Name: Pokémon TCG Live - Snail Box (version 2.0.0) @Overhazard
Uploaded: 2026-09-20T08:17:00-05:00
Duration: 8 min 17 s
Description: Pokémon TCG Live - Snail Box (version 2.0.0)

Pokémon TCG Live - Snail Box (version 2.0.0)

Overhazard 2026-09-20 | Pokémon TCG Live - Snail Box (version 2.0.0)

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Flame and Fortune - May 4 24 A

Overhazard 2024-05-06 | May 2024 marks the beginning of Regulation G, in which one Restricted Pokémon is allowed per team. (Restricted Pokémon are intentionally overpowered Pokémon, like Mewtwo, Kyogre, Koraidon, Miraidon, etc. It has much overlap with Smogon’s Uber tier, but the Pokémon vary between them.) I suppose to visualize the increase in power you’re allowed to have in Ranked, instead of just being an amorphous color gradient in the background of the Battle Stadium menus, there are now lightning bolts flashing every now and then.

Personally, I find it a bit corny, and funny in that sense, but I get the idea. It’s just a matter of time before two Restricted Pokémon are allowed, and I wonder what the menu screens will look like when that happens.

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: ミヅキ (Midsuki)
Battle Court: Blueberry Academy
Music: Carmine
My Pokémon: Sheena (Illumise), Luz (Lanturn), Reginaldus (Regidrago)
Opponent’s Pokémon: デンチュラ (Galvantula), コータス (Torkoal), オーガデン (Ogerpon) (Hearthflame)

It definitely felt like as if Galvantula and Torkoal were simply there to set up as ideal conditions for Ogerpon as possible. I don’t usually see a “tentpole” type setup for a single battle team, with one Pokémon responsible for most of the fighting while the other two set up, so it came as a bit of a surprise for that.

I did select Reginaldus (Regidrago) specifically because I saw Hearthflame Ogerpon in the lineup, however. As a Grass- and Fire-type Pokémon, Dragon-type Pokemon would resist them both. Dodrio has an equal Speed to Ogerpon as well though, so I wonder how well that would’ve worked. I thought Ogerpon would get straight to attacking, however, so I had to readjust my strategies when I saw a Substitute.

Splatoon 3 - Tenta Brella Matches (May 4 24)

Overhazard 2024-05-05 | The force is normally not very strong among Brellas, considered to be the weakest weapon class overall, but the Tenta Brella is an exception to that. (I’m not sure where the Recycled Brella fits into all this.) As the big, heavy variant of the Brellas, its canopy takes the form of a modern folding tent (hence its name), and as you can shoot the canopy out, it becomes this huge shield for your teammates and a barrier for your opponents.

It is that canopy that makes it a great support weapon for your team. You can step in and block attacks from opponents pursuing a teammate, or you can launch it out to block paths and prevent opponents from taking certain routes due to it being wide enough to do that. You can also do what I like to do with Brellas, which is to launch the canopy out as a decoy, then attack your target while their attention is on the canopy.

It also helps that, uniquely among the Brellas, the Tenta Brella can deal enough damage for a one-hit splat with a direct hit. That takes a lot of precision and prediction though. But the knowledge that it can do this would put a savvy player on edge around a Tenta Brella user. It also means that, unlike some other support weapons, the Tenta Brella is fully capable of putting up a fight while the user is on their own (and, playing with random teammates, there will be a lot of that).

To complement its support role, the unbranded Tenta Brella comes with Squid Beakons and Ink Vac, both of which are also mainly to support teammates, more so than yourself. With Squid Beakons, like any other weapon with it, put them in secluded places opponents aren’t likely to notice, not only for you to get back to battlefield and by a teammate’s side, but so your teammates can too. The effects won’t be something you can easily notice, but if you win matches while doing seemingly little, chances are it’s because your teammates used your Squid Beakons to outpace the other team. The Ink Vac, of course, deflects all enemy ink, bombs, and some specials towards you, converts it to your ink color, and shoots it all out at once. Combined with the canopy, the Ink Vac really makes this weapon a defensive powerhouse.

It is this great ability to defend yourself and your teammates that makes the Tenta Brella really shine in Anarchy Battles, more so than Turf War. You can use it to deny your opponents some crucial space, particularly space pertaining to the goal at hand. Use the canopy and the Ink Vac to block their access to Splat Zones, the tower, the Rainmaker holder (for either team), or either clam basket. You probably won’t get as many splats as your teammates, or ink as much as they do, but that isn’t really the point of the Tenta Brella. Its purpose is to boost your teammates and bring them to heights they can’t reach without you having their back.

00:00 - Match #1
Shipshape Cargo Co.
Turf War
Tenta Brella
Color Scheme: Candy Pumpkins
Song: “Tentacle to the Metal” by Damp Socks feat. Off the Hook
Octolings: 5
This weapon’s not too great at inking due to its slow speed and specialization on defense rather than inking. But it seems that this is what I wound up doing at the start because none of my teammates stayed behind. But once I got over to the central area, it seems they had things under control. (Also, there is the most obvious ambush attempt I’ve ever seen in this game.)

03:37 - Match #2
Crableg Capital
Turf War
Tenta Brella
Color Scheme: Candy Pumpkins
Song: “No Plan Survives” by Riot Act
Octolings: 5
At first, I thought that, since this is one of those big, heavy weapons with a decent range, that I’d be better off on the upper areas, but I realized that the Tenta Brella is at its most effective on the same plane as the opponents, especially if the teammates are there too. I switched over to staying in the lower central areas, and it seems it worked out better.

07:14 - Match #3
Hammerhead Bridge
Clam Blitz
Tenta Brella
Color Scheme: Action Movie Poster
Song: “Headhammer” by C-Side
Octolings: 4
Due to the defensive nature of this weapon, I had a lot of trouble finding ways for my team to advance forward, but it seems we had little trouble defending our goal from attack. On the other hand, the narrowness of the path leading up to the opposing basket lends itself well to being completely blocked by the canopy.

12:50 - Match #4
Flounder Heights
Splat Zones
Tenta Brella
Color Scheme: Candy Pumpkins
Song: “Candy-Coated Rocks” by Damp Socks feat. Off the Hook
Octolings: 5
Flounder Heights has two small Splat Zones up at the highest point. I realized pretty early on that I could use the canopy to block access to the further Splat Zone, while I could use the Ink Vac for the same AND to get them to back away. As it seems, this thing can help defend the Splat Zones all on its own, at least long enough for the teammates to return. Also, something amusing about a Splattercolor Screen, followed my canopy passing through.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet - Evolving a Shiny Rellor

Overhazard 2024-05-04 | 7-Star Tera Raid Battles aren't the only event that goes on every now and then in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet--Pokémon Mass Outbreaks are too (an unusual choice of terminology for a game made during the COVID-19 pandemic). In these events, certain Pokémon will show up in large groups, and they have a heightened chance of being shiny. The more of them you defeat in a particular outbreak (using Let's Go works too, and I highly recommend doing that to save time and how shiny Pokémon won't be attacked, good for shiny forms that look very similar to their regular forms), the likelier you'll find a shiny Pokémon. Eventually though, the outbreak will run out of Pokémon, but new ones turn up each midnight.

This particular event focuses on Pokémon with golden shiny forms: Magikarp and Varoom in Paldea, Shinx in Kitakami, and Rellor at the Blueberry Academy. I've had a shiny Magikarp and a shiny Shinx in the past, and I don't really like Varoom's shiny look (or Revavroom's, for that matter). But I like how Rellor's shiny form has its ball resemble the Nugget item (or maybe even a Big Nugget), so I went after that! As of when this video goes public, this mass outbreak event is still ongoing: it ends until midnight UTC on May 7th, 2024.

Your odds can be stacked with the Shiny Charm (obtained by completing the Paldea Pokédex) and with Sparkling Power from a sandwich. Sparkling Powers are type-specific. For Rellor, I used the following ingredients to get one with Sparkling Power Bug Level 3:
Cherry Tomatoes x1
Potato Salad x1
any 2 different flavors of Herba Mystica

With this sandwich, the Shiny Charm, and the increased odds of shiny Pokémon in a mass outbreak, I can lower the odds to 1 - (4095/4096)^8, or about 1 in 512. There are about 100 to 120 Pokémon in one particular mass outbreak though, so more often than not, you'll have to keep searching across multiple outbreaks. There are three outbreaks per 24-hour period.

This is the breakdown for that equation:
4095/4096 is each time the game "rolls the dice" for a non-shiny Pokémon. Think of it like a die with 4096 faces. 1 face is for a shiny Pokémon, while 4095 is for a regular, non-shiny Pokémon.
^8 means the game rolls 8 times for a shiny Pokémon: 1 for the default roll, 2 more for having a Shiny Charm, 2 more for defeating 60 or more Pokémon in a mass outbreak, and 3 more for Sparkling Power Level 3.
The 1- at the beginning of the equation changes it from "odds of them all being non-shiny Pokémon" to "odds of at least one Pokémon being shiny."

In turn, the way to evolve Rellor is one of the least interesting, most boring ways, and thus, this doesn't make for very interesting watching (unless you like this sort of thing, and nothing wrong with that if you do): you need to walk 2000 steps with Rellor behind you without letting it retreat back into its Poké Ball, then level it up. Rellor moves at a slower pace than your run, so you need to walk to avoid letting it fall behind and automatically going back into its Poké Ball and back out, which resets that counter. There's also no meter and no indication that you've reached that distance, and a "step" is not the same thing as a step in your player character's walking or running animation. So I just took a tour around Zapapico.

Turns out shiny Rabsca's body is golden now, while the purple ball that it caresses constanly is almost completely unchanged, being a very, very slightly lighter shade.

F-Zero 99 - Classic Mini Prix

Overhazard 2024-05-03 | Coverage of Sonic Frontiers will resume later--I wanted to put something else here for symmetry's sake over the week. I accidentally put myself into this, right when the countdown in the lobby reached zero, so I found myself playing this against my will. I’m terrible at Classic races, so I typically avoid them, but, well, here we are. And I’m using the Golden Fox too, which is arguably the worst vehicle for this mode, because its viability in F-Zero 99 is from how it can use many boosts between pit zones, whereas here, you get one boost per lap, and the pit zone is solely for repairing damage.

I wasn’t too clear on the rules for Classic Mini Prix, but as it seems, the bottom-performing racer is eliminated each lap. Since you begin with 20 racers, there are 4 laps per race, and there are 3 races in all, by the end, there will be only 8 racers remaining. If this rule holds true for Classic Grand Prix, which I haven’t tried, that means there can only be 1 racer left standing by the end of the Grand Prix. What a proposition!

00:00 - Race #1
Course: Sand Ocean
Mode: Classic Mini Prix
Vehicle: Golden Fox
Rivals: Xuilin, つぼ (Tsubo), HJD, ぐま (Guma)
I felt like I had no idea what I was doing, and only the vague knowledge of Sand Ocean’s layout to guide me the way…I also was surprised at how much damage I was taking hitting the walls, as F-Zero 99 has the vehicles MUCH sturdier. It seems I wasn’t the only one to be surprised by that, considering three people crashed out on the first lap, with a fourth one later on, allowing me to proceed to the second race.

03:29 - Race #2
Course: Red Canyon I
Mode: Classic Prix
Vehicle: Golden Fox
Rivals: FAlexImbel, ゲームヒューマン (Game-human), Sproy óÓÒò, jibanou
Good to know the same idea behind the rocket start exists in Classic races. The Golden Fox is the rarest vehicle type in Classic races, with I think only one other one left in this race, letting me take the lead out at the beginning. Of course, the Golden Fox’s top speed is the lowest, so I don’t keep that lead for long. But hey, I survived, whereas one of my rivals, and one of my former rivals, crashed out on the second lap.

06:20 - Race #3
Course: Fire Field
Mode: Classic Prix
Vehicle: Golden Fox
Rivals: つぼ (Tsubo), FAlexImbel, Sproy óÓÒò, Jes
And then I thought, “Fire Field? You’ve given me Fire Field in Classic?” And racers continue to get eliminated here! Not only did three of my rivals crash out in this race, I was in danger of crashing out myself for a while, and through some of the most dangerous parts of this course!

No new paint jobs, patterns, boosts, badges, or whatnot for finishing a Classic Mini Prix though.

Sonic Frontiers - Cyber Space Stages (S-Rank) - Chaos Island

Overhazard 2024-05-02 | The third island Sonic visits is Chaos Island, though it’s not so much one island, but a main island and a bunch of smaller islands surrounding it. The way the map looks suggests this used to be one landmass before a calamity befell it and it crumbled into a bunch of smaller islands, but we still have seven Cyber Space stages located here for Sonic to run through.

I should mention that each mission cleared gets you a Vault Key, with all four missions cleared yielding three more, for a total of seven per Cyber Space stage. These are used to unlock the Chaos Emerald Vaults located on each island, allowing Sonic to collect them and attain Super Sonic once he has them all, allowing him to fight each island’s Titan. I believe Chaos Island only needs 21 Vault Keys for all of the Emeralds, so if you prefer, you could just complete all of the other missions and leave the S-Rank time ones alone.

00:00 - Cyber Space 3-1
Theme: Green Hill
Music: “Escape the Loop” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Green Forest (Sonic Adventure 2)
S-Rank Time: 2 minutes
I didn’t identify what this stage was based on until I saw the bungee jump right before a bed of spike balls towards the end, and it all made sense after that! You’ll also get to see Sonic walk right into an Eggrobo to lose Rings. It’s still hard to get used to a boost that doesn’t send enemies flying away, so I was struck with a moment of indecision there, forgetting there were enemies there..

01:46 - Cyber Space 3-2
Theme: Green Hill
Music: “Go Slap” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Savannah Citadel Act 1 (Sonic Unleashed)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 20 seconds
Specifically, this is based on the 2-D segments, starting from when Sonic enters the Citadel itself and transitioning from the exit straight to the segment with the giant tree. (Oh yeah, and it probably goes without saying, but when I refer to these being based on Sonic Unleashed stages, they are daytime 360/PS3.) I had a hard time making the S-Rank here (but nothing quite as hard as 1-2), but I’ve found some alternate, faster paths looking over my own footage.

03:16 - Cyber Space 3-3
Theme: Sky Sanctuary
Music: “Memory will tell" by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Sky Sanctuary Act 2 (Sonic Generations)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 55 seconds
Though some paths were eliminated here, I appreciate they were able to assemble as much of it together as they could. Of course, I had forgotten most of Sky Sanctuary Act 2, so there was a lot here to re-memorize, resulting in Sonic skipping through a bunch of stuff, then getting stopped against a short wall because I had forgotten that was a dead end path. I had a feeling I made a lot of mistakes, considering how much I skipped, and yet I barely made the S-Rank time.

05:21 - Cyber Space 2-4
Theme: Green Hill
Music: “Constructure” by Rintaro Soma
Based on: Windmill Isle Act 3 (Sonic Generations)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 20 seconds
When I saw this one, I was pretty surprised they took from Windmill Isle Act 3. The Acts immediately following the main ones in Sonic Unleashed are challenge stages based on a particular gimmick—in this case, rail grinding. That makes for a much harder experience than normal, especially with the somewhat different controls here compared to Sonic Unleashed. The 3-D segments were removed, however, and replaced with an area with lasers, which I think is original.

06:47 - Cyber Space 2-5
Theme: Green Hill
Music: “BMB” by RIntaro Soma
Based on: Nothing
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 5 seconds
Though the layout is original, it seems to be heavily inspired by Savanah Citadel Act 2 from Sonic Unleashed, as it features a wide course with a combination of sturdy guardrails and flimsy guardrails and encourages Sonic to drift around turns. Unlike in Sonic Unleashed, where the drift is a basic part of Sonic’s moves, in Sonic Frontiers, he can drift only by hitting white-colored drift pads, found only here (as well as a remix stage later on). It’s as annoying to control as ever. There is a big control stick icon over Sonic’s legs though, so it looks more like he’s sliding on a very slippery floor.

08:02 - Cyber Space 2-6
Theme: Sky Sanctuary
Music: “Enjoy this World” by Kenji Mizuno
Based on: Rooftop Run Act 2 (Sonic Unleashed)
S-Rank Time: 2 minutes 55 seconds
And then they throw Rooftop Run Act 2 at me, which, if you recall, is a test of the Homing Attack, the Light Speed Dash, and overall navigating Sonic in 2-D over an abyss by utilizing things floating in midair. All three laps are featured here, making it the longest Cyber Space stage in the game yet.

10:48 - Cyber Space 2-7
Theme: Chemical Plant
Music: “All Reality” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Chemical Plant Act 2 (Sonic Generations)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 40 seconds
I think I was doing pretty well here, until everything just kind of came crashing down starting with getting hit by the Spiny towards the end. What happened to mercy invincibility where Sonic gets hit immediately after getting up? That feels so unfair…

Sonic Frontiers - Cyber Space Stages (S-Rank) - Ares Island

Overhazard 2024-05-01 | The previous videos featured the Cyber Space stages in Kronos Island, which is the first one in the game, an idyllic, grassy area (albeit still quite dangerous due to the presence of the Guardians and such there). After defeating Giganto and rescuing Amy from Cyber Space, Sonic heads to Ares island, a dry, desert area, whose Cyber Space stages are…not that much different from those of Kronos Island in terms of appearance, though their layout is, of course, entrely different (but still mostly based on pre-existing Sonic stages…or, in one instance, a Shadow stage (as in the character, not the game).

Thinking about it, Sonic Forces was the last Sonic game I covered, wasn’t it? My coverage ended in April 2018, making it about a 6-year gap between them. I passed on Team Sonic Racing because it didn’t have motion steering so I didn’t want to pay for it, and I passed on putting up Sonic Colors: Ultimate because, well, I already had the original Sonic Colors. I might get the Sonic Generations remake, but I have no plans on putting that one up either, at least where it isn’t new content.

00:00 - Cyber Space 2-1
Theme: Green Hill
Music: “Slice & Sway” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Green Hill Act 2 (Sonic Generations)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 40 seconds
Whereas 1-4 was based on the 3-D parts of Green Hill Act 2, 2-1 is instead based on the 2-D parts. Something that could improve my time I know now that I didn’t then is the fact that Sonic’s speed actually increases while he’s on a grind rail instead of regular running. There’s an unusual logic to understand about this one.

01:19 - Cyber Space 2-2
Theme: Sky Sanctuary
Music: “Heavenly Sky” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Dragon Road Act 3 (Sonic Unleashed)
S-Rank Time: 55 seconds
This one was definitely unexpected, but ultimately unsurprising, since, gameplay wise, the spinning platforms of Dragon Road in Sonic Unleashed woul be later reused in the 3-D segments of Sonic Generations’s Sky Sanctuary due to their superficial similarities to the spinning platforms in Sky Sanctuary in the original Sonic & Knuckles.

