Destructoid

While the phenomenon of appreciating bad games exists everywhere in the world, perhaps no player base is as conscious of it as those in Japan. Unlike us, they have a very concise word for describing terrible games: kusoge. That’s "kuso," meaning crap, and "ge," as in geemu or game. Crap game, see?

Perhaps the most infamous, and sometimes believed to be the original recipient of that title, is the Famicom/NES port of Spelunker. For some reason, Spelunker sold decently well, but its reputation for being unreasonably difficult spread to the point of it becoming a cultural phenomenon in Japan. The main character’s frailty even found its way into a turn of phrase, “spelunker taishitsu,” or spelunker’s constitution, which is commonly applied to athletes who are frequently or easily injured. I bet you didn’t realize you’d be getting a Japanese lesson here.

The creator of the well-known Daughters of Ash mod for Dark Souls is back with an even bigger and bolder project, one that's being made with a group, and they've released an 18-minute gameplay preview. The project, Dark Souls: Nightfall, is a "direct sequel" that begins with a leap of faith into the Kiln of the First Flame, right where Gwyn was slain by the Chosen Undead in the original ending.

Nightfall promises "a new story, new combat system, new world map, and more."

To unpack that a bit, the assets in this mod aren't all-new, but the creators and collaborators – Grimrukh, AinTunez, Meowmaritu, horkrux, Dane Brennand, wulf2k, Souv, ZullieTheWitch, Itzli, and Martin Billany – are doing everything they can to make Nightfall feel distinct and fresh for fans.

That includes story-motivated gameplay mechanics (like a crazy-looking dodge), voiced NPCs, "faster-paced" combat, enemies that were retextured and given "heavily modified animations," and a world that's partially Lordran as we know it and partially new zones built from "existing map pieces."

The prison-break buddy adventure A Way Out was far more enjoyable than it seemed on the surface, to the point where some of us might've needed to "sell it" to rope in our companion. By comparison, the next game from Hazelight, It Takes Two, doesn't need to work hard to convince me – it just looks fun.

As director Josef Fares says in this narrated overview video, "the amount of variation is insane. There are no similar scenarios; every scene is unique." One example: squirrels waging war against wasps.

Playing as a soon-to-be-separated husband and wife, Cody and May – who have, uh, been turned into dolls by their imaginative daughter – you'll need to help those squirrels take out the wasp horde. One player can shoot globs of sap at the flying menace while the other sets them ablaze with a match gun.

"Most of the levels in this game will have May and Cody using a new mechanic, so depending on what character you're playing as, you'll have a different experience," according to Fares.

If you've played A Way Out, those same strong co-op principles are back for It Takes Two, only the game mechanics are heightening by the anything-goes fantasy theme. I'm particularly stoked for the optional mini-games. Baseball, Connect Four, jail-yard exercise, and that volleyball arcade game were silly fun.

Among the bevy of teases that came out of Saturday's Japan Fighting Game Roundtable event was the news that a mystery character from the wild world of Guilty Gear will be making a guest appearance in SNK's Samurai Shodown as part of the latter Season 3 DLC content.

While the GG guest star was not named, SamSho's propensity for bladed weapon-based battles leans heavily toward poster boys such as Ky Kiske or Sol Badguy. That said, almost everyone in Arc System Works' attractive franchise is armed in some form or fashion, so it's time for fans to place their bets. The guest star will join the Samurai Shodown roster alongside other crossover characters, such as Warden from Ubisoft's melee fighter For Honor, and Hibiki Takane from SNK's own The Last Blade.

I'll take more Cuphead whenever and wherever I can – even if it's just a Fall Guys tie-in.

Costumes for Cuphead and Mugman are showing up this week in the mean bean machine, and you'll need ten crowns for each of them, as well as another five crowns for a Cuphead-inspired emote.

In collab with @StudioMDHR we're pleased to announce that Cuphead is the featured costume on Wednesday!

5x 👑 Top
5x 👑 Bottom

There's also an emote for 5x 👑!

...and of course, Mugman will arrive on Saturday!
5x 👑 Top
5x 👑 Bottom

Don't deal with the devil for the crowns 👀 pic.twitter.com/4xDbs1zSVy

— Fall Guys ⚡️ Season 3.5 (@FallGuysGame) February 22, 2021

There's no beating Fortnite for the sheer breadth of its media-spanning crossovers, but Fall Guys is no slouch, either. If this keeps up, it'll end up being quite a cozy collection of video game characters.

