As part of the celebration for Batman Day 2024, the official Sonic the Hedgehog social media accounts recently uploaded this fascinating animated short of Shadow fighting criminals while dressed up as Batman, and it took the entire internet by storm.

Shadow not only looks absolutely amazing as Batman, but it also makes a lot of sense for him to cosplay as the Caped Crusader, seeing as both characters have similar designs and personalities. This is also great brand integration because Sonic X Shadow Generations is releasing on October 22, and Shadow will be the main antagonist of the third live-action Sonic movie, releasing on December 20. 2024 is the year of Shadow the Hedgehog.

The video itself is short but sweet, with detailed animation made by none other than renowned Sonic the Hedgehog artist Tyson Hesse, who confirmed on Twitter/X that he produced the entire thing with his wife. Sonic fans reacted to this short with both delight and surprise, since this is a crossover that nobody was expecting to happen, and it also inspired a ton of creative fan art and hilarious memes regarding the idea of Shadow becoming Batman.

There might be more to this Sonic the Hedgehog x Batman crossover

Fans were quick to notice that the upload of this animated short on DC's official YouTube channel is titled "DC x Sonic Partnership Teaser," which may have revealed that this is just the beginning and that both DC and Sega may have more plans for these two characters.

Batman has already crossed over with iconic IPs from other companies in his comic books, like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Predator. So it is possible that DC is planning a potential crossover comic series with the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise in the near future. On the other hand, some fans believe that Sega may add some Batman DLC content to Sonic X Shadow Generations after release, like a Batman costume for Shadow.

The post Sonic the Hedgehog celebrates Batman Day with a surprise crossover video appeared first on Destructoid.

Netflix recently released an exciting new trailer for its upcoming Devil May Cry animated series that will premiere in April 2025. However, fans immediately noticed that Dante's voice sounded different from the games, where Reuben Langdon usually voices him.

After people asked Netflix about this on its social media, the company officially confirmed that Dante will be voiced by none other than Johnny Yong Bosch, who voices Nero in the Devil May Cry video games. However, Reuben Langdon did step up to show his approval of this new casting.

Langdon congratulated Yong Bosch on his personal Twitter/X account and remarked that he's already part of the Devil May Cry family, referencing his previous work as Nero in DMC4 and DMC5. After all, this young devil hunter is Vergil's son and Dante's nephew, so it's quite reasonable for Netflix to cast Yong Bosch as a younger version of Dante from a separate universe.

Yong Bosch responded to Langdon's blessing, by telling him, "You’ll always be my Dante", which proves that things are definitely quite amicable between the two actors. This interaction has endeared most fans and made them receive the sudden recasting in a more positive manner.

The Devil May Cry franchise is prone to recastings

The sudden replacement of Langdon as Dante is nothing new for the Devil May Cry franchise, seeing as he's not even the first person who voiced this character: Drew Coombs voiced him in the first game, Matthew Kaminsky in the second game, and Langdon took over the role from Devil May Cry 3 onwards. This isn't even the first time in recent years that someone else voiced Dante, with Jacob Browning voicing Dante in the mobile game, DMC: Peak of Combat.

There's no denying that Langdon's performance as Dante is incredibly recognizable and beloved, but since this is a character who is prompt to changing voices, this recasting should surprise no one. Not to mention that Yong Bosch's excellent work as Nero has already proven that he's more than fit to take up the mantle and breathe new life into this iconic devil hunter in the process.

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Last September, Eiichiro Oda himself announced that Tony Tony Chopper will appear in season two of Netflix's live-action adaptation of One Piece. Now, the streaming giant posted a video that finally revealed how this iconic character will look, and fans have responded very positively to it.

As part of its Geeked Week event, Netflix published a video of the main cast of One Piece doing a table read of season two's script. At the end of said video, Iñaki Godoy (who plays Monkey D. Luffy) says, "I can't believe who is here to make their debut in Season 2". The camera then turns to reveal Tony Tony Chopper sitting on the table, although the audience can only see his back and the top of his head, including his antlers and his iconic pink hat.

It is immediately evident that Netflix brought Chopper to life with CGI, and the design showcased in this first look is surprisingly faithful to the source material. This reveal got quite a positive reception from fans on social media, who praised Netflix for seemingly doing the character justice and claiming that they can't wait to see how his face looks. Many people even compared him to the main character of the film, Detective Pikachu.

Chopper, Robin and Crocodile are arriving in season 2 of One Piece

The other big reveal regarding Netflix's One Piece during Geeked Week was the official announcements of the actors portraying Miss All Sunday and Mr. 0 (better known as Nico Robin and Sir Crocodile) in season two.

Lera Abova, a Russian actress and model who made an appearance in the show Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin, will play Robin, and Joe Manganiello, an American actor who played Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and Deathstroke in Justice League, will play Crocodile.

Both actors took the stage during Netflix's presentation, and fans are evidently satisfied with the casting. Chopper, Robin and Crocodile will make their long-awaited debut in One Piece season 2, although Netflix still hasn't confirmed an official release date.

