Today is the release of Super Smash Bros Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch! The last major release from Nintendo for the year crams in every playable character from previous entries of Smash, a roster of new challengers like Simon Belmont (Castlevania), K-Rool and most importantly an all-new single-player experience called The World of Light. Long time Smash fans might remember that after the cutscenes for Brawl were posted online before release, Project SORA decided to omit a traditional single-player campaign from Super Smash Bros for Wii U and 3DS.
2018’s Ultimate marks the return of Single Player and earlier today Kelesti and I streamed the first hour of The World of Light on Twitch. Watch below as we guide the happiest puffball, Kirby, through the opening of this epic quest. Reportedly WOL takes approximately between 20 – 30 hours to complete – and of course, you can unlock a good chunk of the 70+ fighters by completing the single-player campaign. WOL also included RPG elements in the form of “spirits” which can be upgraded and grant the player unique bonuses. With spirits from across the various eras of Nintendo and all of the 3rd party games – there is a lot to collect.
Square Enix never seems to shy away from cross over promotions – although, most of them involve another creator’s work appearing in games like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius or their MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. This is however not the case with Final Fantasy XV protagonist Nocts Lucis Caelum’s appearance in Namco Bandai’s Tekken 7.
Over GDC week Noctis was released as part of a $20CDN add-on pack for all versions of Tekken 7. With the majority of GDC related work I finally got the chance to check him out. For this brief 10 minute gameplay video I did a single run of arcade mode with Noctis completely blind. So, yes, this means for the most part I’m button mashing until I got the hang of some of his moves – like the signature Warp Strike. Namco did a commendable job adapting Noctis’ flowing combat style to the world of Tekken without completely breaking the combo-heavy grounded combat despite the fact they’ve introduced an RPG protagonist known for his love of heights.
Also included in the Noctis DLC pack was a stage based upon Hammerhead Junction from Final Fantasy XV but it’s not included in the embedded video.
Sine Mora EX – the beautiful 2.5D shoot’em up co-developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality makes a pass at the Nintendo Switch in North America and Europe thanks to THQ Nordic. In this sometimes-brutal bullet hell title, players guide a three-dimensional ship along the X and Y axis while avoiding the sea of oncoming bullets. Complimenting the vibrant art style is a unique health mechanic where each stage has an allotted amount of time – taking damage speeds up the countdown while routing enemies adds time back to the countdown clock.
Several enhancements have been made when compared with the 2012 original for the Nintendo Switch release including support for 16:9 resolutions, full English voice over, an improved rendering engine and 3 brand new versus modes – race, tanks, and dodgeball. Also new to Sine Mora EX is the ability for two players to take on the story mode at the same time!
Sine Mora EX will fly by the Nintendo Switch on September 26th in North America and October 10th in Europe. It was originally released in 2012 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with an iOS & Android port following in 2013. The Switch release of EX will be joined by a release on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as well.
Take a trip back in time with me, not too far, but to SGDQ 2016. Last year the folks at Summer Games Done Quick hosted a four way race between Gunnermaniac3, Keizaron, Extratricky and Exarionu to see who could complete Nintendo’s Pokemon Red with the fastest time.
The Pokemon games have had a dedicated speed running community for some time and while I can’t profess to be anything other than a casual consumer of speed run content, I find these runs in particular absolutely fascinating. Perhaps it is the fact that the generation 1 Pokemon titles have been distilled down to a mathematical formula at this point – with examples like the community discovering that running the game with Nidoran and the use of Horn Drill, in particular, being the most effective strategy to completing the game. Maybe it is essential but potentially overlooked details like the fact that Viridian Forest has individual grass tiles that won’t spawn encounters that make these games so appealing to me.
Whatever it is about Pokemon Speedruns, if you’ve ever wondered what exploitable mathematics and mechanics that make running a multi-hour RPG possible in under the amount of time it takes to watch The Avengers – watch this SGDQ 2016 run. Pokemon Red’s community does an absolutely fantastic job explaining the ins and outs of their chosen game WHILE running it!
If you’re curious about what goes into a Pokemon speed run make sure to head over to the Pokemon Speed Run wiki. They’ve got a leader board, strategies for every generation, profiles on the various runners and other cool tidbits.
