Finally got to X Rank in one of the Ranked Battle modes!

Now hopefully I can actually keep it

show us your oc lore!!

I'm so sorry but it's exclusively my Splatoon OCs

I'm not at ALL confident in how legible this is, but this is my Web Of Lesbianism(tm), AKA how (almost) all of my lesbian sploon OCs connect to each other, excluding a few who only connect in small places and/or I don't feel like making icons for. Sorry to Scarlet, who absolutely warrants a place here, but I simply Do Not Want to make an icon for </3

Lore under the readmore because I get extremely rambly. whoops and apologies and this is probably the only time i'll ever let myself get THIS infodump-y in a Tumblr post. I'm writing this after I wrote it all out and I'm so fucking sorry it's literally over 2k words because I have no ability to stop once I've started and I've been outright POSSESSED by these losers for the past month. Here's basically everything about my Splatoon OCs

FOR NAMES. Top right is Basil (Blue tentacles), middle right is Penny (Her name is just written because I haven't drawn her yet), bottom right is June (Pink tentacles), bottom middle is Jake (Blue tentacles), bottom left is Parker (Purple tentacles, also the sanitized icon), middle left is Ruby (Orange tentacles), and top left is May (Pink tentacles)

Everything starts when May, Jake, and Ruby are all around ~16-17, while June, May's little sister, is around ~9. May is VERY into Jake, and Jake's just generally a big flirt and a huge romantic, though it's unsure if he really realizes May's extremely obvious crush on him (He doesn't), or he reciprocates, which is unfortunate, because Ruby, who's May's childhood best friend, is also very into her, but May doesn't realize this. When [UNDECIDED EVENT] happens and May and Jake both come to the realization they need to head to the surface to escape the oppressive Octarian domes, Ruby being with them is very clearly an afterthought, and she knows it. So, her jealousy over Jake being someone May has known for less time yet clearly loves more than her, and the fact that trying to escape being very, very illegal, she turns them both in.

Jake manages to call May before he's caught to warn her that Ruby turned them in and the cops will already be heading to her parents house, which gives May enough time to run home, grab June, and make a run for it. Both May and Jake manage to outrun the cops, with May and June ending up far into the outskirts of the domes, while Jake only gets further and deeper within them.

Around a month or two after their initial escape, May's spotted by a patrol of soldiers stationed right around the way to the surface, with the soldier who spots her specifically being Scarlet, the oldest sister to Ruby (Who's not featured here because I don't want to make her icon), who remembers May from when she was a kid and, alongside that, has been feeling disillusioned with life as a soldier, despite her high ranking, and decides not only to let May go, but to even share rations with her. This only increases as Scarlet realizes May is the runaway who's known to have a young child with her, and it goes from Scarlet sparing her own rations to stealing rations from the squad she leads to make sure both May and June are able to eat properly.

Of course, this doesn't last long, as Crimson, the middle sister to Scarlet and Ruby, and fellow soldier stationed with Scarlet's squad, gets suspicious of the missing rations, Scarlet's dismissal of the issue, and her wandering off frequently, and ends up following her and finds her giving the stolen rations to May. A fight breaks out between the two, with Crimson managing to nearly take Scarlet's eye out in the process, as Scarlet's the only person ever to bring a gun to a knife fight and lose. May booked it the MOMENT Crimson jumped out, so she's long gone by the time the scuffle ends, but Scarlet, having just been caught stealing rations, aiding a runaway, and now attacking a fellow soldier (Even if in self defense), bolts to try and make it to the surface as well, albeit she doesn't know where May ran off to.

May ends up making it to the surface around a month after that incident, after wandering lost for the time between, and, while struggling to try and buy some clothes thanks to the language barrier between her and the commonly spoken languages of the surface, one of the employees working there, Penny, is able to help figure out what May's looking for, and helps her with the whole process, since it's a lot different from how it was in the domes. They don't end up seeing each other after that for around a year, but it's important when they do, as Penny's was the first person on the surface May really had a good experience with, so when they randomly run into each other, May's very happy to be able to tell her how meaningful that was to her, and that she's much more adjusted to the culture and language now.

Meanwhile, Jake! Jake ends up wandering deep within the domes, far away from where the actual settlements and cities are, for over a year, just barely surviving through scavenging and avoiding patrolling soldiers. Still, he's not great at it, and eventually he ends up being held at gunpoint by Parker, who insists he tell her his rank and what he's doing out here. He has no idea, as he was never in the military and lies through his teeth. Luckily for him, Parker is a military deserter, and would've had a much worse reaction had she believed him, instead realizing that he's not a soldier and has no idea what he's talking about. Parker's been hiding out in the area, an abandoned sewer system that's frequented as a supply route for soldiers, for several months at this point, and while she actually enjoys her life of living down there, it's a lot of work to survive on her own, and realizing Jake's a fugitive also means he's a potential survival partner.

The two end up meeting up once every day for around a week before Parker feels confident enough that Jake isn't going to screw her over or try and turn her in or anything, and invites him to live with her at her "apartment", an old maintenance closet that's very secluded and not marked on any military maps, under the agreement that the two of them actually work together. Jake instantly agrees because he's been miserable and awful for the past year, while Parker's doing surprisingly well for herself, she even has multiple sets of clothes that she's stolen from nearby outposts (As well as an entire mattress she stole, and her most prized possession, a full deck of playing cards, and an Octo Shot she definitely killed a man for), as opposed to Jake, who's been going off of only what he had on him when everything went down, which is... practically nothing.

The plot basically slows down and chills out here for a while, May and June end up moving in with Penny after a few months of May and Penny hanging out instead of having to live in the shitty motel they'd been living in before (Albeit, the motel was better than the wilds they'd been living in before that), and Parker and Jake get adjusted to their lives in hiding surprisingly well. May and Scarlet even find each other on the surface again, they run into each other while May's out grocery shopping, and it's a very important moment for the both of them, as they've spent this entire time carrying around the guilt of feeling responsible for what happened, so them seeing the other and seeing how much better they're doing on the surface helps ease those guilts.

And then the events of Octo Expansion happen in the background. Parker and Jake know the routines of the soldiers in the area after years of living together, but the supply lines end up being used by sanitized Octoling soldiers after Kamabo starts massively ramping up production, leading to patrols of sanitized soldiers at seemingly random intervals, and outside of the predictable patterns that Parker and Jake were used to. Parker's out doing the laundry when a patrol finds her, and, greatly outnumbering her, end up nearly killing her, and dragging her back to be sanitized. She's in too bad of condition to be saved and reused as a test subject, so she's just sanitized instead.

Jake, naturally, notices when Parker never comes back from doing the laundry, and proceeds to be missing for upwards of two weeks. Jake does his best to look for her, but he also doesn't want to stray too far from their "apartment", as he's scared she might return home when he's gone, and with the unpredictable patrols, he doesn't feel like it's safe to stay out for as long as he wants to to look for her, so he ends up sticking close to home and just hoping he'll be able to find some clue of her. Of course, when he finally does, finally spotting her hanging around the entrance to the hallways that lead to their apartment, it's Not a good thing. He runs up to her to ask where she's been, and the moment he calls for her she turns and attacks him. It's not even a fair fight, even if he went in expecting a fight, he wouldn't have won, but this was a complete surprise. She quickly attacks him and takes him back to be put into the metro as a test subject, and, since he was brought back in much better shape than she was, he actually can be salvaged as a test subject!

And then he isn't. He's in the process of being readied as a test subject, namely, having his memories messed with, that the entire plot of Octo Expansion actually happens, and he's freed when the entire facility shuts down, and the metro is just a normal transport system again. He ends up wandering around for another month or so, except doing so very poorly, as the effects that being prepped to be a test subject had on his memory is bad, and basically erased all of his knowledge on how to survive on his own. Eventually, and luckily for him, he's found by one of the rescue teams that have been sent out in the aftermath of Octo Expansion to rescue lost and sanitized Octolings, and FINALLY gets brought to the surface, as well as being hospitalized for a whole myriad of problems, mainly being severely dehydrated from not remembering safe ways to find and gather water reliably.

When he's ready to be discharged, he realizes he has really nowhere to go, but since he still remembers May's phone number from when they were kids (As it's been years at this point, May and Jake are both in their mid 20s now, and June's around ~17), and calls her to ask if she can come pick him up and also if he can crash at her place for a bit. May is more than a bit surprised that her childhood friend she was fairly convinced had died years ago, and that she feels guilty for abandoning, is not only still alive, but super casual and chill just. Calling her cell and asking if he can sleep on her couch. At this point, June's already moved out, having been encouraged by both May and Penny to get out on her own and try getting out of her comfort zone, and is living in Splatsville with her roommate Basil, and not really having any major plot moments of her own. She's having fun and coming out of her shell and having silly lesbian shenanigans with her roommate in the background while Jake and May are experiencing the horrors.

Ultimately, this is about where thing stop being decided and I still need to figure out what happens next. Jake is living on May and Penny's couch (The universe will never let them have their house to themselves. Not even 3 months after June moves out, Jake's crashing on their couch), and has no memory of his time with Parker, Parker's MIA and potentially dead, and May's struggling with the idea that Jake's either in denial of some major trauma he must've faced through the years, or that she's somehow uniquely fucked up from what happened to them. To make matters worse, Jake's memory issues become more and more apparent, as he continues to struggle to remember Penny's name, instead repeatedly calling her "Parker", yet getting confused when he's corrected. I'm ultimately unsure what I'm going to do to resolve this plot thread, but May and Penny do realize that whoever Parker was, she was someone Jake knew in the time he was missing, and are trying to figure out just exactly who she was, if not where she actually is

Whether or not Parker is dead... it's up in the air. I initially planned for her to die and stay dead, but I'm the worlds biggest sap and I feel bad about killing her off permanently, as well as the fact I have plenty of silly ideas for what I could do with Parker once she's on the surface, so I'm still debating if it's more narratively satisfying for her to die or not. There's, if you believe it, actually a ton I'm glossing over (The intricacies of Jake and Parker's dynamic, the reasons why Parker left, basically everything about Basil and June, literally Basil has an entire friend group that has their own mini-plot that's not at all connected to this and doesn't get mentioned, Crimson is going to be more relevant once I figure out what I want to do with her, ect), but uh. That's the very long gist of it.

If anyone actually, genuinely reads through all of this. Thank you, apologies, and I love you

I gots 21 moar ask :}

aaaaaaa I’m hanging in there as best I can-- also aaaa sorry for the lac of posts!! I’ve been so busy with life and trying to get part two of Bits and Pieces done aaaaa--

AAAAAAA Its almost done!! I got all of the line art done and it just needs to be colored!!

AAAAAAA I ONLY HAVE 8 CANVASES LEFT IM GOING AS FAST AS I CAN AAAAA---

@immortalwithoutaname​ (Comic in question)

XD Well we’ll see what it ACTUALLY is in a future comic.. :}}

(Also thank you! I’m glad you liked it! :}})

I have a comic planned that will address Roxy and Chica’s rocky relationship. So you’ll find out then!

(Comic in question)

Actually.. The Daycare Attendant never came back.

In the story he did go to an employee the next day. But they told him the same thing. “We cant find anything wrong with you, so go back to work”

Sunny knew they were full of crap. So he figured to keep everyone safe.. He would keep the lights on at all times and not leave the Daycare until he could fix himself.

..A few months have gone by now, and he still hasn’t left the safety of the Daycare.

..DJ’s worried sick.

I never really cared for it too much. That’s mostly why I made Sunny/Moony one person in my AU.

Having them be two separate characters sharing one body just got confusing. And I couldn’t see a reason why Fazbear Entertainment would want to have a dual AI animatronic like that.. So I just made him 1 person.

Also aaaaaaa nooooo my Gravity Falls art ehk-- 

My Chica’s eyes are almost identical to her “infected” eyes. The infected eyes are a bright toxic purple while her normal eyes are like a soft purple-ish pink.

@waffleking193  After part 2 of “Bits and Pieces” comes out, I plan to take the time to flesh out my AU and really organize the timeline.

If I decide to keep the part where Chica gets crushed by the trash compacter thingy, she will not have been lured in by Monty Mix. She would have been lured in by a pizza.

Because in my AU, its just food in general that Chica wants to eat. And Pizza is the thing she is most consistently recognizes.

I hate it :/

Nothing against Jack Black and Chris Pratt, but I really hate them for the voices of Mario and Bowser. And although I haven’t heard the voices of the other characters, I imagine I’m gonna hate them too.

Kamek’s voice was alright though, and Toads could’ve been worse. But I just couldn't get over Mario and Bowser.

The ONLY way I will be 100% fine with Mario is if they go with the Storyline of Mario being some random guy from Brooklyn or something that got transported into the mushroom kingdom. If they try to sell him as Italian I will be ANGRY

Also there’s nothing you can do to make me like Jack black as Bowser, I just keep hearing Po from Kung fu Panda. When ever Bowser talks he loses all of his intimidation.

Uhg and I bet they’re gonna make Bowser witty and quirky and the awkward comic relief character and whatever instead of the intimidating ruler that he is.

aaaaa other than the animation I’m so disappointed and have no hooopeeee

XD I saw the results. Honestly not surprised in the slightest that Sans won.

In all honesty, if Sans was in the poll and DIDN’T win? I would be shocked and super confused. XD

Tbanks bro

Oh gosh eww you found my Gravity Falls content oh no--

Anyway although I still ADORE that show and all of its characters, I haven’t drawn Gravity Falls stuff in a long time :/

*Part 3 --

And maybe! I haven’t forgotten about it. Just hit a brick wall in the planning process and am still sitting on it :/

@ar1-thecat​ 

I have SO many things I wanna draw like Mario and Luigi brother stuff and Sky OCs and Splatoon OCs and Kirby OCs but I REALLY want to wait until part 2 of “Bits and Pieces” is done before I draw all that but life keeps getting in the way and I keep getting busy and keep getting really tired and unmotivated to work and I wanna play slime rancher 2 and Pokémon legends Arceus and Splatoon 3 and Sky but I gotta wait until part 2 is done but life keeps getting in the way and I keep getting busy and I k 

They probably wouldn’t tease Freddy about being Gregory’s dad/Freddy adopting him. Since Freddy, being a robot, standing in for a human parental figure doesn’t really.. compute for them.

BUT, they would definitely tease Freddy for being Gregory’s “favorite”. :}

@sighlentknight 

They have not, but they have heard of her. Gregory told them both all about her and what happened when he came to the Pizzaplex that night.

They do not like Vanessa.

@hugsandchaos​ 

@blue0fox Awww! Thank you! I’ve never gotten a compliment on my Gregory before! <:’DD 💗

@milk-post oooo those are good ideas! :0

@hugsandchaos​ I always imagined that Kwazii turned away from his life of pirating by choice. I favor of being a lieutenant on the Octopod and helping sea creatures. As to how he did all that I have no idea--

Also somewhat unrelated but I liked to imagine that Calico Jack was proud of Kwazii for his decision, despite being all about that pirate life. I imagined that he would talk to Kwazii and be like.

“Just look at ya lad. Dedicatin’ yer life to helpin others. Yer really somethin Kwazii. Yer the best of all of us.”  😭

XD Spoiler alert, yes, Emmet will be fine. I’m not THAT cruel XD

Finally decided to design my takes on the Splatoon agents! Notes below cut ^v^ (also mention of a Side Order boss)

Coral:

When they first joined the Splatoon they were really vicious and fiery, and probably said some stuff they regret today. Over the years they've mellowed considerably, though I think they can still get pretty competitive.

They technically first joined like 2-3 months before their 14th birthday. They'd snuck out to try to watch turf wars and got sidetracked by weird sewer guy. (They, when retelling this story, emphasize that following weird sewer guy was a mistake. Aubergine and Daffodil, who did the same thing, do not care.)

They used she/her during the time of Splat1, changed pronouns sometime during the two years between then and Octo Expansion, and completely forgot to inform Cuttlefish of this until after OE.

Blind in their right eye post-OE

Was a charger main in their youth, but as of yet I'm unsure if they changed mains later on. They were definitely one of Those Chargers when they were younger though

Aubergine

Aubrey for short!

He's like. Really whimsical and a bit eccentric. Perfectly pleasant individual to be around, and she's really good at knowing just what to say when you're feeling down, but sometimes she says something really perplexing out of nowhere.

He likes to people-watch in her free time.

Roommates with Eight! (This is actually canon according to the dialogue when Agent 4's Palette is obtained in Side Order.) They'll often spend late nights together just being mesmerized by crafting videos (stuff like OOAKs or miniatures)

You know how you can buy a Parallel Canon mask in Side Order? Aubrey got one for reasons she refuses to explain. Scared the shit out of poor Eight and he doesn't wear it around them if she can avoid it after that.

He doesn't main one particular weapon, he just has a stash and goes for whatever she feels like that particular day.

Eight

He never remembered his original name, so they just go by Eight. They did actually try a few other names, but none ended up sticking.

Trans :)

They're pretty calm and quiet generally, and doesn't typically initiate conversations. He does like to infodump to people he's closer to, though.

Gets annoyed if you just assume he's a technical whiz because he's Octarian, but yes, they do actually live up to that stereotype. He'll help you fix your appliances if they like you, with one fairly obvious exception...

He banned standing blenders in the apartment. Aubrey is mildly perplexed but just uses one of those hand blender things.

Brush main, but doesn't Turf War a lot. He does a lot of Salmon Run. Neither they nor Aubrey comprehend how they still smell like salmon when he comes back despite the protective gear.

Daffodil

Xe's like one of those yappy dogs to me. Really aggressive and loud during Turf War and controlled settings, but was terrified throughout his singleplayer campaign and just tried to mask it with more aggression.

Her family is in fact from Octo Canyon and left during the exodus post-Octavio fight. Daffodil very much does not talk about this and would greatly prefer if nobody outside the family ever found out about that. (In particular, they don't want Coral to think fae owes them anything.)

It generally hates being indebted to someone, so they tend to get very defensive about being given anything and Will insist on paying you back for it somehow. She even explicitly requests that nobody get xem birthday gifts (although it Does throw wild parties on aer birthday)

Actually a Squid Sisters fan, and likes a lot of their other songs besides Calamari Inkantation (and honestly thinks people are missing out when they only pay attention to the Inkantation), but didn't admit this to anyone until Liquid Sunshine came out.

Absolutely spoils Menace rotten. It pampers that little dude.

