As the winter chill sets in, and snow starts to fall on the ground, what better time to continue our Seasonal Vacation in the realm of Avalar with our good buddies Spyro the Dragon and Sparx the Dragonfly.

With the permanent superflame, we’re sure to have a significantly easier time helping the various citizens we encounter along the way.

As you may remember from the last stream, we were contemplating whether or not we should continue with the superflame power up I earned through getting 100% on my own time, or if I should reset the game, redo the progress from the previous stream, and proceed with a normal playthrough. Ultimately, I decided to keep the current run and continue to use my “New Game+” benefit. I could say that it’s because we couldn’t completely recreate the save since we abused superflame a few times, but truth is I just want to have fun with it.

But even discounting our little bonus, there’s still plenty to soak in when playing through Spyro 2. Having reached Autumn Plains, I can finally talk about just how much I love that home world. Out of all the hub worlds from the original trilogy, Autumn Plains was always my favorite. Most people would choose to spend time off at a tropical beach or resort town, but I’ve always had a natural inclination to the mild temperatures and warm colors of Autumn. I’d glad choose to spend time resting in a place of perpetual Fall.

The background music for Spyro 2’s home worlds adds to that feeling. When combined with the lack of enemies or obstacles and the overall atmosphere, this level always makes me feel at peace when I’m navigating in. The palace section also feels like the kind of place one could take a tour of or display a gallery of artwork or historical artifacts, which only furthers that sense of tone. Hearing the rustling of the wind at the top of the tower, overlooking the whole map and drinking it all in is the image that comes to mind the instant I think of this game, so it was a treat seeing it redone in HD.

Which brings us to the fun fact that was discussed in this episode. It’s obvious that all 3 home worlds in this game are themed after seasons: Summer Forest, Autumn Plains, and Winter Tundra. For this reason, it was always assumed that there was a fourth planned home world that never made it into the game. The other “supporting evidence” for this theory was that there were 4 speedways, Autumn Plains getting two of them, with the assumption being that one of them was to be used for this “cut” 4th hub. In a twitch stream of Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon, it was confirmed by the dev team that this “cut world” never existed in the first place. The plan was always to be 3.

This hasn’t stopped fans for continue to spread the rumor, of course. Last I heard, there was even a fan project to create this “Spring Savannah”, but the most recent video I could find on this subject was from March 2018, so I don’t know what happened to it: Whether it released or the team had to discontinue the project for some reason.

And lastly, as promised, here’s a clip of the original Turtle Soup challenge from the original PlayStation version of the game. As you can see, the top down perspective can make it difficult to line up the charge so the turtles move away from the pot. The new perspective, combined with our permanent superflame ability, makes this challenge significantly easier in the Reignited Trilogy, something I’ll be silently thankful for.

But I’m also grateful for all of you, who read these posts and watch my videos and streams, because you decided to spend your time with me instead all of the other distractions competing for your attention. Thank you so much, and I hope to see you as we continue our adventures with the original PlayStation’s unofficial mascots.

With the impending release of Theros block in Magic: The Gathering, and having heard a lot about how the game has changed since I last played, I figured now was a good time to dive back into Supergiant Games’s latest work, still currently in Early Access: Hades.

Like Elspeth and so many, many characters in Greek myth, let us attempt to escape the underworld.

I have adored every release Supergiant Games has put out since Bastion, and Hades is no exception to that rule. Even though it’s still being developed, it felt feature complete even on release, and as time goes on it’s only gotten more refined.

Hades’s also makes excellent use of it’s source material, creating compelling characters and relationships between members of the Greek pantheon that most of us are familiar with. That moment on stream where Orpheus retells his story for Zagreus off screen genuinely made me laugh because it signaled that the developers knew exactly what they were doing. Similarly, I loved seeing Theseus and Asterius fighting side by side in a tag-team boss fight at the fields of Elysium.

I also can’t help but notice that the team retooled a couple of old ideas so that they would have more impact during a given run. When I last touched the game, Heat was a resource one could acquire, similar to Darkness. Except, when Darkness is used for character upgrades, Heat would add addition challenge modifiers to each run. Since then, it’s been folded into a new bounty system, where players can agree to tougher conditions in the hope of getting higher rewards. And seeing that on top of new systems like the renovations makes me all the more eager to dive in once more.

