Top Releases:

• Koira (PC/PS5) – Releases Apr. 1^st
• Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 2^nd
• Age of Wonders 4: Giant Kings (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 1^st

It’s a slow week for new releases which, hey, is totally fine with me because I’m on vacation, bitch! Quickly running these down, Koira is our top new release of the week. This isometric adventure game is the debut title from Studio Tolima, a developer in Brussels. Published by Don’t Nod, there is a lot of promise here, hopefully the young studio can deliver.

Koira (PC/PS5) – Releases Apr. 1^st

Developed by: Studio Tolima
Published by: Don’t Nod

Two other title deserve your attention as well; first up is Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, a modernized remake of the 1997 3D platformer from Argonaut Games, the same studio that helped develop the Super FX chip for the SNES. Fun fact, Argonaut originally pitched Croc to Nintendo as a Yoshi game, but the big N turned them down.

The second big release is Giant Kings, an expansion for the strategy/tactical RPG Age of Wonders 4. With the new Giant King ruler type, players will have the ability to terraform the game map in brand new ways, shaping the land for the four new mighty clans to choose from. I’ve never played Age of Wonder 4 but I’m sure everything I just typed makes sense to somebody.

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 2^nd

Developed by: Argonaut Games
Published by: Argonaut Games

Age of Wonders 4: Giant Kings (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 1^st

Developed by: Triumph Studios
Published by: Paradox Interactive

Everything else:

• Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes – The Chapter of Markus (Switch and…others… maybe?) – Releases Apr. 3^rd
• The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PC) – Releases Apr. 3^rd
• Spirit Valor (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 3^rd
• Feudal Bros – Tonosama #1 (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Apr 4^th

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

With my pending vacation I’m going to have to breeze through these; enjoy!

Games:

From 2015 we have the 3DS game BoxBoy! (I’m not excited about the game, that exclamation point is in the title). Developed by HAL Laboratory, BoxBoy! began as an experiment while the studio worked on two of their Kirby titles. Seeing the promise in this deceptively simple puzzle game, the studio brought it to the attention of Nintendo who decided it would be a perfect title for the 3DS eShop.

Earning high scores from critics at launch, BoxBoy! was a hit with audiences as well (it’s low price point didn’t hurt, either). With the success of the game, Nintendo commissioned HAL to make even more titles in the series; BoxBoxBoy! (2016), Bye-Bye BoxBoy! (2017), and BoxBoy! + BoxGirl! (2019).

From 2005 we have the RPG Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga. Set in “The Junkyard”, a digital combat simulation program, players must defend their tribe of digital characters from the other tribes, with which they are in an eternal war against. I don’t have the time to really dive deep into the plot, it’s far too convoluted. I’ve even played this game for several hours and I still couldn’t tell you what it’s about.

Perhaps this is why it sold so poorly in Japan, for a Shin Megami Tensei game (ranking as the 81st best selling game of the year in Japan). However, in the US, sales of the game far outpaced Atlus’ expectations. Bolstered by a strong critical reception, Digital Devil Saga did incredibly well in the West and showed Atlus that their very Japanese-centric RPGs could work outside of the country. A sequel, Digital Devil Saga 2. released only a few months later in October of 2005, earning even better scores and similar sales numbers.

From 1995, we’ve got the game Kunckles’ Chaotix for the Sega 32X. Similar to 2D games in the Sonic franchise, Knuckles’ Chaotix lets players choose from five different characters, including Knuckles, as they attempt to stop Dr. Robotnik from taking over the world, or whatever. Initially intended to be a mainline Sonic game and launch title for the upcoming Saturn, it quickly became apparent that the game would not be ready in time. Seeing as how the 32X was in dire need of games as it sat, unmoving, on store shelves, the decision was made to drastically cut the size of the game and pivot to using Knuckles and his “friends”.

Reception to the game was mostly positive, critics really enjoyed how well the game played, calling it the best title available on the 32X. However, they were highly critical of the game’s short length and rushed development. In the ensuing years, many “Sonic scholars” consider Knuckles’ Chaotix to be the worst game in the series and a “turning point” for the franchise, which saw subsequent releases fail to reach the heights of the earlier titles. I wonder how much a “Sonic scholar” gets paid?

Our last notable game, from 1985, is the arcade classic Paperboy. Developed and published by Atari, Paperboy is an action title in which players must guide a “youth” as he attempts to deliver newspapers to a typical suburban neighborhood. If you do well, more residents will subscribe and you’ll make money as you deliver more papers.

Sounds easy enough, right? Ha! Paperboy is anything but easy, as players must navigate the most treacherous and convoluted street in all of suburbia, as they try to avoid dogs, rolling tires, RC cars, punks on skateboards, potholes, cracks in the sidewalk and, of course, sewer grates.

By the end of 1985, Paperboy was one of the top grossing arcade games of the year and received glowing reviews from critics. Subsequent ports to various home consoles and computers were also met with high praise, making sure Paperboy remained one of the best selling and most high profile video games of the decade. You know the game is good if Mega64 did a parody video for it.

Movies:

In notable films, 2015 saw the release of Furious 7, the final movie in the franchise to feature Paul Walker before he tragically died in an automobile accident. Walker’s death affected the film’s shooting and plot, with the team opting to let his character retire and ride off happily into the sunset instead. To finish the film, producers hired Peter Jackson’s Weta studio to digitally re-create Walker and had his two brothers (and another dude) act as stand-in’s for the various re-shoots and pick up shots required to finish the film.

