Nintendo’s newest console has been a hot topic recently and there’s a good reason for that. It’s a console that offers something that no other major game system does: HD quality, big budget games on a system you can carry anywhere. It has a sleek, modern looking design, and it’s launched with a number of stellar titles. Even now, the system’s craze has devoured yours truly.
The Nintendo Switch has been taking up the lion’s share of my gaming time recently–and it’s not just because of Mario Odyssey… but that is a reason why. No, it’s because I haven’t had a whole ton of spare time to sit down and play games.
It Enables My Addiction
In the last few years I’ve been transitioning to (and struggling to be) an adult. In my endeavors of adulting, I’ve spent a lot of time on my feet going out places, heading to class, and doing errands. With my time indoors beginning to dwindle, I’ve had a number of games get delegated to my backlog.
I haven’t had as much time as I did prior in my life. I’ve found decreasing opportunities to sit down, wait for a game to download and install, and play it for a few hours at home. In comes the Nintendo Switch, a console touted as a portable and console hybrid.
Install Times? Pshhhh…
What makes the Nintendo Switch so appealing is how immediate it is. I can boot it up and start playing a game within moments. Download times can range between a couple of minutes to a couple of seconds. This, paired with the Switch’s portability, allows anyone to play a quality AAA game anytime, anywhere. In theory, I could go out, pick up Mario Odyssey at a local retailer, and play it within an instant of my purchase. That is the beauty of this system. It hearkens back to the time when you could start your game without the need for long patch downloads or disc installs.
You Mean… I Can Play Zelda on the Toilet?!?
It’s the instant access the Nintendo Switch provides that creates my desire to use it over other consoles. Sure, it is woefully underpowered compared to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but I can’t play my PS4 on my lunch break. I can’t play the Xbox One while I wait for the bus. With the Switch, I have the ability to carry my gaming experiences with me anywhere. I can progress through my favorite titles in small increments.
Quality Over… Quality
It doesn’t matter much to me that most 3RD party games will run below 1080p and 60fps on the Switch. If I’m gonna be honest, I don’t care much at all about a difference in graphical fidelity—as long as a port of a title like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is playable and competent enough to run without framerate dips, I would take it on the Switch over something that looks a little prettier on my PS4. The sheer versatility of the Switch allows people to carry high-quality, console games with them anywhere at the cost of performance and the tradeoff has (so far) been rather reasonable.
It’s gotten to the point now where I want every game to be on the Switch. Single player games like Shadow of War, Persona 5, and Neir: Automata seem like they’d be perfect games to play in short bursts. I’ve even held off on buying games like Yooka-Laylee and Wolfenstein 2 in anticipation for their inevitable Switch ports.
On-The-Go Game Design
It helps that the Switch already contains a number of amazing 1st and 3rd party games, too. Many of the Switch’s 1st party games feel like they were designed from the ground up to support the philosophy of the system. Take Super Mario Odyssey’s collectable power moons, for example. They’re scattered around the games world and are often hidden behind micro-puzzles or challenges that are designed to be beaten in 5 to 10 minutes. Someone could realistically play through Mario Odyssey by playing it in pockets of 10 minutes at a time and at any point in their life. You could make progress in a game like Mario Odyssey while you wait for a ride, sit at the airport, or are deliberately avoiding political family talk during Thanksgiving.
It’s not just Mario Odyssey that facilities these pockets of gameplay, either: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has shrines that can be completed in short amounts of time. Splatoon 2’s multiplayer matches and single player levels don’t last more than 5 minutes. Even Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle’s turn-based missions are designed to be completed in a reasonable amount of time. With missions and levels structured in a way that allows for a steady, quick stream of progression—it creates gameplay experiences that feel fulfilling while being fast.
3rd Parties that Feel Right at Home
Even the 3rd party games feel like they just fit on a Nintendo console. Doom was one of the premiere shooters on the SNES and the N64 and now it makes a return on the Switch. Stardew Valley is an easy substitute for missing game series like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon. Looking to play a game in the style of a 2D Metroid game? Axiom Verge is on the Switch, too!
In Conclusion
With a robust and growing library of titles that are built to be played anywhere, the Nintendo Switch opens itself up to audiences that might not have had time for gaming before. It’s an accessible, immediate, and high-quality device–and that creates its appeal.
Super Mario Odyssey is a special type of game. It’s very rare that we get a title that pushes the boundaries of a gaming icon and returns a once defunct genre from the dead like a big, beautiful fuckin’ mustacheod phoenix. Everyone is talking up a storm about this game and how fantastic it is–and rightfully so. Not only is it a departure in style from the generic, milquetoast Mario platformers Nintendo’s been feeding us since New Super Mario Bros. on the DS, but it’s also Mario’s return to a genre that he’s been absent from since Super Mario Sunshine–the collectathon/3D platformer.
The Last REAL 3D Mario Game
Yeah, we had the pseudo 3D games like Super Mario 3D World, and the stellar Mario Galaxy games but those weren’t real 3D Mario games. Mario 3D World took the linear adventures and levels of 2D Mario games and put them in a 3D field. The Mario Galaxy Games, while amazing, were streamlined and less focused on open exploration than 64 and Sunshine were. Mario Odyssey though, takes Mario back to the days where the simple act of collecting random shit was a cathartic expression of imagination. In concept, it’s delivered us a long awaited follow-up to one of the greatest games of all time, Super Mario 64. In execution, it’s given us one of the greatest games of all time.
Mario Odyssey is more than a just a successor to Mario 64 and Sunshine. It’s a game that shows Nintendo taking new, creative risks, evolving a flagship gaming franchise, and above all else it’s a game that re-instills a sense of imagination and whimsy that’s been lost in videogames for decades. I’m getting ahead of myself again, though.
More Than Just a Spiritual Successor
To understand why Super Mario Odyssey is such a revolutionary title, we need to understand what makes this game stand out from other Mario games. Mario Odyssey isn’t special just because it’s another 3D Mario game, and not because it’s another game with Mario in it. If I cared to be an out of shape, middle aged, low class worker I’d drop out of school and move to Brooklyn.
No, the main reason that Mario Odyssey is such a fantastic experience is its overwhelming sense of freedom and the way that said freedom brings Mario Odyssey’s world to life–and when I talk about how free Mario Odyssey makes me feel, I’m not just referring to the game’s sandbox level design either. It’s the flexible and responsive way that Mario moves. It’s the open-ended puzzles that can be completed the way you want them to. It’s the explorative nature of finding both well-hidden, and not-so-well hidden, collectibles.
Mario Odyssey rewards exploration and facilitates player agency like few other games do. There are moments where the game sets up a way for you to accomplish a task, but if you figure out a new way to approach that task, it’s more than likely possible. It’s not unlikely to sequence break through a puzzle or platforming challenge in this game, and that makes each playthrough and individual experience dynamic. People can approach challenges in any way that they want to, making even the most mundane ones rewarding.
Between this game and Breath of the Wild, this is a design philosophy that Nintendo has been very keen on, which is fantastic. Giving a player the ability to be autonomous in their gameplay creates a fluid sense of replayability that makes the game feel like a living, breathing world.
The feeling of a living world is further facilitated by the way objectives are designed. This isn’t a game where you’re expected to reach a single, linear goal. In fact, you’re plopped into the world and given the ability to tackle any task that you feel comfortable with, in any order you want, and at your own pace. Mario Odyssey isn’t about the destination, it’s about the journey.
An Inclusive Collectathon
Collectables are placed around the world in a way that’s inclusive to both seasoned gaming veterans and newcomers. There are plenty of Power Moons hidden right out in the open, while some are cryptically nestled in the last spot you’d expect to look. Most importantly, you don’t have to collect every single one in order to complete the game. You only need to go for the ones whose challenges you find enjoyable, or that you discover on your own. The challenge is decided by you.
Mario Odyssey is a game whose conventions are so refined and palatable that it’s hard to not get lost in its environments. Each time I visited a kingdom I felt like a kid going into Disneyland for the first time and that’s because of how unexpected and imaginative each one is.
