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Shonen Jump’s One Piece
I nearly break down in tears anytime I watch a minute of One Piece on Saturday mornings. The awful dubbed voices and extremely over-editing 4kids has done makes one cringe. I want to enjoy One Piece’s story and characters, without painful edits and horrific voice-overs. I had hoped the videogames would be different. Shonen Jump’s One Piece for GBA is tons better than the dubbed show, but it still leaves a lot to be desired.
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Zone Of The Enders: Fist Of Mars
The Game Boy Advance seems to be THE system to go to in order to play top caliber strategy games. It has seen numerous hits with Tactics Ogre, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars 1 and 2…the list goes on and on. Even dubious titles, such as Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, are still considered quality titles. When all is said and done, the GBA has received a great deal of excellent strategy titles.
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Wario Ware Touched
Back when the original Wario Ware was announced, I remember being very skeptical of the concept. A game that’s based on mini-mini-games that last about 5 seconds didn’t really seem pleasing, but after my first time playing Wario Ware, my skepticism was completely gone. What works about Wario Ware is that the game moves so quickly that it’ll keep you occupied like a normal level in any other game would. It’s the speed that keeps you on your toes. The game’s wackiness is what makes you laugh at it and keep playing.
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WarioWare, Inc. Mega Microgames
Wario is greedy. Always has been, always will be. But even he isn’t oblivious to the times; after several quests to get rich the old fashioned way (collecting coins and treasures while being transfigured by enemies), Wario has found a new way to make money: game design. After seeing a fictional (well, kind of, you’ll see what I mean) GBA game called Pyoro making big bucks, Wario decides to make his own video game. And it’s… indescribable. I am not exaggerating when I call this series the most bizarre that Nintendo has ever produced.
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Resident Evil Gaiden
I’ve always been a big fan of the Resident Evil series. So when Resident Evil Gaiden was released on the Game Boy Color, I jumped at the chance to play it. The chance to fight zombies on my handheld, who wouldn’t want to try it? Unfortunately, it was rather poorly made, poorly designed, and poorly conceived. The game does have its high points, but they’re somewhat few and far between.
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Rebelstar Tactical Command
When I was a child, I was fascinated by television shows that depicted aliens, UFOs, and abductions in the middle of the night. Part of that fascination was the fear that it could happen to me. Sure, there have been some decidedly stupid shows regarding aliens (*cough*Alien Autopsy*cough*), but as a ten year old, the thought of extra terrestrial contact had me up late at night, watching far more television than was healthy for my adolescent mind.
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OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast
For the most part, I don’t consider myself a racing game fan. There are many exceptions to this rule – kart racing games, Ridge Racer, arcade racers, and of course, the OutRun series. So, when I hear that SEGA’s classic has been released on the PSP, I know that I have to pick it up. And while it isn’t the full arcade experience (and who’d honestly expect it to be?), it is still a great addition to any racing aficionado’s PSP collection and a very good entry to the series itself.
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OutRun
Ah, OutRun, one of SEGA’s classic arcade games, which ended up ported to various systems in various forms, until the release of its sequel, OutRun 2. This is one of the ports, brought to the Game Gear. Like most Game Gear ports, OutRun offers all of the fun of the original, but with decreased graphic and sound quality. Probably the first good driving game on Sega’s power-draining portable. Compared to today’s minimum standard for racing games, it’s a bit simple, but it gets the job done.
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King Of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood
From time to time, a game comes out that causes me to stop everything I’m doing and refocus my attention on it completly. KoF EX2 is just that sort of game. Achieving Master Orochi with every character in order to unlock Sinobu and the other modes is a task unlike any challenge I’ve recieved in a fighting game previously. Seriously, I’ve bought at least 4 GBA games since I bought KoF EX2 and I find myself ignoring those games completly for “just one more round” of KoF.
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Killzone Liberation
When I first heard that Killzone was being brought to the PSP, I immediately thought, “Oh great – another FPS that shouldn’t be on a handheld!” As time went on, screenshots trickled in, proving that this would not be the case. Rather than the now traditional first-person view, Killzone would take a more old-school approach to the shooter genre through an overhead, top-down view. It’s refreshing to see a new take on an old style, but it also showcases some of the reasons why games have moved into a 3D perspective.
Handheld Gaming Reviews