is coming to 2XKO as the second Noxian though. Arucelli stated that she will be in a future roster while she submitted her concept art to the designers and it's exactly like that. Does this mean that our red-haired assassin will never make it to the light of day? Absolutely not. See, Katarina is still planned, so just have faith in Riot and keep believing in our red-haired assassin until she is materialized.

It takes four updates, but we have reached the ends of my predictions on who will be the 2026 characters. Lux and Samira--they are the two characters that are not hypothetical, but they are the characters I wanted anyway, along with previous characters, especially Caitlyn. Sure, she may be an Arcane character, but Vi is the number one reason why I wanted Caitlyn to be in 2XKO so that people, including yours truly, would see Piltover's Finest--the mighty cops of Piltover in a duo--something that Wawa plays as. But did you hear the intro dialogues that involve Vi calling Caitlyn cupcake? This is a callback to Arcane with a big LMAO.

That said, instead of listing the honorable mentions and the top five characters that could potentially be 2027's new characters, I am working on a post that lists the wanted characters. It's gonna be not 10 wanted characters for planned characters of 2027, but 25 wanted characters for planned characters of the 2027-2030 timeframe. That's right, 25 wanted characters. I went to the League of Legends page and used Bandicam to screencap over 40 Champion cards. I can't reveal the 25 characters to you just yet, but I am planning a livestream that has the coverage of turning the character cards into wanted posters. Not all of them, but just some of them. If the post is up, you can click the link below.

-Post coming soon-

Joe's Monologues - 6/19/2026

Hello, everyone. I'm back from my old stomping grounds with a new entry of Joe's Monologues. I said that the series would return, so here it is. Let's take a dive into the series.

Comfort Stream Test Complete:

Right off the bat, I'm gonna talk about the update regarding my comfortability. I did a short stream that serves as a test run on how long I can sit down on my gaming chair while streaming. The test is complete, thanks to my U-shaped cushion. It provides extreme comfortability that the cut out part offers little to no coccyx pain pressure. That was after using it on the airplane, which also turned out well, especially since the seats in it lack cushion. Thanks to my U-shaped cushion, it's gonna help my coccyx pain, especially on longer sessions.

Escape from Ever After:

I did a little bit of Escape from Ever After on stream while doing a comfort test. I went ahead and partaken on the 100-floor challenge. I stopped at level 30 as part of the test. I didn't bother doing an episode because it was just a test. There is an optional Little Red Riding Hood storybook that I plan to record, but it won't be until I beat the main story. It's my duty to find out if the CEO of Ever After Inc. is the mastermind of allowing the company to take over storybooks.

Evo 2026:

The biggest fighting game event of the summer is fast approaching as it's one week left before Evo opens its doors in Las Vegas. I am very excited to experience the action and find out what do they have in store for fighting games. As Evo is approaching, the crew is setting up booths and streaming equipment at the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Everything is coming together really nicely. The commentator lineup is up, but the streaming schedule and the Friday Showcase schedule are not yet up and they are the two things we can look out for.

See, Evo has always been the biggest fighting game tournament of the summer, known for tournaments, cosplays, booths, demos and reveals. I don't watch Evo just for the tournament action, but for reveals because I am anxious to see what do companies have in store for us in the FGC. I have a post that goes into detail about what was the staple for Evo for years in the works. It may be scrapped or planned.

What Happened During My Stay:

It feels good to be back home after my one week stay at my old stomping grounds. But it came with a cost. Recently, my cousin threw a tantrum for some reason. My aunt was celebrating her 90th birthday. It left her no longer fit to serve. I honor my aunt's time. I can't believe that I witnessed firsthand of a grown adult acting childish and throwing a tantrum. It's the first time I have ever experienced an adult acting childish right before my eyes. But not to my mother.

I mean, seriously! What on Earth is a pathetic excuse of a 67-year-old woman acting childish for some reason? It's like an adult throwing a tantrum over McDonald's and some crap! I mean, come on! This part actually exposed another huge reason why I like to search for my old friends in my old stomping grounds and why women are so special in the US in the first place because their standing posture is different than men's! If you're an adult and if you throw a childish tantrum over McDonald's, etc., guess what you're doing nearly every day! The moisture in the air and the green environment make for real citizens!

What Am I Doing Next:

Now that I'm back home, if you're wondering what's the next thing I am doing, I am going to do an episode of my Escape from Ever After Let's Play series now that I have the cushion I need to relieve my tailbone pain. It's gonna be before I livestream both Sonic Racing Crossworlds and 2XKO in hopes of growing my channel.

Conclusion:

It has been a lot I had to go though in this entry. The series is back now that I got home. Here's to the next entry.

2XKO 2026 Characters Theory (UPDATE 3)

I have some breaking news that left me quite shocked. The teaser is shown at the end of the Senna trailer and there may be something huge in it. Let's jump right in.

I'm back with an update that serves as a breaking news regarding my theory on who are 2XKO's 2026 characters. We have the potential hint towards who could be the next 2XKO character after Senna.

The end of the Senna trailer shows the background of an eerie stage that the next character will come with, but it's themed around Shadow Isles, indicating that we're getting the first Shadow Isles character. The stage is some sort of broken palace engulfed in creepy teal mist and has a statue. And as you watch the teaser at the end, you hear an eerie laughter. But who does the eerie laugher belong to? Well, after hearing the eerie laughter at the end of the Senna trailer and playing the laughter on each Shadow Isles character at the League of Legends Wiki, one of them matches the tone of the laughter at the end of the trailer.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's official. We might be looking at a potential hint to who could be the next 2XKO character after Senna that is releasing alongside her on the same day being June 9. The eerie laughter belongs to none other than the first Shadow Isles character, Thresh, the Chain Warden, which has me very excited and hyped that he's the character I wanted, but not the character I theorized in the initial post. Senna coming to 2XKO comes with Thresh's high likelihood of debuting in 2XKO, especially since in terms of lore, Thresh imprisoned Senna's soul in a lantern until she eventually broke out of it to learn to use the Black Mist's dark juju herself, but without a trace of retaliation. Senna's lore in League of Legends seals the deal that Thresh is likely to come to 2XKO along with Senna.

Senna's lore in League of Legends and Senna coming to 2XKO confirmed and sealed the deal that Thresh is definetely coming to 2XKO. That's two pieces of information. But there is one more piece of puzzle to draw us closer to seeing who is the next 2XKO character. Where do we find the piece of info? Well, folks, I have decided to dig deeper into this hole and found something that is a knockout punch to draw us closer to who could be Character 5 of 2026.

