#best arcade games 2017

[toriluvsnickwayne]

Memory Lane

Nick Wayne x Reader

Requested : yes/no

Masterlist

Y/N’S POV:

You snuggled deeper into the hotel bed, feeling Nick's warm arms around you. You'd known him since 6th grade, and since then he'd become more than just a friend - he was your rock, your confidant, your everything.

"Hey, remember that time we got lost in the arcade?" Nick asked, his voice low and husky.

You giggled. "How could I forget? We were stuck in there for hours!"

Nick chuckled. "And then my mom had to come find us, yelling at us for being irresponsible."

You playfully rolled your eyes. "You got us lost on purpose, Nick!"

Nick just laughed and pulled you closer. "Maybe a little. But it was worth it to see you smile."

(December 17, 2019)

You walked through the crowded arcade, the sounds of buzzing games and laughter filling the air. Nick's mom, Shayna, led the way, with Nick and you following close behind.

As you stopped to play a game, Nick's mom said, "I'll go grab some tickets, you two keep playing!"

But when you turned around, Shayna was nowhere to be seen. You looked at Nick, panicked. "Where's your mom?"

Nick shrugged. "I don't know, I thought she was right behind us!"

You both frantically scanned the crowd, but Shayna was gone. You were lost in the arcade.

Nick grabbed your hand. "Don't worry, we'll find her. Let's go up to the front desk and wait for her to find us."

You nodded, and together you climbed the stairs to the ticket counter. The staff barely gave you a second glance as you sat down on the edge of the counter, swinging your legs.

Nick started making silly faces at you, trying to get you to laugh. "Hey, look at me, I'm a lost arcade kid!"

You giggled, feeling a little better. "You're such a goofball, Nick."

As you sat there joking around, the minutes ticked by. You started to worry that Shayna would be frantic with worry, but Nick reassured you. "She'll find us, don't worry. We're not exactly stealthy."

Just then, you heard a familiar voice calling out your names. "Nick! Y/N! Where are you two?"

Nick grinned. "Right here, Mom! We were just... um... supervising the ticket counter."

Shayna chuckled, shaking her head. "Well, I'm glad I found you two. Let's get out of here before you get into any more trouble!"

As you climbed down from the counter, Nick whispered in your ear. "That was kind of fun, getting lost with you."

You smiled, feeling a flutter in your chest. "Definitely an adventure."

(Present Day)

You both laughed, reminiscing about old times. "And what about when you just showed up at my house unannounced?" you teased.

Nick grinned mischievously. "Hey, I just wanted to hang out!"

(June 27, 2017)

You were lounging on the couch, watching TV on a lazy Sunday afternoon, when the doorbell rang. You got up to answer it, expecting it to be a neighbor or maybe a delivery.

You opened the door to find Nick standing on your porch, a persistent grin on his face. You had given him your address weeks ago, and you had been wondering when he would finally show up.

"Hey, I'm here!" Nick announced, like he was conquering new territory.

You raised an eyebrow. "I see that. But my parents don't know who you are."

Nick shrugged. "That's okay, my parents are coming too. They couldn't resist my charm."

Just then, Buddy and Shayna got out of their car as well. Your parents appeared behind you, curious about the commotion.

As the adults introduced themselves, Nick whispered, "Let's sneak off and grab some snacks." You nodded, and while the parents talked, you both snuck upstairs to your room.

You spent the afternoon watching movies, joking around, and having the best time. As the hours passed, you both drifted off to sleep, exhausted from laughing.

But your peace was disrupted when Nick's dad, Buddy, burst into your room. "Nick, wake up! Time to go home, kiddo!"

As Nick groggily opened his eyes, Buddy noticed you were awake too. "Hey, sorry to disturb you. We had a great time talking with your parents. Actually, we're planning something for tomorrow..."

Nick sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What's tomorrow, Dad?"

Buddy smiled. "We're coming to pick up Y/N and you two can hang out some more. How does that sound?"

You exchanged a thrilled glance with Nick.

(Present Day)

As you talked, Nick's fingers traced gentle patterns on your skin, making you shiver with delight. You'd started dating in 9th grade, and now, here you were, wrapped in each other's arms.

[leopauldelr]

The beginner's guide to the Pretty Series

With the recent announcement of the new Pretty Series installment titled Himitsu no AiPri, it's about time the Pretty Series returned after over a year since the Waccha PriMagi! series finale. In celebration of the newest installment, let's take a quick history lesson about the Pretty series.

The Pretty Rhythm Saga (2010-2014) - The Pretty Series saga began on July 15, 2010 with the arcade game titled Pretty Rhythm Mini Skirt. Made by Takara Tomy and developer SynSophia, this arcade game pits players in the role of Prism Stars, performing Prism Jumps, and collecting Prism Stones.

While the one that started it all made a slow start, the folks from Takara Tomy wanted to do more with the Pretty Rhythm saga, and with that, a TV anime titled Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream was made. Aired in TV Tokyo on April 9, 2011, for 51 episodes, this anime is the fruit of Japan-Korea collaboration thanks to Japan's Tatsunoko Production and South Korea's Dong Woo Animation. The TV anime is all about Aira, Rizumu, and Mion in their quest to take on the prestigious Prism Queen Cup.

As Aira Harune's journey to become Prism Queen is completed, Mia Ageha takes the baton as the star of the next Pretty Rhythm story; Dear My Future. Aired in TV Tokyo on April 7, 2012, for 51 episodes, Dear My Future centers on the rivalry between Prizmmy☆ and the K-Pop group PURETTY. Believe it or not, there are real-life versions of the groups as seen in the anime. There's even a live-action segment featuring Prizmmy☆ as well.

As Mia Ageha's road to Grateful Symphonia is well and truly over, Naru Ayase steps to the spotlight in the third and final chapter of the Pretty Rhythm saga, titled Rainbow Live. Aired in TV Tokyo on April 6, 2013, it features an original storyline unlike the previous two. It's about Naru, An, and Ito, who are working together at the Prism Stone Shop while trying to take good care of a mysterious girl named Rinne.

Although the Pretty Rhythm saga ended, the story continues with the KING OF PRISM spinoff films featuring male characters from the Pretty Rhythm saga. They even got a 2019 anime show as well showcasing the rise of the boys who would be Septentrion.

The PriPara saga (2014-2018, 2021~) After the end of the Pretty Rhythm saga,  the folks of Takara Tomy prepped up what it seems to be the second generation of the Pretty series. It's called PriPara and it aired on TV Tokyo in the Summer of 2014 and lasted for three seasons, four if you count Idol Time PriPara of course. This anime series centers on the life and times of Laala Manaka, a little girl who wants to be the best PriPara idol. Together with Mirei Minami and Sophy Hojo, they became SoLaMi Smile and they fought their way against the best idol teams of PriPara, especially Dressing Pafe consisting of Dorothy, Reona, and Sion, Tricolore, and Gaarmageddon, among many others. PriPara is a huge win for the people behind it and such success prompted the show to spawn four movies and outrageous merchandising rights.

In the spring of 2017, the next chapter of PriPara begins with three new main characters penning the final pages of this saga. Titled Idol Time PriPara, it's all about Yui Yumekawa, whose fateful encounter with Laala Manaka changed everything following an accident. With Nino Nijiiro and Michiru Kouda joining alongside, the MY☆DREAM trio made the best closure to this saga.

Although the PriPara TV series is finished, the story continues with Idol Land PriPara. First announced in December 2020, it was originally slated to be released in the spring of 2021 until it became subject to long gestation and delayed launch dates. It was released on August 17, 2023. It is the second official PriPara app game after the defunct PriPuz puzzle app game. This app game also features an original anime series set moments after the events of Idol Time PriPara. It introduces new characters such as Amari Katasumi, Mario, and Pololo, among others.

The Kiratto PriChan years (2018-2021) - Aired in TV Tokyo since April 2018 for three seasons, Kiratto PriChan is set in a world where fame comes from social media just like in the real world. It's about a group of girls who called themselves the Miracle☆Kiratts who are striving to become the best PriChan idols above the rest. For three seasons, we watched Miracle Kiratts taking on big challenges such as heated competition with rival teams such as Meltic StAr and Ring Marry, the jewel idol competition, saving the world, the road to the Queens Grand Prix, and saving the world...again, while they do what they do best; showcasing the world that they're the best PriChan sensations ever known.

PriMagi (2021-2022) - Waccha PriMagi! is the fourth installment of the Pretty Series that revolves around the lives of Primagistas striving to become the best of the best. The show is about Matsuri Hibino, a middle-schooler who dreams of being the best just like her idol, the legendary Jennifer Sumire Sol.

AiPri - After over a year of void, the Pretty Series has returned with the newest installment coming to TV Tokyo this April 2024. Titled Himitsu no AiPri, the new series stars Minori Fujidera as Himari Aozora and Sae Hiratsuka as Mitsuki Hoshikawa. For the first time in Pretty Series, the animation sequences were provided by OLM, the studio behind the Pokemon and Yo-Kai Watch anime series, while South Korea's Dongwoo A&E returned to cooperate for it.

Welcome back, Pretty Series! The world can't wait for the franchise's comeback show this April.

[dustedmagazine]

Los Campesinos! — All Hell (Heart Swells)

In a way, 2013’s NO BLUES was the end of a particular version of Los Campesinos! and for reasons that had little to do with their personnel changes over the years since 2006. The septet is far from the first (or last) band to experience the music industry leaving them for dead in a ditch for a lack of profit, and sadly also not the only ones to get one of their best albums caught up in that moment. So, everyone returned to (or got) day jobs and although they never exactly split up, it took some time to determine that, yes, Los Campesinos! was still really going to keep going. But if 2017’s excellent Sick Scenes was proof of concept of Los Campesinos!’s vitality and potential, the new, even more self-motivated ethos has led to both the longest break between albums yet and (recency bias be damned) their strongest LP.

Readers of Dusted don’t need to be reminded that financial success does not necessarily correlate with any particular merit, but that the entirely in house All Hell (self-financed, self-produced, on their own label) wound up as their first UK top 40 record (14 with a bullet!) is at the very least a testament to how many people were waiting for this record and how satisfying they found it. In Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s classic music-as-magic comic book Phonogram, one of the main characters describes Los Campesinos! (before they’d even put out a record) to another as “They’re never going to be big big. But they’re going to be big to some people.” Increasingly, it seems that those people have found them. If you go to an LC! show in 2024 fully half or more of the crowd are kids who were not listening to records when Hold on Now, Youngster… came out in 2008, a delightful product of the band just resolutely doing what they do for close to 20 years now.

