Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 8-8-18 Direct

I went into this Direct with low expectations and came out of it being way more excited for the game than I thought I'd be.  What I expected was 2 echo fighter reveals (an echo fighter is a character based off an existing character's move set) and some feature updates.  What we got instead was 2 highly requested new characters, 3 echo fighters, and a TON of information regarding stages, music, items and modes.  I don't record my reactions, but I'd like to take the time to do a play-by-play of what I was thinking so I can look back at it one day and remember how happy I was on this day.



00:06 - Castle?  IT CAN'T BE?!
00:12 - LEATHER BOOTS, IT'S SIMON!
00:16 - *Doors open* I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY'RE STARTING THE DIRECT WITH THE ONE THING I'VE WANTED TO SEE ALL THIS TIME!!!
00:30 - OMG, Someone hired Luigi for the wrong job!  And Mummies, it has to be Simon!
00:40 - MEDUSA, IT IS SIMON BELMONT, YES, YES, YES! *Trying really hard not to scream*
01:02 - OMG, So violent!!!!!  Man, Nintendo isn't messing around no more!
01:11 - HERE WE GO!!!!!!!!!
01:22 - *Trying SO HARD to not cry!*
01:35 - Whoa, dive kick into Forward Air!
01:38 - Chain swinging from Super Castlevania IV!
01:48 - Whoa, what the heck?  When did Simon ever do that? *This made sense after seeing Richter*
01:53 - Omg, what a throwback.  That walk, those staircase, THIS STAGE!
01:57 - That's a cool stage hazard
02:08 - WTH?!  IS THAT RICHTER?!
02:14 - *muffled scream* HGGGGGGGGGGGN!
02:28 - OMG, ARE WE GETTING ALUCARD, TOO?!
02:36 - Oh, guess he's an assist trophy.....
02:52 - Omg, that's beautiful
03:42 - D'aw, Pichu is so cute~
04:18 - Oh man, "Out of Time" from Castlevania 1.  I can't wait to hear the other songs.
04:48 - What?  Which enemy is that? (People suspecting Kid Dracula)
04:56 - *Sees list of music tracks, starts getting emotional again*
05:42 - *Sigh* Alucard would've been an awesome character to play, too.....
05:48 - Omg, this music~
06:06 - *"Bloodlines" starts playing* Man, I can't believe we get Simon AND Richter!
06:48 - WHAT? MORE CHARACTERS?!  I hope it's Chrom and Shadow the Hedgehog!
06:54 - YES! WE GOT CHROM!
07:08 - Oooooo, he's an Echo Fighter of Ike!
07:15 - Wait, Blade Dance with reverse grip?  Is he an echo fighter of Roy? *Looking at it now, it's not even reverse gripped.  So Marth's move?*
07:25 - Lol, so many Fire Emblem Sword wielders.  I'm happy.
07:38 - Kraid's Chamber? *The music*
07:42 - Aw dang it.....please be different *fears it's an exact copy of Samus*
08:15 - Dang it, I didn't see anything different.......
09:24 - Lol, they brought back Brinstar Depths.  Did fans really want this?
10:07 - Oh wow, that's Final Destination?  Looks cool.
10:18 - Okay, of course we get a Mario Odyssey Stage.
10:58 - Whoaaaaa, that's Fountain of Dreams?  Awesome!
11:26 - What?  Over 100?!  That's amazing!
12:06 - Oh thank goodness you can turn off Stage Hazards.
12:34 - WTH?!...........
12:40 - Okay, stage switching in-between battle, that's pretty cool.
13:48 - Wow, that is a crazy amount of songs!
15:36 - Oh nice, I don't have to switch between character select, rules, and then back again
16:05 - Whoa, picking a stage before the character?  Crazy.  Gonna be hard to get used to.
16:25 - Oh wow, they changed Sudden Death.  They really care about the competitive side!
16:42 - Whoa, a Final Smash meter would be like a Super gauge like a real fighting game!  Can we make this legal in competitive smash?
18:12 - Smash down sounds like a fun mode
18:35 - Wow, I don't know if I'll use all this, but it'll definitely be useful for video analysis and tutorials
18:42 - Oh please be like old Classic Mode
18:57 - Oh good, it is
20:15 - *Brain is starting to wander because tired and getting fed with so many new information*
21:34 - WTF?!
21:38 - Awwwww dang it, he's an assist trophy........DAAAAAANG IIIIIIIIIT!
22:11 - LOL, Mario's expression!
22:22 - GRAY FOX! *Thinking about Egoraptor's Metal Gear Awesome flash video*
22:27 - Oh, it's Nikki!  How cute~
22:33 - Omg, Shovel Knight is in Smash!.....kinda.
22:47 - Omg, how do you avoid that?
22:55 - Aw dang it, Ashley is still an assist trophy.  Oh well, wishful thinking.....
23:03 - Xenoblade Chronicles 2 enemy?
23:12 - Waaaaaait, isn't he from Monster Hunter.....
23:18 - Oh wow, Monster Hunter is represented in Smash?
23:45 - Please look better.....
23:53 - Ugh, okay, I guess it's somewhat better.  They're still using Games & Mor.....wait, what's the blurred out thing?
24:03 - Aw really? *Too tired to think at that time, but now I'm thinking it's Adventure mode*
24:21 - Did the screen just shake?  Someone messing with the camera?
24:25 - What in the world?  It happened again.
24:29 - OMG, THERE'S ONE MORE CHARACTER REVEAL!
24:46 - Omg, they did it.....They brought King K. Rool.  Jeez, they're really going down the list and trying to please everyone!  I hope Sakurai isn't working himself to death with all this.
25:08 - There he is!
25:12 - .....Wait, what?
25:18 - LOL, WHAT A TROLL!  There's no way this is a prank.  He has to be in.  This is good reaction video material right here!
25:24 - YEAH, GET OUTTA HERE DEDEDE!
25:27 - Well, not super excited, but I'm happy it's him and not someone obscure.
25:30 - LOL!
25:38 - Oh good, he has his Captain K. Rool outfit.  I'm going to use that one.
26:05 - Omg, this remix is soooooo good!
26:54 - Wow, what a crazy direct.  What can they possibly show next to top this?


