Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s next Spirit Board event is themed around Animal Crossing, Nintendo has announced. The event kicks off at 11 PM PT on April 2 and adds four new Spirits from the recently released Animal Crossing: New Horizons to the game.
Spirits based on the major new characters introduced in New Horizons–Flick, CJ, Daisy Mae, and Orville & Wilbur–will appear on the Spirit Board at certain times during the event. On top of that, all of Smash Bros. Ultimate’s previous Animal Crossing Spirits will also be featured periodically throughout the event, giving you a much better chance of encountering them.
The Animal Crossing Spirit Board event runs until 11 PM PT on April 7. You can learn more about the event on Nintendo’s website.
In other Smash Bros. news, Nintendo confirmed during its recent Direct Mini presentation that the game’s next DLC character–and the first to be added as part of the Fighters Pass Vol. 2–will be from Arms. The character is slated to be revealed and released this June, but Nintendo noted at the start of the Direct Mini that release dates could be affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
As for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the game’s first seasonal event, Bunny Day, is underway now until April 12. During that time, you’ll be able to find different kinds of eggs around your island and use those to craft special Bunny Day items. If you need help tracking them down, we’ve put together a guide on how to get eggs as well as a roundup of all the Bunny Day DIY recipes we’ve found so far.
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As the US and other countries mobilize to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, more and more people are finding themselves stuck at home these days, effectively ending normal social interactions with friends and loved ones unless they live with you. Because of this, online games and platforms like Netflix Party have become crucial links to friends and family, and one 2015 PC game is even helping people have virtual board game nights with friends they can’t meet with in person.
Tabletop Simulator has been around for years, but it feels even more needed right now. The indie game from developer Berserk Games allows you to play digital versions of board games in a player-driven physics sandbox, with classics like chess, poker, and dominoes included in the base version. You can also create your own digital board games with Tabletop Simulator, which lets you import custom assets, automate games with scripting, and more. And players have done just that, with thousands of fan-created board games and card games available in the Steam Tabletop Simulator workshop that you can play for free.
Berserk Games has also partnered with some board game publishers to create official DLC for Tabletop Simulator, and there are currently 41 games available as DLC, including some of our all-time favorites like Blood Rage, Scythe, and Wingspan.
Playing Root in Tabletop Simulator
I gave Tabletop Simulator a try for the first time recently and was surprised by how well it replicated the feeling of playing a board game. Naturally, some fan-made creations will run better than others, and if you’re looking for a more niche game, it may not be as polished. My group tried out a few different games, and while connectivity issues occasionally booted one of us out of the game, we had a great time playing some of our favorite games in this medium. The always-popular Catan was easy to pick up and start playing, and we ran an entire game of Root, a complex asymmetrical war game, with hardly any issues. It felt almost like we were all sitting around the same table as usual, and it was honestly the happiest I’ve felt since quarantine began.
If you check out the recent Steam reviews for Tabletop Simulator, it’s pretty clear I’m not the only one turning to this game as a source of entertainment and socializing during the times of coronavirus. “In these times of social distancing, Tabletop Simulator has saved our weekly gaming group,” wrote one recent reviewer. “I’m thankful to be able to have board game nights with my friends at a time like this,” wrote another.
While the game is available directly on Steam, many stores that would offer discounted Steam codes for the game have recently run out of stock, including Fanatical, Humble Bundle, and Green Man Gaming. However, you can still snag a small discount on the four-pack, which gets you four Tabletop Simulator Steam codes to share with friends, at Green Man Gaming. Normally sold for $60, the four-pack is currently on sale for $54, a price you could then split with whomever you’re playing with.
Tabletop Simulator offers a pretty good tutorial the first time you boot up the game, but I’d also recommend starting with a game you’re familiar with so you can get accustomed to the controls without fretting over the rules.
If you’re looking for board game recommendations, we recently rounded up the best board games to play in 2020, including staff favorites like Gloomhaven, Pandemic Legacy, Ticket to Ride, and Patchwork. Many of the games on our list have official digital versions or Tabletop Simulator DLC, but it’s also worth searching for fan-made versions in Tabletop Simulator if you’re looking for something new to try.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ Bunny Day event revolves around collecting eggs in a variety of ways, and while you can eat them like fruit, their primary purpose is to be used in crafting. If you’re able to craft all of the new items from the event, Zipper T. Bunny promises a special gift of some sort, so there’s a reason to make even items you may not care for.
There are a ton of new DIY recipes you’ll earn during the course of the event, and they all call for the use of eggs. But how do you get recipes, and which ones are there to collect? We’ve assembled some tips on where to find recipes and amassed a list of every one we’ve seen so far so you can cross-reference with your own crafting list and see how many you might still need to hunt down.
How To Get Bunny Day Recipes
Much like eggs, recipes are acquired in a number of ways that mostly align with regular activities. You’ll want to scavenge your beaches each day, as you may find a special message-in-a-bottle with a recipe inside. Likewise, your neighbors may have some to share–if one of them excitedly approaches you, be sure to chat with them. You’ll make their day and potentially get something to show for it.
