Got the Minecraft amiibo

Even more small merchandise this week. Say hello to Steve and Alex. I love how the Smash logo on the packaging looks a bit like the flag of Finland, while Minecraft is actually from Sweden... Would have been an opportunity here, but close enough.

The amiibo themselves are probably the cheapest feeling amiibo I've had yet. It's really just some painted plastic blocks attached to each other and that's it. The source material is to blame here, of course, but I wish they would have done something more interesting with it, e.g. use small wooden blocks instead of plastic or something. I don't know...

As you can see, I've also got the Min Min amiibo earlier this year and it's really awesome, easily one of my favorites thanks to her impressive arms and many details. She does have a small stand under her, but unlike most it doesn't look too cheap, because it's trying to create a small effect.

For me Min Min and the Minecraft characters were the most exciting additions to the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate during the Fighters Passes, not only because they came from games I like, but also because they've added some very unique mechanics to the game. I even ended up maining Min Min, because she was so fun and offered a style that worked out great for me.

Sadly, they also were the cause for lots of controversy. People didn't like their addition in general and the movesets can be troublesome, which resulted in many discussions around banning these characters... Good thing I'm not invested in the competitive community of Smash by any means.

Anyway, as for the upcoming amiibo, I only plan to get Pyra and Mythra, where I hope they will either do one amiibo with both characters or a double pack similar to Steve and Alex. That will be it for my Super Smash Bros. collection, where I only ever got the characters I've liked for whatever reasons, mainly the ones for Zelda and Metroid.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x Minecraft Impressions

Time to troll. The "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x Minecraft" Challenger Pack has been released yesterday and certainly offers by far the most creative and unique addition to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate yet. It's absolutely hilarious and I had a good laugh trying Steve for the first time. The moves, the taunts, the victory animations, it's all so out there and the perfect troll fighter.

However, I can't claim that this is my favorite DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate so far, because that title still goes to ARMS. Actually, my first impressions of both fighters were quite similar: you have to play them very defensively and with that they aren't really something for me personally. Well, this turned out to be completely wrong with Min Min, where she basically is my second main by now and not just a "secondary"...

Steve on the other hand is exactly what I expected him to be: super defensive. He essentially has a "mind your own business" playstyle, where your goal is to mine, craft and build things, just like in Minecraft, and your opponent is just a nuisance that's getting in the way. His weakness are seemingly rushdowns, but it's easier said than done for his opponents thanks to his defensiveness. You don't want to be under Steve when he has that iron and you don't want to be above him in any case. His anti-air game is insane. And so is his ability to ledge-trap.

He can wall off opponents from getting back to the stage, place TNT traps at the ledge or simply spam raining fire... Well, as a downside, his own recovery isn't that great either. You can't place blocks while you're falling and if you can't place blocks, your only option to get back up is the Elytra, which is very tricky to control. I'm not a fan of the gliding mechanic, really, and it's easy to mess it up. But at the same time the things that you can do to mess up any other fighter's recovery are insane.

What a character! I didn't think he's for me at first, because he's very hard to handle and I'm personally a little overwhelmed by all the mining and crafting you have to do, since this makes you quite vulnerable and I prefer to play offensively. Well, I wanted this character for the ability to build things and that turned out even more amazing than I had imagined. But it wouldn't be "Minecraft" without mining and crafting as well, so I'm not complaining... And I'm slowly getting the hang of him, where there is some potential for a new secondary / counter pick here.

And the mining is such a crazy feature, especially how every stage can be different for Steve. It's fun to do and the attention to detail with this fighter is absolutely above the charts, where you even get sand blocks on Tortimer Island, ice blocks on Summit or wool blocks on Yoshi's Story.

Some stage materials seem quite off, though, for example the Great Plateau tower is apparently made out of stone and Spring Stadium made out of dirt, even though both should probably be iron... I suppose they based this feature on what sounds are played from the materials, but it probably could have needed some more adjusting here and there.

  

Speaking of stages, the "Minecraft World" turned out much better than I thought it would. At first I was a little bit disappointed that it wasn't entirely random, but the attention to detail is again superb. There is so much to discover in the backgrounds, it's absolutely beautiful. It's really like playing in a Minecraft world with its day and night cycle, mobs running around and some generated structures.

Destroying the upper layers of the stage block by block can be fun, but the blocks can also get heavily in the way. However, the hazardless versions of the stage have all destructible blocks removed from the get-go, so that's good and each variant still feels different enough thanks to the platforms and visuals.

It's basically like getting six Minecraft stages in one and that's some amazing effort, where it's also nice how can select all six variants individually via shortcuts. I wish that some of the morphing stages, like Paper Mario, had this feature as well, so that you could go directly to a certain part of the stage or even choose it for the hazard-free variant.

The Classic Mode route for Steve was great as well. Lots of nice references to the game, like going into a Woodland Mansion, the Nether and of course the End. Using giant Kirbies as Ghasts or Pits as Vexes was quite clever, I give them that.

 

The only real downside of this DLC pack is the lack of any C418 music. And don't tell me that it's too "calm", Sakurai, there are other calm music pieces in the game and you can always remix them. In the very least the victory theme should have been the main Minecraft theme and not that weird Achievement jingle. I suppose that there probably have been issues with getting the rights here and that's a shame...

Nintendo Switch Minecraft Edition?

