I'm just coming back here from the future to say that I 100% called Super Sonic being a regular ability this time!

That makes me think, though. If all of the 'titan' bosses are fought using Super Sonic, the actual final boss is probably gonna need something more to beat.

Back when I was a kid, I called myself 'NamelessHero' like a total edgelord.

...huh, that's a good point.

Boy there's a lot. There was a Beyblade game on the Gamecube that is straight-up the worst game I have ever bought. I barely remember it, because I beat it in just a couple hours and sent it back, but wow was it bad. The big thing I remember was the announcer only having 2 lines that he repeated during matches every couple seconds.

It definitely had some great games, but I will not forgive it for making 'waggle' popular and causing Nintendo to become obsessed with gimmicks for a while.

Quest 64, in a 'so bad it's good' kind of way.

Yeah, I found myself skipping through a lot of it. Farm sims are not my thing, neither is Pikmin, and Fire Emblem Engage seems like a fanservice game, more like Fates and Awakening than Three Houses.

The surprise hit of the direct for me was RainCode, that supernatural detective game from the minds behind Danganrompa. It just looks fun.

I can't help but notice that boss fight (and super sonic transformation) is on the first island. Makes me think that Super Sonic might be a regular thing this time around, instead of just being for the final battle.

Sega's latest marketing scheme is making 2000s era music montages using the Frontiers soundtrack. That's probably the best thing they've come up with so far.

"I'm here"

I dunno. Some games do something unique with the idea, like Hades. But yeah, a lot of indie roguelikes would likely be better as more structured games.

Hot take: The same thing applies to indie Metroidvanias.

Doing stuff you are clearly not supposed to be doing and getting away with it.

I guess I'm the guy supplying new info to Newgrounds about Frontiers. Sure, I'm happy to keep doing that.

Sonic Frontiers had a playable demo at Gamescom a while ago, and this demo turned out to be bugged. Normally, it was supposed to let people play for 15 minutes, then return to the start. Instead, the demo would end, the person playing would leave, and the next person up would actually continue where the last person left off. So there's hours worth of new content flying around the internet that Sega's trying to take down. It's hilarious.

I've made up my mind to get the game already, so I only looked into this enough to confirm that it's real. Basically, there's a ton of spoilers flying around. Up to you if you want to go digging.

Chalk me up among the crowd that didn't realize Cult of the Lamb had Newgrounds blood in it until now. Looking at the game again, it's pretty obvious. I'm thinking about participating, though I've never made anything more than pencil sketches, so don't expect much.

Yup. Found a Youtube vid showing it off here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mZKoejwKOs

Gameplay is literally Brawlhalla (minus items), right down to being F2P, so that's the game I'd rather compare it to. That said, Multiversus is way better on account of having actual characters with unique movesets.

Not even remotely similar. Doomguy isn't even in the military anymore, as of the reboots. Tankman does not shut up, and Doomguy is a silent protag. You can't really compare them at all.

With that said, I like Doomguy more.

Since the third game is coming out in two days as of this writing, I think it's a good time to start the hype train. What do we like about Xenoblade? What are we hoping for?

For me, every Xenoblade game has their own strengths and weaknesses, but every single one has a gorgeous and imaginative world to explore, and 3 will probably be the same.

The Simpsons arcade game was my go to back when I was a kid.

Since no one responded to this topic, I feel obligated to put in my two cents, even though I'm largely in the same boat as you; tried to get into traditional fighting games a few times, but never could.

The hardest thing to come to grips with, the thing that I could not deal with, is how much practice you need to do before you even start playing with other people. To really master a single character, you need to figure out a lot. What attacks are good in a neutral situation? You hit that attack? Go on to that combo route. Hit that same button in the corner? Do this route instead. Opponent blocked? Go this route to try and either maximize safety, or mix up an opponent? What are your options for getting out of trouble? How do you react when both you and your opponent jump at each other at the same time? You look up guides and/or figure things out yourself, and then practice every possible scenario until you get it down to muscle memory. This is a process that can potentially take days for complex fighting games like Guilty Gear. And that's all before getting into a match with another person, and all the mind-games that come with that.

In summary, practice until you can do everything on command, look up anything you don't know, then practice even more. If you're the sort that can get behind this sort of methodical work ethic, it's incredibly satisfying to reach that level. Don't feel bad if it's too daunting, though. There's a reason 2d fighting games are niche.

...Well, let's attempt to get things back on track around here.

