Like many others in these awful times, the people behind the legendary Mega64 YouTube and Twitch channels saw their revenue drop drastically in the last month. They only have enough to kee??p both the cool RGB lights and even the regular ones on for a couple of weeks.

Yesterday, in a Twitch strea?m that proved spooky for the wrong reasons, Mega64 revealed a bunch of?? serious unexpected hurdles that the group is dealing with.

What happened to Mega64?

Declining ad revenue - The Internet hasn't been kind on content creators lately, and Me?ga64 has been having it unfairly rough. Though their content retains the same level of quality, YouTube just isn't as lucrative as it once was.

Merchandise Problems - While the group takes the blame for taking longer than it should to deliver some of its merchandise, merch also s??aw an unrelated decrease in sales and profitability due ??to inflated production costs.

Bad Faith actors - The group has sadly fallen prey to a yet-unknown scammer or party of scammers which has stolen thousands of dollars in donation money and also prevented the group from getting further donations on their? regular donation channels.

What is Mega64?

Mega64 began as an innocent project by friends Rocco Botte, Derrick Acosta, and Shawn Chatfield th?at? turned into one of the most beloved gaming-related channels on YouTube.

I was already an adult when I was first exposed to Mega64's content, but I'd be lying if I were to ignore the group's influence over my work and overall desire to make? video game-related content.

Among many other things, Mega64's YouTube channel is a trailblazer of video-game-related parodies. One problem with Internet comedy is that it tends to grow old fast. We all know that. I re-watched some of my favorite Mega64 videos of the past to avoid getting dunked on for my possibly outdated humor, and can gladly say they?? absolutely hold up.

The first Mega64 video I ever saw, VG Fact Checkerz, is a staple of Internet comedy. It does a great job ?of spoofing answers to ridiculous questions not even the highest-level Redditors were asking back then, and features a contender for the best ending for a YouTube video ever:

Mega64 is also unique in that it somehow managed to get actual video game personalities to go along with their hilarious spoofs. Below you can find Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi ??himself spoofing his own history at Squa?resoft just because he gets it.

They even got Hideki Kamiya, one of gaming's most volatile personalities, to poke fun at his own infamous need t?o block anyone who so much as says anything he doesn't vibe with on Twitter.

The holy grail, to me, at least, is possibly their Death Stranding spoof. There's a twist where ??we learn it was at least partially filmed by Hideo Kojima himself, who then got fired by the Mega64 crew for his poor workmanship.

If you're not familiar with Mega64 �a possibility, considering the unbelievable reality of how one of the best things on YouTube for over 20 years has never managed to break one million fo??llowers �You might think I'm trolling you, but it's real. It's all real:

Right now, joining the Mega64 Patreon is the best way to directly contribute to the channel. You can also help via Ko-Fi donati??on. Sharing your favorite Mega64 videos on Twitter will surely remind at least a few people of some of the best moments they've had on the Internet, and that's already something.

This past year in the gaming industry has been riddled with disheartening closures of great studios and layoffs of profe??ssionals we dearly miss �many even on a personal level. Mega64 is giving us the rare chance of actually preventing something good from disappearing, so consider doing with that information the coolest thing you can think of.

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Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and his team at Mistwalker, including legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu, combined forces once again to unleash Fantasian on Apple Arcade in two parts in 2021. Naturally, that means the audience was inherently limited, but now that it's finally expanding to other platforms, Sakaguchi shared some thoughts. 

In a statement on Fantasian's official English social accounts, Sakaguchi started off by saying that he always wanted Fantasian to be an "especially long-standing title," and he cites that longevity as one of the strengths of digital games. "I developed Fantasian thinking that it could become my final work before?? retiring, so it has a special place in my heart," he continued. 

Sakaguchi added that being able to rebuild Fantasian at Square Enix and offer it to a wider audience is "truly a blessing." Beyond the exploration and turn-based combat, a lot of the appeal of Fantasian comes down to its beautifully bespoke nature. The backgrounds consist of hand-crafted dioramas, over 150 of which were scanned into the game. Sakaguchi closed out his statement with a nod to all this loving, laborious work, saying, "This title is an amalgamation of the soul??s of the diorama craftsmen, Uematsu compositions, and of course, the game dev?elopers." 

The soul of fantasy

Square Enix is helping Sakaguchi and his team revitalize the RPG as Fantasian Neo Dimension. The new version keeps the story and gameplay intact while adding in some additional features, including English and Japanese voiceovers and more difficulty options. It's currently set for a 2024 release on PlayStation 4, PlayStati?on 5, Xbox Se??ries X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

As great as exclusives can be, it??'s even better when more people have a chance to enjoy a game you've worked so hard on over the years. Here's hoping this i??s far from Sakaguchi's final fantasy.

The post Fantasian creator Hironobu Sakaguchi considers the RPG’s wider release a ‘blessing’ appeared first on Destructoid.

