Nintendo and PlayStation's Revival of Retro Gaming

It has come to my attention that both Nintendo and PlayStation have revived retro gaming by offering emulation of their older consoles released in the 80s and 90s. This has sparked fan excitement among gamers who were born in the in the 80s and 90s like to revisit games they played during their childhood and relive the nostalgia as adults. Let's jump right in.

Hello, everyone. Man, this post is gonna bring in some good news for us gamers of the 80s and 90s. Now, if you have been living in a pineapple, retro gaming was created when the consoles of the first generation were released. Nintendo was impressed by the production and success of the Color TV-Game series and it gave the company faith in the console business. That led to them developing their first home console, the Nintendo Entertainment System. Also known as Famicom in Japan.

Fast forward to when the Wii was released. Nintendo threw in their Virtual Console system, which had games that were released on their older consoles. Virtual Console doesn't offer just games that were released on their older consoles. It also offered games that were released on non-Nintendo consoles. Nintendo did something really amazing. However, when the Switch comes out, the retro games we know and love were gone, until they brought in a new subscription service, Nintendo Switch Online. It offers emulation of NES, SNES and Game Boy games. It's like Virtual Console, but they are locked behind a pay wall.

Then the second tier came along to offer emulation of GBA, Nintendo 64 and SEGA Genesis games, but was criticized for being too expensive. If you watched the Direct, GameCube games are coming to the Switch 2 through the Switch Online + Expansion Pack tier. GameCube games have been a huge demand and they are coming. This has sparked excitement that people that were born in the 90s will finally be able to revisit GameCube games, despite the fact that the GameCube was met with a mixed reception and sold poorly. In short, Nintendo's beloved retro games come with rewinds, upscaling, quick saves, video filtering and online multiplayer in certain games that have multiplayer.

Playing Nintendo classics on the Switch isn't that bad because it is faster than downloading an emulator and ROMs on PC. I was eight years old when playing the SNES games. Today, I get to play them on the Switch. And the NES games. It has been rumored that Wii and DS emulation can come to their catalog. But the Wii would go first because the motion sensor became very easy to emulate and became a straightforward process while the DS has a bit of a snag when it comes to emulation, emulating stylus-based technology and the touch screen. While the Wii is a segway to the modern era, it is a retro console that is the final retro era console before the Wii U launched with a putrid entrance.

Nintendo is not the only one that is reviving retro gaming by offering emulation of their retro games because PlayStation is following suit by using PlayStation Plus Premium, the third tier that offers emulation of their retro games. However, the one conflict to it is that the PS3 games are only available through cloud streaming due to the PS3's notoriously hard to develop for structure and the Cell processor, which is why none of the modern consoles were backwards compatible to older consoles, but it's cool because like the Wii, the PS3 is the segway to the modern era anyway. That said, there will be emulation of PS1, PS2 and PSP games since these systems are easy to emulate.

Like Nintendo's retro games, they have rewinds, upscaling, quick saves and video filters. But they don't offer online multiplayer sadly. And they are also purchaseable so that you wouldn't require the Premium tier to play them since it is cheaper than subscribing. In fact, it is way better and faster than having full backwards compatibility because I don't have to switch discs like in the time when I played the PS1, PS2 and PSP games and I can use the rewind feature to go back and fix mistakes I made on my first go.

Retro and modern are two factors in gaming, so as a fun fact, playing retro games puts you in the shade while playing modern games puts you in the sun. There is one concept that you have to take the first half of the gaming community, the retro gaming community, which likes to play mostly retro games and the other that likes to just play modern games. Unifying them is quite the balancing act.

Nintendo became the kings of their time in the NES and SNES eras that both of them reigned supreme. However, as soon as later retro generations came in, things took a turn for Nintendo. The N64 and GameCube didn't come close to the renowned the NES and SNES did. And they didn't come close to the worldwide sales of the PS1 and PS2.

So here are the charts that determine the worldwide sales of the 5th and 6th generation consoles. Both of Sony consoles were very dominant while the others, have all fell short. It's due to the first two Sony consoles using CD-ROMs rather than game cartridges, having a ton of games from their widespread 3rd party support, critically acclaimed high quality games like the original Crash and Spyro games and backwards compatibility. Both of them being dominant benefitted a longer life cycle.

Now, I have learned what makes it so interesting and special about Sony's first two consoles selling very well and reigning supreme over others in both generations. Since the PS4 came out, we gamers who were born in the 90s desired to revisit PS1 and PS2 games. We have beared this desire since. But the PS4 lacked backwards compatibility and the PS5 can only play 95% of PS4 games because of the PS3's structure. That applied to what Jim Ryan, the former PlayStation bigwig, stated. He stated that time, money and resources are finite when it comes to developing a new system after he regretted saying all that about what we gamers of the 90s loved and talking down to the golden media that is retro gaming.

Fortunately, PlayStation Plus Premium has resolved this enigma and fulfilled our desire by offering emulation of PS1 and PS2 games. It is better than backwards compatibility that they come with rewinds, quick saves, video filtering and upscaling. With it, we can be able to finally revisit our games from back in the day. Even by a longshot, we got the original Sly Cooper trilogy back, which became the best thing that happened to us. However, it doesn't use online multiplayer on certain games that use local multiplayer. And that's something Sony should add and it doesn't have to be just with friends, but with anyone across the globe. But you need PlayStation Plus Essential to play retro games online when you purchased them.

