Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls w/ Moose

In this episode of 'I Am A Nerd,' the host is joined by a recurring guest, Moose, as they delve into multiple geeky topics. The conversation begins with nostalgic recollections of previous podcasts and recent tech challenges. They reminisce about Moose's trip to Japan, discussing culture, tourism, and potential challenges of living there. Transitioning smoothly, the duo examines the Marvel Toko Fighting Souls closed beta on PS5, highlighting their characters, favorite stages, gameplay mechanics, and personal experiences. They also compare the lobby systems in Marvel Toko to other Arc System Works titles. Ending on a reflective note, Moose shares insights on potential future fighters in Marvel Toko and his perspectives on characters and their mechanics. The episode provides a comprehensive look at video games, geek culture, and travel, making it a treat for all true nerd enthusiasts.

Chapters

• 4:28 Moose's Japan Adventures
• 20:54 Marvel Token Beta Impressions
• 37:06 Tag Fighters and 4v4 System
• 51:47 Fighting Game Experiences and Strategies

Transcript

welcome champions of the Nerd realms. You've just stepped into the Nerd Dome Works nostalgia, collides with the cutting edge, and every fandom has a seat at the table. This is. I am a nerd. The podcast forged in the fires of passion pixels and pop culture. We gather here with Kindred spirit, you included, to celebrate all things gloriously geeky from the vintage votes to tomorrow's sessions. 

I am your host, the direct edition, guiding you through today's epic quest and we have here with us. A Rena alumni indeed. Moose. Welcome back. As we were, discussing before the camera started rolling. Uh, it is been quite some time since we've, uh, recorded a little something. [00:02:00] Yeah, I was about to say I was. Rambling to get all my stuff set up. Like my keyboard's unplugged right now because, 'cause I forgot that this machine only has enough power for one really strong type C connection. 

I'm like, oh yeah, that's my camera, so I gotta go no keyboard. I'm like just scrambling. I'm like, when was the last time I even used this thing? Oh yeah. The last time I was on this, you know, I was doing cast review. I'm like, good lord. So like I think everything's working. At least, at least well enough, at least well enough. 

It does look good from my end. Um, uh, yeah, it was like the last time it was, uh, we Marvel rivals had just come out and, uh, they had just celebrated their one year anniversary like a couple weeks ago, so, so yeah, it's been all right. Yeah. We start making them feel old here. All right. I was like, it wasn't that long ago. 

We cast it together. Holy smokes. Yeah. It, it was that long ago. Alright. Um, it's a tumultous No, [00:03:00] it is been a whirlwind of a year. I'll say that. That's for sure. Um, and I, I'm probably going to end the, the year with this cast. Go ahead and, and knock out season one and then, uh, get my ducks in a row and then kick off another season at the, either the beginning of the year or February, take some time to organize and, and whatnot like that. 

So I appreciate you jumping on and, um, helping me round out the year with, um. It actually, it's kind of like full circle. It's like, you know, I started the, the cast with Marvel rivals and you, and now we're ending the year with, uh, Marvel Token and you Oh yeah. I like this trend. Hopefully I've grown out there in internet Lambos too. 

That was awesome. So, um, first things first. Um, last time you were here, we didn't have this particular segment about getting to know the guests or anything like that. We kind of just shoehorned into the topic and, and went from there. So I wanted [00:04:00] to everybody who's get used to 'em, right. Anyway, let's talk more arrivals, royals. 

So I wanted to, uh, delve a little bit into to who Moose is and, give the audience a bit of a sneak peek behind the curtain, to the brain, the organism, the who is moose. So the single celled organism that is moose. 

So, just starting off, I know you just got back from Japan, um, yeah. A couple weeks ago. Sadly, I couldn't go with you. Um, yeah. Next time. Next time. 'cause I know it's not gonna be your Alaska, uh, to Japan. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's for sure. Did anything, I, I know everything was memorable when you went over there, but is anything that, that stuck out that, that you found particularly enjoyable? 

Ooh. You know, so, so this time around was [00:05:00] my second time. Yeah. And I brought my sister with me and, you know, I was so happy to be able to like, show her the ropes and things, you know, now that, you know, I'm still a tourist, but I'm a tourist who's been there once now. So I kinda like had a little bit of a better wherewithal this time around. 

And, uh, honestly it was nicer this time around to kind of be able to look at things a little less from. The roast hidden lenses of, it's a brand new country. I've never been outside of the states before, you know? Yeah. It is all, it's all brand new to me. You know, I was getting to see familiar places, see familiar things, got a little bit better grasp on the language now. 

So I was able to kind of work my way around better so it was nice to be able to kind of see things from that perspective. And just get a better idea for like, oh, okay. You know, if I were to get more serious about pursuing a career, maybe that, that lands me in Japan, which is something I've wanted to do for so long. 

Uh, it it, it allowed me to look at things like, okay, but. [00:06:00] What are some of the problems going to, I already know what the benefits are. Yeah. I'm in Japan. I'm a nerd mecca. You know, like, okay, cool, I already, I already know the things, you know, if I'm earning in USD, I'm gonna be living like a king and my favorite, you know, ramen shops and stuff, you know, like I'm doing, I'm doing fine over there. 

But what about the interpersonal connections or lack thereof of the people in Japan, which I really got to see a lot of and got to see a lot of the. The problems facing just people in general over there. Mm-hmm. And, uh, a lot of, some of, and I've got a friend over there, uh, you know, he's born and raised over there, native Japanese guy, and, you know, I befriended him last year. 

And so we met up and we had a lot, we had a good couple outings, or I was able to just kind of grill him on Japan. He kinda grilled me on America and stuff. And, uh, it was, it was really nice and, and, and eyeopening. Now I'm, I'm a little bit better prepared for. You know, if, uh, you know, if I do make that journey out [00:07:00] there, what should I mentally prepare myself for? 

Yeah, okay. It was nice because yeah, I, I see a lot of videos 'cause I've been wanting to go to Japan for a while. I mean we've all talked about going over there. But, I wanted to go with you guys, but I also wanted to kind of like that first trip be with, the family. 