This Game is Weird and It’s Amazing
Not only are each of the kingdoms and their inhabitants distinct, but they’re fuckin’ weird for even Mario standards. New Donk City takes ideas out of Sonic ‘06s playbook–with its industrial, urban city setting and properly proportioned human characters that are just jarringly juxtaposed against Mario’s stubby, cartoonish figure. In no other Mario game do you fight a hyper-realistic dragon that looks ripped straight out of George R.R. Martin’s wet-dreams. And look at this… thing. What is this thing? I have no idea, but part of me wants it dead and part of me wants to adopt it.
All of these worlds and characters are so different from any Mario game and that makes the world feel like it’s unraveling before my very eyes. I never know what to expect next and the risks Nintendo makes at each turn keep me excited at every moment.
When we talk about weird, we can’t go without mentioning the new star of the show either–cappy. Cappy primarily provides Mario with the ability to possess enemies. It’s so ridiculous and I love it. Using the abilities of your enemies to solve puzzles and explore feels like something out of a Twilight Zone episode. In Mario Odyssey, the enemies play a role more than annoying assholes that get in your way. They’re tools that you use to interact with the world around you. Every time a new enemy came onto the screen, I was excited to see the different ways I could use their powers. Stacking Goombas on top of one another in order to have goomba-Mario court a lady goomba is probably my highlight of the year.
I even found some strange amusement in barging into a town as a Fire Bros. watching the inhabitant’s cower in fear at my sight. Under my control Mario could be a literal monster. (maybe I’m a psychopath or something, not sure).
Fluidity and Freedom in Gameplay
Cappy also allows Mario to jump off of his trademark hat, adding a layer to the movement system that is more complex than what was present in any other Mario game. In fact, the way Mario flips and jumps around each colorful area just exudes this energy that tickles at my nostalgia bone in a way that nothing else has. You can do a super jump in the air, throw Mario’s hat, dive into it, and dive off of it all in succession. The ways that you can control Mario are so varied and responsive that even the simple act of jumping on platforms is satisfying.
Not only are the world’s built to be explored, but so is Mario (reading that out loud actually sounds super wrong, but you get what I’m saying). The fluidity in the way Mario traverses around the screen represents a culmination of all that Nintendo’s learned since putting Mario in the 3D world. They took the dynamic gameplay Mario 64 pioneered off of, the verticality that Mario Sunshine brought to the table, and the simple, intuitive control scheme that Mario Galaxy created with its motion controls. With all of the things that made each Mario game special present here, along with the game’s own micro-reward approach to level design it makes for a game that triumphs all of Mario’s prior efforts.
In Conclusion
Above all else, this is a game that both revived the 3D platformer, and reinvented it. Mario Odyssey manages to perfect a genre that has been craved for, and neglected, for years now. Most importantly though, It added a sense of freedom and immersion to the genre that fully realizes the potential Mario 64 had, and that’s what makes it special.
Xenoblade Chronicles is my favorite videogame of all time. It was nothing short of a life changing experience that holds a special place in my heart and is the main reason that videogames are such a huge passion for me today. I mean, hell, my entire blog is named after the game–and you know that blonde haired dweeb I use in most of my thumb-nails? That’s actually the game’s protagonist Shulk, my favorite videogame character.
Xenoblade Chronicles
Why do I harbor this unhinged love for Xenoblade Chronicles? Well young ones, let me sit you down and tell you a story of yore. A tale of wonder, passion and weariness that resulted in a teenage boy shutting himself off from society for an entire week–where he quite literally woke up, played a game, and fell back asleep for an entire seven days straight.
It was the scorching hot summer of 2012, and a 16-year old Zach was losing passion in videogames as a medium. It was at a time when the Wii, the last console he was truly passionate about, was at a point of surviving on life support. The Wii U was on the horizon, but it was looking bleak and barren. The entire library of Playstation 3, and Xbox 360 games were over-saturated with generic, gritty military shooters. There was truly nothing to look forward to.
Overwrought with media propaganda and pressure from my peers, I was growing skeptical of gaming as a hobby. Was I too old for it? I had lost the passion for the games that I loved to play before and nothing new was interesting me. The spark that kept me a gamer for my entire life was dying and nothing was alleviating it. Perhaps I had to move on to more mature activities…
Just as I was about to hang up the towel to search for new hobbies, I read up about a new game that came out for the Wii: Xenoblade Chronicles. It was touted as the swan-song of the Nintendo Wii, with a lot of critics calling it one of the greatest RPG’s of all time. What a fitting way to end my life as a gamer, I thought. The swansong for the last console I truly cared for could be the swansong for my childhood hobby. So I went to pick it up from GameStop with tepid expectation and a somber outlook. I popped it into my Wii. After about an hour in, and during the game’s first major plot twist, the moment that gripped me to it–the moment that had reignited my love for videogames–had commenced. The rest was history.
I could gush over Xenoblade Chronicles all day… in fact I will.
Why It’s Amazing
Xenoblade was ultimately a special and phenomenal game because of how immersive its world and characters were and how engrossing its combat was. Despite being released on the sub-HD Wii, the game still managed to use its unique artstyle to look stunning–with vistas of landscapes that showed the uniqueness and vibrancy of each biome in the game. Sure it’s not a graphically intensive game and some of the character models and animations look like they could be on an early PS2 game and not something in 2011–but the game easily made up for it with the beauty of its artstyle and sleek presentation.
The game’s main setting being on the bodies of two dead titans is one that is already inherently different from any other–but that, coupled with its various areas, makes exploring a fresh experience. Areas like a mechanical graveyard, a lush plain, a foggy marsh and snowy mountain region all have this beautiful presence to them that’s pure eye-candy.
It Has The Best Music
The game’s musical score easily ranks among one of the best of all time. With emotional orchestral ballads and tracks that compliment the mood of each plot moment perfectly–these tracks emit a visceral emotional reaction that are pure bliss. When “Confrontation With the Enemy” plays, you can’t help but get pumped up for the ensuing battle. The second that “While I Think” comes on, you know you’ll be coming to a heart-wrenching plot point. And we can’t go without mentioning the feeling of freedom that the legendary “Gaur Plains” theme gives the moment that you hear it.
Every one of the main cast of characters was written and performed eloquently. They just bloomed of personality in a way that can only be described is iconic. The entire main party from Shulk, Reyn, Sharla, Riki (and I few others who I won’t name) were all memorable, believable and had goals and lives that truly made the player care about seeing their stories out till the end. Their voice acting was stellar too–which is something that almost every RPG struggles with.
Shulk, especially, has a mind-blowingly excellent english VA. Seriously, huge props to Adam Howden for being one of the best videogame voice-actors ever. He brings Shulk to life in a way that few others could. In the opening hour, when Shulk sees his childhood friend die before his very eyes, he screams “I’ll kill you” to the perpetrator–and it still sends shivers down my spine hearing it today.
An Immersive Plot
The story would be far to long for me to cover in depth, but believe me when I say it’s an emotional rollercoaster. The plot essentially revolves around Shulk going around the body of the titan he lives on to find the killer of his life-long friend, and love interest, Fiora. His killer was a gigantic creature known as a Mechon–an inhabitant of the neighboring titan, The Mechonis. The mechon feed off of the humanoid characters, the Homs, and Shulk hopes to figure out why on his journey.
Top-Tier RPG Combat
On top of its stellar plot and characters, the game’s action RPG combat system is filled with a depth that puts nearly every other contemporary RPG to shame. The game uses an “Arts System” where the damage of a majority of your moves are based on the character’s position. In example, a move like Backslash does more damage from behind an enemy. Certain moves also apply certain effects onto enemies that can be chained together. While the Break status does nothing on its own coupled with a move that inflicts Topple, it will send an enemy falling to the ground. Some characters only had access to moves that would inflict break, whereas others only had attacks that would topple, creating this fluid teamwork-based dynamic to the gameplay.
Shulk also had the ability to see in the future, letting you warn teammates of what enemies could do next. Your party could also inflict moves called chain attacks together that reset all ability cooldowns and allowed each party member to attack an enemy in succession. On top of this, you needed to often time button presses for attacks in order to maximize their damage. All of these mechanics working together at once created a combat system that constantly kept the player engaged and attentive. A far cry from most RPGs, where the bulk of gameplay normally equates to “Press a button, then watch an animation play.”
The Verdict
Needless to say Xenoblade Chronicles holds a special place in my heart, and still stands as the best game that I’ve ever played. On top of that, it’s pretty damn good in general. It’s a huge experience that immerses you in a way that very few games can. It’s iconic. It’s unforgettable. It’s truly a magnum opus of videogames.
