The value proposition and target audience for these 2 new retro gaming options seem difficult to pin down. In 2020, a world where retro gaming has never been cheaper or easier, who wants to spend money on a cartridge based system or a modular disc-based emulation machine? The answer is me. Let me tell you why.
It’s so pretty…
Before I get into what these systems are, I feel like I need to explain my philosophy on retro gaming and why the mainstream options available now don’t satisfy me. Media has an interesting phenomena where only the best of an era survives and that cream of the crop media becomes the nostalgic standard. For example, “music today sucks!” Says the Old man or the Kid that’s too cool for today’s music. Then they listen to the Beatles and lament the loss of an era that produced such amazing music. The reality is, the only 60s and 70s music that has survived on compilation disc and XM radio are the best tracks. Sure, The Beatles are objectively great but there was awful music from that era too. That music doesn’t get played anymore. Look at late 80’s NES games, it’s been curated down after decades of people only remembering and revisiting the best that people think the only games from that era were Super Mario. Bros and Mega Man 2. The bad games have been left out of the conversation BUT MOST IMPORTANT TO ME is the mediocre games are left out of the conversation too.
This game was dope!
Let’s look back at the PS1 era of gaming and specifically the racing games of that time. If you were to ask anybody what the best racing game is for the PS1 era, the answer is Gran Turismo. Period. They could re-release Gran Turismo today and it would sell amazingly and it holds up really well. I loved Gran Turismo. I also loved Need for Speed High Stakes and Daytona USA CE for Saturn during that era. Test Drive was making great racing games in the PS1 era and so was Codemasters. Those are good games lost in the conversation of the era. Why talk about a mediocre game when you can just stare at the best? Why watch a documentary on Dominique Wilkins or Clyde Drexler when we can release another endless examining of Michael Jordan (yay)? That said, the middle of the road games are very interesting to me for both nostalgic and preservation reasons. NFL 2K5 is a legend but NFL Gameday ’98 brought 3D polygonal models to football. Gameday is a forgotten series. Content creators still talk about NFL 2K5 but Gameday is lost. Gran Turismo is still being dissected while Need for Speed and Test Drive are never discussed. This matters because if I want to learn about or enjoy Gameday, my only option is to play it on the original disc. Old Madden games show up on Plug and Play devices and still have life. Mega Man gets a new collection ever week but I want to play Need for Speed and Croc.
Great collection for all the major systems
What is the Polymega? The Polymega is a modular disc based console that emulates media. The base of the Polymega is a disc based console that can play the neo-geo cd, turbo duo, sega cd, saturn and more all with multiple region compatibility. The modular aspect of the system refers to the ability to buy and slot in cartridge based system components. You can buy the SNES, NES, Turbo-grafx, and 32x/Genesis components to add onto the system. The biggest feature of the system is the disc drive. I have a lot of those system, the Saturn, PS1, but the disc drives are failing and sound like death. The disc-based systems that I don’t own are super hard to find working. The Sega CD has been something I want to buy for year but finding a working one is almost impossible. The few working Sega CDs I find cost $130 at least. Finding a Turbo Graphics CD or a Turbo Duo cost hundreds of dollars, and Neo Geo CD cost even more. The value proposition of a New disc drive to play these old games is very high. The Polymega also allows you the ability to burn your discs ISO to the system so they don’t need be read during play. It’s a great way to save your discs, especially the rare games.
I guess all this talk about value proposition doesn’t make sense without acknowledging that the Polymega cost $400. The add-ons cost $80 each. It’s a big ask when an Xbox One X can be purchased for less at this point. Systems like this are always such a tough thing to buy but also to pass up. This system will sell out at this price, no doubt. Much like the Analogue high-end FGPA products, the market for these consoles gets sold out fast. The issue is if you don’t buy the first run there may never be a 2nd run and the aftermarket prices are INSANE. It creates a weird sense of urgency for something that is inherently non-urgent…the games for this system already exist. It’s something I always tell my Transformers Collecting friends, buy it new because it will never be cheaper especially for short packed figures and limited items.
What is the Evercade? The Evercade is a brand new handheld system that plays retro game collections. What separates it from other retro handhelds on the market are it’s build quality and that it uses cartridges. The is banking on collectors love of physical media as the selling point. Each cartridge has 10-20 games on it. There is a Taito cartridge and a Namco one and an Atari cartridge. The idea is that the games are emulated perfectly, they come in a beautiful case with a manual. You can display and trade your cartridges and relive the glory days of previous console generations. The value proposition for the Evercade is seemingly dubious on 2 fronts- 1. Chinese manufactured emulator machines have tons of preloaded games and emulators on them for the same price or cheaper and 2. A lot of the games on the Evercade are available on many different systems at cheaper prices. My thoughts on this are that the build quality on a lot of those Chinese consoles are awful and they lack customer support. As much as I support emulation and that scene, there is something to be said for being to have access to great retro games and to be able to support the creators in the process. To the second point, as somebody who has Double Dragon on a Master System, PC, Xbox One, and Phone….why would I want it on Evercade? The answer is solid portable emulation with good tactile controls. Ports on new consoles are iffy and I can’t take them anywhere. Games on my phone suck because touch screens don’t emulate tactile controls well enough for retro games.
The biggest perk of the Evercade for me is that all of my current ports of retro games are tied to internet access. Steam, Xbox Live, and the Eshop all need the internet. The retro games I play on the Switch are tied to having an online subscription. The Evercade doesn’t need the internet. Those cartridges are complete, no patches and updates. That’s very appealing to me. The Evercade cost around $80 for the console and it comes with a game, the games cost $20 per cartridge. It’s a good value and won’t cause sticker shock quite like the Polymega.
The one thing retro systems and games can’t defeat is time. These new console options are adding life to old hardware. The Polymega can be purchased at Walmart.com and the Evercade is available on Amazon.com. It’s incredible that in 2020 these consoles have mainstream distribution. It’s probably pretty obvious I am going to be getting both systems, but I recommend that you take a look. If you read this, I know you be interested in either one of these. Stay Safe, thanks for reading. Peace!
XBox 360 still sells NFL Blitz on their digital store. This is the last version of Blitz ever made. It has an ultimate team mode and lots of on-line features. If you boot this game up now most of those features are dead. EA requires you to update the Terms of Service and that’s not possible anymore so without the Terms of Service the game won’t let you access any of the on-line modes. The game is a shell of itself. NFL Blitz 2000 on Dreamcast works with no missing features. It only has an arcade mode and then local co-op but it works.
I purchased a Sega 32X from a wonderful gentleman on Facebook. The 32X is a touchy piece of tech at best, at worst it’s an easily broken mess. The 32X came with a 10 pin cable and everything I needed to play NBA Jam on it. When I plugged in the machine, it would show the black screen with the white writing on it that shows up before the SEGA logo on most games. Then the screen would go blank and I could hear the game but I couldn’t see it. Since this is a machine of the 90’s I know I have options. I start the googling promptly and start searching for Youtube videos to see what the problem may be and how I might be able to fix it. I find a few videos that surmise that the 2 white ribbons inside the machine probably need cleaned. Video issues usually stem from these white ribbons. Unscrew a few screws, remove the heat sink, clean out all the easy to access parts and then unplug the 2 cables to clean the connection points. There was actual visible grime on the ribbons, I wiped it off. I put everything back together and the 32X works perfectly. The 10 pin cable is actually not correct for the 32X, the 10th Pin give the unit power from the Genesis and stops you from being able to power off the unit. I used pliers and took out the 10th pin. Problem solved, now I can power on and off the unit. My cell phone on the other hand needed a new battery, the back cover is connected to important internal components and I needed to be sent in to Motorola to have the battery replaced. It cost $80. I bought a new phone.
