Three years after its release on Nintendo Switch and PC, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is headed to PlayStation… 4. Capcom announced that the turn-based spin-off of the popular monster hunting series will be releasing on PlayStation’s previous-gen console, leaving PS5 owners to play it through the console’s backwards compatibility features.
Revealed during today’s Capcom Highlights stream, which previously revealed Dragon’s Dogma 2’s character creator, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is slated to arrive on PS4 on June 14. It will be available as a special set with the remastered version of the original Monster Hunter Stories, which is slated to release the same day.
A preorder bonus includes a special Kamura Maiden outfit for Ena, with additional bonuses available by connecting it with a Monster Hunter Rise save. It will also be available in a deluxe edition featuring various costumes and other items.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin was first released on Nintendo Switch and PC back in 2021. We called it “great” in our review, writing, “Minor oversights and frustrations certainly wore away at me over the 80+ hours I spent with Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin — during its campaign and beyond — but the journey was well worth taking despite the frequent grains of sand in my shoe.
“Its mercifully free, gacha-like monster hatching loop is always exciting, and its combat and customization are both accessible but still intricate and rewarding. Its story is enjoyable if a bit cliche, but exploring this gorgeous world from the backs of my favorite monsters is an absolute delight.”
Since its release, fans have wondered when Monster Hunter Stories 2 would be making its way to PlayStation, and now they don’t have to wonder anymore. But more than a few expressed surprise over Capcom’s decision to limit it to an exclusive PS5 release.
“PS4 still going strong I see,” one commenter quipped on social media. Another observed publishers are “holding onto these decade-old consoles til the heat death of the universe.”
Monster Hunter Stories 2 is far from the only game headed to PS4 in 2024, though. MLB The Show 24, Unicorn Overlord, and numerous other releases are still coming out on PS4, which was first released back in 2013 and has sold more than 117 million units. One way or another, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is heading to PlayStation, and you’ll still be able to play it on PS5 even if it’s technically for PS4.
As for the original Monster Hunter Stories, the former 3DS exclusive is slated to release on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC on June 14. You can read our original review right here.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
The LEGO Animal Crossing sets bring Animal Crossing: New Horizons to life in plastic brick form, featuring minifigures of some of the series’ most beloved characters at home and around their island.
The first wave of sets launched in March 2024, with Julian’s Birthday Party among them. This is the cheapest set in the range (at launch), and will therefore be an attractive option for Animal Crossing fans looking to dip their toe into this Lego pool without shelling out $180 to buy the lot.
Team Ninja has become synonymous with best-in-class action gameplay. From Ninja Gaiden to Nioh 2, the fundamental act of swinging a sword or spear (or any number of deadly weapons) is reliably complex and satisfying, often with a challenging-yet-rewarding learning curve.
That Rise of the Ronin carries on this tradition is hardly a surprise—but, their latest work on PlayStation 5 offers so much more than satisfying combat. Team Ninja jumped katana-first into the crowded open-world space, and delivers something uniquely compelling.
I had a chance to play the game’s opening hours, and am excited to share details about the eclectic sights, sounds, combat, and traversal of Bakumatsu-era Yokohama.
A whole new world
After finishing the linear prologue, the events of which I won’t spoil here, I soon found myself thrust into the game’s vast open world—a first for Team Ninja. Armed with a katana, Western-style saber, musket, and trusty steed, I took the long route to Yokohama, scouring the countryside for crafting materials, climbing rooftops to pet cats (one of the game’s hidden collectibles), and freeing villages from the clutches of bloodthirsty bandits. Rise of the Ronin does a fantastic job of always keeping something curious in view—finish one side activity, and there’s usually another just out of reach to catch your eye.
Of course, the bustling port city of Yokohama is the centerpiece of this open-world environment (and, later, Edo and Kyoto), and it’s here that the game fully comes into its own. Yokohama in the late 19th century is caught between worlds, having recently been subject to American “gunboat diplomacy.” This is evident in the city’s eclectic mix of influences: guns and swords; top hats and kimono; and a fascinating tapestry of traditional Japanese dwellings and imposing brick structures.
The upshot is that this place is dense with opportunities to explore, and Team Ninja gives the player several tools to take advantage of the city’s verticality. Climbing up (or using a grappling hook) to scale buildings, and then using your prototype glider to soar across the rooftops, is a breeze. Rise of the Ronin drew me in for its uniquely textured world as much as the game’s razor-sharp combat.
I also acquired lodging in the city, where I was able to not only hang out, chat, and give gifts to visiting companions, but also rearrange furniture, customize my ronin’s appearance, and freely reset skill points.
