The Evolution of Marvel Fighting Games

Marvel Comics and video games have had a long, storied, and oftentimes turbulent relationship. Spanning a variety of genres, Marvel games have taken us to many different places, from the thrilling open worlds of Insomniac’s Spider-Man series to the terrible beige-tinged shooting galleries of Punisher No Mercy. But there’s one genre in which Marvel Comics has seen undeniable success: fighting games.

Marvel has been in the business of kicking ass in 2D arenas for over three decades, and in that time we’ve seen many twists, turns, smash hits, and fumbles. So buckle up, true believers, as we take you for a ride through the evolution of Marvel fighting games.

X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994)

The early ‘90s were not a great time for Marvel. Despite successful X-Men and Spider-Man comic runs (and their beloved accompanying Saturday-morning cartoons), a series of costly business blunders and an industry bubble burst left Marvel filing for bankruptcy. It famously turned to flogging everything that wasn’t nailed down to keep the Arc Reactor powered up.

In contrast, fighting game aficionado Capcom was flying high. Street Fighter 2 was munching quarters left and right, and arcades were flooded with copycats.

After a successful collaboration on a Punisher beat-em-up that earned critical acclaim thanks to its satisfying, meaty combat, Marvel and Capcom – in an effort to capitalise on the success of the Street Fighter formula – decided to work together on the very first fighting game starring Marvel characters, X-Men: Children of the Atom.

Despite being built on the bones of Street Fighter 2 Turbo, this was no simple re-skin. Gone were the World Warriors, and in was a roster of Earth’s mightiest mutants. The simple fireballs and firebreath attacks of Capcom’s prize fighter no longer felt adequate, so new special moves were introduced, dominating the screen with strobes and particle effects that were more befitting of the superheroic cast.

But it wasn’t just extra spectacle that was needed. Children of the Atom also introduced a unique take on combos and movement. It was significantly speedier compared to Capcom’s previous fighters, altering the rhythm of the action by a considerable degree. Along with added super jumps and air combos, these X-gene influenced adjustments helped Children of the Atom quickly carve out its own identity in the fighting game space.

Even the most cynical fighting game fans responded well to this formula shake-up, positioning Children of the Atom as the hottest new fighting game when it arrived in 1994. It was just as technical and complex as Street Fighter, but far more approachable for newcomers. The design proved so successful that PlayStation, Sega Saturn and MS-DOS systems all saw ports of the arcade hit. This popularity allowed Capcom to follow up with Marvel Super Heroes, which built on the principles of Children of the Atom and further refined them, expanding the roster to include more Marvel characters beyond the X-Men.

Avengers in Galactic Storm (1995)

While the Osaka-based Capcom was experiencing huge success with its new comic book fighting formula, a few hundred miles away in Tokyo, developer Data-East was putting together its challenger. A year later it stepped up to the plate with Avengers in Galactic Storm, an obscure fighting game that is now largely forgotten, lost in the sea of fighting-game hopefuls that filled Arcades in the mid-to-late ‘90s.

Despite its lack of success, Avengers in Galactic Storm was the first game to introduce a mechanic that would go on to form the backbone of an entire sub-genre of fighters: the Assistant Character. When selecting your character, you’d be presented with a second unique roster of characters – this would be your “assist”.

Today, we see assistant characters as a foundational mechanic for any “tag-fighter”, but back in 1995 the idea was completely revolutionary, despite being pretty basic compared to the tag-team mechanics of today. Back then, your assistant character had one move tied to your super meter; upon activation, they’d spring onto the screen and perform this signature attack. It was a simple addition, but as an idea, it grew and blossomed into a fundamental mechanic we frequently see today.

A roster full of nobodies and garish graphics meant that Avengers in Galactic Storm quickly disappeared from the fighting game scene. Although its death was swift, it left a significant impression on what was to come…

X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996)

After only two years of partnership, Marvel and Capcom took another bold swing with X-Men Vs. Street Fighter, once again evolving the format with a new feature that would impact the fighting genre for years to come. X-Men Vs. Street Fighter expanded the battle from 1v1 to 2v2 while pairing two titans of pop culture. (We’ve mentioned the title twice now, so you probably already know the two franchises involved.)

The Street Fighter cast, although themselves somewhat supernaturally powered, were fairly grounded compared to their mutant rivals. To remedy this imbalance, Capcom gave the World Warriors a significant upgrade. Super fireballs were turned into Dragon Ball Z-style beams, rising uppercuts became erupting pillars of flame, and every strike seemed to cause the hit counter to skyrocket.

The addition of a second character wasn’t a revolution for the genre; King of Fighters had made 3v3 the core of its identity since 1994. But where KoF operated in a team battle style, where you used a character until they were eliminated, X-Men Vs Street Fighter was the first to present your characters as a unified team. Switching at any time was actively encouraged, as your tagged-out character could restore their health while your second hero fought on. It was the first time in the genre that health was recoverable, and it gave you a vital reason to keep switching. Your teammate could even be tagged in directly when performing a duo-hyper combo, summoning them in to perform their signature move alongside your own, causing high damage and flashy visuals.

The tag system and refined combos that Capcom had been tinkering with since Children of the Atom helped create an arcade darling. Players lined up quarters and a competitive scene blossomed around the game, with fans eager to push the limits of what could be done in the arena.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (1998)

After a slight misstep in 1997 with Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter, which disappointingly recycled content from past games while reducing the spectacle, Capcom’s next swing managed to recapture the magic of Marvel while also exploring beyond the boundaries of Street Fighter. In 1998 we were treated to the oft-celebrated Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes.

At the time, Clash of Super Heroes’ gameplay was widely considered to be the formula perfected, combining all the lessons Capcom had learned since beginning its Marvel partnership. The combos and hypercombos reached new heights of effects-driven spectacle. The addition of special partner and duo team attacks, which gave you a limited-use partner attack akin to the Assistant Character from Avengers, and the ability to pilot both of your characters at the same time added new wrinkles to master.

These additions became the extra spice required to make Clash of Super Heroes stand out among the fighting game crowd. But there was one additional feature that really sparked the game’s popularity: While special partners were randomised by default, through a hidden code, you could select a specific character to bolster your strengths or cover your weaknesses. Thanks to this important addition, competition around Marvel Vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes exploded. Capcom once again struck on a formula that fighting game fans not only loved, but were willing to invest in.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000)

Due to the success of Marvel Vs. Capcom, everyone was keen for another return of the format. Feeling that it had reached the ceiling with what it could do with 2v2, Capcom decided to shake up the series with the sequel.

Marvel vs Capcom 2 took the next logical step when it smashed into arcades in the year 2000: it upgraded its 2v2 format to 3v3. Special partners were also removed in favour of a new version of the assist system, and the roster skyrocketed from just 15 characters to a massive 56. Most immediately obvious, though, was that the game completely switched its visual aesthetic to a more generic style, removing the Capcom and Marvel iconography it had used in the first game. As if that wasn’t enough changes already, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 also featured a complete overhaul of its controls. With so much significant change, it was perhaps inevitable that fans initially hated it. En masse, a large portion of hardcore fans immediately opted to go back to the original Marvel vs Capcom.

