This Week in Games - Retro Jets, and EVO Reveals
Welcome back, folks! Portland Retro Gaming Expo has come and gone—and make no mistake, we'll talk about that. But I also beat the remastered Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver over the weekend. It's very short, and you can see the empty spaces where there would've been expansions for the game—the proposed Reaver forges and such. (The Remaster does a neat job of letting you explore some of these unfinished areas.) Amy Hennig's writing nevertheless stands out and endures, especially with that one conversation early in Soul Reaver 2 recontextualizing the entire series up until that point. It sure would be nice to get that follow-up to Legacy of Kain: Deception. And let that be proof that I also occasionally play games that aren't from Japan!
Portland Retro Gaming Expo Check-In
After missing Portland Retro Gaming Expo last year, I decided to visit this year. Hey, Gail Tinden was hosting a panel about her work in launching Pokémon in the U.S.; I didn't want to miss that! And, of course, there's the rest of PRGE to look forward to: artists, pinball machines, the Street Passes... I enjoyed Twitchcon last year because I got to meet a lot of internet buddies for the first time, but as an event, PRGE beats the crap outta Twitchcon. (And that's with this year's PRGE sadly falling victim to generative AI banners everywhere.)
I'm not kidding when I say the Street Passes are a big deal at PRGE. Even now, folks will take their 3DSes and walk around with them, and even if you're just walking through Artist Alley, you will fill up on passes quickly. It's one of the few times where you can possibly experience what the ideal for Street Passes was. It's a shame there's no way to get any of the missing Street Pass games (I wasn't able to buy them before the 3DS's wifi network was shut down). But considering my 3DS was a newer replacement from Nintendo, I put in work to regain some of my lost panels over the weekend. (Anyone who went to PRGE and Street Pass-ed a guy whose Mii was wearing a Meta Knight helmet and whose last software was "Izuna 2:" you found me!) It's genuinely fun, and for a lot of reasons it's why I hold a 3DS over any newer recreation that folks are making these days, even an Ayn Thor. There's just no beating the Street Pass experience. (That, and even new 3DS repros are incorporating The Plagiarism Machine That Kills People™, for some reason.)
That said, there's a tragedy inherent in how this event for retro games unfortunately fell victim to the speculator rot that infects the rest of the industry. Now, rare games have always existed, and they've always been pricey. I have a copy of Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure on PlayStation, and that game regularly goes for over US$100, because it was printed in limited quantities. There's a problem when Pokémon games are being sold for US$200. Pokémon Black 2 for US$200? Shenanigans. I saw three tables selling used copies of Xenogears, all priced at triple digits. One table had a copy marked at US$500. No game that people are meant to play is worth that much. Retro games used to be cheap; you could get NES games for pocket change. Now, they're just one more way for folks to try and make a quick buck. I was astonished to find one table selling a shrink-wrapped copy of Rodea the Sky Soldier for 3DS at just $30. (Of course, I bought it.)
The infection of people who've introduced the grift of speculation into hobby spaces, be they card games or retro games, isn't leaving our hobbies anytime soon. Card game spaces have adapted; the Pokémon Trading Card Game printed its 30th anniversary packs in excess, effectively undercutting scalpers (good riddance). Magic: The Gathering, meanwhile, introduced new rarities to encourage new pack sales. (Just another reason on top of a pile of existing reasons why I don't play Magic.) Retro games don't have many options for this kind of thing. I've seen folks float the idea of publishers producing newer, cheaper revisions of their older hardware; think a PS2 Slim(mer), along with physical reissues of older titles. It's a great idea! Even Hasbro has reissued older toys, like the classic Gen-1 Optimus Prime. It's a great way to entice newer collectors who can't afford a beat-up old copy, and great for younger folks who are interested in old stuff. But when it comes to games, I can sadly see why reissues of old hardware and software don't happen; only Nintendo seems to have the infrastructure to reissue many of their older first-party line-up. And understandably, nobody wants to compete against themselves and give people the opportunity to just live off of old product while new product gathers dust on store shelves. Plus, there's the issue of pricing; people already hollered when digital copies of Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen retailed for US$20, like it was a stabbing. A reissue of Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy wouldn't be cheaper than US$40.