The most common source of recipes seems to be from presents popping balloons with a slingshot. During the event, in addition to the appearance of standard present-bearing balloons, you’ll see special Bunny Day-themed balloons appear. Shoot them down and you’ll find yourself with either a Sky egg or another recipe.
In addition to these recipes, which include things like wallpapers and furniture, there are clothing recipes. Collect enough of a specific egg type, and you’ll receive three corresponding recipes: a shell, an outfit, and shoes.
Zipper teases that more recipes will be hidden as Bunny Day proper–April 12–approaches, so it’s unclear if everything is already available.
With all of the visually stunning games on the way this year, such as Resident Evil 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, upgrading your PC can sound rather enticing, especially now that most of us are stuck inside. Over the past couple of weeks, Newegg has had a number of great deals that help with that, and their latest is one of the best. The Gigabyte RTX 2070 8GB is currently $380 with promo code 4NFJSPC54.
The RTX 2070 is great for 1440p gaming and shines at 1080p, especially if you’re looking for frame rates that exceed 60 FPS. I currently have a comparable RTX 2070 and run the vast majority of games at High to Ultra settings at 1440p with frame rates ranging from 60-144 FPS. Of course, performance will vary based on the rest of your PC’s hardware. Gigabyte’s RTX 2070 features three DisplayPort outputs and a fourth for HDMI, so make sure you have the appropriate cables if you’re looking to hook up multiple monitors.
Gigabyte RTX 2070 8GB
$380 with promo code 4NFJSPC54
Newegg has a number of other good deals as well. If you’re looking for a monitor to pair with your new RTX 2070, then a 27-inch Asus monitor is on sale for $200. It has a 144Hz refresh rate and FreeSync with G-Sync compatibility, meaning you’ll have an extra smooth experience when running games at variable frame rates. There’s also a great deal on an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X processor for $299, which comes with three months of Xbox Game Pass for PC. Be sure to check out Newegg for the rest of the great PC hardware deals.
If you’re looking for some games to play on your PC, you should check out all of the free games you can claim right now. Several developers have made their games free to help support those staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Landorus, the third and final member of the Forces of Nature trio from Pokemon Black and White, has finally arrived in Pokemon Go. The Legendary Abundance Pokemon will be available until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET on April 21, so you’ll only have a limited time to capture it. If you’re hoping to add one to your collection before it leaves the game, we’ve rounded up some tips on how to battle and catch Landorus below.
Beyond that, Landorus will also be available as a Go Battle League reward encounter. You’ll have a chance to catch the Legendary Pokemon if you are able to hit rank 4 in the Go Battle League PvP mode. You normally need to walk 5 km before you can participate in the Go Battle League, but Niantic has dropped that restriction given the current circumstances.
Landorus Weaknesses And Counters
Landorus is a Ground/Flying Pokemon. This unique combination means certain types that normally have an advantage over Flying Pokemon–such as Electric and Rock–only deal neutral damage to Landorus. Similarly, while Grass Pokemon are normally strong against Ground types, they’ll only do neutral damage to Landorus thanks to the fact that it’s part-Flying.
However, Landorus’s typing opens up a glaring weakness to Ice Pokemon, so you’ll want to stack your team with monsters like Mamoswine, Glaceon, and Weavile when challenging it. Water Pokemon like Kyogre, Suicune, and Gyarados also have an advantage over Landorus, so you can round out your team with those for your best chance to defeat the Legendary.
Xbox Game Pass subscribers of both the Standard and Ultimate tiers have a brand-new quirky ragdoll game to play on Xbox One with the release of Totally Reliable Delivery Service.
The multiplayer physics game–which just launched on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One for $15–tasks you and up to three friends either online or offline with delivering packages across an expansive world using any means necessary. This includes taking to the skies in a helicopter, traversing the ocean on a speedboat, darting around the world on a rocket, and more.
TRDS was developed by We’re Five Games and published by TinyBuild. It features very cartoonish visuals akin to No Brakes Games’ Human: Fall Flat, hilarious ragdoll physics, and an irreverence to ensure it doesn’t take itself too seriously. You can push your duties to the side in favor of playing with the game’s many toys, complete deliveries on-time to earn various rewards, or otherwise just cause absolute chaos in totally bonkers ways.
From developer Cold Symmetry, Mortal Shell includes the deliberate combat that has been popularized by From Software’s Souls series, with role-playing elements that let you upgrades weapons and skills as you explore a non-linear open-world. The reveal trailer below sets its tone well, with a more horror-focused atmosphere than that of its influences.
One aspect of Mortal Shell that stands out is the shells themselves. You’ll physically wear the empty bodies of fallen warriors, each of which will play with different fighting styles and abilities. You can get comfortable with a shell and upgrade it further, letting you choose your style of play and adapt accordingly with items and weapons on top of it.
