Destructoid

We have a brand new number one this week, as Capcom's Monster Hunter Rise inevitably debuted in the top spot of the UK Charts. The fantasy adventure, which has already sold an amazing four million copies worldwide, leads a streak of Top Ten Switch dominance.

The news of Monster Hunter Rise's success has been somewhat eclipsed, however, by a ridiculous sales spike for Nintendo's Super Mario 3D All-Stars. As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the retro compendium saw its sales boosted by 276% last week, no doubt in anticipation of the title's de-listing, scheduled for tomorrow, March 31. The imminent removal of the title, heavily promoted by Nintendo, led to a rush of panic-buying, ultimately reinstalling the title in the number two spot. What a fucking surprise.

The fight goes on in Activision's tribizillion-dollar shooter franchise Call of Duty. Tomorrow will see the launch of "Reloaded", a mid-season update for both Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and its sister battle royale title Call of Duty: Warzone. The coming weeks will see a slew of new content made available for both releases, because the bullets. won't. stop.

Firstly, Black Ops Cold War will receive its reworked Miami map, Miami Strike, which hopes to improve the rep of the neon nightmare - which I actually quite like, to be honest. Miami Strike will be running a 24/7 playlist in order to help the community get to grips with the new, streamlined layout. My Tiki bar better still be standing.

Speaking of maps, third-act campaign locale Mansion will be added to Gunfight and Face Off modes, while Golova is getting copy-pasted from the excellent Outbreak mode to enter rotation in the not-quite-as-excellent Fireteam. New modes will include Multi-Team Hardpoint, (which sounds like total chaos), Gunfight Tournament, and a Blueprint-based variant of Gun Game.

miHoYo has released a trailer introducing us to Sister Rosaria, the next character headed to PS4, PC, and mobile phenomenon Genshin Impact. Rosaria will be added to the gacha pipe during the next banner event, which is expected to launch on or around April 6.

Rosaria is a high-ranking Sister in Monstadt's Church of Favorius. Despite her important position, Rosaria is relatively bored of her holy lifestyle, flitting around in an aloof manner and often failing to show up for her duties. But even with this apathetic attitude toward her chores, Rosaria remains wholly dedicated to defending Monstadt and the church - facilitated by her femme-fatale nature and highly-adept spear-fighting skills.

The trailer also spotlights both Rosaria's English and Japanese voices. Her English localization is provided by Elisabeth Maxwell, perhaps best known for her roles as Persona 5's public prosecutor Sae Niijima and Hyrule Warrior's Gerudo fighter Urbosa in. For Japanese VA fans, Rosaria is voiced by Ai Kakuma, who also voices Edelgard in Fire Emblem, Yuri Sakazaki in The King of Fighters, and is a mainstay of anime. The fact that Rosaria is not a hammer-wielder, therefore robbing me of a "Sister Sledge" headline, will bother me for the rest of the day.

Although I didn't find the first season of The Witcher show hard to follow, it boggles the mind why the showrunners decided it was a good idea. The editing and pacing was incredibly off, so it makes sense why a lot of folks got mad about it. The discourse around the second season should be a lot more focused, especially since the narrative is reportedly more focused.

That second season narrative, mind, will seemingly also involve the Wild Hunt. More of a legend than a major plot point (depending on the medium), it looks like Netflix literally ponied up for some horses and armor, so they're likely not going to have the crew show up for a few seconds in some inconsequential dream sequence.

The pictures (below) come courtesy of the Netflix Witcher fan Twitter account, which show off Wild Hunt filming in North Devon, England. One of my absolute favorite parts is the epic shot of them all riding on the beach together contrasted directly to the one with the cast and crew, and the filming trucks.

There's some real "end of Monty Python and the Holy Grail" energy there!

Netflix Witcher [Twitter]

The Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection is an interesting remaster prospect.

For many, they'll be experiencing the entire trilogy for the first time. Others just prefer the first: an absolute classic in the action genre, even still. Some may also dig the second game, which isn't quite as beloved, but still has its merits. Others will want to relive the polarizing third entry as a flight of fancy of sorts.

