Between the November 2017 and February 2018, I found myself in a situation in which I was forced to sell most of the consoles and the games I had for them at the time: My Playstation 3, both of my Vitas, my Xbox 360, my Wii and my Wii U. Six consoles and about 45 games across them all.
I always planned to eventually reacquire a Playstation 3 and two Vitas at some point down the road. With the changes Sony made to The Playstation Store, you will now need a PS3 to add and remove games from a PSP Go which I have (I also have a regular PSP on that note). When I sold my Vitas, I did keep the 64GB memory cards I bought for each of them. One was an original model and the other was a Blue OLED model. I plan to get the same kinds I had before also.
I assume most people know or remember this but the PS3 was the first video game console released that could play Blu Ray DVDs. This is part of why it sold for $400 to $500 when the console first launched in 2006. At the time, it was the most expensive console release ever. In comparison, the Wii–which was released in the U.S. two days after the PS3–sold for $250 while the Xbox 360 sold for $300 to $400. Sony and Microsoft have since been VERY careful not to sell the consoles that followed the PS3 and Xbox 360 too high and more so after Nintendo brought in literally millions of new casual gamers worldwide with the Wii. The current gen Xbox Series X|S and PS5 both sell for $400 to $500 each on that note. I don’t see their successors passing $600 without a real good reason either but I digress.
The main reason I’m reacquiring a PS3 is for data management purposes with my PSP Go and the Vita. A second reason is I plan to use it as my primary Blu Ray player once again. I actually did have a standalone Blu Ray Player for a few years but when I was cleaning my room two years ago, I accidently threw out the remote control for it. Then last year when I realized I needed the remote to operate the Blu Ray Player, it almost ate the Blu Ray disc that was inside it (!). I got the PS3 Slim and plan to get another one so I can easily remove the discs and have that peace of mind again.
I also have a few PS3 games I plan to reacquire. Most notably Gran Turismo 5, Tales of Graces f and a few other JRPGs. This is to say nothing of once again being able to buy digital PSP, PS1 and PS2 games via the PS3 and PS Vita. Oh and I plan to get a 500GB PS3 Slim. Last time I had a 250GB PS3 Slim and ran out of storage space fast largely due to all the digital movies and anime I owned (I had a similar problem with my Xbox 360 actually). Most of the Vita games I owned were digital but I did save five physical Vita games–Persona 4 Golden and Valhalla Knights 3 among them–and plan to reacquire The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 1 and 2 as well as Dynasty Warrios 8 XL.
The secondhand market for physical Vita and PS3 games is VERY affordable compared to physical Wii, Wii U and 3DS games largely because supply is much higher and demand is much lower. I figure I capitalize and buy some games before collectors cause the prices to skyrocket. I think a big reason prices for most PS3 and Vita physical games haven’t skyrocketed is because their online stores are still online meaning you can still buy PS3 and Vita games digital via the consoles. The Xbox 360 and Xbox One are both very cheap on the secondhand market for similar reasons.
I’ve actually been partial to handheld consoles for most of the last…I wanna say 25 years now. That’s also why the Switch being a hybrid home and handheld console is so groundbreaking. It’s clearly a powerful machine, you can play it anywhere and you’re not tethered to one spot. Nintendo drew heavily from the success of its handheld division with the Switch’s development and it shows. The Vita will forever be a big “what if” to say the least but Nintendo clearly utilized what Sony got right with that console for the Switch’s development. The PS3 was Sony’s first HD console and also the first to utilize wireless controllers via Bluetooth technology as well as Blu Ray playback. Those two things helped the PS3 win that generation of what gamers refer to as The Console Wars but I won’t digress further on that.
What I will say instead is right now, it’s a buyer’s market for anyone looking to buy 2000s and 2010s-era video game consoles not made by Nintendo. Ebay is a good place to start looking on that note.
For those who don’t know, Nobuo Uematsu has written music for the Final Fantasy series almost from the beginning. No song is he more known for than this legendary track from (the original) Final Fantasy VII’s final boss battle: One Winged Angel.
Here it is:
Shortly after Final Fantasy VII: Remake was first announced, Uematsu revealed in an interview that when he did One Winged Angel for the Playstation, like all consoles of that era it could not play back music from a full orchestra due to the massive amount of compression the game required. For those who may not know, the Playstation 1 version of FFVII spanned three discs. I’d actually heard rumors for years FFVII would have been a PC-only game if Squaresoft didn’t overrule Uematsu and had him redo the entire soundtrack with synthescized music just so the game could fit on three Playstation 1 discs.
Despite the soundtrack being largely synthetic, FFVII’s soundtrack was largely considered one of the top 3 overall for the entire series by most and top 10 all-time for many.
We got a taste of Uematsu’s original vision for the song in the movie Advent Children:
The guitar rifts add a little something extra to what most already considered an iconic song from an iconic JRPG. Most people watched the movie just to hear this ONE song–and the fight that happens during it–so…yeah.
That brings me to FFVII Remake’s Version:
I just listened to it for the first time on YouTube and it immediately made me think one iconic song from history: Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. That song has a clearly defined beginning, middle and end. The way the first third of the Remake version of One Winged Angel builds to the familiar “Dun-dun, dun-dun…” was masterfully done. You’re led to believe the song was changed when in fact there is a build to what people remember. The more things change over time, the more things stay the same. Since the song’s on YouTube, that means you don’t need to buy the source games to enjoy it.
I actually first got The Trilogy on Steam about 8 years ago. Before that, I got GTA3 and GTAVC digital on the PS3. Before that, I got GTA3 and GTAVC back when they were first released on the PS2 20+ years ago. To this day, I STILL have never played GTASA despite now owning two copies of it (I also have it on Steam along with the other two games). Yes, really. As for why, I simply didn’t make the time first and I liked the first two THAT much.
Before I get to The Trilogy, here’s a bit of a history lesson.
Before GTA3 first released back in 2001, Rockstar Games was a little-known video game company. The first GTA was actually a racing game but it was a little too similar to Electronic Arts’ Need For Speed series which itself was starting to catch fire. GTA2 (Playstation 1 and PC) was the game that brought the series into the formula it would largely follow ever since: You play the role of a criminal trying to make it in a massive city by any means necessary.
That game’s top-down fixed camera view was a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you could see a large area at once. On the other hand, there are obvious blind spots especially when going under or inside buildings. The game largely got mixed reviews though most felt the hardware limitations at the time played a huge rule in how the game turned out.
It goes without saying the GTA games’ themes around being a criminal and committing criminal acts to “win” drew a lot of criticism from (wait for it) conservative groups in the U.S. and more so given by the time GTA3 was released, school shootings were starting to happen almost every other year. This is to say nothing of the late Senator Joe Liberman vowing to ban the sale of violent video games in the U.S. a few years earlier. GTA3 and the games that followed it are to this day held up as the poster children of violence and immortality in video games.
Rockstar Games has always defended itself and the GTA brand by pointing out the GTA games (as well as Max Payne, Red Dead Redemption and Bully) are only marketed to adults specifically because of the game’s themes. Further, they’ve largely justified continuing to make more GTA games by pointing out there is a market and demand for their games. In other words, crime pays for Rockstar Games. Literally.
…That brings us to the aforementioned Playstation 2-era games.
To say this game put Rockstar Games on the map goes without saying. When you think of the Playstation 2, this game and the two that followed are among the top three games you immediately think of.
This is to say nothing of the fact this game changed the industry forever in various regards:
Geared Toward Young Adults (specifically young men): The game’s obvious mature themes was Rockstar games’ way of making a hard separation from what people came to expect from Nintendo and to a lesser extent Sega at the time. Sure, there were horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill as well as gory fighting games like Mortal Kombat but commiting crimes being the main premise was quite the paradigm shift. This game essentially gave software developers permission to develop game exclusively geared towards young adults and more specifically, young men.
Open World Exploration: The concept of going off the beaten path and exploring a massive living world was largely unheard of before GTA3. For those who might not know, Liberty City is a basically fictionalized version of New York City. You start in Portland though after progressing through enough story missions, Staunton Island will be opened to you. Progress through enough story missions on Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale will be opened to you.
