Operation Backlog Completion 2025

Let’s Talk About the Paper Mario Rumors

 Video games  3 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Apr 062020
 

While I sit here pretending to avoid Final Fantasy VII Remake spoilers, it’s time we talked about the rumors regarding a new Paper Mario game.

Fans have been hoping for a new traditional Paper Mario game (or a remaster of the original and/or The Thousand-Year Door) for a while now, and this year rumors began to support the idea.

Early this year, leakers claimed to have sources that said a traditional Paper Mario game will be released this year, and the recent Mario rumors from VGC and Eurogamer also mentioned a new Paper Mario game being in development. VentureBeat also reported that the new Paper Mario will be “closer to the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube games.”

It’s been four years since the release of Paper Mario: Color Splash, and since the Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, 3DS, and Wii U all got an entry in the series, a Switch Paper Mario game seems likely. But will it really be traditional?

Interviews about Color Splash supported the belief that Paper Mario had changed so drastically because of the Mario & Luigi series. With two Mario RPG spin-off series co-existing, Nintendo decided that Paper Mario would focus more on puzzle-solving to keep the series feeling distinct.

Unfortunately, things don’t look great for the Mario & Luigi series these days either. The developer for the series, AlphaDream, filed for bankruptcy last year.

If Mario & Luigi is effectively dead, that might clear the way for Paper Mario to return to its RPG roots again. On the other hand, if AlphaDream went bankrupt because the series did poorly, Nintendo might decide to double down on the decision to focus on other elements with Paper Mario.

I want to believe the Paper Mario rumors. I’d love to see Paper Mario return to the style of any of the original three; I’d take a Super Paper Mario 2 in a heartbeat if it had as much story content as the original. And yes, I’m still going to give Color Splash an honest chance, preferably before this theoretical new Paper Mario game is announced.

What do you think about the Paper Mario rumors? Is a new Paper Mario game on the horizon? And if so, will it play like the originals, or will it follow the new path Nintendo set the series on?

Fifth “Platinum 4” Announcement Teased After April Fools’ Joke

 Video games  3 Responses »
Apr 032020
 

Earlier this year, PlatinumGames launched the “Platinum 4” website, which was later revealed to be four upcoming announcements.

The first was The Wonderful 101: Remastered, which they held a successful Kickstarter campaign to self-publish as a multiplatform release later this year.

The second was Project G.G., a new giant superhero IP being self-published by PlatinumGames.

While people expected each announcement to be a game, the third was actually their new studio PlatinumGames Tokyo, which will work on developing “live ops” (live service) titles.

Finally, the fourth announcement was teased for a big reveal on April 1, which should have been a warning sign, but when it turned out to be their April Fools’ Day joke, people became furious. I’ve seen so many people angry at Platinum for making their fourth big announcement a joke, especially since some felt the announcement was hyped up too much.

However, now the Platinum 4 website has been updated with a “5” after the previous reveals, as a “Bonus Stage” is coming soon.

Some fans are once again hoping for whatever game they want to see the most, while others are still mad over the April Fools’ joke. Personally, I think the chance of it being news about an already-announced game like Bayonetta 3 is slim, and the widespread theory that it’s Drakengard 4 seems to have no real basis except that Platinum worked with Yoko Taro on Nier: Automata.

So I’m expecting the fifth announcement to be another new self-published game, but we’ll see. What do you think Platinum’s final reveal will be?

Final Fantasy VII Remake 8-Disc Soundtrack Revealed

 Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Apr 012020
 

With the Final Fantasy VII Remake almost upon us (with people getting their copies any time between now and who-knows-when due to the current chaos), Square Enix revealed the track list for its complete soundtrack.

Its 8-disc soundtrack.

Okay, the eighth disc is a bonus disc included with the “Special Edit Version” that contains music from the in-game jukebox, but that still leaves us with 7 discs for the game’s main soundtrack, with 156 songs listed.

For comparison, the original Final Fantasy VII’s soundtrack contained 85 songs over four discs – and that was for the entire story. This Midgar-focused first entry of the remake already has far more songs, which makes me wonder how much music there will be once the subsequent games are also remade.

This is not to be confused with the mini soundtrack included with the Final Fantasy VII Remake Deluxe Edition. That is a mini soundtrack sampler that contains 12 songs. The full soundtrack will be released on May 27.

Peruse the track list at your own risk, since the titles of certain songs might imply spoilers for the game.

Speaking of spoilers, now is the time to filter Youtube and avoid Final Fantasy VII Remake discussions if you’re hoping to play it without seeing spoilers ahead of time, because copies are already out in the wild due to Square Enix shipping the game early to certain regions to avoid delays.

For those of you with digital pre-orders, the pre-load begins this Friday. I’ve debated about switching to a digital copy to play the game on its release day, but right now my love of physical games is still winning out.

Anyway, I’m excited by the sheer number of songs in this game (and I thought this would be a safe topic to blog about instead of news that could be mistaken for a prank today), and I can’t wait until I can play. Are you looking forward to the Final Fantasy VII Remake?

 Newer Entries