Stringer main. I must regretfully inform everyone ze probably mains REEF-LUX.

because i love you guys im gonna expand on the splatoon headcanon i have for vosim!!! its one of my oldest headcanons and i hope you guys like this!!!! this mostly strays from twitter canon but this is just something purely out of comfort :]

[pssst!! read more!!!!]

vosim has known about splatoon for a long time but initially never thought much about it. a long time later (i'm thinking 2019) he found that dee was playing splatoon 2 on their switch. this made vosim stim!!!!! he loved all the pretty colors and the characters and the whole theme to it, but couldnt afford the game, let alone a nintendo switch!!! dee saw that vosim seemed interested in splatoon and even offered to let him try it out. HE LOVED IT SO MUCH. it took him a while to get used to the controls but he got used to it eventually!! at first he tried rollers and brushes and he picked that up pretty well!! then he jumped onto the splatling, then chargers. the dynamo roller and the e-liter 4k was his favourite weapon to work with!! after that, dee would let him borrow their switch every now and then, and he'd play splatoon for a couple of hours. he even got a taste of the final splatfest, but got sad when he realised that was the last proper splatfest (he didnt experience the reruns as, well, he was dead for like 9 months lol). from the day he tried out splatoon 2, he decided to try to save up for a switch, and hopefully splatoon.

fast forward to mid/late 2021: vosim is struggling to save up thanks to being out of a job thanks to covid, as well as the fact he was dead for 9 months. dee catches onto this, and tries to help him out. but there was something vosim didn't know: dee had been saving up for a switch for vosim around the same time he started to save up for one, with the help of dandy and a few others.

skipping to late april 2022!! dee had just about enough money to get him a switch!! they got it (dee specifically got him a blue switch lite alongside splatoon 2), and all they had to do was wait for the right time to give it to him, a day where he'd least expect a great surprise. they remembered that vosim's (unofficial) bday was coming on the 27th of may..... hm...... vosim's bday arrived, and dee doesnt give him it immediately. they wanted him to surprise him the moment he least expected it. after a nice day out (i headcanoned that dee took vosim out to the aquarium and he loved every moment of it - however vosim was confused to why dee was spoiling him so much that day), dee finally surprises him. um. dee had never seen vosim stim so fucking much in such a small amount of time. he was even more shocked when he found his friends came together and helped dee with the gift <:] he almost immediately set up his switch and was there playing through the story mode all night (bad idea, he was so fixated on the game that he didnt charge himself up, leaving him a bit loopy afterwards lol). vosim knew about splatoon 3 from watching the directs and with the money he had saved before, he preordered it almost immediately after it was made available. the obsession just went on from there: he experienced splatfests properly for the first time, he loved the story mode, he joined some squidparties and even started a few squidparties!! :]

splatoon 2 and splatoon 3 are the only games he has right now but he plans on getting more in the future....

Cutie Reviews: YumeTwins March 19

Okay, so here I am with the real March YumeTwins box.

This months theme: Spring Companions

“The cold and harsh Winter Season is drawing to a close and Spring is coming! There’s so many things we love about Spring here at YumeTwins, like the fresh buds and flowers appearing and of course all the cute baby animals that are born in Springtime! But the absolute best part of Spring in Japan is the Cherry Blossom or Sakura! There’s nothing more we love than to sit under the Cherry Blossoms and have a picnic, if you have the chance to no matter where you are in the world you should try too! To get everyone excited for Spring we decided to go with the theme Spring Companions for March’s box! In this Spring Companions box you’ll find a couple of kawaii fluffy companions as well as some more useful companions with lots of pastel and vivid Spring colors, so we hope you’ll enjoy them!“

Contest Prize

Yume Prize

Disney Dreamy Plushie

Our first item is this really cute, fluffy plushie of Marie, from Arisocats (an older Disney movie, which I LOVED when I was a child). Besides Marie we could also get Dumbo, Minnie Mouse, and Miss Bunny (the girl bunny from bambi, she is extremely popular in Japan). Each character features a lovely pastel color scheme and adorable flowers, pearls, and/or star accents.

Marie is also my favorite Disney character, along with Minnie Mouse and Piglet. So I was very happy to see/get her, although the Minnie Mouse was pink so I this would have been my second choice.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Well we all know how much I like plushies and stuffed dolls/toys, especially when they’re huggable and soft~ This one is perfect with that in mind, it’s shape fitting right in my arms for full snuggles~

Besides that, the detail on this is really nice. Not only does it add to the dreamy aesthetic, but its done very cleanly. I just wish there was a little bit more, like maybe they could have added a few tiny stars/flowers or more pearls? It’s only a suggestion though, I still think they’re plenty cute.

I did notice a few tiny little minuscule details that bothered me though. Such as the fact they collect hair and whatever else like nobody’s business. Besides that, they also have that obnoxious seam around the middle, the one where the material is a lot thinner and stands out in comparison to the rest of the plush? I also found a few small loose yarn strands...

Anyway, none of this changes how much I like the plush. The yarns can be fixed, it won’t be hard to keep it cleaned. It’s so sweet and even though it is essentially just a head, I think it’s very nice.

Animal Face Pouch

Our next equally fluffy cuteness is this pouch, shaped like a bear, puppy, or cats head; in 7 different styles! They each have a different leather strap color and inside patterned fabric; like my bear, who has a pink dot print.

Besides being a great, small size to fit into objects, you can also attach it to your bag or items if you lack room, or even carry it around your wrist or a strap.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

As many pouches as I have now because of these boxes, I think this one would be one of my top favorites. It’s very fluffy and cuddly-soft, and very cute too. I love how versatile it is and it’s pretty fun, using it as a hand held purse one day to a purse accessory the next. It has decent room on the inside for being a smaller pouch, and it’s very light weight.

Cutesy Organizer Folder

If you’re a long-time reader of this blog then you will probably recognize this design; if you’re new though, then welcome :D this design/pattern is on a Tuxedo Sam cup I got (From a YumeTwins box like a year ago), and still use now.

Besides this adorable design, there is also 2 different Kirby, and a Pompompurin available.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

As much as I complain about getting these (due to my belief I no longer need them), I will acknowledge that they are useful- and I’m sure at some point I will need something to put important documents in, or just letters, pictures, coloring pages, or drawings I want to save and have no where else to put them.

Anyway, I love how this matches my cup, even if I realistically wouldn’t have a reason to put them together. So as you can probably tell it is bent, but at the same time I’ve been feeling this material and it’s a lot less stiff than my other files have been. I can’t really explain it but it feels really nice.

Kawaii Key Holder

Our next item is this key holder, which was available in 5 different colors and themes: this brown Rilakkuma, a pink and white Korilakkuma, 2 Sumikko Gurashi (one light blue, one light green), and a yellow gudetama.

The key holder has two clips, one for each key, as well as a two other loops to connect it to various things. The string is 65cm long.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

At the time I don’t personally have keys of my own (I can’t be the only one right?? I know I probably should...), but I still think this is a cute and creative item. It could also be used for other things though, and it also just makes a cute accessory.

Disney Highlighter Pen

Our next item is this cutesy double-sided highlighter featuring black and white drawings of Disney pairs; like this pink and purple one features Donald and Daisy. There was also a lime and peach one featuring Mickey and Minnie, and a blue and yellow Chip and Dale one. There are 2 other sets but they’re not in the picture.

With that in mind... I’m not a big Daisy fan and I love Minnie Mouse, so I kind of wish I got that one. But I prefer the colors on this one, so I’m not really sure which one I would have wanted if I got the choice...

This is how they look when used. They’re brighter than they look on here/in the pic though.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It’s small and smooth shape makes it easy to carry in a variety of items, and highlighters can be pretty handy, so I like how it’s dual sided rather than being several separates.The quality of the highlighter is great, and I like the color contrast to the black and white design.

Tumbler Set

Our final item is this 3-set of Tumbler cups, available in either a cute pastel Rilakkuma theme, or a colorful and bright Splatoon theme (oddly enough both sets feature the same base colors but different tones, and come with yellow straws). These Tumblers come in the shape of a fast-food cup with 3 included plastic, re-usable straws, and when not being used, the cups and lids can be stacked to take up less storage space.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I like Splatoon and Rilakkuma, so I would have been fine with either set. I have a bunch of lidded cups I really like to use, but I always love to add to my “collection“ so I really like these :3 the designs are unique and very fun to look at, and they seem to be really sturdy so I feel like unless you’re really careless it shouldn’t be that easy to spill using them.

I also like that you get a set of 3, so you could easily share these.

♡ Cutie Ranking ♡

Content - 4.5 out of 5. I don’t sound super-ecstatic or anything, but I actually really, really liked these items. As usual, I feel like half of it will be useful to me, while the other half might not be (for now), but I felt like all of the items are really nice quality and well thought out.

Theme: 4 out of 5. The theme is Spring Companions, and yes, I’d say in that sense these items greatly count as a companion, as you would bring them with you. But when I think spring, besides pretty pastels I think flowers play a pretty big role and I kind of wish they would have included more flowery items.

Total Rank: 9 out of 10. Like I said, I’m not 100% sold on how they carried out the theme but I do really like the items, and they offer a lot of practicality. I don’t know if I’m a bit biased because of how disgruntled the last box left me, or if I really just like this one that much more.

♡ Cutie Scale ♡

1. Animal Pouch - It’s so ultra-fluffy, I just want to cuddle it~

2. Disney Plushie - I love how soft it is, and it’s dreamy inspired design and detail is very pretty~

3. Highlighter Pen - I mentioned this above, but I really like how the white and black tube contrast the colorful ink. It’s very fun to look at.

4. Tumbler Set - I love how the bright colors contrast the rest of the items, and who doesn’t like Splatoon? I love how you get a set of them, and I like how we have 2 stylish designs based on the game, and a cutesy one covered in adorable colorful squid~

5. Key Holder - I like all the metal bits on it :3 I also think this would be a lot of fun to wear as an accessory until I actually find a more practical use with it.

6. Organizer File - This one is really cute, but out of all the items I feel like this one would either get no use, or very little use.

Prologue 3.1: Where Squids Fear to Swim

Here comes another story after many weeks of thinking my PC had finally run out of steam! I’m actually surprised it managed to stay stable long enough for me to get this done! (knocking on wood so much from writing this here) But regardless, here is the third segment of the Prologue stories!

Outskirts of Calamari County, 0723 hours.

The shining beams of the morning sun gleamed through the clouds of the prior night, a few illuminating the small outpost stationed a few hundred meters from the border that defines the territories between the Inkling and Octarian peoples. Despite its seemingly unimportant appearance the outpost, designated as Bakery Battlement, served as a first response checkpoint should the Octarians ever attempt to invade and cross the border with military force. Established mere months after the end of the Great Turf War, the Inkling military established dozens of outposts such as this along the entire border to ensure that no one sector was unchecked. The Octarians, however, wouldn’t accept this and have established their own checkpoints as well, known as Kettles, where they stationed their troops in underground bases. But due to the efforts of the newly formed Squidbeak Splatoon, Agents 3 and 4 have successfully managed to effectively demilitarize their forces via retaking the Zapfishes when they were stolen. Without this vital power source the Great Octo weapons were rendered useless, forcing the Octarians to rely on less effective sources of energy. Ever since then the relationship between the two countries have devolved into a thinning line of tension and suspicion, as neither side are willing to come to peace and reestablish negotiations. 

As the sun rose to bring its warming rays to the surrounding barren landscape, the occupants of Baker Battlement awoke and began to gear up for the resupply convoy. Numbering 5 in their squid squad, the members of Baker Company include: Sergeant Cutter, Privates Rollpin, Lowbs, Spatlas, and the newest transfer Pan. Cutter buttoned up his uniform before pulling up his pants and tucking in, tighening the belt to ensure it’s secured. Rollpin, Lowbs, and Spatlas followed his example and tucked in their own uniforms before grabbing their standard issue helmets. Meanwhile Pan was still out of it, her pillow covering her face and an arm and leg hanging out from under the blanket.

“Hey, someone wake her up.” Cutter barked back to the privates. They looked at each other and decided that Spatlas is to be her alarm clock.

“Ugh, fine.” He groaned and walked over to the sleeping trooper. “Oie, wake up.”

She barely moved a muscle, instead letting out a light snore.

C’mon kid, wake up. Spatlas furrowed his brow and lightly kicked her leg. 

She quietly groaned and shuffled slightly under her pillow.

“Oh for-” He grabbed the feather-filled cushion and yanked it off of her face, a faint beam of sunlight hitting her closed eyes. This was enough to get her to sit upright, a look if disdain forming on her face.

“What?” She said in a daze, trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes.

“Get up kid, we got work to do.” Spatlas threw the pillow back to her before following his comrades out of the sleeping quarters.

She sat on her bed staring at her new squadmates, finding it oddly surreal that she was here in Baker Battlements. Never in her life did she expect to actually be stationed so far from home. She slumped out of her bunk, not realizing she changed into her squid form, and proceeded to her gear box to put on her own uniform. Slowly but surely she slipped on her boots, pants, and uniform and slogged her way to the mess room. As she peered in she saw that Cutter and Rollpin were already bringing out pre-cooked MREs while Lowbs and Spatlas were organizing their inventory. Pan wasn’t sure of what to do or whether she should be doing anything, as she was only stationed there for just over a week. Regardless she took in a deep breath and walked inside. For a moment her squad stopped whatever they were doing and looked at her. She shuffled her feet a few times before looking up to the sergeant in command.

“...what?” Cutter said monotonously, glancing back to the others.

“Eh? N-nothing.” She quickly looked down to her feet and made her way to an empty chair. She refused to look up at anyone else until Cutter placed a tray of rehydrated hashbrowns, refried beans, and a few cooked eggs. 

“Thank you...” She grabbed a fork and quietly ate her breakfast, leaving the others to their own devices. Cutter went back to get himself a helping of food while Rollpin, Lowbs, and Spatlas went back to discussing the schedule for the day. 

“First things first, we gotta take inventory of all the provisions so we get enough to last us another month,” Lowbs motioned to the top of a list laid out before the trio. “afterwards we restock our munitions because someone can’t control their itchy trigger finger.” Lowbs and Rollpin glanced at Spatlas, who was in the middle of wolfing down a concoction of scrambled eggs, ham, and toast.

“...what?” He mumbled through his food.

Lowbs shook his head and resumed the last items on the list. “Finally we need to recheck all the sensors that run the perimeter of the outpost.”

“Again? But we did that 3 days ago!” Rollpin groaned as he tossed a piece of toast on his plate.

“Yeah, well the sensors are acting up again because of all the sand blowing around recently. And it’s starting to gunk up the barometers.” 

“Ugh, fine.” Rollpin leaned back on his chair, reluctantly accepting the task. “Anything else we need to do?”

Lowbs tapped his utensil against his chin, thinking deeply whether there was. “Ah! One of the Commander’s secondaries, Nhan-Tu, is making an inspection visit after we are to be resupplied.”

Rollpin merely sniffed while the others resumed finishing their breakfasts. However Pan gave the private a quizzical look. “Who’s Nhan-Tu?”

The private gave her a raised eyebrow but Cutter intervened before he could make a comment on her question. “She’s one of our Commander’s closest colleagues. One of the leading combat medics back at HQ. She trains all the new field docs that want to help people out, ya know?”

“Oh, okay.” Pan nodded, scooping a mouthful of beans into her mouth.

“Yeah, but she ain’t as strict as you might think. So don’t worry about being all proper and junk,” Spatlas mumbled through a mouthful of pancakes. “In fact she almost acts like a...” He stopped eating for a moment to scratch his head.

“Like a mother,” Lowbs finished his comrade’s thought. “In a figurative sense at least.” He reached for a cup of coffee and took a long drink before setting it back down.

“Yes, she does tend to do that. But it’s just in her training as a medic.” Cutter reminded the other privates. “She does a damn good job of patching anyone up when they need it. Fixed up my arm here when I got hit when I was doing operations over in the Urchins’ home territories.” The squad leader lifted up said arm to show off a shot wound on his forearm. He glanced back to Pan and gave her a reassuring nod to calm her nerves. She nodded back and quickly shoveled her breakfast up before taking her tin plate to a cleaning tub. One by one the others finished their meals and piled their dirty utensils and tins next to her.

“You got it covered Pan?” Spatlas joked as he gave the recruit a nudge on the shoulder.

“Y-yeah, I got it.” She replied to him, making an effort to keep her eyes trained on cleaning up the tins thoroughly. Hearing the privates laughing as they went to begin their assignments, she slowed her efforts to a crawl. Her mind was elsewhere as she barely held on to a tin plate and scrub. Is this really what I spent the last year training to do? She wondered. She could still remember when she first arrived at the Inkopolis Military Training Grounds, where she first met the heroes that saved the city from an imminent Octarian invasion. She even recalled shaking the hand of the leader of the Barracuda Brigade, Blitz Phalanx himself.She worked her rear off every day from then on to train as hard as her hero did, never stopping except to rest, eat, and sleep. When she finally completed her training she was almost dumbstruck when she found out that she was to be transferred to a far off sector of the county’s territories. Despite feeling disappointed that she wasn’t able to join a proper military unit, Pan shook her head to clear her head and swiftly washed everyone’s tins and utensils in record time. She left no plate, fork, or knife unchecked before storing them away in a storage crate. Feeling a lighter mood after her diligent work, Pan went off to meet up with her sergeant to receive her next task.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At a roadway checkpoint between the territories of Calamari County and the Octarian Lands...

”Ugh, this is so lame...” A border guard groaned, leaning against his tiny toll booth. He tried, for the past several hours or so, to alleviate his pseudo-dire circumstance from organizing and reorganizing the folders and files in his floor box, counting the amount of money in his booth’s cash register, and even cleaning the outside windows despite their tendency to get coated with sand and dust. The guard even tried to count the vehicles that passed through the gateway between the two countries. “I’m stuck in this goddamn post doing nothing but counting cars and collecting cash.” He looked towards the Octarians’ side of the border and saw the same sight as always: a barren landscape with piles of scrap metal and junk littering the scene. He then looked to the other side and saw a completely different picture: green rolling hills with small bushels of flora as well as small outlets off-shooting from the main highway that led to various pit stops and towns. He wished that something, anything, would make his day more exciting-

“What the...?” He glanced over to the Octarians’ side of the border and noticed a change he hadn’t caught a few moments before. He eyed a particularly suspicious pile that he swore was about 10 meters to the right. Along with the slight change in its position, the guard also saw a faint glimmer coming from the top of the pile. He tried to squint to see what it could be, but the next thing he knew he felt a sudden hard hit on the back of his head. He fell to the ground in a daze, his vision blurred from the blunt force trauma, and took a moment to see a group of figures circling him.

“That should keep the security here quiet.” He heard a voice as his vision began to black out.

“Yep. Now to the inkling outpost...” Was the last he heard before he went unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Back at Baker Battlement...)

The squad of inklings within the small bunker were hard at work tidying up before the arrival of Blitz’s secondary. Rollpin and Spatlas were busy de-gunking the sensors that bordered the bunker, Lowb and Pan were off in the sleeping quarters cleaning up the bunks, and Cutter evaluating inventory (or rather the lack of inventory). The first two made quick work on the sensors, the simple task of pulling out the barometers and shaking the sand out, before returning to grab a quick cold one. The second pair took longer with the bunk cleaning, but nonetheless cleared out all the dust, dirt, and debris hiding in the nooks and crannies of each sleeping mat. Finally Cutter was counting the last of the base’s meager supplies: a single filled ink tank for each of them, 2 tank cans for the bunker’s light machine gun, and rations for another 2-3 days if they have to get resourceful. 

