This Week in Games

Long, Long 'Mon~!

Welcome back, everyone! We had a busy weekend, so that's this week's excuse for not having played Xenoblade Chronicles 3 this past weekend. But that was also because we had to cover Rune Factory 3 Special! It's a fun remake, I'm looking forward to further coverage of it. Anyway, we have a long one this week, let's get back into it!

Shout-out to our reader Optitron for pointing this one out; last week during our discussion of Visual Arts, I mentioned that their big trio of beloved VNs haven't been brought to America. Turns out I was wrong: you can actually play Clannad on Steam, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. That still leaves the other two sad-girls-in-the-snow VNs out in the snow, but it's never too late for them to get brought stateside.

Even though Final Fantasy XVI has been tearing up the sales charts since its release earlier this summer, it looks like Square Enix is shaking their heads at their performance this past year--according to sources on Twitter, Square Enix wants to focus more on their heavier-hitting AAA titles.

This news, frankly, sucks. Square Enix has had a few big failures (read: Forspoken)--but many of their recent victories have been their mid-sized titles. Octopath Traveller 2 and Harvestella might not be top-of-the-line hyped-up releases that Geoff Keighley is giving himself a seizure to shill during his dog-and-pony shows, but they've all seen really good reception on behalf of fans and critics alike. And hey, speaking of industry clowns, the Game Awards Show even nominated the Live-A-Live remake for "Best RPG" last year. I could see it winning if it didn't release in the shadow of Elden Ring. If you really wanna point out Square Enix's big failures, it's been the games-as-a-service titles or their attempts at shoehorning cryptocurrency into their titles--not the Team Asano titles that quietly release with the beloved "HD 2D" graphics and phenomenal writing.

The worst part is that "mid-tier" games are vital for a healthy industry. Not everything can afford to be a AAA title, and in fact, putting all your eggs in one basket like that is a bad move. A smarter idea is having more games on a smaller budget (with much more flexible profit margins) that prop up profits while the bigger AAA titles come and go. Plenty of beloved titles we've covered (and that enjoy serious success and adulation from fans) are "mid-tier" games. Look no further than Xseed's titles; you'll never see the capital-G "Gamerz™" pog-ifying for Story of Seasons or the Atelier games, but those titles come out like clockwork. Nobody would make three Atelier Ryza games if people weren't buying them.

This is just another bad mistake in a long line of bad mistakes on Square Enix's behalf. Lest we forget, back in 2013 Square Enix was declaring the Tomb Raider reboot a failure because it "only" sold a "paltry" 3.4 million copies in its first month of sales. Their successes always seem to come despite their best efforts. Provided, the rest of the gaming industry is constantly chasing the bleeding edge of technology, which doesn't come cheap. Spend all those hundreds of millions on your open-world games, I guess, we'll all be here laughing when Vampire Survivor outsells them.

Hey, speaking of Atelier! It's been a great year for the series; fans have been happy with Atelier Ryza 3, and while the Atelier Ryza anime is spinning its wheels (sad to hear that), it's still more of Ryza and her friends. There was also the Atelier Marie re-release earlier this summer; Atelier is hitting it. Sadly, it seems Gust wants to pull a Square Enix: the next mainline Atelier game has been announced... and it's a mobile game.

Titled Atelier Resleriana, the plan is to make it a mobile game--complete with stamina meters and premium currencies. And fans are really not happy--especially Japanese fans. And small wonder! Atelier has long since been a cozy RPG series. Maybe the games have a time limit to them in-game, but they're fun and comfortable games filled with charming casts and beautiful worlds. And Gust has never shied away from nickel-and-diming people for costumes--we're not about that here, but the DLC is usually stuff like swimsuits or fanservice in the form of outfits based on prior protagonists from older games. The decision to make a new Atelier game really spits in the face of that. It's that this is supposed to be a mainline game that rubs salt into the wound. People were bitter about Final Fantasy XI or XIV being MMOs, but those ended up working out: XI's battle system and setting went on to be key parts of Final Fantasy XII. As for Final Fantasy XIV, it went on to be the thing keeping Square Enix afloat--once Yoshi-P was done making it good. Making a new Atelier game a mobile game just feels entirely cynical, like someone looked at the success of the Ryza trilogy (and, to a lesser extent, the Sophie games) and felt it was time to dig their hands into the pockets of fans. This? This is bad. I'll be surprised if this game comes stateside.