The post Netflix reveals the first look at Chopper in One Piece season 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Hideaki Itsuno recently announced his departure from Capcom, and Devil May Cry fans are absolutely heartbroken. After all, he's a talented and influential developer who worked on multiple hit games: Apart from his impeccable work on the DMC franchise, he also directed cult classics like Rival Schools and Dragon's Dogma.

Itsuno may not be the most renowned Capcom developer but he's one of the most important ones, and his influence on the company should never be underestimated. He had both a fascinating career and a complex relationship with Capcom, and both should be studied from beginning to end.

His humble origins as a fighting game aficionado

Like most Japanese gamers of his generation, Itsuno was a passionate fighting game fan who Capcom hired in 1994 to work in their Arcade Division. He was obviously a big fan of Street Fighter II, but he also revealed that he played the competitor's titles during this time: "I always loved fighting games, so it was always a certain fighting game with yearly installments. The one I played all the time was the '94 edition", he told Takayuki Nakayama in an interview, referencing the beloved SNK fighter The King of Fighters '94.

He began working on multiple ports of Street Fighter II and even worked as a designer in Street Fighter Alpha until he eventually got the opportunity to direct new fighting game IPs, like Rival Schools and Power Stone. Itsuno applied his vast knowledge to every project he worked on: "Rival Schools was a game where we put a lot of effort into making sure it was easy to play."

He and his team knew that, unlike other arcade fighters, Capcom was eventually going to port Rival Schools to home consoles. With this philosophy in mind, they developed the PlayStation 1 version in just three months, with the goal of selling 1 million copies. This was Itsuno's first experience with home consoles, and it eventually changed the course of his entire career. He also carried his penchant for accessibility over to every subsequent project he worked on.

He transformed Devil May Cry into what it is today

The gaming market was radically changing during the 2000s, and Capcom began taking developers from their Arcade Division and forcing them to work in home console games. In an outrageous decision, Capcom began its plans to make a sequel to their brand-new IP, Devil May Cry, without consulting Hideki Kamiya and his team. The company put Capcom Studio 1 to work on it instead.

The development of Devil May Cry 2 was quite rocky, and eventually, Capcom promoted Itsuno to director during the final months of development, replacing the original director of the game, who ultimately went uncredited. In the book Devil May Cry: 3142 Graphic Arts, Itsuno explains how Capcom practically forced him to direct: "The bosses came in and said, "Alright, do we have a director for DMC2?" Just as we were all thinking, "Nope. We actually don't," they said, "Okay. You do it."

Itsuno tried his best and really put a lot of effort into trying to improve and refine DMC2 as much as he could. But his efforts weren't enough to save what was already a low-quality product, so when Capcom finally released DMC2, fans and critics immediately panned it. "It's strange to be a director as a helper in the first place. But the development of DMC2 was too short, and there were some parts that I felt I had left undone and hadn't been able to be fully satisfied with", he said later in an interview with Famitsu.

Devil May Cry 3 was just what Dante (and the franchise) needed

To the surprise of everybody, DMC2 was a financial success, which led Capcom to greenlight another sequel. Itsuno didn't want this game to be his legacy and he just knew that he could create something truly special if he got to work on it from the beginning. "I even went so far as to ask directly, 'Please let me do DMC3'", he told Famitsu. Capcom accepted, and he immediately began recruiting his team.

He brought most of the DMC2 staff to work in the sequel, and they knew what they had to do: make Dante more energetic and youthful once again, so they decided to make DMC3 a prequel. Itsuno also brought over everything he learned from working in so many fighting games: "I decided to just go all out and include all the fun of combos in fighting games, so I was glad that I was able to compete in an area where I was confident." His experience working on fighting games also influenced the way he utilized music in his games: "Ever since the "Rival Schools" series, I've made a note of directing scenes with the music in mind," he explained in DMC: 3142 Graphic Arts.

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening quickly became a critical and commercial success. Audiences endlessly praised it for going back to the series' dynamic and challenging roots while also giving Dante his charming personality back. Itsuno and his team didn't just make yet another excellent DMC game, but they also brought new life into the franchise. And this was just the beginning.

Devil May Cry 4 introduced a new protagonist at the worst moment

In DMC: 3142 Graphic Arts, Itsuno revealed how he became the director of the next installment in the series: "Someone else was given control of DMC4, but one of the bosses said, "Dealing with the new PS3 hardware is going to be tough, so we need someone more experienced to take charge. You do it." I wasn't particularly against the idea, so I accepted the position.

Itsuno and his team knew they needed to do something bold and unexpected to keep the Devil May Cry franchise fresh and interesting. That's why they came up with a new devil hunter named Nero. He always had great plans for this new character, but he did fear that he was going to get extremely negative feedback for "replacing" Dante, so he was included as well: "It was a gamble for us to even introduce a new character," he revealed in an interview with Games Radar.