All Hell is a stirring reminder of what that is, exactly. Their Bandcamp page still describes them as “The UK’s first and only emo band,” and that fine blend of sarcasm, sincerity, standoffishness, insight, and a certain love of starting an argument still sums up some of frontman Gareth David’s authorial voice (although it doesn’t include his incredibly vivid and compelling way with both political and romantic heartache and longing). Guitarist and (here) producer Tom Bromley continues to write incredible songs for David to drop punchlines and emotional haymakers over, and has also burnished this into easily the best sounding Los Campesinos record to date. At this point these seven members have been playing together since 2014 and can turn on a dime and nail pretty much any melodic/emotional register they need to, harsh or comforting, anthemic or plangent.

Fans are likely to draw comparisons to 2010’s Romance Is Boring, often considered a high-water mark. The last three records followed the same straightforward format: 10-11 songs, 40-42 minutes. Romance Is Boring was their most complex, lengthy, and interconnected record, and there’s an ambition here that makes them feel like siblings (possibly partly the result of having more time to build up material). The 15 songs here in just under 50 minutes, with three numbered tracks splitting the record into rough sections, feels sprawling and expansive after the tighter organization of the last few.

You can really feel that extra decade-plus in the structures, songwriting, and sonics of All Hell, but the polish and compositional sophistication here don’t belie a lack of fire. “The Coin-Op Guillotine” is easily the gentlest opener they’ve ever done; there’s bleakness there (“I think I’m right, I don’t think it matters”) but the refrain still centers on the kind of community and solidarity that they’ve been trying to practice from business/concert practices on down: “if you’ve got a cross to bear/call my name, I’ll see you there.” And even there it’s still about our current dystopia, and the title clearly refers to more than just the arcade game.

And sure enough, the following “Holy Smoke (2005)” immediately snarks that “nowadays it’s Live Laugh Love and Listen to Death From Above” over a headlong sprint (one of many places here where drummer Jason Adelinia is a crucial force). Even the magnificent “Feast of Tongues” (which arguably boasts a couple of the band’s best choruses to date), which swells from pensive backing “ooh”s and strings to one of the biggest, hardest hitting climaxes here, specifies that the title refers to when “we will feast on the tongues of the last bootlickers.”

As always, one of the challenges of writing about Los Campesinos! (as well as one of the joys of listening to them) is there are simply too many quotable lines, especially if you’re interested in the ways they refer back to their own history (dropping the “please” from the Romance Is Boring-era “can we all please just calm the fuck down?” as a teeth-gritted acknowledgment of how much less reasonable those they’re addressing have gotten since then) or just a good joke (if, say, “do you still have that one tattoo?/that’s how they work, of course you do” doesn’t work for you, another one will be along soon). And as much as All Hell is rich in the band’s traditional strengths, there are still moments of expansion. The crunching switchbacks of “Clown Blood/Orpheus’ Bobbing Head” are maybe the most aggro they’ve ever been, and the sweetly gloomy “kms” features Kim Paisey taking lead vocals for the first time.

Given the way the last two records have ended with some of their heaviest, weightiest songs, as they kick into the room-levelling angst of “0898 HEARTACHE” it feels like just that sort of crescendo. Instead, All Hell actually ends with the humbler melancholy of “Adult Acne Stigmata.” It’s the closest Los Campesinos! have come to an acoustic ballad, with multi-tracked Gareths sighing “it’s all hell, we know too well/it’s all hell” in the background. From another band, it might risk pathos or bathos; from Los Campesinos, it’s practically comforting. In the midst of inferno, we can all sing, and thrash, along.

Ian Mathers

[rpgsandbox]

SFWA Posthumously Presents Jennell Jaquays with the 2024 Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award

A multi-award winning and honored artist, game designer, editor, and activist, Jennell Jaquays left an indelible mark on the gaming industry and SFF community for nearly fifty years. Ms. Jaquays’ career began in college, when she and her friends created “The Dungeoneer,” one of the first licensed Dungeons and Dragons fanzines. Now, from magazines to books, Ms. Jaquays’ art can be seen on multiple covers and throughout the pages of the many different forms and iterations of Dungeons and Dragons’ media. Having designed two modules of her own, “Dark Tower” and “The Caverns of Thracia,”  her writing was celebrated by players for eschewing traditional and linear game mechanics and are not only playable today–but continue to inspire game designers and GMs. Also known for her game industry work at companies such as Coleco, TSR, and id Software, Ms. Jaquays designed and contributed to multiple projects such as Coleco Vision, certain levels on the Quake II and III video games, arcade conversions of Pac-Man and Donkey-Kong, Halo Wars, and created an expansion pack in Age of Empires III. Ms. Jaquays was nominated for multiple H.G. Wells Awards for her work and creation of the “Dark Tower” D&D module and for her design and illustrations on“Griffin Mountain.” Her work with Coleco’s WarGames won her the 1984 Summer C.E.S. original software award. Additionally, Castle Greyhawk won an Origins Gamer’s Choice Award for “Best Role-Playing Adventure,” and in 2017, the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design inducted Ms. Jaquays into their hall of fame. Inspired by her own journey, Ms. Jaquays also became a recognized transgender activist, spending time working as the creative director of the Transgender Human Rights Institute. “A beacon of hope and inspiration, Jennell Jaquays worked tirelessly in the spirit of community while gifting us with her art, her games, and her stories for almost fifty years,” said SFWA Director-at-Large, Monica Valentinelli. “The Board is honored to commemorate Jennell Jaquays and her indelible legacy as an artist, writer, and game designer in the video game and tabletop roleplaying industries.” Accepting on behalf of Ms. Jaquays at the 59th Annual Nebula Awards is her wife, Rebecca Heineman.

[iamsosmaug]

Miraculous Fic Recs

Recently I've been complaining a lot on the internet how sucky the recent seasons of ML have been, and how much better the old fanfics are; I'm going to prove my point by sharing my tried-and-true rec list. Here we go.

Back To Us - Written in 2017, so some things are inaccurate. Basically Marinette, as Ladybug, kills Gabriel Agreste on accident by pushing him off the Eiffel Tower and Adrien moves to Milan. Seven years later Marinette is a rising fashion designer, her long-lost partner comes back seven years later but hot, and a new Hawkmoth shows up on the very day Adrien comes back. Suspicious. INCLUDES: Antihero!Chat. Alternate superhero names for Alya, Nino + there are only seven miraculouses which honestly I like a lot better than Ladybug just busting another one out whenever she feels like it. At one point, it was the longest fic in the fandom but now it's not even close. 446k. Requires an Ao3 account to read.

Second Chances- Again, written fairly early in the fandom. Adrien is a single dad and Alya volunteers Marinette to be his daughter's nanny - the premise sounds like it could turn out really weird but I promise it's not. Adorable adorable. INCLUDES: Past ChloexAdrien and MarinettexNathanael, and Adrien never went to school. Reverse best friends (Alya + Adrien, Mari + Nino). 105k.

Whose Woods These Are (I Think I Know) - Ladrien Cinderella AU. Super well-written in a kind of fairytale style. I honestly love this fic. 105k.

Spotty Connections - Adrienette texting fic (no miraculous AU, but does incorporate LadyNoir). Tikki & Plagg are M&A's cats. One of my favorites ever. 66k.

Film It - Adrien is a youtuber! Soon all of Twitter ships #adrienette. INCLUDES: Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting. Endgame Adrienette. Superheroes exist, but LB & CN aren't a huge part of this. Also worthy of note: #thatfoursome and a decent amount of Twitter formatting. This has pretty much everything I want in an Adrienette fic. 56k.

Chasing The C/h/atwalk - Project Runway AU. Marinette is a designer and Adrien... is her model. Shenanigans ensue. INCLUDES: Some LadyNoir, mostly after the identity reveal. #MarinetteInDenial. 100k. I love this fic.

Lucky Us - No Miraculous email AU. See Spotty Connections: LadyNoir incorporated without the actual superheroes. Fluff with a tiny bit of angst but still happy ending. 136k.

Secret Santa - fluff. Pure fluff; classic in the fandom. A bit cheesy and very outdated but very nice. Time for a reread. It has a sequel called New Year's Ball. 52k.

Être Majeur - horror, AU, fairly short, creepy and strange but really well-written. 24k. M for horror elements.

La Pucelle Et La Coccinelle - Absolute favorite. Explores Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc in this story) with the Ladybug Miraculous. INCLUDES: Actual historical references, lore for the miraculouses, and a flashforward to the future at the end with Marinette. 38k. I have it printed out, I love it so much.

Pray For the Children You Lost Along the Way - Silent Hill AU (Emilie Anderson from the arcade game is Adrien's mom). It has been on hiatus since 2019, but is still worth a read because so many things tie together in a satisfying way. 86k. Rated M b/c of Silent Hill-type things.

Under Lock and Key - Huge classic also published on Wattpad. Author/artist collab with Maerynn & EdenDaphne - Maerynn passed away while the fic was being written and ED finished it. Very nice art by ED. I view this fic as the quintessential 2017 era Adrienette fic. Very sweet and fluffy. 34k.

Tripped at Fencing - Gabriel hits Adrien. INCLUDES: Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting. Accidental identity reveal (Marinette finds out first). Only 5k but a classic.

The Butterfly and Her Brother series (Generations Past and Future) - written c. 2016. Gabriel is NOT Hawkmoth; Gabriel is not a villian in the least so technically OOC. First couple are set in the 1990s, then a couple in ~2016 and the latest in like 2044. I haven't read the last one in the series but WHATHGAWAATG (Europe gets taken over), featuring the next gen of Agrestes, is really good as well. Many things are outdated/false as this was written based off of s1, but I honestly like this interpretation of the Miraculous much better than how the show does it. Mama Agreste's name is Adele (again, s1) and I quite like her character. I freaking LOVE this series. I have it downloaded to my phone and I reread it when I'm feeling sad. 340k in total, but the longest work in the series is about 166k. SO many kudos.

a fight that you were born to lose - "Adrien finds out that Gabriel is Hawkmoth, and Gabriel gets to bring his long-waited plan into action." TW abuse, emotional manipulation, forced dieting. Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting. Fairly short for how well-rounded it is - 17k.

An Impromptu Proposal - what it says on the tin. Reverse love square kinda: Ladynoir requited love bc Adrien never went to school. Includes identity reveal and Hawkmoth!Lila takedown. 33k.

On The Prowl - Criminal CN. Also on ffn.net. Good story and TOTALLY a classic, but also uses 'ravenette' and 'sapphire orbs' unironically. The writing is okay if a little melodramatic. 53k.

Chat Noir's White French Man Hit List For Feminist Purposes - pretty much what it says on the tin. Sentimonster!Adrien. 7.8k.

i think it's time i told you (i'm a fan of your universe) - ladynoir proposal. v v nice. Just 5k. Smidge of angst.