A PSP I purchased on Facebook has a cracked Face plate and was bought “as is” which is code for it’s probably broken but for 30 dollars I know I can risk it. I found new faceplates, new battery, and learned how to replace the disc drive. As a consumer, I have so much control over how I approach repairs to this. It’s mechanical, it’s fixable. If I can’t fix it, I know people who can. My switch has a Joycon with analog stick drift. I can take it apart but it voids the warranty and may not be real solution. Joycons are very expensive but the best option is to replace the unit (this was after sending it in because the left joycon wouldn’t sync properly). When my Switch has issues, nobody local wants to fix it and I can barely fix it myself. The analog stick is doable but no amount of googling was going to solve the de-syncing issue.
What I am trying to point out here is the freedom and flexibility given to the consumer when they have options to repair their consumer products. Right to repair seems to work with hand and hand with planned obsolescence. You can’t affordably fix things so it’s cheaper to dispose of the item and buy a new one. Games fall into this with constant on-line connectivity and download codes. No more used games. This is terrible for the environment, adding waste of lots of easily repairable electronics and it’s awful for consumers. I should be able to replace the screen or batter in my cell phone without spending hundreds of dollars. I should also be able to go to a 3rd party vendor for repairs. Anti-consumer designs become a profit center for companies who are the sole entities that can fix an item. All of this is compounded by the internet where firmware updates and “support” can make electronics obsolete as well. My printer downloaded an update that stopped me from being able to use the 3rd party ink I purchased. If I update my PSP it will stop me from being able to run emulators or anything on it. I love that I can soft mod my Saturn to play Japanese games, if the Saturn was made today that option would have been patched out. Then consoles and phones officially stop getting updates and then they become obsolete on the software side even if the hardware still functions.
Right to Repair hits me hardest in regards to consumer electronics but it’s really most diabolical when it comes to repairing cars, medical equipment and farm equipment and the businesses that rely on being able to repair those things in a timely fashion. Companies don’t even have to release the manuals and equipment needed to repair expensive equipment, forcing people to wait for certified techs and proprietary parts. The days of the home mechanic and the 30 year old tractor will be relics of the past. Someday in the future my Nintendo Switch and Xbox One will be useless bricks. So many of my games will be useless. Battleborn, something I have written about extensively here, is having it’s servers shut down in 2021. Even though the game has story content and modes that can work without being on-line, everything is server based. The game will just be gone. I can play any Dreamcast game I want, servers be damned but I am losing access to games I recently paid 60 dollars for. There is no regulation for it. Game publishers have no rules on how long they have to keep servers active. So many on-line games flame out fast and hard. We saw it with the battle royale boom, a lot of games were just dead in the water and faded away.
There are about 20 states with right to repair legislation being considered. If you want to be able to repair your own items, support small businesses, and protect the environment you can reach out to your legislators. Repair.org is a solid web site to learn about the issue and it’s an umbrella organization for lobbying and organizing the fight for consumer rights to repair. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is fighting the fight on the copyright side of things, looking to help defend consumers and business owners from getting stymied with licenses, DMCA violations, and other software issues that prevent repairs. For me personally, it comes down to ownership. I feel like I own my Sega Genesis and it’s games. I own my Turbografx-16 and it’s games. I rent my Steam games on PC and hope that Steam gives me access in good faith if they ever went out of business or stopped their storefront. I won’t buy a Tesla because you’re a firmware update away from losing access to core features, and if you buy a Tesla and they go under what happens when the updates stop? That isn’t ownership. Fight the good fight, advocate for your rights! I enjoy playing 30 year old consoles now, but I fear in 5 years I won’t be able to revisit games from this era. Thanks for reading, Peace!
With 2019 drawing to a close, it presents the perfect opportunity to reflect on the last decade of gaming. When I think about game of the decade it diverges into 2 schools of thought, what is the objectively most important games (sales, etc) or what are people’s personal favorites. Quickly, I’ll say that Fortnite is the objective game of the decade as it solidified and codified the games as service model. It wasn’t the first, but it was most impactful. Fortnite also cemented streaming and influencer culture in gaming. I hate battle royale games but I see the value and influence that Fortnite has had. With that said, I will layout my personal games of the decade and why.
Surprisingly, not this…
2019 was not a banner year of gaming for me. The biggest releases were not very appealing to me. Death Stranding, Control, even Pokemon Sword/Shield just didn’t do much for me. Madden 20 turned out to be weak and I refused to touch NBA 2K20 this year. I played some great games this year but really doubled down my focus on retro gaming and returning to finishing some of my backlog. That said, Street Fighter V came back in a HUGE way this year. I grabbed the Championship Edition upgrade and it opens up the game and makes it feel complete. SFV should be lauded as having the best Arcade modes in fighting game history. The arcade modes are both fun and a nice history lesson of the Street Fighter (and even Final Fight) series. Street Fighter V has reignited my love for fighting games and has me playing online again and watching combo videos on YouTube.
My game of the year 2019- River City Girls (Switch), River City Girl is the continuation of a favorite series by a great developer. Wayforward is money. The graphics are amazing, the music is exceptional and the game has a sense of humor and character that is unmatched. The 2 protagonist in River City Girls are charming and funny and get fleshed out in some really cool ways during the game. The boss fights are a little brutal but that’s par for the genre. River City Girls met expectations which is rare for new games lately. I’ll give a quick shout out to Need For Speed: Heat. It’s an arcade racer that does everything well and has been criminally overlooked.
My game of the decade is a surprise, even to me. I wanted to pick the game that not only holds up to today’s standards but a game that I actually continue to play regularly. Once I laid out that criteria it slimmed down the list pretty drastically. Tis the season for list so this is going to be a top ten list of my favorite games this decade. This is not an objective list, this is just my favorite games. You won’t see Fortnite, Minecraft or any Assassin’s Creeds games on my list but I think any list trying to make an objective best of/most important game of the decade list should include those games. All of the games listed here were played extensively by me and for much longer than their initial release windows.
10. Marvel Puzzle Quest (PC- 2013)- I don’t remember when I fell into this hole but I wanted a Marvel game and they weren’t being made anymore. I grabbed this for free and they had an easily obtainable Juggernaut and I have been hooked since. I have probably spent 20 dollars over 6 years on this game and never felt like I was missing content. They have great single player story content. The stories vary and continue updating. The asynchronous multiplayer events were fun too. The game also is a great way to see some iconic comic book covers and the roster is always updating. For a free game, this one does it right. I’ve also switched accounts and devices multiple times and never lost any progress. It’s the best match-3 game this side of puzzles and dragons, it also might be the best Marvel game of the decade (RIP Heroes).
