Today's a two-fer, to make up for missing yesterday. Unfortunately, they're both shorter than usual!
#48: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (MLaaK).(WiiWare)
Act Raiser's town builder was hypnotic and addictive: although the interface was poor and the options were limited, the game did a great job of faking your town's growth, a growth which was based on your actions. MLaaK was created by some of the same people who worked on Act Raiser, and it shows; you start in an abandoned fortress and forge it into a mighty kingdom. The "One More Turn!" bug bites hard as you literally raise your kingdom and expand your town, because you're always this close to getting that new Armory or Training Facility. It's actually a double-whammy, since you also get to raise and train up to 16 adventurers, who each have their own lives, equipment, levels, abilities, and morale: each day you're creating over a dozen bad-asses to pillage the surrounding hapless monsters and take their precious shiny loot! No one with OCD should miss this game.
#47: The Magic of Scherezarde (NES)
Scheherezarde is a complete mutt of a game. Marrying Zelda-esque overworld combat and exploration with Dragon Quest-style party battles, Scheherezarde takes you on a great journey through time and space to kill the big-bad and rescue your loved one. A game that was in many ways ahead of its time, Scheherezarde has five different worlds, each of which has two separate time zones to explore. This introduces puzzles like those found in the Light World/Dark World of A Link to the Past. Scheherezarde also has some awesome boss battles which demand both quick reflexes and quick thinking. An overlooked classic, any 2D Zelda lover owes it to himself to try this game.
