After a nice 6 hours of being immersed in Disgaea 3, I started to realize that the amount of decent games being released is quite absurd. I predicted back in 2006 that 2007 would probably be the year for games in this decade, but 2008 has proven to be just as ruthless. Although no game coming out this year will be better than MGS4, it is safe to say that many have and will come close.
In a year where you see a new Smash Bros., GTA, as well as Mario Kart being released prior to MGS4, which is was released in June, you can only hope that the rest of the year can compare. From what I can see, it will. Titles such as Tuesday’s Disgaea 3 and Tales of Vesperia, to October’s Little Big Planet, Socom, Fable 2, and Fallout 3. Before the Holiday season even starts there will be many games to get. For the rest of the year, let’s not forget Gears of War 2, Banjo Kazooie 3, Resistance 2, Spore, Persona 4 as well as others I can’t remember. But what I’m most excited about is the DS lineup.
Huge support from SquareEnix this year FFIV, DQIV, and Chrono Trigger DS, all epic RPGs. A new Castlevania is coming out also, and the DS Castlevania games have been some of the best DS games. Nintendo is supporting us with Kirby Super Star Ultra and Sega and Bioware are bringing us Sonic Chronicles. This holiday the Wii is probably the weakest. The only games that I will buy are Wario Land: Shake It and Samba De Amigo. With all these titles being released can 2008 actually be the gaming year of this decade? Will there possibly be a gaming recession for a while? I hope so, maybe then I can actually catch up on some of these games.
The Nintendo 64 is truely the first system that made me think the future was here. Yes the SNES was a great improvement to the classic NES, but it really improved the core foundations of gaming (graphics, sound, and gameplay). Not only did the N64 improve in all those categories, but it did what Nintendo does best…Innovate. The Sony Playstation and the Sega Saturn were both released a year before the Nintendo 64 came out, so although both those systems had advanced in the same way the SNES did, when the Nintendo 64 was released, you can bet both Sony and Sega were shitting themseleves, I know I was. The second you grabbed control of the analog stick(which Sony later added on to their controllers more than a year later), you felt like you could control the world. I wish I could relive the first time I controlled Mario outside the castle walls. Honestly, it was too much for me to take in, and this is why the Nintendo 64 will always have a special place in my heart.
As can be inferred by the title, this countdown is for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In case you don’t get it, Nintendo created an interesting play to add “Super” to the title of many of their games from this era of games. Anyways, as the undisputed king of all consoles, the SNES absolutely murdered its competitors, namely the Sega Genesis (not even a murder, just TripV’s over-zealous thoughts).This countdown was definitely the hardest to compile and really great games like Mega Man X, Kirby’s Superstars, and Turtles in Time all didn’t make the cut.So without further ado the SNES top 9.
Little needs to be said about the Gameboy. It is the Godfather of handheld systems. Video Games would not be where they are today without the Gameboy. Whether your first Gameboy was the good ol’ grey fatty, the slim and stylish Pocket, or the Color, you knew that you were in for a treat. Without further adieu, here are the Top 9 Gameboy/Pocket/Color games as selected by the Mediarahan staff.
The Nintendo Entertainment system was, above all other systems, a trend setter.It established so many classic characters and franchises that we have all come to love. So today we honor the NES with a top 9.
Hello all, both TripV and I have been avid Nintendo Power readers throughout our lives. TripV has a great collection of old school NP’s running through to the N64 era. My collection on the other hand begins in the N64 era, I know call me a n00b and whatnot, but I really didn’t own a Nintendo system until that point. Anyways Nintendo Power can be considered a big influence in both TripV’s and my decision to write about video games. As can be seen in the 20th Anniversary issue, the editors at Nintendo Power made Top 20 countdowns for every Nintendo system, and since we here at Mediarahan are diehard Nintendo fans, we’ll be applying our Top 9 method for each system NP covered. For the next four days we will roll out our Top 9 lists, starting today with the NES and Gameboy/Color. In the meantime, you can watch this great episode of the Angry Video Game Nerd where he takes a look at Nintendo Power’s past.
Rumor has it that the cover of the latest Nintendo power pictures a brand new Sonic game for the Wii titled Sonic and the Black Knight. The catch is everyone’s favorite blue hedgehog is wielding a sword that would make Schwarzenegger proud.Now I’m pretty sure that most people are looking at this with pure disdain and repressing memories of Shadow the Hedgehog and his twin glocks. So why can’t they just stick to the formula and create a sonic game in the vein of Sonic Adventure?Well for the most part they have.Sonic and the Secret Rings as well as the yet to be released Sonic Unleashed game both look like more of the same.
Now I may be in the minority here but I think some creativity might actually be a good idea. The whole running around in a 3d world at super speeds thing has gotten really stale and successive iterations of 3-d Sonics have failed to innovate quite like the far superior Mario games.So keep an open mind and think what innovative ideas and an innovative gaming system can do together.Who knows it may be the best Sonic of all? Or it may fall flat on its face, either way we’re eagerly waiting for it.
The two definitive editions of Chrono Trigger are of course the original masterpiece, and the remake on Playstation.The Playstation’s version was great because it included original cut scenes drawn by legendary artist and original character designer Akira Toriyama.Unfortunately, the Playstation contained an unfortunate addition, loading times.Even for the hardest of hard core fans, like me, it was nearly unplayable.
Well fans can finally rest as the new DS incarnation will include the best of both worlds. Thanks to Siliconera.com, we now know that the cut scenes are mixed together with the original game play.There is also plans for a mode to play the game as in true original form using one of the DS screens.Combine all these features with brand new dungeons and I can safely say that I can’t wait. Till then enjoy the trailer and take a trip down memory lane.
An extra note: We will import the Japanese version of Chrono Trigger DS, assuming it’s released at least a month before the US version and we will get a review up as soon as possible for both versions. Look forward to it!
dkn29 edit: Before you read any of this, go to Amazon.com who recently raised their price by $20 or Play-Asia.com who has it on sale for $33.67 until Saturday, and purchase this masterpiece before it is too late for probably the last time.
As the PS2 era approaches a close we here at Mediarahan wanted to talk about the best game you probably never played, Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne.Nocturne, a Japanese RPG, was released in 2004 to little fanfare and almost no hype, and despite being the latest installment in the extremely popular, at least in Japan, Shin Megami Tensei series it failed to make a big splash.This is truly a shame as the game had a profound impact on both the Mediarahan editors and even provided us with our namesake.So as an act of community service and our very first review here is Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne.
dkn29 edit: Here you can see a review for Nas’ latest album, which is the type of album we’d review here, but since tripV has it on lock check out his other blog.