I said this the other day in passing, but I have three give-'em-to-me-now games floating around my brain, and they are Elden Ring, Resident Evil Village, and Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course.

It just seems like yesterday that we all piled into the Dark Aether and pulled out the badass Samantha Maxis, rescuing the mercenary from a fate worse than undeath. And yet already, Team Requiem is preparing to continue its jaunt into the unknown via the new Zombies chapter "Outbreak," which launches February 25 in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

As teased in the brand new trailer from developer Treyarch, Requiem will be heading into the Ural Mountains, typified by his steep hills and heavy woodland. Hope your quads are in shape for this one. As is to be expected, squads of four players will be tasked with battling armies of reanimated corpses, while digging up secret intel, hunting down easter eggs, and spending earned points on better weaponry, effect-based ammo, and support gear in order to better increase your odds against ever-growing waves of enemies.

Nintendo's recent Switch release Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury is enjoying a second week on top of the UK Charts, having fended off a sales rush from Electronic Arts' football simulator FIFA 21. Despite physical sales dropping over 60% on its first week, the Wii U remaster is now handily the best-selling new release of 2021... But we still have a long way to go.

The rest of the Top Ten remains relatively stagnant, consisting mostly of big hitters from 2020. Nintendo continues to dominate with steady physical sales of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Ring Fit Adventure, while Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Take-Two Interactive's Grand Theft Auto V are enjoying new sales each and every week. Bandai Namco's Little Nightmares II slipped from the Top Ten after just one week, natural movement for a typically niche title.

This past weekend, on Friday and Saturday (and confusingly, not Sunday, as is customary for BlizzCon cleanup), Blizzard ran its first "BlizzConline" event: meant to make up for a lack of BlizzCon in late 2020.

Here's a quick recap.

Arika has announced that it is currently developing a Switch edition of its Street Fighter-adjacent scrapper Fighting EX Layer, which launched on PS4 and PC in 2018. Fighting EX Layer: Another Dash is expected to launch on the Nintendo platform later in 2021.

While Arika is keeping information about the new title on the down-low for now, it revealed that Fighting EX Layer: Another Dash is essentially a revised release of FEXL, that switches up some of the original game's mechanics while adding new systems. Elements such as dashes and "Gougi" are gone entirely, replaced by new systems such as EX-Arrow and EX-Illusion. A brief trailer, which you can check out below, gives us a look at some of these systems in action. Arika will reveal more about the spin-off on April 1, four years to the day since Fighting EX Layer was first revealed. Arika also noted it is working on a new netcode system for both FEXL releases, based upon the popular rollback technology.

Fighting EX Layer climbed many a wall in order to see release, and as it stands is a competent and enjoyable fighting title. The original release was supported with numerous patches, extra modes, guest stars, and even free DLC characters. That Arika has been able to finance and develop a new edition of the game is a testament to the studio's patience and passion within a crowded market. Here's hoping it will pay off when Fighting EX Layer: Another Dash launches on Switch later this year.

Let me set the mood.

So you're just hanging out, chilling in Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Maybe you're waiting for work to start. Maybe you're playing at work. Either way, you don't have a lot of time to start a shrine, so you just mess around. Then something catastrophic happens. For Redditor FieldExplores, you use those opportunities to make banana-flavored lemonade, using the tears of the Yiga clan as seasoning.

In this lovely little carefree video titled "Link's Cube Delivery Service," FieldExplores is hanging out, delivering cubes to those who need it, then a Yiga clan member threatens to mess up their day. No worries! Cubes can solve all problems.

In case you haven't seen an object procession like this, FieldExplores explains it in their post: "With the cubes, I just lined them up, stood on one end, used magnesis on the furthest one and pulled it towards me. It can be hit or miss as the connection would occasionally break for no reason and it did not like slopes."

The bit at the end is the best part, though. What a waste! I've done something similar so many times, trying to queue up this amazing Rube Golberg-like contraption, only to have it all fall apart (or straight-up not work). The physics system isn't foolproof!

