The Saturday Morning  Cartoon Landscape

Depending on the network, the Saturday morning block was must-see TV at a time when you could’ve just stayed asleep or actually went outside to do something. Well, in the 80s and 90s, being outside at 7 AM as an elementary schooler was good way to potentially end up a milk carton but Saturday morning was often slow but not Sunday morning slow.

Your heavy hitters were ABC and the WB (in my market originally our Fox affiliate and now the CW). Perpetually third place was UPN (now MyNetwork TV in this market). Those three had regular Saturday morning blocks with CBS and NBC getting away from Saturday morning toons in the morning.

Looking at TV logs from the 1980s, every major network had a Saturday morning block then CBS and NBC went to blocks that started with toons and finished with different kinds of content for kids. Some were educational and others were live action shows like Saved by the Bell.

The Weekday Cartoon Blocks

While Saturday always got the shine—and for good reason—the afternoon blocks were no slouches. It was more of a mix as to what you’d get because the primo toons were typically on Saturdays.

Meanwhile, the school day or weekday line-up featured a few bangers surrounded by either scrub toons or shows that would be viewed favorably but not as bangers.

For instance, you could see Batman: The Animated Series around 4 PM before The Simpsons on Fox/the WB which was outside of the Fox Kids/WB Kids slot. Before you got to Batman, you had to go through Tiny Toons Adventures, Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, Taz-Mania, and Freakazoid—a trio of banger series. You also had Eek the Cat and Bobby’s World. Both were fine cartoons but they weren’t the WB’s flagship stuff.

Worse was the mixed bag over on UPN where Mighty Max, Street Sharks, Mummies Alive, Mutant League, and The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog existed alongside Stone Protectors, Stunt Dawgs, Double Dragon, and The Adventures of T-Rex. It was a very scrub-heavy mix on the network and things didn’t truly pick up for the network until 1995 when Samurai Pizza Cats, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, and Ronin Warriors aired.

Even with those shows on the network holding down the before school/weekday morning block, the afternoon cartoon block was largely a pass until Dragon Ball and Ronin Warriors were moved to the afternoon block and Eagle Riders (Gatchaman) debuted on the Saturday block.

Mind you, Cartoon Network had been alive and kicking since 1994 but if you didn’t have cable, the broadcast networks were your stop for toons.

Cable’s Cartoon Blocks

I was going to focus on the Sunday morning cartoons but that was probably the weakest block of cartoons you’d ever see. UPN had a block on Sundays where the only show of note was Technoman (Tekkaman Blade) and eventually Eagle Riders being sandwiched between early morning and late morning church programming.

No, we’re going to take a quick look at TBS which had a strong block game throughout the weekend. Even on TNT viewers were blessed with “MonsterVision” and TBS had the action/martial arts block “Movies for Guys Who Like Movies”.

TBS had the “Cartoon Planet” block starting in 1995 that was based around a kids’ version of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Think, SGC2C as a daytime talk show without guests. Surrounding it was a couple of classic Hanna-Barbera shorts that were worth the watch in the late 60s and 70s, Looney Toons, and Tex Avery bangers mixed in with some new faces such as SWAT Kats and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest.

Of the cable cartoon blocks that weren’t “Toonami” and “Super Chunk”, this was a fun two-to-three hours of animation in the pre-Adult Swim era.

An underrated block was the “USA Cartoon Express”. Yes, there was a period when USA Network ran cartoons and many of those featured were fun and memorable ones even if the majority were mid. Savage Dragon and WildCATS were the standouts to me but Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat were fun to watch on weekdays and Saturdays.

USA always had an odd line-up of toons because the four aforementioned series were all adaptations of series known for violence, fighting, and more mature themes than the likes of G.I Joe or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which was also in the “USA Cartoon Express”).

Do you remember the cartoon blocks from back then or did you come in during the Cartoon Network all day blocks, “Adult Swim” and “Miguzi” period? Let us know in the comments and share some of your memories and favorite toons from your favorite cartoon blocks.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

The collecting, battling, and evolving monster games pool was a bit crowded and roughly half of those titles made into the 2010s and 2020s. What set Monster Rancher apart from other games in its early entries was the ability to pull monsters physical CDs. Some CDs in your CD binder or shelf could feature a powerful monster that you couldn’t train yet.

That leads us to what really makes this my favorite of the Pokeclones: the life-sim aspect.

Monster Rancher Went Further with Monster Training

There was a lot going on with Monster Rancher mechanics-wise that I love. Most of it would be pretty applicable to Pokémon if the in-game time was treated differently from real time or “Earth time” as Final Fantasy XIV calls it. See, Pokémon always felt like the longest summer ever because you could catch monsters, train them, collect gym badges, and spank the Elite 4 in pretty short order.

You’re not going to spend months going through a Pokémon title doing the core game even if you have other things to do. That isn’t the case in a Rancher game, either. Depending on the game, you could go through the ranks quickly. The main difference is that the monster you’re raising and the way you’re raising it might not get you to the top.

Time Was Everything

That’s because of the life simulation gameplay in the series. Players have to feed their monster, let them get rest, give them treats, encourage them for great results, choose their training regime throughout the month, breed them other monsters, watch their weight, and enroll them in battles and tournaments (some which determine the monster’s ranking).

