The Concord Studio Gets Shut Down And More Top Gaming Stories
This week, people desperate for Nintendo to finally pull back the curtain on the successor to the Switch instead got an announcement that the acclaimed role-playing game Xenoblade Chronicles X, previously only available on Wii U, will make its way to the handheld hybrid next year. Also, Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm was denied by YouTube in his efforts to have his channel’s monetization reinstated, and Sony shuttered Firewalk Studios, the team behind sci-fi shooter Concord. These stories and more await in the pages ahead.
Mario Kart Racers Look Awesome As McDonald’s Happy Meal Toys
As a grown adult, you likely don’t make a habit of ordering off the kid’s menu. I bet the only thing that could change that is a unique collab with a rare toy or collectible up for grabs. It’s that time again, as McDonald’s is partnering with Nintendo for the Mario Kart x Happy Meal collab. (Add that to the list of non-Switch 2 Nintendo announcements.) This collab is present at all McDonald’s locations throughout the United States, but it’s unclear whether other markets will receive the same promotion.
While these exclusive toys are technically meant for children, precisely ages three and up, we know plenty of people who’ll be ordering a Mario Kart-themed Happy Meal are those who grew up facing their siblings head-to-head in the game. Hey, I’m not judging. I want that Toad Kart!
In total, there are ten limited-edition Mario Kart x Happy Meal collab toys to acquire, including:
- Mario Kart
- Peach Kart
- Luigi Kart
- Toadette Kart
- Donkey Kong Kart
- Gold Mario Kart
- Toad Kart
- Yoshi Kart
- Bowser Kart
- Pink Gold Peach Kart
Each Mario Kart toy comes in an exclusive box. The front features the usual Nintendo marketing, and the side features the iconic McDonald’s smile commonly found on the Happy Meal.
Of course, every Happy Meal is different, and you may receive the same toy multiple times. You can ask to buy one of the toys separately, although many locations don’t go for that tactic and may outright deny you. Most require a meal purchase.
This promotion is specifically for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which launched on the Nintendo Switch on April 28, 2017. It’s an old version of the racing game, and many people feel it’s quite tricky, but it gives us hope that Nintendo is gearing up for another release within the franchise.
Click or scroll for a look at each toy and its box.
How To Perform Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s Special Throws
It should come as no surprise that Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is chock-full of easter eggs and fun references. A few of the more subtle examples can be found in the scant special throws available—these feature more cinematic animations and potentially different combo extensions, but just like the special finishers, there aren’t many compared to the roster size.
Another similarity to the finishers is that these are almost a hidden inclusion, their only mention in Whis’ Stamp Book. Having to be on the main menu to piece together which characters can pull off a unique throw is a drag, especially when there are ten total to keep track of. Our guide will break down how to perform them all and what makes them different from a fighter’s typical grab.
How to Trigger Special Throws
All it takes to trigger a unique throw is to have one particular fighter grab a specific target. It’s distinct enough that just using any version of a character might not cut it. Goku has three opponents he can perform a special throw against, but each one requires him to be in a certain form from a particular era.
Aside from some launching an opponent differently, these don’t feature any major gameplay differences. While there are some subtle advantages, they’re mainly meant to be fun references to iconic moments and fights us fans love.
Order Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO: Amazon | Best Buy | Humble Bundle
Pokémon TCG Pocket Needs These Three Things From Marvel Snap
Pokémon TCG Pocket arrived this week on iPhone and Android, and it’s a surprisingly crisp and streamlined version of the card game after years of really bad alternatives. Pokémon is pretty much a license to print money, but TCG Pocket does a great job of spotlighting what people love about about the game—the cards themselves—and getting most of the other stuff out of the way. Still, as a big fan of Marvel Snap, there are a few things I wish the mobile game would steal from Second Dinner’s 2022 comic book phenomenon.
I’ve been spending most of my idle smartphone moments the past two days playing Pokémon TCG Pocket instead of doom scrolling Twitter or ingesting AI-slop on Instagram, which is exactly what I want from a good, daily grind mobile game. All of the currencies and sub-economies aimed at getting you to spend money on the otherwise free-to-play game are a bit convoluted and hard to parse, but the battles are fun and opening virtual booster packs by slicing wrappers with a finger swipe is a surprisingly effective simulacrum of the pure joys of doing so in real life.
I’m not yet as obsessed with Pokémon TCG Pocket as I was with Marvel Snap, however, and I think there are three reasons for that. The first is match length. Marvel Snap battles breeze by, making it feel relatively low-stakes to start up another no matter what’s going on around you. TCG Pocket is a bit more involved. Players have a cumulative timer of 20 minutes, with countdowns starting at over 60 seconds for individual turns. The clock rarely gets milked, but matches can still feel a little drawn out as players stack their benches and build up their Pokémon’s power. More than once I’ve finished a match and thought, “That was neat but do I really have time for another.”