I don’t know how many future runs will be capture on stream, but know that I’ll be playing this way more than I used to.

Despite a few delays, my good friend Acharky and I would never miss out on an opportunity to be Marvelous, and this latest update to Ultimate Alliance 3 allowed us to do just that.

Join us as we talk about comics and media while taking on newcomers Iceman, Gambit, Cable, and Phoenix. And then, we take the Danger Room for a spin and do some Infinity Challenges.


As we both said during the stream, neither one of us are fans of the concept of the Phoenix Force. Personally, I don’t find it interesting, but that’s only as a casual observer of comic book lore. My only real experience with it is as an evil entity that just possesses people to destroy the universe… or something.

That said, it makes sense to include her in the roster of playable heroes, along with the rest of this update. It’s good to see the X-Men finally get some much needed love after being snubbed for years due to the movie rights being owned by Fox, and Disney unwilling to provide the free advertising to a competitor. I only wish this didn’t come at the cost of the Disney monopoly acquiring even more intellectual property to be sealed up, forever out of reach.

And it’s nice to see Ultimate Alliance 3 getting updating so long after launch, even if there’s only one more planned update remaining. My complaints with it aside, I still want it to succeed. While a lot of my problems, like the fact each character is leveled separately, will never be fixed, I can at least recognize that new features make leveling under-developed characters easier.

It’s always good to come back, and I can’t wait to return for another stint with the next update.

We might have played this deck type once before, but I can’t deny how fun it is to win by repeatedly throwing that cat into the oven.

As far as the decklist goes, the core of the previous version of it is all there. The real changes are in the removal suit. Rather than running Casualties of War, we’re using cheaper removal in the form of cards like Thrashing Brontodon, which also serves as a strong creature and a potential sacrifice trigger even if we don’t have any specific targets in mind. That said, the strategy is basically the same as it was last time.

What I find most interesting about this deck is that despite being built around the cat/oven synergy, there’s a lot of resilience on display, and ways to win even if neither card, or only one, of the two pieces hits our hand. While slower, we can still use Trail of Crumbs and Gilded Goose to generate food tokens that we can cash in either for Mayhem Devil or Korvold triggers. And if we do have our combo established, all of these pieces only work to push our advantage further to secure the win.

Or… we can go up against a self-mill deck and destroy their Jace, Wielder of Mysteries with a Murderous Rider just as they are preparing to draw their final card.

The plan after finishing Crash was to run the new Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 content with Chris, but I foolishly forgot that I had uninstalled the game some time ago.

So instead I decided to start playing Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage. Welcome to the magical world of Avalar, where we’ve been summoned to toast a new threat. And naturally, with new challenges comes and expanded arsenal.

First off, apologies once more for the audio balancing. It will be fixed in the next recording.

In the original version of Spyro 2, when a player achieves 100%, they unlock a version of the superflame power up that already exists in the game, except that it is a permanent upgrade. This benefit extends to all future runs as long as the 100% save game data exists. Naturally, this was carried over into the remake. I was hesitant to keep going with it for the sake of showing off the game better, but I ultimately think it’s okay play with superflame, since I can talk about what is made easier with that ability.

The glitch I was talking about in this episode was the Double Jump Glitch, which I was able to find references to on the Spyro wiki. I never knew its name growing up, just that it helped me complete challenges and find secrets that I clearly wasn’t supposed to be able to find without abilities I didn’t have. I’ll miss it, but I understand why they didn’t bother trying to bring it over in the Reignited Trilogy.

Aside from that, I want to call attention to the scene with Elora after beating Glimmer. Comparing the scene in the original version below to the reignited version(timestamp), there’s no change in lines. The key difference is in the delivery. There’s a slight bite to the original that conveys that both Spyro and Elora are still not quite friends since they only just met. This edge is softened in the new performances, which give off an impression that they immediately hit it off. Neither interpretation is bad, but one of those extremely slight details that I can’t help but pick up on since I’ve played this game so many times.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t also point out how much better the intro cutscene looks in the new remake when compared to the original below, since the animators, modelers,  and actors have much more to work with. But it’s not just in higher quality models, either. The use of cinematography and camera work adds so much more to the reignited version of the scene than there was in the original.

