Guess what folks? It’s Tuesday, the greatest day of the week…except I guess Friday, and Saturday, and Monday if you work in the service industry…whatever. We all know that Tuesday is the real deal and you know why? We get to talk about new (and old) video games!

First, though, let’s take a trip to the beach…

This week is going to be dominated by three major releases from Japan, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Tekken 8, and Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy.

The biggest of these, at least for me, is Infinite Wealth, the eighth entry in the mainline Like a Dragon (formerly Yakuza) series. Infinite Wealth sees new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga team up with former series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, which takes place after the events if Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, with Ichiban and Kiryu heading to Hawaii in an effort to track down Ichiban’s mother. Of course, the story isn’t nearly as simple as it looks on the surface, with deceit, red herrings, and explosive circumstances (both emotionally AND physically). While Yakuza 6 may have seen Kiryu fake his own death, it now appears he is nearing the end of his life; not at the hands of a Yakuza Captain, but from the cruel disease of cancer. Expect plenty of emotional moments in this one to counter balance all the wacky things each of these men will do.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jan. 26^th

Developed by: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Published by: Sega

While Tekken 8 isn’t the game I’m most looking forward to, it is clearly a HUGE release this week for a lot of players, especially those in the fighting game scene. The gameplay in Tekken 8 was created with an aggressive playstyle in mind, rewarding players who prefer to overwhelm their opponents with a frenzy of attacks and penalizing those who prefer to remain defensive. Tekken has always felt a little angrier, a little meaner than the competition, so this is not surprising news at all, to me. For those that are able to follow the loose plot of the Tekken series, this promises to be the final battle between father and son Kazuya Mishima and Jin Kazama, with Jin wanting to purge the chaos from their blood line; exciting!

While not as intense as Tekken, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is certainly not light on explosive moments. I mean, how many games have a massive splash screen that just says “OBJECT!”? Collecting three previous games in the series, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, this collection will contain 16 episodes, including 2 that were originally DLC. I wager most of us will be playing Infinite Wealth or Tekken 8, but in-between the chaos you can always chill with Apollo Justice, even if that courtroom is almost always brimming with chaos itself.

Tekken 8 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jan. 26^th

Developed by: Bandai Namco Studios/Arika
Published by: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Jan. 24^th

Developed by: Capcom
Published by: Capcom

Rounding out the rest of the top games are two smaller, but very interesting looking titles. First is Lil’ Guardsman which gives off a very strong Papers, Please vibe. Early previews have painted the game as a comedic take on Papers, with players taking on the role of Lil, the daughter of town guardsman. In her father’s absence, Lil must man the guard post, deciding who can enter and who must leave. Lil’ Guardsman is already being favorably compared to classic LucasArts adventure games, high praise indeed. Is this a future 2024 “Hidden Gem”? Check back in December.

Our second little big title is another fighting game, the 2d Under Night In-Birth II [Sys : Celes]. While this series is not nearly as well known as Tekken, it is really solid and shares much of the same DNA as the other big Arc System Works fighting game series, BlazBlue and Guilty Gear. Expect lots of goofy anime tropes, over the top designs, and a strong visual novel element if you decide to check this game out. It’s predecessor was one of my favorite games of 2018, been waiting a while for this sequel. I hope it was worth it.

Lil’ Guardsman (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jan. 23^rd

Developed by: Hilltop Studios
Published by: Versus Evil

Under Night In-Birth II [Sys : Celes] (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Jan. 25^th

Developed by: French-Bread/Arc System Works
Published by: Arc System Works

Everything else:

Woah, there’s finally enough titles to have an “Everything Else” section! That’s how you know the 2024 video game season has truly begun. There are the usual suspects here, retro inspired 2d side scrollers, weird indie titles, and some PC exclusives, but the top “Everything Else” game is the Switch mobile port Hitman: Blood Money Reprisal, which is a slightly enhanced remake of the 2006 PS2/Xbox 360. Grave looks cool if you’re into that, ugh, “boomer shooter” genre (I hate that term).

• Graven (PC) – Releases Jan. 23^rd
• Stargate: Timekeepers (PC) – Releases Jan. 23^rd
• Anomaly Agent (PC/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Jan. 24^th
• Saga of the Moon Priestess (PC/Switch) – Releases Jan. 24^th
• Hitman: Blood Money Reprisal (Switch) – Releases Jan. 25^th
• Phantom Abyss (PC/Series X|S) – Releases Jan. 25^th
• A Night at the Watermill (PC) – Releases Jan. 26^th

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

Moving away from new releases, let’s go back in time and see what came out 10, 20, 30, AND 40 years ago.