Also, among retro titles, they were produced by video game companies that went defunct before modern generations kicked in and has integrations and middleware that you don't see in modern eras of gaming like Sofdec, ADX and THX. However, Dolby still exists in modern games, but they don't have the current logo.

That's why we don't consider SEGA, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Square Enix, Konami, Ubisoft, Koei Tecmo, EA, or Activision as nostalgic since these companies as a whole are still prevalent and they still exist in today's market to produce games of this generation. No, the ones that are nostalgic were Bandai, Namco, Square, Enix, Koei, Tecmo, THQ, Acclaim and Midway. These are the nostalgic ones that produced games in retro generations and they became defunct before we head into the PS4 and Xbox One era, as well as nostalgic sound integrations and middleware like Dolby Pro Logic II, Sofdec and ADX. But Criware and Unreal Engine are not nostalgic.

The PS1 and PS2 being ranked among the best was because of backwards compatibility, handling of high quality games and a huge library of games. However, the PS5 was ranked the worst because of its remasters and remakes of PS4 games, its first-party games being ported to PC, the insane pricing that costs more than groceries and doesn't have that much first-party games. The graphics do look real, though. It shows that we like to play PS1 and PS2 games more since the systems became the best and indie games because they are less expensive than AAA games and have freedom to focus on innovation, experimental gameplay and taking risks. And since the Switch 2 is offering GameCube games, we are interested in playing them. While the GameCube sold poorly, it has great games I played back in the day.

April's lineup contains Alone and the Dark 2 and War of the Monsters, the next existing PS2 game to have all of the bells and whistles. The lineup came with an interesting touch. Alone in the Dark 2 was produced by Kokopeli Digital Studios and Infrogrames. This is the game produced by defunct video game companies, marking the opportunity to continue to release classic games by defunct video game companies and Kokopeli was considered THQ.

And speaking of THQ, one of the games that has the THQ logo is Up, a game based on the movie by Disney and Pixar with the same name. It is published by THQ and has a copyright screen. However, the logo flow took place ingame and it's the PSP version. But there is one Disney game that I know has met my expectations and that's Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue. The game has a copyright and trademark notice that only points out to toys and not the elements of the game, the original ESRB rating design with a white letter and black pixels on the outside, and was published by Activision in association with a defunct video game company, Disney Interactive and developed by Traveller's Tales in their old logo that was better than the current logo.

However, May's lineup became disappointing as it contained only one classic game that I am not familiar with and is NOT in my wish list. And that is Battle Engine Aquila. The game was developed by Lost Toys and published by Infrogrames Europe. This marks another classic game produced by defunct video game companies and the trend of bringing us retro games produced by defunct video game companies is continuing. It is now available on the catalog, so boot it up and there's a copyright notice with the Lost Toys and Atari logos and the Ziggurat Interactive disclaimer below the Lost Toys logo that has the year we're on now, yet Battle Engine Aquila, of all games, came out in 2003.

I am disappointed in May's lineup that it would give us only one PS2 game, of all things, that is not in my wish list, but at least it met my expectations that it has a silent copyright notice screen before the cinematic logos. But still, when I said if a game like... I don't know... the original Sly Cooper trilogy can launch into the classics catalog, then anything was possible, I didn't mean this junk like Battle Engine Aquila. Seriously, why would they port this game, of all things, when it's one of the games that I'm not familiar with?

The Nintendo side of things comes with something interesting. First off, the beloved fighting game for the Nintendo 64, Killer Instinct Gold, also known as Killer Instinct 2, is coming to the N64 Classics catalog this month. It is a sequel to the original Killer Instinct for the SNES and arcade and a modified version of the arcade release by Midway. It was first developed by Rare when they were with Nintendo until they shifted their business to Microsoft. And there are four new Game Boy titles coming this month also. It was revealed to be Survival Kids, Gradius the Interstellar Assault, Kirby's Star Stacker and the Sword of Hope. While the Game Boy is nuanced and is not a mainline console, it is a part of retro gaming like the GBA and PSP and they are being played on the big screen.

The only takeaway from all this is that we desired a revival of retro gaming from not only one manufacturer that would be dominant on their first two consoles and is working on epics like Ghost of Yōtei, but two manufacturers. They are releasing their beloved retro games monthly in their infancy. When both manufacturers fulfilled our desire to play GameCube, PS1 and PS2 games, excitement from gamers of the 90s have been sparked. But they are not done yet. There are still a lot more retro games to come and they're not stopping anytime soon. Nintendo and Sony are gonna excite retro game fans and not humiliate themselves or disappoint them with their lackluster lineup that lacks heavy heavy hitters or games we wished for.

And speaking of humiliating them, did you know the mods of the Skullheart forums penalized users for low content posts after they posted about how excited they are about the update, especially because it has innovations to Star Power, and then timed them out for it? If you're interested in knowing more about this biggest pile of absolute bullcrap and the dumbest practice mods had done that was met with backlash from me, I have the link to my non-profane G-rated rant about it below.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2024/06/low-content-post-penalty-rant.html

Radical's Two Simpsons Games

There are two of Fox Interactive's Simpsons games developed by Radical that were released on 6th generation consoles. But what's so special about them? Why we desired them to be in PlayStation Plus Premium and Nintendo Switch Online's GameCube Classics catalog? Let's jump right in.

This post is gonna be a doozy for you to read because I want to talk about what is really special to us in the retro gaming community. I had posts about being excited for revisiting classic titles from back in the day, but this one will focus on one thing that I will be talking about in terms of nostalgic gaming.

