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. 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 are two things that I need to explain. First off, who is 4Cyde Studios? They are a small team behind the fangame. Currently, there are two people consisting of Madxruler and Fahrenheit, with Fahrenheit 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.

Secondly, they confirmed that Beat from Jet Set Radio will temporarily replace Akira Yuki from Virtua Fighter while he is being reworked in Season 1. For those of you who were concerned, yes, Beat will remain playable once Akira Yuki's rework is finished.

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. There is something in regards to comparing Ulala to a future 2XKO character that I'll talk about in the future of this post. I'll get to that later.

Fahrenheit 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. But the real question is, how will they play a character theme? Are they gonna function like Marvel vs. Capcom or play the theme of the character that dealt the final blow against the last standing opponent on the last round during subsequent rounds like in 2XKO? Come on, lay it on me, Fahrenheit!

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, this is also due to the fact that 4Cyde Studios has a bevy, I mean, a bevy of characters 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 and Ulala 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.

This oddities you saw in the gameplay livestream (character art not showing, greyed out portraits for Vyse. Morrigan, Sakura and Linn Kurosawa, hovering over Vyse shows Batsu's name, wonky and out of place screens, etc.), will not be present in the final build as the livestream took place in a WIP build. That's why Beat is not in there. But what things that will be in the final build are the new in-game UI and new soundtracks, 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.

We can now go back to the part where I talk about comparing Ulala to a future 2XKO character. We know that Lux and Samira will be the Ingrid and Dante of 2XKO, so there is one character in League of Legends that could potentially be the "Ulala of 2XKO" since Ulala is 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. A post that contains a list of 20 wanted characters for planned new characters of 2027-2030 is in the works and it will be up soon, so if the post is up, you can click the link below.

-Post coming soon-

And since SEGA vs. Capcom is launching with Season 1 this month, it will definetely tide us over for Lux's launch in 2XKO. Not just Lux, but Samira as well. If you're interested in learning more about Lux and Samira's launch in 2XKO and its nuances, here's the link below.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2026/07/2xko-2026-characters-theory-update-4.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. 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, a lot of gamers are not getting these new systems anytime soon. 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. But they will have a separate disc drive to play previous gen games on disc. 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.

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 the air 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 and digital purchases on Steam provides ownership. The stupid decisions Sony had made; they became backlash-worthy. It was worse than when Pokemon were wiped out in Pokemon Home after people pivoted to the Switch 2.

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. The only conflict is that while the PS3 is a retro console, the system is a tough nut to crack because of the Cell processor. This is something that I want to talk about in the future post to apply to what can pique my interest.

And Sony, if you're reading this, please revert your decision to stop producing discs in 2028, because if you do, consumer prices will rise. Heck, might as well make digital purchases provide ownership like physical purchases do instead of revocable licenses. Also, PLEASE remove the agreement regarding deleting our accounts after three years of inactivity. 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 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 gonna 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. Riot has posted a trailer revealing the remaining two characters of 2026. We're gonna watch the trailer and I'm gonna do a breakdown. Here's the trailer.

She looks peak and broken. Lux, the Lady of Luminosity, and Samira, the Desert Rose, are officially revealed as the final two 2XKO characters of 2026. Before I go over what things among these characters I'm excited for, let's talk about their lore and do a breakdown. We'll start with Lux.

Luxanna Crownguard, the member of the noble family in the medieval times of Demacia, is able to bend the light with her will. She grew up dreading discovery and exile and was forced to keep her power a secret to impress her parents of the medieval Crownguard family.

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.

Samira was once a Shuriman during her childhood until her home was destroyed, prompting her to get her true calling in Noxus where she becomes a stylish daredevil with her black powder pistols and a custom-engineered blade. We didn't get to see much of Samira's gameplay since she is coming later this year, but we can assume that she is launching before Battle Coliseum.

Now let's go over the things on why am I excited for both characters. I have several reasons specifically for Lux and Samira 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 is the first Demacian to ever come to 2XKO, and it's a developing story to fit with League of Legends' Demacia season.

