2XKO Under Arc System Works - Will It Be a Possibility? + Key Benefits

2XKO is a free-to-play tag fighter set in the League of Legends universe that is primed to end active development while leaving the servers online for the foreseeable future after an ephemeral one-year development cycle due to its low player retention. I mean Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is getting another year of content despite its low player engagement, so why couldn't 2XKO? But there is a little hope because I have thought of something. What if Riot Games licensed 2XKO's development cycle to Arc System Works? Let's jump right in.

I'm back with a new post that is a follow up to the update in regards to 2XKO's 2026 characters. So, with 2XKO ending active development due to poor engagement, the team is ending most of the comms from 2XKO with the exception of some coverage for remaining competitive events and patch notes. I have a spark of hope and it's put out because they are planning a League of Legends MMO. But it's somehow came back because on the previous post, I said that Arc System Works is the perfect licensee candidate for 2XKO's development cycle. We can now go into detail about this.

Arc System Works, the Japanese company responsible of the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue franchises, became an ideal licensee candidate in association with Bandai Namco, Cygames, Nexon and Marvel to make licensed fighting games that use anime-style models and cel shading, which 2XKO essentially uses in its DNA. And Arc System Works might be the perfect company to be in association with Riot Games as the fifth big company. That said, I decided to list the key benefits to 2XKO continuing active development under Arc System Works in association with Riot Games.

Motion Inputs:

We'll start with something that 2XKO never had. Motion inputs consisting of quarter circles, half circles, full circles, dragon motions and charge motions are always important when it comes to fighting games. Some fighting games like Street Fighter 6 have simple controls that involve one button combos and one button specials with directional influences Smash uses. Invincible VS only uses one button specials with directional influence. 2XKO uses two special buttons that have directional influence.

We can actually keep the S1 and S2 buttons and one-button specials with directional influence, but we make specials also performable with motion inputs and pressing any attack button and supers also performable with QCF/QCB + B + C. Motion input specials deal a little more damage than one-button specials with directional influence, which is what the "Good!' pop up means. This is what DNF Duel and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls have.

Long-Term Sustainability:

When 2XKO came out on console, half of the team behind it was laid off, citing that momentum has not been reached to the level required for long-term sustainability. They were committed until the news popped up that active development will end in December. Do you know who can provide enough energy and help cover costs? Arc System Works. As I have said on X, with Arc's help, Riot will be able to have a sustained player engagement and looking at ways to cover and curb rising costs. If Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls could get a long-term development cycle like Guilty Gear Strive is, then Arc System Works is the perfect licensee candidate to help Riot give 2XKO's development cycle a second wind.

Six Characters Per Year:

A lot of people were clamouring and complaining about fighting games like Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8 and even Marvel Tokon having a cadence of releasing four additional characters per year. 2XKO was originally supposed to have a release cadence of five characters per year, but changed it to six and to seven. We got Samira and Sett coming as the last two characters to complete the roster to 18 before active development sunsets. But ArcSys' help can help change everything. We could be seeing a release cadence of six characters per year while Arc System Works' help can curb rising costs. Now, agreeing or disagreeing with their complaints against a release cadence of four characters per year is up to you. But for me, I strongly agree, especially with characters coming out in each season.

Custom Lobbies:

Currently, we have private lobbies that are only meant for those you invited. I have been asking for custom lobbies to be both private and public, but the team seemingly doesn't have the resources for that. Arc System Works has a lot of resources to provide Riot with. With Arc's extra resources, Riot can make custom lobbies both private and public. It worked well with other fighting games Arc has done with.

Better Character Output and More Guilty Gear and BlazBlue Equivalents:

Arc System Works helping Riot can help deliver characters that could be Guilty Gear and BlazBlue equivalents in a better output. I went to the Champion Gallery in League of Legends in search of characters that could be equivalent to and have playbooks from the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue characters. Like, we know that Annie and Miss Fortune will have playbooks from Carl Clover and Noel Vermillion, and Zeri will have a playbook of Mega Man X, which, of course, has nothing to do with Guilty Gear or BlazBlue, but I'm just saying it for subjectivity. I have found one character who could have a playbook from one of the Guilty Gear characters. That is Shen. Yes, Shen could be an Answer equivalent. I had a stark interest in seeing these characters become playable in 2XKO, until we heard that active development is ending. But Arc System Works can help make that happen.

But something hit me. After I watched the Samira trailer, it turns out that she is not just a Dante equivalent, but a Noel equivalent as well with chaining together gun shots at a rank of A or higher and stylish gun shots, hence "stylish". I like to hereby state that Samira is, of course, a combination of Dante and Noel Vermillon and maybe 2B? She might be on par with 2B, I don't know.

These are the five key benefits to 2XKO continuing active development under Arc System Works. But there is one caveat to this. If Riot actually licensed it to Arc System Works, will it still be called 2XKO? Well, not necessarily. It can be rebranded to "League of Legends Versus," which I think it's a perfect name to pick up where 2XKO left off. If Arc System Works' licensed anime fighters could succeed, then there's a chance that a hypothetical League of Legends Versus can succeed.

Let me pitch my idea. I would love for 2XKO continuning active development under Arc System Works to benefit motion inputs, a release cadence of six characters per year, long-term sustainability, custom lobbies and better character output and more Guilty Gear and BlazBlue equivalents.

I have said that Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is getting another year of content despite its low engagement. How come Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds gets to have another year of content despite its low player engagement while 2XKO isn't? Well, there is one obvious reason. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is not a live-service game. Non-live service games tend to sustain player engagement like glue without the use of live-service elements. We did realize that many live service games like 2XKO aren't as sustainable as we once thought, so sunsetting them was the only choice they have as it will cost them more if they continued active development while retention is low. That's how Highguard became an utter failure that Wildlight should've delayed it for quality.

In other news, not only Arc System Works confirmed a One Piece fighting game as their brand new IP to have 2D sprites that resemble Skullgirls' art style, which is great. They are also opening a new Tokyo studio for their third original fighting game to join Guilty Gear and BlazBlue. It shows that Arc System Works is not getting out of their comfort zone during ongoing support on Guilty Gear Strive since it's gonna strengthen development.

With Arc System Works' help, Riot will be able sustain player engagement, revive most of the comms, put competitive events in their own league circuit and explore the possibility of confirming Malcolm Graves, Twisted Fate, Zed, Leona, Veigar, Lucian, Camille, Garen, Vayne, Sona, Miss Fortune, Gangplank and everyone else in a giant pile of legendary characters! Again, no slant on 2XKO ending active development at 18 characters. It's a decent even number of characters in a 2v2 tag fighter. It's an outcome I refuse to reject. You should accept it.

Losing 2XKO in favor of Marvel Tokon getting long-term support, you can compare it to that one part I have experienced in Mega Man X: Command Mission, losing Spider in favor of Zero's sustainability with the party. Now, this is where you'll might say, "Wow, 2XKO feels different." Yes, it will feel different. It'll be a good difference for when Riot licensed 2XKO's development cycle to Arc System Works. That's one thing we can chase for.

Can We See The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age Come to the Classics Catalog Soon?

Hey, now that Mega Man X: Command Mission is available on the classics catalog on the PS4 and PS5, can we talk about seeing another turn-based RPG released in 2004 to be in the classics catalog, The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age? Let's jump right in.

I'm back with a new post that is gonna make me satisfactory. For quite some time, I have been playing a lot of Mega Man X: Command Mission since its release on the classics catalog on the PS4 and PS5. I did a lot better than the last time I played this game when I was young. But do you know what I like to see on the classics catalog? The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. This is another turn-based RPG that is an adaptation of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy and can most definetely go toe-to-toe with Mega Man X: Command Mission. Great graphics, serious tone and dialogue and a third-party perspective outside of combat.

This is another game I played back in the day when I was kid on the original Xbox. That game was hard, until I realized why it was so hard. I was rushing. The game has random encounters, but uses the Eye of Sauron as the signal of entering a battle. When this game comes out on the classics catalog, there is one thing that I am planning to do that I should've had done back in the day.

Have you heard of a slang term, level the playing field? The term means that if the enemy is higher than your level, you must level up your party to the same level the enemy is on to even the stakes. This means that instead of rushing through, I spend time levelling up the party up to the level I'm satisfied before facing the boss. This is something I plan to do once The Third Age launches on the classics catalog. Equipping stronger gear is also beneficial, but that alone is not enough to justify an advantage.

It turned out really well when I was playing an unhinged amount of Command Mission, especially when defeating bosses needed more time in the oven levelling the party up until I'm satisfied and equipping stronger weapons and weapons that exploit weaknesses. These are the two things you must do when playing an RPG game with a party system. Spending time levelling up the party until you're satisfied before facing the boss instead of rushing and equipping stronger gear.