“Alright, just gotta make sure I get what we’re lacking written down.” He scribbled a few notes onto a clipboard and proceeded out of the supply cache. He took a look around and let his gaze stop at the border checkpoint. He reached for a pair of small binoculars and looked to the small booth. Despite the mild sandstorm blowing around the base he could make out the border guard sitting at his post. Good, he’s still doing his job. Cutter went back to finishing up his task and locked up the cache before meeting up with the other 4. Once inside he saw that everyone but Pan was enjoying a few bottles of Juddweiser and Heinekraken beer.

“Enjoying some drinks eh privates?” Cutter remarked as he walked past the preoccupied troopers. The trio stuttered at first but regained their composure as they watched their squad leader open the cooler containing the refreshments and pulled out a bottle himself. He popped the cap and chugged a few gulps down before taking a seat next to the drinkless inkling girl. “Can’t be mad when you guys have my favorite!”

“Oh please sir,” Spatlas scoffed. “Everyone knows that Heinekraken is only a cheap knock-off to the light and airy feel to Juddweiser!”

“Oh yeah?” Lowbs gave his comrade a light tap on the shoulder. “At least Heinekraken sounds like a proper beer, rather than the drink that sounds like it came from Judd’s unmentionables!” Rollpin and Cutter chuckled gleefully at the joke, even managing to get Pan to giggle as well as she watched her squadmates continue on bickering about their preferred alcoholic beverage. She relaxed her shoulders and felt a weight lifting off herself as she heard the conversation change every so often, from the current leading teams of Ranked and League tournaments to the finer things like their lives back home in Inkopolis: Cutter wishing to get back to his wife and newborn of 3 months, Rollpin wanting to get his dream job as a professional bowler, Lowbs looking forward to finishing his last tour of duty as the base’s defender, and Spatlas... he never gave a clear answer during the conversation. Something about eggs...?

Just as the group were finishing up their drinks and talks, they heard a radio crackle behind them.

“Come on Baker Battlement. This is Lieutenant Nhan-Tu radioing in.”

Cutter set aside his empty bottle and stood up to reach the radio. “This is Sergeant Cutter, we hear you loud and clear Lieutenant.”

“Good, are you ready for the convoy to resupply?”

“Yes ma’am, we are awaiting your arrival.”

“Copy that, we’ll meet with you in approximately 5 minutes.”

“5 minutes, understood. Baker Battlement, out.”

Cutter shut down the radio and turned to his squad. “Alright, that was Lieutenant Nhan-Tu. She’ll be making her approach to the base very soon. Make your way outside and await her arrival!” He motioned a hand to them, enforcing his orders. The rest nodded to their squad leader and hastily grabbed their gear before racing outside. I sure hope things will just play out as usual...

At the tail end of 2020 I discovered the video content of Tim Rogers who has inspired me to also voice my game opinions in an unnecessarily verbose and personal way. I don’t recommend clicking on the read more, but if you’d like to read a little bit about the best games I played this year, go on ahead.

10. What Remains of Edith Finch 9. A Short Hike 8. Disco Elysium 7. Personal 5 The Royal 6. Persona 3 Dancing In Moonlight 5. Vestaria Saga War of the Scions 4. Ring FIt Adventure 3. Final Fantasy 7 Remake 2. Hades 1. Animal Crossing New Horizons

2020 found me with an unprecedented amount of free time. I spent most of this year working for the government (a job with a very small brain effort that left me with evenings and weekends free to do whatever the hell). Additionally, I spent most of the year in quarantine with video games as my true, real friend and life companion. Compiling this list gave me more titles than ever to choose from, so I feel better about my list than ever. So here are the best games that I played this year.

Before I get into the top 10 I want to give 4 honourable mentions.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim This is the most recent game I played since making this list. I loved so many things about this game - the soft art style, the harsh music, the convoluted crazy plot. I love the aesthetic of this game and loved the characters - I believe it is rare to have an anime game where none of the characters irritate you. I even loved the combat, although I did not think I would. Something about shooting so very many missiles is so satisfying even when you don’t exactly know what is going on in the screen. The final battle in this game was definitely my favourite moment in this game - it was stressful, it was engaging, it was so extremely fun. The tragedy of this game comes down to personal taste. All time travel stories with complex timelines are bound to fall apart eventually, because no writer can keep all the threads together in a logical sense. 13 sentinels had so many story beats, plot twists, betrayals, and sci-fi tropes crammed into their storyline that I knew halfway through the story that there was no way they would be able to resolve all of it in a fulfilling way. I was, unfortunately, right - the ending explanation for all the chaos is, in my (correct) opinion, extremely lame. However, I certainly had fun on the journey.

Fire Emblem 3 Houses: Ashen Demons DLC I did not place this on my ranking since it is not really fleshed out enough to be considered its own game (unlike in previous years, where I have confidently but the Splatoon 2 Octoling Expansion as a separate title from Splatoon 2). However, this blog is, above all else, a Fire Emblem stan account, and I will not NOT talk about Fire Emblem. I do not care for the Abyss house. I think the characters are too close to being plucked out of the Fire Emblem Fates universe for comfort, and I mean this to be as profound an insult as possible. These characters are gimmicks above all else. I also do not care for the expanded lore that the sewer city brings to Garreg Mach. The idea of a centralized church school army is already so unstable, and to have a population of rat people living under it makes the whole foundation of the world crumble a little. However, the story and gameplay of the Ashen Demons DLC added something that the base game did not, which is challenge. (As an aside, I play on normal mode and am aware that there is challenge available to me if I wish for it.) FE3H offers you so many characters, so many paralogues, so many opportunities for training and stat increases, that eventually plot missions become completely boring. Ashen demons limiting everyone to new and interesting classes, limiting your available units, and preventing any sort of training made the chapters fun again. I found the chapter where you were supposed to outrun a golem before some gates closed fun as hell - it was my favourite part of the entire side story. 

Kentucky: Route Zero I played this game in February, and I remember not liking it at any point. It is confusing, disorienting, and lacked a clear goal. However, it has now been 10 months and I still think about it constantly - both the vignettes presented in it, and the way it made me feel. The Besties podcast made an excellent point about this game when they said that no one who plays this game ever compares it to other games - only books, movies, or paintings. The whole game is so fascinating and sticks with you - the wretched circle of a highway, the horse funeral. My favourite part is the live performance you attend at a run down diner with your party of four as the only audience. It is so quiet and contemplative and melancholy, and the scene is absolutely perfect. Kentucky Route Zero might be my favourite high concept artsy abstract artwork ever.

Blaseball As with everyone, it is difficult to call Blaseball a game. As the website says, it is a cultural event that I am so happy to participate in. I am so happy to have found a piece of media to fill the aching void that left by Homestuck when it ended, then re-opened the wound with their awful post-epilogue novel. I deleted my Twitter account this summer because I was tired of being angry and doomscrolling. And then, after Chris Plante on the Besties told me about Blaseball, I happily remade a Twitter account that only followed the official Blaseball account, the devs, and the numerous RP accounts. The quality of life improvement that having simulated, pleasant, hilarious social media to check every day is indescribable. It helped me cope with a rough life transition. Thank you, Blaseball. My favourite moment of 2020 is the 11pm boss battle of Shoe Thieves vs The Shelled One’s Pods.

And now....... The List.

10. What Remains of Edith Finch The start of 2020 was incredible because games journalism websites were churning out endless top 10 lists for both the end of 2019 as well as the end of the decade. I religiously picked through all of these lists and wrote down a list of 30 best indie games of this past decade that I missed out on for whatever reason. It was my first and last experience with a backlog - previously, I would simply impulse purchase games I really wanted to play, and I would not rest until the game is beaten. Having a backlog of things to try stressed me out endless and it dampened the impact of almost all of these quirky 1-6 hour indie experiences. However, not even the stress of meeting a self-imposed quota could dampen the impact of What Remains of Edith Finch. Exploring this house and playing through its various scenarios was so fascinating and beautiful. For me, the most impactful moment of the game was playing as the little girl who became an owl who became a sea serpent. That was when I realized I was not playing something that I would be thinking about for a very long time.

9. A Short Hike A Short Hike was the very first game I played off my backlog list of Best Indie Games. And boy, is it ever. This game takes 2 hours to finish but is absolutely saturated with heart and the exploration makes those 2 hours feel like you have been on a much longer and more fulfilling journey than you believed possible with so few hours. It is Animal Crossing and Legend of Zelda combined, condensed, and polished into a beautiful pearl. I was so instantly in love with the characters and loved doing the little side quests. I also loved getting totally lost because I wanted to see how far I could swim and ended up on a different part of the island. The most impactful moment of this game is its finale, which I won’t spoil, but it is absolutely incredible.

8. Disco Elysium Many people more eloquent than me have said great things about Disco Elysium, and they are all correct. As someone who loves character building and creating a character to roleplay instead of playing as myself in a game, I have never been more enabled to do just that than Disco Elysium. The mystery was so cool, the mechanics are exactly what I like, the exploration is great. The one drawback of this game is that I literally cannot remember a single song from it. Maybe it had an amazing OST? Every game that is released nowadays has to have an amazing OST. There is so much reading in this game that the music really has to be unintrusive, and so it faded right into the background and out of my memory. I love that you could create your own persona in the game, but that you find your identification later and discover who you were before. Also, I would die for Kim Kitsuragi. The finale of this game also kicks ass - I will not spoil it but there is a moment that is so quiet and intimate that it took my breath away. What an amazing experience.

7. Persona 5: The Royal In 2017, I did something that is not the deciding factor, but definitely contributed to, my being sent to hell after I die. I was in an unhappy relationship and really wanted out, but my boyfriend at the time had a PS4 and I did not, and I really wanted to play Persona 5. As such, when he got the game and I borrowed it, I tried to finish it as quickly as possible so that I could give it back and break up with him. To my dismay, Persona 5 is upwards of 80 hours long, and I was burned out long before it was over. I finished the game with such resentment in my heart that I could not fathom why anyone would like it. As someone who is older, wiser, PS4-er, and in a better mental state, I decided to give P5R a try. Playing the remake at a much slower pace and really contemplating the story and characters made for a totally different and much more pleasant experience. I finally was able to shed my dislike for these characters who held me hostage 3 years ago and really appreciate them. Additionally, the new content they added to the original was SO good. The new music in Mementos makes that whole section bearable!! Akechi’s entirely reworked social link!! Maruki is one of Atlus’s most interesting characters, and the final dungeon was so so so interesting!! I am profoundly sad that I can’t recommend this game to anyone because 120 hours is just prohibitively long. Most impactful moment: when Akechi joins the party and he is like, totally feral, lol

6. Persona 3: Dancing In Moonlight Every once in a while my palms start to itch because it has been entirely too long since I’ve played a rhythm game. This palm itch feeling sunk me deep into Theatrhythm Final Fantasy back in 2017, and this feeling forced me to impulse buy Persona 3 Dance. I am furious that I liked this game so much, because I know it was created simply to extract money from fools like me. The story was so blatant about it! “It’s a dream, ok? We’re all dancing because it’s a dream and none of this matters. Go play a song, idiot.” I’m not even angry at this - I almost respect the hustle. Additionally, it was so wonderful to hang out with the Persona 3 crew again. I did also play Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight, but since I had already spent a hundred and twenty hours with the phantom thieves, there was no feeling of being reunited like with P3D. Also, in my mind palace, I consider P3D to have “actually happened”, and P5D to be the money grab hustle. S.E.E.S. is a cohesive unit. If Mitsuru Kirijo says it is time to dance, then dance we shall. I cannot be made to believe that Ryuji, Futaba, or Makoto will be compelled to dance even in a dream. Finally, having Elizabeth as your velvet room attendant did wonders. If there is a line between being a loveable eccentric and being annoying, Elizabeth tiptoes just around the former, whereas the twins are squarely located in the latter. The remixes in P3D also all kick ass (Burn My Dread Novoiski Mix? Deep Mentality Lotus Juice Mix?? Neither had any right to go as hard as they did), and I loved how they personalized the dance styles to the characters’ personalities. Even if this game was a money grabber, it was still made with love and respect for the series, and I loved playing it.  Most impactful moment: That first king crazy ranking on all night difficulty... god damn

5. Vestaria Saga: War of the Scions I had mentioned earlier that I appreciated the FE3H DLC for adding challenge back into 3 houses, but then I played Vestaria Saga and I realized I simply did not remember what challenge actually was. Vestaria Saga, the game by Fire Emblem’s creator, is the hardest Fire Emblem game I’ve ever played. This game honestly rules - it closes its door to the waifus of modern fire emblem games and is a return to form with political intrigue and smart tactical decisions and well-rounded characters. Every single chapter has these wonderful and deeply stressful plot twists and you always have to scramble to get all of the objectives complete without dying. There is a moment in this game where the main Lord, Zade, scolds princess Athol for being so reckless, how he had to force the army to fight a losing battle to rescue her, and look at how exhausted everyone is. He gestures to his army, and for the first time in a tactical RPG, I felt it. In all the fire emblems I play, my units end up being able to dodge and tank any hits they receive, but in Vestaria Saga finishing a map was a stressful, long, and sweaty process. I loved every second of playing this game - it is so rewarding in its gameplay and so rewarding in its story. Most impactful moment: the kiss!!! And how all of them face consequences immediately afterwards!!! I adore this game.

4. Ring Fit Adventure Ring Fit Adventure is the most fun I’ve ever had with a gimmicky fitness game. This game finally understands that they key to continuing with the game and building good habits is the ability to unlock and equip beautiful athleisure clothing. I actually got gains from Ring Fit Adventure, and I know this because I stopped playing it for a month, came back, and was unable to finish the reps at the difficulty I set for myself. This game make gym stuff so genuinely fun in a way that no one else has been able to do. I also really like the feel of the ring con! I have a few moderate complaints about it (a fitness game will never be perfect, unfortunately): you always start reps on the same side, and if you kill enemies then you don’t get a chance to try the other side at all, the motion sensor on yoga poses is wack, and FUCK the robot baseball minigame game to hell. Despite this, I absolutely adore this game and what it stands for. I may never beat the campaign, but it will always have a place in my heart. Most impactful moment: the first fight with Drageaux

3. Final Fantasy 7 Remake I was so so so curious about the hype surrounding this game that in the month before its release I manically played through the original Final Fantasy 7 so that I would have enough background information to be able to play and enjoy the remake. I was very glad I did. FF7R kicks ass. It is my favourite Final Fantasy game ever, and maybe it will always be so. I take a lot of issue with most FF games because they get too cosmically big and ridiculous and nonsensical by the end and that ruins the immersion of the story for me. Since FF7R only covers the Midgar portion of the original, it is forced to create grounded characters and a grounded, smaller scale story. And it is AMAZING. I loved every single minute of this game. The OST is incredible, and the art in it is absolutely unbelievable. I love how they incorporated random encounter enemies in this more realistic version. Also the dialogue!!! The way these characters banter with each other is so life-like and true to character that it boggles my mind. Even the NPC side conversations - never has a city or town felt so alive and filled with people than in FF7R. The ending of this game filled me with PRIMAL fear for the future, but it is so clear that the team making this game loves the world and its characters so much that I cautiously say I trust them to take the story further in the later remakes. Most impactful moment: Cloud saying “bring it on bitch” to an enemy made me black out laughing

2. Hades I generally stay away from rogue-likes and from real-time combat because for a game-liker I SURE am bad at video games. However, everything Supergiant Games ever makes seems tailor made for me, so when Hades came out of early access I bought it, and then I didn’t stop playing it until 80 hours later when I had unlocked everything ever. This game is SO good. The voice acting and storytelling is phenomenal. They did a spectacular job blending the story with the core gameplay elements. They made dying in a rogue-like fun and rewarding. The music is (as always) transcendent. I cannot say enough good things about Hades. Most impactful moment: a tie between the first time you watch the sunrise after your first successful escape, and the romance social link between Zagreus and Thanatos

1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons Of course... Death Stranding may have prophesized the pandemic, but Nintendo created it to sell copies Animal Crossing New Horizons. This game saved all of us. The experience of having so many people I knew playing the same game all the time for the entirety of March and April was so incredible. I have plenty of quips about ACNH with relation to old games in the series (I loathe crafting, I loathe printing out Nook Miles Tickets one by one, and I worry that the sandbox landscaping feel of this game makes me less inclined than ever to actually talk to my villagers), but while they are all valid criticisms, they certainly did not stop me from pouring 350 hours and counting into this game. I have loved slowly, carefully crafting my island into a replica of Garreg Mach. I have loved collecting furniture and making turnip money and completing the museum. There is simply no other game that can be 2020′s game of the year. Most impactful moment: checking your mail and having one of your friends mail you an item that reminded them of you

Soundtrack of the Year 2015 Post Archived

Originally posted January 18, 2016 on the old forum.

