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November 1, 2018 Nintendo Direct. The final Super Smash Bros. Nintendo Direct before launch. Character reveal! It's a two-fer. The scene is set in a boxing ring, with Little Mac up against our first newcomer: Ken Turns Up the Heat! Ken Masters from Street Fighter joins as Ryu's Echo Fighter, because come on, was he really not gonna be an Echo? Like Ryu, Ken has two Final Smashes depending on whether or not an opponent is right in front of him, and the original Street Fighter Ken defeats Mac, only for someone new to enter and challenge him: Incineroar Enters the Ring! Incineroar from Pokemon Sun and Moon joins as an original fighter. He's a pro wrestler, hands down. I was really hoping for Decidueye as the next Pokemon rep, but this works. Just to recap, the starting roster will have the original eight starter characters from the original Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. With the above two reveals, the final roster of the game will have seventy-six (76) fighters, counting the Pokemon Trainer's roster and the Mii Fighters separate. I feel like I should note that the game seems to automatically group the Pokemon Trainer as one fighter but automatically separate the Mii Fighters into their three movesets, for seventy-four (74) slots on the roster. This also counts the Echo Fighters separate; like the August 8 Direct revealed, you can group Echoes with the fighters they're based on, shrinking the roster to only sixty-seven (67) truly-unique fighters (again, splitting the Miis but grouping the Pokemon Trainer). amiibo Smash Bros. amiibo for the Inkling Girl, Ridley, and Wolf come out on December 7, 2018, the same day Smash Ultimate launches. King K. Rool and the Ice Climbers get their amiibo on February 15, 2019. Ken, Isabelle, Pichu, Young Link, and Daisy will get their amiibo later in 2019. No word on the Incineroar amiibo yet. No more trophies? Collectible trophies will not be returning. Instead, we're getting something new that keeps the collectible aspect of the trophies but adds something new: Spirits Remember in the August 8 Direct, where the menu had a blurred-out section? That was Spirits mode. Exact quote from Sakurai('s translator): "In the Super Smash Bros. series, the characters are toys in the real world, but they are fighters in the world of the imagination. Returning to the real world is an ongoing theme. In the imagination, you can battle impossible combinations of characters. "In this mysterious world, the unspeakable happens. Many beloved characters lose their physical forms. All of them, except the fighters, are turned into spirits, unable to return to the real world." Spirit characters aid fighters in battle. Much like equipment from Smash 4, spirits provide different boosts to combat stats. Much like trophies, there are a lot of them. Spirits have four strength tiers: Novice, Advanced, Ace, and Legend. Primary Spirits' power is added to a fighter. Fighters can only have one Primary Spirit at a time. Primary Spirits boost a fighter's stats. Support Spirits provide other boosts, such as autoheal, unflinching smash attack charge, or items equipped at the start of battle. This is similar to trophy effects in the Smash Tour game mode from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Primary Spirits can have up to three Support Spirits, though some top out at less. To unlock a Spirit, you must win a Spirit Battle. Choose the Spirit you want to battle (you can pick from a randomly selected list of six). You will then fight a fighter who is similar to the spirit character (for example, to get the spirit of Polterpup from Luigi's Mansion, you'll fight the Duck Hunt fighter, and to get the spirit of Smeargle from Pokemon, you'll fight the Inkling Boy fighter). Spirit Battles try to imitate the spirit in question as much as possible. To get the Gordo (Kirby series) spirit, you'll have to fight a bunch of invisible King Dedede (also Kirby series) who keep using their Gordo Throw attack at you. To get the Spirit for The Imprisoned (The Legend of Zelda), you'll fight a giant King K. Rool who has the assist trophy Ghirahim aiding him. Once you defeat the fighter, referred to as a Puppet Fighter in this case, you will have to destroy it in order to release and acquire the spirit. Destroying it in this case means there's a little minigame where your fighter holds some kind of gun while the Puppet Fighter is surrounded by a barrier that's not complete but is spinning. Shoot through the gap to get the spirit, but if you hit the barrier, you'll break part of the barrier. You only get one shot, but the game will remember that, so if you fight that spirit again later, the barrier will remember that it's broken, giving you more gaps to shoot through. Primary Spirits have a type advantage type: Attack beats Grab, Grab beats Shield, and Shield beats Attack. Hey, that's similar to how the actual fighters work normally: Shields block attacks but not grabs. Some Spirit Battles have added stage hazards like poisonous floors, but some Spirits give immunities to