Ithrak Utopia

Pretty much from 8pm or 10pm Friday through Sunday night I'm going to be paying attention to WWE, but I'm willing to multitask during the Hall of Fame and play Friday evening. I'm going to be Team Aliens.

I'm looking forward to this one. Hopefully, the atmosphere of Waluigi Stadium is intact, and I want to see if racing on Mario Circuit makes me forget about Airship Fortress's exclusion a bit more.

Bought a game I said I didn't want immediately after skimming through the contents of this Direct, but I am looking forward to diving in again again. I said as I saw it in the Direct that it better be $40 and no more. There's going to be movement in my Top 5 now. I'm also very happy that I've fully bought the Booster Course Pass and upgraded to the NSO+Expansion Pass before the end of 2022. Super Mario Land 2 is my favorite GB game, and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is my favorite GBA game. Both out today. Pretty soon too, Metroid 1-5 will be all playable on the Switch. I'm completely locked in on Pikmin 4 and Tears of the Kingdom. I need no more information.

1. Metroid Prime 4 will have its first gameplay trailer at the next general Nintendo Direct following the release of ToTK, which should be around E3 if Nintendo shows up this summer. 2. If Metroid Prime 4 doesn't release in 2023, a new 2D Mario game will release this calendar year. It will not be Super Mario Maker 3. 3. Pikmin 4 is coming out in August. 4. If Pikmin 4 is planned to be the big holiday game for 2023, the Switch's successor will be revealed this year and will release early in 2024. 5. Wave 4 for the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe BCP will include cosmetics that are in Tour, and at this time both games will have a new cosmetic for Mario and co. as movie stars to hype up the Super Mario movie. Los Angeles Laps is a Wave 4 track. 6. Tears of the Kingdom will have a Metacritic score at least 5 points lower than Breath of the Wild, so 92 or under. It will have an issue that will need to be patched out in its first week. 7. ARMS finally gets its sequel released in July after being revealed in the first general Nintendo Direct of this year. 8. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp gets released in April, and basically no one plays it. Its reappearance is met with backlash towards Nintendo. 9. There is no Metroid Prime remake, remaster or whatever the rumors want to call it. 10. Super Mario Odyssey will receive DLC this year featuring new kingdoms inspired from locations in the Super Mario movie. Everyone and their extended family says it's about damn time the game gets DLC.

I took advantage of the Critically Acclaimed Sale on the eShop the other day and picked up Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. I'm hoping to have a lot of fun with those games once I get around to them. I'll also be downloading Sports Story once it hits the eShop.

Yesterday, I made it halfway to 100,000 Hunters and Guardians Defeated on a single file. Since my last post, I now know that the file time does roll over and is limited to 7 characters. When it showed the time without the "m" for minutes, I was mind blown as I wasn't expecting the character to drop. The roll over made me more willing to go for 100,000, because for something like that I want to know the time I put in. Once I hit 100,000, which is still several months away at the minimum, that's it. I'm not going for 1,000,000. If it rolls to 100,000, I'm assuming all stats on the completion screen will keep going up and adjust according to the limits of 7 characters, i.e. 1,000,000 hours total game time would just show the number.

I wasn't sure if Dread was going to be up here or not, since I thought I had possibly played more Smash. The other two definitely are my most played on the Switch this year...There's a game on another system that absolutely blows these play times out of the water though. I also got Splatoon 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Pokemon Violet and Bayonetta 3 at launch, but have yet to play them aside from a little bit of Splatoon 3. I was really hopeful for Nintendo Switch Sports, and it's not quite there. I bought Go Vacation this year too which is a much better game. May have ordered it after the mild disappointment with Switch Sports. I haven't played Switch Sports since...the first couple of weeks I think. ARMS is still my favorite Nintendo game on the Nintendo Switch in spite of not playing the game much this year. I'm glad to see it centered in the graphic. I might've been playing some Mario Kart 8 Deluxe this year.... The Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe feels like a new game on its own, especially after the recent Wave 3 and the Custom Items updates. I've enjoyed all of the waves quite a bit, and definitely would say overall I like BCP more than the base game's selection. No other Switch game this year quite hit the highs provided by racing for 1st on Shroom Ridge and being an ass as Bowser Jr. My runner up would be Pokemon Scarlet. In spite of its technical issues, which are very obvious, Pokemon's fantastic gaming loop may be the best it has ever been in the new games. It's the best Pokemon experience in my opinion since Generation V (or early Pokemon Go mania).

