What SHOULD and SHOULDN'T Be in 2XKO

2XKO is an upcoming free-to-play fighting game set in the world of League of Legends we are quite excited for, whether it's the gameplay, testing, giving feedback, controls, the supers or whatever the only thing about how cool Ekko is since he is in Arcane. Its Alpha Lab has ended weeks ago and I am so sad that it's over. There are endless possibilities 2XKO will have. I had to get a brand new DualSense controller because my other one just keeps on drifting on me despite rubbing isopropyl alcohol on the analog sticks. And now that I got a new controller, I have been enjoying the game every second of it. And I was able to play Visions of Mana well on my new controller.

If you know me, I have been a part of the FGC since the time when Naruto: Clash of Ninja comes out on the GameCube. I have never been a part of an offline tournament because it is a thinking thing when it comes to watching what my opponent is doing and I don't think I'll be ready to participate in one of them.

Now, League of Legends became a franchise to have multiple spinoffs, the card game genre, the strategy genre and the fast paced mobile release. Now it is getting a fighting game genre. I have enjoyed 2XKO's Alpha Lab. It had a lot of jankiness, like when I return to the character select screen after exiting the game, I can't go back to the main menu. That's why I had to do a workaround until it's fixed in the next playtest.

What bland thing I have seen in 2XKO is the lack of an effect when you finish a round by KOing the second character with a super. Most 2D fighting games have an exploding background when you KO a character with a super and it's common for them to have that. Maybe the effect can come in two depending on the super. Maybe the background explodes when you KO a character with a level one super. And the explosion increases its intensity when the character is KOed with a cinematic super.

Now, the game is bland without the effect that triggers when you KO a character with a super. That is one thing so far in this post. I have a lot to talk about in this post, so that said, here are the things I want and I don't want in 2XKO.

The next thing I want to see is an endless roster of characters. League of Legends has an endless roster of characters and they keep adding more of them endlessly. While the game has skins, 2XKO will be getting more characters during pre-launch development. But it's unknown if the game is gonna get more characters post-launch. If the game launches, we can find out. There is one thing we do know for sure. On future playtests, future characters will be locked and they will be unlocked by using currency or completing missions. For the stages, we can get more of them and they can be unlocked by default.

The next thing I want to see is different voices and effects on skins. You know that League of Legends handled having skins with different voices and effects. We know that 2XKO will have different skins, so they should also have different voices and effects.

The next thing I want to see that is admittedly something fans might want is new tag team mechanics. We know that there is already a tag feature that allows the point character to launch the opponent into the air so that the assist character can follow up to a point position to continue the combo in the air and there is already a fuse that grants the assist character to come in to perform their super during the point character's super. But what I want is new tag team mechanics.

First off, the Variable Cross feature. Since we entered the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, one of the fighting games that flopped was Street Fighter X Tekken. I loved playing Street Fighter X Tekken. This game has the Cross Assault feature that allows the player to use both characters at once for a limited time and the jingle plays during the time depending on the composition. That is the coolest thing the game had. However, the round ends when the point character dies on Street Fighter X Tekken and doesn't have assists, so let's think a little more in line with SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level.

Assist characters have their own super gauge and it is the first game to have that until Beta 2 where assist characters are no longer having their own gauge and now share the super gauge with the point character on Tag Mode and has the Variable Cross feature. Then 2XKO came along to have the super gauge on each character, which I believe that it is a perfect evaluation for something I'll tell you about later. The Variable Cross feature in 2XKO would burn all three bars of the assist character's super gauge and becomes unavailable when you're down to one character. It is performed with pressing down twice and the tag button.

To forward wanting a Variable Cross feature in 2XKO, I have a game mode to see implemented is a game mode where all four characters get into battle at once similar to Street Fighter X Tekken. Why I want this game mode to be implemented is because 2XKO has up to four players and each character in game is having their own super gauge. I believe that this game mode is gonna make matches wild and wacky. Some fuses would be disabled in this game mode. However, since 2XKO has air combos while Street Fighter X Tekken doesn't, this game mode would be done in the style of SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level.

Now let's move on to the next one, which is cinematic tag supers. Street Fighter X Tekken handled Cross Arts. They burn all three bars of the super gauge. But let's think a little more in line with Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2. It has tag supers per se, but I don't mean follow it in terms of gameplay because there are not that many unique tag supers in Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2. But 2XKO would have a lot of unique cinematic team supers depending on what characters you have on your team and they are executed by pressing down twice and two special buttons and the tag button simultaneously. They require all three bars of your super gauge for both characters. However, the feature is unavailable like the Variable Cross feature when you have one character left on your team.

