#the koei one’s most recent but there’s one other here

[idatenjumpfanatic]

Okay fine im going to go shameless and promote my fic here

Uhhh, brief summary ig, it’s an OC-insert, Gabu’s twin sister who basically rides along the show’s canon events for the most of part 1 but adds a little spice to it.

Some of her characteristics are she’s a chaotic neutral, expressive, and very talkative despite the fact that her love languages are act of service and physical affection. She may not start fights, physical ones, but if you do you better make sure you’re ready to finish it or she will do it for you.

She goes along well with Gabu and Taiga, even so much as to join the former’s schemes, but she has her boundaries. As expected of siblings, she butt heads with them just as much.

She says she doesn’t care about what happens to Shark Tooth when things go awry but she often ends up talking them out of trouble if Taiga isn’t around.

Character sheet!

I’d post my character sketch (the full write down about the character, personality, and relationships) here but the doc it is in has my story plot/beats in there as well as some major spoilers so just have these screenshots

It’s just became my consistent headcanon that Gabu is just terrible at cooking lol

I actually made a comic abt meeting Makoto but i never got past 2 pages bc I’m terrible with dialogue but here it is. Click for better quality, but if the dialogue is really that hard to read lmk I’ll add transcriptions

And finally, the cherry on top, some sketches of Chapter 2, with absolutely no proper order of events

Yeah, this is going to be 100% platonic and familial relationships

[alexissara]

Why An FE4 Remake Cannot Happen

The Fire Emblem community has collectively decided because leaks have happened since the 3DS that Fire Emblem: Gemology of the Holy War is surly the next Fire Emblem Video Game and since then Genology Of The Holy War has surly been the next Fire Emblem video game we've had Three Houses, Three Hopes, and Fire Emblem Engage. However, I am here to say that I am sure that this is not the case and we will likely never see a remake of Fire Emblem 4.

The leaker on reddit who said FE Remake was coming along with other information about Engage said Gust worked on Fire Emblem Engage which was untrue, in fact no one from Koei worked on Engage. It is to say that outside of having screen shots from the Chinese localization and clearly some knowledge of the actual game that they likely simply talked to someone working in QA about they probably knew nothing else about the game for a fact. So we are simply going to disregard the rumors in this post and this is as far as I am willing to take it and instead focus on the reality and going over each reason why I do not believe a remake will happen.

Money

Fire Emblem Remakes do not make a lot of money. Shadow Dragon and New Mystery Of The Emblem were such big flops they almost killed the franchise and Echoes simply did not sell particularly well. The had a trajectory that was number go up then they did echoes and numbers went down that shot right back up for Three Houses higher than ever before before shooting way back down just above echoes with Engage.

It is likely that Echoes however was not a big failure for the series because it was in the same engine as Awakening/Fates and the development costs for a 3Ds game were pretty low. However, developing a game on switch is significantly higher especially when you consider the modern standards of Fire Emblem they would need to meet on a remake. Full Voice acting is extremely expensive for this game that would require full voice acting for Gen 1, gen 2 and gen 2's replacement characters all with supports and more. The amount of models and everything that would have to be put into the game is pretty big and making sure these massive maps look good is not going to be cheap either. The game is fundamentally not a cheap game to make in the current standards of quality that IS is holding the series too.

That is before anything new they add too which could add even higher costs to development with new writing, new characters, etc since it is unlikely to be the exact same script or the exact same gameplay. All of this on the backdrop of Engage objectively underperforming for recent series trends means that this game is a big money risk at a time where money resources are likely lower than normal or at least will be if this failed.

Audience

Who is the audience for FE4? Nostalgic Japanese players and the most hard core nerds everywhere else. However, that simply will not result in the sales needed so we need to think of what the current FE Audience wants and expects from their Video Games. If we just gauge fire emblem fans we know that Fire Emblem Heroes player base declines every year and so the small amount of players are typically dedicated Fire Emblem fans and even inside the small niche of dedicated FE fans banners based on Fire Emblem Holy War Adventures preform among the worst of a year. They almost never reach even the middle of the pact. We see this further represented in Chose Your Legends where Holy War characters even with a focused effort over multiple years have struggled to make it even near the top.

There was a time where maybe in a Game Of Thrones world where people would have devoured genealogy but that audience has died down from a cultural phenome to a dedicated fan base and casual, well a new season of house of dragons is something fantasy to watch crowd. I don't think this is going to court new players and while some FE fans who currently don't care for it might give it a shot if presented with a remake will it be enough to justify making the game? As it stands it seems like it could justify a 3Ds scale game maybe with reused assets but there simply isn't the same kind of infostructure of the switch with Houses and Engage being build in different engines entirely. So this game would need to find who it is for and then market it and marketing a remake is extra hard.

Story

The plot of FE4 is a massive hurdle of FE4 one so big I have a second section to cover it more but we'll cover it in broad strokes here. I am not a big fan of FE4 so forgive me for any inaccuracies but I intend to be broad and brief. FE4 starts as fairly typical fire emblem fair blue hair lord fights some baddies but we get into the death of most of your main party, not in some alternative future like in awakening but their on screen deaths. During which time our main lords love interest is brainwashed and made the bride of the villain who kills her husband and father of her previous child, she will go on to have sex with him under mind control multiple times producing multiple children. All the while many children are sacrificed to a dark god in child hunts. You fight back against this in a second generation of units embodied with holy blood of nobles with differing levels of how holy and important their blood is.

So you know, it's a lot, we'll touch on it more later, just ya know let that one cook while I write the rest of the stuff in between.

The Series Position

Fire Emblem is currently in a very delicate position of being a series on decline. With Engage selling worse than Awakening despite the switch having a much bigger install base and not having great word of mouth it is very unlikely the game will surpass Awakening let alone Fates or Three Houses. At current it is looking competitive with Three Hopes a spinoff game built in the same engine as houses that was a strange midquel and a warriors game. Fire Emblem Heroes player count is seemingly going down if we look at CYL voting year over year. So Fire Emblem as a brand, as a thing that makes money needs a big boost right now. The reality is a sales flop could tank the franchise. It was not that long ago that the series was on life support and Awakening was going to be the final FE game. At the moment Heroes is a massive money maker and they want to keep that money going they need new characters to get people hype about. The advent of Echoes did not provide a long term boost to the popularity of FE2 characters and those banners are not particularly high performers as made clear by their insistence on running the same few characters over and over. It is highly unlikely that FE4 remake would provide any kind of boost to heroes ability to take cash from people to gamble on JPEGs or make a ton of money for the franchise.

So what's left for FE4 to do is simply to damage the franchises reputation. If someone is a 1st time FE fan from buying Three Houses and they didn't like Engage which is just a fact that many people who bought Three Houses did not like Engage it is at the point where the FE subreddit banned talking shit about Engage [which is ridiculous] and the next game with the Fire Emblem game is likely make or break for the FE fans who loved Three Houses on if this series is for them or if it was a one time great game in a series that is otherwise not for them. Would FE4 appeal to a fan of Three Houses you need to consider that with your heart and soul, if the majority of people who loved Three Houses are excited for big maps with a lot of cavs, no avatar, tons of unit death, mustache twirling evil, etc. Right now the series needs to establish it's reputation and decide what it is that people should think when they think Fire Emblem.

Of course even if we think outside of Three Houses fans does it sound like something that awakening fans or fates fans might want and I don't really think that sounds right. The series is moving away from permadeath as a whole and having narrative permadeath is well a pretty big jump in the other direction for the game. Perhaps it's possible to do a smaller scale remake but that isn't what IS is known for doing given their schedule for game releases and the scale they like to release games at.

Controversy

I've touched on this in other sections but it bares repeating that this is probably the biggest factor of them all. Monster 3 is a very fan demanded game that has a full English translation at Nintendo they can use if people are to be believed but has not and will not ever be released in English. Why is this despite the fact that it would literally just be free money and press? Well it's because Nintendo does not want to be caught up in a controversy. The one element of the plot, one set of characters that are kinda racist and kinda transphobic are by themselves enough to hold back a full games release in the west. And the thing is that if they wrote them as intended the people who hate "woke" people would hate the same set of characters by calling them woke too and then their in a double hated situation and well it's a full fucking thing.

So then why then would they want to publish a game that is so loaded with potential controversies especially one that would need a bigger budget, one that would automatically have a smaller audience, and that would take IS's resources? Can you picture it now "New Nintendo game has beloved party member sexually assaulted and made to give birth to two children." It's like the Arieth sword scene for sickos. Not to mention all the child murder and everything potential other thing for negative press. It would be a really shaky ground to be working on even if it was locked in to make fates level sales, they were sure of it, it might not be worth the press they will get for it.

Then there is the controversy of what the game lacks. The series has a big queer fan base, that's just reality, and these people want to be reflected, it's clear because each FE game since awakening has increased the amount of queerness in it even the SoV remake. The game as it stands has no queerness, it's a eugenics simulator in act 1 where you are trying to build the most holy blood so you simply cannot do adoption unless you make the replacement units their adoptive kids but then do you just make gay people have an objectively harder time? Now you could say they have kids visa via magic if their gay or simply have gen 1 be straight but gen 2 be really queer since they don't need to have kids but these all require changes, additional work, and potentially more controversy. Once again put in a situation where queer fans might be upset and also the raging bigots will be mad. Now clearly the bigots don't really matter, they literally get mad about every video game they would say idk it's woke to ride a horse or something but it does put Nintendo into a position where the romantic elements are this massive pressure point.

Conclusion

If you love Fire Emblem Genealogy of The Holy War then the best you can hope for is that they release an offical translation one day maybe paired with 776 and it's a nice port. I want that for the games of these games but I do not think they can release a remake for all of the reasons above and I think it would actively be the worst decision for the future health of Intelligent Systems.

While this game is beloved by many and those fans deserve a way to play it officially in their native language, I simply do not see a future where it is a game that is remade. I personally wouldn't buy it so maybe I am biased in some way shape or form because I hate FE4 but in the end I don't think it would be so hard to simply translate FE4 and release it on switch online or something so people can enjoy it.

That said, you should give up hope for this, it is nothing but cope, it simply is not going to happen, I feel confident enough to make this post and I've thought about this for many many years because we've had rumors it was going to happen since Echoes came out [hence that first image from around the time FE4 remake on 3Ds leaks started]. It's simply not going to happen and what you can hope for instead is another game that brings the same things that you love about FE4 to happen be that in the indie space or from the Fire Emblem series. Talk about what you love about FE4 a lot and share how they are awesome and could help the FE series as a whole and SRPGs because that is the most likely juice to really get the sparks of someone's heart going into development.

And if your a hater like me we can simply sit back and enjoy the show, see what Fire Emblem brings us next be that a remake of some other game or a brand new Fire Emblem game. Maybe it will suck, maybe it'll be great, but I look forward to the future of the series even if hesitantly after Engage.

[crestofshame]

My thoughts on Fire Emblem Three Hopes DLC

I’ve seen a lot of people acting super bummed about no Three Hopes dlc news (mostly on twitter, but my twitter is private because I’m terrified of public twitter) because they expected it to be announced as part of the latest Nintendo direct.

Here’s why I think that there shouldn’t be any concerns:

Fire emblem games, at least, the past several games, have had a DLC. While three houses DLC was announced really close to release, with all four waves releasing spread out over the course of *I believe* about a year and a few months, warriors games don’t operate on the same schedule with DLC.

I’ll use age of calamity as the first example because it’s the most recent warriors game, and was also developed by Koei Techmo:

Age of Calamity released in November of 2020, and the DLC pass wasn’t available for purchase until May of 2021, six months from the release of the game. The first wave didn’t come out until June of that year.

Say that we are going to get a DLC, it would not have been well-received in the last direct because of FE17’s announcement, and that direct was already DLC heavy for other games. It would make more sense if they announced it in a trailer independently on YouTube and twitter (as Nintendo has been doing more frequently for the past year), or, there’s a small possibility that we would get a Nintendo Direct fire emblem focus, either of these things happening in December around that three month time frame. An FE direct would probably also contain news on FE17 to hype it up for the release the following month, and might possibly talk about some Heroes news, a remake, and *maybe* an FE seasons game. Regardless of which of these happen, my guess is we’ll get an announcement late December.

So, what could the DLC contain if we do get one? Well, another thing that adds to my confidence is the fact that the first fire emblem warriors game got a dlc, and three hopes has certainly outperformed it in sales and reviews. The previous game had these features in a dlc that I think could translate to Three Hopes:

• New playable characters that are unlocked by playing a certain map quest. Based on the character dummies in the datamine, I think we could get between 3-4 playable characters, one route exclusive for each one and then one character that’s playable in all routes.

• New character costumes. These operated a little differently because the previous warriors game featured a medley of characters from different universes, not just one continent. I think three hopes would more likely either add the same costumes from the Houses DLC, and/or timeskip houses outfits.

• New support conversations for new playable characters and supports between existing characters. This is my biggest hope for a DLC because supports are one of my favorite parts of the game. I think that whatever new characters become playable would get probably three new conversations each, and that the lords would get probably 3-5 new conversations. I think that the reason it would be reserved to those characters only would be because I can’t imagine any other system for choosing who gets new supports. It wouldn’t make sense for random units to get supports, especially considering the passing of Billy and Ferdinand being considered a pretty important character that would likely get bonus conversations if that were the case.

Who would the lords have new supports with? My most realistic guesses would be this: One support chain with the bonus character respective to their route, one chain for the bonus character in all routes, and one chain with Byleth OR Jeralt.

TL;DR: This is all just speculation, but we’ll probably still get a DLC announcement in late December or early January.

[allykakamatsu]

Hypothetical P5A

Okay, gonna make this clear right up front, I wanted to make this post for a while but the main reason I decided to do it now is because the Atlus announcement thing is almost here, and also cause I saw a video on this topic by Thorgi’s Arcade (go watch it btw it’s good) and while I agree with a lot of what he said, there’s also some things I’d change, not just cause I disagree, but also cause I think it would be fun. Anyway enough beating around the bush, let’s do this

Gameplay

I’m a firm believer in the phrase, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and the Arena games are already really good so not much to change. That being said, I still wanna change some things. First off though, we are keeping this 1 vs 1, no tag team matches. The arena games already have a lot of Mechanics going on and trying to keep everything as well as some new stuff WHILE adding a tag team button, yeah no let’s not outside of maybe a bonus mode.

