The Skill Issue (2025)

03/07/2023

Should You Read Daigo Umehara’s Book “The Will to Keep Winning”?

Near the launch of Street Fighter V, the English translation of Daigo Umehara’s first book was released. This is a review of that version. Who is Daigo? If you don’t know who Daigo is, then you probably aren’t familiar with fighting game competitions (outside of Super Smash Bros.). Daigo has b...

28/06/2023

Final Fantasy XVI’s Launch Isn’t a Flop, but It Isn’t a Good Sign for the Series Either

Earlier today Square Enix released a big announcement about the sales performance of Final Fantasy XVI after 6 days: This game has been somewhat controversial because of its tone and Square Enix’s decision to double down on action combat despite the mixed reception to Final Fantasy XV. A lot of pe...

21/05/2023

The Nintendo Switch Is Far From Dead

Now that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out, a lot of people are looking forward to the next big thing from Nintendo. A lot of people are calling it “the last major game” that is going to release on the system. Looking past how this ignores Pikmin 4, which is a […]

14/05/2023

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Xbox 360) Review

A few years into the 5th generation of consoles Konami brought Castlevania back to consoles in a new way. Discarding the linear style of the previous games, they instead took inspiration from Super Metroid, recreating it with swords, magic, and RPG stats. The following is a review of the 2007 Xbox 3...

05/06/2022

Star Fox Zero (Wii U) Review

Ten years after the last mainline Star Fox game, Star Fox Command on the DS, Nintendo finally released a sequel on Wii U called Star Fox Zero in 2016. Despite being the sixth mainline release in the series, Star Fox Zero does not advance the story much compared to where it has already gone. It […]

29/05/2022

You Should Play Super Famicom Online's New Game (Umihara Kawase Impressions)

On May 26th, 2022, Nintendo added two games to the SNES Online app and one game to the NES Online app. At the same time, the Famicom Online apps also got 3 new games. However, instead of Congo’s Caper, the Super Famicom app got the first Umihara Kawase game. It is somewhat strange that Nintendo [....

22/05/2022

Does Ugly Sonic Live Up to the Hype? (Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022) Impressions)

Yesterday Disney released a reboot movie of Chip ‘n Dale on Disney+. It is mostly just a crossover comedy movie, but it does mainly feature Chip and Dale. As has been widely discussed online, the original design of Sonic the Hedgehog from his own 2020 movie by Paramount is used in this film. In th...

14/05/2022

Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Xbox Series X) Review

Four years after Yakuza 6: The Song of Life came out in Japan in 2016, its followup released worldwide. Although the Japanese version has 7 in the title, this game marks the end of the series being numbered for English releases. For the first time in the Yakuza main series the game does not follow [...

07/05/2022

Mario's Super Picross (Switch) Review

In 2020, Mario’s Super Picross for the Super Famicom finally got a worldwide release. Presumably it is somehow tied to Mario’s Picross on the Game Boy, which came out during the same year in Japan. It is only available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online subscription. As the title suggests, it...

25/04/2022

Ghost Squad (Wii) Review

Three years after it’s release on the Sega Chihiro arcade system, which is known for having similar hardware to the original Xbox, SEGA ported Ghost Squad to the Wii. The game is a light gun game similar to the The House of the Dead series, but with a different structure. As far as arcade ports [....

17/04/2022

Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Xbox 360) Review

Two years after the original Final Fantasy XIII released, it got one of the few direct sequels in the series: Final Fantasy XIII-2. The game is definitely built off the base of the original, but it remixes it in many significant ways. The extremely linear design is replaced with a new one that looks...

08/04/2022

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) Movie Impressions

Today the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie released in theaters. Having reviewed many of the games in the Sonic series, this website is an authoritative source on all things Sonic, and it demands respect. This review is almost entirely spoiler free. What is it? As with the first one this is not really a S...

03/04/2022

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin Is More than a Meme (Demo Impressions)

https://theskillissue.com/2022/04/03/stranger-of-paradise-final-fantasy-origin-is-more-than-a-meme-demo-impressions/

On March 10th, 2022 the final demo for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin was released. It lets you play several hours of the beginning of the game. Your progress in the demo carries over into the full game. The demo was played on Xbox Series X for this impressions article. Souls-like Strang...

24/03/2022

Kirby and the Forgotten Land’s New Mechanic That You Probably Missed

https://theskillissue.com/2022/03/24/kirby-and-the-forgotten-lands-new-mechanic-that-you-probably-missed/

In this website’s impression of the demo for Kirby and the Forgotten Land it was stated that “Kirby plays almost exactly like he did in Kirby Super Star on the SNES over 25 years ago”. However, there was one mechanic that wasn’t in Kirby Super Star that was missed. It can be done using the [...

16/03/2022

Don’t Expect a Sequel to Sonic Mania Anytime Soon

https://theskillissue.com/2022/03/16/dont-expect-a-sequel-to-sonic-mania-anytime-soon/

Earlier today (March 16th, 2022), it was announced by Private Division, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, that they had signed a new publishing agreement with Evening Star. Evening Star is a development studio founded in late 2018 that is made up of many of the developers of Sonic...