02:28 - Cyber Space 2-3
Theme: Chemical Plant
Music: “Nostalgic Sweep” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Nothing
S-Rank Time: 55 seconds
Despite the name of the song being “Nostalgic Sweep,” the layout here is, in fact, new to this game. Then again, the Chemical Plant backdrop, based on the one in Sonic Generations, which in turn originated in Sonic 2, can definitely be nostalgic. It’s been a whole decade since Sonic Generations…

03:32 - Cyber Space 2-4
Theme: Chemical Plant
Music: “Hype Street” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Radical Highway (Sonic Adventure 2)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 10 seconds
You’ll see just how lenient some of these S-Rank times can be because this was, in fact, also my first complete run through the stage, in which I got all four missions all together, including the time mission. If you wanted to see what it looks like when I’m just searching for stuff (the Red Star Rings, in this case), here it is.

04:53 - Cyber Space 2-5
Theme: Sky Sanctuary
Music: “Déjà vu” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Sky Sanctuary Act 2 (Sonic Generations)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 10 seconds
I find it a bit amusing that Cyber Space had also replicated the Death Egg in the background. Albeit it appears to be intangible, like all other things with the scan lines effect on them. (This was also visible in some of the other Sky Sanctuary themed stages, starting with 1-2.) I also only not noticed some other paths I could’ve taken, now that I am just watching and not diverting some of my attention to just playing.

06:11 - Cyber Space 2-6
Theme: Green Hill
Music: “Transparent Highway” by Kanon Oguni
Based on: Sky Rail (Sonic Adventure 2)
S-Rank Time: 2 minutes 25 seconds
Officially, Cyber Space manifests as a visualization of the memories of the person being brought there. 2-4 was based on Radical Highway, which was originally traversed in Sonic Adventure 2 by Shadow the Hedgehog, but Sonic himself would later encounter it in Sonic Generations, the 3DS version. Sky Rail, on the other hand, was visited only by Shadow, as well as Tails (in the Tornado). Those Propeller Springs haven’t gotten any less annoying in the years since though. By the way, the path with the invisible enemies is not there.

08:24 - Cyber Space 2-7
Theme: Sky Sanctuary
Music: “Floating in the Blue” by Rintaro Soma
Based on: Sky Sanctuary Act 1 (Sonic Generations)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 30 seconds
I thought the collapsing part of this stage was at a different speed than in Sonic Generations, so I checked—there was a speed booster in that one that’s absent from this one. I also had to look up the inspiration for this stage to be sure it was Act 1, considering there are grind rails in this one. Turns out that’s another change they put in; those grind rails were clouds originally. This also sin’t a 1-1 replica, but rather, it starts somewhere one-third of the way through and skips some other parts.

Sonic Frontiers - Cyber Space Stages (S-Rank) - Kronos Island

Overhazard 2024-04-30 | At the end of Stay Tooned!, I said that I would be covering Sonic Frontiers and Sonic Superstars next. Well, that kind of…put me in a tough spot, as I found out, because Sonic Frontiers isn’t really the sort of game I can divide up into neat chunks to be recorded, edited, and uploaded. By nature of it being a semi-open world game, most of the action takes place in one continuous session, with things taking place in it just starting and finishing within that session. In addition, most things happen only once, triggering certain other things to happen. Those kind of conflict with the usual way I put up Sonic gameplay videos.

I decided that in videos like these, I will show the first run I got in which I achieved the S-Rank time. The exceptions are 1-3, where that run was super-awkward, and some later ones where I got the S-Rank time as something other than the last goal. Since most of these will be my first clears within that time, you will likely see a lot of mistakes. I will not use the Homing Dash, Spin Dash, Power Boost, or jump modifications, which will cause an asterisk to appear by the time (indicating you did it by game-breaking means).

The times indicated are the ones provided in Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties. There is a stricter time limit for the S-Rank under Extreme difficulty; I may or may not put runs of that later on.

00:00 - Cyber Space 1-1
Theme: Green Hill
Music: “Database” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Windmill Isle Act 1 (Sonic Unleashed)
S-Rank Time: 43 seconds
This is a tutorial stage, and the first playable segment of the game. Since Sonic’s moves are very similar to those in Sonic Unleashed, I guess they figured they could just replicate that. Most Cyber Space stages in this game are based on the layout of a previous Sonic game’s stage, which I guess goes with the theme of Cyber Space being a record of things in Sonic’s world.

00:53 - Cyber Space 1-2
Theme: Sky Sanctuary
Music: “Flowing” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Windmill Isle Act 2 (Sonic Unleashed)
S-Rank Time: 55 seconds
This one is known among people who play the game to be a particularly difficult S-Rank time to reach, and certainly, it took me many tries. This was the first one I attempted the S-Rank time on, and I was left wondering if they were ALL going to be like that. Well, you’ll see that later into this video, the answer is “no,” considering how much I stumbled and messed up. Heck, I messed up in this one!

02:01 - Cyber Space 1-3
Theme: Eternal Highway
Music: “Digital Cave” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: Nothing
S-Rank Time: 1 minute
1-3 is the first one to be 2-D. Cyber Space stages are either entirely 3-D or 2-D; if its inspiration has both (such as the aforementioned Windmill Isle Act 2), it uses only the 3-D segments or 2-D segments and joins them as seamlessly as they could. This being near the beginning of the game, it’s fairly empty, though those spikes towards the beginning kept getting me. This is also the first one where you can see I clearly took the wrong paths but still got well within the S-Rank time.

03:04 - Cyber Space 1-4
Theme: Green Hill
Music: “Genshi” by Rintaro Soma
Based on: Green Hill Act 2 (Sonic Generations)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 15 seconds
Something worth pointing out, and this is important to know, is that Sonic’s boost does NOT damage enemies or knock them away in this game (at least in its basic form). As a result, I need to be careful not to collide with enemies when boosting. In addition, some alternate paths were removed—there is no shortcut by stomping the wooden bridge near the end like there was in the original version of Sonic Generations’s Green Hill Act 2, for instance.

04:20 - Cyber Space 1-5
Theme: Chemical Plant
Music: “Dropaholic” by Kanon Oguni
Based on: Chemical Plant Act 2 (Sonic Generations)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 15 seconds
Finding the Red Star Rings here took a while because of the branching paths, which WERE kept in this one. And with that, you’ve seen every theme in Cyber Space! I wish there were more themes.

05:32 - Cyber Space 1-6
Theme: Green Hill
Music: “Go Back 2 Your Roots” by Kenji Mizuno
Based on: Green Hill Act 1 (Sonic Generations)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 15 seconds
This is a stage designed for Classic Sonic. That means the boost was not intended for it, so it's kind of a mismatch. That being said, Sonic’s speed is also downgraded from past games. Classic Sonic could get through here in less than a minute easily. Sonic Frontiers Sonic can too…just with much greater difficulty, at least without the asterisk techniques.

06:57 - Cyber Space 1-7
Theme: Eternal Highway
Music: “Time Flyer” by Tomoya Ohtani
Based on: City Escape (Sonic Adventure 2)
S-Rank Time: 1 minute 25 seconds
It’s City Escape! But without any streetboarding or the giant truck. Those are also some really big enemies. Can Sonic really take out tanks and military helicopters with one Homing Attack?

Splatoon 3 - Parallel Canon Defeated with Ink Storm and Sprinkler

Overhazard 2024-04-29 | When you challenge Parallel Canon, a group of Agent 8 replicas (in function, though Agent 4 in appearance), you'll get waves of increasingly large number of said replicas. Normally, this is considered the hardest boss battle to fight (though I don't know if that includes the big boss on Floor 30), but somehow, I was able to defeat the first member of the wave with an Ink Storm I threw in anticipation of the wave starting, as well as the last member with the lowliest of the damaging weapons, the Sprinkler.

I suppose the computer players in the Splatoon series have never been the brightest.

If all goes well, I should be able to begin my coverage of Sonic Frontiers after this. I will be going over the Cyber Space stages, as I wasn't really sure what else to cover that would fit my normal style of putting up Sonic gameplay videos. By sheer coincidence, both Sonic Frontiers and Splatoon 3: Side Order involve the player character getting forcibly put into Internet facsimiles of the real world, though the way said online world is represented are very different from each other.

F-Zero 99 - Mirror King League

Overhazard 2024-04-28 | Two weeks after the introduction of the Mirror Queen League is the Mirror King League! The Mirror Queen League was very tough, and I had some degree of apprehension going into the Mirror King League, wondering how much harder still it had to be. We’ve seen with some of those mystery courses how the staff of F-Zero 99 can make courses more difficult than in the standard F-Zero game, and they cranked it up a notch with both Mirror Knight and Mirror Queen.

As it turns out, it’s kind of downplayed with Mirror King League. Instead of making the courses tougher overall, they instead put in things to help you save time but are riskier, as well as putting in bumper walls and ramps so you can safely maneuver around otherwise difficult segments of some courses. Not that it’s an easy one to make the top 20 in and finish the Grand Prix, of course, since you are still competing against 98 other people, and you’ll have to prove yourself better than four-fifths of the pack to do so.

I wonder what will be next for F-Zero 99. I don’t think we’re getting the courses introduced in the Bandai Satellaview, as I’m guessing there would be rights issues involved in them. Maybe courses inspired by Super Mario Kart? Or courses derived from other 2-D F-Zero games, like Maximum Velocity or Climax?

00:00 - Race #1
Course: Mute City III (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Blue Falcon
Rivals: Superleaf, HubbyBear, Dave, CJ
You might notice right during the course introduction shot that all of the mines about two-thirds through the lap have been replaced with Super Spark cones. That’s your first sign that, instead of increasing the difficulty of these courses, the ones for the Mirror King League are instead toned down, at least in some aspects. There is that alternate path in that same area involving bounce areas that takes you over the abyss four times, so there’s that kind of risk here.

03:10 - Race #2
Course: Death Wind II (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Blue Falcon
Rivals: Gertrudes, ししまる (Shishimaru), まーこ (Maako), ペンギンマン (Penguinman)
The wind makes this otherwise simplistic layout truly menacing, and it being flipped horizontally doesn’t make it any better, though the wind is now blowing in the other direction. Good thing for me that ramps were added before the offroad sections near the start, and bumper walls have been placed to allow you to take the tight turns better! I only really learned to utilize them on the final lap, when it clicked as to why they were put there.

06:39 - Race #3
Course: Port Town II (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Blue Falcon
Rivals: SgvSth, まーこ (Maako), たか (Taka), マ (Ma)
On the other hand, the changes here, which include less helpful bumper walls, magnets in different places, and spinning bumpers placed right in the middle of the track, which you can’t get rid of like the red explosive mines would, make the mirror version of Port Town II tougher than the already tough non-mirrored Port Town II.

10:31 - Race #4
Course: Red Canyon II (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Blue Falcon
Rivals: パパヘラ (Papafera), てきとーバンザイ (Tekitou-Banzai), Mini, Alex
Unlike Red Canyon I, there are no ramps to skip the series of sharp turns at the beginning of each lap—but there IS a ramp to let you skip the last tight turn of the race! The ramps in the slalom section are gone though, just like in Red Canyon I, forcing you to acually drive left and right to keep with the flow of the road.

13:53 - Race #5
Course: Fire Field (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Blue Falcon
Rivals: てきとーバンザイ (Tekitou-Banzai), SgvSth, CJ, Mini
And finally, this is Fire Field. Like the others, there are parts that have been changed, but the layout is the usual horizontal flip. That group of spinning bumpers near the end of a lap with the lava pits among them is downright mean!

Penny’s Big Breakaway - Demo

Overhazard 2024-04-27 | The other demo I wanted to try was Penny’s Big Breakaway, a game notable enough to be featured in TWO Indie World Showcases! Albeit, the second one was to announce, all of a sudden, the game being out, but as it seems, the demo would not become available until later, in early April 2024. As I’m currently on the fence about this game, I decided to try out the demo.

Penny’s Big Breakaway is made by some of the staff of Sonic Mania (though I don’t know if they’re the same ones who had worked on Freedom Planet even earlier) as their crack at 3-D platforming. Penny is a girl living in the Macaron Kingdom who has been practicing yo-yoing for Emperor Eddie’s upcoming talent show. She comes across an odd string, attaches it to her yo-yo, and one thing leads to another and Emperor Eddie is furious and sends his horde of penguin guards at her. In each stage, Penny must get from beginning to end without getting captured by Eddie’s penguins or falling off into the abyss below, and she can do this by hitting things with the yo-yo, using it as a grappling hook to swing from things (or leave the yo-yo hovering in midair), or riding the yo-yo for faster movement speed but at the expense of less maneuverability.

But because Take-Two Interactive seems to have gotten involved in this game’s production, the first thing we’re presented with is perhaps the longest EULA I’ve ever seen for a video game. This is longer than the one I see from Bandai-Namco, and the one I’d encounter from EA. It takes me about 30 minutes to read the former and about 35 minutes for the latter. This one took me 44 minutes to read, which is longer than the demo itself. I am not a lawyer, but I do read them through, and these are the things I noticed about it that I hadn’t seen in other video game contracts:

The Privacy Policy comes first, and in it is perhaps the most unapologetic description I’ve seen yet of “We will freely take all data from you that we’re legally allowed to, and we will give your information to whoever pays us for it.” While I’m okay if it’s being given to, say, the government, insofar as Take-Two wouldn’t have much of a choice in the matter, this Privacy Policy says it will give your data to any advertisement agency that asks for it and will pay for it. Keep that in mind whenever you play anything from Take-Two and you might get targeted spam.

In the main contract itself, it mentions that all user-generated content not only beongs to Take-Two, but anything featured in it, Take-Two can use however they feel like. This apparently includes videos—such as the one whose description you’re reading right now, so this video belongs to Take-Two. I don’t know how it works if the creator’s own copyrighted material is on there (such as, for instance, Vtuber coverage of a Take-Two Interactive game), though I haven’t heard any major fuss yet, but more on that later.

Finally, there is a very long arbitration chapter. Again, I’m not a lawyer, but arbitration feels kind of scummy to me. Based on what I've read in various contracts like these and others, my reading comprehension skills tell me that they're there to stifle class action lawsuits, slow down an already slow legal process, reduce compensation if the company is found to be in the wrong, and keep these disputes out of the public eye or the government's watch. It reads to me like arbitration heavily favors the company over the consumer, so all sorts of companies put in notices about arbitration in their contracts to prevent people from taking them to court the normal way. Maybe a lawyer can correct me on this, but it feels like a travesty of corporate lobbying that arbitration can even exist in the form that it does now.

In any case, the demo for Penny's Big Breakaway takes you through the opening stage, where you can learn some exposition about Emperor Eddie and the talent show, the tutorial stage, the cutscene establishing the conflict, and 1-1 and 1-2. I've ept THIS part of the demo completely unedited so you can see every screwup and blemish I made. Most notable, at least after I finished playing the demo, is that Penny can put on a show at the end of each stage. I had no idea what you were supposed to do; I messed up 1-1's performance immediately because I thought it was freestyling, while I messed up 1-2's performance immediately because I didn't know if the four-button scheme displayed onscreen were the directional buttons on the Joy-Cons or the ABXY quartet, as both look exactly the same except for the markings on them, and for some reason, Penny's Big Breakaway doesn't label buttons in that way.

I can definitely see the Sonic Mania influence on this, with gameplay involving Penny gaining speed and momentum to get places (though Penny stopping to help is, of course, new, but I like it), as well as the visual style with large amounts of bright colors and geometric shapes onscreen. As for if I'll get the full game, I'm not sure. I liked it, but the contract feels exploitative.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Mind the Gap

Overhazard 2024-04-26 | I had intended to put up my run of another demo, this time for Penny's Big Breakaway, but it turns out, by virtue of Take-Two Interactive being involved with it, to have a contract that took me longer to read than it took to play the demo. I want to schedule that video as the following day's upload, at least, provided I have enough time for it.

So for now, enjoy another short clip among the videos I've archived by recording. This is an attempt at The Final-Final Test: Badge Marathon, the last course in Super Mario Bros. Wonder and the extra tough challenge to end a main series Super Mario game, a tradition begun in Super Mario Galaxy 2.

You see, The Final-Final Test: Badge Marathon is divided into sections, each of them featuring an ability empowered via a badge. The fourth one features the Crouching High Jump, and it involves a series of Zip Tracks, platforms that whisk you along at top speed, with a lot of green hazardous material everywhere. Thinking I overshot the path, I had Peach do a Ground Pound--and wound up failing by going right between two extremely closely spaced pillars of green slime. I couldn't time that on purpose if I tried.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet - Koraidon Goes Invisible

Overhazard 2024-04-25 | I don't know if other people have encountered this glitch, but just moving around in the Central Plaza in the Terarium at Blueberry Academy, I had a moment where Koraidon just becomes invisible, leaving my character crouching in midair, unable to move. It’s like Wonder Woman on her Invisible Jet!

The game then faded to black and put me at a nearby location, suggesting the game thought I fell into a bottomless pit. That was pretty unusual.

As you might have seen in my character's hair and attire, this was from some months ago, something I kept a video of on the Switch. This is part of me recording every 30-second clip I have (and less than 30 seconds, for a few of them), since I just discovered an ongoing issue where I assigned the screenshots and videos to the SD card, but they're getting saved into the system memory instead, where there's a 100-video limit I just reached the other day. I'm stumped as to how to actually put them onto the SD card, as trying to move them over gives me an error that the Switch doesn't recognize the SD card, even though it seems to work fine for everything else.

As a result of my ongoing archival of these clips, there may be more short clips I put up here in the near future from various games I've played, some of which I've put up videos for in the past and some of them I haven't, as I go through them.

Splatoon 3 - Side Order - Inkstrikes Galore

Overhazard 2024-04-24 | Somehow, dozens of canned specials turned up dropped by Jelletons on this floor. Combined with Pearl being able to do Inkstrikes, and once those canned specials started dropping, each Triple Inkstrike could defeat enough Jelletons for more canned specials to drop, allowing me to pretty much battle using mostly Triple Inkstrike and Pearl Drone Inkstrikes for the rest of the challenge.

Though I practically carpet-bombed the Jelletons on this floor, it wasn't every floor I was able to pull it off. Things just kind of came together for me here.

(And yet, this run STILL didn't yield me enough Prlz to get that Pearl Drone headgear from Cipher.)

AntonBlast - The Dynamite Demo

Overhazard 2024-04-23 | A few days prior to this video, the Indie World Showcase came by, and one of the featured games on the video is AntonBlast. The game won't be out until November of this year, but a demo is now available. It seems oddly early into production for there to be a demo, but I suppose this may be a good time to seek out feedback, as the game is presumably in a beta state at the moment. I found the animation style and manic energy charming, so I decided to try it out.

I'm not entirely sure what the story for the game is, other than Satan heckling Anton, and this somehow results in him journeying out and blowing up places. I don't know where Annie plays into this, or why she decided to get out there too, but Anton and Annie play exactly the same.

This game unashamedly wears heavy inspiration from two sources. For those of you who have been gaming during the era of the Game Boy Advance (and AntonBlast's low resolution approach hearkens back to the GBA), you might recognize the gameplay structure as very similar to that of Wario Land 4, with both Anton and Annie having a counterpart to Wario's shoulder tackle move as their main means of attack, but also the end of the stage setting off a timer that requires you to make your way back to the start of the stage before the time runs out. (One thing I hope to see is an in-game instruction manual written in the first person. That's the most quintessential Wario thing!)

