PlayStation Fans Deserve Better Than This...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Doom Turtle Needs Your Help...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you need a better plan, you can equip Force Metal, trinkets that augment the character's stats. I equip Analyzer on all characters to unlock Analyze on the combat menu. With it, I can pinpoint the enemies' weakness and strength. If the enemy's data shows that it can take 150%-200% damage from water, 100% damage from thunder attacks and 50% damage or absorb fire attacks, it is intended to show that the enemy is weak against water, but strong against fire and neutral against thunder attacks. Now this a sound strategy that is basically coined to explain how Honkai: Star Rail, Expedition 33, Persona 5 Royal and many other turn-based RPGs reward exploiting weaknesses.

But very loosely, it basically means the enemy, in this case, would be Mach Jentra, is weak against water, but resistant against fire.

Another way of determining the enemy's weakness is to switch things around. In this case, the enemy is weak against thunder, but water attacks will not do them any good. The perfect example is Ferham. So, yeah, Ferham is weak against thunder, but she is resistant against water as she's, of course, a water-type.

And finally, the enemy is weak against fire, but resistant against lightning attacks. The prime example is Scarface, so in a way, Scarface is weak against fire, but he is resistant against thunder since he is a thunder-type. Now, this is important to remember that equipping weapons that exploit weaknesses is a sound strategy and makes it more rewarding.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marvel Tokon - First Impressions and Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why Did 2XKO Flop at Launch?

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

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

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

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

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

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

May 2025 - 13th and 14th character reveals

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

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

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

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

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

1. Katarina

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

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

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

Ahri
Akali
Blitzcrank

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

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

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

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

SEGA side:

Ahri
Blitzcrank
Caitlyn
Ekko
Jinx
Lux
Senna
Thresh
Warwick

Capcom side:

Akali
Braum
Darius
Illaoi
Katarina
Samira
Teemo
Vi
Yasuo

Key points:

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

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

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

2. Kennen

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

3. Ashe

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

4. Leona

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

5. Garen

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

6. Miss Fortune

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

7. Sett

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

Character roster that should've been:

Ahri
Akali

Ashe
Blitzcrank
Braum
Caitlyn
Darius
Ekko
Garen
Illaoi
Jinx
Katarina

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

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

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

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

SEGA side:

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

Capcom side:

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

Key points:

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

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

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

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

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

Expectations:

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

Mistakes:

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

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

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

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