Here's the fourth thing I like to see implemented to 2XKO. That is cinematic lv. 3 supers. We know that there are currently cinematic supers that burn two bars of your super gauge, but two bars doesn't fit with the cinematic flavor on supers. What would really make sense is that cinematic supers must burn all three bars. Think of Them's Fightin' Herds where level three supers are so cinematic and are similar to BlazBlue's Astral Heat.

The fifth thing I like to see is the dynamic BGM system. Them's Fightin' Herds is known for its dynamic music system to give battles a lot of flow. I loved hearing the dynamic goodness of the stage's BGM. It give matches a distinctive flow, so I like to see this implemented in 2XKO.

And finally, it's time to give you the sixth and final thing I want implemented. A new fuse that grants the point character to execute two different supers, but not the same super back to back. When Beta 2 of SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level was unveiled, it introduced the character's option to perform two different supers to make the combo longer. There is already a fuse that grants the assist character to perform two assists and the other that grants the point character to perform two different supers, so I think a new fuse like that is gonna work.

Now for the things I don't want to see in 2XKO. The first thing I don't want to see is picking the same stage that fights lag over and over on both offline and online. We know that 2XKO will have rollback netcode to alleviate lag. If you remember other fighting games, Bonne Wonderland is the only legal stage in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 because it fights lag on both offline and online while the Coliseum is the only stage that fights lag in Granblue Fantasy Versus. Even on Rising, the organizers made it clear that they had to pick the Coliseum only at EVO. But since rollback netcode is coming to 2XKO, it will definetely never be the case as rollback netcode is intended to predict the inputs instead of waiting for the signal to hit the server before your character performs an action no matter the stage.

The second thing I don't want to see is touch of death combos. These types of combos are annoying to watch. I watched videos that shows the touch of death combos. They are unbearable, yet entertaining to watch. I was shocked that they did a long combo with Ekko. Simply flabbergasted at that. We got bursts to prevent that, but the gauge fills up faster by taking damage.

The third thing I definetely do not want implemented to 2XKO is something that damages and ruins the gaming industry, ridiculous microtransactions. Now, microtransactions are often featured in free-to-play games to generate enormous revenues, but loot boxes are an example and they cause unfairness and undermine the gaming experience. We know that you need to pay with virtual currency to purchase the premium track of the Battle Pass when the game launches and unlock Champions and skins.

Since 2XKO is a free-to-play fighting game, not having microtransactions on it would prevent the game from thriving, but we can tone down the microtransactions a bit so that we can grind in game currency just by completing missions and logging in daily so that we don't have to pay real money to purchase skins, Champions and the premium track of the Battle Pass.

And lastly, the the fourth and final thing I don't want implemented is matching with opponents with a higher skill level than mine. Ranked matches are usually stressful when it comes to ranking up and ranking down. That's why I refrained from doing ranked matches. We know that the game will have more game modes, but one thing I don't want is to be matched with opponents with a higher skill level. I want matchmaking to be skill based so that we can be matched with opponents with the same skill for fairness.

And that's it. These are the things I want and don't want implemented in 2XKO. There is a lot of work Riot needs to put into the game. That means getting things polished and refined for launch in 2025. I hope we get some 2XKO news and another playtest soon. If that news involves revealing the next character, I'll be ready for that. But when are we gonna get into the next playtest? And who is the next Champion? We just have to wait to find the answers to our questions. I believe that the next character might be Jinx in anticipation of the impending second season of Arcane. I have a future post about how I have been enjoying Arcane so far, so you have to stay tuned for that.

PlayStation's 30th Anniversary Could Be Bigger

I believe that PlayStation's 30th Anniversary is gonna be bigger than the 25th Anniversary milestone. I know that there are some naysayers that it wouldn't be any bigger. I'm going to explain on how the celebration could be bigger. Let's jump right in.

The celebration of the brand is almost upon us. PlayStation has posted their 30th Anniversary celebration page that updates as they got more stuff to come. I believe that PlayStation's 30th Anniversary is gonna be bigger. A couple of weeks ago, they given us the first things, Shapes of Play, My First GT. the soundtracks, the bundle that has the PS5 equipment sporting the gray color of the very first PlayStation console and the Last of Us Part I's launch into PlayStation Plus. I can hear them say what about a lineup of PS1 games, and I'll get to that later.

First off, I'm gonna talk about that game that received a Universal Acclaim rank with a score of 93 on Metacritic and became an unforgettable gem of PlayStation. That is Astro Bot.

Astro Bot became an acclaimed gem PlayStation really needs. It celebrates the ultimate PlayStation heritage accompanied by VIP bots that dress up as references to PlayStation characters. A lot of people have praised the heritage and the way Team Asobi, the developers behind Astro Bot did with their game. I am planning to get Astro Bot to celebrate the ultimate PlayStation heritage. I am in the middle of Astro's Playroom to hold me off until I get Astro Bot.

