One of the biggest strengths of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is its Soul system. It lets you capture enemies' special properties and abilities and use whatever loadout they choose. A great?? way to add variety and customization to the combat, making Dawn of Sorrow an all-time favorite of mine.

However, there are secret combinations of souls that can unlock special effects. These combinations help give you more to c?onsider when setting up your loadout. It can be a lot of silly fun to mess around with different souls to see what synergizes well. We've created this guide to help identify all the combos and their unique extra effects so you don't have to do the legwork.

What works with Skeleton Ape?

One particularly useful Enchant type ??Soul gives is the Skeleton Ape. This soul is hard to acquire due to its rarity and the enemy's strong attack. But ?it's well worth it if you're a fan of throwing abilities. To help make sure you're using the right souls, we've compiled a list that we know works with it.

• Puppet Master - Throws your puppet farther, great for harmlessly maneuvering around the screen.
• Une - Throws your plant projectile further.
• Fish Head - Throws your Fish Head further.
• Slogra - Throws your spear further.
• Ripper - Throws your dagger harder.
• Mandragora - Throws the screaming plant projectile further.
• Decarabia - Throws the spinning Decarabia summon faster.
• Axe Armor - Throw your axe in a wider arc.
• Slogra + Gaibon - Both spears go farther.
• Fish Head + Needles - Both Fish Heads go farther.
• Une + Alura Une - Alura will have a longer range tossing her Une's down.

Garden of Terror

As a bonus, there is one combo that requires three souls and is considered one of the m?ost powerful offensive options in the game. The only downside is that it leaves you standing still and vulnerable. However, the damage output should help mitigate that entirely.

The combination of Une, Alura Une, and the Skeleton Farmer forms a screen-wide offense. Skeleton ?Farmer is an Enchant-type soul that grants all plant-based powers more damage. There are not a lot of those, but it makes Une a potent weapon. And when using the Soul Combo of Une and Alura Une, it's incredibly destructive. There's only one Skeleton Farmer in the game, and he's got a low chance of dropping the soul. But it's absolutely worth working for.

The post All the Soul Combos in Cast?levania: Dawn of Sorrow appeared first on Destructoid.

The Assassin’s Creed franchise has no shortage of beautifully crafted historical playgrounds for its fans to enjoy exploring. From the narrow streets of Florence and Venice in Assassin’s Creed II to the sprawling landscapes of Ancient Greece in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the series has always impressed me with its outstanding attention to historical detail in world design. Sure, it's all a fiction. However, there's no denying that the best Assassin's Creed games feel like taking a trip back in time.

In this ranking, I’ll be discussing how well Ubisoft has adapted the time period and location of each Assassin’s Creed game to support open exploration, enjoyable gameplay, and historical immersion. This adaptation process is a key part of what makes the best Assassin's Creed games so great.

13. Colonial America in Assassin’s Creed Rogue

Assassin’s Creed Rogue is the lowest on this list because it’s the only game in the franchise where it feels like significant historical details are missing in the game world’s creation. The focus era of the game is the Seven Years�War, but the game has little to do with the conflict. The River Valley area of the map is a bit too shallow in terms of side quests and other explorative activities, and the ability to sail a full-sized pirate ship around central New Yor??k is somewhat comica??l.

12. Viking-era England in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Valhalla is the franchise’s biggest land map to date, taking players from the fjords of Norway through to a vast recreation of Viking-era England. DLC expansions to the game also allow you to travel to Ireland, France, and other more mythological lands, such as Asgard. However, the expansiveness of the Valhalla is its main detriment, particularly in the game’s England maps. The seriesâ€?iconic parkour mechanics are limited in nearly every zone, and many of the game’s towns and villages feel unremarka??ble because there’s very little to see or do in these locations that you can’t do in other corners of the map. 

11. Constantinople in Assassin’s Creed Revelations

Ubisoft’s rendition of 1500s Constantinople in Revelations is a less intriguing landscape in comparison with other game worlds from the series, primarily because the city'??s districts lack distinction from one another. There are of course many iconic landmarks sprinkled across the map, such as the Hagia Sofia and Galata Tower, but the story doesn’t interact with them very often which means you can easily miss them. On?? the plus side, traversing the map can be very enjoyable, with additions such as the hook blade and zip lines improving the parkour experience from earlier titles.

10. The Holy Land in Assassin’s Creed

The original Assassin’s Creed is an incredibly atmospheric experience. The division of each city between richer and poorer districts nicely complements the themes of the story when it dives into the philosophical elements of the creed. However, there’s no denying that the first game has not aged nearly as well as its sequels. There are no side quests that help players engage with the history of this era, and the Kingdom area between the three cities is unremarkable. I’ll always be holding out hope for an Assassin's Creed remaster that fixes these issues, but in the ?meantime, the world of the original game is decent enough.

9. Rome in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is the middle chapter in the trilogy of games covering the series�most beloved protagonist, Ezio Auditore, and his adventures through Renaissance Italy. As a result of the storytelling, many aspects of the setting are borrowed from the previous entry, Assassin’s Creed II. The signature monuments of Brotherhood’s Rome, such as the Colosseum and Castello Sant’Angelo, are well utilized in the game’s storytelling, but many of the outlying areas of the game felt unimpressive, particularly compared to the countryside in Assassin’s Creed II. The core of the city, however, is excellently crafted and highly int??eractive.  

8. Ancient Greece in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Odyssey’s maps and open landscapes are massive. However, the game’s regions are more distinct than those found in Valhalla, and offer unique vistas and lively historical settings that constantly had me snapping screenshots. But while the game’s Mediterranean setting is undeniably beautiful throughout, there is sometimes a ??lack of interactivity in the landscape. In short, not all regions felt relevant to the quests. Parkour opportunities felt limited, and you'll traverse most of the map by boat or on horseback.   

7. Revolutionary America in Assassin’s Creed III

Assassin’s Creed III centers its gameplay on revolutionary wa?r America and divides its players�time between the colonial cities of Boston and New York and the frontier wilderness. Each of the game’s regions change with the season appropriate to the main story, and weather mechanics such as snow banks appropriately shift the ease of traversal and visibility. The key battlegrounds and buildings from the Revolutionary War are more than just sights to visit.? Instead, they play central roles in the game’s story.

6. Baghdad in Assassin’s Creed Mirage

The most recent game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise returned players to a more linear game experience, where story and stealth take center stage and were well supported by the game’s environment. The city streets of Mirage’s Baghdad are li??vely, colourful, and filled to the brim with iconic landmarks. The ability to blend in with the crowds makes a welcome return, and the architectural designs of the buildings made parkour enjoyable once again. I was also particularly enchanted by the game’s interior spaces, but found the desert beyond the ?city to be a bit too empty.

5. Ancient Egypt in Assassin’s Creed Origins

Origins is the first of the three RPG- style games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, and thus was the first to design its game map for full open-ended exploration. Ptolemaic Ancient Egypt was a significant departure from the historical backdrops of the preceding games, almost all of which were set within 500 years of modern day. The new surroundings of Origins undoubtedly helped to keep the franchise feel fresh and exciting, and new mechanics like diving and the Discovery Tour also gave us new ways to explore eve??ry nook and cranny.  

4. The West Indies in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag 

The golden age of piracy is one of the most iconic historical time periods in the franchise, and the world design of Black Flag does not disappoint in bringing this era to life. Capturing forts, digging up buried treasure in underwater shipw??recks, and uncovering Mayan ruins are all unique activities that allo??w players to directly interact with the setting. Vibrant jungles, unique cities, and changes in the ocean environment when sailing all assemble to create a fun and entertaining adventure.

3. Victorian London in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

With the addition of the rope launcher and carriage driving, Syndicate’s rendition of Victorian London offered us a fantastic blend of new mechanics for exploring the city’s wider streets, bridges, and rivers. Iconic buildings such as Big Ben and Westminster are present, but the narrow streets and alleyways of Whitechapel and Southwark are arguably even more interesting in terms of exploration. City districts are distinct, and small details on the street, such as posters and signs, give the game an impressive amount?? of gritty yet enjo??yably goofy Victorian style.

2. Renaissance Italy in Assassin’s Creed II

Renaissance Italy is one of the most beloved settings in the entire Assassin’s Creed catalog, and for good reason. The importance of this era in Italian history is incredibly well explored in both the story and interactions with characters like Leonardo Da Vinci and Machiavelli. Florence and Venice are distinctly beautiful, suit the protagonist’s parkour movements perfectly, and leave a lasting impression on the player. The game of course greatly benefits from Jesper Kyd’s now iconic soundtrack. It gives the world of Assassin’s Creed II a level of mystique t??hat inspired me to explore every corner in search of satisfying scraps of franchise lore.

1. Revolutionary Paris in Assassin’s Creed Unity

Assassin’s Creed Unity perfectly captures France in the early throes of Napoleonic-era revolution. The dense crowds of NPCs in the game bring the city to life in a way that the franchi??se has yet to match and establish the chaos of the times in a very interactive way. Details as unmissable as the riots going on in the streets and as small as the newspaper clippings available on street corners made me feel as though I was walking around in nothing short of a turning point in h??uman history. 