Xenoblade 2
So when the news that Xenoblade Chronicles 2, a direct sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles, was on the horizon on the Nintendo Switch–my entire world erupted. My mind was blown. I never thought that it would happen.
We had received a spinoff title on the Wii U dubbed Xenoblade Chronicles X that was good but not nearly as amazing as the original Xenoblade. With less of a focus on the story and characters, little improvements to gameplay, and an underwhelming soundtrack and mediocre voice acting–it was a fun experience, but it definitely wasn’t the game that I held to such high regards before.
I, among many others, had assumed that Xenoblade Chronicles was a one-and done thing. That a game like Xenoblade X, whose main draw was its open world exploration, was expected to be the future of the series. I was never expecting to see a title in the vein of the original Xenoblade again.
When Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was announced to be released at the end of the year, I was ecstatic. Just with the name–Xenoblade 2–we knew that the development studio, Monolith Soft, weren’t fucking around. By naming it Xenoblade 2, they established it as a direct sequel to the original and denounced X as a spinoff. They acknowledged that the original Xenoblade was a title that held a certain quality and pedigree that Xenoblade Chronicles X couldn’t match.
Uncertainty Sets In…
I was eagerly anticipating this title above anything else and consumed any piece of information that I could before it would be in my hands. But… the more I learned and the more I saw, the less excited I became. I started noticing flaws that were all too apparent. It was exactly like the Xenoblade I knew and loved, but something was… off. And it’s gotten to the point now where I really feel I have to get something off of my chest: Guys, I’m not too sure about Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
Now, I’m trying to reserve judgement for when the game comes out. But I can’t help but notice some of the game’s glaring warts thus far. I want to express my concerns now, before it’s too late.
What made the original Xenoblade Chronicles stand out was its stellar quality. It’s a game that was made amazing and immersive because of how well presented its characters were and Xenoblade 2 seems to be taking a few steps back in those regards.
The Voice Acting
Xenoblade 2’s trailers thus far have shown some… subpar and almost cringe inducing voice acting. It may seem a little silly to be pointing out the flaws in something like, voice acting–but Xenoblades VA work was one of the things that made it stand above so many other RPG’s. At its best, it was emotionally moving, and at its worst, it was passable enough to draw you into the moment. On the other hand, Xenoblade 2’s voice acting, at best, seems to be standard quality for most low-budget localization, and worst, so garishly out of place that it takes you out of what should be an immersive, emotional moment. It’s a minor thing but it’s one that I hope isn’t reflective of the entire experience.
The Character Design
This leads into another issue I have with Xenoblade 2: The character design. The design of each of the characters we know of, seems to be less original and lack inspiration compared to those of its predecessor. Though, we haven’t come across their personality or writing yet–so I’m still reserving judgement of if these characters are interesting or not. In terms of their physical presence though, they mostly seem to be more on the generic side.
One of the main character’s, Pyra, looks like she was built to appease the crowd of people who clamber for scantily clad “Waifu” characters and nothing more. Which outright just feels shallow. This “fanservice-y” type character never really existed in Xenoblade, and it was something refreshing for someone like me who’s fatigued with the trope being far too present in modern storytelling. Having her be an essential character and one who was designed that way makes the game feel like it’s losing sight of something that made the original Xenoblade so unique.
Rex, the new main character looks alright, but I’m personally not a fan of his light hearted demeanor and goofy aesthetic. What made Shulk stand out as a protagonist was that he was the unlikeliest of unlikely heroes. He was a softly spoken, nerdy, intelligent scientist with a strong moral compass and a scrawny physique. Rex’s archetype on the other hand, is one of the goofy, aloof, light hearted hero, which is overplayed in most anime and games.
Nia is probably the character I have the most knee-jerk reaction to, and it’s a bit unfair to her. I just hate anthropomorphic animals and furries, personally. And I think that they’re needlessly overdone in anime and are often reflective of lazy character design. Her issue is more of personal preference, but it’s another example of this game seemingly losing some uniqueness to it though.
Presentation is Everything
With all of the hallmarks of “generic anime presentation” from the waifus, to the goofy heroes and furries. It takes some of the spirit away from what made the original Xenoblade special. That game introduced us to unique species like the Noppon and High Entia. While some of those are still here, all of the new character designs just seem lifeless in comparison.
The facial animations seem to be rather poor thus far too. While the original Xenoblade also had some odd looking faces, that game had the excuse of being on the Wii, and still managed to mask it well. Xenoblade 2 is on the shiny, new Nintendo Switch though, it shouldn’t really look as plastic and dull as it does. Some of the ways in which character’s mouths move doesn’t even really line up well with what they’re saying. Even some of the body animations look a little… gross. Again, a minor gripe, but it’s something that takes me out of the game’s immersive experience. It reminds me that the world is fake and draws me away from the relationship I have with it.
Adding More to the Gameplay
What about the gameplay, You may ask? Well it looks to be similar to the original Xenoblade’s, but with some questionable changes. At its core, it seems to be like Xenoblade’s combat system, but just more of it. Though more doesn’t always mean better. Adding in the ability to change weapons, allowing auto attacks to combo naturally, removing the ability to move and attack at the same time, and creating new secondary abilities in general seems a little overwhelming at first glance. I would have liked to see more practical changes to the combat instead of having them just add new layers and mechanics to the already established system. While I loved the engagement that Xenoblades combat gave, I fear that if its sequel tries to manage too many things at once, it might become too much to handle.
The Verdict
All of these changes that I’ve noticed in Xenoblade 2 have begun to add up. The voice acting, odd character design, and questionable combat differences have me a bit wary of it. I’m fearful that while Xenoblade 2 may keep the core structure of what I loved in the original–it will ultimately be a lower quality and more generic experience. I’m just afraid that it won’t grip me in the way that the original did.
I love Xenoblade. It’s my favorite videogame of all time. I want to be able to say the same for Xenoblade 2, but with all that stands thus far… I’m not sure if that will be the case. At the risk of already sounding like an old man screaming about how kids these days will just never understand–I want to leave you with this statement:
I want a sequel to deliver an experience that is leaps and bounds better than what we were given before. When Monolith Soft showed us Xenoblade 2, a direct sequel to my favorite game ever, I was happy because there was some unspoken mutual understanding. They knew what I, and many others, loved about Xenoblade and decided to recreate it–in fact they wanted to give it a glorious return. They brought the same team that worked on the musical score back. They returned to the titan setting, varied biome motif, and linear story focus. But they’re bringing that back without the leap in quality that a sequel needs… and that makes this all uncertain.
The one thing I remember taking away from the original Evil Within was the knowledge that a good cinematic experience didn’t correlate to a good gameplay experience–and when you’re touting a series as being “The next big thing in horror gaming” that’s not a good look.
The Evil Within was a game that had far too many flaws to make it an engrossing and enjoyable experience. In my opinion, it took all of the lackluster aspects of its peers and tried to mesh them together with a visual style of contemporary horror film By deciding to blend the intentionally clunky controls of Resident Evil 4, the hide and seek elements of Outlast, and the odd psychological horror and thrills of Silent Hill or Alan Wake It culminated into a mixture of chaotic over ambition, and a lack of concise direction and tone overall. The thing that stood out the most about The Evil Within though, was that its gameplay wasn’t fun.
Letterboxing?!?! In a Videogame?!?!
Imagine if I strapped you to a chair, tied your hands around your back and told you to unlock a door using one of your feet. Well, that’s what it felt like playing The Evil Within. Okay, maybe I’m being a little hyperbolic, but the constant battle I had with the controls in that game were pure frustration. Not only was the game’s camera so low to the ground that it was difficult to see a lot of the things in front of me, the game also had one of the stiffest aiming controls I’ve ever experienced in a modern 3rd person shooter–and the horrid letterboxing around the screen didn’t help either.
In fact, the letterboxing, despite acting as a way to make the experience feel more “cinematic,” only served to reduce the player’s field-of-view–hindering the gameplay experience. This highlights the main takeaway from this: The Evil Within sacrificed playability for artistry.
The biggest argument I’ve heard in defense of this is that it was intentional. That the limited field-of-view and clunky controls were meant to add to the “survival horror” elements of the game. It was said that, by struggling with the controls, it was a deliberate way for you to be afraid of your surroundings adding an entirely new dynamic to adapt to. My response: Cool, but that doesn’t make it fun.
