Year: 2020

10 Best Tracks from Sonic the Hedgehog Soundtracks

The Sonic the Hedgehog games have been on quite the ride over the past 29 years, with some of the best games ever made and…well…some of the worst as well. However, one thing that has been of a relatively consistent quality throughout the franchise, is the music, which has remained incredible.

The Sonic soundtracks have gone through a few phases. There are the classic 16-bit soundtracks, the late 1990s/early 2000s punk-rock, and even a small foray into pop music towards the turn of the 2010s. The main point is that (almost) all of it has been great. Every level in every game is paired up with a track that is able to capture the feeling and setting of the surrounding level, while still being able to provide an exhilarating ride as you roll around at the speed of sound (little spoiler for you there).

So, let’s have some fun and explore some of the best tracks the franchise has ever produced. Before we start, I should clarify that several of these tracks (especially the classic ones) have been reused and remixed in many games throughout the franchise over the years. So, for each one, I will specify in which game it originally appeared and which version of the track I like the best.

Honourable Mentions
– Press Garden Zone for being incredibly unique
– Sky Sanctuary Zone for being insanely emotional
– Open Your Heart for being bloody mental

10 – Haunted Ship

First Appearance: Sonic Rush Adventure
Best Version: Sonic Rush Adventure

Arguably one of the best stages in the DS title Sonic Rush Adventure, Hunted Ship has a fast and tense track to go with it.

The colour palette for the level in incredibly muted. There are grey and white coloured ghosts all over the place, while the ship itself is lined with dark yellow and pale turquoise. Combine this with the thick fog that covers both the background and the foreground of the level, and you’ve got yourself a level with a very intimidating presence (when you’re not bouncing off of bright blue trampolines). The music looks to add to that while also helping bring some of the action to the forefront.

The beat starts off very fast, but also quite quiet. Immediately the tense factor is there, pushing you to get a move on and blast your way through the rundown area. Then the guitar kicks in as things in the level get going, and it matches up perfectly with the Sonic Rush series’ boosting mechanic which, if you do it right, should persist throughout almost the entire level. The quick and complex bassline continues throughout the entire track, helping that sense of unease persist throughout every moment in the level.

The track also has a bit of a disjointed nature to it, as the melody swings wildly through different phases. This is absolutely perfect for the feel of the level, which is one of a stage that could fall apart at any moment. It’s being held together by bits of fraying rope and splintered wood,  which is what helps make this track quite an intense one.

9 – Ice Cap Zone

First Appearance: Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Best Version: Sonic the Hedgehog 3

It’s widely known by this point in time that Michael Jackson was at one point among the artists that were putting together the soundtrack for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Although he did eventually leave the team as he was unhappy with the poor sound quality that Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive produced, his fingerprints are still all over the game’s soundtracks, and this is the level where that is the clearest. If you’ve never seen it, look up ‘Smooth Criminal – Ice Cap Zone Remix’ on YouTube, you’ll see what I mean.

Much like Haunted Ship, this track starts out with a quiet, but fast beat that lines up perfectly with the opening section of the level where you rocket down a mountain on a snowboard. Once you crash down into the cave, the main melody kicks in, which is absolutely beautiful. I don’t know what kind of instrument they used for that melody, but it fits the cold and frozen feel of the level so wonderfully. Ice Cap Zone is arguably one of the prettier levels in Sonic 3, and this soundtrack goes along with that.

It doesn’t sacrifice everything to nail the level’s feel, though, as the constant bassline is once again used as a brilliant tool to keep the feeling of speed. In a level with so much variety like Ice Cap Zone, it’s nice to have a track that stays relatively consistent to tie the whole thing together, keeping you going with a beautiful melody as it does so.

8 – Sonic Boom

First Appearance: Sonic CD (US Version)
Best Version: Sonic CD (US Version)

You want slightly outdated 90s pop? This is basically all you could ever want of it rolled into one song. It’s got a synth melody that’s just outdated enough to feel charming to modern ears, a beat that’s basic enough that it doesn’t distract from all of the other wonderous stuff going on in the song, and the lyrics, oh lord, the lyrics, I’ll eat all of that right up.

I know that the Japanese version of the soundtrack is far superior when it comes to, well, every other song in the game, but I’d say the whole US endeavour was worth it just for this. It’s very much a ‘not for everybody’ kind of track, but it plays right into my hands for a track that wouldn’t feel out of place at Eurovision, and I just can’t bring myself to have even a mild dislike for it. It’s stupidly catchy, and the lyrics are dumb enough to make me smile on every listen. Lines like “If your strong, you can fly” which make absolutely zero sense still fill me with that inspirational pump that I need before racing through a Sonic game.

If anything, the only real downside of this song is that the title will forever make me think of one of the worst Sonic games.

7 – Studiopolis Zone

First Appearance: Sonic Mania
Best Version: Sonic Mania

I’ve talked about it loads by now, but Sonic Mania was a wonderful celebration of the best of Sonic’s past. As you’ll see as this list goes on, Mania did a perfect job of remastering many of the classic tracks, adding just enough new elements to make them feel modern, while still capturing the retro style. This is somewhat impressive when a large chunk of the composition was already done for them with the old tracks, however, what blew me away was how amazing the brand new tracks are in Mania. Press Garden and Mirage Saloon were viable contenders for a spot on this list (in fact, I’d say Press Garden is the unofficial number 11), but where Tee Lopes shows his real talent for creating a Sonic track, is in Studiopolis Zone.

What many composers for modern Sonic games don’t understand is that a track doesn’t necessarily have to be fast-paced to fit the gameplay. Sure, it can’t be too slow, otherwise, it would feel extremely out of pace, but you don’t have to be putting your foot on the accelerator all the time. Studiopolis is a track that understands this. It maintains a steady pace that’s fast enough to feel satisfying along with the gameplay, but then spends the rest of its time engrossing you in the world around you. This isn’t just the track that plays during Studiopolis Zone, this IS Studiopolis Zone. The big and brassy melody, the broadway feel of the track and the background noises of what sound like studio equipment and the classic “lights, camera, action” line, it all meshes perfectly with the visual design of the level to create a stage that feels truly alive as you blast through it.

If SEGA allows the team that worked on Sonic Mania to make a new 2D Sonic game anytime soon, then this is exactly the kind of stuff I want to see from them. The remastered old stuff is great, but the totally original stuff is what has the potential to be the greatest.

6 – Egg Reverie

First Appearance: Sonic Mania
Best Version: Sonic Mania

Final boss themes in games come in a few different flavours. Some games like to make them a grand emotional moment, to draw you to the climax; some games want to bear down on you with big, intimidating themes that press upon you the challenge you face; and some just want to rock the fuck out and give you one hell of a fun ride. This theme falls into the latter category.

From the word go (quite literally in this instance), this is a track that wants you to feel like a superhero. The simple guitar riff that undercuts the whole track gives the feeling of intensity in the fight, but it’s not overly intimidating. The game wants you to know that this is a fight you can win and that you should have fun while doing it. A feeling that is taken to the moon and back when the synth melody kicks in. The melody summons ska vibes to bring the energy in a major way and pulling a small element of chaos into the mix when it breaks down.

Then it gives way to a guitar melody that I love so much I can barely put it into words. It draws together, the intensity, the chaos and the fun of the track so smoothly. It hits the emotional high of the track while keeping the energy and pace at the max. At the end of the day, this is a track that’s endlessly fun to listen to, and I can listen to it over and over again.

5 – Live and Learn

First Appearance: Sonic Adventure 2
Best Version: Sonic Adventure 2

Aaand here comes the Crush 40.

When I think of rock music in the 2000s, this is the kind of music that immediately springs to my mind. Crush 40 embodies a period in musical history that I wish I could’ve been old enough to properly appreciate living through. Johnny Gioeli’s voice is what a pure-rock voice should sound like to me. He’s not perfect, but his range is incredible, and the slight graveliness in his voice means he can carry the vocals so smoothly, despite having to get his mouth around some more out-there wordings.

Getting to Live & Learn specifically, it was quite literally instant love. I heard the intro and immediately rewound the song to listen to the intro again before the verse even kicked in because I loved it that much. It’s the quintessential cheesy 2000s rock song. It doesn’t try to do anything complicated or special, it just takes some electric guitars and GOES TO TOWN on them. It creates a simple riff that is endlessly catchy and refuses to let up for a moment.

When the vocals do kick in, the whole thing gets kicked up a notch. The words don’t make a great deal of sense, but I honestly couldn’t care less because they fit the melody better than even some of the best lyrics I’ve ever heard. They’re not the feature-point of the song, instead, they’re another tool to elevate every other part of the song and solidify the pure rocking energy and in-your-face nature of the whole thing.

To put it simply, it’s an incredible all-out rock song, which is the kind of music I live (& learn) for.

4 – Escape from the City

First Appearance: Sonic Adventure 2
Best Version: Sonic Generations (Modern)

“Rolling around at the speed of sound.” Perhaps the cheesiest line I’ve ever heard in a rock song, and it’s what makes this song such a joy to listen to.

The opening level of any Sonic game is always the best opportunity to bring as much light-hearted joy into the game as possible. That’s why opening Sonic levels are usually some form of bright grassy field or beach, with open levels designs that allow you to take things at whatever pace you want to ensure you get the most enjoyment out of it. They’re levels designed purely to get the most out of the momentum-based gameplay before throwing more versatile mechanics at you.