As we all know, the Simpsons has been a longest running animated comedy known for its direction of yellow skin on white characters, humor and their life in Springfield. There are a lot of Springfields in the US, but the one in the Simpsons is fictional. Over the years, the Simpsons became a franchise to extend beyond the TV show realm to have a movie, toys, LEGO sets and video games. You see, I have been looking up for information on posts talking about why I was so excited to revisit my old games I played during my childhood, but there is something that caught my interest, so let's take a dive into the post.

Fox Interactive had brought on Radical Entertainment, and was impressed by their first game based on one of Fox's franchises, Independence Day. Now, Radical wanted to make a game that catered to the audience among Simpsons fans. This is when they brought on EA to make a driving game based on the show. When the developers made a game that only involved driving and picking up and dropping off passengers, they have confirmed a name for it, the Simpsons Road Rage.

It is a driving game where players have to pick up and drop off passengers to their destination across Springfield, but the characters each have their own vehicle to be a core of the game. Road Rage's story involved Mr. Burns' schemes using radioactive buses to damage public. But the Simpson family would do anything to reverse his schemes. To do that, you must earn $1 million and unlock every character and area. There is also a GBA version that is a different story. Unlike the home console versions, it was published by THQ and developed by Altron Corporation. Though these companies became a different story, they became a solid pass that they were Kokopeli Digital Studios before they became THQ and their partnership with Altron became faithful to the era when they produced 5th generation era games.

However, after Road Rage was released, SEGA came along to sue the companies behind this game over patent infringement. The lawsuit shown that Road Rage allegedly became a carbon copy of Crazy Taxi by having a gameplay similar to it from picking up and dropping off passengers to their destination. This led to a conduction of the SEGA of America v. Fox Interactive, et al. case, which was already settled before going to court.

Following the lawsuit the companies were hit from SEGA, EA called it quits and Fox and Radical were given a second wind to make another Simpsons game, but differentiate it from Road Rage and make it a GTA-style game, so Vivendi orchestrated it so that Fox and Radical would work together to make another Simpsons game under a deal from Vivendi. This has resulted in the creation of the Simpsons Hit & Run.

What is so special about Hit & Run is that it is a child-friendly GTA that has wandering around Springfield, getting busted by the cops, missions, no weapons or killing and a copyright and trademark notice screen. Ton of players really loved the game. Child-friendly GTA, witty dialogues and rewards.

However, Hit & Run would be the final Simpsons game handled by Fox Interactive before they get defunct and the license was renewed by EA to make The Simpsons Game, which was one of the first games that had no involvement with Fox Interactive or Radical, but it's the final Simpsons game before the video game department goes on hiatus.

Now let's take a look at both games' Metacritic scores. But because each game is scored separately by platform since they are old games, I will be determing the average score on each game. Then I will determine the average score for both games. I will be leaving out the PC version of Hit and Run and the GBA version of Road Rage. Now let's get to the averages.

We'll start with Road Rage and look at its Metacritic scores on each platform. The GameCube version scored a 67/100. The PS2 version scored a 64/100. The Xbox version scored a 61/100. The average score of Road Rage is a 65/100.

Now let's take a look at Hit and Run's Metacritic scores on each platform. The GameCube version scored a 79/100. The PS2 version scored a 78/100. The Xbox version scored an 81/100. The average score of Hit & Run is an 80/100.

Road Rage:

GameCube: 67/100
PS2: 64/100
Xbox: 61/100
Average score: 65/100

Hit and Run:

GameCube: 79/100
PS2: 78/100
Xbox: 81/100
Average score: 80/100

Average score for both games: 74.5/100

We now have average scores of both Road Rage and Hit and Run and the average score of both games. If you look at the average scores, Road Rage's performance became a bit abysmal over its poor graphics and bugs, as well as being a Crazy Taxi clone. That's why it averaged on a 65/100 as none of the versions even passed a 70/100. The one with the highest rating was the GameCube version, which can be played if Nintendo releases it on their GameCube catalog. But Hit and Run became a critically acclaimed Simpsons game of all time over its GTA goodness and quality graphics. It has averaged on a good score of 80/100. Both games have averaged on a 74.5/100, so I believe that PlayStation Plus Premium and GameCube Classics should have a place for both of these games because this is a good average score of both Simpsons games developed by Radical.

And that is the story about Fox Interactive's two Simpsons games developed by Radical and what makes them so special and why we want Sony and Nintendo to release them on their catalogs. While it may seem like a convincing statement, there is a silver lining to this story. The first one is that if Road Rage did do well and get inspired by Crazy Taxi, then it would've received a lot of praise and SEGA wouldn't file a lawsuit against the companies over patent infringement at all because the Simpsons and Crazy Taxi are both great, especially when driving around Springfield to help passengers.

The next one is hopeful for Xbox players that they can be able to physically play two of Fox Interactive and Radical's Simpsons games on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S since these platforms support full backwards compatibility. Who knew that Microsoft, the only American manufacturer of the big three, would achieve full Xbox backwards compatibility on both of their modern systems to make Xbox players excited for playing both Simpsons games in the 6th generation era because of the Xbox 360 being easy to develop for?

I just received some news that Disney+ has launched a 24/7 stream that plays all 767 Simpsons episodes from Seasons 1 to 35 in chronological order. It is great news, but it needs a random episode button fans wanted as they don't want to watch the episodes in order. It is the perfect opportunity to binge watch The Simpsons on Disney+ to bolster your hopes of Sony and Nintendo releasing Radical's two games on PlayStation Plus Premium and the Nintendo Switch Online's GameCube Classics catalog.

