*Look out internet, Sonic's live-action. This motion picture's like real-ly crappy-y!* (I'm pretty sure some music folk will critique it but whatever it fits the subject matter of this post)
Today is quite an interesting day, not only did I have a good lunch at the Tomato Bar but also it's the beginning of the Reiwa Era in Japan with Akihito abdicating and Naruhito taking over and THERE'S GOING to be a CIVIL WAR in Venezuela or at least an attempted uprising to rightly oust that commie loser Manduro; that and another shooting in some North Carolina university...whoop de doo, cue the nuttiness from ideological vultures just like the last numerous shootings did, it's a clown world after all.
Anyway, aside from that, the big news is that the "anticipated" live-action Sonic film has gotten its first trailer and...it looks like retarded crap. Like seriously, did any of the folks behind it think it would even be good? There's so much wrong with it that I might have to do a little analysis of the trailer.
Now to start off, it takes place in the real world, in the USA no less. Why? isn't it established in the games that the Sonic franchise takes place in a fantasy fictional setting that has a USA-like country with a powerful military (aka GUN)? That and Green Hill is a town of sorts; yes I know that the setting has both realistic cities and fantastical landscapes but how hard is it just to have the setting be the way it was in the games, even if some liberties need to be taken? Secondly Sonic himself looks crappy and that he looks like he belongs in another dimension. That or some college project to impress some chumps that never seen at least decent CGI before. Not to mention he gets hideous looking in some scenes thanks to him having teeth, real attractive guys. Thirdly, the plot seems to be alot like Detective Pikachu and some others where a human and a non-human creature team up to save the world or somethin', real original and the film doesn't bother trying something creative to compensate for using that trope. Fourthly, the humor is mostly lame, the whole "baby in a bag" is absolute cringe (that and him making a reference to the Fitbit device that I use). Also I forgot to mention that the film (at least this trailer) really likes to use SFX from the Mega Drive games to highlight that it really is about Sonic, talk about putting lipstick on a pig.
Speaking of cringe and putting something that James Marsden guy's in this film, just like he was in that piece of s--t Hop film; it's almost as if it's another sign the film's going to be bad. And if you ask me, I never found him as a decent actor, he's quite mediocre at best and a bore to watch. At least the best part is his him tranqing Sonic in the leg, just like how I feel only that I want to kill his ass instead of knocking him out. Though at least, there's Jim Carrey as Dr. Eggman (I refuse to use the name "Robotnik" thank you very much) and frankly he seems to be the best part of the film, even if my first impressions of him were slightly amused. Almost as if he needs to work on being funny and entertaining instead of having his energy wasted on austistic screeching on twitter about the USA being "infected" by "fascism" (less said about his artwork about Mussolini's corpse that brought his nutty granddaughter on board the better, and yes that s--t happened). I know I brought up his politics but still I don't give a damn what side on the spectrum he's on, he better be at least work on being something worthy for some unfortunate movie-goers to have when watching this asinine film (Samuel L. Jackson was still fun to watch in that lame-s--t Captain Marvel film despite him being salty about Trump). Afterall, after second viewing, he does come across as at least funny and entertaining and is trying to make the best out of a crappy film, so I rest my case.
Safe to say, I'm not looking forward to this stinker and if anything, either look forward to renting it or a Nostalgia Critic review (of which I will rightly be okay with and will not blame him not one bit). Hell all it does is make me look forward to seeing Detective Pikachu, which already looks promising and perhaps awesome as hell, at least it got the source material of Pokemon right in many respects. That and I'm glad many others around the internet are rightly trashing it as well, we all knew it was going to be bad, not the absolute worst but still; I'm even sure the likes of Chris-chan would not like it, neither will some of the notorious Sonic fanboys will.
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Saturday, April 20, 2019
For Real? New (Non-Mobile) Metal Slug in the Works and My Thoughts on a Reboot
I know I haven't made much posts since my last one, though lots of crazy s--t happened lately, namely with Notre Dame taking fire damage, and Monkey Punch dead. But of course I'm not in the mood to talk about those two tragedies, namely that I'm more interesting in talking about something that concerns a certain gaming franchise from SNK (the company).
Nowadays, it really seems SNK (Moneymore) on the ball with not only getting more publicity but also making games (what with KOF XIV, SNK Heroines, and the upcoming Sam-sho-spirits) and this time they might make their first non-fighter game since the purchase by 37Games, and that is...*drumroll*...Metal Slug!
Now, I'm sure that you'd think that me being a long time fan of the MS series would be extremely excited for a new MS game that FYI ISN'T a mobile game (thankfully), to the point of being like that Butts bum who streamed himself crying happy to a teaser of the upcoming Star Wars Episode IX (and in case you ask I don't give a flip about what he thinks, I have no interest in Ep. IX though that's another story for another time). But to be honest, I'm kind of skeptical, nervous even, namely that there are many ways a new Metal Slug game can go, either as a sequel/prequel/interquel ala 8 or a reboot. Mind you, they did talk about rebooting it back in September, mainly talking about the possibility of a one-hit death like the original had, though frankly I'm more concerned than just that. Oh much more than just a mechanic, so sit down folks, this might be a long story.
Now first off, I don't give a s--t if said mechanic comes back, if it doesn't it doesn't unless it's part of some adjustable difficulty thing, case closed.
Anyway, what concerns me more is what kind of reboot will it be, especially in regards to of course the gameplay and the story, I mention story here given that the franchise notoriously lacks such even though there are a few titles that sort of had one, namely 2nd Mission, 3D, and of course...Attack of all games (much to my dismay but I'll get into that later). It's quite a bummer given the vast amounts of potential the mythos had regarding the backstories of the characters though granted this is a franchise where gameplay matters the most so there's that.
I'm probably going to be the odd guy out and invite controversy but frankly if there's going to be one it will have to be a gritty one, a dark n gritty one. Now I know that phrase "gritty reboot" will probably either conjure up failures like the Fan4stic one or Bomberman Act Zero but I will invoke the success of the Dark Knight Trilogy, namely that the people behind them (Nolan included) TOOK the time and EFFORT to make said reboot WORK. I say this since some numb-nut fanboys n girls will probably autistically screech the idea that a more dark and serious Metal Slug reboot will be bad n s--t but damn it I'll argue otherwise (especially for some folks from Hardcore Gaming 101 who disagree with me on this).
Anyway, I will make it clear I'm for a more serious and mature take on the MS series since that piece of ass Defense came out which convinced me the series is culturally dead (or so I thought given that Attack came around later) and that something needs to be done to make it something again, something to be RESPECTED not sodomized and molested and (in the case of Attack) hypocritically put new characters and s--t in just to make said sodomizing look "okay", you know putting lipstick on a pig or rather making pretty pictures on the rear of said pig after it got raped. I know I sound hyperbolic but that's the best way to describe the latter's business model, since after all it made money thanks to suckers falling for the game's unwarranted charms via waifus and husbandos, not that they don't deserve to be in the series (mostly) mind you. Anywho, outside of the mobage-molesting, I feel merely making 8 even with 3D graphics yet plays in 2D like some of the recent Kirby games would not help given that 7 and XX did poorly commercially, and that said franchise hasn't seen much action lately since then and suffers from being quite obscure and dare I say underutilized in comparison to KOF and Sam-sho Spirits. All this makes me advocate for a gritty reboot to change all of that and get the mainstream gamer crowd to notice; afterall, what better way to get attention than to do something radical (that's in a good way and not like removing sexual themes)?
Though said gritty reboot can't just any gritty reboot but one that can do it justice, namely by emphasizing the war theme like the first game did but in a manner more akin to Metal Gear and Call of Duty (the singleplayer campaigns). And yes that does mean taking the mythos seriously, I mean there's lot of stuff that happened before and during the big conflict between the Government and the Rebellion and I believe the best way for a reboot is to highlight that; not that the reboot needs to have a deep story ala Metal Gear but at least have something for us gamers to GIVE a damn about the conflict. Afterall, the war's like what take place in some vague world superstate in some alternate 21st century that oddly has WWII-esque hardware? Then again some liberties have to be taken and I'll accept that as long as the conflict's still about the Rebels fighting the Government in a "One World Nation" and that much of the same cast is around.
Speaking of the cast, I'd be mighty damned if any of them Attack newcomers don't make the cut, though I'd be lying if I say that I didn't like any of them. Namely Caroline, Simon, Midori, and Vicky are part of my favs (namely due them being very cute and adorable), though the others are at least fine or I just don't care though some have some serious design issues (like Rita and Vita's outfits, are they like trying out for KOF or somethin'?). That and their backstories have a lot left to be desired in general, like where do they come from and what are their likes and dislikes and such? Not that long stories need to be made about them but again they need to have their worth proven, if KOF can have a bunch of characters in it with some wacky wardrobes, then so can MS, though some can use some fitting redesigns (I made a few for Rita and Chunyan that I probably need to upload in a more completed form in the future), but there are other fish to fry.
Nowadays, it really seems SNK (Moneymore) on the ball with not only getting more publicity but also making games (what with KOF XIV, SNK Heroines, and the upcoming Sam-sho-spirits) and this time they might make their first non-fighter game since the purchase by 37Games, and that is...*drumroll*...Metal Slug!