Some stuck with it, though, experimenting with this complete reinvention and discovering that there were near-endless tactical possibilities. The new assist system invited players to build their teams around not just what their characters could do when they’re on point, but what they could do as an assist. Each of the 56 characters had three assist modes, all with specific attacks. With three characters on a team, the combo possibilities began to feel truly limitless. Arguably better than any fighting game before it, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 truly let you build your own identity as a competitive player.

Onlookers began to notice dedicated players performing wilder and wilder combos. They became entranced by the incredible speed of the gameplay. Suddenly, the wider fighting game community started to come around. Now, in 2026, Marvel vs Capcom 2 is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighting games of all time and is still played competitively today, 26 years later.

Marvel vs Capcom 2 would, however, be the last in the series to release in arcades. Home consoles were becoming more sophisticated, and the days when the arcade was the best place to play were coming to an end. Series like Tekken, Soul Calibur and Mortal Kombat had successfully navigated the switch from the arcade scene to the living room, but Capcom had so far not been as fortunate. The success of titles like Resident Evil and Devil May Cry at home was outpacing its ports of arcade fighters, and as a result, Capcom decided to partially retreat from the fighting game scene.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011)

The 2000s saw few attempts to pick up where Marvel vs Capcom 2 left off, with games like X-Men Next Dimension fusing 2D game mechanics with 3D environments and yielding middling results. Capcom largely sat out of developing new fighting games at the end of the sixth console generation. But with a new generation on the horizon, it decided to return in a big way. 2008’s Street Fighter 4 burst onto the scene with a bold new art direction and a back-to-basics setup with new mechanics. It was a smash hit out of the gate, demonstrating there was a whole new generation of fighting game fans and competitive players ready to reignite the genre.

The time apart had also been fruitful for Marvel, which was experiencing unprecedented success with its cinematic universe. The stars had once again aligned, and it was the perfect time for the return of Marvel vs Capcom.

Marvel vs Capcom 3’s arrival was hotly anticipated, and Capcom felt immense pressure to deliver on fans’ expectations. Although the character roster was smaller than Marvel Vs. Capcom 2’s ludicrous 56 heroes, the developer focused on delivering a wishlist of characters who’d previously not made the cut. MvC 3 would finally introduce long-requested fighters such as Dante, Deadpool, and Wesker.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 2’s lofty status meant Capcom elected to keep the game as close in feel to its predecessor as it could, refraining from altering the formula while adding enough new elements to sweeten the pot. Additions like aerial tag combos, which let you link from one character to another, blended seamlessly into the existing systems, making it feel like they’d always been there.

There was one addition, though, that would prove controversial.

X-Factor was the newly introduced comeback mechanic, providing a speed and damage boost where the duration and effectiveness was proportional to the number of characters you had left on your team. X-Factor activation could happen at any time and would cancel any animation, resulting in specific X-Factor combos that could destroy an enemy life bar, but also open the door to comebacks where a single character could decimate an entire team. While it added a certain level of volatility to the game, heightening the excitement, purists took issue with the addition of a comeback mechanic. It was a minor setback in what was generally considered to be another fighting game masterpiece.

A second, “Ultimate” version of Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 would release less than 11 months later and include an all-new balance patch, new UI, new characters, and new stages. But it was a new, budget-friendly release operating outside the confines of the original, so fans who had bought the first version of MvC 3 were left out in the cold. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, while having its own merit, was seen as a bad deal for the early adopters.

Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 became the new standard for competitive play and, over time, saw significant success. But due to the nature of the Ultimate edition and its poor sales, Capcom deemed it as somewhat of a failure and once again allowed the Marvel license to expire.

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (2017)

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 would become a staple of fighting game events, but fans still yearned for something new. In 2017 they would get their wish, but not quite in the way they’d hoped.

Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite was a bold new direction for the series that restored its 2v2 roots, brought back the Infinity Stones from Marvel Super Heroes, reinvented the battle mechanics and, for the first time ever, introduced a full cinematic story mode.

The new battle system was a dramatic shift from the past, completely upending the assist system in favour of “Active Tag”. Previously, tagging in an ally safely required very careful spacing and timing, as the incoming character would perform a pose before being able to block. The new Active Tag system was more generous, allowing you to quickly swap your point character, provided you were not being hit or blocking. The Infinity Stones took the place of the third team member, offering a standard “Infinity Surge” and a super “Infinity Storm” attacks. Using Infinity Surge and taking damage would fill your Storm meter, and each of the six Infinity Stones would offer unique attributes based on their namesake.

While met with skepticism, fans were ready to take their favourite heroes and villains for a spin with this new system… provided they were still available, that is. Because of the ongoing success of the MCU, Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite was more closely aligned with the silver screen roster of the time, which meant none of the X-Men or Fantastic Four. This was long before the MCU’s awkward Multiverse Saga.

These missing fighters had already disappointed many in the leadup to release, and others quickly followed thanks to the abandonment of the series’ striking comic book aesthetic in favour of a more semi-realistic art style.

Capcom was once again on the back foot, a situation only made worse when Arc Systemworks, developers of the BlazBlue series, revealed Dragon Ball FighterZ; a 3v3 tag-fighting game, featuring fan-favourite Dragon Ball characters, that not only used a bold anime-inspired art style, but also borrowed many of Marvel Vs Capcom’s mechanics. Here was a direct competitor that not only looked better, but also felt familiar to fans of old-school Marvel vs Capcom. The unsettled audience quickly moved on from MvC Infinite, which, in turn, ended its post-launch support only 3 months after launch.

That’s not to say Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite was without merit, though. The Active Tag mechanic allowed players incredible freedom to approach encounters and to structure combos. But the surrounding package and poor visuals under-delivered, and interest in the series waned. Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite was the first in the series to skip the main stage of fighting game tournament Evo in 2018, something previously considered unimaginable. Marvel vs Capcom, once a titan of the genre, had been dethroned.

Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls (2026)

All hope is not lost for Marvel fighting game fans, though. In June 2025, during PlayStation’s State of Play showcase, Arc Systemworks, developers of Dragon Ball FighterZ, shocked the world by announcing Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls. The first Marvel fighting game in nearly a decade, it’s also the first ever 4v4 fighting game.

It’s early days for Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls, but the signs look extremely positive, suggesting this could be the evolution of the formula we’ve desperately been waiting for. The pedigree is there, and the modern alterations lead us to believe Marvel Tokon will be a unique take on the Marvel fighting game formula, blending the successes of the past with fresh ideas for the genre that will hopefully lead it into the future. And with an already locked-in appearance at Evo France in October 2026, the competitive future is looking bright.

From the humble beginnings of X-Men Children of the Atom to the unexplored reaches of 4v4 in Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls, the journey Marvel fighting games have taken has been full of dizzying highs and terrifying lows. But with Marvel Tokon primed for release on August 6, we’re excited to see what the next step looks like. One thing we know for sure is that there’s a dedicated Marvel fighting game fanbase that’s more than ready to assemble.

Written by Jack Gash, IGN's UK Syndication Editor and fighting game obsessive.

