Sam's video game collection essentials

Wario’s creative new series started with “Mega Microgame$!” on the Game Boy Advance. That game had been single-player only, but Nintendo saw multiplayer potential in the gameplay formula. And so, later on in the same year, Nintendo released this…um…I’m not sure what to call it, because it’s not a sequel, not exactly a port, so I guess you could call it a spinoff maybe? Anyways, Mega Party Game$ borrows all the “microgames” found in the GBA original. It has fewer single-player features than that game and has basically nothing new to offer in that regard, something that’s perhaps more forgivable when you consider that this was a budget title that retailed for less than normal video games of its day. The main focus of this game is local multiplayer, offering a variety of fun and/or wacky modes for groups of friends to play. For more info on the basics of WarioWare, you can refer to my post about the GBA original . Most of the multiplayer modes in Party Game$ are designed for four players ...

For the third year in a row we’d get a new Tony Hawk game, and this is where most fans agree the series peaked. Tony Hawk 2 was a marked improvement over the first game and got practically universal acclaim from critics…and yet just a year later 3 came along and somehow managed to be EVEN BETTER.  If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you probably know that a lot of good video game sequels often deliver the same sort of thing as the previous game, but with more content and more polish. That’s certainly the case here. THPS3 certainly benefited from being developed for more powerful hardware, first releasing on the PlayStation 2. You can immediately see the improvement in the graphics and presentation. This game’s got more tricks, more skaters, better levels, and a better level creator as well. There’s one major gameplay addition in THPS3 that really puts it over the top. The second game had introduced “manuals,” performing something akin to a wheelie, and these allowed you t...

The first Tony Hawk game came out in 1999. It wasn’t the first skateboarding game, but it was the first one to really “nail it” and proved what a surprisingly great fit skateboarding could be for the video game world, with risk/reward gameplay that proved thrilling even for people who had never given skateboarding a second thought. You can read more about that game in my previous post about it . With the runaway success of the first game, of course a sequel would be made. And it came quickly, as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 launched almost exactly a year after the first game, in 2000, first on PlayStation, then Windows, then Dreamcast, then Nintendo 64 the following year. You may notice that none of those versions made my essentials list. That’s because this here is the definite version from back in the day. And it’s a rather odd release, too. The third Tony Hawk game came out in as many years in 2001, first on the PlayStation 2, then coming to other platforms a short time later. But inste...

                                                                      !!!! BIG POST TIME !!!! The first Super Smash Bros. game launched for the Nintendo 64 in 1999. It was made on a low budget and didn’t have a whole lot of content. However, the game was a big success anyway, as the frantic and fun four-player action and the appeal of different Nintendo universes crossing over proved to be huge selling points. You can read more about the first game in my previous blog post about it . With the brand new formula proven as a success, the series creator, Masahiro Sakurai, was tasked with creating a follow-up to be one of the big early titles on Nintendo’s next console, the GameCube. This next game was to be far more fleshed out and refined with a bigger budget. Sakurai famously worked...

Starting life as an arcade cabinet in the spring of 2001 and then as a launch title for the GameCube later that year, I’m pretty sure Super Monkey Ball was the first real significant Sega franchise after their Dreamcast console was discontinued, and thus the first to never actually appear on any Sega system.  I’m not gonna have a ton to say about Monkey Ball, because the gameplay is rather simple and straightforward. The concept of the game is that you’re trying to get your monkey in a ball to the end of each stage. If you look at a screen shot or footage of this game, you’d probably assume that you’re playing as the monkey, but you actually don’t. What you actually do is use the analog stick to tilt the level itself in four different directions in order to roll the balled monkey to wherever you want it to go. Think of it like one of those toy marble mazes where you tilt the surface in different directions to try to get the marble to the finish line.  Monkey Ball levels are ty...

The GameCube was of course going to get a big new blockbuster Mario game. Fans would have to wait a little longer than normal, though. The last two Nintendo consoles launched with the big Mario game, but GameCube owners would have to settle for Luigi’s Mansion until the summer of 2002 to get their hands on this highly-anticipated game. Super Mario 64 was an entirely new type of platformer from what we had seen out of Mario before, due to it being in 3D. Super Mario Sunshine wasn’t going to try and reinvent itself in the same way; it follows a similar gameplay style to that of 64. But it’s by no means a copycat, and just by looking at the front cover you can get an idea that things are gonna be a little different this time around. The plot of the game involves Mario headed for a tropical vacation on “Isle Delfino” along with Princess Peach and some of her Toad (mushroom person) assistants. Upon arrival, they find some odd sludge that vaguely resembles paint all over the area next to whe...

The previous SoulCalibur had made a huge splash in the late ‘90s, first hitting arcades in 1998 and then being one of the most notable Dreamcast games in 1999. The weapons-based fighter from Namco was easy to pick up and play, difficult to master, and had tons of polish, and the Dreamcast release was one of the most critically-acclaimed games of all time. You can read more about that game in my blog post about it. https://samsessentials.blogspot.com/2025/05/collection-essentials-466-soulcalibur-dc.html Namco was, of course, going to make a sequel. And they were smart enough not to seriously mess with the very strong foundation of SoulCalibur 1. Those familiar with the gameplay of SoulCalibur 1 will feel right at home, as the basic buttons are the same. Tweaks were made to the gameplay as certain mechanics were refined, but I don’t need to go into detail about that here. What they did do is give the game a fresh coat of paint to make it feel (what was at the time) “next-gen”. The graphi...

Here’s a really quirky, unique, amusing game from the early 2000s that was never a household name. It’s pretty clear just from glancing at it that it’s one of those silly whimsical things that only Japan seems to produce. But aside from that, what exactly IS this game?? Well, if you can believe it…technically, this is a sports game. In Ribbit King, you play a fictional sport called “Frolf”. I’m not sure why they didn’t just make “Frolf” the title of the game! The name is a combination of the words “frog” and “golf.” Like in real golf, the game involves trying to get something into a hole. The “thing” this time is not a ball, but a live frog. Characters use a hammer to whack a contraption that launches a frog into the air. I suppose that’s better than directly whacking the frog…no amphibian abuse going on here! The world of Ribbit King is an intergalactic one. The main story mode starts with our protagonist, Scooter, being urged by his king to obtain a very important resource called Sup...

For the first two generations of Pokémon, we got the “Pokémon Stadium” titles. These cool games let us play with our monsters in full 3D, providing a bunch of challenging content, useful tools for organizing and managing our Pokémon, and even throwing in bonus multiplayer minigames. Fans like me figured they would make a game like that on the GameCube for the third generation. For better or worse, they only “sort of” did. We actually got…not one, but two 3D connect-to-Game-Boy GameCube Pokémon games for the third generation. The first one, Colosseum, came out in early 2004 in America. You would think from the name that it is a Stadium successor, but it’s apparent very quickly that this game is doing its own thing. It does allow you to connect your Game Boy Advance titles and has some tournaments to enter with your own Pokémon similar to those found in the Stadium titles. However, there’s much less of that sort of thing on offer here, and no longer any “rental” Pokémon to play with, and...