Awesome Games A-Z, pt. 3

And here we go with part three!

K! This one is super easy, because not only is it a great game, but in my opinion, it's the best game ever made. Naturally I mean Kirby 64. Kirby games are almost always awesome. Kirby 64 is still a classic-style side-scrolling Kirby game. But all the characters and backgrounds and enemies are rendered in 3-D, much like New Super Mario Bros. As always, you can suck up enemies and steal their powers. But this one, just like its SNES counterpart, lets you combine powers. For example, you can take snow power and add it to electric power. BOOM! You turn into a fridge. You can launch out food, which you can then eat to replenish health. Plus, the flying drumsticks and sandwiches kill enemies. How cool is that? I could go on for hours about this game. It's a perfect mix of great platforming, ingenious level design, excellent music, a nice story, and most importantly, loads of fun. Lucky for all of us, it's available on Virtual Console, so seriously, there's no reason you shouldn't own this game. If you don't have it, go buy it. Then come back. I'll wait...

Fun, huh? I knew you'd love it!

Runner-Up: Kirby Air Ride (GCN)

L! This choice was kind of hard, but not really. There are two L games that are far-and-away the best ever. The best one is the Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. It is one of the few games that I have given a perfect rating. It's a Zelda game, so naturally the quality level is very high. Not only that, it's easily the best and most engaging story of all Zelda games. Link wrecks his ship and washes up on the shore of a small island one day. He is found by a girl named Maryll, who nurses him back to health. He must then find his way off of the island to get home. That's all I'm gonna say, because the game is way too good to ruin. To give you an idea of how much I like it, I've completely played through it at least 5 times. It's got everything a great game needs: an excellent story, fantastic gameplay, imaginitive dungeons and bosses, and nice music and graphics (for its time). Do not surprised if this game shows up on Virtual Console for DSi someday. So get ready for it!

Runner-Up: Looney Tunes B-Ball (SNES)

M! Now this was truly a hard decision. I have nearly 100 M games. Think Mario, Metroid, Megaman, etc. But after a short brainstorm I have found the winner. Naturally, it's a Mario game. But it's not the kind of Mario game you might have been thinking. It is Mario Golf (GBC). There have been four Mario Golf games so far, but this one is the best. It's golf, but it's also an RPG. You run around, play golf, build up your stats, buy new equipment, and finally, get good enough to beat Mario himself. It's a brilliant idea, honestly. I put nearly 80 hours into the game before I finally beat everything, too. And that's definitely not a bad thing. It's an exciting game, and it has lots of extra features. For example, when you get a great shot, it saves it for you so you can watch it later. It also has a nice glossary, so you can look up all sorts of golf terms. In short, it's the best golf game ever made, and one of the best Mario games ever made as well. Again, when Gameboy games show up on Virtual Console, go get it!

Runner-Up: Mario Party 3 (N64)

N! N has significantly fewer games than M, so the decision was a little easier. And of course, why stop talking about great sports games? This one is one of the best. It's basketball, but it's arcade style, so you can push and shove and jump 30 feet in the air and run 90 mph. Of course I mean NBA Jam Tournament Edition (SNES). NBA Jam used to be the de-facto standard for arcade basketball games. This version improves on the original by adding special rules, such as Juice Mode (which makes your player run up to 4x faster than normal) and Hot Spots (where numbered circles appear on the court that give you up to 8 points for a single shot. It's insane, but that makes it insanely fun. Plus, there's practice mode, so you can play HORSE or other silly games. It's a good time, I tell ya whut. Strangely, it's not available on Virtual Console yet. but keep a watchful eye. It's worth buying.

Runner-Up: New Super Mario Bros. (NDS)

O! And finally, let's talk about O. This one's easy since I only have 2 O games I've played (and 1 I haven't yet). It's Okami. Okami is a story about Amaterasu, who is the Japanese sun god. Okami comes back after a 100-year slumber to help the people of Japan destroy one of the dark gods. It has a very cool cel-shaded (think cartoony) style. And it's a great story. It has a lot of accurate Japanese history as a backstory, which makes it fun to play. Plus, the controls work quite well. Amaterasu (at least in this game) has a magic paintbrush which can be used to slice things, draw items, etc. The goal of the game is to restore the greenery and peace to Japan, and of course that means destroying some of the annoying imps and monsters that appear. I haven't yet completed it, but I have played enough to know that it's a lot of fun, and a very polished game. It was made by Clover Studios, who also made Viewtiful Joe. Sadly, they are now defunct. Oh well. In any case, Okami is one of the most underrated and undersold games of this generation. Go buy it now!

Runner-Up: Operation Wolf (NES)

Well, that should do it for today. If you're lucky (and you're not), I'll be back tomorrow to bring part 4! Muhahaha!!

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Art Style PictoBits, Animal Crossing City Folk, Okami