Now, I'm sure that you'd think that me being a long time fan of the MS series would be extremely excited for a new MS game that FYI ISN'T a mobile game (thankfully), to the point of being like that Butts bum who streamed himself crying happy to a teaser of the upcoming Star Wars Episode IX (and in case you ask I don't give a flip about what he thinks, I have no interest in Ep. IX though that's another story for another time). But to be honest, I'm kind of skeptical, nervous even, namely that there are many ways a new Metal Slug game can go, either as a sequel/prequel/interquel ala 8 or a reboot. Mind you, they did talk about rebooting it back in September, mainly talking about the possibility of a one-hit death like the original had, though frankly I'm more concerned than just that. Oh much more than just a mechanic, so sit down folks, this might be a long story.
Now first off, I don't give a s--t if said mechanic comes back, if it doesn't it doesn't unless it's part of some adjustable difficulty thing, case closed.
Anyway, what concerns me more is what kind of reboot will it be, especially in regards to of course the gameplay and the story, I mention story here given that the franchise notoriously lacks such even though there are a few titles that sort of had one, namely 2nd Mission, 3D, and of course...Attack of all games (much to my dismay but I'll get into that later). It's quite a bummer given the vast amounts of potential the mythos had regarding the backstories of the characters though granted this is a franchise where gameplay matters the most so there's that.
I'm probably going to be the odd guy out and invite controversy but frankly if there's going to be one it will have to be a gritty one, a dark n gritty one. Now I know that phrase "gritty reboot" will probably either conjure up failures like the Fan4stic one or Bomberman Act Zero but I will invoke the success of the Dark Knight Trilogy, namely that the people behind them (Nolan included) TOOK the time and EFFORT to make said reboot WORK. I say this since some numb-nut fanboys n girls will probably autistically screech the idea that a more dark and serious Metal Slug reboot will be bad n s--t but damn it I'll argue otherwise (especially for some folks from Hardcore Gaming 101 who disagree with me on this).
Anyway, I will make it clear I'm for a more serious and mature take on the MS series since that piece of ass Defense came out which convinced me the series is culturally dead (or so I thought given that Attack came around later) and that something needs to be done to make it something again, something to be RESPECTED not sodomized and molested and (in the case of Attack) hypocritically put new characters and s--t in just to make said sodomizing look "okay", you know putting lipstick on a pig or rather making pretty pictures on the rear of said pig after it got raped. I know I sound hyperbolic but that's the best way to describe the latter's business model, since after all it made money thanks to suckers falling for the game's unwarranted charms via waifus and husbandos, not that they don't deserve to be in the series (mostly) mind you. Anywho, outside of the mobage-molesting, I feel merely making 8 even with 3D graphics yet plays in 2D like some of the recent Kirby games would not help given that 7 and XX did poorly commercially, and that said franchise hasn't seen much action lately since then and suffers from being quite obscure and dare I say underutilized in comparison to KOF and Sam-sho Spirits. All this makes me advocate for a gritty reboot to change all of that and get the mainstream gamer crowd to notice; afterall, what better way to get attention than to do something radical (that's in a good way and not like removing sexual themes)?
Though said gritty reboot can't just any gritty reboot but one that can do it justice, namely by emphasizing the war theme like the first game did but in a manner more akin to Metal Gear and Call of Duty (the singleplayer campaigns). And yes that does mean taking the mythos seriously, I mean there's lot of stuff that happened before and during the big conflict between the Government and the Rebellion and I believe the best way for a reboot is to highlight that; not that the reboot needs to have a deep story ala Metal Gear but at least have something for us gamers to GIVE a damn about the conflict. Afterall, the war's like what take place in some vague world superstate in some alternate 21st century that oddly has WWII-esque hardware? Then again some liberties have to be taken and I'll accept that as long as the conflict's still about the Rebels fighting the Government in a "One World Nation" and that much of the same cast is around.
Speaking of the cast, I'd be mighty damned if any of them Attack newcomers don't make the cut, though I'd be lying if I say that I didn't like any of them. Namely Caroline, Simon, Midori, and Vicky are part of my favs (namely due them being very cute and adorable), though the others are at least fine or I just don't care though some have some serious design issues (like Rita and Vita's outfits, are they like trying out for KOF or somethin'?). That and their backstories have a lot left to be desired in general, like where do they come from and what are their likes and dislikes and such? Not that long stories need to be made about them but again they need to have their worth proven, if KOF can have a bunch of characters in it with some wacky wardrobes, then so can MS, though some can use some fitting redesigns (I made a few for Rita and Chunyan that I probably need to upload in a more completed form in the future), but there are other fish to fry.
Back on the setting, I can't help but notice that the games have a s--tty sense of geopolitics. Though funny enough Defense and Attack sort of rectified that with plenty of nations spelled out in the Attack modes, though still that is not enough. I mean I can barely figure what the locations the games are set in outside of those two and funny enough seem to be like modern times with again WWII looking stuff thrown in. Another reminder that this should be one aspect the reboot should address, there's this thing called alternate history which can excuse the fictional setting. In fact, it would help if there was like a backstory of how the world state came into being, though I like to think it would have took a WWIII of sorts (preferably in the 1940's to 1950's in regards to nukes) and an aggressive as hell World Federalist movement to get things going, just like one of my maps had (but that's another story for another time). Though I wonder how China itself would be handled since SNK is owned by a Chinese company and the last time China (under the CCP) was going to be depicted as villainous, a whole game's setting was compromised to appease the Beijing regime; still at least there might be more Chinese representation this time around but whatever.
Keep in mind that there was a franchise that retconned the setting to be an alternate history one, namely Homefront (the after mentioned game that had an issue with China in case you didn't figure it out by now) with its recent game Revolution that changed it from a "future" history involving a united Korea under the Pyongyang flag to an alternate one where North Korea "loses" the Korean War and yet becomes a corporate-ruled superpower. I covered that in a post I made almost three years ago and flatly trashed it, but at the very least it's a good example of a series that did at least tried to readjust the timeline so it wouldn't be overtaken by whatever current year-clown world event happens down the line. I mean it's 2019 and there hasn't been any progress toward a world government and good riddance, I do not welcome it nor any other globalist attempt to have something close to that, just no (and that's another story for another time and I do not feel like doing it anytime soon); that and many militaries around the world using some hardware that dates at least back to the 1960's at the least that are upgraded like no tomorrow (especially the Chinook which will make it past the 2020's by the look of things). Nope, nothing like what Metal Slug envisioned geopolitics-wise, and I haven't even touched the supernatural/alien/ASB s--t. Nope all of that needs to go, case closed.
Anyway, another example of a franchise retconning itself well timeline-wise to an extent is Metal Gear, which of course was made to be a "future" history changed into an "alternate history" (I use the words "alternate history" loosely given that it's basically OTL's just with the events MG made thrown in, talk about contrivance). The games may had some great stories (and some duds) but with the timeline being almost exactly like ours just with again the fictional events thrown in sounds like a cheap attempt at being "timely", especially with 9/11 and the Tea Party referenced (though that may have been Reveangence doing that to my knowledge); that and having some secret organization formed in the 1920's with the Philosophers as the "POD" and have s--t go almost exactly like they did IOTL up to 1995 reinforces the contrivance. I know it's not a good example of having a "future" setting made into an "alternate" setting but that and Homefront are just two of them that do just that to a degree and to be fair there are many more examples (especially the Psychotechnic League novels) but I think I made my point; if you want to have the setting taken seriously, at least get a good sense of geopolitics, at least Code Geass for its questionable plausibility issues had a timeline and map of sorts.
As for story, well the gist is that Marco and gang are wrapped up in the vague war(s?) against the Rebellion led by the dissent General Morden and other groups and forces yet we don't get into their struggles and such in regards to their roles; now granted I know story again isn't important but damn it if KOF can put some effort into the story (as s--t as it is), so can MS. Though frankly I rather take a story in Metal Slug seriously, provided if it isn't on a mobile platform, though in the case of this hypothetical reboot, it would have to be a war story of sorts focusing on Marco and many of his comrades. I mean if anyone knows the backstory, Marco clearly has a grudge against Morden after his friends were killed in the Rebel atrocities; sounds like fodder for a Beserk-esque story to me. In addition other characters have interesting backstories as well, Eri for one regarding her being a former spy, Fio in her relationship with her family, and Tarma for well being with Marco. Morden seems interesting too, for he is the guy who started the conflict (sort of, some sources say the conflict started before the Donald came but whatever) with a grudge against the Government's alleged corruption and whatnot, how deep is it is unknown. And of course the various other fellows, ones from Attack included, Red Goblin included. At this point, the key to having at least a good story hinges on developing the roles of the characters involved; after all I'm mighty interested in the conflict itself than the nonsense in KOF regarding the plots of Orochi Rugal Krauser-stein summoning clones of Kyo to impress his gay boyfriend Verse and Samsho-Spirits with Haohmaru fighting with that shirtless chump with red hair and that Akumasu dude.
