Sonic the Hedgehog is 30 and that Makes Me Feel Old

This missed the June 23rd date, I know. I was working and crying about F-ZERO being dead. Despite not being on time, I wanted to have a write up on such a monumental anniversary.

I did not welcome Sonic with open arms. No, my arms were quite hostile. Those 16-bit Genesis/SNES wars you hear about? Well I took part of them! In the beginning, anyway. And they were glorious! OK, really all it was was kids on playgrounds arguing over how the SNES or the Genesis was better and how Sonic was so cool and fast and Mario was slow and for kids. 

My initial dislike for the world's most famous hedgehog came about from SEGA of America's aggressive marketing. They never missed a moment to slam Nintendo or their plumber mascot. To me, Sonic's very existence threatened Mario's so I had to dislike him. That all changed when I went over to Justin's house after Sunday school. Seeing the game in action for more than 30 seconds was life changing to my little 10 year old brain. Sonic was everything SEGA said he was, fast, heroic and yes, cool. From that day on, I found out that it was possible to like Mario AND Sonic at the same time.

Many would like to say that Sonic's best days have long passed him by. At the risk of coming off as some kind of Sonic apologist, I don't believe every game from the 16-bit era was 100% gold. In fact, I'm pretty vocal at expressing my distaste that some of those games before the Dreamcast and modern era are quite flawed (glaring at you, Sonic CD) and plenty of fans and critics alike are quick to dismiss those flaws or flat out ignore them. I also don't think every 3D Sonic outside of Colors is tripe that ruined the series. Yeah, there are some major stinkers in Sonic's catalog but to say that whole series should be taken out behind the barn and shot is pure rubbish. Besides if that happened, we wouldn't have gotten 2017's excellent retro-inspired Sonic Mania. Sure, Sonic may be past his prime but if we've learned anything from Sonic's long career it is that he's one hedgehog that you shouldn't think is completely out of the game.

Yup, Sonic is 30. As a guy that is just days away from exiting the 30s and joining the 40 club, that makes me feel a bit old. But he isn't too far behind me in age and he and his buddies did have a hand in helping make my childhood cool. 

I am very much stoked that one of my favorite Sonic games, Sonic Colors is coming back in HD via Sonic Colors Ultimate. I'm also super jazzed that Sonic 3 & Knuckles is going to be included in next year's Sonic Origins collection. Did SEGA finally get the music mess with that game sorted out? Man, I hope so because I will go ballistic to play my favorite Sonic game on the Switch. Yes, that is still my favorite Sonic game ever, sorry Sonic Mania fans. 

As for Sonic's 2022 game? I'm curious to see how that game turns out but at the same time, I can see why some would be preparing for the worst, given Sonic's history, but like I said a few paragraphs upward, he's one unpredictable rodent. 

Whatever the future holds for our spiky blue friend, you can count on one thing: no matter how many times he falls, he gets back up and keeps running. And if that isn't a valuable lesson from a video game mascot, I don't know what is.

F-ZERO is Dead

I love F-ZERO. 

Back in the 16-bit days when I really wasn't into racing games, the first F-ZERO entry along with Super Mario Kart helped get me into the genre. Since then I've played more racing games than I ever imagined, including every game in the F-ZERO series that made it outside of Japan. 

F-ZERO is freaking awesome. The cars, the characters, the comic book aesthetic, the rock/metal music, the insane tracks, the sanity crushing difficulty. I love all of it. Or I guess I should say, I did.

F-ZERO being dead isn't a newsflash. The last entry to release outside of Japan was F-ZERO GP Legend on the GBA and that was way back in 2004. When a game hasn't had a new entry in almost twenty years, that is what you call a dead franchise.

Nintendo's futuristic racer has never had the numbers of Mario or the Legend of Zelda series and like any game company, Nintendo is in the business to make money, which is part of the reason we have not seen a new F-ZERO in almost two decades now. The other reason is that Nintendo is under the strong impression that they need to do something new with the to bring the series back. 

I'm all for innovation but new ideas or new ways to play a game don't always pay off. Star Fox Zero was the Star Fox series long awaited return and due to Nintendo's insistence on motion controls and dual screen play, it alienated a large enough portion of fans to once again ground Fox McCloud. I firmly believe Nintendo could bring F-ZERO back on the Switch, introducing the series to a whole new generation, but as long as they remain stuck on a "grand new idea," F-ZERO is pretty much retired.