Remember the "Creeper Edition" of the Nintendo 2DS XL that came out in 2018? Yeah, that one:

Well, here's an idea... You put Steve in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and then you sell a Minecraft Nintendo Switch bundle for the Christmas season! How about that? I call that easy money.

They could make the dock look like a bunch of Minecraft blocks, which would be awesome. And attach Joy-cons that look like Creepers or other Mobs from the game. Certainly beats making a Fortnite Edition... And you know what? I'd buy it!

Let's face it, they are not going to make that "Sheikah Slate Edition" for the release of Age of Calamity that I so desperately want. They probably think that every Zelda fan on Earth has already purchased a Nintendo Switch because of Breath of the Wild. Not that this has stopped them from making unnecessary Zelda Editions for the Nintendo 3DS, but there is obviously a certain reluctance here...

And I'm not happy with the thought of purchasing a normal Nintendo Switch now, only to sell it again later when finally a Special Edition arrives that I want to have... It's a possibility, but not one I'd like to take. So, instead I would be willing to buy another collectible edition, as long as it's to my liking. I probably would have purchased the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Edition two years ago, if that didn't look like the cheapest effort of all time.

Plus, back then I was still hopeful about a Zelda Edition coming soon, but Nintendo felt like it wasn't worth it for Link's Awakening and even if they did, I probably would be looking at a Nintendo Switch Lite, because that was coming out at the same day...

In any case I'll need a Nintendo Switch soon and I'm not happy with the current situation. Give me something, Nintendo!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Steve & Alex Presentation

On board the Steve hype train!

Today was the Sakurai Presents for "Steve & Alex" (no love for Zombies or Endermen, it seems), where Sakurai showcased the moveset and "Minecraft World" stage in great detail. And it's pretty awesome...

You can really see the love that went into making this. There is so much effort that went into crafting what's easily the most creative moveset in the entire game, it's like Sakurai's team is trying very hard to outdo themselves with the second Fighters Pass. Both Min Min and Steve are very exceptional fighters.

Well, the use of different tools is actually quite similar to Byleth, where in this case up attacks use the Axe and so on. So, that part was a little underwhelming. But the mining, crafting and block placing mechanics are so overwhelming, it totally makes up for it.

Steve will create his own meta around stage materials, which is absolutely crazy. This will be even a factor for competitive play, where there is quite the limited stage pool, but you will deal with a focus on different materials, like wood (Smashville, Town & City) or iron (Lylat Cruise), as a result, which is something you'll have to consider for counter-picks. This might even lead to a scenario, where you'll have to play the Battlefield version of Battlefield or the Omega-Version of Final Destination just to have the neutral resource distribution of these stage variants, unless they do that already by default. But hey, at least this way these redundant stages would have a use.

The crafting part is quite fun, where this is finally another character who makes use of the backgrounds of the stages. But unlike the Pokémon Trainer, who just stands there and shouts, this will actually be interactive. And it's such a good thing that you can call it to wherever you are with the Shield Special move, which is also a thing that so far was only utilized by a single character (Inkling).

Well, and then there's the blocks. It's funny how Sakurai first says that he has trouble doing his balancing play sessions during home office times and then introduces us to what's most likely one of the most overpowered mechanics in the game...

The block placing in the air is busted. That feels like one of the most broken moves ever and you can't even do that in Minecraft, where blocks only can be placed onto other blocks. But as someone who isn't that good at recovering and edge guarding, this might be a character for me, similar to Min Min.

It's also crazy how this is all one Special Move and Kirby will get all of this, if he absorbs you. He will be able to mine and place blocks in the air, just like you do. Well, the crafting might not be useful or even usable with Kirby, but the blocks certainly are.

And since all of this is one single move, that leaves room for even more crazy stuff. As if the blocks aren't already good enough, Steve also gets a good recovery with the Elytra. And the mine cart feature for the Side Special, as well as the TNT for the Down Special are the craziest things and give you so many ridiculous options.  This is a troll fighter at its finest.

Of course most of this will be balanced by the resource gathering. You need a lot of wood and iron for the mine carts for example, but standing around and mining materials will make you very vulnerable. So, Steve could be an easy victim to rush-downs. He might also be quite bad on certain stages, where you only find little wood and iron.

The "Minecraft World" stage, however, turned out to be a little bit disappointing. I was expecting a stage similar to "Super Mario Maker", where it's something different every time. But apparently there are six hard-coded variants and it loads one of them at random. But still, you get six stages in one and they all really look pretty, where they have lots of nice elements from the original game.

It's also fun how everyone can actually break the blocks above the ground level. Of course it doesn't let you destroy the entire stage, but something like this needed to be part of a Minecraft stage. I just wish that the elements would be more random.

The Creeper and Pig Mii costumes are super weird, though. They just look so freaky... The Creepers would have been perfect for Assist Trophies and it's a shame they never add any of those via the updates. Of course these Mii costumes are based on player skins, but they feel like they are the rejects from the selection of alt costumes for Steve... Oh, and Travis Touchdown got a hard disconfirm, but the Bomberman Mii costume is really nice. Easily the best of the bunch.

But I can't wait and I can't believe that right after Min Min I get another fighter that I'm super excited about and that might turn into a really good secondary of mine. Thank you, Nintendo, Microsoft, Mojang, Sakurai and Bandai Namco for this! It's absolutely amazing!

Hoes Mad

 

The internet right now. Credits to CyberKitten05 on SmashFAQs for the idea.