However, things have took a turn for the worse. After the PS5 Pro was revealed, the price of it was revealed to be $700. They don't want to spend that much money for a console they've been waiting, so the trailer showing the PS5 Pro was dislike bombed over the $700 price. It's not the first thing that happened because both of Concord's trailers got disliked bombed over the game's bland Guardians of the Galaxy mimicry in the characters department, slow pacing and the pricing of $40 for a hero shooter game, as well as the eight-year development cycle that Firewalk has threatened to shut the game down and delist it from digital stores. But Ellis has said the game would be shut down while they explore better options including those that can better reach their players. That could mean that Concord may come back in a different form. Or wind up being shut down permanently if the process didn't turn out well.

After the players became critical of the $700 price tag of the PS5 Pro, Sony decided to blind them with nostalgia by announcing the 30th Anniversary bundle that has the PS5 consoles, controllers and the PlayStation Portal sporting the colors of the PS1 and the old red, blue yellow and green PS logo to pay homage to the brand. The bundle goes available on November. I have a feeling that they want to get the controller since they are critical of the PS5 Pro's $700 price tag. I really want to get the PS5 Pro, but $700 is a bit too absurd.

The first piece of the celebration is the Shapes of Play collection that came in three types, Recharge, Battle and Create, the free-to-play experience, My First GT, the soundtrack that contains music from PS1 games and winning a PlayStation's 30th Anniversary avatar from winning one of the PlayStation Tournaments events. During the recent State of Play, they announced the next milestone to the celebration. That is adding the Last of Us Part I to the PlayStation Plus Extra catalog.

The Last of Us is Naughty Dog's dark franchise known to be beloved for the PlayStation community. They are adding their beloved game to celebrate the Last of Us Day. The milestone comes in several activities. There is a PlayStation Stars Campaign activity. Players that play the Last of Us Part I would receive the Clicker digital collectible until November 26. There are new PS Plus avatars that can be received when redeeming a voucher code until October 26. And finally, the Last of Us merch gets a 10% discount when using the promo code. And that's all what the Last of Us Day has to offer today.

They announced the Shapes of Play collection, My First GT, the soundtrack of music from PS1 games, the chance to earn a special avatar by winning a tournament, a special bundle and launched the Last of Us on the Extra catalog today. Now let's talk about the next piece of celebration they announced recently, but didn't hear much about yet. That is a lineup of PS1 games for PS Plus Premium.

"Like, why would anyone play this?" This is a super rude out of context quote from former PlayStation boss, Jim Ryan. He went in for the record and just said that after he said that the PS1 and PS2 games looked ancient. He was at the event where Gran Turismo Sport on the PS4 was showcased. But he has addressed what he said. And just to answer the question, it's because there's lot of love for the back catalogue as we approach the 30th Anniversary of the brand.

On the past post, I mentioned about the one thing I like about both the PS1 and PS2 and it remained a mystery. Well, one thing I like about both the PS1 and PS2 is two things. First off, their Multitap accessory. the first two consoles only have two ports while there are some games that have up to four players. But it's possible for the four players to play any PS1 or PS2 game that have up to four players when you plug in your Multitap to any controller port. Plug in two Multitaps and it can expand up to eight players. PS Plus Premium has PS1 and PS2 games that have multiplayer and you don't need a Multitap. All the third player got to do is to turn on their wireless controller. Same with the fourth player when playing on the same system.

Now, over to the second thing, the NTSC and PAL versions. The cases of both systems have a label to make it easy to tell if it's North American or European. NTSC is for the North American versions while PAL is for the European versions. When playing a PS1 or PS2 game on the PS4 or PS5, it's possible to switch between the NTSC and PAL versions on Settings. I prefer to play the NTSC version.

When the PS4 came out, the retro titles were fizzled out, except the ones on PS Now, which didn't offer a catalog of PS1 games and remained having a weak selection of PS2 games. That's why PlayStation's 25th Anniversary didn't turn out to be big. It's also the fact that the PS4 lacked backwards compatibility while the PS5 is only backwards compatible to PS4 games due to the PS3's hard to develop structure. But hey, who needs full backwards compatibility when we have PS Plus Premium?

During the recent State of Play, Sony has announced two new PS1 games. They are Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Dino Crisis. These are the two fan favorite PS1 games coming later this year and they are a part of PlayStation's 30th Anniversary set to be bigger than ever like Days of Play did because of the revamped PlayStation Plus, though I don't have any of these games on my wish list. To have PS Plus Premium offering PS1 games in the back catalog along with PS2 and PSP games is a very smart business choice as we are seeing two PS1 games get added to the classics catalog during the celebration later this year.

They had to announce that Blood Omen would be released on the classics catalog later this year because Soul Reaver 1 and 2 are getting remastered and put in a compilation as Blood Omen is the first game of the Legacy of Kain franchise they have to play first along with the sequel before playing Soul Reaver to understand the story. While Soul Reaver 1 and 2 are getting remastered, the original releases might be released on the catalog one day. Releasing original releases on the catalog while the remakes and remasters are present and vice versa has no conflict today, and it went well with their entry of MediEvil and Star Wars: Bounty Hunter.