Side Quests/Missions: While to idea of doing stuff that have absolutely nothing to do with progression was nothing new, this game largely encourages you to go off the beaten path and do whatever you want. Feel like being a Taxi Driver? Go for it. Wanna do Ambulance Missions? Feel free. Feel like tracking down vehicles for a collector? Have fun! Even after you clear all the storyline missions, the game doesn’t “end”. You can simply find or just invent other things to do in Liberty City.
Reputation System: This is largely relevant for the various gangs in Liberty City. Doing quests for a gang will boost your reputation with them though your standing with certain groups will automatically sour after you complete certain storyline missions. That aside, the fastest way to make a faction hate you is to simply kill their members and destroy their vehicles. The Reputation system has been refined in every GTA game that followed including the side games.
These are just a few examples but the game largely speaks for itself. The game’s sandbox-style presentation largely encourages going off the beaten path and exploring when not on a mission. The 100 Hidden Packages scattered across Liberty City demands it. By the way the protagonist does have a name: Claude Fido. Catalina explains during their brief cameo appearance in San Andreas Claude became mute after an accident to explain why he doesn’t talk in GTA3.
The second game Vice City built off the massive success of GTAIII but had storytelling that was a bit more focused than GTAIII. Not only did we know the protagonist’s name from the beginning but he had a voice. After being on the bad end of a deal gone bad, Tommy Vercetti finds himself needing to make a lot of money fast.
Set in the early 1980s, Vice City is a fictionalized version of Miami. Some elements of the game’s main story are heavily inspired by the 1983 movie Scarface which had seen a resurgance in pop culture popularity in the early 2000s in time for that movie’s 20th anniversary (2003). Vice City also draws heavily from the 1980s cop show Miami Vice obviously. In fact Lance Vance is voice by Philip Michael Thomas who played Ricardo Tubbs in Miami Vice! There’s a dozen or so other 1980s-era easter eggs in the game but I won’t spoil them here.
Vice City introduces the ability to purchase and collect money from businesses after you’ve progressed to a certain point in the game’s main story. Purchasing property obviously isn’t cheap but it gets easier once you start buying property and can collect the revenue. The more in-game time passes, the more money you get when you collect. Almost every business you buy also has some missions for you to do so there’s that. In the end, Tommy Vercetti becomes the new king of Vice City. This is confirmed in the opening cutscene of San Andreas: Vercetti’s former attorney, who did time for drug-related charges tries to call him and Vercetti doesn’t know who he is. Annoyed, the washed-up attorney decides to go to San Andreas.
Before I forget. When the game was ported to later platforms beyond the PS2, one line from a story mission was altered. In the line in question, Ricardo Diaz tells Vercetti to “Kill all Haitians”. Knowing the game’s controversial nature, Haitian advocacy groups contacted Rockstar Games about the line and the company slightly altered it. Now Diaz says “Kill all of those Haitians” to sepecify the mission he sends you on. In the early to mid-1980s, Cuban and Haitian gangs in Miami clashed and in Vice City there is a Cuban gang and a Haitian gang at war with each other which plays on that history.
Unlike GTAIII, the game doesn’t slow down when you fly over an insane stunt which is very helpful since once certain conditions are met, you can pilot a military helicopter. If you thought the Rhino was OP, wait until you fly one of those!
And here we have the one game of the three I have not played yet. If that’s not mindblowing enough, I have GTAIV on Steam and have never played that game once yet on any platform. I’ve never played GTAV either on that note but I do have a PS4. All I know about GTASA is what I’ve read online.
Rockstar Games was imfamously forced to patch the game on PC and future releases to remove a hidden sexually explicit minigame that could be accessed with a cheat device (or modding the game on PC). The Electronic Software Ratings Board (ESRB) found out about it and was so pissed since Rockstar games didn’t tell them in advance about the sexually explicit content and said if they knew about it, that content would have gotten the game the Adults Only (AO) rating. For those who don’t know, games with the Adults Only rating are almost always games with sexually explicit content and physical copies can’t be sold in retail stores.
Games with depictions of graphic violence typically get the Mature (M) rating which the GTA games obviously have. There was a push 20 years ago to require retailers to ID check people looking to buy M-rated games due to real concerns kids and teens were buying games like GTA. Retailers actually ARE supposed to card people who buy M-rated games but they rarely do mostly out of laziness unless they buyer clearly is or looks like a kid. Many retailers also pointed out the obvious: Many parents actually do buy M-rated games for their kids but I won’t digress further.
The GTA Trilogy were the best-selling games of their generation (PS2/Xbox/Gamecube) and they’re three of the big reasons why the Playstation 2 won that gen. We would see two spinoff games ported to the PSP: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. Both games built off the success of the source games and take place in those respective worlds but storyline wise happen are a few years before the main game. Both games were later ported to the PS3 and were upscaled for TVs. We haven’t seen anything like that and probably never will because of GTA Online.
Released in 2013 with GTAV, GTA Online was 12 years in the making. It stands as the highest-grossing console-based MMO EVER. 11 years later, there are renewed rumblings among gamers of a GTAVI that would likely come with a GTA Online 2. We’ll have to wait and see.
For those who want to play the GTA games that defined a generation 20 years ago, The Trilogy is well worth the price tag but get it on sale if possible. More so if you have a Switch and decide to buy digital. On that note. It wasn’t until the Gamecube that Nintendo finally showed a willingness to carry M-rated games. The Trilogy would eventually be ported to the Xbox 360 but not the Wii. GTAIV would be released on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC but not the Wii U. GTA 5 + GTA Online would be released on the PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S but not the Switch.
The fact that a Nintendo console is only now getting The GTA Trilogy 20 years after they were current might feel like an insult to Nintendo but you still have to remember at the time, Nintendo had the reputation of largely catering to kids and families while Playstation and Xbox heavily marketed to young adult men. The Gamecube opened up Nintendo consoles to M-rated games so it’s more accurate to say better late than never with GTA specifically.
I say that knowing Sega doesn’t seem to really care about any IP other than Sonic these days.
In 2008. the first game was released on the PS3. It follows the story of Squad 7 led by Welkin and Alicia as they fight back against the Imperial Army’s invasion of their homeland, Gallia. Ten years later in 2018, we get a metasequel in Valkyria Chronicles 4. It follows the story of Squad E led by Claude and Rak–originally from Gallia themselves–who a part of a massive counteroffensive with the Imperial Capital as their target. VK4 takes place at the same time as the events of VK1 and that’s largely why both games are sold a bundle digitally these days.
VK2 and VK3 (Japan only), which were released on the PSP take place after the events of VK1 but given the storyline direction of VK4 we’ll have to wait for a VK5 to find out for sure if VK2 and VK3 are canon or not. In VK2, civil war has broken out in Gallia while VK3 takes place during the events of VK2. The fact that VK4 takes place during the events of VK1 tells me Sega may have wanted to just pretend VK2 and VK3 never happened. A remastered release of those games would change my mind on that though.
If there ever is a VK5, it will need to settle once and for all if VK2 and VK3 are canon or not. More so since it would obviously have to take place some time after the events of VK1 and VK4. This is also why a soft reset needs to happen. VK 4 should be renumbered VK2. VK2 would become VK3 and VK3 would become VK4. That would make the most sense. What would make better sense is just merging both VK1 and VK4 into one game since they happen at the same time though. One of VK4’s DLC chapters is a joint mission alongside Squad 7. After you complete the mission Welkin + Edelweiss, Alicia (Scout), Isara (Engineer), Largo (Lancer) and Rosie (Shocktrooper) from VK1 will permanently join you in the main game as playable characters (!). Why not merge VK1 and VK4 into one game at this point?
It’s now been 6 years since VK4 was first released. Sega seems to have largely forgotten VK2 and VK3 exist which is again why merging VK1 and VK4 into one game makes a lot of sense. They’re treated as a set now so…yeah. If there is a VK5, hopefully at least two new classes are added. The first three games have the same six classes of Tank (Leader), Scout, Shocktrooper, Lancer, Sniper and Engineer. VK4 introduces the Grenadier class which has the firepower of a tank’s mortar shells minus the vehicle.
