News:: Vs. Super Mario Bros. is ready to crush your soul on Switch

As I reported last week, Vs. Super Mario Bros. came out today on the Switch eShop. We weren't sure if the title would be coming to the US, but Nintendo surprised us all and released it for everyone to enjoy! I use that word liberally, because I remember Vs. being hard as hell in the arcade.

To mitigate some of that difficulty, this new port features customizable controls, save states and even a digital manual. There are also some graphical filters you can toggle (like aspect ratio) and dip switches for you to tweak. If you really are a masochist, you can raise the 1-Up limit to 250 coins!

You can boot up the eShop right now and grab the game for $7.99. That is certainly much less than it would cost you to beat in the arcades, unless you're intimately familiar with The Lost Levels. The cruelest trick that Vs. does is mix those in with the regular game, but I won't spoil all the fun for you!

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News:: Slowly but surely, Limbo is turning into a Commodore 64 game

When I think of Limbo, I mostly still think of its opening areas and the danger lurking in its shadowy aesthetic. Spikes, bear traps, that terrifying giant spider... there's a lot of potential for gruesome deaths.

Naturally, all of that would work its way into a Commodore 64 version of the game. It's coming along.

Limbo 64 is a neat, long-in-the-making passion project. "Even though I have the blessing of Playdead for doing this, I am working full time on Playdead's next project, so I only have my precious spare time to use," says demake creator Søren Trautner Madsen. "But... maybe some time around 2024? ;-)"

I wouldn't mind playing this one day.

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News:: ARMS will no longer receive content updates

Hot off the heels of the release of Version 5.0, Nintendo has announced some very unfortunate news in regards to ARMS. While balance updates will still happen, there will be no more content for the game. It's unclear how long the balance patches will continue afterwards.

It just seems way too soon to drop support.

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News:: Neo Geo shoot 'em up Pulstar available now on Nintendo Switch

Over 2017, the Neo Geo ACA range raked in big bucks for SNK, as many a '90s arcade found itself ported to modern platforms. The trend continues this week as horizontal shmup Pulstar is now available on the Nintendo Switch.

Featuring impressive pre-rendered graphics, Pulstar was quite the visual feast back in 1995, as players fly a small, but heavily armed vessel through a galaxy of dangers and threats. The game wholly and shamelessly ripped off Irem's 1987 hit R-Type, from level designs, power-ups, enemy movement patterns and even the main sprite itself.

Unfortunately, emulating the best doesn't always equate to genuine replication and Pulstar is kinda crappy compared to its brethren. In fact, sequel Blazing Star is far superior and is already available on the Switch, making this release a little redundant, perhaps for completionists only.

Pulstar is available for download now on the Nintendo Switch, priced at $8.

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News:: On February 3, I will have high-speed internet (but only according to the FCC)

My living situation right now fucking sucks and it’s all my fault. When I moved back to the Bay Area, I had a few choices on where I could live. One of those choices was a guy who worked for AT&T, and his house was absolutely decked out with the top of the line everything. Great internet, great cable package, every console, home security, the works. But the parking there wasn’t great and I didn’t want to share one bathroom with two other people so I didn’t move there.

Instead, I ended up near where I went to high school, renting a room from a guy I would come to find out is very odd. I should have done my research, I should have asked some questions, because it didn’t occur to me until after I moved in that I would be living in a house without the internet. Guy doesn’t even own a computer, something I can barely comprehend being possible in 2017.

I still live there, and for the last 11 months, I’ve been without access to wired, in-home high-speed internet. Or low-speed internet. Or dial-up. I’ve even offered to pay for it through Comcast, but as I said above he is odd. Because it’s expensive to move -- especially where I live -- I’ve been stuck in the house technology forgot.

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News:: Soulcalibur VI is unlikely to receive a Switch release

Although the reveal of Namco Bandai's Soulcalibur VI has fans sharpening their axes in preparation, it seems that Switch owners expecting their own handheld Stage of History may be a little disappointed.

UK's Gamecentral spoke with producer Motohiro Okubo last week and took the opportunity to ask him whether SCVI might come to Nintendo's hybrid-console, jokingly adding that we  could see The Legend of Zelda's Link make a comeback. Unfortunately, Okubo said that the Switch console wasn't even in public awareness when Namco began development on SCVI.