In all seriousness, I get that not everybody likes Minecraft or wanted it represented in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. But Super Smash Bros. is still a game where all of gaming can collide, no matter the visual style or the demographics. Well, except hentai or anything that shows too much cleavage, really...

But whatever you find to be a bad pick for Smash, it will ultimately make someone else happy.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x Minecraft Announced

 

I don't want to brag or anything, but I wrote this yesterday in my prediction:

It's also notable how there's the Minecraft Live 2020 stream this Saturday, which could be why Nintendo is doing a short announcement prematurely. Let's say it's really Steve, then Nintendo might want to use the virtual "Minecon" as a platform for additional advertisement. Get as many Minecraft fans on board with the news as possible...

Nailed it! Absolutely nailed it!

Well, to be fair, my initial theory was that there might be a delay happening because of the difficulties of coordinating with a 3rd party. Luckily, this wasn't the case and it's simply that the "Sakurai Presents" will be shown before Minecraft Live 2020, which makes a lot of sense.

And I couldn't possibly be any happier. I know I'm having an acquired taste here... and many people are outraged right now, especially after Byleth and Min Min. But I'm on the opposite side of things. The first four Challenger Packs didn't do anything for me. I didn't dislike any of them (except maybe Hero and Banjo a little) and I saw their value, but it simply wasn't from any games that I've enjoyed in the past. And because they were all 3rd party, they also didn't really do anything to represent the current Nintendo.

But I was in full support of Byleth, when he/she came out, and I've wanted a fighter from ARMS quite badly, where Min Min became my favorite DLC fighter and my second most used fighter in the game. And another "most wanted" of mine has been Minecraft since the start, where I've kept mentioning Minecraft in Smash for over two years now. I even came up with a Challenger Pack Concept in May of last year, which is pretty close to what we're getting here.

Well, we're also getting the Zombie and Enderman as playable alts next to Steve and Alex. And the Enderman has fully surprised me, because it's literally kind of a stretch (the originals are way bigger), but the Zombie makes a lot of sense, since they are basically just dead Steves.

It also shows perfectly the crazy moveset potential. People, who really didn't like the idea of Steve in Smash, usually went on and on about how he just could be a Mii costume... And sure, a DLC Mii costume is always a good solution for a character you really don't want (looking at you, Geno). Other people wanted Minecraft to be represented via a stage only, because they didn't feel like a fighter would be a good fit.

But the concept of building and crafting things really only can be translated via a fighter and the DLC fighters so far all have been crazy. The most conventional ones were probably Banjo and Byleth, but the others all had some crazy mechanics. And Steve / Alex / Zombie / Enderman will join the madness, they might even offer the craziest moveset so far.

It seems like you don't start with a weapon, but have to craft your tools by collecting materials. So, it probably will be a very defensive moveset and might not be for me, personally. But I thought the same about Min Min at first and I now love playing as her. Oh, and the Final Smash is the most disrespectful thing ever, I love it. Same with the victory animation, where he builds a house for no reason. That's some funny stuff.

And the stage looks absolutely magnificent. I've really enjoyed the Super Mario Maker stage, where you get to play a different stage each time you load it up. And the Minecraft stage will be similar, only with even more variety and good stuff.

But after the disappointment about Skull Kid, who I really was hoping for in the base game, it feels so good to get multiple characters I like in a row. The second Fighters Pass checked off two of my "most wanteds" from the starts and that's incredible. Now, if we're also getting another Zelda fighter, this will be the best timeline... If not, then there's always Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity for us.

Well, more on Saturday! Hype!

Another Game of the Decade

It feels like yesterday that The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask has claimed the title "Game of the Decade" on GameFAQs.com (see here) and now another Zelda game has done it again, beating The Witcher 3 in the finale — The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Of course GameFAQs isn't exactly the most representative site and it's all just in good fun, but it's still nice to see that Breath of the Wild is getting some more praise. I'd even say that it deserves the title "Game of the Decade" more than Majora's Mask did for what it has accomplished. The game truly has been a success to the Zelda franchise and has been the biggest milestone for the series ever since Ocarina of Time, as well as an important milestone for open world games overall.

However, I personally would not say it's the Game of Decade. That title should probably go something that has defined gaming even more in the last ten years...

Minecraft. Rarely ever there has been a game so successful and influential as this one. It sold ten times as much as Breath of the Wild and became the beautiful childhood memories for an entire generation of gamers. Exploration and a great joy of discovery, which have made Breath of the Wild so good, also are a huge part of its experience, on top of the high amount of creativity that this game supports. Minecraft is just pure gaming magic.

Breath of the Wild can keep you playing for hundreds of hours until you've done and explored everything. And it does so really well. Minecraft, however, can be played forever.

10th Anniversary of Minecraft

If I have to name my all-time favorite games or game series, it would be The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Unreal, but also Minecraft. Rarely ever had a game captivated me as much as this one and while I haven't played it in some years, it still has a very special place in my heart, where I have many fond memories of playing Minecraft both alone and with friends.

And by now the game is already ten years old, celebrating an entire decade of existence. Well, I haven't played the game before 2011, where I first tried the Beta and was already fascinated by its atmosphere. However, at the time the game didn't run as well on my computer, so I hadn't played it for long at the time. But with version 1.1 in the following year things changed, where Minecraft became my biggest gaming addiction for two years, until Hyrule Warriors came in 2014 and stole my attention.

While I've played on some multiplayer servers, for the most part I was dedicated to my own world, building a second home there, where you can find some glimpses of this in the screenshots of this post. And this is part of why Minecraft was so fascinating for me: it's your own world.