The other, earlier reference, is to the animation styles of David Feiss and Patrick Ventura. The official trailer shows Anton yelling at the camera in a similar style as somewhere between those two animators, and most plainly, there is a devil character with a similar body shape, acerbic snark, and the exact same flamboyant way of speaking as The Red Guy from Cow and Chicken

This trailer takes us through Boiler City (where I use Anton) and Cinnamon Springs (where I use Annie). Boiler City is a city full of old-fashioned brick buildings, while Cinnamon Springs is a mountainous area that later gives way to a group of pagodas built into the mountainsides higher up.

Though this I attribute solely to myself and not yet being used to the controls, I keep pressing A instead of B to use the springs that bounce you between foreground and background. I was also pretty confused as to what was meant by "clutch" at a point late into Boiler City. That being said, this is an oddly satisfying game to play, probably because of its boundless energy and the game encouraging you to destroy as many random things as possible to build up that combo meter. Not sure what it does, but I like seeing that number go up. I also like how the controls feel surprisingly tight and responsive; your character feels like they have weight, and you are always in control of their movements.

Why are all these places getting blown up though? Especially Boiler City, which I presume is full of people in those buildings.

As for whether I'll get the game or not, I'm not sure. There is a lot on my plate, but I liked Wario Land 4, and I like seeing promising traditional 2-D platformers like these. Considering it's not another seven months until its release (which is probably not a lot of time at all from the development side), I can take my time with my decisions.

Splatoon 3 - SpringFest: Team Bear Cubs (feat. .96 Gal Deco)

Overhazard 2024-04-22 | Here is a special Splatfest, the kind with the different versions of the Deep Cut songs, decorations, match opening and closing themes, match opening animations, and, of course, a different name:the SpringFest, themed roughly around Easter, with pastel colors, eggs, flowers, and for some reason, bubbles. I put up the artwork showcase the previous day to show what players have drawn to decorate the hubs, as well as changes to the hubs themselves; this time, this will be about the matches. The teams were Baby Chicks, Li’l Bunnies, and Bear Cubs. I chose Bear Cubs because bear cubs had been on my mind since that incident a few days prior in North Carolina where a group of people yanked some bear cubs off a tree to pose for selfies on TikTok, and it made me mad because of their cruel treatment of the cubs. One of them is now recuperating from injuries sustained in that incident. Their TikTok video is also effectively the evidence needed to charge them with various wildlife violations.

With that aside, as I covered the .96 Gal earlier in the month, I figured I might as well cover its branded counterpart, the .96 Gal Deco. This version puts bling beads onto various parts to make it look more gaudy. It also changes the sub and special weapons, but not the main one, so its core purpose remains the same: taking out opponents from a fair distance with two shots. Like the unbranded .96 Gal, the .96 Gal Deco excels on high ground, in narrow hallways, and from fortified locations, but also when you have one teammate, with a shorter-ranged, faster weapon, ahead of you so you can assist them with any shortcomings they have. Its high power per shot means it doens’t take long to splat opponents, and its fairly high range among Shooters means you can do so from outside their reach, more often than not, but its low fire rate demands high accuracy from you, and its high ink consumption forces you to always keep an eye on its ink tank.

The .96 Gal, in its basic form, has the Sprinkler and the Ink Vac. Together, they offer multiple ways to keep your opponents on your toes as you shoot at them. Not so with the .96 Gal Deco, as this one has the Splash Wall and the Kraken Royale, putting the Deco branded version more on defense and trickery. The Splash Wall is an incredibly obvious contraption, both in what it does and that it’s large and stands out wherever it’s placed, so opponents are unlikely to shoot at it. In some Anarchy modes, it’s incredibly useful for blocking the objective, such as the Rainmaker or the Tower, but in Turf War, it’s easy to just travel around it—and that is how I prefer to use it. I throw it somewhere, forcing the opponents to go left or right of it, and that’s where I catch them. The Splash Wall is also great for blocking the Ultra Beacon in a Tricolor match.

This is the first weapon I’ve covered with the Kraken Royale, so it deserves an explanation: this is a downgraded version of the Kraken from Splatoon 1, in which you turn into a larger version of your character’s squid or octopus form. The Kraken Royale is completely impervious to damage, though they can still be slowed down or stopped by opposing fire. They can also still fall off the stage, either by getting pushed off, steering yourself off by accident, or falling through a grate, as the Kraken Royale cannot run across gates; only the kid form can. Unlike the original Kraken, which dealt KO damage upon contact with an opponent, the Kraken Royale can only deal damage either when jumping or dashing. As your presence is incredibly easy to spot, and the dash requires a charge time, it’s exceedingly hard to catch anyone deep within their ink, and the last thing you want is to be isolated in their ink when the Kraken Royale runs out, which leaves you a sitting duck. It also needs some time to start up, making it a bad choice for a surprise attack if opponents get too close.

What I found the Kraken Royale IS good for, however, are eliminating opponents who wander too far into your own team’s ink, as it’s far easier to locate them (if they’re in lots of their own ink, they can just swim away to evade you); and assisting a teammate in eliminating an opponent, as the presence of a Kraken Royale puts great pressure on them. Every now and then, I also cause someone to fall off while chasing them around. I don’t get the splat credit, but I’ll take it just the same.

The more narrow scope of the .96 Gal Deco, compared to its vanilla version, probably makes it more meant for Anarchy Battle modes than Turf War and Tricolor, considering the Splash Wall can constrain the opponents’ movements more when they’re focused more closely together, and the Kraken Royale can scatter opponents and focus their attention shooting you while a teammate can gain objective control. Neither of those are quite as effective in a mode like Turf War, where opponents are expected to be much more spread out.

Splatoon 3 - SpringFest Artwork Showcase

Overhazard 2024-04-21 | This is a special Splatfest, marked by it having a different name, one based loosely around Easter, characterized by not just the theme (Baby Chicks vs. Li'l Bunnies vs. Bear Cubs), but by the pastel colors, egg motif, and the Irish jig flavor to Deep Cut's music. Not only is this the first special Splatfest to come after Inkopolis Plaza being available via Side Order, but this may well be the very last special Splatfest, so this one comprises of six parts, going through the three hubs before and after the halftime. (The impending Final Fest might be a special one, but Splatoon 2's Order vs. Chaos Final Fest didn't have special decorations, to my knowledge.)

Again, the reason I'm putting this up is for media preservation. I don't have the means to replicate a playable version of this Splatfest, or the artwork that the players have contributed to it, but I can at least record what I've seen so it won't be lost forever. I don't know how many other people are doing this, but I can say for sure that there is at least one: me.

Like all Splatfests, players like to draw up references to various things. Please let me know if you can identify something that I haven't.

There are spoilers for the end of "Rise of the Mammalians," by the way! You have been warned!

-
Various Points - The word "bnnuy" comes up, which is a meme spelling of "bunny." The source is unknown, though it's most likely a typo in a random post somewhere
00:17 - Ninten is the player character in MOTHER, also known as EarthBound Beginnings
00:20 - Different versions of Monokuma from Danganronpa
00:35 - Max from Sam & Max
00:41 - Flag of the New California Republic from the Fallout franchise
00:48 - Peeps are a marshmallow candy shaped like chicks, popular around Easter
00:54 - "Chicks Dig Giant Robots" is the tagline from the animated TV show Megas XLR
00:59 - Klonoa (actually a cabbit)
01:23 - Bonnie Doll from Five Nights at Freddy's
01:48 - Most likely an original character, considering the user's name is "Pterro" and this is a pteyodactyl character
01:54 - Princess Peach and a Boo from Super Mario
02:00 - Avery from Animal Crossing (left)
02:37 - Ray-Man
02:43 - The text is a quote from SpongeBob SquarePants, while the artwork itself references the previous Splatfest of Chicken vs. Egg. The middle figure is from a meme depciting a chick plush holding a knife
03:20 - ??? (Looks Zelda-like, but I can't identify the character or the symbol)
03:24 - ??? (Appears to be an original character)
04:18 - Medic from Team Fortress 2, who is known to be fond for baby animals
04:22 - ???
04:45 - Freddy Fazbear from Five Nights at Freddy's
04:50 - May be Robert from Adventures of the American Rabbit, but drawn with an action hero physique
05:11 - Jet the Hawk from Sonic the Hedgehog (left)
05:13 - Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Peach, Ray-Man, miscellaneous Rabbids (left to right)
05:36 - Shiver dressed as Chica, Big Man dressed as Freddy, and Frye dressed as Bonnie, from Five Nights at Freddy's
07:35 - "Welcome to the Salty Spitoon" is a quote from SpongeBob SquarePants. Why there's a photorealistic chick there is unknown
07:42 - Swablu from Pokémon
07:51 - Illustrated is a Jorunna parva, a sea rabbit
10:01 - This is a reference to a meme in which someone incorrectly assumes, in Polish, if a character (TidyBear) is Freddy Fazbear
15:44 - ??? (This is not Richard Watterson from The Amazing World of Gumball; I checked)
17:24 - The scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail in which Arthur and his men confront the Rabbit of Caerbannog
17:37 - The Inkling is wearing the hat of...that Sanrio villainous character whose name I've forgotten
18:16 - A Goomba from Super Mario (is there a meme around this one?)
18:23 - Max from Sam & Max (again)
19:54 - More Jorunna parva
20:15 - A Crewmate from Among Us
22:18 - Quaxly, Rowlet, Torchic, and Piplup from Pokémon (left to right)
22:46 - Carbuncle and Draco Centauros from Puyo Puyo (or Madou Monogatari, if you prefer)
24:24 - Vibri from Vib-Ribbon
24:33 - Red from Angry Birds
25:44 - Grizzo from Kirby
27:37 - From the meme "No Thoughts Head Empty"; origins are unclear but may be from The Fairly OddParents. The illustration resembles the Pomni stare from The Amazing Digital Circus
27:50 - Freddy Fazbear from Five Nights at Freddy's (again)
27:54 - ??? (May be two interpretations of the Twitter bird icon)
31:05 - A miscellaneous Rabbid
31:13 - A shoebilled stork, whose frontal view looks very confrontational
31:48 - Granny Jojo from The Amazon World of Gumball
32:11 - Avery from Animal Crossing (again)
33:04 - One of the Country Bears (the Disney Theme Parks ride); name is Henry
35:12 - ??? (May be Magdalena from Awful Hospital)
35:36 - Mr. Grizz dressed like Freddy from Five Nights at Freddy's
36:37 - ???

F-Zero 99 - Getting the Silence Background

Overhazard 2024-04-20 | There is a background for your profile picture for every course in the game. (Well, every non-mirrored, non-mystery course anyway.) For each one, you unlock it by playing Time Trials on that course and getting below a particular target. In racing games, I'm not really too interested in Time Trials, but I had nothing to do between Grand Prix races for the Mirror Queen League, so I gave the Knight League bunch a try.

Well, as it seems, Silence was way harder for me to get than the others. I don't know if it's supposed to be a stricter time, or if the course itself is harder compared to the other Knight League courses, but after a bunch of trying, I did eventually get within the 1 minute 48 second time asked of me, and I unlocked the Silence background.

I won't admit to being any good at F-Zero. This is undoubtedly a lousy time for many other people. But I wanted to show what I did to achieve the target time and unlock the background, which was really the only reason I was doing this.

I attempted this with the Fire Stingray for a while, and while I could get close to the target time of 1' 48", I could never quite get there. I found that using the Golden Fox is more helpful, as it allows you more boosts per lap, crucially the one after the double hairpin turn near the end, as your vehicle will have slowed down a lot, and a boost gets your vehicle back to a more standard speed.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Putin Withdraws (You Wish!) - Apr 14 24 E

Overhazard 2024-04-19 | And so we conclude with the top 75 for Ranked in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s single battles. Regulation G is coming up real soon, so next month’s top 75 will be the last one to not feature any Restricted Pokémon. I don’t know how the rankings will work then (ideally, they’ll occupy a separate list from the non-Restricted Pokémon), but that’s a problem for then, and this is now. So here’s the list:

1. Flutter Mane (±0)
2. Dragonite (±0)
3. Ogerpon (±0)
4. Urshifu (Rapid) (±0)
5. Chien-Pao (±0)
6. Ursaluna (Blood) (±0)
7. Archaludon (±0)
8. Gholdengo (±0)
9. Landorus (T) (±0)
10. Scizor (±0)
11. Chi-Yu (±0)
12. Primarina (±0)
13. Ting-Lu (+3)
14. Roaring Moon (+4)
15. Iron Bundle (±0)
16. Basculegion (M) (+11)
17. Raging Bolt (-4)
18. Latios (-1)
19. Urshifu (Single) (-5)
20. Sneasler (±0)
21. Latias (+9)
22. Alomomola (+9)
23. Glimmora (-1)
24. Ninetales (A) (±0)
25. Annihilape (+1)
26. Garganacl (-7)
27. Gliscor (+2)
28. Iron Hands (+12)
29. Entei (+8)
20. Dragapult (+8)
31. Toxapex (-8)
32. Dondozo (+15)
33. Porygon2 (-12)
34. Garchomp (-2)
35. Grimmsnarl (-1)
36. Corviknight (-3)
37. Mimikyu (+4)
38. Whimsicott (+37)
39. Serperior (-14)
40. Gouging Fire (+3)
41. Incineroar (-6)
42. Iron Moth (-6)
43. Iron Crown (-15)
44. Rillaboom (±0)
45. Meowscarada (-6)
46. Torkoal (+3)
47. Volcarona (+11)
48. Clodsire (+8)
49. Heatran (-3)
50. Pelipper (+3)
51. Skeledirge (-6)
52. Breloom (-4)
53. Zapdos (K) (-3)
54. Kingambit (-2)
55. Azumarill (+4)
56. Metagross (-14)
57. Amoonguss (-4)
58. Baxcalibur (+3)
59. Indeedee (M) (+3)
60. Hippowdon (-9)
61. Swampert (-6)
62. Blaziken (-2)
63. Cresselia (+7)
64. Rotom (W) (-1)
65. Tyranitar (+8)
66. Iron Valiant (±0)
67. Hydrapple (-10)
68. Gyarados (+4)
69. Excadrill (-5)
70. Goodra (H) (-3)
71. Blissey (-2)
72. Umbreon (+4)
73. Gallade (+16)
74. Magnezone (-9)
75. Wo-Chien (+3)

From February to March, Suicune, Walking Wake, and Sinistcha leave the top 75, and Umbreon, Gallade, and Wo-Chien re-enter. Though what’s more evident is that single battling has effectively crystallized (no pun intended) at the top, with all of the top 12 Pokémon remaining unchanged in their ranks from month to month, meaning they have effectively settled where they are. Time will tell if April 2024’s numbers will remain like this or not, though I actually doubt it—not big changes, per se, but I predict they won’t be frozen the way they are here, even if it’s still one more month until Regulation G begins, as far as these lists go.

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: bryce
Battle Court: Naranja Academy/Uva Academy
Music: Academy Ace Tournament
My Pokémon: Luz (Lanturn), Harmon (Chimecho), Reginaldus (Regidrago)
Opponent’s Pokémon: putin (Charizard), レックウザ (Rayquaza), op (Ditto)

Normally, I wouldn’t put up a battle like this, but I couldn’t resist when, the very first thing my opponent does is switch out their Charizard, nicknamed “putin” (no doubt named after Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia), leading the game to say “bryce withdrew putin!” Which is probably what most of the world, outside of Russia and a few assorted sorts, has been wanting to see since February 2022. (This statement may become dated soon.)

I also do the same Chimecho strategy here, with Cosmic Power followed by Stored Power (though I don’t go all the way before attacking, at least at first), as I did in Thursday’s battle video. I don’t usually like to put up two videos in a row where I do effectively the same thing, but “Cooper de Grâce” was intended to be Wednesday’s video. It got moved to Thursday when I reviewed the footage on Wednesday morning and realized I hadn’t fully covered up one of the URL nicknames, necessitating me to re-edit the video after I got home from work and re-upload it for Thursday. “Frog Day Afternoon” was intended to be Thursday’s video, which is why I gave it the letter “D” at the end at first.

Still, this battle shows that this strategy can work even against Restricted Pokémon if Harmon (Chimecho) is given that chance. After all, this team was created the previous generation when two Restricted Pokémon were allowed per team in Ranked and in VGCs. The Pokémon in this team, except for Illumise, were trained to fight Restricted Pokémon.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Cooper de Grâce - Apr 14 24 D

Overhazard 2024-04-18 | Earlier, I provided a list of the 150th most used Pokémon for Ranked double battling, as my source for these stats, Pokémon HOME’s mobile app, goes up to 150th place. Well, I wouldn’t call that list complete if I didn’t include single battles, so here they are! You may find them to be just as unusual as the double battling 150th-place list. Like with the list for single battles, this goes from December 2022, when record-keeping began, to the last completed month:

December 2022: Klawf
January 2023: Tropius
February 2023: Lilligant (Unovan)
March 2023: Bombirdier
April 2023: Brambleghast
May 2023: Eiscue
June 2023: Oricorio (Pom-Pom Style)
July 2023: Houndstone
August 2023: Mudsdale
September 2023: Hawlucha
October 2023: Brute Bonnet
November 2023: Glastrier
December 2023: Charizard
January 2024: Torterra
February 2024: Conkeldurr
March 2024: Grafaiai

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: cooper
Battle Court: Cabo Poco
Music: Legends of Hoenn
My Pokémon: Luz (Lanturn), Harmon (Chimecho), Reginaldus (Regidrago)
Opponent’s Pokémon: [REDACTED] (Cresselia), [REDACTED] (Greninja), [REDACTED] (Iron Hands)

As you watch this video you might notice something: I’ve blocked out all of the nicknames for my opponent’s Pokémon, and I’ve gone over this video to ensure that I didn’t miss any. That’s because they’re all URL nicknames, meant to promote websites where, for a fee, you can get whatever Pokémon you want with whatever specifications you want. I’ve blocked them all out, not only because I don’t want to encourage this, but also because I don’t want to turn this video into an unintentional advertisement for them. That’s why it’s important I caught them all, every single frame.

And as you might figure, it was a big pain to edit, figuring out where they turn up to cover them! Especially because sometimes, they overlap.

Ordinarily, I skip putting these videos up, no matter how interesting things get in the battle, for the reasons that I blocked out the nicknames in this video. But I wanted to point out that not only was cooper’s team made entirely out of Pokémon gained in this way, but each of them, as it seems, comes from a different source. This is a weird, baffling sort of dedication, and I felt an air of smugness around that, an air that made me quite motivated to tear these Pokémon to pieces, to show that no, doing it the easy way means nothing if you don’t know what to do with these Pokémon.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Frog Day Afternoon - Apr 14 24 C

Overhazard 2024-04-17 | Is it true that Pokémon Legends: Z-A would be set entirely within Lumiose City? It sounds like such a strange concept to have a Kalos remake game restrict itself to just one urban area, with no countryside, considering even the Pokémon introduced in X and Y have instances of those who wouldn’t go to urban areas on their own, like the Phantump line or the Bergmite line; and Pokémon that inhabit biomes Lumiose isn’t near (like the Binacle line, who would live in aquatic areas).