9. Street Fighter V (PC- 2018)– Street Fighter IV was one of my favorite games of all time and a fighting game I played in tournaments. No game has compelled me to play online or anything since…and then Street Fighter V finally became complete. When I grabbed SFV it was a husk of a game with a bad roster and a survival mode, now it’s a game with the best arcade mode in fighting game history. It also has a fun story mode and every character has a story as well. The single player content alone is worth buying the championship edition for but the multiplayer is solid too. Graphically, the game is great. It runs really well on PC, and has an excellent soundtrack. Everybody talks about the resurrection of No Man’s Sky but Street Fighter V has risen from the ashes in a big way. I also like the V trigger system now, it adds a lot of depth and some really cool animations.
8. Agents of Mayhem (PC- 2017)– This is a perfectly competent Saints Row follow up and compared to Crackdown this game is a masterpiece. I love the Saturday Morning Cartoon aesthetic and the “hero-shooter” quality. Every character has a fun backstory and unique weapons. I like the variety in enemies and the driving is fun. This game feels like the rare situation where expectations were poorly communicated and then reviewers didn’t seem to get into the flow of the game. It’s an interesting flow, you have character missions and then story missions. As you complete you learn about the characters and unlock them all while continuing to progress the A plot with unique bad guys. Like a TV show there is an A plot and B plot. You level up and unlock things as you play. Each character has it’s own leveling tree. It’s a lot of fun but it deviates from Saints Row a lot. I think the graphics are average. Those things combined led to people bouncing off pretty quickly.
7. Sonic Colors (Wii- 2011)– Sonic Colors is the perfect merging of 2D and 3D Sonic. I think it’s one of the best looking Wii games on the system. I finally played it on Dolphin on PC and seeing it in full HDish glory is amazing. I really like the level designs, the wisps were a nice gimmick, and the story was funny enough. This game is peak 3D Sonic for me. The 2D jumping controls are actually a little sluggish for my tastes but they are still very strong. Some of the levels are just breathtaking, when you’re running through space at full speed and the rainbow track is building in front of you barely beating your feet…it’s amazing. Generations takes this formula and runs with it, and Forces keeps the trend going but Colors feels unique and perfectly paced. Forces had levels that were too short, while some of the 2D levels in generations are too long (No Sonic level should be longer than 6 minutes) but Colors hits the sweet spot. The DS Colors game is also a really strong 2D Sonic entry as well. I still hope they revisit Colors proper with a sequel or do a Switch remaster.
6. Forza 4 (Xbox 360- 2011)– I don’t have a ton to day about Forza 4. It’s the perfection of a formula. This game utilized the Top Gear license the best, the graphics were incredible and the pacing of the career progression was fantastic. This game didn’t get bogged down with drivatars or anything like that. It’s a fantastic racing game with an amazing selection of cars.
5. Bioshock Infinite (PC- 2013)– This is the first game I ever purchased a graphics card for. My pre-built gaming PC wasn’t going to be up to spec so I decided it was time to hit that 1060Ti. That experience got me into building my own PCs. Bioshock Infinite had amazing world building and the way they touched upon racism and the ills of society were really powerful for me to see at the time. Th soundtrack was really cool too, they had old-timey covers of 80’s Pop Songs and some older Beach Boys hits. I really liked how they had an NPC with you the entire game but it didn’t feel like a giant escort mission. The ending with the light houses was great too.
4. Borderlands 2 (PC/Xbox 360- 2012)– Borderlands 1 was a lonely, tense game with a dark sense of humor and some great gunplay and looting. It all seemed to take place in bleak deserts and empty building. Borderlands 2 was a colorful looter-shooter with jokes around every corner and varied areas to explore. The visual and tonal jump from Borderlands 1 to 2 is hard to even comprehend now. That coupled with a lot of quality of life changes Borderlands 2 had and it was a recipe for a timeless game. The story in Borderlands 2 is touching when it needs to be and irreverent when it wants to be. The main antagonist is great and the side characters all feel pretty fleshed out. My only gripe with this game is the lack of Roland. I think the cast in Borderlands 1 is better than 2. My favorite character in the 2 was Mechromancer and she was DLC. Borderlands 2 was supported with DLC the entire decade. Even before 3 dropped, they added some story content to bridge the gap between the two games. Borderlands 2 also has incredible co-op gameplay but is balanced enough to feel playable alone.
3. Pokemon Black 2 (DS- 2012)– This game is peak Pokemon. They iterated on a game for the first time with a real full sequel. This isn’t just Pokemon Gold or Platinum, this is a true sequel to Black and White. I love the story in this game, it touches on the weird reality that the entire economy is based on what is effectively dog-fighting. They don’t follow through with the story in a big way but that’s to be expected. Graphically, the game looks amazing. 2D sprites is where Pokemon shine, the 3D models are dull and make a lot of the Pokemon look odd or plastic. There are so many battle animations and idle animations for the Pokemon in this game. The main story is fun but the Battle Tree at the end is amazing. The post-game in this Pokemon is incredible and keeps me coming back even today. There is a fun risk reward system as you progress floors in the tree and it’s just endless strong trainer battles. In my opinion, that’s when Pokemon is at it’s most fun. I love this game. I also got the special edition DSI system with it and the case. Because I’m lame. It was worth it.
2. World of Final Fantasy (Vita- 2016)– I have talked a lot about this game on here before so I won’t rehash it all here. This is the best Pokemon game that’s not full of Pokemon and it’s the best Final Fantasy game. Period. It’s both fan service mixed with a super compelling original story. The post game is great and the graphics are excellent. I also bought this on PC.
Honorable Mentions- NBA 2K10, Madden 10, NBA Live 19, Street Fighter X Tekken, St. Seiya Soldiers Soul, Mafia 3, Sonic Mania, Sonic Generations, Sonic All-Star Racing Transforms, Freedom Planet, Mercenary Kings, Forced Showdown, Fight N’ Rage, Hand of Fate, Kirby’s Return to Dreamland, Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning, Gravel, Remember Me, NBA Playgrounds 2, Sega and Sonic All-Star Racing, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Shovel Knight
The Original
1. NBA Jam On Fire Edition (Xbox 360- 2011)– It feels blasphemous to have a sports title, an arcade sports title at that as my game of the decade. This game captured me the day it came out and never let up. NBA Jam On Fire Edition had an amazing net code at the time. I played the on-line for countless hours They had a leveling system and I maxed it out. I beat all of the single player teams and the Jam-bots. The graphics were amazing. The real faces with context specific reactions coupled with the 3D bodies looked fantastic The courts were reflective and beautifully realized. The crowds were unique, each team had their actual coach and mascot on the sidelines with their cheerleaders. It was such a well done game. The ball physics and movement felt like vintage NBA Jam but the additions didn’t ruin the gameplay.
