By TREVOR HOGG Images courtesy of Prime Video. For those seeking an alternative to the MCU, Prime Video has two offerings of the live-action and animated variety that take the superhero genre into R-rated territory where the hands of the god-like figures get dirty, bloodied and severed. “The Boys is about the intersection of celebrity and politics using superheroes,” states Stephan Fleet, VFX Supervisor on The Boys. “Sometimes I see the news and I don’t even know we can write to catch up to it! But we try. Invincible is an intense look at an alternate DC Universe that has more grit to the superhero side of it all. On one hand, I was jealous watching Season 1 of Invincible because in animation you can do things that you can’t do in real life on a budget.” Season 4 does not tone down the blood, gore and body count. Fleet notes, “The writers almost have this dialogue with us. Sometimes, they’ll write in the script, ‘And Fleet will come up with a cool visual effect for how to kill this person.’ Or, ‘Chhiu, our fight coordinator, will make an awesome fight.’ It is a frequent topic of conversation. We’re constantly trying to be inventive and create new ways to kill people!” When Splinter (Rob Benedict) splits in two, the cloning effect was inspired by cellular mitosis. “The writers almost have this dialogue with us. Sometimes, they’ll write in the script, ‘And Fleet will come up with a cool visual effect for how to kill this person.’ Or, ‘Chhiu, our fight coordinator, will make an awesome fight.’ It is a frequent topic of conversation. We’re constantly trying to be inventive and create new ways to kill people!” —Stephan Fleet, VFX Supervisor A total of 1,600 visual effects shots were created for the eight episodes by ILM, Pixomondo, MPC Toronto, Spin VFX, DNEG, Untold Studios, Luma Pictures and Rocket Science VFX. Previs was a critical part of the process. “We have John Griffith [Previs Director], who owns a small company called CNCPT out of Texas, and he does wonderful Unreal Engine level previs,” Fleet remarks. “On set, we have a cartoon of what is going to be done, and you’ll be amazed, specifically for action and heavy visual effects stuff, how close those shots are to the previs when we finish.” Founding Director of Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs, Victoria Neuman, literally gets ripped in half by two tendrils coming out of Compound V-enhanced Billy Butcher, the leader of superhero resistance group The Boys. “The word that we like to use on this show is ‘grounded,’ and I like to say ‘grounded’ with an asterisk in this day and age because we’re grounded until we get to killing people in the craziest ways. In this case, having someone floating in the air and being ripped in half by two tendrils was all CG.” Multiple plates were shot to enable Simon Pegg to phase through the actor laying in a hospital bed. Testing can get rather elaborate. “For that end scene with Butcher’s tendrils, the room was two stories, and we were able to put the camera up high along with a bunch of blood cannons,” Fleet recalls. “When the body rips in half and explodes, there is a practical component. We rained down a bunch of real blood and guts right in front of Huey. It’s a known joke that we like to douse Jack Quaid with blood as much as possible! In this case, the special effects team led by Hudson Kenny needed to test it the day before, and I said, “I’ll be the guinea pig for the test.’ They covered the whole place with plastic like it was a Dexter kill room because you don’t want to destroy the set. I’m standing there in a white hazmat suit with goggles on, covered from head to toe in plastic and waiting as they’re tweaking all of these things. It sounds like World War II going on. They’re on walkie talkies to each other, and then all of a sudden, it’s ‘Five, four, three, two, one…’  And I get exploded with blood. I wanted to see what it was like, and it’s intense.” “On set, we have a cartoon of what is going to be done, and you’ll be amazed, specifically for action and heavy visual effects stuff, how close those shots are to the previs when we finish.” —Stephan Fleet, VFX Supervisor The Deep has a love affair with an octopus called Ambrosius, voiced by Tilda Swinton. “It’s implied bestiality!” Fleet laughs. “I would call it more of a romance. What was fun from my perspective is that I knew what the look was going to be [from Season 3], so then it’s about putting in the details and the animation. One of the instincts that you always have when you’re making a sea creature that talks to a human [is] you tend to want to give it human gestures and eyebrows. Erik Kripke [Creator, Executive Producer, Showrunner, Director, Writer] said, ‘No. We have to find things that an octopus could do that conveys the same emotion.’ That’s when ideas came in, such as putting a little The Deep toy inside the water tank. When Ambrosius is trying to have an intimate moment or connect with him, she can wrap a tentacle around that. My favorite experience doing Ambrosius was when The Deep is reading poetry to her on a bed. CG creatures touching humans is one of the more complicated things to do and make look real. Ambrosius’ tentacles reach for his arm, and it becomes an intimate moment. More than touching the skin, displacing the bedsheet as Ambrosius moved ended up becoming a lot of CG, and we had to go back and forth a few times to get that looking right; that turned out to be tricky.” A building is replaced by a massive crowd attending a rally being held by Homelander. In a twisted form of sexual foreplay, Sister Sage has The Deep perform a transorbital lobotomy on her. “Thank you, Amazon for selling lobotomy tools as novelty items!” Fleet chuckles. “We filmed it with a lobotomy tool on set. There is a lot of safety involved in doing something like that. Obviously, you don’t want to put any performer in any situation where they come close to putting anything real near their eye. We created this half lobotomy tool and did this complicated split screen with the lobotomy tool on a teeter totter. The Deep was [acting in a certain way] in one shot and Sister Sage reacted in the other shot. To marry the two ended up being a lot of CG work. Then there are these close-ups which are full CG. I always keep a dummy head that is painted gray that I use all of the time for reference. In macrophotography I filmed this lobotomy tool going right into the eye area. I did that because the tool is chrome, so it’s reflective and has ridges. It has an interesting reflective property. I was able to see how and what part of the human eye reflects onto the tool. A lot of that shot became about realistic reflections and lighting on the tool. Then heavy CG for displacing the eye and pushing the lobotomy tool into it. That was one of the more complicated sequences that we had to achieve.” In order to create an intimate moment between Ambrosius and The Deep, a toy version of the superhero was placed inside of the water tank that she could wrap a tentacle around. “The word that we like to use on this show is ‘grounded,’ and I like to say ‘grounded’ with an asterisk in this day and age because we’re grounded until we get to killing people in the craziest ways. In this case, having someone floating in the air and being ripped in half by two tendrils was all CG.” —Stephan Fleet, VFX Supervisor Sheep and chickens embark on a violent rampage courtesy of Compound V with the latter piercing the chest of a bodyguard belonging to Victoria Neuman. “Weirdly, that was one of our more traditional shots,’ Fleet states. “What is fun about that one is I asked for real chickens as reference. The chicken flying through his chest is real. It’s our chicken wrangler in green suit gently tossing a chicken. We blended two real plates together with some CG in the middle.” A connection was made with a sci-fi classic. “The sheep kill this bull, and we shot it is in this narrow corridor of fencing. When they run, I always equated it as the Trench Run in Star Wars and looked at the sheep as TIE fighters or X-wings coming at them.” The scene was one of the scarier moments for the visual effects team. Fleet explains, “When I read the script, I thought this could be the moment where we jump the shark. For the shots where the sheep are still and scream to the camera, Untold Studios did a bunch of R&D and came up with baboon teeth. I tried to keep anything real as much as possible, but, obviously, when sheep are flying, they have to be CG. I call it the Battlestar Galactica theory, where I like to shake the camera, overshoot shots and make it sloppy when they’re in the air so you can add motion blur. Comedy also helps sell visual effects.” The sheep injected with Compound V develop the ability to fly and were shot in an imperfect manner to help ground the scenes. Once injected with Compound V, Hugh Campbell Sr. (Simon Pegg) develops the ability to phase through objects, including human beings. “We called it the Bro-nut because his name in the script is Wall Street Bro,” Fleet notes. “That was a complicated motion control shot, repeating the move over and over again. We had to shoot multiple plates of Simon Pegg and the guy in the bed. Special effects and prosthetics created a dummy guy with a hole in his chest with practical blood dripping down. It was meshing it together and getting the timing right in post. On top of that, there was the CG blood immediately around Simon Pegg.” The phasing effect had to avoid appearing as a dissolve. “I had this idea of doing high-frequency vibration on the X axis loosely based on how The Flash vibrates through walls. You want everything to have a loose motivation that then helps trigger the visuals. We tried not to overcomplicate that because, ultimately, you want something like that to be quick. If you spend too much time on phasing, it can look cheesy. In our case, it was a lot of false walls. Simon Pegg is running into a greenscreen hole which we plug in with a wall or coming out of one. I went off the actor’s action, and we added a light opacity mix with some X-axis shake.” Providing a different twist to the fights was the replacement of spurting blood with photoreal rubber duckies during a drug-induced hallucination. Homelander (Anthony Starr) breaks a mirror which emphasizes his multiple personality disorder. “The original plan was that special effects was going to pre-break a mirror, and we were going to shoot Anthony Starr moving his head doing all of the performances in the different parts of the mirror,” Fleet reveals. “This was all based on a photo that my ex-brother-in-law sent me. He was walking down a street in Glendale, California, came across a broken mirror that someone had thrown out, and took a photo of himself where he had five heads in the mirror. We get there on the day, and I’m realizing that this is really complicated. Anthony has to do these five different performances, and we have to deal with infinite mirrors. At the last minute, I said, ‘We have to do this on a clean mirror.’ We did it on a clear mirror and gave Anthony different eyelines. The mirror break was all done in post, and we were able to cheat his head slightly and art-direct where the break crosses his chin. Editorial was able to do split screens for the timing of the dialogue.” “For the shots where the sheep are still and scream to the camera, Untold Studios did a bunch of R&D and came up with baboon teeth. I tried to keep anything real as much as possible, but, obviously, when sheep are flying, they have to be CG. I call it the Battlestar Galactica theory, where I like to shake the camera, overshoot shots and make it sloppy when they’re in the air so you can add motion blur. Comedy also helps sell visual effects.” —Stephan Fleet, VFX Supervisor Initially, the plan was to use a practical mirror, but creating a digital version proved to be the more effective solution. A different spin on the bloodbath occurs during a fight when a drugged Frenchie (Tomer Capone) hallucinates as Kimiko Miyashiro (Karen Fukuhara) goes on a killing spree. “We went back and forth with a lot of different concepts for what this hallucination would be,” Fleet remarks. “When we filmed it, we landed on Frenchie having a synesthesia moment where he’s seeing a lot of abstract colors flying in the air. We started getting into that in post and it wasn’t working. We went back to the rubber duckies, which goes back to the story of him in the bathtub. What’s in the bathtub? Rubber duckies, bubbles and water. There was a lot of physics and logic required to figure out how these rubber duckies could float out of someone’s neck. We decided on bubbles when Kimiko hits people’s heads. At one point, we had water when she got shot, but it wasn’t working, so we killed it. We probably did about 100 different versions. We got really detailed with our rubber duckie modeling because we didn’t want it to look cartoony. That took a long time.” Ambrosius, voiced by Tilda Swinton, gets a lot more screentime in Season 4. When Splinter (Rob Benedict) splits in two was achieved heavily in CG. “Erik threw out the words ‘cellular mitosis’ early on as something he wanted to use,” Fleet states. “We shot Rob Benedict on a greenscreen doing all of the different performances for the clones that pop out. It was a crazy amount of CG work with Houdini and particle and skin effects. We previs’d the sequence so we had specific actions. One clone comes out to the right and the other pulls backwards.” What tends to go unnoticed by many is Splinter’s clones setting up for a press conference being held by Firecracker (Valorie Curry). “It’s funny how no one brings up the 22-hour motion control shot that we had to do with Splinter on the stage, which was the most complicated shot!” Fleet observes. “We have this sweeping long shot that brings you into the room and follows Splinter as he carries a container to the stage and hands it off to a clone, and then you reveal five more of them interweaving each other and interacting with all of these objects. It’s like a minute-long dance. First off, you have to choreograph it. We previs’d it, but then you need to get people to do it. We hired dancers and put different colored armbands on them. The camera is like another performer, and a metronome is going, which enables you to find a pace. That took about eight hours of rehearsal. Then Rob has to watch each one of their performances and mimic it to the beat. When he is handing off a box of cables, it’s to a double who is going to have to be erased and be him on the other side. They have to be almost perfect in their timing and lineup in order to take it over in visual effects and make it work.”