Mega Man X: Command Mission came out within the same generation as The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age and has sold well. According to EA, the game has sold over an estimate of 1 million units worldwide, rendering it a commercial success. The Third Age also follows a similar formula compared to Command Mission; a sense of a fleshed-out party with original characters, random encounters and turn-based combat. Even though The Third Age is aimed at mature audiences, it became a cult fan favorite for quite some time.

A lot of people want to revisit this game and we can hopefully see it soon now that Command Mission is out in the classics catalog for the PS4 and PS5. And not just on the PS4 and PS5, but also on the GameCube through the Switch 2's GameCube catalog. Xbox players will be able to play original Xbox version of The Third Age on modern Xbox consoles and on PC through backwards compatibility. I didn't explain this fully on the post that talks about how the sixth generation of gaming became the sweet spot for many third-party titles because there are syntaxes in this post I won't fit there.

Now that we have Command Mission, let's hope that The Third Age follows suit soon so that we, gamers who were born in the mid 90s, can revisit this game. That's something we must chase for. If we have an EA Games title in the classics catalog, then The Third Age could make its debut to the classics catalog one day. I'm not confirming anything, just saying it's possible.

2XKO 2026 Characters Theory (UPDATE 5)

In an event that I did not see coming, Samira will not be the only character on the docket because we have another character revealed to release alongside her before Evo France even began. Let's jump right in.

I am back with an update that I did not see that coming. Remember what I said that 2XKO will stop active development at 17 characters? Well, I got some good news for you. Samira will not be the only character to launch on October 27 because an we have another character coming to 2XKO to launch alongside Samira. And that is Sett, the Boss. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Sett is officially coming to 2XKO as the 18th and final character. Now, who is Sett, you ask? Let's know about his lore and go over a couple excitements and one thing that I will never be experiencing.

Sett is the leader of Ionia's growing criminal underworld who rose to prominence in the wake of the war with Noxus. While he became a humble challenger in the fighting pits of Navori, he became a well-known fighter and gained notoriety for his savage strength to fend off the Noxian army within the "Rebellion Army" in Noxus.

Fourth Ionian:

A fourth Ionian is something I have been wanting and with Sett being the fourth Ionian in 2XKO, the placement has been put together. We now have two vastaya and two Japanese warriors all polished up and ready to go. I think that we're gonna see an all-Ionian match.

18th Character:

Originally, we were supposed to have 17 characters, but Sett is the 18th and final character to even out the roster. Having 18 characters in 2XKO is pretty much a sound and decent thing. 18 is essentially a decent number of characters in a tag fighter and is less claustrophobic than a smaller roster.

Planned Duo of Sett and Lux:

Lux is a shoto-inspired character in 2XKO, but Sett isn't a shoto, but a fighting-type character. I have planned a duo of the two fighting game-style characters along with another one for Akali and Samira. It's something I'll be looking forward to. I can kind of see why is Lux a pseudo-Star Gladiator character in 2XKO. I think she has more flexibility in 2XKO than in League of Legends and her baton glows. And with Sett on his way, I expect him to be a pseudo-Virtua Fighter character.

Double Boxer Synergy:

Vi is the boxer-type character that wields Hextech gauntlets and she will no longer be the only one because we're getting Sett as the second boxer. I think what is really cool is that like how we saw the strong synergy between Yasuo and Akali, two renowned warriors of Ionia, I think we're gonna see a strong synergy between two boxer-type characters.

Boxer and Kicker Duo:

Vi and Sett are boxer-types. However, there is one character that will never see the light of day. That is Camille. Yes, Camille would be straight up dope in 2XKO with her kicks. And sadly, our kicking android will never join the roster since 2XKO is ending active development due to low player retention while most of the comms are being disabled, with the exception of some coverage for remaining competitive events and patch notes. But there is still hope... Stay tuned until in the later stage of this post.

Final roster:

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

I'm gonna take the final 18 character roster and divide into the final SEGA and Capcom sides across the board and state the key points for the final time. It has to be the final time since 2XKO is ending active development at 18 characters. As usual, we'll start with the SEGA side.

Ahri, Blitzcrank. Caitlyn, Ekko, Jinx and Samira and Warwick remain, Thresh moves and Sett is introduced. The final placement for the SEGA side is Ahri, Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Ekko, Jinx, Samira, Sett, Thresh and Warwick.

Akali, Braum, Darius, Illaoi, Lux, Teemo, Vi and Yasuo remain and Senna moves. That puts Akali, Braum, Darius, Illaoi, Lux, Senna, Teemo, Vi and Yasuo on the Capcom side for the final time.

Final SEGA side:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Samira
Sett
Thresh
Warwick

Final Capcom side:

Akali
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Lux
Senna
Teemo
Vi
Yasuo

Final key points:

Ahri on the SEGA side = NiGHTS
Blitzcrank on the SEGA side = Vectorman
Caitlyn on the SEGA side = Gain Ground
Ekko on the SEGA side = Pulseman
Jinx on the SEGA side = Jet Set Radio
Samira on the SEGA side = Valkyria Chronicles
Sett on the SEGA side = Virtua Fighter
Thresh on the SEGA side = The Mansion of Hidden Souls
Warwick on the SEGA side = Altered Beast
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 = Darkstalkers
Yasuo on the Capcom side = Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams

So we now have the final standings for the SEGA and Capcom sides with final key points on the board. Since 2XKO's active development ends in December to indicate that there will not be any more characters beyond this point, everything have been finalized and cemented. This means no more changes to ever be made.

Where we stand now, this is the final update as we're less than two months away from 2XKO's development conclusion at 18 characters. But listen, I don't want to put a slant on 2XKO ending active development at 18 characters. 18 is actually good on a tag fighter. Seeing Sett on his way must have driven me to still play 2XKO. I have a small spark of hope, but it's put out because a League of Legends MMO is in the works. But it came back because I have thought of something that hit me. I have said that there is still hope, so here it is.

I made a post on X suggesting that there is a company that Riot could potentially license the 2XKO IP to. That is Arc System Works. The Japanese company known for the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue franchises became a licensee for multiple companies they have been in association with to make licensed fighting games that use Guilty Gear Xrd's 2.5D models and take place within the established universes. They, in fact, have a One Piece fighting game in the works as a brand new IP that is using 2D sprites. I am going to forward this here with an imaginary and fun pitch. I want you to imagine 2XKO continuing development under Arc System Works in association with Riot Games. Yes, this is now a possibility.

I can actually cross Dragon Ball FighterZ out because despite Bandai Namco being a licensor for that game, it has certain characters that come in different forms and personalities, making it a personality-light game. Cygames has licensed the Granblue Fantasy Versus IP. When it sold like hotcakes, a sequel was localized to the West to have new characters, new features and even rollback netcode, the golden netcode to fight lag no matter the stage. Nexon forged a license to establish DNF Duel, but due to poor sales, a Season 2 was never materialized and has been left in the dust. Eventually, Disney has created a license for a Marvel fighting game for Arc to make Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls since Disney owns Marvel as a whole and with strong sales that bring X-Men back into a fighting game, subsequent Year Passes are being guaranteed to potentially have more X-Men, like Gambit, Rogue and even Emma Frost.

Arc System Works never discriminated their licensors or let their games fall into irrelevancy after a short development cycle since their anime fighters became so hype that they stood a chance and sustained player engagement for the games or allow the teams they work with face layoffs. They became committed and obligated to building their games' future. If Arc System Works plans to become a licensee to the next big company that has never been associated with, Riot Games may be a perfect candidate as a licensor to them. Practically speaking, it takes a lot of resources to make a successful game and prevent the team from facing layoffs. And Arc System Works is the perfect company to be invaluable of giving Riot more than enough resources to give 2XKO a second wind and preventing the team from shrinking.

It's gonna have a part where a duo cosplays as Miss Fortune and Gangplank and travels to Los Angeles for Miss Fortune to point a pistol at their heads and for Gangplank to rob and pillage the studio to force them to do it to serve as a hypothetical teaser of Miss Fortune and Gangplank as the first two characters for a hypothetical Arc System Works era of 2XKO. Riot may be the perfect licensor to Arc System Works to continue active development of 2XKO. This is something that I want to go into detail in a future post where I go over the key benefits to 2XKO continuing active development under Arc System Works as a licensee in association with Riot Games. Stay tuned.

Can We Get a Remake for Mega Man X: Command Mission?