The legend has returned. Today sees the coming of the Master of Saikyo-Style, Dan Hibiki, who makes his return to the Street Fighter franchise as the first character of SFV's fifth and final season of content. Capcom has released a launch trailer in order to remind the world, as if the world needed a reminder, of Hibiki's incredible martial-arts prowess.

In related news, SFV players who've already had the fortune of getting in the ring with Dan are already finding some interesting secrets. As noted by @discovigilante, it seems that Hibiki-san is bringing his love of taunting back to the ring like never before, and will fire off a pose and verbal boast whenever a player repeatedly taps crouch - conveniently the disrespectful "T-Bag" maneuver. It looks like, in true Saikyo-style, confident Dan players are unlikely to ever STFU, but honestly, Hibiki-san wouldn't have it any other way.

Oh hey, Zelda turned 35 yesterday! Let's see how Nintendo chose to celebrate.

Wait...a Part Time UFO tweet? Uh, you do you, Nintendo of America!

Alas, The Legend of Zelda was released on February 21, 1986, and it changed a lot of lives in the process. While it isn't quite as beloved by Nintendo as say, the Mario franchise, it's been a pillar of the company since, and is frequently among their top-seller lists for both consoles and portables alike. Right now, it's the fourth best-selling Switch game.

Nintendo sort of acknowledged the anniversary last week with the announcement of Skyward Sword HD, as well as a pair of Joy-Con that sold out at Best Buy and GameStop in eight minutes on a random afternoon with no warning. In other words, it sounds like a classic Nintendo celebration!

There's still a chance we could get a surprise Zelda Direct, as well as Breath of the Wild 2 news "later this year." So be excited! We can celebrate the anniversary on our own, quietly, I guess. As a reminder, here's how we chose to do that so far!

It looks like Tekken 7 is about to get political, in the most proactive sense of the word. During this weekend's Japan Fighting Game Roundtable presentation, Bandai Namco teased the next DLC character for its 3D fighter, who is non-other than the Prime Minister of Poland herself... or at least the one that resides in the wacky world of Tekken.

While the new character - the 13th to join the fighting game's roster post-release - was not named or fully revealed, we see the sophisticated and officious looking young woman exiting a state vehicle while attending to some important governmental business. From this teaser, we know nothing about the stateswoman's fighting style, but she already oozes authority and determination, and will no doubt be as indomitable in the ring as she is in Warsaw's Presidential Palace.

We won't have too long to wait before we find out more about the new DLC fighter, as the Polish Prime Minister is expected to join Tekken 7 this spring. And she most assuredly has the chair.

It is with great sadness that I must announce an end to Zelda Week here on Destructoid. For the past several days, we've put together a series of articles about The Legend of Zelda in celebration of its 35th anniversary. When Nintendo announced a Direct this past week, I was sure there would be a big blow-out for the franchise, much like what it did with Super Mario. Alas, all we got was the confirmation of Skyward Sword HD.

There are still 364 days left for Nintendo to hold some sort of official celebration for The Legend of Zelda, but for today, Destructoid has you covered with a wrap-up of all the articles our writers posted over the last week. Settle in because there's some excellent reading below.

As part of today's ongoing Rainbow Six Siege festivities, Ubisoft announced that it is collaborating with Mythic Games to produce a tabletop edition of the multiplayer shooter.

Playing pieces were first teased in an awesome new cinematic "The Playbook," with the board being revealed a little later in today's presentation. This is just what I need to fall back in love with playing a game once, losing a few pieces, and then never playing it again. I can't wait to have my own dinky Dokkabei.

Rainbow Six Siege: The Board Game launches Summer 2021.

With the coming of a brand new generation of gaming, many popular franchises are, naturally, gearing up for the launch of new sequels. Franchises such as Overwatch, Resident Evil, Diablo, Call of Duty, and many other blockbuster series are currently preparing fresh new entries for their respective brands, embracing the power of modern tech by going back to the drawing board, figuratively speaking.

Eschewing this "next-gen restart" is tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege. As declared back in 2020, the team behind Ubisoft's mega-popular multiplayer title has made the decision not to develop a "Rainbow Six Siege 2" - instead choosing to continue evolving the title from its present state.

