Joe's Monologues - 2/8/24

Hello, everyone, KnockDownJoe here and welcome to the first episode of Joe's Monologues of February. Valentine's Day is fast approaching. So is the Super Bowl LVIII. These are not the ones that I'm gonna talk about today. I have a couple of things that I want to monologue today, including the one that interests me, so let's get right into them.

Crash Team Rumble:

So we'll start with the elephant in the room, which is my experience with playing Crash Team Rumble. I was playing some Competitive matches, not only the day before yesterday, but also the past weeks. I am on the verge on unlocking Heroes and Powers. I had a lot of fun kicking some butt and scoring Wumpa. And now where it stands, I have unlocked all of the powers just by donating Common and Epic Relic Stations and unlocked more Heroes by collecting certain badges. I also earned enough Relic Assist badges to unlock Spyro, yet I have already unlocked him during his Early Access. It has to be a bug that occured when I collected enough badges to unlock the Hero I have already unlocked during their Early Access. I was even able to win that match, become Top Performer and unlock N-Gin as a cherry on top before the EVO 2024 Announcement Show, which I'll tell you about later. That's the wild way to wrap things up.

I have crossed the finish line on the Powers department. And now, there is only one Hero left to unlock, which is Ripto. I earned 32 Assist badges so far and I am 18 away from unlocking him, so all I got to do is focus on earning the rest of the Assist badges and I can finally unlock Ripto to cross the finish line on the Heroes department and this is gonna be my ambitious thing to complete. I plan to make a random wheel of my Hero mains in the game to help me decide which Hero to play.

After that, I'm gonna do this; the same thing 1smash18 was doing during the 9b finale of his SSF2 Let's Play Series. Play one Spyro character on each match and I can use the list randomizer to help me decide the order of Spyro characters to play on Practice Match in a Spyro map as a celebration for unlocking Ripto to cross the finish line. But if I lose, I can't move on to the next Spyro character until I win a match. Then phase two will be playing only Spyro characters on Competitive on the next session after this one and all of that will be on stream. This is gonna convince Activision to make Spyro 4 and add a 4th Spyro character to the game. Preferably Bianca. Emphasis on "4th" because Spyro 4 needs to happen and a 4th Spyro character needs to be on there.

You know what? I just came across something interesting. I bought Ty the Tasmanian Tiger on my PS5 the day before yesterday and played it a throwback to my childhood when I played it originally on the PS2. It is a remaster and remasters of the original releases still retain a lot of charm. But that's not the only thing that interests me. What really interests me is that Ty would also be freaking dope in Crash Team Rumble like Spyro is, along with his map since the third game of the franchise, Night of the Quinkan, was published by Activision. Showcased his abilities and I was working on a dream logo combo of Activision, Krome Studios (current logo), FMOD and Unreal Engine weirdly enough as a cherry on top, so I'm gonna do a breakdown on what will Ty bring to the table if he makes his debut to Crash Team Rumble in a future Season, his map and his release now.

Hero Breakdown:

Like Spyro, Ty is a Scorer, who excels at breaking crates and scoring Wumpa to charge Power faster. He'll be capable of scoring Wumpa for the ally team.

Now for part two of the Hero Breakdown, abilities. The Primary Attack button allows Ty to throw one of his regular boomerangs. Pressing the Primary Attack button again allows him to throw his second boomerang. He will throw his boomerangs again if one of them is in his posession. Ty can glide by pressing the Jump button while in mid-air. Note that Ty must have two boomerangs in his possession to glide. Ty's Chomp is performed using the Secondary Attack button. Aerial Chomp is performed with the Secondary Attack button while in mid-air. His Super Chomp is performed with holding the Secondary Attack button. This only works when he is on the ground. And finally, Ty's Special is his Thunderangs. Note that Ty must have two boomerangs in his possession in order for it to work.

And since Ty's boomerangs are his weapon, they can be customizable to have various skins, but not from his games because changing appearances does not give the team an advantage.

Map Breakdown:

Ty's map is Rainbow Cliffs, a first home world where the first Ty the Tasmanian Tiger game takes place at, like the Artisans World from Spyro the Dragon and Summer Forest from Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!. Like the Spyro maps, which uses gems, Rainbow Cliffs will use Opals instead of Wumpa Fruit and use containers that contain Opals. The Common Relic Stations can yield Talismans with powers while a Epic Relic Station can activate Bunyip Elder to grant the ally team knockback resistance.

Release Breakdown:

Like other Heroes, Ty will have both his Early Access and Full Release. During the Ty Early Access, there are Rainbow Scales scattered across each map on both Competitive and Party Mode. Collect the first three Rainbow Scales and Ty will be unlocked permanently. Collecting more of them rewards you exclusive rewards. If you don't unlock him during his Early Access, you'll have to wait until his Full Release to unlock him, by earning Hunter badges, similar to unlocking Elora.

Hero Badge:

Each Hero has their own Hero Badge, like if you're Elora, you can heal allies within range 100 HP with a single Heal Aura to earn the Heal Deal badge. But Ty has his own Hero Badge called Walk in the Park, which is earned by killing an enemy Hero on the team bank with Super Chomp.

And this is the breakdown on how will Ty bring to the table if he makes his debut to Crash Team Rumble. You're gonna love it.