Dante was created by Hideki Kamiya, so it makes sense for Itsuno to prefer the new characters he personally conceived. "I like Vergil and Nero. I have an appreciation for Dante, too, of course, but I feel less of a connection with him because he's not a character I created myself", he said in DMC 3142 Graphic Arts.

Devil May Cry 4 would eventually get a mixed-to-positive reception. Over the years, there was a rumor among fans that Capcom was to blame for this, as they either rushed the development of the game or forced Itsuno to cut a lot of content, but the director never officially confirmed it. Even though it sold over 1 million copies by the end of its first fiscal year, DMC4 didn't meet Capcom's high expectations, especially because its development had a bigger budget than usual.

He left DMC behind in order to work on his magnum opus

During the late 2000s, Capcom decided to follow a brand-new direction, as the company began to prioritize the development of Western-styled games, which were much more popular and profitable at the time. Capcom chose Ninja Theory to develop a brand-new Devil May Cry reboot and even assigned Itsuno as a supervisor and advisor for this new team. The final result was DmC: Devil May Cry, a solid albeit extremely controversial game.

As much as Itsuno obviously cherished the Devil May Cry series, he never felt that the series was his creation, as he explained in DMC: 3142 Graphic Arts: "When explaining my relationship with DMC to people, I like to say that I'm not so much a parent to the series as I am a foster parent. Or maybe "stepmother" is more appropriate. That usually seems to get the point across pretty well."

He did have his own idea for a unique action RPG with an innovative Pawn mechanic that he came up with even before he joined the DMC2 team: "After (development of) CAPCOM VS. SNK 2 ended, I was actually in the middle of planning to launch an original RPG," he said about his new IP.

So, when Capcom asked him for an idea for a large-scale project that could make millions, he pitched what would eventually become Dragon's Dogma, and Capcom greenlit the project. Why did the company approve of it? While executives clearly had confidence in Itsuno based on his impeccable previous work, it was mainly because he convinced them that this was going to be a western-styled RPG, and he even used titles like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Fable II as examples. This fit perfectly with the company's aforementioned new direction.

The surprise success of Dragon's Dogma

Itsuno began working on this new game with the help of his DMC4 team, and it took them three years to complete it. Thanks to the evolution of home console technology, he was finally able to make his idea into a reality. Dragon's Dogma quickly became a surprise hit because gamers criticized most action RPGs for their lackluster combat at the time, so its dynamic combat system and epic boss fights helped it become a standout title.

The critical and commercial success of Dragon's Dogma cemented the IP as a new RPG icon, and it led to the creation of an expanded version, a spinoff and even an animated adaptation for Netflix. Years later, Hideaki Itsuno would state: "The (game) that was the biggest success in my mind, the one I'm most proud of, that's probably Dragon's Dogma." He even wanted to work ON its sequel almost immediately, but he didn't know that DMC would need him again very soon...

Devil May Cry needed its savior, once again

In 2015, the success of Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition and DmC: Definitive Edition proved to Capcom that there still was a shared interest in the iconic hack-and-slash franchise. Itsuno decided to pitch Devil May Cry 5, and it worked quite well: "The reactions from everyone around me were positive, and the production discussions went smoothly," he told Dengeki Online in an interview. But Itsuno said on Twitter/X that DMC5 had been in development since 2014, so they likely had plans to revive the franchise much earlier.

In 2013, in an interview for the book DMC: 3142 Graphic Arts, Itsuno said: "That's why even now, the DMC4 staff is clamoring to make a sequel starring Nero. Of course, a sequel with Dante wouldn't be bad either". These ideas would eventually come to fruition in DMC5, a game that featured Dante and Vergil, but Nero was ultimately the main protagonist of the adventure.

Itsuno proudly exclaimed "DMC IS BACK!", and everybody went crazy

He had a concrete idea of what he wanted to make from the get-go, which was helpful in creating a more streamlined development process. Just like they did with DMC3 years before, the team brought back what made the series so beloved in the first place but also implemented fresh new ideas. Surprisingly, DmC also inspired them. "In terms of the flow of the series, after DMC4 there was DmC: Devil May Cry, and after that there was DMC5. The staff had the feeling that they wanted to surpass both works in terms of image creation, and they studied them", Itsuno told Dengeki Online.

Capcom revealed DMC5 during Xbox's E3 2018 conference with a fantastic trailer. Hideaki Itsuno went up on stage and proudly exclaimed, "DMC IS BACK!" He was right: When the game was released months later, it immediately became a critical and commercial success once again. It seemed that everything Itsuno and his team touched turned into solid gold.

Everybody praised Devil May Cry 5 for its many positive qualities, and it seemed that, after years of unfounded negativity, the franchise was back to its roots and was more relevant than ever. Not only did DMC5 satisfy longtime fans, but it also brought in a slew of new fans. And all of them were eager to see where the franchise was going next.

