This Week in Games

We Wanted To Quote Luca Blight And/Or M. Bison, But It All Sounded Too Edgelord-y

Hello, everyone! We're in the wake of Tokyo Game Show and the one-two punch of a Nintendo Direct and a Sony State of Play, so it's time to wind down along with summer as we prepare for autumn.

I just wanted to say that it was really heartwarming to see all of the discussion in the forums last week. Makes me happy to know I gave you folks stuff to get excited about. I thank you for reading me this far! With that said, a lot of folks got ahead of the discussion last week when it came to some of the announcements. Trust me, I totally wanted to cover that stuff, but we already had a monster of a column and we had to cut off at some point—else the column would have come out on Saturday and it would've been the length of a whole book. Also, we had the Fall Manga Preview Guide to prep for this week. As you can imagine, I didn't get much time for Xenoblade Chronicles 3—or heck, any game really. Welcome to the world of adults talking about video games: sometimes, you don't get to play the games you talk about~!

This is This Week In Games.

This was news CAPCOM announced right freaking after our cut-off time last week, so folks were abuzz about this in the forums and I only get to talk about it now. And this is very near and dear to my heart: CAPCOM is actually making a Mega Man: Battle Network Legacy Collection!

I never thought I'd live to see the day for this. Battle Network was fairly maligned by a lot of the Mega Man old blood back in the early '00s. Many fans resented this "Pokémon"-esque take on Mega Man and its many reimaginings of classic Robot Masters. That they were sequestered to the GameBoy Advance was just further insult to injury—folks really, really had it out for handhelds back then. Meanwhile, a whole generation of Mega Man fans popped up in the wake off the Battle Network games. Bolstered by the Mega Man: NT Warrior anime also airing on Kids WB, we were all introduced to Lan and his digital partner, the Net Navi Mega Man.EXE. I loved Battle Network; the redesigns for Mega Man and his fellow Net Navis had all of the best tokusatsu flavorings, as did all of Mega Man's fancy power ups like his various Styles and his Soul Crosses. That Battle Network would also go on to cross over with my beloved Boktai series and introduce the freaking badass Sol Cross form—which, of course, we never got to see in any of the American releases of the Battle Network games because Konami had given up on Boktai by then. That these games were RPGs instead of platformers also complicated things.

But someone at CAPCOM decided "Nuts to that!" and here we are! Fans can look forward to ten of the Battle Network games collected in one set. Technically, it's only six games, but CAPCOM is counting the variants between each title as their own game; starting with Battle Network 3, each Battle Network game had Pokémon-styled "versions" with exclusive Net Navi encounters, battle chips, and forms. Sadly, Mega Man: Battle Chip Challenge isn't included in the set; it's a spin-off of the series with its own unique battle system. It's not great, but seeing as previous Mega Man collections included weird spin-offs like Battle And Chase or The Power Battles, I held out hope that this set would be complete. Curiously, they're not including the Mega Man: Star Force series either, which was basically the updated Mega Man: Battle Network formula on the Nintendo DS. Considering the Mega Man Zero collection also included the ZX games, I'd held out some hope—maybe they'll be in another set later down the line? There's also no sign of Mega Man: Network Transmission, the recursive adaptation of the Battle Network games into a classic Mega Man-style side-scrolling platformer. That last one, as I recall, was stuck in limbo due to rights issues so its absence makes more sense. As far as goodies are concerned, we can look forward to online battling and chip trading. So congratulations: Battle Chip Challenge aside, this is everything you could want from a Battle Network collection. They're also including that mandatory ugly filter that smooths out the pixels in the games; it's ugly and I've hated those filters. They've never looked good, not once. Please stop, game developers. You're making the game look like finger paintings.

The last bit of fanservice is a really cute one, and it shows to the love that CAPCOM has put into the collection:

CAPCOM's got a cheeky little 3D Mega Man.EXE to chat you up on the title screen for the collection! Best of all, CAPCOM dug deep—in a move that made a lot of '00s kids extremely happy, CAPCOM actually tracked down Andrew Francis so he could reprise Mega Man.EXE's voice after having voiced him in the NT Warrior dub all those years ago! He definitely sounds much older after 20 years, but it's still him. It makes me smile to see this kind of love and effort put into this collection. I've said before that I have very fond memories of playing Battle Network with my best friends in high school. Hearing Francis's voice just makes it all that much better.