Soul Reaver is not the only PS1 game celebrating its 25th Anniversary to get remastered along with its sequel, so for context, the other two PS1 games also celebrating their 25th Anniversary this year are Ape Escape and Xena: Warrior Princess. Which means the remasters for both games might be confirmed because if there is a PS1 game that is at least 20 years old, the likelihood of its remaster is high. Also, there is literally one PS1 game Sony must release to the classics catalog. So what are the common denominators for both of these games? I'm glad you asked. Let's highlight the common denominators between both games that are celebrating their 25th Anniversary this year.

Ape Escape and Xena: Warrior Princess are both platformers that involve Spike and Xena having an arsenal of gadgets and weapons to defeat enemies. They have intros that involve friendships, whereas Spike and his best friend Jake entering the laboratory and Xena and her best friend Gabrielle walking through the trail while making a joke and both Spike and Xena can save their best friends. Both games have a training grounds where Spike practices his gadgets and Xena practices her weapons. And that's it. These are the common denominators between these two games that are turning 25 this year.

To have both games having good common denominators is ideal and there is not a lot of competition between these two games today. Also, Xena: Warrior Princess, though is a third party PS1 game turning 25 this year, is based on the show with the same name. You need to remember that the show first premiered back in 1995 before the PS1 game adaptation came out in 1999 with Ape Escape and others. Which means the show is having its 30th Anniversary next year in 2025, hoping Warner Bros. Discovery owns the show's rights to stream it on Max and put Xena into MultiVersus as an Assassin while the PS1 video game adaptation of the show with the same name is having its 25th Anniversary this year. Maybe Aspyr could remaster it, with just one butt to kick.

And not only PS1 games are coming to PS Plus Premium in honor of PlayStation's 30th Anniversary, because PS2 games are also coming to celebrate that. The PS2 became the best selling Sony console for decades and it's known for characters having smooth models. Since we got the first Sly Cooper game, I hope we get subsequent games in the original Sly Cooper trilogy where the home worlds are bigger and have open exploration to have an emphasis on finding stuff, the option to play as not only Sly, but also his friends and grind coins to buy stuff. I will be livestreaming them as part of PlayStation Rewind.

I know what you're thinking that you are gonna jump up and ask what about the Jak and Daxter trilogy and its racing game. Well, yes, they are currently on the catalog. Except this case, they are currently having the PS Now algorithm that involved only up-rendering despite the fact that you need the Premium/Deluxe membership to play them, so we still don't know if they are gonna shift to the PS Plus Premium algorithm to have not just up-rendering, but also quick saves, rewinds, video filters and the option to switch between the NTSC and PAL versions.

So, I believe that because of PlayStation Plus Premium offering a vast library of retro games and we're getting two new PS1 games, PlayStation's 30th Anniversary is gonna be bigger than previous milestones. It's gonna reign supreme during the course of the celebration. PS Now, though? Nope, its PS2 catalog was limited. Honestly, I'm starting to feel like that as the classics catalog continues to grow, I feel like that the catalog should be separated into three catalogs; one for PS1 games, one for PS2 games and one for PSP games. Here's to a wonderful future of the brand we all know and love.

The Truth Behind Concord's Biggest Failure

You know, things have gone chaotic within the game industry and community these days. I was about to make a blog post about 2XKO. And then I was about to make the next one about the next Mana title followed by the one about PlayStation's 30th Anniversary, but I have to talk about this news piece that blew up and it's even worse somehow! Concord has died after two weeks. So here we are, ladies and gentlemen. After eight years of development, Concord has flopped real bad after its release on August 23rd and two weeks later, the game was taken offline and dead. For those of you who actually loved the game, be sure to show up to its funeral and bring it some flowers.

If you don't know what is going on regarding Concord's failure in performance and life, Firewalk Studios game director, Ryan Ellis has posted his article regarding the game. And it shows that the game's servers will be taken down offline on September 6th, which it did. But he said that the game will be taken offline while they explore better options including those that will better reach players. This is where it stands now that Concord is no longer listed on PS5 and Steam and on retailers that sell physical copies. I'm gonna tell you what made Concord flopped real hard with 25,000 copies in sales.

The reception of its two gameplay trailers were poor that they were dislike bombed. Many people suggested that Sony and Firewalk should've delayed the game a bit to change its business model that relied on people to spend $40 on a hero shooter as other competitors are free-to-play. This wasn't the problem with Overwatch 1 because it was $60 dollars. It's clear that Sony and Firewalk should've delayed the game a bit before releasing to differentiate from Overwatch and Apex Legends. However, the majority of people that aren't interested are actually happy that Concord flopped due to the trailers' poor reception, the pricing of $40, the characters and generic maps that lacked inspiration. I was interested in getting Concord and I never played it, but personally, I'm glad I did not get it in case it flops, and it did. That has to be the biggest flop I have experienced and it's probably the worst since Sanjay and Craig.