This isn't the first time we've seen an Atelier mobile game--but fans were pretty soured on the idea after Atelier Online: Alchemist of Bressisle was just not very fun to play, with a garbage translation to boot. With how much Gust listens to fans, I feel pretty confident that they're tugging at their collars right about now.

It was EVO 2023 last week! Fighting game lovers flew to Las Vegas to compete, get sweaty, and generally celebrate fighting games at large. From cosplayers showing off their passion for their favorites to the weekend warriors butting heads back at the Salty Suite (and our beloved friends holding the Melty Blood matches behind the dumpster in the parking lot), it was a great crowd from what I hear. And most importantly, we had tons of news about fighting games!

First off, the bad news. Twitter artist hungry_clicker has made a name for themselves through their incredible art--art which is seemingly produced on a dime, as they get some amazing work created seemingly within hours of big announcements or developments in the video game industry. And while they've drawn characters from series as diverse as Breath of Fire to even some non-game series as Neon Genesis Evangelion, they have a particular taste for fighting games--one of their more recent works is a lovely portrait of Guilty Gear's Baiken in a summer yukata with her hair down. Sadly, we had to make do without hungry_clicker's art this EVO--shortly before EVO began, hungry_clicker posted a request on their Twitter for things they could eat that could help combat the side effects of the Coronavirus. They're likely in no condition to pull off their feverishly-quick artwork. I wish hungry_clicker well! They do phenomenal work, and few things brighten your day up like seeing one of your faves given a loving portrait by their hands, seemingly at random. Will I ever be graced by a hungry_clicker illustration of Izuna? Fat chance, but I'm still gonna Like and Retweet the crap out of their work regardless. Get well soon, hungry_clicker!

Now, a lot of people wanted me to touch on the Chun Li issue. It's not related to EVO (it happened at a tournament in Europe), but people seemed kinda hung up on the ordeal:, as a match started between a Kimberly player and a Chun Li player, the tournament hosts realized they'd left on a certain nude mod for Chun Li. The match was hurriedly shut down, the mod was deactivated, and the organizers apologized for leaving their dirty little secret out in the open like that. I... kinda don't have much more to say than that. Honestly, considering how many horndogs there are in the gaming community, I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more often. It's embarrassing, but it's got nothing on Tifa's famous appearance at the Italian Senate.

Anyway. EVO 2023! Lots of stuff was announced. We're gonna gloss over the American games since that's not our focus here. New characters for Mortal Kombat 1 are coming down the pipe, mostly including some of the weirdo PS2-era characters. But as far as the classic Kombatants are concerned, Reptile was confirmed. Maximilian Dood's ongoing efforts for Microsoft to #BringBackKI have finally borne fruit, as Iron Galaxy is making a special update patch to Killer Instinct in honor of the game's tenth anniversary. Plankton from Spongebob Squarepants has been announced for the new Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2.

Okay, so let's move on to the bigger news. Guilty Gear -Strive-'s third season is kicking off with the return of an old favorite: Johnny, the suave man-in-black, leader of the Jellyfish Pirates (and May's heartthrob). Johnny's got his old katana, playing cards, and coins at his disposal. He's also got a snazzy English VA (he's doing our boy justice, for sure). And you don't have to wait too long to get your hands on him: he launches this upcoming August 24th!

Tekken 8 also had some news: first was the return of the ninja Raven, but cooler still is the reveal of a new challenger: the Peruvian Azucena! Her shtick is wanting to help promote her family's coffee beans. I like Azucena! I couldn't tell you anything about her fighting style, but I love seeing a new Latin American character added to Tekken. Specifically, Azucena is Peruvian--most of the time, Latin American characters tend to be exclusively from Mexico, maybe Brazil if the creator is feeling daring. I appreciate Tekken going the extra mile to depict Peru so lovingly, from its mountain-locked ruins to the traditional garb of its people. That said: this is one of those cases where I'm getting a little tilted at the trailer because the subtitles are way off. Like, I get it, her lines are being changed so that they're a bit snappier and funnier, but it's wild to hear her say "¿Tienes café?" ("Got any coffee?") and see it translated as "How do you take your coffee?" (which would be "¿Cómo quieres su café?"). Like... I'm an actual native Spanish speaker, I know what this woman is saying.

