Author: Trafficblast

A final Nintendo Direct focused on the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate introduced a whole new mode, which pairs hand-in-hand with its revised way to include beloved characters from a wide variety of new and retro video games. The new “Spirits” system replaces Trophies, letting the company give power-up attributes to still artwork rather than attempt to render 3D models of every character it wishes to reference.

You earn Spirits by battling in Spirits Mode, and then they can be used to buff your character. The Spirits come in two varieties: Primary Spirits, which mostly have stat increases, and Support Spirits, which attach to Primary Spirits and imbue you with special skills or abilities. Spirits are ranked by rarity: Novice, Advanced, Ace, and Legend. They also come in three power types: Attack (Red), Grab (Green), and Shield (Blue), in a rock-paper-scissors circle of vulnerabilities.

The presentation showed dozens of Spirits rapid-fire style and with some attributes obscured by the various menus. While this list isn’t complete, it shows several of the Spirits shown so far, with their special attributes, color affinity, and rarity. Check out the list to see just how deep Nintendo is reaching with its references.

Smash Bros. Ultimate releases on December 7. Check out our pre-order guide for more details.

Primary Spirits

• Gooey — Advanced
• Yuga — Shield, Ace
• Articuno, Zapdos, & Moltres — Attack, Legend
• Cranky Kong (Speed Down) — Attack, Ace
• Klaptrap (Weight Down) — Attack, Advanced
• Revali — Attack, Advanced
• Rabbid Peach — Shield, Advanced
• Kid Dracula — Grab, Ace
• Primid — Novice
• Bonkers — Attack, Ace
• Reinhardt Schneider — Novice
• Flare — Novice
• Bokoblin — Novice
• Smeargle — Novice
• Lakitu & Spiny — Grab, Advanced
• Gordo — Shield, Advanced
• Guts Man — Grab, Advanced
• Owain — Attack, Novice
• The Imprisoned — Shield, Advanced
• Bullet Bill — Attack, Novice
• Melia — Advanced
• Leon Belmont — Grab, Advanced
• Zael — Attack, Advanced
• Prince Fluff (Weight Down) — Grab, Novice
• Micaiah — Grab, Ace
• Severa — Novice
• Shy Guy — Novice
• Skull Man — Shield, Advanced
• ST Falcon — Attack, Novice
• Skull Kid — Grab, Advanced
• Sigma — Attack, Ace
• Starfy — Ace
• Jimmy T — Shield, Ace
• Mumkhar — Attack, Advanced
• Blooper — Shield
• Ephraim — Attack, Ace
• Zoroark — Attack, Advanced
• Octoling Girl and Octoling Boy — Attack, Ace
• Kyogre — Shield
• Princess Ruto — Shield
• Cut Man — Grab

Support Spirits

Unknown

• Mouser — Novice
• Silver the Hedgehog — Advanced
• Dry Bowser — Legend
• Clefairy
• Metal Sonic
• Urbosa
• Eliwood
• Loftwing
• Piantas
• Pandora
• Kaitlin and Katie
• Chibi-Robo
• Piplup
• Tails
• Dr. Wily
• Waddle-Dee
• Metroid
• Mr. Resetti
• Majora’s Mask Moon
• Zero
• Rambi the Rhino

It’s November, which means a new set of PC games is available for free to anyone with an Amazon Prime account. All you have to do is link your account to Twitch, and you’ll get a new batch of PC games for free each month. The number of free games varies, but this month you can download four games at no additional cost.

The biggest title on the list is Overcooked, a game that involves up to four players working together to prepare meals as orders come in. Each level takes place in a different kitchen, and as you progress the layouts become less and less hospitable for cooking. For instance, one level is set on a slippery iceberg and another on a busy street.

Not to be confused with Overcooked is Overload, the next free game for November. It’s an exploration-based first-person shooter that’s set in zero gravity. Then there’s AER: Memories of Old, an adventure game that takes place on a series of islands that are floating in the sky. Luckily, you can turn into a bird to travel between them. Rounding out this month’s freebies is the 12th century point-and-click adventure game The Pillars of the Earth.