Parry and riposte
For those familiar with Team Ninja’s recent run of modern action classics, Rise of the Ronin places a much greater emphasis on the duelitself. The game achieves this by prioritizing parries, called Countersparks, that drain your enemy’s Ki (stamina), which in turn makes them vulnerable to gruesome critical hits. Optimal play seems to emphasize staying within striking distance and timing your opponents’ attacks to counter, rather than the attack-and-dodge routine typical in games of this type. The combination of metal-on-metal clangs and bright sparks flying gives these duels a very cinematic feel—as does the speed with which you can slay your foes following successful Countersparks. Critical hits are varied and brutal, replete with detached limbs and massive blood sprays, making Counterpsarks worth the significant risk to pull off.
Some additional gameplay details that stuck out to me:
● Gruesome stealth kills and critical hits will terrify your opponents’ companions, thus lowering their Ki and making them easier to dispatch. In a similar way, slaying the more resilient enemy leaders first will lower the Ki of their weaker henchmen.
● The grappling hook can be used to hurl explosive barrels and other hazards into your opponents, as well as pull archers down from irritating vantage points (among other uses).
● Parrying incoming bullets sets your sword aflame, giving your attacks a temporary damage boost.
● Rise of the Ronin affords the player a ton of flexibility in how they approach combat encounters, whether you want to whittle down the horde by landing headshots from afar, or first prey on vulnerable sentries with stealth strikes. You can even carry out surprise attacks while gliding overhead.
● On certain missions, you’re able to bring along companions with whom you’ve established Bonds. While they will of course attack on their own, you can also take control of these other characters as you wish.
I also got to experience two of the game’s Combat Styles, movesets for each weapon that unlock and evolve as you progress through the game (and there appear to be dozens to discover). Each Combat Style holds advantages and disadvantages against certain weapons, and you can swap them on the fly to give you a leg up against your foes.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the game’s strength, dexterity, intelligence, and skill trees can also unlock new dialogue options. In one instance, I was able to intimidate a group of pesky officials before initiating a brawl, consequently lowering their Ki gauges at the start of the fight.
Flight of the Ronin
My time with Rise of the Ronin concluded with an aerial base infiltration, gliding through the air with three companions to take on a boss and retrieve inventor Igashichi Iizuka’s rudimentary camera. This climactic mission challenged me to use all the tools at my disposal, flinging environmental hazards and picking off enemies at range before facing off in a duel against a club-wielding brute. But before putting the controller down, standing among the bloody wreckage of my first major battle, I took a moment to pet a stray cat.
This is just a slice of the adventure players can unsheathe in Rise of the Ronin when it hits PS5 on March 22, 2024.
Rise of the Ronin has been a blast so far. While not a graphical stunner like Ghost of Tsushima, I have been very impressed with the depth and sheer number of things to do. The story is compelling and gives you motivation to keep going to see what’s next. There’s plenty of gear you can acquire to make a stronger build. Characters you meet during your journey will join your crew and fight alongside you. There’s a transmogrification system that lets you customize your appearance while also having the best gear possible equipped. And you can pet cats. But more importantly than all that, the core gameplay loop felt like a mix of Assassin’s Creed 2’s exploration and storytelling with a smidgen of Ninja Gaiden’s combat, and a dash of Dark Souls’s difficulty. In other words, this recipe seems to be a perfect mix of gameplay ingredients that I’ve been loving.
The main storyline of Rise of the Ronin is all about a duo referred to as Blade Twins. In this case it’s believed that the duo are a brother and sister who nearly suffered a terrible fate at a young age as their village burned to the ground. Instead, they were saved and recruited into the Veiled Edge as Blade Twins. Highly skilled with the sword, Blade Twins train and grow together as they master their skills.
One of your first tests of skill has you infiltrating the ship of historical figure Matthew C. Perry to steal a secret message and assassinate Perry after doing so. This section does a good job of showing off a few stealth elements of Ronin, and also showcases combat with the footage PlayStation sent us to use for this preview. Combat will require precise timing for counters, and you’ll need to pay close attention to your Ki gauge, which is basically a stamina meter. Getting hit too much while blocking will deplete your Ki. But parrying your opponent or damaging them will result in loss of their Ki. Deplete all their Ki and they’ll be left open for a devastating attack.
I could have murdered him right there, but I instead chose to spare Gonzo.
This back and forth is a lot of fun in practice, but it’s not easy to hit that perfect timing. Each encounter also allows you the opportunity to use stealth to infiltrate an area and take out a few enemies without being seen. But in almost every situation there will be higher-powered foes that will require you to know the combat basics to defeat them and move on. So while I built a character with a speech trait that opened up some unique dialogue options for me, there’s no escaping those necessary combat beats that Ronin does quite well.
