Happy Tuesday folks, we’re back with a brand new list of video games to go over! Mostly new stuff, your expected old stuff and, of course, my new favorite feature, notable films and albums. Nothing says “video game article” like talking about movies and music. Speaking of rad movies, why not check out my latest video before you dive into the article:

Welcome back. Kicking things off this week is Forza Motorsport, one of the incredibly rare Xbox console exclusives that come out 2 or 3 times a year. I wish it was something a little more exciting than a car racing sim, but what can you do? If you’ve ever played a car racing sim in your life then you will know exactly what to expect from Forza Motorsport, not a lot of surprises here. I guess the big thing with this entry is the hyper realistic graphics that are way better looking than the hyper realistic graphics on the Xbox One and the hyper realistic graphics that were on the Xbox 360, and those hyper realistic graphics on the original Xbox, etc., etc.

For whatever reason, I had Assassin’s Creed: Mirage slated to come out this week, but either I read the date wrong or they changed it on me without notice (an email next time would be nice Ubisoft), and it was going to be the top game of the week. Well, it came out last week to very little fanfare and a nonexistent marketing push by Ubisoft, so here we are, 5 days after release, talking about it. This entry is supposed to feel less like Valhalla and Odyssey and harkens back to the “smaller” entries like those in the Ezio trilogy. Anyway, Mirage is supposed to be fairly average, according to reviews, so I say we all forget about it again and pick it up in a month and a half when the price drops to $4.99 during Target’s Black Friday sale.

Forza Motorsport (PC/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 10^th

Developed by: Turn 10 Studios
Published by: Xbox Game Studios

Assassin’s Creed: Mirage (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 6^th

Developed by: Ubisoft Bordeaux
Published by: Ubisoft

Honestly, the top game of the week is probably one of our next two titles. First we have the latest game in the long running Total War franchise, Pharaoh. Set in ancient Egypt, at the dawn of the country’s founding, you will take on the role of the pharaoh, leading massive armies into battle as you protect your empire from enemies foreign and domestic. Pharaoh sees a return to a more “grounded” and “realistic” gameplay approach after the fantasy settings of Total War: Warhammer III and Three Kingdoms.

Rounding out our major releases is the reboot of the mid-tier series Lords of the Fallen. With a new team and studio behind the title, developer Hexworks is hoping to cash in on the Soulslike genre, Lords of the Fallen doesn’t appear to bring much new to the genre, though it does come with plenty of ambition, as the team hopes to be considered the second reference when it comes to Soulslike games. What would we call that; Soulslordlike? I think I just wrote a Swedish word.

Total War: Pharaoh (PC) – Releases Oct. 11^th

Developed by: Creative Assembly
Published by: Sega

Lords of the Fallen (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 13^th

Developed by: Hexworks
Published by: CA Games

Our last major release of the week is actually a port, but it’s a great one! Originally released for the 3DS back in 2017, River City: Rival Showdown plays very similarly to the cult classic NES game River City Ransom, but with higher resolution graphics and a more robust move set. Played over a series of three in-game days, Rival Showdown uses its own internal clock to trigger events happening all over River City, if you happen to be in the right place at the right time. Once the three days are up, the game resets itself, giving you one of multiple endings, and allowing you to see events that you missed the first time around. I LOVED the 3DS version of this game, in fact it sparked my interest in the console as a whole when I finally picked it up and played it. Don’t sleep on this game, folks, it’ll be one of 2023’s best.

River City: Rival Showdown (PC/PS4/Switch) – Releases Oct. 12^th

Developed by: Arc System Works
Published by: Arc System Works

Ports and Re-releases:

Kids love playing Roblox, especially on the living room TV, not in the privacy of their room on a tablet. On the bright side…no, there is no bright side. Switch owners will also get access to the very well received Company of Heroes franchise, as the series will be bundled into a single collection.

• Roblox (PS5) – Releases Oct. 10^th
• Company of Heroes Collection (Switch) – Releases Oct. 12^th

Everything else:

Low quality, cash grab games for kids? It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

• Wild Card Football (PC/PS4/PS5) – Releases Oct. 10^th
• The Grinch: Christmas Adventures (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 13^th
• Transformers: Earthspark – Expedition (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 13^th

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 (and sometimes 40) years ago:

This week’s notable titles are very Nintendo heavy, with entries in four different franchises; Pokémon, Kirby, Donkey Kong, and Zelda. Don’t get too excited about Zelda.

