Well let’s see. I’ve done a “Best Games of 2009” blog. I’ve done a “Best Games of the Past Decade” blog. So now I guess I’ll do a blog about games in 2010 that I’m looking forward to.

Keep in mind that my tastes in games are a little weird, so there won’t be a lot of mainstream titles. For instance, Bayonetta isn’t on my list. I played the demo and while it is a neat and stylish game, it’s just not my cup of tea. It is pretty silly, though. A woman with guns on her shoes who can make her hair turn into monsters! Wow! Maybe I’ll get it when it goes down in price. Another one I just can’t get excited about is FF13. It just doesn’t look interesting to me. Of course, I haven’t really been into a Final Fantasy game since FF9. And the only way to get me to want to play Super Street Fighter 4 is to make Ryu and Ken throw cupcakes and hippos instead of fireballs. And while I’m a huge classic Namco fan, I never cared much for Splatterhouse, so I can skip the remake this year. And I can’t even talk about stuff like Mass Effect 2, due to a lack of knowledge. Just doesn’t interest me.

But enough of that, here are some games that I am really looking forward to this year. I’m sure there’ll be many more, so this is just a partial list.

Data East Arcade Classics (Wii)

You folks know how much I love my arcade game collections! And Data East was a smaller game developer who is now no longer in business, so you know these will be more obscure games than the norm. I’m looking forward to playing stuff on it like Lock N Chase, Burgertime, Bad Dudes, Magical Drop, and more. I hear it’s coming out either this month or next. And of course you know a “Games of the Data East Collection” blog from me in inevitable. What Data East games do you like?

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (Wii)

I’m not really big into most fighting games, but I will play Marvel vs. Capcom 2 every now and then. So I’m looking forward to this one, too. I’ll probably suck at it, but oh well. I don’t know much of anything about the Tatsunoko anime side of the roster, so it’ll be fun to learn about it. I’m all about the Capcom side, though. It’s good to see Mega Man from Legends and a Tron Bonne stage, as well as other favorites like Viewtiful Joe. I’m actually really surprised that this game is going to be released in the US at all, what with the licensing of the Tatsunoko side. It’ll be good for the Wii to have a 2-D fighter, though. It makes me wonder if Nintendo helped fund the port to the US, like what they did with Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube. Nintendo helped Namco localize that one because they wanted more RPGs on their previous system. What Tatsunoko vs. Capcom characters are you looking forward to playing as? Or what fighters would you like to see on here?

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS)

I LOVED the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games. Capcom made a fantastic series of point and click adventures, and who knew that playing a game about being a lawyer could be so much fun? Normally I don’t even like court drama TV shows, but these games were so wacky that it drew me in and now I’m a huge fan. This new game stars Phoenix Wright’s rival, Miles Edgeworth, and has some new gameplay mechanics and gimmicks. I’m not really a big fan of Edgeworth, but his sidekick, Detective Gumshoe, is my favorite Phoenix Wright character outside of the Blue Badger. So it’ll be fun to see more of Gumshoe’s dopey antics, hopefully. This one’s going to definitely be a day one purchase for me. I just read that the original Phoenix Wright game is going to be available on WiiWare soon, too. What Ace Attorney characters are your favorite?

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (360)

It may be a cheap Mario Kart rip-off, but I’ll play it anyway. I really don’t mind Mario Kart rip-offs as long as they’re still fun games. And I actually liked Sega Superstars Tennis so I’ll give this one a chance, too. I haven’t seen her in any videos yet, but I hope that Ulala from Space Channel 5 is a playable racer in this one. At least Tails is in the game, he’s the best Sonic character. I’ll probably get the 360 version of this since Banjo-Kazooie are guest racers. Even though they’re not from Sega, I think Banjo-Kazooie fit well with the rest of the cast. Guest characters worked for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Banjo is no stranger to racing games either. His first appearance was in Diddy Kong Racing, and he even had his own airplane racing game with Banjo Pilot on GBA. Plus, Nuts & Bolts is like a racing game a lot of the time, too. Who are your favorite Sega characters, and which ones would you like to see in this racer?

Mega Man 10 (Xbox LIVE)

I liked the IDEA behind Mega Man 9, a sequel that threw progression to the wind in favor of classic 8-bit visuals, sound, and gameplay. But I didn’t like how Capcom executed it. The game was way too hard, and you had to pay for simple things like new characters and stages. With an easy mode and seemingly playable Proto Man right off the bat, it looks like Mega Man 10 may fix some of those problems with 9. So I’ll give it a chance. But what I’d really like to see is Mega Man Powered Up 2!