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The Best GTA Missions

The five modern mainline GTA games (and by that, we mean from Grand Theft Auto 3 onwards) contain 346 story missions. 346 opportunities for blockbuster moments, unforgettable sandbox spectacles, career-making crimes, and the occasional excruciating nightmare. But among the missed trains, RC planes, and yoga sessions are some of the most memorable gaming experiences ever crafted, courtesy of developer Rockstar Games. These are the missions that propel us to that next letter on the minimap, the ones that start with a goofy cutscene and end with an orchestra of explosions and emotions.

These are the greatest Grand Theft Auto missions.

11. “Give Me Liberty” - GTA 3

The first moments of Grand Theft Auto 3 are among the most impactful in gaming history. The scene is set in just five short minutes: an opening credit roll accompanied by jazzy piano, a bank heist and betrayal, and an armored convoy attacked on a dark and stormy night in Liberty City. After protagonist Claude is inadvertently freed from his prison transport, fellow escapee 8-Ball gives us our inaugural GTA mission, the first of many, many more to come.

Truth be told, “Give Me Liberty” is incredibly simple. Now trapped in Portland, you and 8-Ball simply drive to a safehouse, then drive to Luigi’s. There’s no real challenge, but as an onboarding experience it’s hard to overstate just how important a first mission can be. Similar titles of the era such as Driver and Stuntman were infamous for brutal tutorials that either bored the player to death or frustrated them to the point of quitting, and it’s not hard to imagine a world where GTA 3 forced you to do slaloms and handbrake turns in a parking garage before letting you loose in the sandbox.

“Give Me Liberty” isn’t just an introduction to a game, it's a bold statement of the series’ evolution and ambitions. In the top-down games, missions were more like goals than in-depth stories, conveyed exclusively through the medium of payphones with a few lines of unvoiced text. “Give Me Liberty” couldn’t be more different, with moody shots of the city establishing a cinematic atmosphere as hazy headlights smear through pouring rain punctuated by flashes of lightning. The vibes are, frankly, immaculate, especially when experienced on the original PS2 hardware, perfectly setting the tone for what GTA would become.

10. “Museum Piece” - GTA 4

“Museum Piece,” like many GTA missions, begins with the protagonist being chewed out in a cutscene. After some heated words between Niko Bellic and mobster Ray Boccino, Niko agrees to sell $2 million worth of stolen diamonds in exchange for Ray’s help locating Niko’s former comrade-in-arms Florian Cravic. It’s a fairly standard pretext for some fun criminal action-adventure, but this one is special for two reasons:

The first is the setting. Unlike a typical back-alley exchange, “Museum Piece” takes place at, you guessed it, a museum. The Libertonian, to be precise, a hybrid of New York’s real-life Met and Museum of Natural History. Spoiler alert: the deal goes south, leaving Nico with no diamonds, no money, and legions of mobsters and cops out for his blood. The resulting shootout sees you blasting through the hallowed marble halls of a dimly lit museum after hours, shattering priceless artifacts and even destroying a dinosaur skeleton that took the developers so long to make they left a salty plaque behind as an easter egg. It’s one of the most unique interiors in the entire series and a refreshing change of pace from seedy warehouses and garages.

What really makes this mission special is that it’s a look into the future. Niko is accompanied on his mission by Johnny Klebitz, the player character from The Lost and the Damned DLC, and the mysterious sniper who breaks up the diamond deal turns out to be Luis Fernando Lopez, the protagonist of The Ballad of Gay Tony. All three stories converge on “Museum Piece,” and in their respective expansion packs we get to see how the deal goes down from Johnny and Luis’s point of view. One mission, three different perspectives. Sound familiar? Switching between characters would become a key part of the Grand Theft Auto formula beginning with 5, but “Museum Piece” pulled it off first.

9. “Black Project” - GTA: San Andreas

If there’s one word to describe the missions in GTA: San Andreas, it’s “variety.” CJ’s wild journey from his mom’s old house on Grove Street to Mad Dogg’s mansion in Mulholland sees him racing go-karts, robbing houses, stealing farm equipment, waging war with remote-controlled toys, flying cross-country to Liberty City, and much, much more. There’s so much diversity and possibility within San Andreas that it can even incorporate completely different genres. Case in point: “Black Project,” in which CJ all but straps on a bandana for some Metal Gear-style tactical espionage action.

In a scene straight out of Ground Zeroes (which wouldn’t appear for another ten years,) CJ finds himself infiltrating a top-secret military base on behalf of the Truth, a zonked-out old hippie with a psychedelic van who does Tai Chi on the back of derelict airplanes. The Truth is one of the best quest-givers in the entire series, a hilarious throwback to the days before social media when conspiracy theories were the realm of harmless kooks instead of algorithms designed to destroy our shared concept of reality. He sends CJ to the fabled “Area 69,” where the government is keeping a classified black project under lock and key.

Solid CJ has several options. He can shoot out some searchlights to sneak past guards, or just snipe them from afar. He can open the base’s blast doors or crawl through a ventilation shaft to gain entry. Once inside, he has the option to disable the facility’s defenses to make his escape easier, or just run and gun with reckless abandon until he reaches the prize: an ultra-classified, state-of-the-art, $60 million jetpack. Carl Johnson soaring out of “Area 69” with rockets strapped to his back as soldiers try to shoot him out of the sky might be the peak of the series’ silliness, a glorious monument to the weird and wonderful wackiness of the “3D era” games. Frankly, it’s hard to top, which is why Rockstar might have dialed things way back with GTA 4.

8. “Minor Turbulence” - GTA 5

An open world game like Grand Theft Auto has to do a lot of different things right at the same time: driving, shooting, swimming, dancing… it’s inevitable that something is going to suffer. Flying has never been GTA’s strong suit, from the clipped-wing Dodo of GTA 3 to the tedious “Flight School” and infuriating “Supply Lines” of San Andreas. You can’t even fly planes in GTA 4, and frankly, we didn’t miss it all that much. Flying would return in a big way with GTA 5, with one mission in particular finally delivering on the promise of vertical violence.

“Minor Turbulence” is a Trevor-only experience, the first mission after he and Michael are exiled from Los Santos. Trevor receives a tip from his long-suffering sycophant Ron that a Merryweather cargo plane full of military equipment is circling Mount Chiliad. Still salty over losing his ill-gotten gains from the last heist, Trevor takes to the skies in a dinged-up old cropduster to take down the massive jumbo jet.

We’d seen similar missions in previous games, but those all involved infiltrating from the ground. GTA 5 ups the intensity with a mid-air invasion that sees Trevor dodge rockets as he plows his biplane into the cargo hold of the much larger aircraft. After an awesome shootout dodging sliding 4x4s, Trevor takes over the cargo plane, only to be shot down by pursuing Air Force fighters, all to the tune of a god-tier Tangerine Dream track.

“Minor Turbulence” is a blockbuster mission that rivals the cinematic setpieces of Uncharted. More importantly, it’s fun. You’re not steering through rings or worrying about fuel or time limits, and while Trevor is forced to fly underneath the radar of the nearby military base, it’s a perfectly-judged injection of friction that makes the mission exciting instead of aggravating.

