Unless it gets a name change of course! Personally, I found the first two Layton games pretty short. The Curious Village's main story took me around 6 hours to complete and Pandora's box, while being a much less bland experience took around 10 hours. The games are still awesome though, and are quite possibly some of the best puzzlers ever made and the third title in the series looks to be even better. The setting seems more interesting and (thank the gods) this one's actually a lot longer. Once again we only have 168 puzzles (excluding DLC) but the story seems so much better than the previous games. Layton and his cockney apprentice are taking some time off puzzle solving and are chilling out in their London based flat. After a scientist claims to have invented a time machine Layton and Luke check it out, hoping to see the future. Andrew Schrader (Layton's teacher who appeared in Pandora's Box) gets to be the first to try out the time machine. After the scientist's invention goes Awol and blows up, Layton and Luke believe that Schrader has been killed, while the scientist claims he has travelled into the future. Layton and luke visit the scientist's house only to find nobody home and they decide to leave, only to find they are in the future london after stepping outside! With more animated cut-scenes, a much longer story and a better plot, The Last Time Travel looks to be the best Layton game yet!
9. Infinite Space
When it was first announced I wasn't very interested in Infinite Space, sure it's coming from Platinum games, but it's kind of weird for them to bring out an RPG set in space after the excellent Madworld. Or so I thought. The Americans are saying it's one of the most enjoyable games on the DS and it'll keep you happy for around 100 hours and after hearing about what you can do in it on the ONM podcast I became hyped. The basic idea is you need to keep your spaceship in tip-top condition and also keep your crew happy by conversing with them and giving them jobs they enjoy. You can even clean up the place and buy furniture and items to customise the interior. It's your ship, do what you want with it! While the story doesn't seem to get my attention I love the idea of having your own spaceship! It's like the Sims but in space, What an awesome concept! I sure do hope Platinum games can pull it off.
8. Sin and Punishment 2
It's time the Wii got a good on rails shooter that wasn't just made to come with a peripheral. Well, we're getting one and it comes in the form of Sin and Punishment 2. Being the sequel to one of the hardest N64 games ever (which was unfortunately never released in the UK) the difficulty certainly isn't toned down. In fact, Sin and Punishment 2 looks to be one of the hardest games on the Wii, Maybe even one of the hardest games ever. Of course, I haven't played it so I don't know this for certain but I'll trust what we've heard so far; Millions of bullets swarm through each action packed level and homing missiles are constantly moving in on you and there's apparently no slowdown which is certainly very impressive for such a fast paced game. The game even has an online leaderboard where players of the game can submit their high scores for each level! I don't really see myself showing up on there though. The only slight problem is I suspect that the game may be pretty short. That's just a theory, mind. Anywho, I'll be keeping my hopes up for Sin and Punishment 2!
7. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
I think it's now safe to say that NMH2 is awesome. Much more bosses, better mini games, more replay value and even the ability to buy some new threads for travis make No More Heroes 2: Desperate struggle much better than the original game. I recently watched the first few parts of a walkthrough and the game looks truly awesome; the wacky characters Suda51 has come up with for the game are spectacular, hilarious and weird. The best thing about the original game was it's style and the sequel is packed full of it. Suda seems to have taken some ideas from loads of classic games and stuffed them all into his own game and it seems to work. Instead of the boring and badly made 3D minigames we got in No More Heroes 1, we now have NES themed 2D games! Huzzah! The overworld has also been scrapped for a simple map where you can go anywhere and continue the story with just the click of a button! There's also the customisation feature I mentioned before, where you can visit Airport 51 and buy some new threads for travis to wear. You'll need some cash which you can earn from the minigames to buy these though. Of course, you don't have to do any of this stuff if you just want to continue the story. Just press that ranking match button and get on with it! There's even cameos from Shinobi and Henry and some returning bosses to treat the fans of the first game. Lots of fan service then! It's out in April so there's still some time to wait for NMH2, but it'll be worth it.
