This Week in Games

Octo-Punch

Welcome back, my readers! I was looking forward to today, because we have a ton of news to go over. I do want to take a moment to thank you guys for your patience last week; I had made a number of mistakes in my Fate: EXTRA recording, and folks in the comments had to correct me. Thanks for sticking with me while I get things right. Also, I was very pleased to see I got at least one person interested in Pokémon Scarlet/Violet! It's my favorite part of this job.

Speaking of jobs: I've been too busy this whole past week to keep up with Xenoblade Chronicles 3. So, uh... looks like I've got a long year ahead of me. Take your bets on how long it'll take me to beat it!

Enough preamble, let's talk about EVO. This is This Week In Games.

A few weeks ago, I bemoaned how so many anime get arena fighters as game adaptations, almost to the exclusion of anything else. Spoke too soon, because it looks like Made in Abyss is getting an RPG! Not an arena fighter, not a fighting game, a full-on dungeon-crawling RPG! Let's just pop the hood and oh dear God, Aki

So, uh, ignoring how much Aki gets brutally murdered in this trailer (par the course for Made in Abyss), this trailer details the RPG mechanics. It reminds me a little of Etrian Odyssey crossed with Breath of Fire: Dragon's Quarter: you enter a dungeon with randomized enemy and item locations, exploring the map while completing quests for people back in the village. You can collect items to be sold back at home base, which in turn allows for item upgrades. Unlike a usual Roguelike, the map appears to stay constant, and you don't lose your experience points when you bite the big one—and going by the trailer, there are plenty of ways to meet your end. Thankfully, leveling up allows you to learn new skills for maneuvering around enemies. Weapon durability is a factor, so don't get too attached to your pickaxes, hatchets, guns or bows; conversely, you can make stronger weapons out of relics. The trailer features plenty of characters from the anime, many voiced by their dub actors. Binary Star Falling into Darkness is on track for release this September 2, God help Aki...

August 10 saw the release of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak's first Free Title Update. There was a nifty trailer to summarize all the new content!

First off, four new monsters: Golden Rathian, Silver Rathalos, Lucent Nargacuga, Seething Bazelgeuse, plus a bevy of new Afflicted monsters. A new area, the Forlorn Arena, with new quests cycling in weekly. The new Anomaly Investigations—repeatable quests which level up with time, granting greater rewards at the risk of increasingly stronger encounters with ever-stronger monsters. Finally, there are the usual balancing fixes and cosmetic paid DLC add-ons, like new emotes, hairstyles, and outfits. If you play the game on Steam, you can also look forward to new Achievements.

This is just the first wave of content too: later in September, we can look forward to the second Free Title Update, which will include new monster variants, rare species, and new subspecies. We also have another update slated for this winter and a vague promise for further content in 2023. Sharpen your weapons, and keep your eye on the Kulu-Ya-Kus.

So I just remembered TemTem was a thing that exists. The last I heard of it was when Sword/Shield was in production and a lot of Pokémon fans found themselves displeased with the offerings. TemTem has been in a very slow development since then, and Version 1.0 has finally been given a release date: September 6, 2022. What's on tap? Well, this handy trailer breaks it down:

The game has plenty of battle modes to go through: co-op challenge modes, endless dungeons that you can tackle with random TemTem collections, and lots and lots of customization options. Folks who bemoan that you can't own a house in Pokémon can look forward to many decoration options in TemTem. There will also be season passes and updating themes. There wasn't too much information on the TemTems you could collect, but the ones shown off in the trailer are a nice mix of cool and cute—a far cry from the blue platypus that the original art used to show off.

Pokémon as a franchise definitely isn't immune to criticism and there are valid arguments that a forced yearly release schedule has done more harm than good to the series, preventing it from truly being able to innovate or improve. And to TemTem's credit, it definitely has grown past its initial “We're gonna make our own Pokémon with blackjack and hookers!” vibe, nailing the charming blend of approachable science-fiction and fantasy that has made Pokémon the memorable world that it is. That, and a game actually standing up to Pokémon and attempting to improve the formula might light a few fires under the collective rears of The Powers That Be over at GAME FREAK.

