Sideswiped for the DS
never heard of it until i saw a youtube video named the best DS game a year ago, and i saw this fantastic racer

F-Zero X and GX: only heard about the game because of Captain Falcon in the Smash Bros. games. About 2 years ago a good friend of mine lend me F-Zero X for the N64. I was a bit skeptical since I don't really like racing games all that much, but I give it a try and I freaking loved it. After playing it for about 2-3 months I decided to buy F-Zero GX and I felt in love almost immediately, in just a couple of days GX became one of my favorite games of all time (and till this day the only racing game I really like). After that I tried the old ones and the ones on the GBA, and I enjoyed them as well, but GX and X are my favorites.

I would have never played Mario Picross but I grew frustrated with Club Nintendo's lack of games I wanted as rewards. I didn't know what Picross was but I convinced myself it might be good and instead it was very awesome.

I would have never played White Knight Chronicles 2 but after finally getting a PS3 a few months ago I thought I needed an RPG for it, it was 20 dollars and it advertised that it included the first game. Still haven't devoted to it but everything I saw in a few hours time told me it is potentially very good.

Max Payne 3. I wasn't even going to touch the game. But when I saw my friend play it on his 360, I was totally taken by storm.

Torchlight. I owned it on PC, but my machine couldn't run it. Now I'm playing it on my roomie's 360, and I'm a huge fan.

Red Red Redemption - personally, I think Grand Theft Auto is the most overrated franchise of the past two console generations. I try and try to like those games, but I just can't get into them. As a result, I almost didn't play this masterpiece. Practically everything I don't like about GTA was fixed in this game. A great story, fun missions, a likeable protagonist, a regenerating health system, a decent shooting system, etc.

Dead Space - this game was released during a time when I thought the Resident Evil franchise was the be-all-and-end-all of survival horror. After Resident Evil 5 turned out to be a complete piece of crap, I decided to give this game a chance. I'm glad I did. And because I loved this game so much, I didn't hesitate to buy Dead Space 2 on day one.

Forza Motorsport 4 - I gave up on the racing genre long before I played this game. I took a leap of faith and bought it, only to end up becoming obsessed with it. This year, this game has spent more time in my disc drive than anything else. I especially enjoying playing it while I'm listening to my iPod.

I almost missed out on the Arkham games entirely. But thankfully a few excellent friends and family members introduced me to the best non-Nintendo game I've ever played. Besides maybe Okami. Coincidentally, both have much in common with Zelda and Metroid.

Also, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. A total surprise Christmas present that I forgot was on my list in the first place. And it was quite good. Edgeworth is my favorite character.

Same thing with me.  Had no desire to play RDR.  I traded in Killzone 3 and needed to by something with the $30 store credit so I reluctantly grabbed Red Dead Redemption and played almost nothing but that game for almost a month.  It was so bad that I'd be riding down the highway, see an animal, and an "X" would appear over them.  I'm not kidding!  Anyway, I loved that game.

Dead Space, I got for $9 from a video store going out of business.  Didn't even play it for a year after I'd bought it.  When I did, I was most impressed. 

Makes me think I should give Forza 4 a go.

Bioshock, did not care whatsoever about it, saw a gameinformer review in the magazine and it got 10, heard a bunch of hype. Still I would not budge, so I tried the demo. Was awesome bought the game soon and I now like Bioshock.

Uncharted 2, Same as above, saw perfect scores and hype and it did not sound appealing to me. Saw it number 1 in ps3 exclusive features all the time and still thought nah. Then while I was on WoW someone told me the game was actually a good game, so I decided to try it out. Very good game. After about 5 months, the same guy told me the multiplayer was awesome. I was like what multiplayer? and tried it and then it became even better.

Redfaction: Guerrilla

I have had the game for a long time on my PC (thank you steam sales!). I have never played it as I haven't played the first two. Well the other day I was bored so I fired it up and it is great! I like the concept behind it. Its open world which is great. You get to choose when you do your missions. All good things to me.

XCOM: UFO Defense/Heroes of Might and Magic 1. I got a bunch of strategy games in one of those strange CD compilation packs and these game were on it. It was honestly the best $10 I ever spent in my life.