'cause we all wanted to go. Definitely. Um, and I've seen, I've been studying hella videos about how it is over there, and you get a mixed bag of Japan's all good, and then you get another mixed bags of that's just the surface level. And underneath there's, you know, more, what do they call it? 

Um. They were showing like how there, there are some riots, not riots, but protests about the influx of tourists that are coming over. Mm. And things of that nature. So I'm just taking everything all in it just absorbing the information a little [00:08:00] bit. 'cause I don't think, it's not gonna stop me from going either way. 

But yeah it's good to have a well-rounded view of what it may actually be like. Yeah. And, and, and that's a, that's a healthy perspective to have, you know, 'cause Definitely, uh, as a tourist, uh, I'll say, you know, you stick to Tokyo, Kyoto, you know, you stick to like the main tourist areas and things like that, and you're pretty much, uh, you're pretty much guaranteed to have a good time. 

I'll put it that way. Yeah. As a tourist, you're, you're not going to. You're not gonna witness much discrimination or anything like that, like they would say online, because a lot of what they leave out online about the, the current protest with like the new Prime Minister and everything like that. Mm-hmm. 

Is that the, the Democratic party over there is, um, staunchly mo making movements against, uh, like the influx of Chinese and African immigrants. Mm-hmm. Like that are being brought over for like tout, you know, tout work. Like, you know, working in, uh, [00:09:00] Buko and Shiku and Shibuya to, to like basically work the streets and be like, Hey, you wanna see some titties? 

You know, you working for maybe, or maybe not yakus, the backed organizations. Right? And, and the government's like, oh yeah. You know, they were kind of wishy washy on the whole thing for a while. And then they were like, well, hell, why don't we just like, you know, just have cities dedicated to bringing more people in. 

And then. People are like, uh, fuck no. The only jobs we're giving them right now are, are like tout work and things like that. Yeah. But, you know, so you'll see that side of things. And also though, you gotta take into consideration that a lot of the, the immigrant work right now is also doing things like elder healthcare and, you know, industries that Japanese aren't really finding themselves in right now. 

Yeah. And so there's a lot of back and forth on that and a lot of, a lot of Japanese are upset at, uh, Chinese moving in and buying up a bunch of land and buildings and things [00:10:00] like that. Uh, kind of like how industries are doing in the United States right now. Mm-hmm. You know, this is just a, a foreign interest moving into Japan. 

So when that hits the internet though. They're, you know, they're interpreting the signs like, oh, immigration bad, blah, blah, blah. And they're like, Japan fucking hates tourists now. Right? No, they don't. Japan actually is in a, is in a financial problem right now that the influx of finances from tourism is actually keeping a lot of things afloat for them. 

So, as a country, Japan is still very prot tourism, uh, and the, the things that they're against. If anything, as far as tourism goes, are influencers. Mm-hmm. So the people who are like pausing a ruckus in the streets, you know, Logan Paul Logan, the Logan Pauls exactly. Like, you know, and they're, they're causing ruckuses on the trains and, you know, doing stuff like that, you know, a lot of things they're frowned upon and, uh. 

You know, don't [00:11:00] stick out being a big part of Japanese society, you know? Right. The hammer that sticks out the highest gets nailed down to level, that type of mentality. Influencers fly in the face of that. So if you are holding a camera up and doing stuff in Japan, people might, might say something to you, but outside of that, it's not bad for Boris right now at all. 

Yeah. And then I know one of the young ladies I follow is, um, she does like a vlog, about, like being black and moving to Japan and how she wasn't aware that there were so many other black owned businesses that were actually in Japan. And she found a, a gentleman who had owned a bakery and he's been there for 30 years. 

Nice. So I was, it shocked me too. I was just like, holy shit. I thought, like you said, they were just, you saw the videos no tourists or anything like that, but you know, this guy had been there for 30 plus years running a successful bakery, and [00:12:00] so I was like, that's pretty, pretty damn cool in my opinion. 

Yeah. Oh yeah. There's, um, I just saw recently, um, uh, a hat, a hat shop featured black owned business in Japan. Um, that was really cool. And, um, there was one I saw out in Harajuku even I stopped in and, uh, you know, it, it is crazy. You walk in and it's just like, oh, hey. And you just, you just hear English when you walk in, you're like. 

Huh. Oh shit. How you doing? Awesome. Yeah. No, like Japan isn't, you know, they're not fully accepting of Ford. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna go out there. Oh, yeah. Japan loves foreigners. They, they, that's not the truth. But at the same time, you're not gonna be hated on for being a foreigner, predominantly speaking, like as a, as a whole. 

Right. Yeah. Yeah. I get you. I get you. I mean, it is just like here, you know, there's good and bad. Yeah. So [00:13:00] just like everywhere else. Absolutely. Yeah. And the best, the healthiest thing you can do going anywhere is to not believe it, to be all good or all bad. Right. Understand everywhere's got both sides of the coin, right. 

Just you either accept it or you don't go there anymore. You know? I guess. Yeah. You make your choice, but absolutely sides. Now you did, um, I remember you mentioning that you had a bit of a foray into, uh, the fighting game community a while back. We even, uh, took a trip down to it wasn't CEO was it in Orlando that one time? 

It was a CEO Taco. CEO ta. And we went down. So, uh, what was your game of choice when you was in, uh, the fighting game community? What, what, what, what was it that you got down on? Odd. I mean, like, then we're, we'll have to, we'll have to dust off the, the fucking scrapbook and be like, what, what years are we talking here? 

Because I, like, I started getting an interest [00:14:00] in, in the fighting games community around the time of like, heck and Tag tournament around. Okay. Like, like older, guilty gear, title, street fighter, third strike, specifically being one game where I was like, all right, I need to find like. People for this like Cap con versus s and k and Street Fighter. 

Third strike around that run of years was around when I started. And, um, to this day, third strike. Definitely, you know, to answer that question. Third strike would definitely be my drink of choice as far as fighting games. Go Uhhuh, that's to me one of the. It's not a perfect fighting game, but to me mechanically and how it runs and everything like that is my perfect fighting game. 

