Game Scoop! 838: Our Most Anticipated Games of 2026

What's up everybody? Welcome to IZone Game Scoop, the final IZone Game Scoop of 2025. I'm your host, Damon Hadfield, and joining me this week are Sam Claybourne. It cannot still be 2025. It is still 2025. That sounds impossible. Yeah. I've, I've, what was the Gandalf quote? I've fallen into darkness out of all space and time, and I have no idea what's going on. With lots of cookies. Yeah. Yeah. That is, I'm here. That is also this week in between Christmas and New Year's, like my kids are off school. The days are so long. It's raining. We can't go outside anywhere. I know. That's been the, that's been the big punk here in California. It's like, oh, bragging about nice weather and cutting up. We're all stuck at home. Yeah. Not at Christmas. But we still do have a good show for you today. A great show for you this week. We're going to look at some of our most anticipated games of 2026. I've got a really good list of games. So I've got my most anticipated games, also just some curiosities that are coming next year. And then there are a bunch of games that I was like, oh yeah, I forgot that. That's still on the way. Those are the ones I'm most excited for. And I've got a couple of good extracurricular activities to share. But first, let's share what we've been playing over the break. I mentioned on the last episode that King was getting Mario Galaxy one and two. And I was excited to play Galaxy two because I never had before. And I did. And I don't know. I'm not super impressed. Yeah. It seems. I mean, it doesn't like immediately grab me like it's not bad at all. But it feels very much like like Mario Galaxy one. And it is annoying to me that I don't have control of the camera. It's still the Janky controls. That's the other thing. It's got the Janky N64 camera. And then the Yoshi. Can I not just press a button to use my tongue? Like, what? You cannot. You've got to point the star. It's so stupid. Or the. But the game itself, it's very, it's very fun. But it being so highly regarded and being high on our top 25 games of the last 25 years list is like, I don't know. I just. And I really do think it's not holding up well because of the things you just mentioned. But it is a 250 level amazing 3D Mario game. Yeah, it is for what it's worth, which is a lot. It is very clever. I don't know, Justin, do you have any you want to say anything in defense of Mario Galaxy two? I mean, like not without completely derailing us. I mean, I think Mario Galaxy two is arguably the greatest 3D Mario game and greatest 3D platformer ever made of every single level is just a delight of imagination with no idea repeated twice. It's so tight and so perfect. And I don't know. I don't have. But they change themselves to the Wii and it's and they've never reversed that. And the Wii problems are much worse now. The same thing with Metroid Prime trilogy. Like I like those. I mean, I don't like playing on the Wii controller now. I will say I have not played Mario Galaxy two myself since it was on the Wii. So I don't have like a modern 20, 20 years at 20, 25 take on this game. I do. I did buy it. So, you know, it is remarkable that you can play with the switch controllers, though, like that is really cool. You know, like, you don't need a sensor bar. Somehow. No, yeah. And I'm playing with a pro controller, but that's why the Yoshi stuff was really annoying. Oh, I do recommend separating the joy stick joy cons and play. Like, like, like you're playing it. I'll give that a try, but it is not really how I want to play a video. I know, I know. But it's required in Yoshi's a huge part of this game and eating stuff with Yoshi is a huge part of it. And like pulling yourself between stars like that type of activity is just. Yeah, it's it's fun. But I was expecting more in Mario Odyssey is, in my opinion, the best, you know, 3D platformer ever. It's surprising when you play Mario Odyssey, how like we talked about it as revolutionary and different. It's like it's breath of the wild moment, but it's also back to basics because it drops the we controller stuff. And the back to basics is really important. Yeah. But then I've just been bouncing around playing really random stuff. I'm playing something old for another episode of is it still fun? Just like Sam, the I've been thinking about playing Portal or Portal 2 with Kingo and the collection was five bucks for the switch. So I got a download of that and I just started playing Portal, playing through that. Amazing game. God, that game is so brilliant. And then I'm looking forward to getting to Portal 2 with Kingo. They just updated Divinity Original Sin 2 for modern consoles. And it's sort of like a polished up. I don't know if it's a full remaster. But anyway, I fired that up again and I was enjoying that. But the presentation level is it's not the level that Borders Gate 3 is that? So it just kind of got me started thinking, well, maybe I should just play Borders Gate 3 instead. So yeah, I'll do back to that. That's kind of just how what I've been jumping around and playing. Sam, what about you? Well, I got to plug in all those weird Famicom games I brought home. I did indeed by Darth Vader's Scorpion, which was very amusing. I thought that was really funny. Then and like, you know, just playing through Zelda and that that Famicom cartridge is cool. There is a there's a few other ones that were fun. But so I've been deliing into that doing the old game that we're playing. And then I just haven't really had a chance to talk about Metroid. And like, I don't want that game to end right now. I'm kind of just just playing and getting 100 100 percent of everything, trying not to use guides. You get that way. I've got to the point where you can like reveal the secrets that you haven't found yet, which I think really shouldn't be in a Metroid game, but like I'm there now. And so that's kind of interesting. I think it has this like interesting. It's it's so hard to describe what what I like about it and what I don't like about it. Because I don't I really don't. There's nothing I don't like about it. Like I like everything about it. I think there's some moments where it's like, I think it's weird that Samus doesn't talk. I mentioned that before that feels outdated now. The desert and the motorcycle, everything we saw early, like is exactly what you think it is. It's like kind of dull and it looks stupid. It's not cool. You know, like it's just kind of silly. But none of that hurts the game, which is like you're doing that. And it's kind of fun to like slide through a bunch of crystals and go to the next level and then get you start backtracking. And like all the all the stuff that's in my brain of like the list of things to do is like the gameplay loop for Metroid for me. And I love it. Like I love plugging in and playing that the game looks incredible. It feels, you know, really good when you when you're running around some of that, you know, what is missing is like what is a good and bad thing that there's it feels like 25 percent of the game is missing. Right. There's like there's not a level of complexity to a bunch of new enemies that you encounter at the end of the game. You just kind of fight harder ones that kind of appear more and more. It's kind of silly and retro. There's also like like, you know, you understand now what what everything you're ever going to do in a Metroid game is you're going to get, you know, a whip or what it's called a grappling hook. But like this game, it's a psychic grappling hook. But who cares? It's a grappling hook. Like it does one other new thing. You know, so there's stuff like that where it's like it feels a little bit retready and tired stuff. But like I'm enjoying like every minute with this game. I think it's really good. And I think it's kind of sad that like it's probably not wasn't invested in like it could have been. I don't know. There's just so much. So when you say that because it still it looks incredible. It does look incredible. Like I think they spent all this time doing graphics and doing all this. And then they just had to say, like, listen, you already developed half of a game and we had to put it, you know, start over. Like you need to cut this game somewhere. And I think that usually benefits games when they have like an edit. And like, you know, I feel like this is does a little bit benefit from it being like a curtailed, not extended out Metroid game. But like the padding of the desert level, I'm very conflicted about this game. But I do love it. And I do think it's really good. And I'm impressed with how the switch to handles it. Cool. Yeah. That Metro has been my biggest holiday break game as well. Nice. I remember you play as far as you say. I'm still relatively early on because we were, you know, at a town for a few days in the out of Yada, you know, we even made like my personal score as of now, however many, you know, five hours in would probably be closer to a seven. Like it's hard. You never sound like you hate a game more than a game you think is seven out of and you're talking about it on a podcast. Like, I think it's good. I think it's a game scoops ever given out. That's really never gone lower than the seven. So I don't know how much more to have to add. Like, I'm glad the franchise is back. I guess I have one thing to add, which is I think the music is incredible. It's really good. Although Justin, do you get annoyed now with all the da da da da da like every time that happens or every time there's like, you know, do do do do do do do do do do do. I'm like, it doesn't work anymore. Like we can move on from this. I mean, I don't know that does something to my brain in the same way that kind of like Zelda jingle does that like it's not it's not rational. But but it does something to me emotionally that like, no, I still I still get a kick out of it every single time. And I like I've actually come to kind of like the I don't know what you would describe this control scheme, but the kind of like, you know, I make minor adjustments by like tilting the controls. Is that as I kind of kind of become very natural feeling to me now? So, you know, I like the game. I don't love the game. You know, maybe my opinion will change when I get into the back half. As of right now, it wouldn't make it on to my game of the year shortlist. But I'm glad to have played it. It feels like time will spend. Yeah, I really do. Like once you start going back and forth between the areas and doing all that, like two things happen. One is that like you're like, OK, I'm backtracking because they're they're telling me to backtrack and showing me I have to backtrack and backtracking is kind of artificial, but also