He finally got the chance to work on that Dragon's Dogma sequel

Before DMC5 launched, Itsuno had to make a difficult choice: In an interview with VG247, he said he went to Capcom's founder Kenzo Tsujimoto and said, "Look, I want to make either DMC5 or Dragon's Dogma 2 next", to which Tsujimoto replied "Okay, do whatever you want. Do whichever one you want,' so he prioritized DMC5 and began working on Dragon's Dogma 2 immediately after that. His main goal with this sequel was to expand on everything he did in the original game, including ideas and mechanics he originally had to scrap.

This resulted in Dragon's Dogma 2, released this year by Capcom. Unfortunately for Itsuno, however, the game got a divisive reception due to stuff that was entirely out of his control. The mishandling of microtransactions and optimization issues contributed to the game's negative reputation. Dragon's Dogma 2 is still a solid action RPG, but it was nowhere near as well received as Itsuno's previous projects.

Hideaki Itsuno's undeniable legacy

One should never underestimate Itsuno's contributions to Capcom and gaming in general, especially for someone who started his career as a mere fighting game fan. He may not have created Devil May Cry, but he saved the IP not once but twice, cementing it as one of the most successful and beloved hack-and-slash franchises. And if that wasn't enough, he also managed to develop a unique Western-styled RPG in Japan with Dragon's Dogma, ultimately proving that he's also capable of creating successful new IPs from the ground up.

In his countless interviews and press releases, Itsuno told multiple stories about how the executives at Capcom almost always let him have the final say on which game he would develop next. So it's evident that he was not just a mere employee for the company but that Capcom actually trusted his vision because it was sure he was always going to develop a quality product. Capcom still hasn't responded to Itsuno's departure, but it is definitely going to feel his absence.

When he left, Itsuno stated: "I will start developing a new game in a new environment. I hope to create fun, beautiful games that are as memorable as, or even more memorable than, the ones I have created so far" which tells fans everything they need to know about the future of his career: He's going to keep making incredible video games, regardless of which company he's working for.

The post How Hideaki Itsuno became one of Capcom’s best developers appeared first on Destructoid.

Tetsuya Nomura, the renowned Japanese developer who worked as a designer on Final Fantasy VII and directed the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise, recently did an interview for Young Jump magazine, where he revealed what his plans for Kingdom Hearts 4 are.

Per Siliconera, the Young Jump interviewer asked Nomura about the possible conclusion of the Kingdom Hearts series. The legendary developer jokingly responded that he only has a few years left before he retires, so he must consider what comes first. Although he specifically mentions that he at least plans to finish his work on the highly-anticipated Kingdom Hearts 4.

This response may catch fans off guard, since Nomura has barely mentioned his possible retirement in the past. While many of them claimed they were saddened by the news, most of them also agreed that, after taking a look at his extensive career working with Square Enix, his statement is completely reasonable.

With the release of Kingdom Hearts 3 in 2019, Nomura finally concluded the Dark Seeker Saga that he established in 2001 with the release of the first installment, meaning that he has been directing this franchise for over 20 years. Not to mention that he's worked on many other Square Enix titles, like Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Passing off the torch to new writers

But the inevitable question is, what will happen to Kingdom Hearts if Tetsuya Nomura retires? It's most likely that Disney and Square Enix will keep pushing for the development of new games, and fortunately for fans, Nomura is already testing the waters with a fascinating experiment: he revealed that he hired new writers that have never worked in the Kingdom Hearts franchise to write scenarios for the upcoming mobile game, Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link.

Ultimately, he is still in charge of writing the main script, but only time will tell if this experiment is going to benefit the franchise or not. The plot of Missing Link will cover a brand-new period in the timeline, so I'd be curious to see what new characters and worlds they will meet in this new title. It's at least refreshing to know that Nomura is already hiring new people to bring new ideas to the series.

Another point of interest in the interview was the overwhelming complexity of Kingdom Hearts' story, something that has affected the franchise's reputation over the years. Nomura acknowledged that the scenarios he writes can be quite complex, and even revealed that voice actors often have difficulty following the plot of the games. Nevertheless, he and his staff usually help other people comprehend the story, and he even encourages them to ask him about it whenever they need to do so.

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Just as Final Fantasy XVI arrives on PC, the original PlayStation 5 version is facing some outrageous technical issues after the console's most recent system update. Player reports include everything from a few graphic hiccups to the uglier crashes.

Across social media, players shared clips and screenshots of Final Fantasy XVI's recent technical obstacles. While the game saw stability updates in the past, the most recent patch for Sony's console firmware marks a clear point where the latest issues began. There's no fix just yet, but Square Enix is aware of player reports.

Final Fantasy XVI on PC goes live just in time to dodge PS5 performance woes

The PS5 24.06-10.00.00 system update went live on September 12, sending a wave of players to Reddit, Twitter, and all the usual places with their complaints. Some of them don't seem too bad but play a little longer, and you may run into something like whatever's going on in this Redditor's clip.

Over the weekend, players posted snippets of bizarre bugs and glitches, like huge blobs of broken pixels submerging the world of Valisthea or NPCs glowing neon pink. This may all seem funny at first, but they have made Final Fantasy XVI completely unplayable on the console, with many reports of unexpected game crashes in save files with dozens of hours into them. After several days of silence, the official Final Fantasy XVI accounts on Twitter/X acknowledged the user reports, noting Square Enix is aware of the issues.