In any case, it's a collection that's worth talking about. And we did just that with the game's producer, Fumihiko Yasuda. Even though the third game was their first major project at Koei Tecmo, they mused with us on the past, present, and future of the series.

It was inevitable, but now it's official. Organizers Reedpop and Penny Arcade have regrettably announced the cancellation of PAX East, which had been scheduled to take place at the Boston Convention Center the weekend of June 3, 2021.

The announcement was made via a statement on the official PAX East website.

"In light of ongoing public health concerns, ReedPop and Penny Arcade will not hold PAX East this year," said event director Kyle Marsden-Kish. "While we hoped PAX East could safely take place, we remained realistic and did not sell any tickets or space to exhibitors to avoid significantly inconveniencing our friends and partners. As we have shown via our actions throughout the pandemic, our utmost concern is the safety of the PAX family - from attendees, exhibitors, and show staff to media and content creators - as well as the local communities that host our celebrations of all things gaming."

ReedPop/PennyArcade announced that, much like last year, an extended streaming event would be held in PAX East's stead. PAX Online will take place between July 15-18, and is expected to offer up news, reveals, and interviews pertaining to a wide variety of major and minor video game releases. The statement closes with optimism that 2021's remaining PAX events - PAX West and PAX Unplugged - might still go ahead as planned.

The launch date for Outriders is fast approaching, but before a host of new players descend on the servers, Square Enix and People Can Fly are laying down the law for any would-be cheaters.

In a post on the Outriders Steam page, the team lays out its plans for launch, including a day-one patch, bug fixes for issues noted during the game's demo period, and a "Quick Mark" utility for your inventory, addressing concerns and requests brought forth by players. Unfortunately for cheaters, Square Enix has also taken notice of you.

"At the time when we reached around 2 million players, we identified 200 players who had clearly cheated," the team writes. "In percentage terms, that's 0.01%." They even call out one person who gave themselves 600 Legendary Weapons, and while the team says it doesn't expect the percentage to grow by much past launch, there will be steps taken against cheaters.

According to the blog, if you're caught cheating, you will not be able to matchmake with non-cheaters, and so matchmaking will likely take longer, though you can still play solo. Most notably, in the future, cheaters' heads-up displays will have a "discreet but visible watermark" on it, so any footage created using the account can be readily identified.

"Any account logs found to have evidence of cheating on them on or after launch day will be permanently branded," the blog says. 

This weekend saw the UK put the clocks forward one hour, and hoo-boy am I feeling it. It's times like these I wish I had the power of characters such as Crisbell, the protagonist of Modus Games' Cris Tales. Crisbell is a Time Mage, y'see, and for her putting the clock forward, or backward, is as simple as a blink. That's the superpower I'd like the most. At least I'd get some dang sleep.

But Crisbell isn't the only magical, mystical individual living in CrisTales' fantasy kingdom of Crystalis. And while on her quest to confront the villainous Empress of the Ages, Crisbell will meet a huge cast of characters, offering assistance or impeding progress as our hero pushes ever closer to a destiny that will affect each and every one of them.

One of the best things I can say about Dota: Dragon's Blood, the latest animated video game adaptation to hit Netflix, is that it's completely watchable for newcomers. In just eight episodes, it manages to cover a breadth of lore and overcome other adaptations' stumbling blocks, largely thanks to its characters.

Dota's impermeability can be a boon, as its mechanical complexity has kept players—myself included—playing for literal decades. The lore, on the other hand, isn't as tightly woven into the game's framework. It's largely relegated to item descriptions and hero bios, and over the course of thousands of hours of Dota 2, I don't know that I've ever stopped during a match to read about how the Heaven's Halberd I just bought from the shop got its name.

It's refreshing, then, that Dota: Dragon's Blood makes very few assumptions. Yes, there are plenty of callbacks and cameos that will appeal specifically to people who have spent hours upon hours in the Dota 2 client. But at its core, it's also a solid fantasy setting that, most importantly, has room to grow.

Dragon's Blood starts out with the basics of Dota 2. There is the primordial mind, split into Dire and Radiant, that will eventually involve the cosmos in its battle. There are fundamental elements, ancient dragons, and literal gods that roam the land. Most of this early table setting is to inform you that yes, the world of Dota is magical, but there are also a lot of normal humans who get caught up in it.

