On April first, 2020, Dan Fornace, George Rogers and the rest of the Rivals of Aether team hosted their second Rivals Direct alongside content creator and former Rivals Championship Series top 50 player Adam Carra. This presentation was part tongue-in-cheek send-up of Nintendo's own Nintendo Direct announcement streams and part genuine announcement of what's to come for Rivals.
Because of the Direct's broadcast date and the more humorous bent it took—from its framing device of Adam trying to figure out the "real announcement" to several sketches reminiscent of Adult Swim comedy series like Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job or The Eric Andre Show—many Rivals players have asked how much was real and how much was part of the joke. To address everyone's questions and concerns, Adam Carra has taken the time to break down the various announcements made in the direct.
As a preamble to discussion of the announcements made in the direct, Adam confirms that Rivals of Aether: Definitive Edition will be a free upgrade for everyone who owns the game on steam and will not have a separate store listing from the base game. If you purchase Rivals before Definitive Edition launches, you will receive Definitive Edition as a patch for your existing copy. If you want to purchase the game on Steam after Definitive Edition launches, you won't have to worry about accidentally buying the base game. While it isn't addressed in the video, it's likely that the same will extend to the Xbox One version, which will receive the Definitive Edition update sometime after it's released on PC and Switch.
Getting into the announcements made in the Direct proper, Adam explains that not only was the tetherball minigame presented during the direct a real game mode, he reveals a few details about its mechanics. Players can only hit the ball when it's on their side of the field, meaning stage control still matters. Players can still take damage and die, though they will respawn after a few seconds. The scoreboards are actually solid objects in-game, and players can be both launched into them and tech off of them.
He also goes into a bit of detail about the Infamous skins, a cosmetic bonus that will be given to players who purchased DLC characters on Steam. These skins will only be available for the six DLC characters, and for each DLC character pack you purchased prior to the launch of Definitive Edition, you will receive the corresponding Infamous skins. This is a one-time offer, and will not be available in the Switch version of the game.
The rest of the video discusses Creatures of Aether, the three new projects teased during the sizzle reel at the end of the Direct, as well as the process of actually making Rivals Direct 2, with a heartfelt thanks to both Dan Fornace and his team for taking a risk on bringing Adam on board for the Rivals Directs, and to the Rivals of Aether community for supporting him all these years.
Author's Note: What did you think of the second Rivals Direct? What are you looking forward to the most?
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