(Nintendo Reprise)

Ol’ Donkey Kong was slamming around
All the Kirby’s raiding Hyrule with his mighty ground pound
But suddenly, Link burst from under the temple,
Hitting DK with a Bob-omb, ending his trample.
DK wound up his fist and was ready to rock,
But was caught off guard by an electrical shock.
He was now under the mercy of Pikachu
When Captain Falcon swooped in on Big Blue
And he beat Pikachu with his Falcon Kick
Then Link hit em’ both with a flower Lip’s Stick,
But he couldn’t find the heart to replenish his life
When Luigi came out from under a pipe
And pulled a superscope out from under his hat
Blowing Link away with a rat-a-tat-tat
But he ran out of ammo, so he threw it and he fled
Cause Samus Aran was sniping for his head.

Donkey Kong threw a barrel at Samus Aran,
Sending her on a one way trip to Dream Land
Then Pikachu came back in a quite shocking rage,
But Mario grabbed him and spun him off stage
And Link was badly damaged and about to get floored
By Luigi who came back with a beam sword
But something swiped him off his feet in a flash
It was Fox McCloud with his light speed dash
And he saw Donkey Kong sneaking up from behind
So he reached for his ray gun which he just couldn’t find
Because Link had stole it and he shot it at the ape,
But Mario deflected it with his cape.
And then he jumped in the air, and he shot a fireball
While Luigi became a human cannon ball
The Brothers collided in the air and they fell
Both into the path of Jigglypuff’s Spell.

The Goombas trembled,

And the Koopas cowered.

Up from the Depts

Ascended Giga Bowser

Who Delivered a Slam

That could split the ground

And landed on top

Of Fox McCloud

Who went blasting through the air

Landing back on his ship

As Link hid underneath

To give him the slip.

But Bower saw through

His fight to the death

And he melted Link’s head

With his fire breath.

Then Ice Climber Pink and Ice Climber Blue
And Pokemon the First Movie’s Armored Mewtwo
Zero Suit Samus and Princess Peach
Princess Zelda and her alter ego Sheik
Ganondorf, Metakinght, Ness, Falco Lombarti
Diddy Kong, Yoshi, All the Multi Men of Melee
Toon Link, Pit, ROB, Lucario
Ike and Marth, Mr. Game and Watch and Wario

All came out of nowhere, spawning fast,
And they kicked Giga Bower and his Koopa King ass
It was the most shocking free-for-all the world ever saw
With gamers looking on in total awe.
Fire raged on for a century
Many lives are claimed but eventually,
One man stood in the game of hard knocks…

This was a non-profit fan-based parody
Of Neil Cicierega’s iconic rock comedy.
Hope your Christmas was not stolen by King Dedede.
This is the Ultimate Showdown, Lemon Demon please don’t sue me.

10. Mass Effect 2:

A great game and a great soundtrack. Bring on the next game in the series!

Not too long ago, I blitzed through Mass Effect 1 & 2 a total of two times in a row. Afterward I realized that I really liked the soundtracks I heard. This prompted me to, naturally, find said soundtracks and listen to them properly without my attention focused on things happening on-screen. And you know what? Mass Effect 2 is wonderful as an orchestra soundtrack. The background score fits things perfectly with drama and action, yet it still has those rare techno nightclub tracks that I’m so fond of. Simply, this is one cool soundtrack.

9. Custom Robo GameCube:

You probably never played this game, but I loved it.

Yeah yeah, I know, “You like THAT game?” Yes I do, actually. I found Custom Robo on the GameCube, the first Custom Robo game to make it to the US from Japan, to be an extremely underrated game that few people really gave a chance to. It was far from perfect, especially the concept behind the Robo battles, but for some reason I became rather fond of the soundtrack. Enough so that I’ve listened to it multiple times in its entirety. It has a very arcade-like quality to it, a quality that I enjoy due to my upbringing with video games in general. The music stirs up emotions I wouldn’t expect a game like this to stir up, so in the end, hey, I love this game and especially love this soundtrack. I really wish they’d make a new game in the series or remake the originals. Why haven’t they done that yet?

8. Super Mario Galaxy 2:

A space dinosaur is acting as maestro. That's awesome.