7. “Rub Out” - GTA: Vice City

One of the hallmarks of a great Grand Theft Auto campaign is the sense of progression throughout the story. We usually start as penniless street crooks hiding out in dingy motels, rising through the underworld ranks to become a feared and powerful kingpin by the endgame. GTA expertly doles out perks and amenities as the protagonist gains status, perfectly fueling the power fantasy of rags-to-riches crime stories like “Scarface.”

Vice City’s biggest inspiration is in full effect during “Rub Out.” Ricardo Diaz, the big boss who kicks off the whole story by getting Lance Vance’s brother killed, lives in a huge mansion on Starfish Island that is the spitting image of Tony Montana’s humble home. And since Tommy Vercetti winds up working for the man he swore revenge on, you’ll be seeing it a lot. Diaz flaunts his wealth and power throughout the story, making it extra satisfying when you finally get the chance to take him down.

Vercetti and Vance wage a full frontal assault on Diaz’s fortress, fighting through hedge mages and pools in the huge interiors that pay homage to the climactic massacre of “Scarface.” Once Diaz is disposed of and the dust settles, the entire place is yours. The Vercetti Estate comes complete with a respawning armory, an Infernus, a helicopter, and a bunch of brand new gang members gassing you up. There would be flashier pads throughout later GTA games, but Vice City was the first that made you feel like you’d finally made it.

6. “Breaking the Bank at Caligula’s” - GTA: San Andreas

The top of this list is going to be heist heavy, and for good reason. A great heist is the essence of all that is GTA: big brazen crimes, outrageous objectives, and open-ended improvisation when things go wrong. There had been heists in Grand Theft Auto before “Breaking the Bank at Caligula’s” – Vice City had a similar quest chain to rob the Corrupto Grande bank – but this was the first one that felt truly huge. San Andreas released just three years after Ocean’s Eleven ushered in the modern era of heist films, and the game aimed high with a similarly spectacular casino job that set the bar for future generations.

After Woozy makes CJ a full partner in the Four Dragons Casino, they decide to take out their biggest rival, Caligula’s, by robbing it blind. Setting up the job requires a variety of diverse objectives before things get underway – all of which CJ has to handle by himself. He has to woo and date a Caligula’s employee in order to obtain her keycard in exchange for a cut of the profits, steal four police motorcycles and an armored car, sneak into a city municipal building to snap some photos of the casino’s blueprints, and sabotage a giant dam to cut the power. It’s a lot of work, but in true San Andreas fashion every preparation mission feels unique and fun in its own way.

When it’s time for the heist itself, CJ dons a Caligula’s croupier outfit and infiltrates the casino with some mild, Hitman-esque social stealth. Once he’s in, CJ has to force open a garage door with a forklift, navigate the mazelike interiors with night vision goggles, lead a team of surprisingly cheerful accomplices to the vault, fight his way up to the roof and escape via parachute to a neighboring building in a stunt that would make Tom Cruise giddy, all within a heart-pounding seven-minute timer. “Breaking the Bank at Caligula’s” isn’t quite as impactful or in-depth as some future heists we’ll see on this list, but it remains an extremely fun and impressive feat for its time.

5. “A Dish Served Cold” - GTA 4

If you’re coming to GTA looking for branching narratives and tough story choices, you’re cluckin’ up the wrong bell. That’s not to say your choices have no impact on the plot, but they’re largely superficial: The smart way or the loud way; sparing your target or killing them; hiring the least expensive and most expendable goons for the heist or paying up for talented pros. “A Dish Served Cold” is a major exception.

In the final stretch of GTA 4, Niko Bellic is ordered by Jimmy Pegorino to conduct one last drug deal with the architect of his pain, Dmitry Rascalov, the mob boss who torments Niko throughout the game. Niko can take the deal at the behest of cousin Roman, begging him to leave revenge and bloodshed behind and start a new life. Or, if the pull of vengeance is too strong (and you don’t need the $250 grand), you can blow the deal and claim your retribution. The latter (and probably canonical) choice leads you to “A Dish Served Cold,” in which Niko wages an intense assault on Rascalov’s cargo ship and puts an end to their beef permanently.

It’s a fine mission, but it’s the repercussions that matter. If you ignore your inner demons and make the deal, Rascolov assassinates Roman on his wedding day. If you give in to your anger, Kate McReary – sister of Packie and a potential romantic interest who desperately seeks to escape the cycle of crime and violence – is killed in the crossfire of a Pegorino drive-by. They’re downer endings either way, gut-punching tragedies that reward you with a cheerful “You Won!” achievement amidst the anguish. “A Dish Served Cold” might be the most we’ve ever cared about GTA. It’s an unexpected, bittersweet resolution to the most human story the series has ever told, and it’s stayed with us ever since.

4. “Hood Safari” - GTA 5

Not every GTA mission can be a thrilling, epic, crime adventure. Sometimes, especially when a campaign is just getting started, they’re about getting to know the characters better, exploring a location, and just existing in the world while doing crimes and making a little money. Few missions capture this “hangout” vibe better than GTA 5’s “Hood Safari.”

Shortly after the game unlocks all three playable protagonists, Trevor barges in on Franklin as he is having doubts about his future with the Chamberlain Gangster Families. Eager to get to know his new pal better, Trevor insists on accompanying Franklin, Lamar, and Chop on a drug exchange with the rival Ballas that takes them back to extremely familiar territory. Returning to the iconic Grove Street cul de sac a few in-game decades after Carl Johnson’s journey began in San Andreas is a masterful callback, not as intense as the visit to Shadow Moses in Metal Gear Solid 4, but a lot funnier.

GTA’s humor can be extremely hit or miss, but the combination of personalities and always excellent performances help “Hood Safari” nail the perfect balance between characterization and absurdity. Trevor is his usual unsettling self, but his experience comes in handy during the drywall handoff. Lamar is hungry to climb the food chain and get serious about his career, but he can’t help fawning over rapper MC Clip’s fashion shoot – even while stealing his jetskis. There’s plenty of action, with a good old fashioned Grove Street turf war and a great chase through the Terminator 2 canal, but the real treasures of this mission are the friends we made along the way.

3. “Three Leaf Clover” - GTA 4

Unlike other signature GTA heists, there’s no preparation involved in “Three Leaf Clover,” no tailing NPCs for intel or stealing a getaway car in advance, just a text from Packie McReary telling Niko to put on a nice suit for a big job. The gang takes over the Bank of Liberty in China town, but the mission goes south when a hostage who clearly peaked in high school takes out one of the crew while the others are busy blowing the vault.

A massive police response swarms on the bank as you battle your way out through the streets of Algonquin with a million dollars worth of cash stuffed in your duffelbags. It’s a mad dash as Niko and what’s left of his squad use abandoned cars for cover, scrambling through subway stations as they barely escape Homeland Security organisation NOOSE. If you can make it back to Dukes alive, you’re rewarded with access to Algonquin and $250,000, a huge sum of money for that point in the story.