And then two rants I had on Facebook:

Okay, it's been a day so I think it's safe to talk (gush) about yesterday's Smash Bros. Direct.

I honestly went into the Smash Direct with low expectations and debated whether I really wanted to wake up at 7AM in the morning just to watch it. The E3 reveal for the game lived up to my expectations: Bring every character back, change the mechanics to the game so it feels fresh, and introduce one new character that I care about. But for some reason, it still felt underwhelming and I wasn't THAT excited for the game.

This Direct changed my mind. The E3 trailer said "not to expect too many new characters" and the subject of "Echo Fighters" made me believe that most of the new characters will be these clone characters. So I expected 1-2 Echo Fighters with a few content reveal like stages and items.

I didn't expect them to start the Direct out with revealing the one character I wanted most in Smash Bros. for the past 17 years (other than Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden). When I saw the Castle, I already started wondering. Then I saw the boot and started freaking out. I still wasn't 100% sure, but as soon as I saw Medusa, I was positive. When Simon removed his cloak, I was holding back tears and trying SO hard not to yell (my mom was still sleeping). It was so surreal and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I'm already ecstatic but still out of it because I couldn't sleep the night before and had only 3 hours of sleep at the time, and all of a sudden I see the blue outfit and he shouts "Begone! You don't belong in this world, Monster!" I flip the heck out and try not to scream "RICHTER!" while going HGGGNMMN with my mouth covered. Then I was so excited that I thought they also added Alucard, but no name intro so I sadly accepted the fact that he was an Assist Trophy. They showed the list of 34 songs for Castlevania and I started becoming emotional again (I freaking LOVE the music to the Castlevania series).