Regarding the poor reception, Concord's characters became ugly and bland and the cast became a Guardians of the Galaxy mimicry. The shooting is great, but the gameplay is slow. And the game was sold for $40. That's why nobody didn't want this game unless if it was free-to-play. But Ellis has clarified that the game will be taken offline while exploring options to better reach players. This is not the only bad news that came to fruition.

In exchange, the death of Concord comes with a new release, Astro Bot, which received a 92 and a Must Play accolade on Metacritic and an outstanding reception, thus being a universally acclaimed game over Concord. So it makes it clear that on September 6th, an utterly disappointing game like Concord was shut down in favor of an utterly outstanding game like Astro Bot was released in exchange. It is the fact that both of Concord's trailers got dislike bombed over the game's lukewarm Guardians of the Galaxy mimicry of characters, inspiration lacking maps, the bland gameplay and the $40 pricing while Astro Bot's trailer received an overwhelming amount of positivity over the game's ultimate PlayStation experience accompanied by VIP bots that dress up as our favorite PlayStation characters and it's in time for PlayStation's 30th Anniversary. I have a post about PlayStation 1's 30th Anniversary coming soon, so stay tuned for that.

Again, Ellis has made it clear that Concord will be offline while they explore other options including those that can better reach more players. Does this mean that we will never see Concord again and is it deemed dead? Absolutely not. It will return in a later date potentially as a free-to-play title and will remain on Prime Video's upcoming anthology series, Secret Level. This is not common of the situation today and it's largely dominated by Blizzard with their free-to-play entry of Overwatch 2. To have a free-to-play hero shooter is a very smart business choice as everyone can play it without their paid membership on console and the chances of a free-to-play hero shooter to flop are very slim.

In fact, if I recall correctly, there has been one free-to-play hero shooter that has been ported to console and has not flopped, and that is Valorant, which did a great reception since the console launch. The only upcoming free-to-play hero shooter coming to consoles this year is Marvel Rivals. There is literally one free-to-play team-based game that Concord will have to compete with if it returns as a free-to-play title.

One last thing to be made. The main reason of hero shooter games to be free-to-play is a train that they have a slim chance of flopping and an excellent chance of doing pretty well. If the game goes free-to-play, it will very likely succeed to have a good player base. To give a hero shooter a pricing makes no sense. They need to be free-to-play so that they can succeed to have a skyrocketing player base. So it's possible that Concord may return as a free-to-play title as Ellis stated that they would take the game offline to explore better options to reach more players or not. But when? The answer is unknown.

UPDATE 10/29:

I went on X and one of the articles has stated that Sony has closed Firewalk Studios. That means Concord will never return as they have been exploring better options to reach more players for few months to find no solutions. So effective immediately, Concord is shut down permanently and will never be heard from again.

MultiVersus is Exactly the Gem the Smash Community Loves

Hello, guys, KnockDownJoe here and man, this post is gonna be a doozy for you to read. If you have been living in a WB watertower like the Animaniacs, we can subscribe to Max and watch any TV show or movie. Anyway, you all know that Smash started in 1999 on the Nintendo 64 and ended the franchise with Smash Ultimate on the Switch. Then more Smash clones with iconic characters have come in. Starting with PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale on the PS3 and PSVita to Brawlout, Fraymakers and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.

Then there is another Smash clone with iconic characters that I want to point out to on this post; the one that has Warner Bros. characters, MultiVersus. This game is known for its iconic cast of WB characters such as Bugs Bunny, Batman, Shaggy and a ton others. The roster was then cranked up to get more distinctiveness when LeBron James, Rick, Morty and more made their debut.

This year, the player base has skyrocketed when MultiVersus returned for launch with Banana Guard from Adventure Time, Joker, Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th and Agent Smith from the Matrix, as well as the shift to Unreal Engine 5 to produce better lighting. Though these characters have a cult distinctiveness, they became a solid pass. And with MultiVersus' excellent cast of characters, people came forward screaming that they want more characters with the same style.

Then the hype was cranked up to a severe level when Samurai Jack and Bettlejuice were announced for Season 2. Since its inception on the characters department, there has been some requests for Harry Potter, Gandalf, Johnny Cage, Scorpion, Pinky, Brain, Daffy Duck, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Static Shock, Godzilla, King Kong, Johnny Bravo, Barbie, Furiosa, and well, probably the ones that are the loudest of them all, the Powerpuff Girls and Dee Dee from Dexter's Laboratory.