EVO 2024:

The EVO 2024 Announcement Show went live two days ago and Vicious and Majinobama were hosts of the show. Before I get to the announced games, changes are coming to EVO this year. This year and beyond, EVO is migrating from Mandalay Bay to a new venue in Las Vegas, the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center where everything is more spacious and bigger than what Mandalay Bay has to offer. Bigger BYOC and everything else that is bigger than before to make lines shorter. It is indeed big and that's what the key the mayor of Nevada offered the Cannon brothers is for. EVO has a YouTube channel named EvoFGC. Go check out their channel over on YouTube and give them 100,000 subscribers so that they can be eligible for their Silver Play Button.

What really interests me is that the finals of all games is gonna be played at the Arena on all three days. That's another improvement over EVO's Mandalay Bay-era. This year's EVO is gonna be a blockbuster, folks, as its West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center-era is gonna be a huge improvement, that the big screen with better lighting will contain reveals, finals will take place at the Arena in all eight games during both Saturday and Sunday, and more changes.

And now, on to the games they announced for this year's lineup.

Street Fighter 6 - This has the most signups last year and that's why it had to be played last in the Sunday Arena Finals. I called this one and it is also being played at EVO Japan. AngryBird became the first champion of this game at EVO, so kudos to him. We are gonna see it again this year. Ed is coming out this month and he will be tournament legal in EVO. As for Akuma, we don't know when he will come out.

Tekken 8 - I also called this one because we know that this game is gonna be in the lineup. I heard it looks mesmerizing. Like even Reina is mad dope and it's not just because she is a Mishima. It's also because she is licensed to kick a lot of butt like Elora is. Maybe I should main her. The only thing about this is that this is the first game to not have an arcade release and to not have Heihachi Mishima in the roster because as Raven said in the Story Trailer; Heihachi Mishima is dead. This is something we can experience both at EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan.

Mortal Kombat 1 - The gory fighting game series is going to the New Era as this is its first time making its debut at EVO. I was able to watch the whole MK11 finals to see how it unfolded. It was incredible, but what I don't like is the Fujin mirror match. And now, kombatants are shifting to the New Era crafted by Fire God Liu Kang so that no realms would be consigned to endless wars. Peacemaker from DC is set to come out this month and he will be legal for sure. However, because this is a fighting game big in the West, it will not be seen on EVO Japan.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising - It is a sequel to the original Granblue Fantasy Versus that has new content and this is the first time making its debut to the big show. The skybound clash continues both in EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan.

Guilty Gear Strive - Last year, Leffen, legendary Smash player won last year's EVO. He Strive to Smash his way to win two different titles at EVO. That's my quip as to when he won EVO in both Smash and Strive. And this one is gonna be in both EVO Las Vegas for third time and in EVO Japan for the second time. A third encore is being rocked.

The King of Fighters XV - The first time this one made its debut to EVO is that it made it to the Sunday Arena Finals to start things off. And now, it is coming for the third time at EVO and it's also gonna be played at EVO Japan. And players are stoked to Shatter All Expectations.

Under Night In-Birth II: Sys:Celes - It is the first numbered sequel that is the final chapter to end all Hollow Nights. Back in 2019, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] made its debut and we get a trailer about UNICLR. I can see how strongly agreeing with Cerebella's Mika palette and Marie's Orie palette would have its perks. This is the first time we're seeing it in action on both EVO Las Vegas and EVO Japan.

Street Fighter III: Third Strike - nearly 22 years ago, this iconic classic fighting game made its debut at EVO. This energized the FGC in the past EVOs from back in the dat. There was one iconic moment when Daigo was parrying all of Justin's moves and he finished it all after that. This is how it all started. And now, where it stands, it is coming this year as a throwback tournament on both EVO and EVO Japan and we are seeing it again this year, but in 4K if they have Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection.

These are all of the games in this year's lineup that will be played. We got all seven games that are on this year's lineup for EVO we are gonna see on this year's EVO Japan first, but as I said before, Mortal Kombat 1 is not in the Japanese event because it is a fighting game franchise that is big in the West like Killer Instinct. Turns out that there are eight games like last year. I am expecting a Mightykeef skit about this and it is gonna be explosive as Street Fighter 6 is being played again like last year, Tekken 7 has migrated to Tekken 8, Mortal Kombat 11 has migrated to Mortal Kombat 1, the vanilla Granblue Fantasy: Versus has migrated to Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising and so on. Last year's wasn't even posted and I was disappointed, so this year must be posted.

EVO 2022 is the most hype. What makes it so is that Skullgirls has made its debut as a mainstage game and revealing Marie is the cherry on top. I have already got her Orie palette settled, so the only thing left is her full release. It's the first time in a while since 2017 when it was a side event. I have never felt this emotional in that point of time.

Now, tickets are on sale and they are on the Early Bird Registration, so you got plenty of time to register. EVO starts earlier than before as it is gonna go live July 19-21 because of the new venue they are moving to. But this is only part one. The community showcase and everything else aren't revealed yet.