The ability to not only climb but seamlessly enter and explore iconic landmarks such as the Notre Dame, Palace of Versailles, and the Bastille was also an outstanding upgrade from earlier entries. While there have been many Assassin's Creed games since Unity, they haven't risen as high in ?terms of historical world design and immersion.

The post Ranking the historical worlds from every Assa?ssin’s Creed game appeared first on Destructoid.

Closin??g out the Latin American Games Showcase was an impressive new trailer for the gorgeous pixel-art hack-and-slash Mariachi Legends, with a mixture of live-action scenes and high-fidelity side-scrolling ??action.

You’d be forgiven for overlooking the Latin American Games Showcase last weekend. L??et’s face it, with over a dozen unique showcases over the span of a few days, it is unlikely mos??t audiences will catch them all, particularly when the shows are each focused on a specific niche.

But this show in particular was littered with beautiful works and inventive concepts, a description no less fitting of the presentation’s final game, Mariachi Legends from Halberd Studios, which was unveiled at last year's PC Gaming Show.

Opening to a hazy sunset, the trailer begins with a live-action sequence introducing the fictional town of Santa Mascota and the lead character, Detective Pablo? Cruz, who has been assigned by Lady Death to delve into the Realm of the Dead and collect a mystical amulet that is compromising her rule over the underworld.

This is no simple task, as the group of beings known as the Mariachi Legends?? protect this dominion at all costs. In order to stand a chance against them, Pablo must don the powerful garment, La Sombra, which grants him otherworldly strength and abil?ities.

With a transition to gameplay, it makes an immediate impression with its smooth and fluid animations, such as Pablo brandishing his pen and notebook with a flourish when taking investigation notes and trotting around with a swagger that closely resembles Castlevania’s Soma Cruz.
Although these two protagonists may share a last name and ?running animation, ironically what they do not have in common is being part of?? the Metroidvania genre.

Unlike the studio’s previous work, 9 Years of Shadow, which was a full-f??ledged metroidvania, Maria??chi Legends describes itself as a branching beat-em-up platformer, with bounding, swinging, and dashing along platforms to navigate the game’s levels and an emphasis on extravagant combo-centric combat.

Pablo dual-wields a set of sabers and a pair of flintlock pistols, firing off point-blank barrages before effortlessly eviscerating his enemies in a spinning cyclone of carnage. He has a variety of special abilities as well, including a ??noxious face-cracker whip that melts flesh from the bone and morphing into a spectral skull enveloped in a sickly green flame to consume enemies whole.

The end of the trailer bl??ends more live-acton cuts with gameplay, this time to the kitchen to demonstrate the cooking component to the game. Pablo can spice up his special abilities by dishing up recipes he learns along his journey.

Mariachi Legends will be availab??le for Switch and Steam, ??with a 2024 release window listed on the store page.

The post Don’t miss the live-action gameplay hy??brid trailer for Mariachi Legends appeared first on Destructoid.

All of them, actually

I will never say no to a rhythm game spinoff. I am, of course, a loud and unashamed fan of the genre. I'm always down for more rhythm games?, but I'm especially fond of titles that recontextualize the music found in other games. I think nearly every v??ideo game would benefit from a supplemental mechanical examination of its soundtrack.

But obviously, some franchises are more suited to rhythm gaming than others. If I were to make a list of the greatest video game series soundtracks of all time, it would probably include Metroid and Halo, but those scores aren't exactly full of toe-tappers. So while I would play a rhythm game based on absolutely any soundtrack, I'd like to outline the franchises I think truly deserve the Theatrhythm treatment.

?[embed]/??/www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0IxUMu036k[/embed]

10. Shovel Knight

Jake Kaufman is a very prolific and accomplished composer. The Shantae series could easily have made this list, but limiting myself to one Kaufman-heavy franchise, I have to give it to Shovel Knight. These games, from Shovel of Hope to Shovel Knight Dig, emulate the strict and structured chiptunes of the NES era but with more contemporar?y musical stylings. These are perfect rhythm game soundtracks because they're stable and rhythmically readable, ev?en to the layman.

Plus, Shovel of Hope has a couple of tracks by Manami Matsumae, and I felt really bad about leaving Mega Man off this list.

[embed]//www.youtube.com/??watch?v=UND5wgnIino[/embed]

9. Assassin's Creed

I don't play Assassin's Creed very often. It's just not my cup of tea. But I do listen to Assassin's Creed pretty regularly. A rotating cast of phenomenal composers has brought an awful lot of wonderful tracks to life. A lot of score pieces from the series' history are so driven and thumping that I can practically see the?? beatmap in front of me.

I'm particularly fond of the Assassin's Creed Odyssey soundtrack, and I've found myself finger-drumming to the beat of "Legend of the Eagle Bearer" more than a few times. At the very least, we deserve a shanty-filled Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag rhythm spinoff.

[embed]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH-G?AwLAO30[/embed]

8. Undertale

Across Undertale and the first two episodes of Deltarune, series creator/composer Toby Fox has established a coherent and delightful ??so??und to accompany his series' world. Like Kaufman, Fox plays in the realm of chiptunes, and his are especially earworm-ish.

Some of Undertale's bullet hell moments already feel like a carefully orchestrated dance set to one of the game's wonderful battle themes. Concretizing that comparison with a full-throated Undertale rhythm game would be pretty great. As an aside, you can get a pretty Undertale-ish rhythm game experience out of 2021's Everhood.

[embed]//www.??youtube.com/watch?v=DTLfV7Ru5??VY[/embed]

7. Donkey Kong Country

We've gotten pretty close to a Donkey Kong Country rhythm game in the past - there were no fewer than three Donkey Konga games, and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat almost counts - but there's never been a rhythm game solely focused on music from the actual DKC series.

Across the first three DKC games, David Wise, Eveline Fischer, and Robin Beanland redefined what Donkey Kong sounded like. Just about every track from the series is groovy and pleasant. To me, the beautiful soundtracks are the number one reason to return to Donkey Kong Country. A game ?dedicated to those soundtracks would be a dream.

[embed]//?www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikQHkhL8YMM[/embed]

6. Guilty Gear

The precise inputs fighting games demand make them feel like natural siblings to rhythm games, but Guilty Gear feels particularly suited to travel between genres. Music has always been central to the franchise—series creator Daisuke Ishiwatari has composed music for nearly every franchise entry, and as of Guilty Gear Strive, every character has an independen?t ??absolute banger for a theme.

Guilty Gear is indebted to music on nearly every level. Characters like Axl Low take blatant inspiration from real-life rockstars, and there are probably more fans of the Guilty Gear soundtrack than there are fans of the actual series. A rhythm-based spinoff is ?an all-too-obvious pitch.

[embed]//www.youtube.com/watch???v=nO3Ap0xOcAE[/embed]

5. Chrono

The Chrono duology will get a bit of rhythm representation in the form of DLC for Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, but honestly, I'm not sure that that's enough. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross collectively play host to some of the greatest JRPG music around. Yasunori Mitsuda is an incredible composer and his work alongside the legendary Nobuo Uematsu elevates the first game to incredible heights (the second one is pretty wonderfu?l, too).

The presence of these soundtracks in Theatrhythm proves that they translate into a gamified context, so I think it would be nice to see them in their own game entirely. If you'll permit me to dream for a moment, I'd love a rhythm game incorporating some of Chrono Trigger's classic dual and triple techs.

[embe?d]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9r5hx47kxM[/em?bed]

4. Super Mario

I honestly can't believe this doesn't exist. If you ask a random person to hum a tune from a video game, good money says they'll go for the main theme from Super Mario Bros. There's no denying that the Super Mario series plays host to some truly iconic music.

After The Legend of Zelda got its own Crypt of the Necrodancer-themed rhythm spinoff, I figured Mario, king of the side-game, would follow close behind. But somehow, the series' soundtrack is still limited to cameo appearances in different rhythm games. I do want a Mario rhythm game, but more than that, I'm just shocked that ??there isn't one yet.

[embed]//www.yout??ube.com/watch?v=N8OHSXvneOE[/embed]

3. Celeste

I dig the soundtrack from the original PICO-8 version of Celeste, but the series' sonic identity really came into view when composer Lena Raine joined the team for the 2018 remake. Raine's music makes Celeste feel like a sincere musical adventure, and that feeling is?? only enhanced by the game'??s "B-Sides"—tougher takes on individual levels featuring brilliantly remixed takes on the original soundtrack.

Raine returned to score Celeste's DLC, Farewell, and she also wrote a couple of smaller tracks for the game's miniature PICO-8 sequel, Celeste 2: Lani's Trek. All of this music is phenomenal, and all?? of it would be as well-suited to a rhythm game as it is?? to a series of precision platformers.

[embed]//www.youtube.com??/?watch?v=55uDJ39W4i0[/embed]

2. Sonic the Hedgehog

I'm not?? even gonna write anything for this?? one. Just listen to it.

[embed]//www.y??out?ube.com/watch?v=9XV7TeThdVA[/embed]

1. Nier

Like the Chrono games, the Nier series will be featured in Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, but it deserves an awful lot more. Composer Keiichi Okabe's work is responsible for at least a solid 40% of my personal fondness for Nier, and I don't think it's a stretch to call it some of the best video game music ever. Okabe??'s work is often melancholy and complex, but it's also frequently catchy and light.