That's the one for you? Definitely. Um, any plans to return? Uh, I'm man. Uh, when we get into the conversation a little bit later, I'll, I'll emphasize on this more, but man, my age is getting to me. I tried dusting off the new guilty year. I tried dusting off Street Fighter six recently in Tech and [00:15:00] eight and, and stuff like that. 

And God, I do not have the brain for it like I used to. It is bad. Yeah. Yeah, I thought like I said, with, um, in our, in the Reda game of Discord, uh, I was just like, I am so ready to catch a bunch of Ls in this game. So you said we were getting into the topic a little more about this return or lack thereof to some of these current fighting games. I, I mean, mine was, I'm long past my, my time. Mine was with a, a street fighter. Mm. Original PlayStation Street Fighter and then Marvel versus Capcom up to, I made it up to three, and then after three I was kind of like, I'm gonna go ahead and, uh, retire. 

Let these young bucks have it, you know? Fair, fair. Well, you was in there. What was your preference? Would you, uh, a controller or a [00:16:00] fight stick type of guy? Uh, you know, originally back in the day, just, uh. I, I loved me. The arcade sticks most definitely, but in, in the arcade 

uh, but uh, also I didn't really have much access to fight sticks or anything at home. Yeah. So I was just like, you know what? I'll just play on pad, you know? Yeah. Is what, what I've got, what I'll get used to. Whatever was available. Yeah. Yeah. And then it wasn't until like probably about. I'm trying to think of when I bought this. 

He bought this dude and he just kind of just chilling here. Uh, yeah. This guy back in, uh, Horry, real arcade Pro for the audio listeners. Uh, but I got this thing back in like early 2010s or something like that. Maybe mid 2010s. Mm-hmm. Um. Actually, no, that would've been mid to late 2010s actually, uh, that I picked that up. 

And, um, and, and honestly I really liked that it replicated the feel of the arcade [00:17:00] sticks. You know, it felt, felt good for that. And as, as I was becoming an aged gamer, uh, these arthritis hands needed something a little, uh, more accessible than a controller. And, uh, you know, fight sticks ended up working pretty damn well for me. 

So I gotta say like, now, you know, just hitting that, hitting that 40 mark. The ease of a fight stick's definitely more appealing to me now. Yeah, yeah, because I remember when we initially started the remnant gamers and I was making that transition because I, I grew up handling controllers like all day, every day, and, and you guys were all mouse and keyboard and I'm like, oh this is horrible. 

I don't know why anybody would do this. It's, but eventually I did get used to it and, uh, it's, it's not bad, I must say. It is not bad. It depends on the game. It depends on the game. Sure. I mean, hell, you, [00:18:00] I'm not, I'm not paid by 'em or anything, but you know, yet again, because of my aging hands and things like that, I started looking into some other alternatives and I got it. 

I gotta admit, something I just picked up at a week ago is the, um, Aron Cyborg two. Oh, uh, you know, it's got, got your thumbs stick for, you know, if you like, you know, thumbs stick controls, but it's got all your buttons If you like a keyboard too, very quickly accessible, you know, basically you just kinda wear it like a glove and, you know, dilly dally round and do your, do your movements off that. 

And then you've got, you know, eight buttons here, four here, four up top, two side, another like, you know, joystick, you know, you map the hell out of this. And this has been very nice to not have to traverse a keyboard with lately. I say that looks hella complicated. It, you know, and that, that was my, that was my concern at first too. 

But it comes with a software. You can pretty much just map any of these to any, any, you know, I've got like, you know, most of my game confi like 1, 2, [00:19:00] 3, 4, control one, control two control, you know, and shift one and then like F1, F two, F three, F five. 'cause I realize you don't wanna map F four. If you also have a button that maps the alt key or else you're gonna be hitting alt F four and closing shit. 

Something I didn't figure out until the second day of like, why the hell are my games closing? The little pro tip there, don't map an alt plus a button and F four the buttons you may hit simultaneously. Uh, but you know, honestly though, after that, like you just kinda set up profiles in software and, uh. 

And you can kind of just kinda set it up to, so now it's like, if for like Overwatch, Marvel rivals first per, I've got like a first person shooter profile where mm-hmm. You know, that's always jump, that's always sprint, that's always a crouch feature. You know, they're, they're always the same thing across multiple games. 

You only gotta learn that button config for that type of game once, and then just, you know, it's all in how you configure it and it's fully customizable. The, the length [00:20:00] on it, you know, the, the. It's got, it's basically they, they send, they send it to you with, you know, just a fucking screwdriver and just every, everything is modular, you know, the, the finger length, the finger width and distance and things like that. 

This is quickly becoming, uh, I haven't messed around with it in fighting games yet. I'm not sure how well that would hold up, but with the ease of how it has helped these, these aging hands, you have to traverse less across a keyboard. Maybe I, maybe I figure that out too. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Not sponsored by 'em. 

I'm just really happy with the product. Not sponsored? Not yet. Not yet. Yeah. Hey, as on, I'll sing your praises. I'm enjoying the product. Yes. As around, just, just let you know. Shout out. Right, right. Last weekend. We got a chance to delve into this the closed beta for Marvel [00:21:00] token. Am I saying that right? 

Marvel Token Toan Toan fighting souls. 

I had to make sure that was the right title. Oh, sure I was like, are we pausing for dramatic effect here? You adding a sound effect in post, like a lightning strike or something like that. So I was like, I'll shut up here just in case we're doing something in post. We were pausing ing from memory loss. 

Okay. I understand that one. As I said earlier, I'm an agent gamer. I understand these things. 

Uh, so, so last weekend, uh, PS five had to close beta for Marvel Toan fighting souls. And I was able to get in. You was able to get in and I must say I had a glorious time. Uh, 'cause initially I'm a huge comic of a nerd oh yeah. And Marvel fans are eating good, [00:22:00] uh, video game wise. 

Oh, hell yeah, man. And I mean, you're getting good titles. Yeah, I mean, Marvel Rivals has been going good for a year. Uh, and just this month alone, they just released cosmic Invasion. Uh, the beat em from DMO and then they dropped the close beta to be like, Hey just so you don't forget you're still gonna get to eat next year with Marvel Tocan. 

