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.

#9 Conker's Bad Fur Day

Conker’s Bad Fur Day was a game Nintendo would’ve rather not seen released to the public. The game stood for everything Nintendo didn’t. Raunchy humor, Alcoholic references, and over-the-top violence forced Nintendo to put an advisory warning along with an M-rating. At age 14, that really seemed like the cool game to get. If you happened to play this game, or the updated version on the Xbox, you were in for a real treat. There was countless references to movies that would really make you just laugh, from the first boss being The Terminator, to the last boss being an Alien. To top it all off, the game was actually fun to play. It controlled like any other Rare platformer at the time, which was a good thing. If you haven’t played this game, or your parents wouldn’t let you get it because you were too young, don’t hesitate to pick it up or emulate it.

#8 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Ahh, the game you either loved or hated but either way beat it. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask took everything that made Ocarina of Time great and improved on it. Adding the time and mask system, there might not be a game out there that has more replay value then this, I mean before you know it you’ve played the song of time and started back at the beginning of the game. Although Majora’s Mask included only 4 major dungeons, they were long and actually difficult, even for Zelda masters. To top it all off there are so many sidequests, this game probably influenced the Final Fantasy games that came after. If you were like me and stuck through all the sidequests to get every mask and every stamp in your journal, etc., you were treated to the final mask in the game which is just too badass, and makes the final boss insanely easy. IMO this game is actually better than Ocarina of Time, but TripV tends to disagree, or just won’t admit it.

#7 Paper Mario

Paper Mario had fanboys everywhere salivating from its initial release announcement. This was most likely due to its billing as a sequel to the wildly popular Super Mario RPG. The game however couldn’t have been more different from its predecessor. It eschewed the long winded story lines and complex characters of Mario RPG, instead returning to the roots of the franchise. Bowser had once again captured Peach and Mario had to save her. This time Mario was aided by several auxiliary characters including a goomba aptly named Goombario and the cleverly named koopa, Kooper. Graphically, Paper Mario went with a 2-d style intended to imitate the look of a piece of paper. The game overflowed with charm and once again tested a player’s reflexes by requiring them to perform certain button combinations for each attack. The only downside to the game, besides promoting anorexia among children, is the extreme difficulty of the Peach segments, baking cakes is hard stuff.

#6 Super Smash Bros.

If you’ve ever wondered who would win in a fight between Link and Mario or Pikachu and Donkey Kong then Super Smash Bros. is the perfect game for you. Smash puts you in control of a beloved Nintendo mascot in a familiar locale, and leaves it to you to pulverize 1-3 others of the stage. It’s a brilliant premise that is only topped by its uncanny execution. Every character is balanced well and in the hands of a master has the ability to dominate, except ironically for Donkey Kong, he kinda sucks. Nevertheless the roster capitalizes on Nintendo’s most famous heroes (Mario, Luigi, Kirby, Link, DK, Fox, etc) and throws in a few fan favorites like Ness from Earthbound and Captain Falcon from F-zero. Plus how many Nintendo games do you know of that are played in tournaments for major cash prizes. Super Smash Bros has definitely established its legacy and earned a place in our top 9.

#5 Mario Tennis

Mario Tennis is in many ways a highly underrated game. It has a very simple control scheme that uses only two buttons, topspin and slice. However, different combinations of the buttons can be used to perform more advanced maneuvers like lobs or drop shots. The result is a pick up and play experience for newcomers, but still a deep and rewarding game for experienced veterans. The game is very cartoony and captures the charm of the Mario franchise, yet somehow it is the most realistic and playable tennis game to date. Other games like the Topspin and Virtua Tennis franchises use realistic graphics, but their gameplay always seems to pale in comparison to Mario Tennis’ superior system. If you haven’t played this game because you think tennis games are boring, or just missed it, I highly urge you to check it out or at least emulate it, if not just to experience the origin of Waluigi.

P.S. If you need a challenge, I am godly and dkn29 is way worse (unstoppable with Wario tho) than me.