Of all the Mario games, how could I pick the newest one? Well, for one, the Mario Galaxy games have a real orchestra doing the music for them. That alone goes a long way to kick things up a level in terms of quality, but really, it’s just that both the series staples and the new additions are treated with equal care, making excellent recompositions of old favorites and new tracks that become well-loved instantly. The Puzzle Plank Galaxy’s music blindsided me the first time I heard it since I audibly said, “Wow, I think I really like this.” Taking background music for a Mario game and combining it with orchestral pieces in such as way that neither aspect is lost is just a feat I’m astonished by. Therefore, I love this soundtrack.

7. Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game:

You can actually just download this soundtrack and forgo the game, it's that's much better.

Anamanaguchi is an awesome band, and I’m not just saying that because I had the chance to meet them and see them play live. However, I will say that if you’ve played Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game more than a few times, you know that the music gets stuck in your head to the intensity that old Mega Man tracks are still imbedded inside your frontal lobe (or wherever they keep that stuff). I started having trouble sleeping after playing the game enough since I wasn’t able to stop the music in my head from waking me up. In total I’ve probably listened to the soundtrack a dozen times at this point, and I’m still hearing new tracks that I’m enjoying. The game gets a serious boost thanks to the soundtrack, so that’s why it lands on my list.

6. Final Fantasy VI:

It's a tear-jerker, so bring a tissue.

My very first Final Fantasy game was Final Fantasy III for the SNES. I’m aware that it’s really VI, but I don’t care anymore. The point is, the soundtrack was the first thing that made me like the game to begin with. I didn’t want to give this game the time of day but the music I heard in just the first half hour of gameplay alone forced me to continue playing long past the point of thought. I just knew that I now loved this game. Every character has a distinct and likeable theme, multiple areas stand out as great examples of music done right, and the opera scene, a scene every gamer seems to know by heart at this point, is enough to justify placing this soundtrack in a special league of its own. That league happens to be this top ten list, but still, that’s something, isn’t it?

5. Chrono Trigger:

It's like if Dragonball Z had a good RPG tied in to it. Except better.

Take everything I just said about Final Fantasy VI, drop the part about the opera scene, add a trial sequence, multiply things by a factor of 1.1, and you have my love for Chrono Trigger’s soundtrack. I picked Robo’s Theme not too long ago as my favorite track from this game, but it was a hard, HARD choice to make since each character has a theme I really love. The Battle with Magus, the world map, the opening cinematics, it all adds up into one monster of a good soundtrack. I’ve even managed to get my wife to successfully play Chrono Trigger while actually liking it to the point that Frog’s Theme can make her turn her head and yell out, “Oh! That’s my Froggie!” So there you go, welcome to the list Chrono Trigger.

4. Soul Calibur 2:

A flaming sword with wings is on the cover. 80's metal bands would be jealous.

Now before it happens, let me stop you right there Mr. Soul Calibur fan: The only Soul Calibur game I own is Soul Calibur 2. I played Soul Calibur 3, and acknowledge that a lot of people consider Soul Edge or Soul Calibur to be the best of the series. That said, I don’t care about those games; my favorite is 2 and one of my favorite game soundtracks comes from 2. I’ve been able to listen to it repeatedly and still enjoy myself since each track is extremely detailed to fit the stage it’s from. In fact, the amount of detail is staggering to my feeble little brain to handle. Having so many epic tracks in one 2-disc soundtrack boggles the mind, so I try not to think about it too much. I forgo that thought process and just enjoy the music for what it is: A masterpiece.

3. SSX Tricky:

I'm weird, I know, but whatever because this soundtrack is perfect.

If there’s one thing EA does well, it’s assemble soundtracks. While the SSX series doesn’t have any tracks that are inherently exclusive to SSX, SSX Tricky became one of the first video game soundtracks I decided I needed to order online, purely so I could listen to it at my leisure. And listen at my leisure I did. To this day, I’m amazed that every single track on the soundtrack is a track I have no problem listening to, and even more, some have become real favorites of mine as normal everyday music. It is a shame that the CD doesn’t include the mixes of “It’s Tricky” into the other tracks, brought on by filling your Tricky meter, but at the very least you have a solid CD filled with good music to cruise to while driving, and really, isn’t that what most music strives to be? Now why couldn’t I summon any interest in the series after Tricky?