Of course, with all of these Legacy collections compiling the classic, X, Zero and ZX and now Battle Network titles, the question remains: what is to come for that most elusive of Mega Man spin-offs, Mega Man Legends? Fans have been waiting for that one for a while, and the tragic handling of Mega Man Legends 3 still has many fans of The Blue Bomber in arms. It's fair enough if we never see a Legends 3 (and as bitter as this sounds, I argue that the hordes of people that sneered at there being "too many" Mega Man sequels in the '00s don't deserve Legends 3—if you hate sequels that bad, you can just go back to playing the original Mega Man). But there's never been a better time for Legends to come back. A Mega Man Legends Legacy Collection including both numbered titles, and The Misadventures of Tron Bonne? Sign me up! For now, though, let's allow Mega Man.EXE his time in the sun. It's been way too long for the little guy. Look forward to this one on PlayStation, Switch and Steam.

Of the many series Konami was content to leave by the wayside, few were missed more than the Suikoden series. Based off of the Chinese novel Shuihu Zhuan (also known as Warriors of the Marsh), the series tells the tale of grand epic wars and the hopeful idealist who sets out to end them, bound by fate to reunite the fabled 108 Stars of Destiny—the chosen warriors who are destined to bring peace to the land. Not all of them fight, many of the Stars of Destiny open up fun features at your home base, but each one has their own story to tell in the ever-expanding world. It also is the series that brought Luca Blight to the world—quite possibly one of the most evil, horrifying, despicable villains in a JRPG ever. Think DIO voiced by Tomokazu Seki. The first two Suikoden titles are the most beloved. Not that Suikoden III and onward were bad, but the first two were bold new experiences back when they released on the PS1, in addition to having nifty save features where bonuses from the first game could be imported to the second. And it's been ages since they've been available in the US! Hell, back in the PSP days, folks were bitter that the US never got the PSP Suikoden ports. In a stunning show of... not being the worst, Konami announced that the US would finally have those wrongs righted. Suikoden is coming back to the US!

Titled Suikoden I&II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Reunification Wars, this set brings both titles to the HD era. While they're not quite in the HD-2D style like the recent Live-A-Live remake (the mind reels to think of what that would look like), they've really polished up the lavish 2D sprites and 3D backgrounds. The 3D looks a little sparse, but it's those sprites that we're here for: their stylish combat moves have never looked better.

A lot of fans are wondering where the later Suikoden titles are, and I won't lie: those games definitely deserve a second glance. While Suikoden III wasn't quite as great as its predecessors, it was still a worthy JRPG. Suikoden IV appeared to have a fascinating naval theme to it, and Suikoden V released in 2006 when it became popular to hate JRPGs. Suikoden Tactics was an attempt at turning the games into a strategy series (it came out just before Suikoden V, but the last title we saw was Suikoden Tierkreis on the Nintendo DS. Many of these got overlooked for one reason or another, it would be just lovely for them all to get a second chance. But for now, we've had several generations of people who've just never had a chance to play the originals—it's never been a better time.

And it's just kinda weird that Konami is just... releasing them? Like, there isn't a "monkey's paw" to any of this. No forced gacha element, no random thug popping up at your house to kneecap you, no pachinko... it's just a straight-up remastering of the first two Suikoden games and it's coming to PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and Steam in 2023. It's kinda scary: it's the first undeniably good thing Konami has done in a very, very long time. Folks were convinced we had seen the last of Suikoden, such that we even had a spiritual successor on the way in the form of Eiyuden Chronicles. I guess sometimes you can win...

Meant to serve as a spiritual replacement to Suikoden, a la Bloodstained in regards to Castlevania, Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes stands to be another epic JRPG with a cast of over 100 characters as they carry out a war to save their realm. That tile is still in development, but it turns out we're getting a prequel to tide us over in the meantime. And that prequel is... an adventure game?

Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising already received a digital release this past May, but it's to receive a physical release on January 26th, 2023 for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. Instead of a JRPG, Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising is a 2D side-scrolling action RPG. Playing as a trio of adventurers (one of them is a kangaroo, you're gonna have to learn to deal with that to roll with the cool kids), you explore barrows near your Podunk village as you discover what will become the seeds to the major plot for the main Eiyuden Chronicles game. The combat looks fun, like a faster-paced Odin Sphere, and there's a fun mechanic where venturing into the barrows helps you improve your home village. It's all meant to tide us over until the proper Eiyuden Chronicles is released, but it still looks plenty fun. Now, to wait for Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes to release...