Setting the Stage for More Demacia Champions:

Since Lux will be the very first Demacia Champion to ever come to 2XKO with a Demacia-themed stage as League of Legends' Demacia Rising event is going strong, a precedent has spoken. Garen, Sona, Vayne, Jarvan IV, Kayle, Morgana, Galio, Quinn, Poppy, Fiora and even Locke will have more of a chance to potentially make their debut to 2XKO in the future.

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 could potentially come to 2XKO as the very first Targonian character, 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.

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 due to the lore that surrounds the part where Senna broke out of Thresh's lantern to wield the power of the Black Mist without retaliation.

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 is how we had to experience a double-header release. So now, we have a giant question mark sitting in the room with us. Why did Senna and Thresh launch simultaneously?

League of Legends has a lore that surrounds the part where Thresh trapped Senna in his lantern, until she broke out of it to gain dark juju powers from the Black Mist. This resulted in a double-header release to honor the lore. That's why this year is having six new characters and the 14-character roster couldn't been given a chance.

The 17th Character:

Here's a look at the current placement that holds up to 16 characters. We were supposed to be having 16 characters this year, but since an extra sixth character was added to the schedule, this year will see 17 characters. 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. It draws us closer to finding out how will they manipulate the selection to pave the way for the 17th character that would be Samira. They could literally make the portraits smaller to make room for future characters after Samira instead of narrowing them.

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 glory 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.

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.

Instead of listing the honorable mentions and the top five characters that could potentially be 2027's new characters, I am listing the 20 wanted characters for planned new characters for 2027-2030. If one of the characters is confirmed to be one of the 20, they get a bonus.

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! If you're an adult and if you throw a childish tantrum over McDonald's, guess what you're doing nearly every day! The moisture in the air makes 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.

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. Interesting. Who would've thought that Lucian and Sarah are related to each other?

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.

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 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. Enter Mortal Kombat, led by Ed Boon and John Tobias. Midway started development and did something different to distinguish from Street Fighter by putting digitized sprites and graphic violence and release it on arcades first.

Upon arcade release, 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 the devs of Capcom and Midway, the cartridges for the home consoles became a nightmare. They became incredibly expensive to produce, which given companies the jurisdiction. Adults faced tough challenges that caused them to struggle. One Capcom veteran named Yoshiki Okamoto later said and believed that when they switched to making games for the PlayStation, including Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, their profits have skyrocketed. That tells you developers who made Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat did their games for their own personal gain. 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, Street Fighter has their live action movie directed 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 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 be 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 recepetion 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 due to its lack of violence that contributed to its cancellation after one season, shoddy animation and 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.

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.

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 made games that are a part of the golden age of gaming, 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 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.

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. It allowed Mortal Kombat to be the face of the revolution that changed the series forever following Warner Bros' claiming of the rights of Mortal Kombat and making the games developed under the NRS umbrella. Warner's 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 Warner Bros. is the company to pave the way for future Mortal Kombat and Injustice projects ranging from games to movies.

6th Generation Era is the SWEET SPOT of Third-Party Titles

If you're a lover of many third-party titles, you might want to think about getting a GameCube, PS2 or the original Xbox. But if you are a part of the community that prefers to play these games on modern platforms and want to buy them digitally, there might be some good news for you, because maybe you don't have to buy one of these systems at all. But before we get to that, let's address the history and state how the 6th generation era of gaming has come to this point.

Somehow, the 6th generation of gaming consisting of the PS2, GameCube, the original Xbox and even the Dreamcast became the best generation that many people, including myself, believed. It's not just because of how games were developed. It became the sweet spot of how third-party games were developed, even though one company has shifted from being a console manufacturer into being a third-party developer. Now, let's take a second here and rewind just a little bit, so bear with me.

