The PS1 and PS2 Became Gems of the Gaming Industry

Did you know that both the PlayStation 1 and 2 became the bestselling Sony consoles in both eras? Sony became kings of the gaming industry in their time in the PS1 and PS2 eras. So today, I like to talk about Sony's first two of their consoles that became gems of the gaming industry and what is so interesting about it.

The PS1 era became the community's most favorite era because of the polygon models, the original Crash and Spyro trilogies and the iconic start up screen. 1994 is when the PlayStation brand was first established. What is so special about the PS1 era is that it became the most charming era. It has great games that launched franchises. Crash Bandicoot became the mascot of the PS1 after Polygon Man was rejected to throw in commercials that feature the mascot suit. Our orange marsupal became well liked that his first game became a huge success, along with the rest of the original trilogy. Now here's what is really interesting about the PS1 era.

Naughty Dog had a three-game contract with Universal after Way of the Warrior was released on the 3DO. When Naughty Dog signed their three-game contract with Universal, the initial name was Willy the Wombat. But the developers weren't a fan of the name and asked Universal if they can change it. When the developers put in crates, they decided on a different name, Crash Bandicoot. It was all or nothing that Naughty Dog threatened to drop the project as a whole if Universal did not accept the Crash Bandicoot name, so they did and Naughty Dog went on with the project. It saw commercials that feature the Crash mascot suit. However, during crunch time, Universal treated Naughty Dog like crap, by simply turning off the air conditioning to the building in the Californian summer weather.

After Crash 3, Naughty Dog wanted to leave the Crash IP once their three-game contract was up, but Sony wanted another Crash game that would be a kart racer. But Naughty Dog refused to work with Universal because they don't want to deal with their bullcrap anymore, not especially after for what they did to turn off the air conditioning to the building during crunch time, so PlayStation conducted that so that Sony and Naughty Dog would work together under a licensing deal from Universal so that Naughty Dog would have the least amount of contact with Universal as possible following their poor treatment. This resulted in the creation of Crash Team Racing and it was made by Naughty Dog themselves without a contract. That would be Naughty Dog's final Crash Bandicoot title before they parted ways with the IP and the Crash IP gets passed to Eurocom to make a party game, Crash Bash. That would be the final Crash title to ever be released exculsively on the PS1.

All of this on the Crash Bandicoot side would mark the PS1 becoming the most popular 5th generation console, with Sony negotiating between Universal and Naughty Dog to pave the way for Naughty Dog to make a kart racer. However, nothing has gotten as close to the part where Hidden Variable is suing Autumn over an inexcusable faliure like the breach of contract and Future Club not negotiating between companies so that they and Hidden Variable would work together under a licensing deal from Autumn so that Hidden Variable would have the least amount of contact from Autumn as possible.

Universal also brought on Insomniac, who also had a three-game contract with Universal after Disruptor was released on the PlayStation and they started development on the titular purple lad, Spyro the Dragon. Insomniac followed Naughty Dog's footsteps by having their three-game contract with Universal, but they were also treated poorly like Naughty Dog was during crunch time. After Spyro 3, Insomniac followed Naughty Dog's footsteps and moved on to pursue the next IP with Sony. I'll continue the story later on.

Naughty Dog and Insomniac have worked with Mark Cerny at Universal. Both developers did a great job on the original trilogies. Universal now has two IPs created just for them and they were the publishers of the original Crash and Spyro IPs. And there's one most obvious thing to note. Sony doesn't own Crash or Spyro, but they own both studios that developed the original trilogies and released them on the PS1 as it was the most popular console. Universal owned both IPs and they can brand them however they want. Naughty Dog and Insomniac's three-game contract with Universal is how the PS1 era became interesting, even though Universal treated developers poorly by turning off the air conditioning in the building during crunch time, which was not cool and was an uncomfortable thing they have done.

Along with the polygon models, the original Crash and Spyro trilogies became the source of fueling the PS1-era with charm and the reason why the era is believed to be community's most favorite since both companies' three-game contract with Universal sparked a lot of charm. As it turned out, there is one other reason why, which is console ports of retro games that were first released in arcades and they became a part of the PlayStation's massive library. This factor showed that the PS1 has sold really well, even in Japan since Japanese game companies were able to develop their games for it well without losing any money. The PS1 became well-sold because of its widespread third-party support, attention to detail, a massive library of games and high quality games.

Over to PS2. We have experienced a lot of charming stories we already heard for generations. During launch, the PS2 has sold the most units because of the same factors the PS1 did and backwards compatibility to PS1 games and accessories. Sony now has two legendary bestselling most popular consoles that became gems of the gaming industry, all on a silver platter and ready to go for emulation. The experience of the legendary consoles became well-liked by gamers that were born in the 90s and when they became adults, they feel the nostalgia in them.

When the PS2 came out, after Naughty Dog and Insomniac  are done with Crash and Spyro, they pursued their next IPs. Naughty Dog released Jak and Daxter while Insomniac released Ratchet and Clank. As I said, Sony doesn't own Crash or Spyro because Universal owned all rights to the IPs, so this means Universal wasn't done with Crash and Spyro and they can brand them however they want.

