Hello there! Welcome back to Press Any Button, where this week we’re checking out what’s new with the world’s most famous hedgehog, looking ahead to PAX, and getting our nostalgia fix with Lego and the 3DS.
Regular readers will know we’re big fans of Game Pass. While game culture and marketing means we often feel compelled only to talk about the brand new $100 hotness, that’s not the be all and end all. With games continuing to expand in popularity and current machines having libraries in the thousands that stretch back decades, people who just want something good to play aren’t limited to so small a pool, and sales and subscription services are good ways to surface and pay for great games that are already there.
So we’re very excited about the advent of the new PlayStation Plus in Australia, which is tomorrow, that can get you access to a huge library of games to download and play on your PS4 or PS5. If you’re a current PS+ subscriber you won’t notice any difference, because you’ll be automatically put into the lowest tier with no access to the new library. But, you can pay a one-time fee to upgrade your remaining subscription if you like. We’ll have more to say about the new PS+ next week, once we’ve spent some time with it, but if you jump in early please feel free to let us know your thoughts!
Restoration, rehash or ripoff?
By Tim
Sega’s marketing of Sonic Origins, a collection of the earliest and best games in the series, was always going to furrow some brows. A $60 package of four old games is a tough ask, but the publisher decided to push its luck with a strangely priced but ill-defined $68 deluxe version plus pre-order incentives, promising gobbledygook features like “character animations during music islands”.
Now I’ve spent a decent chunk of time with the game, ahead of tomorrow’s release, I can confirm the deluxe and preorder bonuses are cynical nonsense you won’t miss. But the game itself is certainly worthwhile; a fine meld of retro charm, giddy celebration and modern accessibility.
The versions of Sonic, Sonic CD, Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles here are complete remasters, meaning they run buttery smooth and in widescreen. There are heaps of added extras like Tails, Knuckles and advanced spin moves in games they shouldn’t be in, expanded cheats and secrets, and your choice of the correct or American soundtrack for CD, but in general they’re the same beautiful, expansive run-and-bop adventures.
Newcomers can jump in anywhere or play through in order and will find a much friendlier, more consistent and less dated experience than with the originals. A key change is that the games don’t use “lives” anymore, meaning novices won’t be blindsided by any cheap Game Overs. Skillful play now earns coins, which you can use to retry special stages, making it easier to get all those chaos emeralds in a single run. It’s an approach superior to the standard retro collection tactic of adding save states, I think, because it doesn’t eliminate challenge entirely.
Old fans may not appreciate all the changes, but that’s balanced out by the nice library of music and pictures to look through, as well as the adorable new animated intros and outros to each game. My biggest pain point is the sound in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which is the only game newly remastered for Origins (the others have shown up on mobile and PC). It’s noticeably mufflier than the others and, due to rights issues, the original music tracks are removed from three zones and replaced by fitting but inarguably weaker tunes.
What to play
Released on the PS4 in 2020, Fall Guys is a pastel party battle royale that replaces violence with the kind of obstacle races and last-one-standing challenges you might see in TV shows like Wipeout or Takeshi’s Castle. Unusually for an online game it’s gratifying even when you lose, but of course it’s incredible when you manage to win. Today it’s going totally free-to-play, and expanding to Xbox and Switch, so it’s an excellent time to give it a go.
New to Xbox Game Pass this week is Shadowrun Trilogy, which includes adventures from the 2010s era of the classic Orcs-and-Elves-meet-shotguns RPG world, now on consoles for the first time. 2013’s Shadowrun Returns was a mixed bag, but its two sequels were vast improvements, and fans of narrative isometric combat RPGs should definitely take a look. Also on Game Pass is Naka: Bladepoint, the console version of a Chinese battle royale that’s already big on PC.
For you physical game fans, Big W has a lot of deals as part of its current Toy Mania sale, including $90 off Switch OLED and quite a few big games going 2 for $50. If you sort by cheapest first, you’ll also see some of the best PS4 games are also going for $10 a pop.
The PlayStation Store has some good sales on at the moment, including Horizon Zero Dawn for $9.97 (60% off), Civilization VI Platinum Edition for $23.37 (70% off) and Assassin’s Creed Origins Gold Edition for $28.99 (80% off).
Coming up on Apple Arcade this week is Air Twister. It’s a swiping shooter where you can fly and shoot targets on what appears to be backgrounds from upscale karaoke bars and your more chill raves.
Be a part of PAX Together
By Alice
October is a magical chunk of the year. There is a glimmer of hope that the interminable winter might soon come to an end (even though it was supposed to have ended ages ago, but we are in Melbourne), and PAX Aus brings gamers together in a large convention hall.
It’s that second part that I’d like you to turn your mind to now, even if it seems a bit early.