City Escape doesn’t follow any of these rules. The level is an endless cityscape with a muted colour palette and tight streets. How do you make that a fun & memorable opening level? Well, for one thing, you ride down these streets on a broken piece of the helicopter you just leapt out of, and secondly, you give it one of the most hyperenergetic rock tracks in the history of the franchise. I’ll be honest, the trick of lining up the guitars to kick in perfectly in synch with when Sonic hits the ground was all it took for me to fall in love with this one.

City Escape is an all-time classic Sonic level, with some of the best 3D level design the franchise has ever given to us, and this track amplified its iconic status amongst the Sonic fanbase.

3 – Chemical Plant Zone

First Appearance: Sonic 2
Best Version: Sonic Mania

If you look up “catchy” in the dictionary, there’s just a URL link to this song.

The main melody is one that seems specifically crafted to stick into the brain. The chord progression is so simple, and yet the pace at which it circles around those chords drives the thing into your skull and makes it stick there for hours and hours upon end. I’m not sure if this was the intension of the composer, but the track gives me vague jazz vibes with his main melody. I know it’s a lot faster than most jazz music, but I can very easily imagine the melody being played on a saxophone, I bet it would sound great.

The breakdown is utterly incredible too, and it’s where the main feel of Chemical Plant as a level comes in. The percussion takes a more prominent role in the track, and you get the industrial vibes of the level. The grey & yellow colour palette gives just enough life for this track to carry the whole level to be one of the all-time greats. It’s a chaotic and winding level that isn’t afraid to throw you through a loop and send you off in all kinds of weird directions. The main melody is cohesive with that feeling as the chords of the main melody never linger, the song is always looking to get onto the next one, and it creates almost a maze of notes, just like Chemical Plant itself.

Besides, regardless of what you think of it, it’s going to be in your head for the rest of the day, so you might as well enjoy it.

2 – Flying Battery Zone

First Appearance: Sonic & Knuckles
Best Version: Sonic Mania

The intro to this song is easily the best intro to any Sonic level. That high descending note that sends you flying right out the gate as the beat goes crazy in the background. It’s like someone took hold of my adrenaline levels and forcefully pumped them up to maximum.

This is a track that refuses to let up for even a second. It’s intense, it’s threatening, it’s fast, and it’s fun. For context, during Flying Battery Zone, you will be making your way through – and then running along the top of – a gigantic airship that earlier in Sonic 3 bombed Angel Island until it was engulfed in flames. This track needed to be loud, proud and epic all in one, a feeling that I believe it nails.

I’ve already talked about the intro, but things keep the craziness from there. The majority of the track relies on downward chord progressions to establish the feeling of threat, but then it moves into the breakdown, and things reach their emotional climax. The shift into a higher octave brings all those intense emotions rising to the surface as you navigate an increasingly chaotic level. All the while, the baseline sits there, carrying the track and maintaining a ludicrously fast pace that means the whole thing never needs to slow down or take a breather.

This track helps me get the most fun out of a crazy level like Flying Battery. I often preach that Sonic games aren’t just about speed, but when you’ve got a track like this playing the background, how could you possibly focus on anything else?

1 – Lava Reef Zone: Act 1

First Appearance: Sonic & Knuckles
Best Version: Sonic Mania

Up until now, I’ve lumped the Act 1 & Act 2 variations of tracks together, because they embody very similar feelings and styles. However, Lava Reef Zone’s Act 2 track is so wildly different from Act 1, that I felt I had to specify.

Lava Reef Zone has a lot going for it as a level. It’s the last level before Sonic & Knuckles properly reaches its climax, so it has to carry the feeling of rising tension that you get from seeing the Death Egg ready to rise in the background of the level. So how did the composers achieve this? By making it the most intense 16-bit track you could possibly imagine, that’s how.

The intro is incredibly threatening. It hits you with the looping beat that will sit under the whole track, that makes sure to stay low in pitch and steady in pace. While I wouldn’t call this track slow by any means, it’s definitely one of the slowest tracks from this era of Sonic music, and that makes it stand out all the more. It’s the game’s way of telling you that shit is about to get real, and I feel it when I’m playing through the level.

Then the main melody kicks in, and you realise that this track isn’t just trying to make you scared, it’s trying to bring your emotions to the surface so that it can kick them around for the final climactic levels of the game. It’s such a wonderful melody, the specific tone of the synth that was chosen is perfect for this sort of thing and these sorts of emotions. Ironically, you wouldn’t have to put too much effort in if you wanted to make this quite a relaxing track, but just enough of an edge is kept on things to make it feel intense instead.

The breakdown is the emotional centre of the track, and I feel it every single time I listen. Sonic & Knuckles isn’t even very heavy on plot, but this music is so powerful that I feel invested in the adventure regardless. I think that’s the secret as to why I love the music in the Sonic franchise so much, it creates a story, and world, even when the game gives us very little to work with.

And there you have it! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this post. Please, let me know what Sonic tracks you love the most, either in the comments below or on Twitter @SStyleSmark. Finally, make sure to come back here this time next week, where I’ll be covering WWE Clash of Champions!

AEW All Out 2020: Predictions & Analysis

It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these, but it’s time for AEW’s next Pay-Per-View! I’ll admit, with all the hype surrounding NXT Takeover, Summerslam & Payback, I’ve let my AEW viewing fall short somewhat. However, I dedicated this past week to catching up on the past month & a half of Dynamite, and I’ve got to say, I’m really enjoying the shows they’re putting out. Almost every week, there’s at least one match that feels like a big deal, and I can’t say that about Raw or Smackdown these days. Even NXT seems to be cramming its weekly shows with more and more filler (the past couple of weeks not included).

Regardless, there are nine matches on this show, and I’m going to predict them, because if I don’t do it, then you will? You know…other than any wrestling fan with any kind of minor online presence. If you saw my predictions for Double or Nothing, earlier this year, you’ll know that I got almost every match wrong, let’s see if I’ve learnt anything since then.

Britt Baker vs Big Swole
(Tooth & Nail Match)

Britt Baker’s injury was certainly unfortunate, but I’ll be damned if she hasn’t turned it into one hell of a positive for her character. It’s allowed her to play a properly slimy heel that can never seem to get her comeuppance because she’s hurt. Sort of like what MJF has been doing, but in a different way. Baker has been using it to take shot after shot at anyone she feels like dissing, and no-one can seem to do anything about it. Which is why I think there’s going to be some serious shenanigans at play during this Tooth & Nail match. Looking towards Big Swole, for one thing, that’s a dumb name, I don’t care what you say, but when it comes to her wrestling, she’s definitely got ‘future star’ written all over her. At the moment she’s not much more than a no-nonsense babyface who wants to kick people’s arses, and that works for her. It might not work forever, but that’s a problem for future Homer.

I’m curious as to what the Tooth & Nail stipulation entails. On Dynamite, it was implied that this is going to take place at Baker’s dentist surgery, and Tony Khan confirmed a few days ago that it would be a cinematic match, so honestly, anything could happen. Given that Big Swole picked the stipulation though, it seems an odd choice to give Baker the home-field advantage, but whatever.

I’m struggling to pick the winner though. Big Swole should definitely be being built up as a star, but I don’t think it’s going to be her time for a good 6-8 months or so. Meanwhile, Britt Baker is a ready-made opponent for Hikaru Shida already (spoilers), so provided she’s healthy, I don’t see any reason to delay that feud. Plus, as much as she’s been promoted as one of the spearheads of AEW’s women’s division, Baker isn’t a point yet where she can take innumerable losses and not suffer, she still needs big wins. So that’s why I think Britt Baker is coming away victorious in this one.

Casino Battle Royale

So, normally in big multi-man matches like this, I run down the possible candidates that I think could win the thing, but realistically, I think there are only two in this one.

I’m of two minds with AEW’s strategy for running a bunch of number 1 contender matches on their PPVs. It’s an excellent opportunity to give someone the spotlight who might not have received it otherwise, and I like that it gives the world title scene a constant sense of direction. However, I’m not sure a bunch of one-and-done title shots are doing much to elevate the contenders. I don’t know about you, but Brian Cage’s match against Moxley didn’t really do much to elevate him in my eyes. However, it’s a fun battle royal, and I like fun battle royals.

So, the two people I could see winning this thing (other than a surprise entrant) are Lance Archer & Darby Allin, and to be honest with you, which one I think is going to win mostly depends on the result of the main event. Lance Archer would be a great next challenger for Moxley, they’ve got recent history from their time in New Japan Pro Wrestling, and I would be down for a really brutal feud. Meanwhile, Darby Allin would be the perfect first opponent for MJF. From a character perspective, they’re perfect foils for one another, they’ve got in-ring styles that should mesh amazingly, and it would be a great showcase that AEW is willing to invest in its future with young stars.

Other factors that have played into my decision to pick Darby Allin as the winner though. For one thing, Allin’s been on the brink of breaking through for ages now, and they’ve got to do something with him before the fans stop giving a shit. Also, Lance Archer has plenty of options without needing to go after the world title. I would sure as hell like to see Archer vs Cage, even if it was heel vs heel.

The Dark Order vs Matt Cardon, Scorpio Sky & The Natural Nightmares

That TNT title sure has been going strong, hasn’t it? I still think the belt looks a bit boring, even with it’s improved look, but that doesn’t matter, because the booking team have been treating it very prestigiously. A series of open challenges is an excellent way to get me interested in any title/champion, and the run Cody had with the title was fantastic. Then, to have Brodie Lee come along and absolutely eviscerate Cody was the perfect next step. For one thing, Cody is easily one of the most sympathetic babyfaces out there, for another thing, it reestablishes Lee as a massive threat following his high-profile loss to Moxley. Not to mention, it’s given The Dark Order the credibility it’s been lacking, meaning I’m now a hell of a lot more interested in what they’re doing than I was before.