All of this is managed by a very simple in-game calendar. Matches and tournaments are scheduled and if the monster’s rank is high enough, they’re able to enter that competition. In the games on GameBoy Advance, the calendar featured Official tournaments hosted by the organization in the game that allow for rank promotion to the winner.

Tying all of this together is that each monster has a lifespan. The crushing part in a Monster Rancher title is that sometimes when a player thinks their monster can advance in rank, it can kick the bucket. So, the game gets some longevity and replayability by requiring the player to summon and raise another monster.

Then again, if a player wants to avoid dealing with a dying monster they can retire the monster, get them registered as a trainer, and have them on the ranch training the next potential champion.

What Happened with Monster Rancher?

The franchise is still around and as of 2022, Koei Tecmo has released a game for Nintendo Switch in a crossover with the Ultraman franchise. The method of summoning or generating monsters has even been modernized since CDs aren’t used much now.

On that note, the game’s success is pretty easy to determine since it didn’t get much buzz after being released and the franchise’s peak in the West was between 1999-2000 when the animated series was on broadcast television.

Monster Rancher is the pokeclone that has simply always been around. The games maintained a consistent level of quality but never garnered buzz with the newer releases like Dragon Quest Monsters would with the Joker series and Devil Summoner games on Nintendo DS.

If you played the Monster Rancher games, which were your favorites and monsters? I was never a fan of Suezo and always preferred Tiger of the Wind or Zan. Also, what were your thoughts on the short-lived animated series?

Share your thoughts below!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

It’s a slower burn but Little King’s Story even eased that to where it was manageable for players not familiar with RTS. The Wii was meant to reel in all kinds of gamers despite experience, genre preference, or free time. Little King’s Story was somewhat different in that RTS aren’t exactly “I’ll play a bit and come back to it later.”

No, like RPGs, simulation games, and strategy games; once you start it up, you’ve pretty much accepted that you’re going lose time in that day. Again, this game dropped in 2009 and was well-received, so where are the sequels?

Where’s Little King’s Story?

LKS was developed by Cing, a defunct indie developer that went under in 2010, just under a year after releasing this title. Most their titles were on the Nintendo DS with a run of roughly seven years. You could say they got a lot done before shuttering.

Their work included games in the Another Code and Hotel Dusk series as well as the DS debut of Monster Rancher. Of their games Little King’s Story and Monster Rancher DS were the two I played the most.

It was an interesting time in gaming with the Nintendo printing money despite having a home console that was underpowered and lacked the expected features of that period, an approach that has continued into the Switch 2. If anything, Cing should’ve made money as well due to its close working relationship with Nintendo starting in 2005.

An issue could’ve been the pace at which Nintendo released games (which is still on the sluggish side) but that’s mainly with its first party games. The company takes its time for Mario and Zelda for quality reasons. Think how long it was between Metroid Prime 3 and the fourth entry release in 2025. In that 19-year period, we saw a number of remasters, spinoffs. Mind you, Prime 4 came out roughly four years after the previous main installment Metroid Dread, which is a solid amount of time between main games in a franchise if there are no other major titles being developed.

Again, all of that is for a first-party game being developed by Nintendo’s own development teams. Cing was an indie developer who happened to have a regular working relationship with Ninty. The fate of Little King’s Story was up in the air.

The Game Ended on a Cliffhanger

With Cing shut down, the rights to LKS fell to Marvelous, which published the game in Japan on the Wii. On paper, that looks fine since Marvelous is still putting out games regularly and working on titles in known properties. They’re active but they have a lot on their plate with their own titles and others.

While LKS is one of their titles and proved to be a popular title, that was in 2009-2010. Gaming has changed a lot since then and a title like Little King’s Story might appear dated or unpredictable in performance compared to its tried and true titles Rune Factory, Story of Seasons, and Senran Kagura as well as handling Monster Hunter Stories, No More Heroes, and Valhalla Knights.

Now, I regularly bring up titles that I’d like to see revived and believe that developers technically have a new franchise in an older one if we haven’t seen anything from that franchise in decades. I’m still waiting on Capcom to drop another Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance. However, LKS like Beat Down has gone too long without anything new or fresh to get a franchise going.

It’s unlikely that a Little King’s Story 2 that continues from the game’s ending is developed and we likely won’t see a reboot. It would take Marvelous having a “what’s old is new again” approach similar to TV and film studios with these sitcom revivals and continuations.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

I still have the physical copy and enjoyed it when I played it. Mind you, it was the kind of enjoyment you got from having only a few games and that game being one of the better ones of the bunch. When I played it over ten years later, I had experienced better beat ‘em ups since then and revisited better ones that came out before and during 2002. Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance being a good example.

E.O.E and Its Flaws

One of the issues E.O.E had was the camera which I’d say contributed to the difficulty. Mind you, the game had a manageable difficulty that wouldn’t have you putting the game down and revisiting hours later. You could chunk through this game in a week at the longest and only get mildly frustrated. The cause of that frustration: the camera which had you taking hits that should’ve easily been dodged or blocked.

I say “easily” because the foes in this game weren’t exactly programmed to be proto-Dead Souls or anything. Of course, slash ‘em ups tend to require more patience and timed evasion and blocking. Beat ‘em ups have developed to require that level know-how while playing.

