Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will have a special 90s-themed tournament this weekend that will limit the range of fighters available to those who debuted in the 90s. The available stages will also be pulled from 90s games.
This will disqualify plenty of fighters and stages who were first introduced before or after the 90s, but you’ll be able to use Sonic, Pikachu, Cloud, King K. Rool, Mewtwo, Sheik, Ridley, and many others. A full list has not been made available, but long-time Nintendo fans can look forward to representing their favorite games of the era.
Players will be able to unlock Spirits, depending on their performance in the tournament. It begins on February 21 (in Japan, at least–start time will vary depending on your timezone), and will run for three days.
The free-to-play FPS Warface launched on Nintendo Switch earlier this week with little fanfare and no pre-announcements. It came as a total surprise, as the Switch is not known best as a platform for online shooters. Developer My.Games has now explained why it wanted to bring Warface to Switch.
Head of global publishing Alexey Izotov told GI.biz that the lack of many online shooters for Switch provides the opportunity for Warface to stand out.
“The lack of online shooters on Switch is a strong advantage for us,” he said. “We know this market really well, so we saw an opportunity to bring our experience in the FPS genre to this growing platform. We are also one of the very few players on the market with continuously successful F2P games on consoles.”
The Switch might not have a roster of online games as deep as what’s available on PS4 and Xbox One, but it does have a number of juggernauts such as Fortnite and Overwatch, as well as Nintendo’s Splatoon 2.
Regarding the surprise release, Izotov said the studio wanted to show, not tell, and allow players to immediately try the game for themselves. “We decided that in order to properly speak about the game, we must be able to immediately show it,” Izotov said. “We wanted our community to see that we’re invested in developing the Warface franchise across different platforms: PC, home consoles, mobile, and now Nintendo Switch. And the immediacy of being able to play it right away was very important for us.”
Warface is the first game developed using the CryEngine to launch on Nintendo Switch. The Switch version was developed using a “heavily customized” version of the engine, according to GI.biz. The game has a lower resolution and frame rate on Switch, due to the console’s power relative to PS4, Xbox One, and PC, but Izotov said he’s happy with what the team achieved.
“When talking PvP content, we rely on the following principles: stable framerate, debugged network code, and fixed resolution. The game’s look and feel shouldn’t change depending on the amount of action on the screen. We believe we have managed to achieve this,” he said.
Finally, Izotov explained that My.Games is considering the possibility of adding cross-play for Warface across PS4, Xbox One, and Switch at some in the future.
In 2019, the team behind Warface left original developer Crytek Kiev to form their own studio, Blackwood Games, which works in tandem with My.Games to maintain the free-to-play shooter.
Tom Holland has revealed that he and Chris Pratt have discussed setting up an Avengers cast Dungeons & Dragons session, redefining what it means to assemble.
Speaking to IGN at Disney Pixar’s Onward World Premiere, Holland was asked if he has ever played D&D before. While he never has, he did gave fans of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes a reason to cheer.
“I haven’t, no, but Chris and I have been talking about setting up an Avengers D&D session,” Holland said. “Which would be amazing. We actually want to like film it, because it would be really fun. Not livestream it, because I don’t do…is this live? It is live! Oh ok, I’m really stressed now.”
An Avengers D&D session with Holland, Pratt, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and many more could be something spectacular if done right.
While it may focus on something completely out of the MCU, it could be fun to get a different perspective from our favorite actors, one that could be in a similar fashion to the upcoming Marvel’s What If…? series coming to Disney+.
Warning: this review contains full spoilers for The Flash: Season 6, Episode 12. If you need a refresher on where we left off, here’s our review for Season 6, Episode 11.
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The Flash finally paid one of its longest-running mysteries this week with the long-awaited introduction of Natalie Dreyfuss’ Sue Dearbon. The series doesn’t always have a great track record with Elongated Man-centric episodes, but “A Girl Named Sue” is a pleasant exception. It manages to tell a lighthearted mystery and throw in a dash of metahuman romance, all while furthering the series’ ongoing Black Hole and Mirror Master threads. In short, the series keeps moving forward at a strong clip in the wake of Crisis.
