This Week in Games

Mai, Now Buy

Welcome back, folks! For folks who haven't kept up with me at BlueSky, I've teased a little something-something that I've decided to gift myself for the holidays. I make sure I don't make This Week in Games the "Here's What I Bought This Week" column, but this is something I'm excited about. Suffice it to say, it's not something I ever expected I'd find, ever. More to follow. In other news... man, pour one out for the Breloom fans. Weird time for those guys.

A few weeks ago, we touched upon the game RIZ-ZOAWD. Released in the U.S. as The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, this game was a Japanese RPG that retold the story of Dorothy in the Land of Oz. (If it wasn't obvious, the Japanese title is an anagram of "WIZARD OZ"). The game suddenly became the subject of widespread conversation in the U.S., largely on the basis of its big, pretty graphics on the Nintendo DS, as well as the artwork of Daiki Sato (a veritable workhorse of the Japanese gaming industry with an extensive list of credits). It's a pretty game, albeit a fittingly weird one for the DS (you move Dorothy with a trackball on the touchscreen, and the battle system consists of a "Mad Libs"-style system of selecting verbs and characters). But it nevertheless amused fans with its visuals and concepts. Sadly, Sato-san has some bad news regarding the game—or rather, his work on the game.

Sato-san has taken the latter-day popularity of RIZ-ZOAWD in stride, retweeting promotional art and signal boosting any and all fan art, news articles, or YouTube essays on the game that crosses his path. He also figured he might try to share some of the old high-definition art originally made for the game, but a legal roadblock presented itself. When he contacted studio Media.Vision (oh yeah, forgot to mention: RIZ-ZOAWD was made by the Wild Arms studio, they also made Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth), he learned that the legal rights to RIZ-ZOAWD lied with its publisher, D3 Publisher (you might recognize them as the publishers for games like Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know! and YEAH! YOU WANT "THOSE GAMES," RIGHT? SO HERE YOU GO! NOW, LET'S SEE YOU CLEAR THEM!). Unfortunately, nobody at D3 Publisher knows who would oversee the rights to RIZ-ZOAWD. Likely, in the years since RIZ-ZOAWD's publication (and 505 Games' acquisition of D3 Publisher in 2022), all of the paperwork regarding RIZ-ZOAWD simply got lost somewhere. Regardless of the reason, Sato-san laments being unable to share any of the original high-definition art (though he might draw fanart of the game).

This is an unfortunate reality when it comes to some games. Some are simply canceled due to their production occurring during a major acquisition and the new management deciding to squash the game. Some games simply fade into obscurity, with nobody to remember them or care for them (anyone remember The Dark Spire or Scourge: Hive?). And some are simply... lost. Not even through carelessness or malice, simply due to bureaucracy. A great example is Clockwork Aquario, an old 1993 arcade game that was lost for years until Westone Bit Entertainment co-founder Ryuichi Nishizawa found the source code and released it in collaboration with Strictly Limited games and ININ. Shout out to former The X Button writer Todd Ciolek for championing that cause; if you guys thought I was passionate about Izuna, you should've seen Todd rallying readers to support Nishizawa in releasing Clockwork Aquario.

And that's the thing; we love talking about the tiny miracles here at This Week in Games, but these don't just drop into our laps from Providence. Someone has to get the ball rolling on them. What, did you think Shadow of the Ninja: Reborn or the Freedom Wars port sprang fully-formed out of the aether? Someone had to be on the ground floor of those projects! I've never played Class of Heroes, but it feels like every time I look over my shoulder, it's getting another port somewhere—someone loves that game hard enough to make sure it's getting ported. When it comes to bigger AAA games, that's not as likely to happen—these games are too big and involve more money than the GDP of several nations. But when it comes to these smaller games, it really can boil down to needing someone to be a cheerleader for these projects. We got Marvel Vs CAPCOM back because folks were diligent in communicating to CAPCOM how much people still loved those games, long after the Powers That Be that had allowed them to be created in the first place had left CAPCOM and Marvel's offices.