However, in the early 2000s they were still pretty straightforward with the main change being the setting of a 3D arena. If early the PSX  and Nintendo 64 showed us anything: 3D needs a camera that isn’t cheeks. It really helps to be able to see around your character fluidly. This was an issue with Eve of Extinction.

Another issue that was more tolerable was a basic, mostly uninteresting storyline. The main character Josh has a weapon containing his girlfriend Eliel that can change during gameplay. Basically, it can be whatever you might need for the combat situation you’re in. That would be great if E.O.E wasn’t in that weird space of fun combat but having bricks for enemies.

Again, it was 2002, so no one was really expecting Ghosts of Tsushima or Metal Gear enemies. Instead, it was more like Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage or early Dynasty Warriors scrub soldiers just marching in to get spanked. The enemies were so uninteresting, that it’d be hard to go into the bosses in the game outside of their AI being better than the rank and file scrubs.

That’s expected but nowadays you have situations where field bosses, sub bosses, and even a few scrubs that prove to be more of a problem than the bosses. The Borderlands series tend to have a number of them across multiple games.

Was There Any Hope for a Sequel?

With any older game or series, I like to dive into sequel or reboot potential. Often you hear from gamers that there are few original concepts or games being put out by the larger studios or that franchises are getting run into the ground. The magic solution to fixing that is to come up with something new that isn’t a sequel to something we’ve played for the past decade.

I’ve always felt that an easier solution would be to revive or reboot a title that is collecting dust in a developer’s vault. If we haven’t seen the game in a long while, see what can be changed or built upon. There are more mechanics and storytelling is better now than 20 years ago in games.

E.O.E: Eve of Extinction is one of those games that would need to be rebooted before moving it into a sequel. The original wasn’t that good or memorable from start to finish. I remember more about R.A.D: Robot Alchemic Drive than E.O.E and that was another mid-at-best title from the PS2 era.

At the time, there was no hope for a sequel in part because the solo game ended in a way that one game was enough. It was a standalone story and as it was, no one was really clamoring for another trip into Josh’s world to deal with a revived Wisdom Company.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Let’s look at the common trope of bullying and what you’ll encounter whether you’ve read for years or just started minutes ago.

The Bullying Tropes in Manga

The effects of bullying tend not to be explored heavily in manga. When it is, it’s often fuel for the protagonist(s) to improve themselves and go beyond what they were before. You know, the bully target who was either quiet or a good soul and now they’re powerful and social or powerful with an even greater heart.

Manga’s approach will see the protagonist just endure and power through either to improve themselves or prove their bullies wrong. Who knows, the bully might even become a friend now that they have respect for the former weakling protagonist.

Never mind actually addressing the bullying or finding out what the f**k is the bully’s malfunction. Actually, even with writing being deeper and more layered in many popular and cult series than say in the 80s and 90s, it’s not unusual to see the bully have a smidgen of deep backstory.

The Actual Bullies in Manga

That’s even if they’re the a notable antagonist or eventual ally. Sometimes you just need a henchman or villain with enough to justify their actions in that moment. Perhaps the thought process is “We’ll make it up in character development going forward.”

There are some exceptions in popular series. The antagonists in Naruto generally have a reason for their actions and we tend to get a deep look at why they are the way they are. For the younger ninja of Naruto’s generation, it’s mainly a case of that Offspring classic “The Kids Aren’t Alright.”

Yet none of them became bullies. There are underlings or elite under an arc’s big bad who will bully opponents but their identity isn’t “bully”.

No, for that you’ll have to look at high school action dramas or delinquent series like Crows. There you have the honorable or cool gangs that you cheer for. They’re friends and their seniors or juniors who have a mind for organization. They have something resembling goals for the future.

Some members decide to get legit work, a couple are considering moving up to the yakuza, and smattering are looking to go to college. Hell, you might have a few who are athletes or artists and there’s a future there. Then you have the legit bullies: the gangs that are just violent psychopaths led by a sociopath.

These guys would be the knife-licking thieves in any other series. They’re the guys Kenshiro explode-punch in Fist of the North Star. Their only goals for the future are yakuza, drug trafficking or holding down the block as a violent bouncer at a club (all overlapping career fields).

Why they do what they do isn’t explored as deeply, they’re foils for the main gang the series is about. They came in aggressive and they want more turf.

Bullying in Manhwa and Manhua

Keeping along that line, the gangs in a series like Weak Hero have members who are definitely your knife-licking thief underlings but your leaders all have a reason for why they’re cold and vicious. We get at how they got here and how their actions saw them take to bullying as a tool for domination and intimidation.

Mind you, these are delinquent gangs that emulate the organized crime groups of their countries. You have some members who are reserved to entering that world after high school because they have that killer instinct and can fight.

But about your bullies who aren’t gang affiliated in manhua and manhwa? Why do they bully? Here’s where we finally get into what makes bullying in these form of comics different from their Japanese cousin. Bullying is tied to status in the sense that an antagonist’s family background and influence gives them the juice to bully.

Whether it’s modern day China or South Korea, ancient China and or a mythical version of the Joseon period; an antagonist can bully and justify their actions simply because they’re above the protagonist and the hoi polli.

