PixlBit

STAGE SELECT: Mega Man, but it's a ryhtym action platformer a la some of the levels in Rayman Legends, with dance battles against level bosses. Levels will have the rock-style goodness of old games, while bosses will be a bit more dance-oriented, and battles are in the style of Bust-A-Groove or maybe the Haruka gameplay from Yakuza 5. 

Once you reach Wiley's Castle, you will face all of the robots in a Battle Royale wrestling match, until finally Dr. Light comes in to battle Wiley in a guitar duel a la Gitaroo Man. 

Mega Man: Rock Robots will also have DLC tracks and levels from Guns n' Roses, Journey, and The Protomen, to name a few. 

CAGE MATCH: Never played either, but I'd rather try a fast-paced action platformer with great music than a competent-looking Zelda clone, so my vote goes to Journey to Silius. The main character wins the cage match because he has a gun. 

I should get back to Read Dead Redemption 2 at some point. I kinda love the slow nature of it others seem to hate. 

Streets of Rage 4 is ok, as Julian initially said on Twitter. I definitely thing the enemy types are cheaper than they are in 2 though, and this is based on ONLY recent experience with 2 (zero nostalgia for the series). I would also say 2 was indeed a special soundtrack while 4 tries to allude to it but doesn't have the same drive in its soundtrack. The influence of 2 is definitely seen throughout the game in both level design and soundtrack though (unless all the games were really similar and I only think that cause I've only played 2). 

The bosses never had that many helpers and did not move as fast either. I feel really underpowered in SoR 4, struggling with the Commissioner on level 2, whereas in SoR 2 I can get to level 6 and only be upset that Zamza is cheap cause it's hard to guage which plane he is on. Speaking of, are all the hidden bosses from 2? Seems like it. 

I like Candlebox, or at least the two big singles they had. I want to say they were on the original The Crow soundtrack too? 

I think The Expanse is the show my friend Bill told me to check out. He was saying they actually paid attention to the science of how things would work. Maybe it was a different show, but it sounds like it. Still have never seen Firefly. Still think Mandalorian is neat but not great. 

That Sims 4 tutorial took a bit long for me ... I bounced off. 

Thanks for letting me know Starstruck exists. Downloaded it while listening last night. 

Hope you enjoy/enjoyed Starstruck! And that Sims 4 tutorial, according to my brief research, only got added sometime last year, which is why I had no idea it even existed. It blows my mind, because that game is pretty easy to figure out... At least on PC it is, I cannot speak to the console version.

Have yet to play Starstruck, but excited.

Stage Select: I've always wanted to see a Mortal Kombat turn-based RPG done as a collaboration between Netherrealm Studios and Square Enix, and that dream actually dates back to when Mortal Kombat 3 and Final Fantasy VI were the latest and hottest games. I also wouldn't mind Obsidian taking a crack at Mortal Kombat, and they'd honestly be better suited for it, but Obsidian is now owned by Microsoft and I'd rather not have to buy an Xbox to play a MK RPG. I'd want two fully explorable worlds - a fully explorable Earthrealm with locales like Liu Kang's Shaolin temple, Shang Tsung's Island, Chicago and the surrounding environs, all of them connected through airports, as well as a fully explorable Outworld where you get to visit the home realms of the Edenians (Kitana's people). the Shokan (Goro's people), the Tarkatan (Baraka's tribe). Either a world map like a classic Japanese RPG, or a fully explorable world along the lines of Fallout or Breath of the Wild. The time frame would be set during the first three games, where you'd witness the original Shaolin tournament and the fall of Earthrealm at the end of Mortal Kombat II. I'd like to see turn-based kombat with four-person parties composed of various Mortal Kombat characters, with their signature moves either being executed through menu commands or simple controller-motion techniques at the player's choice. And don't forget the Fatalities, which could be the game's stand-in for limit breaks. The last dungeon would be Shao Kahn's palace. The opening would be a playable flashback sequence that ends with the death of the original Kung Lao at Goro's hands 500 years in the past. However, like with FF6, the playable characters would be overall an ensemble cast with no clear main character and the story occasionally shifing focus around between say, Liu Kang, Scorpion, or Kitana much like how FF6 shifted between Terra and Celes. The soundtrack would be a collaboration between Dan "Toasty" Forden and Yoko Shimomura. I've always felt that Mortal Kombat has far more lore than can really be explored within the limits of a 1-on-1 fighting game.