The Evil Within 2
The Evil Within 2 though, is an entirely different story… only, not really. It’s not at all.
This game, despite doing several things better than it’s predecessor, still suffers from bad camera angles and stiff controls (but the letterboxing is gone, thank god.) The aiming dead zones are too tight–making precision shooting difficult. The camera moves at a snail’s pace. It’s impossible to see behind your character, allowing for unfair potshots from enemies, and the camera ending below the main character’s waist is inherently awkward placement that makes it difficult to see anything below you.
The Evil Within 2’s controls and camera are something that ruins a game that could have been quite amazing without it. The most aggravating thing though, is that these elements are placed in the game by design.
Designed to Frustrate
This is a topic that’s bugged me about videogame design–the idea that developers think it’s innovative to take autonomy away from the player in order to add some new dynamic to gameplay. In reality, limiting or altering the gameplay experience in order to make some sort of artistic statement or gimmick does nothing but hurt a game and the experience of people who play it. It seems that more developers have been leaning toward this practice in order to “differentiate” their games and it’s an alarming trend.
The Star Fox Parable
Star Fox Zero on the Wii U is a good example of this. Released in 2016, It was the first Star Fox game in nearly a decade and people were excited to finally jump back into the world of Star Fox after years of the series’ neglect, and what did they get? A game that shoved overly gimmicky dual screen, motion controls down their throats.
Forcing you to aim by looking at the gamepad was the main selling point touted by the series lead Shigeru Miyamoto, but it only created motion sickness, anger, and shattered Wii U gamepads. (If you ask me, it was part of a conspiracy Nintendo concocted to have people break their Wii U’s so they could buy more copies of their failing system) But regardless, I had not heard a single person defend the use of the gamepad there and many had cited it as something that just ruined the glorious return of Star Fox for them. The most depressing notion is that Star Fox Zero could have been a good game if it weren’t for it’s unnecessary gameplay quirks.
There’s a Reason That I’m Talking About Space Animals
How does this relate to the The Evil Within 2? While it’s obviously not as heinous as Star Fox Zero, I feel it suffers from many of the same issues that it did. The Evil Within 2 is an engrossing and striking horror experience that, without its gameplay gimmicks, has a number of unique things going for it.
The Horryfingly Brilliant Parts
While still adopting some elements of other games, the sequel opts to take more beloved mechanics and mixes them with a solid foundation that sets it apart from its influencers. Set in a small sandbox world, it creates an environment unique to the horror genre. It does a great job at establishing pacing in its story. The main protagonist, Sebastian Castellanos, is the perfect parody of the cringey, baddass “officer with a purpose” trope that is ever-present in horror.
The visual experience is definitely a notch up from the previous game too, and the entire title’s presentation is just brilliant. The opening segment uses moments of visual brevity to lull you into a false sense of tranquility, gradually building up tension. You start to see things flash in front of you. You wonder if you’ve gone crazy. The silence of a dimly lit mansion begins to invade your psyche and as you uncover the trails of dead bodies left behind by a murderer, you know that moment of climax is coming. This all culminates into a single moment when a terrifying creature is revealed before you leaning into one of the most memorable opening sequences to a videogame period.
Strong, but Heavily Flawed
While all of this shows how the Evil Within 2 grew past it’s predecessor, it’s still held back by its poor camera angles and frustrating controls. (Like, it’s 2017 and you’re telling me that we can’t change the FOV options in a 3rd Person shooter? C’mon Bethesda.)
The game’s combat just feels outright sloppy. Why is it that, when the weapon’s sight is aimed down, the game decides to do an unnecessarily extreme close-up of the enemies? Why is the melee knife virtually useless? Why are stealth kills nearly impossible until you max out the stealth skill tree? There is no need for crutches like these that hinder a player’s ability to interact with the game. It just creates a disconnect between them and the things that they appreciate in it.
While the game creates a solid foundation to be built on, the gameplay itself is a house of cards. Sure the game’s clunky controls can easily be adapted to if you play it for long enough, but struggling with the main way that you interact with a game shouldn’t be a part of its experience for the first few hours. Gameplay should be the most fluid and intuitive thing in a videogame. If a game doesn’t feel natural at first touch, then that aspect of its design has failed, it’s failed as an interactive experience, and by extension it’s failed as a videogame.
A Good Game Needs Good Gameplay
The only thing that gameplay gimmicks show is that a game isn’t inherently interesting enough to stand on its own two feet without them.
There are many things to love about the Evil Within 2. It’s a creepy, tense, and at times an outright terrifying game–but at the end of the day all I’ll ever remember it as is “that game that controlled really poorly and was unfair as hell.” That’s a sad note to leave behind in a player’s thoughts.
If games like Heavy Rain or Beyond Two Souls have proven anything to me, it’s that having good presentation isn’t enough to make a videogame enjoyable. It also has to be fun to play, and there are many moments that The Evil Within 2 just doesn’t feel fun. I may love many aspects of The Evil Within 2, but I doubt I’ll ever return to it because of a few poor decisions that negatively impacted its gameplay. This shows, in many ways how The Evil Within 2 represents the terrifying reality of bad game design. Even if a game is stellar in its presentation the crux of a game is its gameplay. Poor gameplay equals a poor experience and that’s something developers should keep in mind in the future.
Cuphead is seen as 2017s indie darling for several reasons: Its tight, challenging gameplay, striking visual style, and instantly recognizable character design being just a few. Many find themselves drawn to the game’s presence, and before any of us even knew what it was or how it would play, some deemed it the next big thing in gaming.
The Success of Cuphead
I’m not here to tell you how amazing Cuphead is, there are plenty of people out there doing that right now, but if you haven’t played this game yet you have to. What we’re going to explore today is why Cuphead has become a huge timestamp in video game history. It’s an utter phenomenon and that’s evident by the fact that it sold 1 million copies in its first two weeks of release. Holy shit–for an indie game from a studio that no one had heard about prior–that is nothing short of amazing.
Studio MDHR’s Cuphead is a title that has gained a sizeable following and appeal rather quickly, and it’s done so without the need for any substantial marketing. Hell, we learned about this game in 2014 and we didn’t hear any updates from the studio for about a year and a half after that. Outside of gameplay impressions from E3 attendees, the only exposure the game had seen prior to its release was a trailer a year–and that was all it needed. At this point it almost goes without saying that Cuphead was destined to be a sensation. The main reason for that? Nostalgia.
Partying Like it’s 1932
The second that you take in Cuphead’s artstyle and visual aesthetic, you understand what it’s aiming for. Its attempts at capturing the motif of vintage 1930s cartoons are immediately eye-grabbing and can’t go unnoticed. Cuphead’s allusions to Disney cartoons of the same era, particularly Steamboat Willie, make the game look and feel stunningly iconic at first glance. Everything from the film grain effect overlaying the screen, to the font choice and soundtrack are deliberately executed in order to draw players into this retro sense of familiarity and nostalgia.
All of the game’s characters are hyperbolic in how they convey emotions, which was a staple of cartoon characters in that era. Environments in Cuphead are all strewn together by objects and settings that would fit in with things you’d see on episodes of shows like Popeye and Steamboat Willie. The game flourishes with these types of areas, in places like a bar where you fight boxing frogs, a circus where you fight a demented clown, or a Casino where you fight a giant cigarette. Even Cuphead himself looks like he was designed to evoke a feeling of similarity to Mickey Mouse, from his black torso, to his white gloves, red pants, and huge shoes. The game seems to strongly wear its influences on its sleeve in its visual style and that drives home its nostalgic feel.
The Visual of Nostalgia
Not only is Cuphead’s visual style brilliantly deliberate, I would almost argue that it’s borderline pandering, if not 1-to-1 with its influences. This is where the genius of Cuphead’s artistic design shines–it speaks for itself and because of its close ties to the iconic and legendary cartoons it tries to mimic, it draws in a wide audience while also establishing its purpose. As a result, it truly needs no introduction.
This is the first aspect in which Cuphead can almost be defined as the manifestation of pure nostalgia. Something that’s been growing to be increasingly trendy in the postmodern age. Cuphead is a game that represents a few creative minds capitalizing on this trend and its visual style is only one of several reasons.