6. Monster Hunter Tri
The third game in the excellent Monster Hunter Series. Being a fan of Capcom's hunting sim I'll certainly be picking up Tri, the first game in the series to hit a Nintendo console (unless you're Japanese). If you aren't familiar with Monster Hunter, it's a hunting sim RPG. Before beginning your adventure you create an avatar and are given some money to buy some gear. There are several different weapon types to choose from including huge swords and even guns! After buying a weapon and some armour then you can talk to 'the master', an old man who gives you missions based on your hunter rank (one star to five stars). The more stars you earn the better the equipment available in the towns. When I played through the original game back in 2008 I enjoyed it, but the world it was set in was very small. Thankfully, Monster Hunter Tri is much bigger. There's several towns to visit, a huge hub and several new landscapes for monster hunting. There's more shops and NPC's to talk to and Capcom have even created a huge online community so you can chat with some real people! And it doesn't require friend codes! That will keep lots of people happy, surely. You can even team up with other hunters to do some of the game's harder quests! Online sounds like a blast, but offline the game looks awesome too (unlike a certain Phantasy Star Zero). Hopefully Capcom will keep their promises and make Monster Hunter Tri awesome. And they will.
5. Golden Sun DS
I fondly remember playing the final boss of Golden Sun 2 at my friend's house a few years ago. I wasn't very amazed at the time (I didn't know anything about Nintendo back then) but looking back on it now, Golden Sun is one of the best RPGs ever released. Great characters, a well written story and an innovative battle system are what make GS brilliant. Golden Sun DS is the third title in the series after Golden sun and Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age. While the first two games where 2D, the DS version will be 3D. And that applies to the battle system too. What makes these battles great, you say? Well, it's too hard for me to explain so just take a look at this video. Did you watch it? As you can see from that, the moves your party can pull off are insanely over the top, which is good. Chucking an enemy into the sky and slashing them to the ground has never been so much fun. We haven't seen a hectic RPG for a while now and if Golden Sun DS can beat it's predecessors then we're surely in for a treat. We don't really know anything else about the game so let's move on to number 4.
Here's where things get interesting. Why is Super Mario Galaxy 2 my number 4? And why is one of Nintendo's flagship titles behind a 3rd party Capcom game? Well, It's because I've never played the original.
That's right, I've never experience Super Mario Galaxy, but at least I know it's great, right? I'll probably be picking it up soon. Anyway, enough about that, because I'm supposed to be talking about the sequel! Back at E3 2009 Nintendo announced Mario Galaxy 2 and it blew me away. I mean, this is the first time Nintendo have ever took one game and added more to it, instead of tinkering with it. Mario Galaxy 2 looks exactly the same as the original, but that's no bad thing. Miyamoto stated that 90% of the galaxies in the sequel are new and we'll be revisiting some old ones as well. I suppose it's a very good idea, but quite risky. I fear people will feel too much deja-vu and not enjoy the game as much as they would if the original was never released. One thing that helps me stray away from that fear is the inclusion of Yoshi! It's a shame that the green fellow was never in the original Galaxy, since you could ride him in Sunshine. This time though, you can fly around on Yoshi and he also has his own power-ups! Let's hope Yoshi makes regular appearances (at least one per galaxy) Unlike New Super Mario Bros Wii. I hope Rosalina and Luigi make a return as well, that'd be ace. Maybe even Wario could be in it! He could fart to fly around as he did in Brawl (good times...) How Super Mario Galaxy 2 will improve on it's predecessor I will never know, but if it manages to it will be good.
3. Tatsunoko VS Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars
Viewtiful Joe is alive! Sorry, I couldn't stop myself :3. Tatsunoko VS Capcom (or rather, the best fighting game on Wii excluding Smash Bros) looks absolutely incredible. Better than SF4? Definitely. In fact, 100% of the time people are comparing TVC with street fighter they say this is better, and who can blame them? TVC has a much more interesting character roster, combining heroes and villains from both the Tatsunoko (Gatchaman, Doronjo, Gold Lightan) and Capcom (Ryu, Mega Man, Viewtiful Joe) franchises. I bet you're wondering who Tatsunoko are? Well, they're a very famous Japanese anime studio, kind of the Japanese equivalent of Disney. They've made several famous anime shows over the years. But still, it's surprising that we're even getting this game, because nobody's heard of Tatsunoko! I didn't until I found out about the game. Anywho, It's coming here soon and it looks great. The gameplay is extremely over the top. I mean, was there ever a fighting game where you could play as a giant golden lighter and throw Ryu around the stage? I don't think so. The controls are also easy to learn; it's a 3 button fighter and there's no complicated movesets to be found. Instead, every character has similar moves activated by the same button combinations. There are loads of different skills you can learn, but if you just want to get stuck into the game then you don't have to pay attention to any of that stuff. That's what makes Tatsunoko VS Capcom great, it's easy to get to grips with but difficult to master.