#4 StarFox 64

“Star Fox, we are in your debt,” is exactly what I think when this game comes to mind. This is my personal favorite game for the system and if I had my way, this would be number one, but due to the games listed below I can’t do that. StarFox 64 is really a rehash of the original StarFox on the SNES, but it has way better graphics, awesome voice acting (well it has more heart than a lot of games today), as well as refined gameplay. I personally have gone through this game and got every medal award (normal and expert) 3 times. I’ve literally memorized every level, enemy rotation, music, and every word spoken, and thats no understatement. Not many games have that level of reply value, especially when the multiplayer, albeit a great idea, wasn’t fully fleshed out. If you don’t know who Andross’ nephew is, then you owe it to yourself to play this game. In the words of the late James McCloud “trust your instincts,” and play this game.  Oh yeah, I almost forgot, this game introduced the world to Rumble technology…you’re welcome.

#3 Goldeneye 007/Perfect Dark

In the mid 90s gamers were divided between PC nerds and console badasses. For the most part the PC market dominated the FPS genre using the superior control of the mouse and keyboard combo. It took Goldeneye to show how a console FPS could not only work, but be on par with, if not more fun than anything the PC could crank out. The rest is history. I still remember the countless hours of facility and complex, and the rush to get the RCP-90 (best gun ever). When Perfect Dark came out it refined the Goldeneye formula but remained faithful to its predecessor resulting in an altogether superior experience. Just downright awesome. In truth Goldeneye and Perfect Dark not only set the standard for the FPS genre, but also paved the way for all future console FPS games. So if Halo knows whats good for it, it better bow down to its daddy.

#2 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

So dkn29 asked me to write about this game because he was game deprived throughout the mid 90s and this was his first experience with the Zelda franchise(more than a year after its initial release, tsk tsk).  Fortunately, I am here to save the day and rant on why this game rocks.  Where do I start, graphics, gameplay, fun factor, story.  No matter where I start (well maybe not story) the game is a perfect 10.  Everything about the game was simply astounding, the innovative Z-targeting system made fighting intuitive and fun.  The ability to map items to the C-buttons really streamlined the Zelda process by providing quick access to your favorite items.  Not to mention the first time Zelda puzzles could be translated into 3D environments.  All these things were great, but nothing was cooler than OoT’s ability to fully integrate the music of the ocarina (which was awesome) into every aspect of the game.  The only thing that could have made this game better would be the ability fly swat Navi, that annoying piece of shit, into faerie mush?

#1 Super Mario 64

I’ve never been married or had a child, but I’m pretty sure the first time I played Super Mario 64 trumps both of them on my fondest memories list. I couldn’t even start the game for a good half hour because pulling on Mario’s facial features was just too entertaining. Once I finally started the game I was, simply put, blown away. Everything in this game is perfect. I could never understand why magazine editors never gave this game perfect 10s. It was a game like none-other, there just was no equal at the time. Maybe the editors didn’t realize that this would pave the way for every 3D game ever released after it. It’s kinda sad to think that this game actually has a better camera than a lot of games out today, especially since it’s almost 12 years old now. I don’t really know what else to say here. I’ve gotten 120 (150 on the DS) Stars 5 times in my life now and plan to continuing doing it when I actually have some gaming downtime. If you haven’t played this game, kill yourself, then ask whatever you believe in to make you born sometime in the 80s so you can experience this game the way it was meant to.  Man, the ending theme still does bring tears of joy.

Now that we’ve listed our top 9, if anyone else is reading this, feel free to leave any comments or post your personal top 9.

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.

#9 Super Punch-Out

I really can’t emphasize how much I love the Punch-Out games, they are just downright fun. Despite its super simple controls it is still one of the most satisfying boxing experiences to date. Like its predecessor Punchout delivers many humorous characters that often capitalize on stereotypes, the Bob Marley look alike Bob Charlie is just too funny. Perhaps the greatest compliment I can give the game is that I still pick it up and play it to this day.

