When it comes to humor, I think I was more shocked than Brad by how pathetic it all was. Ever since E3 2000, I was sure that Nintendo and Rare had a winner here. A game that would finally help get videogames out of under the stigma of being just for kids. I also bought into the overwhelmingly positive feedback the game was receiving from critics and saw that as a good sign of things to come.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence, Mature Sexual Themes, Strong Language

Despite having an identical rating, Dale and I arrived at the same destination rather differently. Dale notes in his review of WWF No Mercy that there are moderately remarkable improvements over its predecessors, but doesn't seem think these updates are anything ground-breaking. I disagree with that, but not entirely.

There are a few significant design choices in both structure and content which make Bad Fur Day stand out from its brethren, however, as I as I just mentioned, platform games are a dime a dozen. The real selling point behind Bad Fur Day aren't the twists on gameplay, but rather the radical approach Rare's taken with regard to content and humor . While Nintendo has traditionally been known for being a bastion of decency and family values (remember the "tame" version of Mortal Kombat on the Super NES?), it appears that they have reached a stage where they are ready to take risks.

PSO is videogame with grand ambitions of uniting game players on global scale over the Internet for the purpose of entertainment. This isn't a new concept since the Internet was commercialized, but it never became a reality for a number of reasons.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Blood, Animated Violence

Chi may think that Phantasy Star Online is the beginning of a technology which will uplift and unite the planet into a happy and harmonious future, but I happen to be a bigger fan of Blade Runner than 2001. Personally, I found that PSO was the perfect technology to usher in a new age of missed potential and overrated boredom, rather than something which broke down global barriers and enlightened me.

Gekido is a shameless rip-off of Sega's Genesis classic, Streets Of Rage 2. It also steals gameplay elements from Treasure's amazing Saturn game, Guardian Heroes. Despite the fact that Gekido offers 3-D graphics, in no way is it nearly as fun as the two games that inspired it. In fact, the two games that basically started this genre—Double Dragon and Final Fight—are 10-times more fun than Gekido. I'd even go so far to say that Sega's Dreamcast game, Zombie Revenge, is a better game (although I hated every minute of playing it). It's certainly a better example of the genre, which is why I gave Gekido a lower score.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Blood, Animated Violence

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Animated Violence, Use of Tobacco & Alcohol