Keeping in line with the series, I’d like to see a Medic class and Siege class introduced. The Medic would be a pure support Class with no combat capabilities. In exchange, they have an AOE Ragnaid and can revive downed allies in the same turn to 50% health. They can also evacuate units with 50% or less health to the nearest friendly base camp. Very helpful for a prolonged mission or a large battlefield. The Siege Class is stationary but can attack up to three times per turn and has a very long range. Once defeated or destroyed, an Engineer can repair a Siege back into working order. These new classes would compliment the existing classes without being too powerful as well.
Valkyria Chronicles puts a twist on the Strategy RPG genre: Unlike established SRPGs like Fire Emblem and Tactics Ogre, VK is set in a fictionalized version of 1920s Europe. It reminds me of the Anime The Saga of Tanya the Evil which is also set in a similar kind of world. Also unlike most strategy games, the action on the maps is not grid-based. Exchanges between elevations gets pretty common on most of the maps as well. It’s pretty nuanced to say the least.
Despite the 5-part docuseries not really sharing a lot most gamers likely didn’t know already, it’s still decent. I recently watched it on Amazon Prime Video but it’s also available on Crackle and a few other streaming platforms. I knew right away the docuseries was intended for casual gamers and it leans hard into that. Like others who’ve reviewed it have said, it should have been at least twice as long as it was in terms of runtime and content. Each episode is shorter than the last on that note in terms of runtime. I’d be real interested in knowing why and what was cut since clearly a lot of hours worth of interview content was recorded.
As it is now, the docuseries really starts to drop off after Episode 2. The first episode covers Nintendo’s 100-year pre-video game history. Most gamers know this already but originally, Nintendo started as a Hanafuda playing card company. You can still buy Hanafuda cards almost anywhere in Japan but you can also order them online fairly cheaply. Episode 2 opens with Nintendo stepping into the video game industry right after the crash of 1983. No question Nintendo singlehandedly saved the video game industry in the United States. No one disputes that. The problem is Nintendo got way too overzealous as the only player in town during that reconstruction period of 1983 to about 1989.
What happened in 1989?
Enter the Sega Genesis:
Two years later, Sega introduced the world to this iconic character:
The Sega Genesis was a 16-bit console–twice that of the NES/Famicom. It was also a much easier sell to American families from a marketing standpoint compared to buying the SNES/Super Famicom which was not backwards compatible with NES games. Had Nintendo made the SNES backwards compatible, it probably would have outsold the Genesis. More so given Sega of Japan and Sega of America fought with each other. Sega of Japan kept the Genesis in circulation until 1995. The 32X and Sega CD were addons for the Genesis in a bid by Sega of Japan to extend the console’s lifespan.
By the time Sega moved on to the Saturn in 1996, a new player had entered the market and has since largely dominated the industry for three decades:
That brings me to Episode 3. Everyone knows the story of how Sony entered the business. Originally, the two Japan-based companies were going to jointly develop what would later be revealed to be the Nintendo Playstation, a 32-bit console with a CD Drive. A working prototype was publicly unveiled in 1991 but before things moved on to mass production, Nintendo suddenly announced they would be working with Phillips on a new disc-based console instead of Sony. That understandably pissed off Sony–then the biggest electronics company in the world–so much, they launched the Playstation brand and damn-near put Nintendo out of business more than a few times. Nintendo reneging on their original agreement with Sony awoke a sleeping giant that damn-near ended them in the 90s.
The docuseries reveals Nintendo took a look at the contract they signed with Sony and when they realized their new partner would have sole distribution rights, that’s when they decided to reneg and announced they would be working with Phillips instead of Sony. Sony severed all ties with Nintendo the following spring and set to work developing what would become the Playstation 1 as a standalone console. To be clear, it was less about profit sharing with Sony but mostly was about flexing its power…and a bit of revenge obviously.
The two biggest video game companies in Japan at the time took off the gloves in 1991 and went at it. Sega ultimately got knocked out in 2001 but Microsoft took Sega’s place and it’s been a three-way hardware market between Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo ever since. It’s worth noting ever since Sega first challenged Nintendo in 1989 with the Genesis, no one console maker has ever had sole control of the market since. Nintendo dominated the handheld market for 15 years but eventually they were taken out by Apple. Apple introducing the iPod and later the iPhone and iPad allowed them to quickly take over a market Nintendo largely had to themselves for almost 25 years. Apple wasn’t trying to compete directly with Nintendo. That much is obvious. They just happened to naturally take over the handheld market is all.
Before I continue, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out third party developers hated dealing with Nintendo in the late 80s due to the company’s strict quality control policies and basically forcing them to develop games for the NES at a loss. This is to say nothing of Nintendo subbornly sticking to cartridges until the Gamecube compared to their competition. The main reason they stuck to cartridges was largely comfort but also because they were harder to pirate compared to disc-based games at the time. Sega and later Sony were a lot easier for third party companies to work with in comparison. CDs are fairly cheap to mass produce as well. By the time the Nintendo 64 launched in 1996, the Playstation 1 and Saturn both had over 150 games each. The Nintendo 64 launched with three games (Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64 and Pilotwings 64) though more games followed shortly afterward–most notably Mario Kart 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
All the third party companies that made games for the NES and SNES left Nintendo for Sega and Sony. This is why the Nintendo 64’s library is so bare-bones in terms of third party titles. The only Nintendo IP that didn’t make an appearance on the N64 was Metroid though Samus did make her 3D debut on the Gamecube. It IS notable Blizzard’s then MEGA popular PC strategy game Starcraft made its only console appearance on the N64 as Starcraft 64 (its expansion Brood Wars was included). Nintendo felt the sting of Squaresoft (now Square Enix) releasing Final Fantasy VII–the biggest RPG of the 90s–exclusively on the Playstation after having released the first six games exclusively on the NES and SNES. Squaresoft later re-released the first six games–including the three that hadn’t been released outside of Japan before–on the Playstation along with Chrono Trigger as well as Chrono Trigger’s sequel Chrono Cross.
That brings me to the numbering scheme Nintendo and Squaresoft used for the first six games in the series. Anyone who owned an NES probably played or owned the original Final Fantasy at some point. If you were in Japan, you likely played FFII and FFIII on the NES/Famicom as well. If you were outside of Japan, it was a little different. You see, FFII and FFIII weren’t released outside Japan as they were released in Japan. Nintendo of America decided not to localize FFII and FFIII on the NES. When FFIV was released in Japan on the Super Famicom, Nintendo of America agreed to localize it as Final Fantasy II. The internet didn’t exist back then so they were largely able to get away with it. Nintendo of America decided not to localize FFV so when FFVI was released, it was released as FFIII on the SNES.
But wait! Wasn’t FFVII released as FFVII globally? Well, Squaresoft had some explaining to do so what they did was re-release five of the first six games on the Playstation 1 in their correct order. This is how gamers outside of Japan found out FFII on the SNES was really FFIV and FFIII was really FFVI! As a bonus, the Playstation 1 also got FFII and FFV outside Japan for the first time. FFI and FFII were later ported together on the Game Boy Advance. The one game that was never released internationally until 2007 was Final Fantasy III on the Nintendo DS. I still have that game though it was released as a 3D remake of the original game. The Pixel Remaster series allowed international players to enjoy the original 2D FFIII on all modern platforms though.
Fast forward to today. Hot off the heels of FFXV, FFXVI just dropped last year and the franchise shows little signs of slowing down. FFXI is an MMO and is still playable via PC now. The same is true for FFXIV on that note. FFXIII and its two sequels stand as the only older games in the series yet to be re-released.
One interesting omission from the docuseries is Fire Emblem. Prior to the seventh game’s release on the Game Boy Advance in 2003, it was the biggest Nintendo franchise never released outside of Japan. The rest of the world was introduced to Fire Emblem through Marth and Roy’s inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Melee which was released on the Gamecube in 2001. Gamers outside of Japan were confused by their inclusion…until they looked the characters up online. Marth was the series’ first Protagonist while Roy was the main Protagonist in Fire Emblem: Binding Blade which just released on the Game Boy Advance in Japan at the time.