First up is 2014’s Might & Magic X: Legacy. This was the first game in the mainline series since 2002’s ninth entry, Writ of Fate, however it did not follow the continuity set forth from that game, instead being a follow-up to Might & Magic Heroes VI. Still, while it did not continue the continuity of the original series, it did bring back the tile based movement that was seen in the first five entries.

Might & Magic X was generally well received by critics and players, with the game being seen as a fun, but flawed, experience. It served the series well by adopting some of its more retro gameplay mechanics, giving the title a “retro-charm”. However, it was fairly clear that publisher Ubisoft did not give developer Limbic Entertainment much of a budget to work with, probably hoping to pull off another “indie style” hit like they did with Capybara’s Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes.

Despite being promised that the game would not require an “always online” component, Ubisoft did require players to connect to the game to the Uplay service for a one-time activation. While this didn’t pose any major problems, initially, when Ubisoft shut down the game’s servers in 2021 it rendered Might & Magic X unplayable after the first act. The game would be delisted from digital storefronts for over four months, as Ubisoft worked out the issues on their end, so don’t get FOMO. If you really want to check this game out you can easily pick it up on PC.

Moving to 2004, we have the game Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II. Developed by Black Isle, Dark Alliance II was the sequel to, of course, 2001’s Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. According to the game’s producer, Kevin Osburn, the team had listened to player feedback and addressed issues that they had brought up (of which I can’t really find any…), and that they wanted to make a bigger, more robust title.

Unfortunately, after completing development in late 2003, Black Isle’s parent company, Interplay, shut the door on the company, retaining only the name Black Isle. Fortunately for players, DA II was not cancelled, however three other Black Isle titles were, Dark Alliance III, Baldur’s Gate 3 (the original version), and Fallout 3 (the original version). Interplay, who was hemorrhaging money, went (mostly) defunct after the release of this game and our notable title from two weeks ago, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, not returning to gaming until 2010.

Dark Alliance II got a positive reception from critics, though it failed to reach the same heights as its predecessor (and far below the mainline series). It was seen as a solid sequel, though not much different than the first Dark Alliance. For years, physical copies of this game sold for well over $100 dollars, however modern re-releases would bring the price down significantly on the secondary market. While it was nice having DA II easily available, most critics agreed that the game now paled in comparison to titles like Diablo III and Torchlight.

Hey, did you know that in 1994 there was a Super Nintendo game called Lester the Unlikely? Neither did most people in 1994. developed by Visual Concepts (future developers of the 2K sports line), Lester the Unlikely is about as forgettable a platformer as you can get. That doesn’t mean its generic, in fact the game had a pretty unique gameplay style. The titular hero, Lester, is somehow transported to a tropical island where he encounters many wild creatures. With his nerdy persona, Lester is deathly afraid of even the most mundane of creatures, running in fear when first encountering a turtle. However, as players move Lester towards the turtle multiple times, he runs away less often, eventually being able to move past it with ease.

The idea here was that players were helping Lester overcome his fears, but what it really did was just make the game very annoying to play. The only critics that appear on Wikipedia are Nintendo Power and, of course, they couldn’t trash the game, instead calling it “too difficult” which is usually code for “it sucks”. Even the game’s lead programmer, Brian Greenstone, hated the game saying that Lester the Unlikely was a game he never liked, and he didn’t ever want to talk about it. Fair enough, let’s move on.

1984’s notable title is the arcade game Tag Team Wrestling, the first wrestling video game ever made. Released in Japanese arcades in December of 1993, cabinets finally made their way to North America in January of 1984. In the game, players control Jocko and Spike, a baby face tag team, who have multiple matches with the heel tag team the Mad Maulers. These are the only characters in the game, with players needing to defeat the Mad Maulers ten times in order to win the championship title. After that, players must continually defend their titles against the Mad Maulers, reaching “Game Over” when they get defeated.

The controls in Tag Team Wrestling seem simple at first, with only two buttons to press. However, when players grapple with the opponent, they initiate an encounter, requiring them to quickly select a wrestling move within three seconds. If players fail to grapple their opponent in a reasonable amount of time it will cause them to turn red, moving faster, making it harder to grapple them and leaving the player open to attack and pin fall. Since this is a tag team game, part of the strategy is keeping your opponent from tagging out, as weakened wrestlers will regain their stamina after they exit the ring.