2. TMNT IV SNES:

If only there was an official CD release for this soundtrack. I'd have bought at least one copy.

I knew I was going to select Turtles in Time as a favorite soundtrack, but what I didn’t know was whether I’d choose the SNES soundtrack over the arcade soundtrack. Here we are at the fabled day and I’m down to the wire having to make the choice, so with a gun to my shell, I’m going with the SNES version. Why? Something about it sounds better to me. Perhaps it’s the desire to hear this soundtrack played with real guitars. Because it has yet to be converted to such an awesome tribute album, I prefer to hear it as if it were closer tied to a video game, and the SNES version does just that. Plus, something about the arcade music sounds, I don’t know, weird. Debate aside, listen to Turtles in Time’s soundtrack and try and tell me it doesn’t sum up beat-‘em-ups perfectly. If only someone could recreate this soundtrack for a GOOD TMNT arcade game, my life would be complete.

1. Super Smash Bros Brawl:

Brilliant!

At last, my favorite video game soundtrack, and wouldn’t you know it, I managed to select the king of soundtracks. Most soundtracks on this list contain under 50 tracks, whereas Super Smash Bros Brawl has over 300 tracks, a staggering number by all accounts. I have a version of the Melee soundtrack on CD as performed by the New Japan Philharmonic, but Brawl far outshines it in diversity and scope. It contains the greatest hits of video game music with tracks from Mario games, Zelda games, Sonic games, Metal Gear Solid games, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Pokemon, Metroid, Star Fox, and more. It’s unbelievable just how much work and how many composers had a hand in this soundtrack. This is the most bang for your buck, so if I was forced to choose only one single soundtrack to listen to for the rest of my days, here it is. Can’t do better than this in my eyes.

There, I’m done. Four consecutive posts all about video game music. I’m all musiced out, but that doesn’t mean you have to be. I want to know what your favorite video game soundtracks are. Do you love some of my choices as well? Or do you have some you’re surprised I didn’t mention? Leave a comment and let me know, though it may take a while to respond since I have over 300 songs to listen through before I can do anything again.

Want more Top Ten lists? Check these out:

-10 Pokemon You’d Rather Not Evolve

-Top 15 Best Overclocked Remixes

-The 20 Greatest Mario Enemies Ever

Because, hey, sometimes great games are just short.

The other day I gave a little rundown of the three main options for game rentals. I suppose I should have included “Borrow from friends,” but that’s a given. Today, however, I’m giving you a list of games that work better as rentals. Ready? Here we go!

God of War III:

This is the last time Kratos stops to breath before going too fast to even think about the absurdity of his adventure.

I wrote a review a few months ago that went off on the game, mentioning how I beat it in one sitting in under ten hours. To me, this is the epitome of a rental title because, really, you can beat this one in the rental time and never need to play it again. The reason is because the story is all used up after one time around the block. Unless you’re a diehard God of War fan, you’ll find little reason to play this ever again, so a rental is all you need.

Ghostbusters the Video Game:

As if a third movie wouldn't be worth a rental in the first place?

While you could find a lot to like about this one, and for $10 or less I’d certainly recommend a purchase, you will get all you need out of this game in a standard rental period. The campaign mode is just short enough to be manageable, and the online component has a charm that only lasts for about a week unless you get addicted. If the addiction happens, consider buying it when you see it for cheap, otherwise you’re good for the five days.

Any Mario Party/WarioWare Title:

Hooray! You're stagnating as a franchise!

The Wii is a fun system, no contest. The Wii is also full of games that, for lack of a better term, are a one-time novelty at best. Let’s say you have a group of friends coming over for a night and you all want to play some fun game together, but your collective gameplay experience is relatively low. This would be a good time to explore the option of a minigame-heavy title such as any Mario Party or WarioWare title, such as WarioWare Smooth Moves. You’ll get about as much enjoyment from the titles in a rental period as you will over the course of a lifetime. Take your pick which sounds better.

Arkham Asylum:

Of all the cool images I could have used, I went with a handshake shot. Yup, I'm such an awesome editor.