After this introductory section, Ronin really opens up. Our preview window promised two hours of playable content, but it turned out it was much more than that. We were given access to a large open world that included countryside towns and open fields, as well as city spaces with different types of missions located at each. In these sections you can choose to take on story quests, side quests, customize your Longhouse, or play mini-games – along with other activities I probably missed. The provided footage we’re allowed to use for the preview does a good job showcasing a smattering of options available to players, but even this feels like it’s just a glimpse into what’s available, as I haven’t even played some of what you’re seeing yet.
One notable omission in the footage was a story beat where I fought alongside the Eccentric Ronin to gain his allegiance in one of the Battles. In our preview, Battle Missions allowed us to gain ally allegiance as part of core story missions. These are fun excurious that have bonus objectives like “Defeat 3 Formidable Foes” and will have an impact on the overall story you wind up experiencing. The main objective in this case was to defeat Gonzo, and decide his fate before looting some forged documents that would complete the quest. I could have murdered him right there, but I instead chose to spare Gonzo.
Fast forward to the open world section and I met a character in the middle of nowhere asking me to deal with a person who swindled him out of some money. Who did it turn out to be? None other than Gonzo, who is getting into trouble again – even after I spared him earlier. This time, I can finish him for real or have him join my crew. Had I chosen to kill him off, I would have been rewarded with some loot, but if I didn’t, I got an extra helper to fight beside me in the open world. I’ll take that over a few trinkets any day. I discovered this because I reloaded my save just to see what would happen had I chosen the other option.
And while I had really been having fun with Rise of the Ronin up until this point, that was the moment that really solidified how much I was liking this game. Great combat. An intriguing story. Decisions that matter. Tons of stuff to do. And you can pet cats? I’m sold.
My decision to spare Gonzo would pay off too, because in the upcoming story mission fight with Mochisuke Kira I now had three allies going into battle instead of just two: Myself, that Eccentric Ronin, and Gonzo were an unstoppable trio ready to take Kira down. And that’s just in the opening missions. I am tremendously excited to see who else I can recruit into my group.
My decision to spare Gonzo would pay off too, because in the upcoming story mission fight with Mochisuke Kira I now had three allies going into battle instead of just two.
These were the core missions that we got to experience in our preview, but there’s a lot more to do. While running in the open world you might come upon towns that are overrun with troublemakers that you’ll need to dispatch to restore order. There are mini-games like the gatling gun and firearm range that was teased in the footage Sony sent over, or the glider mini-games that challenge you to break all the targets floating in the sky. And while they didn’t show much of it in the video we’re allowed to use, there’s an entire gear system at play that encourages you to learn different weapons and use tools like the sub weapon class that includes things like throwing stars, rifles, bows, and more for combat to get a leg up in battle.
Rise of the Ronin is poised to give players a lot to dive into, and while it doesn’t quite live up to PlayStation’s first-party open-world exclusives in the graphics department, the developers at Team Ninja has focused on what’s important: an engaging story that has a great hook to keep you exploring, a fun gameplay system that will keep you striving to perfect your skills, and all of that is found alongside a smattering of fun activities to challenge yourself with. I can’t wait to see how it all comes together when Ronin launches later this month.
It seems only fitting that Ghostbusters has become the movie franchise that refuses to die, returning for a smattering of so-so (at best) reboots and sequels on screen and elsewhere being relegated to another rich vein of nostalgia to be mined for cash. Speaking of, Destiny 2 is getting Ghostbusters cosmetics next week!
On its surface, there is no denying the visual appeal of Root by Leder games – with its adorable woodland critters adorning the box and storybook-esque art style. But, it may surprise you that under its innocent facade is, in fact, a deep and occasionally cutthroat strategy board game game with complex factions to choose from, with each one playing drastically different from the others. Root is a challenging game to learn, with each faction playing differently from one another and there being a lot to keep track of (especially in larger groups). But with its complexity comes depth and avenues for strategy.
If you just snag the base game of Root, you will know pretty quickly—within a few playthroughs—whether it is a game for you or not. (You can also check out our Root board game review to see if it sounds like your kind of hting). This buyer’s guide highlights and goes into detail about all the various ways you can expand and further enrich your Root experience with new factions, mechanics, and ways to play!
The Base Game
Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right
MSRP: $60.00 USD
2-4 Players (best with 3-4)
60-90 min.