The final piece of information as to who is the fifth character of 2026 lies within Lucian's lore in League of Legends. Let's take a read and stress out the things.

"Lucian, a Sentinel of Light, is a grim hunter of wraiths and specters, pursuing them relentlessly and annihilating them with his twin relic pistols. After the specter Thresh slew his wife, Lucian embarked on the path of vengeance--but even with her return to life, his rage is undiminished. Merciless and single-minded, Lucian will stop at nothing to protect the living from the long-dead horrors of the Black Mist."

This is important to remember that there are nuggets of information you must hone in on. I originally said that the fifth character of 2026 would be Ashe, but apparently, that's gonna be changing, because if we put Senna and Thresh's debut to 2XKO, Senna's lore, and Lucian's lore mentioning things written in boldface together, there is enough evidence to confirm that Lucian is likely, not certainly, but likely, to be next 2XKO character as the fifth character of 2026, which means, yes, Senna is Lucian's wife, strongly suggesting that Lucian is likely be the fifth 2XKO character of the 2026.

I know what you're trying to say that you're looking forward to have a duo of Lucian and Senna in a husband and wife duo with the Teamfight Fuse equipped and use it against Thresh being a point character with the Juggernaut Fuse equipped. Well, I have good news for you. If you hone in on the evidence I put together, Lucian is likely to be the fifth character of the year, period. I'm not confirming anything, but I'm saying it's likely.

But there is something that left me quite shocked. I looked through the list of characters Lucian is related to and guess who is on the list? Miss Fortune. Then I looked through the list of characters Miss Fortune is related to and who is on the list? Lucian. Funny. Who would've thought that Lucian and Sarah are related to each other? Interesting, huh?

Not to throw shade at this, but if Miss Fortune is officially the final character of 2026, then Gangplank might be the first character of 2027 in terms of lore because you know, Thresh coming to 2XKO because of Senna, resulting in a simultaneous double-header release and the piece of lore mentioning the part where Miss Fortune kills Gangplank. That explains why Lucian is on the list of characters Miss Fortune is related to and vice versa. This really takes the cake. I went on to say to myself on X that if Miss Fortune could be a Noel Vermillion-like, then Lucian could be a Star-Lord-like.

But this is not the first time we're experiencing a double roster drop. In case if you're unaware, Vi and Blitzcrank launched simultaneously in Closed Beta, Teemo and Warwick launched simultaneously in Early Access, and Senna and Thresh will launch simultaneously in June 9 after Season 2's launch, which is actually a good thing because we're getting closer to the point where they manipulate the selection of characters to pave the way for the 17th character and beyond. I'll tell you why later in the future of this post.

I screencaped the character roster in the 2XKO Wiki. The roster is developing. A third row has been added as Thresh is added to the list. And boy howdy, they better fix the positioning of Ahri and Akali's portraits lickety-split because they are a bit out of position.

And here's something really interesting. Senna and Thresh's simultaneous launch on June 9 comes with changing my predictions as to when the last two characters are launching and how will they reveal them. This comes in four predictions and I'm gonna sort them by likelihood. Since the pieces of information I put together provide enough evidence to confirm that Lucian is likely to be the next 2XKO character after Thresh, I'll put his name in them.

Prediction 1:

Lucian announced at Evo (if confirmed).
The sixth character of the year teased at the end of the Lucian trailer.
Lucian launches in October 6.
The sixth character of the year launches in November.

Prediction 2:

Lucian and the sixth character of the year announced either at Evo (if confirmed) or on a future Weekly Warmup post.

Lucian launches in September 8.
The sixth character of the year launches in November.

Prediction 3:

Lucian announced either at Evo (if confirmed) or on a future Weekly Warmup post.
The sixth character of the year teased at the end of the Lucian trailer.
Lucian and the sixth character of the year launch in October 6.

Prediction 4:

Lucian and the sixth character of the year announced either at Evo or on a future Weekly Warmup post.
Lucian launches in August.
The sixth character of the year launches in October 6.

These are the four predictions regarding Lucian and the sixth character of 2026. Let's sort them by likelihood.

---Most Likely---

Prediction 2:

Lucian and the sixth character of the year announced either at Evo or on a future Weekly Warmup post.
Lucian launches in September 8.
The sixth character of the year launches in November.

Prediction 4:

Lucian and the sixth character of the year announced either at Evo or on a future Weekly Warmup post.
Lucian launches in August.
The sixth character of the year launches in October 6.

Prediction 1:

Lucian announced at Evo.
The sixth character of the year teased at the end of the Lucian trailer.
Lucian launches in October 6.
The sixth character of the year launches in November.

Prediction 3:

Lucian announced either at Evo or on a future Weekly Warmup post.
The sixth character of the year teased at the end of Lucian's trailer.
Lucian and the sixth character of the year launch in October 6.

---Least Likely---

Sorted the predictions by likelihood. You might be wondering why Prediction 2 is most likely. Well, there is one obvious reason to get out of the way first.

Riot is learning based on how we play in Early Access by shifting it from having five seasons to having three seasons and separating the new season releases from new character releases mostly, not entirely, meaning that the fifth character of the year is likely to launch at the start of Season 3.

Now we can answer this question. Why are Senna and Thresh launching simultaneously on June 9? The best reason is obvious.

Riot likes to release a new character before each Major event in the Competitive Series. Caitlyn came out before Frosty Faustings, Akali came out before Evo Japan, and Senna will come out before Evo. Since there are five Major events and six planned characters, Riot is coinciding Thresh's launch with Senna's launch to release them simultaneously for their legal debut at Evo to make things up. It serves as a buffer between Caitlyn and Akali's launch within Season 1 and Characters 5 and 6's launch within Season 3 to give them ample time to develop Characters 5 and 6 and get them ready for release for their legal debut Evo France and Battle Coliseum. Now, please be aware that these are educated guesses. They don't confirm anything.

As I have said, Lucian is likely to be Character 5 of 2026 because of the pieces of information and the fact that he is Senna's husband you must hone in on. But the final character of the year remains a mystery. Even if we don't see them announced at Evo after 2XKO Top 8, a future Weekly Warmup post is the way.