I love me some Batman, and if I had to own any Batman game it would definitely be Arkham Asylum, but we can be honest here: There’s not a pressing need to own the game. A sequel is currently planned, so if it comes down to it and you can’t find a copy for under $20, the $9 rental choice isn’t a bad one. I managed to get all 1000 Achievement Points for Arkham Asylum in under two weeks, so although it’s amazing, you’ll run out of things to do pretty quick.

Modern Warfare 1 & 2 (Single Player Only):

"What? We don't have time for your namby-pamby story! Snowmobiles! WOO!"

Stop. Before you jump down my throat, take a look at the words in parenthesis there. If you want a multiplayer game, yes, BUY the Modern Warfare games. You’ll justify your purchase very quickly, discovering that you’ll be playing for months and months. BUT, if you want a deep single-player campaign, you’re going to come up short here. If your friends have been bugging you to play through the campaign, a rental should suffice. If they’ve been bugging you to play the game with them, you’ll have to buy it, bro.

Any Dragonball Z Game:

"Kakarot, I think your aim's off." "Yeah, it's because these controls keep changing."

I also love me some DBZ. And I own some seriously great DBZ games, my favorite being Budokai 3 for the PS2. But they didn’t stop with Budokai 3. For some reason they kept making new games for the new systems, and as a result, there’s not a lot to care about. A new title comes out about once a year, meaning you really aren’t getting much meat to these titles. If you have to, and I mean have a physical NEED to play every DBZ game, you will get everything of value from a single week’s playtime. The fighting system just doesn’t have as much depth as a title like Street Fighter, so you’re not going to gain much from honing those skills. The next year’s edition is just going to change things up again.

Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe:

Might as well say it's a pushing-match if there aren't Fatalities.

The same sort of holds true here. If you’re into Mortal Kombat, this game will be a bit of a disappointment since real Fatalities are MIA to accommodate DC’s wishes that you don’t see their beloved characters eviscerated, as much as we’d like to rip Superman’s face off and eat it. The fighting mechanics aren’t that bad, but once more, they’re not as well balanced as other fighting games that specialize as fighting games. This game specializes as a placeholder until a new Mortal Kombat or DC game comes out. You’ll find the most enjoyment in a single week, if even that.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed:

Killing Storm Troopers can and will get old, I assure you.

Kyle tells me that The Force Unleashed wasn’t the worst game he’s played. He also mentioned that yes, it was a disappointment to him, as most Star Wars fans have claimed. But it wasn’t without value, meaning it warrants a play. Just not a play at full price. The story will take you under a week to complete at a slow pace, but unless you want to replay it more than once, you won’t need to own it.

Punch-Out!! Wii:

Stop dancing. Your game's too hard to accept you dancing in my face!

I rented this title last year and thought it was really excellent. I also realized that I got all I could out of the game in my rental title because if I played any more I’d hurt myself and everyone else around me. The reason is because the game is insanely difficult, albeit fan-freaking-tastic. I just don’t have the patience to hone my skills past the breaking point. I nearly destroyed a Wiimote due to the stress the game put me through, so the only people that would find the need to own Punch-Out!! on the Wii are gamers far above my skill and patience level.

Prince of Persia (2008):

Shown: Rental Material.

As a friend of mine (Dennis) put it via Facebook: “I also found that Prince of Persia (2008 game) was short, but pretty fun. But pretty short.” Well, that sounds like as much of a recommendation for a rental title as you’re gonna get. I even remember playing the “good” Prince of Persia game on the GameCube, the one Gus wrote about, and while it was good, it was super short. Apparently the newer Prince of Persia games adhere to the same pitfalls (ha!) that pledged the first 3D affairs: Short single-player adventures. Done, Rental Title, branded.

There are ten games that more or less work better as rental titles. But I promised a few that DON’T work as a rental title. Want to know which ones?

Final Fantasy XIII:

What? Like you had a life to live, really?

You can’t finish the tutorial levels of this game in under twenty hours on your first playthrough, most likely, so you’re not beating this game in five days, no matter how dedicated you think you are. Maybe if you literally have nothing to do for the next 120 hours, but most mortal humans need sleep, so buy this, or any Final Fantasy/Dragonquest/JRPG games if you have the desire to play them.

Mass Effect 1 & 2:

Mordin is enough to make me want to own Mass Effect 2.