"Soulcalibur VI development started more than three years ago. And nobody knew anything about Switch back then," said Okubo. "So, as a matter of fact we are not working on Switch, as of now. But of course, personally, I’m interested in the platform. So if the Unreal Engine can adapt to Switch, and evolve itself, then maybe the possibility will be more."

A shame, as Soulcalibur on the go would be pretty funky. Still, the game is scheduled to launch on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, so there's at least plenty of scope for people to play it on a variety of other formats that they might own.

Interview with Soulcalibur's Motohiro Okubo [Metro]

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News:: Xbox Game Pass starts 2018 off by adding 10 new games

The Xbox Game Pass library keeps growing substantially every time the calendar page turns. The first month of 2018 is no exception. Actually, January might be one of the best months in the relatively short history of the program.

Come New Year's Day, Xbox Game Pass is getting 10 new titles. There's some decent variety, including games from Xbox One, Xbox 360, and original Xbox. Here's everything that's being added:

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News:: Maniac Mansion shows up on Steam out of nowhere

A genre-defying, point-and-click head-scratcher is back, as the original Maniac Mansion is now available for purchase on Steam.

The original LucasArts graphic adventure, which first released in 1987, paved the way for a host of games designed for the SCUMM engine. These include sequel Day of the Tentacle, the famous Monkey Island series, Sam and Max Hit the Road, Full Throttle and Zak McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders.

Like all the games listed above, Maniac Mansion is an iconic but baffling affair, often requiring the most abstract chain of events in order to ultimately achieve a simple task. An example would be making and mailing away your band's demo tape in order to win favour of a tentacle creature. The game allows you to choose two kids to accompany hero Dave into the lair, with different paths to victory required for each combination of characters.

I haven't played Maniac Mansion in about twenty-five years, it's probably super-clunky today. But I loved it when I was a kid, and I thought punk gal Razor was cool as all hell. If you fancy taking a puzzling stroll down memory lane, Maniac Mansion is available to purchase on Steam now, for a limited time price of $4.

Maniac Mansion [Steam]

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News:: Little Devil Inside resurfaces with a wonderful trailer

I had forgotten about Little Devil Inside, a survival adventure RPG that made the rounds a couple years ago. Maybe you did too. Maybe you've never seen it before. Either way, look. Look at this amazing thing!

It's worth stressing that this latest video only shows one of the locales; as we saw in the impressive debut trailer back in 2015, the game isn't just set in a desert. Also, it kind of has a lot going on.

Set in an "imaginary Victorian Age," Little Devil Inside is "the story of salarymen who are sent off to all parts of the world in order to study and gather monsters to help the college faculty," as developer Neostream puts it in an interview with InvenGlobal. You'll venture out of the city to embark upon missions in open-ended areas, and if you die, you'll have to come back as "a new agent."

The team describes the game as "rather easy" compared to other survival titles, adding that it's "not about how long you can survive in a certain environment" but rather "about taking a trip for a mission, and surviving during the process." Little Devil Inside is a very pretty, very curious game indeed.

As for the timeline, it's intended to release around the end of 2018 on PC and then console.

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News:: Project Re Fantasy is still hard to pin down in this second teaser

The second concept video for Atlus' Project Re Fantasy has more substance than the first, but that's not to say we're getting gameplay yet. No, we've only just begun. Think of this as more of a mood-setter.

It's part animation, part live action, and primarily just narration set to soothing music.

I'm not exactly sure what Studio Zero is cooking up here, but I don't think we're meant to take the trailer too literally. My main takeaway was the few pieces of concept art. That all looks promising.

As if it weren't clear enough already, we're in for another long wait.

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News:: Mei continues her blood hunt in Winter Overwatch comic

If you've been playing the Winter Wonderland event in arena-shooter Overwatch, you may have tried out the Yeti Hunt mode, where a team of five Mei's must track down and defeat a rage-infused Winston, before he grabs five slabs of meat and goes AWOL.

I find it quite funny, with the quintet of Mei's run around shouting things like "We just want to study!" and "We won't hurt you!" whilst literally laying bear traps and shooting him in the face with icicles. For shame, Mei, you're supposed to be the heart of the squad!

Anyway, Blizzard have released a (very) short comic for the festive season (even shorter than their usual fare) featuring chibi-Mei continuing her adorable poaching ways. I wholly expect the next issue to see her ambushed and doused in pig's blood by fuming PETA activists. Ah well, at least this year's festive issue will get released in Russia.

