#and I count remakes as not the same gen

[implalazz]

I’m curious……….

Personally I’ve played one of every gen excluding 1, 2, & BDSP. I’ve played one of every other game though. Trying to play every single game, so far I’m early into ss, emerald, as, red, & gold. Kinda wanna play black soon though also please reblog teehee

[lowkeyrobin]

Platonic Ghostbusters x social media manager! Reader?

oooo hell yeah!! ; thanks for requesting and I hope u enjoy :)

GHOSTBUSTERS ; social media manager

summary ; you run the official ghostbusters social media platforms

warnings ; language

word count ; 746

masterlist

Podcast wanted to run the official Ghostbuster social media's but was quickly turned down at that. They needed someone who could actually be on top of that kind of stuff and whatnot. So, Stanz made a deal with Podcast that they'd get a social media manager, and he could act as their teammate with that, basically. Giving them ideas, giving them video clips and extra details, etcetera.

Most of the others didn't see a real reason for a social media manager, but as long as it wasn't their money.

Trevor offered to just do everything himself, but that was obviously turned down as well. The teens all agreed not to let the adults run the account either. They didn't need millennial - Gen X / Boomer humor flooding the whole account and making them look bad.

And that's where you came in.

surprisingly, Pheobe was the one to find you. she's seriously the most chronically offline person ever so the fact she ever opened Instagram was a miracle in itself

lots of talking back and forth and meeting the original four three ghostbusters to get input, then meeting callie & garry and the teenagers

you actually figured out that you used to be friends with Lucky as well, damn

you had managed social media accounts before, but you'd recently quit a few of those because of labor laws being broken so, yknow

you quickly formed a bond with Lucky, Trevor, and Podcast. you were kind of close in age to all three of them and they were all invested in the public image for the brand

setting the Instagram up was genuinely the funnest thing ever

the four of you were chilling in the living room in the firehouse (since sleepover stuff, pheobe was in her room reading) and you had your laptop in your lap and the three of them over your shoulders

the amount of laughing and cackling got some scolding from callie upstairs

it took everything out of you to not make the first post a video of trevor being soaked in Slimer's slime (which had been recorded by Lucky just by coincidence as they were investigating the attic again)

the first three posts, which were pinned, all lined up to be like a banner kind of logo with the theme song in the back, and they all played the same video, clips of the og ghostbusters and how they grew and then the new ghostbusters

the tiktok is its own thing, you allowed trev, lucky, podcast (and pheobe) to run it, but everything had to be ran by you first because pr shit

but thankfully no boomer humor or slang is ever being put on those accounts

most of those people don't even know wtf the internet is anyways lol

stanz has a personal vendetta against you /hj after you posted a .5 of him for relatable promo. he had no idea what you were doing but it was criminal that you made his forehead look so much more bigger than it already was

Winston gives you a bunch of old pics to post to trending angst sounds as well LOL

let's not talk about that tiktok where you, lucky, and trevor dance to/remake submissive and breedable by smosh ft bbno$, okay?

^podcast and pheobe were behind the camera cackling the whole time

lots of random pic posts on the insta as well because why not (most of them are the teens looking awkward, callie, gary & lars trying to look like cool scientists, or venkman, stanz, zeddemore & melnitz being classic, sassy old people)

the socials are never professional whatsoever, it's fun but it's not heavily controversial or obvious that you're there as a pr manager basically or just to manage the socials

like man they don't have the time to look at all the comments, take all the advice, reply to fans, etc

I mean that wage ain't that bad either LMAO

trevor is always bitching about how you make more money than he does /lh

you're not just a representative to them, you're actually family. you're just cool like that

"bro y/n is such a mc I hate them" and you'll reply on your personal w a "says you, reality shifter" or smthn LMAO idfk

always reposting ghostbuster edits / fanart etc because fandom culture 🙏

also I can't get over the fact the ghostbuster theme song is canon now either. yk damn well that shit is plastered everywhere thanks to you 💀

"do the ghostbusters respond??" "stanz said he loves your dog" "HELP HSEIJDLAKE"

10/10 experience

[volo-omnia]

PLA and DPPt: The Great Plate Anomaly and Bridging the Gap Between Generations

The Pokemon series has quite the level of world building. With the series currently in its 9th generation and the Indigo Disc DLC releasing very soon, there's no shortage of lore in this colorful Nintendo staple. While each game individually may build a world within the confines of its own region, how well does Pokemon world building hold up between games?

While some of the remakes of previous generations tend to revise mechanics like the inclusion of the Fairy type, Pokemon Legends Arceus takes a different approach to the remake formula where it sends the player to past events from the well-beloved Sinnoh region. While fans analyze which NPCs were ancestors to their beloved blorbos and the questionable lack of animation in this game, it left me wondering: does the lore of PLA even hold up to the original Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum games?

(Disclaimer: This analysis will only take a small glance at continuity related to the canon and requirements to catching Arceus, as well as what role the plates and azure flute played between both generations. This also won't take into account theories regarding multiple universes or timelines. This analysis also doesn't take into account the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl games because, well, who gives a shit about those ones.)

Let's take a brief look at PLA. Upon its release it became the first game that put Arceus in the forefront of its title, as in previous generations the only way to obtain the mythical pokemon was through long-gone events and cheats. (Even with the release of BDSP, which did allow the player to capture Arceus any time, it would only be allowed if....the player already caught Arceus in PLA?)

The requirements were fairly straightforward. Capture every pokemon in the region, obtain all 18 plates to create the azure flute, get into some minor conflicts with the local politics, stop the world from ending, and fight blonde guys with god complexes.

Pretty straightforward.

Now a quick look back to DPPt. The requirements to capture Arceus in the original gen 4 games are....esoteric at best. While one would assume the plates have the same power in obtaining the azure flute, Arceus had for the longest time been restricted to an event-only pokemon, as the original azure flute event was never actually officially released. While HGSS had a special Arceus event, it was reported to only activate if the player had the azure flute from DPPt. Which would be hard, on account that the azure flute technically didn't exist.

This appears to be the first revision by the developers, as the plates appear to have little to no importance in relation to Arceus- well, aside from using it as a held item to changing its type. This is possibly the only similarity the plates hold in regards to function. (I will not be counting the Legend plate introduced in PLA, as that plate is only given after obtaining the azure flute and as such, doesn't count.) As far as the player is concerned the azure flute may as well as fallen from the heavens, as the flute was simply a distributive mystery gift event.

What importance does all of this information hold? Well, what if I told you that this inconsistency actually fixes the canon retroactively?

Taking into consideration the history in regards to Arceus and its official game releases and appearances, we can come to the fair conclusion that the Arceus event in DPPt was never canon. Since the player character never had an official means to capture Arceus, the azure flute was never obtained; and as such Arceus never came down from the heavens.

.....but the player in DPPt technically didn't have all the plates, did they?

Remember that in PLA, there are specifically 18 plates. Do you remember how many there are back in DPPt?

There's only 16.

You see with the release of PLA, Gamefreak decided to include the Pixie plate and the Blank plate. This, retroactively, fixes the event discrepancy. It would actually make sense that the player character in DPPt wouldn't be able to obtain the azure flute, because you technically didn't have all the plates! You were missing two of the ones required to create it, and as such you didn't meet all the requirements to call Arceus down.

This unfortunately however, is where the uniformity ends. While the overall theme with the plates was loosely tied between generations, Gamefreak had quite a mess to work with DPPt. Something they oddly didn't account for when writing PLA was deciding whether the plates were one-of-a-kind artifacts, or were they simply collectibles?

While in the story of PLA the plates were only obtainable via noble pokemon, back in DPPT they were hidden items scattered across the Sinnoh region. Both of these comparisons hold the idea that the plates are ancient artifacts of a time long-past, and were a rare collectible that were associated with each pokemon type at the time.

I'm just kidding, DPPt completely fucks this up. The plates were also random spawns in the Sinnoh Underground. This means that even though each plate has its associated location in the overworld, you can simply mine a duplicate one in the underground. (This oddly enough actually happened to me by accident in a recent Platinum playthrough of mine, where I ended up getting 2 Draco plates simply because they kept spawning while mining.) So technically you could say they were ancient Hisiuan artifacts you would dig up, with the exception there was simply an Amazon warehouse stock of them simply sitting there.