First and foremost, if you go back to the part where SEGA has shifted to being a third-party AAA developer following the commercial failure of the Dreamcast to release games on non-SEGA platforms like Bandai Namco, Capcom, Square Enix and a bunch of others before them, it came with a whole brand new company that stepped up into the gaming ecosystem, Microsoft, who would then create the first Xbox console that would be aptly named the Xbox, to enter the same market that Nintendo, PlayStation and even SEGA had dominated. I said to myself, "It sucks that the Dreamcast had to fail miserably because of the eye of the storm being the PS2's launch SEGA was in" and it wasn't a convincing one. In fact, the PS2's launch got so overwhelming, it was reported Sony would humiliate SEGA as a console manufacturer, allowing them to demote themselves into a third-party developer.

Following Microsoft's step up into the gaming industry upon SEGA's shift to a third-party software business, SEGA has released a compilation of SEGA GT 2002 and Jet Set Radio Future for the original Xbox and Super Monkey Ball for the GameCube as launch titles for both systems. Then they released a brand new Sonic title, Sonic Heroes, which would be their first original Sonic title since the business shift to being a third-party developer. However, while our speedy blue lad may have gone third-party so that his games would release on non-SEGA platforms, he was not the only mascot that did it.

The PS1 era became deemed as charming when they established two legendary titans, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. These two legendary mascots were established in the PS1 era by the original developers Universal brought on after the release of Way of the Warrior and Disruptor for their three-game contract, Naughty Dog and Insomniac. They are the two developers Universal hired for their three-game contract.

Insomniac's three-game contract with Universal was up and done when Spyro 3 came out. But after Crash 3 came out, Naughty Dog couldn't leave the Crash IP once their three-game contract with Universal was done because PlayStation wanted another Crash game from them, but Naughty Dog refused to work with Universal because of their bullcrap--turning off the air conditioner to the building and forcing them to work in a Californian summer weather after hours, so Sony negotiated between the companies to pave the way for Crash Team Racing, which would be Naughty Dog's final Crash title before moving on to new creativity.

As we move on to the next generation of gaming, Naughty Dog and Insomniac parted ways with both IPs to partake on new adventures on the PS2. It left Universal to brand the IPs however they want. It resulted in both IPs to go third-party so that their games can release on not just the PS2, but also other platforms. After Naughty Dog and Insomniac left with Sony to make Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank, both IPs went on to a whirlpool of confusion to be bounced around to mulltiple companies. When each company got a hold of Crash and Spyro, they tried something new and introduced innovations in their games. However, while they garnered a cult following, none of the games that came out after the original trilogies came close to the renowned the originals did both in terms of reviews and sales.

And here's the worst part. During development of Twinsanity, a lot of gameplay hours and content were cut from the game. Enter the Dragonfly kept on getting rewrites and ideas scrapped after nothing worked bi-weekly and was given an awfully short development time to release it early before the Christmas season with bugs galore, leading to intense disagreements within the studios about how to get the game out, escalating to literal fist fights, like sitting in the offices when making a game for Mortal Kombat and a game for Naruto. This is due to Universal's stupidity. They allowed gameplay hours and content to be cut from Twinsanity and they had to release Enter the Dragonfly prematurely because of their refusal to miss the Christmas season that led to literal fist fights within the company.

If we fast forward to 2020, Toys for Bob has taken the mantle of releasing a brand new Crash game, Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. It's a modern Crash Bandicoot title that is based off of the original trilogy that was the most popular, which is how it saved the franchise. Fast forward into now, we got some info about a new Crash Bandicoot title and a new Crash Team Racing title across the internet along with info about a new Spyro title, which may not be a modern Spyro that is based off of the original trilogy since we can expect RPG elements, deeper storyline, deeper combat, open world elements and even some moments we've experienced in Sonic SatAM like how Elora would be the Sally Acorn of Spyro, which I know it sounds dumb. We're getting closer to the verbal announcement of three anticipated games.

Crash and Spyro became the two kings of the PlayStation in their time in the original trilogies. When we move on to the 6th generation of gaming that is the sweet spot, the IPs went third-party to have games release not just on the PS2, but also other platforms. None of them may be critically successful as the original titles, but we don't care. All we care about is revisiting them.