I don’t have much to say other than ... I’m tired of 2015. Haha. It was a rough year so I didn’t get to listen to everything I’d wanted to! I did get to listen to the Yasunori Mitsuda remix album, and a bunch of albums that Solune and I talked about over the course of a few months. My shortlist was apparently longer than some expected, and I do think 2015 had a lot of great albums. Although the Canadian dollar sank like a tank (and this isn’t going to change heading into 2016), I did try to listen to as many soundtracks as I could. However, I will readily admit that I did not get a chance to listen to everything like I usually do in previous years. Personal life combined with work combined with the crappy dollar combined with falling in love (this is a good thing), kind of made it a little hard try to check out new stuff. I was fairly on top of everything for the first half of the year and then everything kind of fell apart towards the end. The decision between my number one and number two soundtracks was fairly tough. I went through a lot of mental wrangling in terms of the question “do I vote with my heart, or do I vote with my head?” I don’t usually like going with my heart when I vote for game of the year or soundtrack of the year. It feels completely biased on my part, and I feel like I’m not evaluating something with clarity or based on its own merits. Then I sort of realized, “Well, isn’t that the point?” In my head, Undertale takes the win. In my heart, though, something else does, and it’s entirely based on context. So this year, I decided to go with my heart. Listening to my heart feels weird. I feel very strongly about two soundtracks this year, and therefore, I have decided to go with only two. This is also the first time that I think I’ve written a list where I’ve played all the games. I could be wrong on that front, but this comes as a genuine surprise. I am disappointed with the lack of Falcom on my list, but I am not entirely comfortable throwing a vote Tokyo Xanadu’s way because I’m almost finished the game. While I do have a lot to say about Tokyo Xanadu’s soundtrack at the moment, I would much rather experience the music further in context before throwing a vote its way (but the soundtrack is really good, and the game itself is quite fun!). Previous Posts: 2011 Soundtrack of the Year: 1, 2 2012 Soundtrack of the Year: 1, 2, LTTP Post 2013 Soundtrack of the Year: 1, 2, 3, 4 2014 Soundtrack of the Year: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 Soundtrack of the 6th Generation: 1 / 2 / 3 I decided to forego the awards this year, particularly because I decided to forego my Worst Soundtrack of the Year award. My pick for that would be more than a bit controversial, and I think a few folks know what that one is so I’ll let it slide under the rug. Honourable Mentions x. Ori and the Blind Forest : I’d been waiting for this soundtrack for months before the game came out, and it did not disappoint. I was going to make it #3 on my soundtrack list, but halfway through my writeup for it, I felt as though I lost my motivation to write about it. Therefore, I am only including a top 2 this year. A lot of the tracks are incredibly emotional (Light of Nibel, and whenever there’s a rush to quickly platform (Restoring the Light, Facing the Dark), the pacing of the tracks do the level design justice. x. Tokyo Xanadu : Mixing electronica and violins makes this soundtrack fairly classy, from the upbeat yet elegant Strayed into Passage to the characteristic Believe It!!. Falcom hasn’t lost it; the sound is just evolved to fit Tokyo Xanadu’s tone. x. Nights of Azure : Holy shit, Nights of Azure is some hot shit, and I wish more people listened to this soundtrack cuz Solune and I love it so much. Moving from some hard rock (Malicious Roses and Edge of Apocalypse to the jazzy Hotel Ende. I wish I had way more time to spend with this soundtrack and imported the game because the soundtrack is definitely Top 5 material. x. Splatoon : Shooters aren’t my thing. If everyone I tweet didn’t bring this soundtrack up when I was asking for help with the archive, then I probably wouldn’t have known about the soundtrack’s variations. Sucker Punch, Ink Me Up x. Legend of Legacy : I like Legend of Legacy. Or, at least, when I played the Japanese version of it. It had stuff I liked to nitpick and the game is certainly not for everyone. The music itself feels like an extension of Hamauzu’s recent work. Ex: Twin Dimensional Battle, Initium (one of the better town themes he’s composed, imo) x. Kirby and the Rainbow Curse : I didn’t finish this game. I, uh, didn’t feel like it jived well with me, and anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely adore Kirby. But this game has some fantastic tuneage, from Great Cave Escape to Dethskullk Jam to The Final Battle. A lot of the soundtrack drives back to previous Kirby games, which is to be expected. However, the tone of the music moving directly back to Kirby Super Star sounds felt right. x. Transformers Devastation : I had to laugh when NTom64 brought this one up to me, just because I... wasn’t expecting it? I didn’t play the game, so I don’t know if any of the music fits the context at all (never mind that I saw the Transformers movie and I know The Touch fits super-well), but holy crap, the music is incredible and I think it deserves the Badassery Award. Sample: Face the Devastation 2. Undertale

Toby Fox

It’s not even a damn contest. I can reiterate what everyone has said in this thread up to this point about Undertale, but it’s undeniable that this is one of the best soundtracks of 2015. Heck, it might be the best soundtrack of 2015 if the whole “voting with your heart” thing didn’t get in the way for me. Basically, it took a lot of convincing to get me through this game. For one, another GAF member (Shadow Hog) gifted me the game on Steam because I essentially refused to play it at the time. And I’m still thankful that he did. I played through the whole game with Noi doing his own playthrough and we pushed each other through the game. It took some prodding from EmCee to finish off the game and get the True Pacifist Ending to add more meaning to the soundtrack overall (and I took Noi with me in tow for that, too). Now that doesn’t mean I don’t like the game. I just got spoiled on the endings and a lot of things before playing the game because, well, a lot of people wouldn’t shush about it. When I played the game, I felt like it was about the journey not the end. The game’s musical journey is fulfilling. Writing about Undertale’s soundtrack feels like a daunting task simply because there is just so much to say. From references to other games, to leitmotifs being used in single areas, to different types of instrumentation, to different soundfonts being used... there’s a lot of things to say about the soundtrack, and even just glancing through this entire thread, there are a lot of different things that people are saying about it. Undertale’s soundtrack is fairly difficult to review. There are a lot of tracks (well, actually, that part isn’t too difficult; I’ve reviewed 100+ track albums before), they all have extremely varying track lengths, and they all use different soundfonts that somehow create a cohesively-sounding album in the end. Overall, the album encourages the listener to be attentive: to soundfonts, to leitmotifs, to different references to other games, and more. There are twenty-three leitmotifs in the entire soundtrack. Undertale’s soundtrack release also composes of music that hasn’t been used in the game. I think the best way for me to approach the soundtrack, and Noi and I were talking about this last night when he was trying to get me to stop panicking about writing this post in general, is through discussing the leitmotifs. It’s like he said to me, “When you listen to <track>, what do you think of?” Well, there are a lot of things to think of. Nearly every single theme in Undertale references something else internally and externally. There are so many albums and soundtracks that use underlying motifs for everything, but Undertale kind of goes for the nth degree with respect to subtext and motif usage. The soundtrack opens up with Once Upon a Time, serving as the Undertale theme and the primary leitmotif in the game. The thing about the Undertale theme is that I guess it’s supposed to evoke a comparison between either Pollyanna or Eight Melodies. Going into the Start Menu continues a Mother comparison in terms of the Fun Naming themes without the “OK desu” part. More of the Undertale motif picks up in the comforting midi string theme Home, and it’s here that you start piecing together that all of the thematic similarities between each theme and their usage essentially crafts a story. Or at least, it lets the player have expectations of characters or areas. I particularly like the B-portion, where it sounds like it’s channeling some of the acoustic-driven themes Chrono Cross. It is also here that the player recognizes that Undertale’s soundtrack isn’t just a mesh of soundwaves; it uses midi to its advantage and thus steps up soundfont usage even further. The Undertale motif doesn’t surface until much further into the album under the Hotel and Can You Really Call This a Hotel, I Didn’t Receive a Mint On My Pillow themes, which are more flamenco-based, upbeat and resort-like. I particularly like the latter theme simply because it merges the Undertale theme with the uptempo nature of another character’s leitmotif (rather, the leitmotif isn’t used, but the tempo is). The live acoustic with the final Undertale theme in the neutral ending is so, so good. It mixes another leitmotif from His Theme and the Undertale theme to create a piece that’s used in a particular area that weaves in and out of battle and serves as an excellent conclusion for the six-hour journey. The Undertale motif is used in further pieces on the soundtrack, but I will elaborate on those further down the line. Your Best Friend is the next motif and it’s kind of one of my favourites simply because it comes from this stupid two-channel harmony but extends into something else entirely as the motif is used beyond this track. The next track is a major spoiler, but This theme is hilarious out of context because it’s just amazing how much mileage a 23-second loop got in six entire variations with different samples and soundfonts entirely. It makes complete sense in-game, but listening to it out of context like I initially did, I had to wonder why a 23-second initial loop got so much mileage and different soundfonts applied to it in one single theme. Finale has a ton of synth bass applied to it and I adore its pacing with a piano lead turning into a backing. Trying to apply the theme to a synth bass-orchestra is a nice touch too. Ruins is one of the more curious tracks in the game because it’s referenced several times in places that I didn’t particularly expect. I love the B-portion after the introduction because the percussion is so good. It’s the first place where you start realizing that everything is all connected. Ruins is further referenced in Waterfall, for instance, and it’s an entirely different area altogether. In fact, the Ruins leitmotif fits into another character’s motif altogether and gets a bit combined. Undyne has her own leitmotif, which sounds rightfully knightly and gothic (yet the loop is incredibly short), but in battle themes and general themes concerning Undyne, a lot of the leitmotifs intervowen into these themes are that of Ruins. The few themes that are raw arrangements of Undyne’s own theme in another soundfont (and I may add that the sampling is fairly decent for some of these soundfonts) entirely is Dating Tense!, and Run! (which I feel is a better arrangement of the two). Undyne’s battle theme, Spear of Justice is a hot number, with several portions throughout the track dedicated to sampling other themes: from Undyne, to Ruins (specifically, the version of it in Waterfall), Don’t Give Up, to An Ending. The backing makes the theme for me, and the introduction hits the right notes, especially when they’re held. The C-portion with the different arrangements and instrumentations of Undyne’s theme before the loop is so melodic and catchy. Battle Against a True Hero also samples a bit of Ruins itself, bringing a little more percussion and synth strings into the fray. Additionally, the Waterfall/Ruins motif also lends itself to Another Medium and CORE (with those two themes adopting thematic elements based on the characters that integrate themselves into the plot of those areas). Another Medium is probably the biggest theme that popped out at me. I played through Undertale together with Noi and we just sat there talking while this theme was playing in the background while just going “baby, this theme is so good, isn’t it?” to each other. Aeana brought it up with me, and I did indeed feel like it references X-Naut Fortress. And a lot of themes in Undertale, thematically-speaking, references a lot of other themes from other games, whether it’s in terms of a soundfont used, or just... being like Dating Fight! and Oh! One True Love. Temmie Village is fucking stupid and it isn’t even cohesive, and I love it. I enjoy the stupid soundfonts used, and I enjoy that it’s supposed to refer to the music played whenever a character’s behaving like an idiot, due in part to the lack of percussion in the track overall. Death by Glamour is one of the more fabulous tracks on the entire soundtrack. The piano harmonies aren’t as cohesive as possible, and the beat is kind of frenetic, but I think that’s what makes the piece its own. It’s an arrangement of CORE, Metal Crusher, and It’s Showtime! It’s a gigantic showcase of, well, being kind of like… um, Roundabout by Yes. The reference was so good that I had to laugh. Even the bass and percussion was replicated so well. A few folks who’ve played the game, and know where Roundabout is from may also get an additional reference, and then everything will make complete and utter sense. Definitely up there with some of my favourite tracks in the game. From here on, I guess I should probably not discuss names of tracks. The penultimate boss‘s theme is one of my favourites. For all of the emotions it evokes, and for the callback to this theme at the beginning of the game (which I truly enjoy has a few channels compared to the actual theme which uses more channels), I can’t help but to feel like it’s my favourite? It sounds like the most honest theme in the entire game. Even though it’s entirely honest, it’s an arrangement of this small theme from another of Fox’s works. It’s nice to see it expanded into something with greater detail. I love the C-portion of this track, due to the percussion and synth voice degenerating into synth piano and chiptune prior to a piano in a lower range taking over prior to the loop. It assists with making the pacing so smooth and frenetic, and emotional to boot. Even if I didn’t hear the theme in context, I’d still feel the same way. Noi and I did another ending last night together. When we heard Here We Are, I mentioned to him that it sounded fairly... Meguro-like? Perhaps that was an error in terms of analysis on my part, because upon further consideration, it reminded me a lot of OFF and Yume Nikki. It also uses the soundfont for this, though it’s not readily apparent. One of the more interesting tracks, Amalgam is a strange sampling of Earthbound tracks integrated into one thing that’s kind of cohesive taken as one whole product. Finally, what a lot of people feel the theme that caps the entire soundtrack off is the final True Pacifist boss theme. Or rather, both of its themes. Noi and I sang the whole things to each other while we were playing through the ending together. In fact, EmCee refused to let me vote for Undertale until I’d finished off the True Pacifist ending, and I could tell why. The first half of the track I linked is one separate theme for an entire phase, using three different motifs dedicated to stronger Undertale themes, opting for a synth violin opening, then transitioning forward into a synth guitar and chiptune. Undertale likes to lie about its upfront appearance. You suspect the entire soundtrack to drown in chiptune, but it doesn’t. The second theme, completely obliterates that notion, opting for a stronger sense of synth/electronica with a combination of guitar, drums, and a nice little xylophone. It’s a very pleasant and semi-rock-opera-esque way to cap off the soundtrack as a whole. I suppose, that the strongest suit that this soundtrack has, is that it tells every character’s story. The synergy between every piece in an area dedicated to that particular character, and also callbacks to other area themes is so flawless that sometimes it’s not even noticeable until you start to think about it. The soundtrack isn’t entirely flawless. A lot of the unused tracks simply sound like that: unused and unpolished. It’s nice to have them there, but they stick out in not the best way. I feel like tracks on the album should have additional loops. Speaking about the soundtrack in a game context, it’s difficult to narrow down a shortcoming because the way each theme is used is dedicated and carefully placed. Undertale was a pleasure to experience, both the game, and its soundscape. It’s an inspired album, internally and externally. It’s probably a stupid and silly reason, but I can’t help but to compare the soundtrack to what Nier the game was: a collection of different references to everything else and nods to other games woven into one thing. Of course, the collection of different soundfonts and different samples in every theme and from theme to theme is really… strange, but I kind of dig it? It’s a testament to the fact to a lack of cohesion doesn’t necessarily break a product because I feel as though Fox got what he wanted out of the game and out of its soundtrack’s lack of cohesion. It’s all over the place, but it fits. It’s different, and out of context, it sounds like the strangest thing, and even in context it sounds like the strangest thing. But because it’s so strange, it sounds so natural and fitting. Undertale is a strange journey. Its soundtrack being strange, yet so cohesive is absolutely fitting, and it has earned its spot as one of the best and strongest soundtracks of 2015.

  1. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (patches 3.0 to 3.15)

Masayoshi Soken (some original tracks by Nobuo Uematsu)