These are great characters, but I am here to make a strong yet creative opinion. I've been talking about this on my previous MultiVersus livestream that didn't turn out well because playing it as long as I want overheated my PS5 to turn it off on me, on social media and on the past post once. But it's time I put my excitement on how I feel about wanting a character to be in MultiVersus. After watching an explanation on how a Crash and Spyro crossover game would work, I am going to do the same.

I have been inspired on how Xena would be freaking dope in MultiVersus and how will she play. I wanted to do this on social media, but it's easier to tell you all in this concrete post for better transparency without using the old Super Mario Blue: Robotnik's Rampage and Sonic Red: The Koopa Konspiracy joke than on social media. Now before I begin with this small pitch, for those of you who are naysayers, yes, I know, Xena: Warrior Princess isn't even by WB. But Warner Bros. Discovery must own the rights of the show first. Also, this is simply my idea, but at least read this as I give you a pitch on what Xena would bring to the table in MultiVersus and how she would be dope.

First off, when you're doing a character pitch, you must announce their class first, so because her arsenal is accompanied with her sword, daggers and chakram, Xena would be an Assassin fighter. Her side special would allow her to throw her chakram while all of her basic attacks would involve wielding her sword like others that wield a sword.

There are a lot of character-specific voicelines she would have, so for example, if Xena teams up with LeBron James, she would be a masochist on his basketball skills. And let's just pretend that it's NOT weird. A warrior princess would be a masochist to an NBA player's basketball skills. Okay, I know this seems artsy fartsy that an NBA player and a warrior princess wouldn't mix, but this is just for dialogue purposes. What would really mix is that a samurai and a warrior princess, so Samurai Jack and Xena would be a perfect duo to have voice lines to each other. Sure, I can hear what about a duo between Xena and Arya Stark. Well, sure, another perfect duo. And if Furiosa makes it into the game, well a perfect duo between Xena and Furiosa would also be established, because they would both be Assassin fighters, right? Sure, if you like Muggshot. No, not the villain on Sly Cooper. But rather, taking a picture. It's MultiVersus. Priorities.

And if she is released on the first week of a Season, you woud have to purchase the premium track of the Battle Pass for 950 Gleamium to unlock her until next season when she is available to purchase in the Fighter Shop for 1,000 Gleamium and 3,000 Fighter Currency.

But what about a Xena: Warrior Princess stage? Is it gonna be left behind? What? Of course not! Ancient Greece would be a perfect stage to not have any pirates invading the structure and that is not as common of the situation today as largely applied to what I experienced on Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. But can have hazards and be playable on all formats. Townsville handled the part where we defeat Mojo Jojo in game, so Ancient Greece would have the villain we have to defeat.

There is one TV series that starred a female pirate and is an anime TV series. That is Fena: Pirate Princess, which was actually owned by Warner Bros. Discovery since Cartoon Network and Adult Swim are both under the Warner Bros. umbrella. That's why Rick and Morty made their debut. The only two popular TV shows that have female protagonists are Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena: Warrior Princess. There is literally one show Warner Bros. Discovery should own the rights of to give them a chance to be in MultiVersus.

So this is my small pitch on how Xena would play in MultiVersus if Warner Bros. Discovery owns the show and all of its entirety to stream it on Max with either a TV-PG-V rating or a TV-14-V rating and pave the way for an HD and 4K remake. Since we got PS1 emulation on the PS Plus Premium tier, I took the liberty of adding the PS1 adaptation of Xena: Warrior Princess to my wish list, so if it gets released on the catalog, I will purchase it rather than subscribing to the Premium tier and showcase on how a warrior princess would play in MultiVersus and submit my moveset to Player First Games.

Warner Bros. to own Xena needs to happen soon so that she can make her debut to MultiVersus and it's not common today. And it's largely applied to PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale with their entry of Spike from Ape Escape, which is already on the catalog, along with the second game, which is the European version. Ape Escape 3 might have a likelihood of being released to the catalog. Ape Escape and Xena: Warrior Princess being two great platformers is a coincidence. Which means that Spike and Xena can team up with each other as they have to save Jake and Gabrielle.

Furiosa, though hit closer to becoming the highest priority for her to be in MultiVersus as Dee Dee and the Powerpuff Girls after her movie's excellent Rotten Tomatoes score piggybacked off the bombing of her movie's box office that put the brakes on future Mad Max movies despite her movie's positive reviews, would also be dope as Xena would be. And I know chances are that there is a high probability for her to be in it. You have to remember that Furiosa would be an Assassin fighter like Xena would be.