Yeah. And I, I'm just, man it was so much fun. I will say that. So. Just the initial start off. Let's go ahead and get this outta the way it is the likes and the dislikes. As far as the game goes. Um, for me, the biggest thing that I liked, I know this, they only released a few characters and I'm sure there's more to come. 

Oh yeah. The thing that got me was, um, the stages, the backgrounds of the stages. Yes. Holy heck. Yes. That was [00:23:00] definitely a big plus. I loved, I loved the, just the, the, the variety, but also just the, the, the liveliness of it. Just everything just popping off in the background. Like this is like a, this is like a scene from a Marvel movie or like a, or a comic fight scene or something like that. 

There's shit happening in the active city. Yeah. Ma my favorite one was the X Mansion. And, and I, I played that stage so many times. I, I lost many, many matches like trying to figure out and trying to see everything that was going on in the background because. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Stop beating my ass. 

Stop beating my ass. Is that sa too? Shit. Stop. Dude. Stop. And uh, I named all of the X-Men that were there and the only one I didn't see was Cyclops. And I watched it a couple of times. So my. Conspiracy theorist is that because Cyclops wasn't at the expansion in the background, that he's gonna be a playable [00:24:00] character come game release or something like that. 

So he has to be, he has to be, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, yeah, he was like, he was like the of so many like children of the end. Yeah. Mar, you know, like he's gonna be there. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. If, if not, I'm writing a, a very strongly worded letter. The right sucked and, and how dare you not give us our show on 

It was so much going on, and I mean, and I was naming all of the X-Men that were back there too. It was like Iceman, Rogan, gambit, you know, Colossus, night Crawler, professor X even. I like shit, the stuff they were doing. And then as you progressed. Through the matches if you got enough, uh, win-loss ratios. 

Yeah. Then the sentinel starts attacking the damn mansion in the background, and I'm like, oh, I never saw that. Yeah. So I mostly got clean. I mostly have, like, spoiler warning, I mostly got clean, swept the entire bayit. I so like, I didn't see [00:25:00] very many of the stages and at, at, I was trying to focus hard, so I didn't see too much of the background either. 

I'm like, what the hell am I fucking doing? I sucking this shit. So, like I said, I was, I was locked into the background more so than during the match I was like, hold on, hold on. And I kept purposely trying to move from one end of the map to the other to see what was going on, on, on both ends. Um, nice. 

I didn't get to see, 'cause I know that, what was the initial map? I think it was, uh, it was in New York and yeah, it was just like the city streets. Yeah. And, and there come a time where you perform the combo at the edge of the map and it knock you onto another part of the street. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't, I didn't get scaffold or something like that on Yeah. 

It was like a construction area that you got knocked or? I think, yeah. That's the only part I didn't get to do, uh, on the, uh, the X Mansion map. Mm. [00:26:00] Yeah. I was trying to, I was trying to figure out a lot of those mechanics. I was not having it. I was not having a good time. I'm, I'm not gonna lie, I'm not a sore loser by any stretch of the imagination, but I also fucking hate losing. 

Yeah. But granted, you know, I also took it with a grain of salt. 'cause literally it was like, I only have a couple days of this game I've never played before and I suck at tag fighters. So like, I gave myself the, the bit of grace I needed for that. But. I am, I'm trying to think of something that I, I really didn't like. 

I don't know. I, I'm, maybe my opinion is bias. 'cause I am a, a, a comic book fan, so I'm glad to see that transition from, you know, paper to movies, to video games, anything of that nature. Anything of a different media to, to help. Spread the love of, of, uh, superheroes. So that's fair. I, I'm trying to think of, I mean, other than losing, it wasn't much that I didn't like about Marvel Toko.[00:27:00]  

I, well, okay, well, here, here, here's one in that's been highly, it's been a hot button issue, but we, but realistically, it's been the same with most arcs. You know, ISTs. Fighting titles. Mm-hmm. How did you feel about the lobby system? 

You talking about lobby as far as like the matchmaking and, or Yeah. You got your little avatar running around and you, you know, like if you played fighter Z or you know, strive or anything like that, there's similar lobby systems. Initially I thought it was a bit outta character. Could I go from like that? 

The, the art and anime, anime style of the, of the matches to that. More cutesy Chee style. That's fair. But I guess it kind of grew on me. I, and because, you know, those particular, those two particular styles, that anime style and that chee style have the same [00:28:00] origin. That's fair. So it was just kind of like, okay, I, I, I kind of get what they were trying to go for, but. 

If I had to choose take it or leave it, I'd probably leave it. Okay. Alright. That, that's a, that's a pretty, that's a, that's a pretty good perspective on it that I, I, I, I respect that. Is it, it's fun in the way that it was fun in Dragon Ball fighters. He had that very similar style. Mm-hmm. Uh, you know, guilty, your strife has a kind of similar one. 

It's got the arcade cabinets and things like that. Mm-hmm. Uh, you know, street Fighter six has the like, big arcade area and stuff like that with the, you know, but, um, the novelty of it wears off for me very quickly. Yeah. Like, oh, cool. Like customize my own little dibby Marvel guy. Okay. But I really just wanna like, crank out the next match, like get, get me into matchmaking instead [00:29:00] of like, you know, yes, you can. 

One button. Jump to a cabinet and, and challenge somebody, and that's kind of their matchmaking system, quote unquote. But like, quite honestly, like if I'm, if I'm booting it up and, and I, and I'm like geared up mentally to get my ass handed to me for a couple hours, like I just want to hit, start matchmaking, pick a zone, pick a connection, you know, I'm only gonna take like four to five bar, four to five green bars and no one else. 

And then just match, make me against somebody and let's fight. Yeah. And I even had a, a difficult time. Did you have a difficult time like matchmaking Because I, when I logged in Saturday morning, um, I guess they, they, you get to choose initially you get to choose what area you want to, to matchmaking in. 

And I, you know, east coast for me. Um, and when I got into the, the lobby and I hit, you know. Match, make right quick, match make. 'cause I just wanted to jump in in a match, like you said. 'cause I tried [00:30:00] running around, getting onto the cabinets and, and gaming or challenging someone else. And every time I step up there, that didn't work. 