The Ladyblog Comment Section - what it says on the tin. 27k. Hilarity and crack.

spark - Tinder AU. Lots of Marichat. Angst with a happy ending. 49k. Slow burn w/ eventual identity reveal.

all dressed up and nowhere to go - No Miraculouses modern royalty AU - human Tikki and Plagg. Mostly DJWifi but a mild amount of adrienette and a smidge of chlogami. Includes arranged marriage Adrien x Alya but they don't end up together. "Twenty-five-year-old Marinette is a wedding dress designer, business blooming in her trusty shop, Ladybug Bridal. When the engagement of Prince Adrien Agreste and Ancient Princess Alya Césaire is announced, all she expects is an influx of work. What she gets instead is... a bit different." 35k.

tangled ribbons - Ao3. ballet/dance AU (no miraculous). Adrienette with some DJWifi and human Tikki & Plagg. "Marinette is a small studio dancer who wins a scholarship to a summer long ballet intensive. Adrien is a famous ballet dancer who would rather be at home than at said intensive. The end of the summer will bring about a showcase that could make Marinette's career, if she can ignore Chloé and focus on something other than Adrien." 82k. The slowest of burns.

Where timing is kind to us - Ao3. marichat discusses quantum physics. 4.3k. This is a beautiful one-shot with a one-sided reveal.

[ninjastar107]

[Catch Me, If you Can] - a Chronological Taizo Hori centered Playlist

TRACK 01: 'Dog In The Desert' - LAKE (2013) [X] TRACK 02: 'The Man' - The Killers (2017) [X] TRACK 03: 'Sole Survivor' - Asia (1982) [X] TRACK 04: 'Here I Stand and Face the Rain' - A-HA (1985) [X] TRACK 05: 'Baby's Coming Back' - Jellyfish (1990) [X] TRACK 06: 'Take My Place' - Nik Kershaw (1989) [X] TRACK 07: 'Field Work' - Ryuichi Sakamoto (1986) [X]

(Track by Track breakdown under the cut!)

Hey, Thanks for taking the time out of your day to listen. Taizo Hori, aka the main protagonist of Dig Dug(1982), is a character who exists in the Mr Driller series as Susumu's father. He had 3 kids with Masuyo Toby(protagonist of Baraduke(1985), whom they aren't on the same terms.

He's a character with a large ego, who's never home, and who often has his thoughts elsewhere during serious situations. This selection of songs is both a dissection, as well as a fun head canon exercise, into his life. The progression of this playlist assumes that the arcade game Dig Dug, the Namco x Capcom game, and the Mr.Driller games all exist as one linear timeline.

Without further ado, lets get into it!

TRACK 01: 'Dog In The Desert' - LAKE (2013) -- It is not really known how or why Taizo was selected to handle what would be known later as the 'Dig Dug Incident'. It was a situation in Tokyo where monsters came up from the underground and were causing problems, and he was deployed solely to handle it. Taizo was "About [Susumus] age" when it occurred, and I like to think it was pretty rocky.

-- Themes of this song is about being abandoned or alone, but having a goal that's needed to be accomplished.

TRACK 02: 'The Man' - The Killers (2017) -- So after he defeats all of the monsters, he's a world renown hero! Certainly this does nothing for his ego and most definitely doesn't inflate it.

TRACK 03: 'Sole Survivor' - Asia (1982) -- In NxC, Taizo and Masuyo know each other due to their involvement during the disaster that was Baraduke. Taizo was in the Special Engineering Corps, and was the only survivor of that deployed division. Masuyo is mad at him for, what I assume, just how bad the operation went in total. BUT, they agree to work together again.....

TRACK 04: 'Here I Stand and Face the Rain' - A-HA --....and even fall in love. However, this relationship does not last. Their firstborn, Ataru, runs away. Susumu follows his dad's foosteps in becoming a driller, and Taiyo becomes a pilot(due to his claustrophobia). Somewhere between the two, Taizo and Masuyo Separate. (Its not known if they are divorced officially, or if they are simply separated).

TRACK 05: 'Baby's Coming Back' - Jellyfish (1990) --Taizo has a habit of never being around. This Annoys Masuyo(who has her own set of problems) and there's a general agreement for the two to meet at least once a week. I'm always a little crazy about how they are both so incompatible, but cannot get enough of each other. I like to think the Baraduke Disaster did a large number on both of their psyches.

--This song is about love, arguments, and the need for one another. It's not the healthiest but, it seems to be a cycle.

TRACK 06: 'Take My Place' - Nik Kershaw (1989) --There seems to be a sort of back and fourth with whether he's okay with Susumu being more famous and overall better than him. Hes constantly flipping between 'I'M the best, I'M the OG' and 'He's the best, and I trust him to handle himself okay'. I presume being Mr. Driller has a lot of responsibilities and skill, seeing that there's only a few people in the world with that title. Taizo just has to fight his ego, his need for recognition, and his laziness all the time, haha!

--This song is about 'passing on the crown' so to speak, and everything that comes with it.

TRACK 07: 'Field Work' - Ryuichi Sakamoto (1986) -- Dig dug Digging Strike, the main reason why this song is in this list. He's complaining at the TV when the phone rings and the guy on the line asks for his son to handle a situation. Fueled by his already bad mood, he decides to take it upon himself to prove that he's still capable of being a hero. Through the game he goes from 'I can handle it, don't worry about me!' to 'uggghhh do I have to..? uugghhh' to 'Okay. Susumu, this looks like its going to be tough, be ready for me'. which is very sweet.

[shadowjinx626]

IGNTR Headcanons

The IGNTR team are a tight nit family team, despite having a tough exterior. Ray and Gale gets massive headaches trying to make sure their pities and racer don't cause any trouble. Especially Laura and Jackson.

One of the IGNTR’s bosses, Carl Hussell, was determined to have Jackson be the number one racer and beat Lightning McQueen (for both personal and business reasons), that he have Jackson do massive amounts of training.

Only Ray and Gale interact with other teams. The pities and Jackson don’t really interact with the other teams until after the 2017 Piston Cup Championship.

After winning the 2017 Piston Cup Championship, the team celebrated in an arcade that Jackson would go to before he started racing.

Jackson Storm:

Is Japanese-American, with his mother being American and his father Japanese. Is the youngest in the family with two older siblings.

Use to work in the arcade Ray found him at before entering online racing competitions.

Gotten into physical fights and chases with other arcade players. Sometimes the police would get involve, but they never could catch Storm.

Made friends in the arcade, despite all of them wanting to act like their were just acquaintances. Jackson mentally kicked himself when he realizes that he didn't correct Ray when the truck called his friends "friends."

Jackson - despite having trust issues - values loyalty and trust. It's just gonna take awhile for him to warm up to strangers, even longer if they're the competition.

Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez were the only racers Jackson ever trash talk to during races. He doesn't interact with any of the other racers (both veteran and next-gen) until much later.

Jackson can play dirty, especially when pushed to the edge, but he ain't no cheater. If you're paired up with him, and he finds out you cheated, he's not going to cross that finish line for you.

Ray Reverham:

Ray was Jeff’s crew chief before the racer retired and became a sports journalist.

Despite being grateful that IGNTR for hiring him and Jackson, he doesn’t always follow what they say and IGNTR can't really fired him because if Ray goes, then Jackson goes.

After leaving Mr. Biggs, Ray was planning to let Jackson get more free time from training, but IGNTR wanted their racer to be the best as fast as possible despite his objections.

Whenever Jackson or any of the pit crew members messes up big time, he'll have them mop the floors of the IGNTR headquarters for weeks.

After Jackson rammed Cruz to the wall. Ray have Jackson not only mop the IGNTR headquarters floors, but took away his gaming privileges for a month.

The more he trained Jackson, the more he noticed that the racer may have mental health issues than he realizes.

Despite not being his crew chief, Ray is happy that Tim Treadless made it to the racing world.

Gale Beaufort:

The mom of the group who tends to be the one who gives life advice for the team. Even Ray comes to her for advice from time to time.

She the most social of the group and would converse with the other haulers. She even formed a close bond with Mack.

She values her appearance, she just likes being shinny. The team gives her good products to help her fell happy.

One time she wanted to go to a mall and accidentally took Jackson with her. It took Jackson suddenly asking why there were there for Gale to realize she forgot Jackson was still in the trailer. He still teases her about it to this day.

Laura Spinwell and the pities:

Laura Spinwell is the phone addicted, main mechanic of the pities. She is also highly arrogant about being the smartest one of the team who is rarely wrong about anything.

Knows about 95% of racing history, which benefits Jackson, who needs to keep up the “always been a racing fan” image for the press.

Done massive amounts of research on racing tricks that's been done in history. One racing trick she’s research was the 360 flip, but due to the trick never having documented success, she concluded that it was “scientifically” impossible (Laura never consulted with the IGNTR scientists if this trick was possible) and it was just a myth.

Whenever Jackson messes up, Laura would go up to him and do the “idiot sandwich” bit. Jackson and Laura made a deal that if she was ever wrong about anything, he'll get to call her an idiot sandwich for a month. (Laura Spinwell was called an idiot sandwich for a month after the Florida 500 race.)

Laura would have her fellow pities eavesdrop the other teams, while she focuses on their social media accounts. She needs to know if there’s any rumors, drama, or schemes going on for her team. She’s frustrated that almost none of the new Dinoco members (except for Cruz) have any accounts for her to follow.

They all tend to go behind Jackson, Ray, or Gale for protection whenever they get trouble with the other teams. Mostly Jackson, because he doesn’t really ask questions.

[strangest-blorbo-tourney]

Strangest blorbo tourney: prelims (propaganda under the cut)

Beebee (Adventures with Anxiety)

Vs. Cuphead (Cuphead [2017 game] & Cuphead Capers and Curios [Comic series] & The Cuphead Show [Netflix])

Beebee:

Beebee is an obscure character from the indie game Adventures with Anxiety by Nicky Case.

They’re the embodiment of a person’s anxiety. Beebee is bright red with big circular eyes that has two lines as pupils. Beebee is in the form of a wolf and some of their poses makes them look like they have two or no legs. They sent negative thoughts and intrusive images to their human, trying their best to protect them, while they’re also being detrimental to their human’s mental health (which they learn later in the media they’re in.)

They’re an anxious mess who know medical knowledge quite well. I love them ❤️.

Also they freaking canonically made a Tinder version of the Pokémon theme song…Yeah.

Also, here’s some quotes that Beebee has stated: A Funny Quote:

“Gasp! You’re scrolling your life away on Twitter! Again!”