Becky Luigart-Stayner for Country LivingCountry Living editors select each product featured. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Why Trust Us?Like a well-made quilt, a classic farmhouse aesthetic comes together gradually—a little bit of this, a touch of that. Each addition is purposeful and personal—and isn’t that what home is all about, really? If this type of slowed-down style speaks to you, you're probably already well aware that Etsy is a treasure trove of finds both new and old to fit your timeless farmhouse aesthetic. But with more than eight million active sellers on its marketplace, sometimes the possibilities—vintage feed sacks! primitive pie safes! galvanized grain scoops!—can quickly go from enticing to overwhelming.To better guide your search for the finest farmhouse furnishings, we’ve gathered a go-to list of editor-and designer-beloved Etsy shops which, time and again, turn out hardworking, homespun pieces of heirloom quality. From beautiful antique bureaus to hand-block-printed table linens, the character-rich wares from these sellers will help you design the farmhouse of your dreams, piece by precious piece. Related Stories For Antique AmericanaAcorn and Alice Every good old-fashioned farmhouse could use some traditional Americana to set the tone, and this Pennsylvania salvage shop offers rustic touches loaded with authentic antique allure. Aged wooden wares abound (think vintage milk crates, orchard fruit baskets, and berry boxes), as well as a grab bag of cotton and burlap feed sacks, perfect for framing as sets or crafting into footstool covers or throw pillows. For French Country TextilesForest and LinenThere’s nothing quite like breezy natural fabrics to make you want to throw open all the windows and let that country air in while the pie cools. Unfussy and lightweight, the hand-crafted curtains, bedding, and table linens from these Lithuanian textile experts have a classic understated quality that would be right at home in the coziest guest room or most bustling kitchen. Warm, welcoming hues range from marigold yellow to cornflower blue, but soft gingham checkers and timeless French ticking feel especially farm-fresh. Our current favorite? These cherry-striped country cafe curtains. Becky Luigart-Stayner for Country LivingVintage red torchons feel right at home in a farmhouse kitchenFor Rustic RugsOld New HouseWhether or not you’re lucky enough to have gorgeous wide-plank floors, an antique area rug or runner can work wonders for giving a room instant character and warmth. This fifth-generation family-run retailer specializes in importing heirloom hand-knotted carpets dating back to the 1800s, with a focus on traditional designs from the masters in Turkey, India, Persia, and more. Their vast variety of sizes and styles offers something for every aesthetic, with one-of-a-kind patterns ranging from distressed neutrals to chain-stitched florals to ornate arabesques. For Pillows and ProvisionsHabitation BohemeIn true farmhouse fashion, this Indiana shop has curated an enticing blend of handcrafted and vintage homewares that work effortlessly well together. A line of cozy hand-stitched linen pillow covers (patterned with everything from block-printed blossoms to provincial pinstripes) sits prettily alongside a mix of found objects, from patinated brass candlesticks and etched cloisonné vases to sturdy stoneware crockery and woven wicker baskets. For Elegant Everyday DishwareConvivial ProductionSimple, yet undeniably stunning, the handcrafted dinnerware from this Missouri-based ceramist is designed with durability in mind. Produced in a single, time-tested shade of ivory white glaze, these practical stoneware cups, bowls, and plates make the perfect place settings for lively farm-to-table feasts with friends and family. Beautifully balancing softness and heft, each dish is meant to feel comfortable when being held and passed, but also to look attractive when stacked upon open shelving. For English Country Antiques1100 West Co.This Illinois antiques shop is stocked with all manner of versatile vintage vessels culled from the English countryside, from massive stoneware crocks to charming little escargot pots. Their collection of neutral containers can be adapted for nearly any provincial purpose (envision white ironstone pitchers piled high with fresh-picked hyacinths, or glass canning jars holding your harvest grains), but we especially love their assortment of old advertising—from toothpaste pots to marmalade jars and ginger beer bottles galore—for a nice little nod to the quintessential country practice of repurposing what you’ve got. Brian Woodcock/Country LivingPretty English ironstone will always have our heart.For a Cozy GlowOlde Brick LightingConstructed by hand from cord to shade, the vintage-inspired lighting produced by this Pennsylvania retailer is a tribute to the iconic quality and character of old American fixtures. Nostalgic design elements include hand-blown glass (crafted using cast-iron molds from over 80 years ago) and finishes ranging from matte black to brushed nickel and antique brass. To create an authentic farmhouse ambiance, check out their gooseneck sconces, enameled red and blue barn lights, and milky white striped schoolhouse flush mounts. For Enduring ArtifactsThrough the PortholeThe weathered, artisan-made wares curated by this California husband-and-wife duo have been hand-selected from around the globe for their time-etched character. From gorgeous gray-black terracotta vases and rust-colored Turkish clay pots to patinated brass cow bells and rustic reclaimed elm stools, each item is a testament to the lasting beauty of classic materials, with storied sun-bleaching and scratches befitting the most beloved, lived-in rooms. For Winsome Wall ArtEugenia Ciotola ArtThrough graceful brushstrokes and textural swirls of paint, Maryland-based artist Eugenia Ciotola has captured the natural joy of a life that’s simple and sweet. Her pieces celebrate quiet scenes of bucolic beauty, from billowing bouquets of peonies to stoic red barns sitting in fields of wavy green. For a parlor gallery or gathering space, we gravitate toward her original oils on canvas—an impasto still life, perhaps, or a plainly frocked maiden carrying a bountiful bowl of lemons—while her stately farm animal portraits (regal roosters! ruff collared geese!) would look lovely in a child’s nursery.For Time-Tested Storage SolutionsMaterials DivisionFunction is forefront for this farmhouse supplier operating out of New York, whose specialized selection of vintage provisions have lived out dutiful lives of purpose. Standouts include a curated offering of trusty antique tool boxes and sturdy steel-clad trunks whose rugged patina tells the story of many-a household project. Meanwhile, a hardworking mix of industrial wire and woven wood gathering baskets sits handsomely alongside heavy-duty galvanized garbage bins and antique fireplace andirons.For Pastoral PrimitivesComfort Work RoomFull of history and heritage, the old, hand-fabricated furnishings and primitive wooden tools in this unique Ukrainian antique shop are rural remnants of simpler times gone by. Quaint kitchen staples like chippy chiseled spoons, scoops, and cutting boards make an accessible entry point for the casual collector, while scuffed up dough troughs, butter churns, washboards, and barrels are highly desirable conversation pieces for any antique enthusiast who’s dedicated to authentic detail. Becky Luigart-Stayner for Country LivingAntique washboards make for on-theme wall art in a laundry roomFor Heirloom-Quality CoverletsBluegrass QuiltsNo layered farmhouse look would be complete without the homey, tactile touch of a hand-pieced quilt or two draped intentionally about the room. From harvest-hued sawtooth stars to playful patchwork pinwheels, each exquisite blanket from this Kentucky-based artisan is slow-crafted in traditional fashion from 100% cotton materials, and can even be custom stitched from scratch to match your personal color palette and decorative purpose. For a classic country aesthetic, try a log cabin, double diamond, or star patch pattern. For Hand-Crafted GiftsSelselaFeaturing a busy barnyard’s worth of plucky chickens, cuddly sheep, and happy little Holstein cows, this Illinois woodworker’s whimsical line of farm figurines and other giftable goodies (think animal wine stoppers, keychains, fridge magnets, and cake toppers) is chock-full of hand-carved charm. Crafted from 100% recycled birch and painted in loving detail, each creature has a deliberately rough-hewn look and feel worthy of any cozy and collected home. For Open-Concept CabinetryFolkhausA hallmark of many modern farmhouses, open-concept shelving has become a stylish way to show that the practical wares you use everyday are the same ones you’re proud to put on display. With their signature line of bracketed wall shelves, Shaker-style peg shelves, and raw steel kitchen rails, the team at Folkhaus has created a range of open storage solutions that beautifully balances elevated design and rustic utility. Rounding out their collection is a selection of open-shelved accent pieces like bookcases, benches, and console tables—each crafted from character-rich kiln-dried timber and finished in your choice of stain.Related StoryFor Antique Farmhouse FurnitureCottage Treasures LVThe foundation of a well-furnished farmhouse often begins with a single prized piece. Whether it’s a slant-front desk, a primitive jelly cabinet, or a punched-tin pie safe, this established New York-based dealer has a knack for sourcing vintage treasures with the personality and presence to anchor an entire space. Distressed cupboards and cabinets may be their bread and butter (just look at this two-piece pine hutch!) but you’ll also find a robust roundup of weathered farm tables, Windsor chairs, and blanket chests—and currently, even a rare 1500s English bench. For Lively Table LinensMoontea StudioAs any devotee of slow decorating knows, sometimes it’s the little details that really bring a look home. For a spot of cheer along with your afternoon tea, we love the hand-stamped table linens from this Washington-based printmaker, which put a peppy, modern spin on farm-fresh produce. Patterned with lush illustrations of bright red tomatoes, crisp green apples, and golden sunflowers—then neatly finished with a color-coordinated hand-stitched trim—each tea towel, placemat, and napkin pays homage to the hours we spend doting over our gardens. For Traditional TransferwarePrior TimeThere’s lots to love about this Massachusetts antiques shop, which admittedly skews slightly cottagecore (the pink Baccarat perfume bottles! the hobnail milk glass vases! the huge primitive bread boards!) but the standout, for us, is the seller’s superior selection of dinner and serving ware. In addition to a lovely lot of mottled white ironstone platters and pitchers, you’ll find a curated mix of Ridgeway and Wedgwood transferware dishes in not only classic cobalt blue, but beautiful browns, greens, and purples, too.Becky Luigart-Stayner for Country LivingPretty brown transferware could be yours with one quick "add to cart."For Folk Art for Your FloorsKinFolk ArtworkDesigned by a West Virginia watercolor and oils artist with a penchant for painting the past, these silky chenille floor mats feature an original cast of colonial characters and folksy scenes modeled after heirloom textiles from the 18th and 19th centuries. Expect lots of early American and patriotic motifs, including old-fashioned flags, Pennsylvania Dutch fraktur, equestrian vignettes, and colonial house samplers—each made to mimic a vintage hooked rug for that cozy, homespun feeling. (We have to admit, the folk art-inspired cow and chicken is our favorite.)For Historical ReproductionsSchooner Bay Co.Even in the most painstakingly appointed interior, buying antique originals isn’t always an option (don’t ask how many times we’ve been outbid at an estate auction). And that’s where this trusted Pennsylvania-based retailer for historical reproductions comes in. Offering a colossal collection of framed art prints, decorative trays, and brass objects (think magnifying glasses, compasses, paperweights, and letter openers), these connoisseurs of the classics have decor for every old-timey aesthetic, whether it’s fox hunt prints for your cabin, Dutch landscapes for your cottage, or primitive animal portraits for your farmstead.For General Store StaplesFarmhouse EclecticsHand-plucked from New England antique shops, estate sales, and auctions, the salvaged sundries from this Massachusetts-based supplier (who grew up in an 1850s farmhouse himself) are the type you might spy in an old country store—wooden crates emblazoned with the names of local dairies, antique apple baskets, seed displays, signs, and scales. Whether you’re setting up your farmstand or styling your entryway, you’ll have plenty of storage options and authentic accents to pick from here. Becky Luigart-Stayner for Country LivingSo many food scales, so little time.Related StoriesJackie BuddieJackie Buddie is a freelance writer with more than a decade of editorial experience covering lifestyle topics including home decor how-tos, fashion trend deep dives, seasonal gift guides, and in-depth profiles of artists and creatives around the globe. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received her M.F.A. in creative writing from Boston University. Jackie is, among other things, a collector of curiosities, Catskills land caretaker, dabbling DIYer, day hiker, and mom. She lives in the hills of Bovina, New York, with her family and her sweet-as-pie rescue dog.