The biggest additions to On-Fire Edition were the “call for screen (push) button” and “call for alley-oop button”. These made the game have just enough depth to separate it from previous entries. By setting screens you can play with defensive match-ups. It pains me to say this but I went on some epic winning streaks with the Houston Rockets playing on-line. I used the vintage roster of Hakeem Olajuwon and Kenny Smith. Side note- every mode you played helped you earn currency to buy new rosters and players. Every team has their history well represented. Hakeem was great for defense and had a strength rating high enough that he could dunk through anybody and set great picks. Kenny wasn’t the best 3 point shooter in the game but to my eye he was the most clutch. NBA Jam has always been notorious for having hidden stats for players and I think one of the developers was a Kenny Smith fan. What was awesome about playing on-line was that so many rosters were viable. Sometimes I would pick the Sixers and use Dr. J and Darryl Dawkins and power my way to victory. Losses didn’t feel demoralizing because the games were so quick. It was such a well made game. Even today I play it. I keep a 360 hooked up basically for this game and Import Tuner Challenge.
I have NBA Playgrounds 2 in my honorable mentions because it feels great and the single player hook is solid. I love how playgrounds 2 showcases the history of league and jerseys as well. BUT where 2K falls short is the graphics (I don’t love the player models in Playgrounds) and the movement feel. NBA Jam On Fire Edition feels so fluid, and rarely do you feel like you’re fighting against animations. Playgrounds on the other hand is all about timing animations to be successful. If you do a crossover in Playgrounds, you’re locked in and same with pushes. What’s fun that this leads to is certain players have safe animations. For example, Bill Lambeer’s special jump shot animation is a set shot 3. You can’t block it and only he has it. Melo has a turnaround fade that’s unblockable. The animations add a lot of depth but at the expense of feeling stiff. NBA Jam On Fire Edition never has that issue. It feels likes a true arcade game that would have been a worthy sequel to Hangtime in the 90’s. NBA Jam On Fire Edition is my game of the decade. Amen.
2019 was a weird year for gaming and this was a great decade for games. We made so much progress from the Wii to the Xbox One. There were tons of great new series as well some of the best entries from first party titles. From Mario Galaxy 2 to Red Dead 2, it’s been a wild decade. Handheld gaming died and came back better than ever. The consoles were supposed to die but the Series X and PS5 just got announced. Online gaming and free to play games are the biggest things in the world. It’s wild. We are in a new fighting game golden era. It’s been wild but 2019 kind of ended with a “meh”. 2018 was wild with Red Dead and Tetris Effect battling it out for Game of the Year last Year while now we people are debating between Control and…Sekiro? The passion just isn’t there from the reviewers I follow. The craziest thing about the decade for me is just how many games come out now compared to 2010. The volume of games that come out now via steam and on-line only platforms is incredible. It’s never been a better to play video games. Thanks for reading, Happy New Year! Peace.
One of the most interesting paradigm shifts in gaming in 2019 is the lack of mid-tier AA titles. Every game now is a big budget AAA game or a smaller indy title. With the loss of mid-tier development certain genres have been harder than others. We’ve seen the death of licensed game from Marvel and other companies and what has intrigued me (and hurt me) most is the lack of smaller racing games.
While both of these genres have footholds in the mobile gaming space, they have all but disappeared on consoles. Racing games have hit a fascinating point. It’s basically Forza, Forza Horizon and Grid and Need for Speed constantly reinventing themselves to try and stay relevant. You have a few smaller licensed racing games that iterate yearly like F1, Nascar Heat, and some rally titles but those are getting harder to find too. Juxtapose this with the PS2 era where there were so many options for racing games. Enthusia Racing, TOCA racing, Gran Turismo was still relevant, Need for Speed had multiple concurrent titles like hot pursuit, Test Drive, Midnight Club, Ridge Racer, every licensed porperty you could imagine and so many more. They were mostly licensed with real cars (lots of low budget games had reals cars which isn’t the case now) and some had real tracks. It was a really fun genre that provided lots of different experiences for racing fans of different disciplines. Developers took more risks. Racing games today seemingly have to straddle a perfect line of being all things for everybody like Forza Horizon 4 or Forza 7. Simulation and realistic enough for car buffs but drive able enough for casual fans.
They need to have sim options and the best graphics. Lots of developers don’t really compete anymore. When other games stick their heads in the ring they get destroyed by reviewers and game journalist who lament the days when a Need for Speed release was a big deal. NFS: Heat is a really pretty game that plays well but it’s not Forza Horizon so it gets trashed. The comparison is valid because Need for Speed: Heat decided to be open world for some reason and doesn’t commit completely to being an arcade racer. Same with Grid this year….nobody noticed or cared when it released which is sad because the first Grid game was a big deal and the reboot seems solid. Wreckfest and the Dirt series hover around but they don’t make the impact outside of PC gaming like they would have 10 years ago. The sense I get is that if a company is going to pay for car licenses then they are going to play it safe. That’s not fun.
I say all this as I explore the Tokyo Xtreme Racing series. This game would not be made or brought back in today’s racing game environment. It’s too niche, it’s too obscure, it’s too Japanese. It’s wild because this game feels like “The Dark Souls” of driving games (forgive me for the comparison). Dark Souls and From software have created an environment where even Star Wars games are aping their obscure, niche aesthetic and adherence to difficulty and not making the most accessible game possible. Driving games have gone the opposite route. Tokyo Xtreme Racer is the peak of what racing use to be compared to where the are now.
Have you ever seen Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift? Objectively, the best and most important movie in the franchise, it frames a lot of what Tokyo Xtreme Racer is all about. You’re an outsider in a Japanese car driving the Tokyo streets looking for races, taking down gangs via beating them in races. The game is a dungeon crawler, a fighting game, a racing game, a tuning simulator, all rolled up into one of the most compelling driving experiences you can have. There are only a few cars, basically one track and then you drive. On paper the seems ridiculous, in practice it’s addictive. You buy your first car, go out onto the city corridor/high loop and look for rivals. Flash your headlights and you race. Once a race starts both cars have a life bar. As you fall behind, the life bar goes down. You win when your opponent’s life bar hits 0. You make money when you win. Upgrade your car, buy a new car, drive in circles and race people. Every rival you racer is in a team or gang. If you beat 5 people in a gang (for example) you’ll be challenged by their leader. Beat 2 leaders and a Boss challenges you. That’s the game. The music is Japanese dance music. The graphics are good. The track is rendered fantastically, the game runs smooth and fast and the cars look excellent. Every race takes place at night and the headlight effects are solid. Opponents AI is competitive and varied as well. They dodge traffic and try to stay in front. The driving skews arcade but it speaks a very specific and easy to understand language that makes adjusting and upgrading the car immediately noticeable and effective.
This game is a low budget, narrow game with a singular focus and scope to match. The game does everything it can to maximize it’s playability and replay value within that scope. It’s not a good driving game, but it’s consistent driving model with consistent physics. It’s more Ridge Racer than Gran Turismo. Games like this aren’t really made anymore, certainly not into a series. There are 2 games for Dreamcast, 4 for PS2 and 1 for GameBoy Advance and 1 for the Xbox 360. A middling series like this would never be able to carve out a series like this in today’s landscape. What makes this series so relevant even today is that is does things that modern games are always trying to do and that’s emergent gameplay moments and story telling.