This resulted in Universal passing the Crash IP to Traveller's Tales to develop the first Crash title for the PS2 and Mark went along with them. However, Cerny had parted ways with the studio and Traveller's Tales had to start the game from scratch. This resulted in the creation of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex. This game would be the first mainline Crash game being multiplatform and not developed under the Naughty Dog umbrella, courtesy of Konami, who was responsible of making the game multiplatform, unlike the original trilogy, which was sold on one console. It attributed Wrath of Cortex to establish a slightly larger audience than the original trilogy, making it the commercially successful multiplatform Crash game. I remember playing this game back in the day when I was a kid and I pretty much loved it. To be clear, Wrath of Cortex did sell well, but has mixed Metacritic reviews.

Then Universal passed the Spyro IP to Check Six and Equinoxe to make Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly. This would be the first Spyro title being multiplatform and not developed by Insomniac. This game got approved, but during production, things got cut, rearranged, didn't work, got cut again and so on and was then given an awfully short development time to release it for the Christmas season. The final product became very buggy and became a Homer Simpson mess of ideas. I saw the blooper that covers the bugs in Enter the Dragonfly. I laughed my butt off watching it. I remember playing Enter the Dragonfly back in the day and it was a totally crappy Spyro game that was riddled with bugs with a big LMAO and did not come close to how well the original trilogy has performed, all because Universal has darn near blew it and they couldn't figure out what they want to develop for a new Spyro game. That resulted in giving the game a bad Metacritic score. This shows that without Insomniac around, Universal became terrible.

I wanted to revisit it, but it was so buggy that I may not want to revisit it at all. Unless if I can use the bugs to my advantage for the cheese, of course. But if there is one thing I like about Enter the Dragonfly, it's Spyro being like Mega Man, by having different breaths, which lives up to the Spyro vs. Mega Man thing, and this is something I want for a new Spyro in development, along with Elora to be the Sally Acorn of Spyro because in Sonic SatAM, the friendship between Sonic and Sally lives up to the Sonally term, so I believe that them friendship between Spyro and Elora can also live up to the Spylora term and that's the way terms go.

Twinsanity has also suffered the same fate Enter the Dragonfly suffered. Dozens of hours of gameplay and content have been cut from the game because of Universal not having any idea what they were doing, even though they merged with Vivendi to establish Vivendi Universal. That's how both games made a terrible entrance on the PS2 era. That's where Matt McMuscles comes in to make videos covering Twinsanity and Enter the Dragonfly's putrid performance on his What Happened? series.

In conclusion, Universal had found two AAA developers. They are the reason why the original trilogies performed well in the first place and they were crunched to release a game per year. The two developers were the source of making Universal amazing, even though they treated them poorly. When both developers parted ways with the IPs to make Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank, Universal lost their bearings and proven that they are awful to Crash and Spyro.

Of course, they would still be a close relationship, especially later on with the remastered trilogies, but nothing ever got as close as it did with the original trilogies. Then the IPs would get passed on to Xbox, meaning that Xbox has had more ownership than PlayStation had.

Remember the part where Jim Ryan has disrespected us retro game fans just by talking down to the golden age that is revisiting PS1 and PS2 games while he was at a Gran Turismo event? That part reminds me of something familiar... Oh, I know. It sounds a lot like two things.

First off, the sadistic joke Mike Z has created. During One More Once, Mike made an "I can't breathe" joke. When he made that joke, it alienated a lot of users from playing Skullgirls and they made calls to get the game off EVO and boycott the game in light of the situation, until he apologized to the whole community and he regretted making that joke. Now let's go on to the next one, two Mightykeef skits that involved disrespecting. One for anime and the other for Persona 5. When he simplified anime as cartoons, the thoughts of an anime watcher emerged. One is the aggression while the other is reasonability. The skit about Persona 5 also has that. These events have occured in 2020, the year when the COVID-19 pandemic has hit.

Resources, time and money are indeed finite when it comes to developing a new console. Ryan has stated that after he apologized about his rude comment. But the PS3's unique structure and Cell processor are the reason why none of the modern consoles were backwards compatible to PS3 games and beyond. But PlayStation Plus Premium has resolved this enigma just by offering a vast catalog of PS1 and PS2 games with emulation features and PlayStation 30th Anniversary became even more exciting because of it and future anniversaries of the brand will be even more exciting going forward.

PS3 games may only be available on cloud streaming due to the PS3's notoriously weird structure the Xbox 360 didn't bear, but I can invest in an Ethernet cord to provide a stable experience. However, I can't do Remote Play or record longer clips when streaming a game and that's the only problem with PS3 games being only available for cloud streaming and playing remasters and ports of PS3 games is the way. Sure, remasters may have killed the old school charm, but they are faithful to the original. And to be honest, I am into revisiting PS1 and PS2 games more than PS3 games because fan favorites are usually PS1 and PS2 with the PS3 trailing behind due to the overwhelming worldwide sales established on the first two systems and the criticism surrounding the PS3's launch model.