As you all know, Onimusha: Way of the Sword sold over 1 million copies worldwide and counting at launch, making it a commercial success along with Resident Evil: Requiem and the all new Pragmata. The game industry is struggling in 2026, but Capcom, of all companies, has developed a trifecta of critically acclaimed games. 2026 is set to become a career year for Capcom. With Onimusha: Way of the Sword becoming a resounding success and Mega Man: Dual Override on its way, Capcom is open to reviving most of their IPs that have been dormant for years to decades. Everyone is petitioning and pushing for different games to come back. One of them being a franchise that was left off in a cliffhanger, the mature take on the Mega Man series, Mega Man X.

It is a sub franchise of the original Mega Man franchise that can most definetely make a comeback. Different cast of characters, serious and mature tone and the introduction of Reploids and Mavericks. Many people liked the series better than the original Mega Man because of its serious tone we'd experience in action cartoons. The first six games have 2D sprites and the last two games introduced 2.5D graphics. There is a turn-based RPG on the franchise, Mega Man X: Command Mission.

This is a turn-based JRPG that can most definetely go toe-to-toe with Expedition 33 and many other turn-based RPGs. Great graphics, Hyper Mode transformations, similar tone to the original Teen Titans and characters that never appeared in any of the mainline games. The PS2 version sold 36,635 units and the GameCube version sold 18,599 units. Now that Capcom is looking to revive most of their dormant IPs, I think it's time we get a modern remake for Mega Man X: Command Mission.

Here's the thing. If you're playing the PS2 version, it runs on a rough 30 FPS, but has a decent random encounter rate. You will notice that Command Mission is one of the third-party titles within the sixth generation era that has technical limits on the PS2 version. But throw the same game to the GameCube and you'll experience that the game runs on a buttery smooth 60 FPS, but has an annoyingly higher random encounter rate than the PS2 version. I think we can see the remake run at 60 FPS on modern platforms and have the use of the RE Engine at 1080p-4K resolution.

We can keep the random encounters, but to make it easier and less annoying, an option to toggle random encounters on and off like in Wild Arms 4 and 5 on the fly. These are actually the first two things I want for the remake; run at 1080p resolution in 60 FPS on modern platforms and the option to set the rate of the random encounter.

The next thing that is most obvious is an intro. When you start a new game, you'd realize that the game lacks an intro as many games have an intro. There is an outro that appears when you beat Redips. It's absurd for Command Mission to just lack an intro that entails the introduction of Giga City. I think an intro can work.

The next thing is innovative and cinematic combat system. The combat system in Command Mission is pretty much decent, but lacked some potential. But we can give it potential by bringing cinematic goodness to the combat system. This makes the pacing a lot better.

The next thing is obvious, changing the way we equip Force Metals. They are trinkets that augment a characters stats. I liked the Force Metal system. But my main problem is having a limited amount of Force Metal slots. For example, X has four available slots, but not everyone because Massimo, for example, has two available slots. But I think we can change it to equipping Force Metals in the same style as how we equip badges in Paper Mario, meaning that we can equip Force Metals without the use of limited slots. But the penalty will remain. If the Alert sign appears when hovering the Force Metal that will exceed the max erosion, equipping it will have a penalty that lasts until the battle ends, so be careful and watch what you're equipping.

And last but certainly not least, a New Game+. Many games, especially in the modern generations have a New Game+ and it's unlockable after beating the game for the first time. With New Game+, the current level, Zenny, Force Metals and weapons you have and the progress made in the Deployment Center in the original playthrough you cleared will carry over to the beginning of the journey. It makes boss fights a bit easier and can soar through enemies.

Let me pitch my idea. I would love for a Mega Man X: Command Mission remake to have a 1080p-4K resolution at a buttery smooth 60 FPS on modern platforms, the use of the RE Engine, an intro, an option to toggle random encounters on and off, innovative and cinematic turn-based combat, change the way we equip Force Metals without the use of slots and a New Game+ to have all of the items you acquired and the progress you made in the original playthrough. All of this is to make things up to snuff.

I genuinely think that the music, combat, art direction, serious tone, Hyper Mode transformations and everything else in Command Mission is brilliant. But that brillance is sullied by the PS2 version running at 30 FPS and the GameCube version running at 60 FPS due to the PS2 version's technical limits, the combat system lacking some potential, lacking an intro and limited Force Metal slots. But a hypothetical remake can fix the respective issues. But overall, Command Mission is indeed a great game I played in my childhood and recently since the launch on the classics catalog. But why is that important to talk about? I'm glad you have asked.

During my childhood, I had trouble playing this game until I have gotten a bit better by equipping weapons that exploit weaknesses. And since the launch of the classics catalog, I have gotten a lot better. It's not just equipping weapons that exploit weaknesses, but spending more to level up the party until I'm satisfied with it. And not only that; when Cinnamon joins the party, she starts at lv. 1 that I had to keep her out of battle until she's up to snuff with the rest of the party. The thing is, I have thought about this and said, "Hey, this gives me an inking. I should spend more time levelling up the party until I am satisfied before facing the bosses so that I can have a better chance at defeating bosses for quality over speed.

I also did something that I hadn't done during my childhood, defeating optional bosses to get Ultimate Armor and Absolute Zero. I tested out the new Hyper Mode transformations and they both pack a punch. It occured to me that I should've had gotten them in the first place because this could give me the ultimate cheese against Epsilon. I'm not talking about a curd of milk. I'm talking about a sound strategy. And the Great Redips battle; I didn't beat it once, but twice. The second run was much faster than the first run, all because the new Hyper Mode transformations I acquired given me the ultimate cheese I need to defeat bosses in Chapter 10 in the fewest amount of turns and had to restock on Cure Alls because of the move Great Redips uses to apply every status aliment on all. I forgot what is it called.

See, Mega Man X: Command Mission is the game I wanted to revisit. It's not just the gameplay and story. It's the fact that like Mega Man X7, it was genuinely hailed as one of the games that has a more serious and mature tone than the original Mega Man franchise and the first six games of the Mega Man X series. The serious tone in Command Mission is quite serious as the original Teen Titans, which I like way better than Teen Titans Go! and its bright and frivolous Johnny Test-style tone. I missed experiencing the game's serious tone. Not only I missed the serious tone, but also the music. The music in Ulfat Factory genuinely makes me think of Jetix, the now defunct block that contains action shows.

And 22 years later, I finally get to revisit it all. I am genuinely passionate about the serious tone and great music Command Mission beared. I have planned to do a Command Mission Let's Play series to show people how I missed its serious tone and its music, but Remote Play on PC shuts down without warning, so I decided to find a Github account responsible of the PC port to have 1080p resolution at 60 FPS, better shading and lighting and new features never appeared in the original release.

Do you remember the Everlasting King battle in Bug Fables? It's quite similar to the Great Redips battle I have not beaten during my childhood. Over time, during my Bug Fables playthrough, it became essentially clear that the Wasp King literally has the same type of goal as Redips in terms of ruling fictional worlds. It's exactly like that. You'd expect the sour betrayal had shocked fans. In fact, this might apply to seeing a game to be made. Another turn-based RPG that is basically Paper Mario meets Mega Man X: Command Mission with a fleshed out party of six characters with different weapons and personalities, switching between members with more flexibility, each member having their own badge points in mind. Maybe Bug Fables 2: Command Mission in Bugaria?

With Capcom reviving dormant IPs, thanks to the success of Onimusha: Way of the Sword, I like to see Command Mission get remade with modern upgrades and innovative turn-based combat system in mind. I know the game was met with mixed critic reviews, but it at least sold well to be a cult fan favorite. It doesn't hurt to give cult fan favorites a remake because sales matter more than review scores.

Mega Man X: Command Mission came out on the classics catalog on the PS4 and PS5 because of the Mega Man X Legacy Collections and hopefully the Lord of the Rings: The Third Age will follow suit soon to go toe-to-toe with Mega Man X: Command Mission like it did back in the day. I'll even do better than the last time I played it by equipping stronger gear and levelling up the party just enough to level the playing field. Trust me, if you live through turn-based RPGs in the 6th generation era, I'm darn sure you'll know what I'm talking about.

And one turn-based RPG being Legends of Starkadia is basically Super Mario RPG. You can learn more about the game and how you can help make it happen by clicking the link to the post below.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2026/09/doom-turtle-needs-your-help.html

PlayStation Fans Deserve Better Than This...

Wow... just wow. I have been playing Mega Man X: Command Mission for few days straight and I have actually enjoyed it. I'll tell you more about my experience in a future post. Then a huge drama among PlayStation fans have came out of the blue and... fans have been fuming.

PlayStation became a brand back in 1994 when the first console came out first in Japan and 30 years later, the brand has celebrated its 30th anniversary with deals and merch. It became even more exciting because we have the revamped PlayStation Plus offering classic games released on PS1, PS2, PSP and PS3. However, as we get to the second half of 2026, things have took a turn for PlayStation.