I'm side-eying the season passes, though, because I just flat-out hate that business model full-stop. Doubly so when the game already has a $45 price tag and a $65 digital deluxe edition (and no, cosmetics don't make up for it—remember when you used to be able to just unlock hats through gameplay?). Nevertheless, I give TemTem a cautious nod. Cautious, because for all that people have insisted that Pokémon can't continue the way it can, it clearly has—and there's a long trail behind it littered with the bones of franchises that have tried to topple it. I still remember people insisting that Yokai Watch was going to be a Pokémon-killer... If there's a thing in TemTem's favor, it's outgrown that spiteful origin. Folks can look forward to giving TemTem the old college try this September; it'll be out on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox 1.

They sure keep me busy with this column. Last week, I woke up early for the Pokémon Direct; this Wednesday it was a Splatoon 3 Direct. Nintendo had a lot of news to share, so let's spill some ink on it all.

First off: weapons! All the old weapons are back, plus two new weapons: the “splatana” (a long roller that sends out a wave of ink) and the stringer (basically a bow). There are also new special weapons like the Tacticooler (drops drinks that serve as buffs for teammates), the Wavebreaker (a tower that sends out rhythmic shockwaves that have to be leaped over), and the Reeflsider. That last one is my personal favorite, it's a weaponized inflatable shark that charges down enemies and explodes. You need to earn Sheldon Licenses from ranking up in matches or using weapons repeatedly to earn new weapons.

Meanwhile, matches are also affected by two new moves: the Squid Roll and the Squid Surge. Squid Rolls help you rapidly change direction while you're swimming in ink pools, and the Squid Surge helps you scale any surface that's been tagged in ink. These and other maneuvers are affected by whatever stat bonuses you get from your outfits, so “staying fresh” is a must in order to maintain the edge with your playstyle. Also, if a piece of clothing you love doesn't have a skill you need, you can go somewhere to swap outfit abilities.

There will be 12 stages at launch, and four were showcased in the Direct. Scorch Gorge was a pretty basic wasteland arena, but we also saw Eeltail Alley, Mincemeat Metalworks and Undertow Spillway. More stages will be coming in as free DLC later down the line. Nintendo's general roadmap is new content every three months for two years after release. There will also be “large-scale” paid DLC in the form of two new gameplay modes, X Battle and League Battle. The former requires a high rank in Anarchy Battle mode, and the latter allows players to take part in matches along with other players every two hours. Also, the Direct teased Splatoon 2's Marina and Pearl as DLC...

Locker rooms were also showcased. They're basically a more elaborate online card: players can customize lockers with their favorite gear, favorite weapons, or even customized art they've drawn themselves. Also, because Miiverse doesn't exist anymore, it's possible to draw and save your own art on the Switch screen. It's nice to see the Miiverse functionality back, considering how much fun that was in the original Splatoon.

There is a new story mode titled Return of the Mamalians, where players will team up with fan favorites Cali and Mari to face off against hordes of hairy Octopoids. There's also Salmon Run, where four players team up to face off against hordes of Salmonids. New enemy types were introduced, like the Slammin' Lids and the Big Shots. There are also new Big Run events where players team up to defend the city from invading Salmonids.

But the real important bit is the new hosts—and Nintendo delivered! Meet Deep Cut!

Consisting of Shiver and Frye and their friend, Big Man the Ray, Deep Cut are the new hosts of the Splatcast and the new singers for the game. There being three new hosts means there's a new dynamic to the Splatfests—they'll now have three sides to every match. Splatfests will now have two phases, one where each team faces off against each other 1v1, but there will also be a second phase where whichever team is in the lead has to defend against the other two teams. This is a really fun dynamic, and it addresses one of the bigger issues with older Splatfests: sometimes, folks would just overwhelmingly prefer one side over the other. While there's still a threat with one of the three sides being overlooked, now the second phase of the Splatfest means they at least have a chance to unseat the lead team. Players can look forward to a taste of the new Splatfest dynamics with the upcoming Splatfest on August 27, which is centered around Rock, Paper or Scissors. Hey, I wonder if they'll try having a Splatfest based on Fire Emblem: Three Houses...