But when we get to the PS4, oh my gosh, the retro titles we know and love were fizzled out except for the ones on PS Now. If there is one silver lining for this, if the PS3 hadn't beared a weird structure or a Cell processor in the first place, then full backwards compatibility would've been established on later systems. But who needs full backwards compatibility when we have emulation of PS1 and PS2 titles and we can invest in an Ethernet connection for a stable streaming experience anyway? It's faster and better. We can be able to finally revisit our cherished titles we played in our childhood on PS4 and PS5 after nine years since the PS4 came out. The PS2 boot up screen is still here, but the PS1 boot up screen has not returned. There is one game that I found interesting to play and experience.

Now, if you're around on the year when Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus released, one of the games in the PS2 era was Disney's Stitch: Experiment 626. In this game, it serves as an origin story and a prequel to the the 2002 animated film that entails 626's standalone adventure where he is ordered by Jumba Jookiba to collect DNA across the world of Greemas to assist him in performing more experiments. There are weapons and gadgets that navigate 626 on certain levels and squid bots that have a film reel. Each film reel has scenes of the movie.

The game was originally gonna be called "Experiment 626: Stitch on the Loose!" but they renamed it to "Stitch: Experiment 626" for unknown reasons. But what I'm gonna say is that it points out to the fact that the game serves as an origin story and a prequel to take place before the events of the film where our blue furry lad escapes from the United Galactic Federation and goes to Hawaii to befriend a charming Hawaiian girl and her big sister. While a classic Disney game, it became a PS2-exclusive as Sony is the publisher of the game. However, the game wound up with mixed reviews upon release and couldn't become critically acclaimed.

During June's State of Play, we got a number of classics announced. This month, Deus Ex: The Conspiracy has launched and this game was produced by defunct video game companies. Unfortunately, there aren't any deep logos. Coming in July, Twisted Metal 3 and 4 are coming to the catalog. This marks the possibility to complete the original quadrilogy just in time for Peacock's TV series adaptation's second season. And lastly, coming in August, Resident Evil 2 and 3 are launching into the catalog. That comes with completing the original trilogy and is in preparation of the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem. In total, we have one PS2 game and four PS1 games coming out this summer. This shows that PlayStation Plus Premium is reigning supreme so far that we're getting the very first Deus Ex, the last two Twisted Metal games of the original quadrilogy and the last two Resident Evil games of the original trilogy.

During this year's Days of Play, Myst and Riven were revealed. These are point and click puzzle games that first came out on PC before being ported to consoles. They may not be on my wish list, but they at least have silent logos and to my knowledge, since playing retro games is considered a break from playing modern games, playing Myst and Riven is considered to be a break from playing violent video games.

Desiring to revisit games from our childhood is what makes Sony being kings of the gaming industry in their time on their first two consoles so interesting and special. Our desire has been fulfilled by PlayStation Plus Premium and its ever growing classics catalog. Like Nintendo Classics on the Switch, that revived classic gaming, especially for PS1 games since they weren't on PS Now. I'll be looking forward to re-experiencing the original Crash and Spyro trilogies' polygon models and charm.

And speaking of the original Crash and Spyro trilogies, remember that I was demanding the games of the franchise to be on the catalog? I don't think that we're gonna see the originals get released on the PlayStation Plus Premium catalog until 2026 when Crash Bandicoot turns 30 and 2028 when Spyro turns 30. I'm just speculating it. We can find out if my speculation is true or not, because I want to revisit the charm in them and they are the most popular games.

The golden age of PlayStation is back, with the PS1 being the shadiest like Bob Burgers' first season and the Simpsons' first two seasons. They are the golden age ones. Since the PS6 and Sony's new handheld console are in the works, it's likely that we can continue using PS Plus Premium, which became the heart of retro gaming and play retro games on these new and upcoming consoles and be backwards compatible with PS5 and PS4 games and not PS3 games and beyond due to the PS3's unique structure and its Cell processor, which is why PS3 games are only available through cloud streaming. But emulation of older titles will be on the new systems.

Speaking of becoming the heart, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls became the new heart of the FGC to surprise the community after Arc System Works is leading the way of the development of their Marvel fighter. I have the link to the post about it, so go check it out if you're interested.

https://rpggameroom.blogspot.com/2025/06/blog-post.html

Joe's Monologues - Sly Cooper

The next Joe's Monologues will focus on one thing that I loved as kid. If you're around on the time during the PS2 era, the franchise that began in 2002 was Sly Cooper, and that what I'm gonna talk about specifically on this post. Consider it as my own and simple iceberg for the thieving and sneaky anthropomorphic raccoon.

How the Franchise Started:

In 2002, Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus came out on the PS2 by Sucker Punch Productions and it is a platformer that uses lives and is inspired by Crash and Spyro, where as taking damage can lose a life. But it uses a lucky charm system that can protect them from damage. Take damage and you lose a charm. It's similar to Crash and Spyro that taking damage can lose a charm and taking damage while having no charm can lead to losing a life and the encompassing hub worlds have levels. The game involves collecting clues to open vaults on each level, which defines a platformer game.