This is where I decided to listen to my heart. I really wanted to give Undertale the first spot, because speaking as an evaluator, I felt that Undertale was the most consistent soundtrack of the year and the most impressive soundtrack from one single person. However, as I keep playing Heavensward and experiencing what I feel and what my friends feel, I can’t help but to think with my heart instead of my brain. I picked up Final Fantasy XIV after years of Noi asking me to play the game with him and I didn’t really want to start playing it because I wasn’t interested in any of the jobs until Ninja was implemented. Perhaps it might be slightly unprofessional on my part (lol “professionalism” when it comes to organizing a thread) to choose a soundtrack based on my personal biases and experiences that is game-specific as opposed to the musicality of a soundtrack. A lot of my decision-making with respect to this soundtrack has a lot to do with personal experiences, so please bear with me. A lot of Final Fantasy XIV’s soundtrack, particularly pieces from A Realm Reborn and the 2.x patch content, can be a bit mixed. While some of it is amazing, like Thunder Rolls or Torn from the Heavens, some of it doesn’t feel entirely cohesive. This is due in part by some of the music being remnants from the game that Final Fantasy XIV was, and the game Final Fantasy XIV is today. It is also due in part to Masayoshi Soken having not come into his own entirely yet. Soken has composed for other games, such as Mario Hoops 3-on-3, but these games typically side-games or games that don’t have a lot of traction outside of niche circles. I believe, even since last year, I was waxing poetic about Soken’s work simply based on out of context experiences with his music. Now that I can say I’ve experienced his work in context, it’s even better, and I understand the following he has. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward is, for the most part, Soken’s time to shine in the sun. Although the main theme, Dragonsong, was composed by series’ veteran Nobuo Uematsu, many of its leitmotifs are carried on throughout the entire soundtrack. I do feel as though Dragonsong is more cohesive than Answers; however, that is a personal bias considering I liked Final Fantasy XI’s theme, Distant Worlds, far more than Answers. Truth be told, I did not start warming up to Answers until my Free Company started raiding the Binding Coil of Bahamut more often. That being said, there’s a lot of what Dragonsong does, which works for me more than Answers did (and I’m typically not a huge fan of Uematsu’s vocal pieces at all). Susan Calloway’s diction is, as usual, incredibly excellent. Hearing her voice feels like a gift. As some may recall, I’ve studied vocal music, trained as a mezzo-soprano, so hearing another soprano with a lot of control feels amazing to me. Physically-speaking, it’s hard to control your voice when you get into a higher range and your voice is more of a power voice than a paper-thin voice. My vocal coach and I spent sessions together trying to get my voice under control for Phantom of the Opera pieces where I did both parts when I was younger, even. I’ve come to admire sopranos who can get it done flawlessly, and Calloway is one of them. It’d be an honour to hear this live one day. While the lyrics describe nothing but the legend of Saint Shiva, Hraesvelgr, and the history of Ishgard itself, the way the music is composed, with many of the note holds, some of the simplicity and elegance melodically-speaking, and the feeling and diction emanating from Calloway’s vocals makes the music more meaningful. I feel that way every time I let the game’s opening trailer roll. Many of the game’s themes revolve around Dragonsong’s motifs. Well, “many” is probably falling short of how many truly use its motif. Despite this, as Thoraxes and I had discussed months ago, this soundtrack demonstrates a lot of Soken’s growth as a composer. Dragonsong appears numerous times in different motifs, from the slowest, most delicate pieces, so the more energizing pieces. I enjoy the redone prelude, since much of the instrumentation used in terms of strings is more evocative of cold and loneliness, which enhances Heavensward’s thematic elements a little more. I’ll personally be sad to see the theme go when 4.0 rolls around, but I love leaving the game on the start screen just to listen to it even more. The boss theme, Ominous Prognosticks, is more melodic than the A Realm Reborn boss theme, and it’s even better. It’s easy to hum, and I love the percussion and brass. The percussion drives the entire thing and the strings and brass carry it all the way through, especially frantic bit in the C-section. When the theme launches into the main melody in D, extending into the main Heavensward melody, with the chorus, it’s paced so well with the percussion hitting hard then extending into the main traditional Final Fantasy battle opener prior to the loop. It’s one of the better boss themes in the series, and it’s incredibly catchy. The Primal themes in this game are different from those of 2.1-2.5. Ravana’s themes demonstrate that Soken’s not all about rock operas or metal. The first half is a hilarious waltz. The strings make this far more than the chorus. But then you’re blasted into the second half with some hot bass (throatsinging) vocals and setting itself far apart from the other upbeat primal themes. The instrumentation doesn’t run far from the vocals, and the brass doesn’t overtake any of the vocals, letting the lyrics play out gracefully. I can just sing “the war still wageth on” when it comes up because I know when it’s coming up in the movement. I like it. It’s one of the better Primal themes in the game because there’s a lot of depth to the instrumentation and care taken in lyrical writing. For the second primal theme, Bismarck, Soken decides to go with more electronica as opposed to rock or what he did for Ravana. More drum and bass, and it sounds really good. It’s the first primal theme out of the two main ones that I gravitated towards because of the bass. The second phase adds some piano and slight vocals. The bass and percussion stand out more in front of the rest of the music and it’s something I always appreciate in any sort of music because bass anything is my sort of jam. The second portion of the track where the piano is added is nicely rhythmically-paced, integrating vocals. It’s hard to say out of the two primal themes which one I enjoy more, but it entirely depends on my mood. Heroes is the final boss theme of Heavensward, and it integrates parts of Dragonsong into the theme. Even listening to it while writing this up, I find myself humming the harmony because it’s my favourite part as opposed to the lead melody or the vocal portions. The portions where the main melody of Dragonsong flows in, it’s difficult not to be enraptured by the string sweeps, the percussion, the orchestration, and the brass. The Azys Lla theme is one of my absolute favourites. I don’t know what to gush about first. The introduction with electronica? The organ melodies (oh hell yeah, the organ melodies)? The theme is a deliberate nod to Final Fantasy VI’s New Continent, albeit with different instrumentation. I love the backing, too. It’s not something you typically hear unless you have a good audio system, but in some good headphones, during the downbeat/piano portion in D, there’s some really nice stuff being done with hi-hats and synth vocals. It’s fairly different from other area themes in the game overall, and it stands out by being a completely different genre from everything else. I have a very deep affection for Coerthas Western Day, and Coerthas Western Night, simply because they were really the first two themes I went out to experience for myself when I got to the Heavensward patch. The instrumentation in both is so melancholy, hinging on strings and piano in a cold wilderness. At the same timeChurning Mists Day and Churning Mists Night don’t get a lot of love in-context because... well, not a lot of people like that place. It sucks. Musically speaking, both themes are really nice inverses of each other and easily told apart due to a complete difference in terms of instrumentation. One is a beautiful piano rendition, and the other is draped in strings and plucking. The introductions of each piece are fantastic and tender and slow. Contention, linked previously, is one of my favourite themes in the entirety of Heavensward, and half of the reason is because it’s a very important theme for me. It is supposed to illustrate a deeper connection between two characters in the Heavensward narrative, and hence it’s a graver arrangement, led by a piano, of Dragonsong. However, in a personal sense, I generally associate the theme with Noi and me fighting then making up, or just being together listening to the theme and telling each other that we love each other very much. Thus, Conviction is very important to me, both as a game-player, and as an individual. Musically-speaking, it’s a wonderful grave piano arrangement of Dragonsong, and it doesn’t necessarily build or change outside of synth strings being added in a layer. Nothing necessarily overtakes the piano until a small grave climax in the theme. It’s very tender and I love it very dearly. I kind of dislike the Idyllshire Day and Night themes, and I find the Hinterlands Day and Night themes fairly unremarkable. I feel like they don’t necessarily add anything musically or add anything with respect to musicality other than “here’s this town theme, it sure sounds like a town theme”. The Hinterlands themes simply use instrumentation that don’t necessarily tug on my ears. By contrast, the Ishgard themes (Pillars : Night / Day; Foundation Night / Day), are much better and more grounded in emotion along with motifs for Dragonsong better portrayed through instrumentation. The piano, the brass, and the organs play out the prestige of a town theme mixed with a main title theme, and it’s a pleasure to listen to every time. However, the main dungeon theme for the dungeon in the Idyllshire area, Ink Long Dry, is one of my favourite themes in all of Heavensward. That jazz piano is some of the hottest stuff on this side of D4. The bass stands out, and while the time signature for this piece is weird, and everything about the piece is so weird, it’s the most relaxing piece in the entire game for me outside of another soon to be mentioned. Jazz fused with some weird instrumental hip hop in the main portion of the track, and it sounds so good. Out of the two postgame dungeons in 3.0, I like The Fractal Continuum more (not just because my damage-per-second shoots through the roof based on my job, but it doesn’t hurt!). While Neverreap sounds like a standard arrangement of The Sea of Clouds, Fractal brings its own fun melody to the table with organs, synth, a nice backing guitar, fun backing percussion and hi-hats, a nice little piano. But man, listen to that percussion. It’s almost to die for and I’d love to drum that myself if I ever got better at playing the drums. The Alexander themes are a true treasure. It’s something you kind of expect from the area, and from Soken himself due to his previous work and which genres he chooses to set his themes. The ambient theme doesn’t get a lot of play, and honestly due to the area, it doesn’t get a lot of love either. I kinda dig it because it reminds me of 90s rave music. The electric guitar melody is pretty hot, the organ is hard to hear but it adds a lot of melody, and the backing synth is jammin’. The one theme that everyone loves (well, not Jucksalbe :V :V) is the boss theme! This shit right here is super-hot. The lyrics are hot (dc, dying, dying, electricity!), the percussion is so fucking good in almost every section of the theme (particularly A-portion prior to a verse, with the electronica). The introduction is so good, and I’d love to hear an entire piano quartet rendition of the entire theme because of that. Sometimes I go in, hum one part of the melody and Noi hums the other for the harmony and it feels so good to know someone else gets it. Metal is probably the one theme that some folks who don’t play the game might know? There was a live version done at a panel and some non-FF14 players thought it was hilarious on my timeline, anyway. The lyrics are lore-specific, with FF14’s Goblinspeak pervading throughout the entire theme. This is where “No Busydeals For the Wicked” comes from, and you can’t help but to sing along to it to have something to laugh at because folks aren’t doing their jobs in the raid and not picking adds up when they should also the tank isn’t stunning the legs ... and... what? Metal is a theme that’s more or less a typical Soken theme. The lyrics don’t kick in until the battle actually starts and someone’s hitting something. The instrumentation is so caustic, particularly due to the reliance on hard percussion coming from all angles. The synth and the electric guitar pick up at a fantastic point during the theme’s chorus, and I especially love the bit during the second verse with some of the off-beat string points. It’s so frantic and sounds added in because they were late to the party, but it fits so well. The 3.1 themes are a bit hit-and-miss. The Diadem and its battle theme sound great for the first few times, particularly because they invoke the traditional prelude, and it hinges on more of an orchestrated sound as opposed to the rock or gothic themes that we usually get for raids. The B-portion of the former theme is probably the best part of it as opposed to the introduction which includes the prelude, because it sounds more militaristic due to the percussion, and yet, it evokes a sense of wonder due to the brass and flute. That being said, like any MMO theme like this, it gets very repetitive very quickly, particularly before its loop. The battle version of the Diadem theme is really cool due to the pacing of the track, and because it integrates the classical Final Fantasy battle theme introduction. I like it far more than the exploratory theme, and I kind of wish it had a longer loop because I’d rather hear that for 90 minutes straight as opposed to the exploratory theme. The two dungeon themes in 3.15 are really good, though one is old. Pharos Sirius only got a new (very excellent) piano introduction, and I wish the rest of the piece were more arranged to set it apart from its easy mode predecessor. Saint Mocianne’s Arboretum is gorgeous. I’ve used it as study music. The woodwind introduction, with the piano D-portion is my favourite. Never mind that the dungeon itself is gorgeous; the pacing of the track itself, particularly in its C-portion with its pacing piano prior to the loop and the B-portion relying more on strings and guitar, allow the player to perceive a sense of beauty and magnificence with respect to a slight reference to Final Fantasy IX. It’s a very nice arrangement of the Dravanian Hinterlands theme, and it makes the theme even more respectable. The new Vanu themes are so well-done to me. They’re so evocative of some Genso Suikoden III pieces that tried to inspire the same tribal tone but those themes weren’t always so successful at it. I especially enjoy the piano in this theme, combined with the underlying backing and percussion. It sounds so frenetic and disjointed, but it works so well, and I’m glad that these themes were integrated into the patch. The Gundu theme may not start off as strong, but its final portion before the loop has an excellent orchestrated background with a flute lead. I couldn’t help but to think, upon hearing the themes in the patch for the first time, that Soken grew a little bit. He’s not confined to rock anthems or electronica anymore. He can still land into traditionalist territory and set himself apart. I don’t have much experience with the Lords of Verminion theme because I don’t usually do the event. But man, it reminds me of Mortal Kombat. It’s so easy to dismiss it because of the electronica backing and the percussion, but the best part of it is the violin passage. Even then, it’s unfortunate that the loop is so short, when matches are apparently five to ten minutes long. The Void Ark themes are probably the best new pieces of music in the 3.1 patch. While traditionally gothic, it’s not every day that we get organ and piano-filled themes like that in Final Fantasy XIV. Void Ark’s Calm Theme relies on its organ, its piano, plucking, and softer percussion. I feel like I know the melody in and out because I have someone humming it in my ear every time I run through the dungeon with him. There are times when I literally have to tell him to shush because I’m concentrating on healing or hitting a thing, but it honestly makes me love the melody more because it tells me that the melody is quite catchy. Even during the battle theme, I can’t help but to sing the main melody along with Noi because it keeps me at ease when I’m in a tough situation. I do enjoy that the brass became more prominent in this version as opposed to the organ and piano in the former. The Echidna boss theme is still a variation of the Void Ark theme, but it includes choral work, more brass, and more percussion. The bells return and there is a sweet interlude in the C-portion with the original organ and flute before picking up to the main instrumentation. The final theme added in patch 3.15 is the (final boss spoiler) Primal Extreme boss. Some people kinda hate because it’s not enriching enough, but I love it. I love the B-portion, post percussion introduction, with the piano prelude joining an arrangement of the main final boss theme/Dragonsong arrangement. It’s a good arrangement in a completely different key. After the big bombastic portion finishes, a piano transition occurs which I absolutely adore. It’s backed by synth and very little percussion, and the portion slightly arranges the Azys Lla theme. It then transitions to a paced choral portion of Dragonsong with a final brass fanfare before looping. I haven’t done the fight yet because the running joke is that my FC is busy doing silly distracting things instead of new content (hey man, 3-4-manning content is plenty fun!), but man I’m sure I’ll love it in context when I do finally do it. I had asked Noi to run the Aetherochemical Research Facility with me on Friday because I was still struggling to vote between my heart and my head. And after our run was over, I realized that I should go with my heart. Listening to Dragonsong arranged with more percussion and emotion (brass/piano) made me realize a lot of things. Heavensward as a whole brought me closer to a lot of other people whom I consider good friends of mine. It brought me much closer to Noi in ways I wouldn’t have dreamed of three years ago. Talking about our experiences with the soundtrack, a few of us singing the soundtrack to each other, going “whoa” at some new pieces of music, and gabbing a whole lot about different parts of it made me realized that maybe it’s not so bad to go with your heart once in a while. From a technical perspective, Heavensward’s soundtrack is not perfect. It definitely has a few duds. Speaking from standpoint reflective of soundtrack cohesion, while Heavensward elects to use Dragonsong everywhere throughout its entire soundtrack, it isn’t successful in some areas, and it ends up being dragged down because of it (ex: Sohm Al; this is an arrangement for the sake of an arrangement to me). Heavensward’s highs more than make up for its inadequacies, however. This soundtrack, despite essentially being a motif arrangement soundtrack, demonstrates that Soken has grown very much as a composer since A Realm Reborn. And patch content demonstrates that he still is growing. I look forward to seeing what Soken does next, and I genuinely hope that he gets attached to a mainline single-player Final Fantasy game for everyone to experience his work.

Plot: Canyon Conquest - Part 5

((On that one faithful day, the Great Zapfish went missing for a week. And Callie was nowhere to be found in Inkopolis. Will the entire city’s power run out? Or will they find a solution to bring it back? The answers will surprise you.))

((WARNING: This story contains spoilers to Splatoon 2. For those who haven’t owned the game or completed story mode, please keep scrolling ahead. Thank you and enjoy.))

The song: Bomb Rush Blush continues to play in the radio while Fynn and Tundra were dodging incoming Octo-Missles. The Commander's new Octobot MK III is developed from all the previous Octo Weapeons from 2 years ago and formed it into one indestructible machine. The Commander shifted gears as the robotic arachnid started to hover like Octavio's ship. She dropped a huge Octo-Missile from above and it's heading straight towards them.

"Heads up...!" Tundra said, taking aim at the falling missile. She sniped the missile and sent it right back. It destroyed one of it's 8 legs, causing the prototype to wobble a bit. "Now, we know how to beat that thing.. Fynn, focus on the legs first!

"If we make it out alive with your friend on that chair, you have some explaining to do.." He watched the weaponized arachnid fall down, safely on the ground. At times like this, why did he bother getting up in the evening when there's power supply crisis.

As the Commander started moving and attacking again, Fynn examined the person who is driving the arachnid. The blue-ringed Octoling was wearing the same hypnoshades when he first encountered her. ("Hmmm... Maybe she's brainwashed, too... Those shades aren't just for show....") He thought. If he can get closer to the machine, he might be able to clear her senses. But how will he do that?

Tundra continued shooting of a few missles until she noticed Fynn was coming up with a plan of his. "What are you thinkin' about, anyway?" She continued shooting incoming projectiles.

"Remember when Dawn knocked me through a loop..? Maybe, I could save her by knocking her shades off, as well. I just need to use my head before I act.." It well may be the most reckless idea, he ever had. But he has one shot to save her like his sister did. He's not sure why, but he could somehow see the sadness behind her shades.

Tundra thought about his plan, before giving him a thumbs up. She too, wanted to save her Commander from corruption. "Just be careful, out there.. I'm going to take out a few legs, allowing you to climb up the cockpit."

"I don't know, what you two muttering about...? But I can't let you succeed, nonetheless..!" She stopped her assault to stare down at the two. "It's been a year and a half.. We've been searching from top to bottom for you... You've broken our trust after our mission together and you decide to leave without notice..!"

Tundra lowered her weapon as she walked right next to Fynn. She hated bringing up her dark past, but the Commander must know. "The reason why I left is because, I wanted to choose a different route than being an elite. That last mission took out my eye during a fight with an Anglerfish.. It was a suicide attempt and I was scarred for life..." She pointed at the eye patch on her right eye, followed by the two scars over her eye. She slowly took off her eye patch to reveal the whole eye to the Commander and Fynn. The eye lid was sealed shut for several months. "After the accident, I moved to Inkopolis to start a new life.. I wanted to follow another goal like that one Octoling who chased her dream.."

"Whoa..." Fynn was too busy, staring at her closed right eye. On his point of view, it looked badass of her. But on the inside, he felt sorry for her past. He was in the same fix as hers. After he quits his job as Agent 11, he got a job as a dishwasher at a family-oriented diner.

"Everything was going well, y'know.. I became a personal trainer to help a couple of squids to grow stronger. One of 'em is Fynn, right here. I still don't understand why you kidnapped him..? What's so special about my pupil..?" On the same note, Fynn was wondering about it.

"Tch.... Fine.. I'll save you all the trouble by explaining to you all..." The Commander cleared her throat and leaned in closer to them. "Before I was promoted to commander, I did some scouting on an unknown agent.. According to the list of agents from the past, he was called Agent 11. He claims to be the city's defender.."

Fynn's body went stiff when she mentioned to his former alias. He clenches his gut from where he got shot at in the empty streets. Becoming an agent, puts him through some unfortunate struggles and never-ending nightmares.

"I've been watching him from the shadows, while he did his part. From the Octobot invasion, the radio outbreak in Inkoplis, and even a rescue attempt to save a young Octoling from being tortured by two Inklings.. He was indeed, a hero. But... every hero's journey comes to an end." She looks at Fynn with a pleased expression on her face. "It's not easy, carrying on with your life while the past is dragging you down. Right, Fynn..?

Fynn clenched onto his Herobrush, shaking in fear and anger. After a year, she knew about his identity and his downfall. He closed his eyes, trying to look away from her. As he did, he felt a hand of Fynn's shoulder. He turned his head to look at Tundra.

"Don't listen to her... You've done so much to protect the city in the past.. Yeah, no one has ever heard of you. But, you've got the guts to fufill your destiny.. You're one of a kind and you have friends who got your back. It's about time to leave the past behind us and focus on our future.." Her sweet words were enough to bring Fynn back to his senses. Then, she glared at the Commander. "You think you've seen his agent work, but he's stronger than you think. Try to underestimate him or you'll regret it."

The Commander was taken aback by this, before letting out a disapproval huff. "Spare me.. You can't fulfill your destiny when you're dead..!!" She was done, talking to them as she readied herself for more. "I have no choice but end this, quick! Unless, you have what it takes to prove me wrong.."

"She's about to attack, again.. I'll cover you til the end.." Tundra put her eye patch back on and took aim if the Commander releases a few more missiles.

As soon as the arachnid is ready to move around, Fynn has both hands on his Herobrush. He held it close to him and got into his stance. This stance has the resemblance of a samurai warrior. Fynn stared at the Commander and then, at the 7 legs. ("Eimie... I give you my word.. I will come back, a new man...!") Without warning, Fynn charged at one of the legs. His leg weight training really paid off in a good way.

The Commander was shocked by his movements, but she went offensive and launched 4 missiles at him. The missiles were locked onto Fynn and about to chase him. If his tank runs out, he'll have a disadvantage. Unfortunately, the missiles isn't going to faze the pink Inkling.

Fynn was trying to the avoid the homing missiles, until he has an idea. He cleverly went for one of the 7 legs while the missles were on his tail. As he got closer and closer to the leg, he made a U-turn and moved to the next leg. The 7th leg was destroyed from the inksplosion, causing the arachnid to fall over. Fynn kicked it up a notch by serpentining around the other 3 legs, connecting the three inksplosions. There's only 3 legs left and the Commander's arachnid is losing its balance.

"You pink little pest...!!" The blue-ringed Octoling responds by trying to keep up with her prototype but with 5 missing legs, she's unable to function. "My plans will be for nothing, thanks to a former agent and a traitor..! But you forgot one thing..." Suddenly, the mouth of the arachnid began to open and revealed some sort of gas nozzle. "My machine is loaded with my deadly vemon and the Toxic Mist gas. Let's if you can handle my fumes..." She pressed a button to release to strong Toxic Mist into the battlefield. If they get caught in the fumes, they'll lose their ink even faster. Not only it does its job, but the deadly gas will slowly kill the two.

"This isn't good... Fynn, don't breathe in..!! This Toxic Mist is more threatening than before!" Tundra held her breath, trying not to choke in the toxic gas. This is the Commander's secret trump card when facing against bigger threats.

Fynn has witnessed the poisonous fog from before. If only, he brought his gas mask with him. He quickly, held his breath and backed away. At this rate, they won't endure for long. The mist surrounded both Fynn and Tundra, depleting their ink even more.

Unit 64 was still strapped to the chair, watching the whole fight. She couldn't just sit there and watch them perish. So, she tried to struggle with getting the restaints off of her. After a minute of wiggling her hands and rocking her chair from side-to-side, her arms are free from the restraints. She got to work by undoing the restraints by her feet. She made sure to be silent before unbuckling the restraints.

Alex broke free from her chair and stealthfully walked over to the switch for the ventilation van. It was next to the huge monitor, revealing the main event with DJ Octavio, Callie, and the three agents. She quickly turned on the fan as the propellers started moving fast. The huge gust of wind, blew away the deadly Toxic Mist. Feeling relieved, she pulled off the tape in her mouth and she was able to talk. "Destroy that damn nozzle before she releases more...!!" She cried, giving them the signal.

Before the Commander releases another gas of toxic, Fynn quickly recovers his ink tank by diving into his own ink. Once his tank is restored, Fynn pulls out an Autobomb. He chucked the robotic bomb with all of his strength to block the nozzle's entrance.

"What in the...!! It's jammed...!" The Autobomb didn't detect any nearby enemies while it continues to wiggle. The pressure begins to build up as the the arachnid's mouth is breaking apart. The bomb detonated after it was done wiggling, causing the arachnid's mouth to burst into pile of scrap and leftover gas. The blue-ringed Octoling quickly opened the hatch and ejected from her seat. She landed in front of them with her Octo Blaster in her hand. "Okay.. Now, I'm going to destroy you..!! I've worked so hard in creating the prototype..!!" She glares at Fynn through her hypnoshades.

"I can't allow you to harm the citizens of Inkopolis.. Like me and Tundra, they all have a dream to obtain.. And I won't let you take that away from them.. I'm going to finish what I started, right now..!!" Fynn's ink tank is half-empty. With a few swings, he might knock her shades off in time.

"Let's see you try it..!! I still got enough vemon left to splat you..!!" Her tank has enough ink to shoot a couple of ink blasts. One shot will splat him in the center. She instinctively charged towards Fynn with all she's got. She aimed at Fynn and fired her blob of ink.