In any case, it wouldn’t be Game Freak’s first game set entirely within a settlement. Remember Little Town Hero? If it really IS set entirely within Lumiose City, it would be Big City Hero!

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Julian
Battle Court: Pokémon League (Interior)
Music: Suicune
My Pokémon: Sheena (Illumise), Harmon (Chimecho), Freddo (Toxicroak)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Masquerain, Politoed, Polteageist

As you could probably see from the run time for this video, this one was a very long, drawn out battle. I’m sure in many other video game series, something like this would be a no-no, but I don’t particularly mind. I don’t know if you do though. But I found this interesting because my opponent is cut from the same cloth as myself, bringing over a team full of Pokémon you don’t see very much in online battling. Except for Scizor, but we can chalk that up to being a personal favorite, like when I had Infernape and Lucario in my Pokémon Battle Revolution teams.

Admittedly, my team is probably more annoying to fight than theirs though, but not entirely unintentionally: you see, I learned the hard way in this battle locking the opponent from switching is NOT transferred when you use Baton Pass. So you can’t just trap an opponent, then use Baton Pass to freely generate favorable situations for you. I thought that plan felt a little too good.

Again, that’s what testing like this is for. Hence, I’m putting my Baton Passer back to the drawing board and figuring out what I can do with them.

Not really the most elegant or stylish way to end a match, but I’ll take what I get.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Heedless Horseman - Apr 14 24 B

Overhazard 2024-04-16 | I took another look at the credits concluding The Indigo Disk, and I noticed that the lead music supervisor for it is Go Ichinose. He was also the lead composer for Pokémon Black and White (and Black 2 and White 2), so I thought it was pretty neat that not only he’s still around, but that they brought him back to make sure the Unova remixes at Blueberry Academy sounds authentic, as it’s located in the Unova region.

For the record, there are a team of seven composers for The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, however, including Ichinose, as well as Toby Fox, the latter of whom remixed Ed Sheeran’s “Celestial” for the end credits theme.

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: サトシ (Satoshi)
Battle Court: Cabo Poco
Music: Legends of Galar
My Pokémon: Luz (Lanturn), Freddo (Toxicroak), Reginaldus (Regidrago)
Opponent’s Pokémon: ランドロス (Landorus) (Therian), ヘイラッシャ (Dondozo), バドレックス (Calyrex) (Shadow Rider)

I could sense my opponent playing in a pretty relaxed style, no matter how much of a lead I gained. And I found out why when Calyrex Shadow Rider showed up and Freddo (Toxicroak) is still asleep. I should remember to expect Calm Mind and Substitute out of Calyrex Shadow Rider. I’m pretty used to, last generation, them being a relentless attacker of Astral Barrage, Psychic, and to a lesser extent, Giga Drain (though having both Calm Mind and Substitute means at least one of those two would have to go), and this team was designed with a build like that in mind.

Since this is still part of this team’s testing phase, something like this was exactly what I needed to know to figure out how to adjust this team to be ready for the most common threats. Calyrex Shadow Rider may have made the rounds in Generation VIII, when this team was built (most notably as a consistent counter to Zacian by virtue of being one of the few Pokémon able to outrun it), but this one was a bit different than what I had thought.

Satoshi most likely either refers to Ash Ketchum’s original Japanese name, or to Satoshi Tajiri, creator of Pokémon (whom Ash is named after). Though it is possible that it’s just a simple Japanese given name.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Introducing the Toxicroak Team! - Apr 14 24 A

Overhazard 2024-04-15 | It’s been four months since the last time I debuted a team, which might be too long, so here is the seventh team! This is a single battle team (as I alternate between single and double battle teams), and it has no particular theme, at least not one that’s intentional.

This was a team in the making since the middle of last generation, which was intended to be the 10th team for Pokémon Sword and Shield. I thought that the releases of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus, would allow more Pokémon into Sword and Shield, which is why this team was built around Pokémon available in Sword and Shield but not BDSP, and vice versa. The slot currently containing Reginaldus (Regidrago) was originally going to have Kleavor, but I felt that the team would’ve had too much of a Rock weakness.

You might notice some traits of this being a previous generation team, one designed to fight Restricted Pokémon. There are no Generation IX Pokémon in this team, it has very few moves introduced in Generation IX, and as I show more about this team, the strategic style is a bit different than other teams of this generation.

There was originally going to be Slurpuff on this team where you currently see Illumise. Well, I kind of lost track of which Pokémon are or aren’t available in this game, and I thought Swirlix and Slurpuff are available for some reason. Instead, in his place is the very same Illumise I trained for the “Kitakami Prologue” event, a free agent placed into a team and the second one after Magcargo on the Wugtrio Team. Slurpuff is near guaranteed to turn up in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but what ISN’T guaranteed is if that means Slurpuff will be usable in Scarley and Violet, so I think this team will stay as it is. (This would’ve been my second attempt with Slurpuff on a team, after a Choice Scarf Slurpuff in Pokémon Sun and Moon that didn’t quite work out that well.)

These are the explanations behind each nickname:

TOXICROAK - Freddo - named after the Australian chocolate candies shaped like frogs

DODRIO - Tress - from “tres,” Spanish for “three” in reference to Dodrio’s three heads

LANTURN - Luz - Spanish for “light”

ILLUMISE - Sheena - from “sheen,” to refer to Illumise’s tail glow

CHIMECHO - Harmon - from “harmony,” as wind chimes are known for

REGIDRAGO - Reginaldus - from “regi-,” the prefix for this Legendary group, and a Latin-sounding name to evoke an earlier historical period as dragons are associated with

I might still put Slurpuff on a different team in the future, especially if there WILL be an update allowing for the use of Pokémon from Legends: Z-A in head-to-head battling. As of right now though, I have no idea, and so Slurpuff will continue to live in Pokémon HOME for the time being as a free agent there.

Type: Double Battle
Opponent: マルス (Malus)
Battle Court: Cabo Poco
Music: AI Professor
My Pokémon: Luz (Lanturn), Tress (Dodrio), Reginaldus (Regidrago)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Iron Crown, ウガツホムラ (Gouging Fire), Iron Boulder

My opponent’s team is made up of a pair of Legendary trios among Paradox Pokémon: the top half consists of ancient versions of the Johto beasts—Walking Wake, Raging Bolt, and Gouging Fire; and the bottom half consists of future versions of the Swords of Justice—Iron Leaves, Iron Crown, and Iron Boulder. A pretty imposing lineup, that it is.

What IS odd, however, is the fact that my opponent’s game is in Japanese, and their profile picture shows they’re playing the Violet version, and yet, it’s the future Pokémon who have English names, meaning they were lent from someone else’s game. Then again, maybe they don’t have the Treasure of Area Zero DLC, and they got ahold of Iron Crown and Iron Boulder some other way while they might have picked up Iron Leaves through those Tera Raid Battle events.

I like to introduce a team with an opponent trigger-happy with throwing Legendary Pokémon at anyone they face, which is why, despite this being part of the testing session for this team, I picked this one to introduce this team with. (Notice that my trainer, Carmen, is still dressed in the March 2024 outfit. That’s because this battle was actually fought in March, though the session was still ongoing, just spread out over many days of testing.) They kind of play like those opponents I would face in Pokémon Battle Revolution, bringing out Legendary Pokémon with not much strategy and little thought into if a move makes sense on a Pokémon, most notably Gouging Fire, who loves Earthquake more than I would've expected.

You’ll also get to see what I mean when I say that this team has some high-risk, high-reward strategies. Just as you might have seen in the sneak peek video that Harmon (Chimecho) can become unstoppable if the opponent gives me the turns I need, Tress (Dodrio) has an opposite strategy, but one equally unstoppable under the right conditions.

Malus is a genus of plants. The most famous of them is the apple (Malus domestica).

F-Zero 99 - Mirror Queen League

Overhazard 2024-04-14 | It seems as though the developers of F-Zero 99 aren’t wasting any time, because just a week after the Mirror Knight League Grand Prix was available, and featured over the weekend, the Mirror Queen League was then featured! Naturally, this one goes through horizontally flipped versions of the courses found in the Queen League, though there were some changes made to each of them. You’ll see the first big one right in the first course, Mute City II.

I brought in the Wild Goose for this one, as it’s a sturdy vehicle, taking little damage from collisions and doesn’t get knocked around easily, making it perfect for trying out unfamiliar courses. Of course, I’m going to have to eventually clear the Mirror Queen League (and the Mirror Knight League) with all four vehicles, as each of them have their own color pattern unlocked by finishing those Grand Prix events.

00:00 - Race #1
Course: Mute City II (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Wild Goose
Rivals: イクス (Ix), Nixon, Mandrax, Memepop
In the regular version of Mute City II, about halfway through each lap is a fork in the road. You can either go left or go right. The mirrored version, on the other hand, puts a jump ramp in the middle of the fork, allowing you to travel directly across to the other side. This is a pretty far jump, however, and while a boost isn’t necessary if you’re good enough, you will need to gain air by sticking your vehicle’s nose upwards (down on the control stick or D-pad). I decided not to take chances by using a boost each time. There are also bounce pads later on, as well as a boost pad if you’d prefer to take the long way around the offroad sections.

03:25 - Race #2
Course: Port Town I (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Wild Goose
Rivals: Tombo, Core, Matteo, Plutarco
There are no big jumps in Port Town I, but there are a lot more magnets, this time placed on the twisty areas before the magnet qwould normally be, as well as the long straightaway before the last turn of the lap. Together, they make the course way tougher, as you’re now dealing with these magnets as you’re trying to turn. Done right though, the very last magnet could help you make that right angle turn more easily, however,

06:39 - Race #3
Course: Red Canyon I (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Wild Goose
Rivals: ネコヤンイ (Nekoyanai), ミサイル (Missile), ぬー (Nuu), わいけー (Waikee)
This is another course with a big jump added in as a shortcut, turning up pretty early into the lap. This time, it’s wide enough that you’ll need a boost AND the vehicle’s nose turned up. And that’s where the Wild Goose’s biggest shortcoming makes this one harder: because it regains so little power meter from the pit zone, you really can’t afford to do any other boosts anywhere else. You can see how difficult that jump really is by seeing all the racers with a Crash Out on this one!

09:23 - Race #4
Course: White Land I (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Wild Goose
Rivals: ネコヤンイ (Nekoyanai), ぬー (Nuu), Core, Ayansh
This is a course I seem to really struggle with. Maybe it’s because it’s the fourth race in a Grand Prix, and thus the entire bottom half must be eliminated, causing even more intense struggles than normal, but that section with the jump ramps and using them to leap over the offroad sections gives me way more trouble than in the regular version. I had to play this one in Practice to really see how to approach that section, and even then, I can’t always do it. Perhaps it’s because the boost pad is on the left, while ideally, you want to go to the right to jump over the offroad stuff.

12:38 - Race #4
Course: White Land II (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Wild Goose
Rivals: りとる (Ritoru), ぬー (Nuu), Core, Ayansh
Compared to White Land I, there’s a lot less pressure here, because if I’ve made it all the way to White Land II, it means no one is getting a Rank Out elimination anymore, and the biggest thing is to ensure I can make that big jump at the end, which is unchanged from its non-mirrored original self. Aside from that, this has minimal changes, namely the Super Spark stacks, purple bouncy pads, and purple bouncy walls (which are a good way for me to get back to top speed, as I found out later).

Splatoon 3 - Curling Hurl

Overhazard 2024-04-13 | As far as I know, this is the only new Challenge for April 2024. I should really get around to playing the reruns, considering I can get a Shell-Out Token for them, though I tend to forget because I don’t schedule an alarm for it. I suppose that’s a sign of the Challenges winding down, now that we’re in our last quarter of Splatoon 3 content, with just one more season of new weapons, one more Big Run, one more whole catalog, and two more Eggstra Work sessions.

In this Challenge, you must use a weapon with the Curling Bomb. For the record, those weapons are the Heavy Edit Splatling, L-3 Nozzlenose, Painbrush, REEF-LUX 450, Splat Roller (and thus also the Order Roller Replica), Sploosh-o-matic, .52 Gal Deco, Clash Blaster Neo, and Enperry Splat Dualies. Incidentally, counting the Splat Roller and the Order Roller Replica as the same weapon, each of these weapons has a different special weapon. Not only that, but the Curling Bombs here are much bigger than your standard Curling Bombs. They will use the same amount ink as a regular Curling Bomb, but they will trace a wider path, travel out further, have a bigger explosion (including a larger instant KO radius), and, the most important difference, will instantly splat any opponent they touch as they travel onward. This allows you to effectively snipe a Curling Bomb like you would a Green Shell in Mario Kart. (Incidentally, none of these weapons are Chargers, so you won’t be doing any sniping in the normal sense in this Challenge.)

These are the hours, in Pacific Daylight Time, in which this Challenge was active:
April 12th, 2024: 5 PM to 7 PM, 9 PM to 11 PM
April 13th, 2024: 1 AM to 3 AM, 5 AM to 7 AM, 9 AM to 11 AM, 1 PM to 3 PM

I played in the second session, as while I would be able to drive home from work by 5 PM that day if I made no other stops, there were a few other errands I was going to do that would’ve not given me enough time to get my five wins by 7 o’clock.

The stages are Hammerhead Bridge and Wahoo World, and the mode was Splat Zones.

Since only weapons with the Curling Bomb are allowed, I felt like this was up my alley, as two of my best weapons use the Curling Bomb: the Sploosh-o-matic and the Painbrush. So those are the two I turned to!

00:31 - Match #1
Hammerhead Bridge
Splat Zones (Curling Hurl)
Sploosh-o-matic
Color Scheme: Field of Flowers
Song: “Headhammer” by C-Side
Octolings: 4
I picked the Sploosh-o-matic because of its surprise factor, mobility, and great capacity for both inking and splatting, but because of its extremely low range, it has a harder time on long, narrow stages…like Hammerhead Bridge, and the game would not let me play on Wahoo World while I used this weapon. Still, I tried what I could. I also realized that Hammerhead Bridge was chosen likely BECAUSE of the long, narrow layout, making it hard to dodge the oversized Curling Bombs.

02:38 - Match #2
Hammerhead Bridge
Splat Zones (Curling Hurl)
Sploosh-o-matic
Color Scheme: Fruit Snacks
Song: “Paintscraper” by C-Side
Octolings: 7
Splattercolor Screens can be good at concealing Curling Bombs thrown fro behind it, and that’s precisely what people with the .96 Gal Deco were doing on both sides. Problem is that your own team’s Splattercolor Screens also conceal opposing Curling Bombs too. (And your own.) I had to find myself going around them so as to not let my own view get obscured. It was also getting very hard to tell which Curling Bombs belonged to which team, as it felt like an unusually large number of them bouncing around, even for a Challenge like this.

08:14 - Match #3
Hammerhead Bridge
Splat Zones (Curling Hurl)
Painbrush
Color Scheme: Wario
Song: “Headhammer” by C-Side
Octolings: 4
I like using the Sploosh-o-matic, but I decided that the Painbrush is better suited for what I’ve been seeing based on how my teammates and opponents are behaving. It doesn’t have the Sploosh’s agility, with its long startup and cooldown times making me a sitting duck for inkoming Curling Bombs, but it DOES have greater pressure from the front and the Wave Breaker, which helps me alert my teammates that an opponent is somewhere. They practically hunt them down!

10:16 - Match #4
Wahoo World
Splat Zones (Curling Hurl)
Painbrush
Color Scheme: Candy Pumpkins
Song: “No Quarters” by Chirpy Chips
Octolings: 6
Finally, I get a match in Wahoo World. There was one point that the Splat Roller user on the other side decided to set up as Big Bubbler camp near our spawn point. This was something we could safely ignore because the Splat Zone was on our control at that time.

15:21 - Match #5
Wahoo World
Splat Zones (Curling Hurl)
Painbrush
Color Scheme: Blueberry Lemonade
Song: “Rockagilly Blues” by Yoko & the Gold Bazookas
Octolings: 8
I think for the first time outside of a Splatfest, I’ve put up an all-Octoling match. The highlight of this match, though, was that I inflicted most of a Wipeout onto the other team while waiting to be respawned from getting splatted.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Pride Rock in the Terarium

Overhazard 2024-04-12 | Did you notice a structure in the Terarium's Savannah Biome that looks just like Pride Rock from The Lion King? Not only that, but there's a guaranteed spawn of a male Pyroar standing at its highest point, facing towards the edge, just like the iconic image of Simba.

Too bad there isn't a Pokémon version of a mandrill, so you can have a counterpart to Rafiki hanging nearby. (No warthogs or meerkats either. Watchog would be pretty similar, but we don't have Watchog in this game...)

F-Zero 99 - Mirror Knight League

Overhazard 2024-04-11 | We all know they would implement this in, in which the courses are each flipped horizontally. Seems to be a staple of racing games, and has been for decades, particularly those coming from Nintendo. So while it was neat to see, the Mirror Knight League is no surprise, at least for me. Though it isn’t strictly every course flipped horizontally, as I’ll get into.

While I aim for as high a position as possible, I consinder a Grand Prix run a success if I’ve made it to the end of a race. And naturally, as I had never played the mirrored versions of Sand Ocean, Death Wind I, or Silence before, all of that is new to me. And even though we’ve had flipped versions of Mute City I and Big Blue, I hadn’t played on them much. As such, I might be disadvantaged against those who spent the entire weekend practicing. But that’s all right. While I aim for the top, I’m not dismayed if I don’t get there.

00:00 - Race #1
Course: ??? (Muted City)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Golden Fox
Rivals: Poyo, Soy (ソイ), Proto, Donomyte
Yes, this is not strictly a mirrored version of Mute City I, but of the modified version, including that long bouncy straightaway. This is a course I’ve played in a few times, though of the mystery courses, it’s the one that turns up the least for me. I probably should’ve played it safe on the first lap and let other racers detonate those mines, as I can’t count on myself to reliably and consistently weave through them. Nevertheless, as long as I place in the top 80, I’m satisfied. (I mean, look: by the second lap, they’re all gone!)

03:18 - Race #2
Course: Big Blue (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Golden Fox
Rivals: ヒカリピクミン (Glow Pikmin), Newtype3x, ケイ (Kay), さとる (Satoru)
Though this might look like the mystery course version of Big Blue (which I call “Big Bluish”), it’s not quite the same. It shares some elements, such as those ramps to jump over the water, but it doesn’t have those HUGE minefields at certain places. This is also the first course to introduce the stacks of Super Sparks, though I avoided them in this race because I thought they were street cones and thus obstacles.

06:37 - Race #3
Course: Sand Ocean (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Golden Fox
Rivals: Proto, Soy (ソイ), ケイ (Kay), Micah
It was in this race where I accidentlaly bumped into what I thought were street cones, and I realized it gives a bunch of Super Sparks! And now I know to seek them out, not to avoid them. Perhaps I could’ve gotten a second Skyway though, had I had better aim in the latter two laps.