And as part of taking itself seriously, there might and will be unpleasant things the story will have, war crimes, suffering, the various intrigues within and between factions involved, WMDs, PTSD, moral ethics (and morals), dehumanizing, and lots of deaths, not just of the many Rebels and Regular soldiers but established ones. Though personally I like to think of the Rebels as the objectively evil side that can give the Nazis a run for their money despite implications of them being multi-racial and multi-ethnic (the same way ISIS is), and the Government being the not-evil side but did some questionable s--t. Though again, I'm not sure how well their likeness to the Nazis would fly in reality, it ain't like Miss Black General that's for sure. And speaking of reality, may I stress that the reboot I propose be grounded in realism, more so than MS1 did. Again none of that alien/mummy/zombie crap, just two (or more) human factions at each other's throats just like MS1 and a few others did.
As for graphics; 2D sprite art is out of the question. Last time SNK did upscaled 2D sprites, it nearly went out of business (KOF XIII anyone?) and would have had it not been for 37Games but the rest is history. So 3D is in, and I don't care if anyone brings up the dud that was Metal Slug 3D, the circumstances are quite different, if SNK can make KOF XIV and the upcoming Samsho-Spirits game look good then so can the new MS. Though given the gritty reboot I advocate for is unquestionably in 3D and in 3D the aesthetics will lean towards the photorealistic side while retaining some stylization like how KOF XIV and some fighter games did; I say since I despise the photorealistic look which IMO is insanely unnecessary, same with cel-shading (of which the new SsP game employs to an extent), I rather take the middleman approach personally. Anyway, instead of having cartoony aesthetics, I'd would take a more serious aesthetic with an artstyle more akin to Yukimura Makoto's which again fits with a stylized approach. Though I wouldn't mind having some animu touches here and there just to help make some characters recognizable. Speaking of which, the military hardware will need to be updated to be less WWII-ish (provided that they apply) and more akin to modern military stuff, and I did the math; some of the designs (like the Di-Cokka and the R-Shobu) can transition well into the Cold War era and beyond, though some can be tricky (namely the Big Shiee and the Keesis), and that's even getting into stuff that's constantly introduced with every update in Attack. Still, a great care in how the updated hardware function is needed, especially in regards to physics, in order to fit with the grounded take. Though one thing is for sure, the SV-001 tank can still have the iconic treads and vulcans and whatever turret thing it has.
And of course, the meat and potatoes, the gameplay: now of course the originals were side-scrolling run-n-gun shooters with platforming elements though lately the run-n-gun genre hasn't been much active with just Cuphead of all games picking up the slack. Clearly, it's just not profitable anyone, at least in the mainstream sense; now I know SNK's a niche company and the last thing I want is for them to follow whatever trend is profitable to the series' detriment, especially FPSes (I still remember the COD-shooter trend to this day) but still they need to reinvent the series's gameplay to have it stay relevant. Though granted FPSes in the COD/BF way are not very profitable nowadays with instead TPS battle royale stuff is with Fortnite making the news. Anyway, the reboot would work perfectly with a TPS with a camera style akin to Metal Gear 6 and 7 (Solids 4 and 5 respectively) and that the action, while reliant on cover shooting ala Gears of War, would be slow paced and requires strategy, much like how the first MS game was kind of was going to be in the early stages. And by strategy, I mean more than just spam s--t and occasionally something close to a challenge, rather take advantage of the environment while utilizing the best tools and wits to overcome the enemy; not that the game needs to be like ARMA but challenging enough to get some nerves ticking. And yes there can be an easy mode that is still challenging enough to bear through, and hopefully dice some whiny game "journos" in the process (so much for them wanting the game to "respect" them if they can't respect the difficulty but I digress). Still, the game needs to be a squad shooter ala Ghost Recon, since afterall Marco does lead a squad of sorts and the reboot needs to emphasize that. Run n gun is out of the game, tactical gunplay is the name of the game, you game? no seriously tactics are a necessity aside from the point and shoot routine, sometimes stealth will need to be factored (the element of surprise as tacticians say); not that the game has to be like Metal Gear but at least a robust stealth system. In addition, good use of supporting forces will be a necessity, both land, air, sea, cyberspace, and perhaps space itself, there is a thing called combined arms. That and the mission maps being more akin to being between Medal of Honor: European Assualt where it's nearly open ended and nearly linear yet still allow plenty of replayability akin to how Metal Gear 7: Phantom Pain does (though hopefully not like take MOAR than 24 hours to beat the game); hell the gameplay can be summed up as European Assault-esque with elements of Phantom Pain for good measure. As for health, frankly it'll have to be the regenerating stuff most of the COD games along with others do these days and I'm down with it, though there might be some moments where there might be injures that can't be healed by the regenerating and some item is required, like some fancy nano-medicine to heal broken bones and whatnot. Vehicular usage is still around and will help determine the tide of war though they're not really like powerups as more like tools of war and can be easily destroyed if not handled well, especially by the enemy. No, there wouldn't be bosses, not in the way the originals did, but there will be plenty of individuals to take down, Morden included, and how you dispose of them is up to you. There still will be prisoners and rescuing them is a necessity, though there is a risk of them being killed and some being fakes.
All of these wrapped up would make an epic war fighting experience that while not in 2D can blow the socks off many war-themed games out there and surpass that of the first game, hence why I picked TPS, to homage said game's epic warfighting. In a nutshell, I feel a tactical TPS with many elements of European Assault and the Phantom Pain, combined with a more serious and gritty story with a universe grounded in realism that at least allows some imagination would be the best way to go.
But of course, this is all what I wish the reboot would be like and God knows if SNK will do something like that. Likely not, given how radical it is (which no doubt would rub many fans the wrong way but frankly I don't care), but at least there might be some similarities they might pull off in their own reboot. Then again there might be a possibility they might not and perhaps do some more different than thought. Perhaps the reboot not only might not have the same gameplay nor style but also not have the same cast in the same way Advance Wars Days of Ruin did in regards to have different characters in comparison to its predecessors, despite that game being pretty awesome in hindsight. Or they could pull a Gundam and have an alternate universe where it has some things in common but the setting and cast are different; mind you, there are like a bajillion Gundam universes even though the Universal Century is the main one, and many of them have different hardwares and stuff save for a similar design regarding the protagonistic mecha in them. Speaking of which, there might not be a guarantee that the reboot's Metal Slug tank will even be like it's counterpart, hell it might not even be a tank at all. Neither will the rest of the hardware, if the reboot will still be military themed. Hell, the reboot might have a different theme with military elements thrown in, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc. And speaking of difference, there is also no guarantee the reboot will be a shooter of sorts at all, it might be a TPS battle royale mode or even a fighter since the last 2 games SNK came out recently were such; I shudder at the thought of a new Metal Slug game being a fighter, I mean what can you do with it? Having the next game be a fighter would be an insult to the fanbase, probably more so than the two tower defense games were (though to be fair they do have fans...plenty of them...). Then again SNK came up with Defense and Attack and ran with them, though to be fair it did rely on a pool of mostly already made sprites to keep themselves unfortunately going (and funny enough at the time of this writing KOF is getting a tower defense game too even though its getting another non-mobile game but that's another topic for another time). Still, the possibilities are insanely endless but frankly mostly undesirable IMO.
For all I know, SNK might go the way having the setting be about "teh evol Drumpf lookalike runz a Nazi sty-ohl Empire oppressin n exterminatin POCs and teh Resistance gotta punch dem Nazis tuh seyv deh dey", something like the new Wolfenstein games but much more cringey and pandering to the far-left loons. That and having the gameplay be like a lame-ass walking simulator only with "push X to shoot" quick time events to give the illustion of a thrill, just to justify having the "Metal Slug" name on it. Oh and maybe change the character roster to be more "diverse" never mind the idea of just adding non-white and non-cishet folks. Unlikely sure, but given the whole nutty hysteria about a supposed rise in far-right activism, there might be some SJW groups to push for that (afterall failure to do so would be considered "apolitical"); I mean Marco Rossi sure looks kind of "Alt-Right" to them and knowing them they would get offended at that and many other things, I really hate to see the reactions places like ResetEra will make but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Still nothing is guaranteed, and honestly I could have made alot more speculations on what direction a reboot would go but they would take up much more space and be better written on other posts, that and I'm not in the mood to do so. For all we know, the next non-mobile game might not even be a reboot but merely a -quel with 8 on it, but then again Soul Calibur had a "6" that ironically is a reboot of sorts so the same might possibly happen with the MS series. Then again, it might not even materialize at all, just like how the planned crossover with World War Toons turned out.
Other than the last part, the sky's the limit, at least within SNK's limits, but to quote the Genie from Disney's Aladdin, "here's hopin'".
Oh yeah there's talk of more Neo Geo stuff that aren't Neo Geo minis but frankly I don't give a damn.
And as part of taking itself seriously, there might and will be unpleasant things the story will have, war crimes, suffering, the various intrigues within and between factions involved, WMDs, PTSD, moral ethics (and morals), dehumanizing, and lots of deaths, not just of the many Rebels and Regular soldiers but established ones. Though personally I like to think of the Rebels as the objectively evil side that can give the Nazis a run for their money despite implications of them being multi-racial and multi-ethnic (the same way ISIS is), and the Government being the not-evil side but did some questionable s--t. Though again, I'm not sure how well their likeness to the Nazis would fly in reality, it ain't like Miss Black General that's for sure. And speaking of reality, may I stress that the reboot I propose be grounded in realism, more so than MS1 did. Again none of that alien/mummy/zombie crap, just two (or more) human factions at each other's throats just like MS1 and a few others did.