(Credit: René Ramos; Nintendo; Sora)The Best Games on Every Platform Animal Crossing: New Horizons Animal Crossing: New Horizons (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent No game may end up defining 2020 more than Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nintendo’s adorable life simulator has always had its fans. However, with the real world under lockdown, countless players have flocked to their own virtual islands to find community. Paying a mortgage to a raccoon is a small price to pay for the freedom to relax in your own social life again. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp 4.0 Excellent Fire Emblem isn't Nintendo's only awesome strategy series. If you prefer soldiers and tanks over knights and horses, check out Advance Wars and its terrific turn-based tactics. This remake includes campaigns from the first two Game Boy Advance games, offering hours upon hours of brilliantly designed missions. You can also design your own maps and play against friends online. Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp review ARMS ARMS (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent ARMS is Nintendo's newest take on the fighting game genre. It combines cartoonish aesthetics, sci-fi weapons, and arm-stretching boxing into an accessible, offbeat fighter with a lot of variety. It's a polished, fun, competitive game that bears more than a passing visual similarity to Splatoon. Though time will tell if ARMS gains any momentum within the esports scene, the game offers plenty of opportunity to swing fists at your friends. Bayonetta 2 Bayonetta 2 (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Bayonetta 2 is another fantastic game that launched on the wrong system. Years later its initial release, Bayo 2 still stands as one of the best action games out there, and now that it's been ported from the Wii U to the Switch it can get the attention and devotion it deserves. Tight controls, robust challenge, and plenty of style make this stand out as a pinnacle of action games. Bayonetta 3 Bayonetta 3 (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Just when you thought Bayonetta couldn’t get any more bewitching, PlatinumGames delivers an absolute master class on video game action with Bayonetta 3. Besides Bayonetta’s familiar punches, kicks, and guns, you can further expand her combat options by summoning giant demons and directing their attacks. Meanwhile, the multiversal story is ridiculous, even by Bayonetta standards. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent If Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's story of a demonic castle and a lone savior sounds incredibly familiar, it should: the game was spearheaded by Koji Igarashi, the big brain behind many revered Castlevania games. Bloodstained is an excellent Castlevania game in everything but name, hitting the same beats Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, and Order of Ecclesia did. If you're thirsty for a new, enjoyable Castlevania-like game that calls back to before Lords of Shadow rebooted the series and Mirror of Fate completely failed to capture any of its luster, this is the game for you. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon 4.0 Excellent Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon isn’t a hard-hitting, nonstop action game like the main Bayonetta trilogy. Instead, this is a relatively relaxed adventure game full of puzzles and gorgeous storybook visuals. Young witch Cereza teams up with a young demon, Cheshire, to tackle challenges neither could complete alone. Although the combat isn’t quite as complex as in the mainline Bayo games, there’s still plenty of flair to the faerie fights. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon review Bravely Default II Bravely Default II (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Modern Final Fantasy games have become their own beasts, but games like Bravely Default II remind us why we fell in love with those classic Square Enix JRPGs. In battle, you can either perform multiple actions at once (Brave) or wait to save up for later turns (Default), which opens up many strategic possibilities. On Switch, the diorama world looks more beautiful and nostalgic than ever. Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Crypt of the NecroDancer was a surprise indie hit in 2015, catching gamers' eyes and ears with its combination of roguelike randomized dungeon exploration with rhythm game beat-keeping. It hit the Nintendo Switch in 2018, and now it's back in a new and much more Nintendo-specific form: Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer, a title that injects rhythm game mechanics into The Legend of Zelda. This Switch game seamlessly combines Zelda and Crypt of the NecroDancer, creating a surprisingly accessible and thoroughly enjoyable experience played to the beat of Zelda's classic and music. Cassette Beasts 4.0 Excellent Pokémon doesn't have a monopoly on monster catching. Cassette Beasts is a stylish, indie RPG that puts its own spin on collecting creatures and pitting them against each other in combat. The open world has many quests, the fighting mechanics have the extra depth that experienced players crave, and the story veers off in cool, surreal directions. Most importantly, there are some great monster designs, like ghostly sheep and living bullets. Cassette Beasts review Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Forget fancy new video games. Sometimes you just want to play chess, solitaire, or one of the other virtual vintage games that make up this classic compilation. Not only is this a convenient way to play some of history’s most enduring games with friends, but Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics does a great job educating you on that history, including the fascinating early Hanafuda history of Nintendo itself. Game Builder Garage Game Builder Garage (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent If you thought Super Mario Maker was a great way to learn about game development, give Game Builder Garage a spin. This incredibly powerful 3D game creation tool lets you make anything from platformers to racing games to puzzle mysteries. Thorough, friendly tutorials explain the robust “Nodon” coding language, so even novices can create hitboxes and manipulate the Z-axis like pros. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent The Switch has gotten a reputation as a machine for game ports, and there's nothing wrong with that. The Wii U wasn't the massive hit the Wii was, but it still had several excellent games that went underappreciated in their time. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is one of them, a sequel to Donkey Kong Country Returns with even more challenge and variety. The Switch version of this game adds Funky Kong Mode, an easier setting and new playable character (Funky Kong himself) that makes the surprisingly brutal platforming feel a little less punishing. Hades Hades (for Nintendo Switch) Hades takes the punishing and divisive roguelike genre and masterfully twists it into one of the year's most addictive games. Fighting your way out of the Greek underworld with randomly changing skills and weapons feels incredible. The family drama at the game’s core gives you that extra narrative push to keep going. Plus, everyone is smoking hot. Indivisible Indivisible (for Nintendo Switch) While many role-playing games draw their influences from Western folklore, even RPGs made in Japan, Indivisible carves out a unique identity with a fresh Southeast Asian flavor. The 2D animation is exquisite, as we would expect from the developer of Skullgirls. Gameplay is a mix of nonlinear spaces to explore and enemies to defeat in tactical battles. Of the two types of play, the exploration sections impress us more. In these bits you find your way forward by using an axe to fling yourself up walls or by shooting arrows to blind sentries. That's just more satisfying than the frantic messes the fights, caught awkwardly between turn-based and real-time combat, can turn into.   Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Kirby’s Return to Dreamland is a traditional, side-scrolling adventure compared to Kirby’s more radical outings. Still, it’s an excellent showcase of what makes even a normal Kirby game irresistible. This Deluxe version enhances the Wii co-op classic with a sweet, new art style; extra powers; and an original epilogue. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe (for Nintendo Switch) review Kirby and the Forgotten Land Kirby and the Forgotten Land (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Kirby and the Forgotten Land finally gives the pink puffball the epic 3D adventure that Mario, Link, and Samus got years ago. Float through the skies in creative levels bursting with secrets. Upgrade familiar powers, such as hammers and swords, into formidable new forms. Or just sit back and marvel at how Nintendo made the post-apocalypse look so cute. Kirby Star Allies Kirby Star Allies (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Kirby games are always fun. Whether they're the simple platformers like Kirby's Adventure or weirdly gimmicky experiences like Kirby's Dream Course, every first-party experience with Nintendo's pink puff ball has been enjoyable. Kirby Star Allies is no different, with a lighthearted campaign filled with colorful friends and abilities, surprisingly challenging extra modes to unlock, and support for up to four players at once. Get on the Friend Train! The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Hyrule is in danger again, and Link must save it. That's been the theme for nearly every Legend of Zelda game, and it's still the case in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The series' basic premise and Link/Zelda/Ganon dynamic are present, but nearly everything else is different. The classic Zelda dungeon-exploration structure is replaced by a huge open world that's filled with destructible weapons, monsters, puzzles, and quests. Breath of the Wild's scope is one previously unseen in the Zelda series, and Nintendo executes the adventure-filled world with aplomb. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, Nintendo Switch Lite 4.5 Excellent The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom turns Nintendo's epic franchise on its head in more ways than one. Instead of the swordsman, Link, you play as Princess Zelda. Likewise, you don't directly attack enemies; you summon useful items and foes to aid you on the mission. The game takes the creative, improv spirit of Breath of the Wild and applies it to a classic 2D top-down Zelda adventure with delightful results. Plus, it just looks adorable. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, Nintendo Switch Lite review The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good No Zelda games are terrible, but no game polarizes the fan base quite like Skyward Sword. Fortunately, this HD remaster speeds up the pacing, enhances the graphics, and offers a button-based control scheme if you don’t care for motion controls. The structure feels especially linear in a post-Breath of the Wild world, but Zelda’s origin story is still worth experiencing. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch (OLED Model), Nintendo Switch Lite 5.0 Outstanding At launch, it was tough to imagine the Switch ever getting another game as good as Breath of the Wild. But years later, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom delivers everything we could have possibly wanted and more in this direct sequel to one of the greatest games ever made. Exploring the skies and underground caves makes Hyrule more vast than ever. New powers let you break the world apart and rebuild it as you see fit. Tears of the Kingdom is an irresistible, hypnotic adventure, and an absolute must-play for all RPG fans. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch (OLED Model), Nintendo Switch Lite review Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Who knows what the future holds for Star Wars, but Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga provides a terrific toybox take on Episodes I-IX. The Lego recreations of all nine movies gives you plenty to experience as you blast baddies and solve Force puzzles. But what really makes this game so special is how it turns the entire Star Wars galaxy into an open world to explore, whether it’s on colorful planets or through the vastness of outer space in your trusty starfighter. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (for Nintendo Switch) review Luigi's Mansion 3 Luigi's Mansion 3 - Nintendo Switch Standard Edition What started as a weirdly specific parody of Ghostbusters and Resident Evil has become of one the finest Mario spin-off adventures. Luigi’s spooky journey throughout a haunted hotel is arguably the most visually stunning game on the Nintendo Switch. Along with sucking up ghosts, you can now slam them (back) to death and shoot plungers to pull apart the scenery. Your greatest, and grossest, tool has to be Gooigi. This slimy green doppelgänger expands your puzzle-solving powers and provides an easy option for younger co-op partners. Lumines Remastered Lumines Remastered (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Puyo Puyo Tetris is great for classic, competitive block-dropping, but it's a bit overly perky and anime-ish to really relax to. Lumines Remastered is the ultimate chill-out block-dropper, syncing the mesmerizing pattern matching to dozens of hypnotic electronic and trance tracks. Load it on your Switch, put on your favorite headphones, and space out while you build huge combos. Mario & Luigi: Brothership Mario & Luigi: Brothership - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, Nintendo Switch Lite 4.0 Excellent Mario & Luigi: Brothership revives a Mario RPG subseries as a grand nautical adventure. The plumbers sail the seas, reconnecting scattered islands and battling foes with familiar, frenetic turn-based combat. On Nintendo Switch, the visuals and animations turn Mario and Luigi into cartoon-like characters. Mario & Luigi: Brothership - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, Nintendo Switch Lite review Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Before Minions, there were Rabbids, Ubisoft's manic, sublingual, noseless horde spawned from Rayman: Raving Rabbids. Then the weird, bug-eyed, rabbit-like creatures caused havoc in their own game series. Now, they're running around Mario's stomping grounds in Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. This strategy-RPG combines two cartoonish worlds with satisfyingly deep, XCOM-like gameplay for a very fun and strange experience. It's a combination of styles that work much, much better than you'd expect. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle proved that these two mascots could come together for excellent, approachable tactics gameplay. Sparks of Hope is more of the same, but even better. Equipping Sparks lets you further customize your squad’s strategic abilities. Wide open levels provide entertaining exploration between the skirmishes. Mario Golf: Super Rush Mario Golf: Super Rush (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Leave it to Mario to find a way to make golf games feel fresh again. Mario Golf: Super Rush’s standout gimmick has golfers teeing off all at once, and then physically running across the course to take their next shot. You still have to plan smart strokes, but you also need to keep an eye on the clock. The lengthy, single-player adventure teaches you the ropes before you head online to face real challengers on the green. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Mario Kart 8 stood out as the best-looking Mario Kart game yet when it came out on the Nintendo Wii U. Instead of making a new Mario Kart for the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo brought Mario Kart 8 to its new game system. In the process, Nintendo threw in both previously released DLC packs and made some few welcome changes to its multiplayer options, justifying the game's full retail price. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the most robust game in the series so far, and with the optional portability of the Switch, it ranks as a must-own title. Mario Strikers: Battle League Mario Strikers: Battle League (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Mario has played many sports throughout the years, but Mario Strikers: Battle League gives us the arcade soccer chaos fans have craved for more than a decade. It features fast-paced action, while allowing for depth and skill should you choose to push yourself. Customize your characters with stat-changing gear. Join online clubs to compete in ongoing seasons. And no one animates the Mario universe with as much style and attitude as the developers at Next Level Games. Mario Strikers: Battle League (for Nintendo Switch) review Mario Tennis Aces Mario Tennis Aces (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent You don't need to be a sports fan to enjoy Nintendo sports games. If a sport has "Mario" in front of it, it's probably going to be a fun, very unrealistic romp instead of a serious simulation. Mario Tennis Aces is an exciting tennis game not because of any realistic physics, but because of fast, responsive gameplay and strategic mechanics that make matches feel more like rounds in a fighting game than tennis sets. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics - Nintendo Switch 4.0 Excellent Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics lets you finally relive six legendary 2D fighters starring Marvel superheroes and Capcom icons. From the humble X-Men: Children of the Atom to the over-the-top Marvel vs. Capcom 2, this is vital fighting game history. An art gallery, modern control options, rollback netcode, and the underrated Punisher beat 'em up sweeten the deal. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics - Nintendo Switch review Metal Slug Tactics Metal Slug Tactics (for Nintendo Switch) Metal Slug Tactics trades the mainline series' fast-paced running and gunning for methodical, turn-based strategy gameplay. Still, it's just as action-packed as ever. Line up your units for devastating sync attacks. Enjoy the beautiful old-school sprite work. Plan your turns, hop into a giant tank, and obliterate foes. Metroid Dread Metroid Dread (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent After nearly 20 years, Metroid Dread brings Samus Aran back to her 2D, bounty hunting roots for the true Metroid 5. In it, you explore a dense, dangerous new planet full of powers to pick up and enemies to eliminate. From uncompromising boss battles to terrifying chases, Dread more than lives up to its subtitle. If there's anyone strong enough to take down the terror, it's Nintendo's leading lady. Metroid Prime Remastered 5.0 Outstanding Metroid Prime is one of the best games ever made. It takes Super Metroid’s brilliant exploratory action and perfectly translates it to 3D with immaculate level design and immersive first-person shooting. This remaster, which ventures into the remake territory, includes everything that worked in the original, and ups the presentation to modern, beautiful standards. Plus, you can now play with dual-stick controls. Bring on Metroid Prime 4. Metroid Prime Remastered review Miitopia Miitopia (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good Miis can do more than just play Wii Sports. In Miitopia, you use Nintendo’s cartoon caricatures to cast yourself, friends, and family as heroes and villains in a fast-paced, whimsical role-playing game. Turn yourself into a brave knight, while your buddy supports you as a pop star. The joke can’t quite sustain the whole runtime, but Miitopia is wildly entertaining.   Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent If traditional Monster Hunter is just too intense for you, Monster Hunter Stories 2 lets you experience this cutthroat world as a turn-based JRPG. Befriend monsters and take them into battle. Hatch eggs to expand your menagerie. Strategic battles draw upon familiar Monster Hunter concepts. And, of course, Rathalos is here. New Pokemon Snap New Pokemon Snap (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent The beloved Nintendo 64 spin-off finally gets the update it deserves. Instead of capturing Pokemon and forcing them to battle, New Pokemon Snap asks you to take beautiful photos of Pikachu and friends in their natural surroundings. The on-rails gameplay feels like a nonviolent version of a light gun game. The gorgeous graphics will inspire you to share your best pics online for the world to see. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Imagine Super Smash Bros., but instead of playing as video game mascots, you control beloved cartoon characters beating each other senseless. That's Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. From SpongeBob SquarePants to Ren and Stimpy to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the roster covers all eras of Nicktoon nostalgia. Beyond the ironic meme potential, "Nick Smash" features genuinely fantastic gameplay made by a team clearly passionate about this particular form of "platform fighting" games. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (for Nintendo Switch) review Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 01 Variety Kit Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 01 Variety Kit (for Nintendo Switch) 5.0 Outstanding Labo is a weirder concept than the Switch itself. It's based around building cardboard "Toy-Cons" in which you place the Switch's components to let you do new things with them. It's also surprisingly functional, entertaining, and educational. The Nintendo Labo Variety Kit has all of the parts you need to build several different Toy-Cons like a piano and motorcycle handlebars, and walks you through every step of the process. Just building the Toy-Cons is fascinating, but the Toy-Con Garage mode adds surprisingly robust programming options to let you create your own remote-controlled creations. Nintendo Labo: VR Kit 4.5 Excellent It took over 20 years, but Nintendo finally got over its fear of virtual reality after the disastrous Virtual Boy. The Labo VR Kit lets you build your own VR headset that uses the Nintendo Switch and a set of lenses to create a stereoscopic image, and then insert that headset into different Toy-Con controllers to play a variety of games. That's already a ton of fun for $79.99 (or $39.99 for a starter set that only includes one Toy-Con to build instead of five). Add a programming environment on top that lets you create your own 3D games, and you have an impressive package. No More Heroes III No More Heroes III (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent No More Heroes III, like the other games in Suda51’s hack-and-slash trilogy, is a punk art game. Sure, some parts may be “bad,” like the technical jank or empty open worlds. But it’s all in service of larger commentary on everything from schlocky movies to wrestling fandom to the video game industry itself. Plus, cutting aliens down to size feels legitimately fantastic, and really that’s what matters.  Penny's Big Breakaway 4.0 Excellent The creators of Sonic Mania deliver a new indie 3D platformer that feels like a forgotten Sega classic. Use your trusty yo-yo to swing and roll through colorful, tightly designed levels that test your momentum control. Bosses and other enemies are sometimes more annoying than fun, but the movement mechanics are a joy to master. Penny's Big Breakaway review Pikmin 3 Deluxe Pikmin 3 Deluxe (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good Pikmin isn’t the most recognizable Nintendo franchise, but the approachable real-time strategy game carries as much magic as Mario and Zelda. This Wii U port offers more missions and ways to control your army of cute plant creatures. The campaign's local, co-op play opens all kinds of new strategies, too. Veterans of previous Pikmin wars may have seen most of this content before, but Pikmin newcomers should absolutely jump into this tiny, tactical, and tactile world. Pikmin 4 Pikmin 4 (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Pikmin has always been good, but the quirky real-time strategy game has never broken out of its cult status over the past 20 years. Hopefully, that all changes with Pikmin 4. The biggest and best Pikmin game yet, Pikmin 4 gives you new Pikmin to command, a cute and customizable dog companion, and many gorgeous areas to strategically explore whether above ground or in countless caves. The multiplayer could be better, but Pikmin 4 is a top-tier Nintendo game everyone should play. Pikmin 4 (for Nintendo Switch) review Pizza Tower Pizza Tower feels like a fever dream of 1990s cartoons, internet memes, and retro Wario Land games. Don’t let his pudgy exterior fool you. Protagonist Peppino Spaghetti has many incredibly fast and fluid platforming tools, including dashing and wall-running. You’ll need to master those tools to beat levels as fast as possible, without losing your mind. Pokemon Legends: Arceus Pokemon Legends: Arceus (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good Pokemon Legends: Arceus finally gives the Pokemon franchise a long-awaited refresh. Taking place in the distant past of Diamond and Pearl’s Sinnoh region, Arceus lets you capture and study wild Pokemon in a world where humans still fear the creatures. Vast open fields, revamped battle mechanics, and an utterly addictive approach to exploration create the most immersive Pokemon experience yet. Pokemon Let's Go, Pikachu/Eevee! Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee! 4.0 Excellent If the traditional Pokemon RPGs are still just a bit too complex for you, consider the casual adventures Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee. This duo remakes the first-generation Pokemon Yellow, with bright, colorful, HD graphics, and a new capture mechanic based on Pokemon Go. In addition, there are trainer battles and turn-based combat for people who dig classic Pokemon. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Pokémon Scarlet - Nintendo Switch 4.0 Excellent Pokemon Sword and Shield and Pokemon Legends: Arceus experimented with expansive zones, but Pokémon Scarlet and Violet finally turns the monster-catching game into an open-world RPG. As we always suspected, the addictive Pokémon formula works brilliantly when you can go wherever you want, exploring towns and catching whatever monsters you encounter. Lingering technical issues keep it from reaching its full potential, but this is Pokémon's shining future. Pokemon Sword/Shield Pokemon Sword (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee were a nice warmup, but Pokemon Sword and Shield are the real home console Pokemon games we’ve been looking forward to playing. Travel across big, open landscapes to capture even bigger Pokemon. New expansions packs in 2020 give trainers even more regions to explore and more Pokemon to battle without having to buy a third version. The Pokedex will be complete before you know it.  Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown 4.5 Excellent Prince of Persia returns to its 2D roots with The Lost Crown, a standout entry in the crowded modern Metroidvania market. Everything just clicks. The massive map is a joy to explore. Clever puzzles make the most of inventive abilities. Deep combat systems allow satisfying expression. Challenging DLC further expands the adventure. And the presentation combines Persian flair with anime exuberance. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown review Pokemon Unite Pokemon Unite (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good If you’re curious about the MOBA genre, but scared of esports heavy-hitters like Dota 2 and League of Legends, then Pokemon Unite is the perfect place to get started. Two teams of five Pokemon battle each other in real-time to score goals across the map. This free-to-play game is also coming soon to mobile, so you’ll find plenty of aspiring Pokemon masters to challenge. Puyo Puyo Tetris Puyo Puyo Tetris (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Practically everyone in North America has heard of Tetris. Far fewer have heard of Puyo Puyo. Both are block-dropping puzzle games, but while Tetris has been Tetris for decades, Puyo Puyo has had many different tweaks and name changes in attempts to appeal to the west. It came out first as Puyo Pop, then received different licensed incarnations, such as Puzzle Fighter and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. Now, Puyo Puyo is making its mark here, thanks to Sega and a double-billing with Tetris. The pairing results in a title that's plump with game modes, unlockables, and solo and multiplayer options. Red Dead Redemption Red Dead Redemption (for Nintendo Switch) Grand Theft Auto put Rockstar Games on the map, but for many the team's true masterpiece is the epic, open-world Western saga known as Red Dead Redemption. John Marston's cowboy odyssey has the scathing tone you'd expect from the developer, but it also has heart and a sense of tragedy. The Nintendo Switch version perfectly maintains the original gameplay experience, from stylish shootouts to riding your horse across the empty desert. It also includes the Undead Nightmare DLC. Finally, a version of Red Dead you can play in a tent under the stars. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw Rebel Galaxy Outlaw (for Nintendo Switch) Rebel Galaxy Outlaw has enough action-packed, visually dazzling spaceship dogfights to excite any Star Fox fan. The real joy, however, is in the quieter moments, when you act out your galactic trucker fantasies by carrying cargo from space stations named after Texas towns. Improving your ship is a bit of a grind, but it’s a rewarding one. If you get bored, you can always shoot down pirates—or become one yourself. Rocket League Rocket League (for Nintendo Switch) Rocket League is soccer, with remote controlled cars and funny hats. It's amazing how compelling a game can be when the entire point of it is to use a car to knock a ball into a goal, but Rocket League nails it. Wild physics, colorful visuals, and simple game types you can keep coming back to while challenging friends and strangers make this one of the best pseudo-sports games on the Switch. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (for Nintendo Switch) Platforming excellence comes to the Nintendo Switch courtesy of Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. This downloadable package includes the original Shovel Knight, one of 2014's top titles, as well as all the previously released DLC including the Plague of Shadows and Specter of Torment campaigns. If you long for some retro, 2D action, Treasure Trove a a game that you should not miss. Splatoon 3 Splatoon 3 (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Splatoon 3 isn't much different than Splatoon 2 (which in turn wasn't much different from Splatoon 1). However, no other online team-based shooter delivers an experience quite like this. Inking the ground, splatting opponents, and transforming from squid to kid never felt this good. The wealth of solo, cooperative, and competitive modes will keep you busy. Keep the party going with the excellent, roguelike DLC Side Order. Splatoon 3 (for Nintendo Switch) review Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (for Nintendo Switch) Street Fighter has been the biggest name in fighting games for decades, and Capcom is proud of that fact. While it really got going with Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection lets you play the original Street Fighter in all of its genre-building glory. And, after you realize how bad that first attempt was, you can play the much better sequels like Super Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Street Fighter III: Third Strike. You're looking at a dozen games in this collection, with loads of extra content like soundtracks and sprite data. Streets of Rage 4 Streets of Rage 4 (for Nintendo Switch) Streets of Rage 4 pounds life back into the dead sidescrolling beat ‘em up genre. The gameplay may not have progressed that much since Sega’s trilogy in the 1990s, but taking down hordes of goons with your fists has never looked better thanks to a thoroughly modern illustrated art style. A risky new mechanic that burns health to power special moves, unless you avoid getting hit, adds some fighting-game flair.  Super Bomberman R Super Bomberman R (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good Bomberman's return to console gaming was one of the most surprising moments in the Nintendo's January 2017 Switch game showcase. Considering that the little guy's now the property of Konami, a company that's more known for killing P.T. and warring with Metal Gear maestro Hideo Kojima than making video games, it was shocking to see Super Bomberman R announced as a Nintendo Switch launch title. Thankfully, this newest entry in the beloved, bomb-tossing franchise keeps the series' simple and addicting core gameplay intact, and adds tons of modes, collectible items, and characters to keep things fresh. Super Mario 3D All-Stars Super Mario 3D All-Stars (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good This classic Mario collection combines Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. They may not have received the radical visual overhaul of the original Super Mario All-Stars, but these are still three of the finest 3D platformers ever made—now playable in HD and on the go. Nintendo says this collection is a limited release, so get it while you can. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Super Mario 3D World seamlessly blends the free-roaming, open-ended platforming of Mario 3D’s adventures with the concentrated multiplayer mayhem of his latest 2D romps. It was great on Wii U, and now it's even better on Nintendo Switch. However, this package’s real star is Bowser’s Fury, an ambitious spin-off that reimagines what an open-world Mario game can be. Super Mario Bros. Wonder Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo Switch 4.5 Excellent In the beginning, all Super Mario games were wonderful 2D sidescrollers that dazzled us with their sheer imagination. But as Mario set his sights on 3D heights, the New Super Mario Bros. series turned 2D Mario into a safe and bland nostalgia franchise. No more! Super Mario Bros. Wonder fills 2D Mario to the brim with whimsy, creativity, and joyful confusion. Turn levels into psychedelic dreamscapes! Customize your abilities! Compete against friends online! Transform into an elephant! You can do all of this and more in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo Switch review Super Mario Maker 2 Super Mario Maker 2 (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Super Mario Maker 2 is a welcome update to the original Super Mario Maker. It adds a new skin, new themes, and plenty of new tools for making more creative and challenging Mario levels. You can create levels based on the graphics and mechanics of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros., just like in the previous Super Mario Maker. These levels can use one of 10 different themes: Ground, Sky, Underground, Forest, Underwater, Ghost House, Desert, Airship, Snow, and Castle. Sky, Forest, Desert, and Snow are new to Super Mario Maker 2. For more variety, you can toggle each theme to its nighttime variant, which adds unique twists to the gameplay. And, of course, you can share your creations online. Super Mario Odyssey Super Mario Odyssey (for Nintendo Switch) 5.0 Outstanding In Super Mario Odyssey, the heroic plumber returns to open-world game design for the first time since the incredible Super Mario 64. Though Odyssey isn't as technically groundbreaking as its predecessor, the action-platformer is packed to the brim with hat-tossing combat. Yes, hat tossing. This time around, Mario has a new friend, Cappy, who lets Mario dispatch enemies with the flick of the wrist. And, even better, Mario can assume the identity of an enemy, gaining its abilities, by plopping Cappy on the foe's head. Super Mario RPG Super Mario RPG - Nintendo Switch (OLED Model), Nintendo Switch Lite, Nintendo Switch 4.0 Excellent Forget Paper Mario or Mario and Luigi. The original Super Mario RPG, a collaboration between Nintendo and Square Enix, first showed us that Mario’s charms could translate to a Final Fantasy-style adventure. This faithful remake offers gorgeous new graphics and increased accessibility. At last, find out who Geno is. Super Mario RPG - Nintendo Switch (OLED Model), Nintendo Switch Lite, Nintendo Switch review Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Only video games can capture the simple pleasures that come from racing monkeys inside balls. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania remasters hundreds of classic stages from Sega’s obstacle course series in a single, cool package. Don’t let the bright colors and friendly monkey faces fool you. Rolling your monkey to the goal demands an expert understanding of the game’s unforgiving physics. If you get too frustrated, take a break with Banana Mania's wacky, multiplayer mini-games. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has everything a fan of Nintendo’s crossover mascot fighting game could want. A faster pace better for competitive play. Every single character who has ever appeared in the series, including third-party icons such as Banjo-Kazooie, Cloud Strife, and Solid Snake. There's a new single-player mode chock-full of even more fan service. The theme song even has lyrics now.  Tactics Ogre: Reborn Tactics Ogre Reborn (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent The original Tactics Ogre enthralled fans in 1995 thanks to its deep strategy and strong narrative. If you missed out the first time, Tactics Ogre: Reborn gives you another chance to check out this lost classic, the prelude to Final Fantasy Tactics. Just don’t expect hugely revamped graphics. Telling Lies Telling Lies (for Nintendo Switch) Her Story was a test for the kind of interactive story game developer Sam Barlow could pull off with just FMV clips and a fake computer interface. Telling Lies is the Aliens to Her Story’s Alien. Instead of just investigating one woman’s interviews, you follow four different characters. Tracing a nonlinear mystery across so many different threads can get overwhelming. Fortunately, Hollywood actors Logan Marshall-Green, Alexandra Shipp, Kerry Bishé, and Angela Sarafyan make the clips compelling watches in their own right. Besides, we’re all pretty used at communicating through video chat these days.  Triangle Strategy Triangle Strategy (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent A tactical follow-up to the gorgeous Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy is a luxurious strategy role-playing game that rewards your patience. Soak in the atmosphere on the land. Become invested in the characters and political intrigue. Methodically think through every option during turn-based battles and feel like an absolute strategic genius.  Trombone Champ Trombone Champ (for Nintendo Switch) Rhythm games usually make you feel like an ultra-cool rock god. Not Trombone Champ. This zany title embraces the goofy charm of its titular instrument, delivering an experience that is both awesome and awkward. The purposefully bumbling controls make each song sound like a confused elephant putting on a concert, an effect that's multiplied in local multiplayer. A light progression system unlocks famous trombone players like baseball cards while trying to solve a sinister riddle. The game is also available on PC, but the Switch version deserves props for its hilarious motion controls that take the trombone simulation to the next level. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good While you wait for Persona 5 to come to the Nintendo Switch, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, a late Wii U port, is the next best thing. This bewildering crossover between Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei has players entering the entertainment industry of Japan’s stylish Shibuya and Harajuku districts. Of course, you also do battle against demons by summoning Fire Emblem characters through the power of song. A streamlined battle system and pop music tone should delight players who don’t even care about anime RPGs.  Unicorn Overlord 4.5 Excellent As a Vanillaware game, we’re not surprised that Unicorn Overlord has an unbelievably beautiful illustrated aesthetic. However, the game backs up its looks with deeply strategic role-playing gameplay that requires tactical thinking. Ogre Battle fans, this one’s for you. Unicorn Overlord review Void Bastards Roguelikes can be a polarizing genre as their repetitive nature, random elements, and punishing difficulty threaten to make the entire experience a waste of time. Void Bastards avoids this trap with a core gameplay loop that’s a joy to repeat and an addictive sense of progression stringing you along the whole time.Each new spaceship you raid is basically a tiny comic book-styled System Shock level with spooky enemies to shoot, machinery to hack, character traits to manage, and equipment to salvage. Use that equipment to construct permanent new weapons and perks that make you eager to start another raid. Our journey across the galaxy stretched on for hours because it’s so easy to say “just one more piece of loot.”Note that Void Bastards is published by Humble Bundle, which is owned by PCMag’s parent company, Ziff Davis. WarioWare: Get It Together WarioWare: Get It Together (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent WarioWare is one of Nintendo’s best and most shockingly self-aware franchises. It’s about Mario’s gross, evil doppelganger starting a shady game company to get rich. Fortunately for you, these “microgames” remain a pure blast of weird and wonderful bite-sized entertainment. The new gimmick here lets you and a friend tackle challenges with different characters whose unique move sets make you rethink your approach on the fly. Hurry up! Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition 4.0 Excellent This late-period Wii U gem finally returns to close out the Nintendo Switch era. A standalone entry of the Xenoblade saga, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition takes place on a lush open-world planet teeming with friendly and hostile creatures. Explore on foot or, eventually, by flying a giant mech. The dynamic RPG combat rewards smart timing and synchronizing party members. Along with improved visuals, this definitive edition adds a new epilogue story. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition review

The murder of John Forde was the culmination to years of political, social, and criminal intrigue.   Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Researchers have uncovered handwritten letters, court documents, and a coroner’s report related to the nearly 700-year-old cold case murder of a medieval priest. Published on June 5 in the journal Criminal Law Forum, the investigation draws on direct archival evidence from Cambridge University that is helping fill in the gaps to a high-profile true crime scandal that would make headlines even today. But despite a mountain of firsthand accounts, the murder’s masterminds never saw justice. The ‘planned and cold-blooded’ crime On Friday, May 3, 1337, Anglican priest John Forde began a walk along downtown London’s Cheapside street after vespers (evening prayers) shortly before sunset. At one point, a clergyman familiar to Forde by the name of Hasculph Neville approached him to begin a “pleasant conversation.” As the pair neared St. Paul’s Cathedral, four men ambushed the priest. One of the attackers then proceeded to slit Forde’s throat using a 12-inch dagger as two other assailants stabbed him in the stomach in front of onlookers. The vicious crime wasn’t a brazen robbery or politically motivated attack. It was likely a premeditated murder orchestrated by Ela Fitzpayne, a noblewoman, London crime syndicate leader—and potentially Forde’s lover. “We are looking at a murder commissioned by a leading figure of the English aristocracy. It is planned and cold-blooded, with a family member and close associates carrying it out, all of which suggests a revenge motive,” Cambridge University criminology professor Manuel Eisner explained in a statement. The location of the murder of John Forde on May 3, 1337. Credit: Medieval Murder Maps / University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology / Historic Towns Trust. A longstanding feud To understand how such a brutal killing could take place in daylight on a busy London street, it’s necessary to backtrack at least five years. In January 1332, the Archbishop of Canterbury sent a letter to the Bishop of Winchester that included a number of reputation-ruining claims surrounding Fitzpayne. In particular, Archbishop Simon Mepham described sexual relationships involving “knights and others, single and married, and even with clerics in holy orders.” The wide-ranging punishments for such sinful behavior could include a prohibition on wearing gold and other precious jewelry, as well as large tithes to monastic orders and the poor. But the most humiliating atonement often came in the form of a public walk of shame. The act of contrition involved walking barefoot across Salisbury Cathedral—England’s longest nave—in order to deliver a handcarried, four-pound wax candle to the church altar. What’s more, Archbishop Mepham commanded that Fitzpayne must repeat this penance every autumn for seven years. Fitzpayne was having none of it. According to Mepham’s message, the noblewoman chose to continue listening to a “spirit of pride” (and the devil), and refused to abide by the judgment. A second letter sent by the Archbishop that April also alleged that she had since absconded from her husband, Sir Robert Fitzpayne, and was hiding in London’s Rotherhithe district along the Thames River. Due to this, Archbishop Mepham reported that Ela Fitzpayne had been excommunicated from the church. Image of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letters to the Bishop of Winchester on the subject of Ela Fitzpayne, from the register of John de Stratford. Credit: Hampshire Archives and Hampshire County Council. Raids and rats But who tipped the clergy off to her indiscretions? According to Eisner’s review of original documents as part of the Cambridge University Institute of Criminology’s Medieval Murder Maps project, it was almost certainly her ex-lover, the soon-to-be-murdered John Forde. He was the only alleged lover named in Archbishop Mepham’s letters, and served as a church rector in a village located on the Fitzpayne family’s estate at the time of the suspected affair.  “The archbishop imposed heavy, shameful public penance on Ela, which she seems not to have complied with, but may have sparked a thirst for vengeance,” Eisner said. “Not least as John Forde appears to have escaped punishment by the church.” But Forde’s relationship with the Fitzpaynes seems to have extended even more illicit activities. In another record reviewed by Eisner, both Ela Fitzpayne and John Forde had been indicted by a Royal Commission in 1322. The crime–assisting in the raid of a Benedictine priory alongside Sir Fitzpayne. They and others reportedly assaulted the priory a year earlier, making off with around 18 oxen, 30 pigs, and 200 sheep. The monastery coincidentally served as a French abbey’s outpost amid increasing tensions between France and England in the years leading up to the Hundred Years’ War. Archbishop Mepham was almost certainly displeased after hearing about the indictment of one of his own clergy. A strict administrator himself, Mepham “was keen to enforce moral discipline among the gentry and nobility,” added Eisner. He theorizes that Forde copped to the affair after getting leaned on by superiors, which subsequently led to the campaign to shame Ela Fitzpayne as a means to reassert the Church’s authority over English nobility. Forde, unfortunately, was caught between the two sides. “John Forde may have had split loyalties,” argued Eisner. “One to the Fitzpayne family, who were likely patrons of his church and granted him the position. And the other to the bishops who had authority over him as a clergy member.” Archbishop Mepham ultimately wouldn’t live to see the scandal’s full consequences. Fitzpayne never accepted her walk of shame, and the church elder died a year after sending the incriminating letters. Eisner believes the Fitzpaynes greenlit their hit job on Forde only after the dust had seemingly settled. It doesn’t help their case three bystanders said the man who slit the rector’s throat was none other than Ela Fitzpayne’s own brother, Hugh Lovell. They also named two family servants as Forde’s other assailants. Archbishop Mepham died four years before Forde’s murder. Credit: ampshire Archives and Hampshire County Council Turning a blind eye Anyone waiting for justice in this medieval saga will likely be disappointed. “Despite naming the killers and clear knowledge of the instigator, when it comes to pursuing the perpetrators, the jury turn[ed] a blind eye,” Eisner said. Eisner explained the circumstances surrounding an initial lack of convictions were simply “implausible.” No one supposedly could locate the accused to bring to trial, despite the men belonging to one of England’s highest nobility houses. Meanwhile, the court claimed Hugh Lovell had no belongings available to confiscate. “This was typical of the class-based justice of the day,” said Eisner. In the end, the only charge that ever stuck in the murder case was an indictment against one of the family’s former servants. Five years after the first trial in 1342, Hugh Colne was convicted of being one of the men to stab Forde in the stomach and sentenced to the notorious Newgate Prison. As dark and sordid as the multiyear medieval drama was, it apparently didn’t change much between Ela Fitzpayne and her husband, Sir Robert. She and the baron remained married until his death in 1354—when she subsequently inherited all his property. “Where rule of law is weak, we see killings committed by the highest ranks in society, who will take power into their own hands, whether it’s today or seven centuries ago,” said Eisner. That said, the criminology professor couldn’t help but concede that Ela Fitzpayne was an “extraordinary” individual, regardless of the era. “A woman in 14th century England who raided priories, openly defied the Archbishop of Canterbury, and planned the assassination of a priest,” he said. “Ela Fitzpayne appears to have been many things.”