Given how close Lee winning the title has been to All Out, I don’t mind there not being any kind of title match on this PPV, because his presence around The Dark Order should be enough, especially if there’s an angle going down. As for the faces, I couldn’t care less. I’m happy to see that Cardona is making waves after leaving WWE, but unless he’s going to be a permanent fixture on AEW TV, then I’m not going to bother getting invested. I like Scorpio Sky, but this is not how I want to see him being used, he should be having high-profile singles feuds with anyone and everyone. I like Dustin, no complaints there, and QT Marshall is alright, but I haven’t really found a reason to like him yet.

Regardless, The Dark Order are winning this one, in fact, this is by far the predictions I’m the most confident about. They’re riding a huge wave momentum right now, and it’s way too early to hand them any significant losses. Combine that with the fact that the faces aren’t in a position to be hurt by taking a beating here, The Dark Order should absolutely wipe the floor with them.

Jurassic Express vs The Young Bucks

Yes, this is a match with nothing on the line, no build and is pretty much just ‘for the hell of it’, but it’s going to be excellent.

I’ve got very little to say about this match, other than that I’m really looking forward to it. Jurassic Express have been on fire ever since AEW began, and The Young Bucks have always been able to go with the best. The only there is to discuss is who I think is going to win. I think it would be nice for Jurassic Express to take it, but The Young Bucks have been jobbing themselves out like crazy since AEW began. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy they’re not going the exact opposite way and overbearing the whole show, but they’ve got to win big matches sometimes.

So I’m going with The Young Bucks, but really, I’m going to invoke the ‘we, the fans, win’ cliche in regards to this match.

Matt Hardy vs Sammy Guevara
(Broken Rules)
(If Matt Hardy loses, he must leave AEW)

I don’t know why this pairing works so well, but I’ve been enjoying this feud a great deal since it began. Sammy’s sign schtick has been wearing a bit thin, but it worked for this feud and allowed for some cool moments. Not to mention, it made great use of the picture-in-picture aspect of the ad breaks. Their matches have been killer too, after recent events, Sammy was always going to have to earn his way back into a prominent role in AEW, and I think his matches with Hardy have done just that.

Apparently, a ‘Broken Rules’ match just means a Last Man Standing match, which admittedly, does take away from my hype for the match somewhat. I honestly can’t remember the last Last Man Standing match I actually enjoyed, but I do think it’s the logical progression given where they’ve gone with the feud so far. If nothing else, I think it’ll serve the story perfectly, even if the action suffers as a result.

If the ‘Matt leaves AEW’ stipulation wasn’t on the match, I’d pick Sammy Guevara without a second thought, but that’s really thrown things into the air. It’s entirely possible that Matt Hardy could be going away for a little while, many on the internet have already theorized that he’ll just come back under a different gimmick. The only problem there is that AEW has already acknowledged Matt’s multiple gimmicks to be the same guy, so I don’t think the logic would hold. Ultimately, I’d prefer to Sammy win this one, but as it stands, I’m going for the safe pick, Matt Hardy.

Chris Jericho vs Orange Cassidy
(Mimosa Mayhem)

This match is going to be an absolute blast.

The in-ring action probably won’t be world-class, but in terms of pure entertainment value, this could easily be the most enjoyable match of the show. Jericho has proved time and time again that he’s one of the best comedic wrestlers when he wants to be, and Orange Cassidy is an absolute master of comedic timing in wrestling matches. Will it be over-the-top and a bit stupid? Probably, yes. Will that make it incredibly fun to watch? Hell yeah.

This feud as a whole has been really entertaining too. I love how dedicated AEW has been to getting Cassidy over as a real main-eventer, even despite his highly comedic persona. Jim Cornette and his screaming piss-babies will be forever crying about how comedic wrestling is the work of the devil and is ‘killing the business’, but it’s time to leave them behind and embrace the entertainment value of a guy like Cassidy for what it is.

The interesting thing about picking a winner is how the stipulation of the match is actually going to work. The way I see it, there is absolutely no way that Cassidy is going in the vat of mimosa. His character is one that can bounce back from any beating you give him, but humiliating him like that is insanely damaging to his persona. However, the match can also be won by pinfall or submission, so it’s entirely possible that Jericho could win the match via pinfall, only for Cassidy to push Jericho into the mimosa after the match to get the last laugh. Ultimately, I think that if Jericho’s going into the mimosa regardless, you might as well give Orange Cassidy as big of a boost as possible by giving him the win.

Hikaru Shida(c) vs Thunder Rosa
(AEW Women’s Championship)

AEW really need to get their shit together when it comes to the women’s division because this match has not been hyped or built nearly as much as it should. Shida is the kind of wrestler that you can build a division around, with her running strong at the top, and yet she’s barely on TV, and even when she is, it’s almost never in the ring. The treatment of the women’s division has been AEW’s biggest problem since the company began last year, and it’s incredibly frustrating to see that they’re not learning their lessons.

However, the one thing they do at least do well, is that they give the matches plenty of time on the shows, which is why I’m still very excited about this match. I don’t know a lot about Thunder Rosa, but what I’ve seen of her, I really like. As much as AEW hasn’t been pushing her personality properly, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve got of it so far, and I think she’ll click really well with Shida in the ring. I just think AEW has been leaning too heavily on Rosa’s status as the NWA Women’s Champion to sell her to the audience when really, that should be secondary to her character.

Now, I don’t know anything about what AEW’s agreement is with the NWA, but I don’t think AEW would be willing to put their women’s title on someone who isn’t under contract with them. It’s certainly not unheard of, but I’m pretty confident in my belief that Hikaru Shida is going to retain.

Kenny Omega & Hangman Page(c) vs FTR
(AEW World Tag Team Championships)

I didn’t think anything from this year could top Omega & Page vs Young Bucks, but if any team can do it…it’s FTR.

The build for this one has been excellent. I don’t like how absent Omega has been from a lot of it, but it’s a case where the story works fine without him; in fact, you could argue it shrouds the dynamic between him & Page in even more mystery. Everything Page has been doing all year has been great, and it finally feels like things are coming to a head. FTR has been masterful heels, manipulating Page to get him to screw over The Young Bucks and cause a rift between him & Omega, while not being so overbearing that they can have deniability about the whole thing.

I mean, come on, you don’t need me to tell you that this match is going to be amazing. FTR were one-half of one of my favourite tag team matches of all time (vs #DIY at NXT Takeover: Toronto), and Omega & Page were one half of the other of my favourite tag team matches of all time (vs The Young Bucks at AEW Revolution). With guys who can go in the ring like these and a story as hot as this one, I’m expecting a match of the year candidate.

Funnily enough, I think the outcome is fairly obvious. FTR are coming away with the titles. There’s definitely still a route for the story to go if Omega & Page retain, but I don’t think it’s the right way to go. We all know that FTR vs Young Bucks is where we’re headed, and while you can argue that match doesn’t need the titles, it should absolutely still have them involved. Tully Blanchard said it himself, if you haven’t got the titles, how can you truly say that you’re the best?

Jon Moxley(c) vs MJF
(AEW World Championship)

This is a real toughie. The thing is, this is the moment that MJF’s AEW career has been leading towards ever since he first showed up. There’s no way he isn’t going to hold the AEW Championship at some point in the next year or two. The thing is, is it actually going to happen now?

The feud has been great. MJF is the epitome of a clever heel. He knows that Moxley’s attitude is ‘fight first, talk later’ so he’s taken every opportunity to prevent Moxley from resorting to violence. The whole campaign to ban the Paradigm Shift has been a wonderful satire of the political landscape, without diving too deep to feel like a straight-up parody. Moxley’s bounced off it perfectly too. I adored his performance in the contract signing, where he just sat there and let MJF shoot his mouth off for ages, his facial reactions, the little comments he’d make were terrific. I honestly think Moxley could do very well for himself as an actor if he really wanted to.

I’m interested to see what direction the match will take. MJF can absolutely go in the ring – just watch his match against Jungle Boy at Double or Nothing if you don’t believe me – so they could wrestle a largely technical match. MJF touched on the idea that he was going to do everything in his power to keep Moxley from taking the match out of the ring, so I think there could be a great story to be told with Moxley wrestling a technical style in the ring. Alternatively, this could be a huge story-based match, with lots of excitement, big spots and interferences. I think either way would be equally as entertaining, provided they’re done well.

I’ve got to pick a winner though, and I honestly don’t know. As I said, MJF is getting his hands on that title eventually, I’m just not sure if now is the right time or not. It’s one of those situations where I’d be happy with either result, I’d love to see Moxley continue the absolute tear he’s been on as of late, but MJF at the top of the mountain would make for some incredible TV. It’s a tough call, but I’m going to go for MJF. I don’t know why. It was just my gut feeling.

And there you have it! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this post. Please, let me know what you think is going to happen tonight, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo! Finally, make sure to come back this time next week, where I’ll be running down my favourite tracks from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise!

My 100 Favourite Games of All Time (10-1)

Well…here we are.

Just in time for my 21st birthday, we’ve reached the end of the road, and all that’s left is to cover the best of the best. The games that matter the most to me and that have given me the most enjoyment over the years.