This means I can’t add Batton Pass in as a new mechanic to represent P5, but I have a solution, that being Technicals. Status ailments already exist in this game, so how about when you inflict one and do a specific combo you do more damage, also providing risk vs reward as the player with the status will have a better idea of what the opponent will do making them more predictable. Also as for Persona’s, mostly everyone’s will be fully evolved, minus Yu cause him getting a final boss persona normally is a tad to OP, meanwhile the P5 characters will have their starting Persona’s, but they will evolve for big moves, like awakened mode supers and instant kills

I’m also borrowing Thorgi’s Arcade idea of having supports giving a slight buff in battle, like if you pick Fuuka your meter can build faster for a bit, meanwhile if you pick Futaba you’ll get an attack and defence buff. It’s the fairest way to include them without having to make them playable. I know Rise is already playable but this roster is going to have to be small as it is, and being a support doesn’t mean you can’t be DLC later.

Also, we’re not bringing back the Shadow Characters, just, we are not dealing with the likes of Shadow Naoto again.

:readmore:

Story

I am about to cop out a bit here, but Thorgi’s Arcade video had a really good idea for the story so I’ll just link it here https://youtu.be/yyB5rEM9UVU

To summarise for people who don’t want to watch, Nyarlathotep, the main villain from the Persona 2 games, has been gaining strength from all the suffering humanity has gone through due to 3, 4 and 5, and has gained enough strength to create a new Joker to try finish what he started and destroy the world. Mitsuru might think the Phantom Thieves are behind it cause this is clearly persona related and the fact that the leader of the PT’s is also named Joker is public knowledge, Naoto gets largely the same idea, Katsuya and Maya decide to have their own investigation, meanwhile the Phantom Thieves are trying to prove their innocence and help save the world. Nice excuse to bring everyone together, but who will the everyone be?

Base Roster

Okay, I know the dream is getting everyone from Ultimax back plus the new P5 characters, but given Arc System’s standard for small base rosters, I’m not holding my breath. The ideal would be everyone plus who I’m about to say for P2 and P5, but I’m keeping it… somewhat realistic. Anyway onto the actual size, 16 seems fair enough. One more than the most recent Guilty Gear game for a series that had pretty big success so that sound fair enough. Let’s get the obvious out of the way though, all the base 8 Phantom Thieves besides Futaba are making the cut

Okay so that’s obvious but how will they play? Starting off with Ren/Joker, Smash Bros already laid a great foundation with him being very fast on the ground and in the air plus being great at combos, so I see no reason to change that. Also no need for him to be a Jack of all trades either cause spoilers, Yu is coming back and he already fills that role.

As for the others, Ryuji I can see being a slugger charge hybrid. Basically starting out he hits pretty hard but is a bit on the slow side to compensate, but just like any good athlete, give him a chance to warm up, ie do a charge input, and he becomes a lot faster and has better combo potential. Or we could make him a toned down version of Little Mac where he’s great on the ground but he’s in trouble the second aerial combat is involved. Then there’s Morgana who with his ability to turn into cars and the fact he introduces thief tools like smoke bombs, I can see him being a faster but frailer successor to Teddie.

Then there’s Ann who, no doubt, she’s a Zoner, and with her fire she’ll be Yukiko’s sort of successor. However instead of healing, I’d implement the fact that she learns concentrate and have it so the more she charges it up, the stronger her attacks get, but the Meter will gradually go down over the match. Yusuke, as tempting as it is to cop out and say ‘have him play like Vergil in Marvel vs Capcom’, I have a different idea. Namely, take advantage of the fact that Yusuke can learn counter by having him be the defensive specialist, set up ice traps to freeze the opponent, and if they get close, he can either counter or go for some combos.

Then there’s Makoto who would definitely be a grappler. I mean, she practices Aikido and is really strong, she can 100% pull it off. Finally Haru…… TANK! I mean come on, Haru wields an axe, has a grenade launcher, and Melady is literally a dancing tank in a pink dress, it just makes too much sense. I’d also give her a bit of armor cause if she’s slow she at least needs a chance to get her attacks in.

Okay so that’s 7 out of our 16 slots down, and given that one slot will have to be saved for the Evil Joker who would be the villain, we’re halfway done with 3 games to go, lord help me.

Okay, starting this off with P4, I’m gonna give them more than the others purely because they were the focus of the originals and there’s less realistic cuts I can make compared to 2 and 3. To make things simple, every returning character would play the same, and as for the ones I’d bring back for the base roster, we’ve got Yu, Yosuke, Chie and Naoto. Why them specifically? Well Yu is the main character, Naoto being a detective would basically mean she’d be the one getting everyone involved in the first place, Chie is currently training to be a cop as confirmed in P5 so her getting called in makes sense, and Yosuke is the best investigator after Yu and Naoto, he’s always up for a mystery and the second he learns Yu is involved he’s joining in. I just couldn’t cut him.

Now before the really painful cuts, Persona 2 is really easy. Out of Innocent Sin party members, by the end of the series Maya is the only one left with a Persona, and Katsuya is not only older brother of Innocent Sin’s protag Tatsuya, but he’s also pretty important and a detective so he’s definetly the one Maya’s dragging into this. As for how they play, they both use guns like Naoto, but how I’d mix them up is with Katsuya, I’d let him attack while moving (unlike Naoto who has so stay still to fire) at the cost of less combo potential, meanwhile Maya dual wields her guns so she’ll probably play like Noel Vermillion from BlazBlue where she’d more or less just use the guns to get longer reach melee attacks instead of shooting.

Now, for the hard part. There’s only 2 slots left, one of them basically has to go to Mitsuru (not that I’m complaining I’d probably add her anyway) meaning now I have to choose between the rest of the Shadow Operatives/SEES for the last slot. I narrowed it down to the 3 that were in the original Arena cause they’re the most plot relevant, but that still meant I had to choose between Akihiko and Aigis. I ended up deciding on Aigis though cause A, with Labrys not making the base roster someone has to represent the robots of the series, and B, with Akihiko currently pulling a Ryu by travelling to get stronger, it makes more sense that Aigis would be closer and easier for Mitsuru to call up. Honestly I was tempted to bump the roster up to 17 so I could have both of them on the base roster, but this is ArcSystems, 16 is already kinda pushing it.

DLC

Given that this is a modern fighting game, DLC is inevitable. However since this DLC will likely be like Ultimax where the story acts to wrap up loose ends and have a new story, it’s going yo be big, especially since there’s going to be a fight with Nyaraloptep, so go big or go home in this case. Okay so first order of business, anyone who was in the previous arena games who wasn’t in the base roster is getting added back in, it’s only fair. That out of the way, the new faces I’d add are Futaba actually being playable now and the big 4 P5 characters I skipped, Akechi, Yoshizawa, and Sophie. Before anyone asks though, Sophie was added into a Dragalia Lost collab with Koei Techmo not being credited so she’s likely Atlus’s copyright so she's safe to add.

With that out of the way, how would they play? Starting with Futaba, I’d think she’d be the resident puppet fighter, sitting on top of Necinomicon and only occasionally adding in some of her own attacks like a projectile. Also she'd also probably act as a bit of a grappler cause her Persona has tentacles (no hentai jokes please) which have long reach so that'll be perfect for it. Next up is Akechi who I can see as semi being two characters in one. My basic idea is that at first Akechi will be fighting with Robin Hood and he'll be a solid jack of all trades with a slight focus on rush down. However once he goes into his awakened mode he'll gain Loki, which will increase his speed and attack strength, at the cost of his defence, turning him into a glass cannon.

Next is Yoshizawa, or 'Sumi as I like to call her, and her thing will be she's the mobility focused fighter, namely constantly moving around the stage and poking at her opponent while doing it, at the cost of being frail. Finally there’s Sophie who would be a combo focused zoner, as in her standard projectiles (the yo-yo’s) wouldn’t hurt that much on their own, but she can string them together into the fancy yo-yo tricks to potentially do big damage. As for how much this DLC would cost, it’s going to be very big, so €25 to €30 sounds fair

I think that more or less covers my thoughts. I could keep going on about this for a while, but I think this is a good place to stop. Hope you like my idea!

[neobrogrippa]

What Do I Do Until SM5?

  Alright. Here you are. You have finished watching Friday’s livestream, you are all excited for Samurai Warriors 5, you have looked at the calendar ANNNDDD you have now realized we are still several weeks away from the game’s release. So, what do you do now? Well, Today I have come to offer some things to help pass the time until Samurai Warriors 5 is released. I will be offering various games and projects in various genres and platforms that may help either sustain you until SM5 or help build up your hype even more! I have even organized then by genre. I will not be including any other games in the Sengoku Musou series in this list. 1. Pre-Order The Game On Your Platform of Choice: No. Really. Remember to Pre-order the game if you haven’t already. It is great to be hyped but let Koei know that we love this franchise and hunger for it. 2. Mobile Games: If you are in Japan you have so many Sengoku based mobile games to choose from that it is mind blowing. In the west, however, it is a bit tougher. So I am going to suggest two. -Dating: Ikemen Sengoku: If you want historic accuracy this is seriously not the right game for you. It is several famous samurai as very pretty men all wanting to steal your heart and your attention. While some of the events may be a bit of a money grab on the part of the company who runs it the storylines and events are fantastic and the community is amazing. I recommend this highly! -Collection/Card/RPG: Touken Ranbu: For those who haven’t heard the famous Japanese mobile game “Touken Ranbu Online” launches in the west on Tuesday and I am hyped! It is a great game similar to Kantai Collection (Kancolle) or Sengoku Asuka Zero. Famous weapons as cool looking samurai guys! You can pre-register HERE. 3. Portable Games: Now, several of these games are also on Steam, the PS4, and possible even Xbox. However I am going to focus on games on the Vita and Switch. -PSVita: Toukiden, Toukiden Kiwami, Toukiden 2: Also on PS4 and Steam. I love this game so much. Toukiden and it’s upgrade Toukiden Kiwami are by Koei! Think of monster hunter but with a super heavy samurai feel to it! Fight horrible, giant yokai and craft amazing armor and weapons from their flesh! -PSVita: Muramasa The Demon Blade: Also on Wii this game is a fun side scrolling RPG with plenty of hack n’ slash all about leveling up the special weapons you get all with crazy powers and different magic abilities associated with them! -Switch: Fighting Game: Samurai Shodown: The new release/reboot of the classic fighting game series Samurai Shodown has met with great success. Set in the Edo Period you have fighters from all over the world but the game has a very heavy Japanese feel to it with Kabuki based characters, samurai based characters, ninja, priestesses, and all kinds of other unique fighters with their own themes and movesets! 4. Console Games: Games that you can sit down and play on Playstation, Xbox, or Steam. -RPG/Souls Like: Nioh and Nioh 2: I can’t say enough about these games. They are brutal, violent, and wonderful. Feudal Japan is full of Yokai for you to fight and slay your way through. While the story is full of demons, ghosts, and corruption Nioh (focusing on Sekigahara) and Nioh 2 (Focusing on the rise and fall of Toyotomi Hideyoshi) offer great incite in the era and strangely enough have some of the most historicly accurate portrayels I’ve ever seen when it comes to people of the time period. -RPG: Way of the Samurai 3: A unique RPG set in the Sengoku Era. Run around and collect weapons and play a fun, short story with a lot of different endings. -Strategy: Nobunaga’s Ambition Series: A wonderful series. These games take several days worth of play time to beat but they are a great experience for those that like strategy, town planning, and resource management. -Strategy/Military: Total War Shogun 2: If you enjoy samurai and the Sengoku Jidai and resource management but want more exciting combat and a larger focus on combat compared to Nobunaga’s Ambition check out this great came that, in spite of it’s age, is still played by many across the world even today. 5. Youtube and Podcasts: I know this isn’t quite as action packed as anything else I mentioned but for those that want to keep the hype up, brush up on history, and listen to something awesome I have three offerings for you. -Podcast: Samurai Archives: A great podcast hosted by great people who know their stuff. Every episode is focused on something from the Sengoku Era and I can’t recommend it enough. -Podcast: History of Japan: This podcast by Issac Meyer is great. He covers far more than just the Sengoku Era but he covers his topics thoroughly and passionately. He recently did a series of episodes on the Azai Sisters and as a large Azai fan myself I couldn’t help but be thrilled about it. -Youtube: The Shogunate: The Shogunate is a cool dude. He hosts Shogun 2 Total War tournaments and has very informative episodes organized into playlists about the history of the Sengoku Jidai.  6. Roleplay Forums: I’m going to shamelessly plug my own roleplay forum on this list. No one can stop me. For those not familiar with the concept you make your own original character(s) then you and others write a story based on those characters, taking turns to describe what your character is doing in various situation. So you might have a roleplay about your character and another having a dinner conversation, or being in a large fight against an enemy army! It is creative writing at it’s finest and is like D&D but with pen and paper. -Modern Era: Sengoku Horizon: It is a fantastic forum with a very niche theme. In modern times the Tokugawa government and it’s feudal system not got overthrown. Samurai, ninja, and lords still exist! You get to play as a college or high school student at a prestigious academy training the future leaders of Japan and can make a character that carries both a katana and cell phone in this exciting mix of modern life and Sengoku Era concepts.

[paleblank]

So I've been thinking a lot about smash dlc characters so here's 6 characters I'd love to see in smash! The character I most wanted in was Banjo Kazooie so I'll be pretty satisfied with anything really but here are my picks

Sora: I think sora would fit so well in smash, his battle style is so unique with the keyblade being such a cool weapon that can transform into a buch of things with formchange and teleport back to the owner's hand when thrown. We also got the super badass drive forms and the hella edgy Anti-form that would be so cool to see implemented in his moveset. the only real thing I see holding this character back is that he's not owned by Square Enix being owned by Disney instead. Idk how would Disney react to that. Also a lot of Sora's summons are Disney characters, his keyblade has the mickey head thing so idk that could be troublesome to license well. Also he's more on Sony and Microsoft consoles rather than Nintendo but so was Cloud. Guys but he's so adorable 🥺 the way he says sorry when messing up cooking with Remy from ratatouille just breaks my heart.