Rolling back to when SEGA was a hardware manufacturer, throughout the 1990s, CRI gradually transitioned its focus to evolve into a provider of two audio middleware tools, ADX and Sofdec. They went on to develop games for the SEGA Saturn and Dreamcast before it was incorporated as CRI Middleware in 2001 when SEGA restructured themselves into a third-party developer to provide their two middleware tools, and not just for SEGA games, but non-SEGA games by other developers as well, released on non-SEGA consoles. They are so powerful that it can produce lossy audio and video streaming.

See, CRIWARE is not nostalgic, but ADX and Sofdec are. The logos were phased out in 2008, but still usable under the CRIWARE brand. While CRI Middleware is a Japanese software developer that can integrate codecs into games, they also integrate codecs into games produced by American companies, including the one American company, THQ. Which brings me to my next point here; how the WWE games under the THQ umbrella became more revolutionary than the ones under the 2K umbrella. I haven't gone into detail about this in previous posts, so I decided to go into detail here now.

THQ was known for producing wrestling games, right? Wrestling games were revolutionary under the THQ umbrella that the company began production on them when the 5th generation consoles came out. And when we get to the 6th generation era of gaming, things were taken to the next level, with the inception of the SmackDown vs, RAW franchise. And here's something really interesting regarding the fact of the 6th generation era being the sweet spot of third-party games.

THQ didn't just produce regular wrestling games. They also produced spinoffs, ranging from the driving game to the GameCube-exclusive Day of Reckoning series that was so revolutionary. Factors show that the fan favorites are the ones under the THQ umbrella due to the revolutionariness introduced in them.

But when we get to 2014 when the WWE game franchise was passed on to 2K, the fan bases are over the place. The only conception is that the ones under the THQ umbrella were more revolutionary and better than the ones under the 2K umbrella and that's something I can strongly agree. It's also due to the 2K era's lack of cinematic logos the THQ era has. See, games based on TV wrestling are popular in the US, while CRI Middleware developed the middleware tools in some of them. They are basically integrated on the PS2 and GameCube versions of them since both systems did well in the Japanese market unlike the original Xbox.

This applies to the fact that Japanese companies were able to develop PS2 and GameCube games well. They made games based on anime as well, including the one company that is known for making games based on anime, Bandai Namco. It's the company that made the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai trilogy for the PS2 and GameCube, but the third iteration is only for the PS2. But they were Bandai at the time.

Then another anime also entered the fighting game ecosystem with Dragon Ball, Naruto. Naruto's entry into the fighting game ecosystem came with two franchises, the Ultimate Ninja franchise for the PS2 by Bandai Namco and the Clash of Ninja franchise for the GameCube by Tomy. And guess what? Both franchises became a citation of the sixth generation era being the sweet spot of third-party games.

While both of Naruto's games are legendary and have high caliber, Clash of Ninja is not a sister franchise to Ultimate Ninja. The Ultimate Ninja franchise takes place in the 2D space while the Clash of Ninja franchise takes place in the 3D space. Both of them dated to the edited version of Naruto that was the golden age of Naruto when first aired on Cartoon Network, which I like better than the unedited version that has swearing and blood. If we compare both developers, Clash of Ninja was developed by Eighting, and Ultimate Ninja was developed by CyberConnect2.

CyberConnect2 is a Japanese game developer who developed their games on the PS2 based on anime with Bandai Namco. They developed the Ultimate Ninja franchise and the .hack franchise that came in multiple volumes. The original .hack had four volumes and .hack//G.U. had three volumes and that is another factor that cites the 6th generation of gaming being a sweet spot for third-party games. CyberConnect2 at the time became prevalent in today's market to develop games on not just on PlayStation consoles, but also on other platforms as well on this generation.