So, in regards to canon, this is where the worldbuilding falls short. If the plates were ultra rare Arceus items only allocated to ancient noble pokemon.....why are there multiples of them in the modern day?

This is where I'm gonna have to put a disclaimer that the rest of the post will be diving into headcanon territory, as I'm gonna be trying my best to tie these inconsistencies together.

How does one explain a rare item in the Hisui era, but seems to have plenty of duplicates in the modern Sinnoh? Well it's simple really, we can assume the many plates were forgeries! Archaeological forgery is a practice that occurs quite often in the business of archaeology and history, and I'm sure the Sinnoh region is no stranger to bad actors trying to get a quick buck.

The forged plate headcanon works fairly well whichever angle you wish to take it! One can assume there are plagiarizing historians trying to ruin the name of the Celestica's ancient ruins (no pun intended), but this idea can be freely added for other characters as well! After all one can clearly see which character with the biggest fascination with the Arceus plates- that being Volo.

After all at the time of writing this, Volo's fate post-PLA is currently a mystery. Who's to say he wouldn't find alternate ways in trying to summon Arceus? Since the plates were now permanently on the player's person, it would be interesting trying to imagine him finding ways around this in order to achieve his goal. And funny enough, even though the plates are implied to be given originally from Arceus, there might be evidence that crafting plates were possible.

Consider: the shards. Perhaps considered as a miscellaneous trade item introduced in generation 3, they appear to consistently be described as "shards from ancient items or tools". This is quite telling, especially since the shards appear to have the same proportions and color palettes as the Splash, Flame, Meadow and Zap plates. It could be very likely that these "ancient items or tools" were actually plates, and that crafting man-made Arceus plates were possible- or at least attempted.

With mania, obsession, and many years of immortality on his path, it's possible imagining Volo trying to attempt this, grasping at every possible shadow that could tie him back to the Celestica- and most importantly, overthrowing Arceus. If he simply couldn't obtain the plates from the player, he would simply have to make his own. Whether he succeeds or not in this...well that's up for interpretation. It would be quite poetic overthrowing the creator with tools you created with your own hands.

Oddly enough headcanoning the plates being man-made or forgeries also fixes the DPPt event cancellation paradox, as if we assume the plates the player had on hand were forgeries, then it would also make sense that such false tools wouldn't create the azure flute. Can't exactly DIY your way into heaven, hm?

Concluding this post, I think it's time to go back to my original question: does the lore of Pokemon Legends Arceus hold up to the original Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum games?

Uh, no.

All in all, Pokemon's world building is both fantastic- and messy. Naturally there are gaps to leave in a little of mystery and theorizing, but there's quite a fair bit of difference between a literary gap and a literary pothole. And the path this series has followed is quite overdue in it's road maintenance.

Nevertheless this was simply a tiny blurb between my favorite games, and just having some fun trying to craft the threads tying the 16 years of difference between these games together. I've had these ideas swirling in my head for quite a while and wanted to write them down eventually, so if you actually read to this point, thank you!

Now I figure it's time I move on to the 2nd biggest mystery between DPPt and PLA:

Why the hell did the price to buy them jump from $40 to $80???

[mrultra100]

If I can be real with y’all a bit, I have a feeling that Indigo Disk might be the last bit of main series Pokemon content on the Switch. It’s obvious that the system is in its twilight years, and it’s not long before the next console inevitably gets announced, but from a conversation that me and @thesmashwaffle had, Indigo Disk has a bit in common with the Ultra games from Gen 7, and that can be applied to both Sun and Moon and Scarlet and Violet as well.

Both games have the following in common.

Battle mechanics involving elemental crystals (Z-Moves and Terastillization).

Groups of strange, otherworldly late-game Pokemon that serve as threats to the regions they’re introduced if left alone. (The Ultra Beasts and the Paradox Pokemon).

Trios of characters that include a spunky rival wanting to get stronger a troubled kid related to a major figure involved with the main story, and a misunderstood recluse standing with a team of band of misfits (Hau and Nemona, Lillie and Arven, and Gladion and Penny).

The aforementioned teams of misfits (Team Skull and Team Star).

The box legendaries being a main part of the games instead of randomly appearing at the end (Nebby and the Raidons).

The champion battles being handled in unique ways (The Alola games having the player be the first champion of the region and defeating the title from other trainers, while SV has the player be one of many champions, along with only fighting against the Pokemon League once).

Third legendary who are involved with the aforementioned battle gimmicks and groups of late-game Pokemon (Necrozma with Z-Moves and the Ultra Beasts, and Terapagos with Terastilizing and the Paradox ‘Mons).

The Indigo Disk has the return of Pokeball throwing styles, which were introduced in the Alola game.

And while things like the return of multiple starters and legendaries might sound like another point to add to the list, a lot of other Pokemon games in recent memory have done that exact thing, so I’m not gonna count it.

Point of the matter is this; In the very same manner that the Ultra games were the main series’ last hurrah for the 3Ds era, it’s very possible that the second half of the SV DLC will be the last content for Pokemon on the Switch. It’s rather obvious that the console is nearing the end of its life, it’s been going on for more than 6 years at this point, and the Indigo Disk has this same air of finality that I haven’t felt since 2017. I say the franchise is about to leave the Switch behind to move on to whatever new console Nintendo has planned.

At the very least, they better not rush out the next game, dammit. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. These things need more time in the oven to be better than what GameFreak’s been cooking with. As much as I’ve had a lot of fun with my copy of Scarlet, I’m more than willing to wait a few years for another Pokemon game. No matter if it’s another generation, a new Legends game, or another remake, I much rather prefer to wait 3 or 4 years for one of these things if it means we get something among the lines of BOTW or Pikmin 4.

With that said, I’m at least ready for Indigo Disk when it drops. Me and the boys have been busy for a while.

[usagi-zakura]

I don't understand Pokémon fans now a days... Many seem to feel like they have been outright betrayed because they didn't announce any remakes of Black and White on the last pokémon Day as if:

Game Freak ever promised they would. (They did not)

The previous remakes weren't a trashfire. (They weren't great)

The existence of a Legends game means we can't possibly have a remake made around the same time. (BDSP came out alongside Legends Arceus)

Remakes have to come out every generation. (There were none during Gen V or Gen VII, unless you count Let's Go, which still was't the Gen VI remakes people were already crying about back them..)

Its like Pokémon fans hate originality and just need to have the same formula repeated over and over again... Every game must have a third version (RIP Grey, Z and Stars). Every generation must have a remake. Every game needs to follow the same tired old "collect 8 gym badges and beat the elite 4"-formula. Every gen needs to have new Pkkémon but ew not those ones Gen 1 was soooo much better. Surely you can't beat the amazing originality of a rock with arms.

We may get Black and White remakes eventually. Maybe they'll take their time and make them actually better this time instead of repeating all the same mistakes that Diamond and Pearl did without taking Platinum into consideration. Or maybe we won't. Maybe we'll get something great, like another Legends Game... (please don't suck Z-A. You have a lot to live up to.)

One rarer thing I've seen is people asking for a Black and White 3... which I just find baffling... you guys do know that the previous game in the series came out in 2012 right? That was 12 years ago... many of the current target demographic of Pokémon were at best babies at the time... It would be rather confusing.

Sure I know there are games that waited longer for their sequels...Kingdom Hearts 2 came out in 2005 and its sequel in 2019... but most of the Kingdom Hearts series is still available for purchase on modern consoles... I know because I just bought a whole collection this weekend for my PS4 for the nostalgia (currently still stuck on the first game and its...not holding up great). BW and BW2 haven't been (legally) available for almost a decade. Most of the younger pokémon fans have never played them. Releasing another sequel now before remaking them makes no sense.

TLDR: Game Freak never promised us any B/W remakes. We may still get them, but I personally would be fine with not having any.

