Top Releases:

• Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 15^th
• Planet Zoo 2 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 13^th
• Valor Mortis (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 13^th
• Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 14^th
• Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 15^th
• The Jackbox Party Pack 12 (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 15^th
• Toy Story: Retro Roundup! & Toy Story 3 Complete Edition (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 15^th
• Tales of Eternia: Remastered (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 16^th

Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 15^th

Developed by: Evil Empire
Published by: Konami

Planet Zoo 2 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 13^th

Developed by: Frontier Developments
Published by: Frontier Developments

Valor Mortis (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 13^th

Developed by: One More Level
Published by: Lyrical Games

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 14^th

Developed by: Auroch Digital
Published by: Big Fan Games

Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 15^th

Developed by: Natsume Inc./IMAGICA GEEQ
Published by: Natsume Inc.

The Jackbox Party Pack 12 (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 15^th

Developed by: Jackbox Games
Published by: Jackbox Games

Toy Story: Retro Roundup! & Toy Story 3 Complete Edition (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 15^th

Developed by: Digital Eclipse
Published by: Atari/Dgitial Eclipse

Tales of Eternia: Remastered (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 16^th

Developed by: TOSE
Published by: Bandai Namco

Ports and Expansions:

• Hello Kitty Island Adventure Friendship Bundle (Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 15^th
• House Flipper 2 (Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 15^th
• It Takes Two (Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 15^th
• Lego Harry Potter Collection (Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 16^th
• Resident Evil 2, 3, & 4 Remakes (Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 16^th
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 16^th
• Frostpunk (Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 19^th

Everything else:

• Just Dance: Decade of Hits (PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 13^th
• Bluey’s Happy Snaps (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 15^th
• Chained Beasts (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 15^th
• DESOLUS (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 15^th
• Wolfsschanze – Operation Götterdämmerung (PC/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 15^th
• Tenebris Somnia (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 16^th

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

Games:

In notable games, 2016 gave us the PlayStation VR headset; hey, remember when VR was the future of gaming? I never played the PSVR, but I did play some VR on my buddy’s PC using the HTC Vive and it fucking ruled. I currently own a PSVR 2 that I got for Christmas in 2025 and still haven’t opened it. THE FUTURE OF GAMING!

From 2006, we have the game Bully for the PS2. Developed by Rockstar Vancouver and published by Rockstar Games, Bully took the open world, sandbox gameplay of Grand Theft Auto and applied it to a boarding school setting, Bullworth Academy. However, unlike GTA’s unfettered, structureless game play, Bully kept players to a loose schedule and had a night & day system. This helped the game maintain some of the realism you might expect from a game about attending school, forcing players to actually engage in going to classes (where they would be able to increase various stats), and in giving the game a proper “night time”, it forced players to stay indoors or within the school grounds, else they face repercussions from authority figures.

Eventually, players leave the confines of the school grounds and maintain a hideout in the nearby town of Bullworth where these schedule and time restrictions are relaxed, allowing for the more GTA style of sandbox play that players would be used to (though still with some restrictions). As you might expect from a Rockstar title, Bully had its share of controversy. First, and foremost, was the overall premise of the game, i.e., being a “bully”. Before the game even arrived on store shelves, parents groups assumed that players would spend their time terrorizing kids at a school as the ultimate bully. This was not the case, as players would find out rather quickly. While the main protagonist, Jimmy Hopkins, can be somewhat of a menace to the other students, the overall story of Bully paints Jimmy as a kind of anti-hero that wants to save the school, and the town, from the real bullies; evil rich kids and tyrannical school administrators.

One of the other major controversies regarding Bully was the players ability to romance other students. Now, the idea of romancing underage students is pretty weird, at least your character was also underage and the limits of your exploits was just kissing. Take it as you may on that, but what really, REALLY got some people up in arms was that your character could also kiss boys! You are a boy, so a boy kissing a boy is gay, and being gay is a sin, and children play these games, and how are parents supposed to explain to their children that some boys want to kiss other boys?! In the end, this “boy kissing” controversy was laughed off by many. When the ESRB was questioned by “concerned citizens” about it their response was, basically, “yeah, we know; so what”.

Bully was both a critical and commercial success at release, though not as big a success as GTA. Still, the game developed a devoted following of fans and even earned itself a “next gen” upgrade for the PC, Xbox 360, and Wii called Bully: Scholarship Edition. Ever since the game’s release, fans have been clamoring for a sequel and, to Rockstar’s credit, they listened for a while, even having their Rockstar New England team create a roughly 6 to 8 hour long build of the game using the GTA IV engine. However, this Bully sequel would continue to find itself pushed to the side in favor of GTA and the company’s other big franchise, Red Dead Redemption, to the point that it was eventually cancelled. With a brand new team of executives at Rockstar running the show, it’s very unlikely we ever see a Bully 2, which is a real shame.

