I am throwing out the obvious Mravel Vs Capcom 3 and Killer Instinct 3
1) Darkstalkers – This game has never had the same love as Street Fighter but that’s never stopped it from being a fan-favorite. A product of the 90’s fighting craze, Darkstalkers brought us a fighting game entrenched in the scourge of the underworld and gave us some of the most recognizable characters in video games…… ok, so they’re all female, but yeah, whatever. I’m just going to say this game you use an HD revamp and another chance in the ring.
I pick Darkstalkers as the least obvious of Capcom’s franchises in line for an updated installment. Yes, we need Mega Man 10. YES! WE NEED MEGA MAN X9! NO! We can live without Resident Evil side-games…… Wii RE Chronicles being the exception…. And far overdue for a PSP RE game*.
*ok, we got a psp Re title, damn me dragging this article out.
2) Battletoads – Battletoads was a key element of my gaming youth. What about this game wasn’t a star-studded wonder. Three toads named Zit, Pimple, and Rash, fighting giant rats in space in one of the hardest games to ever be created. Battletoads in a word is, has been, and always will be RELENTLESS! In this new age of gaming we find ourselves pitted against fairly manageable gaming experiences that don’t really require the most absolute dedication for completion, and often times rely on multiplayer experiences to use other players as the actual challenges. Between adjustable difficulty settings, where players can adjust the difficulty level mid-game, or just patronizingly easy gameplay mechanics such as regenerating health and Bioshock respawning booths, games have generally become easier. It is possibly for this reason that the hardcore gaming community fondly remembers Battletoads. I doubt that the game was 5 levels long, but I will never know because I never was able to beat level 3. I was 5 years old playing the original in my living room, maneuvering my hover bike on level 3, smashing into the walls. Cut to 5 weeks ago, I was still crashing into those same walls on the exact same stage in the exact same game. This is only exacerbated by the fact I have yet to beat level 1 on Battletoads in Battlemania for the SNES.
Now lets talk about Rare, developers of some of my favorite games… and some questionable crap as of recent. There has really been no spark from them in the past few years, and I’m starting to question the purchase on Microsoft’s part. Kind of like buying a goose who lays golden eggs, getting it home and it lays silver…. Bronze eggs. Sure, they have the rights to Perfect Dark, but when you consider that A) the original was better, and B) Golden Eye was the better than that, you can’t help but think that something is a miss in this picture. Rare has a good catalogue if you use it to its potential and keep Banjo from playing with Legos. Battletoads is a franchise that has laid dormant for over a decade, and could use a nice dusting off. Keep in mind, it just needs to stay true to its roots. I’d say 2D side-scrolling but if you can make a third dimension work, be my guest. Aside from classic beat em up elements this game doesn’t need a gimmick to sell it, but another team up with Double Dragons wouldn’t be too horrible, right?
3) Marathon – Marathon is a fucking complicated and unintuitive FPS from the Mac days… But what else is Bungie gonna throw at us. Bungie a year ago was set to cut the chord with Microsoft and then that fizzled away and now it looks like ODST is their last Halo Hurrah, so what now. Marathon, if they still hold the rights would be an awesome next move. Stomping the old familiar turf with the refined gameplay and map layout they have excelled at these past few years (maybe not 3 so much, but whatever, this is a point I’m making).
4) Ikaruga – Why not a sequel to one of the hardest games ever spawned? Personally seeing any level other than the first is an unrealized dream, but at least a sequel would give me that satisfaction from hitting “start game.”
5) Hexen – THE WORLD NEEDS ID! There, simple reason why. ID serves a real purpose: being able to deliver an incredible FPS that is actually very modest of itself and highly conscious of its fan-base. Having some of the greatest games, I hold that none of their franchises have ever really jumped the shark or over-hyped themselves… especially the way other franchises have ::cough cough Halo cough cough::. DOOM is a game that has aged like a fine wine. Wolfenstein is a classic in every sense of the word. Quake 4 had next-gen growing pains, but still was playable. Quake live is now up and I can’t believe that a game that runs this smoothly and vigorously is operating out of my Firefox browser.
Hexen is the only series that has stayed silent for these long years. I wasn’t the most receptive to its Nintendo 64 entry at the time, but in retrospect I see the underestimated glory of what it was, and now, can be. Essentially it is a DOOM-esque fps with a sprinkling of Diablo over it providing several different classes of characters that alter your ability to stick it to the forces of hell. From the makers of a game about fighting Hell on Mars, it was a fitting jump that the satanic genocide be set against a medieval background. With games like Oblivion and its doppelgangers already providing the basis for a demon romp, it’s about time that ID reclaim the thrown and show it the same intensity they have brought to all their previous revitalizations.