So I was like, Hey, quick match. And Saturday morning I kept getting an error that I couldn't get into a match to the, it was to the point where I was just like, okay, I'm gonna play something else. So I don't know if that's something they need to work on. Or if it was, I don't know, but I, I mentioned it in, in the survey that they put Oh, good. 

Good. That, uh, I had a difficult, I, I kept receiving an error. It wasn't like difficult finding a match. It was, I was, I literally was receiving an error every time I'd hit equipment. Quick match. I see. Okay. So it wasn't like, oh, the system itself was kinda like. Well, I mean, it could have been a buggy system. 

They would, I don't know the origin of the error code or anything like that, but you know, it could have been something like that, but it wasn't like, oh yeah, the lobby system is not good because I get an error message. You know, that's something, [00:31:00] something was broken. Yeah. You know, so it's not a direct fault of the lobby system, but the problem I had with the lobby system was the fact that, you know, I may not have dug far enough into the setting, so maybe there was a way to avoid these. 

But you know, I run wired connection on everything. Hate wifi. They're my phone. My phone's the only thing, if I could put my phone on a wired connection at home, I would. However, that's the only wireless thing I run. That's a US old folks call that a landline. You, you're damn right dude. I got land, I got land cables. 

I got land cables running from my drop in the living room along the ceiling to get to this office so that I don't run anything on wifi. They're run, they're just pinned across the ceiling, so they get to that all, everything wired here. Uh, I hate wifi and especially for fighting games, even though there is rollback net code from the looks of it, which, you know, beautiful, you know, blessed bee rollback net code. 

Uh. Fuck that for fighting games, dude. And every, like, there was a [00:32:00] stretch of like 30, 40 minutes where I was only getting people to pop up and they were like one red bar wifi signals and it was a full lobby of 64 dudes. And I was getting a different person every time, but it was like one red bar. One red bar. 

And I'm like, okay, maybe it's me. So I like reset my router and everything like that. I check my connection, did speed test and everything. No, I'm good. I'm, I got solid connection here. It's everyone else here. Like, can I filter these people out please? Yeah. Yeah. I, now that you mentioned that I did get one match, uh, where my opponent had dropped. 

Mm. And I mean, I mean, we were not like, he purposely left the game. I mean, we were mid battle and he froze and then he disappeared. And I'm like, whoa, whoa. You know what happened there? Right. And then I, I lobbied out and of course. I saw his little avatar like fade away. As soon as I got back to the, the lobby, I was like, [00:33:00] shit, I know how to win that match. 

I know I wasn't that good. I don't feel so good, 

but I didn't know they did that same lobbying system for, uh, dragon Ball fighters and, and, uh, the other one. Yeah. And Guilty. Your stride. Guilty. Your stride. Yeah. Arc system works. Uh. It's had a history of, uh, of doing interesting or cutesy lobby systems. Mm-hmm. Uh, for better or worse, um, Dragonball fighters ease was really close to this one. 

It was basically like sell, like, pretty much like the cell tournament arena was like in the middle, if I remember it. Crazy. It been forever, but there was like a little tournament arena in the middle, and then there were like little other places. There was like the Kame house. Off in one corner. And so basically you just customize out your avatar and you run around and you could match against people. 

But it also, [00:34:00] I don't believe they had it at launch, but I think, I think it came like actually way later, but then they finally were like, oh, here's the ability to just like go to the menu match, make. Mm-hmm. I think they added that like it might have been like a year or two in like then they might added that functionality to just jump into it. 

So that's why I'm kind of hoping that. They're not gonna make the same mistake here and launch it without the ability to just burn on the game and start matchmaking. Okay. Is there no leveling system? Because I, I didn't think about what you said as far as like connection wise, but I did think about it from. 

I mean, my analyst brain was like from a, a first time player jumping in and a first time player may jump in and not want to get a match made with someone who's got 84 days of experience. And then Right. You know, you're just going in your match against Justin Wong and just [00:35:00] getting absolutely clap. Right. 

And then that may detour a couple of people from, you know, playing a game. You know, a lot of us don't have that. That masochist mentality where you're like, I'm going to take this beating until I get better, you know? Yeah. And I mean, they didn't have it in the beta. From the looks of it, sometimes a fighting game will have like an internal ELO system where it's like your wins and losses will kind of help the game match against other people of similar calibers. 

Um, but you know, games like Strive have this system. Well, I don't know if they, they currently have the system. I think they might have switched over to like an ELO system, but they used to have it basically where it's like you start the game and you're on like floor, you know, the bottom floor of a tower. 

Okay. And then as the win matches, you get your promo match and then you move up, you know, and then you move up to, to heaven rank or whatever. And then that's where like the real. Billy badasses are fighting at, so you kinda worked your way up the tower. [00:36:00] Okay. Uh, and I, and I, I prefer systems like that and yeah. 

You know, games like tech in have the, the ranking system. Oh, like your, your eighth Dan. You're not gonna fight against, you know, tech and master or anything like that, or turbo legend or whatever the hell the higher ranks are. So I would presume that they would have some kind of ranking system like that. 

Yeah. The one thing though is that if you do have a lobby system with those cabinets and stuff, I mean, is that gonna throw a wrench in ranked matchmaking? Is it just gonna match it with, oh, there's 64 people in this lobby. And it could be like you and then Justin wg and Dago Omaha and like the other 63 people are just absolute, just bad asses. 

Yeah. Is it only gonna match you in that pool? That could suck if, if you un lucky like that or you, or your dago and you get into a 64 person lobby and [00:37:00] you're playing against 63 me, that can't be fun for him, you know? Yeah. Like, yeah. I, I, I had a particular match like that. You could tell. I've, I've never seen it where someone is just gets tired of beating your ass. 

And I mean, from, from the match start. From the match start, he backed me into the corner. And was we, and I could not counter, yes, I could not block, I could not like. You know, get out of the damn corner. And it just came to a point where he just stopped and then backed off. 