The first game became the starting point of the franchise. It entails the origins of the manual that is a prized possession, the Thievious Raccoonus. The book became a treasure to the Cooper family, until the group of villains known as the Fiendish Five showed up to not just ransack the place, but take the Thievious Raccoonus and tear the pages and split into parts of the world to commit crimes as well. Following the ransacking, Sly was taken into the Happy Camper Orphanage where he met two of his loyal buddies, Bentley and Murray. Together, the trio track down the Fiendish Five and retrieve the book.

Innovation of the Franchise:

After the success of Sly 1, the following game has introduced innovations to make it look different than the first game. In 2004, Sly 2: Band of Thieves marked the start of trying new things. That involved not just playing as Sly, but also Bentley and Murray, thus making a Mickey, Donald and Goofy-style trio. The trio comes with different moves and have their own health bar rather than the charm that protects from damage. The game did away with the lives and there is grinding coins to purchase abilities in the ThiefNet. They have missions to partake and the clues are scattered across the map since the platforming genre was done away since the home worlds are all in one world.

Then when Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves came out in 2005, it retains the core gameplay and mechanics from Sly 2 and has new additions and new characters beyond the trio. But there is a catch. In certain jobs, the side characters are playable and that's what makes Sly 3 so enjoyable and crazy. However, Sly 3 doesn't use clues, but they have master thief challenges and offers an option to replay the prologue and jobs you've already done Sly 2 doesn't offer.

Interestingly, Sly Cooper was not the first franchise that has the original trilogy that has the first game being a platformer and the sequels having innovation because the Gex franchise was the first to have that, with the first game being a 2D platformer and the sequels being Super Mario 64-style platformers in the original trilogy. That's called innovation.

Thieves in Time:

After the compilation of the original Sucker Punch trilogy, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time came to take place after the events. But after Sucker Punch moved on to pursue Infamous, Sanzaru Games stepped up to remaster the original trilogy and develop Thieves in Time. It is a modern Sly Cooper game where the ancestors of the Cooper Clan are featured to be playable on each episode. I played it back in the day on the PSVita first and it was okay. The first half was peak, but the second half was just meh. Regardless, the animated cutscenes were peak and the graphics blew me away. They were able to copy paste the physics from Sly 3 and started from there to make a modern Sly Cooper game, but not all of it.

What has really soured us the most is that the game has ended in a cliffhanger where Sly travelled to the past and ended up in Egypt after facing Le Paradox. A story DLC was planned to resolve the cliffhanger, but due to the poor sales of Thieves in Time, Sony rejected it. They were supposed to develop Sly 5, but Sanzaru had planned not to.

Revisiting the Originals:

Ever since PlayStation Plus Premium launched, I wanted to revisit the original trilogy and two years later, my desire has been fulfilled after hearing that Sony got a new PS2 emulator to pave the way for more PS2 games. In last year's Day's of Play, we saw the first game launched into the catalog. And during PlayStation 30th Anniversary, sequels in the original trilogy came.

Back in the day when I was a kid, I played the whole original trilogy and in this generation, I played the first one and the second one on stream and I will soon revisit Sly 3 and its crazy adventures created by new members of the Cooper Gang beyond the trio. I got my 3D glasses and I'm going to wear them because some areas are in 3D mode, meaning that I need to put on 3D glasses when I'm on certain areas.

I said that I'm gonna dive into Sly 3 soon, but decided to delay it until I upgrade to a higher RAM because HD recording and streaming and memory-intensive games and tasks consume a significant amount of RAM. That's why certain games I have on my library took longer to load when I'm having 8GB RAM on my gaming computer. The only thing about revisiting the original trilogy is that it bears the mind of the Cartoon Network skull and the Buena Vista International logos, the ones that given me the chills. It has gone to heck from both logos. That happened during my childhood and also during this generation. But you see, what I'm saying is that revisiting the original trilogy really had its perks that making a dream logo combo of Shadowmachine, Stoopid Monkey, Sony Pictures Digital, Williams Street, Cartoon Network and Buena Vista International Television would be chaotic, like if Buena Vista distributed Robot Chicken.

Astro Bot's Wild Performance:

Astro Bot's excellent performance saw Sony being convinced to revive their old IPs, including Ape Escape, Jak & Daxter and Sly Cooper. Herman Hulst has announced that they are bringing their old IPs back into the limelight. The game became critically acclaimed that Sony looked into their hearts and give their nostalgic IPs back some love. That really changes everything for PlayStation.

What I Want:

If Sly Cooper is making a comeback one day, a lot of people wanted developers to dive right into a Sly 5 to resolve the cliffhanger. I'm with them, but what I want is that I want the developers to start over and remake the original trilogy to be in HD and replace Thieves in Time with something fresh. I like the fresh new fourth game to be completely on par with Sly 3 because the second half of Thieves in Time is just meh that it wasn't completely on par with Sly 3. That's why the subsequent games in the original trilogy were better. But Sly 3 was better because of the bonus characters beyond the original trio Cooper Gang.