First off, discs are being phased out for games that release in 2028. This became the source of sparking backlash on all sides. Overtime, it grew. A Change.org petition was created to reverse Sony's decision and a week long boycott was planned to be put into motion, but failed because Sony's decision to end disc production remains firm. The agreement shows that digital purchases actually offer licenses. When your account is banned, all of your digital purchases are gone. Now, I need to be clear that digital purchases on a Sony console should provide ownership like physical purchases, not revocable licenses. Sony ending discs in 2028 would be the last straw that they are seriously switching to Steam.

It was clearly dunked on. The event has been the source of controversy that we own everything. It's not theirs to take. We can assume that Sony could follow Microsoft's footsteps by doing a disc-to-digital feature. July 1 came, they announced that disc production will end for games that release in 2028 and beyond and heard nothing for six days and made a post about the FlexStrike fight stick to ignore the backlash. In fact, the chat during the double-header State of Play was flooded with "No disc, no buy" and "Destiny 3" chants. Destiny 2 had to stop being supported as Bungie has to focus on Marathon.

If you were living under a rock, Guerilla was working on a live service game, Horizon: Hunters Gathering. This is a spin-off of the Horizon franchise that uses anime-style cel shading instead of realistic depictions the mainline games use. The game had a playtest and... whew. Negative feedback went all over the place that the entire development has been rebooted and left in the dust for quite some time. Now, if Hunters Gathering has been rebooted, they are starting all over and hopefully make it any less of a live service game since we noticed that live service games aren't sustainable as we thought. That's how Concord failed that it had to be shut down after its short-term development along with the studio.

It's also how 2XKO flopped despite all of the positive buzz. The team was laid off weeks after launch and six months later, active development ends, halting my opportunity to see Riven, Sett and anyone else in a giant pile of characters just itching to be in the roster. This had left us with the only tag fighter left to support, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. But luckily, a new patch for Marvel Tokon is in development to remedy most of the major issues in the PC version that became the source of having mixed reviews on PC.

It became a de facto shortcoming for the gaming industry, with the exception, of course, of the ones that are still sustainable for years, whether it's PC only games like League of Legends, World of Warcraft or CSGO to console games like Valorant and even Marvel Rivals. Even Overwatch. Overwatch, of all games, remains sustainable after dropping the 2 from the title and keeping it free-to-play under the Overwatch name and shows zero signs of dying. I think the reasoning for Overwatch's sustained retention is because the Overwatch team is actually small from the start. They knew that smaller and leaner teams that work on live service games have the tendency to establish an overkill player engagement at launch by developing games the right way without making any bad choices that spark fan backlash.

Here's the thing. Look at Brawlhalla. This game became a success to have future content for years to come because it was developed by a smaller team from the start. Now, imagine if 2XKO was developed by a smaller team from the start. When it releases, its player engagement becomes high to overkill and would show no signs of laying off some of the team. This makes it a vendetta to larger teams that had to be shrunk weeks after release.

Speaking of a vendetta, this brings me to my next point, Hideo Kojima. Kojima is a Japanese video game writer. He was with Konami on that time when he was working on the Metal Gear franchise. He left Konami to form his own studio, Kojima Productions. You know that they are the developers of the Death Stranding series, with Kojima being the head of the team. But what does a vendetta have anything to do with Kojima? 

Well, Kojima has a new single-player game in the works, Physint. It is supposed to be like a spiritual successor to Metal Gear Solid since it has the "Tactical Espionage Action" label and was supposed to be a PS5 exclusive. Unfortunately, Physint is going to Xbox as Kojima left Sony for Microsoft. This is due to Sony dropping the ball. They pulled funding from Kojima, been ballooning budgets, missing deadlines and spent time funding on a live service game like Concord. We already knew that live service games aren't as sustainable as we once thought, so why fund Concord? They should've kept the funding on Kojima instead of funding Concord.

Fans were set ablaze that Sony's fumbles allowed Kojima to shift the development of Physint to Xbox. This darning news really sets the drama about the situation surrounding Kojima. Here's the Kojima clip of a Mightykeef skit about being a PlayStation fan in 2026.

Now, I had to edit the clip to mute inappropriate words so that we can keep this post family friendly for everyone to read.

Kojima Productions has issued a statement saying that the studio is still in good health and still has ties with PlayStation despite losing the project to Xbox. Kojima working with Xbox must have unlocked multimedia forms, but the game is still in early development. Does this mean Physint is gonna be an Xbox exclusive? Absolutely not. Its PlayStation release is still likely.

If Sony is going all-digital, at least follow Xbox's footsteps by doing a disc-to-digital conversion feature and also make so that we actually own digital games, not be offered revocable licenses. Also, funding should've remained intact with Kojima and shouldn't been funding on a dead live service game like Concord. That's my advice and rant that Sony needs to follow if they want to the backlash to pass and be alleviated and adressed.

Doom Turtle Needs Your Help...

There is an unfinished turn-based RPG that is developed by a small studio that needs your help making it complete. Let's jump right in.

I'm back with a new post that talks about a game that I heard about and played recently. As we know, turn-based RPGs have quite a dedicate fanbase for years and with the success of Expedition 33, it holds the future of turn-based RPGs to follow its footsteps, starting with People of Note. But there is one turn-based RPG that I heard them talk about subtly and it caught my very interest and blew my mind. See, when I was making a post talking about why I am so excited to revisit Mega Man X: Command Mission, I came across upon an unfinished turn-based RPG. I started to read more about it as much I could, so let's jump right into the post.

You would know that indie devs typically have the creative freedom in developing games to be able to take creative risks to provide gameplay innovations and have the tendency to make games without being burdened by shareholders and all that. These games have vibes from AAA games, ranging from Paper Mario-likes to Hearts-likes, Soulslikes and roguelikes. And there is one indie dev I heard about, Doom Turtle.

Doom Turtle is the developer of Ember Knights. And what they have is a turn-based RPG available in its unfinished state. And in a sense, a turn-based RPG that is basically Super Mario RPG meets Final Fantasy taking place in the solar system. No progress on it was made because they are currently working on their new deckbuilding roguelite, Welcome to Harmony. Now, it was originally an open world game, but it is now in a turn-based RPG format. The most accepted name is Legends of Starkadia. Like I said, this is basically Super Mario RPG meets Final Fantasy. From what I heard of, here is the essential story and explanation of the game before I give you the verdict of how I enjoyed. I may have some details wrong here, but this is what I have.

A bored Earthling teen named Mikey got accidentally sent into a Starkadian Empire. He lands face first in a battle between good and evil. Along the way, Mikey meets few of his new allies that he must make in the fight between good and evil and defeat the forces of evil, the Empire.

The field outside of combat has the top down view Super Mario RPG uses. There are enemies visible and simply getting into contact with it normally will get you into battle. Your party strikes first by touching the enemy from behind and an enemy blitzkrieg occurs when it touches you from behind. When you have more than one character, you can switch between leaders using the buttons that switch leaders. There's even the Cores system, but we don't know what does the Cores system do right now.

The combat in Legends of Starkadia is based on a traditional turn-based system and it's similar to Super Mario RPG because there are action commands that amplify a move's effects. They consist of timed button presses during an attack, defense, special move and item usage. And there are two things the Super Mario RPG remake has introduced, the chain system and the use of teamwork abilities.

The chain system uses a gauge that holds up to five levels. When you make a successful action command, you'll increase the chain gauge and keep it intact. The higher the chain, the higher the effects on regeneration and attacks. But blow an action command, you'll break the chain and have to start from square one. Successful action commands also fill up the teamwork gauge. It holds up to three bars and is consumed from using powerful teamwork abilities.

Teamwork abilities are powerful abilities that are quite similar to Triple Attacks in the Super Mario RPG remake. They vary by what characters you have in battle and require 1-3 bars of the teamwork gauge. Example, if you have Mikey, Frank and Drake in combat, they'll perform Rude Trip, which allows them to drive a vehicle and run over enemies, dealing a ton of damage. Each teamwork ability has action commands you must successfully make and the coolest thing about them; unique text cutouts of names of teamwork abilities. They are quite as powerful and proven useful as Super Mario RPG's Triple Attacks, especially on boss battles.

Each enemy has a weakness, so if any of the attacks match the picture, the enemies get stunned and they take a lot of damage. For example, if the enemy has the picture of a sword, sword attacks match the picture to stun the enemy. While stunned, the amount of damage dealt increases.

With the explanation out of the way, here's my verdict to what do I think of Legends of Starkadia so far. I'm gonna say, the game is so near perfect. The combat is great, making successful action commands increasing the chain is an interesting touch. The teamwork abilities are so unique that they each have a unique logo and text cutout.