He is like, God, I've had those. He was like, okay. Okay. I'm just, I'm, I'm gonna back up a little bit here. Like, I wanna make sure I don't, I don't pin out the herd a little too quickly here. And I do, I want people to come back. I knew he was toying with me. 'cause he let me out of the corner, I'd get a strike in and he'd [00:38:00] back me back into the corner and wheel on me. 

I'm, I'm sitting there like, son of a bitch. Oh yeah, that dude that is, that I'll, I'll be, I'll be real with you. That tilts me. When I'm playing fighting games more than somebody outright just beating my ass. I would prefer they just absolutely perfect me. Like just straight, just up, just perfect the whole set. 

Like if you're gonna do shit, like just, just, just whoop my ass and get it outta the way. Yeah. When they start toying with you and it's like, oh yeah. You know, they like, I had one, I had one guy, God, at a live event, you know, so like an in-person tournament. I had one dude where like. I dog walked him the first round and I was like, okay, all right, cool. 

All right. I like, I'm feeling this. Turns out the guy was just downloading me that first round. He wasn't really throwing much of anything. He was just kind of seeing how I played and then let me get into a rhythm by just letting me absolutely run rampant on him. Second round, onward, dude, I got [00:39:00] like two hits in. 

I got absolutely whack. He's like, oh, this is how you play this character. Okay, I know how to, I know how to play against that and just. Hey, dude, and it pissed me off so bad. I, I had to do a lap, I had to do a lap around the venue. I was like, that mother. Oh my God. I was mad at that. Like you could have just whipped my ass from round one dude. 

From round one. Yeah, just, I would just know the discrepancy. But you gave me hope. You gave me hope, dude. And I hate that 

there was no hope to be had. USOB Oh man. Yeah, I, I think that would've pissed me off too. I was like, dang. Like, just, I mean, we don't need to be here any longer than we need to be here. Just go ahead and get it over with, right? Yeah, dude. If you're just gonna wax my ass in public like this, just rip it quick, man. 

Just let me, let me walk away from this. Did you get in any matches against the, uh, the CPU. [00:40:00] Uh, no, I only, I only played against players. Okay. Um, I, I did a couple with the CPU. Um, that right there gave gives you false hope. Uh, 'cause you, yeah. I beat the shit out of the computer and Oh, yeah. Um, yeah, that, that boosts my ego more than it should have been. 

Yep. You know, I'm, I'm perfect. Doing perfect combos and tag, tag team combos and you know, jungle combos and I'm all in it. And then, yeah, once I joined that lobby, yeah. Oh yeah. It was a whole different, unless I'm doing like an achievement run or something, I, I have made it a point. Last couple decades to just only play players or be in the lab, you know, just be in the training room unless I'm going for like achievements or, or I wanna at least like, see the story or something. 

Because I developed some, I've developed some terrible habits playing against computers that absolutely just get me just wrecked against real people. Yeah. I was like, Nope. Never again. Now I'm not [00:41:00] training against CPU ever again. I I can definitely see that. Yeah. Yeah. CPU set me up. It, it damn sure did set me up because the CPU nine times outta 10 isn't like just hitting you with a hard knockdown and then giving you some like, damn near impossible 50 fifties on wake up to like, here's your guessing game. 

You better not block the wrong way. Or, I'm gonna hit, I'm gonna absolutely chip half your healthier. Did you go into it because I, I did the training. Where they had the, what was it, Friday in the Ironman suit, and they walked her through essentially everything from Yes, you know, light, medium, heavy attacks, tag, team convos, you know, aerial attacks. 

I, and I, I enjoyed it. I, I must say, I think it was very nice the way they, they had that set up and planned. Um, I don't know if it was similar to any other, like ARC system games. Yeah. I mean. I had say the majority of 'em [00:42:00] have a dojo mode or something like that, or a mission mode or something like that, where, uh, you can, they pretty much give you like, okay, here, do this, this, and this. 

And then it's like, oh, you, you do 'em right and it banging and move you on to the next lesson and stuff. And, um, uh, and, and especially in ARC Systems games, uh, you know, at least the last. Few of 'em. They even have have it down to where there's usually, uh, like one, one or two general, like hearsay back, dash four dash, mm-hmm. 

Roman cancel, whatever the mechanics are. And then they also generally include like combo trials where they'll be like, like 10 different levels of a combo for each of the characters. And then it's like, okay, here's one that's like crouching medium kick and a crouching heavy. Jump up, do three hits and knock hard, knock 'em down. 

Cool. That's your like, level one, you know, combo down to like, [00:43:00] you know, something crazy. So, and they've been really good about like teaching you some bread and butter, stuff like that. Okay. Now who was your main. Uh, Dr. Doom. Oh, really? Appointment doom. Yeah. Predominantly. I, I didn't mean who I thought I was going to. I thought I was gonna go in with a, uh, spidey or a star Lord, when I seen Star Lord was available. Uh, but I ended up settling on Ghost writer. Okay. Okay. And I, I had so much fun, like playing ghost writer. 

I had a hard time figuring out his heat mechanic. And kind of build it up and spend it. I gave him a shot. He was, he was in my, he was in my lineup before, but uh, every time I tagged over to him, I was like, I can't. I didn't take the time to figure out this heat mechanic that he had, so I just kind of, yeah, used him for assists. 

Only after that I, I kind of felt the same way with Dr. Doom. I couldn't, I couldn't [00:44:00] get a hold of him. He, I don't know if this makes sense, but whenever I, I tag him in and, because, you know, you could tag in with X and you could hold just to keep the character in. Yeah, uh, uh, every, every time I tagged him in and tried to, to play using him, he felt heavy. 

Like the character felt heavy. Yeah. No, I, I, I, I totally get that. And, and you're right. I tend to, I tend to lean towards heavier characters in general anyway. Like, gee, and Street Fire, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm a San Gee, I'm a San Gee type of guy. Or like in, uh. You guilty gears. I have like Potemkin or Leo and they're generally slower moving more Gorilla style characters. 

Um, those are the, those are the characters I generally gravitate toward. Uh, so Doom Belt at home, but I can totally see where you're coming from. Yeah. Okay. Now, uh, I know every [00:45:00] fighter has a little bit of learning curve. Uh, so who do you think would take the, the most skill to master just outta the characters that they released? 