Paper Mario: I feel Paper Mario is different enough from Mario to be his own character in smash.Paper Mario has a hammer, partners, the whole paper mechanic and that ability with the stars that appear again in Mario Party 5 for some reason... hm a lot to work with here. He's also completely silent unlike Mario! he'd be another flat character like Mr. Game n watch. Also, he just recently had a new game on the switch so that's a plus. I know it'd be another Mario franchise rep and people have been wanting Waluigi(let's be honest it's just to complete Wario and also cuz memes) but Paper Mario is way more unique and even has his own series of games. Keep the Waluigi-not-in-smash meme alive.

Ryu Hayabusa: Ok. Ninjas. Ninjas in smash. Nintendo we need ninjas in smash... and I'm not talking about pokemon ninjas(greninja) that doesn't count. I'm talking about actual human ninjas. Ryu first appeared on the NES with the Ninja Gaiden trilogy of games(which I never beat cuz it's hella hard) so he'd be kinda like a retro character like Simon. I say kinda because he got a reboot on the xbox later on which Slapsss. But the NES wasn't the only Nintendo console he was on, he was also on the NDS(this game was super fun like you hold the DS sideways it's greatt) and Wii U(he's back on the Switch NES online collection thing too) Now, he is primarily a sword user like so many other smash characters but Ryu is diversity incarnate this man can use sooo many other weapons like a staff, kusarigma, tonfas, bows, dual swords, bladed nunchuks, freaking wolverine CLAWS oh and a modafuckin SCYTHE. So idk they could implement different weapons like they did with Byleth or make the Dragon Sword be his homie his only weapon to keep it classy. To complement that got the usual ninja stuff like the shurikens, the kunais and the totally not op Ninjutsu. Also he his so graceful and fiercee have you seen his fighting style? His movements are so cool to look at. Like, Izuna drop. In smash. Ugh husbando. He's owned by koei tecmo the same guys that did the dinasty warrior games and the fire emblem and zelda warriors crossover of games. So they've been working really close to Nintendo recently. Although the last we've seen of Ninja Gaiden was back in 2014. But like Banjo Kazooie hasn't had a game since 2008 so it's not a big deal. (Edit: wow so Nintendo just announced Koei Tecmo is doing yet another Zelda Warriors game :D andd they're lending them assets from BotW which means Nintendo really trusts this company so Ryu getting in Smash as a representative of Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja is very very likely, probably the most likely of the list) 

Dante: Hey we have Bayo let us have Dante. He's a cool mofo, he chill he badass. What else can I say? I love his personality ahhh (reminds me of Pale a bit) but I know he's another sword character but he has GUNS and can turn into a DEMON so I think they can make him stand out enough from the others. His fighting style is so stylish and cool yes yes. I feel Nero would be super cool with his devil breaker arms too but Dante is the face of Devil May Cry. I think dmc 3 is the only game on a Nintendo console though... But who cares get this mofo in smash please

Travis Touchdown: why do I love these personality types hmm. Now he was a wii excluse for a while and most of his games were on Nintendo platforms first so plus plus. Yet another sword character oops but I mean he has a beam sword that's hella cool plus he can turn into a red TIGER. His game is a bit.. well mature, and not only on the gory side of things but there's like a lot of sexual innuendo (he looks like he's jerking off when he's charging his sword) but hey Bayonetta had her moments as well. We got a new game coming up in 2021 mhm. Anyway I wouldn't mind if he didn't got in probably just a bonus on my list.

Okami: wow I want a lot of hack n slash human characters huh let's combo break that with Amaterasu! She's a wolf, a goddess, she's so cool definitely the most unique pick out of my choices here. like her game is so one of a kind it should be in museums across the world and they should have ppl handing out free copies just so everyone can experience this art in game form. Just image the possibilities of her moveset! She was in a fighting game before and it was amazing. We need more non-human characters in smash too. Hmm it is yet another capcom rep though(we have Megaman, Ryu and Ken and I want Dante too.) But let it happen please

So that's my list for now. If any of these characters get in I'd be sooo happy!! Let's wait and see.

[professor-tammi]

I've been having a discussion with @metalgear2solidsnake on which characters are likely to make it into SW5, so here's my personal take, for fun :D!

Confirmed

Nobunaga: just have to say I've been dying to see young Nobunaga in an SW game. thank you koei I love him. im crying

Mitsuhide: pretty big change design-wise (though at least his face and VA seem to be intact haha), so we know they're not shying away from shaking things up!

Nouhime: okay, not technically confirmed, but the butterfly hairpin, the purple colors, and the dagger just gives her away. seems to be a younger, perhaps more tragic incarnation of Nouhime, and it's clear they're still going for the assassin angle -- very intrigued to see what they do with her!

Semi-confirmed

Hideyoshi: the guy we see in the trailer is highly likely to be Hideyoshi. He has Toyotomi colors (yellow!) and the smirk gives off a young Hideyoshi vibe, too.

Ieyasu: mostly confirmed (blue + Tokugawa mon) by recent screenshot, and the most drastic redesign by far. Ieyasu has mostly been portrayed quite sympathetically by Koei but has never been well-liked, so this may change things up!

Highly likely to appear

Oichi: she's a no-brainer. Koei are bound to want female characters to include, and her ties to the Oda are obvious. Oichi actually brings up how different Nobunaga used to be when he was younger in WO3, and if they can play up the estranged siblings tragedy aspect of their relationship, I think we could get something very interesting here. She's also a character Koei could very well change up a lot if they wanted to, because historically, Nobunaga actually described her as being rather warrior-like.

Nagamasa: since Oichi is so likely, I'd argue Nagamasa is as well, unless she's changed up a lot (which is still possible).

Nene: Nene is the most likely identity of the woman who appears in the trailer for a few reasons: for one, her outfit has fishnets, suggesting a ninja a la old SW Nene; two, she appears shortly after Hideyoshi is shown, again suggesting a possible link; and three, while she's quite different from the SW Nene we know (orange hair!?), she's still probably the closest fit. Nene as an Oda officer would allow for Koei to explore her friendship with Nobunaga, too!

Shingen: likely pick for a total redesign and a major adversary of the Oda. Surely has to be in.

Kenshin: if Shingen is in, then so is Kenshin, I'd say. Kenshin is someone who's design Koei could turn upside down, given historical accounts of him looking like a woman.

Fairly likely to appear

Toshiie: an important Oda officer, but SW has never utilized him well and with young Hideyoshi already giving off Toshiie vibes, I wouldn't be shocked if he's skipped over. :(

Katsuie: much like Toshiie, Katsuie is also a character SW has often struggled to really include in its storylines. The whole "second marriage" deal with Oichi feels like something Koei have always poked at but never fully went into. (Don't get me wrong, SW actually has a good amount of Oichi/Katsuie content in its side games, but it's always been very ambiguous whether or not it's reciprocated, which makes me wonder...)

Magoichi: Mago could easily be played up as one of Nobunaga's adversaries again, but he's not a must for his story, so I've got him at fairly likely.

Tadakatsu or Hanzou: with Ieyasu confirmed, they'll surely want him to have one or two retainers. Tadakatsu or Hanzou (or even both!) seem like the safest bets.

Hanbei / Kanbei: Hideyoshi will also want retainers, and ryoubei have always been massively popular (especially Hanbei). I don’t see one getting in without the other, so I’ve put both here. (Kanbei is more likely to get a significantly different redesign of the two...)

Masamune: very iconic historical figure, and I could see a younger Masamune making an appearance here (though maybe not quite as young as SW1 Masamune...)

May or may not appear

Ranmaru: a lot of people view Ran as a shoo-in, but I don’t, for several reasons. For one, the game clearly wants to focus on Nobunaga’s relationships with Mitsuhide and Nouhime (these are the three featured characters on the cover art, even), which means Ran could “interfere” with the focus on these relationships, hence making him redundant. In fact, SW has -- to my chagrin! -- never properly delved into his relationship with Nobunaga, so why would they do so now? Further, Ran isn’t really in need of a reboot from a design standpoint (though they could do interesting things with him gameplay-wise, the big sword was always unwieldy :P). Given all this, I wouldn’t be surprised if Koei decide it’s simpler to cut him entirely.

Motochika: kind of a similar issue to the above; SW Motochika has always been very close to Mitsuhide, which could be construed as superfluous in a game that wishes to focus on Nobunaga and Mitsuhide’s relationship instead. I’m hoping I’m wrong here, because I’ve always enjoyed SW Motochika, but I think he’s a “maybe”.

Keiji: if Toshiie is in, then I think Keiji is fairly likely to be included as well; if not, I think he’s just a maybe.

Masayuki / Yukimura: Shingen will want retainers, and I think one of these two is the most likely pick. Masayuki makes more sense for the time period, but Yukimura has the bonus of, well, being ex-poster boy Yukimura.

Kanetsugu / Aya: most likely retainers for Kenshin. Maybe we’ll get both?

Gracia: Gracia with young Mitsuhide seems a bit awkward, so I think she may only get in if Koei decide to include an aging system as they did in Sanadamaru, which isn’t a guarantee. However, she’s massively popular, which increases her chances.

Ina: I could see her returning if Tadakatsu does, but her old weapon choice seems pointless now that Nou has a bow as well, so she’s very much a “maybe”. She might end up with a big redesign if she’s back, at least gameplay-wise.

Mitsunari: literally the most popular character in the series, which is really the only reason why he’s here. SWC3 experimented a bit with Mitsunari as a retainer in Hideyoshi’s earlier days, so Koei have been willing to include him in the earlier Sengoku period before. Probably not a long shot at all.

Sakon / Yoshitsugu: again, characters who are popular at least partly due to their links to Mitsunari. If Mitsunari is in, I expect at least one of these two to make a comeback.

Probably won't appear

Characters who are either less popular, or who make little sense for the time period, or who lack a strong link to the Nobunaga/Mitsuhide focus:

Goemon, Okuni, Kunoichi, Yoshihiro, Toyohisa, Ginchiyo, Muneshige, Kotarou, Musashi, Kojirou, Kiyomasa, Kaihime, Ujiyasu, Motonari, Masanori, Takatora, Naotora, Naomasa, Munenori, Nobuyuki, Hisahide, Kojuurou, Kagekatsu, Takakage, Hayakawa, Koshoushou

Possible new additions

These are all women for the simple reason that I fully expect Koei to want to balance out the male/female character ratio at least a little bit.

Matsu: if Toshiie is in, I’m hoping to see her! :D

Chiyome Mochizuki: would make a lot of sense for a Takeda retainer, esp if Kunoichi is gone.

Ikeda Sen: if Ran is in, she’s entirely possible.

Probable UNPCs

Yoshimoto

Saitou Dousan

[murfeelee]

My Top 10 Games of All Time

I saw this games list on my dash, but I felt it was dated, so here we are:

10. Tetris

I don’t like puzzle games and platform games and stuff. But Tetris might be one of the very first games I ever played, and to this day it’s just a ton of fun. Very nostalgic.

9. Castlevania

Vampires, medieval, bishounen, great story? Sign me up! I got into Castlevania while I was neck-deep in all things gothic and dark and creepy. It’s such a fun game! The Prince of Persia-esque mechanics with swinging from the whips and chains were freaking hard, and the dungeons were cool, and I love the out-of-place cartoony summons, that dial back the creep factor just a smidge so I don’t feel I’m trapped in Dark Souls where everything’s tryna give me a frikkin heart attack. I wanted so many more Castlevania games. But nooooo~! It’s all about effing pachinko machines now! Jim Sterling said it best: F*k Konami. >_<

8. Warriors Series

The ham and cheese of it all in this delicious sandwich of a Chinese, Japanese, and Asian mythology hack and slash series. Delicious. Tedious and predictable AF. But still delicious. Unfortunately, Koei just about tanked Dynasty Warriors with the more recent installments. U_U And it’s so hard to play the Samurai Warriors games since they bailed out on effing localizations, like thanks, that’s rude.  >_>

7. Shin Megami Tensei/Persona

I freaking luuurve how effed up and zany and twisted this dystopic cyber-ish world is. SMT and Final Fantasy have hands down the best summoning systems in games (Pokemon does NOT count), with an entire array of multicultural pantheons incorporated into the in-game universes. I swear, just researching the references they use is half the fun for me, cuz I’m that kind of nerd; sue me. :P

6. Legend of Dragoon

I never got into Final Fantasy 7 the way other folks did, cuz I was busy playing Legend of Dragoon, baby~! ^0^ The FF7 train whizzed on past me, but that was fine. I was happy right where I was. LoD’s battle mechanics were HARD, but SO good to master. I was always excited to keep progressing; the story’s one of the best I’ve EVER played (ROSE! My bish!); and the worlds and cutscenes and music were BEAUTIFUL. When TF is Legend of Dragoon getting it’s next-gen remaster with Cody Christian voice-acting Dart, Sony, huh, HUH. HUH!? >_<

5. Tomb Raider

My girl! ^0^ YES, I’m the RL archaeologist who’s never seen a single Indiana Jones movie (cuz eff ALL that racism), but you best believe I saw both the Tomb Raider movies, and played a crapton of the games! XD Gravity deaths, T-rexes, zombie samurai and all. Werk it, queen. With your double pistols. And Double-D cups.