I love playing Zelda games for the exploration, but Minecraft takes things further by randomly generating a world and letting you change it piece by piece. While there are some templates of how the worlds are created and you have certain repeating constructs like villages, mine shafts and so on, it's all always unique and exploring in Minecraft never gets old. And it never stops, because the worlds are potentially infinite. You can spend a lifetime exploring everything in one world and still won't be able to see it all.

For me it was the first real open world game that I've played, several years before Breath of the Wild, and it was so good because it just puts you in the middle of the world and lets your own curiosity take over. The early Survival game is quite exciting, where at night monsters come out and you want to create a shelter to stay safe. Slowly, but surely you get better gear and are ready to explore more, fight stronger foes and so on.

But once you've found a place that you like, you can settle and build a house, a farm, a village, an underground facility and whatever you like. I've dedicated my main area to farming everything possible, where I have a mob, sugar cane and slime farm under my house, a villager trading center, collections of all animals, fields for all plants, flower farms, an Iron Golem farm and so much more. You could say that I've overdone it, but that was part of the fun and Minecraft really lives from your own goals.

This special combination of exploring, fighting monsters and building your own world is even something that I've wanted since the GameBoy Color games, where I liked playing Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages & Seasons, but also Harvest Moon. At the time I've imagined how nice it would be to build my own farm around Mabe Village on Koholint. And Minecraft kind of gave me this in a very ambitious way.

Simply reminiscing about the game makes me feel really nostalgic, where I even went back to the game after all those years for the 10th Anniversary. But I've stopped playing when version 1.8 came out, where by now we have version 1.14 and lots of things have happened since then. It's amazing how they keep adding to the game, still developing it after all this time, improving it on all ends.

But it also feels quite overwhelming, if you haven't kept up with it... Some of my aforementioned farms and creations don't work anymore due to the (recent) changes to villages and other elements, where I really need to study all the changes in detail to make decisions on how to go on here.

Sometimes it feels like it would be the best to simply start over, enjoy a fresh game in a new world without all the weight of all what was done before. But at the same time I've achieved so much in my old world, like an Enderman farm in the End for near endless Ender Pearls supplies, where I would have to do so many (sophisticated) things a second time, instead of focusing the new things.

And there are so many new things to discover. I really like the additions from the "Update Aquatic" for example, especially the new Trident weapon - it's so good that I hope that it will be part of the moveset for Steve in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, if he really makes it into the DLC... And it already inspires new projects, where I want to build a Drowned farm using a Zombie spawner.

Village & Pillage

Last month the "Village & Pillage" update just got released and I've tried some of its additions in a New World, where chance had it that I spawned right next to one of the new Pillager Outposts, not far from a village, so I could try the new Raid mechanics:

It's really crazy and the village gets swarmed with all sorts of hostile "Illager" mobs. It's nothing you could survive early in the game, but a fun idea nonetheless.

For my old game world, however, I had to go back to version 1.3.2 to complete my villager trading center project for Enchanted Books - something that wouldn't work the same way in version 1.4 and beyond, at least not way I intended it to. I even will have to figure out how to keep trades going in 1.4...

But overall I like how you can now directly influence the profession of new villagers now by placing the profession blocks and how villagers are now looking for beds instead of many, many doors. It just feels like they completely overdid things here and some of the profession blocks seem somewhat unnecessary or weird. Like, why would we need a "Smithing Table" without any functions for a Toolsmith, if there already is the Anvil in the game?

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x Minecraft - Challenger Pack Concept

If you're talking about adding Minecraft contents to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in form of one of the five Challenger Packs, you often get met with anger, because it seems that part of the Smash community really doesn't like the idea of the Minecraft avatar as a playable fighter in their favorite game, mostly because of the aesthetics.

The bargaining often ends with saying that a stage should be enough, because the possibility of Minecraft contents being added to Smash Ultimate is still in the air, ever since Vergeben first mentioned this about a year ago - the guy who accurately "predicted" Ridley, Simon, Isabelle, Ken and Incineroar. He couldn't place the Minecraft contents, which were missing during the release, but has heard about a boss, where it's possible that they might add the Ender Dragon as another boss to the game with the DLC.

But even without the words of so called leakers, it's not unlikely that both Nintendo and Sakurai might want Minecraft in Smash. Nintendo loves Minecraft. They have released a Creeper Edition of the New 2DS XL and Minecraft is on the three most recent Nintendo console with lots of Super Mario skins. Miyamoto openly wishes that Nintendo had made the game (source) and Sakurai loves to play Survival Minecraft (source).

And I personally love Minecraft myself. I have very fond memories of playing the game both alone and with various friends during my time at the university. It was my first real open world game before Breath of the Wild and I wouldn't want to have it any other way, because Minecraft embraces complete freedom. The freedom to explore as you like, to do what you want and to make your own mistakes while facing the dangers of the dark. The freedom to build your own house, underground facility, farm or island in the sky...

It's such a complex game with nearly unlimited possibilities, but yet so simple at its core. It's a game to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages, where it has become the childhood favorite of an entire new generation of gamers. Minecraft is today what Super Mario used to be for my generation. So, it would be a great honor for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to have one of its Challenger Packs devoted to this successful game, which has the charm of Nintendo's old classics. And with the 10th Anniversary of Minecraft coming up, it would be the perfect time for this crossover.