My wife and I run a section of PAX Aus called PAX Together. It’s a space designed to celebrate diversity and inclusion in and around the games industry and gaming audience. Practically, what that means is that we host meet ups and networking hours for women and members of the LGBTQ community, demonstrations of accessibility tech, community groups that are relevant to the space, indie games, panels, tournaments, quiz shows and all manner of other stuff.
For the first time, we’re even getting a separate PAX Together Theatre as well as the Diversity Lounge, opening the floor for deeper discussions around diversity, inclusion, accessibility and everything else that seems like it would fit.
Over the weekend I opened applications for things in the lounge. If you’ve made a game you’d like to show at PAX (for free), or have a community group you think would benefit from a free booth, perhaps you have an idea for a panel, or anything else that would fit in the space, I would love to hear from you.
Like, I could host a three-day long game of NerdKwiz, or just put The Carmilla Move on repeat, but I don’t think anyone wants that. The Lounge is always at its best when it has new voices sharing new ideas (or old ideas in new ways). This year, why not let it be your voice?
Bricks, Boards and Beginnings
by Alice
This past weekend was Lego Con, that beautiful time each year when Lego announces a bunch of products during a ridiculously long live stream that could have been an email.
A lot of the announcements were around Avatar sets, as though anyone could possibly remember what happened in the first movie other than “there were tall blue people and a nice planet being colonised while we wore 3D glasses”. I’m sure both fans were thrilled, though maybe the second movie will be great. Who knows?
There were also some Star Wars sets, a bit of Minecraft, a cool-looking new collectible mini-figures series where they’re all in costumes, and some new Super Mario Character Packs.
But what caught my eye were the three biggest sets (RIP my wallet).
The most obviously exciting set was the new 4514 piece Lion Knight’s Castle set, which is a must-have. As a kid, all my Lego was hand-me-downs from my cousins, so all my knights came pre-chewed. I’m looking forward to getting to chew these ones myself. But it’s also just an awesome-looking construction with so much detail.
The next big one was the 1254 piece Galaxy Explorer, that I’m excited about more for the nostalgia than the actual appearance. Like my hand-me-down knights, my spacemen came with their helmets pre-broken and the ships were missing so many pieces, that I’m kinda excited to get to build it properly and relive my childhood space battles.
The two sets are lovely trips down memory lane for the 90th anniversary of Lego.
Finally, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the Sanctum Sanctorum is a must-have. At $380 for 2708 pieces, it is massively overpriced, and I’m not really that interested in Doctor Strange as a character, but I love this building. It looks like it’s made to fit in with the modular buildings, which is my favourite theme. Just those windows on the roof look so smooth. It’ll look great on my modular street.
Jay’s Brick Blog has a good recap on what was announced at the event, and I’d be keen on hearing your thoughts in the comments if you have any favourites.
Retro Esoterica
by Tim
I’ve been playing a lot of 3DS lately. And before you say “that’s not retro”, I regret to inform you that the platform is more than a decade old, so it counts.
In terms of sheer volume of amazing, creative, complete games, the 3DS is up in the God Tier with the Super Nintendo and PS4. But as the closure of its online shop in March 2023 looms, I can’t help thinking how difficult it’s going to be for anyone new to enjoy it after that date.
Looking at the biggest-budget 3DS games — the ones that were released in plastic boxes at retail as well as on the eShop — the resale market is already getting out of hand. Notable games are generally going for between $40 and $100, but some have spiralled out to $300 or more. On the eShop they’re generally $30 or $60, meaning you have options if you’re looking to pick up the likes of Super Mario 3D Land, or something a little more niche like Radiant Historia. Once the eShop is gone that choice will be too, and you’ll be at the mercy of a rapidly inflating market for ageing cartridges.
But what I really worry about are all the smaller, brilliant games that are only available on the eShop, and may become totally inaccessible when the store closes. The latest in HAL’s BoxBoy! series has made the jump to Switch, but the first three impeccable games are only found on the 3DS eShop. Nintendo’s unique Dillon's Rolling Western is eShop-only too, as is Pullblox and its sequels.
Then there’s a whole range of indies and third party eShop exclusives. Like Level-5’s Guild series, which are seven inventive games each made with a prominent Japanese designer. And several delightful non-Pokemon experiments from Game Freak, including HarmoKnight and Pocket Card Jockey.
The retro content on the eShop shouldn’t be overlooked either. The Virtual Console has more than 530 titles, including easily the cheapest official way to play a lot of old Pokemon games and Sega Game Gear releases. Plus there are heaps of Nintendo, Sega and Arcade oldies on the eShop, in special versions that display in 3D, which will likely never be usable elsewhere.
So if you’re at all interested, you have less than a year to get your 3DS library in check.