2. Metroid: Other M
When I saw the Metroid: Other M trailer at E3 last year I certainly was shellshocked, but at the same time I wasn't surprised. Metroid seems to be the series that Nintendo really aren't afraid or reinventing. Being the third change after the original 2D games and the Prime series, Other M looks to be a mix of 2.5D side scrolling sections and 3rd person sections. That's just a guess from looking at the trailer, mind. Metroid Other M is set in-between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion from the original series. We don't know anything else about the story apart from the fact it will be very emotional according to Team Ninja, the folks who are collaborating with Nintendo to make the game. That seems pretty interesting, since the previous games seemed a little isolated. I really feel sorry for Samus Aran! Something else that is pretty interesting is if you stick the M before Other, it spells Mother. Hardcore Metroid fans should know what that means. Anywho, Metroid: Other M looks awesome and it's out in the second half of the year. Now, onto the big number 1...
1. Zelda Wii
Kind of obvious I know, but it's amazing how we've only been shown one piece of artwork and heard some bits of news and Zelda Wii seems to be at the top of everyone's lists. Still, it was inevitable. The Legend of Zelda is a series so dependably great that it doesn't matter what you're shown, you just know it's going to end up awesome. Anyway, the reason it's at the top of my list is because Zelda has always been my favourite series. The charm the titles give out and the clever storylines make Zelda games and while we don't know anything about the story, the promises Nintendo have made add to the hype. For the first time the big N have decided to drop the bombshell and reinvent the series.
What they mean by this is that they're going to stay away from the usual landscape to dungeon progression. While I don't think they should get rid of dungeons all together, this is a breath of fresh air after the previous games in the series. Anyway, onto something even more revealing. Ever heard of 2Chan? It's a japanese forum known for leaking info about games ages before release. They gave out the entire plot of Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Zelda: The Wind Waker before they even hit the shops. Now a member has said some very interesting stuff about Zelda Wii. Prepare for a post on that. Anyway, it's all very revealing but you could just think of it as untrue. But the interesting thing is that the forum leaked something before Nintendo announced it: the change of pace. Whether you trust 2Chan or not, if what they say is true then wow, this is THE Zelda Game. Anywho, the interesting reinvention of the series looks to make Zelda Wii the best game yet. Can it beat Twilight Princess as my favourite game ever? hopefully...
When it was first announced I wasn't very interested in Infinite Space, sure it's coming from Platinum games, but it's kind of weird for them to bring out an RPG set in space after the excellent Madworld. Or so I thought. The Americans are saying it's one of the most enjoyable games on the DS and it'll keep you happy for around 100 hours and after hearing about what you can do in it on the ONM podcast I became hyped. The basic idea is you need to keep your spaceship in tip-top condition and also keep your crew happy by conversing with them and giving them jobs they enjoy. You can even clean up the place and buy furniture and items to customise the interior. It's your ship, do what you want with it! While the story doesn't seem to get my attention I love the idea of having your own spaceship! It's like the Sims but in space, What an awesome concept! I sure do hope Platinum games can pull it off.
It's time the Wii got a good on rails shooter that wasn't just made to come with a peripheral. Well, we're getting one and it comes in the form of Sin and Punishment 2. Being the sequel to one of the hardest N64 games ever (which was unfortunately never released in the UK) the difficulty certainly isn't toned down. In fact, Sin and Punishment 2 looks to be one of the hardest games on the Wii, Maybe even one of the hardest games ever. Of course, I haven't played it so I don't know this for certain but I'll trust what we've heard so far; Millions of bullets swarm through each action packed level and homing missiles are constantly moving in on you and there's apparently no slowdown which is certainly very impressive for such a fast paced game. The game even has an online leaderboard where players of the game can submit their high scores for each level! I don't really see myself showing up on there though. The only slight problem is I suspect that the game may be pretty short. That's just a theory, mind. Anywho, I'll be keeping my hopes up for Sin and Punishment 2!