The Design of Nostalgia
Remember when I had mentioned that Cuphead is an extremely challenging game? Well, that’s where the second aspect of it appealing to nostalgia seems to be riddled in. Since most of the gaming media seems to be fixated on comparing anything difficult to Dark Souls–which I’m gonna get to eventually, believe me–it often flies over people’s heads that Dark Souls was designed to be a throwback to the age where video games never held your hands and were built to be extremely challenging, and Cuphead follows in this fashion.
In fact, Cuphead seems to be directly inspired by game series like Megaman, Contra, and Ninja Gaiden in it’s approach to gameplay–being a 2D platformer focused on precise platforming and boss fights that you need master by dying over and over again.
Cuphead is a game that asks its players to constantly be attentive of both their surroundings and enemy patterns. This results in a game where, in order to be successful, you have to remember every precise movement of bosses and enemies, whilst always keeping on your toes in predicting what comes next.
The amount of times that I had died to every one of the bosses in this game are too much for me to honestly count–and I consider myself relatively good at 2D platformers. It’s a testament to how tight Cuphead’s design is. And is yet another throwback to elements of design from NES and SNES games, when developers, because of a lack of development resources, would focus on making a level as functional and difficult as possible to pad out the game length.
It’s another notable aspect in how Cuphead subtly delivers its focus on nostalgia. While not only being the quintessential genre that people already associate with retro games. Cuphead also proves to share the same level of difficulty and design that platformers of the SNES era were known for.
The Significance of Nostalgia
Nostalgia has proven time and time again to be a significant force in 21st century popular culture. It’s no surprise that there are TV channels focused on airing reruns of classic 90s cartoons and a constant slew of memes dedicated to them. Even recent political campaigns have run themselves on this idea of nostalgia.
We are living in an age of nostalgia and it’s something almost inescapable. It’s why shows like Stranger Things are popular, or why we’ve seen the unwarranted revival of cartoon shows like Hey, Arnold!
Videogames and Nostalgia
Videogames have also been guilty of pandering to these nostalgic desires as well. We constantly see remakes, reboots, and remasters of older game series arise in this current console generation in particular, and with the popularity of the NES and SNES classic systems–it’s evident that being retro is a widely popular idea in videogame culture.
Nostalgia has become its own brand in postmodern culture and Cuphead is a prime representation of that. It draws its audience in with its sense of familiarity in both its art style and approach to gameplay. And it seems self-aware enough to its audience and influences, that one can’t shake the feeling that it’s what the developers of Cuphead intended.
A Knockout!
At the end of the day, all of the critical praise that Cuphead has been receiving is easily warranted. Not only is it an amazing visual experience, but it’s a game that has a lot of care put into its gameplay too. And with its allusions to both cartoons and video games of the past, it’s a game that has the potential to usher in a new direction for indie videogames. A direction that looks at gamings past in order to embrace the future.
If there’s anything that I’ve learned in my limited 21 years on this planet, it’s that businesses follow the money.
As much as your favorite company or corporation might seem to care about their fan’s interests and desires–their end goal is always to make a profit, and the largest profit possible.
This is true for nearly every type of medium out there: Writers of popular novel series have been able to marinate in countless examples of ill received film adaptations that are built to sell merchandise. Filmmakers have created several shallow reboots of classic, iconic franchises that are designed attract to any casual passer-by who recognizes the license by name. Even musicians have been finding new ways to sell merchandise bundles and inflate the prices and availability of tickets–much to the dismay of casual concert goers.
Most fans of these mediums’ though, have either grown jaded and hegemonized by the practice, or have had their voices dwarfed by big box office numbers, billboard charts, and the silent approval of the general populace.
Videogames are New
But for gaming, the publishers desire to make a profit has been a more controversial and stringent topic than in other mediums. This is, in large part, because of the recent growth of the videogame market and increased mainstream appeal of videogames as a whole.
Whereas fans of comics, movies and the like have had decades of businesses turning their favorite series into poorly crafted, general market focused products, fans of video games have only seen this trend develop in the last few years–as gaming continues to escape the societal stigma of a hobby built for children and middle-aged men who live in their mother’s basement.
What trend am I referring to? Well, the main element in video game culture that’s turning it into a more corporate and profit based medium comes from DLC. Yes, DLC content such as: season passes, deluxe editions, and the dreaded microtransactions. These objects have become notorious as anti-consumer business items in AAA gaming, and it’s becoming more obvious now than ever that DLC culture is being put in place as a means to rip money out of player’s wallets.
Before we get into the conversation on game culture, let me veer back a little and explain what AAA gaming means:
AAA Videogames
Game series that are backed by notable, multi-million dollar publishers, like EA or Activision, are what many would refer to as AAA–but that’s not the only aspect in the moniker. AAA games are those that are propped up to be iconic. As videogames become more of a popular medium–and videogame franchises start to become as recognizable as Superman or Mickey Mouse–publishers try to take advantage of the power of brand recognition, and in turn, create a near monopolization of the market.
This market stranglehold is where the DLC trend begins. It essentially forces users to be complacent with any way that publishers want to price gouge for a product because they’re the only place in town selling. In simpler terms, this is the economic privilege of AAA gaming: The ability to ask for more without drawing your audience away.
The controversy doesn’t arise from these practices, particularly. Instead, they arise from the way in which publishers enact these practices. Just as fans of video games are new to the trend of publishers asking them for more money after their initial purchase, publishers are new to the practice of asking. The publisher’s inexperience and lack of cunning approach to this is how outrage ensues. Corporations like Activision, Capcom, and Ubisoft will advertise season passes for Assassin’s Creed, Destiny, and Marvel vs Capcom games well before the initial launch. Giving the impression that the publishers don’t care enough about the vanilla package to have you be satisfied with that–or worse, that they took content way from the initial game just to turn a profit.
Destiny 2 just came out and the Expansion Pass is already being advertised
These publishers are more brazen with their desire to make the most profit off of their game franchise and that’s where a lot of the controversy seems to be drawn. Instead of subtly adding in features for free and giving incentive to purchase optional, cosmetic, or non-intrusive add-on’s, many game publishers seem to hound on the wallets of consumers by constantly reminding us of season passes, map packs, story expansions, and most importantly in-game currency and microtransactions.
Microtransactions: A Briefing
Microtransactions, for those who don’t know, are the practice of allowing players to purchase smaller in-game items using real money. The practice began in the mobile game market, where free titles would constantly egg players on with optional purchases to speed up progression, play without advertisements, or remove paywalls that made it nearly impossible to continue playing without a fee.
This practice was actually first adapted and popularized in the mainstream gaming market by free, online multiplayer-focused PC games like League of Legends and Hearthstone. In which, players could use real currency to buy randomly generated loot boxes, card packs, and individual characters without needing to buy the initial $60 fee that most AAA games require.
Hearthstone Card Packs
Main Players Take Notice
Publishers of big, cinematic game titles soon began to take notice of both the mobile and PC markets’ practices. They understood how lootbox based microtransactions appealed to a player’s addictive desire to gamble against a random number generated system, like a patron at vegas with thousands to spare. They also learned that not all people had enough time to grind through several levels in a game in order to get the best items and gear–so they’d rather pay to reach that status instead.
This has led to AAA publishers adding these practices into their fully priced games. Overwatch lets you purchase random loot boxes to get cosmetic items. NBA 2K18 let’s you buy virtual currency–which allows you to level up and customize your character. Even the upcoming title Shadow of War,a purely single player game, lets you buy loot boxes to get premium items and allies. Actually, the list of titles that have implemented microtransaction systems are nearly endless in the AAA gaming market: Dead Space 3, Evolve, Killing Floor 2, Destiny 2, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Mass Effect, FIFA, Grand Theft Auto–you get the point. Nowadays microtransactions are virtually unavoidable and some of the abrasive ways in which they are being forced down consumers throats are starting to piss them off.
Overwatch Loot Boxes
This pervasive practice can be overwhelming for many who just want to sit down and play a game without having fears of being obligated to buy additional features in order to fully enjoy their experience. It’s because of this practice that animosity has ensued.
The saddest thing about all of this though, is that this is just a trend of the times. Microtransactions are not the first way in which publishers have worked against the better interests of their consumers in order to turn a profit–and they certainly will not be the last.
