Wario Ware Touched

Back when the original Wario Ware was announced, I remember being very skeptical of the concept. A game that’s based on mini-mini-games that last about 5 seconds didn’t really seem pleasing, but after my first time playing Wario Ware, my skepticism was completely gone. What works about Wario Ware is that the game moves so quickly that it’ll keep you occupied like a normal level in any other game would. It’s the speed that keeps you on your toes. The game’s wackiness is what makes you laugh at it and keep playing.

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Castlevania: Portrait Of Ruin

It’s no secret that I love the Castlevania series as a whole. Ever since my friend had the original on his NES, I fell in love with the games. It’s quite an anomaly as I wasn’t even a big fan of vampires or anything of the sort. There was just something about a guy with the courage to fight a supernatural creature with nothing but a whip. Who does that? The Belmont clan, that’s who.

Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow

Dawn of Sorrow is better than Symphony of the Night. Now that I’ve blasphemed everyone’s favorite Castlevania, I can tell you exactly what makes this game so good.

Super Mario 64

Platformers are decent launch titles that are frequently only as good as their main characters. For some messed up reason, people go gaga over this fat Italian plumber guy. Furthermore, his compatriots are even dumber characters with no real goal or purpose. Reguardless of this fact, the cast of Nintendo’s flagship series always manage to present amazing games. I think the first time I ever saw these “plumbers” do any actual plumbing was in Super Star Saga, but that’s beside the point.

SNK VS Capcom: Card Fighters DS

The warning signs were all there, but I ignored them all. I’ll be completely honest, even when I saw the screenshots, I had a sinking feeling, so I didn’t expect this game to be as great of a classic as the original, but I thought it would have some semblance to the original (or its slightly modified Japan-only sequel). The latter was true, but, well… that’s the only source material from any earlier titles, and they tore that from the shared traits of its classic predecessor. Another hint came to me from the boxart. Look at the back – no screenshots whatsoever. That alone made my heart sink. I mean, screenshots are an expected part of any game box, be it for a console or portable game. Of course, from the beginning, I tried not to compare Card Fighters DS to its classic NGPC predecessor (mainly because I knew no game could’ve compared to it, due to my nostalgic memories of the original), but even without those lowered expectations, I can safely say SNK Playmore screwed up…big time.

Hotel Dusk: Room 215

While Trace Memory was certainly a good game, it didn’t exactly prove Cing’s worth in the point and click adventure genre with most people. Fast forward to January 22, 2007 – the release of Hotel Dusk: Room 215. Hotel Dusk is Cing’s latest and – by far – their greatest game, bar none. The biggest problem with Trace Memory was that it was notoriously short, and there wasn’t much to do once you’ve completed it. This is not so with Hotel Dusk, however – not only is it of significant length, but there is a great deal of replay value to it as well.

Guilty Gear Dust Strikers

Okay, itís confession time. As much as I claim to be a fighting game aficionado, Iím also a Guilty Gear virgin. Aside from being totally confused with the arcade version of Isuka and renting a badly-damaged, mostly unplayable X2 #Reload, my experiences with Guilty Gear have been limited to watching attract mode demos at arcades. For the most part, Iím happy playing obscure NeoGeo fighters like Waku Waku 7, Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer, and The Last Blade. However, after seeing Dust Strikers lying in a GameStop bargain bin during a sale, I decided to dive right into the series – although with the game that seems to be held as the worst of the series. While it has caused me to be more interested in the series, itís also repugnant. You normally hear people say that some games have good ideas that perform poorly. However, this is a decent game thatís been crammed with bad ideas that perform terribly.

Elite Beat Agents

There are three sides on the issue of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents. The first side loves Ouendan but hates Elite Beat Agents; the second side loves Elite Beat Agents but doesn’t know/care about Ouendan; and the third side just throws the Japanophilia to the curb and enjoys both. I am the latter. After my review, I hope many of you are too. Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan is a Japanese-only rhythm game which incorporates J-Pop and stars three male cheerleaders aiding in the everyday lives of people. While Elite Beat Agents is a kind-of remake of Ouendan because of similar themes to levels and characters, it is different enough that it is more an indirect sequel to it.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime is the sequel to a personal favorite of mine, Slime MoriMori: Dragon Quest Shougeki no Shippou Dan for the Game Boy Advance. Previously set to be released on the GBA, Square Enix decided that DQ Heroes should be moved to the Nintendo DS because it would work much better on it for what they wanted to do, although this causes the symptom of GBA-caliber visuals. And while their usage of the dual screens isn’t exactly groundbreaking, it does a good job at several other points.