The first iteration of Loop Hero didn't come together on time. The latest game from the Four Quarters team started out as a game jam entry in Ludum Dare; the only problem was, by jam's end, it didn't really work.

On the page for what was called "LooPatHero" at the time, the team says they ran out of time for the 45th Ludum Dare, whose theme was "Start with nothing." And you really did start with nothing, starting a loop as an ambitious hero questing to take down the evil Lich.

Two weeks later, Four Quarters updated the page with a working build, including new sprites and a modified combat system. And on March 4, 2021, the team would launch a full version of Loop Hero that would become fairly successful on Steam, selling 500,000 copies in its first week on the platform.

Loop Hero is a continuously looping game, best described as the mash-up of idle games and management sims with the constant progression of a roguelite. The hero wakes up at camp and starts walking in a circle around the loop, and you can play various cards onto the field as tiles that will morph the world and place new challenges in the hero's path.

Electronic Arts has announced that it is currently developing a new PGA Tour golf title for release on next-gen platforms. The new game is being developed at EA Tiburon, who are the team behind the million-dollar Madden franchise.

Speaking in a lengthy blog post on the PGA Tour website, it was revealed that EA Sports PGA Tour will become the "home of championship golf" and will allow fairway friends to build a custom career and experience the thrills of the entire PGA season including the PGA Tour, The Players Championship, and the FedExCup Playoffs. The new title promises multiple real-life courses and a selection of world-renowned professional players.

"We've partnered with EA Sports to bring immersive golf video game experiences to fans of all ages for years," said PGA Tour Chief Legal Officer Len Brown. "We are thrilled to continue working with EA Sports on its golf franchise to authentically represent the PGA Tour for the next generation. The newest game will give golf fans another way to experience their favorite sport, or to discover their passion for it."

More information, including platforms and a release date, will be revealed "in the coming weeks."

Anthem director Jonathan Warner has announced that he has left developer BioWare after 10 years with the company. Warner worked with the Canadian studio as a producer on the Mass Effect series, and also operated as the studio's Chief of Staff.

Speaking on Twitter, Warner wished his former studio best wishes, but did not denote his career plans going forward. "BioWare has been home to my grateful heart for nearly 10 years and I want to wish them all the best," he wrote. "[Dragon Age, Mass Effect] and [Star Wars: The Old Republic] are in good hands and I can't wait to play from this side of the screen."

Warner joined BioWare back in 2012, having already had a high-ranking career in the entertainment industry, having previously worked for Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Walt Disney. Warner's final title for BioWare, Anthem, is in the process of winding down operations as BioWare focuses on its other IPs.

BioWare has lost three of its producers in the past six months, with the departure of Mass Effect director Casey Hudson and Dragon Age producer Mark Darrah back in December.

Fans of Street Fighter Alpha's Rose and Street Fighter III's Oro won't have too much longer to wait to see the characters make their grand return. Capcom has announced a new live stream, where the developer will show off both characters in their Street Fighter V form.

The Street Fighter V: Champion Edition Spring Update will take place on Tuesday, April 6 at 15:00 PT / 18:00 ET / 23:00 BST and will be viewable on Capcom's YouTube, Twitch, and Facebook channels. The stream will feature an in-depth look at Rose, spotlighting the Italian fortune-teller's range of Soul Power attacks, and will also give us our first SFV glimpse of the weird, boneless Oro. Both characters will arrive this year as part of SFV's fifth and final season of content.

Rose has been my Street Fighter main since her debut in 1995, so I'm very much looking forward to her scarf-twirling return. It will be interesting to see what Oro - making his first playable in-game appearance since 1999's Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - brings to Street Fighter V's hyper-aggressive playstyle. I can't wait to see both in action!

Last week, there was a hugely disappointing rumor that Sony would close the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation Portable stores this year. The report served as a wake-up call for people who see value in PlayStation's legacy platforms, and it was accurate – Sony confirmed the news this morning.

When do we lose access to the stores and, as a result, the ability to buy legacy games and DLC? These are the dates to remember: July 2 for PS3 and PSP, and August 27 for PlayStation Vita.