#8 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

The Donkey Kong Country series was a totally wowing experience. The graphics were simply amazing and the controls were refined to perfection. Not to mention it reintroduced Donkey Kong to the Nintendo universe. Now the entire DK series deserves a spot on the list but we had to go with DK2 as the best of the three and the number 8 best game on the SNES.   Not to mention that the play on words in the title of the game is just too much to handle.

#7 Super Mario World

Including levels with the title of “Gnarly”, “Tubular” and “Way Cool” among others, Super Mario World set the pace for the SNES as a system, and because of this game the SNES was flooded with many classics. For all 2 of you who haven’t heard of or played this game, it is essentially a further refined Super Mario Bros. 3 with Yoshi and other new powerups, what else could you possibly ask for? Super Mario World 2? Well that did come about 4 years after but was a totally different style game. Although it didn’t reach our top 9, it can easily be considered one of the best games for the system.

#6 Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Mario in an RPG, are you guys crazy? Wait it’s made by Square and its fuckin’ awesome, OK that’ll work. Super Mario RPG was simply outstanding. Mario was put in a more realistic situation where he is pit against a new enemy, Smithy. The new villain on the block pisses off everyone including Bowser, who eventually joins your party; I mean how cool is that? Either way your adventure takes you across a variety of locales with plenty of cameos from familiar Mario characters.

#5 Super Street Fighter II

The greatest fighting game ever (behind the later released SF3:TS), Street Fighter has permeated every aspect of popular culture. We chose this version over the previous two iterations because this was the most updated and included great new characters with all the upgrades that came along the way. Until Street Fighter 2 HD Remix is released, this version still stands at the top. Speaking about the future, we are highly anticipating the release of Street Fighter IV.

#4 Final Fantasy III

Originally titled Final Fantasy VI in Japan (and Stateside in later ports), this is one of those games that doesn’t come around very often. Its extremely large roster is highly irregular for an RPG, yet each character is extremely well developed and highly likeable, except Gau, he’s lame. Even when creating three separate parties in the final dungeon, it’s hard to decide who to include. Musically, it’s Nobuo Uematsu’s greatest work, and that’s saying a lot considering his record. It’s just an ideal fusion of elements.

#3 Super Metroid

Seeing the opening to this game straight up gave me chills. As the third installment in yet another one of Nintendo’s venerable franchises, Super Metroid truly upped the ante when it comes to level design and graphics. Plus all the different powerups and abilities just give the game so much depth and variety. On top of all that the musical score is one of the best in video games, I salute you Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano. For a game that redifined the adventure genre and inspired the Playstation classic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Super Metroid receives 3rd place.

#2 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Even though dkn29 doesn’t want to admit it, this is the best Zelda of all time. This game and Chrono Trigger could have easily swapped spaces in my mind so it’s obvious what kind of class we’re dealing with. This game basically invented the Zelda formula of finding a special item in each dungeon, all of which are awesome, and using it to kill the boss. On top of that the game is just fun and that’s what really matters. Koji Kondo’s soundtrack is truely epic in this game. If you haven’t played it, well, you’re missing out bub.

#1 Chrono Trigger

OMGASM, CT stands tall in rarified air as possibly the best game ever, so it was an easy choice as our top game on the SNES. I mean I don’t know what to say except that this game was perfect, and I mean perfect. There is not a single thing wrong with this game, not one. The soundtrack is highly regarded, and is our favorite Video Game Soundtrack period!  It has charm, phenomenal graphics and game play, and with 13 or so endings, a high replay value. I think I speak for everyone when I say I cannot wait for the DS port, so that I can enjoy the perfection for the 500^th time.

Now that we’ve listed our top 9, if anyone else is reading this, feel free to leave any comments or post your personal 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.

#9 Kirby's Dreamland

In the pantheon of great Nintendo heroes Kirby is often overlooked. This is a shame because Kirby’s dreamland is one of the most fun and charming platformers ever created. There’s just something appealing about guiding a gluttonous cute pink puffball through hordes enemies, yum.