For example, I am in my Nissan Silvia cruising through a dark tunnel and I flash my headlights at “Rolling Guy 5” to race him. He is driving an AE86. I take him down easily, and end up near a hard left turn between between a sedan and a fruit truck. Normally, when races finish you can just continue driving but this time out of nowhere the camera pans out and the leader of the Rolling Guy gang flashes his high beams at me. It’s early in the game so I know my car isn’t faster than this boss. The environment is my advantage because we are on a turn and Rolling Guy Leader is slowing down a lot for turns instead of drifting AND more significantly, we are between traffic. So the race starts and boom Rolling Guy leader rams into the back of the truck buying me time to pull away. I weave through traffic his life bar is going down quickly and I slam into an NPC car and Rolling Guy is catching up to me. I see him coming up in my rear view mirror and block him long enough to railroad him into the back of another car. I keep driving and win the race. A screen pops asking you if you want to go to the garage or keep driving. I choose keep driving and the cycle continues. It’s fantastic. No 2 races are the same and the game encourages to try racing people you lose to because you may just need to do the race in a segment of the track your car is better suited for. What’s amazing is the track is constantly changing, the competition is always an unknown. You battle and race at your own pace. It’s a magical feeling that I haven’t been able to replicate in anything else. That loop I described is the same in every main game in the series (the drift series is a 2 game that spin off that is a little bit different).
Tokyo Xtreme Racer wasn’t a huge seller but it sold well enough to warrant existing. It felt like a window into a subculture and world that is so unique. Japanese tuning culture is captivating and it’s sub cultures like touge racing and drifting have all filtered into US car culture in different ways. We see those influences in the early 2000’s movies and games. Tokyo Xtreme Racing was the Fast and Furious game we always wanted. It was the game that personified the low end Japanese tuner car culture that we fell in love with playing Gran Turismo. New racing games are obsessed with Super Cars and Hyper Cars that nobody can afford and that are really hard to drive. Tuning a Nissan Sylvia or a Honda S2K is where a lot of racing games peak in my opinion. My generation has an adoration for Japanese bubble era cars that seems boundless. That culture is hard to find in the gaming now. Toyota will barely appear in racing games these days, when the Supra used to be every bodies favorite car to buy early in Forza.
It’s weird to lament an era lost of games that could be…well not great but games aren’t just toys or simulations they are also artistic expressions and allow end users to participate in a vision. It’s why I loved the Armored Core series. It was hard and obtuse and not for everybody but it was unabashedly it’s own vision. Those games weren’t cookie cutter open world games. My biggest issue with the new Need for Speed game is that it’s open world and it doesn’t need to be. The world feels dead and the engine doesn’t handle processing the open world well. The game would have been fine with menus and racing segments. Tokyo Xtreme Racer never added tons of cities or hundreds of cars. There were other games for that. Now every game feels like the Assassin’s Creed version of the genre outside of the Dark Souls-like games and the constant rogue-like games. I miss games with AAA budgets that could be different. Check out the Tokyo Xtreme Racer series. Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 and Import Tuner Challenge are the best games to check out, if you don’t want to play them all. If you like one of the, you will absolutely enjoy the entire series. Happy Thanksgiving. Peace
What is scarier than a MOBILE GAME!?! WITH MICRO-TRANSACTIONS NO LESS! I have spent the last 2 weeks deep into Mario Kart Tour thanks to one of my best friends asking me to add her as a friend on the game. I had been avoiding the Nintendo mobile games because the reaction has been so negative towards them in regards to micro-transactions and constant begging for money. Mario Kart Tour is notorious because of it’s subscription service needed to gain access to the 200cc races and awards. All that said, Mario Kart Tour has done the impossible. It’s made me care about Mario Kart again.
The only loading screen I’ll tolerate on my phone…
In my mind Mario Kart peaked on SNES, rebounded on game boy advanced and fell off a cliff with Double Dash on Gamecube. I hated Double Dash because it changed something so clean and perfect. I love the simplicity of every racer having a standard kart and the only difference between drivers was weight. It was simple in a time where Gran Turismo was making sim racers complex (and awesome). Double Dash adding a second racer, wider tracks and different Karts just killed the franchise for me. I would argue it kind of never recovered or felt the same (I know, it still sells). People always go back to the N64 Mario Kart and Double Dash is a cult classic at best. Mario Kart 8 takes all of the things I hated about Double Dash and multiplied it. You pick driver, kart, glider, wheels, all to get in a race and get blue shelled into oblivion if you race well. I just stopped and went to the superior Sonic All-Star series skillful driving actually won races and the visuals are far more compelling to me.
With my negative frame towards Mario Kart, I figured I would have the mobile game. Same issues where you pick driver, kart, glider, but Mario Kart Tour did something unique. It made winning and losing not matter as much as accumulating stars and getting a high score with combos. The game rewards skillful driving. Blue shells are rare. Tour made all the elements of Mario Kart come together in a beautiful symphony of score chasing and racing.
Let me attempt to explain the hook. You get into the app. Every week you have access to themed cups consisting of 3 tracks and a challenge. You earn stars by hitting a certain score on each track and accumulate enough stars to unlock the next track. Every week one track has a cumulative score board that pits your total score in the cup against the score of other real players. You get rewards based on where you place. When you pick your character, kart, and glider you see that each item has a combo multiplier on it. That combo is critical in getting high scores. Every track has certain characters that combo on that track. For example, Boo has the highest multiplier on all the ghost tracks. This combo system incentives the player to value every item and to try different combinations of karts and gliders on each track. This scoring system turns the game into an arcade game where your reaching for the high scores and it leads to some really great strategy.
Mario Kart DS was good
On the track winning still matters. First place gets you more points than 2nd and lower. The real trick is putting together a driver, kart, and glider combo that has the longest and highest multipliers. Every action on the track is scored and if you do actions in a close enough sequence they multiply. If I hit a jump pad, hit Bowser with a red shell and then drift boost that’s a 3x multiplier to the score those actions provide. Once you get good you can combo entire laps. The biggest combo breaker is getting shot by an opponent. This system incentivizes learning the best routes on the track. It rewards you for racing on 150cc or above to maximize points. It give the game replay value and because a race is only 2 laps the time commitment is minimal. The game uses coins and rubies as currency and you get coins in races. Rubies are won by completing challenges or you can buy them.
Mario Kart Tour is the best looking phone game I’ve ever played. Period. It looks amazing. The graphics and details are stunning. They animate faces and throws. This is a game I play with the volume on because the music is awesome. This game feels like a love letter to Mario in the same way Sonic All-stars racing is a love letter to Sega. The controls are fine. You have to manual drift if you want to get the points. The karts auto accelerate, you drift with your thumb sliding across and swipe up to throw items. You’ll hit walls but figure it out and once you do it feels great. The character acquisition is randomized. You pull down on a pipe to shoot something into the air and it reveals your reward. If the pipe is gold it means your getting something nice but recently I unlocked the entire Halloween set with green pipes. It’s not a perfect system but its rewarding enough. You can coins by using rubies to unlock a coin rubs race.