The silver lining (though I hesitate to call it that): we will still be able to re-download the games that we own as well as the games that we got through PlayStation Plus. We'll also be able to access our purchased media content and redeem game and PS Plus vouchers even after the stores are closed. That said, once the dates come and go, we won't be able to redeem PSN wallet vouchers on the old systems.

For many people, even just having download access is crucial. You'll be able to do it using the Download List on PS3, Vita, and PSP. The race is now on to get our libraries situated before it's too late.

It's a shame Sony put an end to the workaround that let folks use the "old" PlayStation Store in a web browser. Actually finding and buying content on the old consoles is an unwieldy mess in 2021. As it stands, this is going to be an all-out scramble even for people who know which games they're missing.

Super Nintendo World just shot up on a lot of bucket lists, and it's going to be...a while before a lot of people can safely visit it. Thankfully Universal seems like it's going to be in this partnership for the long haul, even recommitting to a delayed 2025 date for the US version. Still, it is open in Japan, and lots of folks are flocking to it.

This recent insider info for one of their rides just made me even more interested in a future visit. Speaking to IGN, Universal Creative producer Tom Geraghty confirms that the Mario Kart ride is basically a game.

He explains: "Mario Kart was built in a game engine, so while [senior vice president Thierry Coup] was back in the States he could actually drive Mario Kart in a game engine, and give us notes in Japan. Because it's in a game engine, we can keep updating, upgrading, putting new characters [in], changing themes, changing actions on the fly. So if there's a special event, anything we want to release can be done overnight if we really wanted to. That makes it so much more flexible – it freshens up the experience. Every time you come back you could experience something new and exciting."

It's interesting on multiple levels. Not only could they test out the software virtually for guest experience notes (which came in handy during the last year!), but they could also feasibly update the game and add new iconic Nintendo characters into the mix. Or, for instance, promote a potential "Mario Kart 9," whenever that happens.

Koei Tecmo has announced a brand new entry in the decades-long strategy series Nobunaga's Ambition. Details are extremely thin on the ground with no gameplay footage or platforms offered, but Koei Tecmo did release get a teasing cinematic, (which you can check out below), and a title: Nobunaga's Ambition: Rebirth. Developed by Kou Sibusawa, the new title is expected to launch in Japan later in 2021.

Mistwalker is a legendary name in some circles. They made Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey ages ago: full stop, that's all you need to say to some people. They completely changed how a lot of people perceived the Xbox 360 with that pair of RPGs, but we're probably not going to see them on newer platforms anytime soon.

Speaking to VGC, Mistwalker head Hironobu Sakaguchi made it abundantly clear that newer projects are their top priority. Given that Fantasian is about to come out soon, that's obviously fresh, along with whatever they decide to do after that.

Sakaguchi notes: "To be perfectly honest, there aren’t any plans for any remakes at the moment. Although they’re called remakes, the amount of effort and resources it would command means the difference is basically nil between [developing] a remake versus a completely new game. I would personally find myself more attracted to the idea of coming up with another original story or world, or building something new."

I completely understand that a smaller studio may not have the resources to both revisit old games via remakes and work on new projects. With all that said, as a preservation advocate, there is merit in bringing older classics to a newer audience: not just from a monetary standpoint, but because it would allow the game to proliferate for a longer period of time and through more mediums.

It's that time of year again. Time to put aside your balloon parcels, shirt exchanges, and fossil trades and dedicate every single second, minute, and hour, of your Animal Crossing: New Horizons day to the coming of Zipper, Animal Crossing's dead-eyed, eerily cheerful bunny.

As reported by good doge Isabelle, non-denominational Bunny Day will take place on April 4 this year, which is this coming Sunday, and will see Zipper visit your island to collect all of the souls eggs that you have gathered. As of yesterday, you might start finding eggs here, there, and everywhere in the environment: buried in the soil, at the bottom of the lake, falling out of trees. Wherever you find them, be sure to save them for Sunday, when you can trade them with Zipper for a range of seasonal goodies.