P.S. I’ve always wondered why he’s white on the box art.

#8 Metal Gear Solid

This alternate universe Metal Gear aimed to get its sneak in while you’re on the move. The Gameboy Color’s Metal Gear Solid blended the revolutionary game play of the original Metal Gear games, with the over the top story telling of the Solid games. It also used a mission based system which was perfect for the pick up and play needs of the Gameboy. Sadly, David Hayter’s voice could not be used but we’ll forgive that for a great MGS experience.

#7 Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land

The first time I heard about this game I was in total shock. The main enemy from Super Mario Land 2 is now the protagonist!? Not just that but he wasn’t after Mario, he was after all the treasure in the land. Wario is truely one greedy fuck, it’s no wonder those pirate ducks on the cover are pissed. Wario Land, much like Super Mario Land 2, brought many different powerups for Wario to use, my personal favorite was the Dragon hat which shot fire somehow. On top of the enjoyable level design, there were a shit-load of secrets to find in this game, which would require a few playthroughs to find them all without a copy of Nintendo Power. Put all of that together and you can actually have a really fun road trip.

#6 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX

Link’s first outing on the Gameboy was also my (TripV’s) first experience with Nintendo’s grey fatty. The game was simply flawless. Every dungeon was expertly crafted with unique items like Roc’s Feather, which allowed Link to jump. Zelda DX took all the greatness of Link’s Awakening and colorized it making it the definitive version of a beloved classic.  It also added a special color dungeon to give veterans of the original a little more.

#5 Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins

When I think of the Gameboy, this, along with its predecessor, are some of the first games I think about. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is without a doubt the best original Mario game on the Gameboy system. Following in Super Mario World’s footsteps, Super Mario Land 2 presented Mario with some new power-ups (bunny ears and bubble), as well as different takes on old ones (fire flower). The biggest downside of this game is that it is short, but that is easily forgotten because the fifth playthrough is just as fun as the first. This game is the first Mario game that doesn’t involve resucing a princess and due to that introduces Wario who is one of my favorite Nintendo characters. All of above reasons places this classic at #5.

#4 Pokémon Blue/Red

TripV might not have jumped on the Pokémon bandwagon back in 1998, but I sure did. Starting with the anime and trading cards, then moving on to the game, I was in a Pokémon craze for two whole years of my life so It should come as no surprise that I can still name the first 151 Pokémon. A game like this brought a whole new style of RPGs to America that had been around in Japan since the original Megami Tensei games. The “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” formula is very addictive and successful, not to mention fun. I probably don’t need to say anything more about this game, because everyone has played this game in one way or another.

#3 Super Mario Bros. Deluxe

I remember getting this game on my 12th birthday as I requested, and it did not let down. In fact it exceeded in everyway possible. The last time I played the original Super Mario Bros. prior to receiving this game was probably 8 years earlier, back in 1991 before my dad decided to send our NES away. Aside from the original Super Mario Bros., this game threw in the Lost Levels, as well as a few bonus modes, such as challenge mode(added a hidden yoshi egg and 5 red coins), a vs. race mode, you vs. boo (race against boo), and the toy box which kept all the mini games and non playable extras where you could really waste a lot of time. I remember you could edit the opening sound in the Toy Box when the game first loads, and my brother spent a lot of time putting in different riffs from jazz songs, a pretty cool extra if you ask me. If this was still in stores today, I would have no problem dropping $30 on it.