that, so equipping them is useful. You can choose your spirits before going into a spirit battle. You'll get a little hint about the battle conditions, such as "The enemy is invisible" or "The enemy is easily distracted by items". Spirits can gain experience and levels, much like amiibo fighters. Primary Spirits gain experience during battles when equipped. You can also feed them snacks which give them experience. There's also specific training modes for spirits, which can run in the background when you're playing other modes or even when the game is off. Snacks can be acquired when you win a Spirit Battle. The more even the match (that is, if the difference between the power of the Spirit you're fighting, and the total power of you and the Spirit you have equipped, is low), the more snacks you'll get. The less even the match, the more likely you'll just get the Spirit. So, going overpowered isn't recommended it seems. Additional training areas can be unlocked by beating Spirits labeled "Masters", such as Cap'n Cuttlefish (Splatoon) or Gravity Man (Mega Man). Some spirits gain more powerful forms when their experience is maxed out, such as Primal Groudon for Groudon. You can also send Spirits back to the real world. This means they're gone, but they leave behind their "core", and you can combine cores to summon more spirits. Spirits can also power up amiibo Figure Players. This costs you the Spirit, though. Spirit Battles always have the Final Smash Meter enabled. By the way, the Final Smash that demonstrates this is Yoshi's Final Smash, which we haven't seen before. Yoshi hits the fighter into a canyon, where a veritable stampede of Yoshis tramples them. It's like the opening to Melee! The whole setup seems to be a way to simulate as many battles as possible that can't be done with fighters, assist trophies / Poke' Ball Pokemon, and stage bosses. There's also an "Autopick" option. If you're not sure on who to use for a Spirit Battle, let the computer pick something for you. There's also multiplayer battles with Spirits. Fight other players who are using Spirits in one-on-one, or two-on-two battles. (also, back to that blurred-out thing, the dashboard on the right side of the menu had a blurred out icon as well. That was the Collections option, which presumably lets you see what Spirits you've acquired) Online Matchmaking is now based on three factors: Preferred Rules. You can pick a rule set before the match. The matchmaking system will try to group you with fighters with similar preferred rules. Global Smash Power. To recap from Smash Wii U / 3DS, Global Smash Power is like a leaderboard, but instead of saying you're 1st or 5th or 9001st, the number simply means you have a higher score than that number of people. If your Global Smash Power is 100,000, then you have a higher score than 99,999 people. Of course, your GSP fluctuates depending on how many players exist and how well you do. Each one of your fighters has their own GSP. Physical distance between players. This is done from a signal standpoint; if you're in London, it's easier to connect to someone in Paris than to someone in Buenos Aires. Sakurai straight-up recommends a wired connection for online play. There's a USB LAN adapter for that, sold separately. Elite Matches If your GSP is high enough, you can enter elite battles. If you have this option, you're definitely among the top-tier players. Smash Tags You need one to play online. It's basically like an icon on any forum. Pick an icon, a color for the tag, taunt messages, and whether or not you receive notifications. When you defeat another player, you'll get their Smash Tag (you keep yours). Build up a collection. You can have some short messages to send off before and after a battle. They're short things like "Keep your eyes open!", "I'll win this time!", "Talk is cheap!" or "I hope you like to be countered." They're all preset, so you can't make your own. A number of them seem to be quotes from different Smash characters. They pop up before the match begins near the health meter, and after it ends on the results screen. While waiting for the battle to start, you can fight in other modes, like training or stock battles. Spectator mode is back, so you can watch other players' battles. Co-op online play is back. Form a team of two. Battle Arena This is just a battle room you can set up. There are spots where you can join the battle, wait for the next battle, or spectate the match. Connects with the Nintendo Switch Online App You can use Voice Chat with players in arenas. Smash World This is a free Smash-centric app where you can upload gameplay videos. Smash World service begins 2019. Assist Trophies: Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog series). Looks like Knuckles' inclusion as an Assist and Shadow's suspicious absence as such was just a red herring. Takamaru (The Mysterious Murasame Castle), Starman (Mother/EarthBound series), Nightmare (Kirby's Adventure), and Color TV-Game 15 (a.k.a. Pong) (Color TV series) all return. Yuri Kozukata (Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water). A