every area is cool after that jungle area. It like the very basic stuff. There's a fire area. There's an ice area. There's a mine area, but it's it's done so well. And Nintendo has just gotten, you know, like I still look so good on the switch to that it's actually shocking to me. I'm amazed. And then Volt Forge. People love that level. Like it's a really cool unusual sci-fi location. It's like a factory that's like run by lightning in the clouds. It's cool. Like they did a good job with that. But what's the what's the point of that? It's making a purple motorcycle for you. You know, like it's very it's very goofy. Are there are there cool boss fights? Yeah, they're fine. But I I I think the game is front heavy with them. You know, the game is the game. The game is a very video gamey ass video game. And you kind of already touched on this, like the boss fights feel exactly like you need nothing about the boss fights. And you know exactly what they're all going to be with, you know, their weak points and their patterns and like, like it's a theme park video game, which is fine. That's great. But it's it's not really trying to be anything other than that. Yeah, it feels like if this was like they're going to be like the start of a trilogy and they rebooted the trilogy and they got everything right in this game. And you're like, I can't wait to see where this is going. But that ain't happening. You know, that's what's so disappointing about this. It feels like like a you know, a wrap on the series, because it just seems like it's going to be so unsuccessful. And people are so wavering on it that Nintendo is going to be like never want to green light. I know I keep bringing this up, but like that's my fear is that like JJ Abrams got like a new start for a new trilogy. And he knew that going in, you know, and he gets to make a movie and then everybody gets excited about the sequels. And no matter what, we knew they were going to get made with this. It just it feels like it almost felt like this make or break thing for this type of Metroid game. And the good news is that somebody's going to make an amazing independent game that's just like Metroid Prime sometime. It's going to be really, really cool and do its own thing. Because I think it's such a good pattern for a game. But boy, I don't need to trot Samus out anymore and first person and roll around at balls and discover Metroids with a source of everything, which I'm not saying that that's happened that game. They're actually very few Metroids in it. That's what they'll have JJ Abrams make the movie. Don't yeah. Well, I do want to check out Metroid Prime 4 at some point. But now we turn our gaze into 2026. I've rounded up I think most of the big games that are coming games that I'm excited for and then some some games I raise an eyebrow at. And then a bunch of games that I forgot breathing a thing, but cool to revisit. We begin on January 15th with not a Dami game, but I wonder if Sam and Justin are excited to revisit their villages and assess or assess this new horizon, create new horizons. Animal Crossing, new horizons for Switch 2. Oh, maybe. I mean, we my my daughter's discovered Animal Crossing. And so and then that's when I really discovered I kind of pooh poohed the complaint about like you can only have one save and one island per Switch. Even if it's a completely different profile, like they can't have their own island. They have to move into my island. And now it's actually kind of messed up that game for us. Like it's my island and there's limits on like what they can do. I know other parents that experience this. It's a big mess. Yeah. And so, you know, on the one hand, like, yeah, it's a nice opportunity to recontextualize like I'm excited to go back to Animal Crossing. I want to get back into it, but it's just left a little bit of a sour taste in our household's mouth. Yeah, the poll for Animal Crossing for me is getting every bug and fish and then getting my house to where I want it and then showing it to a bunch of people. Those things are not really possible anymore. I did all that. So the draw for me has to be, you know, at least social. So it's like if my nephew's are playing or something, I'll get drawback into it. No matter what, though, I'm covering this for work. So I'm already like steeped in it. I did all of our coverage of the and I'll get to the thing I'm excited about in a second. I did all of our coverage of the kind of, you know, making sure that we're ready to update our strategy guys and stuff for this. So in doing that, I got pretty excited about the Nintendo set of stuff. I actually did the pages for that. And I'm going to do that. Like I'm going to get in there and mine all that cool Nintendo stuff and get it all and make it in 10. Our room, like that's a goal so I can set that goal and then be like, that's what I want to do with this. And it's cool. Like remember, they're adding the ability, you know, it's a little silly, but to play NES games, but they also like to play the NES games, you just playing the ones you can already play because you have to subscribe to the service. And yeah, so that's not that's not the draw. That draws it like they put, you know, the toys back in and the before Mario type stuff and whatever they put in for Zelda seems cool. And like, I don't know, I'm into that. I'm looking forward to. Well, you know, I just I never I don't think I played the game for a full year before, so I don't think I did much in winter. And so I think that people think about Animal Crossing and a lot of these games as they have to be forever games. Like it's just a game that you check in on. But it's like if my experience with this DLC is like I'm back in it for two weeks and I get to make a snowman and get to do some of the snow stuff and some of the winter holidays and I dip back out like that's a completely legitimate way to enjoy this update and this DLC. So it's like that'll probably be the way like I don't think I caught any of the winter Fisher bugs. So, you know, I have some stuff that I can work on. Cool. All right. Well, another returning old game on February 5th is Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined, which is interesting. I never played the original, but it came out at a weird time because I think it was a very old school JRPG that came out around the same time that Final Fantasy tended. Yeah. And then the big leap came with Dragon Quest 8. So that one felt really old school. You know, Square Enix has been doing really cool stuff with sort of reviving their older games like Final Fantasy Tactics last year and Dragon Quest. What they did, they started with three and now they've got one and two coming. So I'm interested, but I don't know. We have a preview of this on IGN and our preview is obviously a huge Dragon Quest fan and knows this original game inside and out. And but they're using a different art style. It's kind of like a diorama kind of puppet art style with these things. And the the preview wasn't completely sold on that. But I think they look good. They look like what's it called? Thunderbirds, marionettes. Yes. Yes. Or like the World Police. Team America. Team America, right? That's not the intention. It's just in the animations look really good and stuff. It's just they have these big old noggins with little features and they look like Mr. Potato Head. It's just weird. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I played I played Dragon Quest seven. You know, I don't know how long the game is. Dozens of hours. Yeah. And like, but I've completely memory hold it. Like I couldn't tell you one thing about it. Like, hey, you know, that was the one where the franchise really I like that. You know, sort of came came back into back into the sort of mainstream popularity. So. You know, why is there a new Dragon Quest game coming out? There is. There's 12. Where is it? I'm coming. Yeah, seriously. I don't think we've gotten an update on it a while. Yeah. It's so hard for me now because like there's there's new JRPGs coming out like Octopath Zero. And then there's these remakes of these Dragon Quest games and Live Alive. And, you know, there's the Final Fantasy one through six stuff that came out. It's like, I want to play all that stuff like that'd be great. But like this is an 80 an hour investment. I played a lot of them already. So like it's a little bit of waste of my time, even though like they're all Desert Island, like that's the collection for me. Like I want this as like an encyclopedia Britannica book set of every JRPG that came out in the 90s in the best form and the original form. And then I'll play them before I'm dead, you know, but like, when is that going to happen? Got a backwards plan for my death. Got to work backwards. Yeah. This is neither here nor there, but we're just talking with my family. This is in the year 2100. Kingo will be 81 years old. It's just like, what? It's so crazy. It's going to go into the next century. Yeah, that's crazy cool. OK, moving right along on February 12th is Mario Tennis Fever. I don't know much about that one. Yeah, I love the Mario Golf games. I've never really gotten into other Mario sports games, but, you know, I'm at a time now when if Kingo is interested and wants to play something, that's something like I would play with him if he's into it. Yeah. Yeah, it's been a while since they've been good. I mean, look, like I'm going to say the same thing that everyone's going to say is like if this game has a really cool story mode and like RPG mechanics and like, you know, if it's sort of meaty in that way, then cool. I'm into it. And if it doesn't have that and it feels a little bit more bare bones, like the last couple of Mario Tennis games are, like they felt like they kind of ran out of steam and have been a little bit lazy lately. So we'll see which it is. My problem with these tennis games is that when they is that the enemy it's not like golf where you're like playing against, you know, yourself. Basically, I try to get better and it's just kind of relaxing thing. It's like it relies on enemy AI, enemy opponent AI. And they get really cheap. It's not super fun. So it's like, you know, that's a tough, tough tuning thing. But I get playing against your friends is pretty fun stuff like that. And then the other problem is that the perfect tennis game was already made for Virtual Boy and they never need to make another tennis game. Correct. What's the name of that? Well, they are bringing the virtual boy back, right? It's just called Mario Tennis for a boy. I forgot. I forgot that's coming sometime next year. Yes, must be pretty soon. I got to go after the Nintendo store. They have some special Christmas stuff and I