If “Caligula’s” was Ocean’s Eleven, “Three Leaf Clover” takes its obvious cues from Michael Mann’s intense 1995 thriller Heat, with a tip of the hat to Point Break. The mission is clearly inspired by Heat’s immortal downtown shootout, so realistic that actual armed forces have used it as an example of urban combat skills. While it’s unlikely GTA 4 will ever be taught at West Point, it’s a perfect fit for the game’s gritty vibe. This isn’t some slick heist with disguises and stolen keycards – we’re in the world of balaclavas and plastic explosives. “Three Leaf Clover” is brutal, inelegant, and ugly – everything that makes GTA 4 unique among the series. Heck, it’s so good that characters are still talking about it in the sequel.

Speaking of which:

2. “The Paleto Score” - GTA 5

By GTA 5, heists had evolved into a central pillar of the campaign. There are six heists through the single-player story, each of which requires careful planning and prepping. Now systematized, heists are almost a game mechanic unto themselves, with a whiteboard planning phase that asks you to weigh risks and make decisions before the mission is a go. Who will you hire? Will you go loud or soft? Which spooky mask will you buy for your crew? Important questions, all, with unique consequences for each choice – though it’s hard to get too chuffed about your cut of the money when most of it ends up going to FIB anyway.

Most of the heists in GTA 5 are fantastic, and nearly any one of them could fill this spot on the list without much argument. “Blitz Play,” another Heat homage, sees you hijacking an armored car in broad daylight. Michael and Trevor’s dream job of robbing the Union Depository is a suitably epic climax, and “The Merryweather Heist” puts you in the frankly implausible position of controlling a high-tech deep-sea submersible with only a video game controller. Great missions, all, but when it comes to pure power fantasy, it’s tough to beat “The Paleto Score.”

Unlike most heists in GTA 5, you don’t have much of a choice when it comes to robbing the tiny rural bank in Paleto Bay. There’s no way around the alarm system, and the short police response time means there’s no chance of escaping under the radar, meaning it’s time to bust out the big guns. It begins a lot like the “Three Leaf Clover” heist, with Michael, Trevor, and guest barging into the lobby and taking hostages. While GTA 4 keeps things relatively grounded with its frantic footchase, The Paleto Score turns the tables and gives you the upper hand for a change.

As the local police surround the bank building, your crew emerges through the double doors decked out in heavy duty bomb squad armor and loading for bear. Wielding a minigun nicked from a military convoy, you blast through an army of country bumpkin cops and wreak havoc on the sleepy mountain town. The mundane scenery makes for an excellent explosive set piece as you shoot down helicopters and blow up cop cars while you wait for Franklin to gradually arrive with a getaway bulldozer. After dodging tank shells and a brief detour through a chicken factory, the gang catches a train and counts their earnings, just before Agent Sanchez shows up to snatch it all away.

“The Paleto Score” is the perfect middle ground between the cartoon craziness of “Caligula’s” and the grim verisimilitude of “Three Leaf Clover,” a brilliant example of the balancing act that defines modern Rockstar.

1. “End of the Line” - GTA: San Andreas

GTA campaigns can be long. Between all the cutscenes, travel, and quest-givers who just love stringing you along with tedious busywork, by the end of any given game you’re usually more than ready to roll credits. That’s why it’s so crucial for GTA to stick the landing and deliver excellent finales , which the series delivers more often than not. The big heist, the ultimate revenge, the culmination of hours and hours spent grinding your way up the criminal food chain – a great final mission doesn’t leave you spent and ready to move on to the next game, it revitalizes you and hypes you up to free roam throughout the postgame in the city you now rule. There have been some excellent final missions throughout the franchise, but they’ve never reached the same heights as “End of the Line.”

San Andreas is on fire. Literally. The entire city is shaken by the acquittal of Officer Tenpenny, the cop who's been using and tormenting CJ throughout the game. The chaos canonizes the infamous “pedestrian riot” cheats from the previous games as angry NPCs attack each other and cars explode in the distance. The altered world state makes End of the Line feel truly climactic – there’s no going back from this, and whatever happens, CJ, Los Santos, and all of San Andreas will never be the same again.

CJ and Sweet decide the time is finally right to take down the treacherous Big Smoke and his Ballas empire once and for all. After making their way to his fortress in East Los Santos, CJ commandeers a SWAT tank and smashes through the front door. He battles through three floors of Ballas, Vagos, Rifa, and Russian mobsters before barging in on Big Smoke, who is busy playing video games and hitting a bong. CJ takes him down, only for Tenpenny to spoil the moment, forcing CJ to shoot way back down the burning building and chase after the crooked cop, who is fleeing in a massive fire truck with Sweet dangling from the ladder.

Bombastic, brutal, and big in every sense of the word, “End of the Line” is the ultimate catharsis after 45 hours of grinding your way up from Grove Street. In clearing a huge game like GTA: SA, you share in CJ’s sense of accomplishment and closure when Smoke and Tenpenny take their last breaths. And as the group gathers to celebrate and discuss their plans for the future, CJ steps out into the hot Los Santos night alone, eager to “hit the block and see what’s happening.” The mission might be the “end of the line” for the San Andreas story, but for Carl Johnson, and us, the whole world is now our oyster and the journey is just getting started. It’s one of the best last levels of all time and, in our estimation, the greatest GTA mission ever.

What do you think of our GTA mission rankings? Did we leave out your favorite? Should we have shown Caida Libre more love? Did anyone out there have no problem following the damn train? Leave a comment to let us know, or vote in the poll above.

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Magic: The Gathering's Top 12 Most Powerful Commander Precons Of All Time

Magic: The Gathering is a fantastic card game, but the Commander format has given it even more legs.

It revolves around a central Commander that helms your deck, giving it a ton of personality as players gravitate towards their favorite legendary creatures to build around.

Wizards of the Coast finally recognized the format in 2011, beginning a deluge of preconstructed decks that are playable right out of the box. We’ve got a full list of them, but for now, we’ve narrowed down our top 12.

These aren’t presented in any real order, but let us know which ones you’ve played!

The Most Powerful Magic: The Gathering Commander Precons

Draconic Domination - Commander 2017

The Ur-Dragon still commands a high fee, and the 10/10 standard-bearer of this five-color precon is a beneficiary of the Eminence keyword. It drops the cost of Dragon spells by 1 mana, and then, when it is on the field, your dragons essentially multiply as they attack.

It’s far and away the most powerful preconstructed Dragon deck, but if you’re looking for cheaper alternatives, my first deck was Draconic Destruction from the Commander starter decks, and Temur Roar is a great three-color dragon deck with upgrade potential, too.

Counter Intelligence/World Shaper - Edge of Eternities

OK, I’m cheating a little here, but both Edge of Eternities decks were great. Counter Intelligence is helmed by Kilo, Apogee Mind, and ramps up counters swiftly by proliferating every time it’s turned sideways.

World Shaper, on the other hand, is a deck I’ve had a lot of fun with. Szarel, Genesis Shepherd lets you play lands from your graveyard, and there are a ton of landfall effects that play into that, too.

Both decks also use the Spacecraft card type, which is highly likely to return in Universes Beyond: Star Trek.

Counter Blitz - Universes Beyond: Final Fantasy

All the Final Fantasy decks were great, but Counter Blitz stands ahead of the others for the counter-switching shenanigans it could lead to.