As I have said, the game is unfinished because it currently spans on Scrap World and has two hours of gameplay on it. Doom Turtle stated that building the remaining planets is a massive gamble that they had to limit the game to Chapter 1. And thankfully, there is some great news for the future of Legends of Starkadia.

Doom Turtle has recently posted an article that tells us that the transition to the pricing model is live and we have changed everything. What does that tell us? Well, if you look closer at the part of the article...

It shows that the game roughly had 28,000 total downloads. As of now, it has officially surpassed 200,000 downloads, which became a huge wake-up call for Doom Turtle to realize how important it is to continue working on future planets beyond Scrap World. It's also more than enough player interest to convince the team to get back to work and offer us more ways to fund the development bucket, so we have several packs available.

The Supporter Edition comes with exclusive skins and the official soundtrack.

And here are the current tracks in the official soundtrack for Legends of Starkadia. There are currently nine tracks. According to the soundtrack as a whole, each planet will have their own combat and boss arrangement like that of Mugen Souls. If we look closer to the last three tracks...

There are three bonus tracks for the next three planets, Sci-Fi World, Library World and Prehistoric World. The soundtrack will have more tracks once the game is in its complete form.

Now, surely, we would see a party of seven. Surely, this game is gonna have a character that throws playing cards and have abilities named after poker hand combinations like Spider. Surely, devs can develop a character that specializes support abilities like Cinnamon, right? Well, sadly, that will not be the case.

According to the splash art, there are four characters to join Mikey's party to make a party of five. The names are Frank, the anthropomorphic pig, Drake, the anthropomorphic duck wearing a red hoodie and Mutt, the fat one holding a claw, who is actually seen at Scrap World, but will not be joining the party yet. The name of a blue-skinned pink-braided girl holding a pistol is unknown and she is likely to be seen at Sci-Fi World looking at her gear. We can be able to find out what her name is now that they are convinced to eventually get back to work on this game. The party is not quite as fleshed out as Mega Man X: Command Mission, but it seemingly contains characters with different weapons, abilities and their personalities and we do have Frank wielding giant axes and hammers like Steel Massimo.

The blurb currently reflects the game in its current state and it will be updated to reflect the game in its complete form. As of today, the news shows that we rallied together to fund and build the development bucket to give the project a fresh and new wave of momentum so that we can see more planets get added and find out what is the name of the girl holding a pistol on the splash art and what the Cores system does. 

This brings me to my point. Remember what I said that we won't be seeing the Spider and Cinnamon-likes in Legends of Starkadia because of the party of five? If funding and building the development bucket is gonna help them develop future chapters and planets, then this brings me to hereby believe that funding the development bucket even further should also help Doom Turtle develop the Spider and Cinnamon-like characters for this game to expand the party to seven. But that's just my thoughts. It's just me speculating. We can find out if they are coming to fruition or not.

The latest news from Doom Turtle is indeed hopeful while their time to continue development on Legends of Starkadia is inevitable, but Welcome to Harmony is their main focus right now while whether the Spider and Cinnamon-likes are confirmed or not remains a mystery. It is a bit too early and it's proven to be beyond my sight. Once that's done, then they can get back to work on developing more planets.

The base game is available for $2 and the Supporter Pack is available for $5. Every purchase directly funds the developers' bucket needed to build the remaining chapters beyond Chapter 1, so feel free to donate money to the team while they are working on Welcome to Harmony. The demo version of Welcome to Harmony is available now, so go check it out.

Here's the link to the base game and the link to the Supporter Pack below.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2618160/Legends_of_Starkadia_Chapter_1/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5243840/Legends_of_Starkadia_Supporter_Pack/

This is just the first post in regards to Legends of Starkadia. Stay tuned for follow ups to this post that cover updates.

BREAKING: Mega Man X: Command Mission is Coming to PlayStation Plus

In today's post that has some breaking news, I'm talking about a turn-based JRPG that I hadn't talked about in ages. And that is one of the turn-based JRPGs in my childhood, Mega Man X: Command Mission. Now, I played Mega Man X: Command Mission when I was a kid back in the day. I hadn't played this game for decades and guess what? It's apparently changing because Mega Man X: Command Mission is officially announced at State of Play to launch on the classics catalog September 15. If you're not familiar with this game, I'll explain it now.

Mega Man X: Command Mission is a turn-based RPG spin-off for the Mega Man X sub franchise primed to launch on PlayStation Plus Premium on PS4 and PS5. Command Mission contains the original characters that never appeared in any of the mainline games, the citizens of a manmade island known as Giga City. The original story involves X and his team's struggle against a criminal organization in Giga City known as the Rebellion Army, led by Epsilon. Their goal is to turn Giga City into their nefarious... Holiday Inn resort to make Reploids a part of the Rebellion. It's up to the Anti-Rebellion League to stop the Rebellion Army and bring peace to Giga City.

During combat, it uses a queue window to determine who is next to perform an action and is manipulated with decreasing or increasing speed. There are sub attacks that consume a small amount WE and Action Triggers that require at least 50% WE. The higher the WE, the more powerful they are. Each character has a Hyper Mode transformation, which offers temporarily fortified armor and augmented power. But not all characters have one Hyper Mode transformation. X and Zero have two Hyper Mode transformations and they are acquired after defeating optional bosses.

If you need a better plan, you can equip Force Metal, trinkets that augment the character's stats. I equip Analyzer on all characters to unlock Analyze on the combat menu. With it, I can pinpoint the enemies' weakness and strength. If the enemy's data shows that it can take 150%-200% damage from water, 100% damage from thunder attacks and 50% damage or absorb fire attacks, it is intended to show that the enemy is weak against water, but strong against fire and neutral against thunder attacks. Now this a sound strategy that is basically coined to explain how we exploit weaknesses in Visions of Mana and Pokemon.

But very loosely, it basically means the enemy is weak against water attacks, but resistant against fire attacks. Mach Jentra is weak against water, but resistant against fire. Another way to determine weakness is to switch things around. In this case, the enemy is weak against lightning, but resistant against water. The perfect examples would be Silver Horn and Ferham because they are weak against thunder, but resistant against water. And finally, the enemy is weak against fire, but resistant against lightning attacks. Examples would be Wild Jango and Scarface, the ones that are weak against fire. Now, this is important to remember that equipping weapons that exploit weaknesses is a sound strategy.

The thing is, Capcom gave it a shot at making a turn-based RPG spin off for the Mega Man X franchise. While a fan favorite, it turned out to be a fail. If we look at the Metacritic scores and the sales for both versions, the PS2 version scored a 69 out of 100 and sold 36,635 units. The GameCube version scored a 67 out of 100 and sold 18,599 units. The PS2 version is relatively better than the GameCube version in terms of the rate of random encounters. One battle system designer has expressed his stark interest in making a sequel, implying that a hypothetical Command Mission 2 would have enemies present and visible on the field instead of annoying random encounters and new features while Nintendo Life listed it as a game they like to see on the Switch. And guess what? Since we have GameCube games on the Switch 2, the GameCube version could one day be playable on the Switch. But I prefer the PS2 version.

Fortunately, there is one good news. With the success of Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Mega Man: Dual Override and a brand new Okami on its way, Capcom is looking to follow SEGA's footsteps by reviving more of their IPs that have been dormant for decades. Other than collections and the mobile game, Mega Man X could one day make a comeback. If Capcom acquired the Command Mission trademark, we can see a remake and sequels. And not just Mega Man X. Whether you're a fan of Asura's Wrath, Viewtiful Joe, Darkstalkers, Final Fight, Breath of Fire, whomever you can think of!

Speaking of Breath of Fire, this leads me to my point. Since Mega Man X: Command Mission will be the first turn-based RPG of the mid 2000s by Capcom to ever launch into the classics catalog, the notorious Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter now has more of a chance to launch into the classics catalog. This allows a precedent to be set, especially for fans of turn-based PS2 JRPGs in the golden age of gaming.

I know what you're trying to ask. Am I gonna revisit Mega Man X: Command Mission? Obviously. This is one of the games I wanted to revisit. In fact, a lot of people hailed Command Mission as one of the games that has more seriousness than most of the mainline games and the same level of seriousness as that of the original Teen Titans because of its serious tone I missed experiencing. That's why I liked the original Teen Titans better than Teen Titans Go! and its Johnny Test-style tone. And revisiting it is likely gonna happen since it's coming to PlayStation Plus. But this time, it's gonna be way different than the time I played this game in my childhood. How is gonna be different?

Well, during my childhood, it was hard because I kept on escaping battles and rushing through the game. But I can change that by spending a little more time levelling up the party until I'm satisfied. Equiping stronger weapons and weapons that exploit weaknesses is also sound, especially when defeating the bosses after a fewest amount of turns, so when I'm going against Wild Jango, I need to equip fire-imbued weapons because thunder-type enemies like Jango are weak against fire.