We're not always going to be able to rely upon corporations to preserve games and make them continuously available to fans, because that will run contrary to their bottom line. But corporations don't make games—people do. And people can make things happen. People have memories and experiences from working on projects. They have passions and fears, all of which they put into games and might even come from working on games. The beauty of video game fandom is that we have the resources to share those things. We don't need to wait for studios to release an art book of concept art (though those would be sick as hell); we have people who were on the ground floor when these games were released. Sure, many people who work on these games are private individuals, and their privacy should be respected. But some, like Sato-san, might still be around, waiting to see folks rally around that weird project they worked on years ago. So many people on the Internet use their platforms for such terrible things, but those same tools allow us to send creatives a happy email telling them, "Hey, that thing you worked on years ago meant a lot to me! Thank you!" And at a time when many of the prominent figureheads of the industry—your Miyamotos, your Aonumas, your Kondos—are rapidly approaching a time where they might not be around anymore, that kind of connection is all the more important. Even the dumbest shovelware represents time and effort in a person's life, a time when people worked together to create something. It might've been a miserable experience, it might've been a project that they went all-out on even if they knew it was going to be tossed out a window unceremoniously. But the value of games isn't in their budget or sales, it's in the people that worked on them and what they put into it.

Those are a lot of words to say: "Daiki Sato can't share the high-definition art files from RIZ-ZOAWD; for all we know, they've been lost during mergers and acquisitions," but I hope this encourages folks to reach out to creatives. Not because it might lead to an obscure game getting remade, not because you might become buddies with some retro game figure, and not because you stand to gain anything from it. But because each of us is better for sharing gratitude with the people who made the things we love, as well as towards the people who love the things we make.

CAPCOM is making good on its promise to have Fatal Fury's Mai Shiranui as a playable guest character in Street Fighter 6. The trailer was released last week (right after cutoff), and the internet has been positively abuzz with Mai fanart of all stripes and colors, many of which I can't share here for obvious reasons! Anyway, about that trailer...

Eagle-eyed fans will be greatly rewarded by tearing their gaze from Mai's Mais for two seconds. For starters, the stage she's fighting in is a re-creation of her stage from Fatal Fury 2, where Mai debuted. For another, CAPCOM has shown great dedication in re-creating Mai as closely to her original design as they can. For one thing, she's barefoot (Mai's ninja socks are a recent addition). For another, take a glance at her hair. Mai famously has bangs, but CAPCOM went with the short, blunt bangs in this case. They're not just paying attention to Mai's iconic look; they're paying attention to Mai's design circa Shinkiro's original art for her.

See? Blunt bangs. It's not quite a hime-cut (or maybe it is, and I don't see it because Tetsuya Nomura didn't draw it). But it wasn't until later that Mai's design was stylized further to give her longer bangs. Later games also gave Mai's bust more emphasis; Mai's earlier designs aren't too far from her real-life inspiration, Fumie Hosokawa (famed as the original "kyonyu" idol), but her later designs went above and beyond her original "realistically-large for a person" sizes. (Inflation didn't just affect the Japanese economy when the Bubble years ended). As a reminder, Mai's not even the chestiest Fatal Fury/King of Fighters character; at 86 cm, the cross-dressing Muay Thai practitioner King had Mai beat by a whole centimeter in her original Art of Fighting 2 debut (Mai was bumped up two centimeters between Fatal Fury 2 and King of Fighters '94 for size of 87 cm). Currently, Shermie and Ángel are tied for SNK's biggest busts at 92 cm each—a whole three centimeters over Mai's updated 89 cm, as of 2005's Neo Geo Battle Coliseum. For those curious, Mai's still a whole centimeter smaller than her real-world inspiration, Fumie Hosokawa (90 cm). So now you know not to trust anyone bellyaching about Mai being "downgraded."