You can claim all of these games here, but note you’ll need the Twitch desktop app for Windows to download them. While you’re on the site, make sure to grab any other free items for Prime members you might have missed, including cowboy gear for PUBG and a Golden Loot Box for Overwatch.

Twitch Prime’s Free Games For November 2018

• Overcooked
• Overload
• AER: Memories of Old
• The Pillars of the Earth

With Diablo III now available on Nintendo Switch (coinciding with the start of BlizzCon 2018), Blizzard has revealed another notable piece of news for Nintendo fans. Diablo is getting its very first Amiibo figure, and odds are, it’s probably not any of the characters you would guess.

As Blizzard shared on Twitter, the figure is not Diablo himself, nor any off the other Prime Evils. It’s also not Tyrael, Malthael, Deckard Cain, or any of the playable classes. Instead, it’s the mischievous loot goblin who gets the Amiibo treatment. (Separately, we’re also getting some new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Amiibo figures.)

The loot goblin Amiibo launches sometime in December; a specific release date wasn’t shared, but a listing for $16 on GameStop’s website is live and lists it as an exclusive. But it’s notable for featuring a unique design, both in terms of the figure itself and the box. The box looks more like a Funko Pop than the standard Amiibo packaging we’re accustomed to, while the figure has a cartoonish look. It actually appears to be the same design as an earlier Cute But Deadly figurine.

The figure’s exact function in the Switch game isn’t detailed, but Blizzard teases that you may be able to use it to access The Vault, a secret treasure goblin area filled with loot.

While certainly not imposing foes or significant characters in the lore, loot goblins do embody the loot chase that makes Diablo so enjoyable. Treasure goblins are a type of enemy you can happen upon in Diablo III. When first attacked, these will begin to run away, but as you continue hitting them, they drop various loot–gold, gems, blood shards, weapons, armor–depending on what type they are. It’s a real treat, but also an intense race to ensure you kill it and earn the maximum lot before it can summon a portal and jump through.

Diablo III’s launch on Switch represents a great new way to play the game, even if it does lose some of the visual fidelity of the PC version. You can read all about what to expect in our Diablo III Switch review.

We don’t exactly know when in 2019 Game of Thrones Season 8 will arrive, but we do know it will be the final batch of episodes for the hugely popular fantasy show. It’s set to be an emotional ride for fans of the show, and it seems it was just as moving for the cast when they first read the script together.

In a new feature in Entertainment Weekly, some details of the full cast read of Season 8’s scripts have been revealed. The article states that showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss started the session by asking the cast members to avoid doing anything that might give away any of the new season’s secrets, no matter how small. One unnamed actor is quoted as saying they were told: “Don’t even take a photo of your boots on the ground of the set.”

The article goes on to state that it was a particularly emotional experience for Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow. Unlike most of his fellow cast members, Harington didn’t read the scripts prior to the table read, so he was experiencing the show’s ending for the first time. He reportedly cried twice during the table read, and although we don’t know the reason for the first time because of potential spoilers, EW reports that the second time was when they reached the end of the final episode. “The second time was the very end,” he said. “Every season, you read at the end of the last script ‘End of Season 1,’ or ‘End of Season 2.’ This read End of Game of Thrones.”

EW have also revealed that at one stage Benioff and Weiss were considering finishing the show with three theatrical movies rather than six episodes. Season 8 will contain the biggest battle of the show’s history and the pair were concerned that HBO’s budget might not allow them to do what they wanted.

In related news, details have started the emerge about the Game of Thrones spin-off show, which starts production next year. According to Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin, the series will be titled The Long Night. It will star Naomi Watts and Joshua Whitehouse, and the pilot is written by Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass, the Kingsmen movies), who has created the series with Martin and will serve as its showrunner. It’s set to take place thousands of years before the current series, during the Age of Heroes.