The music of Nier is truly brilliant. I'd love to see it paired with a set of mechanics specifically built around it. The only issue I can see with this plan is that I would probab?ly never play anything else again.

The post 1??0 video game franchises that deserve rhythm games appeared first on Destructoid.

It starts...

My husband was determined that I take on The Lion King. It had to be the Sega Genesis version. I feel like this is almost a shared experience. I played it in my youth, and it didn’t really leave any sort of bad impression. The sprites and backgrounds were done by Disney’s animation studio, and the whole thi??ng looks like a big-budget endeavor. It’s hard to believe how relentlessly awful it actually is.

During my last experience with it, I finally accom?plished a childhood dream of making it to the part of the game where you play as adult Simba. I remember concluding that it wasn’t worth it and walking away. Surel??y, this is the time I’ll finally beat it.

No. It broke me. It broke my spirit.

[caption id="attachment_359261" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The stars say "sex"

If you’re unfamiliar with The Lion King, it’s commonly described as �i>Hamlet with lions.�It’s about murder, revenge, and avoiding the grieving process by singing a catchy song. A real family flick. Also, in that one scene, it said “sex�in the stars or the dust or whatever. I don’t remember, but it’s not as cool as the dick on The Little Mermaid’s cover. Disn??ey’s movies were one of the things tha?t made growing up in the �0s so awesome.

Hopefully, you saw the movie, since the game doesn’t do a very good job of explaining all the feline political intrigue. I didn’t even see “sex�in the sky once. It’s maybe for the best since The Lion King o??n Genesis is traumatizing enough without having to ??watch Mufasa die again.

It’s mostly a side-scroller, which is fine, but the movie would be better adapted as a belt-scrolling beat-’em-up. Or a JRPG. I guess I wish some actual thought was put into the game beyond just what would get money out of children. It follows the sort of fluid, traditionally animated style of games like Earthworm Jim or Cool Spot. However, unlike Earthworm Jim and Cool Spot, The Lion King isn’t worth playing.

[caption id="attachment_359264" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

I just can't wait for this to be over

The first level is rough, but you ??don’t really get a sense of how bad it can tru??ly be until the second level. If you ask a random person about playing the game as a kid, the common response is, “I couldn’t make it past the giraffes.�The giraffes are the second level. It’s an LSD-induced representation of the “I Can’t Wait to be King�scene. The problem isn’t even really the giraffes; it’s everything else.

You first ride an ostrich, which is a simple matter of jumping and ducking when it tells you to. That is until it tells you “up up,�which is your cue to try a double-jump. Except you’ll die instantly when you try to do it. I don’t know why. The idea is that there’s a baby rhino on the ground and bird nests in the trees.  You need the ostrich to jump the rhino, then Simba jumps off its back and over the nests. However, if you don’t time this precisely, you die instantly. And when I say precisely, I mean that it can’t be too soon or too late. If it’s too late, you obviously hit the rhino and die, but if it’s too soon, it doesn’t look like you hit anything. Simba just keels over, even though it looks like he should easily clear everything. Dying for no reason is kind of a theme in The Lion King.

Past that, you get to the hippos, and it’s your introduction to the swing-y section of The Lion King, which will be a constant embuggerance. You’re going to be dying suddenly on these a lot because the collision detection is atrocious. Usually, when a game pulls this, there’s some leeway. When you whip onto hooks in Earthworm Jim, it can get tricky when you have to do a bunch in a row, but you ca?n tell Jim’s head wants to magnetically attach to a hook. Simba doesn’t want to grab anything. Wh??ich is fair, because he has no thumbs, but from a gameplay perspective, it’s beyond aggravating.

You start to reason with the game, trying to find what it wants from you. I feel that it’s fair to expect that if Simba makes cont??act with the ledge, that should be good enough, but it’s not. You will often see that cat go flying through an object you wanted him to grab.

[caption id="attachment_359265" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

You will suffer, child

If you do manage to get past the hippos, you’re onto the monkeys. This part is only slightly more tolerable because it’s mostly just boring. You need to roar at the monkeys to convince them to change the direction in which they throw you. There’s a section where you jump over logs, which can be tricky, but it’s mostly just a really bad alternative to the barrel cannons in Donkey Kong Country.

After an ostrich section that’s only more tolerable because you’re already used to it, it’s time to give up and turn the game off. It’s not getting better from here. I’m not joking. Usually, even in the worst of games, there are high points where you start thinking that it might not be so bad, but The Lion King doesn’t ever get to that point.

The next level is the elephant graveyard. It’s not so bad if you ignore all the instant death and the horrible child-Simba combat. Your expectations should be sufficiently lowered after t?he giraffe st??age.

You then run from wildebeests, which is some extra variety, if nothing else. It’s a unique section because it works as intended and actually isn’t horribly annoying. But I’m serious about those lowered expectations. If this was in any other game, I’d be saying, “it was good, aside from that part with the wildebeests. It’s like saying, “the Junebug was surprisingly delicious after eating my way to it through all that rancid whipped cream.�/p>

[caption id="attachment_359266" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Extra cheese

I hope you enjoyed that Junebug, because the next level is one of the worst. On paper, it’s one of the more straightforward ones, but then you have to deal with insta-kill boulders that you’ll no doubt get hit by if you weren’t expecting them or just didn’t get off to a good start. There are more instances of those horrid swinging sections, and while you’ll eventually get used to the precision The Lion King demands, it probably hasn’t q??????????????????????????uite happened yet. All through thi??s, however, rocks keep falling on you. They just congeal in midair from condensed malice and fall on your head for no reason.

The Hakuna Matata ?stage isn’t so bad, except for this one part wher??e you have to jump up a waterfall on pencil-thin logs. It’s not the worst, but if you fall, it’s instant death.

My memory is kind of hazy between that point and when I finally woke up with the taste of blood in my mouth. After that stage, you finally get to play as adult Simba, and I concur with my past self; it isn’t worth it. There’s more combat with terrible hit detection, and the only way you’ll make progress from here on out is if you learn to cheese the enemies. Direct combat results in taking too much damage, so you’re better off just learning when t??he best time to slap your foes out of the air is.

[caption id="attachment_359267" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Sufficiently crushed

At this point, my spirit had been sufficiently crushed. To add to the pain, there are limited continues, so in the process of figuring out just what the hell The Lion King wants from you, you’re probably going to start from the beg??inning a few times.

Eventually, I got tired of starting over and tried out the level-skip cheat, only to find out that the developers couldn’t eve?n get that right. You can start on any level you want, sure, but immediately after clearing it, you’re dropped on the giraffe level. You are??n’t starting from any level you want, you’re actually just changing the first stage.

So, using the level skip cheat to continue later turned into using the level skip cheat to see the remaining levels. I can once again confirm that it doesn’t get better. There isn’t one decent stage in the entire game. It’s all Junebugs. I didn’t even beat it, because after cheesing my way past Scar, he ran off to force me through more terrible platforming, and I couldn’t go on. It takes a lot for a game to break me, and The Lion King adds to that rather short list. I may go back to it eventually out of spite both for myself and The Lion King. This is the so??rt of unhealthy relationship I have with everything.

For some reason, instead of just burying the game, Disney paired it with Aladdin, and re-released it in 2019. It’s probably a lot more tolerable with the rewind option, but that really just means you have a better chance at seeing how wall-to-wall terrible The Lion King really is. What ?makes it a particularly amusing kusoge, however, is that it’s really hard to see how bad it is beneath the fancy graphics and movie license. It looks competent to the point where your brain might try to convince you that it really ??is, but never trust your brain. I personally stopped using mine, and I’ve been much happier since.

For previous Weekly Kusoge, check this link!

The post The Lion ??King on SNES and Genesis is? only slightly more appealing than eating bugs appeared first on Destructoid.

IBM, Tandy, and 100% Compatibles

My imagination is a powerful thing. For example, I can conceive of several erotic situations involving Transformers. I can pretend, against incontrovertible evidence, that I am able to function in human society. However, a standard child’s imagination is magnitudes more powerful than my own. A child can believe that a dollar store knock-off Transformer is anywhere near as sexy as the real thing. They can also convince themselves that Mega Man on DOS is equatable to the NES version.

DOS gamers often got the shaft. Although we’d get games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom before everyone else, not every IBM PC-Compatible user was armed with a 386. Developers often made their games to run on older 8-bit processors. A lot of games, even ones that were on 8-bit hardware to begin with, had to be scaled back for the sake of compatibility.? This rarely ever went well.

Mega Man on DOS is a pretty poor conversion for that reason and more, and you’d have to squint really hard to convince yourself it’s anywhere near the NE??S cla?ssic.

Stupid sexy robots

I generally hold the Mega Man series to be the gold standard for 8-bit platformers. There are better games, such as Castlevania, but none were as consistent with their formula as Mega Man. Your platformer had to be at least comparable to? that series to really be wort?hwhile.