--R Being sued right now, please help me find a lawyer Member Oct 25, 2017 15,715   Last edited: Yesterday at 7:38 PM Lukar Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth Member Oct 27, 2017 28,593 Includes two modes: one that's similar to the original release, and a new one that features additional content, updated UI, and more. EDIT: Confirmed for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Switch 2, and PC via Steam. SQUARE ENIX | The Official SQUARE ENIX Website Welcome to the official SQUARE ENIX website. Find all the latest news and updates about your favourite games and upcoming releases. www.square-enix-games.com   Last edited: Yesterday at 6:06 PM Transistor The Walnut King Administrator Oct 25, 2017 41,807 Washington, D.C. SCREAMING!!!!   MidasTouch Member Dec 29, 2023 1,363 In CBU3 we trust.   Stef Member Oct 28, 2017 7,838 Rome, Italy, Planet Earth We waited all those years for this?   Milennia Prophet of Truth - Community Resetter Member Oct 25, 2017 19,814 Florida WE FUCKING DID IT   MrDaravon Member Oct 25, 2017 2,120 THE THUNDER GOD RETURNS ASHHH;KLASDHFK;LASJNFD;LAND  Lobster Roll signature-less, now and forever™ Member Sep 24, 2019 40,513 Everybody pile in. Final Fantasy Tactics is BACK.   mrmickfran The Fallen Oct 27, 2017 33,444 Gongaga FUCK YESSS Now to wait for FFIX remake  BPHusker Member Oct 26, 2017 2,313 Nebraska Is it going to have a physical version?   Taifun Devilry Member Sep 3, 2020 42 FINALLY   TheZynster Member Oct 26, 2017 14,836 thats a remaster not a remake lol but still cool  Techno Powered by Friendship™ The Fallen Oct 27, 2017 6,861 On my birthday!!   Wilsongt Member Oct 25, 2017 19,483 YOSHIP YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!   OrangeNova Member Oct 30, 2017 14,865 Canada I am losing my mind, I cannot wait   ap_2 Member Jan 23, 2021 1,898 I need more pls now pls more now pls   DrFunk Member Oct 25, 2017 14,933 Hey, that's my birthday   Figgy Member Nov 1, 2024 1,857 --R said: Perfection.  Kazer "This guy are sick" Member Oct 27, 2017 3,123 Fucking FINALLY!   Glio Member Oct 27, 2017 27,964 Spain Final Fantasy Tactics is one of my favorite games... but I'm not particularly convinced by the remaster they've done. It looks very... flat.   Richietto One Winged Slayer Member Oct 25, 2017 26,220 North Carolina GIVE IT TO ME   Delaney Member Oct 25, 2017 3,971 Are y'all happy now   Sasliquid Member Oct 25, 2017 4,700 Big fan of including the older version as well   DidactBRHU3 Member Oct 17, 2019 4,517 Fortaleza - Ceará I know this is big news but that's it?   Skoje Member Oct 26, 2017 1,887 OH SHIT   Geg Member Oct 25, 2017 6,638 The two versions thing is cool   Tagovailoa Member Feb 5, 2023 1,677 I am intrigued   thetrin Member Oct 26, 2017 10,918 Grand Junction, CO LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOO   GillianSeed79 Member Oct 27, 2017 3,076 God is real. Yessssssssssssss!   ravn0s "This guy are sick" Member Oct 29, 2017 2,065 Is it a Playstation exclusive?   BlackJace The Fallen Oct 27, 2017 5,900 No bullshit this is the best announcement in ages   Megaten Member Oct 30, 2017 245 Fiiiiiiinally this got announced! Awesome to include the original version in as well.   BY2K Membero Americo The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 5,071 Québec, Canada Wait, is it more than just the first game or did I misunderstand?   Kain Unshakable Resolve - One Winged Slayer The Fallen Oct 27, 2017 9,125 Ok yes, yes yes yes yes yes yes yes I'm so fucking in Both versions I want to see the additions Aaaaaaaaaa  ClearMetal Hey, it's that sheep! Member Oct 25, 2017 19,077 the Netherlands Hyped for this. Couldn't get into War of the Lions, but I was way younger back then. I will probably stick with Classic, though. Not a big fan of how smoothed over everything in the the enhanced version looks.  Yoshimitsu126 The Fallen Nov 11, 2017 17,620 United States Oh so that's what those sprite characters are from. Seen them a lot back in the 2000s I feel.   aerie be choatic good Administrator Oct 25, 2017 8,908 Fantastic, and super glad we've getting two versions like that.   Burt Fight Sephiroth or end video games Member Oct 28, 2017 9,720 really had me excited for the first 8 or so seconds  Wiserus ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 26, 2017 3,877 Canada Yes, yes, yes yes, yeessss. I just wished for a PC version as well, but fuck that. I'll double dip when it comes out.   BobLoblaw This Guy Helps Member Oct 27, 2017 8,882 Thought it would be a remake. :( Interested in the new mode with the VO turned to zero.   Stef Member Oct 28, 2017 7,838 Rome, Italy, Planet Earth Glio said: Final Fantasy Tactics is one of my favorite games... but I'm not particularly convinced by the remaster they've done. It looks very... flat. Click to expand... Click to shrink... This. Played on PlayStation and again on PSP. Not interested in this at all.  kakteen Member Apr 9, 2024 1,036 FUCKING FINALLY! I even bought this on my phone, because I thought this will never happen   Jolliwasp Member Apr 13, 2024 92 Ported HD Mobile graphics with voice acting, as expected...   Bear Member Oct 25, 2017 12,344 Hellllllllll yessssssss   Quinton Verified Oct 25, 2017 23,173 Midgar, With Love Hell yeah   Plinkerton Member Nov 4, 2017 7,493 I've never played this game before. Excited to play it on Switch 2!   Makoto Yuki ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 25, 2017 5,284 FUCK YES!!!!   7thFloor Member Oct 27, 2017 7,377 U.S. Gonna be honest I'm pretty disappointed, at least it has a classic mode   OhhEldenRing Member Aug 14, 2024 2,980 Finally   Toth Member Oct 26, 2017 5,591 I'm psyched but it doesn't look that much better tbh  

Adapting the iconic, block-based design aesthetic of Mojang’s beloved Minecraft videogame into the hit feature film comedy adventure, The Minecraft Movie, posed an enormous number of hurdles for director Jared Hess and Oscar-winning Production VFX Supervisor Dan Lemmon. Tasked with helping translate the iconic pixelated world into something cinematically engaging, while remaining true to its visual DNA, was Wētā FX, who delivered 450 VFX shots on the film. And two of their key leads on the film were VFX Supervisor Sheldon Stopsack and Animation Supervisor Kevin Estey.  But the shot count merely scratches the surface of the extensive work the studio performed. Wētā led the design and creation of The Overworld, 64 unique terrains spanning deserts, lush forests, oceans, and mountain ranges, all combined into one continuous environment, assets that were also shared with Digital Domain for their work on the 3rd act battle. Wētā also handled extensive work on the lava-filled hellscape of The Nether that involved Unreal Engine for early representations used in previs, scene scouting, and onset during principal photography, before refining the environment during post-production. They also dressed The Nether with lava, fire, and torches, along with atmospherics and particulate like smoke, ash, and embers. But wait… there’s more! The studio’s Art Department, working closely with Hess, co-created the look and feel of all digital characters in the film. For Malgosha’s henchmen, the Piglins, Wētā designed and created 12 different variants, all with individual characteristics and personalities. They also designed sheep, bees, pandas, zombies, skeletons, and lovable wolf Dennis. Many of these characters were provided to other vendors for their work on the film. Needless to say, the studio truly became a “Master Builder” on the show. The film is based on the hugely popular game Minecraft, first released by Sweden’s Mojang Studios in 2011 and purchased by Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014, which immerses players in a low-res, pixelated “sandbox” simulation where they can use blocks to build entire worlds.  Here's the final trailer: In a far-ranging interview, Stopsack and Estey shared with AWN a peek into their creative process, from early design exploration to creation of an intricate practical cloak for Malgosha and the use of Unreal Engine for previs, postvis, and real-time onset visualization. Dan Sarto: The film is filled with distinct settings and characters sporting various “block” styled features. Can you share some of the work you did on the environments, character design, and character animation? Sheldon Stopsack: There's, there's so much to talk about and truth to be told, if you were to touch on everything, we would probably need to spend the whole day together.  Kevin Estey: Sheldon and I realized that when we talk about the film, either amongst ourselves or with someone else, we could just keep going, there are so many stories to tell. DS: Well, start with The Overworld and The Nether. How did the design process begin? What did you have to work with? SS: Visual effects is a tricky business, you know. It's always difficult. Always challenging. However, Minecraft stood out to us as not your usual quote unquote standard visual effects project, even though as you know, there is no standard visual effects project because they're all somehow different. They all come with their own creative ideas, inspirations, and challenges. But Minecraft, right from the get-go, was different, simply by the fact that when you first consider the idea of making such a live-action movie, you instantly ask yourself, “How do we make this work? How do we combine these two inherently very, very different but unique worlds?” That was everyone’s number one question. How do we land this? Where do we land this? And I don't think that any of us really had an answer, including our clients, Dan Lemmon [Production VFX Supervisor] and Jared Hess [the film’s director]. Everyone was really open for this journey. That's compelling for us, to get out of our comfort zone. It makes you nervous because there are no real obvious answers. KE: Early on, we seemed to thrive off these kinds of scary creative challenges. There were lots of question marks. We had many moments when we were trying to figure out character designs. We had a template from the game, but it was an incredibly vague, low-resolution template. And there were so many ways that we could go. But that design discovery throughout the project was really satisfying.  DS: Game adaptations are never simple. There usually isn’t much in the way of story. But with Minecraft, from a visual standpoint, how did you translate low res, block-styled characters into something entertaining that could sustain a 100-minute feature film? SS: Everything was a question mark. Using the lava that you see in The Nether as one example, we had beautiful concept art for all our environments, The Overworld and The Nether, but those concepts only really took you this far. They didn’t represent the block shapes or give you a clear answer of like how realistic some of those materials, shapes and structures would be. How organic would we go? All of this needed to be explored. For the lava, we had stylized concept pieces, with block shaped viscosity as it flowed down. But we spent months with our effects team, and Dan and Jared, just riffing on ideas. We came full circle, with the lava ending up being more realistic, a naturally viscous liquid based on real physics. And the same goes with the waterfall that you see in the Overworld.  The question is, how far do we take things into the true Minecraft representation of things? How much do we scale back a little bit and ground ourselves in reality, with effects we’re quite comfortable producing as a company? There's always a tradeoff to find that balance of how best to combine what’s been filmed, the practical sets and live-action performances, with effects. Where’s the sweet spot? What's the level of abstraction? What's honest to the game? As much as some call Minecraft a simple game, it isn't simple, right? It's incredibly complex. It's got a set of rules and logic to the world building process within the game that we had to learn, adapt, and honor in many ways. When our misfits first arrive and we have these big vistas and establishing shots, when you really look at it, you, you recognize a lot of the things that we tried to adapt from the game. There are different biomes, like the Badlands, which is very sand stoney; there's the Woodlands, which is a lush environment with cherry blossom trees; you’ve got the snow biome with big mountains in the background. Our intent was to honor the game. KE: I took a big cue from a lot of the early designs, and particularly the approach that Jared liked for the characters and to the design in general, which was maintaining the stylized, blocky aesthetic, but covering them in realistic flesh, fur, things that were going to make them appear as real as possible despite the absolutely unreal designs of their bodies. And so essentially, it was squared skeleton… squarish bones with flesh and realistic fur laid over top. We tried various things, all extremely stylized. The Creepers are a good example. We tried all kinds of ways for them to explode. Sheldon found a great reference for a cat coughing up a hairball. He was nice to censor the worst part of it, but those undulations in the chest and ribcage… Jared spoke of the Creepers being basically tragic characters that only wanted to be loved, to just be close to you. But sadly, whenever they did, they’d explode. So, we experimented with a lot of different motions of how they’d explode. DS: Talk about the process of determining how these characters would move. None seem to have remotely realistic proportions in their limbs, bodies, or head size. KE: There were a couple things that Jared always seemed to be chasing. One was just something that would make him laugh. Of course, it had to sit within the bounds of how a zombie might move, or a skeleton might move, as we were interpreting the game. But the main thing was just, was it fun and funny? I still remember one of the earliest gags they came up with in mocap sessions, even before I even joined the show, was how the zombies get up after they fall over. It was sort of like a tripod, where its face and feet were planted and its butt shoots up in the air. After a lot of experimentation, we came up with basic personality types for each character. There were 12 different types of Piglins. The zombies were essentially like you're coming home from the pub after a few too many pints and you're just trying to get in the door, but you can't find your keys. Loose, slightly inebriated movement. The best movement we found for the skeletons was essentially like an old man with rigid limbs and lack of ligaments that was chasing kids off his lawn. And so, we created this kind of bible of performance types that really helped guide performers on the mocap stage and animators later on. SS: A lot of our exploration didn’t stick. But Jared was the expert in all of this. He always came up with some quirky last-minute idea.  KE: My favorite from Jared came in the middle of one mocap shoot. He walked up to me and said he had this stupid idea. I said OK, go on. He said, what if Malgosha had these two little pigs next to her, like Catholic alter boys [the thurifers], swinging incense [a thurible]. Can we do that? I talked to our stage manager, and we quickly put together a temporary prop for the incense burners. And we got two performers who just stood there. What are they going to do? Jared said, “Nothing. Just stand there and swing. I think it would look funny.” So, that’s what we did.  We dubbed them the Priesty Boys. And they are there throughout the film. That was amazing about Jared. He was always like, let's just try it, see if it works. Otherwise ditch it. DS: Tell me about your work on Malgosha. And I also want to discuss your use of Unreal Engine and the previs and postvis work.  SS: For Malgosha as a character, our art department did a phenomenal job finding the character design at the concept phase. But it was a collective effort. So many contributors were involved in her making. And I'm not just talking about the digital artists here on our side. It was a joint venture of different people having different explorations and experiments. It started off with the concept work as a foundation, which we mocked up with 3D sketches before building a model. But with Malgosha, we also had the costume department on the production side building this elaborate cloak. Remember, that cloak kind of makes 80, 85% of her appearance. It's almost like a character in itself, the way we utilized it. And the costume department built this beautiful, elaborate, incredibly intricate, practical version of it that we intended to use on set for the performer to wear. It ended up being too impractical because it was too heavy. But it was beautiful. So, while we didn't really use it on set, it gave us something physically to kind of incorporate into our digital version. KE: Alan Henry is the motion performer who portrayed her on set and on the mocap stage. I've known him for close to 15 years. I started working with him on The Hobbit films. He was a stunt performer who eventually rolled into doing motion capture with us on The Hobbit. He’s an incredible actor and absolutely hilarious and can adapt to any sort of situation. He’s so improvisational. He came up with an approach to Malgosha very quickly. Added a limp so that she felt decrepit, leaning on the staff, adding her other arm as kind of like a gimp arm that she would point and gesture with.   Even though she’s a blocky character, her anatomy is very much a biped, with rounder limbs than the other Piglins. She's got hooves, is somewhat squarish, and her much more bulky mass in the middle was easier to manipulate and move around. Because she would have to battle with Steve in the end, she had to have a level of agility that even some of the Piglins didn't have. DS: Did Unreal Engine come into play with her?  SS: Unreal was used all the way through the project. Dan Lemmon and his team early on set up their own virtual art department to build representations of the Overworld and the Nether within the context of Unreal. We and Sony Imageworks tried to provide recreations of these environments that were then used within Unreal to previsualize what was happening on set during shooting of principal photography. And that's where our mocap and on-set teams were coming into play. Effects provided what we called the Nudge Cam. It was a system to do real-time tracking using a stereo pair of Basler computer vision cameras that were mounted onto the sides of the principal camera. We provided the live tracking that was then composited in real time with the Unreal Engine content that all the vendors had provided. It was a great way of utilizing Unreal to give the camera operators or DOP, even Jared, a good sense of what we would actually shoot. It gave everyone a little bit of context for the look and feel of what you could actually expect from these scenes.  Because we started this journey with Unreal having onset in mind, we internally decided, look, let's take this further. Let's take this into post-production as well. What would it take to utilize Unreal for shot creation? And it was really exclusively used on the Nether environment. I don’t want to say we used it for matte painting replacement. We used it more for say, let's build this extended environment in Unreal. Not only use it as a render engine with this reasonably fast turnaround but also use it for what it's good at: authoring things, quickly changing things, moving columns around, manipulating things, dressing them, lighting them, and rendering them. It became sort of a tool that we used in place of a traditional matte painting for the extended environments. KE: Another thing worth mentioning is we were able to utilize it on our mocap stage as well during the two-week shoot with Jared and crew. When we shoot on the mocap stage, we get a very simple sort of gray shaded diagnostic grid. You have your single-color characters that sometimes are textured, but they’re fairly simple without any context of environment. Our special projects team was able to port what we usually see in Giant, the software we use on the mocap stage, into Unreal, which gave us these beautifully lit environments with interactive fire and atmosphere. And Jared and the team could see their movie for the first time in a rough, but still very beautiful rough state. That was invaluable. DS: If you had to key on anything, what would say with the biggest challenges for your teams on the film? You're laughing. I can hear you thinking, “Do we have an hour?”  KE: Where do you begin?  SS: Exactly. It's so hard to really single one out. And I struggle with that question every time I've been asked that question. KE: I’ll start.  I've got a very simple practical answer and then a larger one, something that was new to us, kind of similar to what we were just talking about. The simple practical one is the Piglins square feet with no ankles. It was very tough to make them walk realistically. Think of the leg of a chair. How do you make that roll and bank and bend because there is no joint? There are a lot of Piglins walking on surfaces and it was a very difficult conundrum to solve. It took a lot of hard work from our motion edit team and our animation team to get those things walking realistically. You know, it’s doing that simple thing that you don't usually pay attention to. So that was one reasonably big challenge that is often literally buried in the shadows. The bigger one was something that was new to me. We often do a lot of our previs and postvis in-house and then finish the shots. And just because of circumstances and capacity, we did the postvis for the entire final battle, but we ended up sharing the sequence with Digital Domain, who did an amazing job completing some of the stuff on the Battlefield we did post on. For me personally, I've never experienced not finishing what I started. But it was also really rewarding to see how well the work we had put in was honored by DD when they took it over.   SS: I think the biggest challenge and the biggest achievement that I'm most proud of is really ending up with something that was well received by the wider audience. Of creating these two worlds, this sort of abstract adaptation of the Minecraft game and combining it with live-action. That was the achievement for me. That was the biggest challenge. We were all nervous from day one. And we continued to be nervous up until the day the movie came out. None of us really knew how it ultimately would be received. The fact that it came together and was so well received is a testament to everyone doing a fantastic job. And that's what I'm incredibly proud of. Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.