In modern day manhua and manhwa, such as Rooftop Sword Master, bullying comes from children of influence and is extreme to the point of making Tak Se’Young who he is. That’s something else you see in manhua and manhwa with bullying: the act of bullying being reverse engineered.

As a young, reclusive adult recovering from the trauma of what happened at school because of bullying, Tak becomes resentful and wants vengeance. This drives him to embrace a mystical sword and self-train in wielding it. The young man becomes a hulking, sword-swinging behemoth bulldozer.

Considering his actions, he’s move of a chaotic killdozer but this is him harnessing revenge because of bullying. When he actually reverse engineer it is by becoming the bully to his former bullies. He targets them begins taking them out when he deems their repentance to be a bit on the weak side. They’ve moved on in life and have families and careers. Meanwhile, Tak was left in that moment. To make them feel the helplessness be experienced, he became the bully.

In Weak Hero, Grey becomes the bully to delinquents who bully as well as those who target his friends. He fights to survive his situations among more devoted delinquents but also gets a rush from fights. Bullying for him is a means to send a message and intimidate.

Also worth noting is that with manhwa and manhua these bullies tend to take from difficult people in South Korean and Chinese society and media. People of influence getting away with crimes because of their status, nepotism, and/or networking.

The form of bullying in Rooftop Sword Master and Weak Hero is a very common trope in martial arts or murim series like Star Martial God Technique and The Fist Demon of Mount Hua. Here you will have your new generation martial arts prodigy from a influential clan or prestigious martial sect who looks down on others because they wield great power and skill. Or some really nice gear.

Then along comes our murim protagonist who might have history with this bully or has seen their deeds. They come to the conclusion that this jerk needs to be clapped to sleep and proceed to beat them in combat. Then while beating them mercilessly (to teach them lesson), the bully will accuse the protagonist of bullying them.

The cherry on top of that is can be the pummeled prodigy kicking rocks back to the clan head or their lineal predecessor in a sect to beg for vengeance. However, I’ve always liked a good, old putting your op in the dirt and putting all their gear and treasures in the good, old spatial storage.

Call it ethical bullying, I suppose.

What series have you noticed feature bullying as a major character or story element? Let us know in the comments!

Staff Writer; James “Metal” Swift Jr.

Gaming since 1989 and headbanging since 1999, James is a talented writer, podcast host, and lifelong comic book fan who loves all things old-school and retro. His passions include RPGs, wrestling, and classic gaming culture. You can also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Roughly eight years ago, we covered the sole issue of the anthology All-Negro Comics. Released in 1947, it featured seven comics handled by All-Negro Comics’ team of Black writers and artists. To be honest, the only remarkable thing about the comic is that it is a Black first in publication.

However, there is one story in those pages that was salvageable. Well, let’s say one-and-a-half. Let’s look at the stories “Ace Harlem” and “Lion Man”.

The Usual Loop of a Golden Age Comic

The antagonist typically had some scheme or committed some crime in any given issue. Our protagonist either investigated the situation before encountering their foe or they just so happened to know exactly where to go to confront them.

We can’t forget the protagonist either being able to escape any trap or having the luck to do so. If the antagonist was captured and meant to be a reoccurring character, they either escaped capture after their plot was foiled or just escaped prison.

Layered storytelling or even just backstory into the major characters involved didn’t become industry standard until the late-1960s or early-1970s when we’d see more multi-part stories, story arcs, and events. You know, the stuff that lays the foundation for a comics universe.

This was the same issue with Ace Harlem and Lion Man.

Lion Man

Of the two, “Lion Man” is the half of a story that was salvageable. By salvageable, I mean that it could’ve gone further with more tales, characters, and character development. It was very much an episodic comic but as mentioned, the majority of the dedicated comics from larger publishers were very “villainous act of the issue”.

In All-Negro Comics, Lion Man is an intelligent ambassador of sorts for the United Nations. Now, it’s briefly explained how and why he was sent to Africa to protect some uranium but there could’ve been more backstory here.

This guy had collegiate or professional-level athleticism and a college education, so he’s a good pick for a powerless superhero but for him to be a pick to go protect uranium for the UN means there’s something more there. Also, he went alone. The UN can rally a peacekeeping force to provide some backup to Lion Man or something.

Then again, his main threat in the issue were resource thieves which he handled readily with his martial arts. He definitely pieces these guys up solo. He must have had quite the background but we wouldn’t know. He’s just a pre-cooked badass.

Salvaging the Uranium Warden

The best way to expand upon “Lion Man” is just to provide some lore to this guy and give him a regular foe. An organization that traffics in multiple crimes in the country or throughout the continent. Even easier, just give Lion Man similar situations and adventures as the titular character in Lee Falk’s The Phantom.

I mean, Lion Man was basically The Phantom but leaned more Tarzan. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, “Lion Man” could’ve gotten by with just that storyline loop without that much lore and world building.

Plus, like many heroes who were around during the Silver Age, he would have enough prior adventures and character to retcon and build upon for future audiences.