Ages 14+
Root was first released back in 2018 and impressed players with its aesthetic that masks its intricate asymmetric gameplay. This base set of Root includes four factions that players can choose from – the Marquise de Cat, the Eyrie Dynasty, the Woodland Alliance, and the lone traveling Vagabond – with varying player counts preferring specific pairings for the best experience. You will need this box in order to take advantage of any of the following additional content, so consider this your starting point.
For Those Who Want To Play Alone Or Team Up Together
Root: The Clockwork Expansion 1 & 2
Contents (Clockwork 1 – REQUIRES BASE GAME)
Law of Robotics Instruction Booklet
12 Priority Markers
31 Cards (12 Difficulties, 16 Traits, 3 Vagabots)
4 Faction Boards
MSRP: $40.00 USD
1-4 Players (best with 3-4)
60-90 min.
Ages 10+
Contents (Clockwork 2 – REQUIRES BASE GAME AND ONE OR BOTH OF RIVERFOLK OR UNDERWORLD EXPANSIONS)
If there are any “must have ” expansions for Root, I would argue that it would be the Clockwork Expansions – at least the first one. These special expansions allow you to play Root as either a solo experience or a cooperative one, with the addition of “AI ”-controlled factions. The original Clockwork expansion includes robot versions of the base game’s factions – the Mechanical Marquise 2.0, Electrical Eyrie, Automated Alliance, and the Vagabot – while the second box includes factions from other expansions – the Logical Lizards, Riverfolk Robots, Cogwheel Corvids, Drillbit Duchy, and additional Vagabot options.
For Those Who Want More Faction Options
Root: The Riverfolk Expansion
MSRP: $40.00 USD
1-6 Players (best with 3-4)
90-120 min.
Ages 14+
Contents:
2 New Factions
3 New Vagabond Variants
1 “AI” Controlled Faction
Lizard cultists and merchant otters have entered the woodlands of Root with the Riverfolk expansion. In addition to the new ways to play Root that both of these groups provide (nothing like some ritual sacrifice and capitalism), this expansion – along with the others that add new factions – increases the possible player count from four to six. The Riverfolk expansion also includes the original version of the Mechanical Marquise, allowing for solo play, but this “AI” faction was revamped and retooled to be better in the Clockwork Expansion.
Root: The Underworld Expansion
MSRP: $50.00 USD
2-6 Players (best with 3-4)
90-120 min.
Ages 14+
Contents:
2 New Factions
1 Double-sided Map Board
If you thought that things above ground in Root were hectic, just imagine how things are going underground! The Underworld expansion adds in two new factions to the Root mix – the moles of the Underground Duchy and the secretive crows of the Corvid Conspiracy. The Duchy can amass forces like the Marquise while mixing some of the political balancing shtick of the Eyrie, while the crows tend to work from the shadows – much like the Woodland Alliance agents – but with a bit more of a violent twist. Even if you and your players don’t feel like using the new factions, this expansion includes two new maps for you to wage your critter wars in.
Root: The Marauder Expansion
MSRP: $50.00 USD
2-6 Players (best with 3-4)
90-120 min.
Ages 14+
Contents:
2 New Factions
4 Hirelings
Advanced Setup cards
Badger Knight Templars seeking relics and angry rat hordes are what you have to look forward to in the Marauder Expansion with the Keepers in Iron and the Lord of the Hundreds. Whether it is attempting to bring your latest relic back to your keep safely or managing the mood of the Lord of the Rats, both of these factions feel especially unique. Marauders adds two new systems that you can apply to your normal Root games, too – the Advanced Setup rules and Hirelings. For experienced Root players, the “Advanced Setup” cards will make the game even more of a wild challenge to contend with new options and restrictions. Hirelings provide players with recruitable units – from a faction not present in the game – that have specific actions that can be used. Representative hirelings from the original four base factions (Cats, Birds, Alliance, Vagabond) are included in this box.
If you fell in love with the hirelings in the Marauder expansion, then good news – you can get even more of them with these boxes! These various boxes will not only give you representatives from the other factions but brand new ones as well like the Stag and the bandits! If you love the hirelings mechanic, then these are worth adding to your Root collection.