Capcom seems well aware that a lot of Street Fighter 6 fans are extremely unwell when it comes to Juri. So they made an even crazier, eviler, deadlier woman for people with brain worms. And they succeeded: now we have scores of people who are extremely unwell when it comes to the newcomer, A.K.I. I love her design: her snakeskin outfit cuts a mean look, and it's fascinating how they've designed an Albino woman without leaning into any kind of lame stereotypes. A.K.I.'s shtick is that she's an expert in herbal medicines--and poisons. Her contortionist movements evoke a snake, and she's got those extending talons on her nails. Given the cinematic, we can presume her fighting style will involve lots of status ailments messing with characters' controls (think Valentine's syringes in Skullgirls: Second Encore).

Speaking of Juri, Capcom also unveiled a few new outfits for her and a few of the other World Warriors. Marisa gets a lovely and fancy white dress with a hairstyle that evokes a Spartan helmet; Guile gets a fancy shirt-and-vest ensemble that honestly reminds me of Mayor Cody more than anything else; Dee Jay gets a fancy sequined suit; and Juri gets an uncharacteristically adorable pink zip-up onesie with a plush spider on the back. Cute stuff! We can look forward to more fun outfits for the rest of the cast... especially since the new collab is going to bring in tons of them...

For ages, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were best considered a Konami property, especially after the phenomenal series of beat 'em-ups that Konami produced with them. But it seems Capcom has finally broken through its shell because the famed Turtles are coming to Street Fighter 6! As of August 8, players can earn outfits, emotes, and stickers based on the four Turtles. Capcom even commissioned some snazzy art of the Turtles from Shinkiro! Now, I didn't know how much Capcom would charge for these costumes, and it struck me as weird that none of the tweets or promo materials were saying how much they would cost. It was a few days later that we found out why: each Turtle would cost $15. That's $60 for all four Turtles. $100 if you want all of the Ninja Turtles content. That's more than the game you'd be buying it for. This really sucks! No costume DLC should run you that much. I'm already of the mind that players shouldn't be charged for costumes and outfits in games. Charging $100 for all that stuff is just highway robbery, absolutely inexcusable.

Remember UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH? Produced by Melty Blood devs French Bread, it was their own original fighting game series that they had produced when they weren't able to revisit Type-Moon's beloved vampiric universe. With French Bread working on the new Melty Blood, it seemed to be the end for Under Night--but it seems they were still willing to capitalize upon that IP. In collaboration with Arc System Works, French Bread is producing UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes! Billing itself as the conclusion of the Under Night "tale", the game looks to continue French Bread's brand of solid fighting game systems. The interface seems kinda sparse, but eh--if you're staring at the menu in a fighting game, you're doing it wrong. Also! Eltnum is back! One of the original characters French Bread created for Melty Blood, Eltnum was added as a cameo character in the original UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH. Here, she's been added to the main roster.

We saved the best for last! We finally have confirmation on the new fighting game SNK has been working on while they're owned by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who was responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi along with many other crimes against humanity. Takes the wind out of the sails, I know. But also: hey, actual crimes against humanity. The term gets thrown around a lot facetiously, it's important to remember the gravity of it.

Anyway, what we thought was a new Garou: Mark of the Wolves sequel is... technically not. But technically, it is! Because get this--it's actually a Fatal Fury game! An honest-to-God Fatal Fury sequel, decades after the series had been overtaken by SNK's King of Fighters series. And it's taking note of the years between: we see Garou protagonist Rock Howard as an adult with his famed "KEEP THE FAITH" jacket, along with Terry Bogard in his older non-trucker-looking design. Past that, we've only got hints to go off of; the trailer sounds off a few voice clips of Fatal Fury characters using their special moves. According to the comments under the trailer on Youtube, these would belong to Andy Bogard (Terry's brother); Mai Shiranui (Andy's love interest and SNK's original Premium Girl); B.Jenet (a pirate queen known for whacking people with her high heels); Billy Kane (right-hand man to the infamous Geese Howard); Hotaru (a girl who uses Chinese martial arts); Mexican masked wrestler Tizoc (who wears a bird mask); and Kain, the final boss of Garou: Mark of the Wolves.