Unlike Nintendo’s other franchises, Fire Emblem was a Strategy RPG series. The slower pacing and high degree of difficulty were likely why Nintendo did not release the first six games outside of Japan. While there obviously were many strategy games in the U.S. already–Starcraft and Age of Empires were pretty popular in the late 90s to early 2000s–all them were on the PC. The Fire Emblem games were on consoles–and Nintendo consoles for that matter–but because of the degree of skill and difficulty the games demanded, Nintendo of Japan made the world wait 14 years for the GBA Fire Emblem game. Unlike other Strategy games that had been released during the 90s and early 2000s, the Fire Emblem games had a signature mechanic: Any units who fell in battle were lost forever. This concern is largely why the iconic series didn’t leave Japan until 2003.
Nintendo released Fire Emblem: Burning Blade as Fire Emblem internationally in 2003 on the Game Boy Advance. Aside from the Nintendo DS New Mystery of the Emblem remake, every other Fire Emblem game was released internationally. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (Nintendo DS) was the game that let players outside of Japan play Marth’s first game. As of March 2024 Binding Blade, Mystery of the Emblem and all three Super Famicom era games (the New Mystery of the Emblem remake, Thracia 776 and Geneology of the Holy War) have still never been officially released outside of Japan. 2023’s Fire Emblem Engage (Switch) was the last main series Fire Emblem game released.
Moving on to Episode 4. While Nintendo continued to lag behind Sony and later Microsoft’s new Xbox brand during the Gamecube era, they continued to dominate the handheld market which they largely had to themselves. The Gamecube was Nintendo’s first of three consecutive consoles to use discs though like the Nintendo 64, it also came with four controller ports. Also like the Nintendo 64 and Super Nintendo before it, the Gamecube was not backwards compatible with N64 games. I still have the Black Gamecube I bought in 2004. I had to buy a new one after I accidently fried the one I got for Christmas the year before. It’s in storage now but it still works just fine 20 years later.
Tetris sold the Game Boy but what soldified Nintendo’s dominance in the handheld market for 10 years were the international releases of Pokemon Red, Blue (Green in Japan) and later Yellow. One thing the docuseries got wrong was it states the games came last. That’s not true. Red and Green were released in Japan in 1996. They were then released as Pokemon Red and Blue in the U.S. two years later. The trading cards and anime did come to the U.S. before the games. That much IS true but the games existed in Japan as Red and Green since 1996. Yellow, which added elements from the anime was released in the U.S. in 1999 (1998 in Japan). In 2000, the second gen Gold and Silver games were released. Unlike every other main series game released after it, Pokemon Gold, Silver and Crystal (as well as their Nintendo DS remakes HeartGold and SoulSilver) allowed you to visit the Kanto region where the first gen games (and their Game Boy Advance remakes FireRed and LeafGreen) take place as well as Johto. The 2nd Gen Pokemon games are still the only games in the series in which you can travel through two full regions. In 2022, the 9th Gen Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were released on the Nintendo Switch. Last month, Pokemon Legends Z-A were announced and will be released in 2025.
Episode 5 does talk a bit about the company that ultimately kicked Nintendo out of the handheld market: Apple.
The launch of the iPhone changed the world to say the least. Even Nintendo couldn’t compete with THAT or the iPad though they tried with the 3DS (and its variants including the New Nintendo 3DS) and the Wii U. Nintendo was able to recruit casual gamers with the original Wii but failed to give them a reason to give the Wii U a chance. I’m sure the name choice didn’t help any either. Although Yamauchi’s death is covered, the late Satoru Iwata is never even mentioned once despite all he did for the company. Iwata solved a memory compression issue when Gold and Silver were in development. Thanks to that, they were able to add the Kanto region to the game and thus made the games twice as long. When the Wii U was tanking, Iwata cut his salary by 60% so no one would have to be laid off. He passed away in 2015 at the age of 55 from Bile Duct Cancer.
Mashiro Sakurai, who created the Super Smash Bros. games is also not mentioned. Sakurai created the first Super Smash Bros. (N64) purely by accident while goofing around. The story goes, he created a simple fighting demo for the N64 using a few Nintendo characters. Shigeru Miyamoto happened to walk by, saw it, loved the idea and told him to turn it into a full game. The massive popularity of Super Smash Bros. Melee is why most people who bought a Gamecube still have one now. The inclusion of Solid Snake and Sonic in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) opened the door to other potential third party candidates appearing in future games.
Sonic was originally considered for Melee but by the time Sega started porting Dreamcast games to the Gamecube, Melee was almost done. Snake’s inclusion in Brawl was a nod to the fact the Gamecube got an enhanced remake of Metal Gear Solid 1 (The Twin Snakes). Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U had the exact same roster on both platforms (including DLC) but you could have an 8-player fight on local multiplayer on the Wii U if everyone who planned to play supplied their own 3DS handheld to act as their controller. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch) brought back everyone from all the past games, added “Echo” Fighters such as Chrom and Ken (Clones of existing characters such as Lucina and Ryu) and then added even more playable characters via DLC–most notably FFVII’s Sephiroth and Sora from Kindom Hearts.
I forgot to mention this before but the Wii was backwards compatible with Gamecube games, memory cards and controllers while the Wii U was backwards compatible with physical Wii games and you could also import your Wii data to your Wii U (one-way transfer). The Game Boy Advance was backwards compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games while the DS and DS Lite had a GBA slot. The 4th Gen Pokemon games made use of it for importing pokemon from the 3rd Gen games. The 3DS/2DS family consoles were backwards compatible with Nintendo DS games.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Virtual Console (Wii, Wii U and 3DS) which Nintendo phased out for the Switch. Nintendo selectively released digital copies of games from older consoles for purchase on the Wii, Wii U and 3DS. It was a disaster to say the least. More so given Nintendo decided to make GBA titles exclusive to the Wii U in a desperate bid to push sales of that console. Even when they were winding down the eShop they never discounted any Virtual Console games for some odd reason. With the Switch, classic games are locked behind a Nintendo Switch Online subscription which also requires an internet connection to use the corresponding apps (Save Data is stored locally though). It would be worth it if each console represented had huge libraries but this drip of 1 to 4 new tiles every few months isn’t gonna cut it. This is why Retro gaming fans will largely continue to rely on emulation via piracy.
Episode 5 ends with a pretty interesting critique about the Switch’s eShop. They basically accuse Nintendo of “choosing quantity over quality” for the thousands of mobile games and D-grade indie titles available on the eShop, even referencing the crash of 1983. Honestly, I first noticed it with the 3DS and I’ve got mixed feelings on Nintendo allowing mobile game companies to sell games through the eShop. On the one hand there are some bonafide gems like Raw Fury’s Kingdom games, Concerned Ape’s Stardew Valley and Endemic Creation’s Plague Inc. On the other hand you have a whole bunch of crap like Dungeon Village. This is to say nothing of Hentai/Ecchi-themed games and Visual Novels that are heavily censored globally–largely to stay as far from the AO (Adults Only) tag as possible–but aren’t even decent games overall. It’s not just because they’re on Nintendo’s platform because it’s also true for Sexually Explicit Steam games. If you’re looking for games with uncensored porn, they’re not hard to find online but I won’t digress further.
While I do think the Switch’s eShop has far too much low-quality mobile app store crap like the 3DS eShop did in its final years, folks need to keep in mind–and the docuseries left this out likely because they didn’t do their research–Nintendo acquired the mobile company DeNA in 2015. Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes were both made in tandem with DeNA. Nintendo partnered with Niantic for the development of Pokemon Go and Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee. In other words, Nintendo’s relationships with Niantic and DeNA are mutually beneficial: In exchange for helping to bring Nintendo IPs to mobile markets, Nintendo will platform select mobile games as-is in its own eShop for wider distribution. In other words, all those mobile games on the eShop is Nintendo holding up their end of the partnership. It’s the price of doing business more or less.