Oh, 

I, skill ceiling. 

To use effectively or to like, to really to, to, to really work up some sauce with, I'd probably say storm. Oh yeah, because Storm has the wonderful assists of like she had back in the day of, of, you know, repositioning people, you know, with the gusts of wind and things like that. 

Mm-hmm. To flow to your character, which opens up a lot of possibilities if you're good at stuff like that. Believes you hella vulnerable if you're not used to floaty characters. Mm-hmm. Um. She was, she was a lot less of a straightforward character like Miss Marvel or Captain America. Like, those were very straightforward. 

You could probably sit down with them and for like 20 minutes each. And then you just got a good enough grasp to start [00:46:00] working people with. Yeah. And she, I did not, I did not, I wasn't able to wrap my head around it. Okay. You can take some lab time. Yeah. Alright. So you, you, did you get the trial? Everyone that was released. 

Most characters I only tried for a little bit at a time 'cause I was, I only had, I, I really only had like a day at most where I could really sit down and just kind of run on it. So I was like, let me, let me find four that I really liked the feel of. And so I was just kinda like witching up like crazy until I landed on, on my four. 

Um, so I got a little bit in with most character. Um, but then it was, at the end of it, it was Doom, uh, with Ghost Rider, Dar Lord, and um, and Captain America. Okay. That was the rotation I was running at the end. Yeah. I, the only one I didn't get to try was Spidey. Hmm hmm. He was the only one because when I was [00:47:00] running, I ended up using, uh, as my tag team is, was ghost writer, uh, KA, miss Marvel and, and Doom or Star Lord. 

Bro, that's salty. Did you have a favorite tech team combo? Uh, I'd say, you know, do doom as Pointman was definitely, definitely fit me as a person or as a player. And honestly, like Dar Lord assists were coming in pretty clutch for me. Oh yeah. For like combo extension and stuff like that. 

And switching over to, to kind of. You know, he used his like different gun types and grenade types and stuff like that. And he had a lot of, he had a little, he had a lot of good you knock 'em down and then you gotta make 'em guess when they get up. Star Lord had a lot going for him in terms of. 

Making people play the guessing game. So I really enjoyed that. Uh, and then do was just straight up great at just being a, just a, just a brute force gorilla, Uhhuh. So between the two of them, I was able to, I was able [00:48:00] to put some work in on people. I still lost most of my matches, but the people I worked over with, that combo I worked over, I really enjoy, uh, ghostwriters super. 

Yeah. Where he called the, the car and he kinda like jumped and ended up in the front seat. Hell yeah. Oh man. It reminded me of, uh, midnight Sun. He had a, a similar move. Yes. And, and that where, uh, you'd play and he'd call his car into to. Okay. I was, thank you. Okay. I was trying to remember where I had seen that before. 

I was like, was that in Marvel three? Or like, I was trying to remember where I had seen that before. Midnight Suns. Yeah. That, that was, that's where I'd seen that move. Okay, cool. I was driving me nuts because I saw that, like when he, when that t popped off, I was like, I seen this before. 

So it, it was a, uh, very impressive roster to begin with. Um, and of course. Uh, we [00:49:00] gotta speculate. Uh, who would you want to see added to the roster? Hmm. I, I, I mean, coming from, I was gonna say, I give you some time to think, but, well, I was gonna say like, well, it, it is, it's not so much that I need time to think. 

It's time, uh, like, it's like I need to take a second and prune the amount of answers that just hit my head because like, I'm thinking back to like Marvel versus Capcom. Like, I would love to see. Some out there, shit. Like, I'd like to see Sentinel done in this style. Oh, I, I would love to see that. Um, 'cause in, in Marvel Capcom, he was like, okay, you know, we, we had some, you had some interesting out there characters, but they're a lot more honest in this one. 

I'd like to see Sentinel done as an honest character. That would kind of nuts. Um, or maybe not, maybe he's not an honest character and he does some crazy shit amongst a roster of honest characters. I love to see that too. I love stuff like that. Maybe he takes up like two tag positions that, you know, do [00:50:00] some ratio stuff like Capcom versus SK style, you know, like do some, do some creative stuff with this engine. 

Um, uh, but yeah, actually, you know what, yeah, that, you know, I'm locking that in as my main answer. I would love to see Sentinel. To Sentinel. Yeah, I, I, this was, uh, one of the questions that was in the, the survey at the end. Um, and I, I kind of just left the answer a little broad because I just started naming the teams. 

Because I won't see everybody in there, but I just put hundred. I just started putting, I was like, Avengers, fantastic. Four X-Men. I was like West Coast Avengers, you know, I was just throwing every name in there. So, but if I had to narrow it down, um, especially for someone who doesn't get a lot of love for, for such a lovable character that he is, I would like to see night Crawler added. 

Oh, hell yeah. Oh hell yeah, dude. And I, I, they'd be stupid not to like. There's, there's [00:51:00] always, there's always that super, those hyper agility characters in pretty much every fighting game. Like where it's just like, you know, they got next to no health pool, but you gotta catch 'em first to deplete that health pool. 

Yeah. And night crawl would fit right there. He'd be the chip Z of, of Marvel, Toco. He, yeah, I could see that. Yeah. And I mean, they, they didn't do 'em in rivals yet. Um, he's not in cosmic invasion, so I'm like, give my guys some love, you know? Yes. Throw night. Throw me a night crawler in there. Yeah. Uh, let's see. 

Well, that was all I had most. Is there anything else that we didn't cover that you wanna bring up? Ooh. 

Yeah, actually well, actually, I'll preface the question with another question first. Uh, do you have a history of, of playing tag fighters in the past? No, this is essentially my first one. Last one I did was, 

I think I barely got into Marvel versus Capcom three. Uh, and then actually I [00:52:00] did Naruto Ultimate Storm. Ultimate Ninja Storm. Okay. And that kind of broke the fighting game mode in, in our household because no one was allowed to win except for me. And I sent a couple of the, the, the padawans away crying, and it was just like, okay. 

