This Week in Games

It Was A Very Spoopy PlayStation 2 Anniversary

Welcome back, folks! I've returned from my vacation in San Diego; apparently, my coworkers said I even came back with a tan! It was a fun trip, and I figured out how to have fun while I was abroad. I definitely needed the time off, even if I actually missed working on This Week in Games while I was gone. I hope folks are also checking out our Fall Manga Preview Guide, too! Don't worry, I worked on all those manga long before I left for vacation. I actually didn't do any work until Twitchcon ended. I sure didn't escape video games, though...

I was in San Diego, California, for Twitchcon 2025. This was supposed to be a particularly auspicious Twitchcon, given that it was the convention's tenth anniversary. Instead... well, I think the infamy of the event precedes it. Most readers might have heard by now of streamer Emiru's assault during a contractually-obligated meet-and-greet, along with how her own personal security detail had effectively been banned by the convention for doing his job. You may have also heard of the frankly insulting response from Twitch's management regarding the subject. That incident alone is enough to cast a pretty damning pall over any event; I don't blame any streamers for actively refusing to make appearances at future Twitchcon events and support them in their decision.

Besides that, there were other controversies, like Twitch staff throwing away gifts from fans intended for vtubers. One particular heartbreaking story involved a custom Cinnamoroll plushie made for famed Cinnamoroll fan IronMouse; this one, thankfully, has a happy ending, as Mousey's manager Roxy handled Mouse's gifts personally. Vtubers were also shorted by security requiring any in-person streamers to unmask publicly to verify their identity, which was doubly risky given all of the livestreamers roaming the event, recording everything (and also being rather obnoxious while they were at it). Also, a lot of these livestreamers were streamers from rival streaming platform Kick, looking to start trouble. Given that many vtubers choose to become vtubers to ensure their anonymity, this is a serious failure. Vtuber Chibidoki was also able to confirm that Twitchcon cut her meet-and-greet short; Twitchcon representatives alleged that this was due to Chibidoki not feeling well, but Chibidoki later refuted the claim. The discussion of poor accessibility at Twitchcon was also stoked this year in response to Minecraft streamer GoodTimesWithScar's experiences; not only was he refused a ramp for accessibility, his meet-and-greet was positioned in front of a loudspeaker despite Scar's well-documented respiratory problems. If you were wondering if Twitchcon had managed to improve any from 2023's horrific back-breaking "foam pit" that led to streamer Adriana Chechik needing to get back surgery, they haven't!

If this all sounds really bad, don't worry: it is! Twitch, being a branch of Amazon, makes entirely too much money for any of this to be an issue. At any given point with any of these matters, there are possible solutions or safety measures you could put in place. Actually putting up security for your talent. Letting talent unmask in private rooms or sections designated as non-streaming. Once again, I support any talent that refuses to appear at Twitchcon in the future. This is heinous.

If I didn't have nearly as bad a time, it's because I mostly went to the Twitchcon to meet Silvervale, my favorite Vtuber, as well as many of my online buddies from her community, whom I've known for as long as five years at this point. And this, at least, was a joy. This was the first time many of us had actually met face-to-face; we were all excited to pal around with each other, and much fun was had at an after-party held at Round 1. Some of my peers had flown in from as far off as Singapore to see Silver, Japanese cosplayer NikoDark (who had also made a ton of plushies of Silver's mascots) flew in from Japan, and we even got to meet Mamavale, Silver's mother. As many as 500 people visited Silver's meet-and-greet, which was handled privately by GamerSupps (and they did a bang-up job of keeping folks in line). Also, it was nice to see folks in person. If I'm not sharing photos, it's because I'd like to respect the privacy of my fellow Petal Pups. Also, getting a chance to meet a pair of other vtubers I follow, MiraPink and OppaiPantsuu, was nice; there's a ton of overlap in their community with Silver's, so I was happy to have all of their autographs on the same print. Shout-out to CosmicJelly for supplying us all with some well-made prints of Silver!