Serious Quotes:

“I'm trying my best to be your guard-dog, but you keep seeing me as some Big Bad Wolf!”

“Despite everything, we're still here.”

“But I don't want to be a cowardly dog! I want to protect you! I want to be a good dog!”

“Building a healthy relationship with your emotions isn't as simple as clicking buttons on a screen.”

“I'm not "always valid," nor "always irrational." I'm just... trying my best.”

And of course, the quote Beebee said before dining their Tinder version of the Pokémon song:

“You think other people's genitals are Pokémon for us to collect?” (Btw their human doesn’t actually think this lol).

Cuphead:

He's always getting into trouble/doing wierd things for the laughs. Betting him and his brother's soul to the Devil, stealing coins to play an arcade game, eating raw WHOLE fish and crawfish, tying important items to fireworks and blasting them off into the sky, and repeatedly gambling his soul, Chalice's soul, and Mugman's soul on rock, paper, scissors. (He won the first time and kept going to see if he could continue winning).

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

Title: The Speedster Twins' Impreza Cars Custom, Meters, etc...

(Young Adult) Spot 🐶🏎️: Hello, September! 🍂🍁 It is ME, Spot Speedster and I'm celebrating my 13th Anniversary! 🥳🎊 And what better way than showing our trio of Subaru Impreza customs by my Mr. creator himself! 😄

(Young Adult) Riya 🐰🏎️: By the way, no #OnThisDay throwback post from my creator because of said anniversary! (W/ (Young Adult) Miya 🐰🐻🔋) Happy Anniversary, Spot! 🐶🏎️🥳🎊

(Young Adult) Spot 🐶🏎️: Why, thank you Ri & Mi! Really appreciated!😊 You've already seen US wearing different clothes, with our cars behind us right? Now, its time to gave our trio of custom IMPREZA Cars a SPOT-light! ✌✌ See, I did there with a pun? Hehe! 😅

(Young Adult) Riya 🐰🏎️: Aah, I see you did there, twin bro! 😁👉👉 So, as he said, our IMPREZA cars were based on the recent arcade game (Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune series), that we've been played before, since our respective debut! The OG IMPREZA GRB model was used to be "POCO–", debuted on Jul. 24th, 2010 in WMMT3DX Plus installment → [CLICK ME! #1], [CLICK ME! #2]. 🇯🇵🚘 Fun fact: The word "POCO" was named after creator's favorite adorable blue boy, "Pocoyo" (still an adorable boy and his educated show, to this very day). 🔵👶😊 Then by the time I debuted on Sept 20th, 2013 as ME "Riya, without a last name" 🐰🗓️, WMMT4 was rolled out and he gave me the keys and change it to my name "RIYA★", on Oct. 23rd, 2013 → [CLICK ME!].🗓️ Yes, NOT "November", unfortunately. ☝️😮 But then, I realized that the GRB car model doesn't suit my Impreza taste 🤔, so I returned his keys were he belongs, and I decided to registered my own "TRUE IMPREZA" car in the form of the "GDB-F" model from scratch, in 2017's WMMT5DX installment → [CLICK ME!]! And the rest was history for ME and my aforementioned "TRUE IMPREZA" car! 💙🌸🇯🇵🚘😁 Now, let's hear our Speedster's 13th birthday boy!

(Young Adult) Spot 🐶🏎️: Thanks, Ri! Unlike hers, the named "SPOT" still remain on the Impreza GDB-C model. And believe IT or NOT, the tuning card itself with a tremendous stats was actually came out from the illegal cloning. And to this day, we still don't know who owns the original turning card? 🤔 Was this car debuted from the 1st two Wangan Maxi Tune installments, or maybe on the 3rd installment? We may never know. 🤷‍♀️ The 2010's "SPOT–" tuning card was gifted by his former best friend on May 9th, 2010 🗓️ (three days after his 17th birthday 🥳🎁), the day were his Wangan career starts → [CLICK ME! #1], [CLICK ME! #2]. Which, he didn't drive well without any sort of tutorial. 😕 Yeah, I've feel your pain, sir. However, the named "SPOT" sparked his mind from playing Wangan Maxi Tune, and so the following year (2011) he's working on a concept sketch for an OC based on the CHOWDER! TV show! Yup, "Spot, without a last name" was born that's ME 😁👈 , on Sept. 30th, 2011! 🐶🗓️ He gave the keys to ME, and to this day, I still owned the cool IMPREZA car! Though, I changed from the 5th text from a figure dash "SPOT–" to a wonderful star "SPOT★", just like hers, from 2013's WMMT4 (Jan 8th, 2013) → [CLICK ME!]. 🗓️ 🟦🟥🇯🇵🚘😁 The rest, shall I say was history without me changing any cars! 😁 Fun fact: I struck a luck, when I have this awesome Namco racing meter → [CLICK ME!], but I rather stick with the classic IMPREZA meter! 😉

(Young Adult) Riya 🐰🏎️: Don't forget, that we've finally got our last name, in 2015, twin bro! You know, the named "Speedster" → [CLICK ME!]? 😄

(Young Adult) Spot 🐶🏎️: Ah, yeah! That's US in our pre-teen age dressing our new attire, and new cars, too! Of course, we never forget that as well as our tag occupation "apprentice", Ri! 😁 Now, what about YOU, Mi? 😏

(Young Adult) Miya 🐰🐻🔋: Well, I'm just NEW here! 🤷‍♀️ But, I'm always part of the Speedster's family blood tree, ya know! 🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒🌳 Keep it mind, I have the same age as you two twins! Nonetheless, you twins had a LONG HISTORY with your Wangan Maxi Tune careers, and your impressive IMPREZA cars that you've still driven! 😮 While my IMPREZA car here was came from the awesome racing simulator game, "Gran Turismo 4"! 🟦🟥🎮 Sure, it is ✌️ "Temporary" ✌️ because Bandai Namco Amusement didn't released the 1st OG 'Bug Eye' IMPREZA Car to their recent Wangan Maxi Tune arcade, so I might stick with this cool IMPREZA car! Based on the "Super Touring Car" base model → [CLICK ME!], I tweak some of their parts from the mirrors, to the front and rear bumpers to matched their twin's IMPREZA aesthetics. 🔧🚘🙂 What do ya think, twins? 😁

(Young Adult) Spot 🐶🏎️: Wow, pretty cool car, Mi! 😁👍

(Young Adult) Riya 🐰🏎️: Yeah, I admired your work, Mi! It matches our IMPREZA aesthetics! Now, about the meters? Why do you have two meters? 🤔

(Young Adult) Miya 🐰🐻🔋: Yeah, I'm glad you ask, Mi. The OG one right here, I made it very confusing from my personal colors. 😵 It made me tripping, Ri. So, I copied your patterns from scratch and voila! I made it better than before! 😄

(Young Adult) Spot 🐶🏎️: You did good, Mi! 😊👍 Uh yeah, we forgot to tell ya, that these right here are our IMPREZA racing meters (based on this image → [CLICK ME!]), and other parts (like 'Neon (Straight) lights' and 'window sitckers') based on the Wangan Maxi Tune series. 🔧🚘🙂

(Young Adult) Riya 🐰🏎️: Yeah, although, our racing meters didn't matched from the game, we decided to make our own personal! 😉

(Young Adult) Miya 🐰🐻🔋: As for the entire interior? Well, we'll just have to the same personal colors, with the exception of the steering wheel, manual knobs, and dashboards. 🎨🖌️🚘 🙂 So, Spot! Since its YOUR birthday, got anything else to say? 😄

(Young Adult) Spot 🐶🏎️: Nah, not at all! 🙂 I think its time for us to close the curtains for the annual "Speedster Kids' Appreciation Month"! So, overall, its been fun celebrating it! 😄

(Young Adult) Riya 🐰🏎️: Yeah, sir! From Aace & May's summer/love moment and his 1st year celebration 🐶🐺⭐❤️👊💥🐰, to our OG clothing 🧢👕🧤👖🧦👟, and now revealing our AWESOME IMPREZA Cars! 🇯🇵🚘😁

(Young Adult) Miya 🐰🐻🔋: Though, keep it mind, Aace is saving his owned JDM Car, soon! 😉 I bet, he's up to something... 😏

(Young Adult) Spot 🐶🏎️: You bet! 🙂 And tell him happy '1st year Anniversary' from us! 😁

Young Adult) Riya 🐰🏎️: Yeah, happy '1st year Anniversary', Aace! 😄

(Young Adult) Miya 🐰🐻🔋: Sure thing! 😊

Me 🇵🇭: Well, that's all for now! And happy 13th Anniversary, Spot! 🐶🏎️🥳🎊

(Young Adult) Spot 🐶🏎️: Thank you, sir! 😄🤜🤛

Previous: • The Speedster Twins in their 20s (Plus, Miya Speedster In Her 20s "Fixed") (Sept 20th, 2024) • Miya Speedster In Her 20s (Sept 10th, 2024) • Summer fun with May & Aace (Sept 2nd, 2024) • Aace's Wan Year & Aace x May - Clothing Doodle (Sept 1st, 2024)

Title, etc. - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune series and Wangan Midnight © Bandai Namco Entertainment, Inc., Namco, Kodansha Title, etc. - Gran Turismo series © SIE, Polyphony Digital

[videocookieseng]

The next installment of Marvel Vs Capcom is here!

And it’s made by fans!

…Wait, what?

It’s been quite some time since the last game we got from the series. As many know, Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite left much to be desired; however, despite this slight stumble in the history of these games, everyone continues to enjoy the saga. Yes, everyone, there is not a single person who doesn’t love the MvC titles.

Due to this undeniable fact and the lack of new VS games, it was only a matter of time before a group of (super)heroes took control of the situation. Thanks to their great efforts and dedication, one of the best things that could happen in recent times manifested itself: mods! But not just any mod, these are for the favorite of many: Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3.

It hasn’t been easy to get to this point. Unlike other games, UMVC3 had too many restrictions, and creating a mod seemed almost impossible a couple of years ago. The tools were few, the options limited, and at most, only small aesthetic changes could be made, nothing that would catch the public’s attention outside of the most hardcore fans; not to mention that the PC version was released in 2017, six years after the original on consoles! Today, words are lacking to describe how much these dedicated modders have achieved.

In this post, we will review the timeline of UMVC3 mods, a task that started as a dream and is now a reality, and what a reality it is. Grab some popcorn and keep scrolling, there’s a lot to see!

For a better experience, I recommend reading and watching the videos in the order presented.

Level 1: Cool!

The first mods were simple. Not many changes could be made. As expected, the most basic was to change colors, textures, and music. In the following images, we can compare the original alternate colors of Akuma versus the colors modified by user BruicidalBleathMetal on Gamebanana, on April 13, 2017.