[kafus]

Hi! Im new to pokemon and you seem like the right person to ask, or can direct me to a better person to ask? I want to play every pokemon game but some are just the same game with small differences, right? Is there a list of which are the “ideal” games to play so I can experience it all correctly? I have been looking at the wiki pages but I dont know which pokemon are “better” so Im not sure which games to pick on my own! Thank you! :)

oh hey no problem!!

yeah so pokemon tends to release new games in sets of two, the two games are usually identical aside from certain pokemon that are exclusive to one version or the other, which encourages trading between players. for your purposes, if you're going to try and play every pokemon game, you don't need to play both X and Y for example, just one of the two. additionally sometimes pokemon releases a third version of... once again the same game, with perhaps a few story changes but mainly improvements to mechanics and bug fixes etc - this is more of a remnant of the older titles before DLC/patches were a thing and they don't do this much anymore but i digress. no pokemon between versions are "better", really just comes down to personal preference. most people pick by which box art pokemon they like better (like when diamond and pearl came out i picked diamond because i liked dialga more than palkia lol)

BASICALLY, tldr, if you want to play one of each pokemon game, you want to play the following... if i list two games, that means they don't have a superior third version, just pick the one with the pokemon you like more that's on the box art. i've also marked the games that are remakes in italics, so if you aren't counting remakes you can skip them (though i recommend them, they're usually good on their own merits and feel very different from the originals!)

gen 1: yellow (also has a virtual console release on 3DS)

gen 2: crystal (also has a virtual console release on 3DS)

gen 3: emerald + firered OR leafgreen

gen 4: platinum + heartgold OR soulsilver

gen 5: black OR white + black 2 OR white 2

gen 6: x OR y + omega ruby OR alpha sapphire

gen 7: ultra sun OR ultra moon + let's go pikachu OR let's go eevee

gen 8: sword OR shield + brilliant diamond OR shining pearl + legends arceus

gen 9: scarlet OR violet

the above list should take you through the key games of every generation without repeats. i hope this helps i'm flattered to be of service for this problem lol i hope you have fun!! if you're still confused or have more questions feel free to ask

[ducktr0ducin]

what’s your opinion on DT17 Gyro? /gen

Ohhh boy let me try to find a way to coherently word everything.

So like. On his own DT17 Gyro is fine. Not amazing, but not the worst character in DT17. But as a Gyro, he’s incredibly. Not great? Like he feels like such a separation from every other iteration of Gyro to the point where if it weren’t for the hat I wouldn’t believe that they were supposed to be the same character (but even then the hat is missing the iconic strappppp). Even taking into account Barks Gyro, who is by far the most….. abrasive, DT17 Gyro still seems like a huge separation? Like whenever I see him on screen I just think “Oh, it’s Jim Rash!” instead of “Oh, it’s Gyro!”.

This is definitely not helped by the fact that Frank seems to think that a character arc is point a to point b (Aka never seeing gyro again after AstroBOYD). Like it would have been genuinely interesting to see how DT17 Gyro grows as a character from finally confronting his source of trauma, but we just. Never see him after that. (Look me dead in the eyes and tell me that you count Beaks In The Shell and his like one line from the finale. Even then in BITS he’s still. Incredibly abrasive. Like if you told me it took place BEFORE AstroBOYD then I wouldn’t notice)

Also the fact that he gets SHAFTED OUT OF THE FAMILY GRRR HATE THAT HATE HATE MAULING FRANK AS WE SPEAK. It’s like. Hhhhhh. In Glomtales having Beaks fight LP instead of Gyro while making a quip about it felt like the point of no return for me. Like in older canons he got invited to some family lunches and called grandma duck “grandma”, it was so heartwarming and yet. They just left it. Cant believe that Gyro got replaced with Fenton.

.

.

SPEAKING OF FENTON

DT17 FENTON JUST. ABSORBED ALL OF GYROS GOOD TRAITS WHILE NOT REALIZING WHY THEY WERE GOOD TRAITS??????? Like now he’s just the “default science man hurrrrr durrrr I know chemistry and am smartttttt” seeing Fentons past ancestor in the Klondike episode remake the gizmoduck suit made me consider manslaughter.

What also doesn’t help Fenton absorbing Gyros role is also just. My stance on reboot Fenton? I have a whole ass rant on why DT17 Fenton is my most hated duckverse character but that’s for another day. (I am. Definitely going to make enemies with this post lmao)

Anyways back to Gyro this post is about Gyro. If I had never seen any other duck media and only watched the reboot? Yeah, I feel like I would like DT17 Gyro. Growing up with the DT87 and knowing about other duck media other than the reboot? It just makes me sad that the cultural consensus on my blorbo is now just “asshole abusive boss”

Also super offhandedly DT87Gyro autism rep >>>>>>> DT17Gyro autism rep

Here, as a little treat for listening to my insane rambling here’s a doodle of the man in question

[dirtwig-draws]

-Kangaskhan are actually pretty resonalbe when they're not trying to flatten you for being in the same area code as their baby -introduction time! -I figured Peony needed a day job, and since he has access to a bunch of outdoors equipment in the tundra, might as well make him a ranger! -Fun fact, the Pokemon Ranger trainer class hasn't appeared since Gen 6. I'm not counting BDSP cause remakes -bit of a reminder that life ain't Pokemon battles

[crystalelemental]

Okay so I did a count of the assumed associations in the Pokemon timelines. Because I guess I hate myself tonight?

BW1 -> BW2. Literally the only hard confirmed thing in the series.

Y -> GS/C. Confirmed based on Red having all three starters, Blue having none. Though I'm just going to say it. Blue not having Eevee? Means that Gen 2 might actually be entirely separated timelines from the Gen 1 games we played. Nothing maps perfectly, and with alternate timelines existing, we can retroactively cast doubt on their continuity.

Y -> HGSS. Same as above. That's right, HGSS cannot possibly occur after FRLG, given the team composition. And the difference in Red's team suggests alternate timeline as well. Notably, HGSS could, in theory, lead to SuMo and USUM timelines, but those have Mega Evolution which is canonically a different timeline indicator from games without megas per Delta Episode.

HGSS -> BW1 -> BW2. We know Gen 2 goes to BW1 based on the ex-Rocket house. However, we can confidently saw that BW timeline exists alongside the remake timeline, because of Sabrina in PokeStar Studios. Sabrina has the (incorrect) short hair based on her HGSS presence, eliminating GS or C from possibility.

Platinum -> BW1. Caitlin. Note that Cynthia looks exactly no different, however, despite an allegedly large time jump per fan timelines. Which implies either (1) Caitlin hit a growth spurt in whatever timeframe occurred, which could be lengthy or could be as short as like four years, or (2) they're not actually associated at all, as Caitlin doesn't have Darach, and barring the commentary about not being allowed to battle, I don't think makes mention of the Battle Castle in Gen 5 at all. And I know what you're thinking. "Couldn't HGSS also attach to BW1?" Very unclear, considering that DPPt and HGSS take place at nebulously the same time, with Jasmine also occupying two places at once and having contradictory voice lines on which one happened first, so there's also the possibility that DP and Pt are separate timelines from HGSS. Which, further note: yes, DP and Pt are separate timelines just like all the third games.

R/S/E -> BW2. The Rocket house is occupied by former Magma and Aqua grunts. There are two reasons I'm not including HGSS in this mix. First, we don't know for sure that RSE took place before or after HGSS. Second, we don't have anything to connect RSE to HGSS itself. These grunts could be associated with the teams, but notably only talk about not letting the other know about their past, not any specific deed committed. Unlike the Rocket Grunt who can be placed by dialect, we don't know these goons. RSE may not have even happened yet, to say nothing of how R, S, and E are all different timelines given the wildly different events and we'd have no way of knowing which one they came from.

XY/ORAS -> SuMo. We assume, given the presence of mega evolution, but there's not anything I can think of to sincerely connect them together. They could just as easily be associated with USUM, but there's nothing to ensure those either.

Pt -> XY/ORAS -> SuMo or USUM. Because Looker. Now of course, this is impossible, as Platinum does not have mega evolution, so are we dealing with separate Lookers? I've heard theory that ORAS amnesia Looker is also a Faller, but if that's the case then he has no association at all with Gen 7 Looker, who does not seem to be pursued by the UBs in the same way as Anabel, nor is he used by Interpol the same way. It's also impossible to tell if ORAS took place before XY and he's better now, and that's why in XY he seems like a bit more of a mess, or if XY was first and wherever he was off to next didn't go so great.

Legends Arceus -> BDSP. Yes, specifically. Why? Raminas Flowers. Those don't exist in DPPt, only in BDSP does Raminas mean anything. By extension, the Legends Arceus events cannot be confirmed to have happened in DPPt timeline.