The second thing holding Pokémon TCG Pocket back a little for me are the match rewards. In addition to bite-sized matches, Marvel Snap has an ingenious progression built around acquiring extra cards to level them up and earn points that can be spent on acquiring new ones. It’s a clever twist on the traditional booster pack RNG formula. TCG Pocket, as an adaptation of an existing card game, doesn’t have that same luxury. Unfortunately, as things stand, the only rewards for winning matches are miniscule amounts of XP that contribute to an overall level. Raising it nets additional rewards but none of them feel very distinct. The result is that finishing matches feels a bit anti-climactic, rather than giving out that dopamine hit that makes you immediately want to play another match.
Finally, there’s the cards themselves. Outside of building your collection, Marvel Snap has the secondary goal of acquiring, sometimes by outright purchasing, cool alternate card art for your favorite decks. It provides something else to strive for as well as a way to express your particular flavor of popular deck type. Again, TCG Pocket runs into trouble here because its working off of existing card art, and while there are multiple versions of certain cards to unlock, there aren’t many, and there’s no real way to chase them directly. If you open a pack and get a full art variant, great! If not, well, wait for the next random pull.
It’s still early and TCG Pocket is otherwise doing a lot right, certainly more than probably every other digital version of the Pokémon card game I’ve played in the past. There’s only one set of cards to collect at the moment and not much eye candy to salivate over in the paid in-game store. I’m sure that will all change soon enough but for now the game hasn’t quite conjured the full magic of my early days with Marvel Snap. Maybe that’s for the best. I eventually had to delete that game from my phone because it was consuming way too much of my free time.
Pokémon Leaks Reveal An Eevee Evolution We Never Got
We’re still getting new information from the massive Pokémon data breach that happened earlier this month, and while there have been some details about upcoming projects in the mix, it’s mostly consisted of design docs and other information about old games we’ve already played. We’ve seen starter Pokémon that never were, mega evolutions that weren’t included in Pokémon X and Y, and now we know another monster that never made its way out of the ideation phase: a flying Eevee evolution.
According to a design doc in the leaks, a flying-type Eevee evolution was planned for the series’ seventh-gen games, Pokémon Sun and Moon. A translated feedback sheet says that the design Game Freak had in the works too closely resembled fan mock-ups, which led to the team shelving the idea. Unfortunately, we don’t have any images of the flying fox at the moment.
That being said, the way fan artists were able to respond to the news by immediately whipping out their existing mock-ups of the hypothetical Eeveelution kind of suggests that Game Freak’s own ideas were likely being cannibalized by fan artists at the time, too. Eevee’s entire schtick is that it can evolve into one of several Pokémon, each with a different elemental affinity, so fans have been drawing mockups of possible Eevee evolutionary lines for decades, including flying-types.
Eevee is one of the most popular Pokémon in the franchise, having become a secondary mascot to the series alongside Pikachu. Eevee even got its own game in 2018’s Let’s Go, Eevee! on the Switch. It’s been a long time, however, since it got a new evolution, with the last being Sylveon, who debuted in 2013 as one of the introductions to the fairy typing that was added in Pokémon X and Y. Whether or not Eevee needs more evolutions remains a topic of much debate among fans, with some content with the eight it already has, while others would like to see Eevee get a form for all 18 elemental types in the series. It sounds like Game Freak isn’t opposed to the idea, as long as it can find one that feels wholly original, and given how long people have been making fan art of fake Pokémon, that sounds like a difficult proposition.
Sparking Zero’s Battle Assist Settings
Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is a fun time, but the flashy combos and quick-time events can bump up the intensity. Although you can’t make the latter easier, the game does have an incredible selection of features called Battle Assists to make the general gameplay more approachable. There is one major problem though: the game doesn’t explain what they do.
Read More: Let’s Master The Art Of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero’s QTEs
Order Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO: Amazon | Best Buy | Humble Bundle
The addition of Battle Assists is fantastic for those in need of accessibility boosts, or for newer players. This is what makes their lack of explanation bewildering. It’s easy to have an inkling of what their purpose is, but figuring out how they work isn’t as simple. Here’s our breakdown of what each Battle Assist setting does and how to change them.
How to Adjust Battle Assist Settings
You can freely toggle the various Battle Assist options by entering the Options Menu and then scrolling down to Accessibility. There are a lot of things to tinker with here, but a majority of them are different Assist features. You can adjust each one individually or use preset configurations.
- Off – Every Battle Assist is turned off
- Auto – Every Battle Assist is turned on
- Semiautomatic – Only the Guard and Recovery Assists are turned on
- Custom – Your selection of which are active and which aren’t
Remember that the Options Menu can only be reached when outside a match. It’s available while browsing all the main menus, and even in the character select screen before entering training. Once you’re in an actual fight, you can’t access this menu and the associated settings anymore.