Silly crossovers aside, there will also be a Splatlands Invitational at PAX West. Players interested are advised to pay attention to the Nintendo VS Twitter for more. Everyone else can look forward to Splatoon 3 releasing on September 9. A trio of Amiibo are slated for the game's release too.

My boy Sonicfox might have walked away the champion of Skullgirls at this year's EVO, but it's safe to say that fighting game aficionados worldwide are the real winners. We saw a treasure trove of exciting news this past weekend, so let's start breaking it all down:

First up: rollback netcode. In today's day and age, it is an absolute necessity for any game to cultivate an online community. Full stop. Smash Bros Ultimate is one of the best fighting games out there, but you try finding people to play online. Perfectly good fighting games wither on the vine because you simply can't fight people online; the news that Granblue Fantasy: Versus would be holding a global community tournament was met with more skepticism than anything else because even a $15,000 pot and exclusive skins can't make that game's delay-based netcode function any better. Doods and Flophouse fanatics alike have called for rollback for years and years—and it looks like we're finally making some headway. This past weekend, we saw announcements from both SNK and Arc System Works on the matter: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax on PC and PS4 was updated with rollback netcode, and 2019's Samurai Shodown will be updated with it as soon as Spring 2023.

This is great news for players everywhere, especially since SNK and Arc System Works have already implemented rollback in other titles. Arc did it for Guilty Gear -Strive-, which I am told works pretty well, and King of Fighters XV also features it. With both Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Samurai Shodown featuring a good bit of activity from fans, this is a delayed win but a welcome one nevertheless. Hopefully, this spells a rolling change moving forward for fighting games.

Speaking of SNK: they had another bombshell for us in the form of a whole bevy of new characters for King of Fighters XV. Last week, they quietly announced that Team Orochi was returning to the series, with Orochi Yashiro, Orochi Shermie and Orochi Chris assembling together. But we've also got a new team incoming: Team Samurai. And hey, it's the gang from Samurai Shodown!

Haohmaru, series protagonist; Nakoruru, the Ainu premium-girl of the Samurai Shodown series; and—in a twist that no doubt has Woolie Madden screaming for joy—SamSho newcomer Darli Dagger, are set to joing KOFXV. With Haohmaru in the mix, KOF proudly boasts the protagonists of all four of its iconic fighting series: my boy Terry Bogard, from Fatal Fury; Kyo Kusanagi, who burst onto the scene with King of Fighters way back in 1994; Ryo Sakazaki, the leading man from Art of Fighting; and now Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown. It's a veritable victory lap for SNK.

And of course, Nakoruru had to be there, being that she's quite possibly one of the other most recognizable SNK characters. Darli's presence is interesting, given that SNK could have gone with any number of other familiar faces: Charlotte, Tam-Tam, Cham-Cham, Shizumaru Hisame (shut up, he's my favorite Samurai), maybe Iroha or Mina if they wanted to lean in on the established cheesecake girls. But Darli also represents the vanguard of new blood from the newest Samurai Shodown game, and her own design is striking, what with the serrated saw-blade she swings as a sword. She fits in quite well with the rest of the crew.

We also had a preliminary look at the concept art for the second wave of DLC characters: Shingo Yabuki, who hasn't been seen in King of Fighters since 2002: Unlimited Match (and is voiced by Takehito Koyasu, so prepare for some friggin' VOICES); and Kim Kaphwan, last seen in King of Fighters XIV. They'll be landing sometime next year, at the time of writing. Finally, King of Fighters XV is getting crossplay, further facilitating matchmaking between players of all versions of the game!

And because SNK wasn't quite done yet, they had another teaser: a new Fatal Fury game is being made!

Er. Or maybe a new Garou: Mark of the Wolves? It's complicated; Fatal Fury has been largely “over” as a series since the 90s, with many of the Fatal Fury cast brought back time and again for the greater King of Fighter series, consistency with the Fatal Fury series be damned (because by this point, Geese Howard is just a bloody smear on the pavement several times over). Meanwhile, Garou: Mark of the Wolves (a new fighting series starring an older Rock Howard, the son of Geese who was later raised to be a much nicer person by Terry Bogard) was beloved but a one-off for the longest time. There was a plan to make a follow-up back in the day, but that game never came to fruition.