#2 The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages

When deciding the order of the Top 9 Gameboy games, TripV was trying to put Zelda DX above the Oracle games. Now I understand where he is coming from and I know that Link’s Awakening is a true handheld classic, but these games took everything that made Link’s Awakening as well as the N64 iterations great and improved upon them. It also must be noted that he did not play these games and that will be a perminant stain on his gamer record. He decided I was right when I told him that after beating both games and linking them together you get to fight Ganon, the pig version. I asked him what other games you fight the Pig version of Ganon and without much hesitation decided to heed my judgement. Most people will rank these games seperately, but it just wouldn’t be right to play one and not the other, heck I remember having a hard time deciding which game to start on. In the end I started on Seasons because the Nintendo Power guidebook started there also. Both games were classic Zelda titles from the beginning and had every bit of charm that prior games had. Back in April of 2001 the Gameboy Advance was on the horizon, and with these two games coming out literally a month before the Advance, I would say this is a great way to close out 12 years of handheld gaming while leading into the future. If you picked both of these up back in 2001, you’ll agree that instead of putting down $30 each for two new Zelda titles, you really paid $60 for a great Zelda experience ($75 if you’re like me and got the guide). The Oracle games delivered two of the best weeks of my adolescent gaming career.

#1 Tetris DX

Well, we’re finally at #1. Over 12 years of portable games and only 1 can be the best, that is why we have chosen Tetris DX. This is exactly what the gameboy was made for, an endless puzzle game that is filled with nothing but endless fun. Heck the original Gameboy launched with Tetris, and the Gameboy Color launched with Tetris DX. The reason we chose Tetris DX is because it added marathon mode and was in color. This is the game all my friends would play when I lent them my Gameboy on school trips. I would play this at home or in the car, and in some cases whenever I went to someplace boring that my parents forced me to go. It was only last week that I pulled out my Gameboy Advance to play some more of this game. The day my cartridge dies might as well be the day I die, or at least purchase another copy.

Now that we’ve listed our top 9, if anyone else is reading this, feel free to leave any comments or post your personal top 9.

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.

#9 Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. is top to bottom one of the greatest games ever. Everything about it is near perfect, from the ingenious enemy designs, to the meticulously crafted level designs, and the unbelievably infectious music. It pretty much set the standard for every 2-D game to come after it and built the empire that is now Nintendo. This would definitely have been higher but we didn’t want to overrun the countdown with Mario games.

#8 Mega Man 2

Whoever came up with the box art sucks, everyone else involved is awesome. The blue bombers second NES outing featured an even more outlandish cast of characters just waiting to get their powers stolen. The bosses in this game are some of the best in the entire series, and that’s saying a lot given the amount of Mega Man games there are now. I particularly like Metal Man, Flash Man, and Air Man. Mega Man 2’s improvements, however, were not simply in the bosses. The controls were tightened and the music was seriously upgraded. Capcom FTW.

#7 Contra

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start, put it in, grab a friend, and pray to the gods for victory. Contra is truly one of the hardest games around, but yet that’s part of the fun. It took the regular side-scrolling format, added a lot a bullets and some awesome co-op play. There isn’t too much to say about Contra in general, you’re Rambo (or Arnold based off the boxart), you grab ridiculously awesome powerups, blast aliens, and watch your 30 lives get drained, really quickly.

#6 Metroid

No matter how you put it, Metroid was a great a game. It was the first 2D game to introduce an adventure element and create a world rather than individual levels. It was also one of the first games to have a woman as the hero. That’s fine by me because she kicks some major ass. Combine that with some great graphics and awesome music, instant classic.

#5 Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

The Castlevania franchise is alive and kicking to this day. Yet as far as I’m concerned Castlevania 3 is still the best one around, except for Symphony of the Night of course. It innovated over the previous iterations by introducing several playable characters including Alucard, Grant, and Sylph. Each one played differently and followed a different path giving the game high replay value. The graphics were astounding for the time and the music as addictive as ever. If you don’t like it there’s something seriously wrong with you.

#4 Mike Tyson's Punch-Out

Before that loser Mr. Dream and before the infamous ear bite Mike Tyson was the baddest mofo on the planet. In that regard Punch Out was like a dream for all underdogs. Scrawny little Mac climbs the ladder defeating each racially stereotyped character he encounters, Vodka Drunkinski(only in Japan) was too funny, only to be unceremoniously annihilated by Iron Mike. Now to this day I have yet to defeat Tyson but I still try, and probably will continue to until the end of time.