SEGA-apologist that I am, I was very taken with the original Freedom Planet. A tribute to the classic Sonic the Hedgehog-styled mascot platformers of old (complete with Blast Processing-esque speed and loops), it definitely succeeded at capturing that charming 16-bit style and aesthetic. You could see a lot of its roots as a Sonic the Hedgehog fangame (protagonist Lilac looks eerily like a hedgehog with long hair, and Lord Brevon's eyebrows bring Dr. Eggman's to mind). But there was nevertheless a lot of creativity... albeit with its own fair share of issues. The team at Galaxy Trails nevertheless endeavored to take a second bite at that apple, and as of last week their efforts bore fruit: Freedom Planet 2 is finally out on Steam and Itch.io!

Now, I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, so I've only got the trailer to go off of. But so far, it looks like the team at Galaxy Trails took a good hard look at Freedom Planet and carefully went over every last bit to improve on what they established. For starters, the original art style has been replaced: it's still a phenomenal look, but it helps to give the game more of its own visual aesthetic. Each character now plays a bit more straightforwardly (read: Milla finally has a proper attack), and the game's blend of combat with platforming has finally been rounded out with a much-needed Guard-button. A new and creative Revival system lets you get that one extra shot at a boss at the expense of an extra life, albeit you come back with only two hit points. There are now Charms and Amulets that let you mess with the games difficulty, buffing your abilities or debuffing you in exchange for earning more Crystals. And finally, there's a new playable character: Neera the Frost Knight.

The action looks hectic and the bosses all look like they're trying their hardest to put Seven Force to shame—and they're doing a bang-up job at it. Best of all, Galaxy Trails was very nice and created a Youtube playlist consisting of Freedom Planet 2's soundtrack!

As mentioned earlier, Freedom Planet 2 is currently available on Steam and Itch.io. Currently, we have no word on a console release, but Freedom Planet was very popular indeed as far as indie games go; hopefully, it's only a matter of time until the likes of Limited Run Games gives it a home console release. Here's hoping!

(For best effect, read this while the Unsolved Mysteries theme is playing)

Last week, we covered Among Us teasing a collab with Vtubers. It was pretty obvious that some of the Hololive streamers were going to be involved. So, to the surprise of very few people: it's been confirmed, and is currently live!

In hindsight, I was right on three of the four streamers: I was spot-on with Gura, Amelia and Fubuki, but I missed out on the top-left streamer (I thought it would be Mori, I was wrong). The outfit parts are currently available in a Comsicube that will be on sale until December 20th—once December 20th rolls around, you'll be left without being able to cosplay your waifu. It's way cool to see Among Us collaborating with Hololive, and even incorporating an even spread of both the American and Japanese branches. I'm looking forward to more vtuber collaborations in American games in the future!

Folks that follow me know that I care a lot about the wellbeing of writers in this industry. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to write this column on a weekly basis, let alone being able to follow my dream of writing about video games and get a nice paycheck for it. But this isn't a very easy industry, and lots of people find themselves putting in a lot of work only to find themselves on their one from one day to the next. So it was that last week, a number of writers employed by Fanbyte found themselves receiving pink slips rather suddenly—some of them even were asleep in Japan, preparing to cover Tokyo Game Show.

It's a story I've seen time and time again, many of which happening to writers I've long considered more talented than myself. The only difference is that this time, Tencent was the company that pulled the trigger. Fanbyte had made a name for itself covering wrestling and MMOs, which has a surprising bit of overlap in nerd circles (I mean, heck, 90% of Vtubing is kayfabe on its face). Tencents downsizing came on the heels of G4TV and Future also axing many of their writing teams.

Video games as an industry depends on and feeds off of passion: you need passionate developers to make the games people love, and you need passionate writers to not only help spread the word but also to help contextualize games for people. My short time here with This Week In Games has illustrated that for me: no small number of my readers fell in with me courtesy of my having plenty of stories about my time playing games that mirror their own experiences. It can be as simple as loving the same game as someone else, and when you find that one person who also loves Advance Guardian Heroes (what up, Todd Ciolek!) or Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja it's like you found a new friend. But learning how to write engagingly is a skill that takes time, and that kind of time is valuable. A lot of that time and effort doesn't get valued the way it should.

As with the last time I covered these kinds of layoffs, I hope that the writers at Fanbyte can ,land on their feet. And hey, the guys at Fanbyte had the last laugh, in the way. Rule One for folks terminating employers: make sure the folks you fire can't access your social media after you lay 'em off.

The best part? They managed this with their Instagram, too. Rock on, dudes.