Conclusion:

This has been the first episode of the Joe's Monologues series of February. I did a breakdown on how will Ty perform on Crash Team Rumble, I am closer to crossing the finish line on the Heroes department and EVO Las Vegas is undergoing a lot of big changes as it is shifting from Mandalay Bay to the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center where everything is more spacious and the event will unfold differently as the finals of each game will be played at the Arena on Saturday and Sunday and the showcase will take place at the stage with better lighting. Here's to a wonderful 2024.

Joe's Monologues - 1/24/24

It's that time yet again. Welcome to the next episode of Joe's Monologues in the New Year. I have a couple of things to talk about, so let's dive right in.

SMITE World Championship Season X:

Eight teams, the Styx Ferrymen, Atlantis Leviathans, Oni Warriors, Jade Dragons, Solar Scarabs, Highland Ravens, Hex Mambo and the reigning champs, Camelot Kings have all qualified for Worlds. At the end during the quarterfinals, the Ferrymen, Dragons, Leviathans and Warriors have made it into the semi finals and one cycle has been broken, that we got a game three between the Atlantis Leviathans and Hex Mambo.

Rolling back to the first semifinals match, the Ferrymen won the first two games and the Dragons follow up to win the next two set of games. And in the end, the Jade Dragons did a reverse sweep against the Styx Ferrymen. That's probably history at Arlington, Texas right there. And finally, there is the match between the Atlantis Leviathans and the Oni Warriors. The Warriors were keeping their undefeated run going. It is Genetics' Warriors-era and he remained undefeated as they moved to fight the Dragons in Grand Finals. So there was Grand Finals between the Jade Dragons and the Oni Warriors and this paves the way for new World Champions.

This is the only iconic matchup we've seen often throughout the course of Season X and they have gone up against each other in each Grand Finals of the Kickoff Tournament. It is like a picnic, though and that's a Maggie and the Ferocious Beast story we experienced. The Grand Finals of Season X World became longer than the one in Season 9 Worlds. It's because the Dragons won the first two games. Then the Warriors won the next two games. So in the end, the curse has finally broken as the Jade Dragons finally kicked the Oni Warriors' butts and won Season X Worlds as a cherry on top. This makes it true that 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. This is the Year of the Jade Dragons, folks!

This could be the final SMITE World Championship before SMITE 2, a sequel to the successive third-person action MOBA that uses UE5. It was announced during their Keynote. Alpha releases in March. The Year 11 patch just dropped today and it now uses Cross-Gen Passes. SMITE 2 may be a sequel, but SMITE 1 isn't going anywhere and it will continue to receive updates for the forseeable future and skins you get in SMITE 1 will also be available to equip in SMITE 2.

Crash and Spyro History and Beyond:

Alright, so you know how Mario and Sonic had a history? Well, this is not the only rivalry the video game industry experienced. There is another rivalry between Crash and Spyro. Their first three regular games were released on the PS1 and were PlayStation exclusives, until they went third-party for their games to release on the multiple platforms beyond PlayStation. They were released by Universal Interactive Studios on that time, and that's one of the defunct game companies.

There were the Wrath of Cortex and Enter the Dragonfly. I heard they turned out to be a fail despite their charming environment their games have beared. They are both on my wish list of classics I want for PS Plus Premium. And I expect it to count as a charming thing. And then, their games that don't involve lives release next.. On that time, they were released by Sierra Entertainment, another defunct video game company. All of their games on the 6th generation-era have a lot of charm. Especially the ones that switch universes.

Then there were three Spyro games that is a reboot. The third and final one was released by Activision, along with Crash: Mind Over Mutant. It's a step forward to the modern-era when the first Crash and Spyro games originally released on the PS1 get a remaster on the 8th generation-era of gaming. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time was announced to be a sequel to Crash Bandicoot: Warped, but they still haven't announced a Spyro 4 yet and it is supposed to be a sequel to Spyro: Year of the Dragon. Then there is a 4v4 game called Crash Team Rumble. There are Spyro characters on it and Elora is officially released recently and I am on the source of earning assist badges to unlock Ripto. I hope this convinces Activison to make Spyro 4, but Elora has to be playable too on it because she is a savage faun that can shoot tornadoes with her kicks. It needs to happen. Perhaps I should call it Elora: Renegade Faun.

I have been grinding my Battle Pass to get more rewards on Party Mode and I was about to play some Competitive rounds off stream, but I wasn't ready yet, until I realized that I can switch sides. If I lose with the team that sucks balls, I can switch over to another one that doesn't suck. I think I'm ready to do some Competitive soon, but the Summer Forest event is gonna expire and I know I may not have enough time to get all of the rewards and I'm still on the verge of unlocking Heroes. I was pulling a 1smash18 when I get on the verge of unlocking things. I was able to unlock Spyro and Elora by collecting Dragon Eggs and Avalarian Leaves. They are the Sonic and Sally of Spyro, though. So for Mightykeef's sake, kicking butt is the way.

Now, when I do Competitive on Crash Team Rumble, I don't play just to win or lose. I also play to have fun. And having fun also means earning the corresponding badges to unlock Heroes and Powers. And since I am five Booster badges away from unlocking Dr. Neo Cortex, who is a Booster, I'll play the first few rounds with Coco because she is a Booster who excels at capturing Gems and activating Relic Stations and pairs of Relics are only on the Boosters' perspective. Then I can shift my focus to earning Blocker badges to unlock Dr. N. Tropy and Ripper Roo. Once I do, my next focus is earning Saboteur badges to unlock N-Gin and earning KO and Relic Assist badges to unlock Ripto. After that is having fun.