MultiVersus and all of its forms have been a product of hype and I am already excited for Beetlejuice's arrival. So let's give him some beetle juice (no pun intended) and some Rice Krispies Treats to celebrate his debut from the afterlife. I am putting my Gleamium on hold for him in a process of owning every single fighter permanently before a future season releases, like I did to own every single Hero and Power on Crash Team Rumble before Season 4, which was scrapped. The reason why it was scrapped is because Toys for Bob has spun off to be an independent studio from Activision. What this means is that future Crash and Spyro games will not be under the Activision umbrella going forward.

In terms of characters, MultiVersus' cast of characters became so distinctive and iconic like Smash and Nick All-Star Brawl, becoming a supreme gem for the Smash community. The difference is that the roster in MultiVersus will grow endlessly like Brawlhalla, so we get 2-3 characters each Season, which lasts eight weeks over the course at launch. And there are Rifts for when you are not ready for PvP matches. The upcoming free to play fighting game coming out next year is 2XKO and we don't know if the roster is gonna grow endlessly post launch.

You could be a part of this massive community like I am. People seem to care much about this game as much as I do. I have never been this emotional. What I'm trying to say is that MultiVersus will change you. Again, looking forward for Beetlejuice's arrival and I am hyped to see what Season 3 has in store for me. Let's all look into the future of MultiVersus together as friends and family.

Joe's Monologues - 8/6/24

It's that time again for the next Joe's Monologues and the first one of August. We are four months away from 2025 and time sure flies. Not only that because I have turned 30 over three weeks ago and boy, I am out of my 20s. Anyway, let's get started with the latest scoop on this post.

Visions of Mana:

The demo version of the upcoming new Mana game came out not too long ago and I am already excited for Visions of Mana. But there is something about this upcoming Mana game I'm excited for. But why would I be excited for something I don't know anything about? Well, there is one thing we do know one thing's for sure. One that is completely factual is that this is the first Mana game of the franchise to have an original story. If you played Trials of Mana, then Visions of Mana is where it's at.

So why am I excited for Visions of Mana, you ask? It's actually not the fact that this is the first Mana game in its originality in 18 years. But it's the aspects. First off, the demo version gets you straight to the part of the story where you have two Elemental Vessels and Val, Careena and Morley on your party and that progress you see in the demo version will also be in the full game. You need to be aware that Palamena and Julei are not featured in the demo version and you'll see them in the full game.

That's when I'm gonna use the Palamena: Water Princess and Morley: Renegade Moon jokes. I know this seems weird and all, but the jokes I'll be using will not be dark. If Xena: Warrior Princess, Fena: Pirate Princess and Xavier: Renegade Angel are a thing, then Palamena: Water Princess and Morley: Renegade Moon would be a thing. Again, these are jokes, not real TV shows.

I can hear them say what about Careena: Wind Princess. And well, that's another good joke, but doesn't ring a bell as much as Palamena: Water Princess. I believe this joke, along with the Morley: Renegade Moon joke, is gonna be funny and not dark. The I can't breathe joke Mike Z made four years ago? Nope! That's dark and it's NOT funny.

Square Enix has teamed up with One Tree Planted to plant 25,000 trees globally. In order for them to do that, they must tune in to any Twitch channel streaming the demo version of Visions of Mana for 60,000 hours. Once the goal 60,000 hours have been reached, 25,000 trees will be planted globally to fight deforestation in a process of reforestation. I agree with the process because trees are made to produce oxygen and Mana, so if we get more trees, we'll have more oxygen in Earth. In fact, if they planted a Tree of Mana in real life, that's gonna be a miracle. I always wanted to meet the Goddess of Mana in real life.

In case you don't know, there are common denominators between Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana, so let's take a look. Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana are both action RPGs. They involve combo attacks and defeating all monsters in any area to earn EXP, Lucre and items and bonus values occur when defeating all enemies within a certain amount of seconds, finishing battles without taking damage and defeating a enemy with a Class Strike. They both have Class Strikes. They have a star on the map to represent your destination. They have a border you can run against to escape from battle, but certain battles can't be escaped when the border is red. So that's it. These are the common denominators between Trials of Mana and Visions of Mana.

Both are action RPGs. But both games have a different mindset. The Trials of Mana mindset involves characters each having their own Class Strike gauge, switching their classes up to three times at the altar in the Goddess of Mana's humble abode and choosing three out of six characters to go on an adventure. Then you have the Visions of Mana mindset that involves only one Class Strike gauge for the player that controls any character to use, putting three characters in the battlefield and two outside of the battlefield, Elemental Vessels that vary by class and hearing the map BGM play its beats during combat like in the original .hack games in the PS2 era.

I am loving the game's demo version so far. Once the full game comes out, it will be a phenomenal experience since Xena: Warrior Princess and Ape Escape for the PS1. Even in the case of Fallow Steppe and Rime Falls, traversing through these areas literally made me think of the one trail that Xena and Gabrielle walked through at the beginning of the game, and Frozen Mammoth from Ape Escape. I can't wait for the full game of Visions of Mana to come out. I am planning to purchase the game digitally, but I'm gonna rent it first. There might be some Johnny Test vibes too.