(Akuma, original alternate colors. Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3).

(Akuma, modified colors. Source: BruicidalBleathMetal, Gamebanana).

————————- 0 ————————-

Level 2: Great!

During this time, it was believed to be difficult to do anything beyond colors. Extra characters? New modes? Yes, sure… modifying the game was almost impossible. But then a light began to fall from the sky and it looked closer and closer and closer… No wait, it wasn’t a light, it was Doom doing a FOOT DIVE.

This is when it was discovered that some VERY small edits to movements could be made; as small as saying that if a projectile went to the right in the original game, now it could be changed to go in a random direction, wow!

(Arthur’s projectiles here should go forward, but they were changed to be launched in any direction).

This discovery was important; being able to modify movement statistics meant making them better or worse. Where does this lead? To balancing the game! (something that Capcom didn’t seem too interested in, cough cough). UMVC3 is notorious for having very powerful characters. This inevitably resulted in the first major mods focusing on balance, such as UMVC3 Arcade Edition, Project Mahvel, UMVC3EX, among others; different mods with the same goal: nerfing Morrigan, Vergil, and Zero (lol).

(UMVC3 Arcade Edition gameplay).

————————- 0 ————————-

Level 3: Awesome!

Well, we’ve modified movements, can we do anything else with them? Yes! We can alter their properties, swap them between characters, compile them into one. We can give Doom’s missiles to Chun-Li…

Chun-Li with missiles? That sounds familiar…

Here’s how the first “original” characters appeared: Shadow Lady over Chun-Li, Lilith over Morrigan, Orange Hulk over Hulk, and Evil Ryu over Ryu. Unlike previous mods, these characters were not the originals with balance alterations; no, these were unique characters and functionally different from their counterparts, a concept seen in earlier games in the series like Marvel Vs. Capcom 1. These became known as “palette swap” characters (or PS from now on).

(The first developed Palette Swap characters).

————————- 0 ————————-

Level 4: Wonderful!

The beginning of greatness. Let’s get straight to the point; finally, we see our first completely original character*: Captain Marvel, created by Tabs, one of the most important modders in the scene.

*IgnoringthefactthatsheappearedinMVCInfinite,sonotTHAToriginal.

(The first look at Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, using the Phoenix model as a base).

This could be considered the true beginning of the scene. The importance of Captain Marvel was considerable, as it would lead to the discovery and development of techniques that resulted in the creation of other original characters like Ken, Cyclops, Thanos, and more.

These techniques involved taking animations and movements from other characters and putting them in one place since creating them from scratch was impossible. You can clearly see how we could have new characters, but still using resources from the same game:

(First look at Cyclops, using C. Viper as a base).

However, by only being able to use these resources, some… interesting results occurred. C. Viper was used because she already has a movement in reference to Cyclops’ “Optic Laser.” After editing the model and some textures, this is how our favorite laser pointer turned out:

(Cyclops… your arms��).

But hey! If you squint your eyes, it kinda looks similar, right? (coping).

I can’t help but mention one of the most iconic side effects of this experiment: a hip movement that is quite…*sweats*.

(Shakira who?).

————————- 0 ————————-

Maximum Level?!: Viewtiful!

Cyclops and the others can now shed their old skin and show off their glorious designs they’ve always had. This is thanks to a model importer that was developed. Gone are the days of taking and editing existing models; now, everyone can look as we know and love them.

(Model importer announcement screenshot).

Here’s a trailer of how the game was looking at the time with all the aforementioned improvements:

(Gameplay trailer of PS characters with their new models).

————————- 0 ————————-

Level 6: Uncanny!

Okay, okay, I know seeing these characters in this way is amazing, but calm down; we’re not done yet, there’s something very important missing in this journey.

Because the modified characters replace their original counterparts, pairs like Cyclops and Viper or Frank West and Ultron couldn’t exist on the same team. Is it because these pairs are enemies who secretly love each other and that’s why they can’t be together? Yes No, the PS characters use the space of an original character, meaning both cannot coexist within the game at the same time. Even if you wanted to have them together, it’s simply impossible.

Or it was! At this point in the timeline, modder Gneiss developed a tool called the “Clone Engine,” allowing him to create new spaces independent of those used by the original cast. Now you CAN have Frank West and Ultron together, the pair of your dreams.

A fun fact about this section is that YouTuber Maximilian Dood, known for his fighting game content, put a bounty for anyone who could develop this tool, and as you can guess, Gneiss was the one who claimed it. Here’s Max offering the reward and here awarding it to Gneiss.

(Gneiss showing that it’s possible to have two characters using the same space on the same team).

————————- 0 ————————-

Level 7: Crazy!

We have everything we need, what more could be missing after so much?

Well… the PS characters are still based on movements from others. Believe it or not, the animations you’ve seen in the previous videos are still not created from scratch by the modders but continue to use the technique of taking animations from the base characters and combining and editing them to create new ones. In their early stages, this resulted in what happened with Cyclops, but after much trial and error, it was hardly noticeable that this wasn’t official game content.

This video from CaliKingz, another important modder for the scene, shows the immense progress made as months passed. He has created characters like Gambit, IceMan, Captain Commando, and many more.

(Gambit gameplay).

However, now it’s no longer necessary to do this only, and the process is much simpler (at least in comparison), as we finally have:

(First trailer of PS characters with custom animations).

————————- 0 ————————-

Level 8: Unstoppable!

FINALLY! We’re almost at the end of our story, for now. The last thing to mention is that people are working on the next big barrier: creating a stable online mode using Rollback netcode.

Did you play UMVC3 online? Or maybe other games like Smash Bros. or Street Fighter IV? If the answer is yes, then you know that playing them online was like trying to fight underwater, unless maybe you lived near your opponent. That’s what this mod is trying to change.

If you don’t know, in very basic terms, Rollback is a system that makes playing online feel the same as playing offline, without delay when pressing a button, no matter where your opponent is. The system instantly handles latency between both players, making “predictions” of where the characters are when a button is pressed. Yes, it’s somewhat complicated, but the important thing is that it results in a much smoother experience. Games like Mortal Kombat 1, Street Fighter VI, and many more use this system.

Not everything goes as one would like, however. Twitter user HkHaan96 was working on this mod, but then gave us the latest update on this project in November 2023. Despite having successful tests, he announces that he will no longer work on it, and other people would take his place. To date, we haven’t had any news about this, but let’s hope that someday we can have something that gives UMVC3 the online mode it deserves. We thank Hk for his dedication!

(Demonstration that both versions can be synchronized with Rollback).

————————- 0 ————————-

And thus, we arrive at the present, quite a long journey, isn’t it?

Now we can enjoy something that was only fantasies years ago. Remember in the ‘90s when you played MVC1 for the first time in the arcade, and that made you think, “What if in the future I could make Doctor Wily fight against Doctor Octopus?” No, just me? Well, but now it could happen!

It’s a matter of waiting and seeing what more these dedicated and hardworking modders do. Who knows, maybe you can become one and create that dream character. The possibilities are truly “Infinite.”

Thanks to:

- Tabs, for their help with information about the first PS characters. Subscribe to their YouTube channel or follow them on Twitter to see their latest mods.

- Marvel Modded, for their help confirming the mods timeline. Follow them on Twitter to stay updated on the biggest mod “Community Edition,” a project that aims to unite all mods made by the community.

- All modders in the scene, for their great efforts that will keep this game alive for many years to come. The list would be endless if we included everyone, but please know you are all extremely appreciated!

[duhragonball]

Super Dragon Ball Heroes 1-6

We’ve reached the final (planned) stop on the 2023 Dragon Ball Apocrypha Liveblog, and it’s the most apocryphal series of all, the Super Dragon Ball Heroes web anime!

Here’s the deal.  In 2010, Bandai Namco published a trading card arcade game called Dragon Ball Heroes.  Then in 2016 they updated it to improve the user experience, and renamed it Super Dragon Ball Heroes.   A manga adaptation of the game began in 2017, and then in 2018 Toei began this “original net animation” to promote the game. 

My engagement with the DBH franchise has been superficial at best.  Mostly, I just rock out to the theme songs when I find them on YouTube.  I’ve never played the games because I have no idea where and how to play them, and the gameplay doesn’t look all that compelling to me.  I think some of this stuff is only available in Japan?  I’ve never bothered to find out, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

And yet, I’m somewhat familiar with the story mode from the games, as they involve the Time Patrol, which I wanted to research for the fanfic I’m writing, part of which serves as a prose adaptation of Xenoverse 1.  I even wrote a guest appearance with several characters from DBH, and I might use them again down the line.  Also, the manga contains some backstory involving Towa and Demigra, who also appear in Xenoverse 1, and feature heavily in my fic.  So I’ve read some of the manga, and I watched some of the web anime, but mostly for the purpose of scraping them for useful lore. 

From what I can tell, the entire thing is a mess from a story perspective.  The game has been around for 13 years, so it’s clearly a success, but the manga feels completely removed from the story the game tries to tell, and the web anime seems to go off in a completely different direction from that.  At its core, Dragon Ball Heroes is mainly about answering the question “Wouldn’t it be cool if you teamed up with Super Saiyan 3 Vegito to fight Dark Demon Baby Majin Hatchiyack?”  The answer is obviously “hell yeah”, so I don’t understand why we need a manga and anime version to tell stories that don’t really touch on what makes the game fun. 

Mostly, I wanted to run through this web anime for the sake of completion.  The whole thing is up on YouTube, ripe for the viewing, but I keep losing track of which episodes I’ve already seen, and I can never remember what the hell happened.  So this is where we put the “log” in “liveblog”.

We’re starting today with the first six episodes, which make up the Prison Planet arc of the show.  That may sound like a lot of ground to cover, but these episodes are short, so we’re only talking about 40-45 minutes of footage.

The story begins with Goku and Vegeta training with Whis on Beerus’ planet.  Also, the Supreme Kai is here serving tea, and then Future Mai runs over, so she’s here too, apparently.  According to Shin, they came to Beerus’ planet so Trunks could train, but this scene make it look like Mai came here alone, which I’m pretty sure is impossible.  Maybe Whis or Shin brought her, except she was supposed to be with Trunks, so why is everyone just now finding out he didn’t make it?

To be clear, this is the Blue-haired Trunks and Future Mai from the Zamasu arc.  When we last saw them, Whis had arranged for them to take refuge in an alternate timeline where Zamasu hadn’t killed everyone yet.  It was also made clear that they would never return from that world, but SDBH just has them dropping in like it’s Sunday brunch.  Now, you might be asking “Didn’t you just say Xeno Trunks was a character in Heroes?  Why isn’t that version of Trunks in this show?”  And to that I say: Don’t worry, he’s in this too, just not as much.