Sue’s debut and her dynamic with Ralph is easily the biggest selling point this week. DC fans have been waiting a long time to see how one of the greatest romances in all of comics would be handled. The end result doesn’t disappoint, even if it’s clear the show is taking a number of liberties with Sue’s portrayal. For one thing, she’s less faithful wife and Justice League sidekick than she is double-crossing jewel thief. But regardless of how different this incarnation of the character may be, Dreyfuss really brings a lot of life and energy to the role. Her expressive facial work and the terrific rapport she shares with Hartley Sawyer do full justice to that iconic Ralph/Sue partnership. Not since Shantel VanSanten’s Patty Spivot has a new love interest character on The Flash stood out this much.
Those changes to Sue’s characterization and motivations generally work in her favor. Again, she’s a far less passive character here than in the classic Justice League of America comics. And where the comic book version has become perhaps the most infamous example of that storytelling trope known as “fridging,” this Sue is a woman fully in charge of her own destiny. This episode even seems to acknowledge 2004’s hugely controversial Identity Crisis by pitting Sue against a character called John Loring (presumably a riff on Sue’s former BFF-turned-killer Jean Loring), while completely flipping the script on that rivalry. This is one case where The Flash drastically deviating from the source material is not only welcome, but probably necessary.
Dreyfuss’ Sue is an extremely enjoyable addition to the cast, and one who thankfully seems destined to play a recurring role this year. But it should also be said that Ralph himself benefits quite a bit from being thrust back into the spotlight. The goofy detective noir approach to this episode works well. Ralph’s growing bond with Sue helps highlight his character arc and just how much he’s grown over the past three seasons. He’s now proven himself to be a good man and a proper superhero, and he might just inspire Sue through his example. Is it too soon to ask for this duo to get their own spinoff?
Entertaining as the Ralph/Sue pairing is, this episode probably would have been too thin if it were solely focused on that partnership. Fortunately, the unique structure of Season 6 means the writers don’t have that much room to waste. This episode adds new layers to the growing mystery of Mirror Master. For one thing, we finally meet Eva McCulloch (Efrat Dor) in the flesh. Here again the show subverts expectations. There’s nothing overtly villainous about this version of Mirror Master. She’s simply a very lonely and stir crazy woman trying not to give into the false allure of hope. As far as major Arrowverse villains go, Eva is already among the more sympathetic.
The series can go in any number of directions with Eva. Maybe she’ll become the pivotal villain of the second half of the season. Maybe she’s just another piece of the puzzle that is Black Hole. Maybe this Eva is heroic, and it’s her mirror doppelganger who spells danger for Central City. It’s hard to predict where this character’s story is heading, and that’s a good thing. That sense of unpredictability helps counter the initially underwhelming reveal that her powers came from the particle accelerator accident. Hasn’t that well run dry yet?
This episode offers a few other tantalizing glimpses of things to come. I mentioned in last week’s review how it was slightly disappointing to see the more assertive, confrontational Iris written off as a mirror doppelganger, but there’s still a lot of potential in this subplot and the potentially lasting harm Mirror Iris can inflict on Barry and Iris’ relationship. It’s also satisfying to see the ongoing Black Hole storyline intertwine so heavily with the debuts of Mirror Master and Sue. The Black Hole material never stood out much in the pre-Crisis half of the season, but now that it’s become a higher priority, it’s rapidly building momentum. The pieces of this shattered mirror are coming into view now, but how they fit together is still anyone’s guess.
There are dark times ahead for John Constantine (Matt Ryan) on The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow. In the latest episode of the series, “A Head of Her Time,” the cigarette-smoking master of the occult was stricken with an advanced form of lung cancer and now looks to be on the brink of death.
While this particular plot twist may seem a little dark for a show like Legends of Tomorrow, which trades in silliness and fun, it’s actually deeply rooted in the Hellblazer comics. In the Dangerous Habits story arc, Constantine is suffering from terminal lung cancer and attempts to con his way out of it. In the next episode of Legends, “Mortal Khanbat,” viewers will get a taste of that.
“Matt has an amazing storyline which we did pull from the comics. I co-wrote that one, Caity Lotz directed. It was so fun to be on set. Caity smashed it. She did an amazing job. She was so prepared and then so creative with the camera. It was lovely to see,” executive producer Grainne Godfree teased. “But for Matt Ryan’s character Constantine, we wanted to give him one of the iconic storylines from the comics where he gets lung cancer and he’s going to try to do everything he can in the most John Constantine-type way to get out of it.”
Working a bit of Hellblazer mythology into Legends of Tomorrow is massive for fans of the comics. However, it’s perhaps nowhere near as exciting as it is for Ryan, himself. The actor previously played the character on NBC’s adaptation of Hellblazer, which ran for a single season, before he was incorporated into the Arrow-verse.