Small Packs – Landmarks Pack, The Exiles and Partisans Deck, The Vagabond Pack
Landmarks Pack
MSRP: $10.00
Contents:
Wooden Landmark tokens
rulebook
The Exiles and Partisans Deck
MSRP: $10.00
Contents:
54-card deck
The Vagabond Pack
MSRP: $10.00
Contents:
7 Wooden Vagabond tokens
3 new Vagabond types (Harrier, Ronin, Adventurer)
3 cardboard tokens (coin, hammer, boots)
These three smaller add-on packs won’t drastically change your Root experience, but if you aren’t in the market to drop much money and still want to change things up with the game, these can add a little spice into the mix for a relatively low cost. The Landmarks pack lets you stop at various places to take advantage of different benefits, such as bartering items or making special items. The Exiles and Partisans deck replaces the default deck that comes with Root and includes some new cards that focus more on persistent effects and more – this pack is a quick and easy way to change things up without having to learn a brand new faction or system. Lastly, for those Vagabond fans out there, the Vagabond pack adds three brand new choices to pick from, in addition to providing you with unique wooden tokens representing each possible option.
For Those Who Can’t Get Enough Root
Root: The RPG
MSRP: $39.99 (Core Rule Book)
3-5 Players
2-4 hours
If you find yourself in love with the world and factions of Root, you can keep your adventures going with Root: The RPG from Magpie Games. This tabletop RPG will allow you and your friends to create your own furry vagabonds and experience the Woodland in a whole new way! Roll some dice and start exploring.
Having a hard time nailing down your game group to get some in-person Root going? Or do you just feel like testing your skills with players far and wide? Either way, studio Dire Wolf has created a wonderful digital version of Root that lets you play many of your favorite factions locally, online, or against the computer. This digital option is a great way not only to teach the game but also to play with those friends who can’t get away from their house for a game night.
Currently, all expansions, with the exception of Clockwork 2 and Marauders, are available.
Bottom Line
While Root may not be everyone’s cup of Root Tea, there’s a reason that it currently stands at the 30 spot on Board Game Geek’s board game list. It can be time-consuming – and at times confusing – figuring out what the different factions can do, how to counter them, and keeping track of what the other players are doing – but it still has a charm that few other games can match. With a plethora of expansions and additional content available, fans of Root have no shortage of woodland goodness to dive into if you and your game group fall in love with the game.
Despite being the game that pioneered and popularised the battle royale shooter, it seems that PUBG: Battlegrounds has increasingly ended up left in the shadow cast by Fortnite’s ridiculous popularity, Lego and Eminem collabs, and big, flashy season changes. It seems that the earlier battle royale game is planning to borrow at least one leaf from its rival’s playbook this year, though.
Update: Capcom’s Monster Hunter series is celebrating its 20th anniversary on 11th March 2024. And to celebrate, we’ve decided to overhaul our Best Monster Hunter Game list into a reader-ranked format. That means you can influence the ranking!
Not only that, we’ve also changed the list to focus on Nintendo-only releases. That means no more World and OG PS2 entry — simply the finest Monster Hunters on Nintendo consoles.
Hey Xbox Insiders! We have a new Xbox Update Preview releasing to the Alpha ring today.
It’s important we note that some updates made to these preview OS builds include background improvements that ensure a quality and stable build for Xbox consoles. We will continue to post these release notes, even when the noticeable changes to the UI are minimal or behind the scenes, so you’re aware when updates are coming to your device.
Details can be found below!
System Update Details
OS Version: XB_FLT_2404ZN25398.4004.240308-0140
Available: 2 p.m. PT – March 11, 2024
Mandatory: 3 a.m. PT – March 12, 2024
Experience Changes
Please be aware this Xbox Update Preview includes the following experience or feature updates.
Microsoft Edge – Sidebar
To improve stability, all first-party hub apps including notably, Copilot Chat, Outlook, Teams, Games, and the ability to add websites to the sidebar as well as the section in Settings are being removed. The shopping and browser essential features are still available.
Fixes Included
Thanks to all the great feedback Xbox Insiders provide and the hard work of Xbox engineers, we are happy to announce the following fixes have been implemented with this build:
Accessibility
Fixes to improve narrator readout in the guide when viewing friends and making changes to the friendship.
Capture & Share
Fixes to address an unexpected error in the guide when viewing recent captures.
Network Transfer
Fixes to address an unexpected error that could occur when initiating a network transfer if the content already exists.
Settings – Subscriptions
Fixes to address an unexpected error that could occur when viewing subscriptions.
System
Various updates to properly reflect local languages across the console.
While known issues may have been listed in previous Xbox Insider Release Notes, they are not being ignored! However, it may take Xbox engineers more time to find a solution. If you experience any of these issues, we ask that you please follow any guidance provided and file feedback with Report a Problem.
Audio
Some users have reported experiencing intermittent audio issues across the dashboard, games, and apps.
Troubleshooting: If you do experience issues, please confirm your TV and all other equipment have the latest firmware installed. If you are unsure, you may need to contact the manufacturer for assistance. You can also find additional troubleshooting tips here: Troubleshoot audio on your Xbox console.