With this being a teaser, little else is known about Mai; she shows off a lot of her signature fire attacks, but it remains to be seen if she'll also have anything like Terry's take on Fatal Fury's old "lane" system. Mai is slated for an early 2025 release, presumably we'll see more then.

I've kept card games on my periphery for a very long time, largely because it's a hobby I don't have quite as much money to sink into. But the community around card games can be very warm and inviting, with people from all walks of life at your local game shop. Provided, card games—as well as any other "nerdy" hobby going back to tabletop roleplaying—will always struggle with having some of "those guys" around. Sometimes "that guy" means well but just isn't aware of their odor, sometimes "that guy" still means well but has reached the point of blamelessness because of how often they make off-color jokes around women that walk into the store, and sometimes "that guy" just really needs to be hit with what Dr. Nerdlove calls "the Chair-Leg of Truth" and not walk back into your local store until he's learned some manners. And Play! Pokémon, the organization that oversees official Pokémon TCG events, has similarly decided it's time to start snapping chairs.

Several updates in their recent revisions to their official regulations stand out; for one thing, "turn trackers" (devices that can help track details like energy card allocation, support card use, and other details) no longer count as "pre-written aid." (For reference: official Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament regulations prohibit smartphones used as calculators for tracking life points, opting for pen and paper.) The thing that sticks out, however, is an expansion regarding "allowable attire;" page 6 of the tournament rules handbook now prohibits "Attire and accessories that violate the Play! Pokémon Standards of Conduct or Inclusion Policy or otherwise do not align with Play! Pokémon tournament environments," adding that staff can now request a change in attire to remove the offending bit of clothing. Failure to comply can result in the player being removed from the venue.

This ruling has been implemented following cases of players wearing "Make America Great Again" hats at tournaments, making a large segment of the card game audience uncomfortable. Play! Pokémon's Standards of Conduct solidify "Fun, Fairness, Respect and Community" as the core tenets of the events, which is what motivated the new ruling. While some worry that the rule is "too vague," Coach Dom (a noted figure in the San Antonio Pokémon Trading Card Game scene, points out that this is to be carried out on a case-by-case basis, but that community members (who are expected, as per the code of conduct, to uphold "the standards set by Pokémon and the Policies in place," are responsible for choosing attire that doesn't step on people's toes.

While a lot of people worry about the vagueness of the rules or the possibility of this extending to, say, players wearing pins with their preferred pronouns or pride flags, Dom is also quick to point out that while the current state of the rules (which have only just been implemented, mind) are "imperfect," this wouldn't extend to pride flags or pins as that would be considered Intolerant and against the Play! Pokémon inclusion policy. Coach Dom also points out that Professors (Play! Pokémon's term for event organizers that help oversee proceedings) can confer with other members of staff if they need to make any more significant decisions.

Community standards like these have to be brought up pretty fast given how so many disruptive types like to rules-lawyer things, seemingly out of enjoyment of making their fellows uncomfortable. While it's true that the rules might seem imperfect, it's important to remember that these matters are a work-in-progress and can be tailored to ensure the comfort and enjoyment of players everywhere. The Pokémon community—and by extension, the Pokémon franchise—has consistently advocated for inclusion in all forms, young and old, and from all corners of the world. The way I see it, this is in line with the spirit of the franchise.

We've talked a bit about Monolith Soft's close relationship with Nintendo. Originally repurchasing 80% of the company in 2007, Nintendo has diligently put Monolith to work on a combination of original games (giving Monolith the room to create the Xenoblade Chronicles series) while also bringing Monolith Soft in to help with production on a number of Nintendo's bigger games, like the Splatoon series and both open-world The Legend of Zelda games on the Switch. Until recently, Nintendo had increased their ownership of Monolith Soft to 96%, splitting the remaining four percent ownership among a handful of key Monolith Soft staff—not the least of which the company's founder, Tetsuya Takahashi. Earlier this week, Nintendo decided they wanted this relationship to be a committed one: they've bought out that last four percent, making Monolith Soft a 100% Nintendo first-party studio.

