#21. Donkey Kong Country Returns

Retro Studios are amazing, let's just put that out there. After the incredible Metroid Prime trilogy, they were tasked with bringing back the Donkey Kong Country series and boy did they deliver! 

They actually managed to outdo the orignial titles which is no small task. With great level design, a brand new band of evil creatures to replace the Kremlins they captured the essence of the series.

The game is very challenging without going for cheap difficulty. The boss stages are elaborate fights in many steps that test your skills and then there's the wonderful K levels which are the toughest of the tough and are for me the hightlight of an already incredible game.

I only played Katamari Damacy shortly at a con, yet it was a great experience. The controls felt just right. I considered buying a sequel, but as you describe it I probably should stick to the original.

#9 Okami / Wii

No doubt the best Zelda clone out there, Okami is a pretty special game, from its fantastic and unique visual style, god (hue) tier soundtrack, its heartwarming story, either talking about the main plot or the different and lovable side stories from the people you meet, the paint brush mechanic and its simple yet fun combat. It hits in all the right spots for me, is just such a great game.

mZuzek is probably... correct. My game #12 is Okami.

Okami is the best Zelda-game ever made (ohoh, now hates me half this board I think). The artstyle is absolutely awesome, the story is pretty good (based on classical sagas), the fighting is great, the gameplay also outside the fights works pretty well. All in all a great package. I absolutely loved the wolf-from in Twilight Princess, but Okami made it even better. The classical Zelda-items are replaced by the divine brush, which works great as well.

Sadly the sales for this title were too bad. Clover Studio was disbanded after this. Many of the staff ended up in Platinum Games which made a big name for themself since then.

Back to Okami. The sun-goddess Ameratasu once fought in Wolf-form the beast Orochi. Since then she fell into a slumber. A tree spirit awakes her as Orochi once again puts the world in danger. So the player takes the controls for Ameratasu and frees again the land of the beast. This isn't that easy obviously, so you in for a great game.

Wikipedia, MobyGames, OGDB, IGDB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4cME8KympY

LOL, I hadn't seen your post yet, I was writing my Okami-text.

EDIT: And you also compare it with Zelda.

Last chance for #11.

game #11

Hint 1: Crossover of two well-known game-series that never before shared the same platform.

Hint 2: Draw the map on graph paper in your school notebook.

Hint 3: This turn-based RPG is very stylish and colorful.

Hint 4: Fight (amongst others) against tables, playing cards, books and other stuff.

Hint 5: The game gets characters (although with transformed design) and name from one series, major gameplay elements and platform from the other.

Hint 6: The game is made by the same dev as Tokyo Mirage Sessions#FE.

Hint 7: You find shadows in the labyrinth.

Hint 8: Strange things happen in Yasogami High School.

game #8

Hint 1: Transhumanism is a revolution.

Hint 2: You decide if you fight, sneak around guys, find alternative paths, talk you way in and out, hack and so on.

game #7

Hint 1: After a god was killed a few years ago, it happens that childs are born without a soul.

#11 persona Q?

#8 is Undertale?

Heh, great timing and well, is not like the game tries to hide its heavy inspiration on the Zelda series, tho to its credit, it pulls off the formula in a unique enough way to stand on its own.

9

Mario Kart 64

• Nintendo 64
• 1997
• Arcade Racing
• Nintendo EAD

'Mario Kart 64' is the best game in the racing genre ever made to me. Maybe this is debatable and objectively not so quality-wise in today's world, even in it's own series, but to me, it undoubtedly is. This is because of what it did back in the day as a game, and what it meant to me as a gamer, or bigger yet, as a person. Because of the amount of time I spent with it, and the amount of fun, I had with it.

The formula of the 'Mario Kart' series, should be familiar. Being among the most successful series in gaming, there's probably not a lot of people who haven't played one of the games at least once, and even less that never heard of it at all. In this case, the game features the classic four cups each with four courses and each playable character has it's own themed course. With the help of items the player attempts to win first place.

This game is legendary in my family. Many years ago, when we were all still together, we would all participate in tournaments. My parents, two of my cousins, my aunt and uncle, and me. Grandmother was always happy just watching in the background. At one time though, my third cousin was actually present. A rarity. It was the last time I ever saw him, as family perils and other drama broke up much of the family. I remember it like it was the day before yesterday: My mother and stepfather were Peach and Yoshi respectively, like they always were. My cousins were Donkey Kong and Toad like they always were and my third cousin took up Luigi. My aunt was Wario, she usually won, contrary to my uncle, who was Bowser and always got the Lightning power-up for being in last place. And I, I was Mario. This game? This game means family, and memory. Memory of lost loved ones.

#8
There are three areas to shape; the smallest of 1x1 kilometer, the middle 2x2 kilometers and the big one of 4x4 kilometers.