DOS got its share of decent platformers, such as 1990’s Commander Keen and 1991’s Duke Nukem. However, that genre was hardly the platform’s best. Many developers struggled with smooth screen scrolling on DOS and dedicated microc?omputers, so while adventure games and RPGs worked well, the side-scrollers were a bit less common.

With that in mind, Mega Man was developed by one guy, Stephen J. Rozner. And while Mega Man on DOS is a visibly easy target for ridicule, I mean no disrespect to Mr. Rozner. When you frame Mega Man along with its chosen p??latfor?m, the time period it was released, and the fact that it was developed solo, it’s not surprising that it looks extremely bargain bin. The fact that it exists is someone impressive in its own right.

The Gates of Hell

Mega Man for DOS is unique in the fact that it has an introduction level. You may recall that Mega Man X had the highway stage to introduce itself, but this was three years before that ever existed. Traditionally, Mega Man simply dropped you into the level select screen ??without any context.

The introduction level is also one of the worst parts of the entire game. It is flat and largely featureless. Right up until a robot dog pounces on you and won’t go away. Actually landing a shot on this robo-hound is rather difficult, and it takes a few hits before it finally dies. Normally, it will keep jumping on you until you are explode. Afterward, ?a new one will spawn and repeat the process. Pro tip: run. If you just hold the right directional button, it normally can’t kill you before you reach the end of the field.

Exclusive Robot Masters

You’re then presented with a selection of robot masters. Three of them. There’s Sonicman, Voltman, and Dynaman. None of them look particularly interested to be here. It’s amusing to me that none of these names have been used in a proper Mega Man title after the jillion that have been released since. These are exclusive ??to the DOS version, so it has that going for it. However, I probably don’t have to tell you th?at this is half as many robot masters that the NES version has, and much fewer than that later standardized eight.

The levels themselves feel more like they’re based on later Mega Man games. 1990 brought us up to Mega Man 3 on the NES, and sure enough, there’s a stage that dumps garbage on you. However, this is different than the NES because the garbage doesn’t actually do anything. I think it’s supposed to damage you, but you can run right through it without even suffering knockback. There are also water and robo-frogs, both of which appeared first in Mega Man 2.

There are also those vanishing block sections. I know that the vanishing blocks are a staple of the series, appearing in essentially every core title since the very first, but that doesn’t make me hate them less. They at leas?t normally appear in only a single level throughout the games, but on DOS, you get those disappearing blocks every single stage. Two of the stages are at least simple enough that you can just jump on the blocks as they appear, which is good, because the sound design doesn’t make timing them very easy.

After-market parts

This probably won’t come as a surprise, but the level design is nowhere near as good as the console games. To be fair, it’s not terrible. It’s mostly just annoying, but there’s a reasonable amount of variety and some obvious thought i??n how they’re set up?. However, the checkpoints are sporadic, the difficulty of them is not really well paced, and you’re still limited to three lives before you have to start over.

Each one caps off with a boss, as they do on consoles. Like the stages, the robot masters aren’t as well designed, but they aren’t a travesty, either. Mostly, they just fight like their hearts aren’t in it. They’re still weak to the weapons you pick up off of other robot masters, but that feels kind of token. Notably, they don’t have invincibility frames, so you can just get close to them and u?nload into their faces as quickly as you can press the button. This works for Dr. Wily, even, so I guess that’s another Pro Tip for you.

Speaking of Dr. Wily, he gets his own castle stage. Actually, in the DOS version, it lo??oks more like a shed. It’s just a skull-shaped door in someone’s back garden. The inside isn’t particularly impressive ?either, consisting of one stage. At the very least, you do need to beat all the robot masters again before reaching the final boss.

Dr. Wily's Skull Shed

Where Mega Man for DOS fails the most is with aesthetics. There is no music, which is straight-up blasphemy, even if my brain can ?just play much of the series�soundtrack from memory. The graphics look like a child’s fan-art of the game?s, and all the sound effects may have been created to play from an internal speaker.

With that said, I still give Mega Man for DOS points for effort. As terrible as it looks, it’s hardly the most excruciating game I’ve played. I guess it was good enough to get a sequel, which against all logic, is called Mega Man 3: The Robots are Revolting. I’ll probably check that out someday soon, but for now, I need to give my heart a rest. While I’ll admit that Mega Man isn’t an effective form?? of torture, it’s always hard to see my little blue man twisted up and spat out as a mere shadow of himse??lf.

For previous Weekly Kusoge, check this link!

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Break out your skateboard

Following on from a previously spotted ESRB rating and a recent Amazon leak, ININ Games has officially revealed Wonder Boy Collection. According to Amazon, the classic compen?dium will launch in June of this year on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at £25, though these details are unconfirmed.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh3ex9cja-4

Wonder Boy Collection will include four titles from the... caveman... knight... genie... shapeshifter's golden age of gaming. The compendium includes the original Wonder Boy (1986), Wonder Boy in Monster Land (1987), Wonder Boy in Monster World (1991), and Monster World IV (1994). The four titles will be?? boosted modern features such as visual filters, save states, an art gallery, and a rewind function for that utterly abominable "skidding" mechanic in the original game.

The elephant in the room is that the "Wonder Boy Collection" doesn't feature the best titles in the series, namely the 1989 Sega Master System release Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap nor its incredible Dotemu remake Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap. Also not included is ININ Games' own Monster World IV remake Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World. Licensing issues aside �as that is surely the problem here �the la??ck of the best game in the series and two recent remakes renders the "collection??" moniker a little underwhelming.

Still?, for s?eries completionists, pre-orders will open "soon."

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The free 'Villain's Burger' prologue is worth playing on Steam if you dig action-platformers

If you've run out of retro games to satisfy your nostalgia cravings, then chances are pretty good that you've looked around for "hidden gems" for your old-school platform of choice. After tearing through the cream of the crop and the cult classics, it's natural to start lowering your standards a smidge for flawed, interesting, memorable oddities �the kind of games that get l??ovingly lumped together in "underrated" or "overlooked" lists.

Mago, an upcoming action-platformer for PC, doesn't qualify exactly. It's new! But to ??me, it captures some of that "wow, how have I never heard of this?" factor. It's pretty dang neat.

I haven't played Mago yet, technically �but an extensive free prologue called Mago: The Villain's Burger just dropped on Steam this w?eek, and it was half an hour well spent.

After seeing a wide-ranging trailer that featured spell-slinging, mech punch-outs, and plenty of out-there boss battles, I knew it'd be a good fit. Mago calls back to the time when we had loads of games with cavemen protagonists, because hey, we're allowed to do that. Th?ere's a lot going on with this game. In a good way! I'm not sure how "cohesive" everything is, but that also doesn't necessarily ??work against it. I appreciate the variety.

I also have to shout out the explorable overworld map, as pictured above �it's nice to just walk around in between levels and catch your breath. It?'s a choice, and I respect that.

During Mago's bread-and-butter levels, you'll fire a spell to stun enemies or unfurl vine walkways and also dash, swim, bounce, and collect orbs scattered along the way for eventual character upgrades. There's a snappy sense of momentum, and the sprites �including our nimble sorcerer protagonist �are pretty beefy. Think Wario Land 4 beef.

This prologue version of the game also includes some auto-run challenges in which you'll hop over foes and pitfalls as an ever-charging bird. With speed boosts to nab and speed downs to try and dodge, it's got a bit of that Donkey Kong Country mine-cart-level trickery to it; some of the item placements can be devious fakeouts. These sections were a bit basic in Mago: The Villain's Burger, but the trailer ??for the full game shows more flexibility.

Instead? of spending my orbs on more health or an alternate look to replace my sorcerer's robe, I went ahead and blew it all on a frantic time trial with stitched-together rooms.

Even tho?ugh the timed challenge is mostly the same kind of platforming with the same general obstacles, the pressure is on �both in terms of an on-screen countdown and the fact that you have to spend orbs on every attempt �and that got the better of me. Sometimes, I'd have to double back to get a key to escape my current room.? One particular segment, a "run out the clock" survival room with a bouncing spiky enemy, was my undoing. I knew its path, I swear I did, but I cracked under pressure. I had fun either way.

In other words, I haven't seen every morsel the Mago prologue has to offer, but I've had a good enough time so far to want to?? invest more into it. The dem?o did its job.

Whether you're only curious enough to try this precursor or you think you'd be down for the complete experience, Mago is worth watching. Dream Potion Games and HypeTrain Digital haven't announced a release date just ??yet, ?so sample away.

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Stick your face into adventure

I’m kind of a fan of the Virtual Boy, but in the way you might be a fan of a timeshare sales pitch. You’re n?ot actually enjoying yourself, but you can’t escape and you’re in awe of how it’s progressively getting more intolerable. You wonder how much patience you have left, and whether or not the free tickets to Disneyland are actually worth it. You wonder if it’s ever going to end and if you actually survived that car crash or if you’re actually in hell and this is your punishment for a life of cutting in line.

I own the full North American line of Virtual Boy games. In my defense, it was cheaper when I started collecting. For the most part, it’s a set of games that feel more like tech demos. Few of them feel like complete experiences. Teleroboxer comes to mind when thinking of games that actually tried, but the one that stands out the most is Virtual Boy Wario Land. It stands out ?because it feels like a game that everyone should play, but few people are able to.