Twitchcon was also special because of its Artist Alley; some artists I've followed for ages, like Iahfy (note: some art NSFW) and Terupancake were there, and hosting a stamp rally. It was great getting a chance to visit their stalls in person, especially since I've been following their art since I discovered them on Tumblr way back in 2012 or so. I find Artist Alley to be the best and most vibrant part of any convention, given that it's where a lot of the organic community bonding happens: discovering new artists to follow, getting a chance to meet old artists you've followed for ages, or discovering new media through neat stickers or acrylic standees. That PAX West didn't have a similar Artist Alley made the event a bummer for me; if Twitchcon could stop stepping on rakes in terms of security and accessibility, it would've fully won out for me. Granted, even if these matters were resolved, I'm not sure I'd take the plunge on visiting Twitchcon again. The event is really expensive, and flying out to San Diego is a lot. (I'd be willing to brave AnimeExpo if they ever managed to get their crowding problem resolved!).

If I had fun at Twitchcon, it was because of the communities I'm in; getting to meet people I've known for years while mutually celebrating the things we love. Which, really, is the basis for any decent convention and the thing that a convention should encourage above all else. Also, my time in San Diego was nice otherwise; I got to hang out with This Week in Anime alumn Nicky, got to visit the San Diego Zoo, and the Natural History Museum. No In-n-Out Burger, but I can handle that next time I go to California.

Hit the button, there's news!

(I need to get a customized version of one of these...) Anyway, I was worried about missing any news regarding the unemployed ninja while I was out on vacation. And the good news was, I didn't miss any of it while I was on vacation; I was back at my 9-5 when one of my readers tagged me in this. As always, many thanks to my readers for keeping me abreast of these matters! I encourage folks to tag me in stuff they think might be a good contribution to the column.

Anyway! Longtime readers know that I pine for Success' Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja games. A pair of "Mystery Dungeon"-style Rogue-likes, the games go over the misadventures of Izuna and her troupe of fellow ninja following their undignified pink-slipping. Rather than fighting other ninja, Izuna and her found family find themselves roped into a series of fights against deities, both local and foreign. While the games never became particularly mainstream, they gathered a very strong cult following in both Japan and America; Izuna became something of a secondary mascot for her home studio Success (better known as the creators of the beloved Cotton "cute-'em-up" series), ensuring cameo appearances in a handful of Success' other titles like Rondo of Swords and Windy x Windam. Success announced the production of a third game back in 2023; while there hasn't been any news regarding the game since, Izuna (sporting her new look) is set to cameo in next year's Cotton Rock with You: Oriental Night Dreams.

While Izuna's artwork (and charming writing) get the lion's share of the discussion, an oft-overlooked part of the games is the music; the first Izuna game's music is particularly stand-out, using electronic renditions of traditional Japanese instruments for a somber, melancholic vibe as Izuna solves the troubles of a village of weirdos in the middle of nowhere. The Kamiari Village theme punches above its weight class on vibes alone, and that's before you get into the themes for the individual dungeons like Snake Hole or the Maze of Gods. And that's just the first game; the second game's soundtrack ups the ante a bit (even if I prefer the original's rendition of the Kamiari Village theme to the sequel version). And the good news is, you can enjoy the soundtrack, courtesy of Very OK Vinyl!

The OST is available for pre-order in both vinyl (featuring a selection of tracks from the games) or CD (with all of the music from both games). This is the first time that the Izuna soundtrack has been available on CD in the United States in over a decade; I wasn't even aware the OST had ever been released in the US, but it stands to reason that it was released in the US when I was a broke college student. The albums also feature new artwork from the artist SpookyPandaGirl. I wanna give Panda a ton of props for so perfectly nailing Izuna's old cover art without slavishly re-creating Yoshida-On's art style (her take on Izuna's iconic pose where she's pulling up on her scarf is just perfect; I'm weeping at the chance to have the covers as posters). The OSTs were also sourced by masters provided by Success themselves.

Yes, I'm getting these. Look at me, I'm on pins and needles here for a third Izuna game, I have the art book and both of Yoshida-On's sketchbooks, what kind of Izuna victim would I be if I didn't get the soundtrack?! I don't even have a record player! I once again thank my readers for bringing this to my attention.

The gaming industry is getting rough, so much so that I think it's fair to say it's a miracle anything comes out. It's starting to feel a bit glib to simply refer to some games as "tiny miracles," in my opinion. I mean, sure, it would be crazy and wild if Alundra were to get a sequel, but I know enough about gaming to know that the team behind Luminies Arise probably had a whole host of problems during development. We really, really don't appreciate the work developers put into things, and just how much the deck can be stacked against even perceived "sure-hits." Still, I don't know what else to call it when stuff just comes back from the dead. Put another two on the board!