If you need to catch up on the series so far, then you can do that here. So, if you’re all caught up, let’s see this through to the end and discuss my 10 favourite games of all time.

10 – Sonic Mania

Release Date: 15th August 2017
Developer: PagodaWest Games, Headcannon
Publisher: SEGA
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows
Metacritic Average: 86%

It’s a game where you gotta- What do you mean I’ve already used that joke?

I’ve professed my love for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise already several times throughout this series, but this is the pinnacle of what the blue blur has to offer.

Ironically not made by Sonic Team, Sonic Mania was a game made by Sonic fans who truly understood what made Sonic such a phenomenon to big with. Sonic Mania isn’t just a game that’s ‘inspired by’ the three classic Sonic games, it IS a classic Sonic game. It took the core of the momentum-based platforming formula and expanded it into the modern platform. The music, the visuals, the gameplay, everything feels so very close to those fantastic classic titles that it may as well have sat amongst them as Sonic 4 and no-one would’ve batted an eye.

Sonic Mania doesn’t just sit around and copy what the classic games did though, it learns from their mistakes and even brings in some elements that worked in the modern titles. Firstly, we got a 2D Sonic game that actually made use of HD screenspace (looking at YOU Sonic 4), so now it was a lot easier to see obstacles coming your way, even when you were blasting through at top speed. Also, while the game did take many classic level designs, it remixed them, in ways that inarguably improved them. Even a level as simple as Green Hill Zone was expanded in such a way that made it a much more exciting level to blaze through. Not to mention that the terrain is designed in such a way that doesn’t hamper your momentum as much as in Sonic 1.

Where I believe the game shines brightest though, is in the 4 wholely original zones that the team developed for the game. It’s the clearest proof we’ve ever had that Sonic’s classic formula wasn’t a product of its time and it can absolutely still work in a game today. Those fans who played these games as kids are now the creative geniuses and masterful programmers behind Sonic Mania and they get Sonic. Zones like Press Garden and Titanic Monarch hold up as some of the best in the entire franchise. They combine speed, and platforming challenges in such a smooth way that I don’t believe can be topped by any other game on the planet.

When people look at all the horrible stuff the Sonic franchise has churned out over the past couple of decades and say “How can you like this franchise?” this game is my answer. It perfectly distils all the reasons why Sonic became such a popular franchise to begin with, and why fans still love it to this day.

9 – XCOM 2

Release Date: 5th February 2016
Developer: Firaxis Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows, Mac, Linux
Metacritic Average: 88%

It’s a game about almost losing everything every single turn.

This is turn-based strategy at its peak. It took me some time to appreciate XCOM for what it was. I played Enemy Unknown when I was 13 and back then, I didn’t really have the patience for it. I couldn’t be bothered to sit around and carefully plan my actions, to me it was slow, and slow was boring. Over the years though, my appreciation for turn-based strategy as a genre grew, as I discovered my love for games like Civilization, Worms and even regular card-games. So a couple of years ago, I came back to XCOM, I’ve since played through the entirety XCOM 2 on three separate occasions, and I love it.

What blows me away is that none of those three playthroughs looked even remotely similar. There’s such an extraordinary range of strategic potential with your troops in XCOM that I almost couldn’t believe how deep it went when I first came back to it. From the moment you land in an environment in XCOM, your mind has to be on the ball and ready to calculate countless possible outcomes at a moment’s notice. I talk a lot to myself while playing games anyway, but when I’m playing XCOM, I just can’t shut up. I can’t even pinpoint what it is that makes it so fun, but when I’m surveying the field and slowly narrowing down my options, I feel absolutely incredible.

The tense atmosphere and excitement doesn’t end at the thinking phase, though. There’s just as much to be had when you’ve made your decision and execute your action. I think the late TotalBiscuit put it best when he said that everyone comes away from XCOM with “war stories”. The tale of how your squad was in extreme mortal peril, but your sniper nailed three 20% shots in a row and saved you from disaster, or how you lost your best soldier because they managed to miss a 95% shot.

XCOM’s formula has just the right amount of randomness to it to keep you on your toes and make sure you can never rest on your laurels. However, simultaneously, it doesn’t lean on it so heavily that it feels like the game is entirely luck-based. I think that’s what makes the XCOM formula so satisfying. It’s because, even though there is that touch of randomness that can occasionally topple your best-laid plans, if you are a skilled tactician, you will still always come out victorious.

XCOM tests not only your strategic planning but also your strategic reactions. Yes, it’s a horrible feeling when your soldier misses an easy shot and becomes surrounded by an insurmountable horde of aliens because of it. However, when you knuckle down and calculate a strategy to get them out of that scenario alive, it’s the best feeling in the world.

8 – Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Release Date: 26th July 2019
Developer: Intelligent Systems, Koei Tecmo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Metacritic Average: 89%

It’s a game about teaching a bunch of kids in their late teens how to fight in a war.

So you know everything I just said about XCOM? Well, change the combat style to melee (a much cooler style) and add in a bunch of wonderful characters, all with their own complex backstories and ideals that you get to grow relationships with. That’s why Fire Emblem: Three Houses is on this list.

The Monastery that acts as your hub world during FE:3H isn’t the biggest area ever, I’d imagine many high schools are bigger, but the whole place is so densely packed with intrigue. Visually, it’s so vibrant and full of character, usually ‘monastery’ is a word I associate with a somewhat muted colour palette. However, FE:3H throws bright greens & blues at you all over the place, always drawing your eye to all the interesting things.

The biggest and best of these things is the people around the Monastery. The emotional connection I forged with many of the students & allies in the world is what kept it in my mind for so long. It’s what made me desire to play through the game 4 full times in a row; because I was desperate to spend time and form a bond with every single one of them. Even now, many months out from the last time I booted it up, I could name every single student & faculty member at the Monastery and give you a rough description to boot.

Everything all of these characters do is dripping with charm and personality. It’s true that many of them only have one or two major traits, but when there’s so many of them, and they’re all playing off each other, it doesn’t matter. The support scenes are a stroke of genius designs, as it allows you to see an understand these characters from all kinds of lenses. I don’t just interact with them directly, I get to see them interact with others, which gives me an incredibly deep understanding of who they really are.

Aside from all that, the core gameplay is absolutely fantastic. The turn-based combat gives me all the wonderful feelings that I just talked about with XCOM, only with the focus shifted onto melee combat, which is what makes the two games feel so different in my mind. However, it extends outside of the battlefield as well, as, unlike XCOM, you have total control over what becomes of your units. You actually sit down and have lessons with them to grow their skills, giving me an even deeper level of investment in their growth than I’d already gained from their personalities. You really are these kids’ teacher, and I genuinely care a great deal about them…even the ones I don’t really like.

The simplest way to put it is that Fire Emblem: Three Houses takes a gameplay formula that would already have made the top 10 and gives me a deep sense of emotional connection to every aspect of the world.

7 – FTL: Faster Than Light

Release Date: 14th September 2012
Developer: Subset Games
Publisher: Subset Games
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS
Metacritic Average: 88%

It’s a game about commanding a starship that is just desperate to explode at every available opportunity.

FTL is, without a doubt, the best roguelike/roguelite I’ve ever played. Everything about its premise and presentation is so simple. Even the tutorial is pretty brief, and you’ll probably get the hang of it pretty quickly when you start playing. It’s only once you’ve spent some real time with it that you realize just how stupidly deep of a game it really is. It’s not like Binding of Isaac where you’ll still be discovering secret areas and bosses after years of playing it, but there’s more than enough to keep you going for a very long time.

For one thing, I like the longer campaign length. Sure, a 10-15 minute is nice when you just have some time to kill, but when I’m sitting down with the specific intention of playing the game for a good while, an hour upwards is fantastic. It’s long enough so that I can grow an attachment to my ship & crew, and allows me to spend a significant amount of time planning how I’m going to focus my ship.

While there are a whole host of different ships in FTL, each of which lends towards specific playstyles, you can definitely play the game however you want. You can focus on buffing your shields and augmenting your hull so that you barely take any damage. You can focus on arming yourself with uber-powerful missile weapons that will drain the enemies’ health as fast as it will your pockets, or focus on stealth, firing off a barrage of shots and disappearing before the enemy has a chance to retaliate.

The element of randomness in FTL is just right too. Each map you spawn into feels different because there really is no rhyme or reason to the layout of the nodes. You just have to head vaguely towards the exit. Each node has a massive variety of events. Granted, a lot of them are just battles, but each battle goes so very different depending on your opponent. I don’t just mean their weapons to shield levels either, you have to really consider your strategy based on what type of ship it is & what race is on board. Are they Mantis that will attempt to board you? Are they Engi that annoy the fuck out of you with drones? Are they Lanius that…well…you just have to cross your fingers and pray, really.

Then there’s the final boss. It’s an interesting case with how FTL balanced itself here. As long as you have a decent idea of what you’re doing, you’ll probably be able to get to the final sector on your very first run, reaching the final boss. Then, you’ll actually do battle, and your ship will explode so fast you won’t even have time to comprehend the chaos that is occurring on your ship. It’s something that could be criticized for being way too sharp of a difficulty spike, but I like it. You know why? Because you now have a very tangible goal. In something like Binding of Issac, I never really knew what it was I was working towards because I’d never seen the final boss, I didn’t understand what it was I was fighting against. In FTL, I was IN from the moment I saw that thing, I knew that someday I would vaporize it, and that day would be glorious.

It then took me about 5 years of playing it on and off to actually do it, and it was genuinely one of those “I’m never going to forget this” moments in games.