Last year, Polished Games' top-down 2D survival roguelite Be My Horde introduced players to Moriana, a necromancer--or necromancess, if you prefer--who can make the dead serve as her army. She's the villain of her own story, so it shouldn't be too surprising that Moriana is heading to Hell in the game's newest update. If anything, that's bad news for demons, because Moriana might be taking over Hell one circle at a time.The name of update is "Welcome to Hell," and it adds the Hell level, which may be Moriana's biggest challenge to date. As seen in the newly released trailer below, Moriana's travels through Hell will bring her face-to-face with the Devil himself. That video also offers a more in-depth look at what awaits in Hell. Moriana and her undead minions will have to battle new enemies and survive the severe hazards of the underworld. Fire tornadoes, lava ponds, and explosive volcanoes all stand between Moriana and her destiny.As you may have noticed, Moriana's powers thrive on death, and she can turn every fallen enemy into one of her new warriors. There's no entrance test for this army. If Moriana can kill it, it's her's to command, even if it's just an exploding sheep. However, Moriana is not invincible and she can be defeated in battle. But she always returns with a vengeance.Continue Reading at GameSpot

The pace of AI progress is showing no signs of slacking. Following ChatGPT's big image upgrade a few weeks ago, it's now Google's turn to show off new models for generating videos and pictures from text prompts: We've got Veo 3 (for video) and Imagen 4 (for pictures), announced during Google I/O 2025, and they come with some significant improvements.Starting with Veo 3, it's the next step up from the Veo 2 model that was recently pushed out to paying Gemini subscribers last month. Google says Veo 3 brings with it notable improvements in real-world physics (something AI video often struggles with) and details such as lip-syncing. In short: Your clips should look more realistic than ever.There's another crucial upgrade here, and that's sound. Previously, Veo-made clips came without any audio attached, but the AI is now smart enough to add in suitable ambient sounds, including traffic noise, wildlife sounds, and even dialog between characters.Google has provided a few example videos to show off the new capabilities, as you would expect, including Old Sailor. Of course, it's impressive that a clip like this can be produced from a text prompt, and it is up to a high standard in terms of realism—we're no longer getting the six-fingered hands that we used to with AI. Still, the usual hallmarks of artificial intelligence are evident: This is a generic sailor, on a generic sea, speaking generic dialogue about the ocean. It's a mashing together and averaging out of every video of the sea and old sailors that Veo 3 has been trained on, and may or may not match the original prompt (which Google hasn't given).Veo 3 is only available to those brave enough to pay $250 a month for Google's AI Ultra plan, but Veo 2 is also getting some upgrades for those of us paying a tenth of that for AI Pro. It's now better at control and consistency, according to Google, with improved camera movements and outpainting (expanding the view of a frame). It can also have a go at adding and removing objects from clips now.Moving on to images: We've got Imagen 4, the successor to Imagen 3. Here, we're promised "remarkable clarity in fine details like intricate fabrics, water droplets, and animal fur," plus support for higher resolutions (up to 2K) and more aspect ratios. You get top-tier results in both photorealistic and abstract styles, as per Google. There are sheep as big as tractors in Google's AI world. Credit: Google Google has also tackled one of the major problems with AI image generation, which is typography. Imagen 4 is apparently much better than the models that came before it in terms of making characters and words look cohesive and accurate, without any weird spellings or letters than dissolve into unintelligible hieroglyphics.Imagen 4 is available now to all users, inside the Gemini app. Google hasn't mentioned any usage limits, though presumably if you don't have a subscription you'll hit these limits more quickly, as is the case with Imagen 3 (there's no fixed quota for these limits, and it seems they depend on general demand on Google's AI infrastructure).The carefully curated samples Google has provided look good, without any obvious mistakes or inaccuracies—just the usual AI sheen. Imagen 4 is faster than Imagen 3 too, Google says, with more improvements on the way: A variant on the model that's 10x faster than Imagen 3 is going to be launching soon.There's one more image and video tool to talk about: Flow. It's an AI filmmaking tool from Google that pulls together its text, video, and image models to help you stitch together successive scenes that are consistent, featuring the same characters and locations. You can use Flow if you're an AI Pro or AI Ultra subscriber, with higher usage limits and better models for those on the more expensive plan.

poptire Avatar Wrecking Crew The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 15,552 I was listening to Brian Shea's Zelda series recap podcast and thought dang, I really like this. I remember the split timeline being a big point of contention when Nintendo first announced it. And the second split into a THIRD timeline was also fun to witness. It makes sense to me that Ocarina was such a pivotal moment in time that it could spawn multiple possible realities. Shea said something like is there a timeline where a simple bokoblin killed Link? Probably! I'd love to see that timeline. I hope they make it even more crazy. I haven't seen where Echoes of Wisdom lives, but I hope it's super weird. Also! Apparently the Ganon at the end of Wind Waker is gone-gone. What a cool way to go. Probably my favorite ending of any Zelda game. Anyway I sure would like to read y'alls thoughts on whether the split timelines are good or not, and of course thoughts on the timelines themselves  blueredandgold Member Oct 25, 2017 8,679 Quick question off the top - that image was only ever sighted at PAX Aus correct?   OP OP poptire Avatar Wrecking Crew The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 15,552 blueredandgold said: Quick question off the top - that image was only ever sighted at PAX Aus correct? Click to expand... Click to shrink... As far as I know, yeah. I'm not sure if it's official official.   Stencil Mailing His Own Damn Business Member Oct 30, 2017 13,549 USA There was ONE brief moment where I sort of bothered to think about it -- hard enough to mentally map each game I'd played into it -- and it amounted to an entire "Huh, that's kind of neat" and I immediately moved on and never thought about it again. I don't think Nintendo even really cares that much about it, therefore it's not a topic of discussion I ever engage in. I feel like it's such an obvious afterthought. If the creators don't care why would I?  StephenNotStrange Member Jan 16, 2019 784 blueredandgold said: Quick question off the top - that image was only ever sighted at PAX Aus correct? Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yeah, but a very similar one which show where BotW and TotK is already on the Zelda's JP website long ago.  Sandstar Member Oct 28, 2017 8,165 I guess the part I don't like is that the original legend of zelda is from the "bad" timeline.   Walpurgisnacht Member May 7, 2020 1,724 I think the only people that get super passionate and heated and can never shut up about it are timeline-haters. Aside from that it's fine. It's something Miyamoto and Aonuma have been alluding to in interviews since the 90's.  Cheesy Member Oct 30, 2017 2,565 I feel like it doesn't really add anything and I honestly forget it exists most of the time.   OP OP poptire Avatar Wrecking Crew The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 15,552 Has anyone read the manga series? Does it go into timeline split shenanigans?   RagnarokX Member Oct 26, 2017 17,710 I wouldn't call it convoluted. Before BotW only like 3 games didn't fit nicely. I never got why people act like you have to put effort to understand it and got so heated at anyone discussing it. What we had before is certainly preferable to the irreverent JJ Abrams mystery box style they're going for now with BotW where they can't even keep things coherent between direct sequels.   EllipsisBreak One Winged Slayer Member Aug 6, 2019 2,274 poptire said: Has anyone read the manga series? Does it go into timeline split shenanigans? Click to expand... Click to shrink... I'm no expert, but I've seen some images of the Twilight Princess one and it's definitely a factor there.   Zyrokai Member Nov 1, 2017 5,214 Columbus, Ohio I love it.   PAFenix Unshakable Resolve Member Nov 21, 2019 20,137 I love it! poptire said: Has anyone read the manga series? Does it go into timeline split shenanigans? Click to expand... Click to shrink... The bits I read of the old manga kinda goes into each game as it's own separate one-off or story. But most of those were, at the most, 2 volumes. Dunno about the Twilight Princess manga, since that actually goes up to ELEVEN. I wouldn't be surprised if it does make hints towards it, because of the Hero Shade.  Tom Nook Says... Member Jan 15, 2019 7,406 The fact that Nintendo themselves don't care a whole lot about it is what makes it fun. The holes and loose connections are where the theorizing happens. If it was overly-detailed and concrete there wouldn't be much to talk about.   The Adder Member Oct 25, 2017 20,609 It's legitimately fun to talk about and piece together. Especially when you think of it from the perspective that Nintendo themselves don't make games based on where they want to fill in the timeline, but make the game they want and then figure out what to do about placement. That makes theorizing so much more fun because it could still be liquid even after release.   Angst Member Oct 27, 2017 4,306 I think it sucks and choose to ignore it.   OP OP poptire Avatar Wrecking Crew The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 15,552 EllipsisBreak said: I'm no expert, but I've seen some images of the Twilight Princess one and it's definitely a factor there. Click to expand... Click to shrink... PAFenix said: I love it! The bits I read of the old manga kinda goes into each game as it's own separate one-off or story. But most of those were, at the most, 2 volumes. Dunno about the Twilight Princess manga, since that actually goes up to ELEVEN. I wouldn't be surprised if it does make hints towards it, because of the Hero Shade. Click to expand... Click to shrink... The Hero Shade stuff is super interesting to me. That's Adult Link from OoT, right? Except he's all messed up and battle scarred. I'd like to see that story   Rockodile Member Dec 7, 2018 1,256 I think it's pretty fun, and it's easy to ignore if you don't care. Don't understand why some people get so pissed off about it.   SupersonicHypertonic Member Apr 20, 2022 3,530 Yeah I really like it in theory but over the years it's it's kinda just there and Nintendo didn't utilise it properly. There's 3 lines but in practice there's very little actual reasons to games within the same line. MM and TP are in the same line but there's very little convergence for them, the hero shade was never confirmed in game to be the hero time and even after it was in Historia it still doesn't explain what happened to Link after MM. For all we know he had another adventure in Disney world in between lol. In the downfall line a lot of the games repeat the same story of Ganon being resurrected in the same as if no one learns the lesson to fully kill him for good. I wish games had stronger connections to one another without needing direct sequels. My biggest peeve is Nintendo tried to be clever with the creation of downfall timeline but they fucked everything up instead. If a time like can be created because Link dies then literally EVERY SINGLE GAME has at least 2 endings - Link lives and saves the world continuing the same line or Link dies and Ganon wins or someone else seals him which creates a 2nd parallel line. Now with BOTW and TOTK it seems it's a reboot which basically creates a multiverse now. Or knowing Nintendo they'll somehow fit in a really awkward way.  Aiqops Uncle Works at Nintendo Member Aug 3, 2021 19,387 Couldn't care less about trying to find connections between the games. To me they are all standalone.   EllipsisBreak One Winged Slayer Member Aug 6, 2019 2,274 poptire said: The Hero Shade stuff is super interesting to me. That's Adult Link from OoT, right? Except he's all messed up and battle scarred. I'd like to see that story Click to expand... Click to shrink... I don't have all the context, but... yeah. This is a thing.   OP OP poptire Avatar Wrecking Crew The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 15,552 SupersonicHypertonic said: Yeah I really like it in theory but over the years it's it's kinda just there and Nintendo didn't utilise it properly. There's 3 lines but in practice there's very little actual reasons to games within the same line. MM and TP are in the same line but there's very little convergence for them, the hero shade was never confirmed in game to be the hero time and even after it was in Historia it still doesn't explain what happened to Link after MM. For all we know he had another adventure in Disney world in between lol. In the downfall line a lot of the games repeat the same story of Ganon being resurrected in the same as if no one learns the lesson to fully kill him for good. I wish games had stronger connections to one another without needing direct sequels. My biggest peeve is Nintendo tried to be clever with the creation of downfall timeline but they fucked everything up instead. If a time like can be created because Link dies then literally EVERY SINGLE GAME has at least 2 endings - Link lives and saves the world continuing the same line or Link dies and Ganon wins or someone else seals him which creates a 2nd parallel line. Now with BOTW and TOTK it seems it's a reboot which basically creates a multiverse now. Or knowing Nintendo they'll somehow fit in a really awkward way. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I completely understand the frustration. I like to believe the OoT split happened because that singular moment in time was special. Like how Doc Brown believes there's something about November 5, 1955 that makes it cosmically important.   Richietto One Winged Slayer Member Oct 25, 2017 26,072 North Carolina I love the Zelda timeline and talking about it and fuck the haters. There IS a timeline no matter how much you don't like it it's fun and I like fun. Same reason I fuckin love Kingdom Hearts. There's just so much to talk about when a new game hits.   OP OP poptire Avatar Wrecking Crew The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 15,552 EllipsisBreak said: I don't have all the context, but... yeah. This is a thing. Click to expand... Click to shrink... That rules regardless of the context   Ashes of Dreams Fallen Guardian of Unshakable Resolve Member May 22, 2020 19,693 I used to be VERY into the Zelda timeline and lore talk. This was mostly pre-Historia though, where the only evidence we had were from the games themselves and a few random interviews and developer comments. Like we'd known since way back that the ending of OoT depicted a split timeline and they confirmed on Twilight Princess' release that it was on the timeline opposite of Wind Waker. But how it all connected was more up in the air and the games often had hints like suggesting how the Temple of Time was over time overgrown and fallen apart in TP, suggesting an in-between state of OoT and ALttP. Hyrule Historia changed things. I thought it was a bit of a cop-out to shove all the old games without much story into a new third timeline. It clearly wasn't the intention when those games were made. But it was still mostly fine. I was still into it because it at least meant that they were going to open themselves up to interacting with the timeline more in the future. Now that it was set in stone, we could play with it... And then they just threw it all away one game later. I cannot stand the whole "well, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are their own thing" angle. Especially when those games are FILLED with references and call-backs to prior games. They want to have their cake and eat it too with this stuff but in my view it's completely undermined any legitimacy the timeline could have had. They clearly don't care. So, I'm kinda out now. Which hurts to say because this stuff really mattered to me when I was younger. But the series has just gone in a direction away from me in so many ways nowadays.  Soapbox Member Oct 28, 2017 33,865 I adore it and have wild thoughts and ideas about all the different options, mainly how Skyward Sword has at least 3 time line splints unto itself. The robots from another timeline with the time shift stones are probably from the future and not the past. Also they make another timeline when they defeat The Imprisoned in the future then go back in time and defeat Demise.  J_ToSaveTheDay "This guy are sick" and Corrupted by Vengeance Avenger Oct 25, 2017 22,546 USA It's a fun and weird thing for Nintendo to put together and to think about as a fan, but it's not a point of importance to my personal enjoyment of the franchise.   Chemo Member Oct 28, 2017 1,283 No.   OP OP poptire Avatar Wrecking Crew The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 15,552 Ashes of Dreams said: I used to be VERY into the Zelda timeline and lore talk. This was mostly pre-Historia though, where the only evidence we had were from the games themselves and a few random interviews and developer comments. Like we'd known since way back that the ending of OoT depicted a split timeline and they confirmed on Twilight Princess' release that it was on the timeline opposite of Wind Waker. But how it all connected was more up in the air and the games often had hints like suggesting how the Temple of Time was over time overgrown and fallen apart in TP, suggesting an in-between state of OoT and ALttP. Hyrule Historia changed things. I thought it was a bit of a cop-out to shove all the old games without much story into a new third timeline. It clearly wasn't the intention when those games were made. But it was still mostly fine. I was still into it because it at least meant that they were going to open themselves up to interacting with the timeline more in the future. Now that it was set in stone, we could play with it... And then they just threw it all away one game later. I cannot stand the whole "well, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are their own thing" angle. Especially when those games are FILLED with references and call-backs to prior games. They want to have their cake and eat it too with this stuff but in my view it's completely undermined any legitimacy the timeline could have had. They clearly don't care. So, I'm kinda out now. Which hurts to say because this stuff really mattered to me when I was younger. But the series has just gone in a direction away from me in so many ways nowadays. Click to expand... Click to shrink... My hope is that either this movie (possible trilogy?) coming out they'll finally start to make a concrete timeline that, I PRAY, is still insane.   eamono Member Nov 17, 2020 341 honestly I always thought that the 3d games have a coherent timeline and they kinda mucked it up by jamming the 2d games in. I'm down for some timeline discussion but I think some of the games like zelda 2 or the capcom ones just kinda obviously werent made with the timeline in mind and its just kinda not fun to discuss. its very telling that the "hero fails" timeline off OOT is just filled with the games that dont actually fit in the 2 that make sense the 3d games for sure have an intended timeline though, and every question about how BOTW being at the end of both child and adult timelines could easily be fixed with a lore dump or a new game  JasperMyst Powered by Friendship™ Member Sep 25, 2023 805 If it means we get creative stuff like tears of the kingdom and majoras mask I'm all for it. Actually thanks for reminding me starting Majora's Mask for the vibes.  Giga Man One Winged Slayer Member Oct 27, 2017 23,197 I thought it was weird Nintendo would put one out in the first place, but nowadays, I don't really care. I thought Nintendo had abandoned it anyway.   Grunty Member Oct 28, 2017 10,029 Gruntilda’s Lair I LOVE the timeline and think it's mostly pretty straight forward. It's not really complicated. The one thing I look forward to anytime a new Zelda game is its timeline placement. I get so much more enjoyment out of the games thanks to it. Also, don't want to spoil Echoes of Wisdom for anyone, but its placement and how a portion of the story of that game answers something about the timeline that was never really being asked to begin with was really darn cool. Something new to think about now when playing the games, particularly Ocarina of Time.  Houtarou Oreki Member Dec 31, 2021 99 poptire said: I hope they make it even more crazy. I haven't seen where Echoes of Wisdom lives, but I hope it's super weird. Click to expand... Click to shrink... According to the official Zelda site, they put it in the Hero Defeated branch, just after Tri-Force Heroes and before the big gap leading to the original NES Zelda. HISTORY | Zelda Portal | Nintendo Introducing the history of Hyrule, the setting for The Legend of the Zelda series. www.nintendo.com   JasperMyst Powered by Friendship™ Member Sep 25, 2023 805 Giga Man said: I thought it was weird Nintendo would put one out in the first place, but nowadays, I don't really care. I thought Nintendo had abandoned it anyway. Click to expand... Click to shrink... They haven't which is quite hilarious but I'll take it 😂   Neutron Member Jun 2, 2022 3,531 Sandstar said: I guess the part I don't like is that the original legend of zelda is from the "bad" timeline. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I agree - although not so much about the idea of a "bad timeline", but just that it kinda makes it... non-canonical? Link could fail at any point, creating other failure timelines. So why is this one somehow a "real" timeline and not just a what-if like any other point of failure?  Sandstar Member Oct 28, 2017 8,165 Neutron said: I agree - although not so much about the idea of a "bad timeline", but just that it kinda makes it... non-canonical? Link could fail at any point, creating other failure timelines. So why is this one somehow a "real" timeline and not just a what-if like any other point of failure? Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yeah, i guess that's what I mean, it's non-canon. It just kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  SupersonicHypertonic Member Apr 20, 2022 3,530 poptire said: I completely understand the frustration. I like to believe the OoT split happened because that singular moment in time was special. Like how Doc Brown believes there's something about November 5, 1955 that makes it cosmically important. Click to expand... Click to shrink... That could be a solution why OoT creates a split but since there isn't a reason you could easily argue other games are special and could/should timelines. SS has stupid time travel at the end where Link destroys the present imprisoned (AKA Demise) using the Triforce but also goes back in time to destroy Demise.....so how can the present imprisoned exist? Surely that could create 2 timelines (or 3 if Link dies) especially as this Link is the first to use the Triforce and this Zelda is the direct reincarnation of Hylia so they should have special privileges. Zelda team needs a few people to say the very least get the skeleton of the timeline to make sense and not contradict itself at times.  Last edited: Yesterday at 10:03 PM StraySheep It's Pronounced "Aerith" Member Oct 26, 2017 9,157 Rockodile said: I think it's pretty fun, and it's easy to ignore if you don't care. Don't understand why some people get so pissed off about it. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Same  OP OP poptire Avatar Wrecking Crew The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 15,552 A good way to "fix" the timeline(s) is to say it's all based on in-continuity folklore and hearsay, so any errors or impossibilities it has are entirely man-made, as the citizens of Hyrule who are trying to figure it out also don't really know.   WhiteRabbitEXE Member Oct 25, 2017 15,094 Arizona Literally my only issue is the failed hero timeline. It's just so, so silly. But whatever, it's not a big deal lol   Jane Member Oct 17, 2018 1,626 The problem isn't the complexity. The problem is that Nintendo clearly didn't give a fuck about the lore being consistent or the stories connecting outside of direct sequels when they made the games, but they're now trying to pretend after the fact that it's all connected. The "doomed" timeline has never been hinted at and came out of nowhere.   Berordn One Winged Slayer Member Oct 26, 2017 10,711 NoVA poptire said: A good way to "fix" the timeline(s) is to say it's all based on in-continuity folklore and hearsay, so any errors or impossibilities it has are entirely man-made, as the citizens of Hyrule who are trying to figure it out also don't really know. Click to expand... Click to shrink... this has always been how i've viewed it the timelines existing is whatever, but the actual games are retellings and reinterpretations of legends and i think that's more fun than having a strictly true history to look at  Boopers Member Nov 1, 2020 4,358 Vermont usa I came in here to endorse Tingle, and the poll choices did not leave me disappointed. 🫡   OP OP poptire Avatar Wrecking Crew The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 15,552 Berordn said: this has always been how i've viewed it the timelines existing is whatever, but the actual games are retellings and reinterpretations of legends and i think that's more fun than having a strictly true history to look at Click to expand... Click to shrink... This kinda thing has always been enjoyable to me. And it can explain away literally any holes in any story. The magic bullet / infinite crutch of storytelling. George RR Martin should take notes. Boopers said: I came in here to endorse Tingle, and the poll choices did not leave me disappointed. 🫡 Click to expand... Click to shrink... Tingle Team represent  Servbot24 The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 47,579 It's fine. I don't really want a precise timeline of events. General allusions to a mystical history is better.   TheNormalMan Member Oct 27, 2017 149 Los Angeles, CA I love it and have always loved it. I never understood why people hated on it so much. You can just ignore it. When they revealed the downfall timeline in HH I thought it genius. It essentially established a way to justify any storyline moving forward. It also gave people more to talk about. And adjust their theories. There are still plenty of mysteries in the timeline—particularly in the BOTW/TotK area. I know they separated them but they can always add to it. Also, I know they never go into games with story in mind, but eventually the mechanics of a game might sync of pretty well with a specific area of the timeline. I love story heavy Zelda's. They don't all need to be that way but variety is the spice of life.  Hambulance Member Oct 30, 2017 2,296 I am ready for Into the Zeldaverse   Lump One Winged Slayer Member Oct 25, 2017 18,210 It does nothing for me, but I do highly enjoy watching others try and piece together the timeline, it is like watching non-problematic flat earth discourse from afar.   Tathanen One Winged Slayer Member Oct 25, 2017 7,176 WhiteRabbitEXE said: Literally my only issue is the failed hero timeline. It's just so, so silly. But whatever, it's not a big deal lol Click to expand... Click to shrink... It's weird and I'm not a huge fan, they had to contend with the fact that while there are multiple timelines the LTTP branch is a separate canon, not a timeline. So I can understand the logic of basing it on a What If scenario, particularly since OOT kinda straddles the two. In their shoes tho I'd have probably just called those games "old legends of Hyrule" or something and not tried to draw a line between them and the rest. To the thread question: yes the timeline is my life.