Feedback: If you continue to experience issues after applying the latest firmware and troubleshooting further, please submit feedback via Report a Problem when you are experiencing the issue. Use the “Reproduce with advanced diagnostics” option, then select the category “Console experiences” and “Console Audio Output Issues”.
Note: Be sure to include as much information as possible about the issue, when it started, your setup, troubleshooting you have completed, and any additional information that will help us reproduce the issue.
Networking
We are investigating reports of an issue where the console may not connect to the network immediately on boot. If you experience this, be sure to report the issue via Report a Problem as soon as you’re able.
Workaround: Wait a minute or two for the connection to establish. If your console still hasn’t connected, restart your Xbox from the Power Center or the guide then file feedback with Report a Problem. Learn more about restarting here: How to restart or power cycle your Xbox console.
As always, be sure to use Report a problem to keep us informed of any issues you encounter. We may not be able to respond to everyone, but the data we’ll gather is crucial to finding a resolution.
If you’re an Xbox Insider looking for support, please visit the community subreddit. Official Xbox staff, moderators, and fellow Xbox Insiders are there to help with your concerns.
When posting to the subreddit, please look through the most recent posts to see if your issue has already been posted or addressed. We always recommend adding to existing threads with the same issue before posting a new one. This helps us support you the best we can! Also, don’t forget to use “Report a Problem” before posting – the information shared in both places helps us understand your issue better.
Thank you to every Xbox Insider in the subreddit today and welcome to the community if you’re just joining us! We love that it has become such a friendly and community-driven hub of conversation and support.
For more information regarding the Xbox Insider Program follow us on Twitter. Keep an eye on future Xbox Insider Release Notes for more information regarding your Xbox Update Preview ring!
A long time ago, dinosaurs walked the earth. A little bit later, we made a movie about bringing them back into the modern world. Then, years later we made games about that movie. Now you can play a collection of those games, by grabbing a key for the Jurassic Park Games Classic Collection, which we are giving out as part of IGN Plus.
IGN Plus Monthly Game: Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection
The Jurassic Park Games Collection is a curated group of games based on the classic film, Jurassic Park (which is, in turn, based on the novel by Michael Crichton).
Games in this collection include:
Jurassic Park 8-BIT
Jurassic Park PORTABLE
Jurassic Park 16-BIT
Jurassic Park GENESIS
Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues 16-BIT
Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues PORTABLE
Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition GENESIS
Whether you have nostalgia for these games or you’re looking to jump in for the first time, this collection of seven games spanning the 8 and 16-bit genres lets you hunt, escape, and even become cool dinos, which is what I think we all want, if we’re being honest with ourselves.
Developer Interview – Josh Fairhurst (CEO/Co-Founder – Limited Run Games)
The team at Limited Run is steadily building more quality of life improvements like rewind, save states, screen filters, music players, and more as they continue re-releasing games through their Carbon engine, making it easier and more fun for players to experience games from every era of the medium.
For this interview, I spoke with Josh Fairhurst, the Executive Producer on the Jurassic Park Games Collection. He worked to secure the licensing for both the software and IP, dealing with both sides to make this collection possible. He spoke about the difficulties of locating source code for games from the 1990’s, an era when preservation was not something the industry thought about, as well as the passion that drives the team at Limited Run.
We spoke about retro games, building collections, the importance of creating and saving physical copies, how Limited Run determines which projects to work on, and a whole lot more.
I hope you enjoy the games, and this excerpt from our interview. Cheers!
Brian Barnett: I am a huge fan of physical games. I just got an Analogue Pocket and I’ve really enjoyed going back to a bunch of Game Boy-era games I hadn’t played before. I’m playing Dawn of Souls: Final Fantasy II right now. I like the ability to do that, and that the games Limited Run works on get similar ‘second opportunities at life.’ What goes into the team’s decision to work on a project, whether it be re-releasing something that’s older or partnering with developers who are working on new things?
Josh Fairhurst: There’s a lot of things that go into it. I would say the primary thing is us having a lot of passion for whatever we work on. Somebody on the team has got to be passionate for it, or it’s not really going to turn out well. That’s the number one thing we look at. But sometimes there are other factors where… ‘this is a really big game,’ or it’s culturally significant. For whatever reason, a game that we have coming out soon is a remaster of Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties. Obviously, no one on our team is passionate about the worst game of all time. But there is something about it that is historically significant. It is the worst game of all time, that is historically significant. So we chose to re-release that. We’re like, ‘let’s wrap this in all sorts of context and documentary footage and whatever, presented the best way possible.’