RB/Y -> SuMo. I'm bringing this up because it's wrong wrong wrong! Mega Evolution timelines do not intersect with non-mega evolution timelines! RBY and SuMo cannot possibly be related, yet the entire fan timeline bases itself on this association, because the Porygon Dex entry in SuMo said it was made 20 years ago, while some outside book source stated Porygon was made around 1 year prior to RB, thus setting the timeline between those games at 19-20 years. You want to know why? Because that's how many real world years passed. SuMo released in 2016, RB in 1996. It's just a reference to reality, not anything happening in the games' reality. It's made up, guys. The dex says Pyroar can breathe fire hotter than the Sun, sometimes it's stupid.

As far as I'm aware, literally any other association between two games is pure speculation. And even most of this isn't hard confirmation.

[nyanbinary-perineum]

!!! hiii red im back fjkdnsjg

can i ask what your favourite games have been lately? any you'd recommend? ^_^

Kind of a mess lately hehe

I guess one of the games I'm currently playing comes close to favorite- but most of my faves aren't things I'm currently playing :3

Lately it's been a good amount of Helldivers 2, but I'm slowly creeping away from it because my playgroup has moved on and solo / randoms is not the most fun way to play x.x

I do really love that game though ^.^

Recommendations are hard 🤔 Because I usually try to gear them around what I know the other person can play, otherwise I'll be spouting all kinds of random nonsense 😅

I guess I can throw random names and my explanations out there with zero regard for anything >:3

With the release of Monster Hunter World the series got a LOT of exposure that it rightfully deserved.... and that Capcom quickly converted into microtransactions and content skimping >:(

But a lot of people still haven't given the "old gen" monhuns a chance and I truly do believe they are missing out :3

Finding the means (emulators exist though citra getting into hot water makes that slightly more annoying) to play is worth it-

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

THE best monhun with the perfect amount of content, the only actually good single player that balances silly and serious to be worthwhile to not mash through the dialogue (but you can!), 10/10 unique features, and the best end game of any monhun because it's just plain rewarding and fun and gives you more than enough to do until you feel sated :3

Nier Automata

if someone wants to dwell on life and existence and sentience and cry a lot in between fun hack and slash gameplay.

Omori

if you want to cry through a story involving the best characters ever, the best friends around, love them so much, beautiful story and great gameplay and 💜 Also Omocat is from all accounts I'm aware of, kind of a shithead, so take that grain of salt.

I'm not calling it based on their use of problematic terms years ago that haven't come up since but keep getting dragged out as "Proof!" but rather because other people who worked on the game have come out saying "Yeah, that was a really toxic environment like holy shit" so I'm more on about that. Game itself good :3 Situation makes it hard to recommend despite being something that hit my heart so hard :/

Wario Land: Shake It!

is quite possibly THE best wii game I've ever played. The Wii has so many fucking industry defining masterpieces in it but no one ever brings up Shake It and Shake It was maybe the most fun I've ever had in a traditional 2D platformer. AND THE CHARM! THE FUCKING CHARM!!!!! Literally smiling just thinking of that game it's so good.

If anyone considers themselves a fan of pokemon as a whole and wants to try an interesting take on the genre that's a lot more

"Team Building > In Battle Actions"

"Pre-planning and letting it play passively > Active decisions"

Then PLEASE try Dragon Warrior Monsters or Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 for the gameboy color ;-; It's one(ish, I'm counting 3 games as 1 game since 2 has 2 versions lol) of my favorite games ever ;-;

Uh, I usually don't recommend it because so few people who say they are into tactical RPGs are talking about the same thing I'm ever talking about (instead always referring to like, Fire Emblem, which has fantastic tactical gameplay especially on harder difficulties but has never once scratched the particular itch *I* have for the genre because of-)

Final Fantasty Tactics (Or War of the Lions for the PSP version)

FFT is quite literally my favorite game. I've played it through so many times and plan to do so again in the future. It has a very quality remake that is mostly positives with only minor negatives (some complaints to be had on additional content that was added and 'some' translation changes have bothered me but it's really good!).

The sequels are...... Very Different Games both in mechanics, intended audience, and style. I spent almost every year I've been on this earth saying they suck ass, but after having beaten both of them for my game blog and sitting on it for a while after (a necessary part of the process) They Aren't That Bad. FFTA is not a game I would recommend, but FFTA2 has some stuff to offer that I would inch towards recommending. Neither are considerations for this list though.

Here's everyone's reminder to play Chrono Trigger if you haven't, if you play with your mind on and your eyes open you'll spot so many incredible things from impeccably designed encounters to incredible mechanics to incredulous story telling >:3

Hmm. I did take this opportunity to instead yell a lot of normal or well known things instead of all my niche ideas but I uh... I really can just talk about games for the rest of my life and never get bored, just turning my head 30 degrees will show me 300 more titles to ramble about so I thought playing it a little safe was a good idea :P

Uh, y'all heard of Undertale or Deltarune? Thems pretty good gaming.

[ladytauria]

tauriaaaaaa!! 3, 7, 9, 12, 17, 22, 26, and 30 from the ao3 wrapped game pls <333

thank u maya!! <33

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

okay!! so i have multiple answers for this one uwu

break me down, remake me -> this one took me almost the whole year to write and i stepped out of my comfort zone to do it. i do wish i had done some things differently, like maybe explored the nightmare more? but, overall, i am very very happy with this one! i think i may remix / do this concept over again tho <3

patience is a virtue (rewarded by sin) -> one of the few fics of mine i can reread and find no/very little issues with! it was written in 2 sittings, both of which after i just woke up xD

mouth full of white lies -> my first time writing smut that wasn't jaytim AND my first time writing sub tim. i'm also!! really pleased with dick's characterization in this

clove, smoke, and honey -> another fic where i stepped out of my comfort zone! i also didn't expect it to get as long as it did, OR to get as personally invested as i did. just. a surprise from beginning to end, and i'm just! so pleased with it

honorary mentioned to both packaged in red lace and ancient rituals <3

7. If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most?

i have posted 6 fics with lyrics for titles! all 5 of them have titles by different artists xD

however! i also have 2 fics in my drafts (both sequels) which use song lyrics (the same song as the fic they're a sequel to) so, if i count them.. isak danielson & troye sivan

9. Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

not counting jaytim, hmm...

damitim, i think! but i also had a lot of fun with dicktim and jaydick. (and jaysteph, and jaydami was a lot more fun than i expected too!)

did i just list every pairing i've written for? ^^;

12. How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?

i answered here for all the wips i have in google docs. but--sigh--if i open notion...

that's an additional 16

and that's only for full docs, not my little toggles for drabbles or the the ones i've planned out but haven't put in a new doc to start writing for

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

jason!

also damian~

22. Which work has the most comments?

you know just what i need, if we go in general. but, specifically for this year: ogling vs. situational awareness

26. What’s your most common category?

m/m, followed closely by gen.

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

how much i've been writing! esp these last couple of months <3

but in the actual writing itself...

i've been doing more povs from different characters, and i still think a lot of them are too same-y (i think my writing voice drowns out theirs lol) but! i have noticed some differences, which makes me happy :)

[ ao3 wrapped (writer's edition) ]

[lord-radish]

When the Metal Gear Solid collection got announced for Switch I legit SCREAMED. This is like Life is Strange all over again, knowing it's confined to another platform and then getting slapped in the face with a Switch reveal.

This reveal has layers, both personally, regarding Nintendo and for the greater MGS history.

First of all? Like straight-up, I just wanted it. The Switch is my main thing until I get a good computer, so being able to have the first five Metal Gear games on the Switch is so good. Right out of the gate, we're already off to a great start.

Secondly, it's significant that this collection is coming to the Switch because despite Metal Gear being known predominantly as a Sony franchise, Nintendo has the longest history with Metal Gear out of all the major publishers:

Konami's subpar NES port of Metal Gear 1 was the only worldwide release, and they released a subpar sequel on the same console that Kojima not only wasn't involved in, but wasn't even aware of. The only reason Metal Gear 2 on the MSX2 exists at all is because Kojima wanted to show what he could do with what was ostensibly his franchise. That directly led into the first Metal Gear Solid game, which was a massive trailblazer.

Nintendo has two major exclusive Metal Gear games. The first one is a top-down 2D game in the style of the original duology called Ghost Babel - it's non-canon. The second one is a 6th gen remake of the first Metal Gear Solid game on the GameCube, which has never been ported to anything else.