You aren’t playing Mass Effect 2 unless you’ve played Mass Effect 1, and you aren’t getting anything less than twenty hours of gameplay from either, so slow down Tex and savor the experience. I’ve been meaning to go into how much there is in these two games, but suffice it to say, you’ll prefer owning these ones.

Super Smash Bros Brawl:

It's pretty much like this. You can't really deny it.

This game is best as a multiplayer experience, but wait just a second when you think you’ll just rent it for a party. While there are nearly 40 characters and dozens of levels, you don’t start with all those unlocked. And there is no way to unlock them all quickly. You have to work at this one, so unless you’ve rented it previously, you’ll have some work cut out to get it up to maximum multiplayability. Just own this and do yourself a favor.

Little Big Planet:

This game has too much content to consider it a light snack, so make it a feast.

Don’t think I’ve forgotten the little wonder on the PS3. I know enough to know that Little Big Planet is a game you don’t just play, enjoy, and then move on with your life. If you like it enough to play it, you’ll want to own it since you’ll get into creating your own content and improving your skills. If you really think you’ll like a game that makes level-creation relatively simple and rewarding, there’s no reason to rent this one first.

And that’s my little bit about rental titles. Now I’ll just sit back and wait for the hate to file in… “What’re you talking about? God of War III is a MUST BUY…” Yup, just sit back and wait.

Ooh, I'm getting antsy just thinking about Smash Bros. I should go play instead of writing this.

The idea of all my favorite Nintendo stars fighting each other in one big game was a concept I never imagined would become a reality. Even now I’m a little skeptical that it really exists, and furthermore, that it’s straight-up awesome. But somehow Super Smash Bros is a real thing and for that I couldn’t be happier. So to start a Monday off right, how about a Super Smash Bros Retrospective? That’s what I thought.

Super Smash Bros (1999):

How can you not be anything but excited when you see this box?

The essence of the first Super Smash Bros can easily be captured in the classic game commercial set to the Beatles song, So Happy Together. Mario, Yoshi, Pikachu, and Donkey Kong are holding hands as they skip through a field. Then without warning Mario sweeps Yoshi’s legs and they all start fighting. The commercial is perfect, and as a kid every time I saw it I knew I needed Smash Bros on my N64.

My first encounter with Smash Bros was once again from Nintendo Power with its usual hype train. All I needed to know was that Mario and Link would fight against Fox and Pikachu and I was addicted. I read the Nintendo Power articles over and over again, hungry for my Smash Bros. I even went out and preordered the game through Hollywood Video’s game kiosk, the precursor to Game Crazy (Lord rest their souls). Unfortunately, I was quoted a price that was awesome, ($35), but then waited and waited and waited and still, the game did not come in. I had to wait a whole week after it came out before my Hollywood Video got the game in. “Alright, that’ll be $50.” Uh-oh, he must have misspoke. Nope, the price was set and the first guy just screwed up. I went to Toys ‘R Us and got a copy with a coupon for $45. As soon as I got home it was time to try out my new favorite game ever.

It seems so simple now, doesn't it?

The very first character I tried out was Link in the arcade mode. The controls were entirely foreign to me, especially the jumping mechanic. I had to relearn all sorts of things for Super Smash Bros in order to just proceed through the game, but after a week or so I was starting to get the hang of things. I hadn’t played many fighting games before, but I could see why I definitely liked Smash Bros better: Battle length. Most fighting games had matches that usually lasted under a minute, maybe two if you were really pushed, but otherwise there was no such thing as an epic fight. With Smash Bros, you didn’t whittle down your opponent’s health but rather inflicted damage in order to make it easier to throw them further, leading to the ultimate goal of knocking them off the stage. I loved this concept, plus each character played differently, so I was almost never bored.

My friends and I would get together for four-player matches every few sleepovers, going nuts with the 12 characters and nine levels. We got our money’s worth for sure. And after we’d played for long enough, we’d just set four computer characters to fight each other as we did a running commentary, naming each character after someone we knew from school. It was simple fun and we thought nothing could be better. One of my best friends at the time, Derek, was also my arch nemesis, so whenever we played he was Fox and I was Pikachu. I let him borrow my game for a week and when I got it back I realized Fox’s character stats placed him at the top, showing that he’d spent all week killing Pikachu over and over. I wouldn’t stand for that, so naturally my next week was planned out for me. Life just couldn’t get any sweeter.