Fantasian

Give me a moment here while I delete the four paragraphs I had written about Pokémon Unite, so sure it would easily sashay away with the awar?d for Destructoid's Best Mobile Game of 2021.

Mistwalker has had an interesting life up to this point. It started out strong with a slew of projects, including a trio of Blue Dragon titles, Lost Odyssey, and The Last Story. As enjoyable as at least two of those games are, the company couldn't produce a hit the size of the games studio head Hironobu Sakaguchi was known for. As the father of Final Fantasy, I think the industry had big expectations for the studio he founded after parting ways with Squ?are.

However, following The Last Story, it seemed like Mistwalker would be doomed to compete in the rat race that is the free-to-play mobile marketplace. Terra Battle proved to be a decent-sized success, lasting six years before being shutting down, but its two successors quickly faded into obscurity. Thankfully, the developer had another project in its back pocket, and in 2019, the world was given its first look at Fantasian during? the introduction of the Apple Arcad?e subscription service.

A return to roots for Sakaguchi, Fantasian was designed as a classic, narrative-driven RPG the likes of which he perfec??ted back on the SNES. While it is a throwback through and through, he also wanted it to be forward-thinking. Enter the Dimengeon System, which allows pla??yers to bank a number of random battles into one, long fight. A brilliantly executed idea, the Dimengeon System is arguably the most exciting concept to hit JRPGs since games started showing enemy encounters on the map. Couple that with a painstakingly detailed world comprised of miniatures and a brilliant score from Nobuo Uematsu, and you have the best game currently available on the Apple Arcade service for classic gamers like myself.

Hironobu Sakaguchi has hinted at the possibility that Fantasian might be his last game. If it is, I hope he knows he was able to end his career with a wonderful contribution to the gaming landscape. So, congratulations to Sakaguchi and the entire team at Mistwalker. Fantasian is an absolute a??chievement and easily deserves the titl?e of Destructoid's Best Mobile Game of 2021.

The post Destructoid’s award for Best Mobile Game of 2021 goes to… appeared first on Destructoid.

Turns out "almost done" was closer than you might have expected

Last week, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi said the second part of Fantasian was almost done. Turns out, "almost done" was sooner than you might ??have guessed.

Today, Mistwalker announced (via IGN) that Fantasian Part 2 arrives this Friday, Aug??. 13. You can check out a trailer for the next part of the RPG below:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=n06yWw2Tgss

This update will add "between 40 and 60 hours" of new quest-driven content, as well as 34 new tracks from Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. As Sakaguchi previously said, this part is expected to be approximately double the size of the first half of Fantasian.

The update will also add some new? features,? like swapping party members in and out of battle, as well as an expanded character Growth Map.

Fantasian went live earlier this year on Apple Arcade. Its incredible visuals mix video game graphics with dioramas, creating a really stunning look to the game. Fantasian also uses a battle system called "Dimengeon Battle," where you can collect monster??s in order to figh?t them all in a row.

It's a pretty interesting-sounding RPG, though those of us without an Apple phone or device are still left waiting for Fantasian and its part two to head to other platforms. Hopefully the addition of a second part means there's more news on the horizon for this RPG, similar to other Apple Arcade launches in the past.

For Apple Arcade players though, you'll have a lot of new RPG to look forward to when Fantasian Part Two launches this Friday, Aug. 13.

The post Fantasian Part Two arrives this Friday appeared first on Destructoid.

The next portion of Hironobu Sakaguchi's RPG is almost finished

Fantasian is the new project from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, and its first part went live earlier this year. It also sounds like fan?s won't have to wait long for the follow-up?, either.

A message shared to Twitter by Sakaguchi simply says, "The second part of Fantasian is almost done." The first part launched earlier thi?s year on Apple Arcade.

//twitter.com/auuo/status/1420960782754344963

In a statement to Famitsu (via VGC), Sakaguchi had some more words for Fantasian fans. "This is Sakaguchi. The second part of Fantasian i?s almost finished," the creator said. "This part is twice as large as the first part, which exceeded our expectations. The boss monsters are also unique and challenging. I'd like to thank all the development staff, the diorama makers, and all the sound staff including Mr. Uematsu. They gave it the??ir all. I think it's a great game!"

Fantasian's first part hit Apple Arcade in April of this year, developed by Mistwalker and bringing on the well-known Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu for the soundtrack. With both an interesting system for battles and encounters, and gorgeous diorama work, it definitely seemed to leave an impression on those who played the first part.

Sakaguchi had previously told VGC that Fantasian could be his last project, and that plans beyond the scheduled two-part launch of Fantasian hadn't been discussed quite yet.

For Fantasian fans, this is probably a bit of good news. The first part only just launched in April, and there's already some news about the follow-up. This series is, however, still on just Apple Arcade for the time being, which is a bummer for folks like me who only have an Android phone. Hopefully, Fantasian doesn't stay exc?lusive for too ?long and the dioramic RPG can expand out to other systems.

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