10:17 - Race #4
Course: Death Wind I (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Golden Fox
Rivals: ヒカリピクミン (Glow Pikmin), Proto, Sacha, Soy (ソイ)
The higher you place, the more likely you’ll keep seeing the same rivals over and over in a Grand Prix. But I wasn’t really too concerned with who my rivals are; it’s just an observation I’ve had. No, I was focused on surviving, because the fourth race of a Grand Prix means half the field ranks out at minimum! And with the nerfs done to the Golden Fox—lower top speed, lower boost speed, lower Power Down speed, can no longer do boosts in Power Down for free—Death Wind I becomes even harder with its Golden Fox unfriendly long straightaways and short pit zone. This version has a very similar layout to the non-mirrored version, but has a lot of those Super Spark stacks scattered around to encourage building up Skyway meter, and any time you don’t have to worry about the wind is good for me!

13:18 - Race #4
Course: Silence (Mirror)
Mode: Grand Prix
Vehicle: Golden Fox
Rivals: Proto, ヒカリピクミン (Glow Pikmin), Donomyte, Soy (ソイ)
I was NOT looking forward to this one…Silence is a course I’m not very good at, due to the scarcity in which I get to play it with opponents. I can practice in Grand Prix, but optimal conditions don’t really help me train as much as so-called “real world experiences” for me. And this is a horizontally flipped version! It seems that the mines have been replaced with bumpers, and there are more of them. There’s also a jump I didn’t notice until after I passed it and I saw the racers ahead of me leaping over that turn. I also got too greedy and prioritized the Gold Bumper over the pit zone, which perhaps I shouldn’t have, as otherwise, I’d likely use the Skyway on the fourth lap, when it means more.

Splatoon 3 - .96 Gal Matches (Apr 9 24)

Overhazard 2024-04-10 | The .96 Gal is one of the staples of Splatoon, having been around since the first game, though I don’t think it was available in the base game there. Nevertheless, it has a pretty straightforward, easy-to-understand premise, and as more weapons got introduced into the series, with increasingly complicated concepts, the .96 Gal has, by comparison, felt even more straightforward than when it was new.

This weapon has a lower fire rate than most other Shooters, but in exchange, it deals high damage with each shot. What separates it from the .52 Gal is that it fires further, but at the exchange of higher ink consumption. That makes the .96 Gal a splatting weapon, though it isn’t too shabby at inking either due to the very large splotches it leaves on the ground with each shot. While the fire rate is lower than normal though, it isn’t so low that you can’t catch people by surprise, which this thing is more equipped to do than the .52 Gal, especially if you have good aim, by popping up from somewhere unexpected and shooting, because, unlike Chargers, there’s no laser. That you can splat with just two hits also means even if you miss, you can still put your targets in a dangerous spot because they’re just, well, two shots from getting splatted at all times. The sheer damage per shot puts opponents on the defensive when they’re getting shot at, more so than many other weapons. I would want to use that to my advantage.

The basic .96 Gal comes with the Sprinkler and the Ink Vac. I wasn’t sure how these things would go together until I played these matches, but they feel like they fit together surprisingly well. I use the Sprinklers to claim more turf, especially in areas I can’t easily reach. I also use it to look for where I think opponents are hiding. Sprinklers also compel people to get rid of them, which allows me to find opponents in another way. And on occasion, Sprinkler damage gets me the oomph I need to finish off someone before they finish me off. The Ink Vac is seen mainly on longer-range weapons. It sucks up all enemy ink in its cone-shaped hitbox until the meter fills up or time runs out, then shoots it back as a huge single shot in your own ink. It wasn’t that great at first, but the Ink Vac has had a bunch of buffs that expanded the size of that last shot, and now it’s a great shield and offensive weapon. Just don’t let anyone get TOO close, because they can get you between when the vacuum shuts down and before you launch that shot.

Because of how the .96 Gal is tuned towards combat, its sheer simplicity makes it helpful in all Anarhcy Battle modes. In addition to fighting opponents (be sure not to get distracted by opponents who act as decoys), the big splotches and Sprinklers are helpful in Splat Zones, while the longer range and Ink Vac can prove invaluable in Tower Control and Clam Blitz and its high damage great at popping the Rainmaker shield.

00:00 - Match #1
Mincemeat Metalworks
Turf War
.96 Gal
Color Scheme: Wario
Song: “Ripstop & Go” by H2Whoa
Octolings: 7
Something that can’t stop an Ink Vac is a direct hit from a Roller, and as you can see, there are a LOT of Roller users in this room! As well as a Brush, which can also get up close and manhandle an Ink Vac user.

03:39 - Match #2
Wahoo World
Clam Blitz
.96 Gal
Color Scheme: Action Movie Poster
Song: “Clickbait” by C-Side
Octolings: 2
I don’t usually like to put up matches like these, but this time, I kept it because it shows the ugly truth about some of these matches: sometimes, your team just doesn’t coalesce, and your best efforts won’t be enough. In this case, it seemed like the opposing team was constantly on assault by our clam basket, but until later into the match, I felt like I was the only one defending it while some of the others were doing who-knows-what. It was frustrating to play. Some of my teammates WERE trying though.

08:41 - Match #3
Mahi-Mahi Resort
Tower Control
.96 Gal
Color Scheme: Jam & Marmalade
Song: “Sea Me Now” by Front Roe
Octolings: 5
On the other hand, here’s one where things DID come together. As it seems, the Ink Vac makes for a surprisingly handy thing while standing on the Tower: opponents can’t shoot at you (at least from the front), and its long range lets you hit at opponents from high ground.

12:14 - Match #4
Hammerhead Bridge
Turf War
.96 Gal
Color Scheme: Field of Flowers
Song: “Clickbait” by C-Side
Octolings: 4
The opponents were able to effectively seize control of most of the stage early on. One weakness of this rapid seize of control is actually maintaining it. It seems like they mostly lost that coherence once enough of them were splatted.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Meganium the Unrivaled Failures

Overhazard 2024-04-09 | Perhaps due to underestimating what Meganium is really capable of when you give one 30 times as much HP as normal, I saw a fairly high failure rate for the Meganium event, compared to the other “Unrivaled” series battles. Definitely, most people came in with some plan on what to do, even if that plan wound up not working as well as they had thought (myself included, with a Mandibuzz I trained for this event). A few, however, came in with no plan at all. These 7-star Tera Raid Battles are not challenges you can brute force your way though like you can with the main game (except for Indigo Disk, which, of course, is optional content).

And so, I present to you five failed Tera Raid Battles. They range from me trying out a Mandibuzz strstegy that didn’t quite work out, to someone bringing a Level 37 Eevee, to an Armarouge strategy that DID work out, but not these ones. You’ll also see someone bring in a Sylveon whose trainer’s plan was “try out all four moves and see which one works out best” and a Skeledirge whose trainer was insistent on Will-O-Wisp when the Tera shield is up.

As of when this video goes up though, they’ll have another weekend to keep trying. Hopefully, they can pull it off, if they haven’t by now.

Splatoon 3 - Jelleton Field Guide

Overhazard 2024-04-08 | You know what? Just as I put up Smollusk’s Notes here, I might as well put up the Jelleton Field Guide too. Jelletons are the main enemies fought in the Spire of Order in the Side Order expansion, and when I first glimpsed at it, I was surprised there weren’t more types of Jelletons than there are. Considering they share much in common with the Salmonids, right down the basic types coming in small, medium, and large, and there are about a dozen different kinds of Boss Salmonids, I thought there would be an equivalent number of them. Though I guess technically there are, if you consider ACTUAL bosses among the Jelletons.

In order to get Acht’s assessment of a Jelleton, you need to defeat at least one Jelleton of that variety. Marina will provide her response to Acht when you defeat more of them (the amount varies by Jelleton type), and Pearl will respond to both of them when you defeat still more of them, and you’ll receive a title on your Splashtag corresponding to the Jelleton’s name. Once all you get feedback from all three of them, they’ll derive a conclusion, though if you’ve reached that point, odds are you already know how to deal with them effectively. The exception is Marina Agitando, who only needs to be defeated once to get the complete profile and doesn’t have a Splashtag title.

I find it odd that, for enemies designed by something that calls itself “Order,” they have a very chaotic nature, always rushing at Agent 8 in large numbers with no semblance of strategy or planning ahead. Compare that to the Octarians, the enemies in previous Splatoon single-player campaigns, who either remain in place or move in a fixed path at a fixed speed, and will only attack once they spot Agent 3/4/8. While they are easily put into disarray, until then, Octarians move and behave in an organized, formal manner. (Not to mention the ever-shifting interior of the Spire of Order being inherently chaotic…)

These are the Jelletons listed, in order of when they appear in the video. Unlike with Smollusk’s Notes, I don’t think I’ll have the description space for all of them, so I’ll just list their names and when they apepar in the video.

0:00 - Swarming Languendo
0:13 - Marching Andante
0:26 - Battering Lento
0:46 - Portal
1:06 - Drizzling Capriccioso
1:21 - Panicking Alla Mambo
1:37 - Whirling Accelerando
1:59 - Springing Spiccato
2:15 - Gushing Trionfale
2:31 - Spawning Accordo
2:47 - Homing Arpeggio
3:01 - Towering Nobilmente
3:20 - Asynchronous Rondo
3:50 - Pinging Marciale
4:18 - Parallel Canon
4:35 - Marina Agitando
4:53 - Overlorder

Except for the Portal and Overlorder (if it even counts as a Jelleton), all Jelletons have two-word names with the second word being a musical term derived from Italian. Most Jelletons with two-word names also have an infinitive verb as the first word. (For the record, Marina’s family name is Iida or Ida, depending on how you want to spell it. “Marina Agitando” refers specifically to her Jelleton boss form.)

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Meganium the Unrivaled

Overhazard 2024-04-07 | As the Pokémon Europe International Championships is going on, we got another event for Pokémon fans as a little bonus: the next 7-star Tera Raid Battle event, Meganium the Unrivaled. I don’t know if there’s anything special about Meganium and the tournament (probably not), but why not? I wonder how many people participating, or at least visiting the event, over at the ExCeL Center in London are playing this Tera Raid Battle event. (Or has played, or plan on playing.) Don’t forget to pick up Marco Silva’s Iron Hands, if you want. And if you play TCG Live, the full-art card for Raging Bolt ex.

I’m curious about this because, while Meganium has the highest visibility, and arguably popularity in general, of the Johto starters, Meganium is also arguably the lowest-ranked of all starter Pokémon. Meganium was one of Ash’s most frequent battling partners in the Johto arc of the anime, and it gained a second wind when Meganium was prominently featured on New Pokémon Snap. Also, it’s one of the first Pokémon unambiguously based on a dinosaur (some kind of sauropod, maybe an Apatosaurus?). However, people are hesitant to use the Chikorita line, both going through the single-player story and in PvP battling, for the same reasons: Meganium has “stone wall” type stats with a type bearing a lot of weaknesses and relatively few strategies for that, and yet, those “stone wall” stats are a bit too even to really use as a pure staller, even with an advantageous matchup. The result is that if you pick Chikorita to journey through Johto, you’re going to have a lot of long, drawn-out matches, yet it can’t draw them out long enough to deal with many Pokémon trained by human opponents.

With moves like Synthesis, Heal Pulse, Reflect/Light Screen, and Safeguard though (and Aromatherapy in previous generations—don’t know why it’s gone), with the Hidden Ability of Leaf Guard, the intended purpose of Meganium is probably the cleric, to use more standard RPG terms, a character who heals and protects teammates rather than directly attacking.

All of these disadvantages mean, of course, I see it as a challenge. Meganium has long been on my list to put onto a team. I just need to find where I can do so. Or wait to see if Meganium gets better moves in future generation. It would be neat to have Aromatherapy back, with moves like Life Dew and Revival Blessing, to fully embrace that cleric role.

For this one, I used Forrest again, my Forretress. He is largely unchanged:

Forretress (Forrest)
Level 100
Ability: Overcoat
Base Stats: 252 HP, 200 Defense, 68 Sp. Defense
Hold Item: Leftovers
Nature: Relaxed
Tera: Bug
Moves: Reflect, Iron Defense, Pounce, Lunge

This is because this Meganium is a physical attacker, packing Curse to turn those awkward stats into a strength, taking advantage of the 30x multiplier on its HP. Hence, to meet those Attack boosts, I have Reflect, Iron Defense, and Lunge: Reflect to protect the team, Iron Defense to boost Forrest’s own Defense, and Lunge to drop that Attack any time it goes up, and Meganium will use that a LOT. Pounce is there from later on in the Hisuian Decidueye the Unrivaled event; I didn’t use it here, and looking at Forretress’s moves, I don’t think I really needed a fourth move. Would’ve been nice to have a stat-resetting move like Clear Smog, or something that reduces Defense to deal with Body Press though.

Meganium will put up Reflect and Light Screen at the beginning of the battle. I found that you could safely ignore this, as while it reduces damage to Meganium, the barriers will go down not long afterwards, and Meganium won’t put them back up. Meganium will also start putting up a the Tera Raid Battle shield after having taken a minor amount of damage, and the shield takes up about 40% of its total HP. Twice during this battle, Meganium will reset its own negative stat changes, and twice during this battle, Meganium will also reset your Pokémon’s positive stat changes. Meganium will use Bulldoze once, late into the battle. This is likely why people brought in Fire-types with non-Fire Tera, as by then, they’ll have Terastallized and no longer be weak to Ground. And yes, Meganium does have a Grass-type attack, Seed Bomb, for those who forget (or don't realize) that Meganium won't just spam Zen Headbutt all day long and bring in Basculegion or Golurk or something.

Nevertheless, I noticed people were having a hard time with this one. Most baffling was one where someone brought in a Level 37 Eevee, which I hope was just a mistake. I’ll probably put up a “failures” video of this event later.

Tetris 99 - Princess Peach Showtime! Cup

Overhazard 2024-04-06 | About four months after the last Maximus Cup, we have the 39th Maximus Cup, allowing you the chance to get a Tetris 99 skin based ion Princess Peach Showtime! For the record, I did get the game, as I found it on sale at Costco (they don’t seem to sell it anymore, as of April 5th, 2024, when I wrote this description), though I haven’t played it yet, only the demo, so my knowledge on the references to the game in this skin is limited.

What I DO know, however, is the premise: Princess Peach has been invited to the Sparkle Theatre, a facility holding a large number of stages for performance theater, run by the acting-loving Theets. While Peach is in there, the sorceress Grape invades the theater with her Sour Bunch, taking over each play to give it an ending in their favor. Peach then has to make her way to the end of each play and set the story back to normal. Stella, the theatre’s producer, joins Peach and gives her the power to change her outfit, giving her special skills. Featured on the playfield is our default Princess Peach, with her crown, which was lost in Grape’s attack, replaced by Stella’s ribbon, the source of these outfit changes. On the left are Kung Fu Peach and Detective Peach, and on the right are Patisserie Peach and Swordfighter Peach.

The Minos in this skin take the form of the game’s counterpart to ? Blocks, whatever they’re called, though recolored to fit each Tetrimino. The target takes the shape of Stella’s head, and badges are Sparkle Gems. As I haven’t played the game beyond the demo, and I only played that once so I can’t remember any of the music, I don’t confidently recognize any of the songs here.

Match #1
Skin: Special Theme 31 (Princess Peach Showtime!)
Mode: Normal
Ever since I started playing Tetris 99’s Maximus Cups, I wondered if I would ever be able to get 1st place on my first match in any of these events. Doing so will automatically get me enough points to get the skin. Considering I had some rough treatment from some of the other players in this room, I wasn’t expecting this first match in a Maximus Cup to be one of total victory, but as you can see, here I am!

Match #2
Skin: Special Theme 31 (Princess Peach Showtime!)
Mode: Invictus
So I decided to move to Invictus to make room in regular Tetris 99 for others to earn points. As I already have enough points for Special Theme 31, I didn’t want to allocate these points to doing nothing when perhaps those points could go to someone who needed them.

Match #3
Skin: Special Theme 31 (Princess Peach Showtime!)
Mode: Invictus
You’ll see that there’s a T-Spin Tetris Ticket mission that I had just been going through very slowly. I’m not really a T-Spin person; I personally feel I’m more effective focusing on combos instead. T-Spins are flashy and look impressive, but combos send a barrage like nothing else in the game. Granted, in Invictus matches like these, where you’re up against other people who have placed 1st in a normal match in the past, you might not always get the time to set up a combo.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Genie Coefficient - Global Challenge 2024 III #4

Overhazard 2024-04-05 | It’s that time again—here is the top 75 most-used Pokémon for the month of March 2024. Next month will be the beginning of Regulation G, which allows one Restricted Pokémon per team. I have no idea how they’ll handle the list afterwards, considering that the Restricted Pokémon would show up in a lower quantity than the ones not restricted. Will they have separate lists? Who knows? Here’s what we DO know, however, about last month:

1. Flutter Mane (±0)
2. Ogerpon (±0)
3. Incineroar (±0)
4. Raging Bolt (+1)
5. Rillaboom (+2)
6. Urshifu (Rapid Strike) (+2)
7. Tornadus (Incarnate) (-1)
8. Landorus (Incarnate) (+1)
9. Chien-Pao (+1)
10. Urshifu (Single Strike) (-6)
11. Amoonguss (±0)
12. Farigiraf (±0)
13. Dragonite (+2)
14. Torkoal (+5)
15. Indeedee (Female) (-1)
16. Archaludon (+1)
17. Chi-Yu (-1)
18. Gholdengo (±0)
19. Ursaluna (Bloodmoon) (-6)
20. Gouging Fire (±0)
21. Whimsicott (±0)
22. Ninetales (Alolan) (+23)
23. Arcanine (Hisuian) (+23)
24. Cresselia (+3)
25. Iron Hands (-1)
26. Entei (-4)
27. Kingambit (-4)
28. Walking Wake (+2)
29. Ting-Lu (-4)
30. Ursaluna (Hisuian) (+2)
31. Articuno (Kantonian) (+79)
32. Dondozo (-1)
33. Glimmora (-7)
34. Okidogi (+17)
35. Annihilape (-1)
36. Pelipper (-7)
37. Iron Crown (-9)
38. Landorus (Therian) (+1)
39. Tyranitar (+10)
40. Roaring Moon (-7)
41. Grimmsnarl (-3)
42. Iron Bundle (-2)
43. Metagross (-7)
44. Heatran (±0)
45. Corviknight (+8)
46. Hatterene (-3)
47. Thundurus (Incarnate) (-6)
48. Armarouge (-6)
49. Primarina (-14)
50. Sinistcha (-3)
51. Zapdos (Galarian) (+3)
52. Tatsugiri (Curly) (-4)
53. Scizor (-1)
54. Baxcalibur (-4)
55. Porygon2 (-18)
56. Gallade (±0)
57. Comfey (+4)
58. Smeargle (+2)
59. Garchomp (+9)
60. Sneasler (-3)
61. Moltres (Galarian) (+6)
62. Sableye (+26)
63. Volcarona (+12)
64. Excadrill (+16)
65. Latias (-10)
66. Sylveon (+10)
67. Goodra (Hisuian) (-2)
68. Terrakion (-4)
69. Gastrodon (+2)
70. Dragapult (-7)
71. Milotic (-9)
72. Indeedee (Male) (-2)
73. Glastrier (+58)
74. Maushold (-2)
75. Lilligant (Hisuian) (-2)

Raise your hand if, at any point in any previous generation, you ever thought (Kantonian) Articuno would ever be ranked higher than Metagross on a competitive usage list. Certainly, I would NOT raise my hand! Articuno’s ascent into the top 50, for what may be the first time in the history of the entire series, is largely due to one of the Regional VGC champions using Kantonian Articuno on their team. It has Snow Cloak and Bright Powder to maximize evasiveness and four Ice-type moves: Blizzard, Ice Beam, Freeze-Dry, and Sheer Cold, with Tera Ice. As it seems, this Articuno happens to counter Wellspring Ogerpon, Raging Bolt, Rillaboom, Tornadus, Ting-Lu, Amoonguss, Dragonite, and Walking Wake, and anything it can’t take out so easily, it relies on evasion and using Sheer Cold until it works. Going first or having priority means nothing if the attack misses!