There hasn't been a lot of new stuff worth talking about since the Switch showcase, but there has been a little. This time it's mostly story-related. Sega claims this is gonna be a much more serious story than we're used to. It would be nice, but they made that exact same promise with Sonic Forces and look how that turned out, so I'll believe it when I see it...except they actually have shown two promising tidbits.

First was that 10 second teaser of Knuckles guarding the master emerald before everything starts shaking. Doesn't seem like much, but as far as I know, that's the first time Knuckles has been shown guarding the master emerald in a game since Sonic Adventure 2. That used to be Knuckles' whole thing, and when it was forgotten, he was reduced to being Sonic's bone-headed rival. It's a small thing, but it's enough to tease at Adventure era storytelling and characterizations.

Second is the reveal of the new villain, Sage. Officially, we know basically nothing about her other than that she just wants Sonic off her island, and that description leads me to think she's not the actual villain. More interesting is that she seems to be human, at least somewhat. That would make this the first time a humanoid character has appeared in a Sonic game since Unleashed.

So, yeah, a little bit more to talk about. I might be over-reacting with the Knuckles teaser, but maybe someone else here got the same feeling from it.

They kind of explained it. Monsters in Undertale are extremely sensitive to emotions. If someone comes at them with a strong intent to kill, they're thrown off by that and made vulnerable. And, yeah, the monsters are pretty weak too, having been beaten and sealed away by humans and all.

I was about to make an argument about how Banjo-Tooie is actually the first modern open-world game (at least, that I'm aware of), but @BlueKnightSkeleton beat me to it. I know it takes forever to get anything done in that game, but back when I was a dumb kid, all I cared about was that a game could keep me busy for a long time, and Tooie absolutely nailed that.

Just two more recommendations I didn't see here: Ib and Mad Father.

PROTECT THE BRIEFCASE!

So Hank came back from the dead in a couple of different episodes, right? What if instead of coming back from the dead straight up, he's been getting cloned? It would explain the red guys in Expurgation breaking out of Hell; they're all different incarnations of Hank coming back from the dead. There is precedent for this, since Deimos also came back, in a body separate from the one that actually died.

Not much hard evidence for that idea, but it could potentially lead to a finale where all the different versions of Hank from across the series team up to take down Auditor, and that sounds stupidly awesome.

Played through Child of Light a while back. It's a short, but fantastic Indie RPG and I would strongly recommend it.

It's hard to pick. A lot of mons have some sort of appeal. I think my favorite might be Sneasel, though.

Everyone's talked about the Mario factor, but I'd also add that Mario Kart is incredibly easy for people who don't play games to get into. No complex controls, no car damage, mistakes aren't punished very hard, and there are items to make sure everyone has a chance of winning. And yet, there is just enough depth for dedicated players to be able to get good and improve their chances of winning.

Edit: After looking at other mascot kart racers that didn't succeed, I wanted to add that there can't be too much depth. If there are too many advanced tools to let skilled players get ahead, the casual crowd can't catch up and loses interest.

Pretty obscure one, but I think my first time ever really 'noticing' a woman in a game that way was Belleza from Skies of Arcadia.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/art-belleza_4713.jpg

Sonic Adventure 2 is one of the foundations of my childhood. Kinda dumb at times, but also extremely fun and deep. Sonic Heroes was not as good, I could tell even as a kid, but I also got Sonic Mega Collection, and that game is everything Sonic Origins wishes it could be. It introduced me to the old games, the comics, the shows, and the history. I'd recommend anyone thinking about Origins to seek out the Mega Collection instead.

Shadow the Hedgehog burned me after that, and after seeing Sonic 06 in action, I decided to dip out and just observe from a distance. Funny enough, that's when I was properly introduced to the Sonic community. I didn't participate in events or anything, but I was aware of fangames, art, and, of course, the discourse. I love the fan content, but I do feel like the constant toxicity in the fanbase did help solidify my decision to stay away from Sonic games. And yet, I can't help but continue to keep an eye on developments in the community.

And then Sonic Mania happened. I picked it up on a whim, when the Nintendo Switch was new, and as someone who played all of the old games in the Mega Collection, I can say conclusively that Mania is the best Sonic game ever made. I still skipped Forces, though. I just hate the boost formula as a matter of personal taste, and community impressions didn't do anything to change my mind. But between Mania, the movies, and the upcoming Frontiers, I'm finally taking Sonic seriously for the first time since I was a little kid.