Ace Harlem

“Ace Harlem” was my favorite comic in All-Negro Comics. It was definitely a product of the Golden Age approach to writing but I love pulp and detective comics and comics such as Dick Tracy, The Spirit, and Black Mask. Since detective stories like this tend to lend themselves to more storytelling even during this period, I’d say this is an easier comic to salvage.

The titular character was a private investigator with what I figure is a boxing background. You couldn’t be a private detective without some martial arts background or being a marksman with handguns. You’ll need more than observation and deductive reasoning, here.

These crime fighters were often dealing with masterminds with violent streaks or criminal groups and their main opposition were Golden Age cops. In the comics, they were still patrolling by foot and largely ineffective outside of chatting outside of the deli and putting goons in the police wagon.

They needed either private eyes who were on a case that happened to involve this criminal the cops were getting slammed by or a masked vigilante who happens to have investigation skills.

Certainly there were comics with heroic, able police officers from this period but even then, that was often one exceptional cop who always made the collar. The rest of that department was mid at best while Officer Hero stopped bank robbers…with a service revolver 1 v 4…with no harmed or killed hostages. All money returned.

Officer Hero gets a medal and the chief is happy.

Salvaging Ace

No, these cops needed Ace Harlem to solve a crime they probably wouldn’t have actually bothered with. These weren’t exactly cops from the community. Harlem was just on good terms with them in this instance.

The “Ace Harlem” story could’ve easily been expanded with a couple of multi-part cases. Some private work that has ties to the larger criminal underworld in the community (or beyond). Then tie in a big, underworld-civilian world-altering event. Very basic stuff but it gives lore and continuity to the series.

Like “Lion Man”, it would exist at a time where a chain of one-off, “Crime doesn’t pay” cases would suffice. However, I see something in the Ace Harlem character for a comic strip or just ongoing short stories.

It would be an interesting take on the pulp detective given the period in time. It’s post-Renaissance and pre-Civil Rights movement and immediately post-war.

If you’re wondering about the other stories in All-Negro Comics and how they could be salvaged or revived: those stories aren’t particularly good or interesting .

They probably wouldn’t have made it out of 1947. I know the stories included were meant to be a little something for everyone but the everything else just seemed like cutting room floor funnies.

If you’ve read All-Negro Comics, what were the stories that stood out to you? Haven’t read it? The sole issue is available on the Internet Archive and the Digital Comic Museum free to read online.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

In the 21^st century, content tends to have more backstory and lore. There are callbacks to previous events, antagonists once thought dead can return and it’s not via soap opera means. We find out what they were doing since their demise and how they survived. Hell, we might even get lore on them to keep them from being cartoonishly evil.

Mad Max has typically kept things simple storyline-wise with the comics and Furiosa giving the biggest bumps in lore in regards to Max’s world. That’s different from the hard world shift from Mad Max and The World Warrior.

We’re getting into what rocker about the first film and get more into what I feel is its biggest flaw.

Mad Max: Highway Patrol Extreme

The first movie takes place in the not-so-distant future of Australia. Max is a highway patrol officer known for being the best of the best and the most feared. At this time, Australia was hit with a lot of crime and the roads are the playground of gangs. So, the Main Force Patrol is established to handle road crimes.

One gang terrorizing the roads is a group of wild bikers led by Toecutter. The MPF has a rough go of it dealing with them as the biker Johnny avoids jail time for his crimes thanks to intimidating witnesses. Over time, the MPF is whittled down to just Max and Captain Fifi following the gruesome injury suffered by his friend Jim Goose.

Rattled, Max—a husband and father—looks to retire. Instead, Fifi gives him vacation time. Tragedy would strike during the vacation with Max losing his wife and kid. This kicks off the best stretch of the film with Max going on the offensive.

Mind you, the film had most been Toecutter’s gang just terrorizing the roads without being checked. Now that he has nothing to lose, Max Rockatansky is out for blood. We get the start of some film consistencies. Max’s injuries never actually heal up. It’s the wasteland, so good luck finding skilled doctors and surgeons in the apocalypse.

Highs and Lows

One of the highs included a rapid pace for the story. It was fantastic and remind me of watching Death Race 3000. Things kept moving and we were evenly introduced to both the MPF and Toecutter’s gang in a way that didn’t bog the film down to mostly extended scenes of just dialogue.

The black Pursuit Special making its road debut was awesome. It’s my favorite fictional vehicle and is iconic in the franchise. Much like Max, it takes its bumps and bruises…only Max is taken through the ringer multiple times and in each movie.

I felt the biker gang was a good foil to Max and the MPF. It’s the origin of Max and Toecutter’s actions really set this youngster on a fun revenge quest.

The main con is that there wasn’t much Mad Max continue post-Beyond Thunderdome. Max is a wandering hero, so his adventures are mostly one-offs with little continuity between them. There was a lot to explore without being super layered with the story.

A television show would explain what happened to the MPF before Mad Max 2. I bring that up because a lot happened between MM and Road Warrior. Like, nukes were dropped but Max is still alive and kicking. What occurred is explained but what a quick turnaround to get the post-apocalypse going.

That’s an area that could be explored as well as what other MPF-like forces were doing at the time and following Max’s departure. Hell, The Dark One—simply mentioned in Mad Max–could finally make their debut. The thing is: load us up on Max content.

