The Sayonara Episode, Final Fantasy X Museum, Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave

[00:00:07] Welcome to Tokyo Game Life, a Tokyo-based video game podcast focusing on Nintendo and gaming culture in Japan's capital. Your host, Mono, here to bring you a slice of gaming life from Tokyo. If this is your first time you're checking out the podcast, well, this was a bad one to start with because it is indeed my final episode. So start from the beginning and then work your way up and I'll see you in 127 episodes.

[00:00:30] Like I formally announced last episode, I have decided to conclude the Tokyo Game Life podcast, but I will not be disappearing as I will still be on social media and plan to keep updating my site, TokyoGameLife.com. In the format of this episode, I'll explain why the podcast is ending, then I'll take you inside the Final Fantasy X exhibit, then share some Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave thoughts, and then my impressions about not one but two Nintendo Directs. So I am happy that quite a lot is happening in my final episode.

[00:01:00] All right, let's talk about why the podcast is ending. I announced it at the end of last episode, and was that a good time to announce it? I don't know the mathematical equation on when's the best time to announce that a podcast is ending. Is it three months? Is it two weeks? Is it one day? So I do apologize if it was a little abrupt, but it has been something that I've been thinking about for quite a long time, albeit I did adjust the timing fairly recently. And to be honest, there isn't a singular reason why I've decided to end the podcast.

[00:01:29] Although maybe it can just be summed up as life. Shockingly, my life does involve other things beyond the podcast. And while I have been pretty good at balancing everything, I feel like if I am prioritizing my time, the podcast is something that is of low priority and something I can cut out of my life, despite the fact that I did enjoy doing it. But making the podcast, it's not easy. I have a pretty unconventional format for a gaming podcast and one that requires a lot more work and preparation. For one, I have no co-host.

[00:01:59] I have guest every episode, which means I need to think about a specific topic, then find the person who is best suited to talk about that topic, reach out to that person, schedule a time, which is not easy since we are often in different continents, prep my questions, which requires research, then record, then edit that recording. And that's just for the guest segment. I also plan, write notes, and record the non-guest segments. I record the audio. I edit out all the stupid things I said. I clean up the audio. I make the promo material. I make the YouTube video.

[00:02:30] It literally does take hours of work for one episode. And that doesn't even include time spent playing games or traveling to the place I talk about in the episode, which I would be doing anyways, even if I didn't have a podcast. But that is still part of the overall process. And I'm not complaining. I did enjoy putting in the work. Editing the podcast late at night in the dark. That was a great vibe. It's actually really relaxing. But I have been thinking for a long time, can I put these hours elsewhere?

[00:02:58] So what are the big changes that happened to make me want to end the podcast this year? Again, nothing specific, but the biggest one is something I've never mentioned before on the podcast. Mostly due to privacy. But hey, this is the last episode, so I can go ahead and mention it to the truly dedicated who didn't skip to the Fire Emblem section. Now, I mentioned my wonderful wife many times on the podcast. But in addition to her, I actually do have a daughter as well. She's a little toddler, but she will be a full-blown kid before you know it.

[00:03:26] 95% of the time I post a picture on social media, my daughter is just slightly out of frame. She knows the big camera theme, which is funny, but maybe not healthy. And honestly, when she was born, I did think, well, do I need to immediately end the podcast? But I was able to adjust a lot of things, got really effective when it came to planning, and I made it work. But now as she is getting bigger, I have been thinking, is the hours I spent on the podcast worth not spending with her? And to be honest, no.

[00:03:56] Also, at work, I wouldn't call it a promotion per se, but it is a side motion maybe. I just have more and different responsibilities. So I would also like to spend some of my free time studying and skilling up. Plus, of course, if I do have free time, I like to just play video games. There are times when a game would come out on a Friday, the podcast is on Sunday, so I gotta put in enough hours to formulate an opinion of the game, then prepare a lot of notes, then record and so on.

[00:04:22] It will kind of just be nice to play games and not have to do some work about it afterwards. So in short, the hours I'm dedicating to the podcast, I like to dedicate it to something else. Whether it just be spending time with my daughter, or work-related things, or just chilling. My original plan was to end it in December, so I could finish off 2026, but again, I kind of feel like I just want those hours for myself, and I had a lot of episodes banked up. So a few months ago, I decided to end it once my episode bank ran out, because I wasn't really feeling the drive to put out more episodes.

[00:04:52] Ironically, my original goal for the entire podcast was, at the very least, get to Tears of the Kingdom. Say your piece on Tears of the Kingdom, and then you can tap out. So I'm very happy that I went well beyond that point. Although I could talk about Tears of the Kingdom forever. Sadly, I didn't make it to the Ocarina remake, but hey, here's my pre-emptive review of Ocarina of Time on Switch 2. It was great. Some of the changes were bad, but some were good. End review. And hey, I'm very proud of the podcast overall.

[00:05:22] I did what I wanted. I provided a unique perspective on Nintendo and gaming in Japan. And by I, I mean mostly my guests, who are truly, truly incredible. Honestly, if you haven't done so already, follow all of them on social media. I do have a starter pack on Blue Sky with nearly all my guests, so please just hit the follow all button. No offense to other podcasts, but I do think I have the best guests. And I'm very proud about the depth of analysis provided on the podcast and the breadth of topics.

[00:05:49] How many other podcasts are talking about Earthbound pop-up shops or the history of Moai in Japanese games or Ainu representation in video games or major attractions like the Nintendo Museum or Poké Park Kanto just days after they open? I got to talk about what I wanted to talk about. And that was always the goal, to express my perspectives and things I like about gaming and share them with the world. And shockingly, people listened. Did you know Tokyo Game Life is in the top 10% of all podcasts? I'm not making this up.

[00:06:19] Now, granted, do most podcasts just quit after a few episodes, thus meaning the vast majority of podcasts in existence are not being updated anymore? Yes. But hey, top 10% is still an accomplishment. I mean, that's going on my resume. So, of course, I do want to say thank you to the most important people involved with the podcast, the listeners. I've had so many comments, so many direct messages from people saying how much they love the podcast. Some even said it's their favorite podcast, which is honestly legit mind-blowing.