Then this shady-looking dude named Fu shows up and tells everyone that Trunks is trapped on “The Prison Planet”.  Vegeta asks how he could possibly know that, and Fu explains that he’s a friend of Trunks and he investigated his disappearance.  I like how skeptical Vegeta is of this story.  “My son doesn’t have friends, get the fuck outta here.”

So Goku, Vegeta, and Mai travel to the Prison Planet, which is just a bunch of clip art of planets from our solar system clustered together and surrounded by cartoon chains.  It looks stupid as hell, like they told the art department “We need a prison planet design, and make it as literal as possible.”

There, the gang meets a second Goku, who can turn Super Saiyan 4. This is not the same Goku from Dragon Ball GT, and official sources refer to him as “Xeno Goku”.  He’s an agent of the Time Patrol, and when he encounters the other Goku, they get into a classic superhero misunderstanding and fight.  Then Fu shows up and it quickly becomes clear that he’s the one behind all of this.   Xeno Goku is on a mission to apprehend Fu, and Fu brags that he uses the Prison Planet to trap powerful warriors for his experiments.  Fu tricked Trunks into coming here, then used him as bait to lure Goku and Vegeta.  Xeno Goku pretended to get caught in order to infiltrate this place, but that suits Fu’s purposes, since he’s trapped here now. 

He tells them to find Trunks themselves, and says something about how they’ll have to gather the Dragon Balls on the Prison Planet.  Xeno Goku has one, but the other six are in the hands of the other prisoners.  This sounds like a pretty decent gauntlet for the good guys to go through, but this whole idea gets abandoned by Episode 2.

Meanwhile, Trunks wakes up in a cell with a prison uniform and some sort of tracking bracelet on his arm.   Then the wall opens up and he runs out into a city.  Then Cooler attacks him, seeking the Dragon Balls.  This seems like a pretty cool premise, more authentic to the “Prison Planet” title, but this is all dropped immediately.

From his lab, Fu watches everyone and seems extremely pleased with what’s going on, although he never explains why, or what his plan is.  Get used to this, because this is pretty much all he ever does.

Meanwhile, he’s got this other guy locked away.  His name is Cumber, the Masked Evil Saiyan, and he has a Dragon Ball too.  At the end of episode 1, Fu says it’s not quite time for him to get involved yet.  In Episode 2, Cumber breaks free and heads straight for the good guys to attack them.

Goku tries to punch Cumber, but Cumber has this weird power where if you touch his ki, it makes you go berserk.  That sounds pretty awesome, except it only happens to Goku here, just once, and then it never gets brought up again.  I notice I’m saying that a lot here. 

Also, berserk Goku’s skin is darker for some reason, which I like better, actually, except this is supposed to signify Cumber’s dark energy corrupting him or something, so that seems kind of problematic. 

Fortunately for Vegeta, Trunks and Cooler show up to help.  Yeah, Cooler’s on our side for this.  Apparently he and Trunks came to some sort of understanding between Episodes 1 and 2.  The prison clothes were pointless, since Mai brought along Trunks’ own clothing, so he changes out of them to join the fight. 

During his captiviy, Cooler heard from Fu about Golden Frieza, so he decides to try that for himself and succeeds immediately.  This is treated like some big game-changing moment, as if fans haven’t been photo-shopping Cooler since 2015.  Cooler than goes “I think I shall call this form.................... Golden Cooler!” like there was any possible other name he would have used.

Goku finally comes to his senses, but then Cumber breaks free of his restraints. Trunks goes in to distract him while Goku and Vegeta use Potara earrings which the Supreme Kai gave to Mai before they set off on this trip. 

So it’s Vegito Blue vs. Cumber, and things get so rough that Vegito has to do a Kai-o-ken on top of Blue.  Here’s a picture of Golden Cooler just standing there like an asshole watching. 

Vegito seems to gain the upper hand, but then Cumber reveals he knows the fake moon technique, and he turns into a giant ape.  I’m not sure why he’s this orange color, unless this is meant to be like Golden Oozaru tainted with evil ki or whatever.  The thing is, they keep calling Cumber an “Evil Saiyan”, but he hasn’t actually done anything that evil.  I mean, he choked out Trunks, but there’s plenty of regular Saiyans who would do the same thing if they could.  “Evil Saiyan” implies that he’s some kind of next-level evil, like hanging goat entrails over his altar to Moloch or something.

His first ki blast causes Vegito’s fusion to dissolve, but perhaps more importantly, Cumber’s fighting at such an intensity that it’s damaging the giant chains that seal the Prison Planet off from the rest of the universe.

Goku and Vegeta decide their only chance now is to cut off Cumber’s tail, and Trunks flies in to back them up.  Mai watches from the sidelines, and she’s got two more Potara earrings.  Wait, how many of these things did Shin give her, anyway?

At this point, Fu finally notices the cracks in the seal on the Prison Planet and goes to the battlefield to scold Cumber in person.  He takes out his sword and does some sort of technique to dispel the fake moon and reverse Cumber’s Oozaru transformation without cutting his tail. 

Fu withdraws, apparently satisfied that he’s brought the fight down to a more acceptable level.  This pretty much puts us back where we started, except Goku’s now using Super Saiyan God to fight Cumber, even though we just saw Cumber give Vegito a hard time at Super Saiyan Blue.  Cumber seems to recognize the God form somehow, but he never explains his reaction to it, and this never gets brought up again.

Despite Fu’s intervention, the chains break away completely.  You’d think this would upset Fu, and he is upset, but not because of this...

No, he’s upset because, while he was away, someone found his lab and wrecked it.  Now he can’t monitor the battle, which disrupts his experiment. 

Cumber wrecks Goku’s shit, which knocks him out for a while, but fortunately Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta show up to defend him. Seems that they were the ones who wrecked Fu’s lab, and I guess that explains where Xeno Vegeta was until this moment.  He was scouting out the lab, waiting for an opening. 

I don’t know why the other Vegeta isn’t getting involved in this fight.  I think he’s okay, but he just stands with Trunks and Mai watching the battle. I mean, Golden Cooler is doing the same thing, but I think we’ve already established that Golden Cooler is just an asshole.

Xeno Vegeta suggests that they fuse, since Cumber’s one tough bastard.  He hates fusion, but he’s willing to make an exception.  So for those of you keeping score, this is the second fusion in less than six episodes.

So now it’s Super Saiyan 4 Vegito vs. Cumber, who decides to bust out Super Saiyan 3.  You can tell because his eyebrows are gone.  This seems weird, because base Cumber was giving Vegito Blue a hard time, so the only conclusion I can make here is that SSJ4 is stronger than Blue, or Cumber’s transformations don’t mean much.

Vegito 4 seems to beat Cumber, but then Fu shows up again to confront the jerks who broke his lab. 

Then Cumber rejoins the battle, and Fu observes that the seal on the Prison Planet has been broken. And he seems... happy about this?  If this was what he wanted all along, why did he cancel Cumber’s Oozaru form?  He says that “they will revive soon”, and leaves.

I like how he uses his sword (swords?) to cut an X-shaped portal for himself.  That’s a nice touch. 

Xeno Goku wants to chase after Fu, but they have to rescue the others from Cumber, who’s fired a giant ki blast at them.  Regular Vegeta complains about Regular Goku just lying there passed out, when...

Goku suddenly wakes up and goes Ultra Instinct.  While he fights Cumber alone, the rest of them teleport back to Beerus’ planet.  Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta say their farewells and head off to continue the hunt for Fu, and I guess everyone just assumes that Regular Goku can save himself when he’s ready.

Just as Goku beats Cumber, another portal opens up, and out comes... Zamasu?  And he’s got a posse.  They grab Cumber and leave.

This leaves Goku alone on the Prison Planet as it explodes.  Nice callback to the destruction of Namek, except Goku can use Instant Transmission, so why isn’t he?

Back on Beerus’ planet, the Supreme Kai of Universe 6 suddenly shows up, and he breathlessly informs Vegeta and the rest about an invasion in his home universe.  Dammit, now I have to look up his name.  Fuwa.  The Supreme Kai of U6 is named Fuwa.  Glad we settled that.

Vegeta’s like “I’m a bad enough dude to save Universe 6.  Let’s rock.”

So yeah, this is a bunch of nonsense.  There is a plotline running through all of this, but Toei presented the first six episodes like it’s a single story arc, and it’s more like the first leg of a larger story arc.  There’s hints of something more ambitious here.  Trunks’ prison uniform and the Dragon Balls suggest that they might have been planning to spend more time in this setting, but instead the whole thing explodes in less time than it takes to get a pizza delivered. 

This probably goes without saying, but there’s too many characters in this thing.  We have two Gokus and two Vegetas, and both pairs fuse to make two Vegitos.  It’s fanservice, I get it, but it’s over before we can really get into it.  Golden Cooler literally doesn’t do anything.  I mean Mai doesn’t do much either, but that’s because she doesn’t have any powers.  I don’t know which one irritates me more. 

I like the idea of Cumber, but they never fleshed him out.  Fu keeps teasing details about the guy, but we never find out where he found Cumber or how he got him here, or why he wears that mask.  At least Cumber is still alive so he can return in future episodes and hopefully give us the scoop, but I’m not optimistic that we’ll get much. 

[hastings727]

Fighting Games are a Bit Funny for Me

I had fighting games as a kid (smash brothers, soul calibur, tekken, cabinets at random arcades) but I never knew there was more than just mashing. The most I played was melee and soul calibur 2 on my gamecube and even then, I never bothered to look at the movelist (hell I probably didn't even know there was one) and I just played Link and the single player stuff. It was fun! Fast forward to 2013 and my dumb early 20s self having experienced competitive racing in Forza 4 and then the absolute brainrot that is league of legends. But the moment that Cloud 9 signed a smash player is when I smelled colors for the first time, because I realized that cute smash game I played as a kid had a fucking competitive scene for literally decades? So that blew my mind and *LETS JUST GO PAST ALL THE SMASH COMPETITIVE STUFF* Suffice to say I played smash 4 and a bit of melee for a time in my region. Then I watch EVO 2014 finals until 3am, find my local scene for traditional fighting games, and find the brainrot that is Skullgirls as my first fighting game. I will always love SG but the way it plays completely fucked me up for trying to play other fighting games because of how the game works. Fast forward AGAIN past all that wonderful nonsense of finding some of the best friends of my entire life and learning fighting games with them and Guilty Gear XRD drops and I eventually play it and find Faust, my first true fighting game love.