It'll be interesting to see a return to the more-localized story of Fatal Fury after the years spent following the tale of Orochi and NESTS and the like in King of Fighters. The trailer still lists South Town Airport as a location while showing off the defined shapes of the Port Town Peninsula and East Island, but I have to wonder if the world-weary 2023s would still depict South Town as the bright and colorful town it was in the earlier Fatal Fury games where it was based on 90s-era Miami, Florida. It'd be nice to see Duck King come back, man.

Anyway, we haven't seen a Fatal Fury since 1995's Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory. SNK returning to this old franchise is momentous indeed; the only way to top it would have been to make a new Art of Fighting... and let's face it, they're not doing that. I don't think people care about Ryo or even Yuri enough to revisit Art of Fighting. But Terry, Joe, Andy, and Mai? Rock Howard? People still love 'em. I know I do. I'm ready to return to South Town, man.

And that was Evo 2023. By all accounts, it seemed a lot of fun! I'm not the hugest fighting game fan, but I'd love to visit Evo someday if only to swing by the Future Club's Skullgirls booth and nab some Parasoul cards. I don't even need any of the fancy ones like Risky Ginger, just the default black-turtleneck Parasoul card is good enough for me. Until then: I think a return to EVO is just what the fighting game community needed. Hopefully, not many people caught COVID from it...

Well, there certainly was a Pokémon Presents stream earlier this weekend. And in a weird twist: it seemed like people weren't into this one. I dunno what it was, but it seemed like there was so much more negativity associated with this Pokémon Presents. Provided, it's hard to get people excited when there isn't a brand-new game to look forward to. But even with some of the DLC coming up, folks seemed down on Pokémon.

I feel like some (rather, a lot) of the negativity levied at Pokémon needs to be examined. A lot of it is coming from valid criticism: the games are coming out too fast for them to be particularly stand-out or for devs to have the time to give it extensive TLC. This is the case with any franchise that gets endless yearly sequels--for more information on that, look at that period back in the PS2 days when we had a yearly Prince of Persia, Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank title. Good games, all, to be sure--but the memories between them all blur. Was the "Slim Cognitos" gag in Up Your Arsenal, or was it in Going Commando? And Scarlet/Violet let a ton of fans down (including me) with the state it was released in. It was damned inexcusable. I had never seen a Pokémon game run that badly, it was like Game Freak was thumbing its nose at detractors by making a game that ran how people claimed Sword/Shield ran. The performance issues haven't been fixed--but Game Freak has addressed many of the bugs that plagued Scarlet/Violet. They also went so far as to bring back limited-time raids for certain rare Paradox Pokémon (Walking Wake and Iron Leaves) after a bug made it so any participant wound up leaving the event with an egg instead of the specific Pokémon. So they're working on the game and they are paying attention to things.

And yet, people are down on Pokémon. More than ever, people bellyache about "newer Pokémon looking silly", which... isn't much of an argument on which to base anything. Like, I don't know how to tell you this, but it's entirely on you if you hate Klefki. I don't like Luvdisk, but I don't let Luvdisk get in the way of any of the other things I do enjoy about Pokémon. There are also a lot of people who seem to want Pokémon to reinvent itself the way Monster Hunter did with Monster Hunter World or to take on more open-world elements like Breath of the Wild... but also, Pokémon already is an open-world game--between Legends: Arceus fully embracing an open-world design and Scarlet/Violet having a three concurrent "stories" that can be done independently of each other, Pokémon has come a long way from being the simple RPG on Game Boy that it used to be. And still... that doesn't seem to be enough?

Maybe Game Freak will re-evaluate the course for the Pokémon games moving forward and incorporate more elements from Legends: Arceus... but also, maybe not because Game Freak did suffer from success when it came to Pokémon. The Gen 1 games were buggy messes, mostly because they were massive games on a scale Game Freak was wholly not used to--before Pokémon Green, Game Freak mostly made simpler puzzle games. Gold/Silver/Crystal weren't inherently "better" because they hit the "Make The Game Good" button instead of the "Make Skyrim" Button, it was the result of freaking Satoru Iwata being part of the team and working a ton of intense binary magic. It was the equivalent of your nerdy friend going over your book report on Hamlet and walking out having discovered a new, forgotten work from Shakespeare because he was fact-checking your work at the Oxford University Library.