4. Skyrim

I hate 1st-person perspective in games, in literature, everything. If they hadn’t added a 3rd person I’d’ve been like nope. But yeah, Skyrim’s freaking epic. It’s got DRAGONS, for starters, and sith lord lightning spells, and giant open worlds to explore, full of lore and magic, and one of the most amazing soundtracks of all time, and did I mention the dragons? I was so hyped for Elder Scrolls 6, but with Bethesda being frikkin INCOMPETENT lately *(*cough* Fallout 76 *cough*) I dunno about ES6 now. :\ If it stinks, I won’t be surprised. But Todd Howard KNOWS the entire community will FUS RO DAH his arse if it bombs! >_<

3. The Sims

Skyrim’s Hearthfire EP tried it, but NOTHING compares to The Sims franchise, allowing us to create our characters’ entire lives in a game. From birth, to childhood, adulthood, the elder years, death, and even afterlife, in The Sims we can control and customize every aspect of the characters’ story, to fit our own unique tastes and style. And that’s why I love TS3 the most out of the bunch, with it’s in-game Create-A-Style, open world with CAW and Edit Mode, and so much more. I wish all games had non-linear customizeable aspects where you can just sit back from the main story and quests; take a gander at your surroundings, build a house, marry that cute NPC you bumped into in the marketplace, have some babies, and let Alduin just do his thing till the next Dragonborn comes along; cuz I’m retired and living my best life in this here village; bye Felicia. 8)

2. Final Fantasy

No game franchise has ever made me cry as much and as hard as I did than while playing Final Fantasy. Holy. Crap. Their stories? THE BEST. EVER. You get seriously ATTACHED to these characters! Aerith, Angelo, Vivi, Sir Auron, Fran, Fang, the Regalia...they’re FAMILY! XD And the villains? ICONIC. Simply iconic. Eff Dark Souls; the side-bosses in FF are frikkin IMPOSSIBLE. SO dang good! And I love the touches of in-universe continuity, with Phoenix Downs, chocobos, cactuars, tonberries, airships, and the strangest fashion choices I’ve ever seen. Say what you will -- what I HAVE -- about certain polarizing entries in the series, but that’s just because we KNOW there’s a certain standard FF has, and a bar it’s classic titles have set, that you just don’t sneeze at. You just DON’T. (But FF15 was a piece of shhiiii~!)

1. THE WITCHER 3

If y’all can’t tell, I LOVE me some RPGs. Give me a set of beautiful ancient/medieval worlds to explore, full of elves and dwarves and of course MONSTERS; and protagonists with magical powers and big freaking swords, and I’m in it to win it, baby. Suffice to say: I WAS NOT READY for TW3. I STILL haven’t recovered from how good that game was! Even the MINIGAME within the actual game was legendary (Gwent had me BROKE, lemme tell you). And the Blood and Wine DLC was...like....something else; bumped it from a 10/10 to a 15/10, easy. The combat, the world building, the characters, the dialogue, the sidequests, the main plot, the MUSIC, UGH. If Netflix effs up The Witcher tv series Imma be MAAAAD.

[yeonchi]

Kisekae Insights #4: Series Overview (Next Gen and Moushouden Series)

I decided to split this into two instalments otherwise it would have been too long for me. From this point on, I started to have full control over my stories in the series – I would end up writing whole series instead of a few episodes, which eventually started to have a detrimental effect and became one of the reasons why I wanted to end my personal project as soon as possible.

The rationale behind making these two series originated from the latter half of my high school years; many people, including my teachers and parents, were saying how those final years would be important to my future, which meant that I would have to put my writing on hiatus for the time being. However, had I known better, I would have just kept on going.

The Next Gen Series

Originally, the plan was that Block 9 of the 50th Anniversary Series would have been my last series. However, towards the end of 2013, I got ideas for more stories and also realised that I would have played the Fifth Doctor for only two years whereas those actors who played the Doctor on the BBC series did around three or four years. I created this series (under the name “Project Next Gen”) with the intent of playing the Doctor for another year before finishing my final year after the hiatus. All episodes were broadcast in 2014.

I wanted to make this a “budget series” with the tagline “A New Doctor Who For A New Era”, but things happened and I ended up making it bigger than I originally wanted it to be.

2013-14 Specials: While the Next Gen Series officially started in 2014, The Day of the Doctor and A Christmas Carol (the actual 2013 Christmas Special) are also considered part of these series. Along with a five-episode miniseries broadcast around the New Year period, three specials were broadcast during Chinese New Year, with one of them being an adaptation of Princess Twilight Sparkle and another being an original pony adventure featuring Storm Dasher. All three specials featured Hiroki and Akari as companions.

Series 8: A light-hearted series that turned sour. Basically, some stuff happened IRL and Akari had to go back to being a villain with Girl Power and her cousins, who become the main villains of the Next Gen Series. Angelina Mouseling replaced Akari as companion from the sixth episode. I also adapted three BBC Fifth Doctor stories for this, namely The King’s Demons, Warriors of the Deep and Frontios respectively. The Awakening was another idea that came to mind, but I decided against it. The series finale started with some scenes from Resurrection of the Daleks, then I adapted some scenes from both ends of the 2013 TVB drama Brother’s Keeper (巨輪). It involves Hiroki kidnapping Akari and the son of a man who owned a Chinese restaurant in my local area. This is the bit where Hiroki’s sanity starts to slip as a result of his wife’s betrayal. (tbh I could have also adapted a rape scene if I wanted to but then it wouldn’t be a family series anymore) The subsequent Christmas in July Special followed on from the Series 8 finale and featured the Master as a villain alongside Girl Power and the Daleks in an invasion of Equestria. To finish off the drama adaptation, Hiroki fights the Master and is about to shoot him when he gets shot by Shining Armor. The Master is captured and dispersed throughout time and space (ala Arc of Infinity). Megan Williams makes her debut and three new companions join the Doctor, Hiroki and Angelina from this episode, namely Satoyuki Saitō, Storm Dasher and Rainbow Dash.

Series 9: If you were to read the stories of this series, you’d think I was a creep or misogynist of some sort. This series is now entirely focused on Hiroki’s fight against Girl Power and his worsening mental health that somehow barely gets mentioned. It starts off with Hiroki rejecting his old name, the name he was originally given at birth, then ends with him beating his wife and destroying the world. The Ice King is the subject of the series opener and Twilight’s Kingdom is also adapted, but with Storm Dasher and a seventh Element of Harmony, namely time. All the stories are connected with four double-parters throughout. The prototype to the Superhero Project begins here as in the second half of the series, the Doctor and his companions fight Girl Power as the Samurai Rangers. The series finale is mostly set in Hiroki’s point of view, but it does feature a pared-down adaption of The Time of the Doctor, which involves Trenzalore being an area on Earth and him only being there for like a few days or weeks or something. The Earth gets destroyed, then everything is suddenly back to normal.

The Final Specials: Three specials were made for this block. The first two are collectively known as the “5115 Specials” because they celebrate the 51st anniversary of BBC Doctor Who and the 15th anniversary of this Doctor Who. Following the format of 24, the two specials follow on from the Series 9 finale and features the Earth being raptured, then restored after the Doctor and Hiroki fix a time distortion in Heaven. Following that, they go back to Earth and fight Girl Power and their allies. Their army is so strong that it took the second coming of Jesus in order to defeat it. Hiroki and Akari reconcile after this. The final episode, the 2014 Christmas Special, features a remnant of Hiroki’s first incarnation attempting to take over his current self until Akari and her friends prevent this.

Jee Gun’s Spinoff: Magical Tachibana

The Tachibana Mysteries is a series of crime dramas centred around detectives who are part of the legendary Tachibana family, whose ancestors have worked in the police force. Magical Tachibana is one of those series; a detective from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, Yūki Tachibana, is transferred to Minato-Sugaru Island, home of the Equestria Girls. It’s basically Equestria Girls meets Death in Paradise. In addition to this, I decided to reintroduce Jee Gun’s character, with his real self ending up on Minato-Sugaru Island following his regeneration into Storm Dasher.

I wrote two pilots for the series and nothing more. The first pilot isn’t remotely connected to this series and it probably makes even less sense as you read it. Basically, it’s an adaptation of the first Equestria Girls movie where Jee Gun is sent to the human world to help Twilight, but he forgets what he is supposed to do and things just go wrong. The second pilot is the actual pilot of the series, which adapts Deep Breath and is kind of an alternate or side story to Rainbow Rocks. Basically, the Dazzlings find a time ship that crashed years earlier and they attempt to harvest organs to repair it. It ends with what looks like Adagio being impaled on top of a tower, but it’s not what it looks like.

I think only one or two series were made before it got cancelled. I’ll talk more about Jee Gun when we get to his instalment.

Director’s cuts

During the two-year hiatus, I did do some rewrites, or rather, “director’s cuts” of some episodes, which mostly involved removing or rewriting some storylines that I didn’t like. For the most part, the director’s cuts take precedence in canon over the original episodes, with the exception of the first set, the Series 9 Shinkenger arc, as it is an alternative retelling altogether.

Here are the episodes that were made into director’s cuts:

Series 9 Shinkenger arc (most of the second half and the 5115 Specials)

Block 9 (with an edited cut of The Time of the Doctor from the Series 9 finale as the de facto 2015 Christmas Special)

Series 4 Kikuchi arc (from the two dramas)

Series 7 Part 1 (the Salacian Time War specials)

Blocks 2 and 4 (the highlights of the 50th Anniversary Series before Block 6)

Series 5 finale (as the de facto 2016 Christmas Special, also includes the episode before it)

The Moushouden Series

The full name of the series is Doctor Who Xtreme Legends Moushouden (named after the Koei Warriors spinoff games), but in recent years, I’ve started to call it the Moushouden Series or Project for short. I started making plans for this towards the end of the Next Gen Series in 2014 and they have been continually changing. If I told myself in 2014 what the Moushouden Series would look like by the end, I probably wouldn’t believe myself.

The Moushouden Series started in 2017 and was meant to end at the end of 2020, but the coronavirus lockdown has forced me to push it back by another year to 2021. The Fifth Doctor would undergo a big character change to be more similar to the BBC Twelfth Doctor for the adapted episodes and Gokaiger’s Captain Marvelous for everything else. The objective of this project was to “retell the past and forge the future”. I also tried my best to answer any questions and loose ends left over from previous series. There are also numerous spinoffs that are heavily linked, so they will be listed under this section as well.

Doctor Who: This is the main component of this series that eventually got overshadowed by the other spinoffs. Because each of the original series was 12 episodes long, I decided to write an additional episode for each series to make them 13 episodes long.

Series 10: Broadcast April-June 2017 and based on BBC Series 8. I also rewrote the series opener along with the original episode. The original episodes of this and the next series are broadcast as part of the preludes to the Superhero Project and Kamen Rider Project. Some of Deep Breath was also used in the series opener, including the Paternoster Gang, the Clockwork Droids and the Half-Face Man. Clara Oswald returned as companion for this series and the next. Last Christmas acted as the Christmas in July Special.

Series 11: Broadcast September-November 2017 and based on BBC Series 9. Some modifications were made to this series to fit my project’s canon. In the opening two-parter, Davros was replaced with Antoni and in The Girl Who Died, the circumstances as to how the Doctor got his face are slightly modified. Clara Oswald departed in the series finale. My interpretation of the Hybrid is different than whatever Steven Moffat meant it to be, which I will explain when I get to it. The 2017 Christmas Special marked the debut of the Gokaigers, with the Doctor being the leader of that team as well.

Series 12: Broadcast September-December 2018 and based on BBC Series 10. In a throwback to Series 1 and 2, there are 16 episodes in this series, including the original episode, The Husbands of River Song, The Return of Doctor Mysterio and Twice Upon a Time, which featured the First Doctor’s first actor. This series is also nicknamed “the Nardole saga”. Bill Potts is also a companion in this series. Like Series 11, modifications were made to this series, such as the Monks not affecting Australia due to the influence of the Power Rangers, Kamen Riders, Ultramen and Space Sheriffs. Due to some circumstances that happened in Gokaiger, the Doctor regenerates into himself at the end and appears in the 2018 Christmas Special.

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger/Kamen Rider Decade: Broadcast back-to-back January-June 2018 with an additional movie trilogy released July-September 2018. This is the culmination of the Superhero Project and Kamen Rider Project. There are 13 episodes in this series along with a crossover special, TV movie and extended episodes for the series premiere and finale. The amount of episodes equated to 28 half-hour episodes that could be adapted from their respective counterparts. I will be making separate instalments on this in the future.

Gokaiger: Aside from adapting episodes from Gokaiger, some storylines from Boukenger, Ninninger and Zyuohger were adapted as well. I remember using ideas from the 199 Hero Great Battle movie in four episodes for some reason. Not all Sentai teams were adapted into the Superhero Project – I only adapted Zyuranger, Kakuranger, Ohranger, Hurricanger, then Dekaranger to Zyuohger. In the movie, I also adapted Goranger, JAKQ and Dairanger as the “ancient Rangers”, mostly because they were also used in the finale and I already had a limited pool of powers as it was. The movie trilogy, titled Space Squad, involves the Gokaigers fighting alongside Ultramen Ginga, Victory and X along with Space Sheriffs Gavan, Sharivan and Shaider under the banner of the Shadow Proclamation.

Decade: Consider this my attempt at making a better version of Decade than the one we eventually got under Shoji Yonemura. This version focuses on Hiroki redeeming himself for his past sins as he is sent back a month in the past in order to gain the cooperation of the Riders and save the world from destruction. Like the original, there are two arcs in this series, namely the Nine Riders Arc and the New Riders Arc. The Nine Riders Arc features a counterpart of Narutaki as the main villain, while the New Riders Arc features a quartet of villains working under Foundation X to resurrect Dai-Shocker, the villain group of the TV movie. Originally, I wanted to feature original Riders, but in the end, I only kept three (later two) original Riders as I adapted every Rider from Kuuga to Drive. The “Nine Riders” are different in this series than the original. The movie trilogy, titled Age of Riders, is derived from the Heisei Generations movies. Kamen Rider Ghost was also adapted for this as well.

Three Kingdoms: A four-series drama recounting the backstories of Hiroki’s past self and Parker. The series is inspired from the Dynasty Warriors-esque battle dramas, but with schools and armies of children fighting each other. It covers the events of the Last Great Time War on Earth from 2003 to 2011, which is kind of related to the Hybrid. Other events after that are covered in other parts of the project. This is a weeknightly drama with 60 episodes in each series. Some specials were also broadcast between Series 3 and 4. In addition to this, a side spinoff Three Corners was made, with 26 episodes broadcast weekly in the second half of 2017.

Series 1: Broadcast January-March 2017 and covers events from 2003 to 2007. Highlights include their time at kindergarten and the first years of primary school.

Series 2: Broadcast April-June 2017 and covers events from 2007 to 2010. Highlights include Hiroki and Parker’s rise to power and their rivalry with a group of young strategists.

Series 3: Broadcast October-December 2017 and covers events from 2010 to 2011. Highlights include the Salacian Rebellion and their chaotic transition to secondary school.