While it's possible that they might add only a stage or some other small collaborations in the form of additional Mii Fighter outfits and Spirits, the core of the DLC for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will be the five Challenger Packs, bundles of a fighter and a stage. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U offered similar bundles for whenever they had added a fighter from a new franchise (Street Fighter, Final Fantasy and Bayonetta), where it's likely that most, if not all of the five Challenger Packs will be for 3rd party franchises, considering that most of Nintendo has been covered by Spirits already.

So, if they are really working on Minecraft contents for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it most likely will be the full package and might even receive the best efforts from Sakurai's team. A stage alone also wouldn't be entirely satisfying. While it certainly could capture the essence of exploration and the magic of Minecraft's randomized worlds, it could not properly represent all the things you can do in the game. Only a fighter can do that.

In the following we will discuss the possible contents of a "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate x Minecraft" Challenger Pack:

The Stage: New World

Like the Super Mario Maker stage, it would be randomized, starting you in a different biome each time you play on the stage. This part would be a walk-off stage with a randomized layout and a day and night cycle, where at night different monsters come out, like Zombies, Skeleton and of course Creepers. Players can destroy the block based terrain and even pick up the blocks like items to place them somewhere else.

This would be the simplest concept, but they could take it even further by scrolling or morphing the stage. Players could potentially dig their way into a randomized cave system. This could either be a normal cave, a mine shaft or a part of a Stronghold. The transition could even happen in different ways, e.g. the Ender Dragon swooping through the stage, erasing the ground.

The stage could take the players even into the Nether or the End potentially, where in the background Steve shows up and opens the respective portal. The End would be more like a traditional Smash stage with a platform in the dark void and probably would feature the Ender Dragon as a stage boss. The Nether part will have a lava floor similar to Norfair. Both realms then lead back to the beginning via portals, where everything starts over.

Overall there is enough potential for multiple stages here, where a randomized Minecraft overworld stage would already be amazing enough.

The Fighter: Steve & Alex

The big DLC fighters that come bundled with a stage all seem to offer some sort of new gimmick. Ryu had the Street Fighter inputs, Cloud had Limit, Bayonetta had Witch Time and now Joker got Arsene. Three of those are even triggered by the Down Special. If a Minecraft fighter gets into Smash, this gimmick should be obvious: placing blocks. The Down Special would here be used to place blocks below you and pillar up. These blocks can be destroyed by other players with attacks, but you can do so quicker with your pickaxe (Neutral or Side Special).

Ender Pearls could be used for the Up Special, where you throw the pearl in an arc and then get teleported to where it hits at the cost of some percent. The trusty block sword could be used for his normal attacks, where a Diamond Sword could deal the devastating Smash Attacks. Other tools and weapons from the game like the bow, shovel, axe, trident or even potions are available to fill any remaining moves, so there is lots of potential for a moveset here.

The Final Smash could ever be lighting a pile of TNT or summoning the Wither, where both would be equally devastating to your surroundings.

The main issue people seem to have with a Minecraft fighter in Super Smash Bros. usually isn't the moveset potential, but the overall look, despite the fact that we have characters like Mr. Game & Watch playable already. But if you take a look at the Minecraft Dungeons trailer, seeing a Minecraft fighter properly animated doesn't feel so alien after all and could still fit into Smash with its own charms. He would stick out for sure, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, making this a truly unique entry.

The fighter would have "Steve" as a the default skin, much like Minecraft itself does, but there are countless possibilities for alt costumes here, including those from the official Super Mario Edition, where you have a majority of the Mario characters including Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser and Toad, of course. But they could go for other Nintendo characters like Link or Zero Suit Samus, which all would be easily distinguishable from the actual fighters thanks to their blocky appearance. And even other video game characters altogether are possible, like Master Chief or Banjo...

The female default skin, "Alex", should be part of this as well, but with so many options for alt costumes of both genders, they might even go as far and make her an Echo Fighter. In this case the Challenger Pack would come with both a new Fighter and an Echo Fighter similar to Simon and Richter in the main game. She wouldn't have to be all that different from her male counterpart, but it would be worth it for the possibility of having 16 Minecraft skins together alone.

Another good reason would be the Classic Mode...

Classic Mode & Spirits

With a Classic Mode route for Minecraft it's clear, where it ends: in the "End" with the Ender Dragon as its boss. Well, if they are cheap yet again, they could just use Rathalos on Final Destination to emulate the battle, but depending on how much effort they put into the Minecraft DLC, both the End and the Ender Dragon could become a boss stage of their own.

(If they are planning on adding a Boss Battle mode later on, this could even be the reason, why they are holding it back: the game doesn't have all its bosses as of yet.)

The rest of the Classic Mode could use other parts of the Minecraft stage, depending on how much the stage actually offers. But existing stages could represent certain parts of the Minecraft world, e.g. Norfair could be used to represent the Nether and the Great Cave Offensive as an underground cave.

As for Spirits, the typical / most popular Minecraft enemies and mobs would do the job here:

• Zombie
• Skeleton
• Creeper
• Villager
• Wolf
• Enderman
• Ender Dragon
• Ghast
• Wither
• ...

There's lots of iconic entities in the game, so there is more than enough material for potential Spirits.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: DLC Roster Leaked?