There are some valid issues like Game Freak's policy on fan art (they claim ownership over it all and assert the right to use it at their discretion without compensating the artist); that is a bridge too far. Provided, a ton of it is quite unusable given that so much of it is porn, but some folks have pointed out that some assets from the recent trailer (from the music to some minor emblems) are fan-made. And it's not like anyone can contest that in court against The Pokémon Company International. Considering how much of Pokémon revolves around appeals to nostalgia and the love from fans, it's unfair that TPCI feels entitled to plunder the effort from fans like that. Even Vtubers pay artists a business fee when a fan artist makes art that they want to use for merch.

Does Pokémon need a shot in the arm? Heck yes, it does. But I can't in good faith pretend that they're not trying things, especially when Game Freak introduced elements like the Raids in Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet. But, y'know... trying new things means that some stuff isn't gonna stick to the kitchen wall.

Also, quit basing your arguments on how "dumb" new Pokémon look. As dumb as people claim Klefki, Vanillite or Alolan Exeggutor are, you have at least heard of them--I can't even name a single TemTem or Nexomon.

Anyway, with that out of the way, what did Game Freak introduce? Well, they built some hype over the upcoming Pokémon World Championships being held this weekend--they'll have begun by the time this column goes live (August 11th) through August 13th. The merch available includes that snazzy hoodie, that alone makes me wish I took part in it. Being that the Championship is being held in Yokohama, the city has taken advantage of the occasion to take part in some Otaku Tourism, with plenty of art pieces around the city designed to encourage you to take photos (my favorite is the Bidoof in the bushes). There will also be a cruise ship moored in the bay for trainers to visit and mingle for some casual battling and trading (they should have taken the opportunity to temporarily christen it the "S.S. Anne").

There's also a cute new animated series called Pokémon: Path to the Peak, centering on a little girl's experiences making friends and competing in the Pokémon Trading Card Game along with her partner Oddish. It's an inspired take--we haven't seen many anime take advantage of the PTCG, and it's interesting to see the trading card game through the lens of the actual Pokémon world. We also have confirmation that Pokémon Horizons will be coming stateside, but there's no release date yet. Also, Detective Pikachu Returns was given an official release date for the US: October 6th! And before that, we'll see Paldean Pokémon joining Pokémon Go in September. September 6th will also mark the debut of a new net series, Pokémon: Paldean Winds, which covers the adventures of students at the Palderan Pokémon Academy.

New Pokémon games are also coming to Nintendo Switch Online! While it's not any of the mainline games (which people have their heart set on), the Game Boy Pokémon Trading Card Game and N64 Pokémon Stadium 2 are both now available on Nintendo Switch Online as of August 8th. Pokémon Trading Card Game is an old favorite of mine, it only covers the original set but it's a perfectly fun way of getting into the basics of the Pokémon TCG. As for Pokémon Stadium 2, it was the best way to experience the Gold and Silver years on Nintendo 64. People still really want the Game Boy Pokémon titles, but some have pointed out that with the Nintendo Switch Online games saving things to a cloud, Game Freak might not be too keen on porting them to Switch--too much danger of people copying Pokémon. I'll give this one to people, even though that means that our last chance to get our hands on the first two generations of Pokémon games was on the now-defunct Nintendo 3DS eShop. And don't get me started on lost classics like Pokémon Pinball or Pokémon Puzzle Challenge.

Okay, so what about Scarlet/Violet? Well, in a move that I'm surprised isn't a bigger deal, Mew and Mewtwo are being brought to the game for an event Game Freak is calling "Get Mew and Mewtwo!". Using the code "GETY0URMEW", players can get a free Mew in their copies of Pokémon Scarlet/Violet. Until September 18th, this will land you a Mew with a randomized Terastralize type. This Mew can then be used to battle against Mewtwo in a special Raid Tera Battle from September 1st through September 17th. This is big! Mew has very seldom been made available within Pokémon, and specifically bringing Mew back for a Mewtwo raid battle is a great way of referencing the climactic Pokémon: The First Movie (also known as "Mewtwo Strikes Back"). This Mewtwo will also have a Mightiest Mark attached to it, and the stream promised "something special" if you battle Mewtwo with Mew in your party.