Now, Bunny Day last year was a liiiiiittle bit divisive. While it's obviously a fun and cute holiday event, players were utterly frustrated by the amount of eggs turning up everywhere, at a time when most players were just hard at work looking for materials and resources. Perhaps this year, now the community is settled in their DIY homes, they can just chill and join in the spirit of the season.

After all, you wouldn't want to upset Zipper would you?... WOULD YOU?...

Periodically, the powers that be share out Pokemon Sword and Shield codes and events in lieu of more expansion content.

I mean, we could still get that! We had a season pass already and two expansions, but for now, players are relying on Dynamax events and free item/creature giveaways. There's a new one in town thanks to a recent "Dynamax Adventure" Korean stream.

So here's the code (which you'll input via the in-game gift menu): "ADVENTUREB9F."

And here's what you get: Big Nugget x12, Exp. Candy XL x12.

Simple enough right? It does work for all regions, and the promo runs through April 3 at 10:59AM ET.

Item Distribution [Serebii.net]

Monster Hunter Rise seems to be selling well, but now that millions of people have their hands on it, they're starting to discover little nuances: good and bad. In this case it's kind of bad.

The bug is none other than a save lockout situation, which is incredibly scary for some folks who have already put in a lot of time with it. Capcom doesn't outright say that it "deletes" your data or anything like that, it can just "prevent you from opening it." I know! But it seems fixable and Capcom is on the case.

Here's the full statement from Capcom so you have all the info: "We're aware of an issue with the Action/Hurt Pose DLC gestures where setting either to the action bar and quitting the game can cause an error preventing you from opening the same save file the next time you launch the game. We're working on an update to fix this ASAP."

In the meantime, Capcom suggests that you "avoid" these gestures via the action bar and/or remove them ASAP from yourself now, before the bug occurs. Capcom then clarified later that "this also occurs when setting the action/hurt pose to the radial menu."

As a refresher, Monster Hunter Rise has a host of voiced lines, emotes, and pictures that help facilitate online groups and break the language barrier. The Action/Hurt pose is one of those actions you can do in-game. Be careful!

Monster Hunter [Twitter]

Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time is an excellent release. Toys for Bob have done a fantastic job in creating a sequel that lives up to the mad marsupial's roots while implementing smart design ideas for a modern generation of platform games. Whether playing on PlayStation, Xbox, or Switch, players are in for a good time.

Unfortunately, however, it's not good news all around, as PC players have been dismayed to discover the that PC version of Crash's latest jungle jaunt is only available via the Battle.net dashboard and - like all Battle.net titles - requires a permanent internet connection to play.

[Update: Surprisingly, the patch is already live on "PC and consoles." Stadia is apparently getting patched later this week. Here's the announcement!]

People will not soon (or ever) forget CD Projekt Red's mishandling of Cyberpunk 2077.

Not only was it a stain on the game's reputation short term, but folks will never look at the "champion of the people" publisher the same again: unless there's a massive management shakeup. But over time, wounds will heal when it comes to the game itself, especially if it keeps getting patched and fixed after the fact.

CD Projekt Red has shared what's to come in patch 1.2 for "PC, consoles and Stadia," and it's a massive list of over 100 fixes. The list is kind of crazy! Basically everything from crosshair effects, to individual quest glitches, to open world smoothing, to cinematic fixes. Oh, and good old fashioned graphical and UI alterations. "Fixed NPCs moving after being killed," classic open world bug!

Major quest pain points include The Pickup, Path of Glory, Queen of the Highway, and With a Little Help from My Friends. So if you're stuck on those, hold out. All of this is coming "soon." There's still no date yet, and CD Projekt Red is smart to be noncommittal.

We've posted a truncated list of PC and console fixes below.

Patch 1.2 [CD Projekt Red]

Capcom has proudly announced that its brand new release Monster Hunter Rise has gotten off to a brilliant start, with the company having already shipped four million physical and digital copies of the fantasy adventure worldwide.

The action-RPG, which launched on March 26, is already winning over both critics and fans with its vibrant worlds and challenging quests, all powered by Capcom's proprietary RE Engine. Monster Hunter Rise arrives at a time when the series has never been more of a household name, mainly thanks to the incredible success of 2018 release Monster Hunter World - the publisher's best-selling game of all-time.