The only other Metal Gear game on a Nintendo platform, to my knowledge, is a port of Metal Gear Solid 3 to the 3DS in the early 2010's. Not counting spinoffs, the only (canon) Metal Gear games on Nintendo consoles are a shitty port of the first game, a remake of the first 3D game and an underpowered port of the third 3D game.

As such? The Master Collection will be the first time that Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2 will be playable on a Nintendo console.

Third, and lastly - the version of Metal Gear Solid 1 they're using.

Metal Gear Solid 1 is a PlayStation 1 game, and as such it has been notoriously hard to access beyond the PlayStation 1 release. There was an obscure PC port that apparently isn't great, but besides that, MGS1 only exists as a digital download on the PS3 and beyond. Even the Legacy Collection, which has EVERY MAINLINE GAME from 1987 to 2012, only had a download code for Metal Gear Solid; everything else was on-disc.

Before the PS3-exclusive Legacy Collection, there was a HD Collection released for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The only games on it were Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, which may have to do with the general congruity of those two PS2 titles, but which could also be because of MGS1's nature as a PlayStation exclusive causing its exclusion.

That exclusivity, along with MGS4 being a PS3 exclusive, means that the PlayStation 3 is the only games console on Earth capable of playing every single Metal Gear game, from the original MSX2 game to Metal Gear Solid 5.

The Master Collection that's releasing on the Switch uses the PS1 version.

This is the first fucking time that Metal Gear Solid 1 has natively been available on anything outside the PS1, excluding that PC port no-one seems to like. It has been locked up on the same platform, excluding emulation, for over 20 years. And what's more - they didn't substitute the original release with the GameCube remake, which is notable because if they were gonna keep the visual style of the three games congruous, they could have opted to port that remake instead.

The reason they're going with the PS1 version is because it's almost universally beloved for its voice-acting and music. The remake re-recorded everything, including script changes from Kojima who disliked the looser feel of the localised dialogue, and the score for the first game is iconic and unique before Harry Gregson-Williams took over composing duties for the second game onwards - including writing a whole new OST for the MGS1 remake, which doesn't hit quite as hard.

That last part is whatever since Xbox is getting it too, but I'm so excited for this collection for all of the above stated reasons. There's so much about this announcement that caught me completely off-guard.

[chronicas]

Okay, FINALLY getting around to the games played 2022 top ten ranking!!

10. Hollow Knight

VERY fun although I unfortunately didn’t spend much time on it. It definitely presents a pretty significant learning curve because it’s not very much like many other games I’ve played. I hope to revisit it soon!

9. Astro’s Playroom

This cute little platformer comes with the PS5 and demonstrates many of the consoles new functionality! It’s a great way to see what the console is capable of and is also just VERY cute and enjoyable!! Definitely don’t skip this game if you get the chance to play it!

8. Pokémon White

The second oldest game I played this year and also the first non-Pokémon GO Pokémon game I’ve played. Was a lot more simple than I thought it’d be and it’s super fun. I may not know much about Pokémon, but it was really easy to grasp. Really enjoyed it and loved it as an introduction to the franchise. I hope to play more Pokémon games in the future!

7. Bloodborne

My first Fromsoft game hopefully of many! I love the gameplay and design. It’s a really fun game for when I want a challenge! I absolutely adore the boss design in it and would love to you know.. actually beat it someday.

6. Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Despite my many criticisms for this game, it was VERY enjoyable. I still argue it doesn’t quite live up to the original, but the level design being overall the same certainly made it enjoyable! It’s definitely lower on my list than other R&C games, but again! I had a great time with it.

5. Oxenfree

I’m not usually a fan of these kind of point and click games, but the narrative of this game was so so fascinating that it’s actually one of my favorite games I played this year. Only outranked by some of my favorite games in general. I highly recommend giving this game a shot and I’m VERY much looking forward to the sequel.

4. Final Fantasy VII Remake: EPISODE INTERmission

A lot of debating back and forth if this DLC really counted as a “game played” this year, but I decided it did because of how much I enjoyed it. I definitely had my issues with it, mainly all stemming from DOC being my least favorite part of the FFVII Compilation. However with Yuffie being one of my very favorite characters, I think her getting her own dedicated DLC was well deserved! It makes me incredibly excited to use her move set more come Rebirth. While I wasn’t a fan of the narrative of this DLC, the gameplay more than made up for it!!

3. Destiny 2: The Witch Queen

I was EXTREMELY excited about this expansion and I tell you it did NOT disappoint! The story of this expansion was one of my favorites since The Taken King and is in my top five Destiny storylines. The Lucent Hive are among my favorite enemies right after my all time faves, the SIVA corrupted Iron Lords. Something I have wanted since TTK was a storyline about fighting against enemy guardians (not in the Crucible) and this is probably one of the BEST ways they could’ve done that. Oryx, Xivu Arath, and Savathûn are in my opinion the most interesting characters in Destiny, and getting to see Savathûn in action was EVERYTHING I hoped it would be. She unfortunately didn’t live up to the hype of her brother Oryx, but there’s only so much you can do to live up with that without turning into a goddamn kaiju. Still, EXCELLENT expansion and a GREAT place to start if you’re looking to get into Destiny right now!!

2. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

ONE OF THE GAMES OF ALL TIME!!!! Rift Apart ABSOLUTELY lived up to the hype and is in my opinion the best game for next-gen consoles to be released so far. The story is INCREDIBLY enjoyable, the new characters are WONDERFUL additions to the franchise, and the gameplay is hours and hours of pure enjoyment. It was a wonderful use of the new features of the PS5 and absolutely didn’t hold back on using the console to its full potential. If you happen to own a PS5, this game is an absolute MUST!!

1. Sonic Frontiers

SONIC FRANCHISE SAVED!!!! I had a lot of hopes riding on this game and this game blew my expectations out of the water. Ian Flynn’s writing was exceptional and truly captured everything that I love about Sonic games. The open world design was SOOOO much fun and I REALLY hope to see more of it in the future! The boss fights are probably my favorite in any Sonic game I’ve ever played. The MOVESET was SICK AS HELL, I loved the use of combo attacks in this game, not a single battle ever felt boring. The enemy design was EXTREMELY fun, every miniboss was extremely fun and creative. And SAGE?? Everything to me, I hope she appears in every single new game from here on out. The game isn’t without it’s issues, the Cyber Space levels have many of the same issues I had with the level design in Sonic Forces, but that’s pretty much my main complaint. This game makes me EXTREMELY excited about the future of Sonic games. If you haven’t played it yet… do it immediately. There is no game I’ve played in the last five years I would recommend higher than Frontiers.

[mysmashplaythroughs]

Itsa me, Emio!

Thought I had to make that joke whilst it's still relevant given we don't know what that surprising unusual for Nintendo teaser is about. My personal guess that I doubt is right but differs from everyone thinking it's a horror game is it's actually a new Famicom Detective game. Given an age rating from New Zealand mentions a fair few mature themes it's possible for it to be horror of course, but I equally feel like an argument could still be made for FDC, especially given the whole 'Who is Emio' thing. We'll have to wait and see. Anyway, beyond that the biggest news for this blog is THE MELEE ROSTER IS FINALLY COMPLETE! Yes over a year after I said I hoped to have it finished soon I've finally written Roy and Mr Game & Watch's entries. I have no idea how soon I'll either start on Meta Knight, perhaps do another Pokemon entry (for Gen 2) or maybe even try something totally new and start writing posts about stages, Assist Trophies or Background Characters.

When it comes to the list, I don't believe anyone out there actually checks it constantly but if you did you might notice oddly that there's a few games I've had in the 'completed' section for ages now at the top of the list. If you see which ones they are you also might have picked up on there having been ports/remakes of these games that have come out on Switch so yeah, I decided since these are often better versions with new content and I got them I might as well put them back on the list in order to play them, not to mention in a lot of cases they'll allow me to easily get screenshots I couldn't before (such as with Metroid Prime HD). Also if you remember my last off-topic post you might notice that Tales of Symphonia is still on the list, yes I didn't finish it yet, but I promise I've made a lot of progress. Without going into spoilers I feel confident in saying I've definitely reached the halfway point of the game. I had two big things which brought that playthrough to a halt, the first was I went away to another country for a few weeks and the second was Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door came out, and of all games as much as I love doing this whole thing, I wasn't going to overlook a remake of my joint second favourite game of all time, the same thing would be the case if I got the last few of my top 10 that aren't on Switch released, such as Punch-out Wii, Kid Icarus Uprising or possibly Pokemon Gen 2. I have been able to get new screenshots with Paper Mario Thousand Year Door so it wasn't completely unconnected to my list anyway.