However, defeating Epsilon is gonna require spending more time in the oven levelling up the party. Here's the beauty to this. If I get the party to lv. 35, I'll have a better chance of kicking Epsilon's butt and will be overkill during round two with Scarface. But if I get the party to lv. 40, I'll have a very overkill chance of defeating both Scarface during round two and an overkill chance of defeating Epsilon in a fewest amount of turns taken. In the sprit of commerce, I think I'll get the party to lv. 35, because I think it can give me a better chance of defeating Epsilon and subsqeuently quelling the Rebellion Army in the fewest amount of turns.

I have a Let's Play series planned for Command Mission, but for some reason, somehow, Remote Play shuts off on its own without warning despite plugging in an Ethernet cord, so sadly, it won't be until I figure out why it shuts down without warning. That or until someone makes a PC port.

Marvel Tokon - First Impressions and Thoughts

"drinks water* Marvel Tokon is dope. In fact, the game is so good and popular, I think it's gonna be nominated for Best Fighting Game at the Game Awards, so today, I'm gonna share my first impressions and thoughts about what do I think of Marvel Tokon so far.

First off, if you have been living under a rock, Marvel Tokon has recieved a Metacritic score of 85 out of 100, making this a critically acclaimed tag fighter to secure a nomination for Best Fighting Game at the Game Awards, indicating that this game has killed it with a Sonic Heroes-esque format in story mode that has five stories, 4v4 tag mechanics and a decent cast of Marvel heroes and villains despite some challenges like issues on the PC version that are the source of mixed reviews.

Danger_Bot over on the official Marvel Tokon Discord announced that a patch is coming on Friday, which is old news, to include fixes to performance issues on PC and provide PC and PS5 stability improvements.

And there are reactions to the post that are overwhelmingly positive because the patch they pushed in had alleviated performance issues that became the continuous point of contention since launch. It also have emojis of Marvel Tokon characters. The one with the most reactions is Black Panther. Both Black Panther and Magik came nip and tuck to each other.

The most recent patch came out and it remedies the issues in the PC version and brings in stability improvements for both versions, including fixes for several crashes.

All of the reactions are positive, praising devs fixing issues on PC. This post has the Wolverine emoji having the most reactions so far to honor his Battle Reborn Suit being available to all players for free and his new game by Insomniac coming out soon. It's a good thing I'm not playing it online until the patch comes out to fix issues. But enough with the patch. Let's get into the nitty gritty of this post.

Marvel Tokon is near perfect. The gameplay is decent and its 4v4 tag mechanics became the best. The characters and environment having a blend of American comics and Japanese manga are incredibly charming. The special moves are the best in the game. It has two ways to perform special moves, one button specials with directional influences like in Smash and motion inputs and attack buttons. Both are the same, but the motion input versions deal 100 more damage than the one button versions, which is how the "Good!" text appears in game. The comic book-style cutscenes in the story are the best in the game. I could just sit there and watch them al day.

So, when you assign your team on Battle Settings, the main menu screen displays the four characters on your team and the trim color varies by character you make as leader. That is the coolest thing about this. What you're seeing now has parts of the main menu screen colored blue because Magik is the leader of my team. Now, I will be the first to say, I am not a pro with Magik as I typically am with Annie in Skullgirls or Akali in 2XKO and will be with Atom Eve in Invincible VS when it comes to playstyles. But regardless, I had fun with her and she marks one of the X-Men that never appeared in a fighting game.

And what is even cooler is that it generates a front cover of your four-person team when you lock it in on the character select screen. It has the Marvel logo with the player number below it, a barcode on the lower left hand corner and the name of your team. I did find me a team already. What is the initial team I'm using?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Hellbound Shapeshifters, featuring Magik, Ms. Marvel, Star-Lord and Green Goblin.

But there is a small caveat to this. I am still working on learning Green Goblin since an iconic Spider-Man villain rides on his glider in his Skill attack to contribute to his C-tier ease of use and his combos are a part of it. Star-Lord is relatively easy to learn. He gives you a nice dopamine rush when shooting projectiles as a typical gun and ball gamer. He is not a Noel-like, but he is fun, though. Ms. Marvel is essentially the Cerebella of Marvel Tokon with a lumpsum of punches. I did a livestream showcasing this team to use online. To make myself clear, the livestream dropped before the recent patch came out.

I can't help but wonder what this team makes me think of. I can't quite put my finger on it. Oh yeah, it sounds a lot like the Adventures of Flynt Buckler. You know, the fictional storybook in Escape From Ever After entailed Flynt's mission to defeat Tinder the Dragon became a backfire and new characters join in? It exactly sounds like that.

When you used the "It's Mahvel, Baybee!" term when Marvel Tokon was announced, it served as a spiritual successor to the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise. Marvel vs. Capcom has been a long line of tag fighting games for almost three decades, with games like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 being a masterclass in tag fighting. Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, however, sold poorly to not have a second season, citing a trimmed down roster and the lack of X-Men characters. Well, Marvel Tokon is a spiritual successor to Marvel vs. Capcom, but it's not Marvel vs. Capcom.

But to the general public, there's nothing that can come close to Marvel vs. Capcom 2, until one game that did. And that's Marvel Tokon. Marvel Tokon proved that you can make a new Marvel fighter to be a masterclass to the general public. Again, Tokon is the masterclass of a Marvel fighter to be met with overwhelming positivity. This shows that Marvel has been a product for decades with web-slinging, slicing with claws, causing destruction and so on. The success of Dragon Ball FighterZ allowed Marvel Tokon to come to fruition as the masterclass of a tag fighter because they have rich innovation, right tools and resources and a smaller team. Speaking of, I seem to realize something.

Remember what happened weeks after 2XKO came out on console? Half of the team was laid off due to its flop at launch. The cause of this is that 2XKO has started development when the team was large. However, that contributed to laying off half of the team weeks after console release and ending active development in December after a year due to low player retention falling short of revenue goals, leaving a long chain of disappointment and sadness and the game available and online for the foreseeable future.

They knew that larger teams have no idea what they are doing while smaller and independent teams have the creative freedom and tendency to stay focused on making games properly without the distractions and establish an overkill player base. That's how Highguard became an utter commercial failure to contribute to shutting it down.

Here's the thing. Marvel Tokon was developed by Arc System Works, a small studio that Sony doesn't own. They only helped publish it, which makes it a stark difference in comparison to a modern AAA studios today. Now, imagine if a smaller, independent and focused team started developing 2XKO while staying small. Upon launch, the game would have an overkill player retention and momentum would reach the level needed for long-term sustainability because small scale teams are always focused and have creative freedom to develop games well. This is something that is basically intended to explain how Overwatch is the only commercially successful live service game that survived the impact.

Marvel Tokon isn't the only tag fighter that was developed from the start by a small team. Invincible VS and even SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level were developed from the start by small teams of Quarter Up and 4CYDE Studios. 2026 now has a trifecta of tag fighters that were developed from the start by small teams that have the tendency to take creative risks and drive a high-to-overkill player retention at launch. However, they have made a rocky launch like 2XKO did.

We can cross out Invincible VS for now because I don't think that it's gonna have years of support, especially since over 20 employees were laid off from Quarter Up. We'll cross it out and move on. SEGA vs. Capcom will be getting years of support like Marvel Tokon is since we have a treasure trove of characters and character themes just straight up confirmed during the livestream I watched. That's something we'll be looking forward to and I have future plans for it.

Well, that one just aged... poorly. Apparently, SEGA vs. Capcom has been sadly shut down and was given a cease and desist order due to the use of Capcom's characters and likeness. While I'm saddened to hear this darning and devastating news, this one is not depressing nor maddening for me. It genuinely stinks, but that's how things go sometimes. They must've forgotten to pitch it to Capcom for approval. Now, with 2XKO ceasing active development in December and SEGA vs. Capcom shut down, we apparently only have Marvel Tokon left to support. But we were told to stay tuned to find out what original project 4CYDE is working on. What will the original project gonna be? Will it be an original 2v2 tag fighter to be a spiritual successor to 2XKO? We'll have to wait and see.

But look, I may not be able to pop some heads with Lucian since 2XKO is ceasing active development after an ephemeral run, but at least I can be able to pop some heads with Star-Lord. After all, they are planning to give it a long-term support. And... I guess that's how paid fighting games had to be supported long-term. Well, except for Mortal Kombat. That never gotten a long-term support.

Not only we have Marvel Tokon because we also are experiencing another tag fighter on the DC side of things. And that is DCKO, a 2v2 tag fighter with various characters across DC Comics. Suffice to say that DCKO is going to be left in the dust as it's gonna be a Mobile game.