Square Enix says it's working closely with Sony to fix these issues

"Following the recent release of the PlayStation 5 system update, there have been reports of the game crashing and graphical issues," the company said on Twitter/X. More importantly, it goes on to note Square Enix is working with Sony to investigate the cause.

From the statement, it sounds like signs point to Sony pushing its latest update through and not exclusively an error caused by an oops over on the development team.

This statement officially revealed to fans that these issues did most likely happen because Sony pushed for their newest PS5 update, and it affected Final Fantasy XVI in a way that caught Square Enix unprepared for the change. The PS5 update primarily introduced new features (and enhanced many others), so it's a little surprising the patch impacted Square's RPG to this degree.

Unfortunately, Square Enix didn't give a specific date for when we can expect a fix for these issues, so Final Fantasy XVI players may have to grit their teeth and deal with its graphical errors and annoying game crashes for a while.

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Goichi Suda, better known by his pseudonym Suda51, is the iconic creator of cult classics like No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw, Shadows of the Damned and more. In a recent interview, he claimed that developers nowadays put too much of their focus on their games' Metacritic scores, and that it's affecting their artistic vision.

Do game developers care too much about Metacritic?

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Suda51 and Shinji Mikami (creator of Resident Evil and producer of Shadows of the Damned) talked about their experience developing video games. At one point, Suda51 expressed his opinion on the popular review aggregator website, Metacritic.

"Everybody pays too much attention to and cares too much about Metacritic scores," said Suda51. This shouldn't surprise anybody who is familiar with his works. After all, he has a talent for creating bizarre video games with his unique personal touch, especially when it comes to his sense of humor. Ever since the release of Killer7, Suda51's games often receive mixed reviews but also manage to become huge cult classics that even spawn passionate fan bases.

This happened with almost every single one of his games, like No More Heroes and Lollipop Chainsaw. Suda51 is one of the very few developers in the industry who has followers that buy his products just because his name is attached to them. He definitely made a name for himself over the years.

He went on to explain how this mentality affects the development of games in general. "It's gotten to the point where there's almost a set formula: if you want to get a high Metacritic score, this is how you make the game" Suda explained. "If you've got a game that doesn't fit into that formula, that marketability scope, it loses points on Metacritic."

Suda51 blamed big AAA companies in particular of doing this, saying that they mainly don't want to deal with the prospect of a negative online reception because "everyone cares too much about the numbers".

This criticism is far from unexpected from Suda51, since he created the character of Damon Riccitiello - the main antagonist of Travis Strikes Again and No More Heroes III - as a very unsubtle parody of John Riccitiello, the former CEO of Electronic Arts; a nod to the frustrations felt during the development of games like Shadows of the Damned.

Suda51 did admit he learned to stop looking at scores the hard way though, after checking Metacritic on some occasions, especially when his studio, Grasshopper Manufacture, released a new title. "Sometimes a media outlet has given us zero. That makes me feel shitty. Why go that far and give us zero? But apart from that, I try to avoid Metacritic." he said while laughing during the interview.

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The Legend of Zelda series is no stranger to featuring quirky characters, and it seems that the upcoming new title, Echoes of the Wisdom, will be no exception. Nintendo recently unveiled promotional artwork of two interesting characters that Zelda will interact with on her new adventure, alongside a detailed overview trailer.

Stamp Guy and the Great Fairy will appear in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Nintendo UK just published these new Echoes of Wisdom character renders on its official Twitter/X account. First, the company revealed a new version of the Great Fairy, a recurring character in the franchise that usually assists Link in some way. According to Nintendo, this time she will reside somewhere in Hyrule, and she will help Princess Zelda "on her path to true style".

The second character Nintendo UK revealed is Stamp Guy, and the post details that Zelda will meet him after he drops out of the sky. The company didn't disclose much more information about Stamp Guy's role in the new game, but he seems to be based off of Stamps, a character from The Minish Cap who, in turn, was inspired by the Postman from Majora's Mask. However, this new character's design is completely original.

Nintendo also released an overview trailer of Echoes of Wisdom

The reveal of the Great Fairy and Stamp Guy came alongside a brand-new overview trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom that Nintendo published on its YouTube channel. For the most part, this video contains information the company already revealed in the past, like the creepy new location of Still World and Zelda's new and unique Bind ability. Although this is a perfect summary for fans who may have missed any previous trailers.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom comes out in two weeks, on September 26 for Nintendo Switch.

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Masahiro Sakurai, the director of Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series and creator of Kirby, recently shared on his Twitter account that he has been playing and enjoying the new PlayStation 5 hit, Astro Bot. And the development team at Team Asobi even responded to his kind words.

The Super Smash Bros. director appreciates that Astro Bot didn't waste his time

Sakurai claims that he rescued all the 300 bots in the game. He confirmed that this didn't take him much time to achieve, but that the game was interesting enough for him to do it. Furthermore, he even signed off his tweet by explicitly praising Astro Bot, saying it's a "great game".