"The final character of the year could be an Arcane character." I don't think the final character of 2026 is an Arcane character because Riot has made it clear that they are done with Arcane characters for now. But that doesn't mean we won't get to see any more Arcane characters.

"What if Character 6 is revealed to be Katarina?" Ah ha, now that is actually an interesting question. Fortunately, I got good news for you. If you don't remember, Katarina was Thanos-snapped from the earlier stages of the game's development. If our red-haired Noxian assassin is revealed to be Character 6, likely launching before Battle Coliseum, it's gonna be the best day for us League of Legends and 2XKO fans, being synonymous to waiting for the announcement of Spyro 4.

We must keep believing in Katarina because back in October, Arucelli made her a concept art and submitted it to the designers for her redesign stage. This leaves me to lock in my prediction of Katarina being the final character of the year and it's gonna be the best day for us League of Legends fans if she is revealed as the final character of 2026. In fact, the final character of the year doesn't have to be Katarina--it can be a different Noxian character because I want another Noxian Champion at least.

The next update regarding my theory will have the coverage in regards to the fifth and sixth characters of the year. Stay tuned for that.

Summer Game Showcase Wish List

We're approaching the period of summer game showcases where they reveal new games and provide an update regarding games that came out, and that can definetely fill out the gap left by E3's death. Today, I want to make a wish list of reveals I want to see in the period of game showcases in the summer.

Injustice 3:

One man has confirmed that Injustice 3 is in the works. That is nice, but which of the routes Injustice 2 left off that the third game will pick up? Well, either way, I would love to see Injustice 3 get announced, knowing that NetherRealm has confirmed the next Mortal Kombat, the second one that takes place in the new era.

2XKO Senna Trailer:

We are approaching the time when Senna launches in 2XKO since new season releases are mostly separate from new character releases. I want to see the Senna trailer drop at Summer Game Fest, but her trailer is coming out on June 2 according to the post. Even so, it is considered a part of the summer game showcases, whereas they showcase her trailer, palettes and moves.

Street Fighter 6 Year 4 Pass Trailer:

Ingrid rounds out the Year 3 Pass as the cherry on top and we're getting closer to the point where Street Fighter 6's Year 4 Pass is gonna be. If the leaks regarding the Year 4 Pass is true, then I see a chance that the Year 4 Pass Trailer could drop at Summer Game Fest. Evo is approaching and the first Year 4 character's trailer could drop before Top 8.

New Mana Title:

1991 is when the Mana franchise was established with the entry of Final Fantasy Adventure. It is 2026 and this is the year when the franchise reaches its 35th Anniversary. I think this calls for a new mainline Mana title to be announced because this is the year when the series is 35 years old.

Third Paper Mario-Style Game:

Indie devs started making games that are inspired by Paper Mario. They are Bug Fables and Escape from Ever After. These two games drew inspiration from the first two games of the franchise that are critically acclaimed. You know what I like to see? A third Paper Mario-inspired game. If it comes into fruition, I like it to have the Blue Dragon-style party of five Escape from Ever After used.

New Paper Mario Title:

Speaking of Paper Mario, this brings me to my next thing. Paper Mario has quite a dedicated fanbase, especially to the turn-based RPG genre. When we get to Sticker Star, it was disdained by fans of the first two games of the franchise, along with Color Splash and the Origami King. If Nintendo confirms a new Paper Mario title, they need to polish and multiply what made the first two games so perfect in the first place instead of fragmenting and borderline changing the genre like they did with the trio of games since Sticker Star. It's the only way to make a modern Paper Mario title that is on par with the first two games.

And in case if you're unaware, when Paper Mario: Color Splash was announced, a lot of people signed a petition to cancel the game because it continued the action adventure genre to further fragment the original foundation. That's why a modern Paper Mario game needs to be based off the first two games. That is how Bug Fables and Escape from Ever After were met with positive reception from the fans of Paper Mario. They can literally copy and paste the coding and physics of the remastered Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and start from there. They don't have to retool the game up from the ground up like they did with Sticker Star. The core of the game is already done.

Spyro 4:

The project went in development late 2023. The director at Toys for Bob believed that the next Spyro is gonna be big and ambitious. What this means that it'll never have the same treatment as Crash Bandicoot 4 to have the standards of the original trilogy. We can expect an open world element, deeper combat and RPG elements. It has been a long wait, but we're finally getting closer to the announcement of Spyro 4, hopefully at Summer Game Fest.

Because the next Spyro is gonna be big and ambitious, this isn't likely gonna be a by the numbers Spyro game. The 4 might be dropped from the official name. Don't forget; this is Toys for Bob's first title as an indie studio. That's why we have to wait three years before it is announced. There's one thing I do want from Spyro 4 the most.

Have you heard of the term, Sonally? The term represents the friendship between Sonic the Hedgehog and Sally Acorn in Sonic SatAM. Well, the one thing I like to see the most in Spyro 4 is Spylora. What is Spylora, you ask? It's a term that represents the friendship between Spyro the Dragon and Elora the Faun. We experienced it first in Spyro 2, so we want the friendship to continue in the new Spyro.

These are all of the announcements I want to see in this year's period of summer game reveals. If there is something I missed, I'll update the wish list before the reveals start.

Joe's Monologues - 5/29/2026

Hello, everyone. Welcome to yet another Joe's Monologues. This will be the final Joe's Monologues before I leave. But the series will continue once I get back home, so without further ado, let's take a dive.

Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling:

Right off the bat, I'm gonna talk about this game here. Recently, I have been playing Bug Fables and it's really developing and fantastic. The final boss given me a headache, but I finally beaten it. I even befriended Chompy and got the Tardigrade Shield, which is something I should've had done in the first place. That can make battles easier. I have uploaded six videos up to Bugsquerade Festival. I have a couple more videos to upload before I leave.

What is a Bugsquerade, you ask? Have you heard of a masquerade festival? Well, Bug Fables has a masquerade festival, but it's called a bugsequerade festival where anthropomorphic insects have fun and partake in the ceremony. It is basically a play on words pointing out to the festval. Again, I have couple more videos to upload before I leave.

Escape from Ever After:

Next, I'm gonna talk about one of the games I am finally going through now that I have beaten Bug Fables. Escape from Ever After is just dang near perfect. The combat is fluid, similar as that of the first two Paper Mario games. The party of five in the game is absolutely gorgeous, but it's kind of feels more like Blue Dragon than Lost Odyssey, especially since Eva and Patches are surely the Kluke and Marumaro of Escape from Ever After, right? The thing is, both Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey are turn-based JRPGs that have the party of five. It's something that future turn-based RPGs can have.