[00:06:49] So I certainly feel a level of guilt by just ending the podcast, considering so many people were willing to give it a chance only for it to suddenly stop. So, again, thank you so much for listening. I mean, if I just had five listeners, I would have probably given up. But my listener base kept growing, and more people are listening to the podcast than ever. But, of course, it is still pretty niche. It's not like I'm making money off the podcast.

[00:07:14] I'm doing it purely because I wanted to and to give some sort of voice or focus on things I felt were overlooked or unknown, or at least provide a distinct perspective on mainstream games, and to tell everyone that Welcome Tour is actually good. Is there any chance the podcast could return? Never say never, but I do think it is very unlikely. Even if I had infinite money and time, I think I would rather explore other creative ventures.

[00:07:39] And even now, although I am ending the podcast, I am interested in expressing my passion for gaming in alternative ways. For example, I have a website, tokyogamelife.com, which is really just a podcast feed, but I do have some guides and articles mostly focusing on gaming-related places to visit in Japan. And the guides get quite a lot of visitors. I would like to maybe focus on updating that more frequently, or maybe working on some more specific guides, like my Tokyo travel guide for Kirby fans.

[00:08:06] And while a podcast needs to come out every week or once every two weeks or else, I feel like I can take my time with these guides and just publish them when they are done. And one guide certainly doesn't take as much time as even one podcast episode. So I'm not going to be publishing weekly articles or things like that, but every now and then I might put out a specific travel guide. And I do want to try to update my Tokyo Gaming Events page at least once a week. Sometimes I will update it, forget about it for a month, and then it's pointlessly outdated.

[00:08:34] So once every Friday, I will try to just check what events are happening and then update that page. It really doesn't take that long, but it's easy to forget. I don't want to be on the news treadmill where I feel like I need to update people on every little gaming thing that happens in Tokyo, but I do want to consistently update my Gaming Events guide once a week, and then slowly expand out my evergreen travel guides on the website at a pace that suits me. I've also been kind of interested in doing some simple travel guides and Instagram reels for gaming hotspots in Tokyo.

[00:09:01] I kind of feel like knowing how to make reels is some sort of skill everybody needs. I don't know why, but maybe one day it will be useful. And again, this is just something I can throw out when I want to and not follow a strict schedule or spend hours preparing. So I'll still be putting out some Tokyo-specific gaming content, but just in a different format that doesn't take us long to produce as a podcast episode or sticking to a schedule that is more suitable for my life. But of course, I am still on social media like Blue Sky,

[00:09:28] and I will still be sharing my pics from places I visit or whatever other Nintendo or Japanese gaming thing I find interesting. And hey, if you have a podcast and want me to guest, I'll probably appear if we can schedule something in advance. I always wanted to guest on more podcasts, but again, all my free time was spent towards making my own podcast, so I couldn't really do that. But hey, I'm more free now. So if you want me to pop on your podcast to chat about Nintendo, gaming in Japan, or, well, those are the only two things I know about.

[00:09:57] But feel free to reach out if you think I'd be perfect for a specific topic. And you might be thinking, oh no, now that Tokyo Game Life is gone, what will I listen to? Well, fortunately, there are many other great gaming podcasts out there. And I'm not talking about Kind of Funny or IGN or other mainstream podcasts. I'm talking about Salt of the Earth Real Deal Passionate Knowledgeable Gaming Podcasts. Obviously, you've got to check out Still Loading Podcasts by Josh, who has appeared on many of my episodes and is the hardest working man in podcasting.

[00:10:26] Like me, he does have guests every episode focusing on a specific topic. And we do have a lot of guest overlap. And one time we accidentally released an episode about the same exact topic with the same guest on the same day. So absolutely give him a follow. For Nintendo stuff, I really like Nintendormant, which is hosted by George, who appeared on my Chibi Robo episode. And Joshua Goldie, who has also been on my podcast several times, is a co-host there, as is John Cartwright. And they dig into really obscure and deep Nintendo topics.

[00:10:55] There's also Super Switch heads and Pure Nintendo, which I feel are really good new releases and news-focused type of podcasts. And I also like Last of the Nintendogs on that front. And The House of Mario, co-hosted by JT, who has been on my pod several times if you want some Australian flavor. Plus, if you want to get really specific, there's Kirby Conversations for Kirby Talk. And Remember 64 for N64 stuff. The Conversation is a must if you're into Donkey Kong. And of course, I have to mention the Famicast,

[00:11:24] which is a Nintendo podcast hosted by three guys living in Japan. And Danny has appeared on my podcast several times. Maybe technically the closest podcast to mine conceptually, considering I was like, I should make a Nintendo podcast set in Japan. And well, they had that idea first. So in order to not seem like I'm ripping them off, I decided to focus more on travel in Tokyo and more concentrated topics. So Famicast is very influential to this podcast and that I completely changed up my original idea

[00:11:52] because they were doing it first and doing it well. For just general gaming, I also like Super Pod Saga and Dialogue Tree, which I appeared on not too long ago. And while this is a bigger podcast, The MinMax Show is pretty much how I stay up with games that aren't in my wheelhouse. So with this list, I'm sure you can find a podcast you really dig. So I hope that was a decent explanation. Again, if you're listening this far into the podcast, thank you so, so much. Of course, I'm sorry to disappoint, but hopefully you enjoyed the ride so far. And I'm still alive.

[00:12:21] I'll be on social media and fiddling with my site and probably guest on some other podcasts in the future. And please check out the podcast I just mentioned. Maybe you'll listen to one and be like, what was I doing wasting my time with Tokyo Game Life? This one's way better. That's the dream, at least. But again, thank you so much for listening to even one second of Tokyo Game Life. All right, now that that's out of the way, let's move on to the feature section and the Final Fantasy X Museum in Shinjuku.