As for graphics; 2D sprite art is out of the question. Last time SNK did upscaled 2D sprites, it nearly went out of business (KOF XIII anyone?) and would have had it not been for 37Games but the rest is history. So 3D is in, and I don't care if anyone brings up the dud that was Metal Slug 3D, the circumstances are quite different, if SNK can make KOF XIV and the upcoming Samsho-Spirits game look good then so can the new MS. Though given the gritty reboot I advocate for is unquestionably in 3D and in 3D the aesthetics will lean towards the photorealistic side while retaining some stylization like how KOF XIV and some fighter games did; I say since I despise the photorealistic look which IMO is insanely unnecessary, same with cel-shading (of which the new SsP game employs to an extent), I rather take the middleman approach personally. Anyway, instead of having cartoony aesthetics, I'd would take a more serious aesthetic with an artstyle more akin to Yukimura Makoto's which again fits with a stylized approach. Though I wouldn't mind having some animu touches here and there just to help make some characters recognizable. Speaking of which, the military hardware will need to be updated to be less WWII-ish (provided that they apply) and more akin to modern military stuff, and I did the math; some of the designs (like the Di-Cokka and the R-Shobu) can transition well into the Cold War era and beyond, though some can be tricky (namely the Big Shiee and the Keesis), and that's even getting into stuff that's constantly introduced with every update in Attack. Still, a great care in how the updated hardware function is needed, especially in regards to physics, in order to fit with the grounded take. Though one thing is for sure, the SV-001 tank can still have the iconic treads and vulcans and whatever turret thing it has.
And of course, the meat and potatoes, the gameplay: now of course the originals were side-scrolling run-n-gun shooters with platforming elements though lately the run-n-gun genre hasn't been much active with just Cuphead of all games picking up the slack. Clearly, it's just not profitable anyone, at least in the mainstream sense; now I know SNK's a niche company and the last thing I want is for them to follow whatever trend is profitable to the series' detriment, especially FPSes (I still remember the COD-shooter trend to this day) but still they need to reinvent the series's gameplay to have it stay relevant. Though granted FPSes in the COD/BF way are not very profitable nowadays with instead TPS battle royale stuff is with Fortnite making the news. Anyway, the reboot would work perfectly with a TPS with a camera style akin to Metal Gear 6 and 7 (Solids 4 and 5 respectively) and that the action, while reliant on cover shooting ala Gears of War, would be slow paced and requires strategy, much like how the first MS game was kind of was going to be in the early stages. And by strategy, I mean more than just spam s--t and occasionally something close to a challenge, rather take advantage of the environment while utilizing the best tools and wits to overcome the enemy; not that the game needs to be like ARMA but challenging enough to get some nerves ticking. And yes there can be an easy mode that is still challenging enough to bear through, and hopefully dice some whiny game "journos" in the process (so much for them wanting the game to "respect" them if they can't respect the difficulty but I digress). Still, the game needs to be a squad shooter ala Ghost Recon, since afterall Marco does lead a squad of sorts and the reboot needs to emphasize that. Run n gun is out of the game, tactical gunplay is the name of the game, you game? no seriously tactics are a necessity aside from the point and shoot routine, sometimes stealth will need to be factored (the element of surprise as tacticians say); not that the game has to be like Metal Gear but at least a robust stealth system. In addition, good use of supporting forces will be a necessity, both land, air, sea, cyberspace, and perhaps space itself, there is a thing called combined arms. That and the mission maps being more akin to being between Medal of Honor: European Assualt where it's nearly open ended and nearly linear yet still allow plenty of replayability akin to how Metal Gear 7: Phantom Pain does (though hopefully not like take MOAR than 24 hours to beat the game); hell the gameplay can be summed up as European Assault-esque with elements of Phantom Pain for good measure. As for health, frankly it'll have to be the regenerating stuff most of the COD games along with others do these days and I'm down with it, though there might be some moments where there might be injures that can't be healed by the regenerating and some item is required, like some fancy nano-medicine to heal broken bones and whatnot. Vehicular usage is still around and will help determine the tide of war though they're not really like powerups as more like tools of war and can be easily destroyed if not handled well, especially by the enemy. No, there wouldn't be bosses, not in the way the originals did, but there will be plenty of individuals to take down, Morden included, and how you dispose of them is up to you. There still will be prisoners and rescuing them is a necessity, though there is a risk of them being killed and some being fakes.
All of these wrapped up would make an epic war fighting experience that while not in 2D can blow the socks off many war-themed games out there and surpass that of the first game, hence why I picked TPS, to homage said game's epic warfighting. In a nutshell, I feel a tactical TPS with many elements of European Assault and the Phantom Pain, combined with a more serious and gritty story with a universe grounded in realism that at least allows some imagination would be the best way to go.
But of course, this is all what I wish the reboot would be like and God knows if SNK will do something like that. Likely not, given how radical it is (which no doubt would rub many fans the wrong way but frankly I don't care), but at least there might be some similarities they might pull off in their own reboot. Then again there might be a possibility they might not and perhaps do some more different than thought. Perhaps the reboot not only might not have the same gameplay nor style but also not have the same cast in the same way Advance Wars Days of Ruin did in regards to have different characters in comparison to its predecessors, despite that game being pretty awesome in hindsight. Or they could pull a Gundam and have an alternate universe where it has some things in common but the setting and cast are different; mind you, there are like a bajillion Gundam universes even though the Universal Century is the main one, and many of them have different hardwares and stuff save for a similar design regarding the protagonistic mecha in them. Speaking of which, there might not be a guarantee that the reboot's Metal Slug tank will even be like it's counterpart, hell it might not even be a tank at all. Neither will the rest of the hardware, if the reboot will still be military themed. Hell, the reboot might have a different theme with military elements thrown in, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc. And speaking of difference, there is also no guarantee the reboot will be a shooter of sorts at all, it might be a TPS battle royale mode or even a fighter since the last 2 games SNK came out recently were such; I shudder at the thought of a new Metal Slug game being a fighter, I mean what can you do with it? Having the next game be a fighter would be an insult to the fanbase, probably more so than the two tower defense games were (though to be fair they do have fans...plenty of them...). Then again SNK came up with Defense and Attack and ran with them, though to be fair it did rely on a pool of mostly already made sprites to keep themselves unfortunately going (and funny enough at the time of this writing KOF is getting a tower defense game too even though its getting another non-mobile game but that's another topic for another time). Still, the possibilities are insanely endless but frankly mostly undesirable IMO.
For all I know, SNK might go the way having the setting be about "teh evol Drumpf lookalike runz a Nazi sty-ohl Empire oppressin n exterminatin POCs and teh Resistance gotta punch dem Nazis tuh seyv deh dey", something like the new Wolfenstein games but much more cringey and pandering to the far-left loons. That and having the gameplay be like a lame-ass walking simulator only with "push X to shoot" quick time events to give the illustion of a thrill, just to justify having the "Metal Slug" name on it. Oh and maybe change the character roster to be more "diverse" never mind the idea of just adding non-white and non-cishet folks. Unlikely sure, but given the whole nutty hysteria about a supposed rise in far-right activism, there might be some SJW groups to push for that (afterall failure to do so would be considered "apolitical"); I mean Marco Rossi sure looks kind of "Alt-Right" to them and knowing them they would get offended at that and many other things, I really hate to see the reactions places like ResetEra will make but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Still nothing is guaranteed, and honestly I could have made alot more speculations on what direction a reboot would go but they would take up much more space and be better written on other posts, that and I'm not in the mood to do so. For all we know, the next non-mobile game might not even be a reboot but merely a -quel with 8 on it, but then again Soul Calibur had a "6" that ironically is a reboot of sorts so the same might possibly happen with the MS series. Then again, it might not even materialize at all, just like how the planned crossover with World War Toons turned out.
Other than the last part, the sky's the limit, at least within SNK's limits, but to quote the Genie from Disney's Aladdin, "here's hopin'".
Oh yeah there's talk of more Neo Geo stuff that aren't Neo Geo minis but frankly I don't give a damn.
Saturday, September 15, 2018
Slug in Arms! Metal Slug is crossing over with World War Toons!!