Joe's Monologues - Nintendo Switch 2

My series usually talks about general things, but this Joe's Monologues will be the first one to focus on a specific thing that I will be talking about, and that is Nintendo's upcoming new system, the Nintendo Switch 2. Now, because this is specific to the Switch 2, I will be talking about things that the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct has shown. I may not be able to cover everything, but here they are.

Immersive Features:

Right off the bat, I will be talking about the features that were introduced into the Switch 2. First off, HD and 4K support. The Switch 1's handheld mode uses 720p resolution and TV mode uses 1080p HD support. But the Switch 2 is a huge upgrade that its games are played in 4K on TV mode and in 1080p HD on handheld and tabletop modes. The Switch 2 having a bigger screen than the Switch 1 is how will games support HD resolution on handheld and tabletop modes. The graphics are insane and they are meeting up with standards that the PS5 and the Xbox Series X|S have.

Now let's go on to the next feature, which is the C button. The button was newly introduced on the new system. Pressing it gives you access to voice chatting with anyone on GameChat. It's like you're on Discord, but built it on the Nintendo Switch 2. It even supported a camera to put yourself into the game, which is cool. It is something that other platforms didn't have. It can also work on the Switch 1, although it doesn't have the C button. What is really cool is that we can see children play Pokemon while using this feature on the playground.

And last but not least, Joy Con 2s as mice. If you watched the announcement trailer, we did see one thing that became innovative, which is using Joy Con 2s as mice. It's something Nintendo innovated on that trailer. There are games that support this feature, like Super Mario Party Jamboree, the upcoming Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Drag x Drive, which only uses mouse features to play. That could mean that they can add a browser to it, right?

256GB of Storage:

The Switch 1 didn't have that much storage that we had to get a microSD card to expand storage drastically. But the Switch 2 will have a bigger space of 256GB. That is mighty big and we don't have to worry about running out of space for awhile.

Backwards Compatibility with Switch 1 Games:

The Direct has confirmed that the Switch 2 will support backwards compatibility to over 10,000 Switch 1 games, including 3rd party games that were released on the Switch 1. The developers said that at launch, they won't be able to make every Switch 1 game work on the Switch 2, but they are looking to test more Switch 1 games on the Switch 2 post launch. And we can be able to transfer our Switch 1 games to the Switch 2.

GameCube Emulation:

GameCube emulation has been a recurring demand since the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack came with Nintendo 64, GBA and SEGA Genesis. And now, it is finally happening as it is coming on the Switch 2 exclusively. We saw Soul Calibur II and its inclusion of Link from the Zelda franchise, F-Zero GX, which is something I really want to revisit because it's fun to crash on this game and the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. There are even more GameCube games coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, like Super Mario Sunshine and many others and this is exciting news. It's good enough that I am pretty darn excited to revisit my PS2 games I played back in the day. And I am also excited to revisit my GameCube games I played back in the day as I am with PS2 games.

Why is it exciting that I finally get to revisit GameCube games? Well, good question. GameCube games have a charming environment, use Dolby Pro Logic II, Sofdec and ADX, were produced by nostalgia-centric companies like Midway and involved Fox Interactive's two Simpsons games developed by Radical Entertainment like those of the PS2 and original Xbox games. And one of the games that is coming at launch is using Sofdec and ADX, and that is Soul Calibur II. And if Sony releases it on PlayStation Plus Premium, I'll be ready for that too.

Strong 3rd Party Support:

Remember what I said that the Switch 2 will have 4K and HD support like the Xbox Series X|S and PS5? Well, this can also apply to the Switch 2 getting a strong emphasis on 3rd party support. What it means is that many 3rd party games that were never released on the Switch 1 will be released well on the Switch 2.

I'll go into detail on one of the games that is coming to the Switch 2, Street Fighter 6. This game came out on June for the PS4, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S back in 2023. And now, thanks to its strong 3rd party support, Street Fighter 6 is coming to the Switch 2 with an exclusive game mode and DLC other platforms will have. That is great news that Street Fighter in its next gen glory is getting some love on a Nintendo console.

There even a lot of games coming to the new system, like Elden Ring, Hitman, Silksong, Final Fantasy VII Remake and tons more. There's even a new James Bond game in the works at IO Interactive coming to this new system and others, which is great because there has not been a new game in the works for so long since Quantum of Solace.

What is really funny is that a Mightykeef skit about MultiVersus shutting down becoming emotional has a dramatic part at the end about Nintendo not putting the game on the Switch 2. That part became true that we will never once again see the game make it to the light of day after five Seasons because of the closure of Player First Games.

Now, these games will launch on the same day as the Switch 2, which is June 5. Beyond what we saw on the Direct, more 3rd party games will be coming to the Switch 2.

Mario Kart World:

The announcement trailer showcased a new Mario Kart game. It is officially unveiled to be Mario Kart World. It's a new open world take on the Mario Kart franchise that involves courses being connected seamlessly in one world and having real time elements that reflect on the current weather in real life. There's also a Free Roam mode where you can drive freely across the world, even off road. No highways were developed. This new Mario Kart is a real time take on the franchise is something that interested me.