My final gripe against this film is that while as good as it is, it suffers from the first movie curse. Mad Max 2 was a movie that could’ve been considered the start of the franchise since that version of Max is who many think off when Mad Max is mentioned. It’s like the first Friday the 13^th or Evil Dead.

Part of that is because of the timeline of the first three movies. The first and second film are pretty much different franchises with the world in full-on apocalypse rebounding just three years after the incident with Johnny. Sure, the nukes were going to f**k some stuff up but they’ve already started establishing raider parties with tactics and cars!

Just three years for society to end up on a ventilator but Max is the same as he’s been following his son’s death and his wife going into a coma.

All of that aside, I love my post-apocalyptic stuff and Mad Max was always an example of adventures in the wasteland. The films often put more of the character focus on those around Max and building them up so that Max sees some hope for humanity and himself. It doesn’t hurt that there’s heaping handfuls of action and villains with great catchphrases throughout the franchise.

In the OG film alone, Nightrider’s “I am rocker, I am a roller, I am a out of controller” is probably the banger quote!

What did you like or dislike about the original Mad Max film? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

GTA: London 1969 (1999)

This was a fun expansion of the OG Grand Theft Auto. This was top-down GTA with a late-1960s London setting. Yes, the red double buses, bobbies, and phone booths were there.

Also there were enjoyable missions with dialogue fitting these gangs and firms. Yeah, the missions in GTA and GTA 2 weren’t the most involved—things were still 2D—but there’s just something about 2D open world and that lack of fluid motion.

This early Grand Theft Auto approach will appear again in this list.

GTA: Liberty City Stories (2005)

Originally a PSP release, Liberty City Stories is prequel to Grand Theft Auto III, which was released roughly four years earlier. This story focused on low-rank Leone Family mobster Toni Ciprani. Toni has returned to Liberty City after four years in hiding following a situation where he killed a made man. At time, Ciprani wasn’t a made man and the killing wasn’t cleared—meaning he broke one of the tenets and had to go.

Sure, he could’ve faced his fate but fleeing to Sicily and letting things die down worked as well.

While the game played a lot like Vice City, the story was better than GTA III. This is in part because the protagonist speaks and seems more involved with the world than Claude Speed from III and later San Andreas. Another thing it had going for it is just the approach of playing through a previous time in the Grand Theft Auto 3D universe and seeing how things came to be in present day—the 2000s.

I will admit that the game is pretty skippable but for lore fans, if you can find it on PSP or PS2…maybe give it a play. It’s fun but I wouldn’t say essential.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006)

Another PSP and PS2 release by the studio duo of Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North, GTA: Vice City Stories is the stronger of the two Stories games. However, with the 3D universe, that was just the case with games released after GTA III. Each game was an improvement over previous titles because Rockstar utilized mechanics from other games in the franchise.

Vice City Stories is centered around Vic Vance, an army corporal who was dishonorably discharged in a double cross for trafficking drugs. Since the game isn’t available to play now, if you’ve played Vice City, Vic is Lance Vance’s brother who was killed at the beginning of the game.

VCS takes place in 1984, two years before Tommy Vercetti’s arrival in the city and allows the player to experience the rise of the short-lived Vance Crime Family.

Again, this plays like an early-2000s 3D universe Grand Theft Auto title but it had a little something extra that really made this a fun time investment. San Andreas featured a couple of features that allowed the player to experience San Andreas through CJ: clothing stores, dates, cheeks, bars, lowriders, clubs, businesses, and gang wars with claimable territory that weakened the opps’ influence in the city.

While GTA: Vice City featured businesses, it was a simple affair of raiding a gang’s front, taking it over and investing money into it. San Andreas typically had more of a story involved in taking over businesses. In Vice City Stories, we have turf wars in the form of a more involved business system. Not only did players take a front over, they also invested in the upkeep and growth of the business both by dropping money into it and doing related missions. Not only that, these businesses had to be defended from opposing gangs.

This mechanic was something I wished returned in future GTA games and is my favorite part of the game. Aside from that, VCS also featured improved combat, with the hand-to-hand stuff taking heavily from San Andreas’ improved combat.

GTA: Chinatown Wars (2009)

This game launched on the popular Nintendo 3DS console. It’s the only game on this list that Rockstar has available for download via app stores. Chinatown Wars uses the GTA and GTA II top-down approach but mixes in some features that weren’t seen in either the 2D or 3D titles.

First, let’s getting a bit into the story. Huang Lee is the nephew of a triad boss living in Liberty City. He is visiting from Hong Kong to hand him a ceremonial sword that belonged to his father. While en route, he is ambushed and the sword stolen.

This results in a lengthy story with some interesting twists and turns along the way. Can’t have a GTA story without some kind of betrayal by perceived allies and/or FIB having the main character by the balls. Maybe Grand Theft Auto VI will break that trope.

Tasked with various jobs to make up for the dishonor of being ambushed, Huang experiences crime the American way. This brings me to a few mechanics I really enjoyed with one being something I wish would return in future titles.

In GTA V, it’s possible to get the cops off of you by making them crash in a chase. Chinatown Wars featured this and while it should’ve been easier because it was top-down, the streets got congested often in this game and could ruin a fun chase. However, the featured did its job well—when players had room to groove.