From 1996, we have the Sega Saturn game Mr. Bones. Developed by the Southern California studio Zono, Mr. Bones was a platformer in which players took on the role of the titular character, Mr. Bones, a living skeleton. Summoned by the evil philosopher DaGoulian as part of his evil skeleton army, Mr. Bones instead revives as a “good skeleton” and goes on a quest to stop DaGoulian and all the evil skeletons; with rock & roll.

Mr. Bones was a very divisive game when it arrived, due in large part to its bizarre gameplay, in which each level played in a completely different way than the others. While most stages are a kind of riff on the action platformer, the camera angle was switch up how the level is played. Other levels go to a completely different style, such as a Breakout style block breaker, or a button pressing rhythm game.

At the end of the day, the failure of the Sega Saturn made this console exclusive game a title that just about no one would remember. A brief, very brief, music video for the game aired on Fox Kids one time in 1996, but gave no mention as to what it actually was, causing confusion among the children of America who assumed they were seeing a promotion for a new CG animated series.

From 1986, we have the game Bubble Bobble, an all-time arcade classic from Taito that has stood the test of time as one of the most well known and beloved video franchises in gaming history. Created by a Taito employee named Fukio Mitsuji, Bubble Bobble was the designers third attempt to create a hit at Taito, who he felt was in a creative and artistic slump. Mitsuji was a big fan of the games being made at rival studio, Namco, and wanted Taito to have a big, “modern” hit, as the company was still trying to ride high on the success of 1978’s Space Invaders.

When Bubble Bobble hit arcades in 1986, first in Japan, followed by North America & Europe a month later, the game’s bright colors, cute characters, and addictive gameplay launched it to the top of the charts. In Bubble Bobble, players take on the roles of Bub & Bob, two small dragons on a quest to save their girlfriends. Using bubbles that the dragons launch from their mouth, Bub & Bob trap enemies as they navigate single screen dungeons. Once players finish level 100, they learn that Bub & Bob are actually humans that have been transformed into dragons by magic and, in another twist, discover that their parents have been kidnapped as well. This sets up future entries in the series, with players taking on the human forms of Bub & Bob in the arcade titles Rainbow Islands and Parasol Stars; the duo would return as dragons in Bubble Bobble 2, a console exclusive.

Multiple sequels have arrived in the series over the last 40 years, some with Bub & Bob as humans, some as dragons, and each with slightly different gameplay mechanics. Aside from the mainline series sequels, Bubble Bobble has spawned a successful spin-off series known in Japan as Puzzle Bobble, and in North America as Bust-A-Move. In this series, players launch colored bubbles into a play field, attempting to dislodge other colored bubbles and clear the area.

I can’t believe it’s been 40 years of Bubble Bobble, and just 40 years of video games in general. Heck, even longer, I could probably talk about titles released 50 years ago at this point! No, I won’t give myself any ideas, it’s already hard enough trying to do three to four titles a week. I’m tired.

Movies:

In notable films, 2016 gave us Shin Godzilla. Written and co-directed by Hideaki Anno, the creator of the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shin Godzilla re-imagines the Godzilla film for a modern Japan. Instead of Godzilla (or Gojira, if you’re so inclined) being an allegory for the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, the creature is instead an allegory for both the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Tohoku earthquake & tsunami.

While the film seems to applaud Japan’s Self-Defense Force, which delighted then prime minister Shinzo Abe, it is hard to imagine that Shin Godzilla is pro-government or pro-military in general. Much of the plot of Shin Godzilla has less to do with the monster destroying Japan, than with how ineffective and outright incompetent the Japanese government is in handling a national crisis.

Instead of helping the people affected by the disaster in a timely and efficient manner, multiple bureaucrats try to do whatever they can to stifle any aid as it could make them look bad, make the country look bad, and maybe cost too much money. The film is, in some ways, very nationalistic, with Anno seeming to feel that the Japanese government has succumbed to foreign influence and bullying to a catastrophic degree.

Suffice to say, Shin Godzilla, like the original Godzilla, is less concerned about being a monster movie than it is with being a vehicle for social commentary. The film was a massive success in Japan, both commercially and critically, and was nominated for several awards in its home country’s version of the Oscars, including wins for Best Director and Best Picture. By the end of the year, Shin Godzilla would be the highest grossing live action film in Japan, earning $75 million. In the U.S., Shin Godzilla was received less enthusiastically, saying it was too long, contained too many characters, and too many sub-plots, making it a confusing, boring, mess.

Anno would not stay in the world of Godzilla for too long, with the next three films in the series going the animation route and the next two live action films, Godzilla Minus One and Godzilla Minus Zero both being directed by Takashi Yamazaki. Instead, Anno would move on to other popular Japanese tokusatsu properties, writing and directing Shin Ultraman in 2022, and Shin Kamen Rider in 2023.

From 2006, we have the comedy Man of the Year, a political satire directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robin Williams. In the film, Williams plays a comedian named Tom Dobbs, who hosts a popular political “news-like” show on television that is similar to The Daily Show. Critical of both major political parties, Dobbs finds that his “common sense”, moderate ideas are popular among American voters and, in a flash of genius, decides to run for President of the United States.