(originally I intended this post to be about my disappointment with Samurai Spirits/Shodown being announced since I care little for the series just like KOF but recent events changed my mood)
Holy hell, I figured this was coming but I never thought that SNK would go through with it, the Metal Slug franchise is crossing over...again, this time with none other than World War Toons, a VR FPS game for the PS4 that's well very cartoony and takes pretty silly liberties with the historical setting (which at least is more forgivable and understandable than BF5 does, though I still want me swastikas...not that I'm a fan of Nazism mind you, lord no, but I digress). And given that the two franchises are technically cartoonish, military themed franchises where realism often goes to the sidelines for the sake of not taking themselves seriously, it seems to be a perfect fit for a cross over between them, though WWT takes place in a WWII setting while MS takes place in a pseudo-modern-ish setting that was sort of WWII-esque but not really so since MS2. And yeah I know it's going to be in a FPS perspective but frankly I don't give a damn, neither do I about the possibility of some of the Metal Slug Asstack waifus making appearances (though it'd be funny to have MS-Alice be a playable character, albeit in her Slug tank). That and it's all in 3D, 3D rendered and by golly they look pretty good; like holy s--t check out these models of Marco and Eri:
And of course there's the titular SV-001 tank to feast your eyes on but I couldn't get a good image link here so you have to go to the text link yourself. Still, they're all mighty better than what they looked like in Metal Slug 3D. Granted I didn't think the style in that game was bad but still SNK could have done better and that of course we have Studio Roqovan succeeding where SNK stumbled. And speaking of SNK (Moneymore), quite frankly, I did fear that the company would have opted to have KOF or Samsho-Spirits be the crossing over franchise since the two are more well known than MS and that the two did appear in fantasy settings...fantasy settings! Thankfully my hopes have come to fruition and now MS is getting represented at last, and in 3D no less (HD 3D graphics mind you). The last time MS did crossover was with Battle Cats...in a mobile tower defense game with the old Neo Geo sprites and that disappointed me given that I felt the MS could have done better (and chosen a better franchise to crossover with though I'm willing to bet Battle Cats is somewhat more fun to play than both Derpfense and Asstack altogether but I digress). Still, this crossover is part of what I have advocated for ever since the damn company's like gettting into the liscensing business and getting back into video game development, cuz you know, the MS series NEEDS REPRESENTATION at least!? Something that SNK often FUMBLES, MUMBLES, and STUMBLES time and again with their unwise decision to put them in mobage apartheid (which I do not need to revist) and having much of their stickers be in the aftermentioned sprite form instead of like having someone like Falcoon draw stuff on them like he did with KOF (hell I wouldn't have cared if it was Dai doing it). Yeah I may have nick picked the merchanizing aspect but still I can't help but feel like SNK has almost no idea what to do with the series but at least this news proves that now the Slug is getting the representation it deserves and I don't care if it does in 2D or 3D (or both).
Still, this is good news for the franchise and I'm glad that the MS is getting a crossover in a good way and not in a mobage at least. Heck at this point, hopefully it'd open the road to other possibilities with other franchises like World of Tanks, Armored Warfare, and wait for it...Smash Bros. Ultimate. SNK ought to have it be featured in the upcoming game with Marco being a playable fighter and the team being "different colors" of sorts, similar to how Bowser Jr and the Koopalings are respectively if you know how they go; but then again that's another discussion for another time. Still, to quote Syndrome from the Incredibles, "oh man! I'm still geeking out about it!". You done good SNK, you done good...for once.
Holy hell, I figured this was coming but I never thought that SNK would go through with it, the Metal Slug franchise is crossing over...again, this time with none other than World War Toons, a VR FPS game for the PS4 that's well very cartoony and takes pretty silly liberties with the historical setting (which at least is more forgivable and understandable than BF5 does, though I still want me swastikas...not that I'm a fan of Nazism mind you, lord no, but I digress). And given that the two franchises are technically cartoonish, military themed franchises where realism often goes to the sidelines for the sake of not taking themselves seriously, it seems to be a perfect fit for a cross over between them, though WWT takes place in a WWII setting while MS takes place in a pseudo-modern-ish setting that was sort of WWII-esque but not really so since MS2. And yeah I know it's going to be in a FPS perspective but frankly I don't give a damn, neither do I about the possibility of some of the Metal Slug Asstack waifus making appearances (though it'd be funny to have MS-Alice be a playable character, albeit in her Slug tank). That and it's all in 3D, 3D rendered and by golly they look pretty good; like holy s--t check out these models of Marco and Eri:
Still, this is good news for the franchise and I'm glad that the MS is getting a crossover in a good way and not in a mobage at least. Heck at this point, hopefully it'd open the road to other possibilities with other franchises like World of Tanks, Armored Warfare, and wait for it...Smash Bros. Ultimate. SNK ought to have it be featured in the upcoming game with Marco being a playable fighter and the team being "different colors" of sorts, similar to how Bowser Jr and the Koopalings are respectively if you know how they go; but then again that's another discussion for another time. Still, to quote Syndrome from the Incredibles, "oh man! I'm still geeking out about it!". You done good SNK, you done good...for once.
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Dairontou! Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Announced! and then some...
(this took a bit of a while to even get started given how much I know about the series and that it has been over a week since the news but screw it I'm putting this up).
A new installment in the Super Smash Bros. series (of which is one of my faves) has been announced and to my surprise, is not a port of Smash 4 but rather a new game with all the fighters and I mean ALL the fighters, including Snake from the Metal Gear series. That alone makes me happy considering that I loved playing as him in Brawl and as a fan of the Metal Gear series, and of course David Hayter is reprising him which makes me even more pleased. Though I do have my own thoughts on that but I'll save that for later in this post. Anyway, besides ALL the fighters, there will be new fighters and new stages, though I kind of wonder if all the stages that appeared in the games will be featured or that some might be omitted for whatever reason (especially the Miiverse one since the eponymous service has been discontinued), but who knows? maybe they all might, with some tweaks to some sets granted given the advanced hardware of the Switch.
Speaking of tweaks, some have noticed that Samus and Snake have their assets reduced for some reason, yes I'm putting Snake in the same league since well does it matter if the guy or gal is getting an aspect of his/her bod changed for the worse? I find that pretty stupid considering that their assets showing off wasn't a problem, but lo and behold they're changed up. I get the argument that Samus needs to have some fat reduced since typically muscular people need to have that for obvious reasons and that it needs to be more realistic for her to have a toned figure but then again Mario, Wario, and other characters have obviously non-realistic figures so what's the point? It's as if Nintendo doesn't want the game to express the message that busty women can be bad asses (or possibly catering to SJWs but I'll hold off on that argument); that and can't guys have nice rears. Granted I'm sexually attracted to women (and there is NOTHING wrong with that) and I don't care if I don't find Snake's rear to be nice to look at (if anything I find Raiden's to be slightly more amusing to comment on), but still pointless changes to the bodies of characters are pointless changes. Honestly I hope Nintendo notices and puts them back to their original proportions but who knows? Though at least they'll be awesome to play as in the long run. (oh and some places like the Verge are rightly calling out the changing of Snake's rear but is fine with Samus's reduced bust, f--k them; though unfortunately I wasn't able to archive them but I'll link them indirectly via the KiA subreddit).
And as for Snake himself, again I am really glad he made the cut though I was honestly worried about his inclusion and the representation of the MG franchise since I feared that Konami would compromise that considering how bad the company has gotten these days (for one they subjected the franchise into the recent sodomy that is Survive). Thankfully, we are getting him (plus good ol' Hayter along) and the Shadow Moses stage in the game; though I have a good feeling that it would have some stuff from Peace Walker and the Phantom Pain added in to update it, so it might be possible for the AI Weapons and Sahelanthropus to make an appearance from those two game respectively (though I wonder if more elements of the MG universe get represented as well?). That and maybe Raiden might become either a playable character or an assist trophy, either in his MG4/Solid 2, MG6/Solid 4, or Reveangance look but I have a feeling he might not but who knows? Speaking of which, I'm not even sure if Col. Campbell, Otacon, and Mei would make an appearance as codec contacts for Snake to talk to when doing battles on that stage, though my good theory is that they'd be replaced with Kaz Miller for the Colonel and Paz for Mei respectively, Otacon would either be himself or replaced by his dad, Huey; it largely depends on if Christopher Randall is up for being in Smash Ultimate. Come to think of it, it'd be amusing if Revolver Ocelot in his MG7/Solid 5 getup either makes an appearance as a fourth codec contact or replaces Otacon. As for the codec, I think the stage would go with the post-MG4/Solid 2 ones or have a different one that mimics the imagery from the menu of Phantom Pain (something I wish that game had but I digress). Though I hope the voice actors would reprise the abovementioned characters to get the authentic Metal Gear experience, it'd be a disservice not to and I take issue with that as an MG fan (that and Konami but that's another story). Oh and I notice that the franchise logo for MG is changed from the Fox logo used in Snake Eater to basically the "!" one that shows up when enemies spot you (or notice something), which is usually a bad sign in the world of MG. Other than that I await to see how the Ultimate will represent the games in the MG series that came out after both Brawl and MG6/Solid 4.