Tidus, Yuna’s Guardian, lets you move counters around, but the type of counter isn’t specified. There are four Summon creatures in the deck that you could essentially keep around forever with the right counter shuffling.

The deck also contains some great reprints, like Three Visits and Farewell, while Yuna is a great Commander in her own right.

Necron Dynasties - Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40K

This mono-black Warhammer deck costs a pretty penny these days, with its Commander, Szarekh, able to mill cards to put more creatures into your hand.

Personally, I prefer to use Imotekh the Stormlord as my Commander, though, letting you create token creatures as you use recursion and power up a creature during combat.

Out of the Tombs is awesome, too. It lets you risk milling yourself out, but can give you a whole host of board presence in the late game.

Mutant Menace - Universes Beyond: Fallout

I hate this deck. It’s a pain to deal with, causing plenty of mill and life loss for the whole table, but there’s no denying it’s effective.

The Wise Mothman, its Commander, dishes out rad counters and then grows in power as those counters mill cards and wound your opponents.

Strong, the Brutish Thespian, can even add life from radiation, making a great mechanic (at least for you), even more useful.

Endless Punishment - Duskmourn

A deck that’s so effective at dealing damage it can make Commander matches take half as long to complete, Endless Punishment is a great deck that gets even better if you swap out Valgavoth with Master of Pain.

This 5/5 stops opponents from gaining life, has Menace, and turns the mana cost of every first spell of a player’s turn into damage against another player. Given how expensive spells get as the match wears on, that can be a big, big hit.

Reprints of Vial Smasher the Fierce and Witch’s Clinic were welcome, too. You can also score Endless Punishment as part of the Duskmourn Commander Deck bundle at Amazon, which is currently down to $189.20 for four decks (dropping from $242.97).

Sliver Swarm - Commander Masters

Sliver Swarm, as the name suggests, is a deck that’s all about Slivers, a creature type that’s relatively minor on its own but buffs every other ally with the same type.

This five-color precon is a problem for everyone at the table, helmed by the Sliver Gravemother that can help bring cards back from the graveyard as attacking tokens. Oh, and it means you can have multiple copies of Legendary creatures, too.

The deck had fewer reprints than some, but it’s powerful - and ripe for upgrades if you can find some extra Slivers.

Eldrazi Unbound - Commander Masters

A colorless Eldrazi deck, this one puts Zhulodok, Void Gorger as your Commander and lets you enjoy double Cacade on spells with mana value 7 or higher - ouch.

Kozilek, the Great Distortion, is another Legendary Creature you can pick as your Commander. It costs a lot, but acts as a 12/12 with Menace and facilitates card draw.

It That Betrays was an awesome reprint, and I recently managed to find one myself to put in my Eldrazi Incursion upgrade (more on that later).

Vampiric Bloodlust - Commander 2017

There’s a reason that Edgar Markov remains the de facto vampire-type Commander in Magic: The Gathering. His Eminence ability, which triggers even if he’s in the Command Zone, means this 4/4 with First Strike and haste can create Vampire tokens as you cast spells of that type, and he empowers them with +1/+1 when he attacks.

Teferi’s Protection is here, too, with this being the kind of deck with no real weaknesses that’s easy to pilot as well.

Food and Fellowship - Universes Beyond: Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings Commander Decks were all solid, but Food and Fellowship wins out for its strength in just about every aspect. Sam generates Food tokens to gain life, then Frodo is tempted by the Ring as you consume them, with each of the Partner cards feeding into a cycle.

It’s not all Shire-friendly, either, with some true wrath coming in the form of Toxic Deluge, spot removal like Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares, and cards like The Gaffer to turn that lifegain into more card draw. A great, well-constructed deck.

Veloci-Ramp-Tor - Lost Caverns of Ixalan

The kind of deck that steamrolls many of the precons in recent years, Pantlaza, Sun-Favored helms this dinosaur offering and helps you bring more and more creatures into play with the Discover ability.

With cards like Wakening Sun’s Avatar being a non-dino board wipe and comically large beasts like Apex Altisaur, this deck is wild right out of the box.

Party Time - Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate

This Baldur’s Gate-flavored deck’s commander, Nalia de-Arnise, is a low-cost 3/3 that lets you case Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, and Wizard spells from the top of your library.

It really doesn’t take long to build up a formidable force in early turns, letting you get a head start while your opponents are scrambling to find blockers. The deck is pretty expensive now, though.

Other Fun Decks To Check Out

The following might not be the most powerful, but I’ve enjoyed playing with them.

Heavenly Inferno - Commander 2011

Heavenly Inferno is one of the first Commander precons, and its strength lies in its flexibility. The Commander, Kaalia of the Vast, helps you bring creatures into play, whether they’re Angels, Demons, or Dragons.

Because of that, you can easily swap out a bunch of Angels and Demons for Dragons, or lean into two of them if you’d prefer. As with some others on this list, it can get out of hand pretty swiftly, and while Wizards would get more ambitious in the years since, it remains a really fun deck (I’ve upgraded mine).

Eldrazi Incursion - Modern Horizons 3

An Eldrazi deck with five colors and a Commander that can copy spells and activated abilities for two generic mana, Eldrazi Incursion is great off the bat, but becomes positively vile with the right upgrades.

It’s probably not a deck for newcomers, though, because the sheer volume of triggers can feel overwhelming.

Tyranid Swarm - Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40K

I’ve had games that have been won because my Haruspex has gained so much power that it deals huge damage to opponents, or converted its power to mana for a big late-game push.

Magus Lucea Kane’s doubling up of X-cost spells, and the Swarmlord turning your creatures with counters into card draw, means there are some really fun strategies here - Tyranid Swarm is a deck that truly does feel like a ‘swarm’, and can give you big creatures to attack with, and plenty of tokens back to defend if you’re smart.

Riders of Rohan - Universes Beyond: Lord of The Rings

It might not be the flashiest deck since it relies on an awful lot of Human Knights in battles between Eldrazi monstrosities, Dragons, and spellcasters, but Riders of Rohan is a precon that’s very well put together.

Aside from a weakness against flying, it’s able to mobilize an army with frightening speed, and it grows with your aggression. I’ve seen it pop off many, many times, and it’s always something to behold.

Explorers of the Deep - Lost Caverns of Ixalan

This Simic (Blue/Green) deck is helmed by Hakbal of the Surging Soul, and uses the Explore mechanic to great effect, either ramping your lands, netting you creatures, or getting card draw.

It’s a Commander with a ton of value (I’m looking to squeeze him into another underwater-themed deck as we speak), but there’s also Kindred Discovery in the deck as well to get even more card draw from your Merfolk.

Jump Scare! - Duskmourn

There’s something about flipping cards face-up to surprise an opponent that feels very Yu-Gi-Oh, and I love Jump Scare (!) for that very reason.

Being able to flip a 15/15 Worldspine Wurm up is a great party trick, but there are other great cards in here like Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, and Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait. Just like Endless Punishment, Jump Scare! is also discounted as part of the Duskmourn Commander Deck bundle at Amazon, which is currently down to $189.20 for four decks (dropping from $242.97).