It is a fact mobile app stores have become far too oversaturated with D-grade Freemium games that are largely about exploiting consumers and making them burn holes in their wallets with Gacha and Pay to Win mechanics. That’s because those “games” are primarily about making money. Genshin Impact’s massive popularity truly opened the floodgates of Gacha on console plaforms and on that note. While the ideal is for longtime developers like Capcom, Sega and Namco Bandai to positively influence mobile game developers, the reverse is clearly also happening: Established developers have learned a lot of the same microtransaction models common in the mobile market and implemented them in console games. Pokemon Shuffle (3DS) says hi. It’s not overtly exploititive but Fire Emblem Heroes uses Gacha for the Hero Summoning mechanic. It’s not pushed on consumers and even better, you get a lot of monthly opportunities to get free Summons.
All that said and in closing. As the docuseries points out, Nintendo learned to adapt when it needed to just to survive as a company over the course of 140 years. After 40 years in the video game industry, Nintendo has built up the equity to basically do whatever they want. More so given the company understands general expectations of them from consumers are pretty low. That gives them a LOT of creative freedom to say the least. When you want to play cutting edge games with the best specs, go with Playstation or Xbox. If you want tradition and familiarity, go with Nintendo. Even people who don’t play or even like video games have at least heard of Nintendo, Mario or Pikachu after all.
It also helps this iconic track is the most recognized piece of video game music in the world even among non-gamers:
Here’s the orchestral version:
I know some of you are shocked to know The Overworld Theme from the Legend of Zelda series is more known and recognized than The Overworld Theme from the original Super Mario Bros. AND Pokemon. LOZ’s Overworld Theme has appeared in every single game in the series and is basically its signature as much as Link is to say the least.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t provide a copy of the Sheet Music for it:
YouTube is full of people playing it on their pianos so…yeah. By the way Koji Kondo also composed the Overworld Theme for Super Mario Bros. and he IS mentioned in the docuseries. Here’s a video of him playing it:
It’s more than fair to say his iconic music from two different franchises will be around long after he’s gone. I am hoping we’ll actually get to see a Mario x Link crossover game in the near future though!
Before I forget. Kondo also did the music for the Fire Emblem and Super Smash Bros. games. Who did Pokemon? Junichi Masuda.
Bird Studio, which was the studio Toriyama worked with for many years broke the news online for the international community with this written statement:
In case the image breaks, Toiyama actually passed away on March 1 from complications caused by a blood condition. The statement also reveals Toriyama’s family already held a private funeral for him and that was why there was a delay in sharing the news with the world. The statement notes Toriyama was involved with several projects when he died but they all can and likely will be completed without him.
Toriyama created the iconic Dragonball franchise 35 years ago. He also created the Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest franchise in collaboration with Enix which is now Square Enix. Although Toriyama stopped drawing Manga full time over 10 years ago, he continued to do work in the industry. His contributions are sure to be remembered until the end of time.
52 years after the world’s first home video game console was released–the Magnavox Oddyssey–could we be in the final generation of home video game consoles?
If you listen to some third party developers, maybe. An Ubisoft spokesman drew a lot of backlash from gamers onlime when he said “Gamers should get used to no longer owning [physical copies of] the games they play”. Personally, I think he was right to say that.
For over 20 years, most PC gamers downloaded the games they play directly to their computers. Then about 15 years ago Netflix introduced Streaming and the world hasn’t been the same since. The now defunct Playstation Now streaming service allowed you to stream select games with a Playstation Plus subscription. Not just via the PS3 and PS4 but via your smartphone or tablet too. The drawback to that was it required a high-speed internet connection even with “offline” single player games. Ultimately, Playstation shut it down since not that many people used it.
This brings me back to the age-old debate among console gamers: Physical or Digital?
It wasn’t until the PS3/Xbox 360/Wii/DSi/PSP era that this really became a big debate. That gen marked the first time consoles were packaged with Hard Drives or used mass storage devices which not only stored Save Data but could also store full retail games as well as photos, music, TV Episodes and Movies. You weren’t just buying a video game console but in the case of the Playstation and Xbox consoles a media entertainment console. Both the Xbox and Playstation consoles could also play DVDs (All Xbox consoles, PS3, PS4 and PS5) and Blu Ray discs (PS3, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S) in addition to everything else. Why own a Blu Ray player when you could just buy a video game console that could also act as one? Want to use a traditional remote? You can buy one for your console too. I sure did with the Xbox 360, PS3 and PS4 myself.
About 15 years ago, Nintendo pulled itself out of the gamer-perceived “console wars” to focus on doing its own thing. Unlike the other console makers, Nintendo’s consoles largely remain video game consoles. Sure they added apps for YouTube, Crunchyroll and Netflix to the recent consoles but that’s about it. The Wii U and 3DS were also the first Nintendo consoles you could buy retail games with. The DSi and Wii didn’t allow that since they didn’t allow for too much storage. When I bought my Switch two years ago, I bought a 1TB MicroSD Memory Card. It’s not available in stores so I had to get it from Amazon but it was a good investment since most of the Switch games I do own are digital. I currently have 21 physical Switch games in comparison. eShop sales are largely the reason why I have so many games digital. Why pay more for a physical game when I can get it digital on sale for less?
Yes, the eShop does put retail games on sale on a weekly basis. I paid $35 for Skyrim Anniversary Edition digital last year for example. Regular price was $70. I’ve seen The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III and IV on sale up to half off a few times. The only reason I haven’t bought them yet is because I happen to not have the money when I see them on sale (no way I’m buying ’em full price). The same is true for The Witcher III: Complete Edition on that note. I recently got Metal Gear Solid 1 digital on sale for $15 (regular price $20; includes MGS1: VR Missions MSX versions of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 along with some other goodies worth way more than $20). I actually still own the original Playstation version AND the Gamecube remake too. So, no way did I need three physical copies of the same game.
All that said and getting back on topic. I get those who make the arguement “At least with physical games, you can still access the game after the console’s online store and/or online capabilities eventually shut down. Once those shut down, you lose the game forever if your internal storage device fails”. I get all that but but in my experience, digital is and always will be safer for me than physical. I’ve had three physical 3DS games, Two Game Boy Advance games, 2 PS3 games, 1 PSP game and three Xbox 360 games fail on me. I take care of my games but for whatever reason, some physical games just arbitrarily decided to stop working on me. I’ve never had that problem with digital games though. I still have the PSP Go I bought secondhand in 2011. It still works now on that note.
The launch of the Steam platform 20 years ago changed gaming in ways not really felt until the mid-2010s. It is the largest video game platform in the world despite not having a dedicated home console for most of its existence. After years of teasing the development of a dedicated home console, let’s just say the Steam Deck was a mixed bag of kittens. On the one hand it’s portable and can be connected via HDMI cable to a TV or monitor. On the other hand, it has a steep price point range of $350 to $650 depending on the storage size you get (the 64GB and 512GB versions are being phased out and the 256GB version has a permanent price drop). The $650 version comes with 1TB storage which will basically have you set for life. I don’t have a Steam Deck but when I get the same kind of Financial Windfall that I had when I got my Switch, I’m getting one. Hopefully by then, a more “traditional” Steam home console will be out or announced.
That brings me to the Xbox Series S and the PS5 “Slim”. Both consoles were market tests for digital-only home console gaming. Like I said earlier, the idea is largely considered heresy among most console gamers and especially collectors. While local storage for consoles have been getting bigger over the last 16 years and support third party external and internal storage, until now they predominantly leaned on physical games. My PS4 Pro has a 1TB Hard Drive but when you subtract the preformatting and system software, you’re left with about 650GB storage. My Switch OLED came with 32GB internal Storage but I still needed to get a memory card for it anyway. 32GB’s not that much being why. Video game files are MASSIVE after all. The more storage you have to work with, the better. This is one area PC gaming has long had a distinct advantage on that note. More so now that console games have been coming to the PC largely via Steam and Xbox Live.