I had fighting game mains before but Faust was the true feeling of love. I loved his goofiness, the items, the random wild moments, the absolute INSANITY of it all. But then, my hubris. I am a sore loser, a sore winner, a sore everything. I took these games too seriously and all of my local friends have been playing fighting games since they were kids, and here my dumb ass is trying to beat them with less than half the experience. It was humiliating for me, and only for me because no one actually insulted or made fun of me, I basically ruined my own mental health.

Fast Forward again because in 2017 the twins were born and I basically had to stop alot of my life for a while. I play sparingly and mostly watch stuff because thats all you have time for as a parent to infants. Alot of games get rollback, I try Plus R and like it until the competitive tryhard brainrot ruins me because another friend who has more experience in these games beats me and I basically give up for a while. Strive drops, I cry about faust being different and play Anji. I play the game on and off for the next 3 years and mostly do other shit.

These days I'm actually very clear minded as I have largely ripped the competitive brainrot out of my head and play these games 110% for improvement and exploring my own ability to get good. I no longer care about the W, only in so much as it signifies that I've improved slightly. That clearheadedness has extended to other game genres I play like FPS' and MOBAs, but grinding competitive ladders is largely dead to me because I just, dont care about winning anymore. Strive is the closest to me in terms of "i grind ranked". But the only reason I do so is because the character levels up faster in the ranked towers than in the Park lol. And I like number go up. I also just, really enjoy strive. For all the work they put in to condense movelists, the characters all largely still do the same thing. I can say certain ones still feel like they need a bit of something (Testament feels like they need one of their old specials back, or some sorta trap mechanic to add to their fireballs and arbiter signs) But largely the game is successful in still allowing characters to do new things while still feeling like their old mechanics. IF you actually took the time to read my shit, wow thank you. You can find me on Strive as Revima and that is also my discord tag. I play Anji and Elphelt and I'm learning more characters for funzies. I also play a bit of SF6, 3rd strike, Vsav, and I'm learning jojos HTFT. I like improving now. I'm so happy I do because I dont want to go back to the brain rot.

[curio-queries]

Run BTS: 018 | Arcade Olympics part 2

Original Air Date: 18 APR 2017 Episode Length: 20:10 Total Parts: 2 YouTube English Subtitles: Yes Title Song: Blood Sweat & Tears

Synopsis: Gaming at an arcade continued

Production: I wonder if these were originally meant to be one episode and they took too long getting through the first two games...

Endearment: More hanging out with the guys. They're definitely all warmed up by now, and it's clearly a competition between the members and not between the members and the games.

Winner: RM

Loser: YG...and JM

Best Cheater: none...maaaaybe Jin for some of the shenanigans during the air hockey game but it was more entertainement and less cheating so I'm not counting it.

Member Moments:

RM: RM is soooo invested in the air hockey matches, loving the passion!

JN: Jin was on fire as an entertainer this episode...the less said about the air hockey incident, the better ;)

YG: Suga plays air hockey exactly the way I do...don't think I've ever won either lol

JH: Yes, Hobi...your costume for Dope absolutely imbued you with the spirit of a racer...of course!

JM: my poor lil chim chim. air hockey is definitely not your game but he absolutely made the match with Jin one of the most entertaining!

V: V has got to contain his strength! the man is a menace on an air hockey table!

JK: JK dancing on Suga during the 95z race was so cute!

Bonus Content: Just fun little extra moments

CQ Rank: 3

(CQ Eval Date: 29 SEPT 2023)

Check out this post for my Masterlist of all episodes and descriptions of how I'm evaluating these.

Previous Episode: 017

Next Episode: 019

[pastellich]

My Best Abums of the 2010s list:

68 Daft Punk - Random Access Memories [2013]

67 Let's Eat Grandma - I'm All Ears [2018]

66 Rihanna - ANTI [2016]

65 Taylor Swift - 1989 [2014]

64 Oddisee - The Odd Tape [2016]

63 School of Seven Bells - SVIIB [2016]

62 The Naked and Famous - Passive Me, Aggressive You [2010]

61 Pink Floyd - The Endless River [2014]

60 Moonsorrow - Jumalten Aika [2016]

59 Chvrches - The Bones Of What You Believe [2013]

58 Great Grandpa - Four of Arrows [2019]

57 Arcade Fire - The Suburbs [2010]

56 Machine Head - Unto the Locust [2011]

55 Esperanza Spalding - Emily's D+Evolution [2016]

54 Charly Bliss - Young Enough [2019]

53 Blank Banshee - Blank Banshee 0 [2012]

52 How to Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion [2013]

51 Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will [2011]

50 Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun [2017]

49 Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! [2012]

48 Mitski - Be The Cowboy [2018]

47 Lorde - Pure Heroine [2013]

46 Let's Eat Grandma - I, Gemini [2016]

45 Kali Uchis - Isolation [2018]

44 Fun - Some Nights [2012]

43 Aphex Twin - Syro [2014]

42 Sound Of Ceres - Nostalgia For Infinity [2016]

41 Mogwai - Rave Tapes [2014]

40 Various Artists - Black Panther The Album [2018]

39 Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana [2013]

38 Supergiant Games - Bastion Original Soundtrack [2011]

37 Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer [2018]

36 Gorillaz - Humanz [2017]

35 Girl Talk - All Day [2010]

34 Regina Spektor - Remember Us To Life [2016]

33 King Princess - Cheap Queen [2019]

32 Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Rome [2011]

31 David Bowie - Blackstar [2016]

30 Tame Impala - Currents [2015]

29 Royksopp - The Inevitable End [2014]

28 Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? [2019]

27 Poppy - Am I A Girl [2018]

26 Sleigh Bells - Jessica Rabbit [2016]

25 These New Puritans - Inside the Rose [2019]

24 Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager [2010]

23 Orquesta de las Nubes - The Order of Change [2018]

22 Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid [2010]

21 Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love [2016]

20 Lorde - Melodrama [2017]

19 Amorphis - Queen of Time [2018]

18 Colleen Green - I Want to Grow Up [2015]

17 Babymetal - Metal Galaxy [2019]

16 Ratatat - Magnifique [2015]

15 Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care [2011]

14 Melanie Martinez - Cry Baby [2015]

13 Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA [2019]

12 Corinne B Rae - The Heart Speaks in Whispers [2016]

11 Gorillaz - Plastic Beach [2010]

10 M83 - Junk [2016]

9 Denzel Curry - Imperial [2016]

8 Kero Kero Bonito - Time 'n' Place [2018]

7 Grimes - Art Angels [2015]

6 Original Broadway Cast Recording - Hamilton [2015]

5 Tycho - Awake [2014]

4 Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly [2015]

3 Massive Attack - Heligoland [2010]

2 Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest [2013]

1 Purity Ring - Shrines [2012]

[liugeaux]

A Definitive Ranking Of Every Incarnation Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Seven years ago I was so butt-hurt by an Uproxx article that I wrote a response with my own TMNT incarnation ranking. Was I right to do it? Absolutely. Do I regret it? Not at all. I stand by that ranking and where the TMNT property was in 2017. Read it here.

What HAS happened though is multiple versions (incarnations) of our beloved turtles have been rolled out in the past 7 years and I think it's time to re-rank them. This will be similar to the reposts common in this blog, as it will have a lot of old content, but it will be a full-on refresher with a brand-new definitive ranking. Here we go!

17. Saban’s Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation

The Next Mutation is the worst. While technically a hit TV show, TNM is a reimagining of the Turtles in a similar style to the hyper-popular Power Rangers of the time; and created by that same production house. It was too goofy, too Japanese, and pandered to a completely different audience. Any charm or goodwill the original show still had was flushed right down the drain after the launch of The Next Mutation; not to mention the introduction of the cringe-worthy Venus, the fifth Turtle. The Next Mutation is best forgotten, but sadly never will be. 

16. Japanese OVA - Mutant Turtles: Superman Legend

Not included in the original list because I didn't think it was a substantial enough incarnation to include, Superman Legend is a gem if you like weird 90s anime. If you don't, skip it. When I say skip it, I mean it. It doesn't feel like a Ninja Turtles story and while styled after the Fred Wolf TV show, it drips of cheesy anime tropes and is, at times, hard to watch. I include it here as almost a warning against possibly watching it.

15. Konami’s Video Games 

At the time, Konami’s video games seemed awesome. The arcade games and the classic NES games gave children exactly what they wanted, a way to control their favorite turtles and fight the foot. In actuality, the original arcade games were built as quarter-eating button mashers. There was little nuance to the games themselves and the home console releases were either bad (that first NES) or were trying to recreate a game on a platform for which it wasn't designed (TMNT II, Manhattan Project, Turtles in Time, etc.). If you wipe off the thick film of nostalgia, it's easy to see these games really aren’t that good.  

14. Platinum Dunes’ Movie (Series) 

The two Platinum Dunes movies have a style to them, and it's best we leave that style in the 2010s. Everything from the Incredible Hulk looking over-design of the characters, to the disasters of plots, there is very little to like about what Michael Bay’s production company did to our beloved Turtles. The films have some decent action and comedy, but a lot of the creative directions taken leave the heart of the Turtles unrecognizable. Out of the Shadows was better than the first film and did a good job capturing the feel of the original cartoon, but it still committed a lot of the same sins, despite being the "right kind of dumb".  

13. Fred Wolf’s Original 1987 Animated Show

It’s funny how the most popular of all the incarnations is also one of the worst. The original cartoon is a victim of its era. The animation is bad, the plots are silly and sometimes nonsensical, and many episodes are just thinly veiled advertisements for the mega-successful accompanying toy line. Still, there’s a charm to that old show that made it popular for a reason. Presented as the figurehead of late 80s cartoons that it is, it might be a masterpiece. Presented in a vacuum, apart from the craze, that old show can be unwatchable. This incarnation is another victim of nostalgia and is probably best experienced through t-shirts and merchandise, not through actual experience. 

12. Image’s Vol. 3 Comics

Die-hard Turtles fans love to point at Image’s short-lived run of comics after Mirage’s first hiatus as being “Amazing”. “Volume 3″ to which it is referred, was planned as a continuation of Mirage’s colorized Vol. 2. Sadly, it followed many of the tropes of late 90s comic books. It was more violent than its predecessors and even went as far as having two of the TMNT get deformed. Donny becomes a cyborg and Raph’s face gets disfigured. At the time it was a fresh take on the characters and seen as bold and unpredictable. Because of this, it should hold a legit chunk of respect, but in practicality, it wasn’t great. 