I think it's now safe to say that NMH2 is awesome. Much more bosses, better mini games, more replay value and even the ability to buy some new threads for travis make No More Heroes 2: Desperate struggle much better than the original game. I recently watched the first few parts of a walkthrough and the game looks truly awesome; the wacky characters Suda51 has come up with for the game are spectacular, hilarious and weird. The best thing about the original game was it's style and the sequel is packed full of it. Suda seems to have taken some ideas from loads of classic games and stuffed them all into his own game and it seems to work. Instead of the boring and badly made 3D minigames we got in No More Heroes 1, we now have NES themed 2D games! Huzzah! The overworld has also been scrapped for a simple map where you can go anywhere and continue the story with just the click of a button! There's also the customisation feature I mentioned before, where you can visit Airport 51 and buy some new threads for travis to wear. You'll need some cash which you can earn from the minigames to buy these though. Of course, you don't have to do any of this stuff if you just want to continue the story. Just press that ranking match button and get on with it! There's even cameos from Shinobi and Henry and some returning bosses to treat the fans of the first game. Lots of fan service then! It's out in April so there's still some time to wait for NMH2, but it'll be worth it.
The third game in the excellent Monster Hunter Series. Being a fan of Capcom's hunting sim I'll certainly be picking up Tri, the first game in the series to hit a Nintendo console (unless you're Japanese). If you aren't familiar with Monster Hunter, it's a hunting sim RPG. Before beginning your adventure you create an avatar and are given some money to buy some gear. There are several different weapon types to choose from including huge swords and even guns! After buying a weapon and some armour then you can talk to 'the master', an old man who gives you missions based on your hunter rank (one star to five stars). The more stars you earn the better the equipment available in the towns. When I played through the original game back in 2008 I enjoyed it, but the world it was set in was very small. Thankfully, Monster Hunter Tri is much bigger. There's several towns to visit, a huge hub and several new landscapes for monster hunting. There's more shops and NPC's to talk to and Capcom have even created a huge online community so you can chat with some real people! And it doesn't require friend codes! That will keep lots of people happy, surely. You can even team up with other hunters to do some of the game's harder quests! Online sounds like a blast, but offline the game looks awesome too (unlike a certain Phantasy Star Zero). Hopefully Capcom will keep their promises and make Monster Hunter Tri awesome. And they will.
I fondly remember playing the final boss of Golden Sun 2 at my friend's house a few years ago. I wasn't very amazed at the time (I didn't know anything about Nintendo back then) but looking back on it now, Golden Sun is one of the best RPGs ever released. Great characters, a well written story and an innovative battle system are what make GS brilliant. Golden Sun DS is the third title in the series after Golden sun and Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age. While the first two games where 2D, the DS version will be 3D. And that applies to the battle system too. What makes these battles great, you say? Well, it's too hard for me to explain so just take a look at this video. Did you watch it? As you can see from that, the moves your party can pull off are insanely over the top, which is good. Chucking an enemy into the sky and slashing them to the ground has never been so much fun. We haven't seen a hectic RPG for a while now and if Golden Sun DS can beat it's predecessors then we're surely in for a treat. We don't really know anything else about the game so let's move on to number 4.
4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
Here's where things get interesting. Why is Super Mario Galaxy 2 my number 4? And why is one of Nintendo's flagship titles behind a 3rd party Capcom game? Well, It's because I've never played the original.
That's right, I've never experience Super Mario Galaxy, but at least I know it's great, right? I'll probably be picking it up soon. Anyway, enough about that, because I'm supposed to be talking about the sequel! Back at E3 2009 Nintendo announced Mario Galaxy 2 and it blew me away. I mean, this is the first time Nintendo have ever took one game and added more to it, instead of tinkering with it. Mario Galaxy 2 looks exactly the same as the original, but that's no bad thing. Miyamoto stated that 90% of the galaxies in the sequel are new and we'll be revisiting some old ones as well. I suppose it's a very good idea, but quite risky. I fear people will feel too much deja-vu and not enjoy the game as much as they would if the original was never released. One thing that helps me stray away from that fear is the inclusion of Yoshi! It's a shame that the green fellow was never in the original Galaxy, since you could ride him in Sunshine. This time though, you can fly around on Yoshi and he also has his own power-ups! Let's hope Yoshi makes regular appearances (at least one per galaxy) Unlike New Super Mario Bros Wii. I hope Rosalina and Luigi make a return as well, that'd be ace. Maybe even Wario could be in it! He could fart to fly around as he did in Brawl (good times...) How Super Mario Galaxy 2 will improve on it's predecessor I will never know, but if it manages to it will be good.