Series 4: Broadcast January-April 2020 and covers events from 2011 to 2012. Highlights include Parker’s death and resurrection and Hiroki’s departure to become a ronin, bridging into his Doctor Who appearances.

Soulbound: A four-series drama focused on the adventures of Shinbu Serizawa, Mogoro Kuwabara and their friends in another universe. I got the idea to make this series from my memories of playing a Doctor Who-based adventure with my friends in primary school. The TV series Parallax and other works played large roles in influencing the series lore. The first two series was contained in its universe while the last two series crossed into the main universe, where the other works are set (though with a ten year time difference). Like Three Kingdoms, this is a weeknightly drama with 60 episodes in each series. A Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special (celebrating the anniversary for this version of Doctor Who) was broadcast as an extra episode in Series 3.

Series 1: Broadcast April-June 2019 and features adaptions of the Ape Escape games and Sonichu fancomic. The final arc of this series revolves around the Dimensional Merge, where Soulbound’s universe is merged with the main universe, explaining the appearance of anime and cartoon characters throughout the project.

Series 2: Broadcast July-September 2019 and features an adaptation of Kingdom of Paradise. The Third, Fourth and Fifth Doctors are featured in dedicated two-parters near the end of the series. The final arc involves the construction of a dimensional bridge connecting the two dimensions, allowing travel between them, and the characters becoming part of their universe’s Shadow Proclamation.

Series 3: Broadcast September-December 2019. The entire series is an Ultraman-based arc centred around Ultraman Ginga and his nemesis, Ultraman Venokatto. It’s a really long story. The Kamen Riders are also featured, but out of the Rangers, only the Gokaigers are featured (with the exception of some Samurai Rangers during a two-parter). But between you and me, it’s also a big finger to the writers of the MLP:FiM finale. More on that when I get to it.

Series 4: To be broadcast October-December 2020. Work for this series is in progress.

The Equestria Chronicles: A two-pronged series focused on Doctor Who and Ultraman respectively. The Doctor Who portion is a clip show broadcast in the second half of 2019 and it features Storm Dasher as a guest teacher at the School of Friendship telling the students about his adventures in Doctor Who. The Ultraman portion is a six-arc drama broadcast in the second half of 2020 and it features the backstories of Ginga, Victory and X, adapted from their respective Japanese series.

The Zhuge Family Chronicles: Another clip show with different members of the Zhuge family to be featured in each episode. To be broadcast in the first half of 2021.

The Final Kamen Rider Chronicle: In lieu of a fifth series for Three Kingdoms and Soulbound, it was decided that adaptations of Ex-Aid, Build and Zi-O would be made instead. The entire series will premiere in the second half of 2021 and I will be writing the Zi-O portion of it. What I can tell you now is that my version of Zi-O will take place in an alternate 2018-19 of the project, but the Legend Riders will come from the end of their respective stories, that is, their histories will not be changed.

So that’s my personal project in a nutshell. From the next instalment, I’ll be going into the specifics of certain aspects in the project.

[baphomet-media]

Top 10 Games I Played in 2019

Another year has gone by just like that, and here we are with another year’s worth of games played! There were some good releases this year, and I’m excited to talk about them all. Before that, though, let’s touch briefly on the criteria for these lists:

Any game that I played for the first time in 2019 is eligible, regardless of initial release year. Games that I started late in the previous year but spent most of the time playing in the year in question also count.

Ports, remasters, remakes, etc. of games that I have played before do not count.

I have to spend a certain amount of time with a game or the game has to make some kind of significant impact on me to be considered.

Lastly, these are just my opinion out of a very limited pool of games that I was personally able to get to this year, so if a game you played this year doesn’t show up, chances are either I didn’t have a chance to play it, or it just wasn’t personally as impactful to me as some of the others on the list. Now, on to the list!

10. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch)

Developer: Intelligent Systems / Koei Tecmo

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre: Strategy RPG

Release Date: July 26th 2019

Before Three Houses, the only Fire Emblem game I played was Awakening on the 3DS. I mostly enjoyed it, but I couldn’t get into the marriage aspect of the game, and I felt that many of the battles a bit too lacking in any sort of story context other than “There are bad guys here, let’s take them out!”

However, Three Houses really succeeded for me where Awakening failed. The academy was a really great home base and actually gave some meaningful context to most of the battles in the game. I really enjoyed micromanaging the different lessons in the game and tweaking each of my students into exactly the build I wanted for them, however I felt the drawback of this was that there weren’t really a whole lot of different classes to really explore. Most of the game’s character classes are just stronger variations of lower-level classes, and it definitely felt like some skill categories became woefully underutilized as the game went on, so there was no point in training people for them. I also liked recruiting other students to my house, but I felt like the other houses students didn’t really offer anything that my current house already had, so some students ended up feeling mechanically similar to others.

The battles were exactly what you’d expect from Fire Emblem, and gave me a bit of a tabletop RPG vibe, which I enjoyed, particularly when there were large monsters to fight that took up more grid space than standard units.

That being said, the story was really interesting, and I really liked watching everything unfold. I picked the Black Eagles house (because Edelgard is great), but I felt like that story didn’t really do a great job of explaining everything, and expected you to just side with Edelgard on some of her more bold decisions with no explanation as to why what she was doing was right, which felt kind of unfair. The game really wanted you to go through and play each one of the houses stories, but with around 80 hours poured into a single house, I didn’t really feel like there was much point at the end.

Overall, I think Three Houses is a great fit for the Switch and I’m excited to see what the future of Fire Emblem on Switch will look like.

9. Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Switch)

Developer: Next Level Games

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre: Adventure

Release Date: October 31st 2019

When it comes to Luigi’s Mansion, I enjoyed Dark Moon on 3DS back in 2013 while waiting for Animal Crossing: New Leaf to drop, but I never really had much of a reason to come back to it. Still, I really enjoyed the exploration aspect of the game and the attention to detail really impressed me with how nearly everything could be interacted with.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 on Switch is more of what you’d expect from the Luigi’s Mansion series. The game centers around Luigi exploring a haunted hotel to stop King Boo and rescue Mario and his friends. While Dark Moon focused more on a few isolated mansions with different themes, LM3 brings things back to a single gigantic building. This time, each floor of the mansion has a different spooky theme, from ancient Egypt, to classical music, to a floor overgrown with plants. Luigi has to defeat the boss of each floor to reclaim the elevator button for the next floor as he gradually works his way to the top.

Like with previous games in the series, you can expect loads of environmental interaction, such as all the items you can suck up and mess with using the Poltergust, but LM3 brings some new mechanics to the series, including a launchable plunger than you can then pull on to yank certain objects around, as well as the remote-control Gooigi, who is as fun to use as his name is cursed. Gooigi is basically a slime doppelganger for Luigi who can be deployed at any point to assist Luigi with different tasks, or split up for local co-op play. He also has the ability to squeeze through grates and pipes, allowing all sorts of hidden areas that only Gooigi can explore.

LM3 is a game that oozes with charm (no pun intended), though the combat does get a tad repetitive. Also, I was a bit disappointed that there was not more interplay between different floors of the hotel. They’re almost exclusively completely isolated levels, which definitely takes away from the feeling of having a huge building to explore.

8. Blasphemous (PC)

Developer: The Game Kitchen

Publisher: Team17

Genre: Adventure Platformer

Release Date: September 10th 2019

Blasphemous is a game I remember seeing teasers for earlier in 2019, but saw little to no hype for otherwise. However, the concept and the stunning hi-bit pixel art immediately drew me in. The game is a 2D adventure platformer set in a gothic fantasy world reminiscent of Dark Souls. In fact, quite a lot of this game is reminiscent of Dark Souls, with a lore thicker than gravy that’s brimming with little tidbits of information in every NPC dialogue, every item flavor text, and in the bosses you encounter. The world takes inspiration from Christianity, though not actually being about Christianity itself, instead a fictional religion with many similar aspects (an approach I wish more developers would take).

In Blasphemous, you play as The Penitent One as you explore a rotting gothic world and learn more about a strange quasi-religious curse called The Miracle and other fascinating bits of the world. You explore such locations as rotting cathedrals, a frozen mountain, the interior of a colossal bell set upside down into the ground, and more. Along the way, your eyes will feast on some of the most gorgeous pixel art in games this year.

The Penitent One is able to battle with their sword and certain special abilities picked up along the way. While the combat is fairly simple at first, it gets much more deep and nuanced as you go along, dodging enemy attacks, parrying and countering, using spells to buff yourself or shoot projectiles, and much more. Personally, the game feels a lot like Dark Souls meets Castlevania, particularly Symphony of the Night. It’s definitely a lot of fun, though it may not be everyone’s cup of tea due to tone and difficulty.

7. Mario Maker 2 (Switch)

Developer: Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre: Action Platformer and Level Editor

Release Date: June 28th 2019

I was a big fan of the idea of the original Mario Maker on WiiU, so I was really excited when Mario Maker 2 was announced for Switch with a plethora of new parts, themes, mechanics, and features. I have a pretty big soft spot for classic Mario games, and level editors really get my gamedev side going, so this game pretty much checked all the boxes for me.

I was glad this time around to see an extensive singleplayer mode, where Mario has to play through Nintendo’s own pre-made levels to gain coins to rebuild Peach’s castle after the Undodog resets it all to nothing. It was a great introduction to the game, particularly showcasing what all you can do with the new parts. It was the perfect thing to get any creator’s brain tingling with ideas for their first level.

The editor itself is largely improved from the WiiU, though you’ll almost certainly need a capacitive stylus in order to really take advantage of the Switch’s touch screen, though it’s nice to finally have a Switch game with proper touch screen support, since it seemed like Nintendo had all but forgotten about this part of the device. There are tons of new improvements here, too, such as all modifiers for objects can be accessed by long-pressing on an object. One thing I wasn’t fond of though was the way the Select and Copy modes are accessed, needing to toggle through them and normal edit mode instead of just having a single button for each.

Unfortunately, the Amiibo costumes have not returned, which would have been a great use for Amiibo on Switch (anyone remember that the Switch is Amiibo compatible?), though with the recent release of the Link costume, it seems that Nintendo has plans in mind for these alternate forms.

Fortunately, if you’re not much of a creator, there’s still plenty to do in MM2, as there are tons of ways to play levels online, including an endless challenge mode with different difficulties, browsing top level lists, and a new speedrun mode where levels are available for a limited time and you can grind them to get your best time, playing against the ghosts of other players’ best times.

All in all, I’ve had fun with MM2, and I’m excited to see what Nintendo will bring to the game in future updates (please implement level playlists).

6. Baba Is You (PC)

Developer: Hempuli

Publisher: Hempuli

Genre: Puzzle

Release Date: March 13th 2019

Out of nowhere back in March came a little indie game known as Baba Is You. In this programming puzzle game, each level contains the rules of the level as physical objects that you can push around and recombine to manipulate how the game plays. Each rule statement can (usually) be broken down into three components: an object (such as Water), a verb (such as Is) and a property (such as Stop). Each one of these components can be pushed around at will, and if you line all three of them up you get the statement “Water Is Stop”, meaning that all water tiles in the level do not allow other objects to move over them. If you break this statement, the water loses this blocking property and you can walk over it. It doesn’t stop there, though, and there are tons of combinations and complicated scenarios that will leave your brain hurting after too long. While some of the puzzles are unfortunately rather obtuse in their intended solutions, and the game doesn’t always do a great job of teaching you the skills you’ll need to face harder puzzles, you at least have the option of completing multiple different levels, so it’s rare that you’ll be stuck on just one.

It also helps that the art for the game is a cute but simplistic hand-drawn style that makes it easy to distinguish all the various elements of each level. The only reason this game didn’t rank higher on my list is that I got stuck and I found most of the levels to be a bit too hard for me (shocking, I know).

5. Gato Roboto (PC)

Developer: doinksoft

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Genre: Adventure Platformer

Release Date: May 30th 2019

Gato Roboto is a cute Metroid-like adventure platformer that sees you taking the role of Kiki, a cat who has to explore an alien planet to rescue her master’s crashed ship. Fortunately, while Kiki is defenseless on her own, she is able to pilot a robotic mech suit to run, gun, and jump across different zones of the planet. While a Metroid-esque platformer is nothing new, it’s the charming 1bit graphics and the interesting interplay between power suit mechanics and suitless cat mechanics. Sometimes there are gaps that the suit can’t fit into or walls that you need cat claws to climb, so you’ll have to abandon your robot suit and proceed on foot for a bit. In true Metroid fashion, you’ll acquire many upgrades for your suit as you go along, including movement abilities and health upgrades.

The game is short, but very sweet, and the mechanics are super satisfying. You could maybe finish the game in a few hours, but the controls and speedrun potential will likely keep you coming back for more.

The only downside I have to the game is that there is at least one section where you have to explore extensively on foot, and since you die in a single hit while on foot, it makes for some frustrating moments when you just barely mistime a jump and graze an enemy. Also, at one point I managed to softlock the game by accidentally bypassing a barrier that the player isn’t meant to and getting stuck in a boss area when a required button doesn’t work after you defeat the boss. Fortunately, the developers managed to patch this, so I was able to continue playing after a while.

4. Hollow Knight (PC/Switch)

Developer: Team Cherry

Publisher: Team Cherry

Genre: Adventure Platformer

Release Date: February 24th 2017

I’ll admit, I was a bit late to the party on this one. Hollow Knight released back in 2017 on PC, and while I played it for a bit on there, I didn’t get far and just never had time to come back to it. However, when it was released on Switch in mid 2018, I ended up picking it up again some time later and gradually worked my way through it into 2019. Hollow Knight is a Metroid-esque adventure platformer with light Dark Souls elements set in a dark and dismal world of a fallen insect kingdom. You play as a lone knight who seeks to explore the Hallownest and learn its secrets. Armed only with your Nail, a rusted sword, you explore the caverns and abandoned civilization beneath the town of Dirtmouth.