Old Man Sly:

In honor of getting my privilege to revisit the original trilogy because of PlayStation Plus Premium, I have planned a new Old Man Sly series on my career. It was on hold until the time I get a gaming computer. What Old Man Sly, the series is about?

Well, Old Man Sly is about an old man dressing up as Sly Cooper. I originally said that I would put my career on hibernation until I get another gaming computer that has a higher amount of RAM that is the sweet spot of gaming. But decided to return to my career if I upgraded my gaming computer to have at least 16GB RAM for better performance. But upgrading to 32GB RAM is overkill and optional for Wrapper Offline, but required for modern gaming and superior multitasking.

Here is the final thumbnail of the next Old Man Sly where the Cooper Gang goes to Hawaii to recruit a new member of the Cooper Gang there and Old Man Sly misbehaves there. Along with the gang, what you're seeing in this thumbnail are changes I made to the characters, the Hawaiian flag and an arrow pointing right between the silhouette of a new member and a layout of Hawaii to represent that the new member is located in Hawaii. The next one is gonna be big and ambitious that you will soon find out who the new member of the Cooper Gang will be and why Old Man Sly is misbehaving at Hawaii once I upload it.

Why am I pointing the next video to associate with going to Hawaii is because none of the games of the franchise involved going to Hawaii, so I am encourging that for a new Sly Cooper if it makes a comeback one day. And honestly, I would love to take a visit to Hawaii now that I conquered my fear of flying.

Summary:

Sly Cooper became a well-liked franchise that has a dedicated fanbase, especially to the original trilogy. The following games became fan favorites due to the innovation introduced in them that the first game was a Crash Bandicoot-style platformer, but with hub worlds that are encompassing and have entrances to levels like Spyro. I played the original trilogy back in the day when I was a kid and I get to revisit them since PlayStation Plus Premium has launched. I have played Sly 1 and Sly 2 in this point of time, so I will soon revisit Sly 3 and its crazy adventures once I upgrade my gaming computer to a higher amount of RAM, especially when I'm playing memory-intensive games like Marvel Rivals and multitasking.

Thanks to Astro Bot's wild performance that convinced PlayStation to bring their beloved nostalgic IPs back, our sneaky and thieving raccoon may be making a comeback one day. If Sly Cooper makes a comeback, I like the original trilogy to be remade in HD and Thieves in Time to be replaced with something fresh that is a great modern Sly Cooper game that is completely on par with the third game.

Marvel Tōkon Becomes the New Heart of the FGC

Marvel vs. Capcom has become the heart of the FGC for years since the earlier years at EVO when Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was showcased. However, a new heart of the FGC emerges as the Marvel fighting game foundation is landed at the hands of a different company as they announced a new Marvel fighter during June's State of Play. I know, it's sounds like I'm saying was dumb and that the new Marvel fighter is gonna be the new heart of the FGC, but I don't think it's gonna go that far, so let me explain.

Marvel vs. Capcom, of course, has been the long line of tag team-based fighting games since 1996 and is known for tag team combat, assists, air combos, basic LMH combos, red health healing while out of battle, snapbacks, super gauges that have multiple bars and DHCs. Though the previous two fighting games were all-Marvel, they were presented and developed by Capcom. After the release of Marvel Super Heroes, the franchise was established, starting with X-Men vs. Street Fighter. After Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, the next games point out to the Marvel vs. Capcom name when they replaced some of the X-Men and Street Fighter characters with characters from various IPs. When Marvel vs. Capcom 2 came out, it has the everyone is here approach to have every returning character from previous entries and 3v3 tag battles with selectable assists.

After over a decade, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds was released and it's a starting point for the franchise's use of 3D models, along with the updated version and retained 3v3 battles and selectable assists from Marvel vs. Capcom 2. And finally, after five years, Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite came after Disney decided to cancel their Disney Infinity series and switch to a licensing only model to license their characters to third party developers, including Capcom. However, that became pretty much a flop due to its UI, reverting to 2v2 battles and a trimmed down roster. A second season was scrapped due to Infinite's sales falling short of the targeted 2 million unit mark.

EVO in its earlier years when they featured Marvel vs. Capcom 2 created a heart of the FGC. The heart upgraded when Marvel vs. Capcom 3 came to EVO 2011 and made a comeback at EVO 2023 as the throwback tournament. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 became the throwback tournament for EVO 2025, thanks to Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics' inclusion of Marvel vs. Capcom 2. The only thing interesting about Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is the music, stages, snap backs and what we'd experience in Soul Calibur II.

But fast forward into the present, the old heart of the FGC was crushed as the new heart was created and landed at the hands of a different company. And that is Arc System Works. They are the developers known for the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue franchises that are the only anime fighters that are hype.