There are actually more mechanics present in the game as well but it all comes together to make a really compelling and complex Mario Kart that has me engaging with the series like never before. It’s sad that the game has been floundering compared to Nintendo’s financial expectations because they made a masterpiece. To the games credit, I’ve been enjoying myself and spent 0 dollars and used the free 2 week trial of the subscription. They messed up and made a fair mobile game and that makes it harder to monetize but I honestly wouldn’t feel guilty putting money into this experience. They earned it.
I also love live games and mobile games because they have the best themed events and Mario Kart was made for a good Halloween event and they didn’t disappoint. Luigi has his vacuum car to suck up ghosts from Luigi’s Mansion. Boo has multiple drivers and a dope pumpkin kart and there are lots of tracks dating back to SNES that take place at the haunted Boo mansions. It’s been awesome playing the Halloween tracks. Mario Kart Tour also has a really positive, vibrant Reddit community.
Disclaimer- I would feel remiss to not speak on the predatory nature of mobile games, especially games with randomized character acquisition and consistent attempts to have money spent throughout. These issues are exacerbated in a kid friendly series like Mario Kart. I have been able to make it through this game without spending a lot of money, but there a lot of opportunities to spend money. Screens pop up to advertise new deals and clicking on characters you don’t have will send you to the store front. It is also very easy to sign up for that subscription. This is not a game to leave with a child if you have a credit card attached.
If you have any interest in Mario Kart, check out Tour. It’s a fantastic game. Happy Halloween! Peace.
Microtransactions. Grind. Kevin Durant to the Knicks on July 1st. Refs in the Rockets v. Warriors series…Lot’s of conversations are happening right now as the NBA Playoffs begins their second round.
What I want to focus on is THE GRIND and how it relates to NBA 2K Playgrounds 2. While Mortal Kombat 11 has brought this conversation back to the forefront, the idea of full price games being riddled free-to-play microtransactions and a gameplay grind that is balanced in a way to make you want to spend is far too common.
Recently, I purchased NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 for nine dollars on PC. NBA Playgrounds 1 and 2 have a terrible system of unlocking players where it’s all loot boxes. There is no way to unlock players you want without finding said players in a pack. For better or worse, the first NBA Playgrounds had 0 microtransaction, you had to earn packs through gameplay. You’d level up and get packs. I beat every tournament in that game and did most of the challenges and played a few matches on-line and never unlocked Patrick Ewing. I use him as an example, because he is who I always want in these games, but the larger issue is that there were teams that I had only 2 players for. I would earn a pack and get duplicate players! It was insane, but there was no way to pay for packs with real money and no auction house. It was noble on one hand, but also paced terribly on the other.
In NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 they have a similar grind. Players have to be found in packs, it’s random unless you win a championship with a team and then you earn a special player. BUT in the sequel you can pay 10 dollars and unlock everyone. I paid that for the PC version of the game. I have everyone. It is amazing, the roster is huge and an NBA nerd’s dream come true. Everybody from Joe Johnson to Drazen Petrovich and of course Patrick Ewing was available. Having the full roster in this game is amazing because I never came close to it on the original game. In addition to having access to a full roster, NBA Playgrounds 2 plays really well especially when compared to the first one. I would argue that the single player gameplay loop is better with the season mode and playoffs. Even with all these positives, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would have felt like to play the season + playoff loop in Playgrounds 2 to unlock players… would I make currency at a rate to buy packs quickly? Is it rewarding? Did I cheat myself out of a fun gameplay loop of unlocking players? To test this, I bought the Switch port and decided not to spend any money on cards. You can earn baller bucks or something to buy packs and every game you play adds currency. I only used in game currency to unlock players.
When you turn on Playgrounds 2 new you are able to open 3 packs that will net you 12 players in the game. Those are the only players you have. I went to start a season to play through (they have 15 game season and then a playoff to see if you can win a title and unlock a special player)and realized that I could only pick teams that I had players for. I had no Knicks players so I could not choose them. I chose the Suns because I opened a Steve Nash legendary card and a Cedric Ceballos. Nash was the best player I had at the time but this team was unbalanced to say the least. Playgrounds 2 provides a decent challenge on normal mode, but it’s hard when your players and roster aren’t very good. As the Suns, I played the Spurs in a regular season game and they had David Robinson and Manu Ginobli. That’s a hard game to win. Nash is a 6’3 PG and Ceballos is a 6’7 SF. I can’t stop The Admiral and they can block everything I put up. In my attempt to get Steve Nash to the finals, something D’antoni couldn’t do, I really struggled. I lost 2-1 in the finals to the Bucks.
I played through a few seasons and playoff runs and opened packs every 2 games. Even after opening probably 20 packs there were teams in the NBA that I had 0 players for. I still can’t pick the Knicks for season play because I don’t have any Knicks players unlocked. If you only have 1 player from a team you’re just stuck, can’t use them until you open a second. This is a sports game where people have favorite teams, not being able to pick them after hours of gameplay sucks. Not having access to Ewing is one thing, not having access to the Knicks is a much larger issue. The side effect of this that can be seen as a positive is that it forces you to use players and teams you may not have normally chosen. I used the Celtics for a season because I opened an epic Larry Bird. Bird is my best player by far so I used the Celtics. I also opened a Dennis Johnson card. There is something to be said for a game forcing you to see the roster and use different people. The game does a great job of making players feel different. My thought is the game doesn’t need these kind of hooks to add replayablilty. The game feels great and is fun, beyond that every player levels up the more you use them and beat their specific player challenges. You might unlock Patrick Ewing, but to get the best Ewing you need to play as him in lots of games. That’s a fun hook. I want the best Knicks with Ewing and Starks, I have to lead them to a title. There are 4 difficulty levels for the single player content with no shortage of reasons to play. Gating off teams from the beginning is tough. I don’t remember Playgrounds 1 having that issue but I might be wrong.
Opening packs on the switch version is a thrilling experiences because the potential is there to gain access to entire teams. It’s also cripplingly disappointing because you may not unlock anything new that you want. On the PC version where I unlocked everything, the thrill is more seeing all of these legends and teams I have access to and picking who I want to try and who I want to level up. The mystique of the card packs and gaining currency is gone. I guess at this point in my life where time is limited for gaming, I would rather have options and control my experience.
The grind notwithstanding, NBA 2K Playgrounds 2’s gameplay ascends the pantheons of arcade basketball games. The first Playgrounds was very stiff and rebounding and rim-feel was rigid and off. The newest Playgrounds game feels buttery smooth. The ability to use a player’s crossover into a jumpshot or dunk feels amazing (much better than the first game). Defense feels more natural too. You can attempt steals more and blocks feel more organic now. The first game limited steals with the turbo meter and the second allows more steal attempts. It feels like a small thing but defense in NBA Jam-like games is reduced to pushing or steals and Playgrounds penalizes pushing very harshly. Being able to attempt steals more makes defense feel much better. The player models look better in the new game and courts are awesome. Teams have home courts now and they look amazing. The fans in the stands are all well animated. The commentary is fun. They use Youtubers CashNasty and Troydan and a few others you can choose for commentary and that’s a fun touch.
PATRICK EWING!