There've also been some new additions to my list, I'm always coming up with really stupid reasons that barely count to add things to my list and I realised something a while ago that I hadn't really gone into, that being the codec and Palutena's Guidance easter eggs. Looking through these I really wasn't expecting much, mostly looking for an excuse to do something with one or two characters, but I realised one of the codecs very specifically had a character from Metal Gear Solid 2 referenced and perhaps the biggest thing, Palutena's Guidance for Ryu makes references to a lot of the Marvel vs Capcom series. I decided to add these games to my list although I realised they were going to be very difficult to do, so you can probably guess my surprise and joy with the latest Direct announcing a collection of the series coming to Switch (not to mention I was just really pleased to see it as I know the series has not had many rereleases at all including I believe one or two games that never left arcades) so that really worked out well. Speaking of the Direct there was a lot of really great looking stuff announced there. Of what was shown the only game I felt was for sure going on my list was the Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom. The reason is fairly simple for this, not that Zelda is playable as actually I don't think the Zelda in this game really matches any specifically from Smash Bros, but the ability to create Echoes of enemies is the closest to having Zelda enemies playable there's ever been, so that worked out pretty well. Oh and of course, Dragon Quest 1-3 HD is fantastic news for me, I've played through 3 before but the fact this version will actually have the characters appear in battle (no idea how many animations they'll have) is already huge news to me, also from what I've heard 1-2 really didn't age well so having updated versions of them is pretty exciting to me, they both interest me for different reasons (especially 1 being one of the very few RPGs where you don't have any other party members).

So what's next then? Well, when it comes to the games I've moved up my list to play again like Pikmin I think I'll most likely do some of them first, Pikmin is a pretty short game and I've been looking for something I can play whilst listening to other stuff so games I've already beaten would I think be a good choice. However, I want to get at least 3 Mii Costume games finally beaten this year, so I do plan on returning to Tales of Symphonia soon, after that would be Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, which I have a feeling would also be a long game although it's one where I believe there's a 'final story boss' so to speak outside of the many other Monsters you can hunt in the game etc, so it probably isn't as 'endless' as I feared. Following that would be Tower of Druaga which being an arcade game I believe is a case of it being short but very difficult, luckily also being an arcade game on consoles I believe I'll have unlimited continues so it probably won't take long. In the middle of this some of the other games I mentioned such as Zelda Echoes of Wisdom and Dragon Quest 3 will likely be out so I'm sure I'll play them pretty much on release, the same goes for others not on my list such as Mario & Luigi Brothership (Another huge reveal that I have no reason to put on my list but it's a series I love and thought was dead so I'll definitely be checking out). Between all this of course I have my actual life to live etc, but either way I hope to make more progress than last year, I believe looking at the list I've made of the games I've beaten each year I've already almost beaten 2023's amount so I'm sure I'll manage that. Anyway, here's looking forward to seeing who Emio is and hopefully a good year going forward.

[magpiejay1234]

Anyway, let's go over some older specific Sonic talking points.

There has been some discourse about Blaze being removed from games, under the assumption that there is a rights issue. However, there isn't any, all characters introduced in Dimps games, except maybe specific bosses like Mecha Knuckles (which doesn't seem to be the case, as IDW Comics brought him back). Agreements with Dimps were about using characters created, and owned by Sonic Team.

However.

Since Dimps, and SEGA long broke apart, with Dimps being a second party producer for Bandai since 2017, any sort of remaster, or proper remake of Dimps produced games (which is not limited to Sonic) is out of question. For Nintendo variants, since Nintendo was effectively a co-publisher for them, those can be resold in Nintendo Virtual Console, and other Nintendo ecosystems (Advance trilogy was previously released in Wii U Virtual Console). However, Nintendo has no direct connections to Dimps right now, so any changes for those rereleases either will not occur, or will be very limited.

This, in effect, means Rush duology, much like Advance trilogy is stuck in "canon but not to be rereleased" limbo, well, except Advance 1 on Japanese Android.

It is possible, if Dimps is acquired by a larger company (most likely Bandai at this point), this issue will be resolved, but due to Nintendo's pseudo co-publisher status, they will need to be slightly altered from from their Nintendo versions to be legally distinct.

Sonic Rivals duology, which is Silver's canon introduction back to the franchise*, is in a similar limbo, since their original developer Backbone Entertainment was closed by its parent company, which itself was dissolved, with the developer being one of the few studios they did not sell off. So nobody owns the rights of the stuff from those games except SEGA, but there might be unprecedented legal cases through legacy licenses preserved by former executives.

*However, Silver was reintroduced in Generations as the Sonic Next Gen (Sonic 06's internal title), so Generations technically recanonized 06. Of course, original leaked script of Forces had Mephiles being brought back to the canon, but that did not happen yet (though recent merch has happened). That is another topic entirely.

So what this all mean? Well, since according to Midori, Iizuka is apparently planning to reintroduce Silver, and Blaze, with Infinite, in the potential Heroes remake/reimagining. This is kind of necessary, since even though both characters were introduced/reintroduced in handheld spin-offs, and have existed in mainline games for a while, they never had a proper introduction in mainline games (Silver sort of did in Forces, but that is canonically after Generations, so...).

We already have Cream's reintroduction to main cast with Dream Team (which is produced by Hardlight, not Sonic Team, though still SEGA), though she was already in Heroes (and added as a cameo in SADX, she was also in Shadow the Hedgehog, though that didn't come back to mainline series until Avatar sort of reintroduced gun play with Wispon), so it kind of makes sense why Iizuka would consider this as an option.

Though I guess most would prefer Blaze to be reintroduced in another lower budget mobile title, Dream Team had Apple throwing cash at SEGA to make it, which is unlikely to occur for a Sol Dimension revisit game.

There are other possible characters to discuss, but those are more complex.

As for the SABK versions of Silver, and Blaze, while SEGA owns everything about it, since SABK has exclusive publishing rights by Nintendo, they would have to remake it from ground up to rerelease it outside of Nintendo, but also, it is a Storybook spin-off, with AU versions of Silver, and Blaze, so it doesn't really count. Same goes for many, many, Sonic & Mario titles.

[xb-squaredx]

B-Squared's Belated Top 10 Games of 2023

Well, this has come out…a lot later than I wanted to but life gets in the way. 2023 had a lot of fantastic games in it…but sadly I didn’t get to very many of them. So many great games, from the indies to the AAAs and everything in between. As of now I’ve had to be a bit more careful with money and still haven’t gotten my hands on either a beefy PC to play all the new games or a next-gen console, so my options are somewhat limited…which will be reflected in this list. So for anyone asking why Baldur’s Gate 3 or Alan Wake 2 or Spider-Man 2 or anything else isn’t on this list…I had no real means to play it. That said, I still enjoyed the bulk of what I played in 2023, so I figure it’s better late than never to celebrate those games.

#10: F-ZERO 99

F-Zero is a franchise I have limited experience with; I’ve played far more of Captain Falcon in the Smash Bros. series than any other F-Zero game combined. Regardless, the release of a new game after a near 20 year hiatus certainly had my attention. F-Zero 99 is a new take on the original game, after the popularity of Tetris 99 on the Switch. Up to 99 players race together in a battle-royale fashion, aiming to take first place…or at least survive to the finish line. I’ll be up front that I’m terrible at this game and didn’t play that much of it, but I can recognize that it was a fun spin on an old idea, giving players ample ways to try to play catch up in the chaotic, high-speed races, and for those that are more well-versed in F-Zero it served as a way to scratch an itch that has been bugging them for a good long while. Its unclear what the series’ future will be but I’m hopeful that the overall positive reception to this free-to-play title means there might be more to come for F-Zero sometime soon.