And then sometimes for me, there’s like a challenge to releasing games that interests me. A lot of the time, it’s licensed titles, where you have to find whoever has the software rights, whoever has the IP rights, and then you have to tie all those things together. Sometimes it can go deeper than that. Maybe there’s music, and that has to be licensed… and I find that to be a very interesting puzzle that I like solving. So sometimes we’ll re-release the title and people will be like, ‘I’m not sure why you re-released that.’ But it is because I wanted the challenge of figuring out the IP puzzle.
They may have one or two licensed [music] tracks that you then have to go back to the recording industry places to try to license. There could be likenesses inside the games that have to be re-licensed. Voice acting. There’s one particular game we’re working on where we’ve had to go back to every voice actor and get permission to re-release it. So this is a game where I’ve had to get, I think, 9 to 10 contracts signed by different people or organizations just to make happen. I had to go to the composer, all the voice actors, the software holder, the IP holders, so it’s this huge list.
There’s any number of complications that can arise. And beyond that, there’s also code within the game that could have been licensed, licensed technologies that are in the game. You have to go back and figure out, ‘Scaleform, do they have a perpetual license to that? Maybe not.’ Those kinds of things have to be looked into. So there’s a lot of things you have to ‘cross your t’s and dot your i’s’ on to get these games back out. And it can be really challenging…
Brian: I definitely respect that. “Why did you climb that mountain?” Well… because it was there. I wanted to see if I could do it.
Josh: There was a GDC talk by a guy that I work with a lot, Frank Cifaldi, at the Video Game History Foundation. He said that you would never see a re-release of Home Improvement on the SNES, because of the license. He was like, ‘it’ll just never happen.’ And I took that as a challenge. Now my ultimate dream is figuring out ‘how can I re-release Home Improvement on the SNES?’ Nobody wants it, everyone’s gonna be like, ‘Why are you doing that?’ But for me, it’s the challenge. It’s like, I want to make something happen that nobody else will bother to make happen.
But there’s also an aspect to that, that I think is kind of interesting. These are the games that most people assume will be permanently out of print. And I think that there is something to be said about trying to make every game accessible again, in whatever way you can. And that is one of the things we strive to do. We want to bring these games back and make some of these games accessible again. On the physical side, when we’re choosing something that’s ‘digital only’ to bring out, the biggest thing that goes into that is our passion for it, because we want to be able to have that game in a package so that 30 or 40 years down the line when the servers are gone, that game we love will be on some kind of physical media to play and enjoy. So when Analogue, in 2050, makes a Switch that needs Switch cards to go inside of it, we’ll still be able to play these games that we love.
Brian: And that’s great. Then that does make preservation easier as well. Even if an individual wasn’t able to grab one of those copies from your runs, it’s okay, because it’s in the world, for the archives.
Josh: The way that I look at it is; I will never make the claim that we are a ‘be-all, end-all’ solution for preservation, because we are not. But I think on the digital side, a lot of these games are out there for people to download and get, and they’re backed up in the digital sense. But sometimes those links go down, the torrents go down, and you can’t get these files anymore. And that’s the point where having a single physical backup somewhere comes in clutch, because you can then take that thing, you can download it again, and you can restore that digital backup. And it’s kind of like your backup for preservation. It ensures that there’s always something, somewhere that can make that thing accessible again. Even if there’s only one copy, it’s still backed up somewhere.
Brian: Yeah, that’s happened in the film industry. You may have heard this, but the film ‘Nosferatu’ was actually ordered to be destroyed. But because there were a few copies that survived, we can still watch that movie. It became incredibly influential, even though it was supposed to be expunged from the annals of film history. I don’t know that there’s a bigger argument for something like that.
Josh: People know what it is, even if you don’t care about the movie itself. Even like my daughter, she’s nine, she has watched the SpongeBob episode with Nosferatu. She knows who that is, there’s a cultural significance to it.
Brian: On that same note, I know there have been some remasters, or collections of games that have come out where it was unsure whether the original code actually even still existed. Have you worked on projects like that, where you had to figure that out?
Josh: I mean, that happens super often. That’s why our Carbon engine is built around emulation technology. Because it’s so rare to find source code from the 90s. Very few people thought about keeping that, because the way that games were looked at is, they were products, they were coming out that one time, for that console. Nobody thought, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna re-release this in 20 years.’ Nobody knew that would be a business, so people were not saving source code. So the most effective way to be able to bring back these classic games is through emulation. Because with that, you only need a physical cartridge that can then be taken and dumped. And then we get the ROM that way, pop it in the carbon engine, and we’re able to re-format and re-release on modern platforms. But I would say it’s very common that we go to re-release the game and the source code no longer exists, just because nobody was thinking about storing it.