The video game industry has a pretty good reason to collectively pursue going 100% digital: Mass-producing and shipping physical games expensive and more so with real world events at play. This is to say nothing of the fact in general, video game consoles are sold at a loss–often at less than a quarter of what it cost to make–with the expectation console makers will recoup the financial losses from selling the console for a fraction what they spent to make them via overall software (video game) sales per sonsole. Mass Production of video game cartridges in the first two decades of gaming certainly wasn’t cheap. It’s no wonder Sony decided to enter the console market for themselves via the Playstation brand in the mid-1990s after a planned collaboration with Nintendo fell through. One of the reasons the Playstation 1 did so well is because unlike the Nintendo 64, Playstation games were on formatted CDs which were far cheaper to mass-produce than cartridges. I still remember paying $70 for Pokemon Stadium 2 over two years after the game was released (it was a New copy on that note).
Nintendo gave the CD format a try with the Gamecube, Wii and Wii U before deciding to go back to its roots with the Switch. Switch Game Cards, like PS Vita game cards allow for high-capacity storage though obviously there is still some compression that goes on. This obvious in games released cross-platform such as Skyrim and Tales of Vesperia. I own both of those games on the Xbox 360, PS4, Steam and Switch (bought in that order). All that said. Any gamer’s biggest fear is accidently breaking the game disc they paid $40 to $70 for while taking it out the game case or console. Second to that is obviously the game disc or game card getting lost or stolen. Shit happens as the saying goes. None of those problems exist when you go digital.
Me, I do a bit of both but more recently I favor digital. Not having to swap game cards or discs being why personally but that’s just me. Here’s another point PC gamers have largely had over the last 20 years: Once you install the game, you never need the disc again unless it’s to reinstall the game. With Steam, you can simply redownload the game as much as you want for life. Even after the game is deplatformed. On a related note. Another reason Valve is going back to the drawing board with making a proper home console is because most of the world accesses then internet via their smartphone or tablet.
Most premade computers–the kind you can buy in a store I mean–come a SSD Hard Drive as the system drive which is faster but lower capacity than HDD-format hard drives. When I say lower capacity I mean 250GB max on average. More so if we’re talking about an ultra thin laptop which also typically lacks an internal disc drive. That also means you’re certain to need to buy either an external hard drive and external CD drive (laptop or Chromebook) or an internal HDD to act as a second drive (Desktop PC). HDDs have more storage but are slower. This is why PC makers have switched over to the SSD format for the system drive. Fortunately, the price of external hard drives have been falling in recent years to help meet the demand for them.
Moving on. I talked about this in a recent post but over 80% of Gaming History is lost forever because they were never re-released after their initial release on older consoles. Microsoft recently buying Bethesda and Activision Blizzard has instantly made Xbox the second-biggest brand in the industry in terms of its library and gaming history overall. The only brand bigger is of course Nintendo.
As a video game company, Nintendo has been around since the 1980s. It outlasted Sega in the 1980s and 90s. It went toe to toe with the Playstation in both the home console (N64, PS1, Gamecube, PS2, Wii, PS3, Wii U, PS4, Switch and PS5) and handheld markets (GBA, PSP, Nintendo DS, 3DS, PS Vita and Switch). When Microsoft entered the console market 20 years ago with the Xbox brand, Nintendo decided to take itself out of the perceived “console wars” and focus on innovation. Although they are technically competators, it’s no secret both Sony and Microsoft took some innvations Nintendo introduced and went on to make them industry standard to this day. Remember the Rumble Pak? No? Maybe you remember when Sony introduced the Dual Shock controller. They got the idea from the Nintendo 64’s Rumble Pak prehep. Introduced with Starfox 64, the add-on prehep allowed you to feel the game. Future N64 games would also make use of the Rumble Pak. Sony incorporated the feature in every controller they ever made as did Xbox. Everyone remembers the Wii remote but do you remember the cameras made for the Xbox 360 and PS3? I had them both myself. They allowed you to play some games without a controller and were used further the development of augmented reality technologies.
Fast forward to now. Microsoft has been urging both Sony and Nintendo to preserve their gaming history. That may be the real reason Microsoft greenlit some iconic Rareware games originally released on the SNES and N64 now being available via the Nintendo Switch Online (NSO). I’m talking about Goldeneye 007, Banjo-Kazooie and more recently, Killer Instinct. They know these were games gamers were begging for ever since they bought Rareware 20 years ago. This also adds a lot of value to the NSO for fans of those specific games. It’ll be real interesting to see if Square-Enix adds the Game Boy Advance versions of the Final Fantasy games. I still have the GBA versions of FF1, FF2, FFIV and FFVI on that note.
Did I forget to mention Nintendo is looking into working with Steam? I mean putting games on the platform. My guess is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Wonder, Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Fire Emblem Engage are on their short list of games they know would sell like crazy on Steam. The day Nintendo crosses into PC gaming would probably be the beginning of the end of dedicated home consoles. Sony makes PCs so there’s that. I do think we will see at least one more new Nintendo, Playstation and Xbox console though.
Sony was originally planning to make the handheld console it’s developing for streaming your PS5 games but they already did that with the Vita and there’s PS3/4/5 Link Apps for the phone and tablets. Now it’s being reworked to be a standalone handheld that can play PS5 games digitally and will also have its own games so we’ll see. That’s separate from the hypothetical PS6 on that note. I do think the next Nintendo console gamers have been speculating to be the Switch’s successor will likely be like the New Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DSi: Same gen, new features. It’s very unlikely Nintendo is going to announce a true successor to the Switch this year, next year or even in 2026 for that matter. The Switch has plenty of gas left in the tank being why. I do think the next Xbox console will be the last simply because Microsoft is looking to expand its Xbox Games Library to work on PCs as well as be streamed via smartphones and tablets. I mean being able to play your Xbox games without one of their consoles.
This is also why speculation Xbox is looking to put Xbox Live on both the PS5 and Switch is so intriguing: Microsoft is clearly looking to get the Xbox brand out of the console-making business and focus on software. In exchange, they’d work with Sony and Nintendo to make the Xbox library available on other platforms. As of this month, 98% of Xbox’s entire gaming history can be played on the Xbox Series X|S. The 2% that aren’t are primarily games that used motion controls or are third party games Xbox was legally required to deplatform. Physical original Xbox games are 100% compatible with the Xbox Series X console on that note.
All that said and in closing. If the industry really wants gamers to embrace digital-only gaming–even the “never digital” crowd–then they should all adopt all of the following positions and policies:
Digital versions of retail games should always be at least half the price of the physical version. This is easily issue #1. When people see the pricing doesn’t matter between Digital and Physical, they’re far less incentivized to go digital. More so after decades of their claims they lose money to preowned sales from stores like Gamestop. Instead of undercutting the secondhand market which they easily could have done, game makers thought passing the increased costs on to consumers was a better idea. This is to say nothing of the Season/Expansion Pass for high-profile IPs which they claim is to once again offset losses to the secondhand market. At least 95% of the console games I ever bought digital for more than $20 I made sure to only buy when they were on sale. There is no reason or need for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to STILL be selling for $60 physical and digital–in addition to the Season Pass–over 6 years after it was released for example.
Consumers should have lifetime access to purchased digital games even after new consoles are released and online services for the console games were released on are shut down. This is the biggest reason the “never digital” crowd refuses to budge and it’s understandable. This is largely directed at Nintendo and Sony. The Wii, Wii U and Nintendo DS family consoles didn’t have unified online systems. When online services for those consoles shut down, anyone who still owned those consoles could no longer redownload their digital games. Imagine spending over $100 to $300 on digital content for a console and then one day 10+ years later the console randomly malfunctions and all data is lost forever. I had something like that happen when I attempted to migrate my Virtual Console assets from my Wii to a Wii U. The purchase history did not merge with my eShop account on the Wii U but it was deleted from the Wii so all those purchases were wiped out forever. With the 3DS, Nintendo shut down everything EXCEPT the Pokemon Bank App (now free to use) which is needed to migrate Pokemon to the Pokemon Home Apps. The Pokemon Transporter App, which is needed to migrate Pokemon to Pokemon Home from the Game Boy Virtual Console Pokemon games as well as the 5th Gen Pokemon games also still works since it requires an internet connection to use. They were originally going to shut down forever a few months back but Nintendo announced they would continue to support Poke Bank and Poke Transporter “for the foreseeable future” while urging people to migrate any Pokemon they want to use in the 8th and 9th Gen games to Pokemon Home. As for the PS3. With online services for the PSP permanently shut down, the only way to update that console’s digital library is via connecting it to a PS3. You can still buy and download PSP games from a Vita but any PSP games you purchased can still be downloaded to a PS3 and then installed to a PSP. The same is true for movies and TV Shows. The PS4 and PS5 do not have this same connectivity function so if you have a PSP and/or a Vita, you will also need a PS3.