What’s better than anime girls? Anime maids! Japanime Games has you covered with the deck building card game Tanto Cuore! While we were at Anime North this year a friend of mine introduced me to Japanime’s products and it really stuck with me. Thankfully those folks were nice enough to set us up with some materials so we can check out the game and share some brand new videos with you!
As I’m sure you know, we’re relatively new to promoting physical game media like this. It is something we’re passionate about however and we’re happy to finally be bringing content like this to you. The video below features yours truly opening up the core box set of Tanto Cuore. That doesn’t mean there are booster packs. Instead, everything to play the game is included in the main box. There are expansions to the game, but those come in their own full box sets.
We also have a more tactical board game from Japanime Games to check out as well. So stay tuned for that as well as my coverage of actually playing Tanto Cuore! I was surprised to see such a reaction from many of my friends in Toronto. They love the game to pieces so I’m certainly eager to dive in and see what we can do. If all goes well we may even be lucky enough to have some celebrities from our animation joining in for the video!
Want to see one of the creators of Mortal Kombat discussing the huge new fighting game hitting store shelves next week? Of course you do! Check out our video coverage of Toronto’s Injustice 2 event last night with Ajay Fry hosting an interview with Ed Boon himself! I even got to ask the first audience question! How awesome is that?!
We got to join in for some gameplay too, but the real highlight of the evening was meeting the man himself! In the interview Ed discusses what makes Injustice 2 different, and what will surely be a reason that many keep playing. That reason is the new Gear system! Check out the interview below!
Following last week’s PlayStation Meeting, Sony announced more details about the PS4 Pro. In addition to adding 4k game videos to their YouTube channel, Sony confirmed details concerning PS4 Pro Enhanced. Acting as a new labeling system for game releases, the new logo implies a game uses some or all of the features of the new console.
As discussed last week, the Pro offers graphical enhancements to existing and upcoming PS4 titles. Enhanced will mean that a game takes advantage of any combination of these tweaks. A Pro Enhanced game will offer 4K resolution, HDR capabilities, and/or higher frame-rates. Older titles can offer software updates with these features. Newer games will come with this label on packaging or on PlayStation Store pages.
Because of Polygon‘s reporting, we know developers won’t be able to charge for Enhanced upgrades to older titles. In addition, as Enhanced can entail HDR lighting, users of the original PS4 and the new Slim model will benefit as well.
Gameplay videos are available from Horizon: Zero Dawn, Mass Effect Andromeda, and more. You can view every 4K PS4 Pro video on Sony’s playlist. Note that you’ll need Chrome in order to view 4K YouTube videos on your computer.
At the 2016 Penny Arcade Expo Square Enix allowed select press to not only meet the director of World of Final Fantasy – Hiroki Chiba – but also get some hands on time with the upcoming RPG. Without further delay I’m happy to present 15 minutes of exclusive gameplay footage from the North American localization of the game which is currently under development.
The protagonists of World of Final Fantasy are siblings Lann and Reynn who are trying to make their way through the world of Grymoire. Raising the stakes of their adventure even further – the siblings have lost their memories and don’t remember their past or where they’ve come from. As players guide the siblings through the introductory town (which the below video showcases) they slowly learn that the siblings are what are known as “jiants”. Normally the inhabitants of Grymoire are stuck in an adorable chibi form but the siblings are able to shift back and forth between their normal size and the chibi style. The world of Grimoire isn’t just filled with new characters, designed by FF series main-stay Tetsuya Nomura, but also features returning Final Fantasy characters like Squall, Cloud and Lightning who can assist you in battle!
Speaking of combat, the battle system of World of Final Fantasy takes cues from multiple iterations of the ATB (active time battle) system that has made the franchise’s combat a genre staple. It’s hard to pin down exactly which main-line game that World of Final Fantasy takes inspiration from as no particular title seems to have influenced its combat mechanics. New to the franchise is the introduction of an “easy mode” for combat which distills things down to their basics – attack, defend, run etc. I wouldn’t say that “easy mode” is analogous to Final Fantasy XIII’s Auto-Battle as the player still has some semblance of control over the flow of battle – although things like picking the appropriate spells or attacks are handled by the CPU.