Another shared feature between the two is hotwiring cars. Being that it was the 3DS and using that stylus was just something developers or Nintendo insisted on, hotwiring in Chinatown Wars could be more involved before players rode off in their in their criminally captured cars.

The featured that impressed me the most and was a feature I loved in GTA-clone Scarface: The World is Yours was the drug trafficking. This was basically Rockstar Games Presents Dope Wars and it was great! Drug prices changed, CCTVs were a problem, suppliers taxed, rivals were salty, drug trucks could be hit—this was the most entertaining part of the game hands down. It was GTA criminal shenanigans and hustling but it was something unique to this game.

Which of the games have you played in the past? Where would you rank them? Are there any gameplay mechanics or characters you’d like to see return?

Let us know in the comments!

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Gaming gives us that and simulation games apply that to occupation and business simulators to great effect. It’s essential to gameplay and keeping players hooked. But this isn’t about status screen UIs or human improvement, we’re looking at three simulators worth diving into right now.

All games but the second are available on PC and console.

Drug Dealer Simulator (Byterunners)

Currently, this has been my primary jam. It’s also my weekend stream starter before getting into some Cyberpunk 2077 shenanigans. Drug Dealer Simulator puts you in the role of a dealer, smuggler, street pharmacist, trafficker, and businessman all in one.

The player is dropped into a city under heavy lockdown with a hard stance against drugs. Eddie, the player’s mentor and plug trains the young trapper on how to do business, get drugs, launder money, and keeps him abreast of story-advancing developments. The narrator fills the player in on more granular aspects while giving an abrasive and humorous take of the trapper’s rise.

While a major aspect is giving out samples and making enough for sales and to hand off to your dealers, I find that the most enjoyable part is actually growing and cooking. Then again, I love crafting in games.

Byterunners have released Drug Dealer Simulator 2 and it looks great but for those who can’t play the sequel, the OG DDS is still a time-eating blast to dive into.

American Truck Simulator (SCS Software)

Honestly, either American Truck Simulator or European Truck Simulator 2 are a great pick for your simulation game session. It exists in this realm of having time limits on deliveries, fines for traffic infractions, and needing to gas up but also being extremely chill.

The most stressful parts tend to come from falling a bit behind on a delivery. Even worse when is cutting it close, being at the destination but being unable to get the truck and trailer in the loading area exactly.

Beyond that, the player mainly  manages their trucking career, handles their skill points, purchase trucks and upgrades. As the game advances and the player makes more cash from deliveries, they can invest in their own trucking company and hire drivers NPC to do deliveries.

There’s also an online mode where players join other truckers for convoys. It’s not a mode I’ve explored heavily but it was fun doing deliveries through Nevada and hearing my fellow trucker lamenting about traffic up ahead.

Of the games in this list, I’d say American/Euro Truck Simulator has the best music. It uses streaming radio in-game and it works perfectly as traveling music with a lot of variety. This is also the game with the most longevity. The games are all addictive and the player might have fun in restarting or advancing their businesses further but the Truck Simulator titles are different in that it’s as close to a perfect balance of chill and challenge.

That goes a long way for simulation games and replay value.

Gas Station Simulator (DRAGO Entertainment)

Now this is a game that increases the stress of cops chasing the player in DDS while also having a chill approach like the Truck Simulator games. Sure, placing and stocking shelves is easy (as someone who has done it, it depends) but keeping the store clean and seeing that tour bus pull up to the gas station is another story.

Most of the week, it’s basic dead end gas station in the desert business. Yeah, there’s an element of shadiness going on as far as cash flow but business is steady and manageable. However, the weirdest things go down in the gas station once the bus rolls in but the player is going to make a wad or two with the bump in business.

Managing inventory, store cleanliness and tending to the service at the pump are the player’s initial duties but eventually workers can be hired to manage that. There is stronger storyline here than in the other two entries and exploration plays a part in that. There are also a few other activities to get into outside of pure business.

What are some of your favorite simulation games and are there any you’re currently playing? Share in the comments!

Staff Writer; James “Metal” Swift Jr.

Gaming since 1989 and headbanging since 1999, James is a talented writer, podcast host, and lifelong comic book fan who loves all things old-school and retro. His passions include RPGs, wrestling, and classic gaming culture. You can also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.

Now, I’m not as hardcore a Destiny 2 player as my younger brother. As a matter of fact, while I did catch the most recent “World’s First” raid, I wasn’t heavily active during the expansion launch. A large part of that had to do with crashes on PlayStation 4.

However, as far as Destiny 2 creators and keeping up with news, I follow to a degree. Even while playing, unless I’m playing with my brother, I tend to get in and find activities where I can just get in and slam such as Iron Banner, strikes that are on the shorter side, or just public events. I’m not particularly interested in jumping puzzles or figuring out mechanics, two important ingredients in the franchise’s gameplay.

Destiny: Rising Launches

I had come across Destiny: Rising on the Google Play Store when it was still in the pre-register phase. Mind you, I didn’t pre-register as I was looking for another game to play. Since it was a bigger mobile game—I don’t reckon Sony or Bungie would get on board with a trash mobile title—it would remain in the “For You” section until launch.

