This Week in Games

To the Moon!

Hi folks! I'm sitting here counting down the hours until I can download Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. Yes, I have it on Wii U, but I am extremely willing (read: a sucker) to pay full MSRP to once again play through one of the best Mario games with a few new bits. Also, I'm not sure where my Wii U AC Adaptor went. Oh well.

Also, that other bit I'd be doing here on ANN? You'll see it next week. I had a ton of fun with it, so please look forward to reading!

So not long after this column went live last week, my Twitter feed was absolutely swamped with furious keyboard mashing and HOLY SHIT and AAAAAAAAAA reactions. What could possibly have caused such a frenzied, incoherent ruckus?

Oh, Final Fantasy XIV. Yeah, that checks out.

FINAL FANTASY XIV IS SENDING GUNDAM HEALERS TO SPAAAAAAAAACE

There's a lot of Final Fantasy XIV news, boy howdy!

Endwalker is the name of the newest expansion, set for release this fall. It's going to be another hefty addition, bringing new locations, new jobs, new enemies, and plenty of new story content – including the end of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark plot.

You'll travel to places that you have heard about but not seen before: Thavnair and the city Rads-at-Han, Imperial capital Garlemald, and most importantly, THE FRIGGIN’ MOON

As you journey, you'll be able to raise your level to the new cap of 90! You'll also have access to two new jobs once you fulfill the requirements. One of these jobs hasn't been elaborated on it, but we know it's a damage-dealing melee class. Some are speculating that it might be Necromancer, based on the fashion choices of Naoki Yoshida during the presentation. Yes, that's how he hints at things.

Squeenix was more than happy to tell us all about the other new job, though: the Sage! Or, as my Twitter timeline called them, “OMG GUNDAM HEALERS WTF???”

Other things announced: housing available on Ishgard! Estinien Wyrmblood as a Trust NPC! New PANDAEMONIUM raid! Anima from Final Fantasy X as a primal! A farming-sim island!

And finally: the Arkasodara. A beast tribe of BLUE ELEPHANTS. I love these folks already.

It'll be a while before Endwalker materializes, but there's some good stuff coming in the April 13^th patch to help make the wait a bit more bearable. An open beta for the PS5 version of FFXIV will release alongside the patch, so if you're lucky enough to have a PS5, you can enjoy 4K FFXIV goodness!

Phew, okay. I think that's most of it. I'm sure that if I missed something important I'll hear about it in the forum comments. Moving on to other games…

FIGHTING GAME NEWS: WHOA NELLY, THERE'S A LOT GOING ON

First off, the Guilty Gear Strive open beta will be hitting PS4 and PS5 very soon! It starts on the 19^th (the 17^th if you've got the game pre-ordered) and will be running through the 21^st. Most of the initial cast will be playable… except for Anji. Sorry, Anji.

By the by, did you all see that incredibly cute Dizzy Nendoroid the Good Smile Company showed off over the weekend?

I can't resist the adorability! I've always loved Dizzy's design even though I'm not a Guilty Gear-head. But as a haver of many Nendoroids, I hope that she has multiple stand pieces because otherwise she is never going to stand up straight. Nendoroids are top-heavy as is and this one's going to have some serious balance issues.

Next up, this week's King of Fighters XV trailer! It's none other than our longtime Fatal Fury favorite, Joe Higashi!

This is some good timing with that other thing I've been doing, heh heh. That's a hint!

And now, Street Fighter V! We got a slew of Season Five-related announcements on Thursday… but one of the surprises actually leaked the day before, when Twitch decided to send out an email about the upcoming reveal of Eleven. Whoops! Man, CAPCOM just can't catch a break.

Unfortunately, Eleven really isn't worth getting all that excited about. People had visions in their head of “Twelve from Street Fighter III, only he doesn't totally suck to play,” but instead, they just got “Twelve from Street Fighter III except it's permanent X.C.O.P.Y. Super Art so he's just Tekken’s Mokujin with a terrible color scheme.” He's also a Season Pass exclusive. Well, at least he's not one of the promised Season Five mystery characters!

It wasn't a complete disappointment, though, as we saw more of Dan Hibiki while also getting a first glimpse of how Rose will play. She has a new stage, Marina of Fortune, and a whole mess of new skills.

Also new to the game: V-Shift! For the cost of one V-meter bar, you can do a quick backwards dodge maneuver while slowing your opponent for a split second, allowing you to mount a counterattack from a safe distance. It nullifies a lot of stuff when active, including throws and projectiles. You can then mount a counterattack using the follow-up V-Shift-Break. This all drops on February 22^nd! Well, except for Rose, she'll be hitting in spring.

Oh, also, Bandai-Namco sent me an email that casually mentioned another Tekken 7 character is coming in March. So there's that.

That's a healthy slate of announcements, I think! It's a really good time to be a fighting game fan, huh?

ASSORTED NEWSBITS

• Kingdom Hearts is coming to PC! Yeah, that's been a bit overdue, huh? Unfortunately for some, it might be an Epic Games Store exclusive for an unspecified amount of time, given that the ports were revealed during the Epic Games Store Showcase.
• The next Sonic the Hedgehog movie was officially announced and confirmed for a 2022 release date. You'll never guess what it's called!
• Kickstarter success story and Suikoden spiritual successor Eiyuden Chronicles has found a publishing partner in 505 Games, who previously handled titles like Indivisible and Bloodstained. You can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Deep Silver is not involved.
• New Game+ Expo, an online showcase devoted to Japanese and niche indie titles with a Japanese influence, will have its 2021 broadcast come March 4. Looking forward to it!

That's another week down! So, FFXIV folks: what're your thoughts on everything that was shown? Are you planning on picking up any new jobs come fall? Fighting game fans, are you looking forward to giving GG Strive a whirl next week? Or maybe you're thinking of learning Rose and Dan when they debut in Street Fighter V? There's a lot worth talking about, and you can join the conversation in the forums! I'm going to relax with some Mario time while I wait out the local snowstorm. See you all again soon!