See, the part where pigs angered Tinder by calling her a lizard is already my most favorite part. Good thing I recorded that part when I'm doing a Let's Play video. Why can't the pigs just know the difference between a lizard and a dragon? You might be wondering why am I suspending playing this game. Well, I'm going to get some appropriate cushion for my gaming chair. The ones that I have; they are not comfortable enough and still feel my coccyx pain on them. But the one I came across on Amazon is gonna do it because the one I'm getting is a U-shaped cushion that provides little to no coccyx pressure. It benefits longer gaming sessions. That said, I'm ordering it soon and doing a test run while doing a short stream. I have two videos upoaded so far and I'll continue to upload them when I finish this game.

There's Little Red Riding Hood storybook that I am planning to record, but it's gonna be uploaded once I finish the story.

Evo 2026:

The biggest thrill ride of the summer is almost here as the registration numbers and the leaderboard have been finalized as signups have been closed.

Evo has posted a leaderboard of games. Here are the twelve games Evo Vegas will have this year like Evo Japan did. With twelve games, there are twelve champions to crown. You might be wondering why the top six games have to be light while the bottom six have to be dark. Well, here's one obvious thing. Since we have twelve games up there, the top six games will have their Top 8 in the Arena while the bottom six games will have their Top 8 at the area where the Friday Showcase takes place at.

Now, since Evo Vegas is taking place at the West Wing of the Las Vegas Convention Center to allow the Arena finals to go live on Saturday and Sunday, the pendulum swings in both days. Let's start with Saturday's Top 8 finals.

Saturday will see Top 8s for Virtua Fighter 5: R.E.V.O. World Stage, Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes, BlazBlue: Central Fiction, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Guilty Gear Strive and Rivals of Aether II. But Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Guilty Gear Strive and Rivals of Aether II will be played in the Arena while Virtua Fighter 5, Under Night In-Birth II and BlazBlue: Central Fiction will be played outside of the Arena.

Sunday will see Top 8s for Vampire Savior, Invincible VS, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, 2XKO, Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6. But 2XKO, Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 will be played in the Arena while Vampire Savior, Invincible VS and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves will be played outside of the Arena.

Saturday's Top 8s:

Games outside the Arena:

• Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage
• Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes
• BlazBlue: Central Fiction

Games inside the Arena:

• Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
• Guilty Gear Strive
• Rivals of Aether II

Sunday's Top 8s:

Games outside the Arena:

• Vampire Savior
• Invincible VS
• Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

Games inside the Arena:

• 2XKO
• Tekken 8
• Street Fighter 6

Here is the placement and order of how the games' Top 8 is gonna be played. This is the info I can have when it comes to time limitations.

We're gonna cross out BlazBlue: Central Fiction, Vampire Savior and 2XKO because I don't think that we're gonna see announcements regarding these games after or before Top 8 and we won't see a BBTAG 2 announced there. 2XKO in particular is being played in the Arena, but I don't think that we're gonna get some sort of reveal before or after 2XKO Top 8 since Senna is guaranteed to come out before Evo opens its doors.

While it sucks that they won't announce something for 2XKO before or after Top 8, my prediction of revealing the rest of the Year 1 characters and updating the roadmap to reveal the rest at the Friday Showcase is still in play. However, we can expect something for Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, Fatal Fury, Under Night In-Birth II, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, Invincible VS and Marvel Tokon since they have announcements among these games up on their sleeve.

Invincible VS in particular would take Mortal Kombat 1's spot at Evo since they knew that they needed one M-rated fighting game up there, and Invincible VS is considered an M-rated Marvel vs. Capcom clone because of brutal 3v3 tag combat and supers that dismember opponents when their HP is at 0. After all, Marvel vs. Capcom has been a main debut at Evo in the earlier years and Invincible VS can answer that with a bloody Marvel vs. Capcom-style combat.

With twelve games in one lineup to have twelve champions to crown, Evo 2026 is gonna be a blockbuster.

Summer Game Reveals:

The time when they reveal games in the summer is almost upon us. Publishers and developers have a lot of games in the works, ranging from AAA blockbusters to indies, starting with State of Play, to Summer Game Fest, Xbox Games Showcase and Nintendo Direct. A number of publishers and developers are getting themselves ready for the biggest showcase of the summer. With a showcase that hype, I do not doubt that it's gonna be enough to fill in the gap E3's death has made.

Indie devs are also gonna be a part of it. Maybe we can see a third Paper Mario-esque game. That would be fire. I love Paper Mario and has been a huge fan of the first two games of the franchise that are the most popular. My next post will have the things I want to see in the season of game reveals.

Future Plans:

And finally, I'm going to talk about my future plans, First off, as I have said before, I'm gonna be leaving on June 10th to go to my old stomping grounds because I got to attend at my aunt's birthday on June 13th at the place located at the street that is the very heart. This means I will not be doing any content until I get back home on the 17th of June. I am excited for this is not just because I'm celebrating my aunt's birthday. But better yet, it's doing nostalgic things, having a forest show and being on the lookout for people that resemble the quality of my old friends and that's something I want to do.

And to cap things off, I am planning to livestream both Sonic Racing Crossworlds and 2XKO together. However, I'm gonna have to wait until the wonky VS screen issue is fixed. The thing is, when the wonky VS screen happens, in game, the background from the VS screen remains to block the health bars and timer, there are shades of yellow on the assist character (particularly Ahri having yellow skin like the Simpsons) in the character select screen, and you see the VS label at the main menu. Alternatively, if that happens, I can use the workaround; restarting the game.

I reported the issue on X constructively enough. I went on to say, "The VS screen background remains in game when the wonky VS screen happens to block the health bars and timer," instead of, "The background of the VS screen being in game is driving me nuts. Fix this glitch now." This is courtesy of the Skullheart Forums' constructive vs. opinionated threads. That's why we need to make constructive bug reports, not opinionated bug reports.

Conclusion:

Again, this will be my final post of the series before I leave. But rest assured. The series will return as soon as I get home to do more content.