So, there is this rumor going around, where the entire DLC line-up for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been revealed (see here). I personally think it has too much information to be real (e.g. already knowing some alt costumes or reveal plans), where I'm leaning towards fake, but it's still an interesting list:

• Joker (Persona 5)
• Erdrick (Dragon Quest)
• Ryu Hayabusa (Ninja Gaiden)
• Steve (Minecraft)
• Doom Slayer (DOOM)

Wow! I previously disliked the thought of getting a full 3rd party roster for the DLC, but if these are the candidates, I'm taking it back. I would be really excited for this.

Now, Joker is already confirmed and there have been several other rumors around Erdrick. One is that data miners have found character filenames with the name "brave" in the 1.1.0 update code (source), where it's speculated that this is simply a literal translation of "Yuusha", the Japanese name of the Hero character in the Dragon Quest games.

In addition, Vergeben also is saying that he keeps hearing about Erdrick (source) and he has been quite reliable about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate so far. He thought that the Square Enix character, which would be the fighter from Dragon Quest, would be revealed first and was wrong about that, but since he accurately predicted Ridley, Simon, Isabelle, Ken and Incineroar, I still give him the benefit of the doubt. And it all adds up.

Vergeben also kept hearing about Minecraft content (source), which would be another bullet point on the list. So, there are only really Ninja Gaiden and DOOM being the big surprises here.

And Ninja Gaiden makes a lot of sense. The series is a cult classic that goes back to the NES days. It also spawned the popular Dead or Alive fighting (and sexy volleyball) game series, where Ryu Hayabusa is a fighter in these games as well and would represent two franchises at once with that. Also, it would be the first Koei Tecmo representative, something to be expected sooner than later. Koei Tecmo has been cooperating with Nintendo left and right, they even gave us Hyrule Warriors, where it's weird that so far nothing from them has been playable in Super Smash Bros. – and Ryu Hayabusa should be the first choice here.

Also, Nintendo has been cooperating a lot with both Bethesda and Microsoft in the recent years, where some opportunities for Smash may arise here. And in case of Microsoft the choice of Minecraft is extremely obvious. It's the second best selling game of all time and insanely popular, going strong for almost a decade now. Nintendo loves Minecraft. Sakurai loves Minecraft. Miyamoto loves Minecraft. And most gamers love Minecraft as well. The game is available on Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and Switch, where there's even a special Creeper-faced New 2DS XL.

And adding Minecraft to Smash Ultimate would be the biggest deal possible. There are so many fans out there that suddenly might become interested in buying a Switch with Smash Ultimate (and maybe even a copy of Minecraft to play it on the go), making this a very good addition from a business point of view.

In case of Bethesda, it probably comes down to either Dovahkiin or Doom Slayer, where the latter has multiple advantages. He represents the genre of classic, fast First Person Shooter games, which is not yet represented in Smash at all, while he also has a rich history with Nintendo. The original Doom appeared on the SNES and GameBoy Advance, while the N64 had a Doom game on its own with Doom 64. And of course the new games are on Switch.

Doom Slayer also appears in the Quake series, mainly as a playable character in Quake III Arena and Quake Champions, where similar to Ryu Hayabusa he could represent two series at once. So, while this might seem like the most outlandish choice on this list, Doom Slayer has lots of going for him.

And I personally would like this selection quite a lot. I don't care about Dragon Quest and I also don't Akira Toriyama's art anywhere near Smash, but I can still see the rich history Nintendo has with this series and its popularity in Japan.

Minecraft on the other hand is one of my favorite games of all time, where an inclusion in Smash would make me very happy. As a fan of the earlier Dead or Alive games, I would welcome Ryu Hayabusa with opens arms and I think he has the right legacy to be in Smash. And while I'm more a fan of Quake than Doom, I would still be very excited about Doom Slayer in Smash, especially if he brings weapons like the Rocket Launcher and even the BFG as his Final Smash. That would be insane. So, if this were the real DLC, I would be quite happy.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Stage Ideas

With a grand total of 96 returning stages, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate already leaves little to be desired when it comes to stages. However, only four new stages have been revealed so far, three of them based on newer games, where there are certainly many more possibilities for exciting additions.

In this post I want to go over some stage ideas that I would like to see implemented in the game. Naturally, this will focus on stages from games that I've played and liked, so there is a big bias here. I've mentioned some of these ideas briefly in previous posts, but some of them have evolved over time.

Let's start with two new stages from The Legend of Zelda. This is still a Zelda blog after all and there is no such thing as "too many Zelda stages".

• Clock Town

  With Skull Kid being a big candidate for a newcomer, it would be nice if he came with his own stage. This would be a morphing stage, which starts in South Clock Town on the Dawn of the First Day. But time will progress and the Carnival of Time will be celebrated, where the Clock Tower opens at midnight on the Third Day. After this the stage will morph to the top of the Clock Tower. And once the Moon gets closer, the players will be warped to the Grassy Playfield on the Moon. Afterwards it will all start over.
  
  

• Lorule Castle

  This can be a simpler stage and even mirror the classic Hyrule Castle stage with a Lorule design from A Link Between Worlds. So, it would take place on top of Lorule Castle. Nothing too special, but the music alone would make this godlike.
  

Next will be stages from Donkey Kong and Metroid, specifically their most recent games - Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Metroid: Samus Returns. Both of these franchises have a lot in common. Both were stuck with two fighters since Super Smash Bros. Brawl and both finally are getting a newcomer now in the form of a big bad, King K. Rool and Ridley. Chances are that there will also be Dixie Kong as an Echo Fighter, much like there is Dark Samus. Also, both franchises had a total of six stages in the history of Smash, with only four of them returning in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. So, there were two Donkey Kong stages and two Metroid stages cut. And it would be nice if each franchise got one stage to make up for this...

