Samurai Warriors 2 (Playstation 2, 2006)

 Samurai Warriors and I go way back. In 2008 or so I played the first game in the series and enjoyed the hell out of it. This is basically the Japanese version of Dynasty Warriors, featuring mythical Japanese characters instead of Three Kingdoms era Chinese characters. All things considered, I prefer Samurai Warriors a bit because the soundtrack is more my liking (less anachronistic rock and roll, more atmospheric stuff). I was excited to finally get around to the second Samurai Warriors, but I couldn't have foreseen the abysmal black hole that awaited as I progressed in the game. Read on.

Metroid Prime Pinball (Nintendo DS, 2005)

For 2005 I'm going to look at a DS game for the first time on the site. This is the last Metroid game that I haven't written about for the site, so why not? I'll start by telling you something mind-blowing: Metroid Prime Pinball exists. This is like having a game called Dragonball Z Tender Girl Pleasuring.

Fable (XBox, 2004)

 

  The Three Decade Project returns with a game I have never played before until now. And on that note, the XBox clock is wrong, so the game says it's 2001 every time I save. Yeah, I wish. It's pretty funny to load up a game with "2004" on the title screen and have the save file say it was last played in "2001" on it a second later.

Highlander: The Series 1x01 - The Gathering

I'll be doing some Highlander episode reviews on the site. This was a cult show that didn't achieve anywhere near the notoriety that it probably should have, though it ran for six seasons and definitely had a niche. It has gained new life with DVD releases and Netflix over the past seven years, and chances are more people know about it now than knew about it when it was airing. It's a show I grew up with, and if you remember it too, you'll probably enjoy these posts.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Playstation 2, 2003)

2003 was the year of the U.S. invading the Middle East. It was also the year of Prince of Persia, a game that didn't sell well in Alabama, nor did it ever sell as well as Call of Duty anywhere. Time to play it. Major story spoilers in this one.

Metroid Prime (Gamecube, 2002)

Considering that the Metroid series is one of my favorite of all time, it's crazy that it took me this long to include one in The Three Decade Project. A lot of that has to do with how I already did posts for most of the games in the series; however, I never did one for Prime, and it slides nicely right into the 2002 block. While I do in some ways prefer their darker follow-ups, Prime 2 and Fusion, I feel like Prime is tied with Super Metroid for the title of "best game in the series". That's some tall praise right there.

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (Nintendo 64, 2000)

Previously on The Three Decade Project, I talked about Ehrgeiz for the Playstation. Ehrgeiz is a game that hits close to home for many internet tough guys and keyboard warriors. This is because in addition to having had sex with a multitude of models, the average internet tough guy already has his hands registered as lethal weapons.

Now, we send it back over to the Nintendo 64. While the Playstation had adult fare like Metal Gear Solid, the N64 was now cornering the kids market. With "play it loud" out the window, Nintendo's new M.O. consisted of having no RPGs or games that appealed to grown-ups, instead relying on trotting out the same superstar franchises of the past to keep fans happy. It was just like modern WWE.

Ehrgeiz (Playstation, 1999)

1999 was a big year. People partied like it was, well, 1999. It was Bill Clinton's last full year of being president, most of which he spent battling impeachment charges over whether or not he lied about having sex. While many men lie about having sex, it is a rare thing indeed for a guy to lie about not having sex. But I digress. In the game world, the Sony Playstation was in a roll, riding a momentum wave that was driven partly by Squaresoft putting out the same kind of quality games that had been a huge boon to the Super NES years prior. Meanwhile, over on the other side... the Nintendo 64 existed, and was riding high with...uh... Ocarina of Time and Other.

Ehrgeiz is one of Square's better Playstation efforts. It isn't an RPG (well...mostly) but rather a fighting game. Square has always flirted a bit with the fighting genre, releasing Tobal No. 1 and Bushido Blade prior to this. However, I'd argue that Ehrgeiz was their best run at it for a long time.

Metal Gear Solid (Playstation, 1998)

Get ready, because 1998's game is one of the most iconic of all time. A year earlier, Final Fantasy VII steered the N64/Playstation war toward a Sony win. That game single-handedly drew the massive RPG fanbase - which Nintendo at one time had a lock on - away from the N64. Sony managed to keep them there by, you know, having RPGs (something the N64, for the most part, did not). Nintendo fired back with the awesome Ocarina of Time, but Sony was ready and countered its holiday release with Metal Gear Solid. Nintendo had finally met its match, it seemed.

Star Fox 64 (Nintendo 64, 1997)

This is quite the evolution of the shooter genre. Say what you will about Nintendo, but they're the masters of having first-party franchises that people really care about... even if that isn't as much the case in the modern era. For the N64, all they had to do was bring back beloved SNES franchises, add a 64 to the end of the title, and they had a guaranteed hit. This is one of the more shining examples of this practice; Star Fox 64 is a fine game.

Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64, 1996)

SUPERRRR MARIO 64.

Yoshi's Island (Super NES, 1995)

Nintendo was in an interesting position in 1995. With the Sega Genesis more or less vanquished, Nintendo could have easily phoned things in that year... However, they were faced with new threats in the form of the Sega Saturn and the Sony Playstation. These spiffy new 32-bit systems threatened to make the Super NES look old and outdated. With the N64 a year away, Nintendo had to do something to keep their fans from jumping ship and spending their money on the competition - something plenty of them did regardless. They did their best to stave off the enemy at the gates by continuing their parade of high-quality games throughout 1995, with titles like Chrono Trigger, Donkey Kong Country 2, and this one... the aptly-named Yoshi's Island.

Donkey Kong Country (Super NES, 1994)

And now... Advanced Computer Modeling! Silicon Graphics! Ultra 64! Nintendo Power! The Treehouse! Rare! 32 Megabits! One of the greatest soundtracks in gaming history! Magical times for all! This game was originally supposed to be for the Nintendo Ultra 64 Ultra 64 Nintendo 64, but they managed to transform it into an SNES game for the ages.

Aladdin (Sega Genesis, 1993)

For 1993 I'm reviewing a game that existed on both the Genesis and the SNES. You'd think that this is one of those cases where Sega... does what Ninten-does. However, it was an entirely different game on each system. While the SNES version has Aladdin jumping on the heads of enemies to defeat them ("plzdon'tsue" said Nintendo to parents), the Genesis version has Aladdin slicing foes up with a scimitar. Bad-ass!

Space Megaforce (Super NES, 1992)

As those who have been reading this saga of posts are already aware of, I'm following the progression of space shooters a bit. Not a lot... just as far as the NES, SNES, and N64 go. Here we have what I consider the best space shooter I've ever played: Space Megaforce (or as it is known in Japan, where it was far more popular, Super Aleste). This is a great game that more people need to know exists, so for this one I'll be doing a lot of discussion of the gameplay.

Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis, 1991)

As a kid, I used to lay awake and think about how Nintendo was "where it's at", while never giving Sega a real chance. Now I'm all grown and I realize that rooting for one side or the other is pointless when they're both good. Competition from Sega, spearheaded by Sonic the Hedgehog, is what pushed Nintendo to bring their absolute best in the mid 90's. Competition from the Sony Playstation pushed Nintendo to finally let go of the cartridge format. Competition from the Playstation 3 and XBox 360 has ensured that Nintendo won't be putting out another non-HD system in the age of HD. Competition from the PS4 and XBox720 will ensure that the Nintendo 7th doesn't have a game lineup consisting primarily of Princess Toadstool hentai RPGs, at least after 2015. Competition is good. With this appreciation in mind, I finally gave Sonic a go.

Golvellius (Master System, 1988)

Behold, a game that no one played. This was Sega's answer to Zelda... but how good was it? My last couple of posts (Gradius and Legend of Zelda) were pretty long-winded about the gameplay. For the next few posts I'm going to be a bit more to-the-point about these games and what I thought of them. There will be jokes. Punch and pie.

The Legend of Zelda (NES, 1987)

The 1987 game is a big one. The genesis of the Zelda series. ...wait, what? The title screen says 1986, you say? I'll explain that in a moment. In any case, this game is the beginning of an era, and captured the imaginations of countless kids. It all started here.

Gradius (NES, 1986)

Gradius is one of the first great shooters of the modern era. In this game, you play as Vic Viper, a space fighter that would go on to get appearances in Zone of the Enders and mentions in the Metal Gear Solid games. Originally, this 1986 post was going to be Adventure Island for the NES. When I was a kid, a friend of mine and I played the first couple of worlds in that game and it was fun. We didn't stay with it too long because we had Marioes and Mega Men to get to. In any case, I was looking forward to revisiting it... but then I discovered firsthand that the game is almost impossible after the first few worlds. Seriously. It's harder than Ninja Gaiden. There is one particular level (7-1, I believe) that is flat-out un-passable due to some truly baffling level design. Given my desire to not have a heart attack, I defaulted to a game I'm more familiar with: Gradius. It won't be the last time a Konami game appears on this list, because Konami is awesome.

Super Mario Bros (NES, 1985)

This is it. In 1985, good games suddenly began to appear. And that's a good thing, because gaming in 1984... well, when Kung-Fu Master is one of the standout games from the year, there's a problem. Luckily for children everywhere, the NES was on its way. And with the NES, Super Mario Bros.