Battle Arena Toshinden was a series of fighting games on the PS1 released during the 1990s. It's historically notable for a variety of reasons; for starters, it was the first 3D weapon-based fighting game, beating out Soul Blade by a whole year. The anime adaptation, directed by Masami Ōbari, was possibly the first anime released on DVD in the United States (courtesy of the defunct Central Park Media). Its character designs are from Tsukasa Kotobuki, best known for their work on 1990s anime like Cyberteam in Akihabara and Saber Marionette J. More importantly, the games are uniformly fun! Notably, Tōshinden never faded away because the games got bad; the games just got outdone. Tōshinden's aesthetics were tied to Kotobuki's painfully-of-its-era-styled artwork, which didn't really look as great when compared to later 3D fighting games like Soulcalibur.

While we did miss the franchise's 30th anniversary this past January, it's never too late for a revival, which is why Edia has signed a deal with series producer Takara Tomy to port the Tōshinden games to modern consoles. The games are looking at release dates in the fiscal years 2026 and 2027, so it'll be a bit before we see them, but at the very least, it'll make for some killer bouts at your locals.

This next one is a bit wilder and needs some explanation. One of the most famous kusoge out there is the fabled Hong Kong '97, an exploitation game made by "Happy Soft" in the mid-'90s. Everything about the game is meant to offend and sensationalize on some level; 1.2 billion "fucking ugly reds" invade Hong Kong, so the government brings in Chin (Bruce Lee's fictional "relative") to slaughter them all. Also, Chin has to fight a weaponized "Tong Shau Ping." Chin himself is depicted by a digitized photo of Jackie Chan from Wheels on Meals. The game itself is a very sloppy top-down shooter; "Chin" runs around the bottom of the screen while shooting down enemies that run in from the top of the screen. (They explode into a recreation of a gory picture when they die.) Eventually, Tong Shau Ping shows up, and you kill him by shooting at him. The game continues to loop until you die. Also, the whole game happens on a randomized background, which might include the Coca-Cola logo. All of this happens while a seven-second loop from a patriotic song "I Love Beijing Tiananmen" endlessly repeats.

The game itself was made by journalist Kowloon Kurosawa, who set out to make "the worst game ever made." It was made available entirely through underground means back in the '90s, but Kurosawa has since made it available for free on his website once it gathered notoriety in the '00s. Aaaand now there's an actual sequel being made, and it's available on Steam and everything.

Titled Hong Kong 2097, the game features Kurosawa's involvement. It's effectively an improvement on the original, expanding the game's formula into a twin-stick shooter with a variety of weapons. Chin is back as the protagonist and features a new shield that can absorb certain kinds of shots from enemies, powering up his own (kind of like Ikaruga, maybe?). Things are still as nonsensical as ever, featuring enemies like a taco with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelse's heads, a decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty wearing what look to be red MAGA hats, and a dakimakura of Uncle Sam. As you can imagine, the plot involves Chin having to build a utopia on God's orders by attacking the fictional country of "Amurikkka." And for maximum disgust points: generative AI was used for some of the graphics (although the Steam notice insists that these were later modified).

Uh... look forward to Hong Kong 2097 in December, I guess?

The Like A Dragon series has seen a lot of issues arise from its use of real Japanese actors as characters; Judgment's Kyohei Hamura was recast following actor Pierre Taki's drug scandal. This led to the character being changed at the eleventh hour. Controversy has reared its head once more, this time for Yakuza Kiwami 3. An updated port of the third Like A Dragon title, Yakuza Kiwami 3 featured a recast in the form of Teruyuki Kagawa, whose voice and likeness are now the basis of the character Goh Hamazaki. The problem: Kagawa has a history of violence towards women.

Back in 2019, it was discovered that Kagawa had assaulted a hostess in Ginza. Later investigations revealed a history of violence on Kagawa's behalf, which led to him being unwelcome in most of the hostess clubs in the Minato Ward. Kagawa's violence (and his problem drinking) were well-known among his peers. Kagawa himself admitted to the charges on live television, albeit he apologized for "causing distress" instead of assaulting someone. Unseen Japan also reports that many in Japan found Kagawa's apology (and desire to wash his hands of the matter) distasteful.