Great Commander Decks From 2026

Many of these decks are tricky to get your hands on thanks to limited printings, but there are some solid entrants from the Class of 2026.

Will these be remembered as fondly in the years to come? It's hard to say, but here are four decks we can recommend right now.

Dance of the Elements

A five-color precon all about Elemental creatures, Dance of the Elements isn't ideal for newcomers because it's all centered around ETB triggers and those can get out of hand swiftly.

Ashling, the Limitless, uses evoke to get big creatures out cheaper, and when they're sacrificed because of it, you can create a copy that costs you mana to keep around. If you'd prefer, Mass of Mysteries is a fun backup Commander that gives a lot of your creatures the myriad keyword so they attack around the table.

Lorehold Spirit

Secrets of Strixhaven came with five really fun precons, but Lorehold Spirit is arguably the best, incentivizing you to remove cards from your graveyard to build a spirit army.

Amassing all of those apparitions is particularly useful with the face Commander, Quintorius, History Chaser. This Planeswalker can give them all double strike and vigilance, meaning a big, game-ending swing.

Witherbloom Pestilence

Another offering from Secrets of Strixhaven, Witherbloom Pestilence is all about sacrificng cards to power up other creatures, and in Dina, Essence Brewer, it has a one-card engine to do both with relative ease.

Gyome, Master Chef is a nice inclusion as a sought-after reprint, as is Nether Traitor, and there are essentially a bunch of great cards to slot into any deck with access to green, black, or both.

Avengers Assemble

Universes Beyond continues to divide the Magic: The Gathering community, but this Avengers-themed deck is pretty solid.

It plays off of hero synergies, whether you've got Captain America being buffed as they enter, or Nick Fury reducing their cost, and is remarkably easy to play with.

Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.

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The Best Deals Today: Saros, Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection, DJI Mini 4K, and More

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save on Saros, Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, the DJI Mini 4K drone, Apple AirPods 4, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, and more. Check out our top picks for Sunday, July 26, below.

Saros for $49.99

Saros is on sale for $49.99 today at Amazon, which matches the lowest price we've seen so far. As one of the biggest PS5 exclusives in 2026, now is a great time to check out Housemarque's latest if you haven't. In our review, we wrote, "With Saros, Housemarque once again proved that its bullet-hell sensibilities mesh incredibly well with fluid and super-challenging action. This is primarily a test of skill that's as much a rhythmic dance as it is a fireworks show with a punch-packing sci-fi arsenal."

DJI Mini 4K for $229

This weekend, you can save 23% off the DJI Mini 4K drone, which is normally priced at $300. This drone is small enough not to require FAA registration, but it's powerful enough to fly for 31 minutes, with support for 10km video transmission and auto return. The DJI Mini is equipped with a 4K camera on a 3-axis gimbal, so you can capture amazing shots in crisp fidelity.

Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection for $29.99

Amazon has PS5 copies of Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection on sale for $29.99 today, which saves you $10 off this collection of seven games. In our 8/10 review, we wrote, "The Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is the best way to play as the most underrated version of the Blue Bomber."

Apple AirPods 4 for $99

Amazon has the Apple AirPods 4 on sale for $99 today. These earbuds feature Spatial Audio, up to five hours of listening time per charge, and so much more. Apple AirPods 5 likely won't be out for a good bit, so now is the perfect time to pick up a pair of new AirPods if your old ones are giving out.

Lego Batman Forever Set for $79.99

The classic Batmobile from Batman Forever is here in Lego form, with a Lego DC Batman minifugure starring the suit used in the move. This weekend, you can save 20% off this 909-piece set, which is a great addition to any comic book fan's collection. The cockpit on the Batmobile opens up to reveal seats and a detailed interior, and you can easily put this vehicle on any shelf or table.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter for $39.99

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is the very first entry in the beloved Trails series, and this remake from last year brought new life into the original game. Considering 2nd Chapter is set to release in September, this is a great time to pick up 1st Chapter if you've never had a chance to check it out.

Mortal Kombat 4K Limited Edition for $39.99

This 4K blu-ray just released last month, but you can already save big and pick up a copy for $39.99. The Mortal Kombat Kollection comes with both Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Both films have received brand new 4K restorations by Arrow Films, with Dolby Vision support, lossless audio support, and optional English subtitles.

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake for $32.99

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is a very ambitious pair of remakes, breathing new life into these classics. Dragon Quest II especially saw huge additions to its story, making this the definitive version of the game. Amazon has discounted Xbox copies of Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake down to $32.99, which is the best price we've seen since release. In our 9/10 review, we wrote, "Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake beautifully concludes this trilogy, recapturing the retro magic of the originals while giving them a modern facelift."

LEGO Star Wars R2-D2 Set for $79.99

LEGO Star Wars is bigger than ever, and today, Amazon has the amazing R2-D2 set priced at $79.99, saving you $20. This set features 1050 pieces, plus Darth Malak and R2-D2 minifigures in addition to the major R2-D2 droid. Speaking of, you can rotate R2-D2's head 360 degrees, use its detachable third leg, and more.

Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.

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George Takei and Other Star Trek Alumni Celebrate 60 Years and Name Trek's Greatest Lessons | Comic Con 2026

On Saturday, San Diego Comic-Con held a celebration for Star Trek in Hall H as the iconic sci-fi series — and the franchise it begat — turns 60 this year.

A large panel did a commendable job representing many Star Trek series across many eras, including Michael Dorn (The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Picard), Robert Picardo (Voyager, Prodigy, Starfleet Academy), Dominic Keeting (Enterprise), Cirroc Lofton (Deep Space Nine), Doug Jones (Discovery), Michelle Hurd (Picard), Jerry O'Connell (Lower Decks), Christina Chong (Strange New Worlds), and Karim Diané (Starfleet Academy). And last but certainly not least was the legendary George Takei, representing the original Star Trek series.

It's a bit of an odd time for the Star Trek, with some already-produced seasons of completed series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy left to air. Beyond that, nothing has been announced on the TV front. A new Trek film is in development from Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, but obviously, plenty of movie attempts have been made in the past decades that didn't come to fruition. Still, when the very well-edited opening montage — filled with clips from Star Trek series and films from the past 60 years — concluded with the voiceover "The journey will never be over,” you knew that would certainly turn out to be true, whatever the next step turns out to be.

Asked by moderator Scott Mantz about seeing the legacy of Star Trek endure so long, Takei spoke about how honored he felt to be part of what's turned into such a long legacy that resulted from a three-season show that struggled to stay on the air at the time, noting the multi-generational younger actors surrounding him on the stage.

Diané, the most recent actor on the panel to join Trek, said he very quickly was overwhelmed by the passion and dedication of the fanbase, recounting a fan who showed him a tattoo he'd gotten of his character, Jay-Den Kraag, on his leg.

"Seeing my face on a grown man’s thigh… that’s permanent!" Diané said.

Michael Dorn, who was part of the first risky attempt to continue Star Trek with a new cast beyond the original series, said that the long term impact of The Next Generation and everything since "was a shock to all of us... That we still are viable and they're making more shows about this one thing."

All the actors who joined Trek after those first two series said they felt the impact of it, with the ever-busy Doug Jones — known for playing characters in elaborate makeup in projects like Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth — saying he had always lamented not getting to do so a Star Trek series, only for the franchise to return to TV after a long break with Star Trek: Discovery, where he had a major role as Saru.

Jerry O'Connell recounted how much it meant to him when he immediately got a text from his Stand By Me co-star Wil Wheaton, after it was announced he'd been cast in the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks. Wheaton, of course, played Wesley Crusher on The Next Generation, and O'Connell recalled the text simply saying, “Welcome to Starfleet, Commander."

Many of the panelists lauded Star Trek and its creator, Gene Roddenberry, for how progressive and ahead of its time the franchise was from the start in 1966, with its groundbreaking depiction of a bridge crew who were made up of many difference races and backgrounds, giving viewers an optimistic look at the future. Michelle Hurd said it has a huge impact on her and her sisters to see the late Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, playing the kind of role a Black woman rarely had at that time. Hurd got very emotional, saying how much it meant to her to be sitting on the panel right next to Takei, someone who was also a part of that iconic first crew.

As the panel wrapped up, Takei was asked which part of Roddenberry's vision of Star Trek is the most important to today as far as lessons that could be learned. Takei said what stood out for him the most was the Vulcan philosophical belief in the concept of IDIC: infinite diversity in infinite combinations.

Takei explained how he felt that as important as it was for Star Trek to represent people who physically look different from one another, he also felt there was importance and strength in acknowledging and learning from the diverse backgrounds as well.

"It's the history. It's what differences we bring other than the visual," Takei said. "We have a whole history that has shaped our vantage point on life and how we see life. And it's recognizing that [history] among all of us, coming together, and realizing that our strength is in our working together. We have various thoughts that are exchanged, we have maybe different reactions to what is said, but it's our recognition of that difference and the courage and the boldness to think about that difference and learn from it. I think that's what the strength of Star Trek is: infinite diversity in different combinations... And then to live long and prosper."

Photo credit: Chris Delmas / AFP via Getty Images

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The Best Deals Today: Assassin's Creed Shadows, DJI Mini 4K, Lego Batman Forever Batmobile, and More

A new weekend has arrived, and today, you can save on Assassin's Creed Shadows, the DJI Mini 4K drone, Apple AirPods 4, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, and more. Check out our top picks for Saturday, July 25, below.

Assassin's Creed Shadows for $29.99

Assassin's Creed Shadows is on sale this weekend for $29.99 at Amazon. As the first game in the series set in feudal Japan, this is one many fans waited years for, and it mostly delivered. In our 8/10 review, we wrote, "By sharpening the edges of its existing systems, Assassin’s Creed Shadows creates one of the best versions of the open-world style it’s been honing for the last decade."

DJI Mini 4K for $229

This weekend, you can save 23% off the DJI Mini 4K drone, which is normally priced at $300. This drone is small enough not to require FAA registration, but it's powerful enough to fly for 31 minutes, with support for 10km video transmission and auto return. The DJI Mini is equipped with a 4K camera on a 3-axis gimbal, so you can capture amazing shots in crisp fidelity.

Apple AirPods 4 for $99

Amazon has the Apple AirPods 4 on sale for $99 today. These earbuds feature Spatial Audio, up to five hours of listening time per charge, and so much more. Apple AirPods 5 likely won't be out for a good bit, so now is the perfect time to pick up a pair of new AirPods if your old ones are giving out.

Lego Batman Forever Set for $79.99

The classic Batmobile from Batman Forever is here in Lego form, with a Lego DC Batman minifugure starring the suit used in the move. This weekend, you can save 20% off this 909-piece set, which is a great addition to any comic book fan's collection. The cockpit on the Batmobile opens up to reveal seats and a detailed interior, and you can easily put this vehicle on any shelf or table.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter for $39.99

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is the very first entry in the beloved Trails series, and this remake from last year brought new life into the original game. Considering 2nd Chapter is set to release in September, this is a great time to pick up 1st Chapter if you've never had a chance to check it out.

Mortal Kombat 4K Limited Edition for $39.99

This 4K blu-ray just released last month, but you can already save big and pick up a copy for $39.99. The Mortal Kombat Kollection comes with both Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Both films have received brand new 4K restorations by Arrow Films, with Dolby Vision support, lossless audio support, and optional English subtitles.

LEGO Star Wars R2-D2 Set for $79.99

LEGO Star Wars is bigger than ever, and today, Amazon has the amazing R2-D2 set priced at $79.99, saving you $20. This set features 1050 pieces, plus Darth Malak and R2-D2 minifigures in addition to the major R2-D2 droid. Speaking of, you can rotate R2-D2's head 360 degrees, use its detachable third leg, and more.

Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium.

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Final Fantasy 7 Director Kept 'Open World Fatigue' in Mind as New Remake Chapter Promises 'Bigger' World Than Rebirth

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation director Naoki Hamaguchi has acknowledged the "open world fatigue" affecting the industry but says Square Enix was "very careful" to make sure fans would have "all the guidance they need" in the new remake chapter – even if it's bigger than the last.

The developer helping lead the finale to its 2027 launch spoke about its size during a conversation with Eurogamer. In the interview, he teased how the team has done its best to tie a bow on the trilogy with one final adventure for Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and the rest of the gang in their fight against Sephiroth.

The two previous installments in the remake trilogy – Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth – have been lumped into online conversations about enormous open worlds that sometimes overstay their welcome. Hamaguchi said the concept of open world fatigue is "very important" to him, but it sounds like players won't need to worry about feeling too lost.

"There are a lot of open world games out in the world right now, and [the idea of 'open world fatigue'] is a very important concept to me," he replied when Eurogamer asked about feedback to Rebirth. "It depends on personal preference and different perceptions, but for me personally, I know I've had the experience where I've been thrown out into an open world game and not known where to go, not known where to begin, and not known what to do. But at the same time, the concept of being thrown into this wondrous world where anything goes is amazing."

There are certainly players who would prefer to get lost in a vibrant fantasy universe. In a world promising to be as packed as Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, that idea might be especially enticing. Hamaguchi said that, as a creator, he believes it's important to "offer proper guidance" in open-world games so that players "know what to do, and know where to go."

"In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, we made sure to make it easy for the players to understand how much content there is, and how difficult that content is," he added. "That design philosophy is applied to Revelation: players have all the guidance that they need. This is something that both myself and the development team were very careful about when we designed the game."

It seems Hamaguchi and the rest of the development team wanted to strike a balance when it came to guidance in Final Fantasy 7 Revelation. One example he mentioned involved asking players to rely on their memory to make sure they land in their desired location when dropping from the Highwind airship.

"That's another example of the guidance we're giving players, without directing them too much," Hamaguchi continued. "The world is even bigger than it was in Rebirth, so it is more important than ever for us to ensure there's enough guidance here, so people have no issues enjoying what this game has to offer."

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation currently has no firm release date but is expected to launch for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S in spring 2027. While we wait for updates, you can read about what Hamaguchi had to say about the feedback to Remake and Rebirth's vast pool of mini-games. You can also learn about the leak that suggests DLC may be in development.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

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