So while the trailer teases a possible Fatal Fury, the fact that it's Rock Howard taking up the front-and-center (and not Terry) implies Garou is pulling a “Metroid Dread” and finally getting finished after all this time. How un-PREDICTABLE!

It's here that we must remind you that SNK is owned by Mohammed bin Salamn, crown prince of Saudi Arabia, who is responsible for the beheading of The Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the war in Yemen. While we like to talk about the fun parts of gaming, it's impossible to ignore the political realities of their creation, and while I certainly will not throw stones at anyone who still plays King of Fighters (hell, I'm waiting on a steelbox of the Fatal Fury movie myself), I nevertheless denounce the human rights violations that shadow SNK.

Human rights violations notwithstanding, it seemed everyone else had DLC characters to announce. Future Club rang in Skullgirls' tenth anniversary with the final member of their Season 1 pass for Skullgirls: Second Encore. And it's the Skullgirl, Marie! No, literally, not “Marie, the girl from Skullgirls”, she's the literal, titular Skullgirl. It's a long story.

Voiced by Kira Buckland, bless her Jolyne-loving heart, Marie is the final boss for many of the original story modes and arcade modes in Skullgirls. And for a moment, it's curious she was chosen—after all, Dagonian fishgirl-waitress Minette is right over there and people have been obsessed with her since 2012. But it makes sense! Apocrypha claims that some of the old creative leads on Skullgirls (who are no longer associated with the project) underlined Black Dahlia, Umbrella and Marie as vital characters for the “proper” ending to the game. They sadly didn't make it through during that first Indiegogo campaign all those years ago, but they're all nevertheless important to the story.

Dahlia, cyborg hired gun for the Vitali family, is one of the few characters old enough to have seen the rise and fall of several Skullgirls (in addition to being the one who is responsible for Squigly being a zombie—long story). Canopy Kingdom-princess Umbrella was affected by the Skullgirl-creating Skull Heart when she was still being carried in her mother Queen Nancy Renoir's womb, giving her a connection to the Skull Heart, and Marie is the current Skullgirl. Heck, you can even rope Annie into the whole thing; moonlighting as a kids' show hostess, Annie has been hunting Skullgirls for ages. So count me excited for seeing the story for Skullgirls continuing! The folks at Future Club have been through a lot in order to see Skullgirls continue, and it's a veritable victory story for them to get a third chance.

Gushing aside, Marie's presence in Skullgirls: Second Encore means she'll also be making an appearance in Skullgirls Mobile, the mobile game port of the Skullgirls universe that's actually an incredibly meaty game of its own (and also has a ton of prequel content for the mainline Skullgirls games). Also, Future Club had a ton of collectible cards based off of the character cards from Skullgirls Mobile, and I am forever bummed out that I couldn't actually go to EVO to get one. I don't even want a fancy one, I just want one of Parasoul's default scheme. Look, Parasoul's my favorite girl in Skullgirls, I have her poster on my wall and everything. I don't know what I have to do just to get a trading card based off of her Sheltered scheme, but I'll do it.

Capcom didn't allow themselves to lag behind, giving a one-two punch of new fighters of their own for Street Fighter VI. First up was Kimberly, who I am absolutely charmed by. A graffiti-spraying ninja girl, she seems to sport tons of fun dashes and command grabs. Her special has her dashing around people, spraying a tag on the floor. She's bright and peppy and a definite breath of fresh air. I can't wait for more people to fall in love with her, she seems like she'd be great friends with Ibuki.

But we're also seeing a returning character: Juri Han is back to make the folks desperate to be stepped on bark like wild, rabid dogs. She's as flashy and as poisonous as ever, so folks who love their baddies are being fed tonight. We also caught a few new glimpses of the stages, and I'm happy that Kimberly's alleyway has a ton of familiar faces: Damnd is there from Final Fight, and Poison and Hugo are doing their thing too. It's nice to see Street Fighter stages reference their old faces again—I just hope I can someday see Q's mysterious form lurking somewhere in the shadows...

