VR Poopers (September 2025)

It's the month in which a woman appears to be pregnant. And aside from a lot of more pressing matters this month, I'm gonna stick with talking about the pop culture stuff that I interacted with this month. Seems like a good use of my time. And there was definitely a bit to talk about this month. 

After months of waiting the big actual Nintendo Direct aired. An hour long. And it wasn't great. At least to me, I know some who were satisfied. But it just didn't feel like it was the strong direct to show a strong second year for the console on the way. Maybe we get more of that in the start of 2026. And there are some good games coming. Prime Beyond is finally listed for December 4th, Yoshi has a fun new game, new Fire Emblem, Pokopia is odd. New DLC for Bananza (which I'm hearing is underwhelming and not justifying the 20 dollar price tag, still need to beat Bananza to even give it a shot). But the biggest thing that stymied me from the Direct was the announcement of the Virtual Boy coming to Switch Online. At first, I was kind of jazzed for it. For years, VB Wario Land had been stuck on that console. It's considered one of the best Wario games, so it getting a release on Switch was great... and then they went and spoiled it all by doing something Nintendo like make the games playable only if you have the dedicated Virtual Boy console that they're selling for 100 bucks (more than that in Canada) or a rehash of the Nintendo Labo. 

I kind of get it in hindsight. Nintendo knows that only the very niche of their audience will be excited for this thing. And there is novelty to making the games run on an updated Virtual Boy console. But it also feels really, really dumb. Namely in that the Virtual Boy is notorious for giving people severe eye strain and headaches. It's also not the most comfortable device to affix yourself to. Emulation has found ways to make the Virtual Boy games playable on modern systems without the need for the device. So for Nintendo to not even try that and more or less lock an entire update for their paid Switch Online plan to a device feels really lame. Also, the prices of everything is getting way too high to be justified, especially with the games picked. Like the Mario Galaxy Collection being a full-price game and buying both separately being 40 bucks each. Amiibo going for around 50. No doubt Nintendo is also planning a price hike for their online plan. The fucking Game Keys are still a thing.

I've been thinking about it lately, but it does feel like Nintendo is officially in their hubris stage. They think they're untouchable. That because they sold the best selling console for the previous generation that everything they touch and do will be successful and their audience will acquiesce their wallets for whatever the company asks. And I don't see it lasting long. Because there's precedent to it. Ask Sony. Hot off the PlayStation 2's epic run, the company charged 500 dollars for the PS3 while offering little to hype anyone into supporting the system. It led to a rocky run initially. Nintendo also has a history with this themselves. The initial price of the 3DS and lack of much to justify the price. Same with the Wii U's flop in general. 

I feel these next couple years are make or break for the Nintendo faithful. How long until that hubris finally comes back to haunt them? Honestly, I think it'll be sooner than we think. Maybe not this holiday season but the next one at the likely earliest. Not saying this'll be the end of Nintendo, but I think their days of the high horse will soon end. And when a company like Nintendo is patenting entire gameplay systems for selfish reasons, I'm starting to think I might be right. Also they announced the Mario Galaxy movie and that's cool, but if we're getting Rosalina before Daisy then I'm likely gonna abstain. You already lost me at "Chris Pratt is back". 

Speaking of hubris that needs to be taken down a peg, WWE were in full scumbag mode this month. President of TKO Mark Shapiro was interviewed and openly crowed about wanting to raise ticket prices higher in comments that made Vince sound rational (even though, let's be honest Vince would absolutely raise prices too). But for as awful as that was, it was nothing compared to the big announcement from WWE that Wrestlemania 43 will emanate from Saudi Arabia. And my reaction was... not surprised at all. It was pretty much a given as news reports were going around that the Saudi Government wanted a Wrestlemania. And with Royal Rumble there next year, it seemed a given. It is funny in a depressing way that WWE decided in 2023 to dangle the carrot of a Wrestlemania in London only to pull the rug out from under excited fans. That's as WWE as you could get right there. 

Although I've been seeing people throw around the claim that WWE "Sold Out" by doing this. As if the WWE haven't been working with the Saudi Government since 2018. Like the shady business practices and priority of sponsorships just randomly started the day TKO took over. This has always been WWE. Even under Vince. Profit and being the most powerful in the industry has always been their focus. They were a company who was run for decades by a capitalist yuppie maniac in Vince McMahon. Triple H and TKO are just that on steroids (or more steroids than usual). The viner of the company being this "big, family company that loves its fans first and foremost" has been a myth only believed by the most diehard of WWE fans. But if some people are finally realizing that, then I think that's at least a positive. 