There's no easy solution to any of this. But in the meantime, it's nice to be around like-minded fans and hobbyists. I got to meet the folks at Friend & Fairy, creators of the Petal Crash games, and playtest Petal Crash 2. Gail Tinden's panel was fascinating, although I never did get to ask about the alleged beefcake Pikachu redesign. And, of course, Jeremy Parish's panel about "bad" NES games and how he was able to work on a reimagining of the NES Jaws game was fascinating. (And he'll never know that the guy who wrote a thesis about his writing was the first guy into the room...!) As always, my takeaway for these kinds of events is that they're fantastic if you ever feel a malaise regarding fandom. You'll find your kind of people, and you'll all be able to celebrate what you love together. As always, community is the solution to a lot of societal ills.
Updates from EVO France
It was just a few months ago that I was bemoaning there being too many EVO tournaments, but at the very least: this EVO was a softball. There were some reveals that I think we can make time for.
The Tekken games have a long list of actual animals in their roster. Kuma, Panda, Kuma II, Gon... funny animals are no stranger to the Iron Fist Tournament, and as you can see by the animals listed, it's not unusual for the animals' kids to take up after them. (Knowing the original Kuma died of natural causes is rather bittersweet in a series like Tekken.) So here we have Roger Jr., son of the original Roger from Tekken 2. Although Roger Jr. might be female, since Roger Jr. has a joey in their pouch, and only female kangaroos have pouches...? Anyway, Roger Jr. is doing the old boxing routine (although their martial arts style is listed as "commando wrestling"). We even see a cute bit of Leroy fighting (and losing) against Roger Jr. to protect his dog. It's based on an old YouTube video. At any rate, Roger Jr. and their joey are cute. The powerscalers are going to have a field day with Roger Jr. punching folks to the Moon, but everyone else can enjoy the funny kangaroo dispensing the 'Straya Smackdowns this November.
We also got a good look at the final character in Tekken 8's current DLC wave: Baki The Grappler's Yujiro Hanma. Folks have been excited for this one, not just because Yujiro is a perfect fit for Tekken but also because everyone was thinking about what the lump of living muscle that is Yujiro would look like in Tekken. And he actually looks pretty okay! The realistic skin texture is a bit uncanny, but the animations have done a spectacular job of recreating Yujiro's movements. That slick jump where he goes from the splits to standing upright? Yep, that's the kind of physical mastery only Yujiro would have. Now we just have to see how they explain Yujiro actually losing fights in Tekken!
In other news, Arc System Works revealed the characters for Tōkon: Fighting Souls. We had already seen Phoenix Cyclops last week; this week they revealed Thor. Not Odinson, the other Thor. I appreciate that "Jane Foster" was put in parentheses, because she's still Thor when she has the hammer, since that's how the hammer works. Much like with the rest of Tōkon and its attempts at differentiating itself from the previous CAPCOM fighters, the decision to go with Thor instead of Odinson is along the same lines as including Carnage before Venom: they just wanted a unique roster. We saw the rest of the Year One DLC, and Venom's in there—along with Jubilee. That's pretty solid, from where I'm sitting. Also, I really love Peach Momoko's artwork for the characters. (She's been tapped for a lot of Marvel art lately, good for her. She's great.) Speaking of collabs, that's Keiichi Okabe supplying the tunes for Thor's stage, in case you were getting NieR: Automata vibes from the music. Phoenix Cyclops comes this November 2, and Thor arrives this Winter. Venom and Jubilee won't arrive until next year. Also, I saw someone point out: all of the characters in this wave of DLC have been specifically put into mind control at some point...
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve Racks Up 1 Million Sales
The rest of the gaming industry is keeping its eyes laser-focused on Grand Theft Auto VI's release this November, but we're still getting some major heavy-hitters besides. Bandai Namco is particularly happy, because Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve has been doing extremely well for them. How well? It's exceeded a million units sold within two weeks of its release. That's a record for the series!