The news coming out of CAPCOM re:Street Fighter 6 has been exciting! Nevermind the phenomenal character redesigns—not only does my girl Kimberly look amazing, the rest of the cast is looking amazing. Blanka has never looked better, IMO, and I'm in love with how Dhalsim's stretchy limbs have been animated (Dhalsim is my favorite of the original World Warriors, so I'm happy to see my man get some love). Street Fighter 6 is also set to get lots of love in terms of content, so whether you're just looking to pummel some Street Fighters to dust or seriously wreck shop in the leaderboards, you've got options! It's all in this nice trailer:

Okay, so: first off, as mentioned earlier, Blanka and Dhalsim are confirmed, along with Ken. The gang looks great in their new duds. There's an Extreme Battle mode that appears to be for funsies: players can carry out matches with strange rules and obstacles, like rampaging bulls running through the stage damaging players in their path, or having to kick bombs out of your range to damage your opponent. This is definitely going to be fun at parties unless your friends don't know how to have fun with a Home Run Bat.

The Battle Hub is also impressive: an entire arena/online lobby full of arcade machines where players can queue up to fight each other on a big screen. It seems to channel all the best parts of being at EVO, and it even has some amenities like a DJ table if you wanna dance while you wait for matches. You'll be able to design your own avatar while you sit around and wait; presumably, CAPCOM will be selling outfit components at a premium. As always, fashion is the meta.

The really fun bit is a whole new gameplay mode: World Tour. Not just a story mode, World Mode lets you design your own player character as you explore an open world and learn the special moves from the various World Warriors. As you explore, you'll be able to pull off these attacks at a moment's notice to traverse the environment. You'll also be able to challenge other characters (maybe even players). Winning fights will level you up, presumably facilitating the learning of new moves. There also seems to be a mini-game mode where players can mow down waves of mooks in a manner not unreminiscent of a side-scrolling brawler like CAPCOM's own Final Fight (which is canon to Street Fighter, don'tcha know—peep the Haggar Stadium early in the trailer!). Folks have compared it to Tekken Force from Tekken 3, which might be apt.

Now, a lot of folks smarter than me have pointed out some significant issues: particularly, how all of these moves are going to work in a 3D environment or what the balance is going to be like when you factor in your character and the waves of enemies. And as far as I know: I'unno, but it sounds fun! The character creator mode looks to be crazy amounts of fun with tons of fun outfit options, and I'd just about die to see any of the less-common World Warriors tutoring me. I wanna train with Sakura and Akira and I wanna learn yoga with Dhalsim.

As said earlier, this is a great way of adding extra content to Street Fighter 6. Street Fighter 5 suffered from catering too hard to the E-Sports crowd, resulting in a game that felt very anemic upon release. As experts like Maximilian_Dood have pointed out, it's not making a game easier for newbies that makes a fighting game better—it's content. Give players stuff to do in a game and stuff to unlock, give 'em just the wildest stuff, and they'll flock to it. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate gives players Terry Bogard and mission modes and a friggin' partridge in a pear tree for their trouble, and it's gone on to be one of the best-selling fighting games out there. Mortal Kombat XI didn't get by just on the virtue of its writing and re-casting Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung (though that helped): The Krypt and the myriad story modes for the individual characters and all the fun outfits and modifiers they could unlock for their characters helped loads. Street Fighter 6 is giving the pros plenty of stuff to lick their chops over—but it's also making sure there's plenty of stuff for people who aren't expert pugilists to put down a few bucks for a copy of the game. And that's how you rope people in: first they wanna see an old man pull off the Spinning Bird Kick, then they wanna get deeper into the mechanics... then the next thing you know, they're parrying each individual kick from Chun Li's super at EVO. And all it took was the option to play an old man learning Chun Li's Spinning Bird Kick.

Now that we can agree that Street Fighter 6 is gonna be awesome, let's talk about how it would be nice to see Darkstalkers, Rival Schools, Power Stone or Cyberbots back in some capacity. Or better yet: a new Marvel Vs CAPCOM.

Alright kiddos, that's that for this week. Sorry we didn't have as much as last week, but you hopefully understand that I absolutely cannot survive another massive column like last week. I hope this week gives you guys stuff to get excited about. I know we have some Battle Network fans in the audience, I hope you guys are happy to hear Andrew Francis come back as Mega Man.EXE! Or maybe you guys are looking forward to the massive, massive casts Suikoden and Eiyuden Chronicles will be bringing in. Whatever the thing, I hope to hear more from you guys. It makes me happy to know you guys are there. As always, be good to each other. I'll see you guys in seven.