This is the fact that Crash and Spyro games have a lot of charm during the 6th generation era of gaming. I got them on my wish list, but after some thought, I learned that after they put remasters in the PS Plus Premium catalog, like Secret of Mana, I don't think it's possible for the PS1 releases of Crash and Spyro to be added to the catalog. Instead, their remasters can be added and they lack a lot of charm the original releases have. Mightykeef's video about how remasters killed the charm says it all. Don't get me wrong. I do like remasters, but I prefer to play the original releases since they have more charm.

That pretty much stops the history of Crash and Spyro here as I monologued what they had to offer. That's not all. There is a thin line between the rivalries. Mario and Sonic recently have their games came out. Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Sonic Superstars are the recent games rivals have. SEGA has released their open zone game that is Spyro, but with Sonic. But minus Sally Acorn because SEGA doesn't want to make any more Sonic games that take place in the SatAM universe. It's the best universe I loved so much. The third season of the show is in the works too as they are nearing the finish line of the animation phase.

But then, I realized something. Sally is not the only character who didn't get enough love because I also found that Elora too didn't get enough love as well and that's why she doesn't appear in many Spyro games. I can see a thin line between Sally and Elora, whose destiny is unknown and we know how the gaming ecosystem works. But no, Sally only appeared in one Sonic game, which is Sonic Spinball. It took place at the SatAM universe. They probably didn't know it exists.

Conclusion:

This wraps up this episode of Joe's Monologues, so in conclusion, 2024 is the Year of the Dragon for the Jade Dragons to win Worlds as a cherry on top. You have a wonderful day.

An Idea of an Online 4v4 Mario Game

You all know that the Mario universe had his blockbuster movie, RPG, sports games, racing games and party games. But the franchise is missing one thing and that is an online team game. The Sonic universe has an open zone game that is Spyro the Dragon, but with Sonic characters, so I think it's time that the Mario universe gets a third-person online 4v4 game that is Crash Team Rumble, but with Mario characters and it has to be completely free-to-play on Switch and a future Nintendo console potentially called Switch 2 with crossplay and cross-progression between them to so that everyone can play this game, including those without a Nintendo Switch Online membership.

I want this to be announced at E3, but since it is dead because of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic and not Geoff Keighley, I want this to be announced at their future Nintendo Direct, the Summer Game Fest or on MAR10 Day. I told you about it in an episode of Joe's Monologues, so I'm gonna start from the very beginning and fully explain the meta for a desired dream online 4v4 Mario game to be called Super Mario Team Arena and that's what the online 4v4 Mario game is gonna be called.

Seasons:

First off, I'll start with talking about the game idea's cadence of Seasons. A new Season releases every eight weeks. Each new Season has a content cadence of a new Battle Pass, three new Heroes, two new maps, balance changes, limited time events, etc. On the fifth week on each Season, there will be mid-season balance changes.

Heroes:

Heroes are playable characters in online team games that have abilities. Each Hero across the Mario universe will have primary and secondary attacks and an Ultimate attack that can turn the tide of battle and use cutouts in your perspective and use a circular meter that fills up overtime when not doing anything, but fills up a bit faster by doing actions. There will be skins and emotes for each Hero. Three new Heroes get added every season, like in Crash Team Rumble. They are divided into three classes like in Overwatch and Crash Team Rumble. You'll see what they are later on. Each Hero has accolades specific to them and they have challenges.

And since I monologued the pre-release phase, here are the Starting Heroes you will see during the Alpha.

Starting Heroes:

Mario
Luigi
Peach
Bowser
Yoshi
Wario
Waluigi
Daisy
Donkey Kong
Birdo

These are the Starting Heroes that will have on the start of the Alpha phase of the game. More Heroes will be added during the course of the Alpha and beyond. However, there is a catch. New Heroes will be locked, but they can be unlocked using currency that can unlock Heroes. The reason why I wanted the number of Starting Heroes to be ten is because Ranked bans mirror matches and duplicate Heroes.

Talents and Perks:

Know about the Perks system in MultiVersus and the Talents system in Paladins? Well, Talents and Perks are capable of augmenting characters during combat and and this is something we can want to be in the game as they can enhance the gameplay experience. Talents are capable of changing the way Heroes play while Perks are capable of augmenting their stats and abilities. Each Hero has three Talents like in Mortal Kombat X and a handful of Perks while they can be equipped with one Talent and five Perks. Unlike Talents, Perks can have up to five levels and they are gained by earning Perk XP in game. Each Hero has three Perks by default, but new Perks are unlocked using currency that unlocks Perks.

Currency:

Every online game use currency and it's the most important thing we need to buy stuff. However, it won't be one, but four currency types that I'll go over now.

Perk Currency - Used to unlock in-game Perks and earned through events, Battle Pass, Account Mastery or Hero Mastery.

Hero Fragments - Used to unlock Heroes and earned through events, Battle Pass, Account Mastery or Hero Mastery.

Legendary Shards - Used to unlock exclusive Prestige cosmetics and earned through acquiring cosmetics.