Now, if there is one thing I want in Marvel Tokon, I would say an online co-op game mode. An online co-op game mode in Marvel Tokon sounds like a great idea to me. It allows four players on the same team to battle against four players, like how KOF and Dragon Ball FighterZ handled having an online co-op game mode to have three players against three players and how 2XKO handled Duo Play where two players work as a duo. Think about it, I can team up with three of my friends and take on four of our opponents. That would be straight up crazy, don't you think?

In conclusion and summary, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is dope. I loved the comic book stylization and the designs that have a blend of American comics and Japanese manga for characters. I am loving every second of it. These are my first impressions and thoughts regarding Marvel Tokon. Evo France is around the corner and that's where Marvel Tokon will have its first appearance at. Expect announcements in regards to Marvel Tokon there.

Why Did 2XKO Flop at Launch?

A lot of people became disappointed that 2XKO is ceasing active development in December due to a low retention. So what happened? Why did 2XKO flop at launch? Let's jump right in.

Before we can actually answer why 2XKO flopped at launch and cite the factors that contributed to its low player retention at launch, we need to go back to the beginning of the game's development.

2XKO started out with six characters in Alpha Lab 1. It became a starting point for the game's development. After Alpha Lab 1 concluded, feedback went all over the place and the devs evaluated their feedback for the next playtest, Alpha Lab 2. It introduced a cast of seven characters, with Jinx as the newest addition. It was a disappointingly smaller playtest as Riot was working on an infrastructure. If we go straight to Early Access, it was criticized for having a small character roster when other tag fighters have a large roster of characters.

So now, we can answer this question. Why did 2XKO flop at launch? There is one thing we need to get out of the way. The game was criticized for having a small roster, especially when choosing two of them. You can't have a tag fighter, in this case, 2XKO, with a small character roster. It's has been the point of criticism for small rosters on a tag fighter, so whoever did this, pays the price.

The small free pool of six characters made it harder for new players to try out the game. That's another subject of 2XKO's low player retention along with having a small character roster at launch. 2XKO launching with eleven characters and a free pool of the first six characters contributed to its flop. This brings me to monologue how development of 2XKO should've unfolded before launch.

February 2025 - 7th and 8th character reveals
March 2025 - 9th and 10th character reveals + Alpha Lab 2
April 2025 - 11th and 12th character reveals

May 2025 - 13th and 14th character reveals

June 2025 - 15th and 16th character reveals
July 2025 - 17th and 18th character reveals

August 2025 - 19th and 20th character reveals
September 2025 - 21st and 22nd character reveals + Closed Beta

October 2025 - 23rd and 24th character reveals + Early Access

Again, a small roster of characters and a small free pool of the first six characters are the two things that made it harder for new players to approach. Other tag fighters I know have a largeer character roster at launch. Invincible VS launched with 18 characters, Hunter X Hunter: NEN Impact launched with 16 characters, Marvel Tokon launched with 20 characters, and 2XKO should've launched with 24 characters and they all should've been free by default because a small roster at launch with the first six characters being free by default is the factor that made it harder for new players, contributing to its low player retention.

In reality, we're having 17 characters this year and will remain that way. The suggestion to how it should've been during development has seven characters. It makes it a total 24 characters. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has 24 characters if you're excluding the two juggernaut characters, PTX-40A and G. Lightan. With 24 characters free at launch and post-launch characters to be unlocked with Credits, KO Points and through Recruitment Events, 2XKO would have a high to overkill player retention so that it would recieve content for years to come and the team would remain intact. That said, I decided to list the seven characters that should've been confirmed before 2XKO launched.

1. Katarina

Right off the bat, I'm going to talk about the only character that has been absent, Katarina. I have been chasing her for quite some time, until I seem to figure out why Katarina had to be absent. If you look back at the earlier stages, Katarina's kit did not fit well in a tag fighter that she had to be Thanos-snapped from the game. While I am lamenting Katarina's absence, there is one silver-lining to all this.

The first is that if Katarina's kit did fit well in a 2v2 tag fighter, then maybe 2XKO would've had an even number of characters in Alpha Lab 2, Closed Beta and Early Access and cease active development at 18 characters, because Katarina's absence would contribute to having an odd number of characters and that's the one thing that became a hiccup. That's why I talked about her right out of the gate.

Character roster that should've been (Includes Katarina):

Ahri
Akali
Blitzcrank

Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Illaoi
Jinx
Katarina
Lux
Samira
Senna
Teemo
Thresh
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

Before we get to the next six characters, let's take a look at the SEGA and Capcom sides that should've been if Katarina hadn't been absent and the key points across the board. We'll start with the SEGA side.

Ahri, Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Ekko, Jinx remain. Lux, Senna, Thresh and Warwick move. The SEGA side would've been Ahri, Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Ekko, Jinx, Lux, Senna, Thresh and Warwick.

Akali, Braum, Darius, Illaoi remain. Katarina introduced. Samira, Teemo, Vi and Yasuo move. That would've been Akali, Braum, Darius, Illaoi, Katarina, Samira, Teemo, Vi and Yasuo on the Capcom side.

SEGA side:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Lux
Senna
Thresh
Warwick

Capcom side:

Akali
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Katarina
Samira
Teemo
Vi
Yasuo

Key points:

Ahri on the SEGA side = NiGHTS
Blitzcrank on the SEGA side = Vectorman
Caitlyn on the SEGA side = Gain Ground
Ekko on the SEGA side =  Pulseman
Jinx on the SEGA side = Jet Set Radio
Lux on the SEGA side = Space Channel 5
Senna on the SEGA side = Bayonetta
Thresh on the SEGA side = Mansion of Haunted Souls
Warwick on the SEGA side = Altered Beast

Akali on the Capcom side = Power Stone
Darius on the Capcom side = Knights of the Round

So we now have the SEGA and Capcom sides and the key points for when Katarina hadn't been scrapped. This is the only info to have without a subjective information.

2. Kennen

Kennen is located at background of Bandlewood Crossing, indicating that Riot has deconfirmed none of the characters. He would've been confirmed up front and could be a Sonic-like in 2XKO, but he will never make it to the roster because active development on 2XKO will cease.

3. Ashe

A while back, I mentioned that 2XKO never had a bow and arrow character. In this case, Ashe can be the one that the game would've answered with. She could swing her bow and fire arrows with S1 like how Caitlyn swings her rifle and fired it with S1. I would love to see the Frost Archer, but my hopes have been kaput because the game is ceasing active development and it's not a good thing.

4. Leona

2XKO never had a Targonian character and Leona would've been the first Targonian to ever come to the game if Riot revealed two characters per month up until Early Access where it should've had 24 characters instead of 11. I do love to see the Radiant Dawn, but she won't see the light of day. Heh, light. You get it because Leona has the power of light in her sword.

5. Garen

So, Lux is on her way to 2XKO and I said that her brother is likely to debut as his sister did. However, we are getting Lux, but her brother will never make it as the game is going to cease active development. I just want to experience the brother and sister duo too...

6. Miss Fortune

When the game had its Alpha Lab 1, the Brazen Hydra is one of the stages in Bilgewater. And if you look at the background on the far right, there are wanted posters for Gangplank and Tahm Kench. Miss Fortune should've been in the game in the first place because of the tavern in Bilgewater having wanted posters. Not including her in the first place along with others would contribute to the game's small roster and the misdirection Riot has taken, especially with the tavern in Bilgewater. Our red-haired pirate will never make it.

7. Sett

Sett has been the most popular request and that's something I have heard when watching 2XKO Pools. He, in fact, would've been the desired fourth Ionian character if development of 2XKO keeps going. I was gonna choose Lee Sin, but Sett is the highly requested.

Character roster that should've been:

Ahri
Akali

Ashe
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Garen
Illaoi
Jinx
Katarina

Kennen
Leona
Lux
Miss Fortune
Samira
Senna
Sett
Teemo
Thresh
Vi
Warwick
Yasuo

As I have said before, the 24 character roster is good for a tag fighter. This is how it should've been in Early Access if Riot revealed two characters before Alpha Lab 2 and two characters every month up until Early Access, so I have decided to divide the 24-character roster into the SEGA and Capcom sides that should've been across the board and state the key points. We'll start with the SEGA side.

Ahri, Jinx and Samira remain. Ashe, Garen, Kennen and Sett get added. Braum, Darius, Lux. Thresh and Warwick move. The SEGA side would've had Ahri, Ashe, Braum, Darius, Garen, Jinx, Kennen, Lux, Samira, Sett, Thresh and Warwick.