want to see, you know, I'll grill them about the Virtual Boy. I want to go by one there and that's available. Well, the day after Mario Tennis fever, reanimal comes. And this one is interesting. I was checking this out at Gamescom this year. This is from the team that did Little Nightmares one and two, but not three. I believe so, yeah. So this is another cooperative horror adventure game. A lot of buzz out there. I mean, Little Nightmares, I knew was a hit, but I didn't realize how huge it was. Right. And so then reanimal sort of a spiritual successor, not a successor in name. You know, this is this is one of those franchises that sort of grew and grew and grew and snuck by me, but is is just gigantic and has become a real phenomenon. And I am actually super excited about reanimal. Yeah, I am too. It's, you know, it's another kids in horrific, dangerous situations kind of game. I think people were a little bit disappointed with Little Nightmares three. So there's a lot of excitement for this one. This one being the original team that created these games. It's the it's the vibe of a limbo type game. Yeah, it's that type of game play cooperative 3D limbo. Yeah, that's a good way to put it. And that's yes. OK, cool. So that's good. And then finally, on February 27th, first really big, hotly anticipated game for me would be Resident Evil Requiem, of course. So we're all big fans of that series. Don't think there's a lot more to say about that game right now. But well, there's I think the last thing we talked about was the the revelation that you there's kind of a split between the whole play played horror character and then the action played character. I think it's smart. So cool. There's supposed to be a presentation dedicated to Resident Evil Requiem soon. So it has to be coming in January, I would think, since it's the game is out in February. It is funny that the cycle for Resident Evil has been spring for so long now. It's like what I think maybe it works for them because I think they do DLC around Halloween. But it's just like it is weird not to have this as like your annual smoothies and games. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know why Capcom has decided spring is the time for new Resident Evil. But that's fine. It's working for them. It is. And then getting into a march. Another very anticipated game for myself is replaced on March 12th. I can't believe this game is finally coming out. Speaking of limbo, this one is a, you know, a cinematic platformer along the lines of limbo and inside with just absolutely incredible pixel art. Of course, the developers are in the Ukraine. So understandably, it's been taken some extra time. This game looks so good. Yeah. Yeah, gorgeous. I'm so happy it's finally coming out. And, you know, Ryan McCaffrey, host of podcast Unlocked, he's also he's been following this game for a long time. He's played it and he came away very impressed. OK, so he did a hands on. And he reviewed inside for us. So someone who liked inside a lot is happy with the way replaced is coming together. Good sign. Yeah. So I talked about some curiosities. That same day is replaced. A couple of curious games. There's our type tactics one and two. So our tactics was a PSP game. Right. I missed that, but it looked so good. I really wanted to play it at the time. It was like a perfect combination of our type and then going around a tactical RPG. Yeah. I mean, it's yeah. So it's it's imagined. Final Fantasy tactics, but it's art. It's in space. It's our type. We gave it a seven. I didn't give it a seven. Yeah. Some other outlets scored it a little bit higher. And then there was a there was a sequel that only came out in Japan. But these are, you know, two PSP games. And I just wonder who's the audience for our type today? Yeah, me. Yeah. Because it's just for day. Who like what if every single person interested in our type tactics bought it? Like what's the cap on like the commercial appeal of a game like this? And I say this is someone that like I'm interested, right? I like our type and I like tactics games. But like in that era on the PSP, there was this weird trend of like tacticifying like there was Metal Gear Acid where they turned that into like a top down card game board game. And well, there was Doom RPG. Was they turned that into a first person dungeon crawling role playing game, not on the PSP, but like around that same time frame, maybe it did come out on the PSP eventually. But, you know, and they made our type tactics. I know there's more. But like that was just a weird trend that went around for a while. Make it turn based. Yeah, like I'm not I'm not hating. I like our type. Yeah, I'm glad it's happening just for, you know, preservation's sake. But I just from a business standpoint, it just seems like a hard sell. Because this is not the only our type release coming this year. This is only the first of three our type releases coming next year. Please be excited. Also, you're here. It's the year. In this game, you do play an action based our type game, right? You don't just do like there's two games. I don't think so. No, you just do the tactical stuff. Yeah, the appeal for me would be if you had like an actor is there type thing going for it, where it's like you had your, you know, kind of tactical game or a sim game or something and built on it. You go into the level and do a shooter level. That would be that's a perfect game right there, you know, would be cool. I don't think it's that many. Shoot Adventure was a really good game. Many shoot adventure. Yeah. Was that another PSP one? No, that was just the one that from I played on Steam last year. It was just a PC. Oh, that's right. That's it. It was a Zelda. Yeah, I remember. It's the Zelda like. Just get mash up with two genres. Okay. And then also at the same day, finally, apparently. John Carpenter's toxic commando is finally coming up. Wow. Yeah. Man, I didn't realize that I guess, I guess I knew it didn't come out, but I hadn't really thought about it in a while. That was announced a couple of years ago. It's a, it's a four player cooperative, first person shooter. We are just running around shooting monsters. We'll see. I don't know. I mean, it feels like every quarter there's one of those that gets really popular, then goes away. Like it's well timed. That's true. Yeah. Um, all right. Sorry to jump away right as you get the B roll up. Jovert on March 19th, Crimson Desert is coming out. And I don't know that this will be my kind of game, but I know that these, all these trailers absolutely do huge numbers for us. It's going to be a big, big popular game. This is the follow up to Black Desert, right? Black Desert online. But single player action. E. Yeah, but not an MMO. I don't believe. Mm hmm. No, no, no. This is just like a cool big action game. That's hard. I mean, I like those games. If it's like a dragon's dogma, is it, is it playing in that wheelhouse? Cause I like those games. Yeah. That might be a good comparison. I'm not sure. Uh, that same day as mouse PI for hire. Yeah. That's been coming a long time. So that's the first person shooter and the kind of with the, with the cup head style, but everything's a rat. Yeah. The rubber hose sort of, uh, 30s, early Disney animation style. So that one started to predict like, I don't know, it'll be good or bad or whatever. I think we previewed it and checked that out. But like every time there's like footage of that, it kind of does really well. Like everybody wants to watch it because it's just eye catching and, and like looks neat on YouTube. But I don't know if that game, I don't know, I don't know much about the game. So that's exactly it. Like those games are and well deserved, right? But like it's deservedly getting a lot of attention and a lot of praise for how it looks and it's very eye catching and gorgeous and beautiful and unique. That doesn't necessarily translate into like, is this going to be a 10 out of 10 video game experience? But it definitely translates to like, you know, when this appears at a PS showcase or whatever, it definitely catches everybody's eye. Right. Yeah. When I first thought I was a little dismissive that it's just first person cup head, but I actually think it looks pretty fun and clever and lots of fun weapons. I like how it's a little bit gory and there's, you know, some blood or ink splatter happening. I think I think it's definitely something I will, I will check out. I mean, I know I like cup head. I like cup head and has a lot of fans, but like, I wouldn't wish that game on my enemies. Like that game is really, really annoying to play sometimes, right? Even though you want to keep playing it in my case, because I like old school games like that, like it's not accessible. This is when it looks like at least first person shooters are generally just kind of just kind of, they can be mindless. You can just go through them and see all the cool stuff, which is maybe a better way to experience this type of style. Somebody was confused though, because PI is private and rescuers don't really come in guns blazing. No, everybody down. Yeah. It's not much of a PI. Maybe it stands for something else. Maybe. And then apparently in March, according to Justin and steam, Slade Aspire two has released a, what was that date in March, 22nd? It just says March. Okay. March 22nd is all that's on that. Or March 2026 is all it's on the steam page. Okay. Um, yeah, I mean, looks amazing. Like I've seen some, I mean, I don't even know that I would call it criticism, but just a common piece of feedback is boy, it sure looks a lot like Slade Aspire one, which, which I get, but it's like, gosh, like that was a perfect game, right? So it's like, if they made that game, and I hope I'm not saying it is that, but if it were that, but 20% better and bigger and different. It's like, well, okay, like, you know, um, you can't, there's only so much you can do to improve on perfection. Yeah. I mean, at a glance, you can tell it has much better animations. Yeah. You know, I love Slade Aspire. My, if I have a critique, I don't super love the art style of it. And then there's very little animation that. Is this changed art style or is this the same? It's kind of the same art style, but it's a little bit more of a cartoon look to it. And the characters are, they have a lot more animation going on. It feels, yes, it feels a lot higher budget probably because it is right of like the characters are moving more and doing more and a lot more active. Yeah. Um, and, and I, I believe I, when we talk about this on scoop once, like, I don't, I think I saw a trailer or an interview or something that Slade Aspire too is going to be a little bit more story forward. And