Super Smash Bros Melee (2001):

Best follow-up to anything in the history of ever.

When the GameCube was announced a whole bunch of excellent games were announced along with it. But for me there really was only one game: Super Smash Bros Melee. A new Smash Bros game on a better system? AWESOME! I started seeing commercials for it at movies theaters and on TV and soon I was psyched once more for a game I hadn’t even played yet. I didn’t need anything more than the knowledge that the original 12 characters were back, plus more, equaling 26 characters total (Sheik and Zelda counted as two characters). Also, 29 levels instead of nine? Double the items? More moves for everyone? Sold.

I preordered Melee as soon as possible, knowing that my GameCube’s purchase would be overly justified once Melee was mine. Sure enough, I brought the game home and went to town, though initially I was at a loss because I had to relearn the controls yet again. No matter, a week later and I was mastering the game more than I ever thought possible.

And mastering it properly never felt so sweet.

Melee added a lot more in terms of, well, everything. Everything got better. I was almost sad since I knew I could never go back to the original N64 version now that Melee had entered my life. I did pretty much everything I could as a single-player playing alone, honing my skills against opponents that I never played against because, sadly, so few other people seemed to own a GameCube. At this time everyone I knew had gotten into Halo, so I was left in the cold.

Until strange things began happening. At the end of my Freshman year of high school I was told about a Melee tournament happening at a festival our school did during the last week of classes. I practiced against a casual acquaintance to better my skills and I realized, “Wow, I’m actually really good at this game.” The tournament began and I did what anyone else would have done: I pretended I didn’t know how to play the game. My first opponent scoffed and killed me once, thinking the match was going to be super simple. Then I laughed and said, “Just kidding,” and proceeded to utterly destroy him. I was unstoppable, up until the final match against Jeremy Lynn, the deaf kid. His brother was hosting the tournament and the final match pitted me as Adult Link against Jeremy as Mr. Game & Watch, a character I’d never seen anyone use well. My usual tactic of trash talking and mental psyching didn’t work against Jeremy since, well…connect the dots for me. Regardless, after a grueling match I came out victorious, taking the only happiness the deaf kid had in his life (also, I beat him in chess later in the week, just because I’m an evil man). Oh don’t get me wrong, a month later he came over to my house and spent two hours demonstrating how I completely sucked at Melee compared to his unrelenting talent, but it didn’t count on the scoreboard. I was the official school champion.

For good measure, I made sure to kick fox's butt on principle alone.

I retired from Melee for a while until my Senior year when I met two of my closest friends ever, Trinh and Thomas. The three of us met in Japanese class but decided to start playing Melee as often as possible, creating a massive rivalry between we three. It turned out Trinh was unbeatable as Fox, and Thomas played a mean Marth, but in three-person matches I’d rule with Adult Link. Allow me to regale you with my greatest moment ever:

Trinh and I were in a heated battle for first-place, fighting at our usual favorite, Final Destination, he as Fox and I as Link. On a side note, it should be pointed out that in terms of character tiers, Fox and Marth were numbers one and two, whereas Link was near the bottom, and yet I still managed to go toe-to-toe with them, so eat it best friends of mine. Anyway, the match was coming to a close and it looked like Trinh was going to outdo me. He knocked me off the stage and as I fell I realized I’d never make it back. However, a Blast Barrel was rolling off the edge. Seeing my one chance I aimed toward it as it fell, hitting it right as it was about to exit the screen. The three of us assumed I had exploded, but it was actually the barrel blasting me straight up. I Spin Attacked to the corner, leapt at Fox, and sent him flying off to his own defeat since Trinh was so amazed he could hardly move. Single greatest game moment of my life, and there’s no way I could ever recreate it.

Super Smash Bros Brawl (2008):

That fire you see here represents the explosion of joy in my heart when I heard about Brawl.

Among the Wii titles I got excited for, the word “Brawl” came up a few times, letting me know that Melee would have a sequel and that it’d be bigger and supposedly better than the first two by a long shot. I watched the teaser trailers over and over and sunk into the pattern of religiously checking Smash Bros Dojo for nightly updates, drip-feeding me information about the new game. Who would be back? Who would be new? And what more could they really add? I was about to be blown away yet again.

