Welcome, everyone, to New Game Releases! It’s a big week for expansions, with FOUR major releases, including our top game of the week, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. It’s incredible that one of the biggest games of all time could get even more content, but here we are, once again, being asked to enter the world of Elden Ring and slay even more cosmic beasts. Personally, I’m done with Elden Ring. I played it, I got to a stopping point, and I have no desire to go back. For those of you that do want to go back, I wish you luck.

We’ve also got a major expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online called Gold Road. Microsoft is riding a bit of a nice high after a very good showcase this past week at Not-E3, so I have a feeling that this expansion might be a good jumping on point for people who have been curious about ESO but weren’t ready to take the plunge. Folks, take that plunge.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 20^th

The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 18^th

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun – Forges Of Corruption (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 18^th

Aside from those expansions, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is getting more boomers to shoot, with Forges of Corruption, and just two and a half months late of April Fool’s Day, Multiverse of Nonsense is coming out for the game Goat Simulator 3. If expansions aren’t your bag, there are a couple of brand new titles. First up is Still Wakes the Deep, a survival horror game from the developers of Dear Esther. The second is a hack and slash title called #BLUD that I think looks pretty fun.

Finally, an old, Japan only title called TRITORN is getting a Switch release in the West. This fantasy game is all over Hideki Kamiya’s Twitter feed recently, so it might be worth checking out, or maybe he’s banning anyone who plays it. I don’t know.

Goat Simulator 3 – Multiverse of Nonsense (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 19^th

Still Wakes the Deep (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 18^th

Developed by: The Chinese Room
Published by: Secret Mode

#BLUD (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Jun. 18^th

Developed by: Exit 73 Studios
Published by: Humble Games

EGGCONSOLE TRITORN PC-8801 (Switch) – Releases Jun. 20^th

Oh, and Nintendo is currently running a Nintendo Direct showcase at the time that this is published. I assume they’ll shadow drop SOMETHING during the show, so, you know, keep that in mind.

UPDATE: Here’s what got announced!

Metal Slug Attack: Reloaded (Switch) – Releases Jun. 18^th

Developed by: SNK
Published by: SNK

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 years ago:

Moving on to Notable Releases, from 2014 we’ve got the retro inspired Shovel Knight, an 8-bit throw back made for modern players on modern consoles. Shovel Knight was created by Sean Velasco, a former developer at WayForward Technologies, where he worked on games like Mighty Switch Force and Double Dragon Neon.

Already having a penchant for retro games, Velasco and his team wanted to make a title inspired by Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and his ability to thrust downward with his sword. Feeling that the idea of attack downwards was more suited for a shovel, kind of as a joke, the team then ran with the idea and, after workshopping a couple names, decided that their new hero would be named Shovel Knight.

The plot of the game is fairly simple, with Shovel Knight on a quest to save his partner, Shield Knight, who has being held captive by a villain named Enchantress the Order of No Quarter. Each level consists of Shovel Knight fighting enemies through a side scrolling stage before taking on a Knight from the Order of No Quarter, all while searching out hidden treasures that increase Shovel Knight’s abilities and stats.

Shovel Knight was crowd funded through Kickstarter, raising over $300k USD on a requested budget of $75k USD. Initially planned for a 2013 release, Shovel Knight eventually hit the Nintendo eShop and Steam on June 26th, 2014. Critics gave the game glowing reviews, calling it one of the best games of 2014, brilliantly capturing the nostalgic feel of the 8-bit era but also cleverly incorporating gameplay elements from modern games, such as a Dark Souls-esque respawning mechanism.

When it came time for the end of year accolades, Shovel Knight consistently made it onto many 2014 “Best of…” lists, while racking up nominations at multiple awards shows, including wins for Best Independent Game at The Game Awards and Best 3DS Game at IGN. Playing Shovel Knight today is very easy, as developer Yacht Club Games has continually ported the title to every major (and not so major) console and device on the market, while also releasing the title as a bundle with multiple other entries in the series called Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. This is one of the best games ever made, folks, give it a look if you’ve somehow ignored it these past ten years.

