I’ve written many times about how much I love Capcom fighting games. I’m drawn to them like a moth to a flame, or like a high school girl to a jerk who won’t pay attention to her. I had been meaning to check out Tatsunoko vs. Capcom for Wii for a while now, but I for some reason had it in my head that I didn’t want to play it without an arcade stick. Then I remembered that the d-pad on the Wii’s Classic Controller, unlike the one on the Xbox 360 controller, actually works, and my amazing wife added the game to our GameFly queue as a surprise.

We both really, really like it. Christina has given a few different fighting games a try but they’ve never really stuck with her. She doesn’t want to have to learn hitboxes and frame data (and honestly neither do I), so Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has been quite delicious to her, like a juicy orange on a warm summer day. It’s certainly technical if you want it to be, but it’s also very casual-friendly if you just want to learn a few special moves and button mash most of your way through it.

One of the nicest things about having time off in between our wedding and when we leave for our honeymoon is that we’ve had time to relax and catch up on a lot of the games we didn’t have time for over the past few months. We’ve been focusing on the Wii a lot lately because we want to spend more time relaxing and having fun with our games, and I doubt anyone will argue that the Wii is the most “fun” console.

One of the games we picked up was Wii Party, which is really the most fun I’ve had with a game in a long time. I’m really a big fan of the “Wii Noun” series of games because they all take a simple idea and execute them so well. They’ve had us simulate sports (twice), gotten us used to the capabilities of the Wiimote, taught us the basics of making music, and now we get to party with our friends.

I am going to try, most likely in vain, to use mere mortal words to describe Nintendo’s E3 press conference today.

Ahem.

It was freakin’ awesome.

Imagine if they were able to take the concept of awesome and refine it into something tangible, like a powder. The FDA approves this awesome powder for use in foods and medicine. The most talented baker in the world discovers that awesome powder can be used to make the most delicious cake in the entire world. Now imagine it’s your wedding day, and your totally smokin’ hot wife smashes a piece of the awesome cake into your face.

This is what Super Mario Galaxy 2 is like. Having tangible awesome smooshed into your face by a hot chick.

There’s been a little bit of buzz (more like a dull hum, actually) on the internet lately about Nintendo’s update to the Classic Controller, the Classic Controller Pro. You may be wondering “Wow, what did the Classic Controller Pro do to lose its amateur status?” Well, I’m here to give you the details.

We’ve been jumping back into Virtual Console games a bit lately, and once I finally found out that the white one was out in America I decided that it was a good time to check it out, especially after all the great things I’d been hearing about it from people who had purchased it in the bundle with Monster Hunter 3 Tri.

June 27th, the game we never thought would happen is being gifted to us. Treasure, makers of such rad-tastic games as Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, and Ikaruga give us the sequel to Japanese Nintendo 64 cult classic Sin & Punishment, entitled Sin & Punishment: Star Successor for the Wii.

Apparently, the game was given the greenlight after strong Virtual Console sales, which is surprising considering the game was never released outside of Japan until the Virtual Console release. The game is a face-melting shooter chock full of screen-filling bosses, ludicrous amounts of bullets, and a dizzying amount of explosions. You know, everything that makes Treasure games fantastic. Lead character Saki was also added as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros Brawl, and he was awesome. He was all flipping around with his laser gun that is ALSO A LASER SWORD. There is a lot of awesome, rad, totally bodacious things in this game! That means the sequel will be EVEN BETTER!

BUT. Nintendo is releasing this game June 27th, ONE DAY after Metroid: Other M, one of the few other “hardcore” Wii releases. I’m terrified that as a result, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor’s sales are going to suffer. This is where I use my influence over about a dozen people on the internet to try to do some good.

Your assignment is to purchase Sin & Punishment for Virtual Console, play it in its entirety, fall in love with it and purchase the sequel when it’s released. You have over a month! The game retails for 1200 Wii Points, which is $12 in American Real Dollars. You have plenty of time to mow lawns, pull up couch cushions, and visit old relatives to get the money for both games. You’ll thank me, and I’ll thank you for making sure that Treasure gets the credit it deserves for making such mind-blowingly fantastic games.

Dokapon Kingdom is going to make you hate whoever you play it with.

I’m serious.

Dokapon Kingdom can be pretty much summed up as Mario Party crossed with an RPG. You move around a board by using spinners to determine how far you go, you level up, fight monsters, and buy equipment.

You also screw over your friends whenever the opportunity presents itself. It presents itself often.

I got my first article request a couple of days ago from my old buddy Jeff. He sent me a link to a YouTube video about an upcoming game called Wiiwaa and said it warranted comment by me. Well, I’m a man of the people, and I’m going to give the people what they want.

Here’s the link to the video, so go watch it and then come back. I’ll wait.

Hey, we’re back! All right. Let’s jump right back into it, shall we?

Before I start, I don’t want to hear anyone whining that their favorite game didn’t make the list. If you’re so smart and have such good taste, where’s your blog, huh? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Go back to your Livejournal, junior. The grown-ups are talking.

Anyway, these are 25 games that I feel encapsulate everything that was great about the 2000s (what the hell ARE we calling those years, anyway?). It’s weird, because some of my favorite games are pretty low on the list, or not on the list at all. I tried to be somewhat objective and choose games that brought something new to the table and advanced the medium in some way, not just games that I thought were rad.

These games are pretty rad, though.

Anyway, on with the list. I’m detailing #25 through #11 tonight, with the top ten coming tomorrow. Let me know what you think!