I watched some of Wrestlepalooza. I say some because this company can fuck right off with their pushing of Brock Lesnar. Not just for the allegations but it's twenty fucking twenty five why are we back to this Lesnar super monster push horseshit? To no real surprise, the show's best match was Stephanie Vaquer vs Iyo Sky for the vacant WWE Women's Championship. While AJ Lee's return to the ring tagging with CM Punk against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch was fine. Despite a few rough spots (those slaps by AJ) it was otherwise a solid enough return back. And everything else was serviceable. But being that this was built up as the first PLE for ESPN, being serviceable is pretty shitty. The WWE promised ESPN A major extravaganza, but barely tried. So, of course, when the event got a C grade on ESPN's website, people in the company were confused and couldn't comprehend why people weren't swallowing their mediocrity. Crown Jewel Perth at least looks like a decent show, but given the week to week to get there, I can already feel another case of the WWE not trying unless it's a Saudi show. 

And another reason I wasn't watching Wrestlepalooza in full was because I was watching a far better show that night in AEW All Out Toronto, which honestly might be my PPV of the year depending on how the next three months fares. A solid card almost from top to bottom save for maybe a clunker here and there (I feel bad for Eddie Kingston's return) topped with one of the best three-way matches I've ever seen in Takeshita/Okada/Dorada, an excellent four-way ladder match, and a solid, albeit perhaps a bit too long, main event between Kyle Fletcher and "Hangman" Adam Page. Add in a bunch of returns, Jurassic Express reuniting (With the return of "Tarzan Boy" by Baltimora) and you have a show that satisfied the hell out of me. WWE, in their infinite pettiness, has made it their mission to counter-program AEW at every turn. If their idiocy leads to AEW's product improving and their PPVs, usually super solid to begin with, improving, then good work Paul, you bald fraud.

Just as September was ending, Disney suddenly announces a sequel to The Simpsons Movie, set for July 23rd, 2027, twenty years after the first Simpsons Movie. I saw the first in theatres on opening night, and I've always enjoyed the movie. I don't think it's as great as people make it out to be at times, but it's full of fun moments, and Bart's junk for reasons I still fail to comprehend. I'm cautiously optimistic about this, as I do feel the more recent seasons of The Simpsons have been improving. Still a lot of hit and miss episodes, but when the show goes for more experimental storytelling, it usually pays off. So hopefully this is what we get with this movie. Something experimental that still feels like a Simpsons movie. All we have is a poster and confirmation at this point, so we'll probably be in the dark for a while on this. 

Quiet month for collecting anything until the end. I got my hands on a bunch of NES games as I rebuild after selling stuff for the Switch 2. But I did luck out on one notable NES find this month and that's this version of Metroid. Most who know of Metroid's first game know of the NES cartridge with the silver border and sprite art. The version most commonly released. Many might not know that later in the NES' life, closer to its end, some NES games got reprints as part of a Classic Series line. The most prominent title from the release was Punch-Out, the port with Mr. Dream replacing Mike Tyson. But there were also ports of Zelda 1 and 2 with gray cartridges instead of the more common gold, and this version of Metroid with completely new art which is closer in line to the design used on the cover of Metroid 2: Return of Samus for the Game Boy. But that aside, it's still the same Metroid game with I believe no notable changes in code. It's not a rare copy, but one that definitely comes as more uncommon compared to other versions of the game when searching in the wild. I was gunning for a Zelda II copy, but it was gone when I went to get it, so Metroid it is.

That's pretty much September for me in a nutshell. I've been finally getting around to playing Donkey Kong Bananza and I am close to the end of the main game. It's an excellent game, but I honestly do feel Mario Odyssey was better. I should have it done in October. As for October, there's not too much so far I'm hot for. Though I'll hopefully be continuing the AEW support with Wrestledream later this month. And with yet another mail strike I can't order too much of anything right now when it comes to physical stuff, so I'm gonna have to wait it out until later, maybe November. But who knows, it might be a far more exciting month to come, we'll have to just see about it.