After my brother reminded me that it had launched, I logged on the day after launch and dove into the issues of Haven, the hub city of Destiny: Rising. As mentioned above, this is a sequel to the main Destiny games and I’d say that so far, it’s a good entry.

I’m still going through the story—in true Destiny fashion, character really chat. Everyone’s a yapper in the game and the urge to hit “Skip” was ever present. Fortunately, some cutscenes allow the player to double the speed as a soft skip. I feel this should be for all cutscenes and cinematics.

Move it along, already.

It should be noted that as a NetEase title, there’s the expected gacha element here. It’s actually an important element of the gameplay since the characters are all built to substitute for the more focused build and gear crafting of the main titles.

Characters and Build Crafting

That isn’t to say this game is pick-and-play. The Guardians (characters) all have a light element: solar (fire), void (gravity/space), and arc (lightning). Stasis (ice), strand (kind of like void and stasis) and prismatic (all abilities) aren’t featured yet. However, in true gacha fashion, expect more characters to drop and some to be loaded up with the best skills of those elements.

In Destiny 2, players are free to jump among elemental subclasses as desired and craft builds around certain abilities and aspects. Over on Destiny: Rising, the characters have pretty much settled into their most proficient subclass. The player just has to select the best Guardian for the activity.

Players will get to do some build crafting here but it’s streamlined for both mobile gameplay and how players tend to play mobile. For those who have explored Destiny 2, you will know it’s a bit of a time investment regardless of your skill level. Whether you’re mainly a PvP (player vs. player) or PvE (player vs. environment) gamer, you’re sinking time into the game because there’s so much to manage, improve, craft, and hunt for—never mind actually getting into the adventuring, raiding, and dungeon delving. It’s not necessarily a game where you can jump in for 10 minutes here and there for bite-sized, quick sessions.

In Rising, the approach is geared mainly towards shorter sessions or if you really want to just drain your battery. On the road to team level 61 at the time of writing this, I’ve hovered between both.

Back to the characters! They’re pretty much different subclasses with baked in builds—or abilities geared towards their intended combat and utility style. From there, you’re able to level up their relic abilities—the elemental powers Guardians can use in combat and improve your weapons.

If you haven’t gotten into Destiny: Rising, you might be wondering about armor sets and the like. Don’t worry about that, the focus is on weapons in DR—meaning the Guardians are just rocking with their established armor sets. No one’s running around with mismatched gear or anything.

All of that has been streamlined to cut down the micromanagement aspect of Destiny for mobile. There’s still micromanagement but the amount of stuff to manage is reduced.

Gameplay and Adventuring

I’m certain the build crafting and micromanagement are big draws of the franchise for some players but this game shines with the actual adventuring and in-the-field stuff. The activity and menu UI sets up everything in mainly one location while checking your ghost (your Light imbued companion who guides and revived you).

From the main story mission to PvE, PvP, PvPvE activities, players can find it here along with stuff like rankings, the map, season level, characters, and items. Just like the main games, selecting any kind of adventure or activity will get it started for matchmaking.

There are some adventures that require the player to travel to certain areas. The game will drop you in the region at the closest fast travel spot but there might be some hiking required to the objective. It occurs for some main story missions but for specific characters that aren’t Wolf, the game just drops you in the location their story takes place.

The gunplay in Destiny: Rising is really good. It’s not to the level of Destiny 2 but for a mobile adaptation, it’s really fun and easy to learn. The game allows the player to experience the game in third-person or first-person and I strongly remember going with first. When using super abilities, the perspective is snapped to third-person for the duration as it does in the main games.

I found it odd that third-person was even an option but NetEase Games tend to offer both.

Loot and Odds N’ Ends

Any combat activity or adventure rewards loot in the form of leveled engrams (which can have weapons, weapon mods, etc), one of the game’s various currencies, fragments that can make full engrams), weapon enhancement material, and miscellaneous loot that can be used for other activities.

For instance, you could get bait for fishing from doing strikes or whatever activity. Fishing itself rewards nothing but the fish and occasionally guns, but fish can be sold for fishing shop currency—which can then be used to purchase a variety of fishing and non-fishing goods.

Matchmaking for fire teams tends to be very quick. Very rarely have I left the matchmaking or mission screen because the matching was taking a while. Players are even warned that matchmaking could take a while because of a low participation pool (which I got twice).

Speaking of warnings, in a nice bit of a quality of life feature, Destiny: Rising warned me that a character mission would take at least 15 minutes. I greatly appreciated that.

Another warning: this is a gacha game as far as the meat and potatoes of its business. That means some characters can be purchased and getting the battle pass is recommended but not necessary. The extra bonuses are nice but the grind isn’t too bad in this game. Hell, I primarily grind strikes and other PvE activities…and fishing.

The first wave of characters can be gained via pulls using the associated currencies. Those can be purchased as well or gained as a potential reward. Expect Rising to push players more towards purchasing content when even better or more interesting characters are released.

As a matter of fact, two new characters have been announced as coming soon. All of that said, I say that Rising is a game worth playing.

Will you be play or pass on Destiny: Rising? If you’re already in, what are some of activities and characters you enjoy? Let’s us know in the comments and if you playing, feel free to add me: MetalSwift.

Staff Writer; M. Swift

This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.