I enjoyed the brief time I got to spend with World of Final Fantasy at PAX West, especially its bright and color art-style and the writing. The teams (handling both the original Japanese release and English localization) have done a fantastic job injecting fourth wall breaking jokes, some fantastic puns and well timed comedy while still keeping the light-hearted & colorful nature that is at the core of World of Final Fantasy. In all honesty the writing of World of Final Fantasy reminded me a lot of NIS‘ Disgaea series and that isn’t a bad thing given that those are some of my favorite JRPGs of the past decade or so.
This is definitely one RPG worth keeping an eye on! World of Final Fantasy will be released on PS4 and PS Vita on October 25th in North America.
Hello everyone! Its that time of the month again. No, not that one. The one where I get my Loot Crate Anime x Crunchy Roll box, and open it for all of you!
This one has a special give away in it, so please be sure to watch to the end and comment on the video!
Last night at E3 2016 Sony showed off a brand new demo for the recently delayed Horizon Zero Dawn. This latest demonstration showcases our heroine, Aloy, collecting crafting materials and then taking a quest from a near by NPC to save a village from a large techno dinosaur. Our brief glimpse at the game ends with her finding an odd piece of technology that “looks very old” before the screen fades to black.
Multiple collector’s editions have been confirmed for Horizon Zero Dawn – for $70 USD the Horizon Zero Dawn Digital Limited Edition will give players two bonus resources packs, two new outfits and a pair of weapons. Horizon Zero Dawn Digital Deluxe Edition includes all of the above plus Digital Art Book, Exclusive PS4 Theme, Traveler / Keeper / Trader Packs and base Horizon Zero Dawn game.
So if your alive, and awake at all, you probably have been playing Overwatch, Blizzards huge new shooter. I my self have spent about 40 hours playing since the games release just over a week ago. I often found my self wondering if some of the more prevalent “myths” about the game are real or fake. Well DefendTheHouse (of mythbusters halo fame) is here to answer your questions. With this second volume they are covering many popular myths like can you block a Hanzo ultimate with a D.iVa shield? and can Bastion kill people by landing on them.
Take a gander at the video and while you are there be sure to subscribe to us on Youtube so you can catch all of our videos too!
The 1990s were a magical time when Jolt Cola was still readily available, Bill Clinton was President, SEGA & Sonic the Hedgehog rivaled Nintendo & Mario in popularity and you could totally get away with wearing a beanie to work! Prepare yourselves for possibly one of the most 90s videos you’ve ever seen courtesy of the 1996 SEGA USA Testing Department – “The SEGA TEST”.
Early ‘96 was an odd time for the folks at SEGA USA – SEGA was coming off a particular strong ’94 where they had outsold the SNES in North America, the begging of ’96 was officially six months into the launch of the SEGA Saturn and former SEGA of America CEO Tom Kolinsky had yet to leave the hardware manufacturer.
I don’t think I have enough RADICAL words to really sum up how XTREME this “testamentary” is so here – in all of this glory, this image shall sum up SEGA in the mid-90s:
If you’ve watched the embedded video already and wondered what happened to some of the folks featured in the video: According to LinkedIN Mark Paraiagua went to QA for OPENTV before working at HP. Jeff Junio went on to work for 3DO, became a Game Designer for Rock Star games before moving on to SGN. Janine Cook still works for SEGA of America as a producer after moving around to various other gaming related businesses including EA Canada.
It is quite interesting to get an inside(ish) look at what working for one of the major videogame companies in the mid-90s was like, even if the that look is thoroughly washed through the corporate lens.
Square Enix brought the latest primal battle from Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward to PAX East last month, giving non-subscribers and newcomers to the game the chance to take down Sephirot on the show-floor.
The newest threat to Eorzea might be several months old – being introduced in late February – but the fight took center stage at Square Enix’s PAX East booth. Two rows of 4 demo stations were lined back to back with one player’s screen being broadcast on a large screen facing the crowd outside Square’s booth.
Check out two minutes of my favorite class, the bard, taking on this behemoth!
Nintendo will be bringing some of its timeless mascots and set pieces to the world of MineCraft with the optional “Nintendo MashUp Pack” for the Wii U Version of the game.
Revealed today on Nintendo’s official YouTube Channel, this new add-on includes skins themed after classic Nintendo characters like Wario, Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad. It also includes tile sets that will allow players to build giant versions of their favourite chatacters or even a replica of the Mushroom Kingdom Castle from Super Mario 64.