Nintendo Switch 2 Edition:

Certain Switch 1 games are eligible for an upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, which has immersive visuals and graphics that reflect the 9th generation era. This also applies to games that were released on the PS4 and Xbox One get an upgrade to the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the Nintendo Switch 2 is set to become a much dedicated and powerful new console to catch up with PS5 and Xbox Series X in terms of its strong emphasis on 3rd party support by having a ton of 3rd party games, innovative features, 4K resolution, 120 FPS run and a bigger storage device. Again, the Switch 2 and all of its games we seen in the Direct are launching this year, with the console and its launch titles releasing on June 5. The price will be revealed later today. MightyKeef has a video about waiting for the Nintendo Switch 2 and it was just part one of the Switch 2 skit that covers the reveal trailer, so I will be expecting part 2 to come to cover everything the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct had to offer, along with the EVO 2025 skit, whichever comes first.

Joe's Monologues - 3/11/2025

Hello, everyone, KnockDownJoe here and today's Joe's Monologues is gonna ruffle people's feathers. I have interesting things to talk about, so read this.

Hidden Variable's Departure:

So that morning was so devastating. When I woke up, X dropped an article telling us that Hidden Variable is no longer involved in the development of Skullgirls. I am going to tell you what happened and why Hidden Variable quit development of Skullgirls in any way, shape or form.

Let's start with what happened. The first $131,000 payment rolled in to be due November 1, 2024. The same amount rolled in to be due November 15, 2024, December 1, 2024 and December 15, 2024, January 1, 2025 and January 15, 2025. Then the $139,000 payment rolled in to be due February 1, 2025, February 15, 2025, March 1, 2025 and March 15, 2025, as well as $15,000 in expenses. But publisher Autumn Games refused to make any of the following payments they owed.

Now let's go on to why Hidden Variable quit Skullgirls development. On March 5, 2025, Hidden Variable released their statement stating that as of January 21, 2025, they are no longer involved in the development of the Skullgirls IP due to their legal dispute with Autumn Games. They are suing the publisher for breach of contract, et al. in the Hidden Variable v. Autumn Games case. Autumn had until January 21 to make payments, but they refused to do it and we don't know why. That led to Hidden Variable terminating their business contract with Autumn after refusing to make a single payment.

The post about Skullgirls Top 8 in Frosty Faustings XVII from January 20th of this year from 2nd Encore's X account has turned out to be the final post before the day Hidden Variable quit development of Skullgirls. That explains why we haven't got any news regarding 2nd Encore for so long since the general balance update or this year's roadmap and Top 8 has unfolded while they are in the middle of a lawsuit. They also added that they will not make further comments on the matter until the dispute is resolved, including a reason why Autumn refused to make payments they owed to cause a breach of contract.

Hidden Variable has thanked us for our endless support on Skullgirls for years and we allowed it to thrive. They created and supported Skullgirls Mobile, promoted Skullgirls esports with the SGCS circuit, brought new characters to 2nd Encore through its first Season Pass, expanded 2nd Encore and the Season 1 Pass to Xbox and Nintendo Switch and produced a Webtoon adaptation. From December 2014 to October 2024, Autumn and Hidden Variable had provided a business relationship between them for Skullgirls Mobile. However, when the lawsuit was filed, their business partnership between them and Hidden Variable's contract with Autumn have been terminated after nearly a decade and it was just a Frankenstein mess of ideas and things that weren't even fully cooked, because Autumn refused to pay the amount of money they owed Hidden Variable to commit a breach of contract.

In response, Autumn has released a statement regarding an update on Skullgirls that contains a glimmer of hope to gleam on from the situation. Jason Donnell stated that Skullgirls is more than a game. It is a passion project we poured our hearts into as they became an unwavering backbone and it involved in so many extraordinary ways because of support of various teams from Reverge Labs to Lab Zero Games, Future Club and Hidden Variable Studios, who were the developers of the Mobile release until they quit in light of the lawsuit.

But to get a small snippet of things, Skullgirls would get approved by Autumn Games to get developed under the Reverge Labs name and under the Konami banner. Then later, the game was removed because of Mike Z's antics, but came back as Skullgirls Encore developed under the Lab Zero Games name. Years later, Lab Zero Games has been dissolved by Mike's sexual harassment practice and others left Lab Zero to form Future Club and development of Skullgirls continued under both names of Hidden Variable and Future Club. And now, where it stands, their contract has been terminated as Hidden Variable quit development of Skullgirls because they are suing Autumn Games for the amount of money they owed and Future Club didn't even bother negotiating between the companies so that the game can continue active development without a contract because according to their X bio, they are no longer involved in the development of Skullgirls, it seems.

Reason being is that they are developing their first original game called Part-Time Hero: I'm Broke, But I'm Here to Save the World. The Kickstarter for their first original game launches in two days, so back it and spread the word about it to anyone to make it happen. If they find a publisher for this game, their project will expand to more platforms because you know, a publisher like Modus formed an acquisition with MANE6 to benefit bringing Them's Fightin' Herds to consoles and wanting a character for BBTAG and using a SEGA vs. Capcom-style showcase were the cherries on top.

Donnell also stated that Skullgirls will continue development despite Hidden Variable's quitting and they are stepping up to reinvest the project, so it's possible that they are going to pick up where Hidden Variable left off. Is it also possible that the development of Skullgirls can be much faster? Sure, it can be much faster since Autumn is a massive team of game developers, storytellers and passionate fans as the statement said. To make matters better, they are even planning to deliver on their promise to us fans as they are making changes now. Think of Epic Games. They are a massive team, which is why development of Fortnite took the shortest amount of time. Which reminds me; if we get a Skullgirls character in Fortnite, it can spark frenzy among fans of Skullgirls.

The statement has a hopeful paragraph written in bold. Guilds are coming to Skullgirls later this year and they are now actually in development since they have taken over in the past few months. That is indeed hopeful and it's only a taste as to how Autumn would usurp Skullgirls development while delivering on their promise to us; to bring new characters, new stories, new features and new game modes following Hidden Variable's departure. In fact, they are picking up where Hidden Variable left off.