I'm very skeptical of mergers and acquisitions here at This Week in Games, if only because we've had our heads out of the sand for the past two decades and seen how badly all the other major industry acquisitions have gone. Just look at Maxis, Sierra Games, BioWare, Visceral Games, Naughty Frog, Bethesda, and Activision-Blizzard; many people seem to get fired, but it hasn't necessarily led to better games. This is one where I'm inclined to let 'em have it. Now, the reason isn't because it's Nintendo and "they're better" or anything dumb like that. Heavens no, not a single company alive wouldn't rightfully deserve any degree of scrutiny. The reason is that Nintendo and Monolith Soft's relationship has been nothing but positive for Monolith Soft: Nintendo's oversight only seems to be asking Monolith Soft to pinch-hit for them every so often. While I hesitate to say that, for example, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer is a must-have courtesy of Monolith Soft's involvement, it's no exaggeration to say that Monolith's involvement is palpable for a lot of their games they've worked on. Of all the problems the open-world Zelda games have, the actual "open-world" parts aren't among them—courtesy of Monolith themselves having tons of experience making massive, explorable worlds. And remember: no Xenoblade Chronicles game has ever exceeded 50 gigs in size.

And as for Xenoblade Chronicles: while Nintendo can certainly be accused of dragging their heels in bringing that first game over (they really didn't have hope for it in the U.S.), Nintendo can't be accused of not putting their full weight behind supporting the Xenoblade series. The Xenoblade games are quite unlike any of Nintendo's other franchises, and each game has only been more successful than the last. Nintendo has been perfectly happy letting Monolith Soft go crazy with their wild science-fiction trappings and massive worlds instead of, say, chaining Monolith Soft to a desk to turn their flagship series into a live-service game instead. Monolith has been given room to play to their strengths, and all Nintendo asks for in return is some help with some of their other bigger releases as needed.

There has been some gnashing of teeth at the news of the acquisition's completion, namely because this puts the last nail into the coffin of the Xenoblade games ever releasing on another console. My response to that is asking if people think you can hatch a chicken from roosting them over a fried egg; with how big the Xenoblade series has been for Nintendo (especially with all the cred it's given the Switch), Nintendo was never going to allow those games on another console. Heck, Monolith Soft is already hard at work on a new game—you can bet that'll be an early release for the Switch's successor (if not a launch title). With how great Nintendo has been to Monolith, why would they want to jump ship? This reminds me of when Nintendo earned exclusivity rights for Bayonetta 2 back on the Wii U; sure, the Wii U was a lame duck of a console, but also, Nintendo were the folks who sprung at the chance to give Platinum Studios a home (especially after Microsoft and Sony both turned down Bayonetta 2). And they sweetened the pot by rolling out the red carpet for Bayonetta herself, not only giving her a slot in Super Smash Bros. but also promoting her new game with that one cosplay photoshoot in Playboy magazine.

What we don't want is the industry getting smaller; we need some studios to remain third-party in order for the industry to remain healthy, not just because they make certain cross-over games that we like. Mergers and acquisitions have gutted the industry and caused more damage than we'll ever know, and their full toll will only be better understood in the coming years. But also, we have a case here of the two companies already working really well together in a very healthy partnership. While some folks are worried that this means some of the key figures at Monolith Soft might be on the way out (like Tetsuya Takahashi), I doubt it. The partnership has already been fruitful for a good long time; it'll likely remain that way.

That'll do it for this week, I think. I think I'm already over this whole "Winter" business; it's always bugged me that it could get as low as 30° Fahrenheit, but it won't even have the decency to snow. Provided, even if my room gets a little drafty in the winter, I'd rather be here than anywhere else. I hope you guys are keeping in touch with your loved ones this season! It's a great time for it. In the meantime, be good to each other. I'll see you in seven.