that, um, that excites me actually. I'm interested in digging into a little bit more about that world. Yeah. Super excited for that to finally come out. April 24th is Pragmata, another long time coming game from Capcom. Yeah, I didn't realize you had mentioned this before. I didn't realize that they had announced Pragmata so long ago, because I just think of it as something that was announced like last year and we saw for the first time, but no, years ago, it was at the, like announcement of the PS5. That's so crazy. I have no memory of this. Somewhere around 2023. There was this, there was this, there was this, there was this, there was this this somewhere around 2023 that was delayed indefinitely. And now, I mean, so they didn't give up on it. This, this being a secret Mega Man game is the only thing that interests me about it. We should clarify. That's just, uh, Nicolamone's wild fan theory. It's so good. Yep. Why would she have a blue coat if she wasn't Mega Man? She is, uh, an android, right? Yeah. You know that much. I don't know. Well, and that's, that, you know, that's always the 20 questions conundrum, right? Like is, is Mega Man a man or a boy or a robot, which is robot dogs? Are they robots or dogs? Um, there's also like a, some kind of a demo on this for this available now. That's kind of like the kitchen demo for a Resident Evil seven. Yeah, Mark loved it. Yeah. So I think, I think this is looking at, you know, we talk a lot and Capcom rarely misses these days. So a hundred percent. And then in speaking of missing, there's like a little like puzzle each time you fight an enemy where you have to like shoot the right pager. No, that's cool. Cool. On April 30th, Ceros will arrive for PS five, the first, uh, exclusive PS five exclusive of the year. And I, I, I'm excited for that game. I liked Returnal. I didn't finish Returnal. I'm not, uh, that tough of a gamer able to finish Returnal, but I liked a lot. What I played. I'll play more. I'll play Returnal with, you know, a different color palette. Yeah. I mean, House Marks never made a bad game. Um, you know, return. Returnal was not my thing, but, but it seems like they listened to feedback. And this is, this is Returnal and fixing the elements that cause people like me to, I shouldn't say fixing, but, you know, going in a different direction with the elements of the game that people like me bounced off of it. Right. And so, you know, a little bit more permanent upgrades, you know, a little bit more ability to power yourself up, but you're still looping through the game. Like sounds awesome. Sounds amazing. Yep. I'm into that one. Yep. And then 007 first light was supposed to be out in March, but it was recently delayed into May 27th, which is funny because that was the window left open by GJ six big old games that month. Yeah. Um, so man, I went or active. I love all their modern hit man stuff. Hit man three was so good. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I'm really excited for this one. I have a lot to say about this one. So I'll keep it short. So we just get like the idea of taking a license now and making the best possible game with it is I think being realized because Indiana Jones just happened and we had machine games like take this like amazing, you know, like difficult license to get right and just absolutely exquisitely nail it. And they turned out to be the perfect company for that, but I wasn't expecting them to be for this. This is the perfect company to make this game. I already know that. Right. Like this is this couldn't be better. So that's one thought I have about it. Like how great is it to pair somebody that's made an incredible series of games with with a license to do something that they could rip on. So that's one thing. The other is that they that's hit man is the character hit man, even though they try to make movies about him, it's supposed to be a standard, like a dummy, like something that's like not developed. Like this is James Bond. So they're doing the exact opposite. They're taking like a magnetic central character and making a game around that. And I think they might be, you know, that's new for them. And I'm like, that's where I'm like, Oh, is that going to work out? But then again, like James Bond just exists already and has already developed. What do you need to do? You need to pick a cool car and a bunch of cast of characters and then set up your set pieces. And every time I see a set piece in this game, it looks really good. That that airplane level, like I watched that twice. I thought it looked really cool. Like I was like, Oh, there's a lot going on here. Yeah, man. Yeah, I hope it's good. I mean, I would interact like hit man games are not action games, you know, they're kind of puzzle games and the end of few kind of punctuated actiony moments are sometimes a little bit clunky. Like that's just the way the games worked. And so I hope that like, I, you know, I believe in IO interactive. They're a really, really talented studio. And I hope they managed to pull off those set piece moments, but I'm not quite, it hasn't gone over with me yet. Like I hope that those action moments play as well as sort of like the infiltration stealth, explore these big open environment moments like that. I'm not worried about it all, but like everything, the rest, all the rest that stitches it together, you know, I'm in a little bit more of wait and see mode. If this game is amazing and we just got India Jones and a few good Star Wars games recently, what, what are we doing with Batman? Well, that's funny. You mentioned that Sam, because two days later is Lego Batman. Legacy of the Dark Knight. Yep. So that's crazy that these are on top of each other now in May. I think that's really bad for everybody involved. Well, they're pretty very different games. I mean, I want to play both of them. Yeah, I do too. It's gonna be complicated. But I don't think a lot of the kids are gonna want to play double seven first. Well, Batman will probably be fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm really excited for this game. Uh, Lego Star Wars, the Skyward Cresta is like, is one of like three games that can go plays just all the time. Mm hmm. We're going to play the heck out of this game. The, the improvement and evolution to the Lego formula, you know, from game to game, they've been making them, you know, TT games has been making for 20 years now, right, is just been so amazing to behold. And they've gone from, um, you know, oh, these are good and fun and inoffensive enough for kind of like a Lego game to like, no, like Lego Skywalker saga, you know, was like them, we can just actually make a big triple A co-op game and it doesn't need to have some asterisk next to it of like, oh, it's just good for kids or families or whatever. Like they made this kind of all ages, you know, all sexes thing that anyone can enjoy and love. And, you know, the parody is always on point. Um, so I just, I don't know, like I'm really excited about it. Same. And then I had mentioned, uh, our type tactics one and two is the first of three R-type releases this year and may we're supposed to get our type dimensions three, which is a remake of our type three, which Sam helped me out. Our type three was a Super Nintendo game. I believe. Yeah, it was. Yeah. I thought four was three was maybe three was. Okay. One of them went instead of arcades and went straight to Super Nintendo. But so again, I'm glad this exists, but I just wonder how much of an audience there is. We've talked about this before, I think probably multiple times, but our type was published by Nintendo at the arcade. So there was an arcade machine that Nintendo made for our type, which I think was interesting. Yeah. I didn't remember that. I was always, I mean, I, whatever, I like our type just fine. I like all schmups, but if I was forced to choose, I was always a grottiest man. Yeah. I would read. I played life force specifically for me. Hell yeah. Did you know that this had a subtitle called the third lightning? The third lightning. That's cool. That is a good subtitle. Well, look at toy. That's the collectives edition. How many of those they make? I mean, I think maybe our type has a, some kind of persistent fan base in Japan that we are unaware of, because all these things I think are just like, yeah, just poured them to America too. You know, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Here's, here's what's interesting. That's May that gets us up to May. The next game with a release date is on September 9th. So it's this huge window June, July and August. No, no games are coming out this summer. Sorry, I know you like summer games. I like summer games, but the May games are pretty good though. Right. So like that can carry us a little bit. Yeah. September 9th is Phantom Blade zero. Sort of a character, a martial arts character action game. Got a lot of bugs. Before we get too far, you did skip over Pokemon Pokopia, which is. Yeah, I did. Yeah. A cozy Pokemon game and which Haven, which Brooke? Is that what's called? Wait, does that have a release date? No, but it got delayed from this year. So I'm presuming there's going to be some cozy games besides Animal Crossing in the spring. I just want to check this out. Yeah. I have a whole set of games that are supposed to come, but don't have a release date. Right. Got it. Anyway, Phantom Blade zero. Looks cool. I'll at least check it out. Yeah. And then what do we got next? Oh yeah. And then November 19th, a little game called GTA six. Mm hmm. Interesting. That's the farthest out, you know, big game with a release date. Yeah. Yep. And so I think I'm going to say it now. I think it's going to come out that day. You think so? Yeah. Yeah. I never believed the spring date. Oh, I see. I think I think the spring date was always code for November 20th. I see. So you called the bluff and now you're doubling down on the reality. But and now I think that they're going to they're going to hit November. Mm hmm. Right as the consoles are getting old again, just like when GTA five. Yeah, that's exactly what happened with GTA five. Yeah. Yep. And then everyone will double dip and buy it again and. Yeah. Well, I mean, you can at the end of a console generation, you can make a game run amazingly on those consoles. You know, everything that would possibly go wrong. Right. Yeah. Boy. We'll see. Except for cyberpunk. Yeah. I will say this. I'm very excited for this game. I'm not the world's biggest fan of GTA five, but I love my city and I'm happy to return to my city and everything I've seen about this is looking great. I mean, I absolutely loved GTA five. I mean, like everybody else, you know, 10 out of 10, one of the best games