All criticisms aside, Toys for Bob did excellent work in re-imagining both the Spyro and Crash trilogies, and they should be commended for that.

At long last, we have arrived at our final destination. After braving the trials and tribulations scatted across these isolated islands off the coast of Australia, our pal Crash Bandicoot, the blunder from Down Under, has foiled his creator’s plans for world domination via an army of mutated animals, and save his girlfriend Tawna.

His island castle burning crumbling, burning down around him, Dr. Neo Cortex has only one though: Revenge. Ambushing the reunited couple as they pilot their escape blimp, creator and creations clash.

In this episode, we conclude our adventures in the outback, with special guest Chris, from the Marvelous Duo.

Apologies for the audio balancing issues. I had to reconnect my Capture Card to my computer earlier that day because it was experiencing issues, and forgot to set the volume of the game recording down to it’s usual levels. Thankfully, both Chris is loud enough that he has no issues, and I am still audible, even if I’m quieter than I’d like.

Although we didn’t finish the cut, Stormy Ascent, I am still glad that we played it on stream to demonstrate how difficult it was. There is a good reason it’s on the cutting room floor instead of in the final game, but I’m happy that it was brought into the remake to give people a glimpse of what design choices had to be made.

Something I got to talk about here, but neglected to mention in other posts, is the surprising sense of world building, even in the original PS1 release, that exists in the details. It’s something as simple as seeing the after effects of Crash exploring the castle in the final boss, with it burning in the background as we fight Dr. Cortex. Even in earlier levels, the castle is often in the background to remind the player what their final destination is going to be. Or how the third island is noticeably more “industrial” than the other two, with machinery and power plant levels helping fill in extraneous detail for how Cortex runs his operation.

While I don’t think the original Crash Bandicoot aged well, it served as a valuable piece of gaming history for being a pioneer in the space of 3D platforming, even before Super Mario 64. Further, it paved the way for the later games in the franchise, which are games that I still play semi-regularly. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is one of my favorite PS1 games, and I look forward to playing it with the rest of you here.

Our adventures in the Down Under continue, as we try to save our girlfriend(?) from an evil scientist. Also, we’re a mutated bandicoot going up against mechanical sentries and other mutant animals.

Join us as we traverse old ruins, cross treacherous bridges, and fumble in the dark, and climb the castle walls. This is Crash Bandicoot.

As I replay the original Crash game as a part of the N Sane Trilogy, what sticks out to me is just how easy it is to identify the era it’s from. The PS1 version was released in September 1996, and that’s about when I would’ve guessed it came out if I had not looked it up.

Even with an updated presentation and quality-of-life improvements, there’s a roughness to the way it plays that strongly invokes the feeling of that time in game design. Death can set players back quite a way, and any one mistake and be instantly lethal.

But beyond that, it’s also very 90s in its aesthetic and attitude. Like Sonic the Hedgehog, Crash basically exists in antithesis to the softer, more subdued plumber from Nintendo, as highlighted by his famous commercial below. Crash meant to be the new, “cooler” platform mascot, something the kids could latch onto as edgier, without being too edgy.

It’s as much a time capsule as it is a game, hearkening back to an nostalgia era from my childhood. The remake isn’t perfect, but it captures the essence of what Crash Bandicoot was so that other people can go back and explore it in a historic context. It’s telling that even with the analog stick at my disposal, I would much rather use the d-pad when playing because of the level design and mechanics.

And shout-out to Koala Kong, who is a very handsome marsupial.