The game has tons of exploration, and allows the player to explore Hallownest at their own pace with minimal signposting towards destinations. Additionally, the game has an interesting map mechanic where you start off completely without a map and have to rely on memory to navigate the tunnels, however very quickly you’ll be able to purchase a blank map where you can record rooms you’ve been to at each save point. However this map only works for the current area, so for each area you discover, you’ll have to start this process all over, finding a map so you can chart out the area. While this sounds like a pain at first (and definitely can take some adjusting), it’s actually really interesting as you feel like you’re really discovering a forgotten realm and charting out your own personal course through the world. There are also plenty of points for nonlinear progression, as many areas are often open to the player at once, so it’s up to them to choose where to go (or just stumble across new areas at random like me). Each area offers vastly different visuals, from a mushroom-filled series of tunnels, to an elegant garden, to dank sewers, to a city drenched with perpetual underground rain. In each area you’ll explore every nook and cranny to find upgrades and new abilities.

Along the way, you’ll find many badges that you can equip, a la Paper Mario, that give you various passive bonuses and abilities, however you are limited in the number you can have equipped at a time, so strategic planning of which badges to use is crucial.

One of the game’s main features is challenging boss battles. The further you get in the game, the more the balance shifts from exploration to combat, with the late game mostly revolving around hunting down multiple different bosses. Many bosses are optional, however, and some are even hidden, so many players might miss them entirely. Personally, while I found many bosses to be fun challenges, it got kind of tedious to constantly be fighting bosses at every turn, which led to me not completely finishing the game.

3. Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition (Switch)

Developer: Square Enix

Publisher: Square Enix

Genre: RPG

Release Date: September 27th 2019

I’ll admit I slept on Dragon Quest XI when it released for PC and PS4 back in 2017. It was constantly on my “maybe someday” list, but it wasn’t until the Definitive Edition released on Switch back in September that I decided to give it a go, and boy am I glad I did.

DQXI tells the story of a young man who finds out one day that he is the reincarnation of a legendary hero called The Luminary, who is said to defeat an evil known as The Dark One and bring peace to the world. However, he soon finds himself hunted by a corrupt kingdom that has branded him as The Darkspawn, claiming he is responsible for bringing The Dark One to the world and causing disaster. Thus, our hero travels the world, meeting friends along the way, and finding out what it means to be The Luminary.

The game’s plot may seem a bit generic, but that’s the thing. The whole conceit of DQXI is that it’s a classic JRPG at heart, but with a lot of modern touches to make it feel accessible today. So while there are plenty of turn-based battles, MP gauges, and a story that’s simplistic at the surface, there are loads of surprises throughout and lots of mechanical tweaks that drastically improve the quality of life of the game. For instance, as characters level up, they gain skill points that they can spend on a grid of skills to improve their abilities in different disciplines. Usually, each character has a sector of the grid for each weapon type they can use, as well as one section full of character-specific buffs and special abilities. By the end of the game, you’ll be able to unlock nearly every ability, so it becomes more of a matter of deciding which abilities to prioritize based on how you want to customize each character.

Speaking of characters, there’s a pretty full cast of characters to enjoy, and I found myself loving all of them, such as the spunky Veronica, the flamboyant Sylvando, or the warrior princess Jade. Each character has their own battle style, too, including casting spells, using strong weapons, buffing the party, and more.

The game will easily get you over 100 hours of playtime, with myself clocking in at around 120 hours so far. I’m not quite done yet, but I’m almost there. See, there’s a ton to do in DQXI aside from the main story, including crafting and improving items in a quick minigame at your Fun-Size Forge, gambling in the casino, horse racing, side questing, and exploring various parts of the world.

As for quality of life features, there are such things as the Horse Hailer, which allows you to immediately summon a horse on the overworld for quick travel, early access to the Zoom spell, which lets you teleport back to any town, important location, or campsite you’ve visited throughout the world for free, campsites being free healing, a speed-up option in combat, multiple auto-battle options, the ability to quick-heal in the menu, and more. It’s hard to really list everything, but there are tons of instances where you’ll think “Oh, that’s really handy”.

The visuals of the game are fantastic, with lots of that Akira Toriyama style that’s become synonymous with the Dragon Quest series. The characters are all really well designed and memorable, though some of the NPCs have a bit of a case of same-face, which is especially jarring considering that the game’s world is inspired by many diverse real-world cultures, making it odd that people from a Japanese-inspired area look exactly the same as people from an area based on northeast Europe. Still, I think the game otherwise does an excellent job at respecting world cultures, and even incorporates real-world languages into different regions. For example, the in-game city of Gondolia is based heavily on Venice, Italy, and the people of that city sprinkle bits of Italian into their dialogue. It’s a charming touch.

The music for the game sounds really great if you enable the orchestral version. Unfortunately, the game originally released with only a synthesized version of the soundtrack, which sounds terrible by comparison. Unfortunately, I felt that although each of the compositions were very memorable and pleasing, there sometimes didn’t feel like enough of them. The overworld, city, battle, boss battle, and dungeon themes are exactly the same wherever you go in the world, and I felt like that was a missed opportunity to really spice up the soundtrack with more unique themes to each area.

Overall, If you like JRPG’s, you’ll definitely like DQXI. My only complaints are that it can be a tad on the easy side, and that there are a few points of no return in the story that cause certain quests to be locked out without warning.

2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch)

Developer: Bandai Namco Studios / Sora Ltd.

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre: Fighting

Release Date: December 7th 2018

Was this really a surprise? A new Smash Bros. game releases the day before my birthday? Of course I’m gonna love it! I had been hyped up for Smash Ultimate for months preceding its release, going as far as watching any gameplay videos on YouTube I could find from various demo events and tournaments around the world. Even after the game’s release, there have been tons of content updates, new fighter DLC, and just so many reasons to come back to the game. It doesn’t hurt that one of the most accessible fighting games of all time is available on a handheld system (literally the only reason I played Smash 3DS). Smash Ultimate stands out in more than just its portability factor, though. While it largely recycles content from previous games, it can be seen as the “Ultimate” Smash Bros game, bringing back every single fighter from the series history, nearly every playable stage, and tons of familiar modes. Not only that, but new content is also present in terms of fighters, stages, and more. Long awaited characters include the Inklings from Splatoon, Ridley from the Metroid series, King K. Rool from Donkey Kong, and surprise guests, including Simon and Richter Belmont from Castlevania. On top of that, a plethora of DLC fighters and stages have been added, with the 5th DLC fighter still upcoming and shrouded in mystery.

Most prominent of the new additions is the game’s approach to a story mode. Unfortunately not as robust as the Subspace Emissary from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, The World of Light is still a welcome addition. In this mode, a strange angelic being called Galeem has turned all of the Smash fighters into evil controlled puppets, except, of course, for Kirby, who sets out to free each of the game’s 70+ fighters from Galeem’s control across a large board of levels, each connected by pathways. Each level features a battle against a copy of one of the game’s fighters possessed by a Spirit, essentially the essence of a video game character, and you have to free the Spirit and claim it by defeating the possessed fighter in a themed battle. This was a really nice way of including references to characters across not only Nintendo’s history, but the whole history of gaming as well, including some characters who do not otherwise appear in Smash, such as Shantae and Rayman. These Spirits, once collected, can be equipped to your character to not only improve your power level, but also offer different buffs, such as resistance to certain attacks, powering up your Smash attacks, starting you off each battle with an item, etc. I definitely enjoyed the World of Light mode, though I felt like it was a tad on the shallow side, and battles could get fairly repetitive after a while.

Fortunately, Smash really shines on its core mechanics, and the most fun I’ve had from the game is exploring all the different characters and finding which ones I like best. My current main is Ganondorf, though I still love playing as Ness and Lucas. Really, this is Smash at its best, and a number of much-needed mechanical tweaks, such as dodge fatigue, directional midair dodging, holding smash move charges, and an overall faster pace make this my favorite Smash game yet.

1. Persona 5 (PS4)

Developer: P-Studio

Publisher: Atlus

Genre: RPG

Release Date: April 4th 2017

Okay, wow. What a game. I’ve never played a Persona or Shin Megami Tensei game before, but buzz for Persona 5 was everywhere, and with the inclusion of P5’s Joker in Smash, I had to check it out. Even though I got to the game nearly two years late, I’m so glad I did.

Persona 5 is an RPG where you take on the role of a high school boy (he doesn’t really have a default name, but the most common name for him is Ren, so that’s what we’ll use) who has gotten tangled up in some legal trouble after intervening in a drunken assault on a woman he witnessed on the street. Turns out, this guy was something of a bigshot, and Ren soon finds himself placed under a form of rehabilitation where he is forced to transfer to the illustrious Shujin Academy in Tokyo. While at Shujin, Ren must live under the guardianship of a man named Shojiro who runs a coffee shop. Ren must stay out of trouble at school and live honestly.

However, trouble almost immediately finds Ren again as he discovers a lecherous teacher is mistreating many of the school’s students, and while investigating, accidentally slips into a strange dimension called the Metaverse, where the twisted perceptions of corrupted people are manifested into reality, and a sprawling Palace exists for the evil teacher. There, Ren meets a strange talking cat named Morgana who offers to help Ren if he will help Morgana find the Treasure at the heart of the Palace. Turns out, the Treasure is the manifestation of what caused the person’s desires to become corrupted, and stealing it causes them to lose their distorted emotions and confess.

Thus, Ren becomes a Phantom Thief, infiltrating Palaces and stealing Treasures by night and masquerading as a humble high school student by day. The Palaces are effectively the game’s dungeons, and this is where combat and exploration take place. Along the way, he’ll discover the power of his Persona, effectively an avatar of the user’s personality that enable them to unleash their true power inside the Metaverse, as well as use special abilities. And of course, you’ll recruit many friends to the Phantom Thieves, all of whom have their own motives and Personae. However, Ren has a special power. Instead of just being limited to one Persona, he has the ability to capture many Persona from the Metaverse by recruiting the game’s enemies or fusing Personae he already has to make more powerful ones. Thus the game has a light monster-collecting aspect to it, as each Persona can be leveled up to unlock new abilities, fused with others, and much more. What’s cool is that each Persona must be persuaded to join you by knocking it down in battle and then speaking to it in whatever way you think it wants to hear.

Outside of Palaces, you’ll investigate your targets, infiltrate a mega-palace called Mementos, as well as managing your free time. You see, Persona 5 allows you a limited amount of time to do everything you want to do, and it’s crucial that you manage your student life as well. This means spending time studying for exams, reading books to improve stats, working part-time jobs for money, playing minigames, and most importantly, hanging out with different NPCs, your teammates and supporters, to boost their friendship levels. As you get higher in friendship with each NPC, you’ll unlock new abilities, some of which are truly game-changing. I really enjoyed this aspect, as it felt like a puzzle trying to figure out how best to use my time. Almost nothing felt wasted, but I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to do everything, so I was always thinking about how best to optimize my time. Unfortunately, you can’t do everything in a single playthrough, but fortunately you can carry a lot of your progress over into New Game+. Some features are actually restricted to NG+, so it makes it feel like that second playthrough is really necessary if you want to see everything.

While the dungeons and the battles are mechanically fairly straightforward JRPG faire, the battles are interesting in that each enemy species has its own strengths and weaknesses, and exploiting weaknesses can knock down the enemy and allow you to take an extra turn, which can lead into strong combos. Furthermore, once all enemies are knocked down, you can perform a powerful All-Out Attack for massive damage. It honestly doesn’t get too much more complicated than that, but there is enough depth to the system to keep you engaged until the end of the game.

Each of the game’s characters are extremely well-designed, and I loved pretty much all of my party members, though Yusuke didn’t click with me as well as some of the others, despite being voiced by the amazing Matt Mercer. My favorite, of course, was the imperious Makoto, who appears little more than a bossy student council president in reality, but explodes into flurries of righteous blows in the Metaverse, alongside her robot motorcycle Persona.

Of course it’s impossible to talk about Persona 5 without mentioning the absolute masterpiece that is this game’s presentation. If you know anything about the game, you’ve likely seen the striking art style used in all of this game’s art and UI. It’s honestly every bit as eye-catching and jaw-dropping as it seems. The music is an utter masterpiece as well, with all manner of swingy jazz tunes, somber piano pieces, heart-pounding rock tracks, all of which come together with the visual style to give you something unlike anything you’ve ever played before and to truly make you feel like a suave Phantom Thief.

I managed to not only get through the main game, but get all the way through a NG+ playthrough back-to-back to get that platinum trophy and not once did I feel bored doing so. I clocked in at around 200 hours in total and it was one of the best gaming experiences of my life. If you like RPGs, time management games, good anime-style stories, or just good games, do NOT pass this one up, especially the upcoming Royal version that’s releasing in March.

[thearkhound]

Exploring the Secret Behind Konami’s MSX Games (September 1988)

Akira Yamashita/山下 章 is a game journalist whom I covered in the past. He was a writer for Micom BASIC Magazine who later become one of the founders for Studio Bentstuff. One of his regular features he wrote for Micom BASIC was a series of game reviews titled Honki de Play, Honne de Review (which translates to Serious Play, Sincere Review) where he would not only write an in-depth review of a recently-released game, but would also interview the developer to discuss the concepts behind the games themselves.

For the September 1988 issue, rather than reviewing a specific game, Yamashita-san decided to do an overview of Konami’s MSX library, focusing primarily on their shoot-’em-up lineup. Most westerners (specifically North Americans) are only familiar with the MSX thanks to the fact that Metal Gear originated on that platform, but Konami has actually produced a variety of quality games for the MSX that rivaled what they were also released on the NES and arcades at the time. I’m hoping this article will inspire some of you readers to explore the rest of Konami’s MSX library as well.

I might consider translating more installments of Yamashita-san’s Serious & Sincere series of articles in the future.

Going to Konami

The Konami Building at Port Island, Kobe. The first floor is the lobby and the second floor is reception office. All floors above those are dedicated to the development departments. There’s a PC floor, a Famicom floor, an arcade floor, ect.

When you mention “Konami” to anyone involved with the publishing business in Japan, they’ll immediately think of the Konami building at Jimbocho, Tokyo, but that’s mainly the division of Konami involved with sales and advertising. The development department of Konami that makes their games for the arcades, PC and Famicom [NES] is actually located in a huge building in Kobe. If I was going to write to write an article for my “Serious & Sincere” series, then I thought I would fly over to Kobe and talk to the actual developers (although, Mr. Kage, who accompanied me for this interview, wanted to go to Jimbocho to meet Ms. Kamio).