Arena Coins - Used to unlock cosmetics, emotes, Battle Pass and more and earned through events, Battle Pass or direct purchase on the Nintendo eShop.

Founder's Packs:

I mentioned Founder's Packs on the point when I mention development phases and Heroes, so I am gonna give you what benefits each of the three Founder's Packs comes with.

Mushroom Pack - Offers full game access, exclusive avatar and title and an Epic skin for Mario. - $29.99

Flower Pack - Offers all benefits of the Mushroom Pack, 500 Arena Coins, exclusive emotes for the first 10 Heroes during Alpha and an Epic skin for Peach. - $59.99

Star Pack - Offers all benefits of the Mushroom and Flower Packs, exclusive banner and pedestal, exclusive emotes for the first 14 Heroes during Alpha and a Legendary skin for Bowser. - $99.99

These Founder's Packs will be available on the eShop during the course of the Alpha.

Maps:

There will be maps across the Mario universe, from the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond. I'll list the objectives each map will have.

Coins - They are scattered across each map, dealing damage to enemy Heroes knocks them off and they are needed to donate to their team bank. You can carry up to 120 coins.

Power Stars - Like coins, they are also scattered across each map and they can activate Powerup Stations. You can carry up to 15 Power Stars.

Team Banks - Each map has two team banks and they can convert coins into points.

Buff Points - They are capable of buffing the ally team's scoring on each map. They start out gray, but capturing them changes their color to blue or red. Capturing it gives the ally team a 25% buff and it comes with ratios of 1:3, 2:2 and 4:0 captured Buff Points. If your team manages to capture all four Buff Points, you and your allies will receive a Team Buff Frenzy, which grants total boosting to scoring intervals and coins are given every three seconds. When the team buff is expired, you have to wait until the Buff Points are available to capture again.

Stations - They are capable of causing map-specific events and each map has three Stations below.

Powerup Stations: They yield powerups to any Hero that deposits 5 Power Stars. Activating them yields a map-specific powerup to any hero.

Normal Obstacle Stations - They favor the ally team that deposits 10 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Activating them activates obstacles on the ally team's favor. They come in two stations.

Super Obstacle Stations - They favor the ally team that deposits 30 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Activating them activates game-changing obstacles on the ally team's favor.

These are the objectives each map will have. Two new maps are added every Season.

Gameplay:

The gameplay of Super Mario Team Arena is this. Each of the Mario characters are divided into two teams of five, like in every MOBA, but this is not a MOBA. The object of the game is that this is a combination of Crash Team Rumble, SMITE's Domination and Paladins' Onslaught. The first team that reaches 5,000 points wins the match. To earn points, Heroes must get kills and donate coins to their team's bank. Each kill earns you 100 points while donating coins to your team's bank converts them into points based on the amount of coins you donated.

When I said the gameplay is a combination of Crash Team Rumble, SMITE's Domination and Paladins' Onslaught, the following is below.

Part Crash Team Rumble - The first team to score 5,000 points wins. Coins and Power Stars are scattered across each map. Each map has two team banks, three stations consisting of one Powerup Station that requires 5 Power Stars and gives any Hero their powerup, one Normal Obstacle Stations that favors the ally team that deposits 10 Power Stars before the enemy team does and a Super Obstacle Station that favors the ally team that deposits 30 Power Stars before the enemy team does. Capturing a Buff Station buffs the ally team's scoring and donating converts coins into points based on the amount of coins you have. Dealing damage to the enemy knocks coins out.

Part SMITE's Domination - Capturing a Buff Point grants the ally team a boost to their scoring intervals. Capturing all four Buff Points grants Team Buff Frenzy to give the ally team coins per second and grants a total boost to their scoring intervals.

Part Paladins' Onslaught - The first team to score 5,000 points wins and each kill earns you 100 points.

Controls:

The default controls for Super Mario Team Arena are obvious below.

Jump: A
Primary Attack: B
Secondary Attack: X
Ultimate Ability: Y
Ping: R
Emote Wheel: ZR

Classes:

As said above, each Hero is divided into three classes that I will explain now.

Donator: Heroes of this class excel at collecting and donating coins to their team's bank.

Blocker: Heroes of this class excel at knocking coins and killing enemy Heroes.

Buffer: Heroes of this class excel at capturing Buff Stations to buff allies' scoring and depositing Power Stars to Stations.

As a mental note, your team must have at least one Donator, one Blocker and one Buffer to have a good team composition. A great team composition has one Donator, two Blockers and one Buffer. All Heroes can break containers donate coins, knock coins off the enemy Heroes, kill enemy Heroes, capture Buff Stations and activate Powerup Stations, but a Donator breaks containers and donates coins to their team bank, a Blocker knocks coins and kills the enemy Hero and a Buffer captures Buff Stations and activates Powerup Stations to charge their Ultimate ability faster. I listed the Starting Heroes, so I'll do it again, but this time, they will be divided into classes.

Starting Donators:

Mario
Luigi
Yoshi

Starting Blockers:

Bowser
Donkey Kong
Wario

Starting Buffers:

Peach
Daisy
Waluigi
Birdo

Development Phases:

Some free-to-play games use four development phases and an idea of a team-based Mario game will have that. Here are the four phases.

Pre-Alpha - Work is being done on the game, but not yet ready for public release.