We also have some more news on the The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLCs coming soon. Part One, The Teal Mask, drops on September 13th, with The Indigo Disk (being Part Two) dropping this Winter 2023. The trailers mostly focused on the story bits we'll be seeing, while teasing some of the Pokémon that'll be debuting in the DLC along with some new faces we haven't seen yet. We've known about Okidogi, Munkidori, Fezandipiti, Ogerpon, and Terapagos. But we haven't seen Dipplin! Applin, the adorable apple-Pokémon, has a new possible evolution in the form of Dipplin, who is--get this--a caramel apple. I love it. We also caught a glimpse of Archaludon, a new evolution for Duraludon. Its shtick is looking like a steel bridge. I like it, it's a creative twist and it opens the door to the possibility that the Pokémon world developed steel bridges based on Archaludon--and wouldn't that be neat? I already have a whole "thing" with Shuckle and how important it would be to society purely on the back of it being a Pokémon that makes Berry Juice, humans have domesticated entire species for less than that. We were also introduced to Briar, one of the new teachers at Paldea Academy--and yes, people are crazy for her already. People also got excited for Perrin, a new photographer introduced in the DLC--and for good reason, she's a throw-back to a character from Legends: Arceus! Legends: Arceus fans are familiar with how it features some characters that may be ancestors to characters from the Sinnoh region games--Volo and Cogita are good examples, with Volo being blond and having a team similar to Cynthia's while Cogita has Cynthia's elusiveness and cool vibes. So too with Perrin; there isn't any confirmation (and I doubt there will be any), but her blue-and-green hair raises the possibility that she's Adamai's descendant. Some have gone a step further and believe Irida was the grandmother, because of Perrin's round hair shape.

Some other new features announced include mini-games--like the Ogre Oustin' mini-game where you ride on your Koraidon or Miraidon to pop balloons. This'll earn you Mochi, which you can use to buff up your Pokémon's base stats. There's also a new Trainer Club Room where you can customize details like how your trainer throws their Pokéballs in battle. Not quite the stickers from the Gen IV games, but a cool detail to add.

Finally, we have two new Paradox Pokémon. Following up on Walking Wake and Iron Leaves, the Paradox versions of Suicune and Virizion, we have new Paradox versions of Raikou and Cobalion: Raging Bolt and Iron Crown. Raging Bolt's design is... divisive, to say the least. People seemed pretty okay with Suicune being given a dromaeosaurid-esque design, but apparently Raikou being redesigned as a long-necked sauropod is a bridge too far. Is it goofy? A little, the furry disk around its chin is a bit much. But, and here's the thing, it's a smart reference to Brontosaurus, whose name means "noble thunder lizard". There's definitely a theme at work. And since we're two-thirds of the way through both the Johnto Trio and the Swords of Justice trio from Unova, folks are wondering what fresh spore of madness will spawn Entei's new form. Terrakion, I think, will be just fine.

That about wraps up the Pokémon Presents. Again, folks seemed pretty down on it, with many people thrown off by Raging Bolt's design or the perceived lack of actual new content. Fair enough, but I have to wonder how much of the Pokémon fandom is just realizing they've outgrown Pokémon and don't know how to verbalize it. Like someone in a relationship that's run its course but doesn't want to break up for fear of being "the bad one" in the relationship, or someone who doesn't know what to do without this one bit of consumerism to serve as a pillar of their identity. In the meantime, I still have Scarlet/Violet on my wishlist. I just like Koraidon, man. (And hey, it's not too late to give Shuckle some more love!)

That'll do it for this week. Eesh, lotta bad news going around this week. I'm not happy when it comes to these "doom and gloom" stories, but sometimes that's what's on the menu. But hey, there's still stuff to look forward to. I don't know if you guys are down on Raging Bolt, but this is a Raging Bolt Zone as far as I'm concerned. At any rate, keep yourselves safe--COVID is back on the rise. Be good to each other, I'll see you in seven.