06/03/2022

The Kirby and the Forgotten Land Demo Is Worth Your Time (Impressions)

https://theskillissue.com/2022/03/06/the-kirby-and-the-forgotten-land-demo-is-worth-your-time-demo-impressions/

On the 5th anniversary of the launch of the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo announced a demo for Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The demo lets you play three levels taken from an early section of the game and also lets you try out upgraded versions of copy abilities starting with your second playthrough of....

27/02/2022

Is Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Actually Releasing in 2022?

https://theskillissue.com/2022/02/27/is-pokemon-scarlet-and-violet-actually-releasing-in-2022/

Today at 6:00 AM (PST) The Pokémon Company announced the first games in the ninth generation of Pokémon, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. At the end of the trailer, a “late 2022” release window was announced. The gaming community has grown increasingly skeptical about release windows over the year...

22/02/2022

On What Platforms Will Street Fighter 6 Release?

https://theskillissue.com/2022/02/22/on-what-platforms-will-street-fighter-6-release/

After the “Capcom Countdown” ended on February 21st (PST), the next entry in the Street Fighter series, Street Fighter 6, was announced. Unlike many other game announcements, the logo reveal was not followed with platform reveals. Still, there is already a lot of reasons why it may or may not co...

21/02/2022

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (Nintendo Switch) Review

https://theskillissue.com/2022/02/21/super-monkey-ball-banana-mania-nintendo-switch-review/

Sixteen years after Super Monkey Ball Deluxe put the original Super Monkey Ball and Super Monkey Ball 2 on GameCube into one package, Sega did it again with Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania. Once again, it didn’t exactly live up to the original GameCube versions, but it is still a good game in its o...

09/02/2022

No, Microsoft Did Not Confirm Where Future Activison Blizzard Games Will Go

https://theskillissue.com/2022/02/09/no-microsoft-did-not-confirm-where-future-activison-blizzard-games-will-go/

Today Microsoft released a blog post about what they believe the future of app stores should look like. In this blog post they decided to restate their position on Activision Blizzard games on other platforms after they are able to acquire them: To be clear, Microsoft will continue to make Call of D...

05/02/2022

Sonic Lost World (Wii U) Review

https://theskillissue.com/2022/02/05/sonic-lost-world-wii-u-review/

After the original three “Boost Formula” games: Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors, and Sonic Generations, SEGA and Sonic Team decided it was time for a change of pace. In 2013, they released Sonic Lost World on Wii U and 3DS. Calling it the Super Mario Galaxy of the Sonic series is an apt comparison...

31/01/2022

Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox One X) Review

https://theskillissue.com/2022/01/31/final-fantasy-xiii-xbox-one-x-review/

Only a bit over three years after the launch of Final Fantasy XII Square Enix released a next-gen entry in the Final Fantasy franchise for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at the same time (in North America) with Final Fantasy XIII. Eight years after its release on Xbox 360, it was added to the […]

22/01/2022

What Does Phil Spencer’s Tweet about PlayStation and Call of Duty Mean?

https://theskillissue.com/2022/01/22/what-does-phil-spencers-tweet-about-playstation-and-call-of-duty-mean/

Two days after the major announcement that Activision Blizzard will join Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, tweeted an update on the situation as it relates to Sony and PlayStation: Many people are taking this as confirmation that games in the Call of Duty franchise, and po...

18/01/2022

Sonic Heroes (GameCube) Review

https://theskillissue.com/2022/01/18/sonic-heroes-gamecube-review/

After Sega gave up on the Dreamcast, they decided the next 3D Sonic game should release on every major system. The Sonic Adventure games were ported to the GameCube after launching on Dreamcast first, but this was the first 3D Sonic game to launch day one on a console not made by Sega. In this […]

06/01/2022

Days Gone’s Sales Probably Aren’t as High as a Director Claims

https://theskillissue.com/2022/01/06/days-gones-sales-probably-arent-as-high-as-a-director-claims/

Today one of the directors of Days Gone tweeted in response to the announcement that Ghost of Tsushima sold 8 million copies that his game had already sold over 8 million copies within a year and a seven months of release: Is this even legal? The first reason to doubt that this is true is […]

02/01/2022

Why Stuart Gipp from Nintendo Life Does Not Deserve the Hate

https://theskillissue.com/2022/01/02/why-stuart-gipp-from-nintendo-life-does-not-deserve-the-hate/

(for his recent article on Balan Wonderworld) The hate for Stuart Gipp says a lot more about the gaming community than it does about him. If you read the full article you can tell he is someone who takes this stuff seriously. This isn’t a case of a games journalist getting facts blatantly wrong th...

30/12/2021

“The Ultimate Battle” Event in Super Smash Bros. For Wii U Guide

https://theskillissue.com/2021/12/30/the-ultimate-battle-event-in-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u-guide/

The final co-op event in Super Smash Bros. For Wii U can look daunting. In this event you are expected to beat every character in the game’s base roster with only one stock. However, with the right strategy it can actually be fairly easy, even on hard mode. With any luck you should be able […]

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