[00:12:53] Today in the feature, we're looking at Final Fantasy X Museum happening right now in Shinjuku. Yes, another anniversary exhibit. Final Fantasy X turns 25 years old in 2026. And last episode, I talked about the 40th anniversary of Dragon Quest. So Dragon Quest was 15 years old when Final Fantasy X came out, which doesn't seem right. The gap from Skyrim to now is the same as Dragon Quest I to Final Fantasy X. Time is very weird. It's being held at Lumine Zero

[00:13:22] in the New Woman department store in Shinjuku. Now, Lumine is a chain of department stores, but this is a smaller department store in New Woman, which is a different department store. Now, across the street from New Woman is Lumine 1 and Lumine 2 and Lumine Est. So don't get it mixed up. But continuing the recent trend of exhibits in odd places, I don't think I've ever seen a gaming exhibit here. Granted, I don't go to every single gaming exhibit in Tokyo,

[00:13:49] and I'm sure they've had some anime pop-up shop here or something, but I have been seeing gaming exhibitions and pop-up shops in more unusual places recently. I think they just must be really popular, and perhaps these department stores, art galleries, and other places are just actively seeking them out. And this exhibit is all about 2001's PS2 hit, Final Fantasy X. Now, I'm going to say something controversial here, which is fine since this is the last episode, so you can stop listening after this one. But Final Fantasy X and X-2,

[00:14:18] these were the last good Final Fantasy games. And by this, I mean numbered new Final Fantasy games. So spinoffs don't count. Final Fantasy VII Remake doesn't count. Remasters don't count. I'm talking about Final Fantasy number period. X was great. X-2 was great. 11 and 14 are kind of their own thing, so I don't really count them. 12, didn't like. Not a fan of the battle system or structure of the game. 13, incredibly boring.

[00:14:47] 15, truly maybe one of the worst AAA games I've ever played. 16, I admittedly haven't played yet, but I look at what that game is and I can just tell I'm not going to like it. So for me, X and X-2 were the last Final Fantasy games to really capture what I loved about the series. So I was very excited to step back into that magical, watery world with this exhibit. And it can be hard to make an exhibit solely about one game as opposed to a series. Square had a great Final Fantasy IX exhibit last year,

[00:15:16] so I had hoped this one would be as good. And, well, it's not as good as that one. But there are some interesting displays, good merch, and it is a fun time if you enjoy the game. I've discussed this many times, but it can be very hard to make an exhibit about what is essentially a digital piece of art. With a real museum, you have a physical object there on display. But for a video game, well, what do you put in an exhibit? You could put the box there, but our emotional connection is through what was slapped onto that disc

[00:15:45] and then transmitted through the TV into our brains. Thus far, a lot of these exhibits have come up with the idea of, let's just put screenshots of the game on the wall in an interesting way. And then they mix that with some dev documents and some concept art, plus some photo ops. And that's basically what this exhibit is, kind of your bread and butter video game exhibit. That's a mix of a wall covered in big PNGs, some concept art, and some physical things you can take a photo of or near. Stepping into the exhibit, the walls are covered with the character profiles

[00:16:14] of the Final Fantasy X cast. And this is easily one of the best casts in any RPG ever. Everyone is iconic in their own way. Even Wakka, with his whack design, is kind of singular in that, who looks like Wakka? Each character section has huge art of their render, a bio, some concept art, and screens from the game. Now, the concept art at the exhibit was presented in a way I had never seen before. And that is kind of scanned or printed onto a styrofoam board, and then placed onto the wall.

[00:16:44] So it's not the original piece of concept art, but a copy printed on styrofoam. It looks pretty clean, and you might not notice it at first, but once you start seeing the dev documents, they do look a bit blurry. I mean, for me, I think having copies of the dev documents is pretty pointless. If you have the real deal, put it in the exhibit. With Square, though, they might not have the real thing anymore, so they have to make do with what they could. It is funny to see the disparity exhibits, where Enix definitely kept everything

[00:17:14] in pristine condition, but Square is hastily printing out whatever JPEGs they had on their current hard drive. Oh, and the character profile sections, I always do get a kick out of seeing everyone's reported age. Of course, Auron is 35. That's what a 35-year-old looks like. One thing tied into the character section are the concept art pages of the opening movie. These are quite cool, and I had personally never seen them before. This is definitely the type of stuff I'm most interested in, seeing more of the behind-the-scenes stuff from the game. The next part of the exhibit

[00:17:42] focuses on the world of Spira, one of the most evocative and memorable settings in all of video games. Seriously, what game looks like Final Fantasy X? Please tell me so I can play it. I feel like some RPGs from around this era kind of tried to ape the look of this game. I can see Final Fantasy X in Baton Kaitos, or Infinite Undiscovery, or even Final Fantasy XIII, but the design of Final Fantasy X feels so singular even today. Once upon a time, I did think that, well, this is going to be the aesthetic of the new millennium.

[00:18:12] Everything in the 2000s would just be like Final Fantasy X. Each section of the Spira part focused on a city or a location, and you got to see a big piece of colored concept art printed on the wall, along with a sketch concept art on the printed styrofoam boards. I don't think a lot of this concept art is never-before-seen type of art, but it did have many things I had personally never encountered. And one cool section highlighted is the scripts of the world of Final Fantasy X, like you had the Spira script and the Albed script and how it correlates to our alphabet.

[00:18:42] I do wish we had more insight on the thought process behind their designs, though, which I think could apply to pretty much everything in the exhibit. Yes, the concept art of all the cities is amazing, but I would like to have maybe a note or a placard from the devs explaining why they went with certain design choices. If you don't know anything about the game, you wouldn't come away from this exhibit knowing anything more. Then after that, they had what I would call the Tsuteki Danai wall, where they had a big TV showing the famous scene between Tidus and Yuna, along with shots of them together through the game.

[00:19:11] It's always good to hear Tsuteki Danai, but unlike the Final Fantasy IX exhibit, they didn't have other areas where you could hear the music, which I feel was a missed opportunity. After that, we had some more physical props. We had the real weapons mimicking the scene from the game where they're all stacked up on each other. And yes, it is funny that along with Tidus' distinct sword and Yuna's staff, there's also a Blitzball. There's also a small diorama of Sen, which looks very impressive and richly detailed. You don't really get a great look at his entire body in the game since it is so huge, so it was nice to see a more detailed mini-Sen.

