The main reason why Pokémon flourished—single-handedly elevating portable gaming to a new plateau in the process—was that it was simply a great game. It's still hard to believe that with all the catchy "gotta catch 'em all" jingles, feature films, Saturday morning cartoons, collectible toys and trading cards flooding the market, at the end of the day, innovative design and addictive gameplay prevailed above all else.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Language, Violence

About six months before the release of the original PlayStation, I was fortunate enough to attend a small CES (Consumer Electronics Show) near my home. After waiting in line for nearly an hour, I rushed inside in hopes of getting my hands on a demo unit for this crazy, unknown new game system put out by Sony of all companies. My first experience on the PlayStation was Battle Arena Toshinden, and regardless of what people may say about it now, at the time it was stunning. Still reeling from the mind-blowing experience at the show about a month afterwards, I ran into an arcade machine for the original Tekken.

For all you see and hear, Jet Grind Radio is possibly the coolest game ever made. The art direction for the game is amazing and hits that narrow target of hip that other games miss—almost everything you see and hear melts your heart with an effortless style.

Jet Grind Radio is like the love child of Crazy Taxi and Space Channel 5. Take Crazy Taxi's gameplay, Channel 5's visual flair, and the music from both games, and you basically have Jet Grind Radio. Though the game can get repetitive, and the frustration factor is higher than it should be, Jet Grind Radio fares much better in the long run than its would-be parents.

So there's a bit of irony that with Tekken Tag Tournament, the series that was once a trendsetter is now reduced to one of the also-rans. Why does the game take a fall from grace? There's nothing inherently wrong with Tekken Tag. Simply chalk it up to the lack of notable evolutionary advances in the face of high-quality competitors.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence, Mild Language

According to the ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence

Playing The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask is like returning home after a long time away.

Writing a review for a game in Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series is different than writing a review for other games, because Nintendo's work allows discussion of higher level elements such as form and structure rather than implementation. The camera for example, which has been the bane of most other third-person games, Majora's Mask somehow improves from Ocarina of Time.