I feel like I might have dipped out of the call too soon tonight. We got through half of the new tracks I think, and what luck that we didn't get 3DS Rainbow Road at all. Is anyone against a room for the Thursday before Christmas to guarantee a race on Merry Mountain as well as potentially do some custom item shenanigans?

The Booster Course Pass is better than the base game at half the tracks. Wave 3 is incredible, and the Moon Cup may be GOAT. I'm becoming more of a fan of 200cc with these tracks with pretty much all of this wave being great in that class. I thought Berlin Byways was my favorite, but I'm not sure anymore...Maple Treeway and Boo Lake are probably my least favorite though. I also really love the custom items update...That's a lot of chaos and a lot of fun.

Phazon on Tallon IV seems tame compared to what it became like as the Trilogy went on. Aside from the Chozo, who rejected Phazon, I cannot recall Phazon causing noticeable harm to life on the world in the time Samus is there. That may be due to sealing away a large portion of the world's Phazon beyond the seal of the Artifact Temple, in the depths of the Impact Crater. Space Pirates still played with fire quite a bit and seemed like Phazon largely benefited them, with the rise of Elites and Omega. The Mawkin Tribe probably would have been much worse than the Space Pirates as a potential and growing threat. I couldn't imagine Raven Beak would reject Phazon for the tribe, instead would make an effort to harness its power and Phazon probably would be willing to give it. Assuming that any Chozo outside of ZDR are Thoha, had the Tallon IV Thoha decided to harness Phazon in moderation, could they have prevented the development of Flaahgra and saved their water supply in the Chozo Ruins? With the difference between Phendrana Drifts and the Chozo Ruins, arguably the Space Pirate activity there exploring the potential of Phazon may have saved the local ecosystem from becoming as poisoned as the Chozo Ruins. Tallon Overworld is also in a fantastic state, and goes to show that the Chozo deciding to take action made quite a difference for that region considering that the Artifact Temple and Cipher are there. If the Mawkin Tribe were on Tallon IV, I don't think the world would be as wondrous as it would likely have more industrial developments; however, I don't think the planet would've gotten poisoned anywhere near the same extent as Phazon would be taken and processed away from the ecosystems and brought in to be harnessed and for experimentation. I didn't realize how formidable the Ing are until answering whether or not the Mawkin would overcome the Horde's threat. The Ing may be the strongest localized, intelligent race in the series...I don't have any entity beating them aside from those established across multiple worlds and with interplanetary fire power, i.e. Galactic Federation, Space Pirates and Alimbics. The Mawkin seem like they would be capable of creating their own technology to protect them from a dark world and potential possession, but I think those advancements at their best would go to Raven Beak while the rest of the tribe gets scraps in comparison. If the overall Mawkin Tribe had even half of what Raven Beak gets, they would be at the table as one of the most powerful groups in the series.

I've seen it mentioned a while back that Raven Beak is making use of Beam Burst and Lightning Armor Aeion abilities. I do want to pay attention to the statuary on SR388 more the next time I play Samus Returns, because I don't remember seeing Raven Beak depicted. If it is him though and those statues are tied to where the Aeion abilities are obtained, putting the two together would suggest that the Mawkin developed those Aeion abilities to potentially be used in assisting in the containment of the planet's Metroids. I don't recall how effective either is when dealing with the Metroids though, especially dealing with the more developed evolutions. There is an interesting topic on the Metroid subreddit asking if the Mawkin Tribe could have defeated the Ing, and I'm interested to see how people here view the Mawkin Tribe in relation to other advanced races and threats. Personally, I think, in spite of how advanced they are, they are doomed due to the ego of Raven Beak and would have a worse time with the Ing than the Luminoth if they had to deal with such a threat. I would also take the Alimbics in a head to head against the Mawkin Tribe.