What’s great, though, is that even though I’ve now won the game, I still LOVE going back and doing a bunch of runs in it every couple of months. There’s just enough randomness that, even when you’ve gotten quite good at the game, you could still get totally screwed over in sector 1 and die. Not to mention what I was talking about with all the different types of ships & playstyles.

I don’t think FTL is a game that I’ll ever feel ‘done’ with. No matter how much I play it, I still feel that urge to go back to it every now and then to try some new stuff. It’s a style of fast-thinking strategy that always leaves me wanting more.

6 – Pokemon Platinum

Release Date: 13th September 2008
Developer: Gamefreak
Publisher: The Pokemon Company, Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Metacritic Average: 84%

It’s a game about growing to love the creatures that do battle for you.

I’m not sure if it’s possible to describe precisely what Pokemon means to me, or even why it means so much to me. Although there are 5 other individual games on this list that I would say I love more, Pokemon as a franchise is the one that means the most to me in modern media.

Pokemon Platinum was the first time I ever connected with a game emotionally. Games were a thing I had always enjoyed up until that point, but they were something I saw more as tools for entertainment (I think the word for that is ‘toys’, but what I said sounds more insightful), they didn’t mean a great deal to me. Pokemon changed that. While I played games where I controlled characters, they were always just the vessel for me to explore and view the world. They had little personality or charm. At least, that was how I saw it as an 8-year-old.

Pokemon was different though. I still had my character, and as it’s a JRPG, they didn’t have any personality at all, but you know what did? Piplup. This weird blue penguin was something outside of myself in the game but acted on my behalf. When I picked it, the game gave me a description of what it was like, straight away, it had a personality, I felt like I understood it. Then we did battle together, we gained new team members, and I came to understand what they were like too. Before I knew it, I had a whole team of these creatures that I genuinely cared a great deal for. They mattered to me. I had an emotional bond with them. I’d never had that with a game before.

This is probably a good time to mention that I’ve never owned a pet in my life. For one reason or another, it’s always been impractical in our household, so I’ve never owned or looked after an animal. So all of these feelings of bonding with something that wasn’t another person was new to me. Once I’d played Pokemon, I felt like I got gaming. I was still young, so I didn’t fully understand the scope of it, but I felt like I finally had a firm grasp on why people cared so deeply about their video games. Sure enough, over the next 12-13 years, I grew into the nerd you see today that won’t stop bombarding you with his opinions on these things.

Why Pokemon Platinum specifically? Well, for one thing, it has all of the nostalgia I can possibly muster. It was my first, after all. However, even looking back at it now, I still think it’s the most consistently enjoyable Pokemon experience. The Pokemon I encounter along the way are among my favourites, from the starters to the routes, to the box-legendary. The music is incredible, the pace holds strong for the most part, the post-game is excellent (with the best version of the Battle Frontier, don’t @ me Emerald fans) and it’s simply a game that gives me warm and happy feelings.

I don’t know if I’d be the person I am today without Pokemon. It set me along the path of games going from something I play to something I connect with. To the point where I’m here with you, running down 100 of the blasted things. Who knows? I might even be able to go as far as saying that Pokemon Platinum is the reason this list even exists.

5 – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Release Date: 11th November 2011
Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Platforms: Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch, Windows, and…wait really? That’s it? …I could’ve sworn there was about 500 more…
Metacritic Average: 96%

It’s a game about shouting at things until they fall over.

To say that Skyrim shaped the way I think and feel about games would be an understatement, because it went even further than that. It broadened my horizons beyond just the scope of the game, into the wider world and global communities for games that exist on the internet.

Hitting the most significant point first, Skyrim is the reason I watch YouTube as regularly as I do. I know for most people it was a certain other 2011 game that we’ll be talking about in just a moment, but for me, it was Skyrim. Let’s Plays, cinematic content, super cringy original stories, and deep-dives into lore. I watched it all. It set in motion a chain of events that would eventually expand to the point where YouTube has been the primary place where I go to watch things for years now. More than TV and films.

On top of that, it gave me the gift of PC gaming. Now, don’t worry, I’m not one of those people that believes that PC is above all else. However, it has been my primary platform for playing games for many years and likely will remain as such for many more. I originally played Skyrim on the Xbox 360, but when I was watching the aforementioned YouTube videos on the game, I saw all these crazy things people were doing. They were manipulating the game world and doing crazy stuff like becoming invincible or spawning in 50 Lydias. Not to mention all the cool-looking weapons and quests that I couldn’t find anywhere the game. Yes, that’s right, I asked my parents to buy me the game on PC just so I could use console commands and install mods. It stuck though, as I’m still gaming on PC all these years later.

Looking more towards the game itself, it’s easily the non-sandbox game that I’ve put the most time into. By modern standards, the open world isn’t that big, but it’s so very dense with everything that’s packed into it. The enormous stretches of hills and plains may seem empty at first, but you’ll barely be able to walk two steps without an undiscovered location appearing on your compass, or a random NPC coming up and starting an encounter. I know there’s a lot of conversation and heated debate around this topic, but I think it’s the best world that Bethesda’s ever created.

At least once a year (often more) I get that urge to go back and start Skyrim all over again. Even though I invariably end up playing one of three different playstyles, and I have almost every noteworthy quest memorized, I still have so much fun playing through them all. I just love existing in that world and battling my way through every cave and crevasse I come across. A couple of years ago, I embarked on a playthrough where I installed a mod that disabled the compass and map and made my way around the world just using my own knowledge, and I genuinely did a bloody good job with it. I actually have a large chunk of Skyrim’s world memories in my brain and can get to most places without assistance. There’s not a single other open-world game in existence that I could do that with.

Skyrim is the RPG that contains everything I love about RPGs. I love that it keeps getting re-released under ever console that exists, it just gives me more excuses to play it again…and again…and again…and again…an-well, you get the point.

4 – Minecraft

Release Date: 18th November 2011
Developer: Mojang Studios
Publisher: Mojang Studios, Microsoft Studios
Platforms: Anything released after 2009…except the Ouya
Metacritic Average: 93%

It’s a game about…pretty much anything you want it to be about.

What can you even say? It’s the best selling game ever made, it’s got a cultural reach beyond anything anyone had ever imagined a video game could. You could even argue that it changed the world in several ways, but that’s for people more intelligent than me to debate. How do you even describe what’s so remarkable about a game that means so many things to literally hundreds of millions of people? I guess I can just explain what it means to me.

Minecraft was the first time I really understood how a ‘gaming community’ could thrive on the internet. Through things like the hundreds of Minecraft channels on YouTube or the vast amount of forums where Minecraft was the primary focus, I came to appreciate how exactly gaming brings people together. Not only did I see all the creators I love, interact and collaborate together in a way that I hadn’t seen before, but I found communities where I participated and made friends too. Thanks to Minecraft, the internet became a much larger place to me, full of real people, who I could actually talk to and be friends with. I’d never used the internet like that before Minecraft came along.

Outside of that, the game plays incredibly. It is far-and-away the game I’ve sunk the most time into across my whole life. Unfortunately, I don’t have the exact numbers for it, but given that I’ve been playing it regularly ever since I was 12, I’d say it’s easily been several thousand hours. I’ve created so many different worlds, many on my own, many with friends and they’ve all created a unique experience. Be it because of location, or creativity, or wherever I was getting my inspiration at the time, I’ve never built two worlds that look the same.

Not to mention, it’s one of the best games to play socially too because just about everyone owns it. During the past 6 months especially, playing Minecraft with the people I care about is more or less the only time I’ve been able to socialize. It’s such an easy game for everyone to grasp and everyone to do well in. It can be competitive if you want it to be, but it can be just as – if not more – fun when played collaboratively. It’s just such an easy game to play, it doesn’t really require much mental effort if you don’t want it to.

There’s so much more I could say about this game, but – much like the cultural impact of the game itself – we would be here indefinitely if I talked about everything I loved about Minecraft. I think the simplest way to explain it is that it’s a game that measurably makes my life better in so many ways, regardless of how old I was, or what state I was in.

3 – TowerFall Ascension

Release Date: 25th June 2013
Developer: Matt Makes Games
Publisher: Matt Makes Games
Platforms: Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows, Linux, Android, Ouya…no, really
Metacritic Average: 89%

It’s a game about fast-paced, arena-based archery.

It’s worth mentioning here that all of these top 3 games were in the number 1 spot at some point during the process of putting this list together. I love them all that much.

TowerFall Ascension is the most fun I’ve ever had playing a video game. It’s as simple as that.

The multiplayer battling mode is pure perfection. I know it doesn’t have online, but it doesn’t need online, because the whole point of a game like this is playing it against people sitting next to you on a sofa, which you can shout at through your laughter as they kill you in a mad way you didn’t see coming.

The combat runs at an incredibly fast pace, but it’s still a pretty accessible game. When I’ve played this with people (and I’ve played this with many, MANY people) it usually only takes them a few rounds or so to get up to scratch. The controls are very simple so that you can grasp them easily, but there is a layer of skill there for veteran players. Just shooting and jumping would be fun enough, but the inclusion of the dodge/catch mechanic takes things to a whole new level. In a game where attacking is generally the best & only option, you still have a hint of defensive measures, making the combat feel a lot more fluid and give you just enough to think about so that you never truly get bored of it. Not to mention, how satisfying the sounds and animations are, it’s no wonder that the developers’ next game, Celeste, would make that mechanic the primary focus.