The first step toward this goal was taken back in December 2020, when Siege made the leap onto new platforms PS5 and Xbox Series X. The overhaul is set to continue throughout 2021 and beyond, via the application of a catalog of technical tweaks, gameplay overhauls, content drops, operator reworks, and even a new coat of paint.

Ubisoft has released a slew of information today pertaining to the sixth year of its scalpel-precise multiplayer shooter Rainbow Six Siege. As popular today as it ever was, Siege intends to kick off the new generation of gaming with a bang, offering a brand facelift, new in-game mechanics, core gameplay changes, and another year of new operators, gadgets, and map revisions. Year Six kicks off in March 16 with its first season: Operation Crimson Heist.

The new season brings with it a new Attacker, Santiago Lucero, better known by his call-sign "Flores". Raised in Buenos Aires, Lucero found his calling early in life as a master thief and cat-burglar, a talent which fast found him a role within Argentina's organized crime scene. However, upon seeing the damage and misery the syndicate was bringing to the lower classes, Lucero turned his back on his bosses, seeking personal redemption by only plying his nocturnal trade on the powerful and corrupt.

Designer and artist Ikumi Nakamura - known for her work on Shinji Mikami's The Evil Within as well as her memorable E3 2019 appearance - has been working with the Rainbow Six Siege developers to design a set of custom skins for several Team Rainbow operators.

Nakamura hand-picked eight doorkickers from the tactical shooter's near 60-strong roster, each of which will be blessed with her unique, mythical, horror-heavy aesthetic. While the full list of operators featured is yet to be revealed, a new video shows that Korean defender Dokkaebei and Japan's Echo and Hibana are among those set to receive a new Nakamura design. The first skins will arrive on March 2.

One of the fears that big decision-makers had in the ‘80s and ‘90s when it came to localizing games was whether or not it would appeal to Western audiences. We hadn’t been indoctrinated with enough anime and Pocky yet, so ideas like tatami floors and bowls of rice were thought of as alien and terrifying to Westerners.

If we did get one of these too-Japanese-for-market games, typically, changes would be made. For example, Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyuushutsu Emaki, which was localized as Legend of the Mystical Ninja in the West, replaced onigiri with pizza to prevent confusion. After all, we universally understand that pizza makes you healthier, but what even is an onigiri? A ball of rice? Rice goes in a burrito and that’s it.

The other alternative was to just not localize it, and because this option was often the one taken, we missed out on entire series of games. We luckily got a few of the Ganbare Goemon games in North America, but the lion’s share skipped our shores. Not least of which were the Famicom titles.

If you were to ask me what's the one thing that's had the biggest impact on my life, I would say that horrible childhood disease that's still with me 35 years later. But if you were to ask me what's had the second biggest impact on my life, my answer would be The Legend of Zelda. I know it's a cliche for somebody who writes for a video game website to say video games made an impression on their life, but as cliche as it may be, any other answer would be a lie.

I've been battling depression for as long as I can remember. When I was at my lowest of lows, this series was there for me. It'd probably be a bit much to say it's saved my life, but I honestly don't know where I'd be without that little elf boy in the green tunic.

The Legend of Zelda is the reason I still game, and it will likely be the only franchise I care about when I'm pushing 80. That's why I wanted to host a Zelda Week on Destructoid, to really show my appreciation for everything this franchise has done. All week, you've hopefully been reading what the Destructoid staff has had to say about the series, but right now, I want to highlight the wonderful blogs published this month to mark 35 years of The Legend of Zelda. I put out a Bloggers Wanted call at the beginning of February and the community did not disappoint.

Are you adequately prepared to rock? In something of a foregone conclusion, Arc System Works has revealed that GG veteran and hard rockin' babe I-No is the final character joining the release roster of incoming fighter Guilty Gear Strive. I-No was revealed this morning during the second Japan Fighting Game Roundtable live stream.

Debuting as the boss character in 2002's Guilty Gear XX, I-No fast became one of the gorgeous fighting franchise's most popular and recognizable characters. A femme-fatale in the truest sense of the term, I-No uses sexuality, threat, manipulation, cunning, and psychological torment to achieve her ends, while constantly turning heads with her wild witch-meets-glam-metal fashion sense.

If there is one thing that helped Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda franchise remain one of the most enduring and beloved series of all-time, it's consistency. There aren't many series that have put so few feet wrong in well over 30 years, which is a testament to the quality poured into each and every release.