[00:19:41] This area also had Nobuo Uematsu's music notebook, where you can see his notes about the music in the game, which is great. And this is more of the type of stuff I want to see. I definitely want more notes and insights from the devs, because the next area we had a lot of the concept art, but again, it's just kind of reprinted concept art and not the original pieces. And there is a lot of interesting stuff here, and some stuff, again, I had not seen before. Interestingly enough, they did have some concept art from XVII, which was the original concept for Final Fantasy X, where a virus killed people

[00:20:11] when they turned 17 years old. So yes, Claire Obscure did rip this off, but again, this is prior knowledge. It would be great to have more insight on the actual development of the game. The exhibit is nicely laid out, and the walls are aesthetically pleasing, and there's a lot of concept art to look at, albeit not the original copies, but there's always the feeling that they could have done more. I'm going into the exhibit hoping I get the ultimate story behind the game's creation and its impact, but the presentation is very much like, hey, remember Final Fantasy X? And of course,

[00:20:42] the exhibit ends with an area where you can leave some notes, and I'm always amazed by the art skills of the average Japanese person. And next up was perhaps the most important section, the merch. Here, there was a mix of returning and new Final Fantasy X merch. Now, the best piece of merch was this awesome-looking Anima shirt that had a big picture of Anima on it and the Spira script in this cool pink font. Now, was this sold out? Of course. I've never seen anything more sold out. They didn't even have an empty shelf where it used to be.

[00:21:11] It was just gone, although they did have the shirt on display at least. There's also a Bahamut version, but come on, who was buying that? They should have doubled down on the Anima printing. But the merch shop had everything from teacups, the stickers of the Spira and Albed scripts, to acrylic stands, to music boxes, to posters, to everything. I picked up some Manju with the Yevon Aeon symbol on it because why not? When in doubt, get some food. It will look cool and taste at least alright. I will say there was one piece of merch where I think they vastly

[00:21:41] overestimated the demand, and that is the giant Blitzball cushion. It wasn't a life-sized plushy Blitzball, which would be fun, but it was a gigantic cushion that was like five times the size of an average Blitzball. There were three or four huge carts overflowing with these things. Hey, save the cotton and make more Anima shirts, please. Alright, so that was a look at the Final Fantasy X museum. There were some fun things to see, but comparing it to the Final Fantasy IX exhibit from last year, this one felt smaller and less creative overall. I definitely think

[00:22:11] you could have done more in terms of having physical things on display, especially the real deal concept art as opposed to copies, and I would have liked to have more insight on the development of the actual games. Last episode, I highlighted a Dragon Quest exhibit, and they had more interesting hands-on activities and also had the real planning documents there to see, so it is funny that the same company has very different types of exhibits. This was more of a trip down memory lane as opposed to something really in-depth, but I did feel the merch variety was pretty varied, so I can see people buying a $2,000 ticket

[00:22:41] just to get access to this merch shop. So while it wasn't exactly what I wanted, I can't lie, it was just good to be like, man, remember Final Fantasy X? I often get the urge to replay X and X-2, and I'm not normally somebody who replays big RPGs, but everything about the game feels so unique even 25 years later. Remember Water? Final Fantasy X invented that. Alright, that's all for the feature, so let's check out the news.

[00:23:11] Sorry, not the news, the games. The final game I'll be talking about on the podcast is an appropriate one, as it is likely the ultimate game, Fire Emblem Fortunes Weave, the newest strategy RPG from Intelligent Systems and the direct follow-up and or prequel to Three Houses. That was my 2019 Game of the Year, and while I did enjoy Engage, it was no Three Houses. So for IS to come out and say, hey, here's Four Houses, you've got my attention. It was announced last year during Nintendo's September Direct, so we've been waiting quite a while.

[00:23:41] This time you're in the Mediterranean-inspired land of Dagda during the Heroic Games, a big tournament where the winner can get a wish. One can only assume this dude has been granting wishes for a while now because that promise seems a little flimsy. I need some concrete evidence that wishes have come true before I decide to enter the tournament. But before all that, the game takes place actually five years into the future where demons have conquered the land and the avatar character is an angel summoned by Sothis and a different goddess named Fortuna helps you go back in time

[00:24:09] and recruit the Heroic Games heroes in order to defeat the evil in the future. Fortuna explains the extent of time travel, but you get the why don't they just go back to when the bad guy was a baby conundrum. If the baby thing is an issue, just go back to when they turned 18 and thus were a legal adult. So if you thought the game starts with picking one of the four characters then going to town, hold your horses. While a lot of the promo material highlights you running around Daxian in order to prepare for the Heroic Games, it does take quite a while before you're on that path.

[00:24:39] The first 40 minutes to an hour is the prologue where you are an angel exploring a ruined world with Chinese Edo guard and a grandma with a machine gun. So right off the bat, the vibes feel very different from three houses despite taking place in that same world. The lore drops alone in the first 30 minutes are absolutely insane. No spoilers, but while three houses slowly revealed the concept of futuristic technology, Fortune's Weaves makes it much more of a known factor. The first item you pick up in the game is a gun.

[00:25:08] And if you thought a gun was the craziest thing you could see in a Fire Emblem game, nuh-uh, because the prologue tops itself several times. It is a we aren't in Kansas anymore moment. Dagda isn't Fodlan. Eventually, you do get to pick from one of the four flamelords, as they're called, and you go back in time to live out their story. I went with the vengeful dancer, Leda, and so far, good decision. While on the surface she has a typical revenge plot, Leda has a lot of charisma, some interesting partners, and her storyline has gone in some

[00:25:37] really unexpected directions, and we're just getting started. I finally made it to the tournament city, and even the first real cutscene has to be interested in where her story will go. But I will say that so far, it is a lot of story and not too much combat. I know they will let the leash off soon enough, but three and a half hours into the game, that leash is still on, which I imagine will frustrate a lot of people. But speaking of the battles, I have been in a few of them, and the main addition so far has been the blaze arts, where you sacrifice a bit of your health to unleash

[00:26:07] some unique ability. The idea of sacrificing your health in a Fire Emblem game is a very interesting mechanic. Now, granted, I admit I'm playing it in casual mode, so a character going down, not a big deal. But hey, I am playing it on hard, all right? Can I give some credit for playing it on hard? But obviously, the game is designed around the classic mode, so this mechanic requires a lot more thought and precision in that mode than in the casual mode, where you can just spam it a bit more. There's also combat arts, where you sacrifice a bit more durability,

[00:26:37] I do like having so many options for each character. You can do blaze arts, you can do combat arts, you can do a regular attack, but even then, you've got a lot of weapons at your disposal, there are passive abilities. The series in general does a great job in making everyone feel different, and you have a lot of freedom when it comes to customization. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to really fiddle with that because I am still in leash mode. One battle I did dig early on was one where I had to like brassieres on the field, and whichever team had the most brassieres at the end of 10 turns wins. And there was a mechanic

[00:27:07] where if you are KO'd, you still survive and are just warped to a different part of the map with a light cooldown. Fire Emblem often does have these type of puzzle or objective focus maps, but I don't think I've ever played one like this where it felt almost like a sport. This makes me really interested in the future battles to see how they play with the typical encounter. I've also done a bit of dungeon crawling where you explore a typical RPG dungeon, bashing crates, and getting into more traditional JRPG battles. Yes, your team will line up like they're in Final Fantasy X. It is a little surreal to see.