As always, the comic is free to read right here. With this being a wordless four-page feature, and the last comic being a singular tapestry, I'm hoping that Blizz will be able to return to more full-form issues soon. To be fair, I'm sure that they're a lot of work.

Overwatch's Winter Wonderland event is live until January 1 2018.

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News:: Life is Strange is hella awkward on mobile

It’s interesting how much your life can change when you simply don’t have time to do anything. I work full time, have a three-hour commute each day, and somehow manage to pop out shitty articles for this website on a semi-regular basis. My life is completely full.

Compare that to two years ago. I was still writing for Destructoid and had a full-time job, but my commute was a measly 30 minutes each day. I also didn’t have to wake up at four in the morning and get to sleep at 9:30 at night just to have the energy to make it through each day. So this time two years ago, I had a lot of free time. Hours of it really, and I would fill that time with dates friends relationships exercising looking up shit on Wikipedia. Two years ago I would spoil everything for myself. Movie plots, twists on TV shows I don’t watch -- OMG can you believe what happened on Scandal last night -- and, most commonly, the storyline for video games I didn’t think I would ever play.

Now, I simply don’t have the time. I haven’t spoiled anything for myself in months. I don’t know anything about The Last Jedi, I don’t have a clue of what happened in this last season of Game of Thrones outside of Jon Snow’s butt, and I have managed to stay absolutely clueless on the ins and outs of Life is Strange. I didn’t play it on my PS4 or computer and honestly, until I booted up the first episode on my iPad, I didn’t even know what the game is about.

Three chapters in, I have something of a clue of what’s going on. I’m excited to see where things are going, but I’m also kicking myself in the ass for not playing this sooner on a device that has a better control scheme.

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News:: Xbox's Games with Gold kicks off 2018 with zombies, vampires, and werewolves

Heading into the new year, Xbox is leaning heavily into mythical monsters for its first month of Games with Gold. January's packed with stuff that's tough to kill.

On the Xbox One side of things, Xbox Live Gold subscribers get The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III for the entirety of January. This is the third and final chapter in the Van Helsing saga; the other two were previously also available as part of Games with Gold. Halfway through the month, Ubisoft's Wii U launch title Zombi joins the fray.

As for Xbox 360, 2008's Tomb Raider: Underworld is your loot for the first part of the month. Army of Two takes over for the second half. As always, the Xbox 360 games are playable on Xbox One through backward compatibility. 

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News:: Destructoid's award for Overall Best Game of 2017 goes to...

Kept you waiting, huh?

We've seen robots with weird life choices overtake the top PS4 slot, Fleischer cartoons made a comeback nearly a century later, and a Nintendo game triumph on mobile. It was a weird, wonderful year, so wonderful that it could give the fabled 2004 and 2011 a run for their money (seriously, go down that rabbit hole sometime).

It was an amazing year for games, but one title dominated the conversation for almost the entirety of 2017 -- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

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News:: How Star Wars: The Last Jedi fumbles its potential

_{(Editors Note: We've had two pretty glowing takes on The Last Jedi, found here and here, so Drew offered to provide a counterpoint to those.)}

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a puzzling movie. Not because it’s mysterious, or full of shocking twists, but rather because it quite literally feels puzzling. The pieces that make up this film are partly formed – there are excellent themes and moments here and there that are the glimmer of what this film should have been – but not all pieces are created equal. Giant portions of this puzzle don’t seem to fit into the greater picture, and almost seem unnecessary to the end goal. There are pieces that you’ll think will make sense in context, but turn out to be from a different box. And while there are small pieces here and there that do form an excellent image, it is far from making a coherent vision.

So, setting metaphors aside, I don’t think The Last Jedi is a bad film. It has good moments, great sequences, and excellent ideas for how to shake up the Star Wars formula without ditching the elements that make Star Wars, well, Star Wars. But it is a deeply flawed, messy, and hazy movie. Problems flare up in multiple areas, but it all comes back to two key elements that The Last Jedi doesn’t nail: execution and characterization. Like I said before, the film has so many great ideas, themes, and moments, but so many of them are poorly explained and implemented that the magic is snuffed out in the theatrical release. The point of this piece then, is to try to explain why so much about The Last Jedi doesn’t work, and by doing so, explain why audience’s reactions have been mixed.

Let me first get this out of the way: these problems are not exclusive to fanboys, and these are not just nitpicks. These are glaring issues that threaten to blind the audience, and chocking the mixed audience reaction up to “fanboys not liking anything new,” is a lazy assertion to make. Despite the high CinemaScore audience grade you can easily find split opinions on this film everywhere. That can happen with cult movies, but not with one of the most profitable film franchises ever. Audience reaction is mixed because this film does a lot of things right, and a lot of things wrong.