11. Batman Vs. TMNT Crossover Comics and Movie

This is, by far, the hardest incarnation to rank. It's not bad, and in most ways it's great. However, taking a generic version of the TMNT and planting them in a story beside The Dark Knight creates an un-winnable situation. Character development must be spread across two universes and cannot be too in-depth, because you can't stray too far from the core essence of either property. Fans love this version of the Turtles and I don't blame them. It boils the 4 brothers down to their core traits and, through solid writing, creates an entertaining romp that plays into both properties' tropes. Where the Batman/TMNT crossover succeeds in entertainment value, it completely fails in compelling story-telling.

10. Archie’s TMNT: Adventures Comics

More comics from the 90s! Archie’s TMNT Adventures was less an Archie production and more a shadow Mirage title that was created mostly in-house under the eyes of Eastman and Laird. Its origin as a spin-off of the TV show made for a unique niche. Many of the stories and characters resonate to this day and If I were listing my favorite TMNT comic artists, Chris Allen would be in my top three. One of the title’s strengths was the secondary characters. Verminator-X, Armaggon, Ninjara, the Mighty Mutanimals, and Cuddly the Cowlick, are all great additions to the greater mythology of the series and many of them have returned in other media. As much fun as these were to read 30 years ago, a distinct lack of character development in the TMNT, and a heavy handed environmental agenda being pushed make these hard to read today. Those Future Turtles are the bomb though…

9. TMNT: Mutant Mayhem

I have thought long and hard about where Seth Rogan's take on the TMNT belongs in the pantheon of turtle stories. From an entertainment standpoint, it's fantastic. The film is incredibly funny and breathes fresh energy into tried and true character archetypes. Does it represent the legacy of TMNT as a franchise? I don't know. We've been promised a lot more of this incarnation, so our questions will likely get answered as series staples like Shredder and The Foot get introduced, but as it stands, Mutant Meyham is a fantastic anomaly ripe for exploration.

8. New Line’s Original Movie Trilogy

America’s love for the original movie trilogy is justified. They captured a moment in American Pop Culture that was unique and somewhat bizarre. On the surface, a lot of the dialog can be cheesy and eye-roll-inducing, but that’s what the 90′s were. Looking back at them, the only one that holds up as a GREAT movie is the first one. The effort put into bringing the comics to life, while dabbling in the silliness of the cartoon, is visible. There’s more emotion in that first movie than most would care to admit. I’m not going to call it a masterpiece or anything, Actually, I am gonna call TMNT 1990 a masterpiece. The second two movies are what keep this incarnation from being higher on the list. The Secret of the Ooze is embarrassing and TMNT III is boring at best. The care that went into the first film just wasn’t there the second and third times around. 

7. “TMNT” Animated Movie

The Turtle’s franchise timeline can be divided into 3 phases; Phase 1: Eastman and Laird, Phase 2: Laird only, and Phase 3: Nickelodeon. The “TMNT” animated movie was released during Phase 2, and because of that, it has Peter Laird’s influence all over it. During his solo time with the Turtles, Laird had very specific ideas about what he wanted to do with the characters and what stories he wanted to be told. Not goofy, not over-the-top, not too dark, and maintaining the series’ comedic overtones, TMNT is a weird movie that feels like a release that fell out of another dimension. Despite its plot being the most non-TMNT-ish story ever told, there is still a handful of scenes that are quite wonderful. The epic fight scene between Leo and Raph at the close of Act 2 is worth the price of admission. TMNT is a beautiful film that has a charm unique unto itself and it’s really a shame a sequel was never made.   

6. Rise of the TMNT

I'm sure putting Rise in the #6 spot can be seen as a bold move, but I stand behind it completely. Rise is possibly the most controversial version of the Turtles to date. Odd, and unnecessary changes to the lore and characters turned a lot of fans off of the project before it even launched. Taking a more comedic and short-attention-spaned approach to TMNT storytelling alienated many viewers, which means Rise lives on its own little island. Fans of Rise, LOVE IT, with good reason. It's hilarious, irreverent, sharp and stunning. By taking enough influence from anime to make the show look great, but not enough to make the show look ridiculous, Rise succeeds at looking better than ALL of its predecessors. Narratively, it takes some time to get to the significant story beats, but considering most TMNT stories aren't interested in telling a long-form story, Rise's approach to slow-drip-plot, is masterful. The Rise movie is a fantastic exclamation point on a series the creators knew was already dead. I almost understand why someone wouldn't like Rise of the TMNT, but it's hard for me to think someone gave it a fair shake and still didn't see the brilliance of its bizarre take on the TMNT.

5. Nickelodeon’s 2012 Animated Show 

After the Viacom acquisition, the impending TMNT cartoon show was an uncomfortable unknown. How closely would it stick to the lore? Would it go off the rails and break the series? Would it be too kiddy for a classic fan to enjoy? All worries were washed away when the show debuted in the Fall of 2012. Featuring the most fully realized version of the 4 turtles to date, Nick’s show was a breath of fresh air. There’s a spark to its dialog and it’s obvious the creators were proud to be working on TMNT. It's hard not to chuckle at least once or twice during every episode and unlike most kid shows, it's easy to care about the over-arching story. The changes made to the base origin and characters can be confusing, but each one has been interesting in its own way. As my good buddy Jeff often says about, it's a beautiful melting pot of everything TMNT. If you haven’t checked it out yet, Nick’s TMNT reboot is more than worth a watch.  

4. IDW’s TMNT Comics

The first real content to come from the post-Nickelodeon buyout was the IDW-licensed comic line. Not only did they immediately start frantically reprinting the old Mirage books, but they also launched a new ongoing title set in its own TMNT continuity. Without a doubt, this run has been the most exciting thing to happen to TMNT comics since…let’s say Mirage’s Vol.1. By taking a brand new origin and mixing old characters with new characters, Eastman and Waltz have found a way to re-tell a lot of TMNT history without telling any of the exact same stories we already know. My only real complaint about the book is that its a little too obvious that Nickelodeon has placed certain story restrictions on them. I.E. The Turtles don’t ever kill anyone, and death as a whole is kept to a minimum. Consequently, the book sometimes lacks the teeth of the original Mirage book.

3. The Last Ronin

After 9 years of a fantastic ongoing TMNT comic, IDW decided to stretch its legs and pull an idea out of the Eastman and Laird idea archive. The Last Ronin, is a stand-alone TMNT tale originally outlined by both co-creators Eastman and Laird. It's dark, violent, somber and bold. TLR is easily the best TMNT comic to hit the market since 1992's City at War, and it deserves the same reverence. Truth be told, outside of the original conception of the series, Peter Laird had little to do with its story. The volume was such a success, a teaser was written into the last book that introduced a new generation of Turtles into the fold. This birthed the Ronin-verse. As silly as that may sound, the transition to a new quartet of Turtles has been healthy and fun. The Last Ronin 2 starts later this year and I have no worries that the new TMNT will be built with respect to the originals. That's a feat in and of itself.

2. 4Kids’ 2003 Animated Show

The 4Kids Animated show was produced during the Peter Laird years and with a few exceptions it’s a love letter to fans of the Mirage comics. Unlike the original show, which took the loose concept of Ninja Turtles and built its own little silly world, the 4Kids show took many of its stories directly from the comics and carried a tone closer to that comic's run. Sure some things had to be changed because it was still a kid’s show, but the entire run feels like it's what Laird wanted to do the first time around, but not having complete control got in the way. The best part is that it has aged remarkably well. Despite all episodes being 4:3 SD, the characters and stories still pop to this day. Which, in the end, is just a reflection of how good the source material is.

1. Mirage’s Original Comic Series 

Of course, #1 had to go to the Mirage run. Sure, a lot of things can be said about how disjointed the entire experience is, and how bad some of the guest contributors were during the height of the TMNT fad in the early 90′s, but at its core, the Mirage run represented so many different things. It was the start of what would become one of the most successful creator-owned franchises in American history. Mirage was built from nothing (hence the name), and ended up taking over the world on the strength of the characters they created. Vol. 1 of the comics was an instrumental piece of content in the indy comic boom of the 80s and was a flagship, “creators have rights” book. The canonical stories from Vols 1, 2 and 4 are the turtles at their most honest and raw. Eastman and more-so Laird weren’t afraid of taking chances and even the stories that didn’t pan-out HAD to be respected. So, what incarnation is the absolute best? It's the Mirage comics, without a doubt, by a wide margin. Say all the good things you can imagine about the other incarnations on this list, but none of them are "Capital I" Important. Sure, they were great, charming and even dabbled in amazing, but Mirage rewrote the rulebook, and that’s something that will never be usurped. 

Cheers!

Addendum: The following incarnations were omitted because they didn’t make a significant contribution to the greater TMNT story.  

All TMNT Manga, The TMNT Comic Strip, The Action Figures (they aren’t being included because they are just an extension of the shows and movies, but they kinda had a life of their own), Coming Out of Our Shells Live Tour, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, The 4kids Based Dreamwave Comics, Later TMNT Video Games (Konami, Ubisoft, and Activision Published), The many other crossover comic book series out there.

[tga-ines-soares]

Monument Valley

Monument Valley is an indie puzzle video game. It was developed and published by Ustwo Games. The player leads the princess Ida through the mazes of optical illusion and impossible objects while manipulating the world around her to reach various platform. Monument Valley was developed over ten months beginning in early 2013 based on concept drawings by company artist ken Wong. Its visual style was inspired by Japanese prints, minimalist sculpture and indie games windosill, Fez and swords and sworcey and it was compared by to M.C Escher drawings and Echochrome. The art was designed such as frame would be worthy of a public display. After a closed beta test, Monument Valley was released for ios an April 3, 2014, and was later ported to Android and windows phone. The game received generally favorable reviews. The praised its art and sound design, but noted its lack of difficulty and short length. It won 2014 Apple Design Award, was named Apple's best ipad game of 2014, and sold over two million copies January 2015 by may 2016 and sales of the game exceeded 26 million.

Two expansion titled Forgotten Shores and Ida's Red Dream were released in 2014 and 2015. A sequel, Monument Valley 2, was released for both ios and Android in 2017. Monument valley+, an Apple Arcade exclusive, was released April 2, 2021. A PC version under the title Monument Valley-Panoramic Edition was released on steam in July 2022. A third game is reportedly in development

In Monument Valley, player character Princess Ida journeys through mazes of optical illusions and impossible objects, which are referred to as "sacred geometry" in-game, as she journeys to be forgiven for something. The game is presented in isometric view, and the player interacts with the environment to find hidden passages as Ida progresses to the map's exit. Each of the ten levels has a different central mechanic. Interactions include moving platforms and pillars and creating bridges. The player is indirectly cued through the game by design elements like color, and directly cued by crow people, who block Ida's path. Critics compared the game's visual style to a vibrant M. C. Escher drawing and Echochrome. The game includes a camera mode where the player can roam the level to compose screenshots. It includes filters similar to those of Instagram.