Oh sure, there's been a few missteps along the way, including 1993's Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Sword of Gamelon, as well as the 2017 Switch entry Breath of the Wild (I kid, I kid...calm down), but nine times out of ten, you can always expect Nintendo to knock it outta the park, thanks to the protective nature and reverence with which it treats its home-grown IPs.

But it wasn't always so. In the late '80s and early '90s, Nintendo of America was definitely more lenient with the sharing of its franchises, licensing out golden geese such as Super Mario Bros. with a far more carefree attitude. For the most part, this proved unwise, resulting in sub-standard entertainment that failed to capture the essence of the source material - Super Mario Bros. The Movie, anyone?

Of all of these ventures, none is more notorious than the short-lived Legend of Zelda animated series, which attempted to capitalize on the success of NES releases The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventures of Link. Handed to DIC Enterprises ("DEEEK!"), The Legend of Zelda was an attempt to take Hyrule's inhabitants out of the video game realm and into the lucrative, backward-baseball-cap world of '80s kids' TV.

_{[With the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda upon us, Destructoid is taking a look back at the series with original features covering some of our favorite aspects of the franchise. When I originally announced the plans for a "Zelda Week," the first thing brought up to me was this blog from Destructoid community member Seymour. Multiple people wanted to see it back on our front page, so here it is. Thanks Seymour and enjoy! ~CJ]} 

Breath of the Wild became a very special game for me over the course of my first 30-40 hours. It wasn't just the high-quality open-world design or delightful quests, but one unexpectedly engaging facet. A facet that was brought on to me via a short strand of these aforementioned quests within the desert wastes.

As you happen upon Gerudo Town, you aren't exactly welcomed along with a red carpet. Rather, you're shooed away for at least appearing to be a male. A "voe," as it were. Given that one of the only notable males in Gerudo history happens to be the biggest baddie in all of Hyrule, suffice to say, Gerudo women are wary of most men. All things, and Gerudo Town's governing body being (presumably) always headed by a "vai," considered, men are hard pressed finding their way in. 

The solution? 

Dress-up!

Cblogs Recap: Week 7

-EggsBert thinks that Bully deserved more attention from Rockstar.

-Flegma shares his thoughts on the video game conversion of the Captain is Dead boardgame.

-Yuknuts shares his thoughts regarding the thought-provoking and controversial Six Days in Fallujah game.

-EggsBert shares his thoughts on Viewtiful Joe.

-Black Red Gaming reviews Speed Limit on the PC.

-Moths shares two thoughts on Tomb Raider.

-EggsBert highlights 15 games he is playing and still could be playing for the foreseeable future.

-Maxio098ui reports that Blizzard has silently removed the Mac installer from all new versions of Diablo 2.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of Final Fantasy VII and renaissance music.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of The Legend of Zelda 2 and the music of Seiko Matsuda.

-ChronoLynxx opens last week's open community forum thread.

I could probably play Final Fantasy XIV indefinitely.

Not every update is created equal, and there are times where the game can feel like it's not as thrilling. But every time an update does hit, the whole playerbase collectively screams. The FFXIV team really knows how to deliver time and time again when it comes to an engaging overarching story, perhaps more than any other MMO before it.

It's good then, to hear that producer Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida is still intent on keeping the game alive and active, even after the new expansion drops. Speaking to the Washington Post, Yoshi-P explains that the game "may never end," provided that the players are there.

Regarding the process for all of that great update content I alluded to earlier, Yoshida shares some words of wisdom there: "For example, we’ll look at an instance dungeon and it’s within that circle of 60 to 70 percent. For creating our instance dungeon, we would need our game design to come up with the actual content of the plan and that would probably take about 10 business days, and then we would report that for proper approvals which cost another 30 days, and then we’ll route that to the programmers, which would take them about two weeks to program in the mechanics. It’s very clear as to how much cost and time we’ll take with each component of the package that we have for our planners and the management."

Yoshida also has advice for other studios who are trying to get into live service games, espousing: "It’s really crucial to understand how monetization is going to interweave with the actual gameplay. Looking at some recent examples, it does seem like the studios kind of throw on monetization elements and scramble to do so when the game is out there. It seems to be quite a challenge for those who come from console games."