Having been 25 in 2006 and a staunch supporter of the Democratic party and world-class George W. Bush hater, I can vividly remember people floating around the idea that somebody like John Stewart, Bill Maher, or any number of other “political” comedians should run for office because they “got it”. Thank god they didn’t, because the world is already fucked up enough; sadly, though, Republicans didn’t get the memo and we got the big orange dick head named Donald Trump as our President, a former reality TV host.

Back to Man of the Year, the movie was a critical and commercial failure. Audiences seemed to stay away because Democrats couldn’t tell if it was making of Republicans, and Republicans couldn’t tell if it was making fun of Democrats (I kind of get them both, I guess). Critics found the film to be an abysmally trite film, saying it failed to make any kind of grand statement and eventually turns from political satire into romantic comedy before venturing into a kind of serious political drama. Tonally, Man of the Year just didn’t know what it wanted to be.

From 1996, we’ve got the film The Ghost and the Darkness, in which Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer hunt man eating lions. It was a critical and commercial flop, with Val Kilmer’s acting being called some of the worst of the year. To his defense, the man just got off a grueling set for The Island of Dr. Moreau, was going through a divorce, and had to be in a film where he was given no time to rehearse or study, and was in EVERY scene. The only positive thing to come from the film was its Academy Award win for Best Sound Editing.

From 1986, we’ve got the film Peggy Sue Got Married, a 1980’s classic starring Kathleen Turner as a disillusioned housewife who, after a knock to the head, is magically sent back in time to the 1950’s, able to re-live her last days of high school. The incident happens at her 25-year high school reunion and, with knowledge of the future, she goes about trying to help her friends and, ultimately, herself, find happiness in her adult life.

What it really all boils down to is, well, can you really be happy by changing your future. You might be in a loveless marriage 25 years in the future, but that marriage also gave you children that you love, a lifetime of experiences that were, at one point, very happy and joyful. Is losing all of that really worth sparing some future heartbreak? Directed with style by Francis Ford Coppola, Peggy Sue Got Married was a box office hit, earning $41 million on a budget of only $18, and was a critical darling as well, earning three Academy Award nominations, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design (though it failed to win any).

Albums:

In notable albums, 2016 saw the release of Cody, the fourth full length album from the punk band Joyce Manor. While it was praised for its more mature songwriting, the album did not reach the same levels of success as their previous effort, Never Hungover Again, and was received coldly by their fans. While some songs have since gotten a better reception at their live shows, like “Fake I.D., you typically won’t hear many songs from Cody in a Joyce Manor set. While three singles would be released, as well as a glowing review and end of year accolade from The A.V. Club who named it among their best albums of 2016, Cody wasn’t the mainstream breakthrough for the band; that was still a bit of a ways off.

From 2006, we have the album The Black Parade from the emo band My Chemical Romance. A massive critical and commercial hit, The Black Parade solidified My Chemical Romance as one of the most well known and successful rock bands of the 2000’s. Personally, I was not into these guys, I think I was maybe five years older than the target demographic, and I know a lot of people 5 to 10 years younger than me that felt a strong sense of nostalgia for MCR in the last couple of years.

While the album would spawn four singles, the obvious hit is “Welcome to the Black Parade” an over five minute long epic that became the band’s most successful song, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Multiple outlets named it one of the best albums of 2006, while Rolling Stone would include it in their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list at #361.

From 1996, the album Life is Peachy was released by the band Korn; who gives a shit.

From 1986, we got the album Reign in Blood by the band SLAYER!!! A seminal release in the metal genre, Reign in Blood was seen as part of a “debut class” of speed metal bands that broke big in the mid 1980’s, including Anthrax’s Among the Living, Megadeth’s Peace Sells…, and Metallica’s Master of Puppets. A critical and commercial success, Reign in Blood peaked at #94 on the Billboard Top 200 (a big feat for the metal genre) and was named among the best albums of 1986 by multiple critics, all without the help of any radio airplay.

Like The Black Parade, Reign in Blood also sits on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list at 287, though it dropped off on a recent update. Regardless of what the current staff of Rolling Stone think about the album, Reign in Blood would go on to influence a generation of metal heads, with its crunchy, yet elegant guitar riffs and machine gun drums being a staple in the genre for, well, the last 40 years. While the album had two singles released, “Postmortem” and “Criminally Insane”, the stand out track is, easily, the opening song, “Angel of Death”. Go blast this tune from your car as you drive down the streets of your suburban neighborhood. The kids will call you a Boomer, but fuck ’em; Slayer rules.

PlayStation VR – Released Oct. 13^th, 2016

Bully (PS2) – Released Oct. 17^th, 2006

Mr. Bones (Saturn) – Released Oct. 18^th, 1996

Bubble Bobble (Arcade) – Released Oct. 1986

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