The Yakuza games deal plenty with Japan's seedy underbelly, but an ongoing throughline is protagonist Kiryu Kazuma's staunch defense of women. Hostesses and sex workers feature regularly as side-characters in the games, and are constantly depicted as people deserving respect—not to mention Kiryu himself coming to their rescue on more than one occasion. The news that an actor cast in a Yakuza game has a history of assaulting hostesses leaves a very sour taste in people's mouths, running contrary to the games' philosophies; in response to the news, a petition is up demanding the casting be changed. At the time of writing, the petition is just a hair short of 8,000 signatures. The Yakuza Fandom wiki has also issued a community statement, calling for Kagawa's replacement.

We've seen a lot of recasts for voice talents in games over the years; I believe that if sexually assaulting people isn't reason enough to get an actor recast, nothing else is. More to follow.

This past October 26 marked the PlayStation 2's 25th anniversary! What an age that was; what a console that was. Sega loyalist I might be, but the Dreamcast had no chance against the PS2; it was a great console with great titles, but it was too little, too late for Sega after years of mismanagement and corporate infighting eroded the fanbase's trust. What's worse, the PS2 was able to assert market dominance in a simple way: it had a built-in DVD player.

You can somewhat mark the beginning of the end of dedicated gaming consoles through this decision (most modern game consoles are just less-functional PCs at this point), but the PS2 having that built-in DVD player was key to its dominance in living rooms across the country. With DVD quickly becoming a mainstream video format, as well as most dedicated DVD players still retailing for triple-digits, it just made monetary sense to get a console that also played all of your new movies in a stunning new format. No better way to watch The Matrix, yeah? It's a simple decision, built upon the original PlayStation's built-in CD player functionality (which I'd forgive most people for not even knowing about), but it packed in tons of value for the console. Sony tried the same trick with making the PS3 a Trojan Horse for Blu-ray, but to a significantly smaller impact. There was just no beating the PS2's value.

And that dominion carried it for a long time; even if the PS2 was technically weaker than its competition (the GameCube and the original Xbox), it was the console everyone had. Much like today, nobody really bothered counting polygons—it was just easier to nab a PS2 for Soulcalibur 2 or other multi-platform games. Not to mention Sony's own bevy of first-party titles (remember when they had those?). Jak & Daxter and Sly Cooper still resonate with fans to this day, mixing the spirit of old mascot-driven platformers with the extra variety and flair that the PS2's processing could provide. But the PS2 also marked a recognition of "mature" gamers. Well, "mature" in the "90s Image comic" sense; more and more PS2 games appealed to consumers with sex and violence, as best exemplified by Sony's own God of War games. And no history of the PS2 is complete without discussion of the Grand Theft Auto series; while Rockstar North's series had its start on the PS1, it was Vice City that put the series on the map and defined open-world gaming.

Of course, besides the huge hits, the PS2 was home to an embarrassment of riches; its power (plus the relatively low cost of development at the time) meant that mid-budget titles were still quite feasible on the PS2. If you had a taste for the weird, the PS2 had it. Plenty of fan-favorites passed like ships in the night on the PS2; Nippon Ichi Software gained acclaim through titles like Disgaea: Hour of Darkness and Phantom Brave. Atlus came into its own with its releases of the Shin Megami Tensei games (bolstered by appearances from Dante from the Devil May Cry series); Persona 3, however, would put Atlus on the map and took the obscure spin-off RPG series and make it a household name among Japanese RPG fans. Vanillaware made waves with the one-two punch of its gorgeous titles, GrimGrimoire and Odin Sphere. FromSoft quietly gathered loyal fans with new entries in the Armored Core series, along with experimental cult-favorite titles like EverGrace and The Adventures of Cookie & Cream. Level-5 had their start as a plucky little developer with stars in their eyes, courtesy of Dark Cloud and Rogue Galaxy, before they hit the big time with Professor Layton. Square Enix released some of their best games, like Final Fantasy XII, while also releasing tons of fan favorites like Radiata Stories, Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King—and the game that introduced the world to Yokō Tarō, Drakengard.

And hey, given that it's Halloween, we'd be doing a disservice by not pointing out what could be considered the prime of the survival-horror genre, courtesy of PS2. Silent Hill 2 marked the apex of its series (while also paving the way for the still-serviceable Silent Hill 3 and Silent Hill 4: The Room). Tecmo (now Koei Tecmo) debuted Fatal Frame, and the famous ghost-busting Camera Obscura. CAPCOM reimagined the Clock Tower series with the fan-favorite Haunting Grounds, wherein the young Fiona and her cute dog scurry their way through a creepy castle. Meanwhile, the team that went on to become Onion Games created Rule of Rose, a game where the young Jennifer skitters her way through a messed-up boarding school with the help of her cute dog. Even Sony got into the survival-horror mix with Siren. These games got some critical panning for their obtuse controls, but they're still beloved by fans to this day (and their aftermarket prices reflect that love, yikes).