After I heard Hidden Variable quit Skullgirls development, I thought we wouldn't get remaining pieces of content like additional VO consisting of Annie's alternative voice pack, Japanese VO for the Season Pass characters in combat and English (and hopefully Japanese) VO for the Season Pass characters' story modes, the Season 2 Pass, Roxie, the third Guest Star, the later quarters' monthly fighters, the second season of the Webtoon adaptation and more. How naive to think that Skullgirls is gonna die. But thankfully, the things Hidden Variable have been working on are still on the docket and thank goodness for that.

How is that possible is that because Autumn refused to make payments they owed by January 21, Hidden Variable provided them with the login information required to continue providing community support for the game before they quit Skullgirls development in a way to not cause any damage to the IP.

Now, remember what I said about 2nd Encore's X post from January 20 of this year being the final post before January 21 when Hidden Variable quit Skullgirls development? It made me think of something that got me. Oh yeah, it reminds me of the transition between the Walt Disney Television logo and the barebones Buena Vista International Inc. logo that given me the chills.

But I think it's clear as to why Autumn Games would refuse to pay the total amount of money they owe Hidden Variable and cause a breach of contract. It's probably because Autumn was interested in pursuing a separate developer for the Mobile release after they failed to seek to sell their business and it comes with revenue issues. And to be honest, Autumn refusing to make payments to Hidden Variable was actually a wise decision as they will sell their business if they paid $1.2 million to Hidden Variable. Unless of course, if Future Club negotiated between the companies, but they didn't bother negotiating between them.

They also told us to stay tuned for updates soon after saying that they can't wait to take Skullgirls into the new chapter together and I am pretty dang excited for this, so updates should involve a detailed roadmap that contains news about the remaining things that are on the docket for not just Mobile, but 2nd Encore as well. In fact, with 2nd Encore being available on all four digital storefronts on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch, this new chapter is likely to be a fresh one. And with Hidden Variable no longer involved in the development of Skullgirls, they are focusing on working on their upcoming indie project, Spellomancer.

Though it became a sad termination to their contract, there is one silver lining on all of this. First off, if Autumn paid Hidden Variable the money they owed in the first place to avoid committing a breach of contract, then maybe Hidden Variable would still be involved in the development of Skullgirls and we would've finally gotten word about what is coming on the docket sooner. Also, if Future Club was still involved in the development of Skullgirls, they could literally negotiate between the companies so that Hidden Variable and Future Club would work under a licensing deal from Autumn so that Hidden Variable would have the least amount of contact with Autumn as possible, like Sony negotiated between Naughty Dog and Universal so that during development of their kart racer, Naughty Dog and Sony would work together under a licensing deal from Universal so that Naughty Dog would have the least amount of contact with Universal as possible. If Naughty Dog broken their three-game contact, Universal would sue Naughty Dog for breach of contract.

Fortunately, Skullgirls is still in the mix at Combo Breaker, which is around the corner. Practically speaking, we didn't get an announcement for 2nd Encore at Frosty Faustings XVII because of the fact that Hidden Variable quit Skullgirls development on January 21 as they are suing Autumn for a breach of contract, et al. and during Top 8 at Frosty Faustings, the lawsuit unfolded. Here's hoping we get one at Combo Breaker, especially when we're waiting for the additional VO content to drop.

The Fall of MultiVersus:

Another devastating morning after we came across a tweet that on May 30th, MultiVersus is going to shut down again, but it's gonna be for good. What has happened is that it became a total failure. But how did it fail? It's actually not the fact that the game has shifted to Unreal Engine 5 or gave us unwanted characters like the Banana Guard. But worse yet, it's the lack of player satisfaction created by priortizing their monetization strategy on a free-to-play game and ignoring the player base. The cause to this is during launch, skins and other things were only purchaseable with Gleamium. The currency that unlocks characters was extremely difficult to earn that it is not earnable just by playing the game. Same with the Perk and Prestige currencies. I was able to do a livestream on my gaming laptop to showcase how well the game ran on it.

I was looking forward to seeing Harry Potter, Godzilla, Furiosa and a host of others make it too. And even more exciting, Kayley from Quest for Camelot. She would be freaking dope in MultiVersus too. I mean, seriously. It's hurts to see the game bite the dust prematurely just because the developers have priortized monetization and ignored players' feedback. And personally, fans seem to be happy that the game is shutting down because of its problematic thing it beared since launch. And that problematic thing was prioritizing monetization, which was caused by prompting us often to pay real money to purchase skins. But I didn't care about paying real money. I cared about having fun.

Now, let's talk about the only thing that was better than the state where MultiVersus is currently at, the Open Beta era. Now why is it that MultiVersus' Open Beta era was better that it became critically acclaimed and met with rave reviews to have a skyrocketing player base? Here is the best reason.

The best reason is the introduction of Gold. Since Open Beta, Gold was introduced and was the only free currency that was earned just by playing the game. At launch, Player First Games replaced Gold with multiple currencies. None of them were earnable through playing the game. The removal of Gold and replacing it with multiple currencies that were extremely difficult to earn was the main reason why MultiVersus' launch was lackluster. Brawlhalla remained alive for years since launch because they kept the free currency.