Every arena & every match has such a great of variety to it that you can never really rely on the same tactics. Even though each round only lasts 10-60 seconds, a narrative still tends to form. Usually, you’ll start off with no real plan, improvising based on your opponent’s movements and the treasure spawns, but very quickly you’ll start to form an idea of where and how you’re going to approach. Then a massive battle ensues as you come so very close to killing each other about 5 times in 3 seconds before one of you finally makes a mistake. That’s not even mentioning the variants you can add to the gameplay to change the playing field entirely.

While the multiplayer mode is the main focus, I also get a tremendous amount of enjoyment and satisfaction from the singleplayer mode. The design of it is relatively simple – you have to defeat waves of enemies with a set number of lives – but the massive amount of variation in the enemy’s designs and patterns means that you’ve got a hell of a lot to think about. It’s quite a challenging game, in essence, but you can feel yourself improving with every failure. You gradually learn every enemies’ patterns and what the best method to attack them is. It’s great because the game doesn’t point any of this out to you, none of the enemies have glowing weak spots, it’s just a natural consequence of the gaps in their abilities and movements.

Every time I’m playing games with a group of friends, this will always be among my first recommendations because it’s a pure distillation of the fun multiplayer games can bring. I can recall so many joyous memories of times that I’ve been playing this game with people. TowerFall Ascension is a game that I very strongly associate with happy memories, so it will always hold a special place in my heart.

2 – NieR: Automata

Release Date: 23rd February 2017
Developer: Platinum Games
Publisher: Square Enix
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Windows
Metacritic Average: 90%

It’s a game about what it means to be human.

(From my Favourite Old Games I Played For The First Time In 2019 article)

I didn’t know what to expect going into NieR: Automata. I played it looking for a fun hack and slash, which I definitely got, but I got a hell of a lot more than that too. Not only would I rank it among my top two favourite games of all time, but I also regard it as the single greatest work of fiction ever written.

That’s a big statement, I know, I played the game back in February. I’ve spent all year thinking about that statement, I’ve rewatched almost all of my favourite shows and movies, replayed some of my favourite games. I compared NieR: Automata to each and every single one of them, and I genuinely believe that statement to be true, and it’s hard to articulate exactly why.

I think the most basic element of why I love it so much is that nothing had ever stuck with me as long as NieR: Automata has. For a solid week after I reached ending E and saw the credits roll for the final time, I was still thinking about it almost constantly. The game has crafted such an incredible story and raised so many profound philosophical arguments in my mind that I just couldn’t put it away. It’s been like that all year, I keep going back to it, to the questions it asks, to the answers it attempts to give and breaking that down and trying to work out exactly what it says to me specifically.

Outside of those deep thoughts and questions, there is a fantastically paced thriller-action story that kept me enthralled for every single second I played it (and later, read it) every character had weight, purpose and felt real. Every action had a consequence, and everything mattered which is just the right word, I’ve played hundreds of games, and I love so many of them, but none of them matter to me as much as NieR: Automata does.

I could sit here and talk about how the combat mechanics made it one of the most fun and satisfying hack and slashes I’ve ever played. I could talk about the world was beautifully designed with such a large amount of variety that I wanted to explore every corner, but that’s not what’s really important to me about this game. That’s not why, as I sit here writing this entry, I find myself almost at a loss for words to describe how deeply this game and its story fundamentally affected me.

Over the past few years, the state of the world we live in has genuinely worn me down a lot. I’m not going to sit here and make some grandiose comment about society, but there have been several points during this year in particular where I look at the state of some aspects of our world and just feel this sense of deep despair. Then I look to a story like NieR: Automata, that is set in a world quite literally in ruins, and yet, it feels so weirdly hopeful in its tone. It was a game that left me with such a weird cocktail of emotions that I don’t think I’ve ever felt anywhere else, it was so melancholic and downbeat, almost tragic, yet there was an undeniable sense of optimism towards the future.

Those words don’t do that feeling justice, but it’s the best I can do with the words I have.

As a game, it’s damn-near flawless, and as a narrative piece of fiction, I genuinely feel that it is the single most incredible story ever told and one that I will never be able to forget.

It’s been an extra 8 months since I wrote this, and I think if anything, my feelings for NieR: Automata have only gotten stronger since. No story has ever stuck with me like this one. All this time later, I’m still thinking about what it has to say, about how it changed the way I see the world and the way I see narratives in games.

I honestly wish I had more words for NieR: Automata, but I find it so hard to express so many elements about it, so all I can say is that I genuinely believe it when I say that this is the greatest fictional story ever told.

1 – Octopath Traveler

Release Date: 13th July 2018
Developer: Aquire
Publisher: Square Enix
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows, Google Stadia
Metacritic Average: 83

It’s a game about the journey of eight wonderful people.

So…I’ve talked a lot about Octopath Traveler…like…A LOT. So much so, that I almost thought it’d be too predictable to put this in 1st place. I went back and forth over it a lot during the year I spent putting this list together, but in the end, I decided there was nothing else that could possibly take the top spot.

The characters of Octopath Traveler are the most joyous personalities I’ve ever had the pleasure of connecting with in a video game. Giving them all their separate stories was a brilliant way to write it because they all got a chance to show who they are, as much of the time as possible. No-one was pushed to the back or got less development than the rest because they all get the same. The interactions that are scattered in there do wonders too. After establishing their extremely varied personalities, we get to see them interact, to incredibly endearing results.

The writing is so very dedicated to bringing me into the world of these characters and telling me everything I could want to know about them, to the point where I feel like I know even more about them than is in the games. I understand who these people are, and more importantly, WHY they are, which is a fact that so many games forget to establish.

The plots are all interesting too. Writing eight separate stories can’t have been an easy task, especially when they’re all meant to be experience intermixed with each other. Having all of these stories be interesting and memorable, as well as having variety, must’ve been an extremely difficult task. However, because the writers knew the characters inside and out, every plot played to the strengths of that specific character. They weren’t just written into challenging conflicts, they were written into conflicts that were very explicitly challenging FOR THEM, because of who they are.

All of this is backed up by an alive feeling world. The visual style is simultaneously utterly unique and totally beautiful, and it gives every location and intense sense of character & charm. Then, there’s the soundtrack, MY GOD, the soundtrack. There is no question, it is my favourite video game soundtrack. Every track, for every location, every encounter and every character speaks to me on such a deep level. It’s masterfully crafted in such a way that I can attribute so much meaning to every note.

Then, there’s the actual gameplay, which is the pure essence of turn-based JRPGs distilled into a battle. None of the systems are particularly revolutionary, but they give you just enough to balance that very few conflicts are easily resolved. The variety in the roles & abilities of each character makes sure that you can easily make a spot for anyone if you want to. More importantly, it’s not too difficult to grasp what role each character is supposed to play either, which makes team building isn’t as agonizing as it can be in a game as vast as Pokemon. You just have to decide what you want each character to do, and then build them around those ideas; playing into their strengths as much as possible.

The whole thing is a world that just wraps it’s arms around me and pulls me into a world that I love to the very core. I keep going back to it time and time again because it makes me so very happy; and honestly, making me happy is all I want a game to do.

And that is the end of that! Those were my 100 Favourite Games of All Time! Thank you very much for following this series, please, let me know what games you love the most, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo.

WWE Summerslam 2020: Every Match Ranked

…well, I sure didn’t see that coming.

Summerslam is now behind us, and I’m sitting here, looking back on the show the next morning and thinking to myself…yeah, that was a pretty bloody good show. Sure, there wasn’t a match of the year candidate on the show, but there doesn’t always need to be. At the end of the day, there was only one match out of the eight that I didn’t like, and even that had some stuff to like about it. Every other match was good-to-great in quality, and I’m very happy I invested my time into watching it.

Now, to the rankings!

8 – The Fiend Bray Wyatt def. Braun Strowman(c)
(Universal Championship)
(Falls Count Anywhere)

It showed hints of greatness, but ultimately, it fell flat.

Let’s talk about the positives first. Firstly, The Fiend is Universal Champion again, this is a great thing, which also means Braun’s title reign is over, this also a great thing. Secondly, Roman Reigns is back, and to that, I give a big HELL YES. Smackdown has sorely missed Roman Reigns this summer, and I don’t think I realised just how much I missed him until he was back. On top of that, it looks like he might have a new ass-kicking attitude, which gets a big thumbs up from me as that has always been the best version of Roman Reigns. Of course, this does probably mean that The Fiend is going to have to lose to Roman pretty soon after winning the title back, but honestly? I don’t care. I said it in the build-up to Wrestlemania, and I’ll say it again now, I am all-in on another Roman Reigns world title run, I think it could be great.

Now, unfortunately, I have to talk about the actual match which…well, it was trash. It didn’t help that I wasn’t overly interested in the story anyway, but this didn’t do much to build that interest either. It was a pretty standard from what we’ve come to expect in WWE when two ‘big-guys’ go head-to-head. It was slow, not nearly as hard-hitting as you would think, and ultimately, pretty dull. I know The Fiend is a fascinating & unique character, that I love, but we’ve got to take a hard look at his history of matches and admit to ourselves that the character’s wrestling style isn’t entertaining. His best match was against Daniel Bryan, which I don’t think should even count because it’s Daniel effing Bryan, so of course it was great.

Still, Roman Reigns is on the horizon, which makes things look a bit more optimistic.

7 – Apollo Crews(c) def. MVP
(United States Championship)
(Kickoff Show)

I feel like I’m repeating myself every single month, but this was standard pre-show action.