• Grassland Groove

  Or anything from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze... like the Fruit Factory. You can't really go wrong with anything from that game, but the Bright Savannah has some of the best music and the basis for some solid stages, like in the Grassland Groove level. Here the platforms bob around in tact with the music, which could create some interesting stage.
  
  

• Planet SR388

  This level will be based on Samus Returns and consist of multiple parts. It starts harmless on the surface, where Samus' Gunship is parked. But eventually the floor will crumble and the fighters will be taken deeper into the caves of Planet SR388, where the Diggernaut or the Metroid Queen could await you as bosses.
  

Let's stay with Metroid for a bit, where the franchise has so many more places to offer, which could be used as stages. So far most of the Metroid stages take place on the classic Planet Zebes. The original "Planet Zebes" stage, Brinstar, Brinstar Depths, Norfairs... It's all inspired by the first game and maybe Super Metroid, but it's all quite generic. The only places from other Metroid games were Frigate Orpheon from Metroid Prime and the Pyrosphere from Metroid: Other M.

• Tourian

  Well, we got Brinstar and Norfair, so we might as well add the classic Tourian stage to complete the Planet Zebes collection. And I wouldn't be "TourianTourist", if I didn't make this suggestion. This one seems like a no-brainer. The whole set-up would create an interesting stage, where the players have to dodge Rinkas and destroy the Zebetites, so they can reach each other. Mother Brain could be still a boss in the stage, despite being an Assist Trophy. And like with the Dracula boss fight, they might do a big Mother Brain boss fight based on Super Metroid.
  
  

• Sanctuary Fortress

  This isn't very likely, because Metroid Prime 2: Echoes isn't really the newest game anymore, but also not the same classic material as its predecessor. But with Dark Samus in the game it would be nice to have a stage to accommodate her. The stage itself could switch between Light and Dark Aether, where in Dark Aether the fighters get constantly hurt, unless they are in a light bubble.
  
  

• Slipstream

  Metroid Prime: Federation Force certainly isn't the most popular game, but it's a recent game and could have been on the radar when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate started production in 2015. The 16th mission, Slipstream, also would make for a perfect Smash stage. It's a platform that moves on high speed through a canyon, while it gets attacked by a Space Pirate Warship. There are lots of crazy mechanics that they could use here, like parts of the platform being destroyed, Pirate Aerotroopers (Flying Pirates) attacking and the fighters working together to take out the Warship.
  

Last, but not least, here is a stage based on one of my favorite games ever, which hopefully will have an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate one way or another:

• New World

  If there's really some Minecraft content in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a stage would be one of the most important things here, because the randomly generated block world is the absolute star of Minecraft. The stage itself could be something that keeps changing, similar to the Super Mario Maker stage. And it could be something, where the players are able to destroy part of the stage, block by block. The stage could also morph into the Nether and into the End, featuring boss fights against the Wither and the Ender Dragon. So much potential!
  

Minecraft New 2DS XL Announced

Nintendo really wants you to buy a New Nintendo 2DS XL, it seems. Like the Hylian Shield Edition, the "Creeper Edition" is looking really nice.

I used to be a big Minecraft fan back in the day. It was my most played game between 2012 and 2014 and I don't think any other "modern" game came as close to the iconic cult status of Nintendo as Minecraft did. And the Creeper is surely a front face for that.

But the main reason, why I'm posting this, is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! Such a cooperation makes it even more likely that there might some Minecraft representation in the game, like a stage. I would absolutely love to battle as Link or Samus in the Minecraft world, this would be truly amazing.

Of course there could be more than just that. "Steve" is an often suggested character and the potential is certainly there with the different Minecraft tools and weapons. He could use sword, bow or the pickaxe. He could fire Enderpearls for his Up Special and drop certain blocks as his Down Special. His Final Smash could involve lots of Dynamite or summoning a Wither.

Additionally, the Creeper would be a perfect candidate for an Assist Trophy, who chases one of your opponents and then goes "boom". There is so much potential with Minecraft in Smash, where I can only hope that this will be happening.

My Games of the Year 2000 - 2017

What's your Game of the Year 2017? If your answer isn't "Breath of the Wild", chances are that you haven't played the game. This might seem presumptuous, but The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild clearly was one of the most ground-breaking games this year with its "Climb'n'Glide" approach for the open world genre. It sold the Nintendo Switch and it even sold Wii Us to those who couldn't get a Switch. It also won many "Game of the Year" awards already, including the Golden Joystick Awards and TIME Magazine's Best Games of 2017, as well as the infamous Game Awards, where they showed the trailer for the Champions' Ballad DLC. (Here you can find a comprehensive list of all this year's GotY awards, over 80 in total.)

I've spent over 600 hours with Breath of the Wild and I've also written over a hundred posts on this blog about the game this year, so it's clear that this is by all certainty my Game of the Year 2017. If you're a reader of this blog, you most likely concur with this choice.