ever made. And then I went back and replayed, you know, probably the first third of it sometime when it was on Game Pass and was not nearly as impressed the second time around. Yeah. So it's like, well, you know, it just felt very and it wasn't the game's fault at all. It's just like everything that felt so new and amazing and revolutionary. It's like, well, you know, games have been doing this for the last 12 years now. You know, I think about GTA six all the time. And one thing that I've been thinking about a lot recently is like, I'll probably find something in this game that I like doing because Rockstar just bakes a hundred games, right? And like every something in there, like it's probably like the best possible, you know, version of like hockey or something in the game that's going to be out that year. Yeah. And then you can just play that in this game, you know, like it's a platform, basically. Yeah. And that's like for me, I really like the stunt jumps from the previous games. I like, you know, just the idea of, you know, heists, like if they do like heists, like side quests or something like, there's things that I like about GTA. And then I usually just like watching the storyline, right? But then there's other parts that I just don't care about. Like the, you know, like the stock market and stuff from the last game. So it's probably going to have, it's probably going to have a whole series of like jet ski races that are like better than wave race. Like that's going to be incredible. And there's going to be, you know, 24 of them in the game. Yeah. And then just like, wow, that was actually the best racing game this year. Yep. All right. Now we've got a bunch of games that are due out this year that don't have release dates. And this is the segment where you, there'll be some games in here that I think you might have forgotten about. For example, bloodstained the Scarlet's engagement. Yep. I forgot about that. That's equal to bloodstained. I'm fine with it. Keep on making bloodstained. Yeah. I mean, sure. I like, I like bloodstained a lot. Very good. Castlevania like made by the Castlevania guy. I don't know what his involvement is in this one, but it's looking good. And remember this time around, there are two characters, but it's a single player game. And I think you can swap back and forth and then the NPC just controls the other one. It has like a total visual upgrade. Like this looks crazy good. Yes, it looks really good. A lot more outdoor environments, daylight areas. Oh, my gosh. That boss looks great. Maybe this is the Metroidvania of the year. Maybe it is. Okay. Deus Ex remastered is on the way and that's cool. I've never played the original Deus Ex. Hope they do. Yeah, it's not a strange remastered though. Like it doesn't, it looks a little. It's not a remake. It's a remaster. Yeah. I look, I say this with love. No, look, I like Deus Ex. I love Deus Ex. I think it's a game that's hard to go back to. Some games are easy to go back to and go down smooth and some do not. And like, you know, I think that Deus Ex is going to be a challenge for gamers with modern tastes and modern sensibilities. I mean, they had to say they have overhauled controls and stuff. So. Yeah, I mean, it's the first game I can ever remember playing where like you just had choice, right? Like this thing that's that's very it's very commonplace now. But like doing a sneak in or go guns blazing or talk your way in. Or like I'd never seen anything like that in a game before. Like, you know, so I have a lot of nostalgia for it for that reason. I just think whenever they do that pass to show how remastered it is, it looks exactly the same. It's just not it's not. And that's I think that's good because people that love this game, it's going to look it's going to look how you remember it, which is like always a fun thing to do. But I need something I need. I think this would need a remake for me to play. Next year, Xbox should finally deliver Fable. Yeah, which I would. One of the Xbox games next year. Yeah, I mean, I would be excited for the only trepidation I have is that it's just taken so long. That's all. Who knows how it is. Yeah. Hopefully, I mean, it's funny voice acting and stuff they got in there. And I know that Peter Malinu has become kind of like, you know, the butt of some jokes over the years, but like I don't think he's making this. Right. So it's like he's also an unbelievably, you know, joke. All you like, he's still an incredible, talented, you know, game director and talent overall. So, you know, and not to take anything away from the team that is making this, but it makes me on a personal level a little bit less interested than I would be. But like, you know, a big fantasy, high budget fantasy role playing game that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's like, I don't know, sounds like a good time. Yeah. I just hope my the lessons that Fable needs to learn from are the open world Witcher and Skyrim games. Like that's that's what will like if this is really like the big open world fantasy game this year, instead of the kind of channeled down paths that Fable can feel more like, then it's going to be incredible because they've had extra time to work on it. And you know, like that's a good sign if it's like a huge game. If it's a kind of narrow game, it means they had to probably reset a whole bunch. And then that's not as interesting. It's a playground, right? The yes. Forza. Is it Forza Motorsport or Forza Horizon? Horizon, which I think implies that it's going to be a more of a, you know, a single open world type game. Like, I hope so. Right. That's what they're going to. Maybe it'll have Baja races. And maybe this and GTA will both have cool way of race clones in them. And we'll see which one's better. Yeah, cool. OK, Nintendo Nintendo have Fire Emblem Fortunes weave. That's cool. Always happy. Oh, happy to have you Fire Emblem like my tactics games. And then, of course, also Xbox will have Halo campaign evolved. Another Halo remake just played through the last one. Yeah, you just played it. It was great. I mean, will you play it again? Just like see it looks good graphics. I mean, look incredible. It looks really good. I have no problem with playing Halo and Legendary by myself. I'll just do that. Yeah, it's always fun. OK, I mean, this is them. This was their, you know, a rumor is that they're not using their own. Well, this game is Unreal Engine. Everybody knows that. But the rumor is that this is them getting to know Unreal Engine because they're not using their own engine anymore for mainline Halo game. So let's remake the original game using Unreal and like, you know, get our arms around that and then they're going to use that tech going forward for future Halo projects. This is like I'm sure the answer to this is really obvious, but I don't know if any of us will know it. But is is is there an unreal? Current shooter right now, or did everybody use their own engines for like Battlefield and Call of Duty and stuff? I mean, what runs on Unreal? Like like a shooter like I'm starting to think of a cyber shooter like like like our is this like, do we know if Unreal can power a multiplayer shooter? Like, I don't even know. I mean, I'm sure it can given, you know, given Fortnite. I mean, big. Yeah, that's true. But but like not like not not battle not Battlefield, for example. So, you know, I guess I would have to think about it. Yeah. But hey, like if Fortnite's the platform that they build a Halo around, I'm sure it'd be fine. And then moving on to some PlayStation stuff. I don't this was this one was on a PlayStation state of play, but I don't know if it's going to has a time to exclusive. It's Marvel Tocoon Fighting Souls. Oh, man. Which is the Marvel fighting game from the Guilty Gear folks, and it looks just great. Yeah, I know. I mean, I'm not even a bit. It did exactly what it's supposed to do. Or I'm not a gigantic fighting game guy and I'm like, OK, I'm on board. I just I love that they're leaning into its Japanese game. All these Marvel characters are speaking Japanese. I love it. It's great. Yeah, I mean, the my team here at IGN has some of the big fighting game folks and like, you know, this is like just this is just the biggest deal. You know, I think it's so cool that people are getting this like perfect game in their in their genre. You know, yeah. Really, really excited for that. And then, of course, Wolverine, finally, dude. My that's my single most anticipated game. It might be mine, too. Might be mine, too. Once I saw them ripping apart those cyborgs, I was like, oh, yeah. I mean, insomniac and I know people are a little bit down on Spider-Man too, but like not not in any kind of like, oh, it's not a good game kind of way. But just like they wish to win a little bit farther, did a little bit more. Like when was the last time insomniac made a game that wasn't incredible? You know, 20 years ago, maybe never. Like they kind of quietly have one of the best track records in all of video games, you know, across multiple decades. This is another example of a company that's taking a license that I wouldn't expect them to be good at, but I trust them to be really good at it. I think Wolverine is going to feel different enough from Spider-Man and be maybe more of that kind of like, you know, you know, maybe not about traveling through a city as much as, you know, combat, you know, I think they should they should be really good at that. I did forget we're watching this be real. I forgot how goofy the Wolverine character model is. Well, we always get used to that with the Marvel games when they're not character. But then by the end of the game, you're always used to it. Yeah, I guess. I don't want to end on a negative note. I just I've kind of forgotten. I don't I don't like the Wolverine character design in this game. But there's it's an easy enough thing for them to have tweaked between now. At least I don't I don't think I have a problem with it. But let's try to work work backwards in Somniac's work. They did Spider-Man 2 and then Rashid and Clayton and then Miles Morales and then Spider-Man one. And then what was before that? They did. Well, it's like a I know they did three resistance games, but it's been a long time since a resistance. So they did Sunset Overdrive. That's right. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Another great game. And then one of those things that in hindsight, obviously led them directly to Spider-Man, right? But, you know, you don't make that connection to after the fact. I mean, so like if we go way back, they did like Spyro one, two and three, right? And then they did they did a bunch of ratchet and clank games. And then they did resistance. Yeah, I think that's that's the majority of their out. So they're a little. Well, OK, yeah, OK. Anyway, they have a great track record. Yellow suit Wolverine. Look at that. Yeah, I love it. Funny classic. Have you have you been keeping up on the Marvel not leaks anymore, but just like the trailers that I jins been covering for like doomsday? Yeah, for doomsday. Like there's there's an X-Men one now. Yeah, yeah. It's completely crazy. It's like, you know, the X-Men universe being destroyed in a trailer like what what is happening with that movie? Yeah, Cyclops is going completely. Yeah. Yeah. So wait, in the X-Men one, something actually happens because nothing happens. Yeah, that's the difference. OK, something actually happens. Yeah, nothing happens in the Steve Rogers or a fight in the X mansion. And it has Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in it. Like it's crazy. And then, yeah, then Cyclops goes Nova. With a Sentinel. OK. Yeah. All right. Well, that sounds good. They need to start getting people excited. Because what would think when Infinity War came, there had been 10 years of excitement building up and that there's nothing. There's no excitement that's been building up to this movie. So, yes, I feel like I've been ranting about this to just relatives for the past week. I really miss work when that happens. I'm like, yeah, why are they why are they building this up this way? But they had to abandon all plans, right? They had to abandon all of Kang and then lately pivot and then the pivot is looking more like the J.J. Abrams, Derian Johnson pivot, which is like, oh, you're exactly right. This brings the old Avengers back. I know, they're like Steve Rogers will return. He's back, everybody. I'm like, he was never gone. I mean, he was this is the next Avengers movie and he's in it. So he was he never left. Yeah. Anyway, get back on track to games. Capcom has Onimusha, Way of the Sword, which looks cool. I've never played an Onimusha game, but this game looks cool. That's another one that was cool at Gamescom. I'm surprised. I guess I'm not surprised you didn't play in Damon, but like they're they're like ancient Japanese horror resident evil action games like you'd love them. I mean, yeah, but a modernization of one is going to be the way to jump in for sure. Right. Like, yeah, this is a good opportunity. Yeah, this looks really, really good, really fun. What do you think? What are the odds? Ubisoft's Prince of Persia, Sands of Time remake makes it out in 2026. Bring this up. There's just no chance. No, it hasn't been canceled. That makes me sad. Yeah. Do you remember how amazing that like when that game came out, it's like, oh, like you don't die if you fall in a pit, you'll just rewind. And everyone was like, whoa. Yeah, man. The original game is just. Yeah. And then they made the warrior within and a third one. I mean, the remake looks out of date now, which means that they're never going to catch up and make this an amazing game. I mean, this is also announced like back in 2020. So. But the last Prince of Persia game was so good that I hope there's some kind of continuation of that team and that series. I think that that team has been broken up the studio. So it's like they'd have to do something. Yeah, you're talking about the lost crown, right? The retro venue. Yeah. Yeah. I had a real soft spot for the last 3D reboot. I feel like I'm sometimes the only person that liked the cel-shaded one. Oh, yeah, just Prince of Persia. Is that what it was called? I like that game a lot. Yeah, that had a really cool look to it. Also, Xbox 360 PS3 era, Prince of Persia. I think it looks really funny when he's backwards running on a wall. And it's always funny. Yeah. So he's doing a little dance. Remember they did a Jake Gyllenhaal movie. Yeah. OK, I promise as promised, the third R-Type release of the year, R-Type DX Music Encore. OK. Are you with me here? R-Type DX was a Game Boy Color release. This has its own steam page. It's its own release, not part of a package. And it just says, have you ever wanted to play R-Type DX with unique music for each stage? Yes. So I guess the DX original had just played the same song in each stage. And now they're re-releasing it with unique music for each stage. OK, I'm getting a little bit concerned that these are being targeted only for Damon. How many human resources are we putting in to create a games just for one man? How can we get we got to get on GameScoop? How can we get on GameScoop? You've put these out, I guarantee you, they're Damon will not be able to resist talking about these games for an entire episode. Well, it's like it's like you like your 10 years ago, we did an episode like I love this R-Type for Game Boy, but it's so annoying. It's just one song playing. And then 10 years ago, they like work, start working back from GameScoop 2026. Yeah. OK. Our anticipated 2026 games is starting to get a little bit long in the tooth to wrap up their Scott Pilgrim EX. But you know, it's a sort of spiritual successor to the original Scott Pilgrim. Saves the world beat him up, which is great from tribute games. Love that game. Plus, it is a more interesting version of a beat him up, right? It has like elements to it that are not just walk around, but it's not a full castle crashers type thing. No, it's more like there's the different levels are interconnected and you can unlock things in one level that will open up things in a different level, things like that. A River Sea of Rancid. Yeah, it'll be good. OK, here's one of the games I thought I think everyone forgot about. That's supposed to be coming next year. Star Wars Zero Company. This is the Star Wars Xcon Xcon game. Yeah, you're right. Definitely forgot about this one. They have a whole trailer announcing this game. Oops, forgot. Yeah. But that's cool. I mean, yeah, that's a that's a great idea for a Star Wars game. I'm excited to get excited about it all over again. Yeah. Yeah, it's fun. Bit reactor. Star Wars Xcon coming next year still says 2026 on its steam page. There's Super Meat Boy 3D, which we previewed at Gamescom and came away very positive on Super Meat Boy. Such a weird like that. It was like 2008, a big game that I covered in my early years at IGN. I reviewed it. Lots of preview coverage, because it was, you know, Xbox Live Arcade was so new and exciting. And this game was also coming to We Wear at the time. Yeah. But it's not a game. The original Meat Boy is not a game I want to really revisit today. Yeah, I like the blood path. So it was always funny in it. And I remember it was like bringing back an old school mentality. So it should have felt good to you if you play these certain platformers on PC back then. If this feels good to you because you played a lot of, you know, Mario 64, then I have certain people again on my staff who will very much like this game. I mean, I think that the positive previews like this is a game. I mean, I guess you could describe every game this way, but like it's going to it's going to live or die based off of how it reviews. And like I was very skeptical. I was not very interested. But then the previews have been universally positive. Like, nope, they completely nailed it. It feels great to play. Like it's a joy to move around and I'm like, OK, well, then I'm on board. Like they they seem to really have understood what made the 2D game tick and actually managed to translate it to 3D, which was not a guarantee. Like they could have just as easily botched that. So, you know, I'm I'm I'm into it. Yeah, it looks great. I'm going to play it. Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis just announced the game awards. Remaking the original Tomb Raider. Cool. Awesome. Can't wait for that. All in. Yep. And then the final two on our final three. Truxton Extreme is apparently still coming. Truxton being a very cool. Psegagenesis Schmup Extreme is supposed to be out 2024. Supposed to be out 2025. Now apparently coming 2026. We'll solve. Oh, also, also, maybe I've been pronouncing it wrong. Truxton, because on its on its web page, one of the tag lines is it's on like Truxt on, I guess it's Truxt on. I've been saying Truxton all these years. I don't know. But now that they heard you say that, they'll work really hard to change the name to be how you pronounce it before the episode. It's fun like Truxton. The new tag line. There you go. Another game I forgot about Vampire Crawlers, the Turbo Wild Card from Vampire Survivors. That's the official name of the game, by the way. Vampire Crawlers, the Turbo Wild Card from Vampire Survivors. That's fine. Yeah, they're really leaning into the turbo. Like it's a trademarked term on its steam page. It says master the turbo turn. TM. Hey, this obviously we love Vampire Survivors. This is a first person pixel art roguelike Dungeon Crawler with cards. Yeah, I mean, it's more than just like a meme or joke game. Like there's and I'm not I haven't played the game. I don't know if it's good or not, but the concept, the premise of like you're playing cards in sequential order, like one that's worth costs one, one that costs two, one that costs three. And if you play cards in the right order, your turn could just keep going forever. So you have to kind of like plan your turn out the right way and build your deck the right way. And it's going to evoke they're trying to evoke with cards that feeling in Vampire Survivors of just like, I did everything perfectly. And now I'm having a God turn like it seems like clever. I'm really into it. It's going to be great. And finally, from Nintendo will be. Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, which looks like a kiddie Yoshi game, but, you know, it'll be fun to play with the kids. We need like a year of Nintendo announcements to come. So we know what's coming out next year, because this is just clearly just the tip of the Nintendo. Yeah, Sam, you think in this game you can just. I'm going to swear for emphasis, parents. OK. Do you think in this game you can just press a fucking button to use your tongue? I mean, I think just because you're saying that they're going to add a tongue button to our type of coming out this year, just to please you. Yeah. They are a wrathful God of the R-type universe. Damon Hatfield. Is Marvel Rise of Hydra coming out still next year? I mean, maybe it's, you know, I think it's floating out there in the ether. I only didn't include it just because I don't know what the odds are of it actually coming out. OK. Looks rad, though. But, you know, may end up being 2027. Making video games is hard, y'all. So Sam said Wolverine is his most anticipated. Minds you that are Slay the Spire 2. Justin, how about you? Yeah, maybe Slay the Spire 2 for me as well. Maybe I mean, out of the stuff that as a, you know, it might be vampire crawling. I mean, sure. That's totally valid. There's different most anticipated, like look for a big triple A, like, you know, the equivalent of like Summer Blockbuster, like James Bond looks incredible. A lot of these games look incredible, but for like the me personally, like the Justin Davis, if there's some, if there's a Justiz Award, like the Damys Award, then yeah, it would be Vampire Crawlfish. Yeah. If there is a Sammys Award, it would be R-type 2 on Game Boy, but with different music. Now, finally, have you ever wanted to play R-type DX with different music on every stage? I think about it all the time. I think about it more than Rome. What's the Madman line? I don't think about you ever. Yeah, I don't think about you at all. Okay. Extracurricular activities. This Christmas with my family, I watched a movie I'd never watched before. We watched the 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Jingle All the Time. I watched the movie, and I watched the movie. I watched the movie, and I watched the movie. We watched the 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Jingle All the Way. Oh man. I was just thinking about that movie, and it was like, I've never seen it, but I, something was talking about it like it was a really, really bad, you know, 90s action movie. I have never seen it. What do you think? It is bad, but I'm very glad I watched it. I had fun watching it. It's a bad, fun movie. There he is. That's what I wanted to point out. Wow, look at that. No, Jake Lloyd is in this movie. He's Arnold's son. I had no idea. I thought Phantom Minnes was the first thing he had ever done. Is he a better actor in this than he has been in this? That's the saddest part, Sam. He's totally good and totally cute. He's exactly what a child actor should be. Oh no. It just makes it, it's entirely George Lucas' fault. Yeah. Oh, what a bummer. Yeah, it was a bummer. He's totally good and cute in this movie. He could have gone on to have a great child actor career. What did you, Baba? Oh, it's doing it. Anyway, I liked Jungle all the way. It was fun. The other movie I saw was Marty Supreme. Yeah. Anyone see it? No, I can't wait. It's very good. I went into it just knowing it's the Timothy Chalamet ping pong movie. You knew it was the safty situation. I knew them, but I haven't seen Uncut Gyms. Oh, well, I hate that movie, but I think this looks better. I can't say whether you like this or not. It is a very stressful watch. No, I think it'll be different. I know it's a stressful watch. It's a stressful watch. It's a good sort of like one to be a good double feature with one battle after another. So we're both very tense, stressful movies. So I liked Marty Supreme a lot. My wife liked it, but her sister did not like it. She doesn't. She doesn't like stressful movies. So it has divisiveness to it. But super well done. I watched the third Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man. Oh yeah, you both watched it. So Justin liked it. What did you think, Sam? I loved it. Okay. I thought it was great. No, I did not like Glass Onion. Oh, really? It's better than Glass Onion. It's very different. Like it's got a, you, I'm going and not knowing about it is worth it. It's like, it's usually something I wouldn't like. It's like set in like a heavily church based, you know, setup and like, but it's good. It's really good. It has like both elements of, you know, this kind of like the good and badness of like being part of a church community in it. It's awesome. Like it's just, oh man. All right. I will check it out. And then Sam, well, both of you, but Sam in particular, have you watched the new video from the Video Game History Foundation? The, I think it's called the Untold Story of the NES. No? It's on the YouTube channel. No, I'll check it out. It's great. It's Frank's Frank's Avalli host, host it. It's like a half hour long and it's, it focuses on like Nintendo of America deciding how to bring the Famicom over to the US. The BCR era. It's great. It's all like new information. It's not the same old stories you've heard. Oh, I can't wait to check that out. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. All of Scoop Nation is just on. How that information doesn't get to me, you know, until David tells me that on a podcast. So did you finish Purbus? Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. I finished that. Purbus is great. I think it's the best show of the year. Like easily. Although there, I guess maybe some close, close, maybe it's not easily. Don't forget about Andor. Andor also exists. Yeah. I liked it a lot better than Andor. I did a lot of good television this year. I also finished Purbus. I think people goof on the show because it's very, it's like, you know, it's like 20 minutes of plot stretched over like nine episodes. Like it's a very slow paced. But it's also just gorgeous and interesting. And I like that it's taking its time to really explore, you know, like all of these conundrums that the world has gotten itself into. I thought the slowness take was interesting because I feel like I'm so used to that from watching Better Call Saul. It's exactly the same way. Yeah. It's very show don't tell. He just, you just watch, he's just doing things instead of talking about doing things. And I like thinking about what's happening in the show while it's happening and having that time to process like why this is interesting that they're showing a supermarket being restocked. I think that's, I don't know, it works for me. So like that. Stranger Things is now working for me so well. I think it's been fine and I want to watch the ending of it, but it's really hard to suspend my disbelief about the ages of the kids. It's just a lot of things happening in that show. They kind of like, we're like, well, there's still 1580s movies we haven't made yet within the bookings of Stranger Things. Let's get them all into season. It's like endless references and Stephen King things and sci-fi things and TV things. People really hate that second episode. The first batch people like. Oh really? I didn't realize that. So there's a distinction between the batches. I bounce off Stranger Things back in season two. Like Avatar, Stranger Things is just not something I'm interested in. Oh man, I watched the second Avatar movie, but I haven't seen the third one. I didn't think it was too bad. It was bad, but it was too bad. In any case, Floribus is great. Hopefully we don't have to wait. I don't know. I don't know. I'm sure it'll be two years we have to wait for season two. I mean with Apple though, you always double it. So if you think it's going to be two years, it's going to be four. And then Severance will be a year after that. But I mean, back in the day, they got a new Game of Thrones season out every year. They got a new Breaking Bad season out every year. I know. There used to be a Castlevania game. Like what's a month? Yeah, what's a month? I watched FF1. Oh, is that good? It's good. It's good, but it's a movie where I'll give you one anecdote from the movie that tells you everything you need to know about the movie. Is Brad Pitt is like the veteran that's coming back to the sport and he's kind of butting heads, his rivals, even other teammates with the young hot shot. And the young hot shot is training with all this tech where he's got like an oxygen monitor on and it's sprinting on a treadmill and he's in this high tech gym doing all this high tech shit. And then Brad Pitt is running in like sweat pants on the track itself. And then they have an argument about like, oh, like you're over the hill, old man. He's like, oh, I was racing before you were even born. And like, that's the whole movie. OK. Did he kill his wife and get away with it? But it's great, right? Like that's just know that that's what you're getting into, right? Is that like, you know, he's training by like he's training his hand agility by like bouncing a tennis ball against the wall and catching it real fast. Like just stuff like that. Is there exciting racing action? Yeah, I mean, it's it's the top gun Maverick team. Yeah. Right. So, you know, like they basically remade that movie somehow, but it's F1. Find and replace Brad Pitt for Tom Cruise. Totally, totally stupid. Totally. Mackerel's in it. Totally good watch. Mike's daughter-in-law from Better Call Saul. Oh, yeah. Yeah. She pops up in random stuff all the time. OK, that brings us to the final video game 20 questions of the year. We look forward in January to hearing from our what's the word for it? Not stenographer, someone who keeps track of all our stats. Oh, yeah, your win, loss stats for the year. Oh, right. The superstition. Yeah, our suggestion this week comes from Matthew and Brooklyn, New York does have an anecdote, but it's a little spoiler. So I'll save the anecdote until afterwards. And with that, let the questioning begin. Did this game come out in the 70s, 80s or 90s? Yes. Awesome. That's good news. Yeah. Does the world of this game contain Brooklyn, New York to the best of your knowledge? Yeah, I'll say yes to that. This is a new question I'm going to throw in there just to waste a question each day. No, it'll come back. Well, he doesn't want to have a half. But remember it. It takes place on Earth, most likely. Some version of Earth that we would. And it's not before the existence of the New York City, Brooklyn. So it can't be too historical. Yeah, can't be. Can't can't be like the Ming dynasty. Yeah, it's not romance of the three kingdoms. I think we know this game. I think we're choosing you annoyed because that takes place in a very Brooklyn like I was going to say, it's also definitely not TMNT, the hyperstone heist, which is a very New York coded game. Yes, New York code. Why would it not be TMNT? Because you were a little bit you would have known. You'd be like, yes. OK, OK. Exactly. Because the pizza style. So is this game based on the license? Well, it is in one territory, but not in others. Oh, I love games like that. It's probably Chubby Charab. Yeah, because California raised something. Oh, boy. What does that mean? Was this game available on the Nintendo Entertainment System? Yes. Yeah, you. Yeah, I think you're pitching a softball right right. Just one. This one. Um. Boy, so there are some games like this, like Mick kids and Mickey Mouse games that were made over here, like Kid Clown. And those are too deep cut. So it's going to be something more obvious, but it should be interesting. Mick kids is a pretty good guess. There's like that on Earth. Like that game's not. Mick kids is in a fantasy land, isn't it? I don't know. Well, it depends on