It did have a bit of an extra kick this time, as there was a proper story surrounding the match, but the action didn’t push any boundaries in terms of what we’ve come to expect from pre-show matches. It served as a good showcase of Crews’ talents and a reminder that he’s a good wrestler who’s deserving of the US title. It didn’t really do anything for MVP, but it didn’t need to, his credibility comes from being a mouthpiece nowadays, not a wrestler.

Crews retaining was definitely the right decision in my books, and based on something that was teased for Raw, I’m hoping a feud with Aleister Black in on the horizon, which should be killer.

6 – The Street Profits(c) def. Andrade & Angel Garza
(Raw Tag Team Championships)

Fun tag-team action from two teams that know each other quite well by this point.

I did like this match, but I thought it could’ve done with a bit more. 8 minutes did not seem nearly enough for this match, especially with the story it was trying to tell. I know WWE doesn’t give a shit about their tag division, but they could at least make it look like they care a bit. The story surrounding Andrade & Garza was paid lip service to in the finish, but that’s about it. The two of them have been showing tension almost all year, with things never changing in any way. Some weeks they’ll work together perfectly, other weeks they just can’t get along, there’s no rhyme or reason to it. Honestly, by this point, even if they do finally break-up, I’m past the point of caring about it.

Like I said though, the action in the match was fun to watch, Andrade & Garza kept the pace going, even when they were doing the ‘work over the face’ thing, and once Ford made the hot-tag to Dawkins, the pace stayed pretty steady. Also, Kevin Owens was great on commentary, first of all, shouting “Look at all my friends!” really aggressively – in reference to the people on the screens of the Thunderdome – was utterly hilarious. However, his best line was after the match, where Ford was celebrating with him, and Owens said to him “You turned in midair! Did you know you did that?” – referencing the move Ford did to win the match – which was a line that caught me off guard and was delivered such a perfect way, that I giggled about it for a good couple of minutes.

5 – Bayley(c) def. Asuka
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)

This was arguably the best match these two have had so far, and yet it felt like they were holding back for the sake of the story.

There’s very little new to be said about the kind of matches these two can put on. They know each other exceptionally well, and it shows in matches like this. The match didn’t worry about overbearing us with Bayley beating-down on Asuka. Bayley spent much more time on offence, sure, but it didn’t feel like they were just setting up the story for the second match later in the night. Instead, Asuka had to play the plucky babyface, who picked her spots and made impactful moves when they counted.

The finish was predictable, but I don’t mind something being predictable when it’s the right move for the story. Sasha being Bayley’s key to victory is in-line with everything they’ve been doing together for the past year(ish) and sets things up perfectly to go horribly wrong later in the show. I think that Bayley being the one to hold onto her title is the right thing too. Not only is she great with it, but if we are finally going to get going with the Sasha/Bayley stuff, having Bayley being the heel holding the title is the perfect way to go.

4 – Asuka def. Sasha Banks(c)
(Raw Women’s Championship)

My thoughts on this match are very similar to the previous one. However, I thought this match was a lot more exciting, told a better story, and was all-around cleaner than the previous one.

I think the reason for the different feel to this match is straightforward. Bayley vs Asuka was the first half of the story, Sasha vs Asuka was its conclusion. There’s a more significant aura of excitement surrounding this second match because of what the first one set up. It doesn’t feel like they’re holding back here, instead, they’re pulling together to take the story to its natural conclusion.

The story of the match was able to capture the feeling of Asuka coming in, already beaten-down, without boring us with watching Sasha pick Asuka apart for the opening 5 minutes. They went the much more entertaining route and told that story through Asuka wrestling a much faster match, instead of waiting to pick her spots as she did with Bayley, she went in with a proactive strategy and did her best to never let Sasha take control. This led to a match with a much nicer sense of flow as it built steadily and satisfyingly to the finish.

As myself and many others predicted, Bayley would try to get involved, but her involvement would indirectly cause Sasha to lose the match. I like the way they did it though. With the way things went down, there’s an argument to be had over whose fault it was. Yes, if Bayley hadn’t gotten involved, Sasha wouldn’t have been in that position to get stuck in the Asuka lock. However, because Asuka merely reversed Sasha’s attempt to take advantage of the distraction Bayley caused, you could say that it’s Sasha’s fault. I don’t think that’ll have too much of an impact on the story going forward, but I think it’s a good tool for making sure it didn’t look like Asuka was just lucky.

3 – Mandy Rose def. Sonya Deville
(No Disqualification)
(Loser Leaves WWE)

If there’s any match that I wish had an extra 5 minutes, it’s this one. Not because it suffered from a lack of time, but because I was really enjoying it and wanted to see more.

As was to be expected from two women who know each other as well as these two do, they totally clicked in the ring, their chemistry was incredible to watch. The structure of the match was pretty simple, but I think that helped to tell the story. Sonya is so good as the heel who really just wants to hurt their opponent. She’s not cocky, because she doesn’t have to be, sure, she’s constantly taunting Rose, but that’s not out of disrespect, it’s out of a desire to cause pain & misery, a role that Deville just gets. Rose played off it to perfection, she crawled around the ring like someone who was really suffering emotionally, which did more for the story than a month of promos ever could.

As we got to the middle of the match, things became more balanced, both women went back-and-forth getting their licks in. I like that Mandy was the one to go for the weapons first. She’d played quite a reactive role in the feud up until this point, but this gave me the impression of someone who was doing what had to be done. The spot where she hurled chairs at Sonya, who was deftly dodging them was great fun too. The finish was, clean, simple, and exactly what it needed to be. Rose finally broke free of Deville’s oppression and absolutely went to town on her, those series of knees to the face felt really cathartic, and the perfect wrap-up to the story.

I don’t know what’s going to happen to Deville now. I haven’t heard any reports saying she’s planning to take time off, but who knows? Maybe she’ll go away for a while. Personally, I’d love to see her show up to get in Io Shirai’s face on NXT, but that’s fantasy booking. I think something like Raw Underground would be a better fit for her style. Plus, Deville vs Baszler…now there’s a match made in heaven. As for Rose? I honestly hope she picks up one of the women’s titles sometime soon, I’m really digging her as a wrestler now.

2 – Drew McIntyre(c) def. Randy Orton
(WWE Championship)

No, I’m not kidding. It was a 20-minute, slow-paced Randy Orton match…and I actually liked it. I’m just as surprised as you are.

As a stark contrast to Wyatt/Strowman, I think the fact that I was highly invested in the story coming into the match helped my enjoyment greatly. Not only did it mean that I was in a better mood, and more willing to give it a chance, but it meant that when the match leaned heavily on the story-based moments, I was invested. If I didn’t care about the story, I probably would’ve rolled my eyes at Orton slipping in and out of the ring at the start, but because I did care, I saw it as a continuation of the game Orton’s been playing with Drew all month. I know the idea that ‘if I’m invested in the story, I’ll be more likely to enjoy the match’ is one of the most basic pro-wrestling concepts, but you’d be surprised how often WWE seems to forget.

The slow pace worked in this match’s favour, as it gave the impression of two wrestlers really trying to study and figure out each other’s game plan. Neither man was wrestling a reactionary style, they were both trying to do everything in their power to execute their plan. It led to the momentum swinging back-and-forth like a motorised pendulum, and while the pace never accelerated, the build in the drama meant the tension is what carried my excitement.

The finish annoyed a lot of people, and I’m in two minds of it. I see the perspective that it’s a cheap way to end a world title match, and it makes Drew look like a chump who barely scraped by. However, I’d argue it’s the opposite. I won’t deny that ending things with a Claymore would’ve been a lot more satisfying, but I don’t think anyone believed that this was going to be the end of the Drew/Orton feud, I think it’s going until at least Hell in a Cell. By countering the RKO into a win like that, I think it makes Drew look exceptionally smart, as he’s found a way to turn Orton’s greatest weapon to his advantage. If Drew keeps pulling stuff like this, he will have essentially nullified Orton’s main tactic for matches and will force him to innovate, which could lead to some very interesting spots.

Admittedly, a lot of this is based on potential future gain, so it could all go tits-up, but what can I say? I’m in a good mood after the show last night, so I’m going to play the optimist.

1 – Seth Rollins def. Dominik Mysterio
(Street Fight)

Similar to Cole vs McAfee from Takeover, this was never a match that would be carried by action. This was a match that was all about the story and the drama. The story in question that carried this match was told excellently, which is why I rank this match so highly.

Going into it, I was already behind Dominik as a face. Maybe it was just because of the shock of it, but sometimes, watching a heel absolutely murder a guy is enough to make me root for the guy being murdered. This match did the smart thing and continued playing to that trend. The feeling was always that Dominik was out of his league. No matter who his father was, he was a relative rookie going up against a multi-time world champion, so they did the smart thing and built the match around that fact. The action made it very clear that Dominik could not hang in the ring with Rollins, he would get the advantage every now and then, but it was mostly through fluke than through expertise.

The narrative of Dominik not wanting his father to get involved was perfect too. I think this was the key thing that pulled me firmly over to Dominik’s side. It’s that true ‘heart-of-gold’ style of babyface, where he wants to prove that he can do it alone, even when he doesn’t stand a chance. Yes, some of that’s down to his naivete, but it’s so rare we get a wrestler in WWE that’s truly uncorrupted. It’s why we gravitated towards Sami Zayn & Johnny Gargano during their initial NXT runs, and it’s why I’ve found myself gravitating towards Dominik now.