Alpha - The game is publicly available and starts out with ten starting Heroes; three Donators, three Blockers and four Boosters, but to get it, players must either enter their email and choose which Nintendo console to play on the website or purchase one of the Founder's Packs. Once the time when the game gets into Alpha, codes get sent out and they can redeem it on the Nintendo eShop.

Beta - After the Alpha phase is complete, the game enters its Beta phase with 14 Heroes and is available for everyone to download on the eShop, but needs a lot of tuning before official launch.

Official Launch - The game is fully tuned and launched with all of the bells and whistles, changes across all aspects and 18 Heroes.

During the pre-release phases, bugs will occur and some functions may not work properly like it should. New Heroes and maps will be added during the phases above. Consequently, after the Beta phase, the game's online servers may be taken down to pause updates in a way to prepare for official launch while they have a clearer view on what they need to focus working on. Particularly the content cadence of new Heroes, new maps and new game modes, as well as a smoother experience no matter how high the ping is and significant improvements to matchmaking.

Cosmetics:

Every online multiplayer game use cosmetics, so like any others, there will be cosmetics, consisting of Hero skins, including the ones on Mario Kart Tour and on Mario sports games, emotes, donate effects, death cards with a quip that shows on your perspective when you got killed by another player, avatars, banners, titles, team bank skins and pedestals on the pre-match lobby screen.

Hero Mastery:

Each Hero will have Mastery Levels. Certain levels grant you rewards and they require the same amount of Hero EXP to go up a level to make things faster.

Battle Pass:

Every new Season, there is a new Battle Pass. Battle Passes have a ton of rewards, like banners, avatars, donate effects, titles, pedestals, Hero skins, weapons, death cards, team banks and currency rewards. Each Battle Pass will come in two tracks instead of one to have up to 50 levels. The Premium track, which requires 400 Arena Coins, has all rewards while the Free track has some rewards. Each level requires the same amount of Battle Pass EXP so that you can gain levels faster. And since I mentioned pre-release phases, there will be a preseason Battle Pass that will last during the Alpha and Beta phases.

Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom:

Similar to Paladins' Trials of the Realm, Super Mario Team Arena's Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom has a ton of rewards, consisting of currency, EXP and emotes. Every new Season, there is a new Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom and the first two trials are available at the start of each Season, but more trials unlock every week throughout the Season. Each trial has three challenges. Example: if you're playing as Bowser and if you kill Mario and Luigi with him, you'll earn rewards on that match. But the Trials of the Mushroom Kingdom won't be until the game's official launch.

Game Modes:

Let's not forget the core part for Super Mario Team Arena, game modes. Choosing certain game modes get you in a matchmaking state that involves a timer that goes up. I'll list the game modes below that you expect to see during the Alpha and Beta phases.

Casual - All matches of this game mode will not affect your rank. This queue is for fun purposes and you don't have to worry about your ranking. If you quit in the middle of the match on this mode, you will be penalized, so don't do it until you finish your matches. Mirror matches are allowed in this game mode.

Ranked - All matches of this game mode will affect your rank. You'll start out at the Rookie rank. Subsequent ranks won't use colors. Instead, subsequent ranks will be Mushroom, Flower, Shell, Star and Boomerang. If you're at a Rookie, Mushroom or Flower rank, you don't have to worry about losing points and getting demoted when you lose a match or quit in the middle of a match until you're at the Shell rank. You will get penalized if you quit in the middle of a ranked match. Mirror matches are banned in this game mode.

Co-op vs. AI - This is a game mode that Crash Team Rumble totally needs when it comes to practicing. This one will have it. Rewards will be earned after each match. There is no penalty for quitting in the middle of a match in this game mode where you and your team of real players go up against bots on the enemy team, so you can quit anytime. If you're not quite ready to go against the real players on the enemy team yet, this game mode is the way. Mirror matches are allowed in this game mode.

Custom Game - Each online only multiplayer game allows you to create your own game or join a game with the desired set parameters. It's also something Crash Team Rumble definetely needs for when it comes to esports. You can also add bots and set their difficulty to your lobby. Spectator slots will also be available to go to so that you can spectate matches to analyze what the Heroes are doing.

Practice Range - All Heroes are unlocked on this game mode and this is where you can try out Heroes and their abilities.

Tutorial - This teaches you the basics on how to play the game.

Content from the Sonic the Hedgehog Universe:

Crash Team Rumble has content from the Spyro the Dragon universe, so I thought it would be awesome if Super Mario Team Arena has content from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe in a Season if they get SEGA's permission. Imagine Sonic as the Donator, Dr. Robotnik as the Blocker and Sally Acorn as the Buffer. Each map of the Sonic universe will use rings instead of coins. Cosmetics will be involved. That includes a banner of chibi dolls of Mario, Peach, Sonic and Sally, a banner of Mario holding a coin and Sonic holding a ring, Mario and Sonic facing Bowser and Dr. Robotnik, an avatar of a ring and so on. But this event will not be until official launch.

In-Game Accolades:

Doing certain actions earns you accolades during gameplay and they give you Hero and Battle Pass EXP. I'll list the core accolades.

Core Accolades:

Donator - Donate coins to your team's bank.

Top Donator - Donate the most coins.