[00:27:36] But the twist on these battles is that they are more focused on using your entire team as one. You share a HP bar, you share a magic bar, I believe, and instead of everyone taking their own individual turn, you can pick one character who attacks each turn. The enemy who you attack is predetermined, so you need to pick whoever on your team you think would be best to take them out. A pretty different take on a turn-based JRPG battle for sure. However, you can just press a button to skip them entirely. There are some battles you can't skip, but it seems like your average dungeon battle can be skipped

[00:28:06] with a single button press. I'm curious if this is going to be like this the entire game, or will it be worth it to actually do the battle? The dungeons do seem more focused on survival as a team, so I do wonder if there will be a time where I just auto-battle and it turns out I lose half my health in one encounter. So I'm very curious to see how they balance this later on. Sorry that I can't give more insights on the actual gameplay, but so far it has been a lot of cutscenes. It's definitely leaning into the too-many-cutscenes part of the grid, but I can already tell from my limited time that they are making

[00:28:35] some big swings in terms of both your traditional tactics battles while also adding a lot of interesting ways to use your team. Plus, the setting is very distinct from past Fire Emblem games and also from Three Houses. It is leaning more into a Bronze Age Mediterranean aesthetic, although you still have people dressed up like European knights or in frilly Gothic dresses, but it is kind of explained that people from a lot of other countries are gathering here. Although there are a lot of wild designs, they do feel like there is at least some explanation behind it. And the Odyssey just came out in Japan

[00:29:05] and I watched it on the same day that Fire Emblem came out, so I am all in on a Bronze Age Fire Emblem right now. Having fun with Fortune Sweep thus far, but even after three hours, I do feel like I've only dipped the tip of my pinky toe into the Dogden waters. But even then, I can already feel like it's going to be a deep, ambitious game. There's a lot of competition for your attention this holiday, but hey, maybe you secretly only need Fire Emblem Fortune Sweep. All right, that's all for games. Let's check out the news.

[00:29:37] Nintendo had not one but two whole directs. Can you believe it? Well, I can since we knew that they had a big Zelda game coming out and a movie coming out and there's also a direct around Tokyo Game Show. But at a combined 75 minutes, it is perhaps the biggest direct event ever. And did it live up to expectations? Sometimes. Let's look at the Zelda direct. The major focus was indeed on Ocarina of Time and honestly, I'm a little surprised there wasn't more. I definitely expected the movie, Ocarina, and one more game

[00:30:06] project, and the Universal ride. But while we did see the movie, it was just a date and logo. I suppose it would be better to hold a separate direct solely for the movie, but you'd think the director or Link himself would pop up and say something. The movie is seven months away, though, and they've got to iron out those Goron special effects, so I think we will see the film in depth more later on. But the main event was indeed the Ocarina of Time remake on Switch 2. We saw it in depth, got more familiar with the art direction and the overall design philosophy of the

[00:30:36] remake, and it is indeed more of a one-to-one remake than a reimagining. If Final Fantasy 7 remake is a 2.0 remake, and Resident Evil 4 is a 1.5 remake, and Star Fox is a 1.1 remake, I'll give Ocarina of Time a 1.2. There are indeed some changes to the geometry and also changes to the layout of the towns like we saw in Castle Town and in Kakariko Village, and some puzzles have also been adjusted, but nothing seems to be massively overhauled. No new combat system,

[00:31:06] no light temple, no expanded side content it seems. It's not exactly Ocarina with a new coat of paint, but closer to that than not. I've never been precious about remakes since the original is always there, and on Switch 2, it is incredibly accessible via NSO. So I would have liked to have seen more surprising changes. I want to see a scene or a gameplay section and think, whoa, what is that? But like with Star Fox, while on paper it doesn't seem overly exciting, when I'm playing it, I'll be having fun. And as somebody who does

[00:31:36] have a lot of Ocarina etched into my brain, I do get a kick out of seeing Castle Town in full 3D as opposed to just being a fixed camera. Those types of things are again, not amazing on paper, but it impresses people like me who hold Ocarina as a holy text. And speaking of Castle Town, the whole area looks amazing. Can Universal turn this into a section of the park? We have the Castle Town, then the actual castle as background, and then the ride is in the Temple of Time. Hire me, Universal.

[00:32:05] Now, the aesthetic of the game. This is the biggest change, and while I did think it was jarring at first, I have come around to it. There is indeed a weird disparity between the characters and the more photorealistic world, especially since Ocarina has a grab bag of weird character designs, so seeing them faithful yet more detailed does give you whiplash at times. I think Young Link maybe is the biggest culprit of this, but I do think it boils down to the inherent weirdness of playing as a cherubic 10-year-old in a video game where you go fight the king of evil.

[00:32:35] Young Link always kind of looked weird, but I do think this art direction is very smart. With Ocarina on the 3DS, that art direction was very much focused on bringing the concept art to life in the most accurate way. Everyone was made out of cubes and sharp angles in the N64 game, but on the 3DS, you can smoothen people out a bit more and have them look how they always intended to look like. But this time, they are still being fairly faithful to the concept art, but again, adding more detail and stylish flair. If you see a Deku Baba, you know it's a Deku Baba,

[00:33:05] but this time around, it has some interesting visual touches, like a root-shaped tongue. Same with Link's red and blue tunics. They are more detailed and appropriate to the culture they come from. Maybe the biggest overhaul is Sheik, who looks far more feminine, but again, I do like her design overall. Listen, once upon a time, there were many heated online arguments about whether or not Zelda used magic to physically turn herself into a man and everything that entails. But Nintendo is desperately trying to get away from