Released in 1995, the awkwardly named Virtual Boy Wario Land is technically the second in the Wario Land series, following the even more awkwardly named Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 on Game Boy. While the franchise has changed flavors with almost every game, VBWL sticks somewhat close to its predecessor, which itself is a mutation on the Super Mario Land series. It??’s hop-and-bop, but you play as a brute?.

One major difference is that Virtual Boy Wario Land eschews the world map of previous games. Don’t let that lead you to believe that the game is linear. It is on a level-to-level basis, but each stage requires a bit of explo?ration.

The goal is to gather as much treasure as you can on the way to the game’s end. Each level hides one key required to exit and one treasure that helps you on your way to the best ending. Otherwise, the coins and treasure serve as a scoring sys??tem, which helps give an incentive to replay the game, which it badly needs.

That’s because it’s about two hours long, even if you go out of your way to scour for coins and treasure. It’s helped by the fact that the best ending rewards you with a tougher second quest, but it still feels insubstantial. Also, to be fair, that’s about how long you’d spend with a Sonic the Hedgehog game. It’s not an outlandish runtime for a side-??scroller, but you’ll h?ave to forgive me for craving more.

On the other hand, I’m not sure what your experience is with the Virtual Boy. A lot of people complain about eye strain when using it, but I think they just need tougher eyes. The real problem is ergonomics. The thing seems designed so you’ll set it at a table and sit in front of it?, leaning in. That’s a nightmarish proposal. I prefer to sit reclined and have it lean against my face, but it’s definitely not the most comfortable experience. Two hours might be the maximum amount of time you can stand to stay with your face stuck in a torture machine.

I wouldn’t say it’s not worth it, though. Virtual Boy Wario Land is one of the tightest platformers I’ve ever played. Although it’s a side-scroller, the developers did a great job making use of the system’s ability for 3D. Things swing back and forth, giving you a nice sensation of depth. When you jump ??into background layers, the sound effects get a distant echo. Whether or not the console deserved it, the people who worked on it gave it some love.

The sprites are big and detailed, the animations are well done, and don’t skip the opening sequence. There’s a level of personality here that is almost completely absent from any other game on the system. Except maybe Teleroboxer.

It may not be the most inventive hop-and-bop, but there’s a lot to be said for the Wario Land series. The fact that you’re playing as a protagonist driven entirely by greed and nothing else is pretty refreshing. It’s easily understood. When you’re just chasing a princess, you ask yourself, “Is she a good c?onversationalist? Does she volunteer? Is she a freak in bed?�But when it’s just riches that they’re after, you can kind of get behind that. Constantly plundering for shiny gewgaws is essentially the entire history of humanity. If anything, Wario is the real everyman hero we can relate to.

I got off track, but what I want to get across is that, if you discard the console it’s played on, Virtual Boy Wario Land is top shelf. It’s maybe not the series ?at its most creative, but I’d argue that it’s up there as the most satisfying. No one told the developers that? they were on a sinking ship, so they arranged those deck chairs in the most awe-inspiring fashion. It’s just too bad that they wound up as detritus on the ocean floor.

And really, why haven’t we seen any sort of re-release of this game? The 3DS was the prime spot for it, and it got snubbed. The 3D isn’t even critical to the gameplay. Mutant Mudds pulled the same foreground-background malarky, and it has been released on systems incapable of depth ever since.

I’m not even asking them to splash some color onto it. Red-and-black is fine. I just think more people need to play Virtual Boy Wario Land, and they shouldn’t have to ?hurt their face t??o do it.

For other retro titles you?? may hav?e missed, click right here!

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Sparkster isn't like those other guys

If you had my Goldstar 3DO Interactive Multiplayer at gunpoint and demanded I tell you what my favorite Sega Genesis game is, you probably wouldn’t believe me. It’s not Sonic the Hedgehog 2, not Streets of Rage, and not Gunstar Heroes. It’s Rocket Knight Adventures, a game that got snubbed from being included on the Genesis Mini.

Rocket Knight Adventures was directed by Nabuya Nakazato, the same guy who directed both Contra III: The Alien Wars and Contra Hard Corps, so it has its papers. A glut of mascot platformers following Sonic the Hedgehog all but buried the game in 1993. But Rocket Knight Adventures doesn’t belong in the same dustbin as Bubsy and Aero the Acrobat. It belongs on a pedestal, and I’m ??putting? it there.

The story of Rocket Knight Adventures exists largely in the instruction manual, but the essentials can be gleaned from the game’s cutscenes. A pig army is invading and there’s an evil knight? dude who steals the princess. You play as Sparks??ter, the titular Rocket Knight, who’s just doing his job, trying to save the kingdom.

The gameplay may initially hit you like a factory standard platformer. Swinging Sparkster’s sword emits a projectile, and the big hook to platforming is charging his jetpack and launching him across the screen?. However, platforming is maybe 25% of the game. Maybe less. Instead, you’ll be doing all manner of things unrelated to jumping across floating chunks of rock.

This is where the Contra DNA finds its way in the mix; Rocket Knight Adventures is something of a situation rush game. You’re never really doing the same thing twice, and that begins with the first level. It has a habit of throwing single-use sub-bosses your way, pushing you through horizontal shoot-’em-up, or sometimes weirder situations. It never goes as far into left field as something like Earthworm Jim 2 -- the mech?anics always remain the same -- but you could never accuse it of being form??ulaic.

The jetpack isn’t really helpful for platforming, either. Sparkster absolutely speeds off whenever it’s charged and unleashed, and there’s no way of controlling it beyond your initial vector. It’s ??more useful as a weapon, bashing the little knight into his foes with no care for concussions. There are moments on the ground where you need to use it to quickly move out from under a crushing ceiling, but if you wanted to land gently on a far-off platform, good luck to you.

It’s an interesting mechanic that once again sets it apart from other platformers. It could have been a glide or double-jump, but instead, you just fling your hero at their enemies. It can backfire, however. You’re largely invincible while at hi??gh velocity, but that doesn’t guarantee that you’ll land in an ideal spot. Being touched by an enemy often paradoxically carries more damage than getting hit by their projectile. The worst instance I noticed of this was one where physical contact with an enemy caused 2 ½ hearts of damage, but their projectile only caused a mere ½ of damage.

Likewise, the damage caused by Sparkster is a bit of mystery to me, even after countless play??????????????????????????throughs. Sometimes he seems to hit enemies multiple times, whether it’s when hitting them with his physical sword or smacking into them with his jetpack. However, whether this actually counts beyond the initial hit is unknown. For certain, I know that hitting with the metal of his blade is more effective than relying on the projectile, but beyond that, I couldn’t really figure it out. Boss battles are too hectic for me t??o count my successful connections.

There’s also the fact that Rocket Knight Adventure is harder than a day-old taco. That might be overselling it, but the truth is that Konami’s penchant ??for limiting continues rears its ugly head ??here. You’ve got a scant few attempts to reach the end, and once you get there -- you need to play on a harder difficulty.

Yeah, it’s one of those games. It gets cut short if you’re playing on easy, so you’re given an ending, but not the ending. To get further, you play on Normal and take on some extra bosses, then get an ending, but not the ending. No, you have to put on your?? big pants an?d play it on hard in order to fight all the bosses and reach the finale. Then they rub it in by unlocking Very Hard difficulty, but screw that.

The worst part is that the end sequence is a long, exhausting series of bosses. And not your typical “okay, now beat all the bosses you already fought again before you fight the end bos??s.�No. These are all new bosses with all new patterns of attack that require new strategies.

The result is that it could take you a few runs through the game before ??you see the excellent final sequence. It’s certainly? not impossible, but it’s a kick in the wind hole when you make it to the end and drop your last life.

I spent the last few paragraphs covering the game’s negatives because they’re definitely there and they’re something you should be aware of. Also, I find giving criticism easier than giving praise. Otherwise, I want you to play Rocket Knight Adventures and then try and tell me it isn’t infectious.

There’s a boss that is a lava-dwelling fish robot that you defeat by hitting its pilot when he gets literally spit into the air. One level has you fire yourself out of a cannon and into an airship, decades before Doomguy pulled the same maneuver in Doom Eternal. You then travel along the entire exterior of the ship before finding your way back inside to fight a boss that attacks by viciously gyrating. And I don’t want to give the end boss away, but it’s pretty amazing? and unconventional.

I feel that Rocket Knight Adventures didn’t get the chance it? deserved. I had never heard of it as a child, and I only came across it while bargain hunting as an adult. The firs?t time I played it, love happened. It maybe broke my heart when it told me that Normal wasn’t good enough, but I loved it all the same.

What initially strikes me is how goofy Sparkster looks. He’s an opossum, clad in bulky armor. It’s a stark contrast to the wise-cracking, eyebrow-raising protagonists of the �0s. His foil, Axel Gear, looks more the? part in his dark armor with sleeker lines. Sparkster smiles his way through the adventure. A charmingly stoic little hero who doesn’t need to tap his foot impatiently to endear himself.

