Simplified Neo Tokyo E.X.P.L.O.D.E.S. into Rocket League

Splendid sports 'em up Rocket League [official site] has launched a new version of its Neo Tokyo sportsdome, with the same cyberpunk city backdrop but a standard pitch layout. Neo Tokyo hit Rocket League in June 2016 but its non-typical layout with elevated sides (and therefore non-typical play) irked some players, so developers Psyonix pulled it from the competitive playlist in March 2017. The new regular Neo Tokyo is now in all playlists, while the old version will still be playable in private and offline matches under its new name of Tokyo Underpass.

"Your feedback has been heard!" Psyonix said. "'Neo Tokyo' is back, and we've redesigned it as a Standard Arena. We left the scenery untouched to maintain that futuristic metropolis look, while removing the parallel ramps on either side of the goals."

Players have evidently proved more conservative than Psyonix expected. Rocket League having only a few non-standard arenas can make them seem novelties which interrupt 'proper' play, popping up in playlists when you just want some carball and not rampcarball. It's interesting how Psyonix and players (the more vocal ones, anyway) apparently have different ideas of where 'Rocket League-ness' lies and of how strict it is. No jumpers for goalposts here. Psyonix's precursor to Rocket League, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, had different arena shapes from the start but here variety has arrived only after the game took off - a change rather than the norm.

I wonder if other irregular arenas will get worked over too.

Tokyo Underpass/old Neo Tokyo has replaced Underpass, the test map it started life as. Underpass is now gone from the Rocket Labs rotation.

Rocket League v1.34 went live this morning; you can read the full patch notes over here. The update also adds a new car, the Mantis, which looks a bit Batmobile-y (and has the same stats as the Batmobile) but is a lot more colourful. The Mantis is only available in item crates, mind.