Physical games should be registered to your digital library the first time you run it on a console for future redownloading purposes. The PS5 actually introduced this for those who have PS4 versions of games also released on the PS5. When you play a game for the first time, it’s added to the console’s “Games Played” List largely for achievement and statistics tracking. What’s that? “What about games acquired via the Secondhand Market?” Well, if the game is detected as having been registered to another account before, you can pay $5 to $10 to register it to your account. Even if you choose not to register the physical game acquired secondhand, you can still play it normally on your console including Saving and Cloud Saving.
Introduce Desktop App and Mobile App versions of past and present consoles: This is the big one and Microsoft is already moving to do this with the Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles. They’re making it so you can stream and/or download and play Xbox games on your computer, phone or tablet. The only requirement is having a console registered to your Xbox Live account. Unlike the PS4 Link and PS5 Link apps, the Xbox console does not need to be on for you to stream your Xbox games. Just fire up the app and you’re good to go. You can also connect a wireless controller to a computer, phone or table via Bluetooth for those who might not know. I actually three PS4 controllers. The one that came with the console I use with the console but then I later bought two more PS4 controllers. One I use with my Desktop to play Steam ports of console games and the third controller I use with my iPad for certain games, the Steam Link app and the PS4 Link app. I have an external PS4 controller charging station for the two extra controllers on that note. Yes, you can connect the current and previous gen Playstation and Xbox xontrollers to non-console devices via Bluetooth. The same is true for the Switch Propad Controllers and wireless legacy controllers (NES, SNES, Genesis and N64). To pair them with non-console devices, press and hold the “Home” button and the “Select/Share” Button on the controller until the controller starts flashing rapidly for about 10 second. Search for the controller from the device’s Bluetooth settings you want to use it with to pair them. To Unpair them, you can either delete it from the device’s Bluetooth settings or resync the controller with another device. I only play single player so I don’t have a need for a second console controller on that note.
“Complete Edition” versions of Past Consoles and Games: This would be huge but could be difficult for Nintendo and Sony to pull off since it would be a MASSIVE financial investment to just attempt. With Microsoft, it would simply be a matter of mass production since like I mentioned earlier, 98% of the Xbox’s gaming history is still accessible now. Imagine Microsoft releasing a “Complete Edition” version of the Xbox 360 100% compatible with physical Xbox 360 games and original Xbox games. It would also have all the features the original Xbox 360 had during its lifespan and would also come with the motion camera. As a bonus, the disc drive is upgraded to play Ultra 4K Blu Ray discs and comes with a 4TB internal Hard Drive. In addition, you could order direct from Microsoft an External Hard Drive containing all the games you want for $150 each. That way, you’re not maxing out the storage space on the primary drive. The console would sell for $350. I could see a lot of people buying one personally. It wasn’t that long ago both Sony and Nintendo market tested legacy consoles with the Playstation Mini and NES Classic. They proved there IS a market for retro gaming console. Imagine a Complete Edition version of the Nintendo DS. The entire Nintendo DS library is about 83GB so Nintendo could release a 100GB Nintendo DSi. It would contain every game for the console ever and the extra storage would be for taking screenshots, video clips and pictures with the cameras. As a bonus, it can also run physical Nintendo DS games. A DS Lite variant would let you pla Game Boy Advance games like the original DS and DS Lite though. It would sell for $150 and most people would STILL buy at least two. Finally, Imagine a Complete Edition version of the Playstation 2. The entire U.S. Library of PS2 games can fit on a 4TB Hard Drive. Imagine Sony does that while ALSO making it 100% compatible with PS2 and PS1 games AND memory cards. In fact it would come with a Memory Card Import App so you can simply copy your save data from 24 years ago to the new console. It’s the reason I’m still holding on to my PS1 and PS2 memory cards! As a bonus you can use wireless PS3, PS4 and PS5 controllers with the PS2 CE and the Disc Drive is upgraded to run Ultra 4K Blu Ray discs. It would sell for $250 and people would STILL buy it would would be quite the coincidence: The PS2 is the most successful console EVER and has sold over 158 million units globally as of February 2024.
…That’s my wish list.
By the way the Nintendo DS is second at 154 milion units sold globally as of February 2024. What’s #3? The Nintendo Switch which probably will pass the Nintendo DS by the end of this year with people buying a second Switch console. Honestly I do think the Switch has a real shot at passing the PS2 for the top spot so we’ll see. I think it may be the real reason Nintendo merged its handheld and home console divisions via the Switch and it’s clearly worked. I certainly plan to buy a second Switch console once my financial situation allows it. Either another OLED or a Switch Lite so we’ll see.
All that said and in closing. I do think there will be at least one more hardware gen but the console makers are clearly preparing for what comes after that. I’m speculating when I say this but we will likely see at least four major home consoles in the next and likely final console gen:
Playstation 6
The Switch’s Successor
Next Xbox Console
Steam’s Home Console
Of the four, I think we’ll see Steam’s home console first. They already tested the hardware market with the Steam Deck and based on the restructuring they’re doing with that right now, it looks like they’re working on getting a home console ready for either later this year or next year. The Switch’s successor will probably be announced in 3 or 4 years. The Switch still has at least 3 more good years left in it being why. The Xbox Series X|S and PS5 are both about halfway through their lifespans so we probably won’t hear anything about their successors until 2027 or 2028 the earliest.
This is all to say nothing of the new Playstation 5 handheld currently being reworked as a standalone handheld. Originally announced as a companion handheld for streaming your existing PS5 games, apparently Sony is going to rework it so that it can stream PS5 games and games from older Playstation libraries without requiring a PS5 console to run. Sony previously dabbled in streaming with the Playstation Now service so we’ll see.
I have been hearing rumblings Nintendo may be working on a Game Boy Classic and Game Boy Advance Classic consoles. Like the NES and SNES retro consoles, the rumored handhelds would come preloaded with select games. They both need to come with at least 50 games to be worth buying in my book. I would also assume you would be able to connect wirelessly with others. Time will tell.
As of this week, you can now get ALL of Warcraft and Diablo’s gaming history via the Battle.net Desktop App. About 6 years ago, GOG.com added all three games to their digital library. Now Blizzard finally got around to hosting the three classic games that were missing for a combined 30 years. Anyone who played a lot of games on the PC in the 1990s likely dropped a LOT of hours into just Diablo 1 (1997), the OG Warcraft (1994) or Starcraft 1 (1998). Those were the three pillars of Blizzard that turned then emerging PC gaming juggernaught into the decorated studio Blizzard would become by 2002.
This year may be World of Warcraft’s 20th Anniversary but Azeroth’s story began in Warcraft: Orcs and Humans which released back in 1994. The game combined resource management with RPG-style storytelling and Real-Time Strategy gameplay. Additional complexities were added in Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness which also introduced us to the Orcs’ homeworld Draenor–present-day Outland–for the first time via the Beyond the Dark Portal expansion.