Blizzard's biggest reveal today? Probably Diablo II Resurrected. Yes, it's getting a remaster, folks. But naturally, given how the state in which Warcraft III Reforged released, people are going to have questions.

We sat down with Matt Cederquist (producer) and Robert Gallerani (principle designer) to get a feel for how Diablo II Resurrected might shake out.

Hamster is stepping with style into the 1990s for this week's Arcade Archives release, which sees Jaleco's brilliant but underplayed shmup Cybattler return for one more round on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Released in arcades in 1993 - long after the initial shmup craze had died and fighting game cabinets were filling up centers worldwide - Cybattler kept the flag flying with its chaotic, vertically-scrolling chaos. One or two players pilot huge mech units in an all-out war against waves of opposing mechas, spaceships, and huge, dominating boss characters. The brave pilots are armed with a selection of interchangeable firepower, as well as a powerful saber for close encounters. Gundam? Never heard of him... coughs.

Check out the non-stop action in the video below, courtesy of YouTuber Martinoz.

I enjoy reading Hideo Kojima's thoughts on movies – enough to warrant buying a book? Sure!

The Gifted Gene and my Lovable Memes, a collection of essays from the Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator published in 2019, "explores the influences and inspirations that shape his work." It might ring a bell if you keep Twitter tabs on Kojima, but the book has been out of reach for English readers until now.

Announcement: Hideo Kojima, creator of Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid, explores the influences and inspirations that shape his work. The Creative Gene drops Fall 2021. pic.twitter.com/VKL6yXtK79

— VIZ (@VIZMedia) February 19, 2021

Per Polygon, Viz Media is releasing a translated version called The Creative Gene on October 12.

The English adaptation's full long-winded title – The Creative Gene: How books, movies, and music inspired the creator of Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid – is a better indication of what to expect. More to the point, there's this translated excerpt of Kojima's "What Memes Connect Us To" introduction.

35 years... Believe it or not... it's been 35 years of exciting, engaging adventures set in the faraway land of Hyrule. Link, Princess Zelda, Ganon, and even the shopkeeper have been entertaining video game fans - of all generations and from all corners of the globe - with a raft of awesome, (and occasionally not-so-awesome), adventures for over the past three decades, with no sign of slowing down anytime soon.

Oddly enough, despite gaming having been an intricate part of my life for roughly the same amount of time as The Legend of Zelda's existence, I'm yet to run the gauntlet of the entire series, with most of my Zelda hours dedicated to 1992's The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and 1993's The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - both excellent titles, I'm sure you'll agree. Of course, I've dipped into many other entries in this charming series, but those two classics will likely always be the most enduring to me. I've played them both numerous times before, and I could play them again this very weekend.

And who knows? Maybe I will!

But that's enough about my weekend, let's hear all about yours. Whatever games you've been hitting for the past seven days - or perhaps have lined up for today - jump into the comments below and share them with us. And whilst you're on-site, maybe take a look back through the past week at some of our contributors' daily articles, featuring their own memories of Hyrule and its enduring chronicles.

Have a safe and pleasant weekend, from all of us at Destructoid.

Thirty-one years ago, The Legend of Zelda became the first video game I ever beat. A year later, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link became the first video game I ever quit.

To be fair, I didn't finish too many games in my elementary school days. We owned maybe five titles total for our NES, and everything else was rented. So most games I played in the early '90s were returned before I got the chance to see the credits roll.

But that's not what happened with Zelda II. Sure, it was a rental to keep me occupied for another stormy Western Washington weekend, but I gave up on it long before we had to take it back to the rental shop. As captivated as I was with everything Zelda following my victory over Ganon in the first game, attempting to play through The Adventure of Link made me want to cry like the little sissy boy I was and mostly still am.

Perhaps the game isn't designed to be beaten by six-year-olds, but I also couldn't beat it when I was 18 and it re-released on The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition bonus disc, when I was 22 and bought it for the Wii's Virtual Console, when I was 26 and got it for free as a part of the 3DS Ambassador's Program, when I was 31 and tried to beat it in time for the franchise's 30 anniversary, and four years ago when I set out to conquer it on my NES Classic Edition. This game has been destroying me my entire life, but this year, I finally found a way to see it through to the end.

I cheated my ass off.