camera reticle will go around the stage. When it snaps on a fighter, they'll be stunned for a few seconds. Isaac (Golden Sun) returns from Brawl, but his Move ability (which forms a giant hand that pushes you) now does more, like smack you with a giant fist or catch you in two hands to carry you upwards (how far up isn't shown, but I assume he throws you to the blast line). Black Knight (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance). Another Fire Emblem sword wielder. What a shocker. Thwomp (Super Mario series). He just does what he does: hover in the air until someone gets close, then smacks down on top of them. Move quick, or you'll get thwomped. Spring Man (ARMS). Sorry, everyone who wanted him as a fighter. True to form, he uses his extendable arms to deliver long-ranged punches. He also uses his special attack before leaving. Wily Capsule (Mega Man). Dr. Wily in one of his Wily Capsules shows up to fight. Amusingly, he's one of the fighters that can be attacked and KO'd, and when he's beaten, he'll do that whole bowing down "I'm sorry I'm sorry" pose thing, just like in the original games. Nintendo is really good at sticking true to characters' origins, aren't they? Flies and Hand (Mario Paint). Yes, the flyswatting minigame from Mario Paint! Ridiculous? Yes. Awesome anyway? Yes. Tiki (Fire Emblem: Awakening). Hey, it's a Fire Emblem character that doesn't use a sword! Tiki can shapeshift between human form and dragon form, and she unleashes a massive burst of fire breath on the stage. Dang. Vince (Art Academy series). He paints things, which appear on the stage and hit fighters. Guile (Street Fighter). He lies in wait to block attacks and kick fighters that get too close. Fittingly, his reveal comes with his theme music. Guile's Theme really does go with everything! Akira (Virtua Fighter). Not much to report; he's a fighting game character with a very low polygon count. The total number of Assist Trophies is 59, which is greater than the number of Poke' Ball Pokemon for once. Assist Trophies that can be KO'd can be KO'd by the fighter who summoned them. Remember, KO'ing Assist Trophies gets you points, but if you KO your own Assist Trophy, nobody gets points for that. Something to keep in mind. Century Smash is the new word for 100-man Smash All-Star Smash is available right away, even if you haven't unlocked everyone (or anyone). Fighters you unlock will be added to All-Star Mode as you unlock them. If you save a replay of a match, Replay Mode lets you not only watch those matches, but also make videos out of them. All those tips you saw in the loading screens in Smash 4? Now you can see them at any time. They're all conveniently sorted, too, by category or fighter. Challenges are back. Instead of one big board of challenges, there are several pages, sorted by category. Records mode tracks your battle history, as usual. Online and Offline battle rankings are separate this time. Shop Remember Smash Tags? You can trade those in for in-game currency, or Gold. Gold can also be won as a reward for beating a Spirit. Presumably there are other methods. The Shop can get you Mii outfits, Spirits, snacks for your Spirits, support items, and music tracks. In the Options menu... Language Support! The game supports eleven languages. Character voices, from Pokemon to the Announcer, change based on language. Brightness settings for TV mode and Handheld mode are separate. One thing I haven't mentioned in previous things is that in matches, there's a radar in the corner of the screen that shows where fighters are if anyone is off the screen. In the options menu, you choose the size of the radar (large or small), or toggle it off. In wireless or online play, you can set the option to have your allies be semi-transparent so you aren't distracted as easily. Custom Balance. If you're fighting a friend on the same system, you can adjust the strength of your fighters. You can boost your fighters' power up or down by three, giving you a power boost or a big nerf. This is largely done for balancing reasons, such as if you're a noob going against a pro or something. This isn't available in online play, of course. Mii Fighters have twelve voice options which can be pitched up or down Mii Fighter Costumes Yiga Clan outfit (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) Splatoon 2 Inkling (Splatoon 2) Ribbon Girl (ARMS). Chibi Robo (Chibi Robo) Ray MkIII (Custom Robo) Toy-Con set (Nintendo Labo) Rex (Xenoblade Chronicles 2), a purchase bonus for the Fighters Pass (see below) DLC Confirmed! There will be five paid DLC sets coming up. Each set comes with one fighter, one stage, and music tracks. Each set costs $5.99 USD. The Fighters Pass, $24.99, lets you get all of them for slightly less. The contents will not be revealed until it's out. So, just have faith. All DLC content will be released through the end of February 2020. Sakurai: "... ... ...I wonder if I'll ever get to take a break!" A Mii Fighter outfit will be available as a purchase bonus for hte Fighters Pass: Rex (Xenoblade Chronicles 2). The fighter roster was picked before Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was announced, so Rex's inclusion as an actual fighter couldn't happen. That didn't stop Greninja for Smash 4, though, so... There's also some more Xenoblade Chronicles content in the form of music and Spirits. Limited-Time Offer. A FREE DLC offer. If you buy Smash Ultimate now, you'll get something very unexpected: Pirahna Plant Pipes Up! That's right; a near-literal garden-variety mook is going to be a fighter in Smash Ultimate! NOBODY SAW THIS COMING! Piranha Plant combines attributes of many different Piranha Plant-style enemies. He won't be ready until a couple months after launch. Remember: LIMITED TIME OFFER FOR PRE-ORDERS. He'll have an amiibo. Pre-purchase Now! Smash fans in North America. Check out the Nintendo website for information on when and where these pre-launch events happen. Adventure Mode: "What exactly caused all these characters to lose their bodies and transform into Spirits?" Let's just isolate the clip, and I'll leave my thoughts after. Is that the same cliff from that one scene in Brawl's story mode? I'm immediately reminded that the actual Biblical Angels were a lot more abstract than the stereotypical "human with white wings and halo". So, the inside of Master Hand isn't the Master Core like in the last game. Shulk has a vision, and there's nothing he can do about it. Jeez, what is this, Infinity War? Of course Kirby would be the only survivor. Sakurai loves this guy. LYRICS! The main theme now has lyrics. And not just the "dead language so we don't have to translate it a kjghpillion times" lyrics, but full English and Japanese lyrics! And possibly other language lyrics? The song is titled "Lifelight". "Puppet Fighter" was the exact words. Now we know why. Is that Galleom from Brawl's Subspace Emissary? Sweet! Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: "World of Light" So, no Paper Mario, no Decidueye, and no Wonder-Red, but we got Guile's Theme for music, story mode looks sweet, and the Spirits idea is kinda interesting. Not the best Smash Ultimate Direct of the three, but still good. Yeah. Still good. "Stow your fear. It's now or never!"

Because reasons, I decided to see the oldest version of Minecraft available in the launcher that can be updated to the modern versions. The cliff notes version: If you download the earliest version of Minecraft that can be downloaded (rd-132211, the pre-classic tech demo), generate a world, download a later version, and load that same world, you can go as high as Classic 0.0.13a_03 while keeping the same world. Any world from Classic 0.0.13 or older will not carry over to the next version, Classic 0.30_01c. Any world generated in Classic 0.30_01c or older will not carry over to Infdev 20100618. Any world generated in Infdev 20100618 or later can be loaded in the latest versions without problems. Question answered. The trip I spent answering this involved me raiding three pyramids, using a saddle I looted from one to tame a horse only to leave the horse behind at the edge of an ocean, and using the bones I looted from all three to tame a pack of wolves only to leave them at the edge of a different ocean. After making a backup and switching to creative mode, I teleported (well, really, broke my bed and used the /kill command) back to spawn to see how things were. The changes in world generation and biome generation made my original spawn beach a swamp (still a beach; just the water and grass are a slimy dark green). And, the fact that the spawn chunks are always loaded regardless of where you are in the world meant that new world generation happened in the area around the spawn chunks every now and then, resulting in a lot more obvious world-generation border divisions than there were when I started the trip. It was informative, entertaining, and on rare occasion hilarious. A good result.

Sometimes I think I don't like a certain musical genre, style, or instrumentation on principle, and then I hear a song or track from some movie or video game that changes my mind a little. I guess my musical preference is "whatever individual tracks I like" rather than "insert genre here". In this case, it's techno. In listening to assorted Mega Man music for a personal project, I took a listen at the Mega Man 11 soundtrack. Two tracks in particular sound like they're perfect for a rave: Block Man Stage and Fuse Man Stage.

Feelin' a little bittersweet. That happy-sad feeling where something a little upsetting happens but it still has a good outcome. Like giving a kitten we rescued a month ago to a new family. We really bonded with this kitten, ya know? I wish we could've kept her, but we already have five cats, we just got a dog that's bigger and more energetic than we were expecting, and we're packing up to move soon. It's really not a good time to get another cat. Still, we made sure she was fed, clean, sheltered, and played with. Her time here was a good one. And in the end, we made sure she's going to a good home. How do you do this for a living, Prof? You just bond with them so easily, you don't wanna give 'em up!