Of course, let's focus on other aspects of this game, there are like a few new characters, like the Inklings and Ridley, and of course Daisy...frickin' Daisy (and yet Waluigi gets regulated to being an assist trophy once again...) and plenty of the main cast would have some changes especially with Ryu always facing his opponent in this one which would end up confusing me considering my distaste for fighting games, save for Smash Bros., and that now Marth's English voice actor sounds like a teenage boy trying to act tough in some brawl with high school bullies (frankly it's another case where I prefer the Japanese VA over the English one, same with Fox); though I'm hoping that the game might have an option to change the language of the VA's similar to how Melee had a language option which is frickin' interesting. With the larger roster than the previous games, I have a good feeling that me and my older sister and my friends would have plenty to play with, though some of them would have to be unlockable and that's fine, it's a Smash tradition I'm down with, as long as it doesn't involve being solely through difficult means (not that they should be ridiculously easy either); same for stages. And speaking of which, I'm quite surprised to learn that ALL of them will not only be altered to their Alpha or Omega forms but also their hazards turned off, meaning that I don't have to worry about them when I want to emulate the tournament experience. In addition, plenty of them will be returning ones including the DK Jungle stage with the area being situated on a waterfall like in Melee that has the catchy and awesome intro rap remixed from DK64 (and mind you I loved that part in that I can have my favorite fighter Kirby dance to the tune). And of course given that there will be MOAR stages to play in compared to the others, there's a lot for me and others to play around in and that some will be unlockable (same applies to not being difficult nor easy to do so). Though I'm willing to bet that ALL of them will make an appearance in the game, it'd be stupid not to do that. Same for the items, including the paper fan, of which is one of my faves to use for sheer schnaps and giggles. Trophies are trophies and I'm sure there's some way to get them like through Shops or that gacha thing (of which I'll tolerate if it's not the mobage/lootbox kind). And speaking of systems, I hope the menu gets improved in that it's closer to the Melee and Brawl ones rather than the jumbled up 4th one. As for what kind of modes there'll be, we are not sure, but I do hope it'd be more akin to the first three games in that there was an adventure mode of sorts along with a classic and all-stars, though it's doubtful there'd be anything on par with Subspace Emissary that Brawl had; still for all I know there might be a bunch more modes for both singleplayer and multiplayer (and that online would have many options and not divided up into this either "for glory/fun" nonsense).
Hell, make the game more akin to Melee physics wise, since to me and others, it is the best game in the franchise, and perhaps Ultimate, from what I've seen so far, is looking to match that and perhaps top that, which is good, that should the aim for the game for as far as I'm concerned. Not that the other games that came after Melee were bad, they're quite good in fact, all of them even the original one for the 64. I'm not one of those types that think Melee is the only good one and nothing matters, nope, that's the mark of an ignorant fanboy and fanboys can f--k off. Though if the Melee elitists and I can agree with it's that the Smash franchise is best played on the GameCube controller and thankfully Ultimate is allowing us that option, though can Nintendo at least make sure that SSBU isn't the ONLY one to use it? It was stupid of them to do that with SSB4WiiU and look where that got them; though they could rerelease the Wavebird since it'd fit in well with the Switch's portability). And if there's one sure fire thing about SSBU, it's that it will sell like hotcakes and that it would greatly help the Switch, which itself is a good one (and one I look forward to getting, perhaps for this Christmas) and that it would be a boon to not only Nintendo but to us since we like games that are good to play when it comes to something like Smash Bros and we should reward a company like Nintendo if they give us good quality games to play on good quality systems.
As for what other newbies would make an appearance besides the abovementioned 3, we do not know. There could be like a couple more of them for all I know, and that maybe there might be a few more that are guests from third party companies, not counting SEGA, Konami..., Bandai-Namco, and Square-Enix. Now here I'd like to take the time to advocate for SNK to put in their own guest fighter and it sure as hell isn't Terry nor any of the schmucks from their fighter franchises, no siree (not even that Kyo c--t), nope it's Marco from the Metal Slug franchise. Why? Because Metal Slug is SNK's best known IP (aside from KOF) as I have said before and it'd be stupid for the company to have KOF instead of MS; I mean SNK's collaboration/cross-over crazy right now and they're ripe for a good opportunity to get more visibility from something so popular and beloved as Smash Bros. It'd be insanely stupid for them not to do so along with having KOF take the place. Anyway, I chose Marco to be the candidate guest for Ultimate considering the franchise is known for being a platform-run-n-gun one and if Smash Bros. can have someone from a dark and violent one (Metal Gear) and one where she flaunts her sexuality (Bayonetta) and both have guns, then I think the MS franchise can fit in. Of course I spend the rest of this paragraph about how Marco moves and such and that the other leads, Tarma, Eri, and Fio, can stand in for him similar to how the Koopa kids did with Bowser Jr. and that other guy with Olimar but that's another post for another time. Still SNK better take the opportunity to get a crossover in Ultimate nor that's going to be another load of ammo for me to blast at when criticizing their incompetency but let us move on.
The fact that this Ultimate isn't a port of 4 but rather a new game that is like the kitchen sink of the entire franchise (and some) is quite suprising, though it quite makes sense. I mean we are getting that's like much more content packed than all the previous 5 games combined. Again I'm hopeful that ALL of it comes together but we do not know, it'd be damn shame not to. Still, this is a good move for Nintendo, especially since their E3 prescense is kind of meh right now but then again we have Direct and Tokyo Game Show to surprise us; though it is odd that once again Bandai-Namco is partly making this besides the Sora team, but whatever the last two games were good and that I'm already looking forward to this. That and Sakurai Masahiro is once again leading the development so that's another good sign. Though I do have a feeling that their release date is quite too soon considering that we have half a year to get by and I smell a bit of a Christmas rush, but hopefully they might delay it to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the SSB series. Now that's an anniversary special in my book.
A new installment in the Super Smash Bros. series (of which is one of my faves) has been announced and to my surprise, is not a port of Smash 4 but rather a new game with all the fighters and I mean ALL the fighters, including Snake from the Metal Gear series. That alone makes me happy considering that I loved playing as him in Brawl and as a fan of the Metal Gear series, and of course David Hayter is reprising him which makes me even more pleased. Though I do have my own thoughts on that but I'll save that for later in this post. Anyway, besides ALL the fighters, there will be new fighters and new stages, though I kind of wonder if all the stages that appeared in the games will be featured or that some might be omitted for whatever reason (especially the Miiverse one since the eponymous service has been discontinued), but who knows? maybe they all might, with some tweaks to some sets granted given the advanced hardware of the Switch.
Speaking of tweaks, some have noticed that Samus and Snake have their assets reduced for some reason, yes I'm putting Snake in the same league since well does it matter if the guy or gal is getting an aspect of his/her bod changed for the worse? I find that pretty stupid considering that their assets showing off wasn't a problem, but lo and behold they're changed up. I get the argument that Samus needs to have some fat reduced since typically muscular people need to have that for obvious reasons and that it needs to be more realistic for her to have a toned figure but then again Mario, Wario, and other characters have obviously non-realistic figures so what's the point? It's as if Nintendo doesn't want the game to express the message that busty women can be bad asses (or possibly catering to SJWs but I'll hold off on that argument); that and can't guys have nice rears. Granted I'm sexually attracted to women (and there is NOTHING wrong with that) and I don't care if I don't find Snake's rear to be nice to look at (if anything I find Raiden's to be slightly more amusing to comment on), but still pointless changes to the bodies of characters are pointless changes. Honestly I hope Nintendo notices and puts them back to their original proportions but who knows? Though at least they'll be awesome to play as in the long run. (oh and some places like the Verge are rightly calling out the changing of Snake's rear but is fine with Samus's reduced bust, f--k them; though unfortunately I wasn't able to archive them but I'll link them indirectly via the KiA subreddit).
And as for Snake himself, again I am really glad he made the cut though I was honestly worried about his inclusion and the representation of the MG franchise since I feared that Konami would compromise that considering how bad the company has gotten these days (for one they subjected the franchise into the recent sodomy that is Survive). Thankfully, we are getting him (plus good ol' Hayter along) and the Shadow Moses stage in the game; though I have a good feeling that it would have some stuff from Peace Walker and the Phantom Pain added in to update it, so it might be possible for the AI Weapons and Sahelanthropus to make an appearance from those two game respectively (though I wonder if more elements of the MG universe get represented as well?). That and maybe Raiden might become either a playable character or an assist trophy, either in his MG4/Solid 2, MG6/Solid 4, or Reveangance look but I have a feeling he might not but who knows? Speaking of which, I'm not even sure if Col. Campbell, Otacon, and Mei would make an appearance as codec contacts for Snake to talk to when doing battles on that stage, though my good theory is that they'd be replaced with Kaz Miller for the Colonel and Paz for Mei respectively, Otacon would either be himself or replaced by his dad, Huey; it largely depends on if Christopher Randall is up for being in Smash Ultimate. Come to think of it, it'd be amusing if Revolver Ocelot in his MG7/Solid 5 getup either makes an appearance as a fourth codec contact or replaces Otacon. As for the codec, I think the stage would go with the post-MG4/Solid 2 ones or have a different one that mimics the imagery from the menu of Phantom Pain (something I wish that game had but I digress). Though I hope the voice actors would reprise the abovementioned characters to get the authentic Metal Gear experience, it'd be a disservice not to and I take issue with that as an MG fan (that and Konami but that's another story). Oh and I notice that the franchise logo for MG is changed from the Fox logo used in Snake Eater to basically the "!" one that shows up when enemies spot you (or notice something), which is usually a bad sign in the world of MG. Other than that I await to see how the Ultimate will represent the games in the MG series that came out after both Brawl and MG6/Solid 4.