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News:: Super Mario Odyssey Sound Selection available on iTunes today

For anyone who fancies getting their weekend off to a Super Mario Odyssey-esque bang, good news, as the soundtrack to the Switch mega-hit is coming to iTunes today.

Super Mario Odyssey Sound Selection is a 12-track album featuring choice cuts from Nintendo's grand adventure. The full track listing can be found in the tweet below, with cool kids noting it features both language versions of themes "Jump up, Super Star!" and "Break Free (Lead the Way)" The album is available in North America and Europe.

Meanwhile, an insane four-disc soundtrack set has been scheduled for release in Japan. Launching on February 28, the Super Mario Odyssey Original Soundtrack will contain a whopping 136 tracks.

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News:: Noctis seems to fit in just fine with the rest of the iconic Dissidia Final Fantasy NT crew

When Noctis hit Final Fantasy XV and I really took to him and his entire crew, I was ready for him to hit other games. He's already confirmed for Dissidia NT, Final Fantasy XIV, and even Tekken, and after watching him chill out with the rest of the cast in the latter, I'm ready for Gladio, Ignis, and Prompto to arrive at some point too.

It's just a minute, and Dissidia is right around the corner, but he seems right for the job. His teleportation techniques and flashy fighting style will likely translate well to the open arena brawler, and I dig his humble shonen prince motif.

While this will probably be overshadowed by Dragon Ball FighterZ, which arrives at roughly the same time, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on NT the most.

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News:: Hokuto no Ken PS4 console coming to Japan for those who aren't already dead

Sega and Sony have teamed up to bring Japan an exclusive PS4 console emblazoned with artwork from the upcoming Fist of the North Star brawler, Hokuto ga Gotoku.

The console, which is available for pre-order on Japan's Sony Store, comes in 500GB and 1TB models, and also includes and exclusive Hokuto ga Gotoku theme and packaging. The 500GB model costs ¥33,480, while the 1TB model will set you back ¥38,480. Not including hefty shipping and potential import charges, of course.

The PS4 is set for shipping on March 8 2018, to coincide with the release of Hokuto ga Gotoku.

Hokuto ga Gotoku edition PS4 [Sony Store Japan]

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News:: Super Sonic is free in Sonic Forces for a limited time

Sonic Forces didn't really make a big dent in the game's end of the year lists, especially after Sonic Mania took all of the glory, but Sega is still supporting it with random content drops and free cosmetics. This DLC is actually quite hefty, as it adds the previously datamined and confirmed Super Sonic into the game -- officially.

Sega is doing that thing that many Japanese developers do, where they put a cheap DLC up for free for a limited time before it converts to a premium add-on. You have a window here to grab Super Sonic (until January 23), but once that date hits he'll he priced at $1.99.

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News:: Catherine Full Body gets first trailer and Japan release window

A lot of fans got very excited at this week's news that puzzle-drama Catherine is being reworked for a PS4 and PS Vita release as Catherine: Full Body. Today sees the unveiling of the game's first trailer, featuring the mysterious third Catherine.

The new trailer is suitable stylistic, and showcases new character Rin, a pianist who performs at Vincent and co.'s favourite bar hangout. Knowing our boy Vincent, this newcomer will surely bring extra drama to his nightmarish, block-busting world.

The trailer was featured as part of a live stream, broadcast by Atlus. The publisher also announced that Catherine: Full Body is currently slated for a Winter 2018 release in Japan, which kinda sounds like we won't see it worldwide (if at all) until 2019.

Catherine: Full Body new site [Official site]

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News:: Manchester City signs second FIFA pro as 'dedicated PS4 player'

Sports teams the world over are adding gamers to their rosters, but it's particularly common in football. Manchester City FC signed its first eSports pro, Kieran "Kez" Brown, last summer, and today the club's announced Marcus "ExpectSporting" Jorgensen (aka Marcuzo) has become the second pad warrior to join the squad. Jorgensen previously competed for Danish football club Brøndby IF, with his biggest win to date being the FIFA Interactive Club World Cup held this past August.

Source: Manchester City FC

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News:: The Morning After: Friday, December 22nd 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

As we prepare for the holiday break, there's some surprising news from Google's parent company and our big smartphone camera head-to-head competition.

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