Fynn closed his eyes, concentrating on his attack. He got into his samurai stance, again to prepare for the inevitable. He thought back to all the memories he did, over the years. His friends, his team, his family, even his girlfriend. They are all waiting for him to return. How they all miss him after so long. As if time stopped in front of him, Fynn cuts through the ink blast with one swipe. He started charging towards her. His tentacles and the ink spots on his body began to glow a radiant light.

The Commander stared at him in shock after he slices through her ink blast with a swing of a brush. "That's... impossible..!! My ink could've wasted you..!!" She couldn't let Fynn take her out that easily. She rapidly fired two shot at him while closing in on him. "Stay back..!! I order you to stay back..!!" She cried, trying to fend off the armed Inkling.

Her warnings meant nothing to him. Fynn cuts through another blob of her ink. As for the third ink blast, he swiftly dodges the final blow and he was in range with the Octoling elite. He grips onto to his Herobrush, preparing to swing. He looks into the Commander's face before he takes the final swing, knocking the shades out of her face. He could hear a loud shriek from the Commander as he watches her collapse onto the floor. She wasn't splatted, but she was out cold. "I'm done taking orders from you.." He said, taking a deep breath.

Tundra caught up to Fynn, lowering her weapon. She stared down at the passed out Commander. "I'm sorry, Eris... it has to be done..." She sighed, deeply before facing Fynn. "We did it, Fynn.. My girls are safe and sound for now.. Now then, we need to reach to the concert.. Phantom, Mantis, and Marie are still trying to bring Callie back.."

Alex approached to them in the middle of the chamber. Now that she is relieved of her duties as an elite, she doesn't have the will to fight anymore. She hands Tundra, the key to her flying vehicle. "...Take it. I'll try to shut off the system while you two can go see the fight. I'll stay here with Eris to see if she's coming back to her senses."

There wasn't time to have second thoughts. He took the keys from her and nods. "Thanks for blowing out the toxic gas.. If it wasn't for you, we'd be dead within seconds.. And sorry about wrecking your gun..." Even though she tried to splat him, he can't stay mad at her after what she did.

"....I'm still mad at you, jerk. You should be grateful, I returned the favor. Go after your sister or whatever.. She has fought her way to get here." Alex turns away to work on the controls.

"You're welcome." He left her to get to work and turned around to meet Tundra. He was wondering, how his sister and her new friend are holding up as the music continues to play in the background with Callie, singing Bomb Rush Blush.

"C'mon, champ. We're gettin' a VIP access to the fight. If only, we brought some popcorn for this fight." She joked around, before she left the chambers.

Fynn looked back at the monitor, showing the live concert. It pains him to see Callie on stage, brainwashed like he used to be. He loves the outfit and the tattoo on Callie, no matter how bad the situation is. After a few seconds to watching the monitor, he left the chamber with the keys in his hand. This ship will take him to the concert with ease. ("Dawn... Please be safe...") He prayed for his sister's safety and her partner as well. Someday, they will both have a future to succeed.

End of Part 5

E3 opinions ( Nintendo)

Not the last show of E3 but possibly the last big one of the event, Nintendo strut into E3 with their usual pre recorded segment although I have seen people either dead excited for what a future Switch line up or seem to have no faith in Nintendo at all with only a half hour slot, so let’s review and see how it fares.

Opening the show is what appears to new a new advertising campaign maybe for the Switch but indie sensation Rocket League appears to take the opening slot and even showing off Fifa, neither games necessarily interest me but it seems to show a change in Nintendo, where they would usually promote one of their own works first usually it is nice to see them throw a bone to third parties. While Nintendo may not be able to boast having the kinds of support Sony and Microsoft receive at least Nintendo looks like they are trying to garner support now. 

Xenoblade 2 gets a re-introduction with a new trailer in English which showcased some story elements including game-play which shows that it will play similar to the last two entries in the series and also include some incredible looking worlds to explore once again, although it looks like someone turned up the anime inspiration to the max, mind you. The biggest surprise for me being that Nintendo are still aiming to release this Fall, despite earlier rumors stating that it had slipped into early 2018 so that is cool. 

Kirby comes crashing back with his Switch debut looking like follow up on his 2D adventures in the style of the ever classic Kirby’s Dreamland. While I don’t expect this to be a blockbuster seller, Kirby plat-formers are usually a solid experience and with Switch’s multiplayer possibilities which could allow you to play co-op on a single Switch or maybe even over multiple Switch’s via wireless

Yoshi also makes a Switch debut in a new game which appears to be continuing with the Wooly World theme with worlds that appear to be made of cardboard and moving away from the 2D plat-former mold by allowing Yoshi to move in the back and foreground. One of the biggest surprises about this game is that it will be built on the Unreal engine as confirmed by Epic Games spokesperson, Dana Cowley.

Fire Emblem Warriors while looking nice i felt a little disappointed in as the trailer appeared to mostly show cut-scenes over game-play as I would have liked to have seen how the game preformed in action , with the Switch specs in mind and being able to handle hundreds of enemies and big maps and also wondering how the N3DS port will handle, I expect similar results as seen in Hyrule Warriors on Wii U and N3DS respectively but with the game aiming to release this year I get the feeling we may see a dedicated Direct for this later in the year. 

Breath Of The Wild’s DLC was revealed showing some visual for the previously talked about and upcoming content, the first of which is dubbed The Master Trials will add a hard mode and new quest which will enable players to power up the Master Sword to deal out double damage, this DLC will also include some new costumes based on previous entries into the The Legend Of Zelda series such as Tingle’s costume and the infamous Majora’s Mask. This first expansion reminds me a little bit of Dark Souls in some respects but I guess we will get to find out in a matter of weeks The second DLC being dubbed The Champions’ Ballad focuses on the Champions in BOTW which makes me wonder if they have unfinished business after the game concluded or if this is set 1000 years before Calamity Ganon’s appearance or something? 

The big close out of the show was given to Super Mario Odyssey, opening with perhaps the oddest trailer involving a dinosaur but in this short trailer we get to see many of the game-play elements which displayed massive worlds to explore, going into walls playing as an 8 bit Mario in a similar style to The Legend of Zelda : A Link Between Worlds and what appears to be Mario’s gimmick in this game, being able to take control of enemies and NPC like citizens found in New Donk City or a tyrannosaurus-rex by throwing Mario’s hat at them. This game sent me over the top and into hype mode, this game looks fantastic, looks to be amazing fun, looks like it runs at a solid 60fps and oozes a confidence that it isn’t afraid to embrace with its big band styled title song delivered with some beautiful vocals. Super Mario Odyssey looks like it will be the successor that Super Mario Galaxy 2 deserved, having everything you could hope for packed into a Mario game alongside a October release, coming sooner than I expected, this may well be my game of E3.

The other big talking points and announcements I feel I have to address for most part seem to come about after the presentation into the Tree-house broadcasts so let’s address them, Nintendo listened to the uproar over Metroid in recent years and not only talked about giving us one new Metroid game, but 2 of them. Nintendo confirmed that Metroid Prime 4 is in development but having nothing to show for it, not even any concept art or a teaser trailer. While this is a little disappointing I am sure the announcement of the game will bring many tears of joy to fans of Retro Studios trilogy it appears that Retro Studios themselves will not be returning to the series, that ponders the question of who is making it? and what the hell has Retro been working on then for the past 3 years? The other reveal being Metroid : Samus Returns for 3DS, a modern remake of the Game Boy sequel to Metroid being made by Mercury Studios, famous for Castlevania : Lord of Shadow. This reveal looked cool in concept although I felt like it was missing polish despite its launching within months, hopefully the next time we see this game it will be looking better.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle which had its official unveiling at Ubisoft’s event on Monday already looks like one of the strangest concepts with these 2 big franchises coming together for a game which plays like X-Com. The game looks like it could be some massive fun although I may hold out until I see some reviews to help decide if and when i will buy into this.

Mario and Luigi - Super Star Saga DX was another remade gem for the 3DS which looks to be running on the modern M&L engine as seen in Dream Team and Paper Jam, this remake will include a new mode based around a trio of Bowsers Minions which I guess will add a humorous alternative view of the story that many maybe familiar with. Being a big fan of the original Game Boy Advance version I look forward to trying this remake out soon.

I guess I should address Skyrim coming to Switch as well despite it only having a small segment in the presentation but it is cool to see Nintendo willing to allow Bethesda to include BOTW costumes, shields and armors. Despite Skyrim feeling like it is getting ported to anything and everything, including a VR version, the idea of being able to play a grand expansive adventure like Skyrim in a portable form without hopefully getting an entry as bad in performance as the infamous PS3 port, the motion controls looks like they could add some fun interesting ways to play this game but I imagine many will probably default to the regular controls.

I was overall impressed with Nintendo’s presentation despite the short presentation, although they did not waste much time promoting games releasing within the next few months like Arms or Splatoon 2 but they are being given special competition events at E3 to act as promotion there, it is nice to see we wasn’t bogged down with more info about it at the presentation. While I am confident Yoshi and Kirby will be good games they hardly seemed like big announcements I was expecting for the Switch at its first E3 but with Metroid Pime 4 and a new RPG Pokemon being confirmed in development I would only wish Nintendo had more to show really, many have been hoping for ports of Mario Maker, Super Smash Bros 4 or Bayonetta 2 to Switch or even talk of the Virtual Console service coming to Switch but it feels like we are getting small servings for this year. While Nintendo has it’s Directs to spread awareness of upcoming titles which they can use any time of the year I can see why Nintendo maybe holding back some announcements for a later date, similar to how I feel Sony may have been holding back on announcing new stuff for its PSX expo later this year but overall I was happy with what I saw Nintendo seem to employ an unusual method of unveiling games as a few were presented through the Tree-house segments instead of the presentation which strikes me as weird as some of these would have been more than welcome during this brief conference.

This years E3 I felt was only mediocre for most part this year, while we got some interesting updates to games announced in previous years I felt like there was a lack of anything really new or fresh at least for most part throughout the whole show. I feel Microsoft while having an impressive new console had a serious lack of impressive software to make it stand out like BOTW did for Switch or Uncharted 4 did for the PS4, Forza 7 could well be that game for all I know, but I get the feeling it won’t be. Sony and Nintendo had good presentations but neither really felt like they ignited a fuse, while not every E3 can be an amazing one, this one certainly wasn’t a bad one, until next year I guess, have fun.

VG Talks Games: My thoughts on The Switch (Jan. 14th, ‘17)

Really just a basic rundown on what I’m seeing from the various bits that have been officially released and what should be known if you want one of these systems. Buckle in, this might be a long one.

So, just for simplicity’s sake, I’m going to be using North American pricing when I’m talking about the system, games, and accessories. I know these prices are different in different regions, but the basic idea will still be the same when divorced from hard numbers. Okay? Okay.

And on that note, let’s talk cost. At $300 this thing is going to be more expensive than either an Xbox One S or a PlayStation 4 slim. And if you’re only looking at the Switch as a home console, that’s bad. You’d better really want those Nintendo exclusives to justify spending that much more on a less powerful system, and it is a less powerful system. But, that’s kind of the thing, right? It’s not just a “home console”. It’s not really much of a portable either, what with the 2.5 to 6 hour battery life (my New 3DS XL gets considerably better than that), but it can be taken on the go and that’s really the point. Much like the controllers have some motion control to them, even though people were really very much done with “waggling” before the Wii bit the dust.

From what I saw in the Switch Event it looks to me like Nintendo is trying to capture two very distinct audiences with this console. The first group are the casual market they captured with the Wii. That’s why games like 1, 2, Switch! and Just Dance 2017 are launch titles, it’s why they talked so extensively about using the console and games more like a party game that doesn’t need the TV. And I have no idea if that’s going to work. The Wii casual market clearly didn’t want the more powerful Wii U, even when it was explained to them on a personal level. Maybe Nintendo can hit pay dirt again, and it’s pretty obvious that they’re trying. The second group is the long time Nintendo loyalists. Which is why Breath of the Wild is a launch title and why the Switch Event wrapped up with that game’s release date. It’s why they focused so much on Super Mario Odyssey, and also announced Splatoon 2. They’ve got a pretty good idea what that demographic wants and have been good about pleasing them (us) for the past few console generations. And to be perfectly honest, that’s not really enough. Every loyalist lost is a major blow since I don’t think Nintendo is replacing those customers very easily. Really, the Switch needs a unique lineup to attract new customers, but they need something that either younger customers can grow with much like the current loyalists did with the NES/SNES/N64, or they need to please the major console fanatics and convince them to pick up this new device. But with underpowered hardware that doesn’t feature a lot of the things their less expensive counterparts have (Blu-Ray players anyone?) it’s going to be a tough sell to say the least.

On the more techy side of things, I’m pleased to say that Nintendo might finally be on to something here. The replacement controllers might be expensive at $80 for a set (L and R Joycons), but it’s also pretty obvious that having more than one set synced at a time is not the way the system is meant to be played. The much less expensive Pro Controller is clearly the “couch co-op” controller of choice here. For the admittedly poor battery performance, the solution is actually a lot more simple than you might think. The system uses a standard USB cable to charge. Let me say that again because I’m just as incredulous as you are: The Nintendo Switch uses the standard USB type-C cable to charge. If you already have a phone that uses USB-C, you’ve already got a Switch charger. Worried about playing on the go? Bring a pocket charger and a USB-C cable. Take it to your favorite restaurant and plug in a USB wall adapter to the cell charger that nearly every place has now. That poor battery really isn’t that big of a deal and those chargers are going to be readily available from dozens of reputable manufacturers. That was great news to hear!

The system uses microSDXC memory cards, which is a standard memory card. Basically the same card that the New 3DS hardware uses. The only concern I have, and this is a small and nit-picky concern, is the question of memory limitation. A lot of devices have strange limits on the maximum size card it can recognize. SDXC tells us that it will work with cards AT LEAST up to 64 GB in capacity. But, might it also work with the 128 GB cards? What about the 200 GB cards? Larger? Who knows? This is one of the many tech missteps Nintendo took with that press release, and have still not corrected on their web page detailing what the system can work with. (Note: That web page is why I know it’s compatible with microSDXC specifically.) This will be needful information going forward and I hope we learn more before the system comes out in a little over a month and a half.

The launch lineup seems a little... sparse. My recommendation for any new game console is to have three to five games either readily available or shortly available to justify the cost of the system. Buying a game system for one or two games isn’t cost effective for anyone, really. (You’re free to reject that suggestion, of course. It’s your money.) But, the launch lineup I’m seeing doesn’t really offer a lot to work with. It feels like “The new Zelda game plus a bunch of tech demos”. That’s not a great feeling when looking at picking up a brand new, untested game system. Never the less, the upcoming titles do look promising. I’m excited to see a new Puyo Puyo game, even if it’s riding on the coat tails of Tetris to get there. (Some of my favorite puzzle games use Tetris to some extent, so this is not a bad thing to me at all. Tetris is awesome.) A new Bomberman game is exciting, but Konami has been so bad as of late that I’m worried about the game on principal. Arms is likely to be a huge internet joke for quite some time, but could also prove to be a good game. I expect it to be a flash in the pan party game that’s quickly forgotten. The controls just don’t look like they’re there, you know? Thankfully the system seems to be teeming with a variety of RPGs from several venerable studios. If you like those slow-burner games this could be a very good system. Plus, there are still rumors of a Mario and Rabbids crossover game in addition to a new Pokemon game, both of which are exciting for different reasons. People who remember the Sega Nomad and playing home console Sonic on the go might be more interested in the new offering, and it does look like it could be worth a chance. Which is more than I can say about far too many Sonic the Hedgehog games. (Come on, Sonic Team. You guys used to be better than this.) There are more than a few notable omissions from Nintendo’s list as well, and that has mixed feelings from me. Things like Mother 3/EarthBound 2 and anything related to Metroid not being there hurt a little, as well as Smash Bros., and makes me worry that either the titles are not going to be on the system or will take a long time to get there. Neither option is great for early adopters.

And finally, the big bugaboo from the event, Nintendo stepping into the realms of Payed Online Use. This is very much one of those things where it could either be the thing that saves Nintendo’s online presence or the thing that crushes the company. And I’m really more on the side of the former. When Microsoft introduced the concept it proved to be very viable, ensuring a much more stable network for it’s games and customers. When Sony finally bit the bullet and did the same, it didn’t feel great but they added the value of their PlayStation Plus to the mix, giving games every month to subscribers. That was effective enough to force Microsoft to follow suit. Nintendo has some big problems to overcome if they want to make this service charge successful. Offering free games every month is going to be a must, and as long as Nintendo gets their amazing catalogue of classic games onto the system fast enough they’ll have a great pool to pick from. I don’t expect them to do this, since they haven’t had a large number of games available at any time since they began offering the eShop with the Wii. This same issue could be even more troubling if they decide to offer rentals of whatever customers want. It would be great to offer that, but they need to have the library to support it first or it just will not be valuable. Next, Nintendo needs to offer reliable and effective online connectivity. Which is thankfully something I have not seen them have trouble with at any point in the Wii U’s life span, so this shouldn’t be an issue. I honestly don’t see a reason for Nintendo to change their policy in such a way since their online connectivity has always been exceptional, but perhaps they’re adding a service that would need some kind of payment option to make it viable. I’m just hoping it’s not a simple cash grab, since this would directly hurt the sales of the system if it’s not valuable enough. Or if it costs too much. More expensive system with the same cost for online play? Yeah, Nintendo won’t make any money on that if that’s the case.

Overall, I’m honestly still pretty positive about the system. I’ve just got a lot of concerns and the Switch Event didn’t do much to inform me, and in some cases actually gave me more concerns than I had before. But hey, who knows? Maybe it’ll capture the casual market again and bring in core console players and we’ll all enjoy Splatoon 2 together. To make early buying as effective as possible, pick up a USB-C cable plus appropriate USB adapters, a 64 GB microSDXC card (at least), and a USB rechargeable battery pack to go with the system. A carrying case for on the go use would also be recommended. Extra diligence in watching for thieves in the first few months is going to be a must I fear. And also the very real possibility of a highly limited launch window aiding scalpers will likely drive the price up, so be vigilant in not supporting these individuals.

Be safe, be smart, caveat emptor.

Cutie Reviews: Tokyo Treat Sept 18

Hi everyone, this review is a bit later than I had hoped it would be. I wanted to get it done days ago/last week, but it was a fairly rough week after Easter passed...

Anyway, here I am now! Let’s not linger on things like that x3

We hope you all have had a great summer and made great memories that will last for a lifetime. Speaking of great summer memories, one common activity that people of all ages enjoy doing in the summer is going out to an evening movie! We know we love strolling around in the summer night and ending up seeing an awesome flick at the local theater. We took inspiration from this idea to curate a box that would be great to snack on while watching your favorite Drama, Film, or Animation! So, get ready to chow down on some awesome movie-perfect bite-sized snacks, candies, and other savory sweets found inside September’s Movie Night box!