This comes a connection to the plethora of TV show and movie licensed video games. But I look specifically at licensed games that are released on the PS2, GameCube and the original Xbox. We don't consider franchises as a whole like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or James Bond as nostalgic. But there are titles in the franchises that are nostalgic like, of course, Star Wars: The Force Unleased, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Lord of the Rings: The Third Age and 007: Nightfire. But these franchises as a whole are not nostalgic due to their prevalence in today's market. No, the nostalgic franchises are Monster House, Madagascar, Tak and the Power of Juju, Scarface and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. These are the nostalgic ones that never been remade for modern consoles. But there is one caveat to one of them. I'll get to that later.

And one of the licensed games being one of the well-liked games is the one that a lot of people want remastered or remade, Simpsons Hit & Run. This is a licensed game that was well-liked by both the critics and fans. A child-friendly GTA-like with a sense of no killing, guns or explosions, exploring Springfield, partaking on missions and hilarious and witty dialogue. Radical made this game after the failure with Road Rage because of the lawsuit SEGA of America filed against the companies over it being a Crazy Taxi clone for patent infringement. Radical made a Crazy Taxi-esque game that was met with a mixed reception, but not as bad as the Simpsons Skateboarding and the Simpsons Wrestling that were absolute dumpster fire titles.

If you look at Metacritic, the Simpsons Skateboarding has scored a 38 out of 100 and Wrestling scored a 32 out of 100. These two games were worthy of being met with negative reception that from both the critics and fans because of their lack of polish and quality. They both averaged on a meager 34 out of 100 and they are both sports games based on the Simpsons.

Speaking of sports games, this leads me to the next part on how the 6th generation era is the sweet spot of third-party titles; sports games with flashy elements. I know I'm not a fan of sports games, but I prefer the ones that have flashy elements. I know that some people would think that EA was the first, but there was one company that made their sports games with flashy elements first before EA followed suit. That is Midway Games.

Midway had a licensing contract with the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL, the big four sports leagues, to develop sports games. The first one that came out on the N64 and PS1 was NFL Blitz. And as we head into the next generation of gaming, more sports games kicked in and Blitz continues. MLB has Slugfest, NHL has Hitz and NBA has Ballers. It literally fits the 6th generation era into a T.

What has also fits the generation into a T is when EA followed suit to develop sports games with flashy elements. They were released under the EA Sports BIG label in 2000 when the PS2 came out. The label has street sports games based on leagues. Then it was phased out in 2008 and the company moves on to make mainstream sports games every year. They are done by big companies and lacked innovations. Many people liked to play sports games that are flashy, grotesque and fun, the ones released in the generation. We have seen some grotesque and wacky gameplay in arcade style sports games. That's great for the learning curve.

Anyway, if we go back to the Midway part, they were the publishers of the Mortal Kombat franchise. Upon home console releases of the very first game of the franchise, it became controversial due to graphic violence and gore. It sparked the senate hearings held by Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl, and the creation of the ESRB.

And as we get to the next generation of gaming, Mortal Kombat was taken to the next level in 3D space with three games, Deadly Alliance, Deception and Armageddon. The trilogy of games involved switching between styles in game, doing Conquests, combo trials and earning color-coded coins to unlock content in the Krypt. I know we loved switching styles. It became a part of innovation that it is a praise-worthy feature, especially when it comes to combos. They became fan favorites of the series due to switching styles introduced in them.

Remember what I said that there is a caveat to one of the licensed games? Let's talk about specifically on Tak and the Power of Juju. It is one of the games that take place within the fictional Pupununu tribe that draws inspiration from the Indian tribe and has a sense of having a charming environment and being a collect-a-thon type of game like Spyro. The only caveat is the fact that while has the Nick Games logo, Tak and the Power of Juju actually came out before the TV show with the same name premiered on Nickelodeon, like how Donkey Kong Country came out before the TV show premiered. The money provided to license it for that deal went to THQ. Then a sequel came to be Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams.

Tak 2 is a game that retains the charming environment and includes Flora and Fauna, the two goddesses, though Flora did appear in the first game and not in the TV show. While almost identical as that of the first game, animations are more fluid and can die often by falling off cliffs and chasms since there are no lives system. Here's the funny thing about this.