From 2005, we have the action/adventure film Sahara starring Mr. All-Right, All-Right, All-Right himself, Matthew McConaughey. Based on the novel by Clive Cussler, the film followed in a recent trend of “bad-ass” white dudes going on adventures and looking for treasure, not unlike Indiana Jones (which was 20 years old at this point, you know, the 20 year cycle?), and also likely spurred on by Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code (which would become a film in 2006).

My memories of Sahara aren’t in seeing it, but in being around it. You see, in 2005 I had the opportunity to go to the Phoenix Film Festival which was being held in a giant megaplex in Scottsdale. My girlfriend was working at the festival with a friend of hers and so I got to watch a bunch of cool indie films and rub shoulders with the Phoenix film community; pretty rad shit. Anyway, Sahara was the big movie opening that weekend and the festival organizers were trying to get more of their films played but, according to the head honcho of the festival the “…stupid fucking theatre needs to play more stupid fucking showings of stupid fucking Sahara…“.

I also got to meet Tom Arnold for two seconds. His car pulled up behind me and when he got out he was, like, 5 inches from my face and goes “Hey buddy, nice to meet ya“, and then walked away. I also watched Todd Solondz’s Palindromes that weekend, helping it’s 3-day gross of $10k, so yippie!

From 1995, we’ve got another action movie, Bad Boys, starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith. You might be thinking, “hey, shouldn’t Will Smith’s name get first billing?“. Well, in 1995, Martin Lawrence was the bigger name, if you can imagine that. Will Smith was, in 1995, not famous enough to get his name before Martin Lawrence’s. Anyway, that’s all I have to say about Bad Boys.

Our last notable film, from 1985, is the medieval fantasy flick Ladyhawke, starring Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, and Michelle Pfeiffer. In this unique tale, a young theif named Mouse, played by Broderick, accompanies a swordsman, played by Hauer, and his faithful hawk. At night, however, the swordsman and hawk disappear, while a beautiful woman, played by Pfeiffer, and terrifying wolf appear. The woman and wolf disappear during the day, though, while the swordsman and the hawk reappear; WHAT?!!??!

In case you didn’t figure it out, Hauer is the wolf at night and Pfeiffer is the hawk during the day. They’ve been cursed by an evil Catholic priest, leaving Mouse, and another priest, to try and convince the swordsman to not kill the evil priest, lest he and his true love be cursed forever. Ladyhawke is a fine film with some nice set pieces, but the movie is almost completely ruined by the terrible score which is considered by many film scholars to be one of the worst of all time. It did, however, receive two Oscar nominations in the sound department, go figure.

Albums:

In notable albums, from 2015, we’ve got Ivy Tripp from the artist katie Crutchfield, better known as Waxahatchee. This “aimless”, indie pop frenzy of an album was considered by many music journalists to be one of the best albums of the year. It was a minor commercial hit, reaching #153 on the Billboard Top 200. Critics’ favorite songs on the album were the one’s that weren’t singles because, like, they know what GOOD music is.

2005’s notable album is Faith Evans’ The First Lady, her first release after leaving Bad Boy Records. The album was a commercial success, debuting at #2 on the Billboard Top 200 and featured songs written by The Neptunes, Chucky Thompson, and Mario Winans. While The First Lady sold a shit load of copies and was well liked by critics, I couldn’t tell you a single song off of this album. It might as well by Ivy Tripp by Waxahatchee; completely absent from my mind.

Moving on, from 1995, we’ve got the album Nihil from the German industrial group KMFDM. This was the band most commercially successful album to date, driven by their most well known song, “Juke Joint Jezebel”. Personally, my introduction to the group was through the soundtrack to the 1995 film Mortal Kombat, which featured a remix of “Juke Joint Jezebel” by Giorgio Moroder which is, perhaps, the more well known version thanks to a music video that ran on MTV non-stop in the Summer of 1995.

In a bit of synergy this week, the album version of “Juke Joint Jezebel” was featured in the film Bad Boys, with its own music video that cut between live footage of the band as well as scenes from the anime Patlabor 1. While Nihil did not chart on the Billboard Top 200, it did manage to make it onto the Heatseekers Chart, peaking at #16.

Last, but not least, from 1985, we’ve got the album Primitive Love by the group Miami Sound Machine. Who is Miami Sound Machine, you might ask? Well, they are the group that launched the career of Gloria Estefan. While their major label debut, 1984’s Eyes of Innocence, was a modest hit, Primitive Love was what really skyrocketed the group, well, Estefan mostly, into super stardom.

Thanks to high charting hits “Congo”, “Words Get in the Way”, and “Bad Boy” (not featured in the 1995 film Bad Boys, for some reason), Primitive Love sold over 6 million copies and peaked at #21 on the Billboard Top 200. According to Wikipedia, this album actually came out on August 13th, 1985, but I’m already here and I have to leave for my vacation so FUCK IT! See you next week.

BoxBoy! (3DS) – Released Apr. 2^nd, 2015

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga (PS2) – Released Apr. 5^th, 2005

Knuckles’ Chaotix (32X) – Released Apr. 1995

Paperboy (Arcade) – Released Apr. 1985

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