Now, picking a GotY probably never has been as easy for me as this year and that made me reflect on what my picks were in the past. So, I decided to compile a list of all my "Games of the Year":

• 2000: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
• 2001: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages & Seasons
• 2002: Unreal Tournament 2003
• 2003: Unreal II - The Awakening
• 2004: Unreal Tournament 2004
• 2005: Unreal Championship 2 - The Liandri Conflict
• 2006: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• 2007: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
• 2008: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• 2009: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
• 2010: Unreal Tournament 3 - Black Edition
• 2011: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• 2012: Minecraft
• 2013: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
• 2014: Hyrule Warriors
• 2015: The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
• 2016: Hyrule Warriors - Legends
• 2017: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

That's some slightly weird list, isn't it? Some of these choices shouldn't be all that surprising, others might seem odd. But let me explain. First of all, keep in mind that these lists are limited to the scope of what I've been playing all those years. Overwatch for example looks great and was the Game of the Year 2016 for many, but I haven't played it yet.

In my case there are only few criteria for a potential Game of the Year. First and foremost, it has to be a game where I've spent a significant amount of freetime during that year playing and enjoying it, as well as thinking or writing about the game. Ideally, this game was also released in that year and something new, so not just a port or a remaster. Though, there are exceptions to this clause, e.g. when the port has lots of new content, like Hyrule Warriors - Legends in 2016.

This list starts with the year 2000, because Majora's Mask was the first game that I bought on its release day, followed by the Oracle games the year after. The years 1998 and 1999 certainly also had amazing gems with Ocarina of Time, Unreal and Unreal Tournament, but I didn't play these games in the year they were released (it was Christmas 1999 where I got Ocarina of Time).

But I still remember how I went to the newsdealer in 1999 and 2000 to buy Nintendo magazines just to have some pictures of "Mask of Mujula", as well as "Acorn of the Mysterious Tree", the new exciting Zelda games. Those were the times before everyone had a broadband internet connection, but I still have those articles stored in a my "Zelda folder" and they surely bring back memories. Good times.

Well, it shouldn't be a big surprise that I have many Zelda games on that list. Even if I consider some of them to be "inferior Zelda games", those were still the games that excited me the most during that year. Twilight Princess for example is a game that kind of disappointed me after I've first played it, but it doesn't change the fact that this was the game that defined 2006 for me and I was really hyped for it, maybe a little too hyped. I also liked Phantom Hourglass quite a lot, when it first came out, probably more than most people.

And with this blog I automatically spent a lot of time with any new Zelda release, which certainly was the case with Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword, even though I could compile big lists with issues about them. Tri Force Heroes is despised by many, but it was something that I wanted for a long time (an online multiplayer Four Swords game) and I enjoyed it a lot, while it lasted, even spent over 200 hours with the game. At least A Link Between Worlds is a very good Zelda game, which ended up as my Game of the Year 2013 and probably not just for me.

What might be surprising to you is the gap between 2002 and 2005, where Unreal used to be my absolute favorite game series and I wasn't much of a Zelda fan at the time. The GameCube and the comic style Wind Waker just weren't "cool" enough for a teenage boy. It wasn't before 2005 where I was able to try the 20 minute demo of the Wind Waker on the Collector's Edition disc and a demo of Twilight Princess on the Games Convention in Leipzig that I decided to purchase a GameCube and finally catch up with the franchise again. I did get The Minish Cap on release, though, but it didn't make the list, because it just couldn't compete with Unreal Tournament 2004. I spent a lot of time with the Unreal games back in the day, playing all game modes up and down, even building maps with the Unreal Editor. And I had a really good time with them, which is why they dominate the years 2002 to 2005.

I also played a lot of Unreal Tournament 3, but not before 2010, which is why this game shouldn't have made this list, because it actually came out in 2007 and therefore technically doesn't really qualify. But the game wasn't really finished, before Epic released the "Titan Pack" update and the "Black Edition" on Steam in 2009, the year before. And the only other real choice for 2010 would have been Metroid: Other M, probably the most despised Metroid game... And I don't even have any other Metroid games on my list yet, so this would be a toxic choice. I didn't get into the franchise before 2008 and the only other Metroid games that I got on release were the Metroid Prime Trilogy and just recently Samus Returns. The Trilogy is probably a close second to Spirit Tracks in 2009, but I decided to go with the new game. And Samus Returns is certainly great, but no competition to Breath of the Wild.

Minecraft also isn't a 2012 game, but I started with version 1.1, which came out in January 2012. So, let's pretend that this counts, because this game had to be on my list, after I spent about two years being sucked into it. Only the big Zelda wave that started in 2013 could save me from that addiction, where this was my true open world game before Breath of the Wild.

But looking back I had a good time with every single one of these games and I'm eager to find out what my future Games of the Year will be, starting with 2018. Something tells me that it might be another Zelda again...

My little contribution to Zeldathon St. Jude

It's maybe not the best timing considering that there already has been another Zelda marathon two weeks ago, but whatever... I didn't follow the TSG marathon all too much and the new Zeldathon has a nice concept, where they are streaming two different games at the same time. So, if one game bores you, you can switch to the other, which includes some fun stuff like the CD-i games or Minecraft.

McGamer set up a Minecraft server just for this marathon, so you can even play with these guys. And since he's part of the Mindcrack network, even Minecraft developer Dinnerbone might join the fun (he even donated at the last marathon). For me as a Zelda and Minecraft fan this is pretty interesting.

So, I donated and joined the Minecraft creative server and made a little pixel art:

Nothing special, but better than nothing. There's a miniature version of Mabe Village right next to it, which is pretty cool.

Overall the server and the Zeldathon stream are really cool. I've been following the stream for most of the time and it's really enjoyable to watch. There are some fun guys there and they do a lot of fun things to keep it interesting.