After getting through 4 Titans and beating Katy, I'm now going through a reverse Gym challenge and have currently beat both Grusha and Tulip. Tulip seemed much more formidable than Grusha as she brought me down to my last two Pokemon. I really only had my Scovillain and Lokix as answers for her, and they will both be carrying the load again at my next Gym. Overall, having a lot of fun with Pokemon Scarlet in spite of its technical issues. My favorite Pokemon from this generation as of right now would be Scovillain.

I hope all that are dealing with Jason David Frank's passing are able to find healing. The talent he provided as a Power Ranger across many seasons deserves all the thanks and praise. Jason David Frank played inspirational roles as Tommy Oliver and those roles will continue to inspire me after his passing. The White Ranger is my favorite Power Ranger, the Green Ranger is among my favorites and Zeo Ranger V, Red Turbo Ranger and Black Dino Thunder Ranger aren't far behind. His roles made kids want to grow up to be heroes and leaders, and it's sad to know that he is gone. I found out about this shortly after talking about Power Rangers with my family too and I'll get into that. Rest in peace, Jason David Frank. .... My family had asked me earlier this morning what my favorite Christmas gift was over the past 5 years since we're in the holiday season now, and I said it has got to be one of the collection Megazords I've received from my younger sister. I then narrowed that down to when I got the White Tigerzord and Saba...A little while after that I go on youtube to find a video to listen to while I grind in Metroid Prime Hunters, and I see a thumbnail and a title that's along the lines of R.I.P. JDF. My first thought is what was that about, so I go to Google and type in Jason David Frank. I see the news from tweets that pop up in the horizontal feed that appears within the search results, but I didn't believe it. I end up refreshing for the next 15 minutes, and as more credible sources popped up in tweets, the news began to hit me. I was on the verge of being very emotional, so I turned off my laptop, gathered myself, grabbed MPH and grabbed a water and went to isolate myself so I can work through Jason David Frank's passing. I ended up calling my younger sister, asked if she heard the news which she hadn't and I couldn't get out the words to tell her as I was too emotional to clearly speak. She thought something had happened to someone within our own family after that call, so I finally through text was able to come to an acceptance and share the unfortunate passing as I cleared up the situation with her. From there, I spoke with my Dad and shared the news. The communication with them helped me get through my emotions and to a more positive mindset. Those calls were made while I was in the middle of a session grinding away in MPH, as I felt I needed to play my favorite game to get better mentally. The most efficient spot to grind ironically is Incubation Vault 03, and while I played there my emotions toward the passing were coming in waves. The Green Power Ranger is one of my favorites, and I was being reminded of that character and the episode "Fighting Spirit" in Dino Thunder when Tommy must face that previous life. That too helped me work out my emotions, and getting back to feeling regular. I do hope those impacted are able to work through their own process as well during this difficult moment. Jason will be missed. If a person is feeling down, I hope they can will themselves to either friends and family to talk to and/or to activities and interests that they find comfort in. It's never good to deal with being down when in a void.

Today is not a good day.

Beyond the tutorial of the game, which is about an hour or so and is the worst start I've had with any game I've had anticipation for on the Switch...Pokemon Scarlet is turning out to be a great time in spite of its flaws in presentation. It remains great in core mechanics, character design and in Pokemon design, so while there's plenty I could be negative about I'm personally not having a negative experience overall. I consider it a great sign that I played until my Switch died while watching @TKrazyO's stream. Normally, I would cut my session with a game short and let my Switch charge docked for a bit, but Scarlet kept me hooked as I didn't want to put the game down once it opened up. If Nintendo does an end of year stats log like they did last year, I wouldn't be surprised if 11/19 or 11/20 is the day I played the Switch the most with Pokemon Scarlet being the main game.