Arc System Works led the way of developing 3v3 tag team anime fighting games, Dragon Ball FighterZ and Hunter x Hunter: Nen Impact. And now, following the success of Dragon Ball FighterZ, ArcSys is developing their new Marvel fighting game in association with PlayStation Studios announced at State of Play, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls. We've seen Marvel Comics in different genres of a puzzle, strategy RPG, card game, side scrolling beat 'em up and a hero shooter in a modern setting. Now, it's going to the fighting game genre in a modern setting.

Watching the announcement trailer, I was blown away by the gameplay, graphics and the character designs and stage transitions from Guilty Gear Strive. I am shocked that the game is gonna be not 2v2, not 3v3, but a 4v4 tag based fighting game, which broken the boundaries of a tag-based fighter. It blew me away with the quality of this game they put into. Looking at the reactions, the announcement of a new Marvel fighting game became the hypest of them all that the gameplay trailer was met with widespread positivity. This is the first upcoming tag team fighter set to be critically acclaimed and release next year in 2026. But it's gonna be only on a Sony console since PlayStation Studios became a part of the project, as well as PC.

But days later, Marvel Tōkon will not be the only tag team-based superhero fighting game that is coming out in 2026 because there is another tag based superhero fighting game announced during the Xbox Games Showcase also coming out in 2026, but NOT developed by Arc System Works. And what I saw just blew my mind; a 3v3 tag fighter that is a combination of Mortal Kombat, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Dragon Ball FighterZ.

The game announced at the Xbox Games Showcase is Invincible VS. Invincible VS. is a 3v3 tag based fighting game based on the critically acclaimed adult animated series on Amazon Prime Video and the superhero comic book. It is basically a hybrid of Mortal Kombat and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 that it contains strong language, extreme violence and lv. 3 supers that mutilate opponents when their HP is at zero, like Mortal Kombat X's Brutalities, but flashier. The gameplay trailer dropped and the gameplay blew me away that it became very bloody. The gameplay trailer also received widespread positivity, making it the second upcoming tag team-based fighting game to be met with widespread acclaim from fans.

However, there is only one problem. Invincible VS is an M-rated Marvel vs. Capcom like tag fighting game due to graphic violence and even strong language. It indicates that no children under 17 are allowed to play this game, especially in offline tournaments, so basically, you can't really play Invincible VS if you're not of age yet and... thank goodness for the ESRB. If I have a child, I will not allow them to play this game or any other M-rated game until they're 17. It's called being strict and that's what I'm gonna be. It's rated M to have all that swearing and extreme violence. It's not a nice game for anyone under 17.

The overall success of the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise paved the way for other companies to make their own tag fighters like Marvel vs. Capcom. It pretty much a success with Skullgirls with tag and solo matches. Dragon Ball FighterZ came to have 3v3 tag combat. BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle has 2v2 battles. Hunter X Hunter: Nen Impact also has 3v3 battles. 2XKO, the free-to-play League of Legends tag fighter has 2v2 battles and Fuses that change the playstyle. And finally, Invincible VS, the latest tag fighter uses brutal 3v3 tag combat with brutal lv. 3 supers that dismember opponents.

The fighting game community has a bit of a competitive trope. Marvel vs. Capcom wasn't the only one that popularized the tag fighting genre because Smash popularized the platform fighting game genre. The release of Smash Ultimate comes with other companies making their own crossover platform fighter that competes with Smash. I know that those of you who are jumping up to say, "What about MultiVersus?" That can apply to that too.

MultiVersus was a free-to-play platform fighter known for its Warner Bros. characters. During Open Beta, it was well received. After launch, it became a failure due to the lack of player satisfaction caused by developers not listening to the players' feedback and prioritizing monetization over everything else just by replacing Gold, a free to earn currency with multiple currencies that weren't earned through gameplay and none of them can be used to obtain low tier skins and palettes. That led to the premature shutdown of the game and will never rise again due to the closure of the studio and Warner Bros' shift to bringing their collaborations to Fortnite and other games. The failure of what could've been a phenomenal platform fighter indicates that it became a lesson learned by the gaming industry so that they can make their games enjoyable, and also an issue with modern gaming.

When Marvel vs. Capcom 3 came out, they have been using the "Mahvel" and "It's Mahvel, Baybee" terms to commemorate of the franchise. Despite Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls being a tag team-based Marvel fighting game developed by Arc, the terms will still be used. ArcSys has been supporting Guilty Gear Strive for five seasons, which is why we hadn't heard from them about their new game for years. And we finally got word from them about their new fighting game, and that is Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls.

Plus, the game will have a large roster of characters. If they asked that who we would like to see in Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, I say Thena from Eternals because she would be straight up dope and so would Emma Frost, who would be way sexier than Palamena from Visions of Mana that her thighs are so wide that they classified her as a Tank in Marvel Rivals. But people would like to see characters that are fun and can cater to the audience, like Squirrel Girl, Luna Snow, The Punisher, Ant Man and many others. But these are the characters I also like to see, though, considering that the game will have characters from the original Marvel Comics rather than the MCU like Marvel Rivals.