Let's Play - An Ongoing Trend on YouTube

With a lot of gamers across the world, Let's Play has been the best thing to for gamers to bank on. For years, we have been experiencing the long line of Let's Players around the world. The subject in Wikipedia states that Let's Plays specialize in subjective commentary with humorous moments and a focus on going through the story. I know that there are Let's Players that play Pokemon and it's the hardest thing to do a Let's Play on since the mainline games are divided into two versions. Today, Let's Play is something gamers have been cherishing on. Like, of course, PewDiePie, Chuggaconroy and Markiplier. Gamers in general would never stop being a gamer until they grow old because of long live gaming. That's how the documentary became an ongoing trend for decades.

I have been a gamer for years since I was 9 years old. Being a gamer means doing something productive for a change. If I said that I'm planning to become a Let's Player like others before me and recording gameplay videos, well, if I can't beat them, join them. So I did and that is since I have created my separate gaming channel on YouTube where I can post my Let's Play videos, gameplay videos and clips. I'll give you a link to my gaming channel at the end of this post.

I want to talk about one of the Let's Players that I have came across when there is something worthwhile. Enter 1smash18, gamer extraordinaire and Let's Player. He is one of the YouTubers who is known for his Let's Play series. His gameplay videos have commentary and involve Cartoon Network web games from the 2000s, which I know you guys loved those as kids. He now has a gaming computer. That unlocked playing more games other than SSF2 during Let's Play. Currently, he's doing his Hollow Knight Let's Play as he just uploaded the second episode of his Hollow Knight Let's Play series.

This is something that I want to do and with a gaming computer with bigger memory, a GPU and a CPU powerful enough. I am becoming a Let's Player like other gamers before me. I have finished the recording and the uploading process of my Let's Play series for Bug Fables. Now it's off to the publishing process. One of the videos is something interesting that you'll find out soon. My next series will be for Escape from Ever After as I have mentioned before. Beyond Escape from Ever After, there are more games to do my Let's Play series on, including LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, but the Steam version due to it having 50 GB of storage and not playing PS5 games stored on the hard drive.

But that's not all. Not only I am becoming a Let's Player like other gamers before me. I have talked about this in private, so it's time that to announce two things here. 

First off, I'll be streaming Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and 2XKO on the same livestream in the near future, hoping if I can grow my channel anytime soon. But I need to think of a title for streaming these two games. I'm also recording my Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and 2XKO commentary matches and putting them on my gaming channel. And with the Duo Finder and a duo voice chat, I'm gonna be streaming and recording duos in 2XKO because it is best played as a duo. They are more fun than solos and provide little to no selfishness. Not by a little bit, but by a landslide.

However, I will have to wait until one thing comes out. I'm not talking about nerfs to Teamfight or Senna's launch before Evo Las Vegas opens its doors since those who participated will earn a Pool Party Senna skin. But better yet, it's to fix the wonky VS screen glitch that occurs when the VS screen pops up twice and is accompanied by the background of the VS screen blocking health bars. I reported the glitch the moment I first experienced it via X and I hope we get a hotfix to remedy that.

And finally, I'm going to leave in June 10th to go to my old stomping grounds to attend to my aunt's 90th birthday on June 13th. I have finished packing my stuff. Do you know what is the funny thing about this? My mother wanted to go to see her grandchildren; my nephews and nieces. Well, simply put, it is a good thing, per se, but I don't want to go there just for that. I also want to go there to experience the charm in it like the cemetery, the woods and the street that is the very heart of a small town despite the fact that a charming Chinese restaurant like Fortune House is no longer there. Talking about it kind of makes me think of the red haired pirate of Bilgewater named Miss Fortune. Interesting.

The only thing about this is that the next 2XKO patch comes out June 9, which gives me one day to try Senna out before I leave. Fortunately, I got my PlayStation Portal Remote Player. With it, I can play any game I want on the go, so I'll be packing it and my computer. But there are two catches. The first is that I have to leave the PS5 on while I'm away since it doesn't play games independently. The second is that I will not be recording gameplay videos or livestreaming until June 17th when I go back home. But publishing Let's Play Bug Fables videos remains.

Now, if you're willing to become a Let's Player like others, you are more than welcome to do so because being a Let's Player is a productive thing to do. But you need a mic for commentary because without commentary, you can't make Let's Play videos. If you're interested in checking out and subscribing to my separate gaming channel, you can click the link below. The more subscribers, the better.

https://youtube.com/@knockdownjoegaming?si=pQq8aQ3Xnw8Mt-y0

What Could Bug Fables 2 Look Like?

What could Bug Fables 2 look like, and what new features that could be added? Let's jump right in.

It has been quite some time since I have talked about Bug Fables and I want to revisit it. But more of a hypothetical sequel, so today, I'm going to monologue what could Bug Fables 2 look like and what new features can be added to the sequel and things that need improvement. There's a lot to breakdown here. Now, before I begin, yes, I know, we already have a second game of the franchise being the Aphid Festival. But I'm talking about a full-fledged mainline sequel to the Everlasting Sapling.

First things first, from a technical aspect, I think it would be a natural and ideal form of progression to make the next Bug Fables in the same engine that Escape from Ever After. With the power of the same engine used in Escape from Ever After and because of the modern consoles that provide better technology, I think it can make the game overall look amazing.

And I like to make myself clear that Bug Fables 2 and its assets should be developed naturally and by hand, not through generative AI. The reason why I don't want any pig slop AI-generated content on my games is because they are the source of backlash and alienating fans. I kept track of the history of AI backlashes so far and I hadn't forgot about them. Do you remember what happened in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7? Nobody likes this game because of its AI-generated content. NTE faced backlash from Ironmouse due to having AI-generated assets. That caused them to distance themself from it until the AI-generated assets are removed. Expedition 33 was stripped from the Game of the Year award at the Indie Awards due to having AI-generated content to show that using generative AI is not an exclusive offense to AAA devs as indie devs do this as well.

Anyway, this is where we hit a bit of a roadblock, so here's the thing. Bug Fables was just darn near perfect. The battles are amazing. You learn new skills when progressing through the story and reaching certain levels. It has the whole Team Snakemouth trio in battle rather than having two characters in battle. It has NPCs that join the battle, like Maki. Everything is on point and we can see everything for the sequel. But there are some areas that need improvement and couple of new things to be added for a hypothetical Bug Fables 2 that I'll talk about now.

First off, the expanded party system. In Bug Fables 1, you only have the members of Team Snakemouth as the playable characters while NPCs like Maki can join you in some parts of the main story and can have Chompy as an optional companion and it can be accompanied by defeating the Mother Chomper to get the seed, get the Tardigrade Shield badge at the desert and delivering the seed to the elder bee at the Bee Kingdom.