We can't play this anymore. Yeah. I was like, this just creates such a, this is the atmosphere gets you half an a round of the real open storm. So that, that was the last one that I played. Uh, since then I, I dabbled in, uh, street Fighter six, but just to get some of the characters available. Yeah. Uh, and then now. 

Marvel token. So I've, I've had like leaps in between of, uh, some of the fighting games that have come out. Okay. Well then, you know, then actually, you know, the, you know, like I said, I was prefacing a question with that [00:53:00] question, but actually, you know, it still kind of applies then in this case, um, since, uh, you don't really have a history with, with tag fighters and stuff like that, how do you feel about. 

The current tag system, both in the fact that it's four whole ass characters Yeah. Uh, that you can freely swap between and everything like that. And, um, and then things like, you know, having the, having three other assists on top of your, your BS from your main character. Yeah. I initially, when I saw that it was gonna be four V four. 

Hmm. Uh, I thought it was gonna be chaotic as hell as far as like a, a kid to smash brothers. Uh, that's, that was my picture when they said it was gonna be brother four V four. But now that I've played it, I think it's a fairly smooth transition to swap between to tag in other, other, other characters. I mean, it was.[00:54:00]  

One button swap and hold if you want to keep the character in. Now, the part that got not confusing, but I guess I need to work on timing for that was still taking ass whoopings while I'm trying to keep that character locked in, you know? Yeah. So that, that was a part for me. I, I tag someone in and then while I'm holding still like trying to block or not take damage while the swap is happening. 

Exactly. Like trying, trying to determine the safety of tag maneuvers. Yeah. Like, oh, okay. You know, if I were to, you know, throw this move and then try to tag assist and. It's, is this safe on block for me to do or am I gonna tag somebody in? And now I've got two characters catching an ass whooping at the same time. 

Like, yeah, that determination was very difficult for me. I did not wrap my head around [00:55:00] very well. It's like, all right, you know, I could not figure out, like there would be times where I would, you know, I'd be mid combo or something like that and I'd either wanna try to extend the combo or like extend the block string or something, and then just sometimes. 

I couldn't do an assist at that moment. Mm-hmm. And I, and I, I couldn't really quite figure out when I couldn't figure out like the determinant situations of Oh yeah. Assist are available in this circumstance. Or like, oh yeah, here, a block string, you can throw this. And then Yeah. You know, I couldn't, I couldn't figure out when I could and couldn't, and then I would just a lot of times just be pressing the button. 

Like, where's fuck spice? Yeah. That's what, that's what I was gonna say. I, when I, when I was going, uh, when I was doing the versus mode against the CPU and I was whooping the C ps, I felt like my comm modes were flawless. Like just Right. I'm chaining shit together. I never, I'm, I felt like a alchemist, like coming up with all kinds of new, [00:56:00] new creations and shit like that. 

I'm feeling like on top of the world, you pulling crazy string of comms outta nowhere else. Yeah. To stuff. Then I get into versus mode with a live opponent and I, I feel like I'm cutting my fingers out, trying to chop onions, dude. Yes. God, I'm just fumbling thumbs stick going around and just why isn't it working? 

I'm pressing, I'm pressing, you know, couldn't block, couldn't counter. I was just like, Ugh, gotta save it. I feel that bad. Yeah. Like I would just, I would just get somebody and I'm like, oh, okay, well you know, I could probably throw an assist in here and like, you know, 'cause this move seems pretty unsafe for me to throw if they block it. 

But I could probably buffer that. Make it, you know, make it a little more safe if I throw an assist in there and then they block, you know, so they block the unsafe move, then they block the assist. Yeah, and then they [00:57:00] absolutely like the, the, the unsafe windows a lot, like a lot longer. It was a lot, a lot more punishable than I thought it was. 

And then all of a sudden they just like weep into some. Post to coast combo where they're using all of their assists to just like juggle my ass around the screen, up and down from one end of the arena to the other. Yeah. And then wall break me into another area altogether, like, uh, just that, that felt horrible. 

I'm like, cool. Here I am trying to extend a block string. And these guys already know how to do coast to coast using all of their assist. This is a huge curve for me to overcome here. So you're not a fan of the four V four? Um, I'm not gonna say I'm not a fan of it because. It is gonna make spectating the game hella fun. 

Like I'm definitely gonna tune into [00:58:00] some, some, some tournament. I'm gonna, I'm gonna watch some tournaments for this. Yeah. I don't think I'm gonna be picking it up because I can't wrap my head around that many characters at once. Uhhuh uh, I will leave that to the pros who are like, oh yeah, I've got my roster of four dudes. 

And then they're just actively switching between the characters who are hard counters to each other because they have game knowledge like that and know the combo routes for all four of their dudes. Dude, I usually stick to one or two throughout the, the whole lifespan of a fighting game. I'll play one to two characters. 

Mm-hmm. Pretty decently. Well, and then I'm brash with the entire rest of the roster telling me to learn Four dudes is not happening. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Now that you mention it, I'm like, now that I think back, I'm just like, it was either Ken or you. It was like for me. Yeah, exactly. And it was either like, then when Marvel Cap Con, it was Ken U or Cyclo. 

Right, [00:59:00] exactly. There you go. I've got this archetype. I like that archetype and I'm gonna stick to it. Yeah. I can only stick to so many of 'em at once. 

Well, moose, I really appreciate you jumping on and, uh, talking Marvel token with me, um, the close beta that we, that we happen. Um, if you want to let anybody know where they can find you at, go ahead and, and feel free and, and throw it out there. I've kind of disappeared online. You'll find me in very many places. 

Not, not gonna lie. Well, don't go looking for 'em then, right? Like you see somebody named Moose online, it could be me. Like that's, that's generally. You aren't gonna see me in very many places, though I'm mostly, my accounts are mostly for lurking. And then keeping, keeping 'em active to, to keep track of people's birthdays and life events. 

That's about, that's about all I do online these days, man. Nothing wrong with that. 

All right, we're gonna [01:00:00] go ahead and take off. I appreciate everybody's dropping in. Remember, live your best geek life. Play games, read comics, watch anime geek responsibly, peace.[01:01:00]