“It’s very, very, very important to Matt Ryan. He is the world’s leading expert on all things Constantine,” showrunner Phil Klemmer admitted. “In fact, he probably would hand you a book if you’re having trouble remembering something. He has it in his bag at all times.”
Still, while John’s lung cancer will be explored in the next episode, don’t expect the series to follow exactly the story told in the comics too closely. “For us, it’s, you know, a balance because we want to honor it. At the same time, we want to break new ground, as well,” Klemmer said. “Hopefully we, we found the right balance with that. There’s no predicting where we’re headed based on the books, but it was a great launching point.”
Tom Holland, who will be playing a younger Nathan Drake in the upcoming Uncharted film, has said this new movie will draw inspiration from Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and will have a “global” scope.
Speaking to IGN at Disney Pixar’s Onward World Premiere, Holland revealed that Uncharted 4 was one of his favorite games of all time and that it will also be a guiding light for the film, which will begin shooting in “like four weeks.”
“If I’m honest, one of my favorite video games ever is the fourth Uncharted game… Unbelievable. And lots of the inspiration from the film has come from that game in particular,” Holland said. “It was interesting, when I sat down with [Sony Pictures Chairman] Tom Rothman and we were talking about video games, and I was like “Oh, I’ve just finished Uncharted.” And he was like “Well, why don’t you play Nathan Drake?” I remember being like, “I would do anything to play Nathan Drake. Please, that would be amazing.” So yeah, we start shooting in like four weeks. Mark Wahlberg is going to be amazing as Sully. The stunt department that we have out there in Berlin have done an amazing job already, prepping the stunts, and it’s going to be an exciting one.”
IGN’s Max Scoville then asked him about his younger version of Nathan Drake and if it’s based more on the games or Holland himself.
“There was definitely a lot of inspiration that came from the games, but it’s a very young, fresh take on the character because, obviously, we didn’t get to meet him all that much when he was younger,” Holland explained. “But it’s a pretty awesome movie, and it’s global. We travel the world, we see some amazing places, and Mark Wahlberg and I are going to have a great summer together.”
Oscar winning actor and director Ben Affleck was originally attached to write, direct, and star in the new Batman movie called The Batman, but he dropped out. The title role eventually went to Robert Pattinson, while Dawn of the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves came aboard to write a new script and direct.
Now, Affleck has opened up on why he quit The Batman. After a “troubled shoot” on Justice League, in which Affleck appears as Batman, he decided to step away, according to The New York Times. Affleck told the publication that taking on the role of Batman again for the new film might have led him back to drinking.
“I showed somebody The Batman script,” he said. “They said, ‘I think the script is good. I also think you’ll drink yourself to death if you go through what you just went through again.'”
Affleck, 47, said he “drank relatively normally for a long time” and this led to problems in his relationship with his wife, Jennifer Garner, with whom he separated from in 2018.
“You’re trying to make yourself feel better with eating or drinking or sex or gambling or shopping or whatever,” Affleck said. “But that ends up making your life worse. Then you do more of it to make that discomfort go away. Then the real pain starts. It becomes a vicious cycle you can’t break. That’s at least what happened to me.”
The NYT reports that Affleck’s experience on Justice League “sapped” his interest in returning to play Batman again.
Affleck played Batman a total of three times, beginning with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He played the character again in a cameo for Suicide Squad and then a third time in Justice League.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX has a new trailer, showing off some of the dungeon-crawling gameplay from the new Switch remake of the 2006 Game Boy Advance/Nintendo DS title. The first announcement of the game gave us some idea of what to expect, but this new trailer gives us a better look at how it actually plays.
For those unfamiliar with the game, which has spawned four sequels (one exclusive to Japan), it casts you as a human who gets turned into a Pokemon and is made to team up with a partner to tackle dungeons. It’s got grid-based dungeon-crawling gameplay that’s quite different from what fans of the mainline Pokemon series are used to.
The new art style is looking good, too, in the footage below.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX releases for Nintendo Switch on March 6. A demo is available on the Switch Eshop.
For fans of the more traditional Pokemon experience, Nintendo recently released the Pokemon Home app for easier trading, allowing you to export monsters from the 3DS to your Switch games. Pokemon Sword and Shield will also receive two expansions this year. A new Legendary coming to the game has recently been teased.