September 13, 2018's Nintendo Direct. In summary: If you paid close attention in the Simon Belmont reveal from the August 8 Direct, you'll notice that Luigi's ghost-hunting vacuum is different than it is in the two Luigi's Mansion games. Well, turns out GameXplain was right; that was foreshadowing for a third Luigi's Mansion game for the Switch, coming out in 2019. Kirby's Epic Yarn is getting a 3DS port as Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn. It's got some new features, such as new power-ups and some minigames featuring King Dedede and Meta Knight. 2019 release. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is also geting a 3DS port. Like Mario & Luigi: Super Star Saga, this one includes a new side game called Bowser Jr.'s Journey. January 11, 2019. On the subject of Luigi's Mansion, the first game will be ported to the 3DS. This port includes 2-player co-op mode if both of you have the game, or co-op boss battle mode if only one of you has the game. There's also amiibo compatibility. October 12, 2018 release, just in time for Halloween. Yo-Kai Watch Blasters is out now, but it's also getting a free update with new bonuses and missions on September 27. Splatoon 2 version 4.0 is introduced with the most anime trailer ever. Looks like we're getting new gear, weapons, music, and stages as usual. One of these stages takes place in the single-player areas, it seems. And there might be a new mode, maybe? Mega Man 11 is coming out in time for the 30th anniversary of the series. In addition to the standard new Robot Masters to fight, Mega Man has some new systems that appear to work like temporary powerups that do things like power boost and time-slowing. Mario Tennis Aces is getting some new characters: Birdo, Shy Guy, Koopa Paratroopa, and Petey Piranha. More characters might be coming in by June. There's also some new modes, including one that looks roughly like Breakout, one that involves hitting the ball through hoops, and more. Capcom Beat-'Em-Up games such as Final Fight, The King of Dragons, Captain Commando, Knights of the Round, Warriors of Fate, Armored Warriors, and Battle Circuit are getting a Switch port in the Capcom Beat-Em-Up Bundle. Pre-purchase it now or wait 'til its formal eShop release on September 18. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, because every game is getting a Switch port with "Deluxe" in the title it seems. Nabbit and Toadette are playable as well. New Super Luigi U is also getting the Deluxe treatment. The whole bundle comes out on January 11, 2019. Katamari Damacy (which I always misread as Katamari Dynasty) is getting a Switch port. Motion appears to use the gyros in the Switch Joy-Cons, though I bet there's an option to use joystick controls. Katamari Damacy Reroll launches in winter 2018. The online service, Nintendo Switch Online, will kick in September 18. It will feature: Online play (obviously). This probably won't affect Splatoon as that already features online play. A large library of NES games, including Balloon Fight, Dr. Mario, Baseball, Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Double Dragon, Excitebike, Pro Wrestling, Gradius, Ice Climber, Soccer, Ghosts 'N Goblins, Ice Hockey, River City Ransom, Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, NES Open Tournament Golf, Solomon's Key, Dodge Ball, Mighty Bomb Jack, Metroid, Super Mario Bros., Yoshi, and more. Cloud storage of game save data Nintendo Smartphone App connectivity Special offers to be revealed later. The service begins September 18. It's a paid service, of course There are NES Controllers for Switch that charge by sliding them into the Joy-Con slots. Nintendo is just rolling in throwbacks lately. Info about Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee! Where you'd use HMs in the original games, here you use Secret Techniques. Only your starter Pikachu or Eevee can use them, but doing so somehow even summons a surfboard for crossing oceans and a balloon-lifted chair thing for flying around. Like the Pokemon-Amie / Pokemon Refresh thing from X/Y and Sun/Moon, you can use the Switch in handheld mode to pet your Pikachu and Eevee. This can change up their hairstyles even! Diablo 3 for Nintendo Switch. This is also the first time I can think of where Nintendo would use the word "Hell", though I'm not sure if that counts as profanity since it's referring to the place. Super Mario Party! 80 new minigames, four-player co-op games, single-player modes, and plenty more. October 5. Town (working title). It's an action RPG where you never leave the starting town. Defend the town against invading monsters. 2019 release; maybe we'll have a name then. City Skylines: Nintendo Switch Edition. Yes, you read that right. What is with this system? Build your city however you wish. You can track every citizen if you want. This game also comes with the previously-released DLC packs. Available now! Daemon X Machina. It's a mech game (the mechs are called Arsenals here) where you face runaway AI. Like the Mechwarrior games (and I'm only comparing because I own a couple of those, even though I haven't played them in like a decade), you can collect equipment from fallen enemies and use them later. You can also exit your mech and run around as a squishy human, and collect augmentations for your human self that can enhance your mech. 2019 release. That Yoshi game finally gets a title: Yoshi's Crafted World. You can rotate the stage, flip the camera to the other side of the stage and play the course backwards, and play in two-player mode. Spring 2019. Asmodee Digital is releasing digital adaptations of various tabletop games: Carcassonne, The Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game, Pandemic as a start, with Settlers of Catan and Munchkin on the way. Sid Meier's Civilization VI. Now Nintendo gamers can have their time wasted too! Starlink: Battle for Atlas, by Ubisoft. It's multi-platform, but the Switch version includes Star Fox characters and missions. October 16 The World Ends with You: Final Remix will feature a new level based on Shibuya. October 12 release Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country comes out September 21, but if you have the Expansion Pass, you can get it a week early. As in, well, now. A bunch of other games got release dates: Warframe on November 20. Seriously!? Just Dance 2019 on October 23. FIFA 19 on September 28. Team Sonic Racing available this winter NBA 2K19 available right now NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 available this fall LEGO DC Super-Villains available October 16 Final Fantasy! Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition. We have the original Wii version, actually. The Remastered Edition features online co-op. 2019 Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition HD. Seriously, they chibi-fied that game and gave it an eShop port! Available now! World of Final Fantasy Maxima. Includes a new mode called Avatar Change, which lets you transform into other Final Fantasy characters (yes, that includes Cloud). November 6 Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon Every Buddy! (yes, that is spelled correctly). Anyone who remembers the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games knows what to expect, gameplay-wise. Winter 2018 Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. 2019 We'll also get classics like Final Fantasy VII, IX, X, and X2 in 2019. A hardware bundle for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, including a dock with the original 8 Smash Bros. fighters, a download code for Smash Ultimate, and a Smash Bros. Joy-Con set. This bundle launches November 2, though you can pre-order it now. You can also get the GameCube Controller: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Edition and GameCube Controller Adapter on November 2. One final thing: Isabelle Turns Over A New Leaf! Isabelle from the Animal Crossing series joins the battle! She has some similar moves to the Villager but is distinct enough to count as her own fighter rather than an Echo Fighter. With that, we also get confirmation of an Animal Crossing game for the Switch, to be released in 2019. Not a bad haul, eh?

(wow, nobody wanted to share their music for months?) Anyway, I've had some Super Mario Odyssey music stuck in my head. Specifically, Fossil Falls, the music used for the Cascade Kingdom. There's segments in the game where you go into a 2D plane and switch to 8-bit graphics. Usually when this happens, the normal background music is turned down and an 8-bit remix of the track is played. And it's no different for Fossil Falls. Take a listen.

Today is a busy morning. We have people here to fix the roof, we have people here to remove a tree, and a kitten. And it's not even nine a.m.! (note 1: the tree has nothing to do with the roof) (note 2: we have to call the SPCA for the kitten. we're not keeping it, no matter how badly I want to) (note 3: no, seriously, this is adorable)

Time for something I haven't done in forever: Panel-By-Panel Analysis! ======== Panel 1 and 2: (I thought panel 1 would be bigger and blocked the screen with my hand; turns out it's a thin panel and I saw panel 2 anyway) Anyway, I thought Diane's reaction in the last page was about those two not recognizing her due to her haircut and outfit. Turns out I was wrong. And yeah, Diane, there's an unfortunate social connotation that comes with the way you used to dress and your former dating habits. I'm surprised you never thought about it. Panel 3: More people talking about her without realizing she's right next to them due to her drastic change in haircut and attire. Light-haired girl seems to think Susan was Diane. Seems to be a trend here. I can imagine it now. "I have a sister/cousin/whatever!" "Suuuuure you do." Panel 4: Spiky-haired girl has a low opinion of Diane. To be fair, it's not entirely undeserved, considering how she acted when we met her. Nobody's noticed her character development, it seems. And light-haired girl does have a point. Spit is surprisingly useless at putting out fires. Panel 5: Well, light-haired girl has a point. Very few people know the real Diane. She's kept her hidden depths hidden. I think Nanase, Ellen, and Susan might have a better gauge on Diane's real personality than Lucy and even Rhoda, simply because the former three have seen Diane when she's scared and unsure (we don't know if the latter two have) while the latter two have primarily seen Diane when she's being smug or manipulative. The majority of the school sees Diane's manipulative side, and as we've seen here, they've brought up expectations and assumptions. Most people never bother getting to know most other people. Reputation is usually the only way we know about someone. Panel 6: Ouch. Low blow, spiky-haired girl. Low blow. Proves my point, huh? Barely anyone knows Diane except by reputation, and her reputation isn't that good, leading to...well, spiky-haired girl's rhetorical question. Panel 7: And a beat panel to let it sink in. Commentary: Dan's right. Their planet needs them. ======== Yikes. When you realize your reputation stinks. Really, this is about the best time for Diane to learn all this stuff. Because of the events at the mall, everyone's talking about her. Because of her haircut, nobody knows they're talking about her behind her back while in front of her face. Two plus two equals a whole lot of eye-opening revelations. (...am I rewriting math or using an overly long variable name?) Is this sort of the opposite of change blindness? They assume she can't be Diane because she doesn't look like Diane and they didn't witness the change? And to slightly misquote something: "They needn't gossip. After all, it's rude to talk about someone who's listening."