As I said above, Marvel Tōkon will become the new heart of the FGC after the old one was crushed by Infinite's lackluster reception that soured the relationship between Marvel and Capcom. The desire for a new Marvel fighter was beared for so long, and the desire was fulfilled by Arc System Works with the inception of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls as Capcom is pursuing Resident Evil Requiem and their new IP, Pragmata. If Marvel Tōkon comes out before EVO 2026, it will likely be a part of the arena lineup.

Interestingly, Marvel Tōkon and Invincible VS will not be the only tag based fighting games based on other media that we'll be waiting for because we're also waiting for 2XKO, which is coming out this year. It's possible that the devs of this game are making their next public stop at EVO 2025, which is around the corner and that where they will be making an announcement at the EVO Showcase, so we can look forward to that too.

But that's not all. Arc System Works is having their showcase this week where they will be announcing their updates on their new games and a mystery project in the works by Daisuke Ishiwatari. Maybe BBTAG 2?. We don't know if Marvel Tōkon will be involved in the showcase or not. The Arc System Works Showcase goes live June 26 at 6PM here and June 27 at 10AM there in Japan due to different time zones, so be sure to check it out to also find out what mystery project Daisuke is working on.

Joe's Monologues - 6/3/2025

It's that time again, folks. It's time for the first Joe's Monologues of June. This month is when everything gets hotter for the summer. But to cool you down, I am going to give you a few topics to go over, so without further ado, let's dive right in.

The Demise of MultiVersus:

You heard it right here, ladies and gentlemen. MultiVersus has died, so be sure to show up to its funeral. Then show up to its gravestone and give it some flowers, carrots, pies and sandwiches. I sure it would love it. Now, as you can tell that it became a saddening end to a platform fighter with Warner Bros. characters, I was not amused that the game has prematurely bitten the dust. It's because of one thing that is the source of its failure, lack of player satisfaction from not listening to players and priortizing monetization over everything else. We talked about this a while back. That was the reason why MultiVersus has failed and had to bite the dust after five seasons prematurely.

PFG did this by removing Gold and replacing it with hard to difficult currencies. Gold was the source of the Open Beta era being better than the launch era. As it turns out, MultiVersus was not the only victim for shutdown because Star Wars Hunters is also facing shutdown. Effective now, MultiVersus has been delisted from digital stores and is no longer available. It's a good thing I downloaded the game during Open Beta way before it was delisted. The Beta was better because of Gold, the old UI and something that I love watching. The Open Beta era has a deep and silent flow of having the copyright and trademark notice screen before the logos. But when the game launched, it's no longer silent and deep.

Since announcing the shutdown of MultiVersus, Warner Bros. shifted their business to bringing their collaborations to Fortnite. And it pretty much went well with the return of DC skins. Then Mortal Kombat came along to shake things up. And there are Adventure Time skins. So far, none of the collaborations from Warner Bros. flopped. They are all met with a critical acclaim that their practice of bringing them to Fortnite turned out to be a hit more than having a platform fighter that was met with a critical flop because of monetization and lack of player satisfaction.

What is really sad is that when May 30th comes, their X profile has an avatar of a gravestone with the MVS logo and a profile banner of characters facing the sunset. They show that MultiVersus has died and will never rise again. How ironic that Mightykeef, a black comedian, would make an emotional skit covering Nintendo reacting to MultiVersus' shutdown. The game will never again see the light of day now that it is dead due to the closure of Player First Games, the focus on bringing collaborations to Fortnite and other games and Warner Bros' focus on Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Mortal Kombat and DC Universe.

Upgrading to a Higher RAM:

As I get ready to play a game, I have learned what is the important thing when it comes to multitasking, which is RAM. The gaming computer I have now is an 8GB RAM. It is not ideal for modern gaming or multitasking as I must close all programs before I boot up my game and play it at lower settings to speed up performance. The amount is ideal for older and less demanding games I have on my Steam library. Now, I went to Google and search for information about playing a memory intensive game on a higher amount of RAM. Let's take a look at the higher amount of RAM and its benefits.

16GB RAM - This amount is ideal and a sweet spot for most modern games and leaves some room for multitasking. In fact, it is recommended to speed up loading times on most demanding games. Even though, some can be disappointed without being obvious they won't to be able to play an even more demanding game every other player is playing right now.

32GB RAM - This amount is optimal and it is ideal for serious gamers, future-proofing so that it can play both current and future memory intensive games, heavy multitasking and content creators. This is the only amount that will make gamers look cool in front of their friends and become the most savage gamer on the block.

64GB RAM and higher - An amount of RAM like this is expensive that it leaves a lot of room for multitasking and it is overkill for pure gaming. This amount of RAM will make a gamer a legend.

It takes a gaming computer with a higher amount of RAM for memory intensive games to work well, and even though I closed other programs before booting up a memory intensive game on an 8GB RAM gaming computer, it still struggled with working smoothly. And even in the case of SEGA vs. Capcom: The Next Level, it doesn't work well on an 8GB gaming computer that it consumes over 2GB RAM due to being a memory intensive game.