We’ve arrived at the much rumored Port Island [an artificial island in Kobe] after four hours of commuting from Tokyo via the Shinkansen bullet train and such after 4 hours. In fact, this was the site of the Portopia tournament held several years ago. The place is very similar to Heiwajima in Tokyo [another artificial island] but without the boats. The Konami Building is located at the north side of the island, although the design is a bit different from the one depicted in their TwinBee. The surrounding area is peaceful and full of greenery. A couple of nearby middle-aged women that were dropped off from a sight-seeing bus began chatting when they saw the Konami Building.

“Such a lovely building! But what does Konami sell?”

“My kid really likes them. I think they make candy.” (This story also includes some embellishment)

Even though we weren’t under a strict schedule, we quickly proceeded to Konami Industry’s headquarters, where we interview Mr. Fukutake, the manager of the MSX department about various things. In this article I decided to mix my own opinions with the comments of Mr. Fukutake himself.

Up to this point, my Serious & Sincere article series were focused on showcasing the merits and exploring the development of specific games, for this installment I’ve decided to focus on Konami’s MSX library in general.

The Branding and Colors of a Software Publisher.

Akira Yamashita (right) interviewing Shigeru Fukutake. The interview was held in a seemingly luxurious VIP room with an exceptionally large marble table in the middle.

As our readers might be aware of, the development period of recent gaming software is pretty long compared to software from long ago. The days in which a single programmer can sell a single program by him or herself are now gone. Most software publishers now have a development department that divide their work by coding, story writing, music and graphics.

The long development process naturally means that every single game in development will be given full focus and the games that were planned with much “emotional attachment” will go through a long-term effort from the developers until it finally sees the light of day.

Have you noticed that their “emotional attachment” have materialized in their recent games in such interesting ways?

Those are the “colors” of a software publisher. It’s possible to imagine the kind of games a publisher releases just by mentioning their name. For example, Koei is known for their strategy games, Riverhill Software is known for their mystery adventures, Telenet is known for their colorful side-scrolling games and Dempa is known for their arcade ports.

How is the "emotional attachment” and the “colors” connected? There is a single answer. Each software house has its own idealized image of a game from its staff members. The ideal of that game in this instance is an approximation of the company’s "colors”. The energy they use is to pursue this ideal game must then represent the “emotional attachment” of the staff.

There are many examples of “colors” when it comes to other industries. In the Japanese TV industry, Tokyo Broadcasting System is associated with dramas, Fuji TV is associated with variety shows and Nippon Television is (perhaps) associated with giant battles. For the record industries, we have Canyon for idols, CBS Epic Sony for pop music, Crown and King for enka and Scitron is known for their video game music albums (we’re kidding about Scitron).

The fact that there is such “color-coding” for publishers that let us know their intentions might be a good thing for consumers like ourselves. In a sense, the PC gaming industry might had already entered a more mature age compared to the days when software publishers would flood the market with the same type of game depending on what was trending at the moment.

Moreover, with the progress of such “color-coding” is leading to the establishment of “brand names” for PCs and software. In other words, purchasing a game from a particular publisher will determine whether it’ll be a sure bet or not.

It would be no exaggeration to say that when it comes to brand names, Konami’s brand is the strongest among MSX game publishers. Mr. Fukutake, the manager of Konami’s MSX team, has the following to say on the matter.

“That's correct. The fact that our users can trust us makes us happy as creators. We’re striving to maintain Konami’s brand image that we established.”

The Way Konami Games Are Made

The rarely-seen development room of Konami’s MSX department. This room was only accessible to employees who were assigned an ID card..

Up until now, the development process of Konami’s MSX games seemed to had been a secret. Here will be explaining the development process as answered by Mr. Fukutake himself.

First of all, there are two types of MSX games produced by Konami. The first kind are arranged conversions of existing arcade games (such as Gradius or TwinBee), while the other kind are original types (which include Metal Gear, The Maze of Galious and many others) . Arranged ports of arcades seem to progress by measuring the hardware capabilities of the MSX, but the original games are naturally much more interesting. The process is a bit different in which it seems that the person who comes up with the game’s characters is also the person assigned to do the planning and the story. In other words, the person who came up with characters such as  Popolon or Pengin-kun was in charge of planning and facilitating the development of Knightmare or Penguin Adventure.

The planner will then lead a team formed by around four or five employees and then they will proceed with the development of a single game, which lasts somewhere around four to six months. With somewhere between 20 to 30 personnel employed by Konami’s MSX development department, that means there are’s a total of 5 or 6 teams each working on 2 games a year if you think about it simply, which explains Konami’s surprising release pace.

The only exception here are the music staff. A sound technology department within Konami is responsible for all the music in their arcade, PC and NES games. That’s why the music in all Konami games have a certain unified image to them.

The Relentless Obsession With Shoot-’Em-Ups

The main subject is finally here. When talking about Konami games on the MSX, the most important thing to mention is their shoot-’em-up line represented by the Gradius series. As someone who likes Konami’s shooters, I make sure to always buy them when they’re released (never got one as a gift) and enjoy them.

However, in an industry which believes the theory that shoot-’em-ups are never hits, Konami is one of the rare exceptions to that belief. All the games in the Gradius series released thus far (Gradius, Gradius 2, Salamander and Parodius) have all have a track record for staying in the top ten best-selling MSX games for extensive periods.

This seems to be a phenomenon unique to the MSX market when comparing it to other market. Silpheed for example, which I consider to the best shoot-’em-up for Japanese PCs, didn’t chart that much and I heard that the shoot-’em-up masterpieces on the Famicom that were Gradius and Zanac, weren’t quite hits.

Why are Konami’s MSX shoot-’em-ups the only ones that are selling? There might be many reasons, but the primary reason is because Konami makes its games with the key point being firmly “fun shooting”. A variety of stages, unique power-up systems, crisp music and a miraculous balance, all blend perfectly to create Konami’s unique flavor. Mr. Fukutake says “No matter what, we live and breathe shoot-’em-ups. Everyone in our staff are enthusiastic fans of shoot-’em-ups. We wish to continue our lineup no matter how much the market changes.”

Perhaps this passion for betting on the shoot-’em-up genre might be the secret that has lead to the creation of masterpieces.

The Difficulty of Difficulty Settings

One of the components that determines whether a shoot-’em-up is fun is the difficulty level. On one hand, if you make it too easy, you won’t get to savor it much. On the other hand, if you make it too hard, it will become inaccessible. Thus, the difficulty of a shoot-’em-up, much like an RPG, must be adjusted with fine-tuning.

Mr. Fukutake reveals Konami’s policy for difficulty adjustment.

“For arcade games, we make them easy to get into in the beginning. But since shoot-’em-ups for the MSX are meant to be played at home, we make them difficult from the very beginning.”

Indeed. Konami’s shoot-’em-ups are considerably difficult (only hardcore players might argue otherwise). If anything, the difficulty is adjusted to a level that it can only be cleared with continues the first time. Without enough practice, it is difficult to complete them without using continues.

But unlike an arcade game, such as Gradius II, where dying once means that you’re done for (it’s not impossible to recover, but it’s difficult for ordinary players), here it’s only a setback that can be managed with a continue. You press the F5 key [at the game over] while thinking that “this time” [you’ll beat it]. It is an experience that only people who played Konami’s shoot-’em-ups on the MSX will be familiar with.

I think Konami adjusts their difficulty settings around this continue feature to some extent. Perhaps they’re aiming for the same sense of satisfaction when you clear one of their shoot-’em-ups that a player would also feel when solving an RPG or an adventure game. At the very least, I found myself impressed by the continue feature without knowing it when I’ve completed the game after struggling during a hard battle.

This is not something that could be managed easily even with the know-how. It’s not flattery or anything. It’s what I expect from Konami.

About Salamander

For me, the only Konami shoot-’em-up I was unreasonable with its difficulty was Salamander. Even if you keep continue, the sense of hopelessness is strong after dying once, unless you bring up Player 2′s ship as a decoy and start gradually recovering all your power-ups again. There are special weapons that only be used when both players’ ships unite, but they’re not very practical since they have limited uses and they feel pretty weak. And finally, the true ending is locked away and is accessible by having a Gradius 2 cartridge on the second slot. Isn’t that a bit too much?

Konami’s Future on the MSX

There is more stuff that I want to write about Konami, but I can’t due to the limited amount of pages. So I decided end this article asking Mr. Fukutake about Konami’s upcoming MSX games.

“Gaming trends will keep changing in the future, but we don’t just want to pursue what’s popular, we want to make whatever we want and keep on making something that is true to Konami. Since games are expensive, we want to make products that suit their prices so that you won’t be disappointed with your purchase. How do you maintain such level of quality and not shatter the image we’ve created thus far? That is our next challenge.”

Indeed, the quality must remain above a certain level, but that’s easier said than done. Not just Konami, but any company that has grown in size will have a certain quota of games to release for the year and because of the reliance on external staff to meet this quota, there’s a risk that the quality will deteriorate. Although it’s not noticeable, some companies in the Famicom business are already going for a “quantity over quality” strategy (I won’t mention any names though).

I don’t want Konami’s MSX team to fall into the same trap. On the contrary, I believe Konami, who are the best brand on the MSX, must continue producing quality games and lead the MSX market as their mission. As long as Konami keeps pumping out quality games, the MSX will never fade away.

No matter what, please continue making games with the industry in mind. Never forget your original intentions. I’m looking forward to the upcoming Snatcher and their newest shoot-’em-up Parodius, as well as the supposedly “unachievable” SCC II.

I would like to thank everyone who helped me out with this article and I apologize for my rough words.

Konami’s Shoot-’Em-Up Series

Gradius [English title: Nemesis] - The MSX version of Gradius was released shortly after the Famicom version. It was notable for the additional boneyard stage, which did not exists in the original arcade game. At any rate, the fact that Gradius could be played on an MSX1 was pretty impressive to begin with.

Gradius 2 [English title: Nemesis 2] - The long-rumored sequel to Gradius made its debut on the MSX. New weapons, such as the upward laser were added, and a new storyline began depicting the conflict against Dr. Venom. It was the first MSX game to employ the SCC chip.

Salamander - The most difficult game in Konami’s shoot-’em-up library. The structure of the MSX version is completely different from the original arcade game, since Stages 3-5 can be played at any order. I was glad to see that some of the music and the power-up system from the revised Life Force edition of the game were incorporated.

Parodius - A shoot-’em-up parody that turns everything into a gag. The bosses are all unique like the giant drunk penguin, the badly-drawn monk and the eyeball. It’s notable for having the shortest development time of all Konami games, taking less than two months for the master version to be completed.

Other Notable Konami Games

Majō Densetsu [English title: Knightmare] - One of Konami’s earliest MSX games from the pre-Megarom era that was lauded as a masterpiece among players. The idea for the game is believed to be an arrangement of Konami’s arcade game titled Finalizer.

Yumetairiku Adventure [English title: Penguin Adventure] - A sequel to Konami’s early hit Antarctic Adventure that greatly improves upon its predecessor. The cute design of the penguin protagonist made it popular among female players.

Akumajō Dracula [English title: Vampire Killer] - Although based on a Famicom game, it is a masterpiece considered to be one of the top 5 games of Konami. With its high-sense soundtrack and wonderful balance, it still has many firmly-rooted fans

Galious no Meikyū [English title: The Maze of Galious] - The sequel to Knightmare. It employs a system where the player switches between Popolon and his lover Aphrodite. The game is now a full-fledged action RPG with many difficult mysteries to solve.

Metal Gear - A military-themed action RPG like nothing that came before. Its idea of avoiding conflict with the enemy by sneaking pass their blind spots is novel. The game was later ported to the Famicom.

F1 Spirit - A record-setting racing game that continues to sell to this day. The secret to its lasting popularity is due to its 2-players simultaneous mode, the option to choose the parts for your vehicle and its variety of courses.

Shalom - The conclusion to the Knightmare and also Konami’s first adventure game. The top-down exploration screens bring to mind the Dragon Quest series, but the game switches to a side-view action segment when the player confronts a boss.

Gekitotsu Pennant Race - It seems like an average baseball game, but the included WATCH mode is fun. You can create your own team and have it compete against one made by a friend.

Coming Soon: Snatcher, a Cyberpunk Adventure

Konami’s first truly authentic adventure is Snatcher, which appears to be inspired by Blade Runner. There will be an MSX2 version that consists of 3 disks and an original sound cartridge and a version for NEC PC-8801SR computers that consists of 5 disks The programmer in charge is said to be the same person who worked on Gradius 2, so I’m looking forward to it. “It’s an adventure game like nothing that came before” says Mr. Fukutake. In contrast to Parodius, Snatcher has had the longest development time out of any Konami game released thus far (8 months as of this interview). It is scheduled to be released by the end of November.

[recentanimenews]

The History of Japan's Greatest Video Game Brawler Franchises

If there’s one video game genre that’s pretty easy to describe, it’s brawlers. You’ve just gotta beat up a bunch of enemies. Simple! They’ve certainly evolved throughout the last three decades as hardware advanced and design philosophies changed. From the series beginnings with games such as Kung-Fu Master, Bruce Lee, and Karateka to modern brawlers such as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, Yakuza, and even Saints Row IV’s parody, the genre has thrived over the past thirty years. In honor of the upcoming SENRAN KAGURA SHINOVI MASTER series, it’s time to take a look at some of the best brawler game franchises to come out of Japan. That also means we’re not talking about every game with brawler gameplay or series because you’d be here reading it all the way through next week.

Final Fight

Capcom’s perennial brawler is the Final Fight series. Originally developed as a sequel to Street Fighter and shown at trade shows prior to release as Street Fighter ‘89, Final Fight has become an iconic game in the brawler genre. The first game in the series was released in 1989 in arcades running on Capcom’s CPS hardware, but perhaps the more famous version is the Super Nintendo release that came out a year later in Japan and in 1991 in North America. This would be most people's first experience with the game as they would get to know Cody and the greatest mayor of our time, Mike Haggar. Guy was cut from the SNES release and would eventually show up in a re-release titled Final Fight Guy. For most game fans of the ‘90s, you’re either a Final Fight person or a Streets of Rage person considering they were on the rival consoles of the early ‘90s. Final Fight spawned a few sequels over the years, with the last iteration of the series coming in 2006 with Final Fight: Streetwise, a 3D brawler for the PlayStation 2. Most people are going to know the series from the first game which has been released in so many places that it’s hard to not find it. In fact, the arcade version was just recently released as part of the Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle. If you’re looking for a version that’s not the arcade or SNES port, check out the Sega CD port, or at least just the intro which is simply amazing.