Of course, let's focus on other aspects of this game, there are like a few new characters, like the Inklings and Ridley, and of course Daisy...frickin' Daisy (and yet Waluigi gets regulated to being an assist trophy once again...) and plenty of the main cast would have some changes especially with Ryu always facing his opponent in this one which would end up confusing me considering my distaste for fighting games, save for Smash Bros., and that now Marth's English voice actor sounds like a teenage boy trying to act tough in some brawl with high school bullies (frankly it's another case where I prefer the Japanese VA over the English one, same with Fox); though I'm hoping that the game might have an option to change the language of the VA's similar to how Melee had a language option which is frickin' interesting. With the larger roster than the previous games, I have a good feeling that me and my older sister and my friends would have plenty to play with, though some of them would have to be unlockable and that's fine, it's a Smash tradition I'm down with, as long as it doesn't involve being solely through difficult means (not that they should be ridiculously easy either); same for stages. And speaking of which, I'm quite surprised to learn that ALL of them will not only be altered to their Alpha or Omega forms but also their hazards turned off, meaning that I don't have to worry about them when I want to emulate the tournament experience. In addition, plenty of them will be returning ones including the DK Jungle stage with the area being situated on a waterfall like in Melee that has the catchy and awesome intro rap remixed from DK64 (and mind you I loved that part in that I can have my favorite fighter Kirby dance to the tune). And of course given that there will be MOAR stages to play in compared to the others, there's a lot for me and others to play around in and that some will be unlockable (same applies to not being difficult nor easy to do so). Though I'm willing to bet that ALL of them will make an appearance in the game, it'd be stupid not to do that. Same for the items, including the paper fan, of which is one of my faves to use for sheer schnaps and giggles. Trophies are trophies and I'm sure there's some way to get them like through Shops or that gacha thing (of which I'll tolerate if it's not the mobage/lootbox kind). And speaking of systems, I hope the menu gets improved in that it's closer to the Melee and Brawl ones rather than the jumbled up 4th one. As for what kind of modes there'll be, we are not sure, but I do hope it'd be more akin to the first three games in that there was an adventure mode of sorts along with a classic and all-stars, though it's doubtful there'd be anything on par with Subspace Emissary that Brawl had; still for all I know there might be a bunch more modes for both singleplayer and multiplayer (and that online would have many options and not divided up into this either "for glory/fun" nonsense).
Hell, make the game more akin to Melee physics wise, since to me and others, it is the best game in the franchise, and perhaps Ultimate, from what I've seen so far, is looking to match that and perhaps top that, which is good, that should the aim for the game for as far as I'm concerned. Not that the other games that came after Melee were bad, they're quite good in fact, all of them even the original one for the 64. I'm not one of those types that think Melee is the only good one and nothing matters, nope, that's the mark of an ignorant fanboy and fanboys can f--k off. Though if the Melee elitists and I can agree with it's that the Smash franchise is best played on the GameCube controller and thankfully Ultimate is allowing us that option, though can Nintendo at least make sure that SSBU isn't the ONLY one to use it? It was stupid of them to do that with SSB4WiiU and look where that got them; though they could rerelease the Wavebird since it'd fit in well with the Switch's portability). And if there's one sure fire thing about SSBU, it's that it will sell like hotcakes and that it would greatly help the Switch, which itself is a good one (and one I look forward to getting, perhaps for this Christmas) and that it would be a boon to not only Nintendo but to us since we like games that are good to play when it comes to something like Smash Bros and we should reward a company like Nintendo if they give us good quality games to play on good quality systems.
As for what other newbies would make an appearance besides the abovementioned 3, we do not know. There could be like a couple more of them for all I know, and that maybe there might be a few more that are guests from third party companies, not counting SEGA, Konami..., Bandai-Namco, and Square-Enix. Now here I'd like to take the time to advocate for SNK to put in their own guest fighter and it sure as hell isn't Terry nor any of the schmucks from their fighter franchises, no siree (not even that Kyo c--t), nope it's Marco from the Metal Slug franchise. Why? Because Metal Slug is SNK's best known IP (aside from KOF) as I have said before and it'd be stupid for the company to have KOF instead of MS; I mean SNK's collaboration/cross-over crazy right now and they're ripe for a good opportunity to get more visibility from something so popular and beloved as Smash Bros. It'd be insanely stupid for them not to do so along with having KOF take the place. Anyway, I chose Marco to be the candidate guest for Ultimate considering the franchise is known for being a platform-run-n-gun one and if Smash Bros. can have someone from a dark and violent one (Metal Gear) and one where she flaunts her sexuality (Bayonetta) and both have guns, then I think the MS franchise can fit in. Of course I spend the rest of this paragraph about how Marco moves and such and that the other leads, Tarma, Eri, and Fio, can stand in for him similar to how the Koopa kids did with Bowser Jr. and that other guy with Olimar but that's another post for another time. Still SNK better take the opportunity to get a crossover in Ultimate nor that's going to be another load of ammo for me to blast at when criticizing their incompetency but let us move on.
The fact that this Ultimate isn't a port of 4 but rather a new game that is like the kitchen sink of the entire franchise (and some) is quite suprising, though it quite makes sense. I mean we are getting that's like much more content packed than all the previous 5 games combined. Again I'm hopeful that ALL of it comes together but we do not know, it'd be damn shame not to. Still, this is a good move for Nintendo, especially since their E3 prescense is kind of meh right now but then again we have Direct and Tokyo Game Show to surprise us; though it is odd that once again Bandai-Namco is partly making this besides the Sora team, but whatever the last two games were good and that I'm already looking forward to this. That and Sakurai Masahiro is once again leading the development so that's another good sign. Though I do have a feeling that their release date is quite too soon considering that we have half a year to get by and I smell a bit of a Christmas rush, but hopefully they might delay it to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the SSB series. Now that's an anniversary special in my book.
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Low Five!: Battlefield "5" Goes Beyond Historically Inaccurate
Credit goes to whoever made this image
And yes I know that the BF games set in WWII prior to this are not entirely accurate, for one both sides of the conflict aren't wielding the correct weapons for their respective forces (MP40s for Imperial Japan and the Germans having STG44s before 1944 anyone?), that and there were factual accounts of women and non-whites serving in WWII (and that there were plenty of non white combatants in BF1 and that they too were in WWI) but the liberties taken with BFV are getting ridiculous. I mean when I first saw this trailer, I thought this was some Valkyria Chronicles-esque take on WWII by Western (or rather Swedish) developers (minus the anime elements) or a more ahistorical take on the conflict like that one Furious Four "reboot" of Band of Brothers was going to be (and very much so) not a game with at least some close adherence to the setting like BF 1942 and 43 did. Even worse is that the director of this game chose to have this kind of liberty with more women soldiers than necessary is because he wanted to not only please his daughter but to be on the "right side of history"; funny, I thought trying to make nonsensical statements like "Hitler did nothing wrong" was the opposite of being on the right side. If anything, I feel like this might be a corporate mandated decision to keep SJWs pleased and anyone who's not (like yours truly) suffer; Rich of ReviewTechUSA has this theory too. I guess EA hasn't learned how the 2016 Ghostbusters "reboot" went when it tried to be on the "right side of history". That and I have noticed that this game got promoted on Memorial Day while caring less about what people learned in history class, real classy (sarcasm). Hell, the stuff like Kancolle is more historically accurate than this upcoming disappointment, so maybe perhaps EA should have made it something more akin to that BF Heroes game if it wants to be inaccurate for the sake of fun?
Frankly I'm more upset that EA and DICE chose to revisit WWII, especially on the Western European front and I honestly wish they chose something else like the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Balkan front, WWII related but are underrepresented areas for the franchise to explore. I mean the Polish, the various Balkan forces (including the Yugoslav Chetniks and Titoist partisans), the Arabs, the Chinese, the Koreans, and course the Jews deserve representation in a WWII game, you know something that should be highlighted and advocated for? not "oh let's put some MOAR blacks and some disabled wominz in the armed forces that DIDN'T have such personnel, or rather much in regards to blacks", like so many SJWs clamor for? And funny enough we still haven't had the Holocaust represented in some shape or form aside from that brief picture of the concentration camp prisoners from COD: WWII (and some other games like Valkyria Chronicles which take place in an alternate fantasy universe of sorts), again something that should be advocated for and that SJWs might agree with since it involved ACTUAL oppression not made up s--t that they like to think the USA is supposedly doing right now? I just don't get these losers, but I know for a fact that I will never please these bums, just nope. That and I'm not buying this game, ever, even when it rightly avoids having gacha-lootboxes.
I don't know about you but I'd rather put my money on something better, like SNK Heroines for the Switch or Making History: The Second World War for the PC; or Battlefield 1/0 or flippin' anything (but Metal Gear Survive and almost the whole mobage library).
Sunday, May 27, 2018
A Cynical Brit No More: In Memoriam of Totalbiscuit
A real consumer advocate and a gentleman, RIP.