As an interesting comparison, Monster Hunter World shipped five million copies in the same time period, but that was across two platforms. As such, Monster Hunter Rise is on course to becoming another juggernaut in Capcom's portfolio. Monster Hunter Rise is available now on Nintendo Switch, and will launch on PC early 2022.

While it took the public a good few months to begin thirsting for Resident Evil Village antagonist Lady Dimitrescu, it has taken publisher Capcom far less time to capitalize on the thirst, speedily pushing the towering bloodsucker to the forefront of the upcoming sequel's marketing.

Case in point, a selection of cardboard standees of the House of Dimitrescu head have started popping up inside Hong Kong retailers. As spotted by The Gamer, Capcom uploaded a candid shot of Lady D to its Asian Facebook page, showing the 2D beauty as she stands tall over hapless shoppers. The standee is described as "life-sized," which would make it around nine feet and six inches (or just under three meters).

In my hellish formative decades in gaming retail, customers would clamor for standees such as these all the time - everything from Max Payne and Dead or Alive, to De Blob and WWE Smackdown! But something tells me that these particular standees are set to become incredibly sought-after by the Resident Evil community... or frankly anybody with (or perhaps even without) a pulse.

Resident Evil Village launches May 7 on PlayStation, PC, Xbox, and Stadia.

I’m not sure if this is unusual since I don’t typically discuss “emotions” with other “humans,” but I generally play psychological horror games to feel sad rather than scared. Video games lost their ability to frighten me some time ago, but I straight-up bawled at the end of Yomawari: Midnight Shadows. Many games of this genre just seem to be very apt at deconstructing the human condition and then savaging you with it.

It’s to the point where I seek them out whenever I’m feeling the big sad and feel like poking myself in uncomfortable spots. One place where I didn’t expect to find a good poking stick was in Rule of Rose. This is partly because I knew absolutely nothing about it aside from the fact it was critically panned. The only reason I went to the extreme effort of seeking it out was that it was made by Punchline, who had previously created my beloved Chulip, and I feel like I owe them a kidney for bringing it into my life.

There is a start to everything. All conflicts and compassions require a catalyst, but finding the true zero point can range from easy to very, very tricky.

This is the setup of Genesis Noir, an adventure from developer Feral Cat Den that's both about a night gone terribly wrong and also kind of about the creation of the universe. What's best described as a surreal exploration of what drives humans—to love, to lose, to lash out and lament—and how we cope with the consequences.

It's heavy stuff, but it's all told in a way that's gorgeous and evocative, and had me constantly in awe of what new audiovisual spectacle it held next for me. It's a noir story, broken up into vignettes with sparse writing, but in place of long dialogues it relies on fantastic art, music, and discretely designed areas to communicate the journeys of the protagonist, No Man.

The Nintendo 64 and original PlayStation basically lived their lives during the “Attitude” or “Monday Night Wars” era of wrestling. If you’re unfamiliar, it was this incredibly tacky time where cartoonish machismo was replaced with edginess and sexuality. I’m not much of a wrestling fan, but when I do watch oiled up muscle men hug each other in their underwear, I prefer the Golden Age of the ‘80s where superheroes won out against unambiguously evil athletes using the power of believing in themselves. And steroids.

I don’t know. A lot of people really loved that era and think of it as a big part of their development, but I didn’t get into pro wrestling until, well, a few years ago when I started collecting the games on N64. I’m definitely not the best person to talk about pro wrestling, but watch me try anyway.

More than a dozen pro wrestling titles hit the N64 library if you count Japanese-only releases like Virtual Pro Wrestling 64 and its follow-up. A few of them, especially the ones created by AKI Corporation, still hold up today. The PlayStation would see its own success in its latter days with WWF Smackdown! and its sequel. This is not one of those games.

It's weird to think how Monster Hunter low key became Capcom's top franchise in an instant.

While Street Fighter and Resident Evil still reign supreme overall, with multiple entries dotting the top 10 list, Monster Hunter is the absolute king with over 16 million units of Monster Hunter World sold.

Why would Capcom stop now?