First we’ll begin with 2013’s Pokémon X and Y. The game was a series of “firsts” for the series, being the first Pokémon title on the 3DS, the first Pokémon game released worldwide simultaneously, the first time fairy type Pokémon appeared, and the first fully 3D entry in the mainline series. The one “first” it couldn’t grab was the #1 spot on the all-time best selling 3DS game list, edged out by Mario Kart 7. Don’t bother trying to play this game today, it’s near impossible, as second hand carts go for stupidly expensive prices, while Nintendo has made it completely unavailable with the closing of the 3DS eShop.

Moving to 2003, this Nintendo entry is Kirby Air Ride for the GameCube. Breaking from the traditional platforming genre that Kirby games generally fit into, Kirby Air Ride was a racing game. What it does have in common with previous Kirby games is its incredible simplicity. Kirby Air Ride is, to both its credit and detriment, entirely made for children and casual video game fans. Unlike typical racing games that require you to push and hold down a button to accelerate, Kirby Air Ride move the character for you, all you need to do is steer and use power-ups. Critics were mostly negative towards the game due to its simple controls and lack of challenge, but it ended up being a huge seller for Nintendo, with over 1 million copies sold worldwide. Like Pokémon X and Y, Kirby Air Ride is impossible to play today, as it is fully locked to the GameCube, never receiving any kind of re-release.

Now we get to 1993 and, my god, what a pair of games we have here. I told you that we would be talking about a Zelda game this week, did you think it would be Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon? These bizarre entries in the Zelda franchise came to be due to a partnership between Nintendo and Philips that dates back to 1989. Nintendo and Sony were in talks to create a CD-ROM based add-on to the Super Nintendo, but the big N would unceremoniously ditch Sony and instead join up with Philips. However, after the failure of the Sega CD, Nintendo got cold feet and terminated the partnership and, in order to compensate Philips, Nintendo agreed to let the company license five of their characters for games, including Link, Zelda, and Gannon.

What came out was likely not what Nintendo was expecting, horrible, generic side scrollers with perhaps the most hilariously bad FMV sequences to ever appear in a video game. According the voice actor for Link, the team recorded all of the dialogue in a two hour session after about 15 minutes of rehearsal; you can tell. The graphics are just awful, the acting is terrible, and the writing is barely serviceable. Critics of the day were initially positive towards the games, however, the continued failure of the CD-i started to put the games in a more negative perspective, with critics calling them cheaply made, hastily rushed, cash-grabs (because they were). Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon have gone on to become infamous in the video game community, with several memes and jokes based on the cut scenes, particularly Link’s bizarre and wacky behavior. Don’t bother trying to play these games today, there’s no point.

Our last notable video game is the 1983 arcade title Donkey Kong 3. While the first two Donkey Kong games featured the character of Mario in some capacity, Donkey Kong 3 featured a different character, Stanley the Bugman, from the Game & Watch title Green House. Why was Mario removed in favor of Stanley? Who knows? Maybe Nintendo wanted to keep Mario in his own separate (and about to boom) franchise. Maybe Nintendo didn’t think Mario was the star and that Donkey Kong was, so there was no need to include him. Maybe Stanley the Bugman tested well with focus groups. Whatever the reason, Donkey Kong 3 is sans-Mario, with players using Stanley’s bug sprayer to push away invading bees while forcing Donkey Kong to climb a set of poles, eventually getting his head stuck in a jar. It’s bizarre, it kind of sucks, and we can stop talking about it.

Movie time! Our 2013 and 2003 films are both cut form the same, grindhouse, cloth, Machete Kills and Kill Bill: Volume 1. Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, respectively, Machete Kills is an homage to the 1970’s exploitation films that littered low cost movie houses, featuring plenty of blood, sex, and violence. It wasn’t the best Machete film of the series, which is probably why it was the last. Rodriguez’s good buddy Quentin Tarantino put out his kung-fu revenge flick Kill Bill in 2003 to widespread acclaim and box office success. Split into two parts, Volume 1 tells the story of how “The Bride” came to be betrayed by her former gang of assassins. Left for dead, The Bride awakens in a hospital from a years long coma with one thing in mind; revenge.