[00:33:33] that and is like, listen, it's just a costume with some light magic. As for the overworld, I don't think it is simply a Unreal Engine, Nintendo Hire This Man revision. There is still a lot of stylization, exaggeration, and dare I say a bit of impressionistic influences, especially when you're looking out to the distance in Hyrule Field. They definitely have a deliberate take on the new look of Ocarina that is heavily inspired by the original game, past Zelda games, and also taking advantage of the Switch 2's power by adding a lot more visual detail. If anything, I would like

[00:34:03] them to take it even further. Now, on a past episode, I predicted that the Kulkiri would be made out of wood because I thought they would try to tie them closer into the Koroks more, and that alone would show that they are being very ambitious with the visual changes. But sadly, the Kulkiri are not made of wood, but come on, they should be made of wood. What's Link's main differentiating factor from the other Kulkiri? He doesn't have a fairy. I think the element would be emphasized even more if he clearly looked very different from the Kulkiri,

[00:34:33] but due to their childlike innocence, they don't even notice or fixate that he looks different, but instead focus on the fairy thing. Maybe Nintendo thinks it is weird that your childhood crush is made out of wood, but come on, they should have been made out of wood. Oh, another thing I predicted and did notice is that they are indeed tying it into the Wild series a bit more. Some of the Kulkiri have the same white markings as Sonya, and Impa also has the more swirly, Sheikah-tech inspired designs on her armor. I think this likely won't be expanded upon. We aren't going to get some big lore drop or

[00:35:02] anything like that, but I do like the intentionality of tying these games together. And I also love the aesthetic design of the Wild game, so it is good to see that incorporated into the other Zelda games a bit more. We didn't see Rauru, though. Wouldn't it be crazy if he was a Zonai instead of a big fat old man? That would be a controller dropping moment for me. But apparently on some art, you can kind of see Rauru on a tapestry, maybe, so it looks like he will indeed be a big fat man. But maybe he might have some Zonai-inspired outfit. Oh, and you can also sing the Ocarina Notes and Zelda Notes Returns with

[00:35:32] a Vengeance. Zelda Notes is actually pretty useful. Pop that thing open if you can. And the game comes out November 5th, and I'll be playing it. But overall, I'm pretty pleased with what I saw. The visuals are impressive. The quality of life changes seem useful. I mean, there's a jump button now. And there might just be enough changes to keep me curious. Also, Ocarina of Time is truly one of the greatest games ever made, so it's got that going for it. I'm sure a lot of people have not played Ocarina of Time and will try it out for the first time thanks to this game. And I don't just think it's nostalgia.

[00:36:01] I definitely think this game absolutely holds up, and people will be impressed by the pacing, the detail in the world, the dungeon design, the secrets, the emphasis on exploration, the plot, which, believe it or not, actually makes sense and does have a satisfying conclusion. It really is a timeless video game. But yeah, no other games, which honestly is a little surprising. Jumping ahead a bit, but we are getting a Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity Definitive Edition next year, so maybe that is 2027's Zelda game. But I do imagine we will see some smaller things

[00:36:31] sprinkled out throughout the year, kind of like with Mario. As for Universal, apparently people in the know say that the Zelda stuff is either on hold or being pushed back as they focus more on Harry Potter attractions, which is lame because, hey, Zelda is way better than Harry Potter. You could make a La La milk that tastes better than butterbeer. It's possible. Okay, let's get into the big boy Nintendo Direct that was a day later. Not the greatest Direct of all time. I think expectations were sky high, as they always are, and that certainly didn't help. I was a little sour on it

[00:37:00] at first, but after reflecting on it a bit more, very acceptable Direct with games I want to play. I mean, the two big first-party announcements, Kirby and Metroid, those are both day one titles. What more can I ask for? Let's talk about Kirby, which has been upgraded to show closer, Kirby and the World Beyond, a new open-world Kirby game from HAL Labs. He's walking around a big area, messing up enemies, fighting Dedede, typical Kirby stuff, and the twist is that the world is actually inside a dome, and at the end of the trailer he breaks out.

[00:37:30] Uh, what? Did somebody put Kirby in a dome? He couldn't have always been in a dome since he has gone to space many times, so I do wonder how Kirby got domified. In the titular World Beyond the Dome, it looks pretty much the same, but there is a big robot dragon and some other tech in the background. So I kind of wonder if the angle is a true open world or is it more like open zones like Odyssey? Maybe the dome is the great plateau of the game and then it opens up. We also saw some super powered version of the sword ability, which lets

[00:37:59] Kirby cut down trees, not too dissimilar from the super powerful attacks from Return of the Dreamland. We didn't see any true new copy abilities, but there was also an emphasis on the copy abilities being tied to traversal, which is a very smart reinterpretation. The sword ability lets you climb up trees. You can bomb jump, glide with the cutter, float with the parasol. I'm excited to see what other moves you can now pull off with these classic power ups. Suplex? How is that going to work? Since Kirby typically only has one copy ability at a time, I do wonder if it's

[00:38:29] going to be annoying to swap them out. Say you have the bomb ability but need to cut down a tree. Do you need to just go back and find a sword enemy? I wonder how they're going to balance this. But the game comes out in spring, so we will find out a lot sooner than later. Also, this serves as an interesting barometer for Switch 2 editions and new game releases. We got Forgotten Land Switch 2 edition in August of last year, and let's say Kirby is May of next year. So about a 21 month gap between a Switch 2 edition and a brand new game. So it does give me confidence that a Switch 2

[00:38:59] edition is not exactly an all hands on deck situation. Although I'm sure it varies from team to team. The other big game was Metroid Ravenous from Mercury Steam. This is the direct follow up to Metroid Dread, so a 2D Metroid game, aka the good ones. We saw a lot of new abilities, but the main thing will be absorbing enemies to do something. I don't know, but it looks awesome. It's an eat or be eaten world out there. We also see Samus don the Metroid suit for a bit. I think this is likely some sort of power up or a Super Saiyan mode, but it

[00:39:28] is awesome to be able to control it in some way. I will say, though, I definitely think her dread suit is better. I know it's almost exactly the same, but if you look at them side by side, the detail and the styling of the dread suit is better than the ravenous suit. But hey, I'm sure she will get a cooler upgrade later on. That's fine. It comes out in January. I was hoping it would be a December game, but hey, a month off is fine. And now it won't be ignored in everyone's game of the year list. It comes with some new amiibo, including a Chozo statue, which is perhaps one of the most

[00:39:57] ingenious amiibo. And while I do want to say I would definitely be picking it up, it is 6600 yen in Japan. So maybe I would just wait until it goes on sale at a gale near me. And there's also a Metroid suit amiibo that is exclusive to the special edition. However, in Japan, they are selling the special edition without the game. For example, if you buy the game digitally, you can buy the special edition stuff by itself for 5000 yen. So if you really want the Metroid amiibo by itself, it is 5000 yen.