Strange as it may sound, seeing Kazuya throw Captain Falcon into a volcano during his Super Smash Bros. Ultimate reveal trailer, while it stung, helped me better accept that F-ZERO is dead. I think most would agree that it was very much symbolic of F-ZERO's status with Nintendo right now.

Yeah, F-ZERO is "sleeping" alright. Sleeping eternally. 

Nintendo, I'mma Need You to Chill

I wonder if Nintendo is making up for 2020 by dumping so many games on us for the rest of 2021. Between Nintendo and third parties, the Switch is loaded with the good stuff and I'm pretty sure I heard my wallet fear for its life during Nintendo's E3 Direct.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania was leaked before Nintendo's E3 presentation, but I am still super jazzed for this collection. The first two Super Monkey Ball titles and Deluxe, remastered. Yeah, son, I am here for that. When I pre-ordered my copy, I saw that it comes with a slew of goodies like stickers and an art book. October is gonna be lit!

And speaking of October... Metroid Dread! All of a sudden Metroid Prime 4's development issues don't seem all that important because we got a shine new Metroid game that's just a little over 3 months away! Mercury Steam's work on Metroid: Samus Returns, a remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus was awesome and I am so excited to see them at the helm of the fifth mainline Metroid title. And it looks like we are getting those lovely horror themes from Fusion. As much as the SA-X creeped me out in that game, I'm down to run for my life once again. 

The last new entry in the WarioWare series was Game & Wario on the Wii U and that came out in 2013. WarioWare Gold for the 3DS was a greatest hits collection (still cool, tough) with some new microgames. WarioWare: Get it Together! is a straight up new game and it looks like crazy, Japanese, WarioWare craziness, sooo, *in Rual Julia M. Bison voice* of course, I love it! Can't wait to see what the WarioWare gang is up to! Is Mona still singing? Is Ashley still living in that haunted mansion? What kind of retro game set up in 9-Volt rocking? These are the important questions that we need answers to. 

Advance Wars 1+2 remakes? That was totally left field but I'm sure Advance Wars fans were like dogs on fire hydrants over Re-boot Camp. I actually own both original GBA carts. I've played some of the first one bur Black Hole Rising is still sealed in the box. And it is gonna stay sealed because the remakes look CLEAN. Thankfully this compilation doesn't release until December, giving my wallet a little breathing room.

Mario Golf: Super Rush is due this Friday. I had considered passing on this game but the more I see of it, the more stoked I get. So, yeah, I'll be playing it Friday after work. 

Breath of the Wild II, or whatever Nintendo calls it; I am so freaking happy that game isn't coming out until 2022. This year is already packed with too many games and my pre-order list is packed as is. The last thing I need is to squeeze in another $60 game. And I haven't even mentioned all the games Nintendo showed that I'm jazzed about because there are too many. 

Nintendo, can you please chill for a bit? Like, it would be perfectly fine if you didn't do any big Directs for the rest of the year. Before I watched that Direct, I already had several games on pre-order. Now, I've got way more and that is largely because what what shown is due this year. So, just chill for a while Nintendo. I admire that strong presents you got but I really need you to reign it in, or rather, my wallet needs you to.

Kazuya Comes to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to Yeet Cast into Volcano

Nintendo had their E3 presentation this week, via Nintendo Direct on Tuesday. As I suspected, they kicked things off with a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character reveal. And since Masahiro Sakurai clearly wrote the script for this reveal, the trailer opened up with the death of a character, in this case, Gannondorf. Yes, the king of evil was chucked into a volcano by none other than Kazuya Mishima from the TEKKEN series. 

Looking at the third party reps we've gotten thus far, I didn't think a TEKKEN rep was out of the realm of possibilities. Sakurai did say in the past that he didn't think adding a TEKKEN character would be possible but I didn't hear of this until after Kazuya was revealed. But given the fighters in TEKKEN, if we were to get a rep from this series, my money was on two brawlers, Heihachi or Kazuya. Really, these two were the only logical choices to represent the series in Ultimate.

I'm not a die hard TEKKEN head but even as a casual fan, I do greatly enjoy the series, having played nearly every mainline entry. And Kazuya is a fun character even if you aren't maining him. There's just something about beating on your opponents with the scared Mishima that feels right. If you're worried about projectiles, fret not. Most of the TEKKEN cast are hand to hand fighters. Still, the TEKKEN fighters are some heavy hitters and Kazuya hits like a couple of tanks. That 10 hit combo you saw? That has been a TEKKEN staple since the very first game. It may be pretty complicated to pull off (I could never to the 10 strings) but even his normal moves look nasty. 