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 is a perfect example of microtransactions getting in the way of something special. Not being able to access teams without hours of gameplay is a pacing problem and seems like a direct way to push players towards spending money. If you have friends you want to play with, you want to have every team unlocked. NBA Jam TE expanded the roster after you beat all 27 teams. It feels great, it’s a fun reward for playing the game and it can be done in less than 5 or 6 hours. It’s not random, you do the task and everyone unlocks. The randomness of the packs is a problem. I want the Knicks. I can buy 50 packs and may never get all or any of the Knicks players. This paradigm of gaming where the initial 30 or 60 dollars isn’t enough to unlock content is problematic. If you’re going to force people to pay money, let us pay for what we want and not be forced into loot boxes and random packs all the time. That said, I really enjoy NBA Playgrounds 2. A flawed gem. Peace.
My gaming resolution for 2019 is to not buy any new games and to play my backlog and utilize my gaming memberships. My backlog of games I haven’t played or finished is immense. Steam sales, Microsoft sales, impulse buys, and so many ways and justifications to buy games have left me with hundreds of games I haven’t touched or haven’t given the attention they deserve. This ends now.
Mech Overdrive- Another game I want to delve into more…
The financial of impact of staying current in game is a lot right now. This doesn’t mean no new games for me. This has actually presented a really interesting look at how valuable these gaming subscriptions are. I am a Microsoft Game Pass member and I have Origin Access Premier and EA Access…and PS Plus..for my Vita (Sigh.). In 2019 this has not been all bad, it has already netted me Celeste, Sundered, and a ton of older games I didn’t get to check out. It will also give me access to all the new EA games that will come out in 2019. While the Microsoft pass has allowed to play Forza Horizon 4 and Recore and will get me Crackdown 3 and their other new exclusives. I am excited to be able to have some new gaming experiences available but revisiting some old gems has already proven to be amazing.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I never bought Madden 19 outright, it is actually what got me to buy Origin Premier. It got me the best version of the game and free packs and it’s cool. I think this is the future of gaming. A year later of paying for the service, the game will have been paid in full but the subscription comes with much more. EA’s Anthem has already set a date to be pre-loaded on the PC.
I never beat Nier: Automata…
There are a few games releases for 2019 that I am excited about, mostly the new Sonic Racing, Anthem, and Crackdown 3. There are more games but these are games I know will have access to via subscriptions and well I am going to buy Sonic the Sonic racing game coming out. That’s my line, I will always pay for Sonic.
Need to finish…
Here is the too long list of games from yesterday that I want to finish- Dark Arms (Neo Geo Pocket Color), Sonic 3D Blast (Saturn), Borderlands 2, Borderlands Pre-Sequel, Sonic Mania Plus, Street Fighter V Arcade Mode Single Player content, Destiny 2, Mass Effect Andromeda, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, ReCore and so many more…The Backlog is real. Oh and I NEED to finish Mafia 3 and all it’s DLC.
Borderlands 2 is sooo weird and good. I didn’t appreciate it when it first came out
I want to take my time and enjoy the games that capture me. I have become caught up with the release cycle of games and trying to play the newest releases. I want to break that cycle this year. New games are basically store fronts now and it’s frustrating to be getting into a game to be bombarded with opportunities to spend money and add to the game. For example, my wife got me WWE 2K19 for my birthday. The base game is good, but in every menu there is a way to buy a season pass, a wrestler pack, or some way to unlock content. I actually really enjoy this years game, which is surprising because I hated 2018’s edition. They fixed the kick out meter and the graphics are awesome. I also like the “Tower mode”, it’s basically a classic style progression. I struggle because I always want to feel like I am having the “complete” experience and with DLC and microtransactions that has become expensive to achieve. I downloaded Destiny 2 for free from Bungie on PC and it’s a gorgeous game but it’s also a constant reminder of what content you don’t have every time you play. I am a collector and a completionist which means I am a huge mark for DLC.
Still haven’t finished Mercenary Kings…I love it!
Gaming in 2019 is a dangerous space for me financially and I am hoping that just sticking to the subscriptions for new games and playing old games will help me kick old habits. No Steam sales this year, no browsing Gamestop and Steam every day. This year I enjoy what I have. I feel like I am reaping the benefits of this approach already. I haven’t bought Kingdom Hearts yet, or a myriad of games on my steam wish list but I am not wanting for anything. I think I like just trying new games and learning the mechanics and then moving on. These subscriptions are great for that approach. I have my curiosity and itch for learning new mechanics satisfied but it’s costing me 60 dollars a pop. Hopefully, this lasts. Peace!
What if I told you that Sega made a dark series focusing on a protagonist who was forced to kill his own father to save the day and then in the sequel has to kill the greatest enemy of all, his depressed and murderous self who has been unable to deal with the death of his father….. THAT IS THE PLOT OF FANTASY ZONE AND FANTASY ZONE 2: THE TEARS OF OPA OPA.
Fantasy Zone is a game that I have heard about for years. It’s referenced and easter egged in lots of Sega properties, and the story of Sega can’t be told with out mentioning this game. For whatever reason, people talk about OutRun, Space Harrier, and the racing games all the time. Fantasy Zone, which is Sega’s flagship side scrolling shooter, doesn’t get that kind of love. That’s a shame.
I was not hip to Fantasy Zone until recently. I tried playing it growing up on various systems and it never clicked immediately so I just dropped it. I actually became really curious about this game after watching a YouTube video chronicling the history of Fantasy Zone and it’s importance to Sega. The video did a great a job of highlighting the gameplay loop and it touched on the story (comparing it to Star Wars). After seeing the video, I grabbed the 2 games on the 3DS to see what this was all about. I became hooked.
Fantasy Zone is a side scrolling shooter starring a sentient spaceship named Opa Opa. You can move all over the screen (left and right), shooting a blaster and with bombs. Your goal is to bow up all of the bases in a level, and then you face a boss. Killing enemies drops currency, and you can use that currency to buy weapon upgrades. The game is stunningly beautiful, and is just so vibrant with color. The movement has a momentum system with the ship but its predictable and works well. The biggest between the first and 2nd games are that the second game has 3 endings and you can warp from the dark zone version of a level to a light version (ala Sonic CD). It’s a really interesting effect that lends itself to replay value. The games are hard. They are clearly arcade games. The 3DS versions have lots of quality of life changes, allowing you to bank money that progresses for every playthrough. You can also add more lives, enhance the map, and use an autofire. These make the game infinitely more playable without ruining the experience.
What fascinates me about this series is that the story is not in your face, but they use text at the beginning of each level to convey what is happening and what Opa Opa’s motivations and feeling are. You are trying to save the Fantasy Zone from a warring army led by your father in the first game….and by you? in the 2nd (I only have one ending in the second game, and it was the bad ending so….not sure what the others hold). The ending of the first game has you question via text was it worth killing your father to save this Fantasy Zone, and then the second game is basically Opa Opa dealing with his depression. It’s call the Tear of Opa Opa….that’s so sad. He is just languishing in depression from killing his father and becoming a heartless killer in the processes of saving the Fantasy Zone again. Killing his father made Opa Opa callous and then he becomes the thing he had to kill…it’s so good. The dark story is in complete juxtaposition with the glorious upbeat visuals. Like with every Sega arcade game, the music is fantastic. I hum the tunes all day after a play session.