#9: ADVANCE WARS 1+2 RE-BOOT CAMP

As long as we’re talking about older, revived Nintendo franchises, we may as well talk about Advance Wars. After Fire Emblem really took off worldwide, this series has been rather dormant over at Intelligence Systems. Due to real world events, this release was delayed by about a year, but I’m glad that the remake of the first two Advance Wars games helmed by Wayforward was able to finally release. Overall, these are very faithful remakes with some great new bits of animation, voice acting and music, with players able to compete in the campaigns or wage war locally or online in the multiplayer modes. Some people weren’t a huge fan of the visual style in this remake, or felt that it could have done more, but ultimately I’m just happy to see this series come back again and I think Wayforward did a great job. The endless horrors of war have never been so fun!

#8: HOLOLIVE FAN GAMES: (HOLOCURE: SAVE THE FANS AND IDOL SHOWDOWN)

You might remember from a while back that I’m a VTuber fan, especially the ones over at Hololive. There’s been a number of really fun fan games that have released over the years but this year we got two of them released that were right up my alley…well, kinda. First off we have Holocure, a “bullet-heaven” game in the same vein as Vampire Survivors starring the Hololive girls. It’s technically still in early-access and has been out for a while…but the STEAM release was in 2023 and that’s when I first played it so it counts. It’s a very fun game with cute pixel art, great remixes of Hololive songs and is filled to bursting with tons of interesting references to these streamers…which makes it almost completely incomprehensible to non-fans, but that’s beside the point.

We also received a Hololive fighting game in Idol Showdown this year, which I also enjoyed for the most part. The character movesets are filled with just as many references, with some very expressive sprite work on both the playable cast and the backgrounds. A rogue like Digital Frontier mode adds to the stuff to do in the game if pure fighting isn’t for you, and it’s even received some free DLC characters as time has gone on. I do wish the game was a bit more optimized in some regards, but it’s otherwise a really fun game that managed to combine two of my interests together into one package. So I’m counting both of these games together under the umbrella of being Hololive fan games. Give them a try….and fall down the rabbit hole.

#7: NICKELODEON ALL STAR BRAWL 2

Speaking of fighting games, I was pleasantly surprised by the reveal and subsequent release of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2. Despite being excited by the prospect of the first game, I wasn’t all that fond of it by the time it released. It was a barebones experience, devoid of any voice work for these iconic characters (often with iconic voices), looked bad, ran worse at times and most of the cast had very same-y, uninspired movesets. So I’m very happy to say that the sequel is everything the original game should have been.

NASB 2 is a gigantic improvement in every way; it looks a lot better, the voices are here from the get-go now, there’s a huge single player campaign and the cast this time around all feel FAR more fleshed out and distinct. I still have some qualms with the roster overall, but I’m glad the team at Fair Play Labs (and the few members of Ludocity on this project) managed to create something that can appeal to both hardcore platform fighter fans and fans of the Nick characters. Sadly, I think a lot of people felt burned by the last game and didn’t even give this one a try, but trust me…this really is one of the more inventive platform fighters out there. The Slime mechanic itself is kind of worth the price of admission, being able to augment your moves, burst out of combos, or spend on a huge super move to send foes flying. The single player is also filled with fun references and a fair bit of things to do as you fight various minor enemies and bosses from across the various Nick shows. While a bit bug-riddled at launch and my potato PC can barely handle it at times, I had a blast with it, and I hope that people can eventually give this game a chance.

#6: BAYONETTA ORIGINS: CEREZA AND THE LOST DEMON

Oh hey and speaking of burning fans with the last installment and giving things a chance…yeah Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon was always going to be a tough sell. Even if Bayonetta 3 had been well-received by fans, taking a series known for its over-the-top arcade action and extremely sexual heroine and pivoting to a fairy-tale aesthetic and relatively simple puzzle solving and exploration wasn’t ever going to have a wide appeal. If you don’t like the other Bayonetta games you might end up enjoying this, but then why would you even be looking in this game’s direction? And conversely, if you love the other games, this one is so completely different there’s no guarantee you’d enjoy it. Truly, Bayonetta Origins is a game for an extremely small niche of players, but I was willing to give it a shot and ended up quite enjoying it. In fact, I think it’s one of the best games Platinum has put out in years.

Taking place when young Cereza was still a witch in training, players have to guide Cereza and her first demonic summon, Cheshire, through a maze-like forest infested with dangerous fairies. The game itself feels inspired by something like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, alongside Platinum’s own Astral Chain. Players control Cereza and Cheshire simultaneously, using each control stick to guide them through puzzles and the occasional combat encounter. Cereza uses her magic to hold enemies in place or manipulate the environment while Cheshire is in charge of tearing enemies apart. The cel-shaded storybook aesthetic is very charming, making for a game that I think is a lot easier on the eyes than Bayonetta 3, and the coming-of-age element of Cereza learning to stick up for herself and get stronger gave us a fairly well-told story (which is kind of a rarity for this franchise). Outside of a map that isn’t all that helpful, and the fact that it’s still connected to Bayonetta 3 in some strange, confusing ways, this is far and away the best Bayonetta game developed for the Switch, and yeah, I’m just as surprised as you are.

#5: STREET FIGHTER 6

Once upon a time Capcom was considered to be the kings of fighting games, but everything changed when Street Fighter V came out in such a barebones, awful state that the FGC at large moved onto other things. But 2023 was the year Capcom returned to take their crown back, and MAN is Street Fighter 6 a massive return to form. Now, I should stress my time with this game has been limited; I’ve played with a friend with their own copy of the game as well as poured over the PS4 demo, but I don’t actually own this game myself yet. If I DID, this would probably be a bit higher on this list honestly.

SF6 took a long hard look at the complaints levied at the previous game and did everything they could to turn things around here. Rather than launching with no arcade mode and later adding a lackluster story mode, 6 launches with a massive World Tour campaign, giving players the ability to create their own character and dive into the world of Street Fighter in what is ostensibly an action RPG hidden within the greater game. Rather than give us the divisive V-System that encouraged passive play and largely locked away each character’s strongest tools, the Drive System in SF6 gives players tons of way to engage with the game right from round start and encourages both aggression and proper resource management. At high-level, SF6 becomes a tug-of-war between players doing everything they can to whittle down their opponent’s Drive Gauge, while holding onto their own, and then place them into checkmate when they go into Burnout. The game’s new, more realistic artstyle took some time to grow on me personally, but I think they ended up making it work, though admittedly I’m with everyone else in stating that the OST for the game is a bit lacking. Thankfully, they nailed it where it really matters: the roster is filled with some awesome new faces (Marisa my beloved) and manages to make the veteran fighters feel fresh, and the cherry on top is an almost impeccable online experience. I’m glad Capcom learned from their mistakes, and the result is one of the best fighting games around.

#4: FIRE EMBLEM: ENGAGE

Releasing right at the start of the year, I’m sure a lot of people forgot about Fire Emblem Engage, though really I think they’re missing out. I’ve been a fan of the series since Awakening, so the gaps in knowledge with the series is vast, but I could still recognize this as a love letter to the entire series. Clearly intended as a celebration of the franchise’s 30th anniversary before a certain pandemic got in the way, Engage is filled to the brim with fanservice…and not just the sexy kind! Truthfully I do feel aspects of this game are at odds with each other; while the overall presentation is great, being the most colorful and flashy game in the series yet, its story is…let’s say lacking. The characters are all fairly one-note and at times lean way more into stock anime archetypes than fully-fleshed out cast members, especially in comparison to the best parts of Three Houses, and there is the odd….otaku-bait stuff for lack of a better term, especially regarding the romance options, but the actual core gameplay is the best in the series.

Fights are fast, ferocious and give players a ton of great new mechanics to sink their teeth into. The star of the show is obviously the various rings characters can equip, which can summon a ghost of a past Fire Emblem hero to help out, giving you a neat little Stand of sorts to augment your abilities for a short time. Adding to that, players can push enemies away, or even break their guard, preventing them from attacking during your turn. I really enjoyed some of the changes to the core weapon triangles of the series, including a new one with archers, mages and bare-handed fighters. Being able to have my healers lay waste to those units with some fisticuffs never got old. Engage might not be the most ambitious game in the series, but at the same time it was a fantastic celebration of how far this series has come and how much more life it still has in it yet. Alear’s hair is still kinda dumb though…

#3: THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

Years ago Breath of the Wild not only launched the Switch into immediate sales success, but also started a conversation about how to craft an interesting open world game after years of the genre feeling overdone. And now in the twilight years of the Switch, Tears of the Kingdom returns to that same world with some new tricks. Link’s new abilities give players even more options for engaging in that world, and many of them are true technical marvels. I’ve gone over a lot of this game in a separate blog post, so I won’t try to reiterate what I said there too much, but ultimately I just enjoyed getting to bounce around a familiar world with even more freedom and opportunities to mess around and see how things worked.

