24 other games you might be interested in.

With the holiday season coming up, there's nothing better than getting cozy on some comfy furniture, sipping some hot cocoa, eggnog, or whatever you like drinking, and playing some video games. There's nothing wrong with playing old favorites, but sometimes it's nice to spice things up every now and then with something different. For that reason, here's 24 not so obscure games you may or may not have played, but might be interested in. And before you ask, I'm not linking to any roms. It's not like they're hard to find, damnit.

In Actraiser, the combination of the platforming elements of older hack n' slashers on the NES, the town-raising elements seen in Simcity, the experience levels, spells, and items used in RPGs all contibute to the overall experience, and all of them are just as important as the other. You control a deity-like figure known as "the master", whose world has been ruined by outside forces. The game formula is simple, descend to the land to destroy monsters and bosses in the sidescrolling parts, then, in the simulation parts, restore life to the city and assist people from your castle above via an angel. Often, you will need to move to another part of the world and find an item for your city in despair, or else it cannot prosper. Graphics are early SNES grade, and rather quaint, although character design is rather impressive. Music is done by Yuzo Koshiro, and it is one of his most impressive soundtracks. Gameplay is a bit stiff, but easy to get the hang of. While the game is never too difficult, it is no easy task to fully maximize your population and some of the stages and bosses can be a bit cheap at times. Actraiser manages to be quite enjoyable, regardless of its occaisonal difficulty spikes. Fans of sim, action, and rpg games all have something to look forward to here, regardless of their total experience with each genre. (To opt for the more difficult japanese version, there is a patch available that fully translates it.)

Translation Patch: http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=actraiser
Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNuqbI7zMTE

Beyond Oasis sets a standard for action adventure games with both innovation and stylish flair. Oasis has a few button and switch puzzles, but it also has a number of hazards, traps, and other dangers as well. To help you out past those, you eventually call upon 4 spirits, each summoned from their own element, such as a pond or a torch, to get past various obstacles and fight alongside you. The bosses manage to be pretty wicked looking, and even generic enemies are neat. The detail is great. In addition to visual candy of the overworld and cave areas plus other visual candy, enemies can hurt each other, even be damaged by traps, like being kicked into a fire stream and burning to ashes. Where as most games like this start you with zip, Oasis actually gives you a knife and a full set of asskicking moves used by D-pad and attack button combos. You can use other weapons like swords, bows, and bombs, but these have limited usage, although high damage. The game stocks you well, so it's not too hard, but you can challenge yourself for a low-number rank by not collecting any HP up items or not getting any infinite use weapons. Music is also done by Yuzo Koshiro, and although it is not as outstanding as Actraiser's, it has a cool eastern hero feel. In terms of enjoyment, it depends on how you play really, whether you'd rather cheese through bosses or take them on with your knife and skills, or how curious you are to search for hidden passages and chests. Just about anyone can enjoy this, especially with food being as common in game as it is, thus making for lon-lasting HP.

Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKRE1oHzDYk (slowdown due to unregistered hypercam 2)

When most people think of Bionic Commando, they think of the NES version. However, the futuristic retelling of the NES game is often overlooked, despite being just as enjoyable. If you've never played any BC, the unique aspect about it is that it is a side-scrolling platformer in which you cannot jump. Instead, you use your bionic arm to swing from place to place or directly climb up overhead. Often times, you will have to perform multiple swings at once to cross over hazards safely. When fighting enemies, you can crouch to avoid fire and use your surroundings to your advantage. Like the NES game, you eventually gain multiple weapons and some equipment to lower damage. You acquire these by clearing different stages and by finding the key items needed to proceed in different locations, such as interceptors for enemy transmissions. There are a number of differences from the NES game. There are no longer overhead stages, as they are replaced by shorter normal stages with similar concepts. The bionic arm is slightly shorter, but it fires and retracts much faster than before, allowing near instant response and makes swinging and emergency grabs a breeze. Stages are not ports, and sport new, though familiar, designs. There are a few new bosses as well. Graphics are crisp and clean, looking just like an NES game sans the color. Gameplay is much smoother and faster than the NES. Difficulty is
mostly easy, starting with 3 hits, lowered life up costs, and passwords (although the area where your weapons are stolen can be a bit troublesome). Music really shines in this game. Consisting of new tracks and remixes of old ones, it plays surprisingly well for the GB. This is a great action experience for all platformer and BC fans alike.

Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKruS1WISiQ

Radia is suprisingly deep for an action RPG that came out in 1991. It's got a few elements seen in games like Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana in that some map tiles set off battles, and the gameplay is a bit similar, with a dash of RTS mixed in. You can command your allies individually to do certain tasks, like using magic, attacking a certain foe, or keeping away; or, command them all to fight on their own or meet at a certain spot. The character you control can only strike with his sword and issue commands (again, sort of like Mana, although with only one weapon per character), and when he dies, it's game over. He's pretty strong though and strikes the fastest, so don't worry too much. The game itself is not too long, but still quite impressive for the year it came out in. The story is a bit cliche at parts, but it's not too bad and the translation's not too shabby either. Graphics are a bit basic, but there are some neat little "cutscenes" at parts in the story, which are amusing to view. Music is a tad repetitive, but it kind of grows on you. Gameplay is a little bit slow compared to other Action RPGs, but it's not too bad, considering what they had to work with. Difficulty is not too much of an issue here, as it's quite easy to get money and heal at a multitude of save beds. It's a nice little title that starts out a bit plain but gets better in more ways than one as you progress. Unlike some games and RPGs of the time, it has aged quite nicely, and is still pretty fun despite its age.

Translation Patch: http://www.zophar.net/translations/nes/english/chronicle-of-the-radia-war.html
Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqgOVyMCmw

In this remake of the arcade game, Mario busts out more moves than he ever had up to that point. Handstands, backflips, triple jumps, and other moves also later seen in Super Mario 64 and Sunshine. In addition to the classic hammer, there's also Mario 2 (US) elements in that you can pick up some enemies and items and toss them at each other or to proceed past dangerous areas you couldn't normally. In addition to using your environment to swim, launch yourself off of wires and ropes, and bounce off springs, certain panels can be touched to create temporary bridges and ladders as well. The main objective is to get a key to a door; but, between enemies, obstacles, and the key returning to its spot when dropped for a while, you need to find, and often make, the most managable route you can, because your main enemy isn't DK, it's the ever decreasing level timer. The areas where you do showdown against DK are pretty interesting. The "miniboss" stages are endurance levels as you make it to the exit, one even resembling Donkey Kong Jr.'s first stage, and the "boss" ones are fights against DK throwing by barrels at him. Again, not as easy as they sound, especially later on. Graphics are pretty standard, but often humorous. Diffculty is evened out by the fact that you get tons of lives, easily hitting 50 and above very early on. One thing that surprisingly stands out about this is that DK '94 really brings the jams. The music is catchy and addictive, with an upbeat jazzy soundtrack during the stages, and some funky tunes during showdown stages. Combined with the sleek presentation of the game, just about anyone can enjoy this whether they are puzzle and platformer enthusiasts or not, since the difficulty increases at a nice even pace.

Gameplay Vid:
Arcade and City: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiHI2ZYxsBY
City and Forest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FzAeDyQOOk

6. Devil's Crush or Devil's Crush MD/Dragon's Fury [TurboGrafx-16 and Genesis]
Regarded as one of the greatest virtual pinball games, Devil's Crush is a hell of a pinball game. Featuring the twisted atmosphere found in Alien Crush, DC takes the gameplay from before to another level. There is a main table that you regularly play on, hitting a variety of objects to rack up points and bonus multipliers, but triggering certain events opens up entrances to bonus rounds. This is where the game sets itself apart. In these bonus tables, you are tasked with defeating some kind of demons depending on which table you are sent to. Completing them earns you a ball that scores more points per impact, and winning a bonus game with this ball earns you an even better one. Graphically, the game is spectacular. Everything is wonderfully detailed to points that would take too long to mention. In addition, the music is kickass synth rock that's impressive even today (As a sidenote: if you can find it, get the arranged soundtrack). It's hard to gauge the difficulty, since all it really depends on is your reactions along with timing and aiming. As for which version to play, I'd suggest either, even both. For the Genesis, the game is masterfully converted, only aesthetically differing in coloring. The graphics are a bit more detailed, and while the music is different in terms of sound chip, it isn't any worse than the original at all. A few bonus games are different, and the game is beat differently. While in the TG16 version, you must max out your score, your goal in the Genesis version is to finish all the bouns tables, and finish a secret 7th table to beat the game. Even if you've never played a pinball game or even seen a pinball table, you owe it to yourself to play this (and if you're up for it, go 2-player mode).