I’m sure by the time you’re reading this, you’ve probably already gotten tired of the discourse surrounding Death Stranding. Such seems to be the story with most of the people I know, even ones who like it. And yet, as I was trekking along the snowy peaks surrounding Mountain Knot City, an insidious though began to creep into my mind, one that I couldn’t shake even as I began to reach the end of the game.
Taking place in a post-apocalyptic America where the barriers between the human world and the afterlife are worn thin, Death Stranding has the player assume the role of Sam Porter Bridges, a courier working for Bridges, a subsidiary of the United Cities of America (UCA). His objective, set forth by Acting President Samantha America “Amelie” Strand, is to travel westward, starting from Capital Knot City in the east, to annex the various cities and shelters across the remnants of the old country in order to “make us whole”. As a student of United States history, this began to draw parallels to the real life doctrine of Manifest Destiny.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, Manifest Destiny is the 19th century concept that the American people were special, and had a divine mandate to expand their territory, extolling the virtues of their own democratic civilization and way of thinking. Not only was this the moral duty of America, according to proponents, but it was natural and inevitable for the nation to recreate the world in their own, enlightened image. While this can be directly correlated to America’s expansion from east-to-west in the 1800s, vestiges of the doctrine exist today in the form of American exceptionalism that national leaders use to justify conflicts in other regions of the world.
It doesn’t take too much effort to see the immediate parallels. Like the settlers of the original thirteen colonies, Sam’s quest is about bringing already populated locations into the American government, under the pretense that doing so is in the best interest of the residents. Early in the game, the people he encounters are all members of the previous task force sent out to do the same thing, but didn’t have the equipment necessary to finish the job by connecting each location to the “chiral network,” this world’s version of the super internet. Since they are already more-or-less part of the UCA government, the issue doesn’t come up.
This starts to change as we reach the middle of the country. While members of the first group still certainly dot the map, most of the settlements are owned and maintained by doomsday-preppers and their descendants, who had shelters established prior to the apocalypse. Naturally, many of them have no desire to join up with the remnants of a fallen nation. As a courier, Sam has to take on and fulfill enough orders from them to convince them that it is worth giving America and its network a chance. On one hand, there is Death Stranding’s overt, surface interpretation of what is going on here: That by assisting these preppers, the player is helping them overcome their fears and see the value in forming connections with other people.
But more subtly, there’s the less obvious lesson being taught here, the one that needs to be fully dissected. By completing orders to transport valuable cargo to these locations, Sam is exposing them to the wonders of the UCA, and what “America” can both physically and metaphorically “deliver” to their own, pre-existing societies. Once they acquire a taste of this greatness, even if it takes multiple missions to do so, it’s only the natural, logical conclusion that they would be better off if they allowed themselves to be annexed and assimilated into “America”. Even someone like The Elder, an old man who has become rightfully distrustful of nations since he witnessed a pre-apocalypse US where leaders “wanted to build a wall along the whole damn border”, will gladly give that same nation a second chance after experiencing what it can provide. It is almost as if becoming a part of the UCA, a part of America, is the inevitable, logical conclusion of all people Sam encounters on his quest.
As for whether or not America is blessed by God, we cannot broach this subject without delving into many of the late game spoilers for Death Stranding. After finished his westward exodus in Edge Knot City, “completing the chiral network” and “making America whole”, Sam learns that Amelie is actually an “extinction entity”. Her sole reason for being is to herald in the next mass extinction event, as the source of the current apocalypse. In layman’s terms, she’s powerful enough to destroy the world, and will eventually be compelled to do so whether she wants to or not.
Being the protagonist of the story, Sam eventually confronts her in the afterlife (it makes sense in context). Rather than attempt to fight or kill her, he convinces her that the people he has connected with deserve to have a chance to prepare for and survive the apocalypse by working together. Seeing “extinction as an opportunity” for mankind to better themselves, she relents and promises to buy mankind as much time as she can. It’s a moment that reaffirms the idea that we are better when we unite as one… or does it?
After all, the “connections” Sam formed aren’t just metaphorical, in the sense that he’s growing closer to other people. They are very literal connections to the chiral network, by which the UCA exerts its influence across territories annexed under its banner. Under this context, Amelie, in all her vast power, the closest thing this world has to a literal God, is blessing Sam with more time for the very explicit purpose of continuing his efforts to acquire even more territory. One day, once the UCA has expanded far enough and acquired all the knowledge it can, it will be fully equipped to shield humanity from the inevitable apocalypse and shepherd it into a new age. Such is the divine mandate from Acting President Samantha America Strand.
Now, I want to clarify that I sincerely doubt Japanese game developers like Hideo Kojima and his team would have any idea what Manifest Destiny is, nor the context behind the themes I’m outlining. Let us not pretend that this interpretation was part of his intended vision. However, just because it wasn’t the team’s intent does not make it any less valid. We all have implicit and explicit biases that color the works we produce and what we take away from the art of others. And yet, I cannot help but see the similarities between the events in Death Stranding to what real world political thinkers truly believed, and grow weary at the thought. It is worth examining the fiction we consume so that we don’t accidentally produce messages that could negative impact the people we seek to enrich with our stories.