While you and a friend are playing a fighting game against each other, you are on the verge of losing and have to ragequit by turning off the internet constantly to make your friend angry and turn it back on. Ragequitting while playing an online fighting game with a friend comes with three strikes. Two strikes and it can make your friend mad. Three strikes, it's over. It's something that dying in Tak 2 would apply to. Do you know what's the funny thing about this? After ragequitting while losing, they lie about a storm interfereing with the internet to a friend when clearly, there was no storm.

Tak 2 was available on the PS2 catalog on the PS3, but was delisted right after THQ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the intention of selling their assets to several other companies right before we enter the PS4 and Xbox One generation.

Well, I covered everything regarding to how the 6th generation era is the sweet spot for third-party titles. Now we can go back to the present.

The 6th generation became a sweet spot of third-party games that Nintendo and PlayStation fans want to revisit them in that generation. Their wish was fulfilled. Nintendo Switch Online offers a catalog of GameCube games only on the Switch 2, and PlayStation Plus offers PS2 games on the PS4 and PS5 and will continue on the PS6 and the new handheld console.

Xbox players get a pass because the Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and a future Xbox console titled Project Helix can play original Xbox games through backwards compatibility, so all they have to do is put in an original Xbox disc and that's it, it recognizes it. The Xbox backwards compatibility system is making a comeback to make PC games play most games across every Xbox generation and hopefully make a lot more of them play on modern Xbox consoles despite licensing issues and technical headaches.

As we browse through the GameCube and PS2 catalogs, they currently meet couple of criteria. First off, games that use ADX and Sofdec, so the GameCube catalog has Soul Calibur II and the PS2 catalog has Soul Calibur III. This means it's possible that both Nintendo and Sony were able to throw out games that use the two middlewares, so there will be more to come.

Now let's move on to another criteria; licensed video games based on other media; TV shows and movies, the ones that never been ported to modern consoles to deem them as nostalgic. The PS2 catalog has the recently released WALL-E. This is the very first licensed video game to ever come to the PS2 catalog, indicating that while this is a Disney game, there is a possibility for Sony to throw in more licensed nostalgic video games, the ones that never been remade for modern consoles. But to do that, Sony must create a license and divert it to Implicit Conversions to resolve licensing issues. The GameCube catalog, however, has yet to get a licensed game based on a movie or a TV show due to licensing issues. But will have one at some point.

Both catalogs don't have sports games with flashy elements, Crash and Spyro games, wrestling games, games based on anime yet or the 3D-era trilogy of the Mortal Kombat franchise that involves switching between three styles in game, but we can hope that they make it to the respective catalogs in the future. There are a lot more PS2 and GameCube games to come and that will include the ones that can possibly meet the following criteria we have set on this post. Again, Xbox players are exempt since modern consoles have full backwards compatibility and the program is making a comeback to extend it to PC.

Remember what I said that Tak 2 had to be delisted from the PS3's PS2 library because of THQ filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy? Well, since we have PlayStation Plus offering PS2 games, Tak 2 might have more of a chance to launch on PlayStation Plus since we have WALL-E, a Disney game published by THQ. And not just on PlayStation Plus, but on the GameCube catalog also and one day work on the modern Xbox consoles.

Forgot to mention that one thing that made the 6th generation era the best. This era has a lot of games that me and my cousins play together, It was fun and nice with us playing my games in my childhood together, especially on the GameCube.

Why I'm telling you about this is because the 6th generation era of gaming has a lot of third-party games in my childhood. Heck, I can just play them all day on my PS5 and on my Switch 2 if I get one, but the ones with action in them since action games become the most popular game genre. I can even play my childhood games on my PlayStation Portal Remote Player, but PlayStation Plus Premium is required for them if I want to play my cherished games from my childhood on the go.

And not just action games, but also fighting games as well since both Nintendo and Sony can throw in retro fighting games into their classic catalog well and existing companies are compiling retro fighters in one collection to have modern features. I have the link to the post that talks about the companies' plan to port fighting games into modern consoles and its nuances.

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