With MultiVersus shutting down and being delisted from digital stores on May 30th, Warner Bros. intend to shift their focus to bringing their collaborations to other games like Fortnite and Brawlhalla, which is nice, but not as nice as having a platform fighter with Warner Bros. characters that is set to shut down for good. But we are getting something nice from them, and it's a free-to-play hero shooter that is completely similar and akin to Marvel Rivals, but with DC characters. And I believe it can be called... DC Rivals?

If PFG hadn't replaced Gold with multiple currencies that were extremely difficult to earn, then the game's launch wouldn't be so lackluster. People would be thrilled to not be often prompted to pay real money to purchase decorative skins and cosmetics.

News Regarding 2XKO:

That's right, we have news regarding 2XKO. Shaun Rivera came with some news on X. The Pulse Fuse is being removed in favor of the autocombo setting each player will toggle on or off with at the character select screen. Fans delivered feedback regarding turning on autocombo while having a different Fuse. Now, I completely agree with having an autocombo setting on the character select screen while equipping a different Fuse. With the Pulse Fuse being removed, we are getting a new Fuse, which is the Sidekick Fuse. It allows the assist character to stay sidelined to support the point character, which gets more HP during the Fuse.

And as for the next Alpha Lab, we got info about it. But it's gonna be much smaller while devs build the infrastructure needed to ensure that they can bring the game to even more players and so that they can release the game sooner. Even if the next Alpha Lab is gonna be smaller, Jinx is still on the docket to be playable. And because it's gonna be a smaller playtest, the invite list will be smaller and each player has a small chance to get invited.

I made a suggestion of a new game mode where the assist character gets in battle with the point character on both sides recently. But since we're getting the new Sidekick Fuse and the game has up to four players on each core game mode, I am also going to restate my suggestion and make it a new Fuse that allows the assist character to be a second point character, so I think it's a Cross Fuse.

According to the developers, they plan to make 2XKO the best it can be, by listening to the players' feedback during the game's life cycle at launch.

Crash Bandicoot Brawl:

Canadian Guy Eh recently posted a video about an official and fake game called Crash Bandicoot Brawl. I made a reaction while watching that. Even the page is fake that it showed the wrong ESRB rating of M. Activision's Facebook account shown a fake promotion of a fake game. Activision made that game, but it doesn't exist somehow. That crap was funny, though. He was ticked off at that practice Activision had done just to trick us into filling out the survey and he ended the video by exiting his room and closing the door to get some coffee, like oh my gosh, what a weird way to end the video. His phone rang during the video too.

On the upside, I think we all know that what the fake promotion of Crash Bandicoot Brawl means. Activision could be showing us their interest of maintaining the Crash Bandicoot brand to enlist somebody to make a new Crash game. If the alleged Crash Bandicoot Brawl game becomes real, I am interested in it and I am getting it now that I got a new phone with a bigger space. In fact, if it comes to Steam, I will get it on there if it takes a very small amount of space because I gotta get a 5TB external hard drive to hold my games that use a lot of space like Mortal Kombat 1, which took a ridiculous amount of GB, and I wish we can play PS5 games directly though an external hard drive.

And speaking of Crash Bandicoot, I have neglected to tell you this on my post about finally being able to revisit my old stomping grounds. During my earlier days at high school in my old stomping grounds, I caused a conversation about how I loved Crash Bandicoot in any way, shape or form. What is special about that is that the franchise taken to a new direction when the 6th generation consoles came out. There was even a cancelled game called Crash Landed. That game didn't see the light of day because of the layoffs from Activision on that time when they bought out Vivendi Universal. I was reminising about the part where I talk about Crash Bandicoot at my high school back in the day on the time before I moved to Arizona too. It's all in good fun since uh... Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, maybe? But hey, it was worth it.

Conclusion:

Now, before I head out, I have one last thing to point out. Priortizing monetization from replacing Gold with multiple difficult to earn currencies being the main reason why MultiVersus' launch was lackluster is considered to be a lesson learned by the game industry for one reason. It is so that the developers can listen to player feedback and not prioritize monetization instead of everything else. If they do, their games will have a slim chance of biting the dust and be met with rave reviews.

We did see one game that became a huge success, Marvel Rivals. It was met with a lot of rave reviews over its handling of Battle Passes that never expire that rewards are earned anytime no matter the Season and that all characters, both current and future were unlocked from the get go. That's because the devs minimized monetization by giving us an everlasting Battle Pass that lasts for the forseeable future so that rewards can be earned anytime and make all characters free by default. I did play Marvel Rivals once and I enjoyed it on the PS5 first. I even got the Steam version, but I'll wait until cross-progression gets implemented because it's the only thing we want.

The only takeaway from all this is that maximizing and priortizing monetization is the source of MultiVersus' failure that allowed it to bite the dust prematurely. As long as other developers maximized monetization on their own games, they will have a good chance of them underperforming and shutting down their game prematurely and face a boycott. That was when in 2024, we saw Marvel Rivals get generally positive reviews at launch because of all characters being unlocked by default and the everlasting Battle Pass.

Now, if and when DC Rivals gets into production, the developers of this game can follow the footsteps of the developers of Marvel Rivals and implement an everlasting Battle Pass and make all current and future characters free by default. If they do, their game will be met with rave reviews and critically acclaimed. And who knows? They might make a free-to-play Marvel and DC crossover hero shooter.

Capcom's Plan for Reviving the FGC from Back in the Day

With the inception of the Fighting Collection series, Capcom is finally leveraging their classic fighting games from the 80s to the early 2000s and their practice is gonna revive the FGC from back in the day. Let's jump right in and talk about it.