Blocker - Knock coins from the enemy Heroes.

Top Blocker - Knock the most coins.

Buffer - Capture Buff Points.

Top Buffer - Capture Buff Stations the most times.

First Blood - Be the first to kill an enemy Hero.

Double Kill - Kill two enemy Heroes within five seconds.

Triple Kill - Kill three enemy Heroes within five seconds.

Quadra Kill - Kill four enemy Heroes within five seconds.

Hunter - Kill enemy Heroes without getting killed.

Revenge - Kill the enemy Hero that previously killed you.

Breaker - Kill the enemy Hero that has a kill streak.

Sneaky - Donate coins while an enemy Hero stands on your bank.

Pave the Way - Kill an enemy Hero standing on your team's bank.

Bank Dive - Kill an enemy Hero standing on the enemy team's bank.

Brawler - Deal damage to the enemy Hero.

Saint - Heal allies.

-Powerup Station name- - Activate a Powerup Station

-Normal Obstacle Station name- - Activate a Normal Obstacle Station

-Super Obstacle Station name- - Activate a Super Obstacle Station

Power Star Assist - Assist in depositing Power Stars.

Kill Assist - Assist in killing enemy Heroes.

And this is an idea of wanting Super Mario Team Arena, a desired 4v4 online Mario game I want. The reason why I am making a blog post about this is because I watched the Super Mario Bros. Movie at my local movie theater and the franchise didn't have a team-based online multiplayer game yet. I hope you like it. And Nintendo, if you're reading this, please make this happen and get SEGA's permission to add Sonic characters and maps to my Mario game idea.

UPDATE:

After some long thought, I have decided to bump the idea of a team based online Mario game down to 4v4 to make it on par with other 4v4 online multiplayer games.

Joe's Monologues - 1/9/24

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the next episode of Joe's Monologues, the second of the series in the new year. I have a couple of things I want to mention, so let's get started.

The Holidays are Over:

2023 has come to an end and the holiday break is over. This means everything can resume as normal, including the developers. 2024 is set to be another blockbuster year with a lot of exciting things. Work can resume operations as normal.

SMITE World Championship Season X:

That's right. The SMITE World Championship is three days away and it is set to be a blockbuster Worlds yet. I got the popcorn prepared for the big show. You all know that the Styx Ferrymen, Atlantis Leviathans, Oni Warriors and Jade Dragons have qualified for Worlds. The four remaining teams have all set for Worlds. We got the Highland Ravens, Solar Scarabs, Hex Mambo and Camelot Kings qualified. This one is gonna be a blast soon, so get ready to strap yourselves in. We can't wait to find out who is crowned Season X World Champions. I can see upcoming Maggie and the Ferocious Beast and WWE stories coming.

Nature is Healing in Crash Team Rumble:

You guessed it. Nature is healing in Crash Team Rumble as Elora the Faun made her way onto the roster last week during her Early Access. I used the "Nature is Healing" quip and I find it satisfying because Elora is capable of healing and is one with nature with her leaf dress. It's the fact that embracing the forest by the park at my old stomping grounds where I used to live made me think of her. And since I am going to my brother's wedding, it's something I can do again. But the only thing standing between me and going to my old state is the fear of flying in a plane I must conquer.

After I unlocked her by collecting the first three leaves, I showcased all of her abilities and she's freaking savage as she can shoot tornadoes with her kicks. Originally, I said that Elora is gonna be Booster since she can heal herself and allies within range, but apparently, she is actually a Blocker despite her health being C-tier. It's because charging her tornado kicks knockbacks enemies, which classified her a Blocker.

When I showcased her abilities, I played a few Party Mode rounds with Elora as part of her showcase. That being said, I plan to play a couple of Competitive rounds with her as the next phase of her showcase while I am on the verge of unlocking Heroes and Powers. But there is a new Power in the works set to enter Early Access. I can unlock it forever, by collecting Dragon Essence. Never underestimate the titular purple dragon and the most savage faun of nature to kick butt in Crash Team Rumble. There are a couple days of Elora Early Access left, so be sure to collect Avalarian Leaves in Competitive or Party Mode to unlock her forever, as well as exclusive rewards before the next one that introduces the new Power, Portal Bank. If you don't, you'll have to wait until January 23rd for her full release, but a paid membership is required to play since this is a paid game only on consoles at the moment.

I pulled a Mightykeef when I tried Elora for the first time. You know how it is since I am a huge fan of his videos. Especially the Honkai: Star Rail skit I desired. This is how I feel when trying Elora out for the first time. She shoots small tornadoes with her kicks. Judging from her abilities, it's no coincidence that she is half Rashid from Street Fighter 5 and half Cetrion from Mortal Kombat 11.

I feel like that if Bianca makes her way to Crash Team Rumble during her Early Access, I can collect spellbook pages to unlock her. I don't think it's possible, but I want her to make her debut and she would be freaking dope like Elora is. Well, Elora and Bianca are S-tier girls like Sally Acorn and Bunnie Rabbot from Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), which is a Cinderella story to tell in front of the audience as it is getting a third season after over 30 years since the original show was cancelled after two seasons on ABC by Team Sea3on.