There is also a smaller boost for Alolan Ninetales, undoubtedly to help set up the snow needed for Articuno to work at its best. Alolan Ninetales is higher up though, so a smaller increase in rank might correspond to a larger increase in absolute usage. We also see Glastrier having moved up a bunch as another beneficiary of snow. Albeit brief, it seems we've entered an era in which snow might be the dominant weather condition, although Torkoal, with Drought, is still further up.

Type: Double Battle
Opponent: もも (Momo)
Battle Court: Mesagoza (Central Plaza)
Music: Western Pokémon
My Pokémon: Klefki, Bombirdier, Dragalge, Froslass
Opponent’s Pokémon: Tornadus (Incarnate), Landorus (Incarnate), Ogerpon (Wellspring), Flutter Mane

Why not compare my opponent’s team to that list above and see how far down the list you go before you find all six Pokémon on their team? If you don’t want to check, that number is 19: Bloodmoon Ursaluna, at 19th place, is the lowest-ranked Pokémon on my opponent’s team according to the usage list.

Of course, as time goes on, new Pokémon get introduced, some become more popular, and others fall by the wayside, I change around my team’s moves, Abilities, hold items, Tera types, and effort points (base stats, officially speaking—I don’t know the official term for what fans call “base stats” though) to adapt to whatever is different. I think this battle is a good example of that, with a team I made one month into the generation taking on a team post-Indigo Disk that could not have won without changes done in the meantime.

Seems my opponent has chosen a look for their trainer very similar to mine though!

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Frisk Management - Global Challenge 2024 III #3

Overhazard 2024-04-04 | I’ve shown the top 50, then later top 75, most used Pokémon in Ranked for each month. I get my data from Pokémon HOME, the mobile app, which has information up to 150th place. If you were ever curious as to the Pokémon that just barely made their list, the ones that managed to place 150th, here are the ones for double battles, from when record-keeping began for December 2022 up to the last completed month:

December 2022: Oricorio (Baile Style)
January 2023: Crabominable
February 2023: Muk (Kantonian)
March 2023: Ditto
April 2023: Toxtricity (Amped)
May 2023: Scyther
June 2023: Cloyster
July 2023: Iron Thorns
August 2023: Moltres (Kantonian)
September 2023: Clodsire
October 2023: Toxapex
November 2023: Tauros (Aqua Breed)
December 2023: Conkeldurr
January 2024: Hydreigon
February 2024: Lycanroc (Midday)
March 2024: Lapras

You know, I remember a time when Lapras dominated both single and double battling. I don’t have to go back that far, as it was last generation, due to Lapras getting arguably the most busted G-Max Move there is! This was always hard to deal with, between G-Max Resonance always letting you set up Aurora Veil and Lapras’s general resilience.

I also noticed that this list consists of a lot of Pokémon that are in fact quite useful, but require a very high degree of thinking ahead and outmaneuvering the opponent. Ditto is the biggest one on that list, since theoretically, anything the opponent does, Ditto can do too, but winning with Ditto requires you know how to use their Pokémon better than they use their own.

Type: Double Battle
Opponent: Jordan
Battle Court: Blueberry Academy
Music: Nemona 2
My Pokémon: Klefki, Bombirdier, Froslass, Dragalge
Opponent’s Pokémon: Grimmsnarl, Thundurus (Incarnate), Ogerpon (Hearthflame), Kommo-o

That was some interesting switching around at the beginning. I’m guessing they thought Klefki would hit Grimmsnarl with a Steel-type move, but I had other plans.

Speaking of Grimmsnarl, this one is an unusual one among them in that this one has Frisk. Normally, Prankster is considered one of the best Abilities in the entire series (enough that it had to be nerfed in Generation VII by giving Dark-type Pokémon immunity to Prankster-boosted status moves), so any Pokémon with Prankster would have people lining up to make sure their Pokémon for online play has it, making it highly unusual for this example of someone turning down Prankster for Frisk.

Frisk is by all means a useful Ability too, even if some people disagree with me, who say that a particular species can be expected to hold a specific hold item, and if you know what it is, then Frisk is pointless. Pokémon HOME data, which also lists the percentages for the top 10 most common hold items for each species, indicates there’s no consensus for hold item on most species, except the glaringly obvious, like Light Clay on Alolan Ninetales or Power Herb on Archaludon.

It was also more surprising to see this Grimmsnarl forgo the usual Light Screen, Reflect, and somesuch (the Lagging Tail Trick strategy I used in the Arctovish Team gained some popularity that generation, but it’s waned since) and go straight to direct attacking. I was expecting at least a turn or two with Grimmsnarl setting things up, but considering this one has Frisk instead of Prankster, I should never have expected to see any normal Grimmsnarl strategy.

There’s also something about Bombirdier’s Rock Slide hitting Hearthflame Ogerpon but missing her partner in this event…I have no explanation.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Rocky Road - Global Challenge 2024 III #2

Overhazard 2024-04-03 | I think the titling of Pokémon Legends: Z-A is deliberate. Not only is “Z” for Zygarde (as has been made obvious) and “A” for a Legendary Pokémon yet to be known, but remember that Kalos had a character with a very similar name: AZ. I’ve seen a lot of speculation all over the place about Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but nothing concerning AZ. Whether the game takes place in the past, in the future, or even just the present, I’m sure he will be around, and I’m certain he will play a major role. Might also be the first time we get to see AZ’s Floette do battle. (That little fellow has stats similar to Flutter Mane…)

AZ was one of my favorite characters in Pokémon X and Y, admittedly a pair of games without many memorable characters. (It says something that the most remembered characters are non-unique, like the Hex Maniacs and the Furisode Girls, albeit the latter have unique names that are used in Pokémon Masters EX.) Unlike most of the other characters, some of whom had more screentime than him, he had a rich history and was shown to be a very important figure in the history of Kalos. And considering “AZ” is very likely a pseudonym, maybe he named himself after the “A” Pokémon and Zygarde.

Type: Double Battle
Opponent: Duff
Battle Court: Cabo Poco
Music: Ogerpon
My Pokémon: Klefki, Bombirdier, Dragalge, Tauros (Paldean) (Blaze)
Opponent’s Pokémon: Whimsicott, Ogerpon (Hearthflame), Flutter Mane, Hydreigon

I think this is the first real session with the Froslass Team with Klefki’s presence. I moved Florges to the Oinkologne Team, where I’ve shown her new role over there, but I don’t think I really ever showed why Klefki was chosen as Florges’s substitute (not as in the move, mind you). Ultimately, the core reason was that I needed to find a way to adapt the team to a changing metagame in a way that Florges being on the team can’t fulfill, but Klefki can: namely a way to deal with Tailwind openings. You may have seen the previous video, “Patience Is Key,” which had a Tailwind opening—Murkrow is so well-suited for that, it doesn’t make much sense to put Murkrow anywhere but the beginning of a battle. The same goes for Whimsicott, who was the premier Prankster Tailwind setup Pokémon last generation but currently plays second fiddle to Incarnate Tornadus.

Klefki is one of the lesser known Trick Room users, and one of the very few with Prankster, allowing limited control of a match with or without Trick Room. In this case, the Trick Room helped tremendously because two or more Pokémon using a move in the same priority bracket will go in the order if they had no priority at all. Since Klefki has a lower Speed than Whimsicott, under Trick Room, Klefki’s Prankster-boosted status moves get to go before Whimsicott’s Prankster-boosted status moves. Does this make sense to you?

Certainly though, that was a LOT less damage to Bombirdier from Flutter Mane’s Dazzling Gleam than I expected. What happened to its bodacious 135 Sp. Attack? Bombirdier is no special wall, I’ll tell you that…

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Patience Is Key - Global Challenge 2024 III #1

Overhazard 2024-04-02 | Another month, another Global Challenge—though I really only play these for the League Points; otherwise, I would prefer more of the gimmick events, which this generation has been lacking compared to the last one. Was there a lot of negative feedback about them? I liked them, but I can see why other people might not. The ones in Generation VIII got wilder as it reached its end, like the Magikarp one and the Pikachu one.

Because of the sneak peek on Sunday, and the non-Pokémon video scheduled for this past Monday, there will only be four videos in this session.

Type: Double Battle
Opponent: まっちゃ (Macchyu)
Battle Court: Cabo Poco
Music: Star Barrage
My Pokémon: Froslass, Klefki, Tauros (Paldean, Blaze), Dragalge
Opponent’s Pokémon: ヤミカラス (Murkrow), セグレイブ (Baxcalibur), キョジオーン (Garganacl), ウーラオス (Urshifu) (Rapid Strike)

It seems that my opponent had found the Black Rayquaza shortly after Liko, Roy, and the Rising Volt Tacklers did! My opponent might not be the first, but they are certainly blessed to have come across it. Incidentally, my opponent’s name might be a clumsy attempt to transliterate “Matthew” into hiragana…instead of katakana for some reason, but I don’t know. Unlike some Psychic-types, and Psychic trainers, I’m not a mind reader. I’d be way better at this if I was! And besides, Mind Reader has been removed as a move this generation!

To show you that I am not a mind reader, I made a bone-headed move towards the end of this match. Had I just used Protect on Tauros to allow Trick Room to end, Tauros could outspeed Urshifu and get the advantage back. Even if Urshifu knows Aqua Jet, that won’t be enough to knock out Tauros in one hit. I made many such mistakes like this during my session. Probably no coincidence that I was playing this pretty late at night, later than I’d normally play. I had a pretty busy weekend, so this was the only time I could play. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this battle—I picked this one because I thought it was interesting.

(I don’t think this is the first Tailwind Murkrow I’ve shown. Nevertheless, it’s become rare enough that this might need an explanation: Murkrow has Prankster as an Ability, and on release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Murkrow was the only Prankster Tailwind user available. Now, that spot is shared mostly by Tornadus INcarnate and Whimsicott.)

By the way, is it me, or was Baxcalibur’s second Earthquake not as strong as the first? I suppose there is some variation on how much damage an attack will do, though I didn’t expect it to be as pronounced as that.

Splatoon 3 - Get in Line, Buddy!

Overhazard 2024-04-01 | Hey! You can't cut in line! Get to the back!

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Sneak Peek - Ring My Bell

Overhazard 2024-03-31 | Happy Easter! Here’s an unexpected surprise, like candy in a plastic egg: a sneak peek at an upcoming team! This was a team over two and a half years in the making, developed during Generation VIII as the intended 10th team. I had assumed that Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl would also be accompanied by an update that allowed every Pokémon from them in to Pokémon Sword and Shield, so I made a team with a mixture of Pokémon available in the Galar games and the Sinnoh remakes, only to discover that no such update occurred, and so this team would be separated between Generation VIII games. (I have the impression that there was an update planned, as the Cranidos and Shieldon evolution lines were conspicuously missing from the Galar games’ availability but all other fossil Pokémon were available, but something fell through, and it was called off. Something similar likely also happened with Pokémon Legends: Arceus, as placeholder data for Abilities could be found for the new Pokémon, including Hidden Abilities, even though only one Ability per Pokémon would’ve been necessary for Pokémon HOME consistency.)

That is, until the Indigo Disk expansion of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Three of the Pokémon are available in the Paldea base games, with one more made available in Teal Mask, one more made available in Indigo Disk, and…the sixth Pokémon is still unavailable, even though I thought it was. As a result, one of the Generation IX free agents has taken that Pokémon’s place for now. By now, if you have a sharp memory and read all of the descriptions last generation, you can recognize which team I’m talking about. If not, that’s fine too.

That last Pokémon though, happens to be a Generation VI Pokémon. That means this Pokémon will certainly be made available in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Do you think there will be an update to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet to allow more Pokémon in with Z’A’s release? I ask because I have a secong question for anyone reading this description:

Would you like me to debut this team on my next single battle session, which will be on the second half of April 2024, using the free agent on the team? Or would you like for me to wait for Pokémon Legends: Z-A and see if I can finally put that last Pokémon into this team? I have another single battle team in the planning stages; I should be able to finish by late April even if this sneak peek team has to wait.

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: KOKI
Battle Court: Blueberry Academy
Music: Academy Ace Tournament
My Pokémon: Harmon (Chimecho), ?, ?
Opponent's Pokémon: サケブシッポ (Scream Tail), ガチグマ (Ursaluna) (Bloodmoon), ハバタクカミ (Flutter Mane)

There are two things I think Chimecho is known for among longtime Pokémon fans. Three, I suppose. The first is that even knowing about Chimecho without looking it up was unlikely in its debut games of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, as no trainers have it (so it can’t be seen in the Pokédex in that way), and it could only be foud in the wild in an inconspicuous path of grass at the top of Mt. Pyre with a 1% spawn rate. The second is it just hanging from outdoor overhangs on people’s houses in areas associated with rural Japan, making it more of a decoration than a Pokémon you’d actually use. The third, in a sense, is that James in the Pokémon anime had one.

Chimecho was, and still is even after the Genertation VII buff to its stats, one of the Pokémon often decried as useless. Its base stats are kind of low, both in a below average total for a fully evolved Pokémon and that none of them are 100 or higher. Chimecho was given further ridicule the following generation, when Chingling was introduced, at least in the west. (To my knowledge, Chingling was pretty well-received in Japan, and while few Japanese battlers will make serious use of Chimecho, they do appreciate its cultural origins.) This is precisely why I committed myself to figuring out how to get as much out of Chimecho as possible.

Of course, a strategy like this requires my opponent not realize what is actually happening until it’s too late. Fortunately, a Pokémon as obscure as Chimecho means there’s a good chance of that actually happening, much like how last generation, I could play all sorts of shenanigans with Cramorant. That bird brought entire teams to their knees all by himself. I could only imagine my opponent realizing slowly how prepared I really was for this battle, and these aren’t just random Pokémon I cobbled together for a team.

By the way, as this is the first time I actually paid attention to Cosmic Power’s animation, I noticed in this generation, there are those colorful stars associated with Terapagos and the Stellar-type, as well as the metallic “whoosh” sound effects used in Tera Starstorm and Stellar Tera Blast. Interesting foreshadowing.

Splatoon 3 - Smollusks Notes (SPOILER)

Overhazard 2024-03-30 | Each time you configure someone's palette by clearing the Spire of Order in Splatoon 3's Side Order expansion, you decrypt Smollusks's notes written on their backs. Most of them are its thoughts on the character that palette belongs to and why it dislikes them, though Pearl's and Agent 8's palettes have different tones, as an opening to how Smollusk has been observing them (for Pearl) and Smollusk's true nature by the time you configure all of the palettes..

To that end, it may be best to read Smollusks's notes in the order they appear on the palette collection. While Pearl's palette is the first one you get, Marina's the second, Agent 4's the third, and Agent 8's last, you could clear the Spire of Order with any palette you find, and the only requirement is that Agent 8's palette is cleared last.

To that end, here is a transcript of each of Smollusks's notes for each character, with his Elmer Fudd speech quirk removed:

PEARL: Did you know I study my enemies' moves in the name of order? Thanks to the digital tickets these jerks sent me, I watch all the livestreams of their shows! Then I check the VODs to examine every detail of their every move. CURSE THAT PEARL! She's too cool...

MARINA: Marina used to understand the value of an unchanging world. But then SHE changed! What happened?! Phooey! I'll never forgive whoever got to to Marina! And I won't forgive Marina either for betraying her principles! I'm gonna punish ALL of them!

AGENT 4: THIS is who Marina wanted in charge of Memverse security? This unflappable, free-spirited so-and-so? I would never abide it! But...no reason such strength shouldn't be used to protect a world of order. An Order Defense Force is MUCH cooler than a New Squidbeak Splatoon anyway! No lawless do-gooder would be beyond our grasp!

CALLIE: This Callie and her foolish, air-headed ways are a menace to any self-respecting fan of order. She never listens to her betters! Huh? She's friends with some Octolings, you say? Not only is she cute, she's a nice lady too! WAIT! Is her true plan to lure Octolings to the squid world with her charms? How reprehensible! She must be PUNISHED!

MARIE: What was this one's name? Marie? She's probably the most promising of the bunch. Her brilliant, sharp mind cuts through the noise and straightens out chaotic airheads! She's practically a guardian of order already! Except...she kinda seems OK with chaos? And that's a serious no-no for order fans! BLEH! NO THANKS!

SHIVER: I saw this Shiver person call a giant beast "Master"! But I didn't see this "Master" teaching her any lessons. Maybe this so-called Shiver is just trying to suck up to it? NOT OK! Flatterers like her can never be truly trusted. Her chaotic lies must be PUNISHED!

FRYE: GWAAAH! What a chaotic mess! Is this what souls are liek in Splatsville?! And get this, sometimes it plays a strange flute and POOF! A bunch of yellow creatures appear and do tricks! Incredible! Wow, they seem so tame and friendly with the--NO! Keeping someone capable of such feats around would only distract me from my mission! For the sake of order, they must all be PUNISHED!

BIG MAN: I've seen how this big manta was raised with love in a warm, caring household! Life seems tough for him right now. He's got responsibilities as head of his clan, friends who give him all sorts of grief, and a job that keeps him up late writing songs. So why is there always such a happy gleam in his eyes? BLECH! It annoys me, so he must be PUNISHED!

MURCH: I saw this guy conducting sketchy business with that suspiciously spiky-headed old guy! Although now it seems like maybe he's wondering if he's satisfied with his current station in life? Don't give up! There's always a future in order for industrious young men. Wash your hands of these chaotic ways as soon as you can!

SHELDON: I personally saw this so-called Sheldon person taking on two small, adorable disciples a lot like me! WHICH MEAN...he took two young, impressionable children who've known him since they were babies and raised them to inherit his legacy. What sort of terrible person would drill a love for weapons into children so young? This is an outrage! He must be PUNISHED!

DJ OCTAVIO: HWAAAT!? This is a big-shot Octarian! He seems rto spend most of his time these days flying around in his brand-new robot. But this is no time to be grinding wasabi! The happiness of all Octokind depends on you! Pull yourself together! The magistrate of order doesn't play favorites, not even for big shots. I sentence him to punishment!