But we can beef up the party system in Bug Fables 2. So, a fleshed out party system in Bug Fables 2 could work so that you can play as not only the members of Team Snakemouth consisting of Vi, Kabbu and Leif, but also others like Zasp, Mothiva, Maki, Kina, Acolyte Aria and even Yin, who is actually experienced after defeating the Wasp King, as well as a few others. They each have their own arsenal of abilities to use against enemies, the ones you see when fighting against them and they gain new abilities when reaching certain levels. This provides players the flexibility to choose the three characters to put in battle.

Here's the next thing for Bug Fables 2; Triple Strikes. The Super Mario RPG remake introduced powerful Triple Strikes and they very depending on the party. They come with a gauge that fills up when nailing the timing. I think Triple Strikes can work in Bug Fables 2 that it can come with a gauge and depend on the characters in battle. It fills up when nailing the timing. Nailing consecutive timings can increase the gauge faster. But blew the timing and the combo breaks and you would have to start all over again. The chain carries over between battles as long as you time your button presses correctly. For example, if you have Team Snakemouth in battle, they can execute a giant iceball move that is acquired from completing Leif's Request.

This brought me to my next point here. You would know that Bug Fables is inspired by the first two Paper Mario games that became the most popular and launched to critical acclaim. Guess what? We can leave the gameplay from the original game as is, but with new and innovative ideas that would polish and multiply what made Bug Fables so great in the first place.

Turn-based JRPGs became a blast to play. Some offer the order of when each character have a turn. We know that Bug Fables is a turn-based JRPG and we can keep the JRPG mechanics in Bug Fables 2 and add a turn window to display the turn order of characters and enemies and whose turn is it, like other turn-based JRPGs that have the turn order window. The turn order window in Bug Fables 2 would be beneficial enough to give battles some kick instead of having the party attack first before the enemies do.

Now, if you have been expecting the one issue in Bug Fables, which is incorrect button glyphs, that can obviously be fixed. The game not showing buttons of the Dualsense controller in game is due to the fact that Bug Fables actually came out before the PS5 does. Thankfully, Bug Fables 2 can fix the problem, by supporting Dualsense button glyphs.

Before I end this post, I want to say that Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling became near perfect. I was able to finally beat the game. The final boss given me a headache that the Everlasting King heals himself up two times. After three rounds, I have finally did it. And almost every aspect became suitable to my tastes. I recorded my gameplay videos and put them in my Bug Fables Let's Play series playlist. As a reward, I directly submitted my logo request to Broken Saw for the one that is capped from Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling. I deserve it for finally beating it.

Let me tell you this. There was a point in time when I was playing Earthlock, right? When I was playing Earthlock, I was struggling a bit on the final battle against Ichabo Locke. It became a connection to struggling a bit on the final battle against the Everlasting King. It's no coincidence to playing on the easiest difficulty in 007: Tomorrow Never Dies and Kingdom Hearts so that I wouldn't get a game over when I was a kid. Nevertheless, there is a silver-lining to all of this. 

If I had befriended Chompy and acquired the Tardigrade Shield medal in the first place, then maybe I wouldn't have no problem of defeating the Everlasting King at all because the Tardigrade Shield medal offers the Sturdy skill to an ally that equips it to raise an ally's defense by 3 and offer immunity to ailments for one turn and Chompy is proven quite useful. But now that I have beaten it, it's off to playing Escape from Ever After with the intention of starting my Escape from Ever After Let's Play series.

The thing is, if we want the sequel for the Bug Fables franchise to be meaningful, we need it to expand and polish what made Bug Fables 1 so amazing and perfect in the first place. But I think these unique and innovative ideas I have stated can overall greatly improve the Bug Fables experience in Bug Fables 2. If the sequel comes to fruition, I can make a Let's Play series for it.

How Mortal Kombat CHANGED the Series Forever

For years, we have been talking about the rivalry between Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. But this wasn't a simple debate between the emperor of Outworld and the owner of an evil organization called Shadaloo in a Death Battle. The truth is much bigger than that. The regular story is that Mortal Kombat was built to became a competition for Street Fighter, but today, we're gonna go much deeper. We're going to state that Mortal Kombat was something more. It wasn't just a competition to Street Fighter. It was a revolution that dethroned Street Fighter and changed the way we experience and play the series forever. To understand just how the series became so well-liked, you need to understand the world that they were walking into. Let's rewind back to 1987.

Street Fighter was established in 1987 by Capcom. It was the first game of the franchise that started it all as a pioneer. You only play as Ryu and fight through non-playable characters in a one player mode, but in two player mode, player two controls Ken Masters. The first of the series started out as a pioneer. Then in 1991, Street Fighter II came out on arcades as the sequel to the first Street Fighter. Street Fighter II marks the start of having a roster of multiple characters to play as. Upon release on the home consoles, the fighting game genre was popularized, leading to other companies to make their own fighting games and try and be the competition for Street Fighter.

In 1992, a brand new company being Midway Games has stepped up to the fighting game genre to be the competition for Street Fighter. And that's when two adults decided to step up and create a fighting game. This is where Ed Boon and John Tobias came in. Midway started development and followed Street Fighter's footsteps. It was more challenging, cruel and full of strife. One question comes to mind, "What will a brutal fighting game look like?" Enter Mortal Kombat, the brutal fighting game by Midway.

Upon arcade release of Mortal Kombat, things have been calm. It's like teenagers stepping up to the arcade joint to try out the game. The arcade release of the first Mortal Kombat became calm, until Midway partnered up with Acclaim Entertainment to begin porting the first Mortal Kombat to 16-bit home consoles. Once that happens, things took a turn for the worse. Mortal Kombat's home console release sparked controversy due to digitized sprites and graphic violence. That move sparked Senate hearings on video game violence held by Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl and the creation of the ESRB. Mortal Kombat's home console release wasn't just the source of sparking controversy. It became the titan of fighting games like Street Fighter was.

To Midway, the N64 cartridges became a nightmare since they became incredibly expensive to produce and have a limited amount of memory. That's how adults faced tough challenges that caused them to struggle when the cartridges were produced. This doesn't just apply to Midway, but to other companies as well, except for Capcom, which didn't produce a single game for the N64. One Capcom veteran named Yoshiki Okamoto later said and believed that when they switched to making games for the PlayStation, including Mortal Kombat, their profits have skyrocketed. That tells you developers who made Mortal Kombat games for the PlayStation had no problem at all because of the system's use of discs that hold much more data than cartridges, resulting in the games' better performance on the PS1 than on the N64.