It’s?? a top-shelf little Genesis title that doesn’t seem to get the fanfare it deserves. It did, however, receive sequels.

There were two immediate follow-ups, both of them called Sparkster. One was on Genesis, the other on SNES, but while they both have the same name and cover art, they’re completely different games. What unifies them is that Konami went over the character design and made him more�Sonic. A tuft of spikey hair, a sleeker suit of armor, and pointy ears helped 'tude the little opossum up. It seems like a cynical effort to make the character more marketable. I mean, they had already pulled that with Rocket Knight Adventures. They did the Kirby edit, making the? North American Sparkster have an angrier expression. The games were fine, though. Not? anywhere near as exciting as the original, but still enjoyable.

Then there was a revival in 2010 for digital marketplaces. Titled just Rocket Knight, it wasn’t terrible, either, but again, it wasn’t near the level of Rocket Knight Adventures. Still, it was exciting to see Sparkster back in action. It gave me hope that we might see more of h?im, but over a decade late, and with Konami in the state that it is, that seems extremely unlikely.

At the very least, the original title deserves recognition. A simple re-release would satisfy me, a collection would be ideal, but a remaster in the style of the recent Zool Redimensioned would�honestly make me uneasy.

As it stands, however, do me a favor and seek out a way to play Rocket Knight Adventures. You can ha??te it, if you feel that way, but I want more people to experience it. I want more people to know who Sparkster is. If possible, I want them to love it as much as I did?. But start by playing it, then we'll talk about our feelings.

For other retro titles?? you may have missed, click right here!

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The symphony isn't over just yet

After a new Bloodstained title was seemingly referenced in a financial report, 505 Games and?? Artplay have confirmed that a sequel is indeed on the way. It doesn't seem like it's arriving anytime soon, however.

A tweet from the Bloodstained account confirmed that, regarding recent reports, 505 Games and Artplay are in "very early planning stages" for a Bloodstained sequel. Right now though, development resources on focused on completing upcoming content for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. "We ?have a lot planned for you," the statemen?t concludes.

//twitter.com/SwordOrWhip??/status/1400661665?142636544

While there's been a steady rollout of additional modes and content for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and most of it is has been pretty alright, I would definitely still be down for a sequel as well. (Full disclosure: I backed the first Bloodstained Kickstarter.) Honestly, the Curse of the Moon side games that have come out over the years have already been a really great way to explore that world and also get some old-school Castlevania gameplay in my life.

Seems like 505 Games and Artplay are setting some expectations here, though. This is at least good news for Bloodstained fans who want the series to continue on, as well as Castlevania fans eager to see its legacy endure.

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Platforming fun from 1990

Here's a delightful blast from the past. The retro fans over at Hamster has chosen Jaleco's sickening cute single-screen platformer Rod Land as this week's Arcade Archives release.

Released in arcades in 1990, before swiftly making the transition to a wide variety of home platforms, Rod Land is simple-but-fun platformer in the vein of titles such as Bubble Bobble, Tumble Pop!, and Snow Bros. In Rod Land, one or two players control magical kids Tam and Rit on a quest to rescue their mom (the obligatory attractive anim??e damsel) from the summit of a mons?ter-filled tower.

Tam and Rit pick their way through each screen, using their magical wands to subdue and/or slam the roaming enemies while gathering enough flowers to complete the stage. Like many games of this ilk, collecting various hidden items will increase Tam and Rit's skills, while gathering the letters "EXTRA" will see the duo awarded an extra life from a fairy goddess. Today, Rod Land still holds up as a fun, if s?implistic arcade platformer, thanks mo??stly to its fun pixel art and charming sense of style.

Rod Land is available to download now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at around $8. You can check out the game in action below, courtesy of retro gaming YouTuber Janet.

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Uneasy lies the head...

Team IGA's Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night will be getting more free content next week, as the fab action-platformer crosses over with Raw Fury's "micro-strategy" title Kingdom Two Crowns.

The crossover will take the form of a new secret area, hidden deep within the confines of Bloodstained's Hellhold Castle. According to a tweet from Raw Fury, our girl Miriam will hav??e to "acquire the crown" before seeking out the exclusive new area, "Dead Lands." A very short teaser offers a look at the strange new land.

The Kingdom Two Crowns crossover is just the latest in a long line of free content added to Bloodstained, following on from a variety of additional modes, character skins, and playable protagonists. This month will also see the addition of a rad-looking "Classic Mode," which will offer a mini-adventure recalling the heady days of the 16-bit Castlevania titles. Further updates, including ongoing Switch stability?? fixes, are to be implemented across 2021.

The Bloodstained x Kingdom Two Crowns event will go live in-game on January 14.

Thrilled to let you know Kingdom Two Crowns is coming to Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night! On January 14th a unique @kingdomthegame area will appear within the existing castle. 👑

Acquire the Crown then hunt for the new area🦇 #BloodstainedROTN pic.twitter.com/ycaBCaXkET

— Raw Fury (@RawFury) January 7, 2021

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Choose your fighter

I didn't expect us to talk about the Fall Guys x Doom crossover again until I could say the words "you can dress your bean to look like the Doom Slayer starting today," but then this trailer happened. It turns out that we're actually getting three costumes, not just the predictable Doomguy suit like we thought.

For a limited time starting on January 12, Fall Guys players will be able to score Cyberdemon and Cacodemon costumes in this silly game. I'm one-hundred percent going for the latter. You? This tie-in would be more momentous with a Doom level, but for ??now, I need to worry more about getting crowns.

Though I've only dabbled with ?Season 3 in a few sessions, I've enjoyed it – far more th??an Season 2.

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Yesterday's classics, now pocket-sized

The 2020 remaster of classic 3D platformer SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom is getting set to make its debut on mobile platforms later this month. Publisher HandyGames has announced that Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated will arrive on iOS a??nd Android devices on January 21, priced at a modest $8.99 USD.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated is Purple Lamp Studios' remaster of the 2003 PS2, Xbox, and GameCube title, and sees SpongeBob, Patrick Star, and Sandy Cheeks embark on an epic adventure to save their quain??t hometown from the evil schemes of the nefarious Plankton, who is up to he usual megalomaniacal tricks.

Not only does Rehydrated rebuild the original Battle for Bikini Bottom in its entirety - powered by a new, modern day engine - but the remas?ter also adds a selection of content cut from the original release due to developmental time constraints. Also included is a brand new multiplayer mode, in which players face off hordes of attacking enemies.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated launches on iOS and Android January ?21 and is availabl?e right now on PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

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Ori and the Will of the Wisps

As the saying goes: Where there's a will, there's a wisp. And as the other saying goes: Where there's an Ori, there's excellence.

Maybe neither of those are quite household phrases, but the latter is undeniable. A full five years after Ori and the Blind Forest captured hearts and minds, Ori and the Will of the Wisps did it again... just better. 

Will of the Wisps is everything you could want from a sequel. It's bigger, it feels more alive, it's more deliberate, it tells a better story (through a minimalist approach to exposition), its action sequences are grander, and it's more refined. It's simply a better game, and it improves on Blind Forest which was already quite excellent. Th??ose five years were well-??spent.

Moon Studios has certainly proved that it knows how to make one hell of an indie platformer metroidvania. Whatever's next -- and all signs point to the developer taking a break from Ori -- we can probably rest assured knowing it'll b?e quality and it won't be rushed?. 

If this was Ori's swan song, it was a fantastic way to go out. If more Ori awaits us someday, we'd gladly welcome it. Whichever way it goes, Ori and the Will of the Wisps was?? absolutely fantastic, and that's why i??t's our 2020 Xbox Game of the Year.

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Theme of Miriam

Publisher 505 Games and developer ArtPlay has shared some more footage of the incoming "Classic Mode", which is headed to gothic platform adventure Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night next month.

Classic Mode will see Miriam take on Hellhold and its ministry of darkness in old-school 2D platforming action, much akin to the fine Castlevania ti??tles of the SNES era. Fans of said games will immediately recognize the gameplay style in the tweet below, with footage of Miriam climbing staircases, leaping chasms, smashing candelabras, and taking on an army of monsters armed with a deadly whip. Simon would be very proud indeed.

Classic Mode is one of a selection of free DLC additions released for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night since its initial launch back in 2019. Igarashi's crowdfunded adventure has since received alternate protagonists, Randomizer and Boss Revenge modes, as well as a mobile port. More content is expected in 2021, including further stability updates for the Nintendo Swi??tch ??edition.

Classic Mode brings back old-school gameplay as you fight through five levels of demons and challenge Gebel's deadly bos??ses.

The new mode arrives for free in January!#BloodstainedROTN pic.twitter.com/8a76P7nVEp

— Bloodstained: RotN (@SwordOrWhip) December 23, 2020

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New look, still hard as nails

Capcom has released extended footage of Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection, the upcoming remake of?? the 1985 arcade classic, which ??is currently in development for Nintendo Switch.

The footage - which appeared as par??t of the latest episode of "Capcom TV" - sees our brave hero Arthur as he hops, skips, and jumps his way through the sequel's opening c?emetery section, b??attling an army of the undead, alongside carnivorous ravens and the troublesome winged demon, Red Arremer.