Ace Combat is a real surprise of a success. The franchise has been around for 30 years (they celebrated their 30th anniversary last year), but while it's always boasted such fidelity for real-life jet models and given people all kinds of customization options (like with myriad Idolm!@ster stickers), it's been a very niche series. Ace Combat 7 got a lot of attention for its story... but I like to think it was also because of Jpeg Dog. For the record, Jpeg Dog was Toraji, a real Golden Retriever that belonged to a member of the dev team and who passed away some time after development on Ace Combat 7 wrapped.
The Ace Combat games feature real jets, but they take place on a fictional Earth known as "Strangereal." The idea is that while the many nations and locales of Strangereal evoke the real world, they're all ultimately fictional countries. Which is useful, because things get wild in the Ace Combat games, from the many doomsday nukes that get dropped to even satellite collisions and even meteorites. These invariably lead to major military conflicts requiring a lot of people flying jets and going on bomb runs and aerial dogfights—or people flying their jets through underground tunnels. As a side note: Ace Combat is partially canon to Bandai Namco's Xevious games. Apparently, all of the jets in Strangereal eventually give way to the Solvalou and the battles against GAMP.
What stands out to me about Ace Combat 8's runaway success is how narrow the game scope is—you're just flying jets. Sure, there are cutscenes told from the perspective of the human pilots. But this is a jet simulator nevertheless. No open-world, no surprise mission where you're driving a car—it's all jets, all the time. We used to get more games along these lines, games about flying helicopters or driving a truck. It used to be enough for an entire game, like with Blast Corps or R/C Stunt Copter. It's not as much of a thing anymore because these intricate simulators have been replaced by games with wider scopes; you don't need a game about flying helicopters anymore, Battlefield replaces the entire experience with helicopter sections. Meanwhile, here's Ace Combat 8 thriving in 2026. We can't say it's a rejection of AAA sensibilities, not with the budget behind Ace Combat 8. It's just razor-focused on what it's about—and what it's about is jets and political intrigue.
Ace Combat 8's success likely means we can look forward to the next Ace Combat game within less than seven years (since that's the gap between it and Ace Combat 7). It's also a sign that it's okay for games to keep a narrow focus. Maybe we don't need games to do everything.
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave Gets DLC
Speaking of surprise successes—Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave! Despite naysayers' claims, Fire Emblem is one of Nintendo's biggest long-running successes, and Fortune's Weave has really wowed players since its release. It's just that good, courtesy of its mix of phenomenal character writing, compelling stories, and clever reimagining of longtime series mechanics from throughout the series (including not just fan-favorite Three Houses, but also lesser-known games like Shadows Over Valentia). To keep up the pace, Nintendo announced DLC for the game.
The first two waves of DLC are what you'd expect: new weapons for the heroes, based on the relics from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Three Houses and Fortune's Weave are in continuity, so that's to be expected. We also have new costumes for the four heroes, and these costumes can be worn by their followers. It'll also include three new allies. The really interesting bit is the story expansion, which doesn't come out until 2027; this would deal with the four rivals for each of the heroes: Talimun, Anatolia, Bertrand, and Orchel.
This bit is particularly fascinating, as early plans for Fortune's Weave had players undergoing stories for a full eight protagonists—so it looks like the Fortune's Weave team might actually get to implement those stories after all! How it'll all play out remains to be seen; while one certainly can't complain that Fortune's Weave lacks for content, it's definitely a long game. We'll probably play this for years and still find new interactions. (And to think, I still haven't gotten around to playing Three Houses...!)
The first wave of the Fortune's Weave DLC is already out. The second wave releases later this "Holiday season." Our only indicator for the final wave is "2027," so it'll take a bit for the full set of heroes to arrive.
Let's wrap up with some quick tidbits:
That'll do it for this week, I think. I'd like to thank all the folks who unknowingly Street Pass-ed me; I appreciate all of the panels you've helped me complete, and I look forward to completing more. I hope more folks get to come and visit for the event; we could always use more visitors, and it's a great way to meet people and make friends. Be good to each other; I'll see you in seven.
This Week In Games! is written from idyllic Portland by Jean-Karlo Lemus. When not collaborating with Anime News Network, Jean-Karlo can be found playing Japanese RPGs, eating popcorn, watching VTuber content, and watching tokusatsu. You can keep up with him at @ventcard.bsky.social.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network, its employees, owners, or sponsors. discuss this in the forum |
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