I'm quite late to the news given that I was on vacation in New York City, but still I must comment on this sad turn of events. On that day in history, on May 24th, 2018, John P. Bain, aka. Totalbiscuit, passed away from cancer. When I heard about this from a good friend of mine on DA, I was a hell of a lot more shocked than sad, given that not too recently on May 1st of this year he retired from reviewing games due to his health regarding the battle with cancer and stuck to playing games with his wife; at that time I theorized he would have about 1 to 2 years to live. The reason I expressed shock at the time when he died is simply because his death arrived much earlier than I thought and during the time between then and his retirement I simply prepared myself for his eventual death from cancer (though I admittedly missed the memo that he possibly can die in 2018 and he did). God, thinking about then and now makes me wonder if we of humanity wasted our time and energy getting wrapped up in dumpsterfire covfeffe politics instead of finding a cure for cancer; hell I felt more angry at our constant failure to do so (and kind of right now as of this writing). Even so when d-bags come out and think his death made them happy and say a bunch of garbage stuff that somehow justifies his death, especially that guy from Bioware, as if he was a part of ISIS or Justin Carmical. F--k them, but I'm not going to waste my time and energy ranting about them, since I feel like it wouldn't do TB service, especially after his untimely passing. I'm well aware of his recent dumb behavior involving him being exclusionary towards Trump supporters and people who voted for him, his negative overreaction to the "Are Traps Gay?" thing and suggesting the fake news media hold the current POTUS accountable when the reality is not so, but I'm not bothering to go over them either so instead I'll focus on my positive experience with him and the good he did in his life, and it's better this way.
I first came across him sometime in January 2013, when Angry Joe was doing a top 10 list of worst games made in 2012 in his experience and one of the segments had Bain doing a voice over commentary on the game featured in said segment, Gettysburg: Armored Warfare. I was quite intrigued by the work of the guy who did a pretty good summary of how bad the game is in spite of its unique concept. And admittedly did get hooked on his work, seeing his take on truly bad games like The War Z (aka Infestation), Rambo the Video Game, and Day One: Garry's Mod (of which he stood up to the wrongful takedown of that video in question after it came out at the time), hell I would encourage you to look them up (if you haven't already) to see how well he exposes the horrid quality of the games in question. Not to mention he was quite a good ally in the ongoing Gamergate controversy (or rather war) when much of the mainstream media was bashing the GG group by ripping the garbage "Gamers Are Dead" articles a new um, organ along with the trash comparisons of gamers to ISIS and responding to nonsensical statements by the ExtraCreditz schmucks. Not to mention he held many podcasts called the Co-optional Podcasts, on various videogame related topics with many guests such as AngryJoe, Nerdcubed, Jim Sterling (that chump), Superbunnyhop, and Yatzhee Croshaw; and plenty of them were enjoyable (especially the one on Metal Gear 7: Phantom Pain on the day the game came out) though I have not seen them all and frankly not in the mood to, I have other things to do you know. But I will say that he managed to be a pretty good game reviewer even in a time when many mainstream reviewing sites were becoming unreliable (and I'm pretty sure still are), and keeping up his ouput of interesting content even when he was succumbing to cancer since his unfortunate acquisition of it in 2014; it's safe to say he fought to the bitter end to keep his channel going. Though admittedly I lost interest in his work when he began to have less and less negative WTF Is...? videos but I respected his choice to do so in regards to his health and me again other things to do in life.
I haven't kept up on what's going on with him outside of his struggle with cancer until his passing but I will say that never did wish death on him, quite the opposite in fact. I mean the best thing I can wish people is to live as long as possible ideally for around 100 years at least but sadly that doesn't happen often (but hopefully I might but that's another story), especially in regards to Bain. He was one of those fellows online and offline that I can like and respect and dislike in some regards over those after mentioned issues in the first paragraph but still like to an extent. I just don't think we'll ever see someone who is as talented as him again for a long time, no matter how good whoever's the "spiritual successor" can be; it's one of those times that well make me upset when good talented people die and bad dudes don't (but then again there was Justin Carmical and the recent allegations of his sleazy Weinstein-Cosbyite antics), no matter how timely their deaths are. I will give my condolences to his wife Genna and his son who now have to live without him and so do we the gamer and internet community, he definitely will be missed, no matter how highly or lowly we think of him.
I hereby salute him in honor of his contribution to gaming culture, farewell friend.
Friday, May 18, 2018
First, They Came for the Porn: Valve Removes Eroge from Steam
What a week, just before I go off on an awesome trip to New York City, ANOTHER shooting breaks out, in a Texan high school no less just today (and no I'm not bothering to make a blog about it, no sir), with the guaranteed crazies coming out to exploit it and pee on the graves of the lives lost (hell, I could just make a music video making fun of the idiotic responses blaming everything but mental illness sometime in the future), and Trump being an ignorant chump on the issue (and I'll note that I quite dislike him now after him needlessly escalating tensions in Syria), and of course Steam, that naked-ass monopoly on PC ownership, acting up. This time concerning Eroge, or Hentai games or porno games, but for consistency's sake I'll use the first term, in that they're being lately taken down with the developers of said games getting a notice from Valve (and thanks to some friend on DA and the KiA subreddit notifying and informing me on this).
Now to be clear, I'm not into Eroge since I quite frown on degenerate stuff (and quite strict on pornography) but even I am hesitant to ban them since if they go then the non-Eroge Eastern-games go then Western ones too, i.e. all games go. I know this is a slippery slope argument but there is a truth to it (that and the free speech thing too, though that's another blog for another time), namely that people have this crappy-ass dated view that all anime is hentai (sort of like that d-bag troll Mariotehplumber rambles on about) and both terms are "synonymous". I find that view to be a-well...retarded and so is the reasoning behind the take-downs of the games in question. What surprised me is that the organization who advocates for it and claims credit for the nutty actions is none other than the NCOSE (National Center on Sexual Exploitation), an anti-sex exploitation group who is aligned with religious groups and conservatives, giving the impression it's a rightwing group of sorts (and I don't mean it in a good way), yet are actually working with the US Democrats...go figure. When I first saw their "victory" page, I could have sworn it was from the radical feminist SJW's (you know the type that go around the world and spout this nutty s--t about the "patriarchy" ruling the West and such and such), but nope it wasn't the case, yet it's eerily the same garbage the "progressive" left would espouse so talk about a horseshoe theory in practice. And of course Vice is treating this like a bad thing (of which it is) even though they had articles that advocated for this by sane non-gullible observers.
Considering all of this, I would say that this needs to be stopped for the good of gaming, and besides Eroge isn't worth the attention, like hasn't Valve ever heard of this awesome invention called...um, the AO RATING?! like....you know the rating that MANY, and I mean MANY Eroge, both Eastern and Western made, DESERVE?! Where the hell is the ESRB in all of this? Oh right they're sitting on their thumbs and probably smoking pot (or something like that) than do anything HELPFUL; afterall it is the same organization that thinks gacha-lootboxes aren't a bad thing that's LITERALLY hurting gaming. That and some games (mainly visual novels) don't come with an ESRB rating, so it's almost like it's pointless in those cases. And I bring this up is because well last I checked people under 18 AREN'T allowed AO rated games, at all, more so than people under 17 getting M rated games (though that's another story) nor are allowed on non-PC systems (again another story), so when Valve under the leadership of the supposedly "godly" Gabe Newell addresses this, they should be reminded to REINFORCE the AO rating so that you know it can a place in gaming. That and give people Half-Life 3, I'm sick and tired of them going on about it being "confirmed" a quadrillion times.
Now to be clear, I'm not into Eroge since I quite frown on degenerate stuff (and quite strict on pornography) but even I am hesitant to ban them since if they go then the non-Eroge Eastern-games go then Western ones too, i.e. all games go. I know this is a slippery slope argument but there is a truth to it (that and the free speech thing too, though that's another blog for another time), namely that people have this crappy-ass dated view that all anime is hentai (sort of like that d-bag troll Mariotehplumber rambles on about) and both terms are "synonymous". I find that view to be a-well...retarded and so is the reasoning behind the take-downs of the games in question. What surprised me is that the organization who advocates for it and claims credit for the nutty actions is none other than the NCOSE (National Center on Sexual Exploitation), an anti-sex exploitation group who is aligned with religious groups and conservatives, giving the impression it's a rightwing group of sorts (and I don't mean it in a good way), yet are actually working with the US Democrats...go figure. When I first saw their "victory" page, I could have sworn it was from the radical feminist SJW's (you know the type that go around the world and spout this nutty s--t about the "patriarchy" ruling the West and such and such), but nope it wasn't the case, yet it's eerily the same garbage the "progressive" left would espouse so talk about a horseshoe theory in practice. And of course Vice is treating this like a bad thing (of which it is) even though they had articles that advocated for this by sane non-gullible observers.
Considering all of this, I would say that this needs to be stopped for the good of gaming, and besides Eroge isn't worth the attention, like hasn't Valve ever heard of this awesome invention called...um, the AO RATING?! like....you know the rating that MANY, and I mean MANY Eroge, both Eastern and Western made, DESERVE?! Where the hell is the ESRB in all of this? Oh right they're sitting on their thumbs and probably smoking pot (or something like that) than do anything HELPFUL; afterall it is the same organization that thinks gacha-lootboxes aren't a bad thing that's LITERALLY hurting gaming. That and some games (mainly visual novels) don't come with an ESRB rating, so it's almost like it's pointless in those cases. And I bring this up is because well last I checked people under 18 AREN'T allowed AO rated games, at all, more so than people under 17 getting M rated games (though that's another story) nor are allowed on non-PC systems (again another story), so when Valve under the leadership of the supposedly "godly" Gabe Newell addresses this, they should be reminded to REINFORCE the AO rating so that you know it can a place in gaming. That and give people Half-Life 3, I'm sick and tired of them going on about it being "confirmed" a quadrillion times.
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