When cat that doesn't trust you and seems scared of you decides to sit on your lap and nuzzle your hand.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Nintendo Direct: August 8, 2018 (wow, did I really not do this for the E3 reveal? ...here it is anyway, just in case you haven't watched it) Here's a quick breakdown: Starting with a character reveal: Simon Lashes Out! That's right; Simon Belmont from Castlevania! "Hey man! Haven't seen you in a while. Now we can re-enact-" Mega Man: "SHH! Don't bring that up!" Pit: "Bring up what-icus?" Mega Man: "AARGH!" The same trailer also reveals that Richter Crosses Over! Two! Two Castlevania protagonists! Ah ah ah! *dramatic thunder and lightning* Incidentally, this means we currently have playable fighters from 32 unique video game franchises (well... 30, depending on how you count Yoshi and Wario) across On top of that, we get Alucard as an Assist Trophy and Dracula's Castle as a stage, complete with thirty-four music tracks! Said Dracula's Castle stage has numerous enemies from the Castlevania games, from the Mummy to the Werewolf to the lightning-revealed silhouette of a character only called ????? (some people seem to recognize the silhouette as that of Kid Dracula). Dracula appears as a boss, but the conditions for his appearance are still a mystery. Hmm... Right after that, we got two more Echo Fighters (re: clones... Wow, did I really not post here about E3? I guess I didn't. Huh.) Chrom from Fire Emblem: Awakening. He's a clone Echo Fighter of Roy, though he has Ike's recovery and a completely new Final Smash. Dark Samus from the Metroid Prime trilogy. She's a clone of Bowser (I'm kidding). We got some stage reveals as well. Previously, the GameXplain people managed to find 86 unique stages between the E3 direct and demo, and the character showcase videos, snapshots, and and portraits on the Smash Ultimate website. Well, we've bumped that number up to 103! For the record, there's only 120 stages across the entire series, and we're getting over 85% of them! Stages from the N64 Smash Bros. retain their old look while stages from Melee onwards get a graphical makeover. Only teased at in Mario's character showcase video, we now have confirmation of New Donk City Hall, based on the location from Super Mario Odyssey. It's a scrolling stage that goes up the tower to the top before cycling back down. Tired of playing on the Wily Castle stage and having to fight the Yellow Devil every ten seconds? Say no more! Stage Hazards can be turned completely off. This might open up more stages for professional tournament play without having to stick with their Final Destination or Battlefield forms. Can't pick just one stage? Pick two! The Stage Morph option lets you choose two stages. During the match, it will switch between them. You can set the switch to happen randomly or after a certain amount of time has passed. Mix things up! And lastly, every stage will be available at start. There will be no unlockable stages; they're all available from the moment you turn the game on. We saw a stage roster with all stages revealed so far. Including the random option, there's still enough room for six more... "Vegeta, what does the scouter say about the number of music tracks?" "It's over EIGHT-HUNDRED!" "WHAT!? EIGHT-HUNDRED!?" That's just for music for stages; including menu music and fanfare, that goes up to "OVER NINE-HUNDRED!" For the record, assuming no looping or repeats, that's over 28 hours of music! Yeesh. Trips to Namek don't take that long. Music is now grouped by series instead of by stage, so if you're playing a Zelda stage, you can use any Zelda music in the game. You can also make your own playlists, and listen to them with the Switch in handheld mode like any music player. When setting up a match in online multiplayer, the FIRST thing you do is make a rule set. By the way, Stamina mode is an available mode for multiplayer matches. Final Smash Meter! Enable this, and you can build up a Final Smash meter. When it's full, you can use a weaker version of your Final Smash. Multiple characters can now have Final Smashes ready, though only one can use them at a time. Since Final Smashes can be not random (chasing the Smash Ball was definitely random) and are also weaker in this way, this means we might be seeing Final Smashes in professional tournaments. Game modes! Squad Strike! It's a 3-on-3 or 5-on-5 elimination-style match. Basically a three-or-five-stock battle where each stock is a different