Arcade

Game Description: This latest Mega Man title brings the series back to its old-school roots with retro action platforming gameplay and classic 8-bit graphics and sound. Relive the Mega Man experience with classically inspired bosses, each with their own unique weapons and weaknesses.

A blast from the... past?

HIGH Cute sprite-based graphics.

LOW Not enough environmental interaction, with very few things to dodge.

WTF Replaying the entire game backwards after defeating the final boss.

Game Description: The legend begins! Go on a fantastic journey through Ancient China as the legendary Monkey King. Deadly forces have invaded the Heavenly Kingdom and it's up to you to protect this land as you fight your way to becoming a god! Fly on your magical cloud and defeat the hordes of enemies that come your way on your quest to fulfill your destiny as the Chuka Taisen! An arcade classic reinvented for the Nintendo Wii system, players can utilize the controls of the Wii-mote to literally dodge your attackers and take control of the action! With rich graphics that depicts the beauty of ancient China from which this story came, users will be able to fly in the shoes of the legendary Monkey King and relive the tale for which he becomes famous.

Calling something ‘hardcore' doesn't prevent it from sucking

HIGH Having a robot for a main character is always a perk.

LOW Everything else.

WTF The utter lack of a difficulty curve: it's all just this side of infuriating.

Game Description: In this DS remake of the classic Bangai-O, you take the roles of Riki and Mami and strap into the powerful Bangai-O suit to undertake the task of catching criminals red-handed. Bangai-O Spirits provides gamers with shooter gameplay and punishing supermoves, along with strategic and tactical elements. The game also offers co-op, competitive multiplayerfor 1-4 players via local wireless, and a powerful level editor tool which allows players to edit in-game levels or create new ones from scratch.

Contra 4. Essentially, Konami has given the finger to all the other games of the series, and said, “Sorry, folks. You don’t count.” This game is all about giving fans of the old-school games the biggest dose of fanservice it possibly can.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Blood and Gore, Fantasy Violence, Language

Game Description: The action franchise that started it all is celebrating its 20th anniversary with an all-new adventure on Nintendo DS. Set after the events of Contra III: Alien Wars, the game follows mercenaries Bill Rizer and Lance Bean as they battle to save the world from a new extraterrestrial threat. Contra 4 takes advantage of the dual screens of the Nintendo DS to deliver larger than life action, with massive enemies, detailed platforming and mind-blowing set pieces. Across a variety of game modes, including full cooperative play through the main story mode, two players can take the fight to the alien army of the Black Viper and reclaim Earth for mankind.

Although I can't get over my preference for tangible goods, knowing that titles I've enjoyed lately would never have seen release in physical format helps ease the pain of dealing with the new reality of download-only. I'd much rather fork over a twenty at GameStop and have a disc to add to my stack, but if this is the sacrifice it takes to get these small gems into my hands, then so be it.  Case in point: Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Violence