Capcom has read a scroll of rules and requirements to try and expand Street Fighter beyond the gaming realm. So they did and they made a live action movie in 1994 by Jean Claude Van Damme, which received a negative reception from fans of the franchise due to its lack of special moves. While the film was met with negativity, the fight between Chun-Li and Vega was the only good thing in the film. It recreates and dates to the iconic battle in Street Fighter II. The film industry also had a bit of a competition between Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat in the mid 90s as New Line Cinema made a live action movie aptly named Mortal Kombat.

The 1995 film directed by Paul Anderson became a competition for the live action Street Fighter film, but unlike the games, the violence in it was toned-down due to its PG-13 rating. Despite the criticism towards the toned-down violence, the original film was praised for a spot-on cast, faithful costume design, sharp fight scenes and choreography and unforgettabble soundtrack that is inseparable from the franchise. They scream "Mortal Kombat!" because of the film, not the game. Then Annihilation, the sequel to the film came to pick up right where the first film left off with the inclusion of Shao Kahn, which don't talk to me about that. The original film hammered home the concept of special moves, sharp fight scenes based on the very first Mortal Kombat and its sequel. New Line Cinema squeezed the concept of toning down the violence in the film to give it a PG-13 rating.

The animated series for Street Fighter premiered on the same year on USA's Saturday morning block and received an overwhelmingly negative reception despite having two seasons. It was listed on the top 8 worst Street Fighter failures. It's the part where Guile recruited every character in the game into an anti-terrorist paramilitary group, terrible dialogue and atrocious story. It wasn't just Street Fighter that became a dumpster fire, but Darkstalkers as well, which also became critically panned due to the shoddy quality, garbage animation and horrible dialogues Street Fighter has.

Then Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm also premiered on the same year on USA and was also met with negative reception from critics due to its lack of violence that contributed to aiming at younger audiences and its cancellation after one season, shoddy animation, atrocious dialogue and the antics that were never experienced in the games. Antics include Raiden being cheeky, Nightwolf relying on technology, Stryker having an issue with Kiva, Nightwolf's pet dog, and even Sonya saying "Kombat Time". Not much of an antic, but definetely not well thought out.

In 1997, Mortal Kombat enters the 3D space and does away with the digitized sprites from the first three games with the entry of Mortal Kombat 4. The installment puts the series in a 3D arena space, introduces throwable objects and the use of weapons, marking it the first game of the series to ever take place in a 3D space.

In 2002, as we move on to the next generation of gaming, Midway has kept the 3D space from Mortal Kombat 4 with the introduction of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Deadly Alliance is the first game of the franchise that has new things never before seen in the previous entries like switching between styles, with one fighting style having a weapon, color coded coins needed to unlock content in the Krypt, breakers and interactive stage gimmicks.

Then Deception released in 2004 and introduced Hara-Kiris, which of course, are only performed by the losing player. And finally, Armageddon came out in 2008 to introduce the roster's everyone is here approach to have every character introduced in previous installments and the create your own Fatality mechanic. Ed Boon went ahead to help direct the three games within the sixth generation era that came out every two years for six years. What tells us is that these games weave into the spire of lost souls and spirits. In this case, Shao Kahn threatened to unleash Armageddon on all realms.

And as we move on to the 7th generation of gaming, Midway partnered up with Warner Bros. to develop Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. It does away with switching between fighting styles the 3D era trilogy has, but keeps the simple combos and has gimmicks of stage transitions on some stages, the rage system and two finishers for each character. While the 8th game of the series, it is not canon to Armageddon. Due to its T rating, the violence and the Fatalitles in it were toned down for all of the Mortal Kombat side and the DC villains with the exception of Shao Kahn and Darkseid, who don't have finishing moves. But not the DC heroes as they have Heroic Brutalities. It's due to the inclusion of DC Comics characters. That's why they wouldn't want fans to see Batman murdered.

See, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe may be alright, but I pretty much enjoyed its story because of Raiden and Superman being the alphas of their team and Mortal Kombat characters being relegated to Gotham and all that stuff. That would be the final game of the series to ever be published and released under the Midway umbrella. Then the series went on a hiatus for two years as Midway Games filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to pave the way for Warner Bros. to acquire all of Midway's assets, including Mortal Kombat and close out the Midway Games structure on July 10, 2009.

Warner Bros. went out to close most of Midway's Chicago headquarters and its San Diego and Newcastle studios, leaving the Chicago studio alive and intact to rename the studio as WB Games Chicago several days later. Over a year later, WB Games Chicago was rebranded and reincorporated into NetherRealm Studios. And guess what? This was their first game they have ever made since Warner Bros. owned the rights of Mortal Kombat. This resulted in the creation of their very first game under the NetherRealm Studios umbrella aptly called Mortal Kombat.

As the first game published by WB Games under the NetherRealm Studios umbrella, Mortal Kombat serves as a sequel to Armageddon, a 2011 reboot of the franchise and a modern take on Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. It takes away the ability to switch between the fighting styles in game and complex combos and replaces it with simple combos and returns to a 2D fighter format the first three games have. The character roster became fleshed out within the story that entails a modern take on a classic story that involves Shao Kahn as the main antagonist of the story rather than making the roster a chaotic mess. Each character has two Fatalities and takes away the half-baked create your own Fatality mechanic from Armageddon.

Here are the new things that were never introduced in any of the games under the Midway umbrella. Mortal Kombat introduces the super gauge. It holds up to three bars and fills up when taking damage or your opponent blocks. Enhanced special moves deal more damage than the regular version of special moves. They consume one bar of the super gauge. Breakers from the 3D era trilogy also returned to consume two bars of the super gauge.

And here's someting new to the series, X-Ray attacks. X-Ray attacks were introduced to consume all three bars of the super gauge. They deal a lot of damage and come with effects of breaking bones. The feature continues in Mortal Kombat X, which of course, became the starting point of introducing brand new faces that never appeared in the Midway era. Then Mortal Kombat 11 came along, which, of course, made Shao Kahn playable for the first time and changed how we use supers. Instead of through the gauge, they are only used when HP is low. They are called Fatal Blows. Then the series was rebooted again to a fresh new timeline in Mortal Kombat 1. It has the return of the three-bar super gauge, but Fatal Blows are still available when HP is low and has the return of x-ray effects.