I used to have an incredible PS2 collection; I was sadly forced to sell it all in 2017 during a very rough patch in my life. My collection included titles like the Xenosaga trilogy (which would go on to be kind-of related to Xenoblade Chronicles), Katamari Damacy, Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria and Growlanser Generations. That last one hurt the most to part with, if only because my mother bought me that one. I love my handhelds, and always have; my tastes were heavily shaped by the Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS. But my tastes were shaped just as heavily by the hours I spent playing completely buckwild RPGs on the PS2. We lost a lot in the transition to the PS3, not the least of which was due to rising game budgets courtesy of high-definition graphics. "Looking like a PS2 game" is not an insult, because have you seen Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria?! Many of the studios that made those PS2 classics might not be around anymore, many of those franchises might be in the lurch, but I appreciate what we had.

Sony's response to the anniversary was... disappointing. They took the opportunity to use the occasion to promote their PlayStation Plus Classics catalog, but the selection of that catalog barely scratches the surface when it comes to the PS2's offerings. Heck, it barely even offers a smidge of Sony's own titles! To wit, God of War 1 and 2 still aren't offered. You can't even get the Ratchet & Clank games. What are we doing here?! Of all the games available on PlayStation Plus Classics, only 48 are PS2 titles. And none of them are Haunting Ground, for some reason. GOG.com, CAPCOM, come on, help us out! It's Halloween, the season for getting freaked the hell out, give us something!

Libraries like the PS2s are why game preservation is so important. I haven't even scratched the surface of all the beloved titles on the console; with a library of games 4218 titles long, I do not have the space to give them all attention. But it's a library we haven't seen in the 25 years since, and unless things change drastically for the game industry, it's a library the likes of which we might never see again.

Bandai Namco and Club América (a Mexican soccer team) have been collaborating this year; this includes Pac-Man-themed merch for Día de los Muertos, the important Mexican holiday. Día de los Muertos ("Day of the Dead" in English) is far more than just "Mexican Halloween." It's an important holiday where people pay respects to their departed loved ones. Kudos to Bandai Namco for honoring Mexico's heritage!

Little Samson, an NES game best known for going for exorbitant amounts on the secondary market, is getting a reissue courtesy of Limited Run Games—and it'll launch on modern consoles! Launching in 2026, Little Samson will be available on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. You'll want to keep your eye on this one—it was made by Shinichi Yoshimoto, creator of Strider and Ghosts and Goblins! Also, funny story about how this reissue happened: Limited Run Games was able to ensure the rights to the game via Japan's new arbitration system, wherein anyone who can prove you've earnestly tried (and failed) to contact the original rights holders can pay a fee to the Japanese government for the rights to a game. Government-subsidized video game preservation in action!

Shinichi Manabe, best known as the director of Rune Fatory 3 and 4, is currently crowdfunding their own indie farm sim: Farnia Village! Along with writer Takanori Tsuji (who also wrote the scenarios for Rune Factory 3 and 4), they're delivering on a new take on the life-sim formula. Currently, the game is at $44,510 of its $32,883 goal; support is welcome!

That'll do it for this week. If all goes well, this column will have gone live on October 31st—Halloween! I carved a pumpkin and everything to celebrate the holiday. With autumn in full swing and some places even getting a little frost-bitten in the mornings, I hope everyone has a happy holiday and looks forward to all the candy sure to be made available. Also, don't be afraid to dress up, maybe visit some friends. It's a great day to be weird and get scared. From This Week in Games, I wish everyone a Happy Halloween! (And many thanks to Videajames for this year's Halloween card; check out his webcomic Downtown Dungeon: Our Hero Is Missing!)

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This Week In Games! is written from idyllic Portland by Jean-Karlo Lemus. When not collaborating with Anime News Network, Jean-Karlo can be found playing Japanese RPGs, eating popcorn, watching v-tubers, and tokusatsu. You can keep up with him at @ventcard.bsky.social.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network, its employees, owners, or sponsors.