AGENT 8: Oh, hiii, Eight! Can you tell I'm behaving myself and doing a good job as boss of the Spire? I have all the Jelletons here with me, so it doesn't get too lonely. But I still want you and Pearl and Marina and Acht to come play sometime! You'll always have a friend in Smollusk!

F-Zero 99 - Queen League (2nd Place Finish)

Overhazard 2024-03-29 | Admittedly, this is something of a throwaway video, but it is a milestone for me playing this game: for the first time, I managed to get a podium finish in Grand Prix! This is the Queen League, and while it wasn't 1st place (and thus no special unlockable), I had never placed in the top 3 in a Grand Prix before, so that's something. And just in time for the content update too! (NOTE: This was done prior to the update on March 27th, 2024, which nerfed the Golden Fox. After the update, the Golden Fox now requires more power per boost, and its Power Down speed is slower.)

That being said, it WAS a tie for 2nd place with somebody else, and the person in 1st was pretty far out in front, so I don't think this necessarily means I'm any step closer to finishing a Grand Prix at the very top. Then again, I never thought my vehicle would be spinning around and around at the end there, with some victory music I didn't know was in this game.

For the record, I had placed as follows in each course:
Mute City II - 6th
Port Town I - 6th
Red Canyon I - 6th
White Land I - 7th
White Land II - 3rd

Which means that, oddly, I managed to place 2nd overall without ever having placed any higher than 3rd at any particular race. But I'll take that. I'll also take surviving, which I almost didn't at a few points (particularly the last leg of White Land I, where I was at Power Down status for like a third of the lap), because when I play a Grand Prix in F-Zero 99, that's my goal: just to make it to the end. I don't need anything fancy. Though, of course, I'll take fancy stuff that lands my way, like this.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Way of the Way of the Goomba

Overhazard 2024-03-28 | I wasn't really planning on putting anyhting up related to Super Mario Bros. Wonder, but I just recorded everything anyway in case something interesting occurred. After some time (a few months, admittedly--I would prefer not to rush and to take my time), I now have 100% completion in this game, including all six medals. But the most memorable bit was playing the course "Petal Isles Special: Way of the Goomba."

You see, each World has a corresponding course in the Special World, which takes a Wonder effect from that course and gives you a much harder challenge. For Petal Isles, that course is "Maw-Maw Mouthful," whose Wonder Flower turns the player character into a Goomba, and they must hide from enemies and navigate the course with a slow moving speed and the inability to jump. "Way of the Goomba" requires you to spend most of the course as a Goomba, where they also demonstrate that Goombas are not affected by spikes. Like all of the Special World courses, "Way of the Goomba" is mega-difficult, rated a full 5 stars out of 5 in difficulty.

What made this run memorable, however, was that after a couple of failures, someone who apparently knew the course very well, playing as Blue Toad, came on by and was ready to lead the way and stick around to rescue me if I ever failed. The online system in Super Mario Bros. Wonder allows for this kind of altruism which I've never seen in a game like this before, and it was very neat, and very kind of them, to guide me to the end. I understand not everybody wants this help, but the way I see it, the game was designed around it, so I accepted the assistance.

Splatoon 3 - Full Stream Ahead

Overhazard 2024-03-27 | This Challenge requires you to use a Roller or a Brush, but it’s not the same Challenge as “Art Battle for the Ages.” No, in that Challenge, your weapons are moving at normal speed while pressed to the ground. For this one, they move at hyper speed! Like, WAY more so than if you had every item of clothing with full Run Speed Up. To that extent, that affects both the weapons you’d want to pick out and how you’d approach using these weapons. Me, I wasn’t too sure what to use, which is why I switched between different weapons.

For the record, your ink is consumed at an equally proportional rate as your increased speed. That is, you’ll use up the same amount of ink to travel a certai distance with a Brush’s hairs or a Roller’s drum pressed against the floor as if they were moving at normal speed. This is something you needed to keep in mind playing this, as the last thing you want when everyone’s moving lightning fast is to run out of ink and be unable to fight.

Between the last Challenge I played (“Dualies at Ten Paces”) and this one, Daylight Savings Time had kicked in (for the United States, at least). That meant we jumped ahead one hour—spring forward—and accordingly, the Challenge shifts for Pacific Daylight Time become odd-numbered hours:
March 19th, 2024: 7 PM to 9 PM, 11 PM to 1 AM
March 20th, 2024: 3 AM to 5 AM, 7 AM to 9 AM, 11 AM to 1 PM, 3 PM to 5 PM

Stages are Um’ami Ruins and Robo ROM-en, and the mode is Splat Zones.

By the way, for the purposes of checking for editing errors and to write the description, I review my videos by playing them in fast-forward. With these weapons zipping about, it felt like playing Splatoon 3 in the form of one of those fast-forwarded videos!

00:33 - Match #1
Robo ROM-en
Splat Zones (Full Stream Ahead)
Painbrush
Color Scheme: Blueberry Lemonade
Song: “Ska-BLAM” by YOko & the Gold Bazookas
Octolings: 6
I began with the Painbrush, my go-to weapon for this supercategory of weapons. Though I initially had a good run, like what you see here, even the super-wide ink flings from this weapon couldn't keep up with the Roller users zipping about, and the startup time is just too long, causing me to get caught a lot. The Wave Breaker was super useful though!

04:21 - Match #2
Robo ROM-en
Splat Zones (Full Stream Ahead)
Flingza Roller
Color Scheme: Blueberry Lemonade
Song: “Shifting Stars” by Riot Act
Octolings: 3
...So I shifted over to Rollers for the remainder of this. Granted, I did see some very good Inkbrush and Octobrush users, just not a lot of Painbrush. I chose the Flingza because it's decently fast, can splat in a hit, and has very powerful horizontal flicks--I figured if everyone's going around at maximum speed, I might as well invest in greater force.

06:15 - Match #3
Um’ami Ruins
Splat Zones (Full Stream Ahead)
Gold Dynamo Roller
Color Scheme: Wario
Song: “Headhammer” by C-Side
Octolings: 4
For some reason, which I attribute to Splatoon being Splatoon, I barely got any matches in Um'ami Ruins, with nearly all of them in Robo ROM-en. Maybe it's for the best, since, as a stage with two Splat Zones, some people deem that too hard to handle. This is the only decent match in Um-ami Ruins I could find; I only had one other one, but the recording cut out before the match could finish.

10:59 - Match #4
Robo ROM-en
Splat Zones (Full Stream Ahead)
Gold Dynamo Roller
Color Scheme: Fruit Snacks
Song: “Triple Dip” by C-Side
Octolings: 3
I don't know if it's because the Splatfest crowd was out (this Challenge took place a few days before the Rock & Roll Splatfest (Drums vs. Guitar vs. Keyboard)), but it felt like some of my teammates let their guards down when Overtime began. Just because you have a large lead doesn't mean it's safe--if you let Overtime continue for too long, the losing team WILL overtake the winning one soon enough. Then again, if they're used to playing Turf War, they might not have thought of Overtime as well.

16:58 - Match #5
Robo ROM-en
Splat Zones (Full Stream Ahead)
Flingza Roller
Color Scheme: Fruit Snacks
Song: “Candy-Coated Rocks” by Damp Socks feat. Off the Hook
Octolings: 6
This was my last match I recorded, but I thought this was fitting as the last one because it went back and forth, so there was no telling who would prevail in this one. And that kind of tension is what makes this game so fun!

Wildfrost - Demo

Overhazard 2024-03-26 | I heard some good things about this game, and it had a demo, so I decided to give it a try. This is a deckbuilding game themed around the folklore of the far north regions (Norse, Inuit, Siberian, Ainu, Viking) though with a major 2010s CalArts vibe to it. The premise is that the titular Wildfrost are taking over large parts of the land by force as an invading horde of monsters and bad guys, and various heroes have risen up to fight them. This being a deckbuilding game, you start out with a standard deck of cards, and between battles, you’re given more cards to add to your deck. Though it would’ve been nice to see the characters out there on the field with animated actions, I would guess that they dind’t have the time or budget for that.

You may notice I had a bit of trouble following the instructions during the tutorial. A large part of it is the color contrast. It looks okay if you’re seeing it from about 18 inches (45 cm) from the screen; it looks not okay if you’re seeing it from about 6 feet (1.9 meters) away, where it becomes a largely illegible mess of yellow. This is a common mistake of many indie games though, where they might be tested solely on desktop or laptop monitors and not on a TV viewed from a distance, and it’s something not immediately obvious until you experience it yourself. I don’t know what system Wildfrost was originally on, but if it’s something like Steam, I can see why no testing was done for legibility from far away.

In any case, as you complete battles, you’re given more cards to add to your deck, whether that be characters, equipment, spells, or miscellaneous effects. Nevertheless, the hero who sets out must not let their HP completely deplete…upon which I found out that it uses a roguelike structure, in which each failure builds towards unlocking facilities around the town of Snowdwell to strengthen your deck. While I understand the appeal of a system like this, I personally find it needlessly frustrating to have to start over again and again, which is why I avoid roguelikes and why I don’t really like Splatoon 3’s Side Order too much. It also makes this demo’s structure kind of confusing, as it feels like I didn’t actually reach the end of it. You see, the demo lets you go to the first major boss, Bamboozle, which has stats WAY higher than the mini-bosses prior. After about an hour’s persistence, I overcame it, only to be shown the Ice Caves segment, whose very first battle had enemies of such incredible overwhelming strength that I decided to just stop right then and there. Like, as in the miniboss of this segment had HP about 7 times higher than that of Bamboozle. By this point, I was about an hour and 20 minutes into the demo, and I decided I'd end it there.

There are two other things that bug me though, albeit in different ways: the fact that you send a different, randomly generated hero out each time, makes it feel like they are effectively going on suicide runs, rather than a normal player character for a roguelike, who winds up back at the start and recuperates, and their tenacity is a character trait. It makes Wildfrost (the game) come across as unintentionally depressing. The other thing that bugs me is that the pet shop appears to be run by an anthro cat or arctic fox...or arctic wolf or malamute or weasel (hard to tell, as a white-furred character with triangular, pointed ears and a flat face with a black mammalian nose is the most generic, ambiguous design), making it an animal person selling animals.

As you might figure, I won’t be getting this game. It’s just not for me. I appreciate the thought put into it and that it must have been crafted carefully, but playing a game like this would just make me mad.

Splatoon 3 - Splatfest: Team Keyboard (feat. Douser Dualies FF)

Overhazard 2024-03-25 | This is the first Splatfest since Side Order came out. One of my goals was to finish Side Order at least once before it, so that I can have Inkopolis Square available. (As you may have noticed in the Artwork Showcase video, I do indeed have it now.) Accordingly, Off the Hook has since released another song, this one for Splatfests, “Suffer No Fools.” It will turn up in some of the matches in this video.

Not only is the Douser Dualies FF the other new weapon introduced in Drizzle Season 2024 (the other one being the Recycled Brella 24 Mk I, which I covered about a week prior) the Dualies are the last weapon class I hadn’t yet featured in a Splatfest. We don’t really have that many Splatfests left, I think 5 after this one (including SpringFest in April 2024), so I got at least that done! The Dualies are my second-worst weapon class after Chargers, due to how I can’t really think in terms of the dodge roll, at least not fast enough to actually put it to use evading opponents.

Not that I shouldn’t try anyway, as the Douser Dualies FF has a gimmick tied to the dodge roll: like how the Squeezer has two modes, a slower-fire mode and a faster-fire mode, so does this weapon, because after a dodge roll, it suddenly fires a lot faster. There is no change in range, damage per shot, or ink depleted from your tank per shot, but it does help in finishing off opponents faster. However, each roll takes a good deal out of the tank, and it’s one of the least ink-efficient Dualies, so you should avoid rolling until you’re fighting someone or you expect to fight someone the very next second. From a full tank, if you keep shooting, you get three rolls before you run out. In addition, your Inkling or Octoling cannot move after the roll as long as the rapid-fire mode is activated, so you will need to finish off that opponent, or they will finish you off. (This also means the dodge roll is not a good idea if there are multiple opponents coming at you at once, because if you DO get someone, the other one will get you.)

The Douser Dualies FF comes with Ink Mines and the Killer Wail 5.1. The Ink Mines are my favorite sub weapon because of their strategic nature (though there are times when I like Squid Beakons more, also because they’re highly strategic). Once someone trips an ink mine, not only do they have less HP to fight you with, but you can use their tracking to accurately keep firing after rolling. I try to have my opponents trip an Ink Mine before fighting, if possible, though that requires them come to me rather than me to them. The Killer Wail 5.1, meanwhile, is your way of telling opponents ot back off, or at least put them under enormous pressure as you move in to finish them off.

All three of these features on the weapon means they are at their most effective on flat, even ground. You don’t want to fall off or collide with a wall as you roll, and it can be hard to find opponents with the Killer Wail if you also have to search vertically in addition to diagonally. Though the Ink Mine is great on uneven ground too, you want to close in and get them before they heal off the damage and lose their marking, and that’s best done when they are on the same plane as you.

By the way, I chose Team Keyboard because that’s the only instrument of these three I have any experience with, however little. Took piano lessons when I was 5 years old.

2:18 - Match #1
Marlin Airport
Splatfest Turf War
Douser Dualies FF
Color Scheme: Rock Band
Song: “Till Depth Do Us Part” by Deep Cut
Octolings: 4

5:56 - Match #2
Eeltail Alley
Splatfest Turf War
Douser Dualies FF
Color Scheme: Rock Band
Song: “Big Betrayal” by Deep Cut
Octolings: 7

9:33 - Match #3
Manta Maria
Splatfest Turf War (100x Battle)
Douser Dualies FF
Color Scheme: Rock Band
Song: “Fins in the Air” by Deep Cut
Octolings: 5

16:22 - Halftime!

17:44 - Match #4
Flounder Heights
Tricolor Battle (Attackers)
Douser Dualies FF
Color Scheme: Rock Band
Song: “Big Betrayal” by Deep Cut
Octolings: 5

21:26 - Match #5
Flounder Heights
Tricolor Battle (Defenders)
Douser Dualies FF
Color Scheme: Rock Band
Song: “Suffer No Fools” by Off the Hook VS Fire & Ice
Octolings: 4

25:08 - Match #6
Flounder Heights
Tricolor Battle (Defenders)
Douser Dualies FF
Color Scheme: Rock Band
Song: “Suffer No Fools” by Off the Hook VS Fire & Ice
Octolings: 4

28:51 - Results! This is the first Splatfest to allocate points for being 2nd in a category. I wonder if you get extra Super Sea Snails for being on the team that placed 2nd overall.

Splatoon 3 - Rock & Roll Splatfest Artwork Showcase

Overhazard 2024-03-24 | This one will be mega-long this time around (and is why it’s a little late—I wanted to get moments of the Splatfest as late as possible) because of the introduction of Inkopolis Square between the last Splatfest and now, as Side Order had come out between them, and completing Side Order at least once will unlock Inkopolis Square. I couldn’t tell you if “Suffer No Fools” becomes available or not though, considering part of the premise of Side Order is that Marina is trapped in the Spire of Order, under Order’s control, and Agent 8 and Pearl have to rescue her. (The actual Splatfest battles will be tomorrow’s video.)

I’ll have more of these Splatfest artwork showcases in the future, but they probably won’t be quite as long as this one until the final one.

Whatever the case, I have taken glimpses of what people have drawn throughout the Splatfest for preservation’s sake, and besides references to Splatoon itself, I have listed as many references to other media as I can below:

00:09 - Bottom (right) half is the mascot of the Taiko Drum Master series
00:12 - The text is based on character intros in Guilty Gear Strive. (The character itself is Baker from Splatoon 3’s C-Side)
00:18 - Russell and his ghost from Gorillaz. Officially, Russell is mute; his ghost appears from his head to sing (or rap) in his place
00:33 - Not certain, but this appeara to be Happy from Fairy Tail
00:43 - Paul McCartney; the “Team Guitar” logo is based on that of Yellow Submarine
01:09 - The character’s head is the icon for the VLC Media Player software, an orange street cone
01:13 - The Medic from Team Fortress 2
01:30 - SpongeBob SquarePants dressed as Mermaid Man
01:38 - ??? Might be Sparkle from Princess Peach Showtime!
01:44 - Benson from Regular Show
01:47 - ???
01:56 - Plankton from SpongeBob SquarePants
02:02 - Classic Sonic the Hedgehog (might be Scourge the Hedgehog) and Modern Sonic the Hedgehog
02:16 - Rigby and Benson from Regular Show
02:40 - ???
02:45 - Bowser at the piano singing “Peaches Peaches Peaches” from The Super Mario Bros. Movie
03:17 - Ringo from Puyo Puyo
03:42 - Roxanne and Freddy from Five Nights at Freddy’s
04:48 - ???
05:49 - Mega Man (2nd from left) and Roll (3rd from left)
08:23 - This came from a meme in which Nintendo's X/Twitter and YouTube accounts accidentally posted a video early, reading "We are so back!"
10:09 - “I think I’m acoustic” meme originating on TikTok. “Acoustic” is a derogatory term among some TikTok users as an autocorrect-style misspelling of “autistic” and is used to dodge the moderators, who would otherwise spot it and mark it as offensive content
20:35 - ???
20:58 - ???
21:31 - Keyboard Cat
21:33 - Ogerpon (left) and Kieran (right) from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
21:40 - Mordecai and Rigby from Regular Show
21:54 - ???
22:06 - ???
22:17 - Tom and Jerry
22:35 - An unusual interpretation of Cerberus, from Greek mythology
22:42 - "First I bang the drum" is a meme on Twitter (now X) depicting a boy on a set of bongo drums; the post reimagines him as an Inkling
24:59 - Skwisgaar Skwigelf and Toki Wartooth from Dethklok, a fictional band in Metalocalypse
25:09 - Grookey from Pokémon
25:13 - Shiver (left) with the Taoki Drum Master mascot (center) and Master Mega (right)
25:31 - The text reads "WHIPLASH," though I don't know enough about the movie to know if it's a reference to the movie
25:56 - Leon from Pokémon Sword and Shield
26:03 - Keyboard Cat
26:18 - Denki Kaminari from My Hero Academia
26:28 - The mascot from the Taiko Drum Master series
26:44 - Appears to be Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, but it's unclear
29:43 - ???
30:40 - SpongeBob SquarePants as a wizard, from SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie (the first one)
31:38 - This line is spoken by Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants
33:26 - Bongo Cat and Keyboard Cat
36:20 - A Crewmate from Among Us

F-Zero 99 - ??? (Muted City)

Overhazard 2024-03-23 | This was, in fact, the first of the mystery ??? courses to show up in F-Zero 99. However, because there was no official announcement for it, popping up here as quietly as possible, I missed the entire opening week that this course was featured each time it turned up. I actually did learn about it on its first week, but without a reliable way of figuring out when the ??? courses would appear, I couldn’t track it down (no pun intended).

Well, with the four of them all available, now, the ??? courses are randomly selected. Hence, I’ve been accumulating and recording races and hoping they turn up in that random selection. That’s what I did with the previous one (the one I call “White Wind”), and at last, I’ve gotten enough races on this weird version of Mute City to make a video out of it.