Kazuya is looking to have an impressive set of tools but his recovery is probably gonna be garbo. The TEKKEN crew aren't the best in the air and since he's from a fighting game, Kazuya will more than likely have the turn around mechanic that Ryu, Ken and Terry have during one-on-one fights, which I'm perfectly fine with. Being the dirty casual that I am, I can't wait to see how Kazuya is in free-for-all matches and with Spirits. 10 hit combo with Spirits? In the word of the late Captain Falcon, YES!

I gotta admit, it did sting to see Captain Falcon get yeeted like that considering how Nintendo has neglected the F-ZERO series for so long. 

But you wanna know the best part about Kazuya being added to Ultimate? We get TEKKEN music! Man, I don't think you can even comprehend how much I love the music from the TEKKEN series. From the first game up to the latest installment, TEKKEN beats are fire. Emotionless Passion is sure to be included in Kazyua's stage. We heard the original version as well as a sick arrangement during the reveal trailer. I would love for Bandai Namco to let Sakurai and the gang go wild like SNK did with Terry's music selection. However, if that doesn't happen, I do have some songs I'd love to make it in:

Man of Artificiality, I'm Here Now 7s remix, For Hidden Characters, Moonlight Wilderness, Moonsiders 1st, Eddy, Nina, Aim to Win, Dragon's Nest, Marine Stadium, Chicago, USA, Fiji, The Place, 1997, to name a few.

I'm hoping we get a lot of the PS versions of music from TEKKEN 1-3 songs. Not that the arcade versions are bad, but they really do sound like far less fleshed out tracks compared to the PS versions. 

And was anyone really scared for Kirby? Besides sucking, everyone knows the pink puff ball is famous for flying. Still, it was humorous to see Kirby shrug off being tossed into a volcano and just fly out like a G.

Oh and because I feel this post would be incomplete with out it, here's a GIF of Kazuya's (in)famous smile in the first TEKKEN.

Game Builder Garage Has CRAZY Potential

When Nintendo revealed Game Builder Garage in early May, eager would-be couch developer's eyes grew wide, mine included. A legit game creator editor, made by Nintendo themselves, the company notorious for crushing fan projects? Sign us up yesterday! And the asking price is only a cool $30? Gimme, gimme!!!

So, as I write this, the game has been out for a only three days. I've yet to play my copy because I've been busy working and I want some time to really sit down and enjoy it. You know, ease myself into game developing. Unlike Super Mario Maker 2, Game Builder Garage is a little more complicated. OK, so it's A LOT more complicated. Sure the game advertises that anyone can be a game developer but from what I've read and seen, some devs will adapt faster than others. There are some pretty in depth tutorials to help you get you going but even then, it may take you a while to do something like make a 3D camera, or make sprites.

Again, only three days have passed since GBG dropped and already, players have come up with some very impressive stuff. Sonic, DOOM, Super Mario Kart, troll games (yes, they are out there, deal with it) and so much more. As intimidated as I felt about dipping my feet in the water when it came to the first Super Mario Maker, I feel so much more apprehensive about making a game in GBG because in so little time, players have set the bar so tremendously high. At the same time that their creativity makes me feel inadequate, it also adds fuel to my fire. 

If people can build some of the amazing creations we've seen this early on, I can only imagine what we'll see when players get even more time with GBG, really start adjusting to it. The potential GBG has is freaking crazy. I really want Nintendo to give this game updates and new features. If GBG grows a community like Super Mario Maker 2, it could have a nice, healthy life span ahead of it. It looks like the only limit (besides the game nodes) is our imaginations and I'm ready to let mine run wild.

Also, I want a Person Node plush. Available in all the colors. Get on it, Nintendo.

Nintendo Has Created Its Own Legacy Problem

Image by The Verge

Nintendo has once again achieved victory over a site that housed some of its ROMs. If a site has ROMs to their games on, the Big N is not having any of that noise. And Nintey is perfectly within their legal rights to do so. These are their IPs and as everyone knows, Nintendo is quite the papa wolf when it comes to guarding their property. Unfortunately, Nintendo is sole big contributor to their legacy problem. The Switch could have every single one of Nintendo's NES and SNES (and probably N64 as well as GCN) games on it but the only ones keeping that from happening is Nintendo.

