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We’re going to do things a little differently this month.  Usually at the beginning of January I’ll post my Game of the Year blog, and then I’ll write a blog after that about the games I’m looking forward to in the coming year.  But this time we’re going to reverse that and I’m going to do my looking forward blog first.  There’s a couple of reasons why I want to do it that way.  First, there’s a couple of games that are coming out early this year that I want to put on this list before they’re actually released.  And second, I want to wait a bit on my Game of the Year blog so I have time to play a couple of games that came out last year to see if they’ll make my list.  So that blog won’t go up until later on in January.  Hope nobody minds.  Anyway, let’s take a look at some of the games that are coming out next year, at least the ones I know about anyway.

Kirby Battle Royale (3DS)

You know what’s cool is that we’re not getting just one, but TWO new Kirby games this year!  The first one is on 3DS, and it’s a four-player fighting game featuring different Kirby’s with various copy abilities.  I’m not quite as excited about this one, but you know I’ll get it anyway since I’m such a big Kirby fan.  Who knows?  It may be better than I think.  And it actually comes out very soon.  The middle of this month, in fact.

Kirby Star Allies (Switch)

Now THIS is the Kirby game I’m excited for!  It’s a standard 2-D platform Kirby game, but it combines elements from past games like helpers (Super Star), combining abilities (Kirby 64), and four player support (Return to Dream Land).  Supposedly it’ll be out on Switch sometime in the spring!  The world seems like a better place when you know there’s a new Kirby game coming out!

Yoshi (Switch)

Nintendo hasn’t come up with a name for this yet, but they announced this new 2-D ish platformer at E3 for Switch.  It looks like it combines elements from Yoshi’s Woolly World and Yoshi’s Story.  Hopefully it’ll capture the fun of Woolly World, because that game came close to being as magical as the original Yoshi’s Island game on SNES.

Metroid Prime 4 (Switch)

I know most people are saying that this won’t come out until 2019, and they’re probably right.  But you never know.  Nintendo may just release it this year.  I’m not holding my breath or anything, but it could happen.  Nintendo is full of surprises.  But whether it’s coming out this year or next, either way, I’m still looking forward to it.

Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (PS4)

Besides Nintendo, another game company who is winning me over this year is Square-Enix.  It’s like my high school days during the 16-bit era!  Dissidia Final Fantasy is a fighting game series featuring characters from their popular RPG franchise.  I loved the ones on PSP, and have always wanted one on a big console, so I’m very happy for this.  It comes out soon, too!  Only thing I’m worried about is that it’s a bit more arcadey.  I played it at PAX West last year.  But I heard it’s based on the Dissidia FF game that was in Japanese arcades, and it was co-developed by Team Ninja, who specializes in arcade 3-D fighters like Dead or Alive, so we’ll just have to see.

Secret of Mana remake (PS4)

This was another one I played at PAX West last year.  I played the SNES game to death so I’m looking forward to this one.  Some have said it looks bad, but I did enjoy what I played of it at PAX.  This and the Dissidia game come out very soon!

Lost Sphear (Switch)

Another one I played at PAX.  I didn’t want to stop playing it there, as it plays like classic RPGs like I used to play as well!  It’s done by the same people who made I am Setsuna, and while it’s not a sequel, it does share gameplay aspects and game assets.  Only thing I’m worried about is that the demo you can download on the Switch, the boss you fight is very hard, and that was one of the problems I had with I am Setsuna is that some of the bosses were too hard.  But we’ll just have to see.  I believe this also comes out soon as well.

Project Octopath Traveler (Switch)

It may not be the actual name when it’s released, but the demo really sold me on this RPG with the 3-D visuals mixed with classic 2-D sprites.  Someone said they’d love to see a FF6 remake done in this style, and I totally agree!

Kingdom Hearts 3 (PS4)

Not really sure if this is coming out this year or not.  I think it has just as much of a chance as Metroid Prim 4 does.  But we’ll just have to see!

Ni no Kuni 2 (PS4)

One more RPG, but this one is not from Square, but Namco instead.  I enjoyed the first game, but never beat it, as it got too long and meandering.  I’m kind of on the fence about the sequel, because the battle system is totally different and Studio Ghibli is not behind this game, although members of that studio still worked on the sequel, like the composer.  Also not sure if I’ll have enough time for it either, but I’ll still keep my eye on it.

Dragon’s Crown Pro (PS4)

So as I was looking around trying to find info on upcoming games, I checked out GameStop’s release schedule and saw this.  I didn’t even know about this, did you?  Ever since they re-released Odin Sphere on PS4, I thought it would be cool if they did the same with Dragon’s Crown.  Hopefully the “Pro” in the title doesn’t mean the game is a lot harder.  Can you guess who my favorite character is in Dragon’s Crown?

Soul Calibur 6 (PS4)

Soul Calibur is one of the few 3-D fighters I really like.  I appreciate that they make them accessible to everyone, but pros can still find ways to perfect their game.  I enjoyed SC2 a lot on GameCube, and aside from Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, I think Soul Calibur 4 and 5 were my most played games on 360.  I hope they have a character creation mode in this one, too. I think I spent more time making my own characters than actually fighting!  Although with DLC the way it is nowadays, I hope that doesn’t ruin how character creating is done in this sequel.  Can you guess who my favorite Soul Calibur characters are?

Mega Man 11 (PS4)

Capcom recently just announced this, and I am SUPER stoked for it!  I’m glad they went with a more modern look this time.  I liked the 8-bit style of MM9 and 10, but I’d like to see a new Mega Man game with more modern graphics and such.  They don’t need Inafune to make another Mega Man game.  I wonder if this will cause them to make Mega Man Legends 3 as well?  Yeah, that’s probably hoping for too much.  Hopefully 11 will be good.  I think even WayForward could make a good Mega Man game, don’t you?

Monster Boy (PS4)

I played this at PAX South last year.  It’s actually a true sequel to the Wonder Boy in Monster World franchise, which hasn’t had a new game since the 16-bit days.  They said it would release in the summer of 2017, but that never happened.  I don’t know if they ran into development snags or if the success of the Wonder Boy 3 remake caused them to delay it, but hopefully it’ll come out this year instead.

Penguin Wars (Switch)

Most of the games I’ll review this year will probably be downloadable titles, but it’s harder to keep up with the release schedules for those, so there are probably lots more that I missed.  But here’s one I recently got a press release on.  Anyone remember Penguin Wars?  It was an old 8-bit title that was mostly on Japanese systems, but we got it in the US on the Game Boy.  You play as different animals and throw balls at the other side of a table and try to have the least amount of balls on your side.  It’s like a cross between ping pong, dodgeball, and a game I played in elementary school PE called “Sock it to me.”  Anyway, someone is remaking that game for the Switch, and I hope I get to review it.  It looks pretty sick!

And that’s all for now!  Naturally there will be more games I’ll look forward to, they just haven’t announced them yet.  In the comments section, let me know what you think of my list, and if there are any titles you think that I’d like that I missed.  Also, let me know what games YOU’RE looking forward to in 2018.  Later!  --Cary

PS: I’m going to PAX South at the end of this week, so please pray that I have a safe trip there and back!  Thanks!