BTW........ Bayonetta is my second fave hack 'n' slash game this gen (just behind Ninja Gaiden 2) so i am not favouring one company or one franchise over the other (i LOVE Konami, Platinum games, Capcom)

Ninja Theory have taken a huge step towards winning me over too.

I love Platinum Games as well, but I would be infuriated in knowing this new DMC got canceled because of a bunch of bitch fanboys who couldn't accept that the franchise was finally legitimized. Almost everything about this game could lead to one hell of a sequel, but the assholes just wont support it. Then they buy it at Gamestop and rent it and say "Oh, I guess I overdid it, the game was pretty good". I dont even know how people can equate the gameplay breakdown. DMC gave more on all angles.

For me HnS ranking...

1. Demon's Souls

I'm kidding I will remove the HnS RPGs.

1. God Of War III
2. Ninja Gaiden 2
3. DmC
4. Bayonetta
5. Castlevania / Rising

yeap... Rising give me the same felling when I was playing Castlevania... sleepiness... so boring.... Bayonetta give that too but at least it is different

Do you actually consider Demon Souls a hack n slash? I just think of that as an Action/RPG, no more than I would Zelda or Dragons Dogma.

(Edit: I just caught where you wrote that it was a joke LOL)

Well Hack n Slash is a subgenre of RPG... Diablo is a Hack n Slash game... but today people use this term to action games like God of War... so Demon's Souls, Dragon Age, etc are all Hack n Slash games.

The Hack n Slash was created in the "pen an paper" RPG Dungeons & Dragons... after that the subgenre became popular in videogames with Lineage and Diablo.

Hacking and slashing in RPG's are still action RPG's. As I said, Dragons Dogma, Diablo (since you added it),  Demon Souls, Zelda and that ilk. Diablo is in a subgenre of third person RPG known as a 'Dungeon Crawler'. Yes, those RPG's evolved from D&D. Action RPG's are just RPG's that focus on more fluid movement opposed to being held back by being by the strategy of turn based style RPG's. It gives a more realistic approach, while keeping the Hit Points, mana power, crits and more.

Hack N Slash games are just linear Action/Adventure titles. You don't grow stronger over time, you increase your health and powers, but you dont grow stronger. In action RPG's your character still goes through major growth you're generally tearing through the game from beginning to end, but using a variation of weapons and styles to do it. In RPG's you're molding your character that either you've been given or you created.

They evolved from beat em ups in the arcade, which are based on fast paced skill, hit counting and just having as much fun as possible.

Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, Xmen the Arcade game...these are the titles Hack N slash titles evolved from. Golden Axe, Shinobi on the Sega Genesis and Shinobi were among the most popular of forerunning Hack N slash titles. Those were the two that did battle for supremacy. Then you had games like Splatterhouse and Castlevania.

http://guyspeed.com/10-best-hack-and-slash-games/

Well there are lists and lists... that one put all together.

http://www.ranker.com/list/all-hack-and-slashs-list/reference

God of War, Diablo, The Witcher, Torchlight, Ninja Gaiden, etc.

God of War is not an RPG...its just an Action/Adventure game.

The WItcher is not a Hack n slash, its an Action RPG. I never denied you can hack n slash in the game, but it doesn't overpower the fact that its an RPG.

Torchlight is from the same family as Diablo. Dungeon Crawler RPG....and the same goes for Champions of Norrath and the list goes on.

Ninja Gaiden was one of the first side scrolling hack n slash titles ever.....almost a decade before Diablo was ever came out.

That't the point... when this Ninja Gaiden was released the term was utilized only for Action RPGs...

The definition of Hack n Slash by Giant Bomb: "A term previously used to refer to RPGs that focus more on the action, today it more often refers to action games which focus on hack & slash gameplay."

Use this term for action games is more from 2000 to today... in 1990 when I started to play games Hack n Slash was about games like Gold Axe (the RPG... not the Arcade), Final Fantasy Adventure, MMO's and Action RPGs.

Edit - More previous hack n slashs games: The Legend of Zelda, Ys, Hydlide, Dragon Slayer, Bokosuka Wars, etc... and the first one The Dragon and Princess (1982).

Edit 2 - Here in Brazil we use Hack n Slash more for Action RPGs than Action GoW like games.

You are quite happy with a game that even though is released 5 years after DMC4 is a gigantic step back in gameplay, DMC4 was half a game (dev time got cut) but at least the gameplay (most important thing in a HnS) was improved. You want a franchise to keep evolving and DmC gameplay is a huge step back and there's no challenge to it, not a bad game on its own but horrible for a Devil May Cry game. Gamers spoke with their wallets.