Her first target is Vernita Green, who she takes out in her home where she’s made a life as a housewife. That fight is just a small taste of Volume 1’s story and violence, as the film’s major plot is The Bride’s quest to defeat O-Ren Ishii, resulting in a gloriously bloody sword fight with The Bride dispatching countless yakuza, before finally slicing of the top of O-Ren’s head. Kill Bill: Volume 1 was a cultural touchstone in pop culture, with parodies and homages coming out all over the place, while that song (yes, THE song) has been appearing in trailers for the last twenty years, to the point that it has lost all meaning. Being a twenty something males in 2003 I was completely obsessed with Kill Bill: Volume 1 and must have seen it in theatres a dozen times before picking up the DVD and then watching it a dozen upon dozen times. Quick story, I was at Comic-Con when Tarantino was promoting the film (back when it was just one part) and got to meet him in the autograph area. I talked to him and mentioned that he was a huge inspiration to me and that I really looked up to him and, without a beat (probably because he said it a million times) he said “That’s great, but I hope, one day, I’ll be inspired by YOU” which turned me into a blubbering mass of jelly, nervous laughing my way and saying “Uhhhh yeah, yeah, okay!“. Hopefully Quentin is subscribed to my YouTube channel, looking forward to his next film all about notable video games and the skeleton who plays them. The trailer will feature this song:

How do we continue after Kill Bill: Volume 1? Well, if you gotta follow it up, it might as well be with the fantastic 1993 sci-fi film Demolition Man. Starring action super star Sylvester Stallone, breakout action star Wesley Snipes, and a fresh faced newcomer named Sandra Bullock, Demolition Man tells the story of a tough as nails cop who is framed for a crime by a psychopathic madman, leading to both of them being frozen in ice as part of a new way to hold prisoners in jail (sure, whatever). However, when the madman escapes jail, the LAPD have no choice but to also thaw out Stallone, so he can catch the crook. It’s a hell of a film (and partially shot in San Diego!), and is one of those movies that I can watch from any spot and enjoy. It also features one of my favorite lines in all of cinema, “Jeffrey Dahmer?! I love that guy!“.

Keeping with the “genre film” theme, our 1983 release is The Dead Zone, a psychological horror film from David Cronenberg, based on the novel by Stephen King. Starring Christopher Walken, the movie is about a school teacher named Johnny who is injured in a car accident and put into a coma. Upon waking up five years later, he seeks revenge against a group of assassins, lol, J/K, he begins to have visions of the past, present, and future of just about anyone he touches. Using his new powers, Johnny helps catch a serial killer and then later attempts to assassinate a rising politician who he has seen start a nuclear holocaust upon becoming president. I only just saw The Dead Zone this past week and I highly recommend it. hell, I recommend all four of this week’s films, stone cold classics one and all.

Moving to music, 2013 had a new Paul McCartney album that wasn’t very good, while 2003 had a Travis album that was VERY good and featured one of my all-time favorite songs, “Re-offender” (with a video directed by Anton Corbijn who would go on to make the films Control and The American). 1993’s notable album wasn’t a big seller, Not Richard, But Dick by The Dead Milkmen. I can’t say I love this entire album, but the song “I Dream of Jesus” is hilariously sacrilegious, equating Jesus Christ to I Dream of Jeanie. Our last album of the week is 1983’s Genesis by the band Genesis. Proving that they still had life after front man Peter Gabriel left in 1975, Genesis was the band’s best selling album to date, supported by the popular singles “Mama” and “That’s All”.

On that note, I am also going to say “that’s all” for this week. I hope you saw a game above that you want to pick up, learned some neat facts about older notable games, or want to watch Kill Bill: Volume 1 again so you can see Uma Thurman’s feet, Quentin. I really hope he’s reading this.

Pokémon X and Y (3DS) – Released Oct. 12^th, 2013: Wiki Link

Kirby Air Ride (GameCube) – Released Oct. 13^th, 2003: Wiki Link

Link: Faces of Evil and Zelda: Wand of Gamelon (CD-i) – Released Oct. 10^th, 1993: Wiki Link

Donkey Kong 3 (Arcade) – Released Oct. 1983: Wiki Link

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