Akali, Illaoi and Senna remain. Katarina, Leona and Miss Fortune get added. Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Ekko, Teemo, Vi and Yasuo move. That would've put Akali, Blitzcrank, Caitlyn, Ekko, Illaoi, Katarina, Leona, Miss Fortune, Senna, Teemo, Vi and Yasuo on the Capcom side.

SEGA side:

Ahri
Ashe
Braum
Darius
Garen
Jinx
Kennen
Lux
Samira
Sett
Thresh
Warwick

Capcom side:

Akali
Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Illaoi
Katarina
Leona
Miss Fortune
Senna
Teemo
Vi
Yasuo

Key points:

Ahri on the SEGA side = NiGHTS
Ashe on the SEGA side = Skies of Arcadia
Darius on the SEGA side = Valkyria Chronicles

Garen on the SEGA side = Shining the Holy Ark
Jinx on the SEGA side = Jet Set Radio
Kennen on the SEGA side = Sonic the Hedgehog
Lux on the SEGA side = Space Channel 5
Samira on the SEGA side = Valkyria Chronicles
Sett on the SEGA side = Streets of Rage
Thresh on the SEGA side = Mansion of Hidden Souls
Warwick on the SEGA side = Altered Beast

Akali on the Capcom side = Power Stone
Blitzcrank on the Capcom side = Mega Man X
Caitlyn on the Capcom side = Alien vs. Predator (Arcade game)
Senna on the Capcom side = Darkstalkers
Yasuo on the Capcom side = Onimusha

With no fighting game goggles on, looking at the stats, this should've happened in the first place if Riot revealed two characters before Alpha Lab 2 and every month up until Early Access because again, a small roster on a tag fighter contributed to its low player retention at launch. Then something hit me.

The roster went heavy on Arcane characters, with Lux being the sixth one. That was in 2021 when Ekko was introduced. Jinx was introduced in Alpha Lab 2. Vi was introduced in Closed Beta. Warwick was introduced in Early Access. Caitlyn was introduced in Season 1. And finally, Lux will be introduced in September's patch. It is kind of weird that 2XKO would be influenced by Arcane because of the graffiti in the lobbies. But listen, I don't want to put a slant on Arcane. I liked Arcane. I thoroughly enjoyed the fight scenes in it and the part where Caitlyn and Vi had sex with each other, contributing to wanting Caitlyn in 2XKO because of Vi.

Expectations:

• Two character reveals per month after Alpha Lab 2 starting in April up until Early Access
• 22 characters and 14 stages during Closed Beta
• 24 characters and 16 stages during Early Access
• All characters and stages in Early Access free by default
• Heavy reliability on League of Legends characters
• Cross-region support
• Arcane Bundle costs $50
• Materializing Katarina
• Custom lobbies
• All above points contribute to a high to overkill retention to continue active development for years to come

Mistakes:

• 8th character reveal in June
• 9 characters and five stages during Closed Beta
• 11 characters and seven stages during Early Access
• First six characters and first four stages free by default
• Heavy reliability on Arcane characters
• Region-locked
• Arcane Bundle costs $100
• Scrapping Katarina
• Private lobbies
• All above points contribute to a low retention to shrink the team and cease active development

If Riot hadn't made any mistakes and met up with the expectations I have listed above during development, 2XKO wouldn't flop at launch. And even if player retention is low enough to not cover rising costs, they could rely on the community like how Blizzard did with Overwatch.

And that is my story about how 2XKO's development should've been and how did it have a low player retention at launch with factors that I have pinpointed. While it is a darn shame that 2XKO is ceasing active development, it's not as bad as the part where WB Games has had a small chip on their shoulder on what happened to MultiVersus as Riot is giving me a refund. What happened to MultiVersus, you ask? It's all of it is what happened. Whether it's predatory microtransactions, the misdirection they were going with the game and abysmal marketing at launch.

But Coach TJ Puma has started a #Save2XKO petition to rally talent and support. Maybe a new 2XKO team can pick up where the old team left off and learn from their mistakes the old team has made like the ones I listed above, who knows?

2XKO is Ceasing Active Development...

So, Season 3 and Lux are fast approaching and we have been waiting for news about them since the Coven Bundle came out. An update popped up and unfortunately, it is not looking good. Let's jump right in.

I'm back with a brand new post that has me quite shocked. So, with fighting games rolling around like tumbleweeds in the wind for decades, you would know that the fighting game community has been thriving, especially recently with the recent ones, starting with Invincible VS, to Avatar Legends: the Fighting Game, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls and even SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level. There are a ton of fighting games beyond them coming. But specifically, I like to point out to the direction of the tag fighter on this post, the League of Legends tag fighter, 2XKO.

So, this game has came out of Early Access and launched on console in January, being met with positive buzz for innovative tag mechanics and co-op gameplay. However, as soon as the game launched on console, things took a turn for the game. Half of the 2XKO team was laid off. Momentum has not reached the level need for long-term development despite the buzz.

You would know that Riot is gonna remain committed to supporting 2XKO to deliver future characters to make all of the fighting game fans that play League of Legends swoon and commit happy outbursts. Well, sadly, I have some sad news for you guys. I understand there a lot of characters that have been itching in the roster. Now, it might be 2XKO 2.0. I am not ruling out that possibility, but in terms of 2XKO getting the same upgrade treatment as Granblue Fantasy Versus, don't get your hopes up.

Riot has posted an article about the future of 2XKO and it's... not a good one.

That's right. 2XKO is ending active development at the end of 2026 with the intention of unlocking all characters, bulding existing cosmetics and refunding those who spend money on KO Points and the Starter Bundles before August 20. *sigh* You know, when I said that... if a game, like, I don't know, Skullgirls could continue active development despite challenges because of Autumn Games being the IP holders, then anything was possible, I did not mean for 2XKO to end active development after a year. I never thought that ending active development after a short run on a buzz-worthy free-to-play tag fighter was actually legal and possible.

Seriously, there are so many words that make me want to punch a hole in the wall. They literally said that 2XKO cost them substantially more to operate than it brings in that ceasing active development was the best route forward due to its low player retention. This just tells me that Riot seems to be holding on to the fact of revenue goals the current retention fell short of as I realized that live service games are not as sustainable as we once thought as evident on Wikipedia.

Today, sustainability is something that fighting games have been banking on and it's working. Street Fighter, Tekken, Guilty Gear Strive, Granblue Fantasy Versus and even Fatal Fury have achieved sustainability, with smaller fighters like Skullgirls, Rivals of Aether II and Saturday AM: Battle Manga to follow suit soon. People have been chanting for these games to get supported long-term. The perfect example at this moment is Guilty Gear Strive. The game sold around an estimate of over 10 million copies, which contributed to Strive having a long-term support up to the 2.0 era. Granblue Fantasy Versus sold over 5 million copies. It's enough to confirm Rising, the sequel to the vanilla Granblue Fantasy Versus. Both of these games are literally out there selling like hotcakes and building momentum.

It appears that 2XKO is not the first fighting game to have such an ephemeral development cycle. If you don't remember, Mortal Kombat 1 couldn't get a third year of support to have a Year 3 pass due to its poor sales that fell short of its goal because of microtransactions pertaining to paying money for Fatalities, citing that Mortal Kombat 9 was better than Mortal Kombat 1. The worst thing about this is that I am cancelling my future plans by deleting and editing posts that pertain to the future of 2XKO. I have a follow up post that have the factors that cite 2XKO's flop at launch coming soon. This is how messed up 2XKO ceasing active development after a short one-year development cycle.

Now, does this mean that we will never see another League of Legends fighter? Well, no. See, Riot could license the League of Legends fighter IP to another company and become a licensor to the company to become a licensee of the IP. But it is quite a hard knock life for us fighting game fans since a buzz-worthy tag fighter like 2XKO couldn't stand a darn chance and has to conclude active development after an ephemeral one-year development cycle, especially when there are FGC members that played League of Legends that are fans of Riven, Sett, Garen, Vayne, Sona, Gangplank, Miss Fortune, Lucian, Veigar, Malcolm Graves, Leona, Camille, whoever you can think of! A precedent seals the deal. If 2XKO could end active development after a disappointingly short one-year run due to low player retention, then I'll probably have to follow Diaphone's footsteps just by quitting my job showing my support.

A couple of big companies that made licensed fighters that got sequels like Cygames and Atlus didn't hold back on Persona 4 Arena and Granblue Fantasy Versus since they became so hype. If Riot wants to curb rising costs, at least license the League of Legends fighting game IP to another company. They are heading off into the sunset, so why not make some cash on it? Heck, might as well just license it to Arc System Works. They became a licensee for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. At least they're sustaining its player engagement and not let them fall into irrelevancy. But that is simply my thoughts.