If you have a 3DS and 14 dollars, I think these games are worth checking out. The stories are really fun, the gameplay is fantastic, and the music alone is worth the price. Sega is a special company that has truly exceptional history in arcades. We live in a golden era where we can replay these games without wasting quarters or leaving the house, take advantage of it. I have been searching for a game to get lost into, as this season of my life has been really challenging and this game has been a light in a relatively dark tunnel.
The story in “World of Final Fantasy” has been played off as something that doesn’t matter. Everyone has a flippant line in their review about how “the story is incoherent” or “the plot won’t compel you” and I have to say that I respectfully disagree. This post will be filled with spoilers! I know that people who played WOFF have already beat it but for the people who get it for a holiday, this is your warning. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Who are Reynn and Lann? They are twins who have the power to control monsters (called mirages). They have special symbols on their arms that grant them powers. Reynn is the brains of the bunch and Lann is the comic relief. They both kind of suck. They seem nice when they don’t have memories but as they get them back they realize that they were awful people in their previous life.
Why are they doing what they do? They want to get their memories back and save their parents.
Why does that matter? Their quest to save their parents opens up a reality that they are fighting for far more than just their family. The world hangs in the balance.
There is something interesting about a bad protagonist. Not an anti-hero but an actual ass hole who is the star (think Trevor in GTA5). Reynn and Lann are bad kids. They literally destroy the world and get their parents killed. When you start WOFF you don’t know that. Your presented with the cliche amnesiac heroes who are looking for answers. This game presents some big questions- What if when you get your memories back you realize you were the monster? How can you reconcile from such a reality?
I think it goes without saying that Reynn and Lann are Jesus figures. They both die, they are both literally resurrected and they both sacrifice themselves at the end of the game to save the world. It’s all very Biblical. Where this gets interesting is that instead of the twins being perfect souls ready to save the world they are actually 2 shit heads whose selfish actions doomed the world and killed their parents (also imprisoned their best friend/older sister for millennia). What if Jesus was a real douche before the old testament started giving us a play by play of how dope he became? It would really change the game right? In reality Jesus was never a sinner in the way of those he saved. He was a saint brought down to make the greatest sacrifice for people who can’t save themselves. This is all fascinating because the game is a satire of the entire JRPG formula and Final Fantasy as a whole. What better way to do that then to play with the cliches. They created anti-heroes who aren’t moody and lame. They juxtapose 2 of the most jovial personalities in gaming with the reality that those people destroy civilization.
Even though the twins did bad things, they started out on this life to help their family. Their mother was a Mirage keeper, and they thought by taking her mirages from her with their power they were giving her more time to spend with the family. In actuality, they were starting a chain of events that would lead to their demise. Three of the Mirages that the twins controlled “had fun” around town and its alluded that they were destroying cities and being really awful to people. But even when the twins make their biggest mistake (releasing the Cogna into the world) they were still doing it to help their mother. There is something very human about it.
The way they set up the twist in this game is incredible. The entire game you are assuming that as you uncover Reynn and Lann’s you will learn that they were incredible kids who suffered a tragic loss at the hands of some great evil. Not until later do you realize the evil is them. These kids do what DC does with Kid Flash in New 52 Teen Titans, they take a hero with a blank past and as they fill in the blanks you start looking like…nah…he’s awful. The question is how do we reconcile awful people who are now good?
This question runs deep. The idea of forgiveness is huge in Christianity but in our world we see that once you are accused or branded changing people’s perception of you is very tough. It’s like a social Felon Box (the box that asks if you are a Felon on job apps that employers use to not hire qualified people regardless of what the felony was and how long ago it occurred), people see one bad signifier and it defines you for life. Many of the characters in the game hated the twins. They remembered their blights and carelessness. They had no reason to forgive other than they really had no choice due to Reynn and Lann’s power. I think this game does an interesting job of looking at how that redemption can take place. It starts with the twins ownership of their past but also their willingness to move past it. Sadly, in real life we can’t all save the world for vindication but being a good person and trying for the better should be valuable.
I think what fascinates me the most is that these kids have the perfect villain story. They accidentally kill their parents with their uncontrollable power, they ruin the world and fall into a huge set up, AND society is less than happy about them being back in the picture. Why didn’t the twins take over the world. Why did they care about a society that turned their back on them? They had nothing to lose and everything to gain but they sacrificed it all for a better good.
I think this tale resonates in a lot of ways. I go through periods where I feel broken and marked with an unshakable aura of failure/sadness and it all feels irredeemable. It’s nice to see a story where the irredeemable become redeemed. While the redemption caused them much sacrifice, they were able to make right. We all just want to make right.
Madden Ultimate Team, or MUT, is the only mode me and my friends play on Madden. It is a franchise mode, a business simulator, a gambling machine, and a fun single player football game progression with rewarding multi-player modes.
I want to focus on one element of MUT that has changed the game and the economy for the better from my perspective- Team Hero Sets.
Sets are basically virtual card binders that you can fill up with your cards to receive a reward. Cards have 4 tiers. Bronze, Silver, Gold, Elite (Emerald). What normally happens in MUT is your roster gets constantly updated from opening packs of cards. Once you get a line up of strong cards, rarely will you use lower-tier or lower rated cards. This leads to a frustrating cycle where you open a pack get a bunch of cards you won’t use. Historically, you could sell those cards for basically nothing in the Auction House or place them into sets for badges with low payouts. Team Hero Sets change all of that!
Every team has a “Hero” and thus a team hero set. The Browns have Paul Kruger (He got cut from the team, a true Browns hero…) as their Hero. His card is an 85 Elite. That card would normally cost anywhere from 20-50K in gold coins in the auction house. Coins are earned through playing solos and grinding out online play. Obtaining Elites is a big part of being successful in MUT but it’s also one of the hardest things to do. With the Team Hero Sets you can place 10 Bronze Browns players, 10 Silver Browns Players, and 5 Gold Browns players in the set to get the Elite card. It sounds like a lot but it isn’t. After a few pro pack openings you will be flooded in Bronze cards you don’t use or need. Finding these cards are very easy in the Auction House and they come up in the cheapest packs as well.
This set does 2 things: It makes Elite cards obtainable in a realistic way that doesn’t cost too much coin, it also give lower tier cards value. Bronze cards now go for 1K because people are looking for them and buying them. If you need to make a quick 2,000 coins just post a silver card from the Eagles in the auction house. It has given new life to useless cards in a really fun way.
I currently use the Charles Simms III from the Tampa Bay Team Hero Set as my RB, my right guard is a Panther’s Hero, tight end is from the Bills Hero set, and Cousins is my Team Hero QB from Washington. My team is propped up with some great elite cards built on the back of Team Hero Sets. I opened a lot of Pro Packs and didn’t get any Elite cards. Normally I would pissed but the cards I had were still valuable and were easily turned into Elite Cards.
MUT 17 did something I never thought possible, it gave every card value and in doing so makes the game a lot more fun to progress through.
J3Blackgamer 