Skullgirls Championship Series 2024:

Back in 2021, the Skullgirls Championship Series was announced and the previous one was online only because of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions that relegated us to playing fighting games online with rollback netcode. After three years, the SGCS is returning and it is gonna be bigger than before as they migrated to a new equipment to be both online and offline, like Capcom Pro-Tour and other fighting game circuits. More info about that is coming this month and it's gonna kick off with Frosty Faustings and end at Combo Breaker where the Skullgirls World Championship will take place at. Only the eight players will qualify and one champion can take home the Skull Heart. It is similar to other circuits this year per se, but it's shorter than others because the Skullgirls community is small.

I have a feeling that Marie will not be released before Frosty, but on the upside, 2nd Encore and the Season 1 Pass are available on all four platforms. I hope we get word about her soon, as well as the general balance changes for the whole cast because I can't be left in the dark without any info again. Are we gonna see a special announcement after Top 8 at Frosty like back in 2021 when they given us an Annie trailer for 2nd Encore? If so, are they gonna give us the general balance patch trailer or whatever? Who knows?

In the previous season, SonicFox became champion rocking out the Annie, who received an upgrade to her Star Power, which should be now called Star Overdrive in Marie's Early Access patch because she can now use all of her moves during her Star Power like we're playing BlazBlue, but with Annie. It makes sense that Annie is assigned to a BlazBlue theme dubbed Justice Sword and making her an Izayoi palette would be the cherry on top. Are we gonna see another Cinderella or a WWE story in Skullgirls Championship Series 2024?

Conclusion:

This year is gonna be big. With the SMITE World Championship and the return of the Skullgirls Championship Series coming on the same month, the excitement surges. Expect a WWE story to be told.

Joe's Monologues - 1/2/24

Happy New Year to all of my friends out there and welcome to the first Joe's Monologues of 2024. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year and holidays. We have closed out 2023 with a bang and have opened 2024. This is a new year, but still the same old me, so I'll kick the New Year off with this first episode of Joe's Monologues of 2024.

Progress On My Wrapper: Offline Career:

Did you guys like my newest video, YOLO Funtimes: Ding-Dong-Ditch? What made it so viral is that there wasn't any script on it. I know I said that I wouldn't go full blast on my career until I get a new laptop, but there is one good news. After my new hard drive came, I plugged it in and it greatly sped up my work and the data transfering process. Practically speaking, it takes better specs to speed up work, and thanks to my new hard drive that have such a savage speed, I can be able to go full blast on making more videos.

The Return of the Skullgirls Webtoon Series:

After a long hiatus, the Skullgirls Webtoon series have finally returned. Episodes 20 and 21 are up, so go check it out. As a treat, the series have returned in a big way. We have the flexibility to fast pass to three episodes. To do that, we need to earn coins and spend the fast pass episodes. The series have came a long way, man. It started back in 2022 and new episodes drop every Friday. Starting in Episode 10, it marks the start of a new production, which is why the quality looked different. Most notably, their legs are so darn thick as heck.

And now, where it stands, the Skullgirls Webtoon series has finally returned with a juicier episode. I've been waiting for Episode 20 to drop after reading Episode 19 so that I can get to the juicy part of the series. The lore and the awesomeness among Naruto and Johnny Test, man. When Episode 20 released for free, episodes 21, 22 and 23 became available to read, but they require coins to fast pass them. I spent my coins on fast pass episodes because it's the best way to ensure a second season since the first season is nearing the end. Then Episode 21 is available to everyone for free and Episode 24 also dropped for those who spend coins to fast pass it.

Now, I am waiting until the coming Friday for Episode 25 and I have more than enough coins to fast pass to it. I am starting to feel like if it gets an anime adaptation, this could be rated TV-14 because there is blood and gore on it, courtesy of Black Dahlia tearing Ms. Fortune and the Fishbone Gang from limb to limb. Again, that's Johnny Test and Naruto goodness there. We didn't get to see the Fishbone Gang in the game, but we did get to see what the Fishbone gang looks like in the comic.

Crash Team Rumble:

Playing my Party Mode rounds is in full swing so far. I was able to achieve Top Performer. I've been grinding my Battle Pass to earn more skins. I had to play some Party Mode rounds because I am not yet ready for more Competitive rounds. Elora's Early Access is upon us and to unlock her forever, I must collect Avalarian leaves scattered across all maps. Both in Competitive and Party Mode. But I prefer to do it in Party Mode like I did with collecting dragon eggs to unlock Spyro because again, I am not ready for more Competitive yet. Unless if they can put in skill-based matchmaking, of course.

In addition to that, first of all, Switch and PC players want to get in the fun too. Second of all, Elora is the Sally Acorn of Spyro, so don't get it twisted when her Early Access drops January 4th. And third of all, I want more Spyro characters. That being said, I have linked my PSN account to my gaming channel on YouTube, which now has two subscribers. I'm gonna need more of them. I am five Booster badges away from getting Dr. Neo Cortex and I am keeping my PS Plus membership active for Elora's Early Access when I can collect Avalarian leaves to forever unlock Elora the Faun, the Sally Acorn of Spyro.

Hello, 2024:

That's right. This is the year that just opened as this is the first Joe's Monologues of 2024. We have a lot of things on the docket this year. Here's to another brighter year we will love. Nothing will stymie our endeavor.