In today's contest you can win a Switch copy of Lonely Mountains: Downhill from Super Rare Games!

I was just talking with my wife yesterday how I really, really want to ride a tandem bicycle. I've never done it! It looks relaxing and fun and oddly romantic. I think it'd be a nice Saturday activity.

Lonely Mountains: Downhill is kind of the opposite of that. We've got a physical Switch copy to give away, courtesy of our friends at Super Rare Games! Try not to crash.

[Update: The physical Switch edition of Hades costs $35, and pre-orders are live on Amazon.]

Hades is so good, you'd be forgiven for owning it twice – but what about triple-dipping? Sure!

Announced during today's Nintendo Direct, Hades will get a Switch physical edition with the game, a download code for Darren Korb's soundtrack, and a 32-page character compendium on March 19.

If you're wondering how Hades plays on Switch compared to the PC version, don't sweat it. It's on-point. And if you already have a PC save file with all of your relationships ~just so~, you can carry it over.

The future is now, old man. We're getting out of here.

In a twist, Overwatch 2 skipped the BlizzConline opening ceremony, but Jeff Kaplan and the team had plenty – and I mean plenty – to cover in the ensuing "Behind the Scenes of Overwatch 2" presentation.

From new maps like Rome and New York City, to a few enticing peeks at ability-modifying skill trees for PvE, to mini-boss-looking Null Sector foes, the developers touched on a bunch of facets of Overwatch 2. On the one hand, I appreciate the super-wide view; on the other, so much of this feels subject to change in a way that makes it hard, as a lapsed Overwatch fan, to latch on to any one element.

My takeaways so far? I love that the new hero Sojourn is showing up for railgun fans. Overwatch needed a railgun. I'm also continuing to enjoy the sequel's new looks for the existing cast. Here's the latest:

So, are you satisfied?

I'm not really sure if I am. BlizzCons can be like that, sometimes.

The news that Diablo II is coming back should make a lot of people happy, as we all collectively grind 1000+ hours in it together all over again: but with shiny new visuals! Burning Crusade coming to World of Warcraft Classic is also very cool news, and it's even cooler that it's included in the base subscription fee on top of Classic Vanilla. One can hope that Blizzard keeps all of this going and hits Wrath of the Lich King and beyond.

The arcade collection is rad because that trio of games deserves to be remembered, and a lot of the other news was...expected. There's not a whole lot of bomb shells this time around, which kind of makes sense given that it was a pushed-back digital-only event. Usually BlizzCon has the chance to be more bombastic; sometimes to its detriment. Can you believe Overwatch 2 wasn't even in the keynote?!

That said, it's a crying shame there was no Heroes of the Storm showing today. That team has continuously put in work when at any given time, some bigger titles are resting on their laurels. They deserved a small spotlight today, even a recognition of their efforts. Sadly, there will be nothing showing for the game in particular even over the weekend.

Blizzard cannot escape its past.

Look, they've made some really great games as of late. World of Warcraft waxes and wanes, naturally, but some modern expansions have made incredible advancements. Diablo III also sold incredibly well, and brought the series back to consoles for the first time since the original PlayStation. Blizzard has been embracing consoles in general actually in recent years: it's been great to see.

But hardcore fans always want to return to the classics. And Diablo II has been a huge sore spot for folks ever since the more vibrant Diablo III was announced. Well, in addition to the darker themes of Diablo IV, those players are going to get another option to return to: a Diablo II remake.

Today at the BlizzCon 2021 opening ceremony, Blizzard confirmed the long-rumored project Diablo II Resurrected, which in turn reconfirmed their commitment to older games. It'll be on PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S with cross-progression. An alpha starts today (you can sign up at this site), and is supposedly out in 2021.

Let's just hope it ends up better than Warcraft III Reforged.

It took a while, but we made it. We made it to the Diablo section of BlizzConline 2021.

What's new with Diablo IV? A class – the Rogue. That was Blizzard's big reveal, at least for the opening ceremony. Game director Luis Barriga said the nimble fighter has been re-envisioned for the new game, and the footage we saw involved zipping around to stab demons, flinging arrows, and dropping caltrops.

We also got a look at the motherload of all ear collections.