#3 Ninja Gaiden 2

One of these games had to go on here so we chose the most difficult one, and by proxy the one we played the most. As can be seen on the boxart, Ninja Gaiden 2 will kick your ass over and over again. Almost everything about it was perfect. Awesome cut scenes that display a nonsensical storyline, some of the best 8-bit music ever, the tightest controls a side scroller has ever seen, and an extremely diverse cast of foes. Oh and by diverse I mean it, during your quest you’ll square off against football players, marines, witch things, spider throwing guys, robots, and the ultimate evil… birds. All this culminates with the inevitable showdown with Jaquio. This mother fucker didn’t have enough in the first game so he had to revive himself for a second ass kicking. Basically this took everything great about the original and improved on it.

#2 The Legend of Zelda

It’s the Legend of Zelda and it’s really rad,
Those creatures from Ganon are really bad,
Octorok’s and Tektite’s and Leever’s too,
With your help our hero will pull through.

#1 Super Mario Bros. 3

Tanooki suit, Kuribo’s Shoe, Hammer Bros Suit, Frog Suit, and P Wings, Super Mario 3 is eight worlds of badass. With a new world map format as well a plethora of new items and an organizer to store those items, Mario 3 improved on the Mario formula so much that’s its almost unrecognizable, in a good way. On the familiar side, our hero is once again tasked with rescuing Princess Peach, only this time Bowser brought his kids along to make sure you don’t get the job done. Which begs the question, did Bowser bone Peach, I’m just asking where he got the kids from?

Now that we’ve listed our top 9, if anyone else is reading this, feel free to leave any comments or post your personal top 9.

GET THE POWER!!!

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.

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.

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.

Gameplay:

The game is truly unlike any other RPG you’ve ever played, barring any other Shin Megami Tensei games. The first thing you’ll notice is the extremely high level of difficulty, which in this case is a huge plus. Nocturne spits in the face of all those extremely easy RPGs, we’re looking at you FF12.

This guy will kick your ass

Nocturne also employs a very unique battle system that rewards the player with extra turns for attacking with the enemy’s weakness. This can flipped on you as you will lose turns by attacking with the enemy’s strong points. These rules apply to the enemy as well so mixing and matching party members is more important than ever.

Assembling a party is made even more fun by the ability to recruit any monster in the entire game, even bosses. You can breed any two, or in some cases three, of these monsters to create a new one at the cathedral of shadows.

The hero is also customizable with different avatars called magatama. Each magatama teaches a unique skill set and carries with it a set of strengths and weaknesses that must also be accounted for.

As a final incentive you can recruit Dante from the Devil May Cry Franchise. The resident B.A.M.F. makes you jump through hoops to get him to join but believe me, it’s worth it.

This is still one of the scariest things ever

Story:

The story, while a tad bit unique, is definitely the weak point of the game. The game opens with the protagonist, I named mine Sleepy Brown, going to visit his hospitalized teacher. Once there he learns of a plot to destroy the world, pretty standard stuff right. Except instead of forming a party and saving the world the world is destroyed two minutes later. In the aftermath the hero must choose how to rebuild the world based on several paths. These paths, however, are only be affected by a few yes or no questions and don’t yield any side quests so they are not as cool as they could have been.

Sound:

The overall sound is solid and at times can jump to spectacular. All the themes, be they simple dungeons or the battle music are really infectious and fun to listen to. The tracks all subscribe to a rock and roll type style which fits nicely into the overall product.

There is no voice acting but that seem to fit the game, especially given the immense amount of characters present.

Conclusion:

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is one the most complete packages you will ever find in a game, great music, great graphics, and an extremely fun and innovative battle system. While the story is a bit lackluster the pluses more than make up for it. If you haven’t played it yet head over to playasia and grab it right now.

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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.

P.S.  Pick up the new Nas album, it’s pretty sick.