The Revolving Door of Anti-Consumer Bussiness
Does anybody remember online passcodes? Those were one time use slips of paper that unlocked all of the online features to a game. They were the main way that publishers would disincentivize people from buying their games used–essentially stating that if you loaned the title from a friend or bought it second-hand, you wouldn’t be able to access the game’s key features. What about when Street Fighter games forced you to buy a full $60 title for balance updates and a few extra characters in the enhanced Ultimate Editions of the games?
Fans had taken issue with those practices too, and the companies who had done them faced massive backlash. Publishers overreached and enacted those ideas in ways that were outright burdensome to the consumers, so things like online pass codes were ultimately terminated. Nowadays, microtransactions are just the changing face of anti-consumer business. While most are harmless cash grabs now, it only takes one publisher with enough power to overreach their desire for profit before all of them begin force people to pay for progression in their game–lest they suffer through dozens of hours of tedious grinding.
Indie Alternatives
Despite how bleak the changing landscape of the video game market has become, there’s one important thing to keep in mind. You are ultimately the decider in this all. You have the ability to determine whether you want to support these practices or not.
Because of the pervasive nature of these companies and the monopoly they hold on our favorite genres and licenses, it can sometimes be hard to remember that we can spend our money elsewhere. With the bustle and boom of the indie videogame market, and the plethora of options at your disposal, it’s easier than ever for consumers to vote with their wallets.
The crowdfunded, indie Friday the 13th: Game is a good example of a quality product that continues to be consumer friendly in its delivery–giving its players free updates constantly, with the promise of long-continued support on the way. Even other indie titles like Cuphead, Rime, and Tacoma among others offer new ways for players to find refuge from the headache that DLC culture brings to gaming.
Overall, the only way in which people can fight the overreach of things like microtransactions is by staying aware and knowing when to not support a company or product. As much as I want to shout to the hills preaching that we have the power to tell these companies that we don’t want things like microtransactions in our game, we don’t have that power. This wouldn’t be such a widespread epidemic in gaming if some people weren’t buying, and there’s no saying how far greed will take these publishers in overcharging for titles. Ultimately, you or I can’t determine if these practices will change for better or worse, but at least we can stay informed.
What I say here comes from a place of love. I love the Marvel vs Capcom series and I only want what’s best for it.
Signed,
An Impassioned fan
What’s Missing
Deadpool, Phoenix Wright, Wolverine, Storm, Jill Valentine, Wesker, Viewtiful Joe, Amaterasu, Iron Fist, Vergil, Tronne Bonne, MODOK, Psylocke, Viper, Felicia, Trish, Phoenix, She-Hulk, Dr. Doom. These are just SOME of the characters that were lost in the transition between Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite.
The long-running, cult-classic fighting game franchise has hit an all-time low in its newest entry, exemplifying everything wrong with the anti-consumer practices of triple-a game developers and publishers in the 21st century, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Marvel vs. Capcom’s History
To understand why Marvel vs Capcom Infinite is representative of a series on decline, we should first look at the franchise’s roots. Marvel vs Capcom is a series that, technically, was first conceived as, and spurred by, the game X-Men vs. Street Fighter back in 1996. It was something that started as a game placed in arcades all around Japan, and later saw worldwide release on the Playstation and Sega Saturn in 1998. X-Men vs Street Fighter was a monumental game for its time and is still important now despite the fact that it hasn’t aged well. It proved that something as budding as the video game industry could do a collaboration with something as huge as the comic book industry and still create a stellar product. It merged some of comic’s most iconic figures with those of video games and it was a hallmark of fighting games in its time.
Not only was it an essential title because of the inherent statement it made, but it also paved the way for the Marvel vs Capcom series–one that’s now beloved by both hardcore fighting game fans and even casual gamers. Marvel vs Capcom has X-Men vs Street Fighter to thank for its existence although it’s become a much bigger license than its predecessor will ever be. Fast forward to 2017, and every single one of the X-men is missing from the newest Marvel vs Capcom game.
Why? What would cause the series to lose the heart and soul that it built its foundation on? What would cause Marvel vs Capcom to betray the history of its series?
Modern Capcom Woes
It begins with Capcom’s growing mindset that they only need to give its consumers the bare minimum in order to have us buy their product. For Capcom, this is a company practice that has been blooming for years now and it’s been showing itself to be more prevalent now than ever. Take Street Fighter V, for example. A game that launched with less content than any other street fighter game to date, even missing a basic arcade mode. It was a game whose main selling point was its ranked multiplayer, which was impossible to use for the first week of its release because of broken servers despite months of Capcom doing beta tests just to prevent that from happening. Now, this business model–the type of Capcom giving its fans an unpolished mess of a product–has infected its way into Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite.
Not only is Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite missing dozens of characters from Marvel vs Capcom 2& 3 alone, but it has the second lowest roster in any Marvel vs Capcom game to date (with just the first title falling behind). Capcom has seen it fit to deliver only 4 new characters to the game on-disc, at release, and compared to Marvel vs Capcom 2’s 41 new characters, and even Marvel vs Capcom 3’s 21 new characters this is nothing short of an embarrassment.
Capcom Giveth and Capcom Taketh Away
What new characters were introduced? Well, MvC:I introduced the series to Marvel’s: Ultron, Gamora, and Captain Marvel and Capcom’s Jedah, from the Darkstalkers series. While these characters are fine additions, they came at the cost of all of the X-Men and other series favorites like Deadpool, Resident Evil’s Wesker, Devil May Cry’s Vergil, and even Phoenix Wright.
Why is this? Why does Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite have the weakest initial roster since the inception of the series? Presumably because the most interesting new characters in Marvel Infinite are all being saved for release later as DLC, in an entirely new way for Capcom to price gouge its consumers. These DLC characters were announced the day that the game released and are: The Monster Hunter (from the Monster Hunter series) Marvel’s Black Panther, Black Widow, Winter Soldier, and Venom, and Sigma from Mega Man and they’re all going to be charged as extra content before the end of 2017.
…But They Mostly Taketh Away
Wait… They have the audacity to charge players extra for Venom? A returning character from Marvel vs Capcom 2… and… and they’re charging extra for Sigma?!?? But he’s on the box art and is the main villain of the story. How much is this DLC going to cost, you may ask? Well the character pass is $30. Capcom are asking for half of the price of the vanilla game for 6 characters. This is nothing short of frustrating for consumers when Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite sports the lowest new-to-returning character ratio in the series history as it is.
The strangest thing behind the issue with this roster was the excuse that associates at Capcom made about the lack of appearances from certain fan-favorite characters. When asked about Magneto’s absence in an interview with GameSpot, Capcom’s Peter Rosas had said “ If you were to actually think about it, these characters are just functions. They’re just doing things. Magneto, case and point, is a favorite because he has eight-way dash and he’s really fast, right? Well guess what, Nova can do the same thing, Captain Marvel can do the same thing. Ultron can do the same thing.”
This is a bit of tone deaf marketing that is exemplary of this company losing passion in creating something that its fans are passionate about. Sure, when we boil it down, video games are just numbers, functions, inputs on a screen–but the reason that we play them is to immerse ourselves in in the worlds we love. And Marvel vs Capcom is a series that built itself on people watching their favorite characters beat the crap out of each other. To many they are much more than functions.
Exceptions to the Rule
I understand that video game development nowadays is expensive, and making a quality product isn’t easy, but it doesn’t excuse Capcom’s actions here when many other companies are giving its fans much more with their fighting games. Take two recently released games: Tekken 7 and Injustice 2 for example.
NetherRealm studios’ Injustice 2 not only added 16 new characters to it’s roster with a total of 28 characters in the initial roster, but that game boasts what are arguably the most realistic graphics in any video game period and includes one of the best story modes in any fighting game to boot. That’s not to even mention the community driven multi-verse events. The gear system–which lets you customize the look and play style of your character. Or the game’s fan involvement in choosing what DLC characters make it into the game. Tekken 7 is in a similar boat, giving players a roster of over 35 characters along with a robust story mode for each one.
That’s not to imply that things like a story mode aren’t in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, they’re just… lacking comparably. Capcom has seemingly understood the backlash they received after not including an Arcade mode or Story mode to Street Fighter V at its release last year, so they’ve opted to include both in Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite.