Viewtiful Joe is alive! Sorry, I couldn't stop myself :3. Tatsunoko VS Capcom (or rather, the best fighting game on Wii excluding Smash Bros) looks absolutely incredible. Better than SF4? Definitely. In fact, 100% of the time people are comparing TVC with street fighter they say this is better, and who can blame them? TVC has a much more interesting character roster, combining heroes and villains from both the Tatsunoko (Gatchaman, Doronjo, Gold Lightan) and Capcom (Ryu, Mega Man, Viewtiful Joe) franchises. I bet you're wondering who Tatsunoko are? Well, they're a very famous Japanese anime studio, kind of the Japanese equivalent of Disney. They've made several famous anime shows over the years. But still, it's surprising that we're even getting this game, because nobody's heard of Tatsunoko! I didn't until I found out about the game. Anywho, It's coming here soon and it looks great. The gameplay is extremely over the top. I mean, was there ever a fighting game where you could play as a giant golden lighter and throw Ryu around the stage? I don't think so. The controls are also easy to learn; it's a 3 button fighter and there's no complicated movesets to be found. Instead, every character has similar moves activated by the same button combinations. There are loads of different skills you can learn, but if you just want to get stuck into the game then you don't have to pay attention to any of that stuff. That's what makes Tatsunoko VS Capcom great, it's easy to get to grips with but difficult to master.
When I saw the Metroid: Other M trailer at E3 last year I certainly was shellshocked, but at the same time I wasn't surprised. Metroid seems to be the series that Nintendo really aren't afraid or reinventing. Being the third change after the original 2D games and the Prime series, Other M looks to be a mix of 2.5D side scrolling sections and 3rd person sections. That's just a guess from looking at the trailer, mind. Metroid Other M is set in-between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion from the original series. We don't know anything else about the story apart from the fact it will be very emotional according to Team Ninja, the folks who are collaborating with Nintendo to make the game. That seems pretty interesting, since the previous games seemed a little isolated. I really feel sorry for Samus Aran! Something else that is pretty interesting is if you stick the M before Other, it spells Mother. Hardcore Metroid fans should know what that means. Anywho, Metroid: Other M looks awesome and it's out in the second half of the year. Now, onto the big number 1...
Kind of obvious I know, but it's amazing how we've only been shown one piece of artwork and heard some bits of news and Zelda Wii seems to be at the top of everyone's lists. Still, it was inevitable. The Legend of Zelda is a series so dependably great that it doesn't matter what you're shown, you just know it's going to end up awesome. Anyway, the reason it's at the top of my list is because Zelda has always been my favourite series. The charm the titles give out and the clever storylines make Zelda games and while we don't know anything about the story, the promises Nintendo have made add to the hype. For the first time the big N have decided to drop the bombshell and reinvent the series.
What they mean by this is that they're going to stay away from the usual landscape to dungeon progression. While I don't think they should get rid of dungeons all together, this is a breath of fresh air after the previous games in the series. Anyway, onto something even more revealing. Ever heard of 2Chan? It's a japanese forum known for leaking info about games ages before release. They gave out the entire plot of Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Zelda: The Wind Waker before they even hit the shops. Now a member has said some very interesting stuff about Zelda Wii. Prepare for a post on that. Anyway, it's all very revealing but you could just think of it as untrue. But the interesting thing is that the forum leaked something before Nintendo announced it: the change of pace. Whether you trust 2Chan or not, if what they say is true then wow, this is THE Zelda Game. Anywho, the interesting reinvention of the series looks to make Zelda Wii the best game yet. Can it beat Twilight Princess as my favourite game ever? hopefully...
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