Gameplay Vid:
TG16: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UEWBQJ2OQ0
Genesis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ_2EbrbRb4

Steel Empire is not as universally recognized as other shmups, but it is quite stylish and intersting. You can choose from a fighter plane or a zeppelin, each with their own stats of size, speed, and life, as well as different mini-bombs. Both crafts can shoot forward and backwards though. An interesting premise about Steel Empire is that it uses an experience system. You level up by collecting experience coins, which increases your and your options' firepower, the number and power of mini-bombs launched, and maximum life. Music is mostly solumn sounding throughout, creating a heavy atmosphere that fits the wartorn steampunk world nicely. Now to move onto the differences. The Genesis version is significantly harder, but if you feel like it, you can use cheats on the options menu to get 99 ships, bombs, or maximum level. The GBA version is much more fair. Missiles can be destroyed and bosses don't use nearly as many bullet wave (not quite bullet hell, but close) patterns on you. However, to compensate for the lowered difficulty, you lose some experience whenever you die. It's less easy to die, so I guess this is to keep you on your toes. The graphics are a bit darker in tone and atmosphere on the genesis, but a bit more whimsical and detailed on the GBA. Resolution is compensated on the GBA by making everything smaller, so it's mostly the same for each. While the GBA version is a bit easier overall, it doesn't have cheats that I'm aware of (the genesis methods don't work). If you're a shmup vet, you might opt for the genesis version, where as the less experienced may go for the GBA version. Both titles are fun to play though, and fighting colossal steampunk machines is quite the invigorating experience.

Gameplay Vids:
Genesis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP-202JUhUk
GBA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpCNXwtqY2M

If you've played Solomon's Key, this game is similar in concept. Create blocks to get to various locations in the area, and destroy them when you don't need them. While you destroyed blocks to get to the key, the goal here is to extinguish fires. This is yet another of those games that sound easy, but soon show you how tough they really get. Unlike in Solomon's key, Dana uses ice blocks instead of his regular ones. In addition, he cannot jump, and he can only place and clear blocks below one unit in front of himself. Ice blocks made near walls become platforms that stick to walls to be used as steps, placing multiple ice blocks near each other creates long ice rows, and individual blocks can be pressed against and slid across a floor. You also have near infinite time and infinite retries compared to Solomon's key. Outside of normal levels, you have "boss" levels that follow the same concepts, but there are instant death obstacles outside of the flames themselves to deal with. Graphics are relative okay, although Dana has a few amusing animations. Music is nice and mellow, changing for every world, but the same throughout the world's stages. Difficulty starts out really easy, but it picks up fast. There's no tutorials, but every time a new concept like stones or pipes are introduced, that level is pretty much meant for you to catch onto them. It's a pretty enjoyable puzzle game that anyone can pick up on. There's passwords and even an edit mode to create your own stages.

Gameplay Vids:
Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t782B0zK3Y
Edit mode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7M7dHVS6Ko

Despite the somewhat tough intro level, TGL is an incredible splicing of genres. Combining overhead action-adventure elements with vertical shmup action stages, the style mimics its spiritual predecessor Golvellius, while adding much more. The exploration stages are streamlined, and due to Alissa's speed, easily navigated. However, you should always look out for item boxes, as they may hold weapons, upgrades, life, or chips. In addition, mini bosses sometimes appear. However, victory nets you a handy reward for each battle. The shmup stages play like other compile games, with some of your sub-weapons now having additional Aleste-like properties. Kill as many foes as you can, as some leave item boxes. The bosses are in the shmup levels, and can get pretty damn freaky looking. And although they go through pallette swaps, they change up their patterns too, so even fights against the same type of foe play differently. Graphics are pretty impressive for the NES. While, outside Alissa, nothing is animated much, everything is pretty detailed. Music varies from adventurous to cautious, although the melodies themselves are pretty good. The game can be difficult at times, but your score counter doubles as an experience meter and you can "level up" (more life and better speed) every now and then and as long as you explore, you'll find various weapon, attack, defense, and life upgrades. If you choose to play normally, you can to Rander for passwords. Enter TGL as a password to play through only the shmup stages. There is no saving here but you can continue when you die, at the cost of your entire score. TGL is great for those with experience in both genres under their belt. If you're a beginner to either one, you'll want to temper yourself first.

Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmh6056U0Nw

This is one of those puzzle games that requires planning and strategy. Despite being japanese, the concept is extremely easy to understand with no translation needed. Rotate an incomplete picture to the right angle and launch blocks in certain spots to complete it. As mentioned, it gets to where you really have to think before you act, or else you'll end up redoing a number of moves. Each set of puzzles revolves around helping a fellow Champ (duck-looking critter) in need while they are stuck in an often hilarious situation with humorous cutscenes before and after your job is done. The concept resembles picross and connect the dots, although it is less of a hassle than picross, and more fun than connecting dots. As for graphics, well, there isn't much to say. The cutscenes are like goofy little cartoons, although you are treated to a celebration each time you solve a puzzle with a crowd of Champs doing various actions (although it's the same crowd each time, it's still amusing). The music is limited to a few songs, the main theme being rather relaxing. It's not too hard for anyone to pick up and fairly challenging most of the time while still being enjoyable. The game itself is quite charming, and even if it does get a bit frustrating at times, it's too hard to hate it. Even if you aren't much of a puzzle gamer, it's worth giving a shot just for the quirkyness of it all.

Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29xjS3fOq68

11. Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak [Game Boy Advance]

An exploration adventure game similar to various point and clicks of old (except you move around and examine instead of click), one may not expect a game about a hamster who mends relationships to be that great, but it's put together quite well. It's pretty neat in that you learn actions and vocabulary in addition to gathering items to progress through different areas. These actions and vocabulary are context-sensitive, so you don't have to worry about scrolling through a list of all you know to get to what you need. However, you do get multiple choices at times, which have different effects based on the matter at hand. Some are useful, others are just there for amusing responses. The graphics are colorful and overflowing with cuteness. The music holds a similar effect, being very upbeat and cheerful. It's tough to consider this as being difficult as like a number of adventure games, you just have to figure out what works and what you have not tried or explored yet. It's even less difficult than those considering you can't die or anything like that. All things considered though, it manages to be enjoyable and pretty fun. Internet tough guys be damned, this game's a good time for anyone who wants to give it a chance.

Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTDu50k7F1c

Jewel Master is an intriguing little platformer. It's one of the earliest games to actually incorporate combining elements/magics to create stronger and/or alternate versions of attacks (This sort of concept was later seen in "Gunstar Heroes" and more recently, "Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia", to name a few). However it is a both interesting and a bit limiting in that every combination won't work and some cancel or lessen the effects of others. Simply put: don't mix fire with water or earth with wind. To compensate for this, attacks are given multiple levels, which increase in attributes based on the level your rings (except combining level 3 rings of all 4 elements, which instead gives you the ultimate attack). Graphics are quite arcade-ish, almost Golden axe like at times. Music is rather pumped up, being an early soundtrack of Motoaki Takenouchi, who later worked on games such as Landstalker and Shining Force II (again, to name a few). Like an arcade, difficulty is steep at times, worse so since you do not recover life between stages, only through potions, spirits who raise your maximum life by 1, and by continuing after death. Seeing as how you only have 3 continues, you must keep alert for openings in enemies, while following patterns to evade damage. There are only 5 stages, and the action is rather fast paced, so you can get through it in a day at most. While it might be a nice challenge for platformer vets, it can be a bit intimidating for beginners. Still, it's an interesting piece of history that's not too shabby for its day or this one.

Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVxLkAuLQfk (tool-assisted speedrun)

13. Lords of Thunder [Sega CD or Turbo CD]

To this day, Lords of Thunder reigns supreme over badass shmups. Others may be more kickass in gameplay, but none come close to how cool Lords of Thunder is. Choosing from 6 stages at the start and after clearing one, you already have more freedom than straight-forward numerical shmups. After choosing your stage, you get to choose which armor you use, although the water armor pretty much beats the game by itself. After that, you can prepare to deal out ass-beatings by stocking up at the shop before each stage actually starts. Once everything's in order, you're off. In addition to shooting out elemental pain, Landis can rip and tear with his bigass sword, which wouldn't sound like a good idea in a shmup, but it does mighty damage in rapid succession. And even though this is a horizontal shmup, the areas are design to incorporate horizontal, vertical, and diagonal scrolling. Graphics and music go hand in hand here. Nothing quite fits a flying armor-clad knight fighting giantic monsters and titanic demons more than metal. The songs sound as good as the graphics look. To put it briefly, the graphics are extremely detailed and animated pretty damn well and odds are you will find yourself putting the soundtrack on whatever gadget you listen to music on. Anyone can play this, and pretty much beat it with water armor, but those wanting a challenge can choose one of the other armors and set difficulty up to super. The Turbo CD version is a little bit brighter and crisper, but the Sega CD version has cleaner sound and has a vocalized intro and merchant.

Gameplay Vid:
Sega CD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEfLmYg7SjY
Turbo CD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6mMpnX9xwY

The last of the Monster World games, and despite some changes from the series standards, it manages to end on a high point and a nice note. MWIV is a vibrant, sidescrolling adventure game. A bit different from the Monster World games in that it follows a more-level oriented format instead of the free-roaming ness of II and, to an extent, III. It uses a similar partner system to III, but you can do more things. Pepelogoo is your best buddy once you hatch him. In additiion to double jumps and slower falls, he's essential to getting past otherwise impossible spots. Graphics are quite colorful, and Asha is animated quite well. While she isn't to say, Earthworm Jim levels, her actions and movements all have an accented and adorable touch to them, giving her a nice spark of personality, despite hardly speaking throughout the game. Music is rather mellow, but has a light middle eastern flair that's rarely done quite as well. As for difficulty, it's pretty easy as long as you go out of your way to get life up collectables and new gear. Instead of extra defense, you get life, which means mighty fine longevity considering you only lose 1 heart more times than none and shields are pretty useful this time around. The game is
rather short, but it is also rather memorable. Even if it lacks the depth of other games, it's got more heart than you commonly see. It doesn't go out of its way to do a lot of things, but for what it does do, it does right. A sweet little game for anyone.

Translation Patch: http://www.zophar.net/translations/genesis/english/monster-world-iv.html
Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKqssRcZlys

The high point of the series in terms of multiplayer experience (no chunking player 2 at the enemy then waiting for a respawn), Pocky and Rocky, like most overhead run n' gun games, can be pretty damn tough at times. All things considered, it's all about knowing what to do and when through trial and error. Sometimes it's better to walk than slide, stand your ground and get up close as opposed to shooting and dodging from afar, and other such situations. The thing is that the game itself is quite fast-paced, so you may forget in the heat of combat. One slip up could leave you with major damage or dead. Now, while this is typical of several run n' gun games, the one likes to throw you into these situations alot, which is why it gets this specific mention. Graphics are a bit dark for the SNES. Nothing ridiculously dark, but it complements the eerie bizzare world of the game quite well, despite characters themselves being quite cartoony. The music is also rather "dark", but has a strangely upbeat eastern flair. It's pretty much a style of it's own that I can't compare to anything else except maybe Touhou and that's stretching it. Outside of actual player reactions and memorization, the only way this game gets more difficult is to change the settings on the options. It's tough at first, but anyone can get the hang of it. Since Player 2 controls identically, teaming up works quite well here, unlike the sequel where player 1 drags 2 around, who, as a result, has less overall freedom. Fun for 1 or 2, this game is a nice change of pace for run n' gun fans, and a challenging, but still enjoyable start for those new to the genre.

Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q40QZ5QyjrU

Working Designs was a hell of a company. They could take some of the most dull moments in japanese games and invigorate them full of vitality. They're dead now, but not forgotten. Popful Mail was one of the games they worked on. Off the bat, if you want a more easier version, and don't mind the japanese text and voice, opt for the japanese version, as WD ramped up the difficulty while they worked on it. If you prefer the WD version, be prepared for a pretty tough little platformer with a number of cheap deaths scattered about. Nothing YsIII-like, but pretty close at times. Popful Mail is an action-platformer but much nicer and smoother than most. Action goes pretty fast, although you can still do some exploring, mostly to find shops and a few items. Your Life is permanently set, so you need to stock up on items whenever you can, especially before bosses. You eventually get the help of two other characters, one of whom allows you to explore some areas you couldn't before. Everyone has their own life bar, but when one dies, it's game over. Music is fairly catchy, sounding rather Falcom-like, which is always a good thing. I've already mentioned difficulty, so let's focus on enjoyment. Popful Mail is like a child of the early 90's. It somewhat resembles Slayers (Mail's japanese voice is Lina's as well) in subject manner and rather humorous exchanges. The voice cast for Popful Mail also worked on other WD games like Lunar and Magic Knight Rayearth. If you're old or interested enough to know of these things, it makes it a trip to the past in addition to being a funny little platformer. Even if you aren't that into old stuff like that, this is still a nice challenge and quite fun to experience.

Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z_9nrkvoto

Game Freak didn't always make Pokemon games. One of their more popular and successful games is Pulseman. Having the variety of skills like Megaman and the high speed of Sonic, this game blends the styles nicely. The main draw of Pulseman is his ability to build up electricity. Do this by running or "swishing" (double tap left or right). Where as running charges quickly, swishing does so instantly, but you are briefly vulnerable after doing so. After that, Pulseman's moves of slicing and sparking now become the powerful Flash Arrow and Volteccer respectively. Volteccer lets you briefly fly through the skies but bounce off of walls infinitely, making exploration a snap. You are invincible while doing so, but if you don't hit a surface fast enough, it ends and you must recharge. Backflip kicks and trips are also available and serve well for tight situations. Graphics are rather detailed during normal sequences and quite trippy during cyberspace sections. To further serve the far-out experiences of cyberspace (and normal areas too), Junichi Masuda whipped out a totally rad trance/techno soundtrack full of slow and mellow and fast and pumped songs. If you've played the DS Pokemon games, some of them will sound quite familiar. The only really difficult part of Pulseman is that you can only take 3 hits a life. While powerups are mostly plentiful, you can find spark balls, which 10 of will give you a 1-up, fairly easily. The mid-stage checkpoints are also a bit out of the way, but bosses are rechallenged without any pre-fight stuff. Bosses can be challenging, making you to consider what's your best move for the situation. Other than that, it's one of those fun for anyone games, but platformer beginners may want to exploit flipkicks.

Translation Patch for text: http://mijet.eludevisibility.org/Pulseman/Pulseman.html
Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XtzoNv2Jzw (a bit laggy at parts. sorry)

18. Shaman King: Master Of Spirits 2 [Game Boy Advance]

Don't let the licensing fool you. This is one solid action game. While compared to a cross between classic Castlevania and Aria of Sorrow, it plays most like Order of Ecclesia, although you have a no-cost default attack (and later some attack skills). You go through connected stages, some more complicated than others, with boss fights at the end of some. Boss fights are mostly fun, sometimes a bit challenging, too. While some stages outside of your main path are available, you may not be able to fully access them or take the spoils found within until you have the needed abilities. Graphics are rather nice, with sprites large enough to have some detail, and animated mostly well. The areas themselves are detailed quite well, and feature some not so typical locales at times. The music is rather mellow, sometimes getting fast paced for certain areas, and rather peppy for boss fights. Difficulty here is quite a jump from the usual action fare. Sporting 4 difficulty levels at the start, each significantly tougher than the last, it can be no problem on easy and a helluva beatdown on expert (On expert, the first generic enemy you meet can kill you in 4 hits, and takes a full combo to kill). Difficulty is lessened some by finding temporary stat boost items in stages and buying food on the map, although some foods take up more space than others. While the stage setup may be annoying at first, roughly halfway into the game, you can get a spirit that lets you warp to the start/exit of stages you've already beaten, so just wait it out. No need to be a Shaman King fan to enjoy this one, being a platformer or Castlevania lover is enough. The difficulty options make it a nice start for beginners and a good challenge for vets.

Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q22PqyDapOM (a bit laggy at parts. sorry)

Shantae is one of the best fleshed out platformers with respect to its system limitations. With her attack skills, support items, and transformation dances, along with spot-on control, Shantae can do alot more than most other platformer characters. Now granted, you don't start out with all of this, but you can gain most of it rather quickly, mostly if you go to the dance parlor to play a rhythm game sequence that can really test your reactions on higher levels. The transformations are useful in situations that you could not normally deal with, but there are 2 secret dances which are solely convenient (1 of the 2 can only be found by playing on a game boy advance). The graphics are wonderful. Almost near GBA levels of color, detail, and depth. In addition to that, the sprites, especially Shantae's, are animated with smoothly and fluidly with a high number of frames. The music is done by Jake Kaufman/Virt, and brings out some really hot melodies. Difficulty can be abit tough at first. You don't start out with much life, and as a result, you need to act with caution. However, checkpoint spots are rather fair, never sending you too far back. After the intro scenario and first boss this soon changes, and becomes more fairer with respect to your current abilities. The characters are designed by Matt Bozon, and as a result have an amusing flair to them. The females are generally cute and sexy and the males are often goofy and humorous. Dialogue is rather amusing and worth the read, so don't take the game too hastily. Overall, it's a great game that a lot of people may have missed out on. A must-play for any platformer fan, regardless of experience.

Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzmMeayEC0c (LP bullshit)

20. Shin Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio Tachi no Banka [SNES]

Formerly going by Alex and Ryan in River City Ransom, Kunio and Riki are back to dish out even more asskickings. After being framed for murder, thrown behind bars, and dressed in stripes, you can't do much at the start. After the first few scenes, you get back your school colors and get a handful of moves which serve very nicely in combat. Soon after, you meet up with your galpals, giving you a total of 4 characters, each with their own moves, to swap out at any time (except the few bike stages). Unlike RCR, you can't get new moves, stats increases, etc., as this is a straight-forward beat 'em up. You start with all you need, so don't worry. Graphics are great. Very detailed and animated pretty well. The music in this game is ridiculously catchy. It sounds like an action movie score with its strong melodies and themes, and even though some songs are used more often than others, they all leave an impression, especially area or character specific themes. Difficulty isn't too bad, but bosses can be tough as nails (especially a certain reoccuring boss) and the bike stages are pretty cheap. If any of your selectable players dies, it's game over. You can continue from the last area you entered, or use one of the 62(!) 4-character passwords to get anywhere. What makes this game really stand out is the 2-player option, in that either player can be whoever isn't currently in use. Between the outstanding gameplay, the music, the huge password archive, and 2-player mode, you pretty much have to hate beat 'em ups in order to not enjoy this game.

Translation Patch: http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=banka
Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4UPXD0oH50

21. SNK Vs Capcom - Match Of The Millennium [Neo Geo Pocket Color]

Before the GBA, handheld fighters had generally been rather weak due to limitations of the hardware. Match of the Millenium destroyed these limitations, and was just as good as some of the console fighters available at the time. The cast consists of SNK and Capcom superstars from a few of their different fighting games. In addition, it features 3 different modes of play, between solo (with a player-set number of matches), tag (swap out at anytime), or team (3 on 3, with slight healing between matches) with the additional option of 3 different super guage build up styles. In addition to the main mode, you can unlock super moves for characters by scoring points in olympic mode, playing either mini-games with characters from other games, or opting for challenges using the normal fighting system. Fighting in general is fast, smooth and extremely respondant to controls. Graphics are rather impressive. The characters are more cartoony here and only have a few colors, but they're well animated for the system, plus the backgrounds and effects are quite detailed. Music is intresting as well, featuring low-bit remixes of every fighter's theme that manage to sound pretty good. Difficulty really depends on how high or low you set it, and with the option to make specials and supers even easier to use, even fighting beginners can play this no problem. Despite being on a portable, this is a classic case of big things in small packages. If you can, play it on an actual NGPC, for the full enjoyment of its wonderful analog, which brings out the game's best experience.