Like with “Big Bluish,” this course is horizontally flipped, but of Mute City I. Compared to the other ??? courses, there aren’t that many changes (possibly because it’s the first one), namely with a lot of mines added here and there, as well as the long straightaway about halfway through being replaced with bounce pads. In addition, some ramps have turned up on the track. Together, I’m sure there must be some amazing ways to cut corners here, but I’ll just play it safe. Best to avoid crashing out unnecessarily.

00:00 - Race #1
Course: ??? (Muted City)
Mode: F-Zero 99
Vehicle: Fire Stingray
Rivals: GUCCI, BLT★Cloaky, DBしすぎちゅうい (DBshisugichyuui), shinesurge
Of course, just because there weren’t that many different changes to Mute City I doesn’t mean this isn’t a tough course to get used to. This race wound up being a massacre, with notifications constantly about people having crashed out. I’m sure it’s a combination both of people not accustomed to racing in this layout and people who are VERY accustomed to it and are taking big risks to get ahead or stay ahead, only to fall out or bump into mines and crash. By the end, shinesurge was the only rival of mine to have survived this race.

03:11 - Race #2
Course: ??? (Muted City)
Mode: F-Zero 99
Vehicle: Golden Fox
Rivals: アウィル (Aouille), Itsosan, Juanero, Télu
Regardless of if it’s a ??? course or not, one thing stays the same: the Golden Fox’s low durability means you may sometimes get bumped away from the boost pads at the start if you don’t time your spin attacks wisely. And because if that, I started off in the mid-80s in position. But I fought tooth and nail, and against a much tougher room due to there being way fewer people who actually crashed out. And not only was I able to survive this race, but I finished in a higher rank than in the first race of this video!

06:15 - Race #3
Course: ??? (Muted City)
Mode: F-Zero 99
Vehicle: Wild Goose
Rivals: b⦾rnplayer, m(_ _)m, Dean, ころもちゃん (Koromo-chan)
By contrast, the Wild Goose has the highest durability of all, and while it can’t hold up under a Crash Out, even the mines barely affect this super tough vehicle. On the first lap, I was at the front of the pack, and I figured I ought to risk the offroad mines. Well, it didn’t pay off, but I did do more rank climbing in later laps once other people took out those mines for me!

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Bridge over Troubled Plotter - Mar 17 24 E

Overhazard 2024-03-22 | With this being the last battle video I’ll put up this month, here is also the list of the top Pokémon for single battles in Ranked through February 2024. Like with the doubles list two weeks prior, I’ve extended the list from the top 50 (which was to reflect Smogon’s OU tier, which is typically around this size) to the top 75, as there are now so many Pokémon available that you don’t get a complete picture of the competitive scene with just 50 Pokémon:

1. Flutter Mane (±0)
2. Dragonite (±0)
3. Ogerpon (±0)
3A. Hearthflame
3B. Wellspring
3C. Cornerstone
3D. Teal
4. Urshifu (Rapid Strike) (±0)
5. Chien-Pao (+2)
6. Ursaluna (Bloodmoon) (±0)
7. Archaludon (+3)
8. Gholdengo (-3)
9. Landorus (Therian) (±0)
10. Scizor (-2)
11. Chi-Yu (+6)
12. Primarina (±0)
13. Raging Bolt (+22)
14. Urshifu (Single Strike) (±0)
15. Iron Bundle (+3)
16. Ting-Lu (±0)
17. Latios (-4)
18. Roaring Moon (-3)
19. Garganacl (+3)
20. Sneasler (+20)
21. Porygon2 (-10)
22. Glimmora (+5)
23. Toxapex (+7)
24. Ninetales (Alolan) (+1)
25. Serperior (-1)
26. Annihilape (+2)
27. Basculegion (Male) (+12)
28. Iron Crown (+27)
29. Gliscor (+35)
30. Latias (-7)
31. Alomomola (+48)
32. Garchomp (+4)
33. Corviknight (+21)
34. Grimmsnarl (+36)
35. Incineroar (-16)
36. Iron Moth (+1)
37. Entei (-8)
38. Dragapult (+5)
39. Meowscarada (-7)
40. Iron Hands (+8)
41. Mimikyu (+1)
42. Metagross (-16)
43. Gouging Fire (-23)
44. Rillaboom (+8)
45. Skeledirge (+8)
46. Heatran (-1)
47. Dondozo (+2)
48. Breloom (-1)
49. Torkoal (-16)
50. Zapdos (Kantonian) (-9)
51. Hippowdon (-17)
52. Kingambit (-1)
53. Amoonguss (+14)
54. Pelipper (-16)
55. Swampert (-34)
56. Clodsire (+6)
57. Hydrapple (+14)
58. Volcarona (+8)
59 Azumarill (-2)
60. Blaziken (-16)
61. Baxcalibur (-1)
62. Indeedee (Male) (+69)
63. Rotom (Wash) (-5)
64. Excadrill (-18)
65. Magnezone (-2)
66. Iron Valiant (+2)
67. Goodra (Hisuian) (-6)
68. Suicune (-37)
69. Blissey (+6)
70. Cresselia (-1)
71. Walking Wake (-21)
72. Gyarados (+2)
73. Tyranitar (-8)
74. Sinistcha (+2)
75. Whimsicott (-16)

The further up the list you go, the more of a gap between Pokémon usage things get, which is why it was a big shock (no pun intended) to see Raging Bolt go from 35th in January to 13th in February. This was likely a response to a higher emphasis on nonstop attacks, giving Thunderclap greater reliability. Iron Crown also makes its top 50 debut at 28th overall (though if I had covered the top 75 last month, it would've been on there, at 55th place). Gouging Fire and Walking Wake both fell by over 20 spots, however.

Grimmsnarl also returns to the list, this time as a Incineroar-like, with Fake Out and a Prankster-boosted Parting Shot. Male Indeedee rocketed up too, reaching the top 75 from 131st place the previous month. Psychic Terrain stops all priority attacks (so no Thunderclap), and only male Indeedee can lock opponents with Encore.

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: ほげーた (Hogeeta)
Battle Court: Blueberry Academy
Music: Legends of Galar
My Pokémon: Dandrea (Jumpluff) Atlas (Slither Wing), Alfred (Indeedee) (Male)
Opponent's Pokémon: ブリジュラス (Archaludon), ハッサム (Scizor), イダイトオ (Basculegion)

As you may have seen, I had gone through the Legendary Pokémon battle themes, and this one, “Legends of Galar,” is the last one on the list, and indeed(ee), this is the last battle of this session.

Part of the purpose of this session, which ended with this battle, was to see what to do with the Jumpluff Team and how I could make some revisions to allow it to keep up with the metagame, which had changed dramatically since the last time I used this team, which was before The Teal Mask or Indigo Disk had come out. Based on what I encountered, both on- and off-meta, I can say the following:

Dandrea (Jumpluff), Eugene (Klawf), and Atlas (Slither Wing) are fine as they are, and they will remain unchanged.

Hideo (Seviper) will keep his core strategy, but updated moves and items over The Secret of Area Zero allows me to try something new. This won’t necessarily be any better than before, as it has some benefits but comes with some drawbacks.

Alfred (Indeede) (Male) began this session holding a Red Card. You may noticed that this was changed to a Psychic Seed. The Red Card turned out to have hurt me more than it helped, especially against Pokémon faster than him. What looks like a nice matchup results in Alfred getting attacked, triggering the Red Card, and the opponent getting the nice matchup instead by the end of the turn.

Inés (Lumineon) was hardly used in this session, and that, personally, is a problem. Her original purpose was to trap and take down Palafin, who was a dominant force when this team was built but has since fallen WAY down the Ranked charts, to where I hardly see Palafin anymore. Hence, I have made a few changes to Inés’s strategies for her to work better as a general fighter instead of something specifically to defeat one Pokémon in particular.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - A Calm Mind Forever Voyaging - Mar 17 24 D

Overhazard 2024-03-21 | Several hours after this video goes live, the fourth Tera Raid Battle event featuring Paradox Pokémon will become available, featuring Brute Bonnet for Scarlet players and Iron Hands for Violet players, though opposite version players can play each other’s raids to get the opposite version Paradox Pokémon (and, unlike the “Unrivaled” series, you can catch as many of them as you want). Both of these Pokémon are slow physical attackers with bulky, bottom-leavy designs, just as the first set (Great Tusk and Iron Treads) are Paradox Pokémon based on Donphan, the second set (Slither Wing and Iron Moth) are Paradox Pokémon based on Volcarona, and the third set (Flutter Mane and Iron Jugulis) are cave-dwelling Paradox Pokémon who float in midair, though Flutter Mane is vulnerable to Ground-type attacks.

Some of you may be wondering why I’m not putting those up. It’s not because they’re not special or that they’re only 5-star raids, as opposed to the Unrivaled series’ 7-star status. It’s because I plan to wait until the last one, then put them all up as one video compilation of the 14 Paradox Pokémon available on release. (The Paradox Pokémon released afterwards, the ones based on the Johto Beasts and the Swords of Justice, are unique Legendary Pokémon.

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Sam
Battle Court: Pokémon League (Interior)
Music: Legends of Unova
My Pokémon: Alfred (Indeedee) (Male), Inés (Lumineon), Atlas (Slither Wing)
Opponent's Pokémon: ShieldMaiden (Lucario), Charamie (Gardevoir), Squeaks (Vaporeon)

Things were going as I had planned…until I made one error: I was too hasty in Terastallizing Atlas (Slither Wing) when it was first sent out. It was up against Charamie (Gardevoir) on very low HP, and any move I did would knock her out. I had overlooked the fact that Slither Wing’s Speed is one point higher than Gardevoir’s (81 versus 80), and Gardevoir, as a species, has no priority attacks (except Shadow Sneak, which is very rare among Gardevoir), meaning Atlas would’ve had one free attack to knock out Charamie, even with First Impression disabled. Otherwise, it has a type disadvantage, so I got nervous and Terastallized. (I guess that’s what happens after I do this battling after coming home after a long day. Not that it was a bad thing, that day. Got to see Dune: Part Two on one of the rare IMAX 70mm screens! There are less than 20 of them in the whole country. I saw Oppenheimer on that same screen the previous year.)

While ShieldMaiden (Lucario) and Charamie (Gardevoir) were as straightforward as you can get with Pokémon battles, somehow, I got caught in a trap when Squeaks (Vaporeon) came out. As you may (or may not) have noticed, Inés (Lumineon) was trained specifically to ensnare and defeat other Water-type Pokémon, but Terastallizing is a part of that strategy, and as I already used it up with Atlas (Slither Wing), this strategy wound up unable to execute. As a result, Squeaks was able to accumulate Calm Minds, making him untouchable from the special end. Six of them in all, maxing out Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense.

Well, as it seems, Terastallization was a key part of Sam’s plans too, and like with me, they did it too soon. I think Squeaks’s only damaging attack was Tera Blast, and due to that, I was actually able to regain lost momentum with Atlas. As it turns out, there are particular gaps in Sam’s team planning that I was able to fit through to not only undo all those Calm Minds, but go a bit further too.

I’m not entirely certain about any of the nicknames on Sam’s Pokémon, though as it seems, they got a female Lucario, which is rare because 7 in 8 Lucario (and Riolu by extension) are male, just as I lucked out with a female Lucario for Pokémon Battle Revolution’s Holly Pass (whom I nicknamed “Laura”).

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Playing Koi with Me - Mar 17 24 C

Overhazard 2024-03-20 | I heard an interesting theory on why there are so few battle courts available: I initially thought it was because of the unimaginably huge skybox (a sphere about 250 kilometers in diameter) dragging down the game’s performance, but I was told that it may be that each battle court you see online is NOT the same as the one found in the main game, but a replica designed specifically for PvP.

The ones for Medali, Cabo Poco, the Academy in Mesagoza, the Pokémon League interiors, and the Blueberry Academy’s entrance require relatively few resources to look complete, while the one at Mesagoza’s central plaza might require them to reconstruct most of Mesagoza, but it’s the most important battle court in Paldea and thus high priority.

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Jack
Battle Court: Pokémon League (Interior)
Music: Legends of Hoenn
My Pokémon: Dandrea (Jumpluff), Hideo (Seviper), Eugene (Klawf)
Opponent's Pokémon: Duder (Gallade), Mario (Toedscruel), Koi (Gyarados)

Dandrea (Jumpluff) plays two roles on this team, both of them as atype of support: one of them is to slowly drain the opponent of HP with Leech Seed, which my opponent can feel free to switch out at any time; and a Pokémon that passes on Substitutes and Cotton Guards using Baton Pass. Well, for this battle, I used them both, and Jumpluff played a key role in this battle, even after she had left the battle for the rest of the match.

Hence, while I only had two Pokémon who could directly fight compared to Jack’s three, Dandrea allows the other two to fight with the power of more than one Pokémon.

Though I don’t know what “Duder” means, let alone how it might relate to Gallade (besides “dude” originally having a masculine definition—specifically, before it was a term of endearment and then an interjection, a dude was a man who wanted to live a cowboy lifestyle but lived in an urban area), I’m reasonably certain that Toedscruel’s nickname of “Mario” refers to the Super Mario game series’s association with mushrooms, and “Koi” to refer to Gyarados coming from Magikarp being based on koi fish.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Hold on to Your Hattrems - Mar 17 24 B

Overhazard 2024-03-19 | I’m not going to lie—I was also using this session to go through the Legendary Pokémon battle themes added to this game by encountering them via Snackworth’s snacks. All of them were taken directly from what at the time was the most recent Pokémon game set in the region where those Legendary Pokémon originate. For instance, this video’s battle theme is Suicune’s, and the music is taken from Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the most recent games set in Johto.

There are 15 of them in all, and by the looks of things, I have all of them except Zekrom’s. That means I played 14 battles in this session. (Technically more, because sometimes, I forgot to switch the music over to the next one, or the game found an opponent before I could switch over.) I won’t be putting up all 14 of them though; I’ve curated them down to five videos, which will spam from Monday (the previous day) to the coming Friday.

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: タゴス (Tagosu)
Battle Court: Mesagoza (Central Square)
Music: Suicune
My Pokémon: Dandrea (Jumpluff), Atlas (Slither Wing), Eugene (Klawf)
Opponent's Pokémon: テブリム (Hattrem), テラキオン (Terrakion) (Iron Boulder), ドドゲザン (Kingambit)

Something I encounter among Japanese players that I rarely see with players from anywhere else are “mascot Pokémon,” which are usually random not-fully-evolved or otherwise Pokémon you’d never expect to see brought to online PvP. They’ll always occupy either the first slot or the last slot during Team Preview, and they will either be selected as the first Pokémon or not at all. My inspiration for putting up Pokémon battle videos onto YouTube in the first place was kyono007, who has since retired from Pokémon battling; they used Ledian in all of their battles in Pokémon Battle Revolution and always selected him first. kyono007’s Ledian was not that great at first, but they learned from their mistakes, and over time, this Ledian became a valuable support Pokémon for the team, which also gave me the idea that you can have teams full of Pokémon other people deem as useless and still prevail.

In this case, that Pokémon is Hattrem, the middle stage of Hatenna’s evolution line (the final form, of course, being Hatterene). I could identify Hattrem as their mascot Pokémon, but I honestly couldn’t tell if they were actually going to bring Hattrem into battle. Well, as it turns out, they did, and I had overlooked one very important thing that completely decided the flow of the battle: Magic Bounce. That caused Leech Seed to do nothing, and instead, Dandrea (Jumpluff) got hit with Nuzzle, a move that always inflicts Paralysis (where possible). Paralysis that would wind up completely derailing any backup plans that I had.

This is also that rare Kingambit that has Supreme Overlord; most have Defiant to deal with Abilities like Intimidate and moves like Metal Sound. I think this is the first time a Supreme Overlord Kingambit has come up in these videos of mine, so I think it’s worth an explanation: the Ability, found only on Kingambit, boosts its damage by 10% for each Pokémon that’s been knocked out among Kingambit’s teammates. Considering you only pick 3 Pokémon for single battles, that’s a maximum of a 20% increase, though unlike Defiant, it doesn’t need any triggers from the opponent to activate. In the “Victory Road” campaign for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Geeta uses a Kingambit with Supreme Overlord, though it’s not really as important to know how it works there, since you could just use a level advantage to make up the difference. (At least, until you fight her at Blueberry Academy, in which she will bring her Kingambit out last and get a 50% boost from that Ability, plus any benefits from Terastallization.)

My opponent’s second Pokémon is Iron Boulder, not Terrakion, in case that was unclear up there. Rather, this is an Iron Boulder nicknamed “Terrakion.” For the record, it’s against the rules in VGCs to nickname your Pokémon that of another Pokémon. Hence, if this person entered in this Iron Boulder, a tournament official would require タゴス to rename that Iron Boulder, if possible. (And if not possible, that Pokémon needs to be replaced with another one.)

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Indeedee Development - Mar 17 24 A

Overhazard 2024-03-18 | For this session, I decided to get the Jumpluff Team out for another run. The last time I used this team was in August 2023, and between then and now, both the Teal Mask expansion and the Indigo Disk expansion have come out. That means the battling scene has changed dramatically since then, with about 200 more Pokémon available, including about a dozen new Pokémon. I wanted to see how well the Jumpluff Team held up against that, and more importantly, what needs to be changed afterwards.

I will introduce a single battle team next month too. While it isn’t a themed one (at least not intentionally), how this team came together is a bit different than unusual for me. I’ll get to that when I introduce it. For now, I wanted to give the Jumpluff Team another go before then.

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: 钵钵鸡 (Bōbōjī)
Battle Court: Naranja Academy/Uva Academy
Music: Kanto Pokémon
My Pokémon: Alfred (Indeedee) (Male), Dandrea (Jumpluff), Eugene (Klawf)
Opponent's Pokémon: 喷火龙 (Charizard), 苍炎刃鬼 (Ceruledge), 双斧战龙 (Haxorus)

I’m going to guess that this is someone not too experienced in head-to-head battling in Pokémon. That Charizard having the highest base power moves available, regardless of drawbacks (such as accuracy) is probably a strategization error we’ve all made when we were new. I can say that I used to be like that!

Of course, with any online multiplayer system that doesn’t have a penalty for ragequits, it’s going to happen, and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is no exception to that rule. (There are penalties in Ranked, however.) In a situation such as this one though, I’ll count it as a win for myself.

Type: Single Battle
Opponent: Elijah
Battle Court: Mesagoza (Central Square)
Music: Raikou
My Pokémon: Alfred (Indeedee) (Male), Atlas (Slither Wing), Eugene (Klawf)
Opponent's Pokémon: Maushold, Stealwing (Corviknight), Bludragoon (Dragapult)

Maybe to cleanse your palate, here’s a match that DIDN’T end in a disconnection. Not sure why their Dragapult has the nickname he does though, considering the shiny variant is not blue. I would consider it more of a turquoise, closer to green than blue.

In any case, I really ought to have replaced that Red Card on Alfred (Indeedee). You can see in a battle like this that it set me at a disadvantage. I don’t remember why I had that Red Card in the first place; Alfred initially had an Eject Button.