I am back with this post that is gonna bring us some great news for us fighting game fans in the community. You would know that fighting games in the arcades from the earlier years of the 80s to the early 2000s have been a huge hit right now, starting with Street Fighter to Darkstalkers, Tekken, King of Fighters and Mortal Kombat. These games have defined the genre and they were ported to home consoles to have multiple modes. But specifically, I want to talk about the company that has been alive for years, Capcom. This company has made numerous arcade fighting games from the 80s to the early 2000s.

Capcom tried giving leveraging their arcade releases of their fighting games with their collections a go. And it pretty much went well with the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, but four of the games out of 12 (13 for the Switch version) support training mode and online play, but a couple of them like Hyper Street Fighter II were absent. Then Capcom is shaking up their practice in leveraging arcade versions of their fighting game titles using their Fighting Collection series.

The Fighting Collection series is known for having arcade releases of their fighting games from the 90s to the early 2000s in their compilation with online play having rollback netcode, jukebox, gallery and more. It was started in 2022 when Capcom Fighting Collection 1 came out and went well with having every Darkstalkers game. And it pretty much came with some issues that consist of lacking quality of life changes and crossplay, Japan only releases of sequels to Vampire Savior and Night Warriors that were inside games that never been released outside of Japan, the exclusion of Street Fighter III, which is why they had to bring in CRTs into last year's EVO and the inclusion of Cyberbots, which was the only fighting game that seemingly has a mild level of profanity that other fighting games don't. We can even turn on the initial boot display on each game and that's something arcade versions of Capcom's classic fighting games have.

However, Capcom is not the only titan of their fighting games with 2D sprites from the earlier years because SNK is also the titan of their classics and they have their own compilations of the classic KOF games in the Orochi Saga and all classic Samurai Shodown games. This led to Capcom and SNK conducting a crossover switcheroo just by bringing Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury to Street Fighter 6 and Ken and Chun-Li to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves as DLC. That could mean they are showing their interests in making a new Capcom vs. SNK and a new SNK vs. Capcom, right? But the FGC wanted to garner fighting games that beared high status and caliber, like Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, King of Fighters, Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown and tons more.

We did see Marvel vs. Capcom 2 get ported to the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions until they were removed from the digital storefronts. Then Marvel vs. Capcom Origins came along to have Marvel vs. Capcom 1 and Marvel Super Heroes, but also removed from the digital stores. It was a compilation of original titles. That's why it lacked popular titles. Thankfully, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics came to reality to have every game of the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise in the 90s to the early 2000s. There's even a beat-em-up game that is outside the Capcom line of beat-em-up games called The Punisher. To my knowledge, it's likely that they had to put The Punisher in the collection so that we can play it as sort of a break from playing fighting games.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 became a great game because of its huge roster of characters that included the ones we don't know much about, and stages that come in two variants. The game is free from jail, thanks to the collection of Marvel vs. Capcom games from the 90s to the early 2000s. And we're going to see it at EVO as this year's throwback game. I loved the goodness of the game that it became a charm of fighting in the city and the best themes, like the Clock Tower Stage. Yes, it has home console versions. If we get the PS2 version on PS Plus Premium, it can make the fanbase unhappy.

Now, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 won't be the only throwback game we're seeing at EVO because there is another throwback game as part of the new extended lineup, and that's Capcom vs. SNK 2. We're also seeing it at EVO because it is on Capcom Fighting Collection 2, coming out May 16. The collection led to sparking fan frenzy over the inclusion of Capcom vs. SNK 1 and 2, Power Stone 1 and 2, Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, a sequel to Star Gladiator, Project Justice, a sequel to Rival Schools, Capcom Fighting Evolution and Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper. These games deserved to be in the limelight, especially when they were released on the Dreamcast.

Over the years, we have experienced cases that were any different than the crazy stories we have came across. Soon, Capcom vs. SNK 2 follows the path of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 to be brought back into the limelight. EVO 2025 now has two legendary hitters that have a high caliber, a diverse roster of characters and dynamic 3D stages. All polished up on a silver platter and ready to go for characters to fight in the swamp and near the volcano.

Also, I received word from Keef that the EVO 2025 skit is under production. It's gonna be explosive because this year's lineup has a new extended lineup and has two of this year's throwback games that are high caliber. Since Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is on the lineup while it is not out yet, there might be a good chance that we can hear the "he could flop" phrase. We heard it on BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, Samurai Shodown, Granblue Fantasy Versus and Guilty Gear Strive so far. I am very excited for this. But only if it drops before release.

There are so many fighting games from the 80s to the early 2000s waiting to be brought back into the limelight to be compiled into several collections and ported to modern platforms. Capcom knew how to compile their fighting games from the 80s to the early 2000s into several collections with modern features and port them into modern platforms, so they have the blueprints to do that since they have a compilation of their beat-em-up games. Sure, they are arcade versions and if we get a patch that brings in quality of life changes and an offline VS Mode on all games, it can make the fanbase happy. Quality and modern formula on a future collection, meaning if and when Capcom Fighting Collection 3 is announced, they can be able to make a third compilation of their older fighting games in the earlier years, including the games in the Street Fighter EX trilogy.

To sum it all up, Capcom is reviving the FGC from back in the day by having their Fighting Collection series to leverage their fighting games from the 80s to the early 2000s with netplay, training mode support, jukebox, gallery and much more modern features on every game and EVO 2025 is going to be even more of a blockbuster because of it. This is something Capcom is trying to do since the 8th generation era and that endeavor is achieved by their Fighting Collection series, especially the one for the Marvel vs. Capcom line of games.