This tweet was made in response to his most recent YouTube video, in which he explains how important it is for developers to be mindful of the time players are giving them when playing through their games. After all, modern audiences have a variety of different options for things they can do with their free time, and therefore they must feel like their time investment must be worthwhile. He kept this philosophy in mind when he developed Super Smash Bros. and, with this new tweet, Sakurai seems to pose Astro Bot as an example of a good game that doesn't waste any time.

Team Asobi, the developer behind Astro Bot, responded on its official Twitter/X account to Sakurai, and said: "Dear Sakurai-san, thank you so much for taking the time to play Astro Bot! Love from Team ASOBI".

Twitter users responded positively to this exchange, with many of them even asking Sakurai to add Astro Bot as a playable fighter in a future installment of Super Smash Bros.

The parallels between Super Smash Bros. and Astro Bot are evident, since both titles work as gigantic celebrations of not only their console brands (Nintendo and PlayStation respectively), but also of the gaming industry as a whole, thanks to the inclusion of many third-party IPs.

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A recently released art book for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has revealed that it was planned to have a different title. And that original title might have spoiled one of the game's biggest twists.

Obviously, know that major spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will follow. If you haven't finished the game yet, read at your own peril.

Nintendo released the Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom "Master Works" art book in Japan on August 30, 2024. Thanks to this, Legend of Zelda fans got a fascinating first look at a great amount of concept art for what was one of 2023's biggest and most critically acclaimed games. However, a very interesting piece of new information didn't come from the art itself, but from something the producer of the game, Eiji Aonuma, revealed in the book.

This new tidbit was translated from the book by Nintendo Everything and says that, according to Aonuma, the original title for the game was going to be The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Dragon. Those who have played the game in its entirety will immediately recognize that this would have been a big problem, since this subtitle contains a huge story spoiler.

Aonuma agrees. "Letting it slip that the Light Dragon is Zelda would have been a problem, and this had an effect on the title too," said Aonuma.

Aonuma and his team managed to prevent this spoiler with a clever change

The team struggled to figure out a way to incorporate the dragon imagery into the logo, without giving away the whole thing. Nothing good was coming to mind, until someone on the team suggested "Kingdom" and thus, they decided to change it to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

“It felt like the phrase could connect to the Light Dragon to us, and we could use dragons in the logo. With the title decided, the logo finally became what it is now”, said Aonuma.

It makes sense now, as Tears of the Kingdom went quite a while without an official subtitle. "As for why we’re holding back on the name, you’ll just have to stay tuned because, obviously, Zelda names are kind of important", said Nintendo's Bill Trinen back in June 2021.

Fortunately for Nintendo and for Legend of Zelda fans, the change from Tears of the Dragon to Tears of the Kingdom was a brilliant decision that let players experiment a perfectly crafted plot twist without suspecting anything.

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Nintendo recently released a brand-new Mario & Luigi: Brothership trailer, which reveals the main new location of this anticipated game, ahead of it's November 2024 release. And that's not all, because they disclosed even more fascinating information on the game's official Japanese website.

Mario & Luigi will explore Concordia in their newest adventure!

This new trailer, which Nintendo recently posted all over their social media, reveals the name of the main location that the famous plumber brothers will visit and explore in their upcoming RPG adventure: Concordia. Judging by the footage, it's evident that this is a beautiful place with its own unique flora & fauna. The official description of the video describes this adventure as an "island getaway", so it's evident that they're aiming for a setting with a tropical atmosphere.

Luckily for Mario fans, Nintendo revealed further information in the official Japanese website for Mario & Luigi: Brothership. The main takeaway is that Concordia is a mysterious land that the plumbers are visiting for the first time, and it's entirely made up of different drifting islands that they will be able to explore throughout their adventure.

Mario and Luigi will get to Concordia by setting sail on a drifting island that also works as a ship, fittingly named Ship Island. From that point onwards, they will have to explore the multiple other drifting islands of the region, like Gran Gran Island, a place filled with rock-like residents and environments, Tuis Island, a tourist destination where a species of twisted tree can grow, Xenialver Island, an urban island with a big city that contributes to the economy of the region, Kandang Island, an island that is half magma and half ice, and much more.

On each island, Mario and Luigi will meet curious characters and fight threatening monsters, so each one of them will surely contain many surprises for the player (Keep in mind that Nintendo hasn't revealed the official English names for these islands, but it's most likely that the English localization will either keep the same names or use new ones that sound very similar).

Meet new, funky-looking characters!

The website also revealed a bunch of interesting new information about the antagonistic group of characters that was seen in previous Mario & Luigi: Brothership trailers. They are the Boldrud Squad, and the site explains that they are "suspicious characters giving orders behind the scenes". It did not reveal much more information about them, so it's most likely Nintendo is keeping them under wraps, so players will be able get to know more about the Boldrud Squad in the game.