While the overall visual style chosen by Capcom is likely to be very subjective, I must admit I do like the animation, especially as the zombies find themselves on the business end of Arthur's trusty lance. Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection also seems to retain the fairly? deliberate pace of the original game, so it will be interesting to how this is received by modern platform games fans.

Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection will b?e available to download February 21 on Nintendo Switch.

Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection - 10 minute??s of gameplay [Gematsu]

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New 'n' Tasty 'n' Free

Odd world? You're preachin' to the choir, b??uddy! Ain't nothin'? normal about it!

Oh, the video game? Yeah, sure. Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty is free today on the Epic Games Store. It's numero dos out of 15 Epic freebies com??in' your?? way.

If you're new to Oddworld, this is a fine place to start. New 'n' Tasty is a remake of the original, meaning that you'll be primed to continue the series if you like what you see. Also, it's an obvious choice for one of the free games, as Oddworld: Soulstorm will launc??h in spring 2021 and be Epic-exclusive on PC.

The comprehensive list of Epic freebies thus far is Cities: Skylines and Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty. Gather under the mistletoe with us tomorrow as we sm??ooch to another free ?game.

Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty [Epic Games Store]

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Considering some levels are co-op-only, that's a big deal

Will I make it to the end of the year without buying Sackboy: A Big Adventure? I'm not su??re I can wait for a sale as originally planned. It seems like too jolly of a time for me to miss this during the holiday break.

Helping resolve my on-the-fence-ness, with today's update, Sackboy has online multiplayer support and save-file transferrin??g between the PS4 and PS5 versions (look for an option in the Extras menu?).

That's important! Ten of the levels are specifically co-op only, and while there's already local multiplayer in this game (for all types of levels), that's obviously not going to work for everyone in all situations. If you e??ver hop online with friends or strangers, "your progress will be carried over to your local game."

Another cool thing I always appreciate: online multiplayer is cross-gen, and that should help fill the ranks. I imagine plenty of people got Sackboy on PS5 despite having ??only one DualSen??se controller.

Astro's Playroom seriously put me in a platformer mood, so it's just a matter of? time.

Sackboy: A? Big Adventure update adds onli??ne multiplayer today [PlayStation Blog]

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The calendar is just a suggestion

Ha??lloween isn't just a day, it's?? a way of life. It's 365 and one more on Leap Years. That means when Christmas rolls around, it's also Halloween.

Pumpkin Jack is all about that life. Eight days from Christmas, this jack-o-lantern-headed mascot platformer gets a winter update. There's a new Christmas outfit that brings snow whenever it's worn. There's also a new batch of collectibles, as each le?vel has five gifts hidden away; finding all five in any given stage unlocks something special.

With a little seasonal shakeup, Pumpkin Jack has a little more life. Stay tuned for the Presidents' Day updat?e where Jack's gourd is replaced with the stone Mou??????????????????????????nt Rushmore heads.

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The high-school valkyrie returns

Telenet Japan's classic adventure Valis is the latest in a long line of retro franchises considering lacing up the boots one more time. The action-adventure series, which will see its 35 anniversary in 2021, has just received a shiny new website in Japan, complete with the poten??tial teasing of a brand new entry.

Originally launching on the PC-88 and MSX home computers in 1986, Valis: The Fantasm Soldier, told the story of a modern-age sc??hoolgirl - Yuko Asou - who is designated by fate to protect three spiritual realms from invading monsters. Shocked by this dimension-hopping revelation, young Yuko nevertheless picks up the legendary sword "Valis" and heads into battle against the demon lord, Rogles.

While Valis itself is fairly clunky and rudimentary, it has been praised for its surprisingly layered story, use of cinematic cut-scenes, and great, old-school soundtrack. Valis would be followed by no less than five sequels in the ensuing years - appearing on PC, Famicom, Mega Drive, and FM-77 - before finally an unfortunate comeback as hentai series Valis X in 2006.

Still, with Valis' 35th anniversary on the horizon, a?? swanky new website, and the current trend of long, forgotten game series making a comeback, there is a strong possibility that Yuko might be donning the armor and taking it to nightmare-inducing mons?ters once again - proving, as if proof was ever needed, that you can't keep a good gal down.

Super Valis IV will be joining the SNES: Nintendo Switch Online app on December 18.

Valis: 35th anniversary website launched [Gematsu]

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Prepare to die

It's a little sadist of Team Mea?t to make the masochists wa??it an extra month. But, I guess the masochists will appreciate that punishment.

During last week's Game Awards, we found out that Super Meat Boy Forever is launching on the Epic Games Store on December 23. It spurred us to email PR and ask about timing of the console versions. We got a big ol' "We're not talking about [that] right now." With this morning's announcement that Super Meat Boy Forever will be a Switch exclusive at launch, the ??vague non-answer made a lo?t more sense.

Other platforms won't have to wait too long to jump in the grinder. PlayStation and Xbox versions of Super Meat Boy Forever are expected about one month later. That presumably means either la??te January or early?? February.

I, for one, am fine waiting another month. My reflexes go into hibernation at the end of the year. I just want to wrap up December with the least stressful games you can imagine. Then, once the new year hits, I'm back to peak performance. In fact, I might just wait until summer. Super Meat Boy Forever feels like it has big June vibes (or maybe my Vibe-O-?Meter isn't calibrated correctly).

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The new finale Thin Ice is a 'spiritual successor' to Hex-A-Gone

The second season of Fall Guys came and went for me, but I'm feeling far more optimistic about tomorrow's update. When Season 3 starts on December 15, it'll bring seven levels – one of which is an all-new finale – along with 30-plu?s costumes and another progression path called Crown Ranks.

As covered this morning by Mediatonic, there are seven new Season 3 levels:

• Tundra Run – Dodge snowballs, punchers and flippers in a mad dash to the finish line!

• Freezy Peak – Use blizzard fans and flippers to ascend the peak in the most epic race Round yet!

• Ski Fall – Traverse a giant ice slide and dive through bronze, silver and gold rings to score points and qualify!

• Pegwin Pursuit – Chase down and keep hold of the Pegwin to score points for your team!

• Snowy Scrap – Roll your team's Snowball over snow patches to make it larger! Last team to hit 100% are eliminated!

• Thin Ice – New Final Round! A spiritual successor to Hex-A-Gone where players must traverse layers of breakable ice to avoid falling into the slime. Last bean remaining wins!

• Roll Off – A Final round variant of Roll Out with added rising slime to make things interesting. Get grabbing!

As for Crown Ranks, they're a new carrot on a stick for high-level players to fuss over. As explained on the PlayStation Blog, your hard-fought crowns will contribute to a rank that rises as you win, and it's retroactive, so your Season 1 and Season ?2 crowns will be counted. The high?er your Crown Rank, the more exclusive items – colors, patterns, and even "Golden" costumes – you'll be able to unlock. As someone who peaked in Season 1, that sounds like a nice extra incentive to get good and stay good.

The Season 3 update also includes improvements:

• Stay up-to-date on Fall Guys news and announcements with the new in-game Bulle??tin feature

• You can now link your&nbs?p;Amazon Prime a?ccount to Fall Guys for exclusive in-game rewards

• The Show Selector will have a c??lear indicator for when new shows are available

• Improved in-game messaging for various errors and connect??ivity dialogs

• Improved performance and visuals of transparency?? effect when Fall Guys are occluded by geometry

• [PC] Early Access release of Priva??te St??reamer Lobbies is now available! This is invitation-only for now, and requires 40-60 players to start a custom match

• [PS4] The camera sensi?tivity slider ha??s more degrees of freedom on PS4

And bugfixes:

• Fall Mountain: improved the issue where grabbing the crown sometimes does not end the level. We will monitor this fix through launch!

• Royal Fumble: invisible platform has been removed

• Perfect Match: fixed issue with spawning next to the spinner

• Physics: fixed ball objects being jittery or non-responsive in levels like Hoarders

• Item Shop: fixed certain items not coming into the store

• Parties: further improved groups stability in certain cases

• UI: Certain language fonts had missing or corrupt characters

• Show Selector: Searching for multiple shows will now correctly display the show landed on during matchmaking

• Levels: fixed the Score and Elimination UI in-game on certain levels

• Levels: bugfixes across most of the rounds

After wrapping up several story-driven games back-to-back in an effort to freshen up my backlog before the new year, I'm kinda in the mood to goof off in a silly multiplayer game like Fall Guys.

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Zen gaming with Baiyon

It delights me to see Q-Games add more entries to the PixelJunk series, especially a sequel to Eden.

It's arguably not the best of the bunch, but Eden – a minimalistic platfo??rmer about catching plumes of pollen to reinvigorate garden landscapes – has long been? a favorite of mine. It's a hypnotic experience.

Whether you missed PixelJunk Eden on PS3 and Steam or you simply miss it, period, this is such a great way to?? close out the chaotic year. Turn on your Switch, pump up the volume, and melt into your chair.

PixelJunk Eden 2 (Nintendo Switch)
Developer: Q-Games
Publisher: Q-Games
Released: December 10, 2020
MSRP: $14.99

PixelJunk Eden 2 is a ?simple but effective game, one I see myself coming back to again and again. Playing alone or with a local co-op partner, you'll hop and swing around abstract levels infused with the audio-visual essence of Baiyon. The techno music and visualizer-like backgrounds put a spell on me.