Due to this, I will be limiting myself to playing older and less demanding games as they consume less RAM until the time I upgrade to getting another gaming computer with a higher amount of RAM after closing other programs, including the upcoming Hunter x Hunter fighting game. I'm leaning towards upgrading to a 32GB RAM gaming computer so that I can play most modern games well without experiencing a bottleneck, especially when I'm multitasking. And I don't know if 2XKO is gonna have the recommended amount of 8GB RAM or not when it launches.

Returning to My Old Stomping Grounds:

My big brother is wanting me to come to Indiana for my nephew's birthday on July and I have been thinking about it, until something has driven me. One of my cousins is loaning me their empty house to stay for a week or two. I approve of this. Well, pre-approved because my main concern is the bathroom. The bathroom on my big brother's house was so nasty as heck that I saw toothpaste stains on a tube of toothpaste and someone has forgot to flush the dang toilet and left the toothpaste stain on the sink. That's how I felt uncomfortable pooping there and I was right to get a couple of nights at the hotel and use the bathroom there. They have a nice walk in shower too. That's where I come across a lot of people to bolster seeking my old friends from back in the day, along with the bowling alley.

I am very excited to visit my old stomping grounds for the third time and it's gonna be on the summer time. I thought that things are gonna get warmer on the spring, but it stays cool on that season. Since I am having my own place in Indiana and I'm staying there for a month, I am bringing my gaming computer, along with my PS5 and my Nintendo Switch now that I have Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics. And the best part about it is that it's gonna on the summer time, which is by no means a bad time. But the only conflict is that since school's out for the summer, I won't be able to visit any of my schools I have enrolled and I won't be able to look for a female teacher who looks like Edna Krabappel from The Simpsons.

I sure do miss the charmingness of my old stomping grounds that I visited twice last year. Once for my brother's wedding and once for my father's funeral. The first time was better because of the fact that it was on a summer time that leaves were present on all trees there. I was even thinking of Elora the moment I stand near and go through the woods and that's what I told the purple haired woman who works at the place where I get my tuxedo for the wedding about that and my brother believed that she doesn't know what I'm talking about, which was very interesting. The place where the reception took place at is even located at the area where it's abounding in woods. That made me think of Elora to the max. And of course, Bianca. They are two of the best female characters in the Spyro franchise. But it doesn't work during the fall when leaves change their color and fall down to the ground.

Update on Spyro 4:

And speaking of Spyro, Canadian Guy Eh recently posted a video covering that Spyro 4 is gonna be big and ambitious. I watched the video and he did an interview with Paul Yan, the director who did Spyro: Reignited Trilogy. Now, what I mean by big and ambitious, I meant that I recall what CGE said. He said that according to what Paul Yan said, the upcoming Spyro will not be getting the same treatment as Crash Bandicoot 4, meaning that it will not have the standard of hub worlds with several levels, a boss level and a flight level, collecting gems and partaking on missions. It's gonna be much more than that.

What this means is that it's gonna be open world and have a deeper narrative, RPG elements, a skill tree and dedicated combat. I'm down with Spyro being open world and having dedicated combat, a deeper narrative and a skill tree. But do you know what I want for an upcoming new Spyro? Different playable characters with their own skill tree. Think of Sonic Frontiers where Sonic and his friends have their own skill tree. And I believe a new Spyro game could work like that.

Reading the words, the project may not be called Spyro 4 at all due to it not being a by the numbers Spyro game as it's not gonna have the same treatment as Crash 4. It may be called Spyro Frontiers or whatever they will be calling, but I think it might likely be announced at The Game Awards. Spyro is indeed a charming 3D platformer and it is more charming than Crash Bandicoot.

Sony's Upcoming State of Play:

Sony's digital showcase is coming tomorrow, right before Summer Game Fest. We are looking forward to see what Sony has been up to. It's gonna be 40+ minutes long Sony has confirmed. On the previous State of Play, we got a look at upcoming new games like Saros. Tomorrow is gonna be even bigger. Maybe we might see a new game from one of the franchises that have not gotten a new game get announced. Since previous State of Plays given us a look at the classic games coming in that month, it's likely that we can see what classic games are coming in tomorrow's showcase.

The only thing about State of Plays is that they show the ESRB rating screen at the beginning. It indicates that games that are shown are rated RP-M, meaning that some games up front received an ESRB rating while some others are not yet rated as they temporarily carry an RP rating until the final ESRB rating is determined. The RP rating comes with the "May Contain Content Inappropriate for Children" warning disclaimer, meaning that the upcoming game will have content that may be inappropriate for young audiences due to violence, mature content, language or other elements.

This week is gonna be fun for gaming because we got State of Play happening tomorrow, the Nintendo Switch 2 releasing June 5 and Summer Game Fest coming June 6th as the cherry on top of it all. Let's not forget that Summer Game Fest was created to fill in the void created by E3's death and it will likely be the new standard of an exciting weekend of game reveals.

Conclusion:

We're at the thick of the year as we are down to the final month of the first half and moving to the second half of the year. Here's to later months.

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