Once more, we return to the Arena, but our creatures have other plans. While some are just fine being summoned to the field, others would rather spend their time on their own adventures and misadventures first.

Suits me just fine, because my Golgari Adventures deck is set to make the most of their pioneering spirit.

Check out the decklist from MTGGoldfish.

The two most useful tools we have at our disposal are Edgewall Innkeeper and Lucky Clover, so much so that it can often be worthwhile to mulligan otherwise good hands if they don’t contain at least one of these cards. Both of them accrue tons of extra value, Edgewall Innkeeper in the form of extra cards and Lucky Clover by copying the effects of our adventures.

And we have a glut of powerful effects to copy, like Foulmire Knight that can exchange some life and mana for cards, and/or be played as a 1/1 with deathtouch to keep attacks at bay. Murderous Rider, one of the most powerful removal spells in the format, gets even better when copied, turning into a lifelink body with decent stats afterward. Beanstalk Giant also takes advantage of Lucky Clover, allowing us to place multiple basic lands untapped onto the battlefield to extend potential make another play on that same turn, even if it’s just a Foulmire Knight. When we’re ready to cast it, it can be a massive beater to quickly close out a game.

While we’re not really playing Lovestruck Beast for its adventure, it can certainly help gum up an incoming attack. With it’s own 1/1 human, along with our Innkeepers and Foulmire Knights, we have so many 1/1s in the deck that it’s quite likely by the time we can cast the Lovestruck Beast as a creature, we have satisfied the conditions to let it attack and block. And if either of them bite the dust (or any other valuable creature), we can use Order of Midnight to bring them back for a second chance.

What you may have noticed already is that despite being an adventure deck, we have accidentally included a large number of mono-black knights. For that reason, it is appropriate to include the Smitten Swordmaster as a potential late-game win condition. With a Lucky Clover or two out, and enough knights on board, the adventure half of the card can dramatically swing the game in an instant. It didn’t happen on stream, but I only took my opponent from 13 life to 0 with a single application of this card, copied by Lucky Clover. And in a pinch, it’s a body that we can use to fill out our board state.

As for non-theme pieces, Midnight Reaper can allow us to draw cards if our board gets cleared, which will keep us in the game. And with games running as long as they do, Casualties of War becomes a great removal tool to destroy just whatever has become a problem on the opponent’s board. 6-mana is actually perfectly reasonable to achieve, and with our ramp and otherwise low CMC we’ll likely be able to make additional plays on top of it to take advantage of the opening.

It may not be the best deck, but it is powerful and a ton of fun to play.

With the dragons rescued, and the Dragon Realms are at peace for a time. So for now, Spyro and Sparx deserve a much needed rest.

Let us set our sights somewhere else… like the Australian outback. There, a mad scientist duo is hatching a plan for world domination via an army of mutated animals. One experiment went wrong, and that may just be the one that brings their whole plan crumbling down.

We’re going Down Under with Crash Bandicoot.

In case it wasn’t clear, this won’t be the same walk in the park that Spyro was. Crash Bandicoot was infamous for its difficulty way back when. Though the N Sane Trilogy version implements many quality of life improvements, it’s doesn’t change the core level design and layout.

Unlike Spyro, where we could take several hits before eventually dying, Crash is extremely fragile. He has to find masks to protect him, where Spyro starts each new life with Sparx fully charged and ready to keep him safe. But even with a mask, most hazards are related to falls and drowning, which cannot be protected against.

And this is in part due to the vastly different design philosophies around both franchises. Spyro levels tend to be marked by wide open expanses that players are tasked with exploring every nook and cranny of to find every last secret and complete every challenge. It’s less about precision and more about finding the right path to arrive at the destination.

On the other hand, Crash requires significantly more precision in it’s platforming. Timing is critical, as is the ability to judge distances, and one false move will often lead directly to death. Part of this comes from the fact that the first two Crash games predate the first Spryo, and so there were lessons learned in the years since. But even then, there’s just a fundamental separation between the two design philosophies.

This is something I hope to explore more as we progress through both trilogies.
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