Low Quality Product
The problem with Marvel vs Capcom Infinite’s Story mode though, is that it’s cringe inducing at worst and garishly odd at best. I never thought I would see the day that Sigma and Ultron would fuse together, but now that I have I want to unsee it. This, along with the many other strange character interactions just feel forced. Like Iron Man fist bumping Devil May Cry’s Dante, or Darkstalkers’ Morrigan flirting with Ghost Rider. It doesn’t help that these scenes are bogged down by voice acting that’s laughably poor and dialogue that’s filled with hackneyed clichés and one-liners. The story also only took roughly 5 hours to complete and it wasn’t very challenging or unique. It felt more like a string of fights sewn together by 10-minute cutscenes. It just wasn’t much of a substantive or memorable experience.
Along with this, Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite has some of the strangest looking character models I’ve seen this year. Of course, there was the huge scandal with Chun-li, whose face looked like that of a character from Lazytown in the game’s promo trailers–though they’ve since fixed that.
But other characters look odd even still. Ryu looks like a deformed Jim Henson product, Captain America looks like The Tick, and Sigma looks like the in-between of Buzz Lightyear, Zerg, and a Neo Nazi. What’s even odder is that some of the new characters in the game look fantastic despite this, with Monster Hunter, Jedah and Captain Marvel as good examples.
What Works, Though?
But graphics aren’t everything, especially in a fighting game. Here, gameplay and combat is most important. How does it fair? Well, I’m glad to say that this is where Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite shines. Think of any insane combo that you want to try and it probably works. The amount of flexibility and choice in how you can play your favorite characters here is stunning and with the added mechanic of the games’ infinity stones–which grant a static special ability to the user–there are a myriad of ridiculous combos and play styles at your disposal.
But good gameplay doesn’t change the fact that fans of this series have been waiting 6 years for a new entry and yet they get significantly less content than what they were given before.
A Bleak Future
Nothing gets me more boiled than anti-consumer practices, and Capcom, at this point, are just blatantly drawing on the wallets of their most hardcore fans in order to make a profit. Maybe it’s because their last big fighting game, Street Fighter V, didn’t meet sales expectations–so they’re trying other means of siphoning cash from their loyal followers. Maybe it’s because Capcom has been teetering closer and closer to bankruptcy with each poor business decision they make. Like in 2011, when they canned the development of Mega Man Legends 3 and blamed it on the fan’s lack of support–when more than likely it was because the series creator, Keiji Inafune, was kicked off the development team a year before.
Capcom is banking on the fact that brand recognition and soft-ball critics will save them from any suspicion of doing something wrong, but I don’t think it will. Fans are taking notice and people are starting to lose trust and hope in Capcom as a corporation. The last thing I want is for Capcom to fail, I don’t want to see some of my favorite gaming franchises disappear because they’ve been refusing to change ways. But regardless of this, it’s nearly undeniable Marvel vs Capcom Infinite is a spit in the face to fans of the series. It’s a depressing notion, because underneath piles of terrible corporate business practices, tone deaf marketing, and refusal to listen to fans lies a genuinely fun fighting game.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a game series that’s been on the decline in the last decade–and that’s not me just saying that! Not only have Sonic’s titles been a mixed bag post-the Sega Genesis, but his discography is being increasingly plagued by glaring critical failures and glitch-filled, almost unfinished titles. Sonic’s fanbase and cultural relevancy have been dwindling in this last decade, and that’s been in large part due to the lack of any monumental, universally loved title in his game series since Sonic 3 & Knuckles released over 20 years ago.
It’s Not ALL Been Bad
That’s not to say that Sonic hasn’t had any good games in the modern age. In fact, I’m one of the few people who’ll defend some of the blue blur’s titles that others often mindlessly bash. Sonic Lost World had a lot of unique and interesting concepts and was ripe with potential despite it’s flaws in design, and games like Sonic Generations and Sonic Colors both seemed to fit the formula of a Sonic game fairly well. Sonic even recently had his most successful comeback since the genesis with Sonic Mania, a game that felt like a throwback to Sonic’s golden age. It was a smash hit with both critics and fans alike.
But this doesn’t change the fact that Sonic has been struggling to, no pun intended, keep up with the competition for years now. In a time where developers are constantly breaking the mold in how we experience games, Sonic Team has either been following trends, or has been stuck in the same mindset for too long. I think that the former has been a bigger problem.
The Inherent Problem with Sonic
Sonic has refused to stick to one gameplay type and genre since he departed from purely being a 2D platformer in the 16 bit era. Sonic Unleashed tried at being an action beat em up. Sonic and the Secret Rings tried to be an on rails 3D platformer. Sonic ‘06 didn’t even try to be a video game. Heck, even the upcoming Sonic Forces doesn’t even seem like it’s going to make up its mind with what type of game it wants to be, focusing on both 2D and 3D gameplay.
But despite how Sonic games have been changing up the gameplay since his jump to 3D, the game series has always had one goal: To make Sonic go fast, and that presupposed expectation for Sonic is a stubborn aspect of the character. This has resulted in conflicting design decisions between what developers and visionaries want Sonic to be and what he actually is. And these decisions, in turn have resulted in a number of poorly received and conceived Sonic titles. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic ‘06 being prime examples
Even a number of Sonic fans have seemingly had enough, and the fan base for Sonic games has found itself dwindling as a result. It’s even resulted in Sega resorting to… fanservice with Sonic Forces, allowing players to create their own Sonic OC’s as many hardcore fans have been doing on Deviantart for years now.
How Twitter Saved The Hedgehog
Recently though, something odd has been happening within the Sonic community. Although the state of Sonic’s games have been rough in the last few years, there’s been somewhat of a resurgence of Sonic as a figure in pop culture. Many people have been coming out in droves admitting that they still love Sonic. Why is this?
Well… uhhh, the answer might be a little stupid, but bare with me. Sonic has been growing a lot more in the public eye because of… memes.
No, I’m not kidding you. Sonic’s branding and marketing in the 21st century has been on point–almost to a fault. Not only have Sonic’s social media platforms consistently capitalized on all of the jokes made at his expense, but they’ve been gaining a sense of self-awareness to what the fans want while still appearing as relatable to anyone who grew up with Sonic and watched him decline.
Don’t believe me? Then take this quote from the website The Shorty Awards, in which Sonic was nominated for an award for fastest twitter growth:
2016 marked Sonic the Hedgehog’s 25th anniversary…and the year he would win Twitter. But before we begin our story of dank memes, top notch creativity, and endless press mentions, we must first rewind to the year 2015.
Things were not looking good for the world’s fastest hedgehog. He had recently come out with two games that met with mixed reception. His Twitter following growth had slowed to a near halt. Something new needed to be done. Something different. Something extraordinary.
It was time for us to turn it all around.
It began with a big shift in tone by posting a meme with Ice Cube and Guy Fieri, parodying the Sonic game ‘Fire and Ice.’ Priceless. From there Sonic began tweeting self-aware tweets and snarky comments to fans. People started to take notice. The social following began to grow. It was as if the account had gone rouge (it did; we stopped sending content to higher-ups for approval). It was hilarious and self-aware, yet positive change. After we released an absolutely insane video featuring Shia LaBeouf that trended on Facebook, the new content strategy and tone was solidified.
Not only has the Sonic twitter page garnered 1.2 million Twitter followers in a single year because of their use of memes, but hype around new and upcoming sonic games has grown exponentially because Sonic’s brand is beginning to return to something of positivity in the public eye.
Memes Exist Past Sonic’s Social Media
Although the Sonic Twitter page is a key aspect in how everyone’s favorite hedgehog began to crawl back into relevancy, it’s not the only reason. Another major part of Sonic’s return to being a pop culture juggernaut lies in his hit cartoon network series, Sonic Boom. Here we see a light-hearted form of Sonic that oozes of personality. Not only does this series boast some of the best writing I’ve seen out of a cartoon show since the 90s, but it’s use of 4th-wall breaks and tongue-in-cheek social commentary makes it a treat to watch.
Take the series ‘original character, Sticks the Badger, for example. She’s a rampant conspiracy theorist who believes that the government is constantly watching her. She’ll randomly go into a political rant out of nowhere and when she does it’s absolutely hilarious. This, along with general jokes about internet and movie culture, make this show something for both young adults and children and as a result it has extended Sonic’s impact on popular culture past just video games.