I’d argue that TOTK has more in common with a big old box of random Lego pieces than a game at times. Half the fun is reaching inside and seeing what I can create when mixing and matching things together. Using Link’s Ultrahand and Fusion abilities I can craft vehicles and weapons that are often very goofy and don’t always work right…but when you land on something that’s just crazy enough to work it’s magical. In addition to the massive world from BOTW we also have islands in the sky to investigate, alongside the mysterious Depths, so there was always something to poke at and do. You get into a pretty solid gameplay loop of using the sky islands to look for areas of interest down below, then messing around on the ground during quests and visiting towns, before traveling into the Depths to harvest ore that goes towards making a variety of vehicles that can help me get around elsewhere, especially when it comes to getting back into the sky. Your options start out limited, but as you play you get more and more tools to work with and your various mechanisms become that much more complex. This even gets reflected in some of the dungeons you investigate, with one in the Depths in particular being such a programming flex, tons of game developers on Twitter were losing it, just wondering how Nintendo made it happen. For as much as we tout graphical upgrades as true progress in games, Nintendo is doing more interesting things with the very innards of a game using a console that was already out of date when it launched, and that needs to be championed.

For as much time as I poured into this game (probably somewhere close to 200 hours), I’d be lying if I said I enjoyed all of it. With that amount of playtime, you’re bound to notice some cracks. While this game definitely amplified everything I loved about BOTW, it also failed to really address many of the concerns people had with the previous game. Fusion as a mechanic makes ALL weapons feel usable to a degree, but the constant breaking is even MORE frequent. While there IS a way to stop slipping on wet surfaces, it requires a TON of time investment and the potions that give you slip resistance feel like a bandage over the whole annoyance. And then there’s the story being…very repetitive and a bit too much like the previous game in ways. I can see why talk of this game kind of dried up faster compared to BOTW; there was both a lot more competition this year, but also a lot of this game felt too derivative and lost that novelty of the original game. I wouldn’t have poured over 200 hours into the game if I didn’t love it, but there was definitely enough there to hold it back from being my favorite experience of the year.

#2: XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 3: FUTURE REDEEMED

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was my GOTY last year, and I knew that a beefy DLC campaign was still in the chamber. I was looking forward to Future Redeemed, but it exceeded about all of my expectations. While the core Xenoblade games have their connections, they’ve all been relatively standalone experiences on the whole until now. I had remembered going into Xenoblade 3, curious to see how all of these elements from the first two games would come together, but that game’s story leaned far more on the brand new cast rather than touching on the older characters in the series and I was left with a lack of closure. I should have had more faith in Monolith Soft, as Future Redeemed serves as not just a prequel to the story in Xenoblade 3, but as the glue that ties the entire Xenoblade series together.

Similar to Xenoblade 2’s Torna: The Golden Country DLC campaign, Future Redeemed is about the size of a medium-sized RPG in its own right, even if it never got a standalone release like Torna did. It keeps a lot of the same core systems of the base game here, but with some interesting twists. Whereas base game Xenoblade 3 made use of a class system and the ability for allies to fuse together, Future Redeemed emphasized pairing up different characters so they could cover for each other’s weaknesses or add to their strengths, on top of having some flashy combination attacks. There was a ton of things to do on the world map at any moment, with Monolith Soft making great use of a more limited map compared to the base game. Seriously, grind rails that can go up AND down were about the one thing Xenoblade 3 really needed! There was also just…so much fanservice and real love for this series found throughout. Seeing Shulk and Rex, the protagonists of the past entries, interacting with each other was fantastic, and newcomer Matthew was a great lead in his own right.

Longtime fans of Monolith Soft CEO and overall creator of the Xenoblade series, Tetsuya Takahashi, will know that his vision of a complete story has been a difficult one to see to completion. Starting back with Xenogears and later Xenosaga, it’s here that Xenoblade finally managed to have a satisfying multi-game arc and conclusion that finally answered some burning questions I had from the ending of 3. Somehow Future Redeemed managed to bring it all together in ways that longtime fans had always hoped for, and all in a neat 30-ish hour package. While I had greatly enjoyed Xenoblade 3, it was still missing something and Future Redeemed was that final piece, making me feel really valued as a longtime fan in the series, and also seems to have some nods to fans of the overarching “Xeno metaseries” that makes me extremely interested in seeing just where Takahashi’s Wild Ride takes us. If this DLC was an indication, the future is indeed bright.

#1: SUPER MARIO BROS. WONDER

As long as we’re talking of bright futures…boy is it good to be a Mario fan right now. From a billion dollar box office hit, to remakes of two beloved RPG spinoffs, that alone would have satisfied fans of the plumber, but then we got hit with the first wholly original 2D Mario in almost two decades. While the New Super Mario Bros. games were all mostly well-regarded critically and commercially, they were just as often considered kind of stale. Inoffensive, but not very interesting, and with so many pumped out in such a short time, it was felt that Mario’s 2D outings had lost something. With the Super Mario Maker games, many had felt that Nintendo had done all that they could with the formula and left it in the hands of fans…but boy were we wrong.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is oozing creativity out of every pore. From the stylish art direction that calls back to the older 2D art from the NES and SNES days, to the focus on music found throughout the game, it’s a rare game that made me smile about the whole way through. So much here feels fresh and different, from the litany of brand new enemies and power ups, to the various Wonder effects that often cap off levels and take them off the rails. I’ve gushed about this game enough in a separate blog post, which you can read here, but ultimately it has to be said that Wonder is a fantastic experience from moment to moment.

Not every game needs to be revolutionary or create a whole new industry standard to be recognized as great. Sometimes it just needs to be really fun. But even so, the amount of care that went into Wonder deserves praise. The developers weren’t given a deadline at first and got to really explore ideas before nailing things down. To see so much of the original Mario crew still involved on this project after so many years in the industry also showcases Nintendo’s iterative design that is continually polished to a fine sheen. The simple act of moving around is so smooth and responsive, the level design constantly plays with your expectations and makes hunting for secrets such a blast, and many of the new mechanics are slotted in seamlessly, like they were always there. Why yes, giving Mario a grappling hook makes perfect sense! Of COURSE he can turn into an elephant and put out fires with water shot out of the trunk! Some dislike the changes to multiplayer, no longer having any collision or ways to really screw with other players, but that results in seamless online play that lets players experience the levels together, yet apart, in a way I haven’t seen many other games implement. Being able to guide newer players through levels by giving them hints, or even a power up if they need it, and throwing down a standee sign that can revive them even if I’m not there…it’s really something special, akin to how players of Journey felt back in the day. The one blemish on what is otherwise a perfect experience are the boss fights that are both too few and too same-y, but honestly that’s a nitpick in the grand scheme of things. So yeah, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the game that probably gave me the most joy this year. Not the longest game or the most technically impressive, but a masterclass in design that deserves every bit of praise.

CONCLUSION

There are tons of games I wish I got to this year. I’m sure this list would look a LOT different if I had a beefier PC to check out certain games with, or a fancy new PS5, but that wasn’t in the cards this year. If anything though that just goes to show how many talented people are in this industry that there are so many finely-crafted experiences, so many ambitious titles that keep pushing the medium forward. It was admittedly a lighter year for Nintendo, which has always been my bias, but I’m glad to see the folks over at Remedy and Larian and so many others pushing the boundaries of what we can expect to see in games. Having a virtual D&D campaign filled with moments where you have to adapt to things on the fly is nothing short of a magical experience, and seeing how Alan Wake 2 fuses together film and video game to create something so unique deserves its roses as well. Ultimately though, this was a year filled with some developers running on all cylinders, truly excelling at their craft. We’re getting fighting games with honest-to-God single player content! Strategy games are alive and well and continue to tease and torment players with tough decisions. All the while smaller developers pump passion into their projects, resulting in some fantastic experiences all their own. It was a good year for games and I look forward to seeing what will make my list next year. Until next time.

-B