While some of the finer details are different for the sequel, in general, this is large??ly the same soothing experience as the original game. In each garden level – all of which have their own aesthetic and song – your goal is to collide with floating Pollen Prowlers to pop them open, catch the sinking remnants to grow nearby seeds, and use towering plants as platforms to ultimately reach a Spectra collectibl??e.

Missile-firing and gravity-shifting foes appear in some situations, but largely speaking, PixelJunk Eden 2 doesn't push back all that much. You don't "die." T??here is a time limit in the main story mode (which you'll refill by flinging yourself into physical checkpoints), but it's rarely an issue if you aren't going for 100% seed completion, and there's a timer-less mode that's intended for more meticulous play.

I primarily played Eden 2 in co-op, and I think that's the way to go if you can manage it (although playing solo does have its meditative merits). With two play?ers, you'll collect pollen quicker, and it's a little easier to pull off risky maneuvers and leaps of faith. If someone falls too far off-screen, they'll reset at the other player's safe location. If both players plummet, there's just a short respawn to sit through.

PixelJunk Eden 2 feels subtlety snappier, faster, and more alive than Eden 1, but the se??quel's biggest change is the way levels are doled out and how the Grimp protagonists vary from one to the next.

Each Grimp comes with its ow??n set of levels and its own particular gameplay-affecting ability or trait, which you can further alter with one-time-use Spice items. The basic flow goes a little something like this: hop into a garden, explore to find the far-off Spectra, and rinse and repeat until you've cleared them all. Some Grimps come with a couple of levels, while others have a set of several to complete.

Aside from grabbing pollen to grow plants and reach new heights, you'll also want to collect crystals to unlock Spices. They're just temporary optional items (you can bring up to three of them into an individual level attempt), but they're useful. They have benefits like extending the le?ngth or duration of your swing-inducing silk string, diminishing the effects of gravity, or adding more time on the clock. My go-to Spices helped me find the Spectra more easily and expanded my pollen-collecting range.

When you finish a set of levels, you'll get another Grimp to play as but not necessarily a "br??and new" area – just a different batch of levels. (There are 10 total gardens.) As such, you can expect to see a lot of repeating stages, albeit with several alternate Spectra locations to mix things up a bit. I wasn't thrilled with this format – it started to feel repetitive toward the end – but it mostly works.

There are 20-plus characters to unlock in the main mode, and they all have a game??play-modifying twist (some good, some decidedly less good) to help them stand out. One of the Grimps has unlimited jumps, but makes it so Pollen Prowlers are less plentiful. Another Grimp is heavy enough to "bend tall plants by swinging or landing." One of my favorites can only equip one Spice perk but won't "consu?me" the item.

This isn't a short game, and for some – particularly players who try to power through it in the span of a few evenings – it might outstay its welcome, but I didn't quite reach that point. Part of that is on the Switch itself (handheld play is perfect for Eden 2), part of that is on the relaxing gameplay style, and part of that is on Baiyon's talent as a gam??????????????????????????e director, composer, and visual artist. He's a tr?iple threat.

I spent close to a dozen hours with the main progression path in PixelJunk Eden 2, and I've ??hardly dug into the unlimited-time "choose your garden and Grimp" free-play mode. Whenever I ??feel the gotta-catch-'em-all collectathon itch, I'll be sure to head there first since that mode has its own achievements. You can't tell me the total number of seeds in each level and not expect me to hunt them down.

PixelJunk Eden 2 is one of?? 2020's few plea?sant surprises, and I'm so thankful it exists.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Bowser's Fury is still due on February 12, 2021

Nintendo was onto something when they wrote "Meow! Don't forget, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury lau??nches on February 12, 2021!" in the opening line for the below ??trailer. Yep, I actually forgot!

It could be because it was buried in that giant 35th anniversary Mario stream, or, because it was one of the very few games that wasn't actually coming out before the end of the year. Probably both. Alas, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, a re-release of 2013's Super Mario 3D World wi??th some new content, is still arriving early next year.

Nintendo is indeed reminding us with a new clip, which mostly showcases some old content (who doesn't love that opening salvo of levels with the cat suits?), and teases of what's to come. But mostly, it'??s the cat stuff that they're selling. Why wouldn't they?! It's gold, Jerry. Selling to cat lovers will never go out of style.

I'l??l say one thi??ng: they need to get the train rolling on this one. Give us new info!

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The trailer sold me in ways I wasn't expecting

When I heard that It Takes Two, the next co-op adventure from A Way Out developer Hazelight, had a story about magical dolls trying to return to their bodies and work through their serious relationship woes, this wasn't what I expected. At all! But it looks genuinely fun to play with ano?ther person.

Between the out-of-control action setpiece moments and what looks to be pretty inspired teamwork-oriented gameplay, I'm excited. As with A Way Out, if you buy one copy, you??r friend won't need another.

Hazelig?ht is aiming for a March 26, ?2021 release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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The Tree of Life

Moon Studios - the indie outfit behind beautiful platform adventure  Ori and the Will of the Wisps - has announced that it is partnering with charity Rainforest Trust for a short-term drive to benefit the preservation of the plane??t's tropical rainforests.

From now until December 13, Moon Studios will donate 5% of all sales of Ori and the Will of the Wisps on Nintendo Switch to the non-profit organization. In addition, publisher and merchandiser iam8bit will be donating a lump sum of $25,000 to the charity??, which works to purchase and protect acres upon ac?res of rainforest, as well as the endangered wildlife that resides within.

"iam8bit's very first game as a publisher is Ori and the Will of the Wisps on Nintendo Switch. As a publisher, we considered how best to spend the game's marketing budget, and decided to shake things up to try and make a positive difference with that money," said iam8bit co-owners Jon M. Gibson and Amanda White. "As we've worked with Moon Studios to publish the Ori series on Nintendo Switch, we've been struck by their dedication to expressing nature as a living, breathing entity worthy of protection. Following their lead, we wanted to do our part ?to preserve nature, and are excited to work with the wonderful and dedicated people at Rainforest Trust to do just that."

The 5% donation will be made regardless of whether Ori and the Will of the Wisps is purchased in physical or digital format, provided that the sale is on the Nintendo Switch edition and is made before December 13. For more details regarding Rainforest Trust and its tireless preservation efforts, visit the charity's official website.

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Lend him a hand

In one of the strangest teases of 2020, it seems that low-key '90s platforming star Glover might be getting ready to make a slap-happy comeback in a bold new ??generation of gaming.

Piko Interactive - who currently holds the rights to Glover - recently tweeted fans asking what stretch goals they would like to see should a hypothetical Glover Kickstarter campaign emerge. The tweet made no specific mention of whether said Kickstarter would be for a remaster, a remake, or a brand new sequel, but it would certainly be one of gaming's weirdest comebacks - right up there with Kao the Kangaroo.

Originally released on N64 in 1998, before being ported to PlayStation the following year, Glover sees the titular... erm... glove tackle a series of courses, maneuvering balls into goals in challenging gameplay in the vein of Marble Madness or Super Monkey Ball. Somehow crow-barred into this simple, ball-rolling action was a mystical plot about a magical crysta?l kingdom and an evil glove known as "Cross Stitch." I miss the '90s.

While developer Interactive Studios did begin work on sequel Glover 2, the project was never completed, with Glover eventually confined to the cupboard of forgotten gaming heroes?. But given Piko Interactive's suggestive tweet, perhaps the time to let our fingers do the walking is nigh.

Re-rel??ease of N64 classic Glove??????????????????????????r appears to be taking shape [NintendoLife]

What Stretch Goals would you like to see on a Glover Kickstarter? pic.twitter.com/MiZohFEdZb

— PIKO (@Pikointeractive) December 4, 2020

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It's coming to Switch on December 10 with a launch discount

I've quietly been stoked to play PixelJunk Eden 2, the sequel to Q-Games' underappreciated atmospheric platformer about zipping through abstract gardenscapes while chill Baiyon tunes work their magic.

After missing its initial summer 2020 window, it seems that PixelJunk Eden 2 is on track for a December 10 launch on the Nintendo Switch eShop. The new release date showed up on a Nintendo UK store page, and while the equivalent listing for North America still says fall 2020, I'm choosing to believe.

[Update: Q-Games confirmed the December 10 launch date for PixelJunk Eden 2. If you buy the game by December 16, you'll get a decent discount – $9.89 instead of the normal $14.99 price tag.]

Gameplay-wise, I'd expect a similar experience – you'll explore "?gardens of psychedelic sights and sounds" to collect pollen, ex??pand the flora to reach new heights, and generally melt into your chair.

As the studio puts it, you'll be able to "swing and spin from silk threads, in both single and cooperati??ve play as you and a partner pirouette around one another in brush-strokes of light and color in the world on your journey to collect the all-important 'Spectra,' the source of all life in the world." It's a trip.

"More PixelJunk Eden" ?would've been fine by me, but? co-op? That's the secret word.

[Via Gematsu]

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