Sure, Seth Rollins got the win, but that doesn’t matter, because this match got Dominik over in my eyes. I am now fully behind Dominik in whatever he does next (probably a tag match with his father), and I am excited to watch him grow as a performer over the next couple of years. I honestly can’t remember a time were WWE has (deliberately) got someone over so firmly in my eyes like this, it’s wonderful.

And there you have it! That’s a full weekend of wrestling coverage! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. Please, let me know what you thought of Summerslam, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure to come back here this time on Wednesday, where I’ll be releasing the GRAND FINALE of my 100 Favourite Games of All Time series!

NXT Takeover XXX: Every Match Ranked

The 30th Takeover is officially in the record books and well…I definitely enjoyed it. It feels like a notable shift in the style of PPVs that NXT is going to be putting out from now on. It feels like, in order to appeal to the broader USA Network audience, they’re shifting their PPVs to have more or something for everyone, rather than constant, hyper-focused top-quality wrestling matches to please Meltzer’s star ratings. Whether this change is for the better or worse remains to be seen over the next year or so, but if the shows they come out with that like the ones of Saturday, I don’t think I’ll mind.

This was by no means among the best Takeovers of all time, but it was a show that kept me entertained from start to finish, and I can honestly say there wasn’t a bad match for the entire night. Sure, it didn’t blow me away, and I doubt it’ll be remembered all that vividly in the years to come, but sitting here, 12 hours after the show’s finished, I’m feeling positive about it.

6 – Breezango def. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch, Legado del Fantasmo
(Winners become #1 contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championships)

I was wondering how NXT was going to treat their pre-shows. Whether they were going to give the matches room to breathe and let the wrestling sell the show. Unfortunately, they made the time restrictions even heavier, as they only had 30 minutes for Booker T to bicker with Sam Roberts, instead of the usual 60.

It’s a pretty simple case with this match, it wasn’t bad, all of the action was enjoyable, however, coming in at just under 7-minutes, it didn’t have time to be anything more significant. Especially given that it was a triple threat tag match, it seemed like a really bad decision to cut the time on this one so heavily. That’s the kind of match that needs the time to build to a chaotic climax, but that phase of the match never got the chance to arrive.

What we got was perfectly enjoyable, Legado is doing a great job character-wise in the ring, and I want to see more of them in the near future. Breezango winning is an interesting choice, as they already got a tag title shot recently, but I don’t mind going for round two. As I said in my predictions, they’ve had a new fire lit under them since returning to NXT, and they feel like very different wrestlers to what I knew them as during their first runs in NXT.

5 – Finn Balor def. Timothy Thatcher

Good match, zero build.

There’s honestly no better way to put it in my mind. I think I probably would’ve liked this match more if I had some greater reason to be invested in it. I know Thatcher has been screwing Balor over here and there, but I don’t think it was given nearly enough focus every week on TV. This is one of those situations where it seems like management just wanted to have a Finn Balor match on the PPV, without having any real plan for what he could do.

Regardless of how invested I was in it, the match was of good quality. I’m still not adjusted to Balor’s more muted style, but this was an instance where he had an opponent it played well with. Thatcher is a proper mat-based wrestler, and he knows how to make it look impactful and intriguing (something unfortunately rare in the modern wrestling scene). Balor responded to it well, trying to speed the pace of the match up at every opportunity to stop Thatcher getting one over on him.

The match’s narrative was fairly basic, but it was well-told in this instance. I adored the shot where Balor landed hard on his feet with a missed Coup-de-Gras only for both him and Thatcher to go wide-eyed, realising the opportunity Thatcher has just been given. Sure, Balor predictably came out on top, but I now understand Thatcher’s style and enjoy watching him more than I did going into it, so that’s got to be a positive.

4 – Karrion Kross def. Keith Lee(c)
(NXT Championship)

Sure, this felt more like a main-roster main event, but it was a very good one.

In my predictions, I theorised about the different ways this matches could go. While I pointed to Lee vs Dijakovic for a formula they could try to replicate, that ended up not being the case, and what we got instead had upsides and downsides.

The downsides first, which are mostly to do with pacing. I don’t care who you are, or how in-line with your character it is, ‘working the arm’ by holding it in place for 5 minutes, isn’t entertaining. Putting that spot to early on in the match was a bit of an issue too because it meant I felt out of the match almost immediately, and it had to win me back later on, rather than winning me over straight away and keeping me into it for the rest.

However, once the match left those spots behind, things picked up. The match was never fast, but I don’t think it needed to be, because it was impactful. When you’ve got a guy as big as Lee, and a guy as jacked as Kross, the entertainment value is going to be in the hard-hitting stuff, so that’s what they went for. I don’t feel like it entirely lived up to it’s potential, but I still enjoyed what we got, and I’m not going to sit here crying about how I didn’t get the match I wanted.

The finish was a bit odd. I know the Doomsday Suplex is one of Kross’ signature moves, but it didn’t look all that impressive in this instance. It looks great when he can throw a guy half-way across the ring like they’re nothing. However, with Lee, it looked like any standard middle rope spot – a type of spot that hasn’t won a match in about a decade. It made the finish feel a bit sudden and took the wind out of me a bit when Kross won off of something I wasn’t expecting.

Ultimately, I think he has all the potential to be a fantastic champion, so I’m happy to wait and see on this one.

3 – Adam Cole def. Pat McAfee

Well, it was definitely a lot better than I was expecting.

To point out the obvious, the in-ring action was reasonably basic. McAfee pulled off some impressive stuff here in there, but there wasn’t a great variety in the moves he gave or took (although, he took a picture-perfect Panama Sunrise, so props there). The thing is, the action wasn’t the point of this match, it was never going to be. This was a match all around the drama and the story, and looking at the in-ring storytelling on display here, it was really entertaining.

Pat understood the role he needed to play and played it to perfection. He picked all the right moments to be a cocky jackass and all the right moments to run away scared. I didn’t particularly care for the faction warfare stuff, but it was a good bridge to take us from the 100% drama-focus of the early stages to the latter phase of the match, where action became much more critical to the story.

Cole played off of McAfee really well too. His facial expression on the kickouts and impressive manoeuvres worked into the attitude that they have been presenting each other with. What’s most important is that, when the time came for McAfee to take his beating, he made it look good. Like I said, none of the moves he took (other than the Panama Sunrise) were particularly complicated or impressive, but he made the beatdown on him feel weighty, so watching Cole kick his ass was satisfying.

Nothing about it was a technical masterpiece, but I came away from it in a good mood, having thoroughly enjoyed the match I just watched.

2 – Io Shirai(c) def. Dakota Kai
(NXT Women’s Championship)

Weirdly, despite this being in the number two spot, there isn’t a great deal I have to say about it. It was just a really good match.

I don’t think anyone had any doubts over the result, so my focus around this match was more getting the most out of the action as possible, of which I think both women did a great job. Io looked beatable at several points without ever coming across as week, while Kai got to show off just about everything she can do. Momentum was continually shifting between the two women in this one, which meant we got a great variety in terms of the action. Yes, it had slower spots where Kai worked a limb for an extended spot because it was buried in between plenty of action, I was happy for the match to take a short breather every now and then.

As predictable as it was, I think it’s important to Kai’s story that we hit the obvious beat of Gonzalez getting involved. Given Kai’s insistence that she’s got to where she did ‘on her own’, something like this should sow the seeds of discourse between her & Gonzalez, especially since I’d imagine Kai will find a way to blame Gonzalez for her loss. Meanwhile, I think it’s time for Io to move onto someone else, probably Candice LaRae. Kai could absolutely come back later down the line and challenge whoever the champion is again, but for now, I don’t think we should overplay that hand.

I’m intrigued by the Ripley/Gonzalez tease though. I’m not sure if they want to head in a tag-team direction with that, or whether it’ll be a singles feud. Either way, I’m looking forward to it, and I hope it serves as a coming-out party of Gonzalez as a major player in the NXT women’s division.

1 – Damian Priest def. Johnny Gargano, Bronson Reed, Velveteen Dream, Cameron Grimes
(North American Championship)
(Ladder)

20-minutes of mental ladder-match antics. Perfect, exactly what I wanted.

This one had everything you could want from a multi-man ladder match. It didn’t need much time to warm up, the pace accelerated to maximum pretty darn quickly and stayed there right up until the end. Everyone got a chance to shine, each of them getting their own memorable moments, and somehow, everyone getting a chance to look like they were about to win the match. I honestly thought ladder matches were very limited in terms of pulling off convincing false-finishes, but man, every time someone got to the top of that ladder (which, in the final 5 minutes, was a lot) I thought it was over.

Outside of that, it was ladder-spots galore. Priest running up the ladder to do a dive onto the outside, Grimes holding the ladder on shoulders and smashing everyone to bits with it, Gargano awkwardly power bombing Grimes onto the ladder in a way that made it look even more brutal than intended. We even got a spot I can’t remember ever seeing before in a match like this, where they kept piling up people and ladders into the corner, only for one guy to squish them all together. All of it was a blast to watch, and what makes this match take the number one spot.

Damian Priest was absolutely the right person to win this one. I’m not sure who he’ll feud with first (probably one of the other participants in this match), but I hope he has a long and fruitful reign. He’s been threatening to break through in NXT for a while, and hopefully, a run with the North American title will seal the deal.

And there you have it! Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. Please, let me know what you thought of the show, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo! Finally, make sure you come back here this time tomorrow, where I’ll be giving you my review of Summerslam!