On the other hand, however, the website also showed off the new Combination Attacks that the pair of brothers will be able to pull off in Mario & Luigi Brothership. This is a staple of this RPG series, and the animation in this new entry is absolutely beautiful and extremely detailed. Based on all the trailers and screenshots, it is evident that the presentation of this upcoming title will not disappoint.

Fans will be able to get their hands on an alluring pre-order bonus

And if all that wasn't enough, the community discovered that Micromania, a video game retail store from France, revealed the bonus that those who pre-order Mario & Luigi: Brothership will receive a shiny exclusive steel book that displays the beautiful promotional art of the two brothers on the cover. Nintendo of America has yet to confirm if this pre-order bonus will also be available in the United States, or in other parts of the world, but most fans are confident that it will be.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership is launching on November 7, 2024, and fans are ecstatic for the anticipated return of the beloved Mario & Luigi RPG series, especially after the shutdown of AlphaDream in 2019. Although, Nintendo still hasn't officially revealed which studio is developing Mario & Luigi: Brothership, which left fans heavily speculating on the topic.

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It is inevitable that a franchise as massive as One Piece will go on to reveal interesting lore drops via supplemental materials. But a newly released Vivre Card has surprised most fans of the series, as it implies that Franky's biological father might just be Queen the Plague, from the Beasts Pirates.

Is it possible for Queen to actually be Franky's father?

In case you didn't know, Vivre Cards are collectible cards that provide important information about specific One Piece characters, including content never explicitly stated within the manga. Every time Shueisha releases a new pack of Vivre Cards in Japan, they reveal mind-blowing information about some of the cast, and this time was no exception.

Several One Piece fans on Twitter, like @newworldartur and @hedidntlaugh posted about the new set of Vivre Cards released in Japan, and Queen's card immediately grabbed the attention of the community. The card reveals Queen had a child 36 years in the past, and 26 years before the events of One Piece, he abandoned that child. It works out as right around the time he joined the Beasts Pirates.

It's all fascinating new details on the villain, but fans immediately made a connection with Franky, the shipwright of the Straw Hat Pirates. He is exactly 36 years old, and the manga previously stated that his parents, a pair of pirates, abandoned him when he was 10 years old, right before Tom adopted him. Both the timeline and the backstories perfectly line up.

The glaring similarities between Franky and Queen

But bad parents abandon their children in abundance in the One Piece world for various reasons. There has to be more solid evidence to prove Queen is Franky's dad, which led fans to bring up more and more connections between these two characters. The first one is obvious: both of them are cyborgs who modify their bodies and are obsessed with technology and science. Did Franky inherit this interest from his biological father?

Their personalities are quite similar as well, as both of them are eccentric, over-the-top and love to dance, although Queen is much more evil, whereas Franky is a kind and honorable pirate. Lastly, when looking at the color version of the cover for Chapter 1070, people couldn't help but notice Franky looks a lot like Queen's younger self before he gained weight. Because of all these similarities and connections, fans believe that this theory makes a lot of sense.

Are One Piece's Vivre Cards canon or not?

Every time Shueisha officially releases a new pack of Vivre Cards, One Piece fans debate whether they are canon or not. According to @Sandman_AP's translation of an official One Piece interview, Eiichiro Oda himself either writes the information for the cards or supervises what other authors write about his series. Nevertheless, sometimes Oda also changes and reinterprets information that he previously wrote on Vivre Cards, so it's likely he doesn't take them as seriously as fans.

It's important to keep in mind that the new Vivre Cards did not explicitly confirm whether Queen and Franky are actually related by blood, but there is a lot of evidence hinting at it. Perhaps Oda intends to eventually reveal this connection in the main story, as both characters were present during the third act of the Wano Country Arc and didn't interact at all.

Furthermore, it is possible they didn't recognize each other, since both of them heavily modified their own bodies after 26 years. On top of that, Queen's new Vivre Card revealed that his real name is Scien, while Franky's original name was Cutty Flam, making it even harder for them to acknowledge each other.

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Last week, Paramount Pictures revealed the first trailer for the third live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie, and, if the memes are anything to go off of, it looks like fans are ready to dive in this December.

All this excitement around the trailer's debut had seasoned Sonic fans remembering the last project from this cinematic universe, the Knuckles TV show on Paramount +, which featured a bizarre yet amusing scene centered on the "Flames of Disaster." It blew up as a fandom meme, especially across Twitter.

Wade from the live-action Knuckles show becomes the star of a new meme

Since the trailer's debut, Sonic the Hedgehog fans have been spreading this now-infamous "Flames of Disaster!" video all over social media. And with Knuckles making an appearance in the third movie's trailer, fans are looking for and making their own throwbacks to the moment. The original scene already saw some degree of virality, thanks to Adam Pally's line delivery, but things got even funnier when @ContendoYT posted a bluescreen version, making it even easier for others to create their own edits.