6) Zone Of The Enders – Hideo Kojima has had an odd past with giant Mech robots. In one game they’re the key to National nuclear deterrence… that is invariably until an elite group of genetically enhanced terrorist get their hands on them, AGAIN! After that they then become the tool of our impending destruction, bringing us to the edge of oblivion, AGAIN! However in the other game, Zone Of The Enders, they become the core lifeline and cradle for extremely winey kid protagonists. The first game came out within the first year of the PS2… first American year, don’t correct me… and was really the first game to pioneer the system’s capabilities. All games looked pretty and shiny at that time, and the Dreamcast was able to keep up for a while, but Zone of Enders pushed the engine to show what could be done on the system. Controlling handled for crap, and the fight system was as simplistic as you can make it, but the spectacle of two armored Gundam clones exchanging quips set the original far ahead from anything on the shelves. To its credit, and to put make up on its short comings, the game was also packaged with a demo of Metal Gear Solid 2, so for the dollar, it was the most impressive use of most of our gaming dollars. I bring this up because it perfectly illustrates the robotic fetish that marks Hideo Kojima’s career. On a game about fighting as giant robots, there is a demo about you spying on the latest giant robot. I find it funny that the design for the both of them are actually quite similar. Jehuty is arguable the bastard love-child between Metal Gear Ray and the Unit 1 model from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Back to my point though, Zone Of The Enders was a great first jump and Zone of The Enders 2 mixed in a much healthier anime aesthetic, more fluid scene progression, and most impressively, wider enemy development. Now, in case you are unaware, if you see Zone Of The Enders: The 2nd Runner (ZOTE 2) DIVE ON IT! Write a check, put it on credit, take out a loan, do what you must to walk out of the store with this game because you will never see it again. I should relax, this is not as rare as say sealed in-box Mario RPG or Secret of Mana, and not nearly as pricey, but is far more illusive than say Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes or Pikmin 2. It’s a game that interests nerds and anime-geeks, thus making a treasure hunt.
As for why there should be a third one. First it’s an awesome series with still so much anime love to offer. Second: a game about giant robots that does not require a masters’ course to figure out what makes your character handle more efficiently (Armored Core Bash) or is Dynasty Warriors with a different coat of paint (Dynasty Warriors Gundam Bash) should be kept alive at all costs. Third: Hideo Kojima. Let’s talk about this pioneer of stealth. Whether you believe that stealth is the greatest innovation to gameplay the medium has ever seen or the most under developed gimmick to gaming, Metal Gear has proven itself as a technological landmark and will remain one of the greatest games of all time. BUT, now catch your breath, THE SERIES IS DONE. I know two new chapters were announced at E3, but the fourth installment of the Solid franchise has not sold me on the idea that this series is able to go any further. Kojima has milked the legacy of these characters for all their worth, maybe its time to try a new side project, brush off the Zone Of Enders and wow us with something big, bold, and revamped. Separation Anxiety from his cash-cow might be healthy for him and give the proper perspective to think up something new and fresh for the next MGS game. At the very least give the world time to come up with the next global disaster to fuel another 34 hours worth of cut scenes that drive the game forward.
*Ok, Kojima on Castlevania…… why not, looks good
7) Guilty Gears – Enough updates, one new character on this disc, two diferrent costumes on the next. FUCK IT! SEQUEL TIME!! Why is Guilty Gears an awesome series? IT’S FUCKING METAL, THAT’S WHY!!! Axel Rose (AXL) is a playable fighter, what more do you need?
Dark Cloud – Yeah, I get it, White Knight Chronicles, and I should hold myself over with Rogue Galaxy until an English Version makes its way state-side. To Hell with that, Dark Cloud 3 would make a great addition to Dungeo-crawling enthusiast. The first two were complex and creative, and a truly engaging experience. Perfect? Nowhere close. But that’s partly why that stands out and there’s the lingering hope that one more sequel could just bring it all together once and for all. Let’s bring everyone back up to speed. Dark Cloud was a J-Action-RPG/dungeon-crawler in which the player had to rebuild a destroyed town by collecting buildings, pieces, people, and landscape they found exploring the dungeon. Unlocking certain conditions of rebuilding the town opened up new characters, abilities, and weapons. Rebuilding the towns were essential to defeating the world boss’ and progressing the next chapter.
Dark Cloud 2 was an incredible leap in the overall idea and brought the RPG elements into bold new territories. Micromanaging and customizing equipment were flushed out, and the ability to build devices and upgrades based on an elaborate invention system kept players glued for hours. Plus Elements of time-travel made for an interesting incentive on monitoring the progression of the town development. Ultimately though, books could be written on the game’s short-comings, and anyone who really has to know can wait till I formally review this game.
The point I am laboriously striving for is that this game was on a roll and with the next-gen technology in its stride right now, it’s the perfect time to polish it off and turn this into the genre-defining game it has always meant to be.
9) Eternal Darkness – Eternal Darkness was a glorious addition to the incredibly underrated Gamecube library. Taking the survival horror genre into bold new levels, especially leading players to believe their save game data had been destroyed, Eternal Darkness was set as a fan-favorite. And then Silicon Knights decided to abandon any success they had with that for the Too Human Trilogy. Lets get something straight, Eternal Darkness: amazing, Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes: one of the greatest and hardest games to find on the Gamecube. Then they move to Xbox 360… Too Human… Two more on the way… really?… Scrap em, Eternal Darkness 2, refine the fighting gameplay, give us something we would actually liked the first time around and we will probably get behind the second time too.
10) Any 2D version of any of Nintendo’s franchises – Ok, kind of a cop-out, my original answer for number 10 was Total Annihilation the only RTS game that has been missing in 10 years, but then I informed it simply goes by the name Supreme Commander, and to my surprise THAT has a sequel announced at this year’s E3.
Nintendo needs another 2D platformer of one of it’s franchises, and would best be suited on the DS and breathe life back into it’s seemingly stagnant library. Kirby, Donkey Kong [Country], Wario, where are our side-scrolling follow ups? To pick one franchise in particular, Metroid. I get it, you nerds like the FPS home-console Metroid. Fine. Hunters on the DS was crap though; it handled like crap and played like more crap. Compromise time: can we keep FPS Metroid on the big screen and give me a classic-ish 2D Side Scrolling Metroid?
*Ok, got back from E3, New Super Mario Bros., we’re making progress, but I still want my DS Metroid.
- Michael Mullenix
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