[00:40:27] But Metroid is going to kick off what looks to be like a really killer 2027 for Nintendo. We've got Metroid, then Kirby, then Xenoblade Genesis. And oh, yes, Pokemon Wind and Waves is indeed coming out. That's four games right there. That's about a third of the year already locked in. And all four of those games are brand new entries from notable IPs. And from a financial standpoint, I'm sure Pokemon alone will probably make more money than all these other games combined. So we have Pokemon. They'll be fine. Other first party stuff,

[00:40:56] Pikmin 4 is getting a Switch 2 edition on November 12th. So move over GTA. This was one of my most anticipated Switch 2 editions. And I got to say, it seems pretty skippable. The biggest edition is Don Doherty Academy, a set of Don Doherty Challenges. And these seem fine. They're going to be 70 of them, which is a lot. And this upgrade is only $10, so I can't complain there. But I was really hoping for some new levels or a new mini campaign. But hey, if this is a sign that most of the staff are working on Pikmin 5, then again, I can't complain.

[00:41:25] And that's what's kind of interesting about these Switch 2 editions. If you're not interested in them, a different game is on the horizon. The game comes out a week after Ocarina of Time, so I can't fret that it's not exactly what I wanted. Because by the time it comes out, I'll be in the Forest Temple or something. I'll be screaming about the Wallmasters. So I think I'll skip this and just wait patiently for the next Pikmin game. There's also some updates. Star Fox is getting new multiplayer maps, which is a nice addition. That mode was surprisingly good, and it also has support for local play and versus CPUs. So even if you're having

[00:41:55] trouble finding a match, there's still a way to experience the multiplayer mode forever. Oh, and Star Fox Adventures is also on NSO, which I feel is kind of a perfect NSO game. I mean, I'm not going to buy Star Fox Adventures, but as one of the many games on the app, it's worth booting up just to experience it. It's always way more fun when they add something like Wario World or Star Fox Adventures than when they add something like Super Mario 64, if that makes sense. Mario Kart World is also getting an update with some new knockout tours and now the SNES tracks, which were

[00:42:25] hidden in the overworld, and now they can be selected via versus race. I'm not a Mario Kart World needs a big update or it will die type of person. I think it has a lot of content and I'm a fan of the open world element, but this is maybe the most boring update they could have put out. Here's something already in the game, but now it's in a different menu. I do think people overstate the state of Mario Kart World. It's still selling rapidly. It is Switch 2's best selling game, and it has likely already turned a profit, but the updates that

[00:42:54] come out sometimes feel weirdly apologetic. Like, sorry we hid the SNES courses, here they are now. Sorry for the straightaways, we added more turns. The biggest change they could possibly make is having the online versus mode only be the three lap races, and then the in-between stuff is for knockout tour. But they haven't quite cracked that just yet. Other first-party stuff, Pocopia Wave 2 was revealed, and there are some ribbons you can put on your Pokemon, and fortunately there are indeed new Pokemon as well. Doduo has returned.

[00:43:23] They said it couldn't be done. I think this update will have some other quality of life additions, but otherwise, it seems fairly light. No teeth on the final town, so I guess they will save that for the next direct in 2027. Switch Sports Resort was also highlighted and features more exploration on Woohoo Island, which is great. That's what you want. You want to be able to feel like you have access to the island beyond the tennis court. This will secretly be Switch 2's best-selling game this fall, and should have very, very long legs. Oh, and Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity Defensive Edition hits in February.

[00:43:53] I immediately thought, doesn't this already exist? But no, that was the first Hyrule Warriors. This is the second. Since this isn't being published by Nintendo in Japan, it is not a Switch 2 edition, but instead its own thing, and thus a completely different SKU. You do get a discount if you own the original game, but even so, it's about 30 bucks, so you really gotta want that frame rate upgrade. I think an upgraded version of the second Hyrule Warriors game, as Nintendo's main release in February, is pretty unenticing, but whatever, I'll be playing

[00:44:22] Metroid. That's what's great about Nintendo. Do not care about this month's big game. Who cares? Another one just came out, or will come out. Other big announcements, Persona 4 and 6 are coming. In classic Atlas fashion, Persona 4 is coming three months later than the other versions, but Persona 6? Day and date? I mean, honestly, who knows? At least they are getting slightly faster. But hey, I see this every direct, but big AAA releases that once upon a time never hit a Nintendo console are now hitting a

[00:44:51] Nintendo console day one most of the time. Except for maybe Persona 6, we will see. Metric Chameleon is now on Switch 2, and that's great, and it's great that it hit so soon and supports mouse mode. I saw that it already sold something like 300,000 copies, so I imagine it will be one of those games that is always hanging around the top of the eShop charts. It won't always be number one, but let's say number 12 for three years in a row. I think in terms of what does Japan care about, maybe the biggest one is actually Yo-Kai Watch 2 Haunted

[00:45:19] Domain, a, uh, I guess remake of Yo-Kai Watch 2? They didn't really explain it. The subtitle is completely new, so I wonder if this is like the ultimate edition of that game or maybe even a fourth version. See, Yo-Kai Watch 2 came out with two versions like Pokemon, and then there was a third version a few months later, so is this the unprecedented fourth version? I think Yo-Kai Watch has been dubbed a fad, and it was, but this is the Yo-Kai Watch game. This is the game that helped make it a phenomenon in Japan. This is the one people have the most nostalgia and

[00:45:48] praise for, and it is actually a really excellent game. If you're a monster collecting RPG fan, you'd absolutely enjoy it. On social media in Japan, this game announcement got a ton of engagement, and I think this game does strike the balance between appealing to the Yo-Kai Watch fan base and also to people who completely fell off of the franchise but are nostalgic for its peak. It is going to be near the top of the Famitsu most wanted list for many, many months, if not years. Another big in Japan game, Torneco's Mystery Dungeon HD is out now. Here you play as the Portly Merchant from