Fast forward to 2002’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. The destruction of the Dark Portal dealt a crippling defeat and apathy to the Old Horde on Azeroth. Now a new Orc Champion–Thrall–emerges to lead his people to freedom on the distant continent Kalimdor across the ocean. No sooner do the Orcs leave that a devastating calamity befalls the Kingdom of Lordaeron. Prince Arthas Menethil rides into battle and in a desperate bid to save his kingdom, trades his soul for power. On Kalimdor, the Night Elves emerge to defend their lands from both the Orcs and Humans who have recently arrived on the continent. The three races end up working together to deal with an ancient, world-ending threat from beyond the stars. In The Frozen Throne expansion, the Death Knight Arthas leads the Scouge in the service of the very power he once sought to destroy. Arthas turns on Lordaeron and sacks the Kingdom of Quel’Thalas. Illidan Stormrage and others head to Northrend in an effort to destroy the source of Arthas’ power: The Frozen Throne. Heeding his dark master’s call for aid, Arthas returns to Northrend and not only defeats Illidan in single combat but becomes the Second Lich King. Two years later, 2004’s World of Warcraft MMO goes live and the rest is history.
While Diablo 1 was quite the impactful intro to Blizzard’s second major IP after Warcraft, Diablo II raised the bar and is largely considered the best of the (so far) four main series games. The 2021 remake Diablo II: Resurrected gives you the option of playing the game in either 2D or 3D on all platforms–and switching between them at any time–which is a nice touch. The remake also added in-game cutscenes like Diablo III, WoW and Starcraft II have which was an awesome addition. By the time Diablo III released in 2012, most fans of Diablo II largely got tired of waiting for it due to how much time and resources Blizzard had been pouring into WoW over the last 8 years. More so after Starcraft II dropped two years earlier. Blizzard actually offered Diablo III for free to everyone who agreed to stay subbed to WoW for 12 months ahead of the release of WoW’s then 5th expansion Mists of Pandaria. That’s how I got my PC copy of D3 though personally, I saw that as Blizzard’s way of apologizing to Diablo fans who felt largely abandoned by Blizzard. D3 would become the first game in the series to get console releases. I have the game as well as DII:R digital on my Switch on that note as well as the PC versions of both.
When Starcraft 1 dropped in 1998, it instantly became the most popular RTS game on the PC EVER. The game was so popular, Blizzard actually released a console version with its expansion Brood Wars on the Nintendo 64 in 2000. That would be the only time either Starcraft game would get a console release. 12 years after the first game’s release, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty released in 2010. Like Diablo fans, Blizzard kept fans waiting over a decade for the sequel. The game’s story picks up about four years after the events of Brood Wars. James Raynor searches for a way to stop and and hopefully save the life of Sarah Kerrigan, now leading the Zerg as the Queen of Blades. He is also at odds with Arcturus Mensk, leader of the Dominion that betrayed both him and Kerrigan for political power. After being rescued by Raynor, Sarah Kerrigan embarks on a journey of rediscovery that takes her back to the Zerg Homeworld in the first expansion Heart of the Swarm. She once again becomes the Queen of Blades but this time she maintains control of herself. She then turns her attention to Mensk, the man who once left her for dead to the Zerg years earlier. Her vengeance achieved, Kerrigan leads the Zerg back to the stars in preparation for a future battle to decide the fate of the universe that will involve all three races. In the second expansion Legacy of the Void, the scattered Protoss factions band together for their own survival. With last-minute help from Raynor and Kerrigan, the Protoss reclaim their homeworld. Now united, the Protoss return the favor and enter an uneasy but necessary alliance with the Terrans and Zerg to take on a mutual threat to the entire universe.
I super summarized the stories for all three of Blizzard’s main IPs but play the games yourself. While most Starcraft fans hated Legacy of the Void’s ending, there is no denying the meat of the Starcraft II is its various online match-making modes against both players and offline against A.I. that adjusts the more you play against it regardless of your difficulty settings. We likely won’t see a Starcraft III due to how the story ended and Blizzard announced several years back the current version of Starcraft II is the FINAL edition of the game. Meaning there will be no more major updates for the game. Honestly, it’s pretty sad and more so given Blizzard could probably make a Starcraft III if they really wanted to. There’s definitely some lose ends from Starcraft II that could be explored in a followup game.
World of Warcraft’s next three expansions were recently announced while Diablo IV dropped last year on both PC and consoles. At the very least, Blizzard’s other two big IPs–Warcraft and Diablo–will be around for quite a while longer yet. Now you can play ALL of the games via Battle.net!
The game I am referring to is of course Palworld. Dubbed “Pokemon with Guns”, the game Freemium game has been released on every platform except the Switch so far. As of Thursday morning it has reached 8 million unique downloads.
Palworld is controversial not because it’s a “Pokemon Clone” but because of the fact all 151 critters in the game clearly look like a Pokemon or two each. As in the assets are the same. One of Palworld’s developers issued a statement on the controversy by claiming all 151 critters–which were created using generative A.I.–are “100% original” and “Look nothing like any Pokemon”. The problem is that’s not true and it’s basically inviting Pokemon’s copyright owners to sue them. Ask anyone who’s been sued by Nintendo for copyright infringement and they’ll tell you: Nintendo doesn’t hold back. Not only do they request financial compensation but also want you to pay for all legal fees after they finish with you in court.
The Pokemon Company has already taken legal action against Palworld. They issued a DMCA Cease and Desist order to kill a mod that literally replaces the game’s assets with assets from the Pokemon games and anime. Ok, everyone who knew about the mod was expecting that. Personally, I do think The Pokemon Company IS preparing to get the game shut down outright. Right now they’re likely in the evidence-gathering phase for the litigation to come. Some social media attorneys are claiming the burden of proof is on Nintendo to prove Palworld plagiarized Pokemon. Actually, it’s the exact opposite. Palworld needs to prove in court the design choices of their 151 critters were not based on Pokemon’s assets. No question Palworld’s legal team will argue they used Generative A.I. to design the critters and that’s where they’re gonna lose ultimately. It will be impossible for them to prove in court they never heard of Pokemon before making their game so…yeah.
As a reminder, there’s been several so-called “Pokemon Killers” over the years and they all have the same thing in common: They were not worthy and just couldn’t hang let alone stand in Pokemon’s MASSIVE shadow.
Digimon is the most well known “Pokmon clone”–as well as being the first–but it has a lot of obvious differences. Despite the storylines and presentations being vastly superior to Pokemon–let’s be honest, the majority of the 1000+ Pokemon largely lack individuality and personality–it couldn’t match Pokemon in both video games AND Anime. Pokemon has LONG enjoyed the benefit of having cross-generational, cross-national and cross-cultural appeal. Digimon has always been Japan-centric culturally and that’s why it never really took off internationally in the same way Pokemon did. I know a lot of people who will tell you without hesitation they will always prefer Digimon over Pokemon overall and that’s fine. Digimon knows its audience and they’re not gonna be hurting for money anytime soon.
All that said and in closing. I have never played Palworld and I never will. The genre is largely why. I just don’t find games like that “fun” personally. When I make up my mind about not being interested in something, it’s a waste of time trying to convince me of otherwise.
Before I forget: Pokemon is jointly owned by The Pokemon Company, Game Freak and Nintendo. The Pokemon Company is the main copyright owner while Game Freak jointly develops the games with Nintendo which also owns distribution rights.
Although I bought it in the Spring, I largely played the game off and on throughout the year. I played up to the final battle before putting the game aside to play other games. When I finally bothered to beat the game today, I finally realized why I didn’t feel the same sense of satisfaction I felt when I beat Three Houses one year ago yesterday about a month after buying it: No New Game+.
Like Three Houses, Engage has a few grind-heavy features. Most notably SP. The game seemingly sets itself up for the presence of New Game+ but shockingly, there is none. What this means is if you start a new game, nothing is carried over. It also means you’re likely one and done once you beat the game. I know I am and I also understood without knowing at the time why I resisted beating the game until now: Because there is no reason or desire to play it again. I’ve never felt that way about any other game in the series on that note. As a reminder, Engage IS a main series title.
Overall, I give Fire Emblem Engage a 7/10. I can’t bring myself to give it a higher rating than that personally. I am that disappointed and more so given the game also has an Expansion Pass that was largely underwhelming compared to 3H. Yes it adds five new characters and seven new Emblems to the game but the lack of a NG+ takes away from that.
I’m sure the Switch will be at least one more new main series Fire Emblem Switch game. Hopefully it’s a game with replay value.
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