Brian: We’ve talked about building collections, and the struggles that can go into those. What about this Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection? Specifically, how did this come about? I imagine it wouldn’t be too hard to find somebody on the team who was passionate about Jurassic Park.
Josh: Yeah, I mean, I grew up in the 90s, I was going into my first year of elementary school when the first movie came out. And it was everything to me for that year. All my school supplies were Jurassic Park. I was obsessed, and I still love Jurassic Park to this day. So in my mind, one of the first IPS I wanted to work with to re-release as a collection was Jurassic Park. And this also worked with that challenge aspect that excited me, where I wanted to get as many games as we could in this collection. And there were multiple parties for that. There was Ocean Software and Sega.
Sega in particular was a pretty big challenge, because this was a game produced by their American division. And most of the documentation for that is really difficult to find now, because that’s all the way back in 1994, it was a licensed title, which made it even more… I don’t want to say ‘expendable,’ but this stuff was kind of difficult to figure out. So that was an interesting challenge to tackle and approach. So there’s a lot of aspects to this that really appealed to me. But the biggest part of it was just that passion that I had for Jurassic Park.
Brian:You mentioned wanting to get as many Jurassic Park games in here as possible. We’ve been talking about licensing, and other things that go into the re-release process, but I imagine some of those hurdles are just too high to clear. What goes into determining which games make it into a collection and which ones don’t?
Josh: Yeah, you’ve got one, one side, the licensers need to approve and be comfortable with everything. Like you said, some license titles didn’t necessarily do the most justice to the IP. So sometimes, you may have something that’s just too far from what the IP is now, for that to actually even be up for consideration. That wasn’t really the case with Jurassic Park. But it is the case with a lot of other IPs, where we’ll run into where it’s like, you know, this game just doesn’t meet what the license or would want from a game with that license anymore.
Brian: Quality-wise or subject-matter-wise?
Josh: Subject-matter-wise. I’m trying to think of like a specific example, off the top of my head, but I can’t come up with any right now. But I know there have been some issues in the past where I’ve looked at something and it’s just too far of a shift from what the IP is now to what it was back then. We didn’t actually try to license this game for the Jurassic Park Collection, because I think the rights to it are with Activision and I didn’t even know how to approach that, but there was a Jurassic Park game for the 3DO called Jurassic Park Interactive. I have a feeling that if I tried to include that, it’s just way too far off from the current standards for the brand. That’s a ‘quality wise’ thing, because it’s got all sorts of corny FMV in it… it’s very early 90s. It’s cheesy and it doesn’t present in the best way possible. That’s an example of some of the challenges we have sometimes.
What we really try to look for is games that present the IP in the best way possible, and that the most people played and most people enjoyed. There’s budget things that we have to consider, because every time you license one game, typically you’ve got to pay an advance or something to secure the rights. So we can’t go hog wild and include everything, because of that. But we try to be pragmatic and select the things that we really feel like are going to have the best impact.
It’s easier when all the software is under one publisher. If all of these games had been under Ocean, it would be much easier for us to get it, because all those rights would go with the same person, so you can go to them and make a bundle deal for it. But when you’re starting to include, you know, 2, 3, 4 companies, it gets really difficult because you have to start splitting the revenue share, splitting your advance, and at the end of the day, everyone wants it to be worth their time. So it becomes expensive in that regard, and difficult. But with Jurassic Park, I felt it was really important to make sure that we had the kind of pinnacle, keystone games, which I felt like were the SNES and the Genesis games. The Genesis games in particular are the ones that I grew up with. I remember playing them a lot because you can play as a velociraptor. And as a kid, nothing was cooler than getting to run around as a velociraptor.
Brian: One final thing, before we go. A lot of people are going to be checking this out, getting ready to jump into the collection. Is there anything you would tell them before they jump in?
Josh: Yeah, so you wouldn’t necessarily think this, but I think one of the most playable games in the collection today, that’s very approachable and… I don’t want to say easier on the difficulty curve, but… ‘not frustrating’ is Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues on GameBoy. I think that’s one of the best games in the collection by today’s standards. I think a lot of people would overlook it, because it’s one of the two Game Boy games in the collection, which I think people would look at and be like, ‘Oh, those are probably disposable spin-offs,’ but it’s legitimately really good. It’s a side-scrolling platformer, but it’s a lot of fun. And I was surprised by that one.
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Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more for IGN & GameSpot. You can get your fix of his antics on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Bluesky, & Backloggd, & check out his fantastic video game talk show, The Platformers, on Backloggd &Apple Podcasts.