You see, Nintendo has this awful habit of, well, being Nintendo. They make some really strange, and quite frankly, stupid decisions on a regular basis. Yeah, I love the games that come from Nintey, but at the same time, I gotta call them out on the nonsense. Nintendo's odd ball choices include peer to peer online, which is why you get all that wonderful lag in Super Mario Maker 2.

"But Reg, Nintendo has old-school games on Nintendo Switch Online!" Those meager offering that amount to samplings? HA, I say, and HA again. What's currently available doesn't even scratch the surface of Nintendo's extensive old-school game library.

Say what you want about Disney. They are money and power hungry. But man, is Disney+ awesome. I love physical media but it is more than nice to have access to so much of Disney's history in one super convenient app. In the mood for some old Donald Duck or Goofy shorts? All the temper tantrums and hyucks are just a few scrolls and taps away. All of the Disney catalog wasn't there for our viewing pleasure on day one (it still isn't) but what was there from the get go was massive. And compared to Nintendo's drip feed, it is a joke. 

Nintendo has used the drip feed model for releasing retro games on current consoles since the Wii era. (For those of you that like numbers, that began in 2006) NES and SNES games are released on Nintendo Switch Online at a snails pace. We should not have to wait months for retro games to hit that app. Nintendo Switch Online has been live for two years and it just recently passed the 100 game mark. That is beyond pathetic. And Switch owners should not have to create a Japanese Switch account to play Japanese versions of retro games or games Nintendo has not released on the app for audiences outside of Japan. For crying out loud, regional switching options have become a standard feature of retro games and compilations.

The Switch remakes of both Famicom Detective Club titles, The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind were some very pleasant, unexpected surprises. For many Switch owners, these remakes would be the first time playing either title and they also served as a reminder of just how deep the Nintendo well can go. I never imagined we would get these adventure games, let alone remakes of them. But for every Samus Returns and Link's Awakening on Switch their are tons of other Nintendo titles that won't get this treatment, which makes re-releasing retro games all the more important. But because Nintendo is gonna Nintendo, who knows when they will get on the ball and get their stuff together.

Super Smash Bros. Fans & Anime Sword Fighters

Photo by NintendoSoup

Blade users. Sword fighters. Swordys. Whatever terminology you prefer, there are plenty of them in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The Fire Emblem cast alone accounts for 8 swordys but Byleth is highly debatable since his/her sword takes on many different forms, making him/her stand out from FE crowd, no matter how much players want to cry "Aggghhh too many FE reps!!!" Outside of FE, you've got the Links from the Legend of Zelda series, Mii Sword Fighter, Pyra/Mythra and Sepiroth. Yeah, that's a lot of people swinging around stabbing sticks. And while people love to complain that "Smash has too many sword fighters!!!", that isn't really the issue. When folks cry about Pyra/Mythra or Sepiroth getting in the game, that isn't what really triggers them. They are mad because the sword fighter they wanted didn't get in.

Dante from Devil May Cry and Sora from Kingdom Hearts are two of the most coveted characters to get into Smash Ultimate. Both are sword fighters. Any talk of "But Sora uses a Key Blade!" is arguing semantics. I've no doubt they would both bring something unique to the Smash table. But Sora is in that Disney web and I can only imagine the nightmare Nintendo and Masahiro Sakurai would have to trudge through to get him. But, the fact remains that Dante and Sora are swordys. Swords fans very much want, but swordys all the same. To some of these people, Pyra/Mythra are occupying Sora's precious spot.

Lloyd from the long running Tales series is another sword user fans have been clamoring. He had a Mii sword fighter costume in Smash 4 but it hasn't returned in Ultimate. At least not yet, anyways. He may not be as high on the gimme gimme list as Dante or Sora, but he's wanted. 

If we get a Smash Ultimate character reveal at this year's E3, I'll be happy for a number of reasons. 

1. It will be another character to add to the game's already massive roster. 

2. If it is a swordy fans will be peeved, leading to Smash fan salt.

3. If it isn't the swordy fans want, there will be Smash fan salt.

4. If it isn't the character fans wanted, there will be Smash fan salt and really, that is the best kind of salt. You can feed off of it for days. Delicious.

Being butthurt about sword fighters in a game of 80 plus characters seems pretty dang pointless. Are there a lot of sword fighters? Yup, but there are far more characters that don't use swords. Crying about sword fighters while also bemoaning the absence of the swordy you wanted comes off as hypercritical. But this is the Smash fanbase we're talking about. Good luck even trying to logic with this bunch.