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Hello, and welcome to New Frame Plus!

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It’s been a good year for video game animation,

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and since 2018 is just about wrapped up

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I thought it might be fun to list some of my
favorite examples of game animation I saw this year.

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Not necessarily the BEST Animation
of the Year, Hands Down,

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just the stuff that impressed or excited me most.

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We have got a lot of games worth talking about,
so let’s just start running down the list!

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I want to start with God of War.

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Sony Santa Monica has always done amazing
work,

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especially when it comes to
combat animation and big set pieces.

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But the thing that impressed me most this
time around wasn't the big bombastic moments,

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but the small ones.

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The moments of stillness and quiet.

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I’ve never seen a God of War game put so
much emphasis on character performance,

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and I love it.

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There is some really nice, subtle character
acting in here,

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and I love that the game gives
these little scenes the time they need

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instead of just rushing through to the next fight.

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If this is the direction they want
to take God of War in the future,

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then I am 100% on board.

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Also, it has to be said:

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nobody sells scale through animation
quite like Sony Santa Monica.

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Hot dang.

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Next up...

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Smash Bros Ultimate

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I already made three videos (and counting)

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about what makes the
character animation in this game work,

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and everything I already said
is still true of Ultimate.

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It is genuinely impressive how
Smash Bros somehow manages

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to make this enormous grab bag of characters

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all feel like they belong together in one game,

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without sacrificing what makes
any one of them unique or special.

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That is a daunting challenge,

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and yet, no matter how many
new characters they add to this roster,

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Smash Bros just keeps making it look easy.

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Next up:

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Moss

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This mouse is amazing.

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I’ve only had the chance to see
bits and pieces of the game so far,

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but Quill is already one of my favorite video characters.

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Her animation is just loaded with
appeal and extremely polished,

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which is all the more impressive given that (I think) Polyarc only has one animator on their team?

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I mean, Richard Lico has been
in this industry a long time,

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so I’m not SURPRISED the animation’s this great

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but I am still impressed.

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And my favorite part of all is that, as you
play,

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Quill communicates with you, the player,

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using sign language.

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Sometimes to give you a hint for a puzzle or something,

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sometimes just to tell you how she’s feeling.

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As far as I know, Quill is the first video
game protagonist to communicate using ASL,

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(at least, outside of the educational gaming space).

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This is a specific form of inclusivity that
gaming hasn’t really done much of yet,

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and it just makes me love this mouse all the more.

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When I do eventually pick up a PlayStation VR,

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it is primarily going to be so I can
finally meet this mouse,

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and I am REALLY looking forward to that.

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Next up:

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Just Shapes & Beats

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If you watch our sister channel, PlayFrame,

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then you already know that this rhythm bullet hell
was one of my favorite games of the year,

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but one of the things that most surprised me about it

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was how effective it’s minimalist animation was.

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I mean, the entire game is just simple shapes:

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the environments, the projectiles,

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the enemies, the characters...

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but the animation on
all of them is still really charming.

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And (this I did NOT expect)...

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in some cases, it comes together in some
downright impressive spectacle!

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I highly recommend checking this one out
if you haven’t yet, because...

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It is a DELIGHT.

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Another one of my favorites this year

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was Monster Hunter World.

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Now, Monster Hunter has always had some of the
best creature animation in the business,

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but with World finally bringing the series
back to home consoles

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and cranking up the AAA fidelity big time,

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that amazing creature animation
is finally getting a chance to really shine.

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The physicality on these creatures is so good,

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and the way these games encourage you to improve

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by learning each monster’s body language
to predict their next move is just so well-executed.

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The player character’s animation is top
notch too,

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with some really impressive
weapon attack combo work.

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And, of course, most important of all...

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it has MULTIPLE cutscenes

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in which an army of chef cats make you dinner.

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So….

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your move, Rest of the Game Industry.

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Next up:

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Spider-Man

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I already made a video about this game’s
animation, and everything I said about that

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particular Zip-to-Point swing applies to the
rest of animation in the game.

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The web swinging animation looks amazing,

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the combat work looks great…

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and all of it perfectly capturing that
unique Spider-Man movement style.

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It’s just exceptional work all around.

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Not to mention some really effective
story scene performances.

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Kudos to both the animators and
all of the motion capture performers

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for bringing this character's world to life so effectively.

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And it would definitely be silly if I
did not also include on this list:

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Red Dead Redemption 2

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I already did a whole video on this one too,

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but whatever misgivings I
may have expressed in that episode,

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there is no question that the
attention to detail on display here IS incredible.

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And not just because of all the realistic
ways your character performs mundane actions

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(although those do look amazing)

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Even just the fundamentals of movement and
aiming your gun and riding your horse

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just look so darn solid.

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Like, this is probably boring
for anyone who’s not me, but...

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I really like Arthur’s crouched
movement animation set.

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Just that hunched over walk,

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the way he settles
onto one knee when you stop,

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and the little fidgets as he tries to get
into a comfortable kneeling position...

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Say what you will about the sluggish movement,
but these little natural details are so fantastic

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and they are EVERYWHERE
in this character’s animation.

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Another salute to the animation team
behind this gargantuan project,

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and I still hope your employer starts to treat y’all

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with the respect and sustainable
work conditions you deserve.

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Moving on...

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Super Mario Party

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Any time you have to animate a wide variety
of characters performing the same task,

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that's a great opportunity to create some contrast
and express each character’s personality

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by showing how THEY specifically
look doing that task.

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But with a character like, say...

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Goomba

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you’ve got an opportunity to get REALLY creative,

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because they CAN’T do most of these
activities like the rest of the crew.

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They gots no hands.

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And I love that the animators took this opportunity

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to actually try and show Goomba doing each

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of these games in their own way.

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Balancing stuff on their head...

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grabbing stuff in their mouth...

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It is ADORABLE.

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And they just look so happy
to finally be at the party!

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Look at how much fun they’re having!

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I love ‘em.

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Now we had some really great pixel animation work
came out of the indie scene this year.

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We had Dead Cells with their really clever
'pixel art/3D animation' hybrid technique.

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We had Octopath Traveler, which didn’t necessarily
break any new ground on the animation front,

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but did feature a uniquely gorgeous 3D implementation.

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And we finally saw the release of Iconoclasts,

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which is remarkably well-animated
for a single-person project.

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Whenever an entire game
is being made by one person,

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I don’t usually expect to see
the same quality of animation

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that I would expect from someone who specializes in it,

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but Robin’s animation in this looks awesome!

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Just her run is so charming.
And really distinct!

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I’d be impressed by this run
if a full-time animator made it,

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and the fact that the guy who animated this

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ALSO made the entire rest
of the video game?

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That's amazing.

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And speaking of great pixel animation...

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have y’all seen Bomb Chicken?

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Dang.

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Look at that.

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I honestly don’t know what else to say about it.

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This game is just pure pixel art appeal.

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Look at that wild squash and stretch
when it lays a bomb!

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Look at that animated explosion!

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Look at it’s bouncy walk!

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Aww and look at the way it settles when you stop.

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Highly recommend checking this game out.

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this is seriously some of the best
pixel animation I’ve seen all year.

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Also the gameplay is
really clever and fun, which...

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that's a nice bonus!

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Spyro Reignited Trilogy

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Now I don’t personally have a
childhood history with the Spyro games,

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but I do really love some of the
animation work I’m seeing in this remake.

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Toys for Bob had a really exciting opportunity here

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to not only reproduce the charm of the original

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but to amplify and build upon it.

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And I'm so happy that they went all in on this.

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I so love that they not only gave so many
of these characters more detailed and distinct designs,

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but also more distinct animated performances!

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It’s really fun going back and forth
between the originals and the remakes

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and seeing how the animators delivered the more specific, nuanced acting choices

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that these higher-fidelity
character models are capable of.

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I mean, look at some of these
complete animation overhauls!

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"Oh, hello! We didn't get a chance
to introduce ourselves before.

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My name is Elora."

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"Uh, hi! I'm Spyro.

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What are you? Some kind of goat?"

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"I'm a FAWN, you dork."

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"Oh! Sorry."

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"Oh no."

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"Oh, hello!  We didn't get a chance
to introduce ourselves before."

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"My name is Elora."

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"Uh, hi! I'm Spyro."

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"What are you, some kind of goat?"

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"I'm a fawn, you dork."

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"Oh! Sorry."

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Seriously, way to bring an old classic back
with more character appeal than it started with.

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Finally, it would be utterly ridiculous of me
to not include in this video:

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Dragon Ball FighterZ.

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Or Dragon Ball Fighters?

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I don't know what it's supposed to be.

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Look.

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People have been trying to emulate the look
of hand drawn anime in 3D games

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for a long time.

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Some of them have been
reasonably successful at achieving that goal.

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Others, not so much.

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But what Arc System Works has been doing with
Guilty Gear Xrd and now Dragon Ball FighterZ

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is some next level stuff.

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The amount of care and detail work that has gone
into trying to make these 3D character models

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convincingly appear to be 2D animation is incredible.

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I might have to do an episode on this later.

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It's just so stupidly cool.

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And that they’ve done this well on their
first and second attempts

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makes me REALLY excited for what they’re
gonna be capable of a few years from now.

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Oh! Also...

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I haven’t had a chance to play this
one yet,

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but I’m just gonna give an Honorable Mention to Gris?

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Because... I don’t know.

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I just have a feeling it’s going to belong on this list.

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Hot dang.

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And I think that’ll do it!

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Did I miss anything?

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I probably did, honestly.

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Between animating at my day job and 
running two YouTube channels,

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it’s pretty hard for me to keep up
with everything that comes out in a year.

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But if you do know of some
amazingly-animated game
which isn’t on this list,

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go ahead and call it out in the comments

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because I would hate to miss out on something cool.

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Anyway, here’s to all the great game animation
that 2019 no doubt has in store for us!

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It’s been an exciting first year for this channel,

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and I’ve got a lot of videos planned for next year
which I am also very excited about.

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If you haven’t already, go ahead and subscribe
to make sure you don’t miss any of them.

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Thanks for watching and
have yourselves a lovely new year!