If you’ve ever played a Mortal Kombat game, you’ve probably heard game developer Dan Forden’s falsetto using the word “toasty!” pronounced. If you cracked your opponent on the chin with a particularly brutal uppercut, a small grainy portrait of the sound designer would boldly appear in the corner of the screen, ‘toasty!’ sing and disappear again. It became sort of a Mortal Kombat staple, memes have been made of it, and it’s even sampled in a Skrillex song (sorry to open that memory up for you).
It’s no surprise, then, to see a reference to the Jurassic-era game meme referenced in Player First Games and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s take on the crossover fighting game genre, MultiVersus. Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm publishes its games through Warner Bros, and a number of datamines and leaks indicate that Scorpion and Sub-Zero will also be coming to the game in the future. The announcer even says “TOASTY” in a booming voice when you’re being toasted, sometimes. The link is there – but MultiVersus’ toast is a world away from a little guy yelling at you in the corner of your screen. It is one of the most fun innovations in fighting games in a long time.
There’s something really special about ending a round of MultiVersus – after wrestling with a Shaggy that won’t stop throwing sandwiches at you, and a Taz spamming that hellish spin – and seeing a little notification in the top corner of the screen to appear. “Womanlicker99 sent you a toast!” Thanks, Womanlicker99! How nice of you. Thank you for roast the way I played (get the pun?)
Toast is a currency in MultiVersus – you can give it to someone at the end of a round and have it given to you. It replaces that whole “gg” message that you might otherwise have to clap into a chat box once you’ve embodied someone with Garnet or Steven Universe. Since toast gives you some of the game’s non-premium currency and costs you money to stock up, it’s quite a nice act of kindness if someone thinks your match was toast-worthy. It shows that they are not just sending a simple message, but spending (a very small amount) of a means to compliment you.
Often there can be a sense of hostility in fighting game lobbies; maybe the idiot on the other side of the game started teasing you when they knocked you out on the last round. Maybe you open your inbox to someone who says “go home and be a family man” after a match is over. Perhaps the messages contain more intense insults, or suggestions about the mother’s promiscuity. If you’ve played against a Ken main on Street Fighter (or a Taz main in MultiVersus), you probably know what I’m talking about.
So this toasting system is a breath of fresh air. It’s a fun way to say wordlessly to someone on the other side of the planet, “Hey, that was fun! Thanks for not being an asshole.” It’s as good to give toast as it is to receive it – something about moving your cursor over the name card for “MrBlobby420” and clicking “Give Toast!” fills you with a little crumb of joy. Like microdosing dopamine. It’s beautiful.
As VG247 comrade Connor pointed out to me, it feels like a spiritual successor to be back in the arcades, standing next to someone who really went with you on that last round and “gg!” But without the sarcasm or brutality of how that reads in a text-only lobby. It instills a sense of camaraderie and helps people rematch and try more rounds in the MultiVersus lobbies (since the game is only in open beta and not all online features are fully implemented yet, this is a good thing).
I also feel strength in not giving toast. If you’re going to pick Taz and spam his stupid spin move over and over like a brain-dead vending machine with a PlayStation pad in your hand, I’m not going to give you a toast. No. My teammate can have some, your buddy – who plays Velma, for some reason – can have some, but you can’t. No toast for you. Bad Taz. To grow up. By denying Taz his toast I’m not sending a message to the player calling him a “gimp” or anything poisonous, I’m just remembering what’s mine to give away. It combats negativity by reinforcing positivity instead. It’s nothing short of genius.
I started handing out toast as a means to an end: as a way to pop that tasty 90G Toast Master achievement on the Xbox version of the game. But here I am, approaching that number, and determined to throw slices of toast at everyone who plays respectfully and makes MultiVersus a fun place to be.
So join me in making a toast to Player First Games – this has been one of my favorite little features in a competitive game for quite some time now.
Multiversus is free to play and is now in open beta on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC.
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