River City Ransom was an important game in the development of my retro appreciation. My early attempts at familiarizing myself with the NES included such titles as Kid Icarus, Friday the 13th, and -- I swear this is true -- Total Recall. It left me with the impression that I just didn’t like NES-era video games. River City Ransom and Punch-Out!! corrected that perspective and led me down the path of having difficulty conversing with normal people.

It would also lead me to explore the Kunio-Kun series. See, in Japan, River City Ransom was part of this staggeringly large series of games that had the absolute most inconsistent and complicated naming scheme imaginable. Alternating between Kunio-Kun, Nekketsu, Downtown, and even Dodgeball Club, their monikers were typically long and all over the place, but the titles were unified with a cartoonish appreciation for violence and a memorably weird art style.

We got a few over here in the West, such as Super Dodge Ball and Crash ‘N’ the Boys, but the majority stayed in their home country. The unfortunate truth is that the best games in the series never landed on the NES. Let us introduce you to one of them.

Reviewing Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town has been an interesting couple of weeks, to say the least. When I first got my review code, I was told there would be a day-one patch that would aim to alleviate many of the issues that have plagued the title since its initial release in Japan. While those who buy it on day one will get all of the updates at once, I’ve been playing through it as it’s been slowly fixed in a piecemeal fashion.

It’s real shame the developers have had to spend the past month scrambling to fix the game because it's is supposed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series. And generally, when you’re celebrating a milestone year, you don’t want a public apology to be part of the festivities.

Cblogs of 3/20 to 3/26/2021

-Gamingnerd reflects on the legacy of the Resident Evil series in celebration of its 25th anniversary.

-Nior continues his retrospective on The Legacy of Kain series retrospective with this blog on Blood Omen 2.

-Kerrik52 reflects on the nature and application of crafting systems in video games.

-Eggs&BrewsterJr compares the Lord of the Rings games: Shadow of Mordor and Lego Lord of the Rings.

-RedHeadPeak asks which games were your greatest disappointments, his was Spore.

-Lord Spencer reviews Saga Frontier as part of his PS1 REVIEWS blogging series.

-Moths discusses Wolfenstein II's story and gameplay in this blog.

-Eggs&BrewsterJr shares a list of five games that could use an HD facelift.

-Sam van der Meer shares his thoughts on Super Mario Sunshine.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of Final Fantasy Tactics and Rock Music.

If you need cooling off after last week's visit to the Mean Streets, then you'll be happy to here that Hamster is dialing down the intensity a notch with this week's Arcade Archives release, which sees Tehkan's 1982 release Swimmer make its return on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

It will come as no surprise to anybody that Swimmer, given its age, is an incredibly simplistic title, which sees a dude (in what appears to be a grass skirt) breast-strokin' upstream - dodging logs, turtles, and other obstacles while gathering fruit, because its the early '80s and gathering fruit in video games is practically a law. After making his way past enough hazards and wildlife - including a crazy, bug-eyed, giant crab - our hero makes it to the shore of a treasure island, and we're done.

Swimmer is available to download now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at around $8. Today the game is obviously showing its age, but is a rare curio for retro game fans - if they can stomach the hefty price-tag. Check out the action in the video below courtesy of YouTuber RetroGamingLoft.

Now that y'all have had a little Monster Hunter Rise under your belt, it's time!

Time to share!

Spoiler warning for the entirety of Kentucky Route Zero. If you haven't played yet, or don't want anything in the game spoiled for you, turn back now.

Kentucky Route Zero is one of those games where I spent a lot of my first playthrough feeling disoriented. I couldn't fully decipher my feelings until after I talked through the experience with my roommate. The first thing that struck me from our conversation was, due to the game's somewhat chaotic presentation of plot, character, and theme, we had very different readings of it. I come from a literary background, whereas she opted to study theater instead. When we started talking about how the game presents dialogue, which is very reminiscent of a script, its design prompted a discussion that made us realize we fundamentally disagreed on the definition of what makes a "play" a "play."

For me, that type of conversation is standard procedure when I play a game I really love -- I dive into YouTube looking for interviews with the creators; I scour the internet for blog posts and Reddit forums to see what other players got out of it; I play the soundtrack on a loop, just to remember the emotional beats that were so well crafted they brought me to tears.