The booklet for this month features a cute Kimono template to color, a variety of Splatoon and Pokemon-themed contest and Lucky Treat items, an article of Japanese tea and honorifics when addressing others, and an article about 2 good television programs on Netflix to practice Japanese with: Terrace House, and Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories.

This is September’s DIY and like usual, I will be covering this in a separate review/post.

On a side note... I’m not really sure how this relates to the movie theme. It would be kind of distracting trying to make these- but it’s not nearly as complex as most of them are so on the other hand, it kind of makes sense.

Mango Pokemon Soda

The drink for this month is this adorable themed mango soda, available in 4 different designs to feature each of the Eeveelutions (Vaporean, Jolteon, and Flareon on yellow, this one, Eevee and Sylveon on pink (I really wanted this one), and Glaceon and Leafeon on green). Besides the design on the bottle, there is also a small picture of all the Eeveelutions, and a profile on the featured ones.

I love all of them so I would have been happy getting any of them :3 but I really loved Umbreon and Espeon first in comparison to the previous forms, so in a way I’m pretty happy with this one. It kind of gave me a nostalgic feeling.

Each bottle is 34kcal, and the drink is by Ito En. I do recall seeing this brand logo before on a drink, but I don’t remember which one.

Rating: ♥ ♥

I really like these types of bottle lids. It opens very smooth and easily and doesn’t seem to fizz very much. At first scent it was light and sweet, but the more I smelled, the more typical mango it got; but it never smelled like feet.

The taste is very refreshing and light, but it actually doesn’t taste like mango to me. I get a faint mango after-taste, but I taste coconut pudding over it. It’s not bad, but sadly it doesn’t appeal to me either...

Pretty Cure Popcorn

We’ve been over this before, but I love Pretty Cure! So I always get really excited whenever they include products from the series in these boxes. Which oddly enough, they have been doing. Not very often, but sometimes.

Anyway this is by Tohato, and if I remember right for a long time now, each time there’s a new pretty cure season/series, they come out with new “waves” of these. Each include a sticker, and as much as I liked all of the Hug Precure, I really liked the three on mine so I was very happy~

Each bag consists of popcorn mixed with these cute, pink heart strawberry puffs. Each bag is 68 kcal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

This is the perfect snack you’d want in a movie-themed box :D the popcorn is basic salted popcorn, while the heart puffs are sweet and crispy. Together they make the perfect combination~

Kinako no Yama Chocolate Banana & Hokkaido Matcha Milk Candy

Figured I’d get the 2 items I was the least-excited to see out of the way now; if you’re new to this blog, I say this because I hate green tea, and bananas. 

First up we’ll start with the Kinako no Yama snack by Meiji. If I recall right, I believe we were supposed to have these in a prior box, but due to some issue they were unable to provide it. I really like how they decided to bring it back when they could to make it up to anyone who might have been disappointed by that.

Kinoko no Yama are small biscuits topped with chocolate to give them the appearance of a mushroom/Kinoko. These ones are specifically topped in chocolate, half of which is banana flavored.

Each box is 378 kcal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

I usually like Kinoko no yama, but I detest artificial banana and these smell overwhelmingly like it. However, I was pleasantly surprise because the flavor, while there, only lasts a short while and kind of fades into the biscuit and chocolate. In my case that’s a huge relief!

Also, the booklet points out that these were included to remind one of the chocolate bananas one can often find during summer festivals. Cute concept but isn’t this box movie themed...?

The next item, I was dreading even more but gets back into the movie theme; apparently some people like eating hard candy for movies. Anyway, these are made from milk straight from Hokkaido and combine it with matcha to create a sweetened, creamy hard candy. 

Each bag is 330 kcal. 

Rating: ♥ ♥

It’s creamy in taste, I’ll give it that. But I didn’t actually think it was very sweet, nor did it surprise me, I knew I’d hate it and I couldn’t even finish the piece I tried. But if you do like green tea I think you would really like it; my mom loves green tea so she enjoyed them. I’ll probably give them to her or set them out in a dish for others to have.

Marshmallow Twist & Stretchy Grape Gummies

Our next two items are these fun, pinkish-themed sweets :D If you’ve been a long-time reader then the marshmallow probably looks very familiar. We’ve gotten these, I think two other times prior to this, and each time I think I had a different color. But don’t quote me on that.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I don’t have much to say, it’s you’re average marshmallow. I’m not crazy over the fact we got a repeat a handful of times now, but I’m super-obsessed with marshmallows and they do spread them out in the very least.

The other item I have seen before but never tried, so I was pretty curious. This is the Kinosei snack for this month, which features Faecalis to refresh the body. Each gummy (or maybe the whole bag but doubtful) is 18 kcal. They are individually wrapped as you can see above, and each wrapper features a drawing or cute little ideas you can try to do with these.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

What makes them so much fun is that the candy is completely lined, which means you can peel it! The texture is a bit different than most gummies, but I really like them- the grape flavor is also very delicious :P I’m not very sure if they make me feel refreshed eating them, but I don’t feel bad.

Okinawa Pineapple Hi-Chew

Our next item is the very popular Hi-Chew by Morinaga. Hi-Chew is a very chewy candy that comes in a large variety of fruity and drink inspired flavors. This one takes a spin at Pineapple from Okinawa; perfect for summer!

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I love Hi-Chew, and I also really like pineapple. Together they taste pretty good, you could definitely guess this was pineapple if you tried to eat it without looking at it and the packaging. The taste lingers for a few minutes after eating it too.

I can’t say it’s my most favorite Hi-Chew though, that would have to be the cola and strawberry ones. But if you never tried these I would highly recommend it. They can be found online at several locations, and they even sell mixed bags outside of Japan. If you have a Walmart, check the foreign/Asian food isle.

Brown Sugar Traditional Wheat Puff & Kinako Crackers

These items are perfect for that Crispy snap you might need in between all the chewy sweetness (or if you want to wake up your movie buddy ;3). The first is a very traditional wheat puff that is coated in brown sugar. As expected, it has a lot of calories; a total of 380 kcal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It’s very sweet and tastes like brown sugar (or you could even say maple), and it has a soft-crisp texture and dissolves in the mouth. It tastes good, but the texture is kinda strange; and that’s coming from me, who likes different textures.  

The next item is a large bag of rice crackers coated in kinako (roasted soybean) powder. Each one is 17 kcal, and the whole bag is 506 kcal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I’ve had these before or snacks a lot like them in both this flavoring, or savory. I really like rice-based snacks, but you actually don’t taste anything besides the soybean powder coating. They’re lightly crisp and the powder dissolves in the mouth.

Also, side-note, but if you read the blog then you might recall my mentioning how some squishy smell like soybeans to me. It was snacks like these that inspired that notion, and every time I smell squishies with this scent I think about them.

Kishu Plum Chips & Anpanman Fluffy Corn Puffs

You know, a few of these items didn’t really scream movie to me, but I feel like the further I get into this the more I start seeing it.

First up are these uniquely flavored chips by Calbee. They combine the saltiness of a potato chip with Kishu plums to create a chip with a sour tang.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

If you like the taste of pickled plum, unique chips, or sourness you will enjoy these :3 not only are the chips decently sized and looking delicious, but they also taste really good. The flavor is strong, but not on like a... salt and vinegar level, so it’s not overwhelming.

Our other item are these simple, cute Anpanman corn puffs by Tohato. This was the share snack (which for once I think is worth including because if you watch a movie with multiple people then this would be a good thing to have), so we get 4 bags of these. Each bag features Anpanman on the front, and a cute little puzzle on the back.

These are described as being a slightly sweet, light corn puff.

Each bag is 40.7 kcal.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

They are extremely light and airy and provide a soft crisp, but I actually get no sweetness at all. It has a flavor, but it’s not a corn either, nor does it remind me of cereal. I’m not actually sure what it is, but I do like it.  

Shrimp Mayonnaise Umaibo & Spicy Pepper Pea Corn Puff Rings

These are our final snacks for this month, our monthly Umaibo in Shrimp Mayonnaise flavor, and look- it’s actually whole this time :D lately they keep winding up crushed into a million pieces for me.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I love Umaibo x3 I don’t really have much to say on them because we get them all the time, and I’ve had this flavor a couple of times. But it’s one of my favorites~ it reminds me of sushi.

Our final item is this small bag of spicy pepper pea corn puffs. We’ve had this brands snacks before, but I can’t remember if I tried these before. I feel like I have because the taste is very familiar to me...

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Whatever it is, this tastes very good to me. There is some spice there and it lingers on the tongue for a short bit after eating them, but it’s fairly light so if you’re not big on spicy things it isn’t painful or anything.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 4 out of 5. I really liked mostly everything, but there was 1 item I was disappointed in,1 that delightfully surprised me, and 1 that I hated- but compared to other ratio of previous boxes I’m pretty happy with this one.

Theme - 4 out of 5. For most part I felt like these were pretty good choices for movie snacks. They reminded me of things I would see at the theater or drive-in, and ironically enough I ended up watching the lifetime movie channel while I was eating these and working on this review.

Total Rank: 9 out of 10 Cuties! In my opinion this would have been a great box to start the subscription with. There was a little bit of everything in it and a lot of yummy tastes~ I admit, there are a couple of things that some people might not like, but I think it would be a fun experience to try anyway. I really enjoyed this one.

♥ Cutie’s Scale of Yummy ♥

1. Grape Gummies - I love the flavor and texture, it’s as fun to play with as it is to eat~

2. Spicy Pepper Pea Corn Puff Rings - I’m not sure what it is about these but I really, really like these!

3. Kinako Crackers - I think I prefer the savory ones to these sweet ones, but they are still delicious!

4. Shrimp Mayonnaise Umaibo - I really, REALLY like this but I’ve had it before so it’s nothing new to me.

5. Pretty Cure Popcorn - This was very cute and I love the packaging and included sticker, and the cute pink heart puffs~

6. Kishu Plum Chips - I’m pretty sure I’ve had these before, now that I think about it. But anyway, they’re really good :3 so I’m not complaining.  

7. Anpanman Corn Puff Rings - The flavoring is light but it’s there, and the simple, colorful packaging is adorable. A cute little snack for any Anpanman fans~

8. Pineapple Hi-Chew - As much as I like pineapple, I’m not very big on pineapple candy. I’m not sure why. It was pretty goo though. 

9. Brown Sugar Wheat Puff - it was sweet and unique, but not my favorite.

10. Marshmallow Twist - As much as I love marshmallows, there’s nothing special about it. It was just an average marshmallow.

11. Mango Soda - It wasn’t what I had hoped it would be...

12. Banana Chocolate Kinoko - I didn’t hate them, but they aren’t my favorite things either.

13. Matcha Milk Candy - I mean... it’s pretty obvious right? I thought the bag design was cute though.

Video Game Year in Review: Honorable Mentions

When I compiled the list of games I played this year that didn’t make it to my top 10, and weren’t remasters, remakes, or re-releases (see previous list), the number came out to just over 10, with the few over the 10 spot either just not being particularly remarkable (Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion) or games that I put so little actual time into that I really didn’t get the chance to form coherent thoughts about them (Prey: Mooncrash and BattleTech, both examples of types of games I want to resolve to not be so afraid of playing in 2019).

So the remaining 10 that I did want to mention are an interesting bunch. Not all of them are games that I loved. A decent amount of them are games I had serious issues with. But they all had something to them, something that made those issues that I had all the more frustrating, because it prevented me from dismissing them outright. My feelings about these games are varied enough that I wanted to rank them, so I suppose this list could just be called “Reese’s Top 20 games of 2018: 20-11,” or, “The Problem Children,” or something, but “Honorable Mentions” works fine for me.

10. The Messenger - Though I have never played Ninja Gaiden, and therefore don’t really have any nostalgia for the type of game this dual-8-bit/16-bit/action-platformer/Metroidvania was clearly going for, the early parts were executed pretty damn well. Tight controls, great music, some very fun and memorable boss fights, gameplay that was challenging but not, I imagine, anywhere near as rage-inducingly challenging as the games it was based on. Those initial four or five hours or so felt enjoyable and complete enough that the fact that I fell off pretty soon after the game pulls a very significant aesthetic and gameplay shakeup not enough to make me hate the game. As cool as a concept as it is to literally jump back and forth between different eras of game design, the “Metroidvania” part of this game was filled with the shit that tends to frustrate me about that style of game - aimless wandering and tedious backtracking. A very interesting experiment that, for me, didn’t quite pay off, but the effort produced a pretty unique game.

9. Iconoclasts - As far as its gameplay goes, this game is almost the inverse of The Messenger’s brand of Metroidvania, highlighting all the things that I actually can love about the genre. Sure there’s backtracking, but the layout of the levels is thoughtful and inspired enough that it rarely feels tedious: I often found myself very excited to gain my new ability and revisit a previous area because - just like the best Metroid games - I know exactly where I can use it, have been wondering about it for a while, and can finally see what’s on the other side. What ended up bogging down the experience of this game for me was the surprising emphasis on story and long-winded dialogue scenes. While I definitely really liked a handful of characters, the game’s increasing willingness throughout its run-time to put verbose speeches in all of their mouths wore a bit thin, given how thoroughly okay the general plot was. Still, game has some of the absolute most gorgeous pixel animation I’ve ever seen.

8. Monster Hunter World - As it seemed to be for many, the streamlined (though still irritatingly idiosyncratic) systems management, lush world and creature design, and conveniently slow part of the year that it released all made this the first Monster Hunter game I was willing to fully commit to. For a while, the game really won me over - experimenting with weapons was deeply satisfying, and the care and evocative detail in the designs felt inspired and compelling. I even played a bit of multiplayer with friends, and had a lot of fun with it, despite how generally committed I tend to be to single player experiences. After a while, though, I stopped being wowed by the animations and controls to start to be bothered by how careless the game seemed to be about its colonial fantasy, what a generally destructive force you and your team are on this beautiful world. It’s not as though this isn’t something that was obvious from the beginning, it’s just that for a while there, I figured it must actually be going somewhere with it, that there must be some commentary it was building toward. What I was met with was disappointing silence, and LOTS of grinding.

7. Red Dead Redemption 2 - I felt a lot of ways about this game, some of which I managed to capture in the review I wrote a couple months ago. There’s so much about this game that I hold against it and Rockstar, both surrounding it (the abusive culture of crunch in its development, their lack of care in getting an indigenous and/or black actor to play Charles) and within the game itself (the stretching of a decent story to an absurd length, controls so clunky they often broke the role-playing the rest of the game was so good at encouraging). But the things that I loved about this game - the stunningly atmospheric world, the complicated and nuanced character dynamics in the camp, the ways in which it allows one to experience and engage with its details - all stuck with me as well. This game represents so much of both what I want games to be going forward and what I never want them to be again.

6. Minit - Weird as it sounds, as much as I liked this game, my main gripe with it was the primary mechanic around which it was based. I loved the minimalist black-and-white art style: the way the white lines shined on my HDR TV is an excellent example of how “simple” graphical styles can take advantage of modern technology as well as any graphically demanding powerhouse. The world was a joy to explore, a miniature Zelda with a unique sense of humor. I honestly just never got why I was only allowed to enjoy it a minute at a time. The game seemed to do little to justify its central hook, and most of the time it ended up feeling more like a hindrance than a meaningful game changer. Nevertheless, Minit gave me a short, sweet experience that stuck with me more than I expected it to.

5. God of War - Having never really liked the previous games in this series, I went into this one with fairly low expectations, despite the near-universal praise it was getting. The story really didn’t do much for me. The father/son dynamic was fine, but hardly the innovative step forward in video game narratives many seemed to claim it was. Kratos is still an inherently ridiculous character, no matter how much depth they try to give him in this game, though I did thoroughly enjoy Christopher Judge’s performance. The real hook of this game, outside of its very pretty visuals, is its really just superb combat. They nearly entirely did away with the hacking and slashing of the previous games, and created a deliberate, thrilling system of combat juggling. There are a decent amount of moves at your disposal, but it never feels like an overwhelming amount, and the balancing act you can achieve in utilizing all of them properly results in just some of the most satisfying combat I’ve ever experienced in a game.

4. All Our Asias - This was the first of several lo-fi 3D polygonal games I played this year - the others will show up in my top 10 - and I’m just so excited about the coming wave of game developers inspired by 90’s PS1-era aesthetics, an era I’m personally much more nostalgic for than the still-prevailing 16-bit pixel art of many indie games. This is probably also the weirdest of that style of game that I played this year (and given what one of the others is, that’s saying something), an essay in video game format, an exploration of the bizarre nature of memory, told through abstract shapes and landscapes. Creator Sean Han Tani tells a wonderfully personal story here about racial identity and complicated family relationships, by navigating the conceptual framework of your player character’s father. It’s a singular experience that I still think about often, nearly a year after playing it.

3. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle - Donkey Kong Adventure - I’ll admit that my time with Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle last year was my first real dip into tactics gaming, an experience that allowed me to gingerly step my foot into some deeper water this year (some of which I discovered was still too deep for me, like BattleTech). But for as easy as the first half of that game was, I maintain that the back half was surprisingly challenging. This year’s DLC, Donkey Kong Adventure, is not challenging. Donkey Kong is so overpowered it feels like it must have been a mistake, and the way that he can combine attacks with other characters is just ridiculous. But, weirdly enough, that’s part of what I enjoyed about this addition, a fairly breezy few-hour adventure where the most fun comes from seeing just how badly you can fuck some Rabbids up in a single move. Having Donkey Kong grab an enemy, throw him at another enemy, hit both plus a nearby enemy his banana boomerang, then having Rabbid Cranky charge into all three of them and blast them with his shotgun-esque Boombow never really gets old, at least for the well paced 8 or 9 hours that the game lasts.

2. Dead Cells - An endless, side-scrolling action platformer with tight-as-hell, ultra satisfying combat, beautiful art design, AND it was made by team of French socialists with no bosses who all get paid the same? I mean, fuck yeah. Dead Cells, a game that I originally played a bit in Early Access last year, and enjoyed so much that I decided to wait until the official release before truly delving into it, is a game that largely plays like the dream it sounds like on paper. I’m not sure if I’ve ever played at 2D game with combat as good. Generally, I’m not huge on run-based games, and did hit some walls in this game where I just felt like my own ineptitude was getting in the way of my enjoyment, and the game wasn’t giving me much between runs to make me feel like I was actually making any progress. I still haven’t actually beat it, but it’s become my default palate cleanser game that I play a few rounds of in between other games or while listening to podcasts or music, so I’m still plucking away at it. I’ll get there someday.