Our notable title from 2004 is the Game Boy Advance game Mario Golf: Advance Tour, which takes the cute Nintendo trope of putting the name of their console into the title of the game; wee! Developed by Camelot Software Planning, the same team behind all of the previous Mario Golf games, Advance Tour is, essentially, the same game that came out before, albeit with slightly different courses and characters.

To be honest, it’s really difficult to fathom that we put up with this in the past. Having the Switch has made it a lot easier on our wallets, eliminating the need to purchase both a handheld and console version of a game, and I’m sure it helps the developers too, giving them the freedom to create one title that everyone can enjoy (publishers might be annoyed, but, well, fuck ’em).

Perhaps we put up with it because, like other Nintendo multi-console titles, Advance Tour was a huge hit with critics, calling it one of the best golfing video games ever made (okay, calm down). Critics were highly impressed with the game, calling at nearly flawless, with only the graphics and sound holding it back. Critics were very happy with the game play, including the unique RPG mechanics that Advance Tour incorporated.

Unfortunately, Mario Golf: Advance Tour is not easily available today, with its last release being for the Wii U Virtual Console. With the Switch now carrying GBA games in its online library, we may see this game come to that platform, but there’s no current plans, at least that I know of.

1994’s notable release probably isn’t one that a lot of us are familiar with, at least I know I’m not familiar with it, Natsume Championship Wrestling. Now, according to the box art, this was “The most incredibly exciting game ever developed” which is a bold claim to make when your game came out the same year as Super Metroid, but good on you for shooting your shot, Natsume Championship Wrestling.

Unlike other wrestling video games in the early 1990’s that were based on WWF and WCW, NCW did not carry a license in U.S., it did, however, carry one in Japan, were it was based on All Japan Pro Wrestling. Now, the wrestlers from AJPW did not make it over in the U.S. release, but their move set did, so that was something to be excited for if you were one of the 50 people trading VHS tapes of AJPW shows in 1994.

With a roster of 12 fictional fighters, including Asteroid, M. Roach, Big Ape, and Fangz, players could compete in either 1v1 matches, or tag teams, against either the CPU or a second player. Each wrestler had standard punches and kicks, as well as the ability to body slam their opponent, as well as a couple of unique moves, like pile drivers, powerbombs, and their signature finisher.

Reviews were mixed when it launched, with some critics praising the high amount of moves to master (over 50), while others called it boring. When the game was re-released on the Wii’s Virtual Console in 2011, it was received pretty negatively by modern critics, though that didn’t stop the game from being released on the Wii U Virtual Console, as well as the Switch’s SNES online library. I’m a big wrestling fan, but I wasn’t back in 1994. I have no attachment to this game and only find it mildly amusing now. You can probably skip this.

Jumping over to notable films, 2014 saw the release of the animated sequel How to Train Your Dragon 2 which received stellar reviews and an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, and I don’t know why because this movie fucking sucks. Moving on to 2004, we’ve got what is possibly one of the most controversial movies of all time, Michael Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.

Coming in hot off the heels of his Oscar winning film Bowling for Columbine, which discussed America’s deadly obsession with guns, 9/11 dealt with, of course, the Sept. 11th attacks on America. The film points a heavy lens on President George W. Bush and his administration’s response to the attacks, notably Bush’s stunned inaction on the morning of the attack, his tone deaf “Mission Accomplished” aircraft carrier speech, the passing of the USA PATROIT Act, and the misguided invasion of Iraq.

Like another 2004 documentary that we recently talked about, Super Size Me, Fahrenheit 9/11 was controversial for what others claimed were inaccuracies and falsehoods. There are those that argued Bush was being strong and stoic by not running out of the room during the reading of My Pet Goat, there were issues with Moore’s claims that only one Congressman had a child in Iraq (it eventually ballooned to three!), as well as claims that the film was left wing propaganda, that it was an Al-Qaeda training film, and that it was as evil as anything made by famous Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl.