Warner Bros. owning Mortal Kombat would pave the way for a planned movie that had to be R-rated to match the games' extreme violence. It resulted in the creation of 2021's live action Mortal Kombat movie reboot directed by Simon McQuoid. The film introduced an original character named Cole Young, an MMA fighter who was given a dragon symbol to represent he is chosen for Mortal Kombat, making him the film's main character, which created a plothole. He is not supposed to be the main character, especially when he never appeared in any of the games. Thankfully, a sequel is coming.

The sequel titled Mortal Kombat II, fixes the mistakes the first movie had made. More familiar faces are coming and Raiden dons his look seen in the games. Now, this movie is gonna feature a Mortal Kombat tournament on the big screen like the 1995 film and feature Shao Kahn as the main antagonist. After its theatrical release, Mortal Kombat II became a flawless victory that critics believed that the sequel has fixed several mistakes like making an original character like Cole Young the main protagonist, a lack of the Mortal Kombat tournament and the divisive Arcana thing and the fights became more brutal than the first film. Both of them were praised for brutal fights that match the games and the sequel to the reboot also learned from the bland fights and atrocious character designs introduced in Annihilation.

To make it exciting, not only we're waiting for Mortal Kombat II because we're also waiting for a brand new live action Street Fighter movie, which is coming out in October this year. The trailer shows that Paramount and Legendary has nailed the Street Fighter movie reboot. Unlike the 1994 movie by Jean Claude Van Damme, the movie features iconic special moves, like Ryu's Hadoken, Ken's Shoryuken, Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick, Guile's Flash Kick and E. Honda's Thousand Hands Slap, just to name a few. It is gonna feature a tournament as well like Mortal Kombat II did. We now have two live action movies based on the popular fighting game franchises coming out this year that will feature a tournament. This creates a competition between two praise-worthy films. Oh and the film will have the f-bomb like the other one despite the PG-13 rating, so brace yourselves.

If we look back at the history of Mortal Kombat media, the worst of them all was Defenders of the Realm. Warner Bros. knew that the animated series got critically panned over the lack of violence and killing and antics. So with enough resources in mind, Warner Bros. decided to make a direct-to-video animated movie that reflects the game's extreme violence. Lo and behold, Warner Bros. introduced the new animated movie series, Mortal Kombat Legends.

The Legends series crushes all of the antics and the toned down violence in Defenders of the Realm and replaces them with the seriousness and the extreme violence and killing the games are known for. It uses x-ray and close up effects during fight scenes and they are the best of the series along with the Fatalitles in them. I could just sit there and watch them all day. Mortal Kombat Legends is known for focusing on characters. Scorpion's Revenge focuses on Scorpion, Battle of the Realms focuses on Liu Kang, Snow Blind focuses on Kenshi, and Cage Match focuses on Johnny Cage. There was the next movie of the series, Fall of Edenia, to have a focus on Kitana, but it was put on hold or cancelled.

But I'm not putting a slant on Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm. I actually loved the show despite the antics. My personal favorites are Kombat Begins Again, Sting of the Scorpion, Familiar Red and Fall from Grace. Liu Kang, Sonya, Jax, Nightwolf, Stryker, Sub Zero and Raiden are on par with their UMK3 design since the TV series is based on the game. But Kitana's design is mixed to me. Her design is a blend of MKII and UMK3. That seems to be the subject of letting the animated series go down to pan city.

Not only Warner Bros. owning the rights of Mortal Kombat unlocked new experiences. It also allowed NetherRealm Studios to take what they learned from the toned-down violence in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Ed Boon knew that with the right resources, they have an idea that would fit perfectly. A fighting game based on the DC Universe, so there it is, their original IP, Injustice.

Injustice tapped back into the toned-down violence they learned from Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and made a fighting game based on DC Comics. While Injustice was developed by the same studio behind the 2011 reboot of Mortal Kombat, it does away with the use of Heroic Brutalities for the DC heroes and toned-down Fatalitles for the DC villains. Superman was the main antagonist, not Darkseid. And in 2013, Injustice: Gods Among Us was released. NetherRealm Studios now has two legendary IPs all polished up and ready to go. That unlocks experiences we'd experience in Sonic SatAM.

While I do like Mortal Kombat being under the Warner Bros. umbrella better than it being under the Midway umbrella, Midway in all of its forms was a great company. They owned games that are a part of the golden age of gaming with Williams, like Paperboy, Spy Hunter, Toobin', Sinistar, Defender, Joust, Smash TV and tons more. What so special about these games is that they have a lot of charm Mortal Kombat doesn't have since it's aimed at mature audiences. We do have several collections of Midway's games in the golden age of gaming, including the one that I played during my road trip to Florida and at the hotel with my cousin, Midway Arcade Treasures. It is a compilation that holds most of the games. I pretty much loved the games in them. Since Warner Bros. now owns most of Midway's assets, they could compile all of the non-Mortal Kombat games in the golden age of gaming with Atari's help and port them to modern consoles like they did with compiling all of the golden age Mortal Kombat games to hit fans right in the heart.

WB owning Mortal Kombat would've brought some Mortal Kombat characters to the ill-fated free-to-play platform fighter, MultiVersus. However, that will never happen now that support on the game has been sunset. That allowed Warner Bros. to bring their collaborations to Fortnite for characters to be used as skins, including, guess what? Mortal Kombat. 2011 was when Mortal Kombat was taken to the fresh new level with the return to its roots of a 2D fighter, a fleshed out roster bound with the story, simple combos and two Fatalities on each character. 2026 marks the 15th anniversary of the 2011 reboot that serves as the 9th entry of the franchise and the first entry under the WB umbrella and the 16th anniversary of establishing NRS.

The 2011 reboot didn't dethrone Street Fighter. NetherRealm Studios allowed Mortal Kombat to be the face of the revolution that changed the series forever, something that Midway wouldn't dare do. Their victory wasn't just a victory for the series. It was a victory for a new way of thinking about the series. It was a victory for new ideas for the remainder of the series. And NetherRealm Studios is the company to pave the way for future Mortal Kombat and Injustice projects. They, in fact, have Mortal Kombat 2 in the works along with Injustice 3. When will they announce these games is unknown, but we can see them come.