Cage Match: Crystalis wins this round by being a great NES action-adventure. Journey to Silius looked pretty neat though.

Boy, do I have OPINIONS about Streets of Rage 4. But, I want to stress, these are just the negative criticisms I have b/c I think it's more interesting, as a whole I did like SoR4 and hope they keep going with it. Also, before that, Cherry is generally the one that people recommend although I played Blaze because she also has an amazing combo game.

I think the major negative of bosses (for me) was that they had wayyyyy too much super armor and adds. Every boss, infinite adds and tons of super armor (often chaining super armor moves), rinse and repeat. Like, the boss rush mode is incredibly aggravating and samey because of this. Also, the back attack is useless on them and although the game says that the jump grab has invincibility I don't think I got it to work once (despite trying, especially during bosses which you think would make sense).

Some good things, the game does reward positioning/pacing. Everyone wants characters to be fast but (besides the criticisms above) the game does reward it a ton. Also, Yuzo Koshiro is amazing (and I generally dislike Genesis music) but his work here is iffy and seldom. Actually I think the best work was the composer trying to ape him (probably the elevator level on top, I'd have to go back and see).

Also, going to check out Starstruck.

STAGE SELECT: I've always been fascinated by the "operator"-type role in video games. They're not the action hero (though often they're a specialist in something), they're always giving much needed advice over a radio (attack the glowing thing!) or hacking systems or dealing with the black market to fund the hero's expeditions. For instance, Mega Man Legends has Roll as part archaeologist, part inventor/shop, part ship captain, and a billion games have that hacker sidekick. I'm not sure exactly how a game would work, but I imagine it involving a lot of simulation stuff (rather than handwavey systems the hero calls in) or situations which involve branching choice and tradeoff. Now that I think about it, I've heard of a recent game where you play as a radio commander giving audio orders to platoons during the Vietnam War, and it looks like they're working on a couple hacking games, so it seems like I'm not the only one who has had this idea!

VIDEO GAME CAGE MATCH: I looked into my crystal ball and it gave me 20 to 1 odds in favor of Crystalis. I think it might be biased though?

Let's see, I've enjoyed both these games. Journey to Silius (Sunsoft, so kicking music) is a just decent run and gun, kinda like Contra mixed with a tiny bit of Ninja Gaiden or Mega Man, or something. Crystalis (early SNK... well, the world map soundtrack is a bit of an odd earworm at least, there's a couple of promising songs) is like a not-Zelda with older action-RPG influences (like Super Hydlide or Ys or something). Funny enough, BOTH of these games when I played them last I stepped away from them, only to return later and enjoy them quite a bit. I'll personally give the edge to Crystalis, there's just something about the cataclysmic fall of civilization/return-to-past and eco-jank that I find appealing. The story also has a few twists and oddities and overall I think it mixes a futuristic and fantasy setting well. Plus, you can ride a dolphin, and, come on, that's gotta be a powerful ally in the ring.

(Twitter tells me I have an extra day due to technical difficulties. Hopefully this is seen in time. Sorry you guys had to go through that though. Sucks to lose a whole night.)

Stage Select: I think Castlevania would make for an awesome turn-based RPG. The series already has a rich lore of characters and monsters to pull from and there is precedent for the use of all kinds of weapons and magic. Give me, say, a four-person party and a fun twist on the art style (I don't want realism; how about a gothic painting style like the box art for Symphony and the GBA games?) and I think you'd have a winner. This would also work as a dungeon crawler, delving deeper into Dracula's castle each time, but I'd rather have a straight RPG.

Cage Match: I've always been very fond of Crystalis but I gotta give this one to Silius for its killer soundtrack.