[00:46:18] Dragon Quest 4, and like how Yo-Kai Watch 2 was the Yo-Kai Watch game, this is the Mystery Dungeon game in Japan. I've never played it, but I definitely want to check it out. In keeping with Japan, Monster Hunter Wilds hits Switch 2 in December, and we even have a console bundle in Japan. It supports local play, which is what a lot of the fan base wants, and while the game does look ugly, I think it always kind of looks like that, so it's okay. We all know Monster Hunter Stories is the real Monster Hunter game, though, but I imagine a Switch 2 release will

[00:46:48] give this game a second life in Japan, especially with the expansion hitting day one on Switch 2 as well. Other stuff, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Royal Edition is coming next year. It looks very chunky, but hey, they have a minimum of four months to work on it. I think people really underestimate these huge open-world games on Switch 2. There are definitely people who are constantly on the lookout for these types of games, and they seem to do pretty well. Elden Ring on Switch 2 seems to be doing great. There's absolutely an audience for these types of games on Switch 2, since the novelty of slowly chipping away at a huge

[00:47:16] world in handheld mode in bed is super appealing to a lot of folks. Kieran is also coming, a climbing game I had my eye on, so I'm glad it's hitting Switch 2. Resident Evil 2 through 4 are also coming in October, the spooky month, and just in time for the Biohazard exhibit in Japan. Capcom has been a great supporter of Switch 2, but I have been wondering, uh, are they now out of games to port? Is the age of Capcom over? I mean, what's their next game outside of Mega Man? Are we about to hit the great Capcom drought? And with these directs, a lot

[00:47:46] of it is late ports. That's just the nature of coming out so late in the PS5's life. If you've got a game ready to go, why not put it on one more platform where it could potentially become a big hit with a new audience? How excited you get with these ports depends on if you've played the game or not. I do wish there was more big third-party reveals in terms of, hey, this is a brand new game. Yeah, the last big third-party game was Persona 6, but we got no new information on that and it was already a known quantity. So, the direct in general was very light on surprises outside of the two big Nintendo games.

[00:48:14] But again, it is easy to fall into the trap of, was the direct good versus does Switch 2 have an exciting game lineup? And for that last question, Switch 2 absolutely has a lot of momentum and great games coming out. Fire Emblem is out, Sports Resort comes next month, then Ocarina and Pikmin 4 Switch 2 edition in November. December doesn't have anything it seems, but that's a great time to pick up some third-party games. And then the year starts with a brand spanking new Metroid game and then Hyrule Warriors if you're into that and Kirby is floating around there too.

[00:48:44] And I'm sure we will see some other announcements early next year. But if there's zero new Switch 2 game announcements for the rest of 2026, I'm fully satisfied. Level 5 had a presentation and in pure Level 5 fashion, they delayed it an hour. The second was supposed to start due to technical issues. Only Level 5 could delay something the literal second it was supposed to come out. It was hosted by a horrible looking AI Hino, but fortunately we got a lot of info on their upcoming games. Layton was in the direct, but we saw more of it here, and shockingly, it is coming out in 2026.

[00:49:13] We also got an announcement of a remake of the first Layton game for next year. Also next year is Holy Horror Mansion, which looks kind of like what would happen if somebody ripped off Yo-Kai Watch. I mean, the premise is extremely similar. Your main monster is a red cat even. Here you use a camera to affect things in the world, either revealing new monsters or changing the terrain. Sounds alright on paper, but you use the camera almost like a gun. You don't actually see through the lens, which is kind of the appeal of using a camera in a video game. I think the graphics look fine, but there's always

[00:49:43] the lingering feeling of how much of this is AI, since Hino himself has spoken very positively about generative AI as art. And if you told me all of it is AI, I'd believe you because it does kind of look like that. I'm kind of not really understanding the hook of this game. It does just look like an unappealing version of Yo-Kai Watch. And we also saw a Deka Police again, a game I played in 2023 and is coming out in 2027. Maybe. We'll see. But hey, it was fun these past few days to see all these announcements. A great big blowout before Tokyo Game Show.

[00:50:13] And as of this recording, Tokyo Game Show, I believe, just wrapped up or is going to wrap up tomorrow. Am I there? Sadly, no. I had to skip it this year. And maybe that was a good decision because despite it being five days this time around, even the business days looked unbelievably crowded. They really do need to either be a bit more strict with the business days or maybe extend it to one week. I mean, I got in during business day, so it's not like you have to be GameStop to get in. I don't think there's been any crazy announcement from TGS so far, but there have been some positive

[00:50:42] reactions regarding Final Fantasy VII Revelation and Monster Hunter Wild on Switch 2. I definitely feel like the bad Switch 2 port is becoming more of an exception than the rule. Even Diablo 4, which people have said look kind of bad at first, turns out to be actually A-OK. They did delay First Light though, so it's not exactly easy to make a great Switch 2 version, but it will come eventually. Coming up soon, the Final Fantasy 40th anniversary exhibition hits Tokyo on January 8th at Tokyo National Museum. Yes, that Tokyo National Museum, aka the

[00:51:12] most famous museum in all of Japan. I don't think any video game event or exhibit has been held here, so it is a really big spotlight on the franchise. There's certainly a lot of room they could use. This isn't going to be shoved into the event space of a department store. We're talking about a real deal museum here. Honestly, how did Nintendo not think of this first? Although I guess they do have their own museum. It runs for three months, so there's plenty of time to check it out. And there's also a Kingdom Hearts exhibit coming in February, so yes, more things I need to add to my gamey events in Tokyo page.

[00:51:42] I will update this. I promise. Welp, let's wrap it up. Thanks as always for listening. I guess you don't need to like or subscribe anymore, but I do have this podcast available on YouTube, and I might upload something new there every now and then, so check that out. I'm on social media like Blue Sky, Threads, Twitter, Instagram, just search for Tokyo Game Life, or find the links in the podcast description. In Japanese, sayonara is a definitive goodbye, and while this is true for the podcast, not true for me, as I will still be around. So whether it be on social media, on my

[00:52:12] site, or as a guest on another podcast. So while we say sayonara to the podcast, to you, the listener, I say mata ne!