What it was, really, was the punditry of the political left, finally doing something that the punditry of the political right had been doing for several decades, turning their gripes about their political opponents into cold, hard cash. While I personally agree with and love the film, Fahrenheit 9/11 was made with two goals in mind; to sway the 2004 Presidential election in the favor of the Democratic candidate John Kerry, and to make that mother fucking money, baby. I guess one out of two isn’t bad. When the film was released it became the highest grossing documentary of ALL TIME, shattering previous box office records, making more money in its opening weekend than any other documentary had made in its entire theatrical run.

In the aftermath of the film, George W. Bush ended up being re-elected, meaning that there was a new crop of documentary filmmakers ready to put out their own movie about how terrible and evil he was, as well as a new found interest in the documentary films in general. Without Fahrenheit 9/11 (and Super Size Me), would we have gotten Food Inc., Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, The King of Kong, Lake of Fire, and countless other very good, very important documentary films? Maybe we would have, but I doubt they would have been given any of the budgets, marketing support, or theatrical releases that they did.

From 1994 we have another major movie release, Disney’s animated epic The Lion King. Regarded as one of the greatest animated movies of all-time, The Lion King was Disney at its highest peak of artistic prowess, with a film that boasted beautiful art, a compelling story, and some of the best music they’ve ever produced. The film’s soundtrack was so popular that it would earn the film two Oscars, one for Best Original Score and another for Best Original Song.

The film, however, wasn’t without controversy, as there were some who felt Disney had stolen the idea of The Lion King from the Japanese manga & anime Jungle Emperor Leo, also known as Kimba the White Lion. Despite the similarities, the owners of Leo did not pursue any legal action against Disney, fearing what their powerful lawyers might be able to do to their small company (a similar situation arose when the 2001 film Atlantis: The Lost Empire was released), but it has not stopped some from declaring The Lion King to be plagiarized work.

Moving on to notable albums, 2014 saw the release of X by Ed Sheeran, who fucking sucks; moving on. 2004 gave us the album A Ghost is Born by the Chicago indie rock band Wilco, which was released three years after their breakthrough hit Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Critics praised the album but also felt a bit confused by it. Ghost is a bit funkier than what the band had previously put out, with a few critics even scoring it lower than average, claiming the band had gone too self indulgent with the album. Despite the few negative reviews, Ghost still went on to become the bands best selling album to date, and earned them their first Grammy wins for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package.

Finally, for 1994’s notable album we have another punk record, Rancid’s Let’s Go. After a well received but largely ignored debut with 1993’s self titled album, the success of Green Day and The Offspring helped every punk album rise in the charts, with Let’s Go peaking at number 97 on the Billboard 200 chart. This also marked the first appearance of guitarist Lars Fredreiksen on a full length release after appearing on the band’s previous EP Radio Radio Radio (notably, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong ALMOST became the second guitarist for Rancid, but opted to instead stick with Green Day; smart move).

While Rancid wouldn’t hit big in the mainstream until their 1995 release, …And Out Come the Wolves, they did find some success with the single “Salvation”, which tore up the college radio charts and eventually made its way onto the the track list for the Xbox 360 release of Guitar Hero II. At 44 minutes, Let’s Go is pretty long for a punk album, so it made sense to me when I read that it was initially meant to be a double album. Are there too many songs on Let’s Go? Maybe, but put it on at your next punk party, complete with PBR and the shittiest ditch weed you can find, and you’ve got yourself one hell of a rager.

Shovel Knight (PC/Wii U/3DS) – Released Jun. 26^th, 2014: Wiki Link

Mario Golf: Advance Tour (GBA) – Released Jun. 21^st, 2004: Wiki Link

Natsume Championship Wrestling (SNES) – Released Jun. 1994: Wiki Link

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