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Wii)

I didn’t get the first No More Heroes game right away. I waited until it went down in price to about 15 bucks. So I will probably do that with the sequel, too. Over-the-top violent action games like this aren’t my cup of tea, but I wanted to see the classic video game references I heard so much about in the first one. The blood didn’t really bother me, as the game was so cartoony that the red spurts looked more like confetti or piñata candy coming out of people’s heads. But some of the boss battle finishing moves kind of grossed me out, like cutting someone’s arms off or slashing their eyes. Yeah, I know, I’m a big baby. There is one thing in the sequel that really interests me, though. In the first game, you earned money by doing odd jobs in the form of mini-games. In the sequel, those odd job mini-games are presented as 8-bit style 2-D challenges. So I thought that was pretty cool. Maybe I can get my brother Jeff to play the violent parts (he’s one year away from being OK to play M rated games anyway), and I can play all the 8-bit mini-games!

LEGO Harry Potter (360)

Most of the LEGO movie games really aren’t that great. Oftentimes they’re buggy, counter-intuitive messes. But strangely enough, they’re still fun! I usually get the LEGO games after they’ve gone down in price some, or if there’s a sale. I really got tired of the Harry Potter books after the fourth one, and the last movie didn’t make any sense at all. Harry Potter isn’t a very likable character anyway and the way the books are written, they make me think of overblown Scooby Doo cartoons. Yeah, I know they’re just kids’ books, but still. Maybe the LEGO humor can put back some of the fun in Harry Potter. It worked for Batman!

Shantae: Risky’s Revenge (DSiWare)

The original Shantae game kind of put WayForward on the map for many a gamer. It was one of the last Game Boy Color games and played a lot like a classic 2-D platform exploration game, like Metroid or Wonder Boy. It starred a half-genie girl who could learn magical dances to turn into different animals. You had to use these animals to bypass obstacles. For instance, turning into a monkey let you climb walls, and the elephant could break through blocks. It was a really fun game, and for a long time there was talk of a GBA sequel. But they couldn’t find a publisher. But now with digital distribution, I think they’ll finally get to release this. I’m just assuming it’s a version of the GBA game you can download on your DSi. I’m definitely going to get it when it comes out.

Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver (DS)

Back when I was writing for a major newspaper, when the Pokemon games first came out, I requested to cover them. That was a smart move because, obviously, they turned out to be really popular and I got to write a bunch of articles about Pokemon. I like to say that Pokemon helped pay my way through college. Ha ha! But by the time Gold and Silver came out on the Game Boy Color, one of the editor’s sons was old enough to write, so they let him review it instead. Yeah, that’s office politics for ya! But that’s kind of OK, though, because by that time, I had written so many Pokemon stories that I was kind of getting sick of it, and I stopped playing Gold prematurely. I don’t know if I’ll really get into the Gold/Silver remakes on DS, but it might be a fun game to play with Jeff.

WarioWare: DiY

I’m not sure when this one is coming out, but I’m pretty sure it’s coming out sometime this year. And I’m also not sure if it’s for DS or Wii or both. But what I do know is that it’s a WarioWare game where you design your own micro-games, and that sounds like pure awesomeness to me. I’m hoping to make a bunch of classic Namco themed games. I’ll be like 9-Volt of the Namco world!

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)

I just read that the new Wii Zelda game is confirmed to be released in 2010. I just can’t see that, Mario Galaxy 2, AND Metroid: Other M being released in the same year. So I imagine one or more will be delayed. But it doesn’t matter, as I’m looking forward to trying all three regardless.

Metroid: Other M (Wii)

I’m a little apprehensive about Team Ninja handling a Metroid game. But really only because I liked the idea of a company from Austin, TX, making good 3-D Metroid titles. I was proud of that. I’m not really a big fan of Team Ninja’s other games either: Ninja Gaiden, DOA, DOA Volleyball, etc. Of course, I’m not saying the new Metroid game will be like those other ones. But, I was a bit skittish when I first heard about a new 3-D Metroid game on the GameCube, and that turned out great. So I’ll give Team Ninja a chance, too.

Epic Mickey (Wii)

The idea behind this game sounds pretty weird, but at the same time, not so much. It’s hard to imagine a darker kind of game starring Mickey Mouse, but keep in mind that the really old classic Mickey cartoons could sometimes be a little dark, and Mickey was more rambunctious then, too. He even chewed tobacco! Hard to imagine that, considering Mickey’s preschool Clubhouse personal now. But I’ll give this one a chance, too. Maybe it’ll even be better than the more recent Kingdom Hearts have been.

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony (PSP)

I used to play classic 16-bit style RPGs all the time. But I never played any of the Lunar games. Mainly because they got their start on a system I never had (Sega CD). Even when they appeared on other formats like GBA and DS and such, I never got around to trying one. So maybe, just maybe, I’ll try this one. Or maybe I can get to review it?

Tron Evolution (360)

Most movie games aren’t very exciting to me. But I loved the Tron movie so I might look into this one. Maybe. I heard that there’s also going to be a remake of the old Clash of the Titans movie, and Namco Bandai has the rights to make a game out of that, too. It’ll probably be horrible, but I might have to check that out as well, since I loved the old movie when I was a kid. My friend and I would play pretend Clash of the Titans with paper plates and cardboard tubes as swords and shields when we were little.

And I believe that’s all I can think of right now. What games in 2010 are YOU looking forward to? –Cary

Tags: Misc