When they got to Echo Fighters, I was hoping to see Chrom and Shadow the Hedgehog. I was excited to see Chrom and was super happy to see that he had a mix of Ike's moves and Roy's moves (reverse grip during dancing blades) and not just a complete clone like Lucina (I really hope they changed her up more). I had feared Dark Samus being one of the characters for the concern that she'd be straight up Samus with a different look. And from the trailer, it looked pretty dang similar to Samus (other than idle animation). If there are some noticeable differences when I play the game, I'll be pretty happy with the character (I liked Dark Pit more than Pit in Smash 4).

They revealed a bunch of new settings and modes that really shows that they care about the competitive side of Smash as much as the casual side. The one thing that really stood out was the Final Smash Meter. Can we make this legal in competitive smash? I feel like it's such a waste to have all these cool Final Smash attacks and never see them other than play casually (and even then we still might not get to see them). I love this idea and hope to see it used in tournaments.

Man, they didn't just show a few stuff. They showed a LOT of stuff. Stages, music, modes, settings, items, new Pokémon, and new Assist Trophies. My heart skipped a beat when Zero showed up. Then I realized he was an Assist Trophy (Zero was high on my list of who I'd want in Smash) and then my heart was crushed a little. The Assist Trophies were cool. I felt bad for all the people who wanted Shovel Knight as a playable character. Seeing Rathalos makes me want Monster Hunter in Smash. She was super fun in MvC:I mechanically, but can't say I liked how she looked along with a lot of other things in that game. So it'd be cool if we get a Monster Hunter character in Smash. The teased mode on the main menu makes me believe there's an adventure mode, and that makes me really excited.

I thought the screen shaking was a mess up with the camera, but then it happened again. The lead up made it pretty obvious it was King K. Rool. I loved the trailer for it in how it made it look like him and then it was King DeDeDe playing a prank. Nintendo knew people would make reaction videos and that trolling was great material for reaction videos (linked Nairo's reaction). K. Rool wasn't a character I really wanted (at least compared to other potential characters), but I'm happy with his addition. I love the arrangement of his theme, it's so nostalgic to hear it again.

Sakurai also said that all characters will be shown before the official launch and they have some more to show in the future. Who else could they add that's hype? Since they catered towards us older gamers with Simon/Richter and King K. Rool this time, maybe it's something for the newer gamers? Monster Hunter character? Rex/Pyra/Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2? Gunvolt from Azure Striker Gunvolt? My mind is going crazy right now. But I'm convinced, I'm super excited for SSBU now.


[Another rant on Wednesday's Smash Direct]

I can't even begin to express how elated I was to see that Simon and Richter Belmont were going to be added to the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

While I was binge watching reaction videos, I was *somewhat* surprised with the responses. What I wasn't surprised about was a lot of people hamming it up in front of the camera and cheering for a character (that some admitted) that they knew nothing about (which can be borderline painful to watch but still fine because Etika's videos are like that and I love his videos). A lot of people have been talking about Simon Belmont the past 2 weeks and it was apparently slightly leaked (I had no idea about it, which I'm glad I didn't) so a lot of YouTubers already suspected his reveal.

What I was surprised about was everyone being blindsided by the reveal of Richter Belmont and having the genuine reaction of "WHO IS THAT?!" I always thought more gamers knew who Richter was over Simon because of how Symphony of the Night's opening had become such a meme on the internet (I quote it quite often and in fact, I think "my favorite quote" I wrote on facebook from 10 years ago is still there). But then everyone knew who Alucard was. How is it that everyone knew Alucard and not Richter since you have to play Richter in the first 10 minutes of SotN? Then it occurred to me that people might know Alucard from the Netflix adaptation show of Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse (which I was pleasantly surprised with for the first season).

I'm not mad, but I was a bit sad that most reaction videos didn't know who Simon or Richter was and/or never played a Castlevania game. It's okay though! When Marth and Roy were added in Melee, almost no one knew what Fire Emblem was in the West (there might have been hardcore gamers who imported back then). Now Fire Emblem is one of the most prevalent IPs Nintendo possesses. With Simon and Richter being added to SSBU, people are talking, researching, and making videos about them and the Castlevania franchise! I don't have faith in Konami making an honest to goodness Castlevania game (or any game for that matter) any time soon. But with this revitalization of the Castlevania name, perhaps we can get one in the future.