The newest addition was the Final Smash, an ultimate move for each character useable whenever someone acquired the Smash Ball, an item of untold power! And I really mean that, too. Some Final Smashes, like Marth or Zelda’s were instant KO’s if they hit, whereas Mario, Sonic, Fox, and a mess of others had Final Smashes that owned multiple enemies way too effectively. Did is sway the balance of the game? Absolutely, but I was in love with it.

It also made you feel like a jackass if you got caught in a Final Smash, as it should.

To celebrate the eventual release of the game, of which all Smash Fans were forced to endure push back after push back of said release, I held one final going away party for Melee, a Last Chance Melee Smash, as I called it (because I’m oh so clever sometimes). A good long night of Melee was followed by a trek to my local Game Crazy store at midnight to get the new game and start playing that very night. The pilgrimage caused some annoyed gamers, but dang it, it was symbolic of my endless struggle waiting for this game.

It was no shock that the amount of content in Brawl was staggering. The unbelievable fan service Nintendo paid to diehards was worth every single unhappy moment I endured as a GameCube loyalist all those years ago. Just the soundtrack alone was phenomenal to behold. The first Smash Bros had maybe a dozen songs, total. Melee had closer to three-dozen. Brawl had over 300. GAH. Throw in 40 characters, yet more items, and user-generated stages and that’s a wrap: Best game on the Wii. The game even went out of its way to repair the problem of wave dashing that nearly broke Melee for me. I got good in Melee, but I could never be as good as the game-breaking moves that some players figured out. I’d watch those matches on YouTube and just think, “Wow, that looks so unfun to play.” Wave Dashing in Brawl, gone. Yeah, replaced by something else, but at least a progression was made.

Make Nintendo's best game ever: Mission Complete.

Brawl wasn’t without its faults though. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why Mewtwo was missing. He was a tough character to unlock in Melee and even tougher to master, but he’s totally absent in Brawl. Plus, while the local multiplayer is one of the best experiences of any game in recent years, the online component is awful beyond respite. You can just skip it, unfortunately.

Silly monkey. Now go find Mewtwo!

Now comes the real question: What happens next? Will Brawl be the end for Smash Bros games? As the creator of both the original and Brawl, Masahiro Sakurai, mentioned, his goal was to make the best damn game he could, as if it was definitely going to be the last of the series. That doesn’t rule out another game, especially not now that the 3DS is on its way out, but there’s nothing on the horizon to give Smash Fans hopes of the next big game with Geno, the return of Mewtwo, and every stage from every game in addition to all new stages. It’s asking for a lot, but they delivered last time, so why not here?

Like you didn't all want this, too.

And I’m spent. My love for Smash can only take me so far since, well, there are only three games to the retrospective. So tell me, are you a Smash Fan as well? Or do you hate the game? Can you destroy families with Zelda’s Shiny Kick like I can? Or do you have a different character you end lives with? Time to share your memories of Smash. Don’t make me Shiny Kick you in the face.

Want to read another retrospective? Take a look at these:

-Games You Should Have Played: The Donkey Kong Country Trilogy

-More To Catch: A Pokemon Toys Retrospective

-The Plastic Wars: A Retrospective on Army Men

Stop the hating and start waggling.

I hear a lot of people gripe about the lack of Triple A titles on the Wii. Okay, I hear you, the Wii has a general lack of constantly new and huge titles worth checking out. But to be fair, this happens on all the systems, not just the Wii. Regardless, if you own a Wii and complain about the lack of fantastic games worth your money, this list is for you.   These are 5 Must-Own Games for the Nintendo Wii.

Super Mario Galaxy:

Reset the bar for platformers.

Mario games are always golden. Every system gets its amazing Mario game and this time we got Super Mario Galaxy (and soon its sequel Super Mario Galaxy 2). There is plenty of variety to keep you busy here for hours and hours. You’ll rarely find yourself bored or thinking you’re just playing the same challenge over and over. You will frequently make yourself play to get just one more star before you can quit (and we all know there is never a “just one more” instance of anything), so you’ll look up and realize your night flew out the window.