Godspeed You Glorious Meme
These are the primary reasons that Sonic has begun a resurgence as a powerful brand in the age of the internet, and it’s something only a franchise like Sonic could be capable of.
Back in the 90s, Sonic the Hedgehog lead what is debatably the best marketing campaign in video game history. Sonic was a staple of the “Sega does what Nintendon’t” slogan and using the snarky attitude of the character to spur competition between Sonic and his video-game figurehead rivals, Sega made sure that people knew who Sonic was and what he was about. It’s only fitting that now, Sonic is leading the charge in an entirely new revolution in marketing.
As weird as it sounds… meme culture is saving Sonic the Hedgehog, and despite whatever the quality of his games will be in the future, I’m excited to see where this path leads him.
For the last few days I’ve been completely obsessed with this game for the Nintendo Switch called Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.
Conceived as the unholy matrimony of Nintendo’s A-list, do nothing wrong, Super Mario franchise and Ubisoft’s not-as-critically acclaimed more… niche B-tier Rabbids series, this unlikely collision of worlds was destined to be a monstrous frankenstein of epic proportions. It was mixing a gaming legend whose stories and adventures had defined an entire medium of entertainment, with creatures that are trademarked for their toilet humor and mindless screaming shtick. It was being created by a development studio whose most notable credits were for the Just Dance series and was being published by a company notoriously known for pushing out glitchy, rushed projects with DLC laden, price gouging business practices. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was a game that was beaming with caution alarms despite it’s colorful, endearing exterior at its reveal during E3 2017.
But despite this, the game ended up engrossing myself and many other critics upon its release. With some even calling it the most important Mario crossover game in Nintendo history. Why is this?
If we want a decent understanding of how this project came to be, and why this crossover works so well, we’ll have to take a brief look into the history of video game crossovers and the impact they’ve had on the medium in general. It’s apt to note that most, if not nearly all, crossover video games between two established licenses end up being stellar creations and a hit with the general public. This is even true with titles that would normally seem odd to pair together initially, like the Disney and Final Fantasy amalgamation known as Kingdom Hearts or the critically acclaimed fighting game series Marvel vs. Capcom.
Studio crossovers, where companies license their IP over to other publishers, often end up working surprisingly well, and this is a practice that Nintendo is no stranger to, with Square creating the stellar Super Mario RPG for the Super Nintendo and more recently Koei Tecmo creating the Dynasty Warriors and Legend of Zelda crossover title, Hyrule Warriors. These titles may have seemed strange and unnecessary at the time of their creation, but nearly all have developed into classic video game series with time.
Despite the fact that these titles came out of the blue as things that we never knew we wanted, they all had a notable amount of pedigree in their creation. If there’s anything we can be certain of, it’s that Square can make a good RPG and Capcom can make a damn good fighting game. This is what makes Mario + Rabbids such an anomaly. Not only is it a strange crossover between two IP’s for even video game standards, but it’s a game set in a genre that neither the development studio or the franchises involved have experience in. Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, has gone on record saying that he only wanted Ubisoft to make this if it was a game where Mario explored a genre that he never has before. This prompted Ubisoft to make this game a strategy RPG, and neither Ubisoft or the Rabbids are necessarily known for those types of games. So with all this in mind, the question still stands: Why does Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle work so well as a crossover game? The answer might be simpler than you think.
Most of why this collusion of titles works so well has to do with the iconography of the Mario series and has little to do with the Rabbids themselves. In fact, It’s for the same reason that people go to the Kingdom Hearts games to explore their favorite Disney worlds, and not to talk to Cloud Strife.
Think of Mario and his cohorts as both a blank canvas and a sacred cow. Not only does the Mario series have an unwavering and loyal fanbase of people, but each of its characters are extremely flexible and emotive. In this game Princess Peach is a badass that kicks the corpses of her foes. Luigi dabs and acts like an awkward weirdo. Even Yoshi is an explosive loving Pyromaniac. These are all personalities and archetypes that have never been associated with these characters, yet feel right at home with the basic emotions they’ve been known to convey. Heck, Mario is wielding Megaman’s blaster and it somehow works.
This is the blank canvas. The Mario characters and world strike a brilliant balance between simple and practical. This simplicity in both their design and personalities allows the series characters to be easily melded into an artist’s’ vision. This is why we have such a wide array of different takes on the Mario series from several different minds. The quirky, avant garde humor of the Paper Mario series is easily distinguishable from the more basic, milquetoast personality of the basic Mario platformers. Mario’s dominance and inclusion in Mario + Rabbids is what ultimately saves this concept from becoming a trainwreck.
This doesn’t mean that the game could’ve been of low quality. In fact, quite the opposite. Ubisoft could not mess this up and, while faced with this pressure, they worked to flesh out the Mario license eloquently. In example, setting the game within the Mushroom Kingdom was the most ingenious design decision in this whole game. Using the rich lore and distinct settings and motifs of the world Nintendo had created allowed the creators to explore a wider variety of locations and play around more with people’s expectations. Each environment is as whimsical and colorful as what we would normally expect from the Mario series. The forests look lush and the frozen tundras feel chilly. This well known setting also allows the player to come across more familiar faces like Toad and Bowser Jr., making the Rabbids and their antics far more palatable for those who don’t care for them.
That’s not to undersell the intrusion, I mean… inclusion of the Rabbids. These manic, little creatures are the little bit of spice that adds the charm needed to distinguish this game from other Mario titles. The Rabbids can be found littered about the Mushroom Kingdom disrupting everything in their path. When I walked underneath a giant statue of a Rabbid that looked as if it was peeing into a ravine, I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. This is true for the Rabbid characters themselves too. When Rabbid Yoshi sadistically kept shooting his gatling gun at an enemy that was already dead, I cracked a smile and was reminded of what it was like to be 12 again. Very rarely did the Rabbid’s sense of humor become offensive and it was the held-back approach that kept their presence more charming and less annoying.
Though the personality of this title strikes a mood that fits perfectly with Mario’s style, it’s not the only thing that kept this game from being a flop. The most important aspect of this game that needed to go well was the gameplay and it is excellent. Mario + Rabbids boasts an accessible, tactical RPG that’s easy to understand but difficult to master. Much in the way that Paper Mario was built to introduce an audience to role-playing games, Mario + Rabbids is built in a way to introduce the strategy genre to both a franchise and players who have never experienced it before.
The combat is straightforward. Depending on a character’s orientation and the cover they’re behind, attacks have a 100%, 50%, or 0% chance to hit. Some maps require that you defeat all enemies in the map to complete, others require that you exit the map with one character. The goals and basic ideas are easy to grasp on the surface, but underneath it’s vast and complex. Each weapon has a chance to deal a certain type of elemental damage, ranging from fire that pushes enemies out of cover, ink that keeps them from attacking for a turn, or vampire that let’s you steal health upon a successful hit. On top of this, each character has a sub weapon that has a certain attribute, perhaps Peaches duck-grenade could be used to destroy cover or flush out an enemy. Along with that, each character has certain abilities that they can use along with their attacks and movement each turn. Even past this, each character can be upgraded and customized to your liking. I focused on making Luigi stronger if he had the high ground against enemies, while Peach was a tank who had an extreme amount of health.
These are the layers of Mario + Rabbids combat that make the game both rich and replayable. It’s the nuanced combat system that makes this title distinct and strong overall. This title would not have worked if it were anything shallower, like a party or rhythm game. It needed to be a game with dynamic gameplay that someone could sink their time into.
Along with the core gameplay, there are moments of downtime where we’re able to explore the world of the Mushroom Kingdom and solve contextual puzzles at our leisure. These moments of relief offer the change of pace needed to perfectly balance the game out for more casual gamers. Being able to settle down and take in the environments around you is the perfect reward for overcoming a hectic battle.
In short, Mario + Rabbids is a surprising crossover that works well because of how strong it’s presentation and gameplay is. Without the added personality to the iconic Mario world and the game’s in-depth combat, Mario + Rabbids wouldn’t have been a success. But with these aspects included, the game has cemented itself in the pantheon of crossover titles that are both essential and classic. It’s a game that re-instills consumer confidence in Nintendo’s relationship with 3rd party companies, bit more importantly, it’s a game that will undoubtedly introduce a new generation to the red-capped hero.
The Gaming Chronicler 