Frame Trap - Episode 86 "Ultimate Alliance"

You should watch "Run it Back with Alex Myers & Vicious!" If you liked Cross counter. The show is really similar and made me go back to street fighter V after watching their first episode.

havik

I really enjoyed the smash/nintendo discussion, particularly Kyle's hypothesis that Nintendo doesn't like to dwell on things. I'm convinced that Nintendo knows they have a killer lineup and that's why they won't do a virtual console. They want to give all of their new titles the best chance they can get. They'd rather have people buy their $60 games than be satisfied with a few old $20 N64 games and feeling like the got their fill.

Grazooka

You should do a top ten video game comebacks

gruntelite

ONLY JUST FINISHED THE HOTAKE: Love the passion! Pretty much agree with everything everyone said. About the only thing I'll add that no one touched on is influencers and drama.. Probably another solid reason Nintendo doesn't invest in a show like that. When things are going great obviously it would be a huge boon..but when things go wrong I feel like you can do no right. I think of when Max was talking up his love of Marvel Vs Capcom Ultimate. He genuinely loves that game. The hate train was rolling too strong though and even though Max was also critical about the game he got shit like crazy. Got called a shill for Capcom just because he was bashing it. Honestly I think Max's love even probably hurt the game (sadly) as it added to the narrative around the game. Currently a similar thing is happening with Pokemon and the national dex. There's just nothing Nintendo can say to really appease fans short of 'hey we take it back--here's everything back like you wanted'. I feel like in today's environment even WITH a show like what you're describing, things can just spiral out of control. So in the end it probably just feels like a waste of time and money since even as controlling as Nintendo can be over the message they want it STILL goes out of their control.

Raven Perez

Scar and Toph do a Melee show (The Reads) that is a bit Excellent Adventuresque, FWIW. Obviously it is unaffiliated with Nintendo. (they netplay via Dolphin...) The Smash community and Nintendo have a really weird relationship, it was adversarial for a long time but it's sort of graduated to "wary acceptance" thanks to efforts from both sides over the past few years. Part of the problem (from Nintendo's perspective) is that Melee is the bedrock of that community -- the TOs, the viewer numbers, etc have been carried by that game for so long that the there's no guarantee it won't outlive Ultimate -- and as a result, it almost feels like neither side wants to get too entangled, because they both would have to give up some amount of control they have (on the community side: the ability to play the games we want by the rules we want. On the Nintendo side: which game is being pushed to the forefront). It's a weird equilibrium, and under normal circumstances it feels like one side would eventually win out... but Nintendo is an institution, and they move at an institutional pace.

Damiani has been extra on point lately! Very eloquent.

Ben, I swear you and I are kindred spirits. I go through a similar phase of wanting someone to do something like an Excellent Adventures almost every other month. Gootecks and Mike Ross were the reason I got back into fighting games in the first place with Street Fighter 4, and I will always have a soft spot for USF4 despite all the complaints that it's receiving now. The problem right now is that everything is too E-sports and less grassroots (Gootecks hates E-sports and has a shirt stating it). You have to act a certain way now, whereas, back then you had 2 guys being themselves just kicking it. With Street Fighter 5 you can tell that they weren't feeling that game (their audience weren't feeling that game), or rather, Mike Ross don't care for it (He has an AMA on the Street Fighter Reddit stating a lot of his issues with the FGC in general) yet they were forcing themselves to play it for Capcom's sake. Ultimately I think it comes down to people not having the same chemistry as Gootecks and Mike Ross and not being able to be entertaining either. I think the only other person in the FGC that can match Mike Ross in entertaining people is IFC Yipes, but those guys in New York are so busy these days. There are no personalities in any of the other fighting games outside of Tekken 7, maybe? (Aris) As far as Smash goes, Damiani is spot on. I don't know what Toph and Scar are up to these days, but I think they only did Melee at the time. I think Jessie Blu is onto something with you guys during EZA Living or turning some of your group streams into going online playing against some of your followers. One more thing about Gootecks and Mike Ross in case you want to get caught up on everything. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eook7ajKDW4) That's them explaining things without going too far into it. Sorry for the lengthy post, and sorry if it seems like I'm rambling. I love fighting games so much and will easily partake in any conversation about them. Also sorry for seeming like I'm all over the place. As of this post I'm just getting home from work and my brain is all over the place atm.

BigBoss313

Ben, your Hotake ... if you listen back to this portion about Excellent Adventures you are describing a big portion of Easy Livin and EZA tournaments! I love when your instructing the others how to play the supers and specials for the fighter characters they pick. Maybe EZA could fill the hole you are seeing with a weekly hour/two hour show with 2-4 allies on the couch streaming a fighting game. I know you wish they could get support from the game makers but I know your community would love a show like this. Just a thought =) L&R

JessieBlu

Boy what a great Hottake. Ben, this was definitely from the heart. I can tell it’s something important to you.

RanchoCucamunga

Immediately youtubed the Shadow Bringers Force your Way that Damiani mentioned. What a track! Great episode, as usual. Love the work, L&R to everyone at the Allies.

Kenji Fuse

I enjoyed the episode, but the Borderlands section was painful to watch. As someone with 500+ hours on the PC version of Borderlands, it is safe to say that the enemies aren't "a bunch of dummies who just charge at you". There are many different kind of enemies that make each encounter interesting (and especially; fun). For example, goliaths get extremely pissed off when you shoot them in the head, causing them to go berserk and hit everyone in their path, including his buddies which results in hilarious moments. Or guys with different elemental weapons which can be exploited by shooting the tanks at their back causing it to explode and cause all kinds of havoc. Or to switch things up, start gambling because that one goliath had a slot machine on his back for whatever reason. Gearbox knows how to keep things fun and engaging. Theres a reason this is, after all those years, still a very populair game in the PC. Considering Kyle admitted that he was extremely overleveled throughout the entire core game, I'm convinced he just missed out on the fun of the combat because he was one-shotting all over the place. And once he finally got caught up to a more balanced playing field, he got annoyed because the enemies didn't drop after a single shot anymore because he wasnt used to the that. Skipping every fight when that happened just seems rediclous to me. Find just one good gun and you're good to go for a while (unless its newgane+, which I doubt) Also, guns aren't just "numbers". There is strategy involved here, especially during newgame+. Elemental weapons become very, very important and carrying multiple elementals in your load out becomes crucial. You have to adapt at each encounter to make sure you're using to right weapon. Experimenting with all the strange, bizar and ridiculous guns make that extra fun. Fighting against a bunch of robots? Time to use that weird Corrosion Grenade that I picked up earlier. Oh wait, what is this? A grenade that turns my grenades into chained lighting? This changes everything! The game design of Borderlands 2 goes deeper than he thinks. And that bothers me more than it probably should.

Wesley de Waart

This was not on my radar but now it is. Thank you.

Marble Match

Correction: (I know Frame Trap doesn't do corrections, but for Kyle's knowledge...) You -can- change your character in other peoples' online games in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. When at a SHIELD point, on the lobby screen (where everyone has to hit start to ready up) you can hit the X button and then select change hero. From there you get your character select screen. It's definitely your characters too from your file. All of your progress in your friend's game will come back with you to your file.

Ben... I'm positive it's already on your radar.. but River City Girls. Beat 'em up GOLD

Raven Perez