In Diablo IV, the Rogue can prioritize melee (swords and daggers) or ranged (bows and crossbows) and specialize in Shadow Realm (become immune for one second and pull targeted enemies into the Shadow Realm where you deal 50 percent more damage), Exploit Weakness (retaliate with critical strikes at the right moment if you have fast enough reflexes and can play "like a surgeon"), or Combo Points (build up combos with basic attacks to enhance your skills). For extra elemental oomph, the Rogue class can play around with frost, poison, and shadow imbues for their attacks.

"They can control the fluid motion of combat in a way that no other class can," said Barriga.

A few pre-alpha screenshots to tide us over until... when is this game coming out, again?

Fresh off of several expansions (as is the custom for Hearthstone), Blizzard is ditching the Year of the Phoenix rotation and heading into the Year of the Griffin.

Ysera the Dreamer, Malygos the Spellweaver, and Deathwing the Destroyer are in, as is previously announced "Classic mode," where you can play the game like Hearthstone originally was. Also, the Year of the Griffin is kicking off with the "Forged in the Barrens" expansion, and a 30 Years of Blizzard card back.

Hearthstone Mercenaries is the big new announcement, which is "strategic RPG gameplay" where you "build teams," of heroes like Ragnaros and Sylvanas. The standard format is getting its shakeup still with the already-announced, but new 235-card core set, so there's going to be a lot of changes coming to the game. Amazingly, the new core set is free: which, for Hearthstone, is not something you hear often!

This moment has been a long time coming for Destructoid readers.

For years we've mused on our favorite expansions and moments in World of Warcraft history. While Wrath of the Lich King took the top spot as the most-favored expansion, Burning Crusade was right on its heels in second place: and my personal favorite era to boot.

Even just a few months ago we discussed and voted on where we'd like to see World of Warcraft Classic go next. To Outland it is!

Today at BlizzCon 2021, Blizzard has announced that Burning Crusade will indeed be incorporated into the mix of "Classic." It was kind of inevitable, given that Classic hit its end point, but we didn't really know when Blizzard would decide to reveal all that. This week, it seems! Or more accurately, a few months ago when BlizzCon would have happened in person in Anaheim, California.

Since this is a lot to parse, here's all the full info from Blizzard below. In short, content will "roll out in phases," and "players can decide whether to advance each of their characters to the new era" or "continue playing the original Classic content on new "Classic Era" servers.

Burning Crusade, like Classic, will be included in your subscription. It's allegedly out in 2021.

World of Warcraft proper was not left out of the BlizzCon 2021 news cycle, as Shadowlands is still trucking. Well, I might add!

I still play it weekly, and it looks like I'm going to have a lot more to do soon when the "Chains of Domination" update hits. As is the case with most WoW patches this is a huge chunk of content all at once, and there's a lot to unpack here.

Chains of Domination picks up after the last raid with the defeat of Sire Denathrius, who is but a smaller pawn in this larger game for the fate of the Shadowlands. You'll head to Korthia, "City of Secrets," in the next major story zone that will sport new quests and "outdoor activities." Also, the covenants will have an expanded role in the story as they are no longer just on the defense (you have been gathering all that anima for a reason, right?), which will culminate in a new raid battle, "Sanctum of Domination."

This one seems like a doozy, featuring the "true Eye of the Jailer," the Tarragrue, and Sylvanas! You'll also be able to head into a new mega-dungeon (Tazavesh, the Veiled Market) which is themed after the popular Brokers race. Oh, and PVP season 2 is starting, as well as new Mythic Keystone dungeon themes, more covenant armor, more mounts/pets...and flying! The latter of which will be enabled in "the covenant's four domains" (read: the four main zones).

It's pretty much what everyone could have wanted from a Shadowlands update: I just hope there's some quality of life changes baked in there too for the game as a whole.

Blizzard is always down to mine nostalgia, and they're doing just that...thrice, today.

Live at BlizzCon 2021, the publisher has announced "The Blizzard Arcade Collection," which is an "enhanced release" of The Lost Vikings, Rock N Roll Racing, and Blackthorne. This pack is coming tonight on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch (nice!), and will feature PS5 and Xbox Series X backward compatibility.

It's $19.99, and will also be included in "The Celebration Collection" on PC, as well as the "Blizzard 30-Year Celebration Collection" on consoles. So what's changed? Here's a full rundown from Blizzard: