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Cyberpunk 2077 was a newcomer compared to earlier years, for example, whereas I've been seeing Marvel Universe-themed drones, puzzles, costumes, play sets, and much more for years.
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This subtle display clued me in to the release of a new Minions movie in 2020 — at least I think that's what is happening.
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I saw these two characters a fair amount at NY Toy Fair 2020, with Baby Shark having been named "License of the Year" for 2020 by The Toy Association. (This description of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie on IMDB is great: "After discovering a small, blue, fast hedgehog, a small-town police officer must help it defeat an evil genius who wants to do experiments on it." Sounds like the hedgehog is a peripheral element to the film instead of its reason for existence.)
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—so naturally I had to choose Hela as Cate Blanchett is incredibly good in Thor: Ragnarok. I've watched that movie at least a half-dozen times, and I love how she's both playing the role while also overplaying the role, highlighting the ludicrous nature of Marvel movies, yet still being a serious figure of menace. (Disclosure: I was hired by Ravensburger to edit the rules of Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power.)
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I feel a bit awkward writing about this title given that both Ravensburger and Funko Games are releasing Back to the Future games — both of which happen to be co-operative dice-based games for 2-4 players — and I know people involved with both designs, so I hate to feel like I'm favoring one release over another, but that's going to happen repeatedly once both titles hit the market in Q3 2020, so I'm just getting a head start on everyone else in doing so.
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By contrast, Ravensburger's Back to the Future: Dice Through Time from designers Ken Franklin, Chris Leder, and Kevin Rodgers runs across all three movies in the BTTF trilogy, with each player controlling a DeLorean that starts in a different time period: 1885, 1955, 1985, and 2015.
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On a turn, you roll your dice, then take actions with them: moving to different locations in the same time period, moving through time in the same location, collecting items, fighting Biff (since each timeline has its own Biff), and so on. You need to collect items across all the timelines to solve anomalies and prevent paradoxes, and the best aspect of the game for me is that it uses time travel as an element of gameplay, with players being able to leave an unused die on the board for another player to pick up in that same location at any time in the future.
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In my coverage of Spielwarenmesse 2020, I mentioned that in Germany Ravensburger would release Harry Potter Strike Dice Game, a new version of Dieter Nüßle's Strike that features special-powered dice akin to Impact: Battle of the Elements. The North American branch of Ravensburger will also release Harry Potter Strike Dice Game, but on top of that it's bringing ye olde Strike back to the market with a new look and the original dice arena.
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Two other titles coming from Ravensburger focus on Disney-based IPs that are neither the Marvel Universe nor villains. Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game, due out in June 2020, is based on both the Jungle Cruise exhibit at Disney and an upcoming Jungle Cruise movie starring Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson because why not put Dwayne Johnson in every third movie?
My overview of this game is minimal: "In Disney Jungle Cruise Adventure Game, players are in charge of their own riverboat, trying to navigate a dangerous river while picking up passengers and cargo." You should also smirk at the camera with a knowing look on your face to score endgame bonus points.
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I can tell you more about Disney Hocus Pocus: The Game because we played a few turns of this 2-6 player card game based on the 1993 movie starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. That might seem like an odd choice, but apparently a sequel is in the works for Disney+, so here we are.
In any case, the game seems like a fine family-friendly design whatever its origins. An overview:
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In Disney Hocus Pocus: The Game, players need to defeat a trio of witches before they can complete a potion.
Each player has a hand of cards that feature one of five colors and one of five objects, and you play these cards onto a cauldron-shaped game board that features each object in one of the five colors. On a turn, you play a card onto the board or a previously played card, matching either the color or object depicted. Alternatively, you can use one of the spells available at the start of the game to take a special action.
If you have cards showing all of one color or all of one object in the cauldron, then you've zapped one of the witches — and you need to zap the witches three times before time runs out!
Each player has a hand of cards that feature one of five colors and one of five objects, and you play these cards onto a cauldron-shaped game board that features each object in one of the five colors. On a turn, you play a card onto the board or a previously played card, matching either the color or object depicted. Alternatively, you can use one of the spells available at the start of the game to take a special action.
If you have cards showing all of one color or all of one object in the cauldron, then you've zapped one of the witches — and you need to zap the witches three times before time runs out!
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This set contains a new "Metal" sub-type on cards, with many card effects referencing that sub-type for its effects.
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In Steven Universe: Beach-A-Palooza Card Battling Game, which is based on a particular episode of the Steven Universe cartoon, each player becomes a different Steven, who then recruits band members over multiple rounds to perform better than everyone else.
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Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Hijinx at Hell High is the fifth title in the series, and while I'm not sure what the statue is for, I can say that the Cryptozoic rep said that these cards were the cleanest ones available to show to the NY Toy Fair crowd.
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French publisher Topi Games had a few games set up in its booth, but no one was present, so I took pics and moved on. Look, ma, these exist!
I'd give a direct link to the Batman game on the Topi Games website in case someone wanted to submit a database listing for it, but Topi's website doesn't allow for such things. I've uploaded a logo for Topi Games, and now I'm working on the next NYTF post. Moving on again!
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