Streets of Rage

If you grew up with a Sega Genesis in the ‘90s, you were probably a Streets of Rage fan. Unlike Final Fight, Streets of Rage was created by Sega for consoles first and would later come to arcades—the inverse of other games in the genre. All three games in the series were released between 1991 and 1994 for the Genesis. The trilogy is also another case of the games being released pretty much everywhere, so it’s not hard to track these games down individually or in a collection. You’ll be able to hit the streets in whatever way you want, beat up some folks, and listen to the amazing soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro. If you’re going to play any game out of the three, you should probably play Streets of Rage 2, as that opening level is a perfect mix of action and fantastic music. Plus, there’s a new Streets of Rage coming soon with Streets of Rage 4. Who knew it’d take over 20 years for there to be rage in the streets again?

Sailor Moon

You might be looking at this and thinking, wait Sailor Moon? Yes! There were in fact 4 Sailor Moon games in the brawler genre during the ‘90s. Sailor Moon games run the gambit of genres in video games, from fighting games, to puzzle games, to quiz games. The Sailor Moon franchise liked the brawler genre so much that there are three games titled “Sailor Moon” that play in that way, but are all different. The first of these Sailor Moon games to be released was on the Super Famicom in 1993. Developed by Arc Systems Works—who also worked on the Super Famicom sequel Sailor Moon R—the game recreated the first season of the TV anime, allowing you to play as all five Sailor Guardians. A port of this game would come to the Sega Mega Drive a year later, but developed by a team at Bandai called Ma-Ba. While still utilizing the same story, this version would feature new music, stages, and visuals, making it a completely different experience. An arcade game that wasn’t related to either of the previous two versions was released in 1995 for some international regions and featured better visuals and animation compared to the home console counterparts. Following the arcade release, Sailor Moon would leave the brawler genre to explore different ways for players to enjoy the franchise. While most of these games weren’t brought over from Japan, if you can find a way to play them, they’re well worth checking out.

Double Dragon

Before Final Fight and Streets of Rage, there was Double Dragon. First released in 1987 by Technos for arcades and a year later with the more well known NES port in 1988, Double Dragon allowed the brawler genre to really take off in a way it hadn’t before. The main four games in the series follow the same format of gameplay, but the franchise did spin out into different styles such as a fighting game in Double Dragon V. The naming of the games also gets pretty confusing considering V came out in 1994 and Double Dragon IV was released in 2017. Double Dragon is also unique in the fact that the NES versions of the games are the ones most people remember, yet those ports are fairly different from their arcade counterparts. That boils down to differences in gameplay and also story, due to the NES hardware limitations. This means NES players missed out on the rawest opening to a video game ever in Double Dragon II. Luckily though, there are ways to play all the different versions of Double Dragon from the Virtual Console, NES Classic, and Nintendo Switch Online having some ofthe NES versions, along with Hamster’s Arcade Archives series preserving the arcade originals, and there was even a smartphone version. You’re probably not going to be able to easily find the Atari 2600 port though.

Kunio-Kun/River City Ransom

Double Dragon wasn’t the only brawler series that Technos was working on as their Kunio-Kun series was more popular in Japan than other regions. One game did come over in the form of River City Ransom (Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari), the third game in the Kunio-Kun franchise. When it was brought over, River City Ransom was Americanized and replaced the Japanese names, but kept the core gameplay intact. The Kunio-Kun games were different in the fact that they combined brawler gameplay with RPG and open-world mechanics. Similarly to other games in this genre we’ve talked about, Kunio-Kun expanded out to puzzle and sports games. Most of the earlier games in the series didn’t make their way over to English regions outside of River City Ransom, but Kunio-Kun games have started to come back with some of the more recent releases in the series. There’s also Kunio-Kun: The World Classics Collection coming to Japan in December which brings together fifteen games from the Famicom-era which hopefully will get localized to allow people to play some of those games for the first time.

Dynasty Warriors

As video games moved from 2D graphics to 3D, the brawler genre underwent a change. Moving to the third dimension meant that developers weren’t restrained to just side-scrolling. One franchise that thrived in this environment was Koei Tecmo and Omega Force’s Musou games—specifically the Dynasty Warriors series. Yet, Dynasty Warriors started off as a fighting game, and it wasn’t until Dynasty Warriors 2 for the PlayStation 2 where the series goes completely into the brawler genre. In the 18 years since 2, there have been eight more mainline Dynasty Warriors games and multiple spinoff franchises including Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, Hyrule Warriors, and Fire Emblem Warriors. In fact, it wouldn’t be tough to argue that Musou is now a genre itself. Whether it’s attempting to pursue Lu Bu across a battlefield of thousands of soldiers, flying through space in a mobile suit, or rolling through Hyrule as Link, the Musou games stick to their formula and try to have something for everyone.

Senran Kagura

The newest franchise out of the ones we are featuring, Senran Kagura debuted in 2011 for the Nintendo 3DS as a 3D side-scrolling brawler. Senran Kagura wouldn’t make its English debut until 2013 when the first and second games were released together on 3DS. Compared to other games discussed so far, Senran Kagura took a more “adult” route with how the characters are presented. The mainline games fall into the brawler genre, but that hasn’t stopped the franchise from having rhythm, water gun action, card, and pinball games. The difference in genre doesn’t change the style of Senran Kagura so for example, clothes will fly off characters in the cooking rhythm game Senran Kagura Bon Appetit. Along with the games there was the first anime adaptation from 2013 and now the forthcoming second season. With the new anime, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more games in the future from the franchise.

Yakuza

It’s easy to say that the Yakuza games have brawler aspects to them which make up the main story of the game, but nailing them down to a single genre? Impossible. With the staggering amount of mini-games and activities that are available, they branch out into social sim, fishing, tower defense, rhythm, management, and many others. Which makes sense for a game with brawler mechanics since most franchises don’t stick to just beat ‘em up gameplay. The Yakuza games have continuously improved upon their brawler mechanics to create games that not only play great and are fun, but have so much depth to them. Combined with the wonderful stories throughout the 7 mainline games has made for a series that’s become one of the hottest in all of games. They are the brawler games to play currently.

There are certainly other brawler games that are missing from here, but that’s where you come in! What are some of your favorite brawler games or franchises or what would you like to see become an anime? Let us know down in the comments below!

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Jared Clemons is a writer and podcaster for Seasonal Anime Checkup. He can be found on Twitter @ragbag.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[loadbulk196]

Fire Emblem Nightmare Editor

Fire Emblem Nightmare Editor Pc

Fire Emblem Nightmare Editor Online

Fire Emblem Nightmare Editor Download

Step 5.Open the editor program you downloaded from the forum and locate the folder bin and click FETHSaveEditor, in the top left click file and press load save. Step 6.Locate the second backup folder you made for editing and open up the slot00. That you intend to edit,DO NOT USE auto. It was released for the Nintendo Switch on July 26, 2019. Save Editor for Fire Emblem Three Houses. They are definitely an improvement from the last fire emblem entry and from the 3DS counterparts. Fire Emblem Three Houses doesn’t allow players to pursue same-sex relationships, at best hinting that characters are deeply fond of each other.

Recently I got curious and started to hack Fire Emblem: Three Houses with decent progress so far. After doing some basic stuff like hacking growths and bases I created a Nightmare Module for editing character skill tables. I’m probably going to develop more modules in the future. I also created a Github Repository to share my work.

Fire Emblem Nightmare Editor Pc

Edit: Huge Update. A standalone tool is now available.

This tool will be updated in the future to add more functions. For now it features a fairly powerful character editor and the first release is available on Github.

You can edit bases, max stats, growths, spell lists, crests, learned skills and more.

For the next release I will add a class editor and a basic randomizer tool.

Fire Emblem Nightmare Editor Online

Edit: Huge Update. A standalone tool is now available. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo, and published by Nintendo. A Fire Emblem: Three Houses (FE3H) Modding Tool in the Other/Misc category, submitted by Moonling Watch the trailer, find information, and purchase the Fire Emblem™: Three Houses game for the Nintendo Switch™ system. Secondly, the graphics are what we would expect of a new entry into fire emblem. I beat most of the enemies and then it crashes. If it helps, my system specs are 1070 ti, 16gb ram, i5-8600k. Fire Emblem Three Houses. After doing some basic stuff like hacking growths and bases I created a Nightmare Module for editing character skill tables. I also created a Github Repository to share my work. But using a save file editor… ... it. Kusakihara has said that the two … That’s far from all the update brings, however. It was released for the Nintendo Switch on July 26, 2019. Save Editor for Fire Emblem Three Houses. They are definitely an improvement from the last fire emblem entry and from the 3DS counterparts. Fire Emblem Three Houses doesn’t allow players to pursue same-sex relationships, at best hinting that characters are deeply fond of each other. The Fire Emblem Three Houses version 1.2.0 update is a big one.As stated above, it brings with it the Cindered Shadows Side Story DLC. From steampunk, to the proper medieval fantasy setting (Fire Emblem: Three Houses) We talked about this in its own article, but it deserves a mention here: bunnei rewrote the Virtual Memory Manager (known internally as Project Epimetheus), which drastically reduced the amount of RAM games use, and helped Multicore support (also known asProject Prometheus) become a reality. Fire Emblem: Three Houses offers you a very important choice in Chapter 1 - you must choose one of Fire Emblem's 3 houses to lead at the Garreg Mach Monastery.Your choice here will … Or when I run on vulkan it run's the whole battle but then when i save after it crashes. RELATED: Fire Emblem Three Houses: Why the Blue Lions Are the Best House According to Intelligent Systems director Toshiyuki Kusakihara, Three Houses' concept of students attending school together before becoming embroiled in a major conflict comes less from Harry Potter or Persona as some have speculated, but rather from Genealogy of the Holy War. It is the sixteenth installment for the Fire Emblem franchise. I’m probably going to develop more modules in the future. It’s actually a bit of a pain to swap between save files, but in this guide we’ll teach you how to quit and load in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Also another HUGE plus is the Japanese voices, for most it may not mean much, but the game sounds much better in the original language. So, I was wondering what settings (graphical) you guys have it on? Recently I got curious and started to hack Fire Emblem: Three Houses with decent progress so far. Contribute to imouto1994/fe3h-editor development by creating an account on GitHub.

Fire Emblem Nightmare Editor Download

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Smart Highway Construction Market: How Top Leading Companies Can Make This Smart Strategy Work| Key players- Continental Engineering, Heijmans, IBM and more

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Smart Highway Construction Market

10 Key Benefits of Smart Highway Construction Market Research Report: • It helps businesses strengthen their position. • It minimises any investment risk. • It identifies potential threats and opportunities. • It helps to discover yours and your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. • It facilitates strategic planning. • It helps in spotting emerging trends. • It assists businesses to stay ahead of the competition. • It provides revenue projections. • It focuses on customer needs and demands. • It helps to evaluate the success of a business against benchmarks. Top-down and bottom-up approaches were used to validate the size of the global Smart Highway Construction market and estimate the size of various other dependent submarkets. Major players in the market were identified through secondary sources secondary sources, directories and databases. Secondary research included the study of the annual and financial reports of top market players, whereas primary research included extensive interviews with the key opinion leaders such as CEOs, directors, and marketing executives. The percentage splits, shares, and breakdowns of the product markets were determined using secondary sources and verified through primary sources. Do You Have Any Query Or Specific Requirement? Drop Your Query Here @ https://www.datalabforecast.com/request-enquiry/53076-smart-highway-construction-market Business Opportunities in Following Regions and Countries: Like any other research material, the report has covered key geographical regions such as Europe, Japan, United States, India, Southeast Asia and Europe. Researchers have given their opinion or insights of Smart Highway Construction value, product sales, and industry share besides availability opportunities to expand in those regions. As far as the sub-regions, North America, Canada, Medico, Australia, Asia-Pacific, India, South Korea, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Rest of Europe, Russia, Central & South America, Middle East & Africa are included. Major Points Covered in TOC: Overview:  Along with a broad overview of the global Smart Highway Construction market, this section gives an overview of the report to give an idea about the nature and contents of the research study. Analysis on Strategies of Leading Players:  Market players can use this analysis to gain competitive advantage over their competitors in the Smart Highway Construction market. Study on Key Market Trends:  This section of the report offers deeper analysis of latest and future trends of the Smart Highway Construction market. Market Forecasts:  Buyers of the report will have access to accurate and validated estimates of the total market size in terms of value and volume. 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Buy Now This Premium Report to Grow your Business@ https://www.datalabforecast.com/buy-now/?id=53076-smart-highway-construction-market&license_type=su Years Considered to Estimate the Smart Highway Construction Market Size: History Year: 2015-2019 Base Year: 2020 Estimated Year: 2021 Forecast Year: 2021-2028 Why Choose Data Lab Forecast? • Deliver updated information on the current industry trends • Available 24/7 to facilitate clients with unbiased solutions • Embrace digital technologies to offer accurate business ideas • Exhaustive supply chain augmentation analysis • Provide reports strictly according to the requirements of the clients Thank you for reading our report. To know more about customization options, please get in touch with us. Our team will ensure the report is tailored to suit your requirements. 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The company reinforces client’s insight on factors such as strategies, future estimations, growth or fall forecasting, opportunity analysis, and consumer surveys, among others. Contact: Henry K Data Lab Forecast Felton Office Plaza 6375 Highway 8 Felton, California 95018, United States Phone: +1 917-725-5253 Email: sales@datalabforecast.com Website: https://www.datalabforecast.com/ Follow Us on: LinkedIN | Twitter | Data Lab Forecast, China Smart Highway Construction Market Trend, Europe Smart Highway Construction Market Growth, UK Smart Highway Construction Market, US Smart Highway Construction Market CAGR, Market Strategies, Continental Engineering, Heijmans, IBM, Cisco, Nippon Koei, DLF