It feels a bit lonely being excited about these two characters on my own, but at least 2 other of my friends were just as excited so I could share the hype with them!


And finally, reaction videos!









I can't wait to see what else they've got to show us!

Looking at EVO 2018 Announcements

It's strange to have EVO at the beginning of August instead of the beginning of July, but this allowed an entire month for me to be productive.



I was able to finish one Remix and then work on an original composition (which I can't upload quite just yet).  I've started working on some original work to put together for a new portfolio so I can start looking for jobs again with something new to show.  After finishing the original composition, it was so embedded into my mind that I was hearing it in my sleep and was thinking about ways I could change or improve it in my dreams.  It became so exhausting that I knew I needed a break before I try to compose anything else.  So I took the past week off of work of any kind and focused on getting through some games.  I had been staying up late a lot throughout the month trying to progress in some games and finish them.  I realized this wasn't working out so I really wanted to take some time to actually sit down and get through some of these games so I'd stop having the urge to stay up late to make progress.  Unfortunately, I only managed to get through three of them as the 4th games I was working through happened to be twice as long as I thought it'd be.  Also, EVO was this past weekend so I didn't have as much time to play as I was focused on watching streams.

EVO was a lot of fun to watch this year and it had way more streams on main stage side and AnimEVO side.  I was anticipating some exciting announcements to be made during EVO, but nothing really compared to the reveal of BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle from last year.

[Dead or Alive 6]

Other than showing us a new character, they hinted at the return of Hitomi and Leifang
 

Diego is their attempt at attracting more Western audiences to their game.  With making the statement of wanting to make the characters less sexualized and creating and culminate an acceptance to the competitive scene, they aim to have their game be part of the list of games featured at next year's EVO event.  I'm excited for a new installment in the DoA series, but everything they've shown and said so far has been killing my excitement for it.  It's like they have an identity crisis and they're trying to find a way to be part of the cool kids.  Only time will tell how this pans out.

[SNK Heroines ~Tag Team Frenzy~]
They've revealed the last character for the game and it's not who I was expecting at all.

I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity.  There are plenty of female characters to choose from in the SNK series, and they ended up choosing one of their most well known male characters to turn into a female for the game.  I had hoped and expected it to be Fio from the Metal Slug series based on the silhouette looking like someone saluting with a ponytail blowing in the wind.  I'm okay with this turn of events, but a lot of fans are quite upset about it.  I just hope the game will come to PC and soon.

[Fighting EX Layer]
Terry shows up again in another game in his original male form.


He looks so good.  He looks way better than he did in King of Fighters 14.  Pullum Purna and Vulcano Rosso are also back.  I'm hoping and waiting for Fighting EX Layer to come to PC.

[BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle]
As expected, the only real news is that the last 9 remaining DLC characters were announced.


They come out today, so at the very least I was excited about that.  Then they go and teased us at the end of the trailer that a new franchise is coming to the game, but didn't say which one and when they'll talk about it.  It could be part of the datamined information of Asuka and Yumi from Senran Kagura, or the hinted inclusion of Neptune from Hyperdimension Neptunia.  But for all we know, it could be something that wasn't datamined or rumored like the Arcana Heart series.  I'm excited, but I'm also mad we have to wait for more information.

[Guilty Gear]
They announced a World Tour for Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2, BlazBlue Central Fiction, and BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle.  They showed nothing new and said that Daisuke Ishiwatari is working on something Guilty Gear related, but that's it.

[Super Smash Bros.]
This is all they left us with:
Thanks, Nintendo........at least it's something for once.

[Soul Calibur 6]
Two more returning characters.  Seong Mi-Na is looking great.


[Tekken 7]
Two returning characters with 3 more characters will release in the future.  The sixth character is a guest character and I can't say I'm all too thrilled about it.  It's not an appropriate character for the game so I'm rather disappointed.


[Dragon Ball FighterZ]
As found in the datamine, Cooler was revealed.


[Street Fighter V]
G and Sagat are available now.  I don't have any Fight Money left to buy anyone.....




Thus ends another year for EVO.