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics:

Over to the compilation we have dreamed of being a reality for an update. It was showcased during EVO 2024, but three games were available to play there. There has been some exciting stories about Marvel vs. Capcom we already heard. UMvC3 was last year's throwback game. Capcom has finally made our dream into a reality and I am excited for the compilation.

What makes me excited for the collection? Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection offering every game of the franchise is actually not why I am excited. But better yet, it's one of the games in the compilation that a lot of people in the FGC want freed. That is Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. So why is this exciting? Good question.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is known for its 3v3 battles to have two assist buttons and four attack buttons and its huge roster. This is the game that people, including me, in the FGC want freed from jail, so what am I talking about? Sure, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 became phenomenal with its large roster of 56 characters. Capcom did something amazing.

During the development of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom's genius team came with making original characters on the Capcom side. This is when Ruby Heart, Son Son and Amingo were born. These are the characters that never starred in a single Capcom franchise. That's why these characters were original. When the developers put in original characters on the Capcom side, they also put in characters on the Marvel side we don't know much about, Marrow, Blackheart and Silver Samurai, because these Marvel characters are low in popularity and didn't get that much attention.

It doesn't take a professional developer to understand the release of MvC2, because it first came out on 6th generation consoles, then released on 7th generation with all content unlocked by default and will be available to play in Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection along with others on 8th generation consoles. So MvC2 came out and it became such a phenomenal vs. Capcom game, right? Sure, it can be, if you like Spider-Man web swinging and walking on the walls on a building in the city.

The date as to when we can pre order it is unknown. We do know that it's coming out this year. But sadly, Xbox has had an omission from the collection for some reason. Regardless, I am excited for the collection we've been waiting for years since Marvel vs. Capcom Origins. Again, no release date just yet. If Capcom plans to make a new Marvel vs. Capcom game, I'll be ready for that, if they knock the netcode out of the park and make it the best game it can be, unlike UMvC3 where we are restricted to playing on Bonne Wonderland and MvCI where we are restricted to playing on the training stage like on Street Fighter V. It's annoying.

The Meme on My Career:

An update on my Wrapper Offline career is obvious. I shifted to the 3.0.0 build and it has a huge selection of assets to update my characters. But that is not relevant. What is really relevant is a meme I came up with that involved having things that they are not allowed to have, which is the Sierra Mist.

One of the British YouTubers made that meme about the characters not being allowed to eat Walkers Crisps because they can make them sick. It's just for fun and entertaining purposes. They don't really make them sick in real life. I came up with the Sierra Mist meme. In real life, Sierra Mist was rebranded into Starry, but not in my videos. I had to make that entertaining because one of the defunct companies that published the Crash and Spyro games in Universal Interactive's stead has "Sierra" in the name. It's to pay homage to the company.

Broken Saw:

And speaking of Sierra, it's time to talk about and go into detail on one of the YouTube channels that did a great job covering logos from media, which is Broken Saw. Broken Saw did a great job covering logos from media. I'm basically into the ones from video games because of how logos flow. It's common for all generations. But I preferred the ones that are outside the game and also silent, like the one that is from Dragon Ball Z: Budokai showing the old FUNimation logo and the one that is from the 6th generation WWE games. The one from Budokai 2 is ten seconds shorter than Budokai 1. The logos from Budokai 3 haven't been covered yet. While they are known for covering logos, they also covered copyright screens with logos on it.

Broken Saw's way of covering video game logos from the back in the year hit me with nostalgia. It's among those games I played from back in the day. Especially the Ape Escape 3 one when the two kids read "Sony Computer Entertainment America". It's a game that I want to revisit and now that PS2 emulation has reopened, it's likely to happen if Sony released Ape Escape 3 on the catalog, and also re-released Ape Escape 2 and other older PS2 games on the catalog to have both NTSC and PAL versions, quick saves, rewinds (PS5 only), up rendering and video filters.

The logos from Crash Bandicoot games, though became a starting point to cherishing old logos mostly from video games. The remasters have also been covered, though they said that they can't make any promises that they are gonna cover the remasters. Especially the original games. 

July's additions on the classics department was revealed and they turned out to be an utter disappointment. I never played any of those classic games before. And there wasn't a single PS1 game on the previous month. It had none of the games Broken Saw has covered and that's why I am a bit disappointed in that. But let's hope August's additions won't be so disappointing as July's and has at least one retro game I played before Broken Saw has covered like June's additions did to have at least one retro game I played before. Well, two because Days of Play has offered us new PS2 games.

Conclusion:

So this wraps up today's Joe's Monologues. The end of 2024 is almost upon us. I hope you all have a fantastic day. And now that I'm settled after the long haul, I'll be able to work on posting future posts.