Mortal Shell has been in development for over two years, with Cold Symmetry comprising of only 15 employees. It’s three co-founders–Andrew McLennan-Murray, Anton Gonzalez, and Vitaly Bulgarov–are excited to finally show off the studio’s work. “The last two years have been a time of non-stop growth, full of shocking revelations of sheer complexity that goes into creating a video game that you, yourself, would really enjoy playing,” a press release from the studio reads.
Mortal Shell isn’t too far away either, with a planned launch in Q3 2020. You can apply to play the beta on the game’s official website, although details of the test are not yet known.
April is officially underway, which means Pokemon Go developer Niantic has once again refreshed the game’s Field Research list. Many of April’s Field Research tasks are the same as March’s, although some offer new rewards, and you won’t find many tasks that require you to hatch eggs (which is helpful as many part of the world are under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Unlike the more story-focused Special Research quests, Field Research tasks are distributed via PokeStops. You’ll receive a random task when you spin the Photo Disc, and each one you complete will net you rewards, which can range from helpful items like Berries to encounters with certain Pokemon.
On top of that, the first Field Research task you complete each day will earn you a stamp. If you collect seven stamps, you’ll achieve what’s called a Research Breakthrough, which will net you additional rewards as well as an encounter with a special Pokemon. April’s Research Breakthrough reward is the rare Alolan Exeggutor; you’ll get a chance to catch the Pokemon each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough this month.
As previously mentioned, the Field Research tasks you receive from PokeStops will be randomly drawn from a larger pool. You can see the full list of April’s Field Research tasks, as compiled by The Silph Road, below.
In addition to these tasks, Niantic is offering a handful of Field Research quests that tie into Pokemon Go’s April Fools’ event, which runs from April 1-7. These can lead to encounters with Sudowoodo, Croagunk, and the debuting Gen 5 Pokemon Stunfisk. Niantic has also outlined some other Pokemon Go events happening in April.
Pokemon Go April 2020 Field Research Tasks
Catching Tasks
Field Research Task
Rewards
Catch 5 Pokemon with Weather boost x
Poliwag or Vulpix encounter; 200 Stardust, 3 Razz Berries, 1 Pinap Berry, or 5 Poke Balls
Catch 10 Pokemon with Weather boost x
500 Stardust, 6 Razz Berries, 2 Pinap Berries, or 5 Great Balls
With coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns continuing to mount and social distancing mandates getting extended, the organization behind the annual gaming convention RTX has rescheduled this year’s event.
Instead of taking place from July 3-5, entertainment production company Rooster Teeth has moved RTX to Labor Day Weekend: September 5-7. It doesn’t seem like any other changes are being made to the convention at the moment, but refunds will be offered to those who change their mind.
We have not finalized all of the details to announce, but the news is out. #RTXAustin is moving to Labor Day weekend (Sept. 5-7, 2020). We will offer refunds, and your current purchased badge will be valid for the rescheduled event. All the details will be coming soon.
“We are training and preparing to implement additional precautionary measures at RTX such as increasing the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting of commonly touched objects like door handles, placing prominent hand sanitizer stations throughout our venues, and placing educational signage reminding attendees to take precautions,” the company wrote in a blog post. “In addition to meeting the standards set forth by the city of Austin, we are also holding ourselves to the strict standards set by our parent company, WarnerMedia, who have already implemented several new policies in the last month to protect our staff at Rooster Teeth.”
The basic concept for Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s boss battles originated in Yonkama Manga, a classic comic style based around telling a story in four panels.
The insight was revealed as part of the Inside Final Fantasy VII Remake docu-series, a set of videos from Square Enix that offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the development of the Remake project.
Near the end of the video, Lead Battle Designers Tomotaka Shiroichi and Kosuke Sakane talk about how the boss battles in Final Fantasy 7 Remake were inspired by Yonkama, a four-panel manga style from Japan.
Yonkoma is usually seen as a comic style made up of four panels in a vertical column, which follows a famous structure known as Kishotenketsu. As Shiroichi explains, the core parts of this structure include an introduction, a middle part, a development and a conclusion.
The developers go on to explain how this works in the context of Final Fantasy, their words supplemented by footage of the Abzu boss fight from Final Fantasy 7 Remake. In the footage, the player encounters the beast and is on the back foot, but then studies its special moveset and counters with targeted attacks, leading to its defeat.
“Encounter the enemy and start the battle in Phase 1, show each other’s hand and the boss takes lead in Phase 2, In Phase 3, the boss shows you the signature attacks and the players start fighting back,” Shiroichi explains. “That’s when bosses start revealing their weaknesses – Phase 4 is the climax and introduces the next part of the storyline!”
The battle designers note that the boss battles in Final Fantasy 7 Remake follow this pattern and as such, connect key events within the story by following those four steps from Yonkama manga.
According to Shiroichi, each phase should also display Jo-Ha-Kyu, a Japanese concept of movement that he describes as a “slow start, swift break, and rapid end.” The video contains a number of other details about how the team behind Final Fantasy 7 Remake approached the game’s combat, including a section interviewing the game’s director Tetsuya Nomura about balancing the old-school hallmarks of Final Fantasy 7’s ATB system with the demands of a modern audience.