Better yet, the game isn’t over when you finish playing through all 120 stars. There’s a nice unlockable bit to play through, which initially didn’t seem that great to me but once I got into it yet another week was gone before I knew it. Simply, this was one of the games that justifies the purchase of the system. Yeah, just this game alone, but I have four more titles for you.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess:

Worth the wait.

Zelda games are a safe bet when it comes to a purchase. You will NOT get a bad game, no matter what the actual title is, as long as it has “Legend of Zelda” in the name somewhere. Twilight Princess was a long time coming, missing my birthday at least two years in a row, but when it came out I was more than excited. Plus, it was a launch title. A Zelda launch title is a huge deal. I was wondering what to expect from the first big title on the Wii to show off the new system, other than Wii Sports (not on the list since it comes with the system anyway). I am happy to say, it works wonderfully.

The first time I was able to pull out the bow and arrow and let loose on some goblins I was hooked. I had been fairly good at the archery from the previous titles in the series, but this one was a huge leap for me. I felt precise, and I liked it. Overall, the new controls worked great, though swinging the Wiimote to swing your sword took some major getting used to, but you were now able to swing it while running and on horseback. That’s just the sort of thing the Zelda series needed.

In terms of story, I’m putting it high up on my Zelda list right behind Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. Some even feel it outdid Ocarina as the best title in the series. It’s a tough call, but Twilight Princess will deliver at least 40 hours of gameplay for just a single playthrough, not including side quests. That’s huge.

Metroid Prime Trilogy:

Three amazing games for one price.

I’ve mentioned this collection in a previous review, and while I was critical of re-releasing games I already owned, I will still go ahead and say that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is one of the games I bought my Wii for, even when the system was called The Revolution. As of now, Corruption is pretty much discontinued as a stand-alone title, instead being a three-in-one deal with the first two Metroid Prime games. I know you all haven’t played the trilogy, so you need to go ahead and pick up the pack.

Corruption continues the story, adding something the series mostly lacked in the past: other characters. The world feels more alive and vibrant and the action becomes more frantic as the control scheme has been shifted to take advantage of the motion controls to probably the best level that any Wii game has up until now. You want an example where the controls not only work great but make perfect sense, this is the game to do that. The three titles will put you through your paces, especially if you want 100% completion endings for each.

No More Heroes:

Every bit as good as fans would like you to think.

I was on the fence about No More Heroes when I first heard about it. It sounded like a cool concept for a game, with a character named Travis Touchdown wanting to become the best assassin in the world after he wins a light saber in a contest, but I was reluctant to play the game after most everyone in the industry said that if I didn’t buy the game, then I must not really like supporting video games. When a friend lent me the game it took me even longer to force myself to pick it up and try it out. It’s been a while since I beat it, but I’m getting jittery just wanting to play it again.

It’s not a game for children in any way. There are copious amounts of blood, profanity, and “adult themes” (we all know what that means). We adults get a chance to experience a game unlike any other (cliché writer phrase #26), that will get you to laugh out loud if you allow it to. There are plenty of frustrating things to gripe about, but I’m not going to lie about this: if you gripe too much about the problems, you’re missing the point and an amazing game.

Super Smash Bros Brawl:

My best friend.

This is the single biggest game on the system. Statistically, it is the most played game according to data gathered from the Nintendo Channel (didn’t think they used that data, huh?), and for good reason: There is just so much to do. You can play this game every day and still find yourself enjoying it. There are 40 characters, dozens of levels, dozens of items, and tons of options for playing the game in pretty much any way you’d like to. The developers did their homework when they put this one together.

The genius of Brawl is the simple controls. Any skill level can play the game and enjoy it. If you’ve never played the game or any game in the series, you can easily start to figure everything out within a few matches. If you’re a veteran player, you’re able to jump right in and rip apart every face that stands in your way via a surprisingly deep combat system. I’ve clocked in hundreds of hours playing with friends, and many more playing solo. There are so many unlockables to find, always giving you something new to do and something new to find. The single-player story mode is extremely long and the cutscenes are fantastic. Production values are at their max for Brawl.

I’m going to go ahead and just tell you: If you have a Wii but you don’t have Brawl, then you’re doing something wrong with your life. Pick up one, two, or all the titles on this list for someone you love over the holidays, or even yourself. The Wii just dropped in price, so there’s no excuse for people to have skipped any of these games.