where the kids come from and Donald's fantasy universe. Do they live in that universe or did they visit it to hang out with Grimace? Somebody knows we'll know this in writing for sure. OK, Grimace, he's the one you want to avoid. Yeah, the hamburger too. So. Where we need to go with this? Was this was this developed in Japan? Yes, that's five. You can just run away with this one, Sam. Is this a cat? No. OK. Is this an ultra or Konami or yes, those two companies? No, OK, then that's going to be a little bit harder than I thought. Do you play as a human? Yes. Did you play as a human in the other version of this game? In all versions of this game, you play as a human. Interesting. OK, that should be all we need to know. Right. Based on license somewhere, but not here. Wasn't little Nemo because that's Capcom game. Hmm. This is really interesting. Probably some anime game that kind of got paved over, you know. Yeah, I don't know, man. Was this game from before? Did this game have an arcade iteration? Yes, that's OK. Was the arcade game from before 1983? No. Did the arcade game use a joystick? Yes. And my brain is mushed and still going to be hard, but these are great clues. And you are a human, right? Yeah, that's not another question. Yeah, I know, I didn't count it. Yeah, so joystick human game, New York exists. Here's on the NES, not from those big companies. Let's see. What could this be? We got to figure out what's some good combat questions that would help with this. What about what if it's like a what if it's like a car game and then it was licensed in one territory and not in another or something like that? It's a thunder here, but it was just some crappy. Yeah, something. Yeah, exactly. Something like that. Is this a side scrolling game? Yes. That's interesting. OK. So why can't it be the kids? I mean, it could be. I mean, it could be. I mean, it could be. I mean, it could be. For tiny tunes or something like that. That does match up. I mean, I don't know what Mick kids was, though. I don't know if that was actually a game. Is the license this game based on something that's more, you know, food or consumer culture than than Booker TV or movie culture? No. I don't want to I don't want to fumble this one at the five yard line. Yeah. OK. And that also means that I'm back. This seems really obscure. I mean, what about the Bible game? But that wasn't made in Japan. No. No, those are all. OK, so it's based off of a. I mean, there's like a whole catalog of these games. It's like, oh, that was a license here, but not here. I mean, even Nintendo ones, there was a Nintendo. Maybe we should go down that route. Let me know. There was there was Mario. It's Mario, too. It's probably Mario, too, because Doki Doki Panic was licensed. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah. But that wasn't in arcades first. Yeah. Yeah, the arcades first. That's a pretty good clue. Did Nintendo have anything to do with with publishing or developing this? Yes, that's 15. OK, so I'm trying to think of what the game is. I mean, they didn't do that much in arcades. Yeah. Popeye. It's a license. Yeah. Popeye. But here it was licensed, too. I don't really get why it would be on license. What do we got? So they did. But they also did some game. I don't know. It's on the tip of my brain. I cannot remember what it is. They did a game in Japan where, like, there it's like a very obvious, like, stupid licensed game. But here it wasn't. And I just don't know. There's some, like, arcade thing that happened. All right. Where should we go with this? I mean, I'm just thinking about Nintendo arcade games. There's not that many of them, you know? There's, like, punch out. I think Nintendo might have taken a game like, oh, I think it's Balloon Fight is what I'm thinking of. Balloon Fight had a licensed version over there. Is that true? Yeah. I didn't remember that. Yeah, well, there's a Hello Kitty Balloon Fight game over there. Whoa, I didn't know that. That's cool. I will say there are certain eras of the NES where if you narrow down to that era, everything becomes... Is this a black box game? Yes. Wait, is it Excitebike? It's Excitebike licensed in Japan? Wrecking Crew, Excitebuck, Ice Climbers, Ski... Ice Climber. Yeah, maybe one of them. Those are arcade games, though. Clue Clueland, Devil World. I mean, yeah, Mario. Have I mentioned this game yet? No. All right. That's super helpful. Oh, Mike Tyson's Punch Out. That's what it is. Oh, it is. It is. That was a stupid, stupid, stupid route to get to. Is this Mike Tyson's Punch Out? Or just Punch Out. Please accept it both. Yeah. Is this a game about punching? Nope. Okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Is this game about punching? Yeah. Yes. So it could be Urban Champion. It's a side scroller, so it's not Punch Out. Oh, yeah, you're right. Can flower pots fall in your head? I'm not sure about that. Okay. Is it a brawler? Yes. And that is... You have one question. Okay. Is it Urban Champion? No, not Urban Champion. Okay. Kung Fu. Kung Fu. So what was the license that it's based on? So this was made by IRIM for arcades. It was based on a... It was called Spartan X in arcades based on, I think, a movie called Spartan X. Spartan X. A Jackie Chan movie, I want to say. Oh, wow. Yeah, I didn't even know that. Yeah, so I didn't know that until today. That's really cool. That was a good 20 questions. And then, Nintendo ported... It actually developed the NES version themselves. Okay. So they port it from the arcade and they just call it Kung Fu. Kung Fu, yeah. In hindsight, if we would have followed any other line of questioning, we would have gotten to Kung Fu on the NES in like 14 questions. But that's fine. Yeah. Is it based in a world where Brooklyn is... Yeah, I think it was contemporary, even though there's like some... No, that's the right answer to this question. Things happening there. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting situation where it was, IRIM made this arcade game and then Nintendo ported it over. According to Wikipedia, working on this side-scrolling game is what gave me a motto, the inspiration to make a side-scrolling Super Mario Bros. You know, we really have to include the question, the little dork in a game. Yeah. It's funny. If you have a two-frame walk animation. It's funny, look at this footage. Matthew from Brooklyn says, it's the first game I really remember ever playing. I don't know why, but I used to be terrified when those little kids came running after you. I never thought of them as little kids myself. I thought they were like little people. He's kicking the shit out of those kids for sure. Look at this guy. I had this game. It was a very early NES game for me and it was really fun. Yeah. It's a game that loops. You get to the top, you fight Mr. Big or Mr. Bad, or something, and then you just start all over again. So if we had done all those questions and then gotten to Urban Champion, was that, could it still have been Urban Champion, or did we forget something in the process? I guess it wasn't... Well, in Urban Champion, it doesn't scroll. Scroll? Really? Oh. Did we ask? We just asked for the side-scrolling, yeah. It was a single-screen game. Kicking the... Butterflies? Yeah, I don't know if the flowerpot falls on your head at might. Yeah. I don't remember. That just happened in the 80s all the time. Yeah. That in QuickSan, it was really big fears. Yeah, in QuickSan was a real threat. Good thing we solved that QuickSan problem. A fun fact, so this is out in 85, in Arcades and the NES in 85. It was ported to the Atari 2687. Yeah. I mean, you can see that probably wasn't too difficult. Yeah, but... You kick that guy's head off. But he's fine. Yeah, he's fine. 5,000 points. Kung Fu. Nicely attempt. Thank you for the suggestion, Matthew in Brooklyn, New York. Viewers and listeners, if you have your own suggestions for video game 20 questions, email them to me at the email address gamescoupedatigene.com. And that is all the scoops we have for you for 2025. Thank you for hanging out with us all year long. We love everyone out there in Scoop Nation. Please be excited for much more scoops in 2026. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Justin. Thank you, Stu Jovertz, working behind the scenes. Make this episode possible. My name is Damon. This is iGene Gamescoop, and we'll see you next year. Thank you. The other night I watched The Rise of Skywalker with Kingo. And obviously that movie is a huge mess. And yet, when the music is going and I'm just answering questions about Star Wars for Kingo, I'm still having fun. Which is that second or third? That's the third. The last one. I was thinking about watching Force Awakens, but then I was like, ah, probably it's a little bit boring to rewatch that now, because I got all these pictures that were like seeing it at the premiere, you know, like 10 years ago exactly, which is crazy. I don't, I don't hate the third one. I hate, I think the premise is stupid. The premise is stupid. I think somehow Palpatine's return is stupid. Yeah. Like Palpatine coming back as stupid and the end is stupid. But what I like about it is the three of them are together. Yes. They're not on an adventure. At least they're together. Who's that? They do two dumb fake outs with, oh, erasing C-3Pill's memory. Oh no, it's back. Oh, Chewie's dead. Oh no, he's back. Really? I don't remember the C-3P apart. And he's like, oh, I just want to get one last look at my friends. So was that the one, what happened? It was like Ryan Johnson to the middle one, then JJ Abrams came back into the third one. Yeah, like, ah. But the foundation of the, the Ryan Johnson one kind of screwed up what JJ Abrams would have done, which would be just to remake Star Wars over and over again. I mean, I think last Jedi is incredible, but there's no denying that it completely undid and unmade. It's like Kylo Ren is this cool mask. And he's like, nah, your mask is stupid. Destroy it. Yeah. And then like, and then, and then kills. They never do the Knights of Renback story ever. Nope. Nope. Nope. Yeah. So, so Ryan Johnson did screw a little bit like he, I already forget his stupid name, whoever the villain is, like kills him. Snoke. You know, yeah, Snoke. So they were, they were kind of written into a corner a little bit. I don't know. I don't, I don't think it's like a good movie, but I don't, I don't, I don't have this like hate for it. Yeah. Like I said, I had a perfectly fine time just watching it with King. I think, I think with a different 20 minutes at the end, that movie would have hit different. And even though it's dumb that they brought Palpatine back, like Ian McDormand's performance is really good. Yeah, it's creepy.