I couldn’t really find much information on how the critics reacted to Tag Team Wrestling, but the game was a huge hit in Japan, where it sat at the top of the charts for two months. Over in the U.S., the game was received well enough that an NES port was released and was, likely, most North American players first exposure to the game. While it’s nearly impossible to play Tag Team Wrestling today without the use of emulation, its influence was felt through the industry for years to come, with just about every subsequent wrestling game mimicking its style. Of course, video game technology has advanced far past what it was in 1984, even titles like WWE 2K 23 still follow the somewhat basic concept laid out in Tag Team Wrestling; grapple your opponent, perform a wrestling move, lower their stamina, pin them to the mat.

Okay, movie time. 2014’s notable release is the universally panned I, Frankenstein, starring Aaron Eckhart. This box office dud was such a disaster that Eckhart’s career hasn’t really recovered, only appearing in supporting roles since then. At least we’ll always have Thank You For Smoking. 2004 saw the release of the Ashton Kutcher movie The Butterfly Effect, about a man who can travel to the past just by thinking about it, or something. Anyway, he goes back in time to try and fix bad things that happen but, of course, each time he does this he sets off a chain reaction that makes things in the future EVEN WORSE. It sounds cool, but this movie sucks. That guy in your fifth period English class who only wore Insane Clown Posse t-shirts and accidentally set his locker on fire with a still lit cigarette butt he found in the trashcan LOVES this movie.

1994’s notable release is Car 54, Where Are You? and, just like Lester the Unlikely, it is utterly and completely forgettable. Jumping to 1984, the Steve Martin romantic comedy The Lonely Guy hit theatres and is, probably, the only one worth any of your time, even though it pretty much sucks too (Roger Ebert gave it 1.5 stars).

In notable music, 2014 saw the release of Restoring Force the breakthrough album from metalcore band Of Mice & Men, featuring a good buddy of mine on drums, Valentino Arteaga. I’d talk about the album but, I mean, we could just let him discuss it:

Moving on to 2004 we have an album that I adore, Talkie Walkie by the French electronic duo Air. Yeah, there were two French electronic duo’s, Daft Punk didn’t hold a monopoly on that genre. I remember seeing Air at Coachella that year, back when I was young and cool and hip. 1994’s notable album Snuff the Punk is from the San Diego hardcore band P.O.D., you youth pastor’s favorite band (after Switchfoot, of course…San Diego sure does love its Christian bands). While noticeably rough around the edges, Snuff the Punk was a good indication of where P.O.D. was heading musically. While later releases might have toned down the Christian themes, the band lays it on thick here, with songs that regularly reference Jesus Christ, as well as a track called “Abortion is Murder”, so there you go.

Finally, our notable album form 1984 is, well, 1984 by the band Van Halen. One of the best selling albums of the year, 1984 sat in the number two spot on the Billboard charts for five weeks, right behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller (which featured Eddie Van Halen). 1984 was a hit with critics as well, although they didn’t quite think it packed the punch that earlier albums had, with a more pop/radio friendly sound. Part of this was Eddie Van Halen’s increased use of synthesizers, most noticeably on lead single “Jump”, which is perhaps the bands most well known song.

1984 was a fun, bombastic album that demanded you party while listening to it, celebrating hot women, fast cars, and cool dudes. As a kid, this is one of the first albums I remember listening to with my mom (the other…Thriller), and whenever we’d take a trip in the car she would let me pick the cassette to play and I would, 99% of the time, put on 1984, Side A (followed by Side B to hear “Hot For Teacher”, then we’d switch it to Richard Marx, Def Leppard, or Y&T). While 1984 was a huge commercial success for the band (although failing to overcome their self titled debut), things weren’t all good behind the scenes.

Continued conflict between lead singer David Lee Roth and the rest of the band were starting to bubble over and, by 1985, he was out of Van Halen. Subsequent releases with Sammy Hagar brought more critical acclaim but none of those albums ever surpassed 1984 in sales. One of the greatest albums ever made, 1984 is an absolute MUST LISTEN, featuring incredible performances from every member of the band, and features multiple Van Halen classics, including my all-time favorite song, “Panama”:

Might & Magic X: Legacy (PC) – Released Jan. 23^rd, 2014: Wiki Link

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II (PS2/Xbox) – Released Jan. 20^th, 2004: Wiki Link

Lester the Unlikely (SNES) – Released Jan. 1994: Wiki Link

Tag Team Wrestling (Arcade) – Released Jan. 1984: Wiki Link

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