Gameplay Vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Ed4N0gaOw

22. Tails Adventure [Game Gear]

Tails Adventure is a neat little concept executed surprisingly well. Compared to the high speed of Sonic games, this is slower and acts more on exploring, jumping, flying, and most importantly, your gadgets. In an unorthodox twist, you can only bring 4 gadgets with you at any time. This adds a whole extra level of strategy, since you need the right items to move on. You can figure it out early in a stage though, so don't fret. Another neat aspect is that once you find new gadgets in later stages, you can get to new areas from older stages. The most handy gadget of all though, is the remote robot, which serves for navigation, exploration, and item finding. For some stages, it becomes a submarine, which has its own gadgets apart from your own. The graphics are extremely impressive, almost getting to Genesis levels of color and detail at times. Music is pretty good, too, and some melodies are rather catchy. Difficulty is pretty fair throughout the game. You can increase your life and flight time by finding chaos emeralds, although they serve no other purpose than that.  Just about anyone can get into this, although it does start off a bit tough due to your limited inventory. This is a nice sidestory to traditional Sonic fare, as it's aged quite well, and is longer than it seems.

Gameplay Vids:
Normal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgsA_-gg_NE
Robot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42BBcE3xNCo (skip to 1:35)

23. Wonderboy 3: The Dragon's Trap (AKA Dragon's curse) [Master System/Game Gear/TurboGrafx-16/PC]

This is one of the great pioneers of the adventure-platformer genre. After the teasing intro scenario, you don't start with much, however, through exploration, killing foes, and finding chests full of gold, you can buy your way to pumped up stats pretty fast, along with increasing your amount of handy items. You transform into different forms throughout the games, each with their own unique skills along with strengths and weaknesses. Where as transformations are situational, you eventually get some swords that act more like tools and can be used by any form. Graphics are colorful and vivid, regardless of the system, and have that classic cartoon feel typical of Monster World. Music is one of more enjoyable aspects of the game, as the melodies are lively and the songs mainly used are surpisingly fleshed out for the era. This can be a bit tough if you don't have the best gear you can have at the time, but as mentioned, money is pretty easy to make, especially if you run across hidden areas. If you are a fan of exploring and platformers and haven't played this yet, you're really missing out. As for the best version, the Master System/Game Gear version has tighter controls, handy passwords, and has a more retro-style to it (with the GG version being more streamlined), but the TG16 version is a bit faster and has saving, but has looser controls that can cause some slip-ups, so it's your call. (Also, for those who have played the game or want more of a challenge, a "master quest" version for PC exists with different and more difficult maps to test your mettle.)

PC version: http://www.classic-retro-games.com/Wonderboy-III-The-Dragons-Trap_337.html
Gameplay Vids:
SMS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA77_zFSSDE
TG16: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kILrkckT65Q
No video for PC remake that I'm aware of. Sorry.

*24. Extra Mario Bros. [NES romhack of the original Super Mario Bros.]

Unlike most hacks of Mario games made to cater to the more hardcore crowds who know the in-and-outs of the games to exploit various mechanics and so on, this is one of the few made for pure enjoyment. While, like other hacks, it can be exploited, you really don't need to, although it can make some parts easier. This is a very special hack that combines Mario with another game which shall not be named to avoid spoiling the surprise. It starts out relatively normal, but as soon as you get a certain mushroom, you figure out what this game really is, especially after entering the first new area. Like this particular game, you can increase Mario's skills, such as allowing his fireballs to perform differently and break certain tiles to find secrets and passages, and even give Mario some very familiar abilities. Despite being an NES game, the songs from that other game played here sound quite impressive, and are arranged with a retro flair. It can get pretty difficult at times, but it's mostly about exploring and finding new skills and new passages that you might have overlooked or couldn't get to before. Definitely not for beginners to platforming or Mario to say the least, especially since they might not quite know the basic mechanics and they might also miss out on some of the references. That said, for the older, more experienced crowd that is familiar with Mario games and "that game" which you've probably figured out by now, it's a great experience that takes the gameplay of mario, but with the exploration and some abilities of "that game" and mixes the two wonderfully. It's a blast for anyone looking for alternatives to either series, while still enjoying what they love about both.

IPS Patch: http://www.auntiepixelante.com/?p=244
Gameplay vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azll6F8CY8o

Well, that's the end. Happy holidays and gaming. Peace out ya'll.

>>26
Wow, thanks!