1. Return of the Obra Dinn - I enjoyed this game so, so much, even if sometimes more on a theoretical level than a practical one. The style is impeccable - I really will never get tired of the brief tease of opaque, incidental dialogue or sound, followed by the sudden explorable tableau of death(s), soundtracked by haunting strings. The gameplay is inspired - I’ve had few gaming experiences in recent memory as fulfilling as any time the little music que popped up after I solved a death, confirming that I had gotten three deductions correct. I have to admit, though, that those moments were spread further out than I would have wished. Part of this is just happenstance - I didn’t realize until quite a few hours into this game that by zooming in on someone, you’ll match them to their picture, something that would have undoubtedly saved me a lot of frustrating time in which I was grappling with trying to figure out whose fuzzy faces were whose. Nevertheless, I felt like I was too often given too little information, and had to take guesses between one of a few possible suspects, many of which were informed by racial assumptions that made me actively uncomfortable. This was, no doubt, part of the point, so it’s hard for me to hold it against the game, but it regardless did lead to a pretty exasperated final couple hours of play. Despite these complaints, its hard for me to think of this game as anything other than a wildly successful achievement - innovative, inspired, both intelligently designed and remarkably trusting in its player’s intelligence. Maybe a little too trusting, in my case.

So what are my favorite games Part 1

So just to make things clear i haven been writing 1.because this is actually my second attempt at writing this i accidentally closed the tab the first time, uh and i only lost a few hours of work. and 2.because I’ve been working at my job a lot more frequently as of late. anyway, i could probably write an entire full length essay on all of these games but I’ll try to shorten things up, oh yeah uh some games on the list might not be that good, as I may include a game from my childhood that i have fond memories of, but maybe wasn’t as good as i remembered it, anyway its a top 10 so lets begin.

First of all id love to start with some outside looking in, all these games are incredible to me and i would love to put them in the top 10 but i couldn’t, if you want to hear my opinions on them (wow thanks, you actually care) you can ask me on twitter and ill do my best!

15.Sonic Generations                                                                                              14.Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege                                                                      13.Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum (Waterpark&Zoo DLC is amazing)                12.Splatoon 2 (specifically the Octo Expansion, that was really good)                    11.Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition (Def. edition because its portable with good FPS and the extra 3DS content)

OK then Ill get started now :3 Thanks a TON (and I mean it I appreciate amy support i get or constructive criticism) for reading it!

Number 10: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess                                              Developer and Release year: Nintendo, 2006/2016 remaster                                What it can be played on: Gamecube/Wii/Wii U                                                                                                                                                                                              The Legend of Zelda is my favorite game series of all time, thats obvious if you know anything about me, and twilight princess is one I’ve played more recently, and from the start you notice Twilight Princess is definitely going for that early 2000′s edgy tone (is that a coincidence or an actual trend, i dunno i was really young in 06 so...) which works fine, and its a really long game, I mean I spent a week or two beating it, that being said i had work and other things going on at the time, but any way it has been said by many more before me, that it is basically an edgy, long,Ocarina of Time remake with motion controls....and they aren’t wrong, though i have called it edgy but i think its more...dark i guess? any way i actually like this better than Ocarina of Time, before you assault me i loved Ocarina of Time, i just tried to put as few Zelda games on the list as i could, and i just enjoyed the Twilight Princess story, characters, and length a bit more, but back to the remake opinion, i sort of agree yeah, but i thought the mystery around Midna and Zant and the Twilight realm, and the mirror, were all something that sets it apart, so in the end i enjoyed it a lot.                                                                                                                                                                    Favorite Part(s)? Arbiters Grounds. AW MAN, I love the Arbiters grounds, the sneaking, the spinner, the boss, the setting, all of it is on point, even the wolf part is unique with the poe chasing, and also the Final Ganon boss I liked all of it, though his appearance is a bit late i thought it was a fun, long, and intense fight

Number 9: Lego Universe                                                                                      Developer and Release Year: NetDevil and Lego, 2010-2012                                What it COULD ( :( ) be played on: PC                                                                                                                                                                                                              IM GONNA GO AHEAD AND SAY IT THIS IS A PICK COMPLETELY ON NOSTALGIA. Yes, this is one of my favorite games of my childhood and since i cant go back and re-evaluate the game because it’s closed unfortunately (except for some server projects that are happening) I’m talking about it completely based on my memories. One reason I love it is, the game’s story and lore at the time captivated me so much that i decided to write stories about stuff my character(s) did, which basically kick-started my interest in writing, as bad as those stories were, I loved the game, I had it’s official LEGO set (Still do it’s a nice little orange rocket ship that could be used in-game) and convinced my cousins to play it too, and we all enjoyed it, now of course i was an MLGPROBOI at the game so I had rare pets and the best weapons and a RED PARROT GUYS (I believe it was super rare and a big deal) so I loved being really cool n’ stuff, people would ask me to help them take out Butterscorch (that was the hardest boss in the game, a purple dragon, BUT SINCE I WAS AN MLGPROBOI I COULD DO IT MYSELF BUT I WAS NICE SO I HELPED) and even sell them secrets on how to do stuff, yeah i was a cool guy, cant relate now, I’ll never be as cool as my alter-alias Square Von Pancake :(                                                                                                                                                                Favorite Part(s): Me and my brother played i t together all the time and we loved the combat at crux prime the most, Crux Prime was the place with the hardest enemies and bosses and it was really fun to be challenged for a while. plus though it was out for only a year we still have countless memories of it, and they added Ninjago in it which I was SUPER into at the time and enjoyed having my character do Ninjago stuff...  

Number 8: Mount and Blade: Warband                                                                    Developer and Release Year: Taleworlds, 2010                                                      What it can be played on: PC, PS4, XB1                                                                                                                                                                                                      Mount and Blade Warband and its expansion Mount and Blade Napoleonic Wars, is one of my favorite multiplayer, and story games, the story mode is fun because you can do what you want, YOU choose the faction you fight with or not to at all, your class, your stats, and you can make some uh *beautiful* characters, the main story, i believe the objective is to become the emperor of Calradia, and rule the dang place and be rich and cool and have people like you, but I dont usually do that i just fight for factions, make money in the arena and at tournaments, and hire mercenaries and win against armies of 200 with like 30 people, its fun, now second talking point for me is the multiplayer, this is where Napoleonic Wars comes in, it is a fun shooter with muskets , or swords....or screw it you can play the bagpipes, that last one is totally not something me and my friends would do late at night. The Maps are super well designed as well and each look nice, and are usually not unbalanced. The third thing is the modding community, if you have this game, and don’t have the Anglo-Zulu war mod, that is just wrong, I mean it is so fun to get your friends and survive against large waves of zulu, or have some friends with the Zulu, it is just a unique experience for me, and other mods are cool to like the Civil War mod.                                                                                                                                                                    Favorite part(s): The Story mode is awesome in the way that it was a time in m life where i was without internet for a good month or two, but i had my laptop and the story mode kept me entertained for basically the whole time, also there are so many fun memories of the AZW mod and late night spent surviving waves.  

Number 7: Lego Battles                                                                                          Developer and Release Year: Warner Bros., Hellbent and Lego, 2009                  What it can be played on: DS                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Lego Battles is also a nostalgia pick, and also happens to be a Lego game, but the difference is it still holds up to me today, and i can still play it today...any way I love the gameplay, it’s a basic RTS but with fun themes like Wizards and Knights and Pirates and Aliens vs Humans, and each has a different play style, but not too different that it didn’t confuse me as a kid, I always liked the pirates and the aliens, I dont know why, but uh a drawback is that it can be too easy, at the time I wasnt fast or good enough to beat the AI with my first base, but i quickly learned if i just escaped after the destruction of the first one and just built a stronger second one, i would have more time because the AI couldnt find me and i would win pretty much every time, but despite that I enjoyed all the campaigns and loved the cutscenes and the extra characters like Santa and the Skeleton Guy (tm) and the Conquistador and the Alien Queen etc. and the way to unlock them was to find red bricks in the campaign levels, and/or collect studs which i thought was a fun challenge at the time, and today i sometimes like to go back to it for some casual RTS action                                                                                                                                                                                                     Favorite Part: The Gameplay, it’s simple, fun, and  doesn’t take too long, so if i just want to pick up a short game of the RTS genre I usually spring for this

Number 6: Star Wars Battlefront 2 Classic                                                              Developer and Release Year: Pandemic Studios, LucasArts , 2005                      What it can be played on: PC/PS2/XBOX                                                                                                                                                                                                      The fact that this comes in at number 6 on my list really doesn’t tell how much I love and appreciate this game, this is probably THE game I played the most in my childhood, and even still I play it online with the new servers (I disagree with you sometimes Disney, but thanks for those) This game is so replayable and I haven’t even played through the campaign yet, yeah, what I have done though is beaten all the Galactic Conquest stories, probably more than once. So for those of you that don’t know Galactic Conquest is a mode where each team starts with one ship and one type of troop and you fly around a map of the galaxy and take over enemy planets and defend yours and buy troops with the money you earn from the battles, and if the two ships run in to each others then they do a space battle, and Im gonna say it now i grew up playing the PS2 version with my cousins, but now I play the PC version and when we play with our cousins they play the XBOX version on Xbox One, any way the PC version is the best in terms of FPS and general gameplay smoothness, but the console versions have Galactic Conquest multiplayer which is something that we have spent countless hours playing, and in the end Battlefront 2 will be one of the best shooters of all time, and better than the new Battlefront 2 because that one is no where near good enough to share a name with the classic one, any way, i will always love Battlefront 2                                                                                                                                                                  Favorite part(s): Galactic Conquest and shout out to the maps Kashyyyk and Tantine IV, they’re the best

Hey thanks for reading through this whole thing, uh as you can tell this was super long, i planned to do all ten in this one but i figure it’s gettimg pretty long and I’ll just stop here and I’ll have 5 through 1 tomorrow, Thank you so much!                                                                                                                -Ben :3                                                                                                                       

Talking Point: What Were The Biggest Highs And Lows From E3 2018?

E3 is finally over for another year, bringing to a close the biggest event yet. From surprise promotional crossovers on the Ubisoft conference to a certain game pretty much taking over Nintendo's big summer Direct, there's been plenty of topics to talk about now the dust is beginning to settle. So we've switched on the NL symbol, turned it towards the night's sky and from the darkness, Team Nintendo Life has appeared to discuss our biggest takeaways. As always, we want to hear what you made of Nintendo's presence at the big expo, so be sure to leave a comment below... Glen Fox, guides editor Honestly, Im feeling a little deflated after Nintendos E3 showing because I was really hoping for at least one big new announcement for this year. It was pretty telling that most of the Direct focused on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, because thats all Nintendos really got for year two. Thats great for fans of Smash Bros., but Ive never really had more than a passing interest in it. So what did that leave? Lets Go Pokmon, which is pretty much designed to plug the gap between now and the core RPG next year. I think it will also serve as a nice stepping stone for all of the new fans that Pokmon GO clawed in. Theres also Super Mario Party, which I personally could not care less about. But it was nice to see some footage of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, which looks like it could be the best entry in the franchise yet. Also, Fortnite dropped, and thats a MASSIVE boon for the Switch. Been hooked to it ever since. Ultimately, I feel like I was right to look to third-party developers for Switch joy as the year comes to a close. Starlink features Star Fox, Fallout 76 MIGHT come to Switch, and Im still psyched for FIFA 19. Dom Reseigh-Lincoln, editor E3 2018 was an odd one for Nintendo. Much like the other big platform holders, there were no earth-shattering announcements or brand new IP that made every stop, look and listen. The announcement of the Star Fox announcement for Starlink: Battle for Atlas was a great move, mainly because it a) satisfies those of us that really want a new adventure of Fox McCloud and the crew and b) gives a title attempting to reignite the cooling embers of the toys-to-life genre a much-needed burst of heat. But there's no getting away from the fact the huge onus on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate left very little room for other titles to shine. It's Nintendo's big winter release, but the sheer glut of details felt like a poor use of 'prime time' broadcasting space that could have been used to showcase the next big indie hit or a Switch-exclusive title deserving of more attention. [embedded content]Ryan Craddock, staff writer For me, this years Nintendo highlights were all the big announcements. The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate reveal despite going into a bit too much detail for me was always going to be the star of the show, and the complete roster, beautiful looking updates to the graphics and lighting, and the addition of Ridley are all fantastic. Im also excited about Fortnite and really wish it hadnt been leaked beforehand so that the intended shock factor would have been as intense as planned and cant wait to get stuck in this weekend. Ive played it on PS4 before (so that means a new account for me thanks Sony!) and I suck at it. Hopefully Ill improve with practice! Finally, Starlink: Battle for Atlas has really shocked me. Not just because of the Star Fox inclusion (which is awesome) but because the Treehouse: Live footage looked amazing. As long as the story content is well done, flying around those gorgeous worlds looks like it could be really good fun. Liam Doolan, Australia correspondent When the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Mashiro Sakurai appeared on my monitor during this weeks Nintendo Direct, I knew the big moment had finally arrived. The details about the new Smash title were ongoing from that point, with 25 minutes of comprehensive coverage. One major highlight during this particular reveal was the news every character previously featured in the all-star series would be returning in the latest outing. When Young Link from Super Smash Bros. Melee then popped up, for me, it felt like an old friend had returned. I used to main the fast and agile hero of time until he was essentially replaced with the different but similar character, Toon Link.With both of these fighters now back in the series, Im not sure which one Ill gravitate towards. Regardless of who I opt with, Im glad Nintendo is giving its fans this option. [embedded content]Alex Olney, video producer To be honest I think one of my favourite announcements was probably Fortnite. Now before any of you start dashing down to the comments to tell me what a sheep I am, it's mainly because now I feel I can finally breathe a bit. So many denied all the evidence, so many claimed it would be bad for it to come to Switch for some reason unbeknownst to anyone, but now it's finally here and there's no going back. Also it's good fun with friends, and if people are having fun in a healthy way that doesn't negatively impact anyone else, can that really ever be a bad thing? Best thing was Smash though, let's not try and deny that. Oh, and Super Mario Party. Jon Cousins, Japan correspondent As with every Nintendo Direct, most of their E3 showing (well, the third party stuff) leaked ahead of time, but aside from the smash segment being really long and inside baseball, I thought it was reasonable. It was great to see Hollow Knight release during the event, and Fortnite was the worst kept secret since Mario + Rabbids, so my highlights are definitely Daemon X Machina and Super Mario Party. Although Id hardly call myself a mech or anime fan, DXM had a real dynamism and vivid art style, and it's great to see a new IP from some veteran talent. I've never got into the Mario Party series, but I love me a mini-game or two with mates, and with the really interesting ways to use the system, SMP has the potential to be great. [embedded content]Gonalo Lopes, contributing writer Nintendos E3 presentation did not just start with a bang it began with several dozens of them accompanied by loud heavy metal music and unbelievable mecha carnage. After recognizing several names among the staff, I am fairly certain that Daemon X Machina is the mech action game of my dreams, one already hinted by Xenoblade Chronicles X back in 2015. A very special birthday ahead for yours truly when n the 16th of October Starlink: Battle for Atlas lands with exclusive Star Fox ship, pilot and mission content. The perfect crossover and a continuation of Nintendo and Ubisofts discrete relationship of mutual respect. There was nothing even slightly F-Zero related, I still dont know who is making Metroid Prime 4 and Bayonetta 3 remains illusive as ever but the sadness of those omissions is tiny when stacked up to the amount of joy from the amazing new games (and new content for old ones) heading our way in the next six months. The Switch is quickly becoming the most important games console I ever owned in my life and I look to the future with a big childish smile slapped across my face. Mission accomplished, Mr. Iwata. I thank you Directly! for so, so much. Richard Atkinson, contributing writer The unruly and unpredictable E3 storm has passed which means its time to shrug off the inevitable disappointment from getting WAY too hyped, focus on the slices of goodness that we got from Nintendo this year and turn our attention to what brought a smile to our faces. For me, the instant release of the Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion was one of the most welcome surprises - the thought of having to wait even longer was too much to bear and my prayers were answered. But there was one title that got me even more excited than a Nintendo fan learning of normal voice chat without the use of a silly app and that was Super Mario Party. The patent that Nintendo filed a few months back finally saw its commercial light and, boy, did it look great. The idea of tapping two Switch screens together to make a bigger playing field on a table in a pub, friends house or train coach excites me and I cant wait to see what the title has to offer. Time for many friendships to be ruined all over again. [embedded content]Alan Lopez, contributing writer Youll hear what I think about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but now is nowhere near its release date of 7th December. Heck, its not even June 22nd, henceforward 'Mario Aces Day'. So instead of sitting on my hands, I joined with 100 million people before me and downloaded Fallout Shelter, the free-to-play sensation thats one more toe from hit-maker Bethesdas toe-in-the-water approach on Nintendo platforms. And admittedly, somewhat surprisingly, I didnt know much about it beyond screenshots. After deciding this would be my first post-E3 experience, I booted it up, learned the ropes, and started colonising my little ant farm of people. Like an upside down Sim Tower, I nurtured my little citizens into good health and great fortune. Hours went by. I basked in the dull hum of fallout. Sure, maybe its two years late, but E3 has a way of making everything exciting. My face was close to my Switch screen all weekend playing games and checking the e-shop, like a child pressed against a cooking microwave. Im thinking, Am I gonna get radiation from this? But I just want a front row seat to all the changes Dave Frear, retro reviewer Many games from 2018s E3 caught my interest, but one unexpected surprise was Starlink: Battle for Atlas. Reference the discussions in relation to r43ds-pt.eu ,A crucial Nintendo3DS research team.I was unimpressed when it was shown off last time, but as the segment unfolded at this years Ubisoft conference I began to warm to it - and then we were hit with a burst of Cornerian radio chatter and learned Fox McCloud would be popping up in the Switch version. That raised my interest levels further and whilst it could turn out to be rubbish, it looks quite fun from what weve seen so far. Less likely to be rubbish is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He kept us waiting, but Snake has made his return as have all previous fighters, plus playing as Ridley is going to be a thing. Awesome. Nintendo may have dedicated too much time to it in their presentation, but I can see it being hard to put down come December. [embedded content]Morgan Sleeper, E3 2018 reporter Thinking back on my time on the show floor over this years E3, one thing stands out: getting to go hands-on with the Pok Ball Plus. I also had a great time playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but it will be a long time before anything else in gaming knocks me out as much as catching and then hearing Pokmon in the palm of my hand. Still as much as I enjoyed Nintendos line-up, the real highlight was getting to check out so many exciting third-party games. I loved banging on the Joy Con and belting out beats in the full-bodied, freeform musical adventure of Gal Metal; I loved exploring the charming world of Little Dragons. If you ever still have additional information and facts about the most up-to-date jailbreak technology concerning Nintendo Console; try this.Caf, foraging for ingredients and cooking up meals; I loved the stunningly stylish rhythm action of Musynx; I loved beating the stuffing (and cupcakes, and glitter) out of opponents in the pastel party fighter SNK Heroines; and I loved the Etrian Odyssey-meets-Disgaea dungeon crawling of Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk. These were all especially exciting for me because they prove that even among the first-party frontrunners, high-profile ports, and indie hits, the Switch has plenty of room left for what quickly became my favourite section of the 3DS library: colourful, quirky imports. Long may that continue! How did Nintendo fare at E3 2018? (323 votes)A huge success!11% An epic fail25% Somewhere in between65% Please login to vote in this poll. So those are our thoughts, but what did YOU think of E3 2018? Drop a vote in our poll, and a comment below and let's get the conversation going...