While this research usually helps me gain a more complete, holistic understanding of a game I enjoy, any further exploration into the world of Kentucky Route Zero only complicated things. The more I tried to find others whose experiences playing the game were similar to my own, the more I seemed to come across players who had different readings entirely, like the Eggplant Podcast's conversations about the game's nods to architecture and the caving movement of the '70s and '80s.

At the start of March, we received wicked news that Blaster Master Zero III was currently in development, and getting set to bring its interstellar action to PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Publisher Inti Creates has now confirmed that this climactic chapter will also release on Xbox One alongside its aforementioned brethren on July 29.

This third and final entry in the resurrected retro franchise will see protagonist Jason get behind the wheel of the G-SOPHIASV battle tank one last time, going all-out in a do-or-die mission to save the life of his dear friend Eve. The new title will see the action return to the planet Sophia, as well as spanning several galaxies and dimensions. It sounds like an epic, and a great way to cap off a very enjoyable trilogy.

In Japan, Inti Creates will also release the Blaster Master Zero Trilogy: MetaFight Chronicle, which will include all three titles in the series, alongside their respective DLC. In addition, MetaFight Chronicle will feature newly recorded dialogue for the first two titles in the series. Unfortunately, there has yet to be any confirmation that this compilation will be headed west at any point.

This week has been all about The Tired. Tiredness in body, brain, and soul. It doesn't seem to matter whether I sleep 12 hours or two hours, everything has just felt slow and heavy. Like I'm a big ol' sack of spuds. I think a lot of us might be feeling this way at the moment, as pandemic fatigue sets in and we realize how long we've gone without socializing. But this too, will pass, and we'll all be back outside arguing about Star Wars or making ice sculptures or whatever you kids do these days. So stay rested and stay strong. You've got this.

Like any brain-drained maniac, I decided the best option would not be to spend my evenings resting or playing something restful and soothing, but to double down on the ultra stressful world of fighting games. Inspired by the arrival of the awesome Lidia Sobieska, I hopped back into Tekken 7 to bust a few nose bridges. From there I took a side-step into Street Fighter V, to rock a few rounds in Juri's new clobber. I ended the week returning to Mortal Kombat 11, but the toxicity of the online community remains too infuriating. I know we're there to fight but, frankly, you don't have to be an asshole about it.

But that's enough from me, let's pass the mic to you. Before you get settled into what I hope will be a happy, restful, and enjoyable weekend, jump into the comments below and fill us in on the video games that have been keeping you awake and alert during these strangely blurring times. It doesn't matter what you're playing, it's all welcome, so be sure to share your current gaming trends with us.

Come one, and come all (heh) to another lovely giveaway! Today we have five copies of Hellpoint on Switch to give to you lucky folks (courtesy of the fine folks at tinyBuild). Released last year on PC, and back in February for Switch, this souls-like sci-fi/horror game is pretty cool in my opinion. It's had some good word of mouth, and if you also game on PC, you can take the stand-alone story for a test drive for free on Steam. No Steam? Let's go to the official blurb for an info dump: 

Puzzle Quest is back! After a lengthy hiatus, studio Infinity Plus Two is taking up the mantle from Infinite Interactive, with 505 Games taking over publishing duties from D3 Publisher. You'd be right to be skeptical.

And while the free-to-play angle could get out of hand, so far, it seems worth a download, at least.

Last summer, we reported on the strange-but-true news that Clockwork Aquario, an unreleased arcade platformer from the 1990s, would finally see release, some 30 years after the title's cancellation. And it seems that the party's about to start, as ININ Games has announced a launch window of Q2 2021 on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Clockwork Aquario was initially designed by Wonder Boy developer Westone Bit Entertainment, with the very ambitious platforming project scheduled to launch in 1992. Ironically, by the time said year rolled around, it was decided that the vibrant visuals and gameplay were outdated for the now fighter-heavy arcade scene, and Clockwork Aquario was shelved indefinitely, a sliver away from completion.

There's a lot of moving parts to Monster Hunter Rise. If you don't stop to look around once in a while, they'll pass you by!

Here's one thing that I didn't notice until much later into my playthrough.