We touched on Arc System Works earlier, and I wanna circle back to them—like a yo-yo, if you will. With massive applause from EVO's audience, Bridget was announced for Guilty Gear -Strive-—and released the very next day!

Bridget hasn't been seen in Guilty Gear in a hot minute, and sporting a fun new theme song called “The Town Inside Me” (which is a banger), there's never been a better time for her return. And, uh, yeah, about the elephant in the room: similar to Testament having been revealed as a non-binary character, Bridget's story mode has her reveal that she identifies as a woman now. Her in-game bio uses female pronouns, and her story mode ending is about her finding peace with her identity on her own terms, regardless of what people from her own village might have intended or believed about her. It's a heartwarming bit of writing that speaks to how much Guilty Gear and its characters have grown over the past few years (to say nothing of Daisuke Ishiwatari himself), and it's cute to see Goldlewis and Ky Kisuke offer their support to Bridget once she makes her mind.

There has been much consternation on the internet from certain parties concerning this, and much like with Lily from Zombie Land Saga, there were numerous attempts at discrediting Bridget's ending and character changes: from claims that this was only on the translation side (it wasn't, the Japanese writing still maintains it), to claims that this was only in a “bad ending” for the game (it's not, Strive doesn't have “bad ends” and none of the alternate endings contradict Bridget's female pronoun bio) to bad-faith arguments that this is somehow “grooming” when considering Bridget's story (it's not, because Bridget left that village in the first place). It's a very long, tiring argument steeped in bigoted sentiment, much of it stemming from ignorance.

While some have claimed that this is nevertheless awkward given how Bridget was raised as a girl in order to avoid a prophecy, the truth of the matter that people's personal journeys discovering their own identity are often messy and winding. People are mercurial and ever-changing and our understanding of ourselves and the world around us can change by the day. The important thing is that people are able to find their identity and live their truth by their own terms—heck, Bridget's theme, “The Town Inside Me”, is all about that. And I don't have any patience for people who feel like making nuisances of themselves because they refuse to accept the many kinds of people they share this world with.

Bridget finding happiness and acceptance in her identity aside, Arc System Works also announced that Dragon Ball FighterZ is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S—with rollback netcode, even. Anyone who owns a PS4 or Xbox One copy is also eligible for a free upgrade to a PS5/Xbox X-or-S copy. Reportedly, PC versions can also run rollback, but that's set as an option. Apparently, you'll need a stronger rig if you want to run rollback, which is apparently also why the older versions of the game aren't getting rollback. Hey, progress is progress. Someday, all fighting games will have rollback and this era will just be a bad memory. FighterZ is also getting some network tests for crossplay later this autumn, more news to follow.

Bandai Namco also had news for us regarding Tekken. First off, there are some balance updates coming to the game. Nothing too dramatic. It was the other reveal that had people scrambling...

Riffing off of that old, famous image of Kazuya dropping Heihachi off of a cliff, we cut to a newly-rendered image of Kazuya's defiant red-eyed smirk, with the warning to “GET READY”. It's too soon to say if this is a new Tekken game—or if it's a new Tekken Tag Tournament, because hey, weirder things have happened. The time is right for it: Tekken 7 is getting very long in the tooth. I mean, it appeared in Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, then again in Mashin Sentai Kiramaiger. That's four years between them, man! And Tekken 7 was already a year old when it appeared in Ex-Aid! Tokusatsu aside, I think that Tekken 7's days are numbered. We'll be following this story intently. And that wraps up our EVO—wait, I almost forgot!

Hugh Neutron in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. And he's still voiced by Mark DeCarlo, even! His moves are goofy and duck-themed, as you can imagine, and he's available to play as of this writing! Send 'em to the Shadow Realm, Hubie-Doobie-Doo!

That's it from me. As you read this, I'll probably be busy with a friend's birthday. I'm hoping everyone found stuff they're excited for this week! Do we have anyone else really wishing Minette was in Skullgirls? Who else is happy about all the games getting updated with rollback netcode? What's your over-under on me beating Xenoblade Chronicles 3 before Winter 2023? Have at it in the comments. Be good to each other, I'll see you in seven.