This kickstarted a slew of clever, hilarious and transformative memes that plagued Twitter and other social media websites. Fans of other franchises, like Super Mario Bros, Five Nights at Freddy's, Crash Bandicoot, and Godzilla, also joined in the fun, especially because they could edit the meme into any scene that involves fire.

One of the most interesting aspects of this hilarious trend is that it even transcended the English language and reached users from all around the world, with several people creating memes with the Brazilian and Latin American dubs of the "Flames of Disaster!" scene. Sonic the Hedgehog fans all around the world came together in order to keep making this hilarious trend grow more and more.

So, what on earth are the "Flames of Disaster"?

To give more context: In the final episode of the Knuckles TV series, Wade Whipple (played by Adam Pally) excitedly exclaims, "The Flames of Disaster!" after the titular Knuckles the Echidna unlocks the power-up of the same name during the final battle. Even though this show first aired in April 2024, the new trailer of the third live-action Sonic the Hedgehog prompted fans of the franchise to remember this particular scene.

Some users, like @MrLag525, posted about this particular scene in May 2024, highlighting how Adam Pally's delivery of the line, coupled with the expression he makes while saying it, makes it especially funny. But the meme became even more viral within the community after user @Jackeroni216 cleverly used it on another comedic Twitter thread. After that, everybody began using it in their own edits and memes, making it another bizarre internet staple, even among people who are not fans of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

What makes the "Flames of Disaster!" scene so funny?

As previously mentioned, there are several combined factors that make this meme really amusing for internet users, whether they are fans of Sonic the Hedgehog or not. Adam Pally's delivery of the line is intentionally funny, and his expressions significantly enhance the comedy of the brief scene. But this is also one of those memes that has a lot of versatility, as it can easily be added to any scene that involves fire or explosions.

When the Knuckles live-action show debuted a few months ago, nobody expected this insignificant meme to become such a big internet trend, but perhaps it'll improve the reputation of such a divisive show. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 comes out on December 20, 2024, so only time will tell if a moment from said film is going to become a meme. Especially if Wade Whipple makes another appearance.

The post ‘The Flames of Disaster’ catch fire again after Knuckles’ showdown in new Sonic live-action trailer appeared first on Destructoid.

Disney Worlds are arguably the biggest selling point of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, since fans endlessly speculate about the movies they're going to be able to revisit every time Square Enix announces a brand-new game

. But some fans recently discovered a strange level that was scrapped from Kingdom Hearts 3, and it left them absolutely dumbfounded. What if Sora, Donald & Goofy visited a world based on the Cars franchise?

Fans discover plans for a Cars World in the files of Kingdom Hearts 3

A group of dedicated fans unveiled a bunch of development screenshots and documents from around 2017, simply known as the "KH3 Premium Showcase Files". Longtime Kingdom Hearts YouTuber & Researcher, 13th Vessel, has posted about this revelation on his Twitter/X account.

There are a lot of interesting parts about this discovery, but the most fascinating one is a text list of the worlds that were in development. It contains 19 different levels, and it includes both playable worlds like San Fransokyo or Toy Box and areas that appear only in cutscenes, like Daybreak Town or Radiant Garden. However, Kingdom Hearts 3 only featured 18 worlds, so fans immediately noticed that there was a standout.

The text at #6, clearly reads "カーズ(仮)", which translates to "Cars (Tentative)", meaning that at one point Square Enix was planning to include an entire world based on Pixar's sometimes infamous but wildly successful Cars franchise. This not only surprised fans but also created a lot of speculation on how this level was going to work.

Was it going to take place entirely within Radiator Springs? Were Sora, Donald & Goofy going to transform into different vehicles? How was Sora going to fight with his Keyblade? Was it going to have a racing minigame? However, most fans believe that this world was scrapped very early on in development, since this list is only made up of text, and they couldn't find any 3D models of characters or environments either.

The other fascinating findings in the Kingdom Hearts 3 Premium Showcase Files

The KH3 Premium Showcase Files did not reveal any more information on unused Disney Worlds, but there is another fascinating finding that has shocked and amused Kingdom Hearts fans. In the final game, when players enter the Toy Box world (based on the Toy Story franchise) they will immediately witness a high quality cutscene with lots of action and impressive graphics that is promoting a fictional video game called "Verum Rex", which is a parody of Final Fantasy XV. Square Enix created the Verum Rex characters exclusively for use in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, including the protagonist, Yozora, who later appeared in the Re Mind DLC, a secret boss.

The Premium Showcase Files revealed that Verum Rex was not always supposed to be a parody, since its introductory cutscene was originally going to feature Final Fantasy XV characters. A prototype version of this cutscene has models that are extremely similar to Noctis and Stella, meaning that Tetsuya Nomura's plans may have changed at some point in development. Yozora is highly likely to play an important role in Kingdom Hearts 4, so he may have chosen to avoid further using characters from a separate franchise.

Tetsuya Nomura and his team are currently working on Kingdom Hearts 4, so there's a possibility that they may reuse the idea of this scrapped Cars World in this upcoming title. Whether fans will approve of it or not, depends entirely on its execution.

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