fighter. You could also have five players per side. Tournament mode! Back to how it was in Brawl, you can host your own local tournaments with up to 32 fighters. Smashdown! Choose your characters for round 1. For round 2, you cannot choose those characters! Play through the roster with no repeats. Heck, if you wanna play strategically, pick a character you know your friend is good at so that they can't use that one against you later. Training Mode got a redesign. Now there's a grid, so you can judge character sizes and distances. Your opponent in Training Mode is a fighter this time instead of a sandbag, so you can test out grapples too. When you hit someone, you see launch trajectories. Classic Mode! Battle your way against several consecutive fighters on specific stages, just like in the old days. Each fighter has their own set of opponents. New items! Banana Gun. Shoot the innards of the banana like a projectile. The peel turns into a regular Banana Peel. Death's Scythe from Castlevania. Instantly KOs enemies that are badly damaged. Killer Edge. When the blade glows red, it deals more damage. Staff. Deals more damage the farther away the target is. Ramblin' Evil Mushroom from Earthbound. This makes other fighters' controls flip around. That's confusing. Rage Blaster. The more damage the wielder has taken, the stronger the shot. New Pokemon and Assist Trophies Alolan Exeggutor. This super-tall palm tree Pokemon acts as a solid obstacle, so you can't get past it. Characters that can wall-jump and cling to walls can do so to Alolan Exeggutor's neck. Vulpix and Alolan Vulpix. Two separate Pokemon. Vulpix appears to use Ember, shooting a burst of fire forwards like Lucas' PK Fire. Alolan Vulpix does the opposite, shooting ice. Mimikyu. This little whatever-it-is grabs a fighter and takes it under its cloak, dealing damage and KO'ing them. Pyukumuku. This sea cucumber Pokemon only deals damage when attacked. Marshadow. This ghostly Pokemon attacks from the shadows. Ditto. Originally planned for Super Smash Bros. Melee but couldn't be implemented due to technical issues (re: bugs), Ditto transforms into a copy of whoever summons it. Zero from Mega Man X. He attacks using beam swords and other things. Nikki from the Swap Note messaging app of all things. She draws things on a drawing pad. Those things appear on the stage and can do stuff. She's shown drawing a Bonzai Bill from the Mario games, which proceeds to fly off stage, dealing damage to the fighters in its way. She can probably draw other things. SHOVEL KNIGHT. Deals damage and digs up food. Kapp'n from Animal Crossing. He gets in his bus and drives off, picking up anyone in his way (whether they like it or not) and driving them to the blast line. Chef Kawasaki from Kirby. He basically uses Kirby's Final Smash from Brawl, where fighters and items get sucked into a giant cooking pot for a bit before being spat out. A Klaptrap from Donkey Kong. This jumpy little mini crocodile thingy bites fighters. Not that impressive, but hey, they can't all be... The MOON from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. The Moon drops from the sky to crash into the stage! Seriously! The freakin' MOON! Is that Rathalos? The Rathalos enemy from Monster Hunter appears as an Assist Trophy. It also pulls double-duty and appears as a boss on a stage we don't recognize. Hmm... The menu looks nice, but there's this one option that's deliberately pixellated as they can't talk about it yet. Hmm... Sakurai said every fighter will be revealed before launch. A bit disappointing if you wanted some surprise, but in the age of Internet, it's really not gonna make a difference to me, so eh. And for the closer? King K. Rool Comes Aboard! So... Hype?

"In the end... You will always kneel." "Not to men like you." "There are no men like me." "There are always men like you."

Why wouldn't they want Tahiti? It's a magical place.

OVERDUE IS RIGHT, ELLEN! I've been waiting for that since I first started reading this thing! (which was New and Old Flames 6, by the way) Seriously, I think this is literally the first time they've referenced Kaoli since Grace's birthday party. (referencing the second life in general doesn't count)

1990 -- Some kid is born in Oregon. He would hike mountains twice before graduating high school. For the next decade afterwards, his greatest achievement would be not finishing anything he writes.

I'm at the theaters. Gonna watch Ant Man and the Wasp for my birthday. Oop, phones off gotta go bye!