BaD 2006-2008

On 02/19/2018 at 01:25 PM by Super Step

In 2006, the Wii came out and I ... really wished they'd have stuck with the much cooler-sounding-to-16-year-old-me Revolution, but really wanted Nintendo to succeed, and thought the motion controls were super cool.

Then a year or so passed and I realized I was still burnt out by always being passed over when it came to third party titles and the Wii was going to get underpowered third-party titles if any.

But I didn't really like Microsoft's XBOX all that much, the PS3 was tanking because of its $600 launch, and at the time, most of the games on these newer systems didn't look that much better. Aside from maybe a sports title or two, this generation just wasn't the graphics leap I was expecting.

Obviously, all of that changed down the line, but my lack of enthusiasm in 2006 and 2007 was followed by a lack of income as I started college jobless in 2008, and once I did start working again in 2009, my job was paid in room and board and a $7.25 stipend a month. So 2006-2008 were slim for me in terms of gaming, aside from then-older consoles like Gamecube and handhelds like DS.

With that in mind, here are my I FINISHED YAKUZA 0 LAST NIGHT SO I COULD BE DONE WITH IT, BUT NOW I WANT TO DO EVERY LAST SIDE QUEST AND WHY GOD WHY DOES THIS GAME HAVE TO BE SO ADDICTIVE IT'S AFFECTIN MY PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME remembered games from 2006-2008.

Elite Beat Agents

is my favorite DS game. Like a lot of ryhtm games, it's hard to know exactly what part of the song the game is wanting you to follow until you get used to playing the songs over and over. I got good enough to S rank on every difficulty level, even the one with the cheerleaders. The whacky Japanese storylines accompanying every song really make me want to play Yakuza 0 help the entertainment factor as well.

Mileage may vary, as I personally like a lot of these pop songs, but I know not everyone is down with "Skater Boy" by Avril Lavigne. There's David Bowie, Earth Wind & Fire, and Rolling Stones here too though, so you're likely to find something you enjoy, unless you hate everything that's ever charted in the top 40. I suppose that's a possibility.

Destroy All Humans! 2

was more fun with Americana parody and laser beams.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

was actually the first Castlevania game I ever played before finding NES Castlevania via nintendo8.com.

This was a solid game. I liked it. I beat it. It was a little bit harder and longer than the GBA Metroids and had a different art style. It's what I consider a solid 7.5-8/10 game.

Twilight Princess (GCN)

is the 3D Zelda I've completed I remember the least about. I remember swathes of this game, like the neon castle toward the end, the wolf transformation, the ending and the tutorial more than I remember any specific details or plot points. About the most I can say is I thought the broken bridge scene was pretty cool at the time.

I tried to play it again a few years ago, but my Gamecube controller's joystick has some gunk that I probably need to open the controller to fully remove. Since Nintendo was annoying with what screws they used, I probably just need a new controller.

I remember wanting to play the Wii version with the motion controls and how hyped that was, but it seems the consensus now is the GCN version is better? Given my memory, I wouldn't trust me on that though.

Phantom Hourglass

was the first Zelda game I played on DS and I just could not get used to the controls for it. I think you had to use the stylus to move Link and I just ... it wasn't happening. This one ended up just being a rental.

I own Spirit Tracks, so we'll get to that.

Rock Band

was obviously the answer to Guitar Hero, adding drums and voice input as well as guitar and bass. The plastic instruments genre was still going strong at this point and a staple of parties.

Oh, right: They also had keyboards

Castlevania: Order of Ecclessia

is one I got stuck in for a long time, finally got past a certain boss, and believe made it halfway through the game? I still need to pick this one back up but it's going to be a while because my life revolves around YAKUZA 0 now it's just a bit on the hard side for my casual handheld tastes.

Still, it's got the Castlevania gameplay and it has an incredibly pretty art style.

KnightDriver

02/19/2018 at 02:52 PM

I played a lot of Destroy All Humans 2 those years. So fun running around in a UFO causing all sorts of trouble.

Super Step Contributing Writer

02/19/2018 at 03:05 PM

I only ever rented those games, so you'd probably know more about them than me. They were fun though.

02/19/2018 at 03:07 PM

Mark and I are like DAH super fans. Pandemic is gone now though, so we won't see another one.

SanAndreas

02/19/2018 at 03:33 PM

Those were good years, with Twilight Princess, Okami, and FFXII in '06, VF5 Online, Rogue Galaxy, and Halo 3 (yes, I did play Halo for a time back then) in '07, and Valkyria Chronicles, Tales of Vesperia, and Fallout 3 in '08. Valkyria Chronicles was the game that got me to get a PS3.

As far as Twilight Princess goes, I definitely prefer the Gamecube version, and that's actually the canon version of the game, since it was originally a Gamecube game. The Wii U remake is based on the Gamecube version, including the maps being oriented in the same way as the Gamecube version rather than being flipped as in the Wii version.

02/19/2018 at 03:53 PM

Aside from Twilight Princess, I still have played none of the games you mentioned, which will be a continuing theme this week for this blog series. lol

NintendoFanJon

02/19/2018 at 07:35 PM

Theres a lot of great Wii exclusives out there. Stuff like MadWorld, Zack & Wiki, No More Heroes 2. The Wii is great. Just don't ask me about all the shovelware and bad games I bought for it. I don't want to talk about that... *cries in a corner

02/19/2018 at 07:45 PM

I played MadWorld, actually ... dammit.

Cary Woodham

02/20/2018 at 04:57 AM

I liked the Wii, but I sitll hate that name. A year after the Wii came out, I got a 360 and that ended up being my favorite console of that generation.

My brothers showed me Yakuza 0 and all I did was play Space Harrier and Fantasy Zone in the arcade and talk with the cute arcade lady. Seems like an OK game to me if that's all I had to do. :)

Elite Beat Agents was a neat game. I got it on sale at Wal Mart for 15 bucks.

One of the reasons why I didin't like Twilight Princess at first was because of the muddy brown smeary graphics. But once I played the HD remake on Wii U, I liked it a LOT better. Princess Zelda is awesome in that game, too.

I didn't mind the touch controls in the DS Zelda games, but I can see why others wouldn't like it and I do prefer more traditional controls, too.

I didn't get into Rock Band until LEGO Rock Band came out. That was such a popular series. It didin't seem like it would be a fad but I guess it was.

I hope you get a chance to play Okami someday. That was my Game of the Year in 2006.

Now be nice to that cute arcade lady, OK?

02/20/2018 at 10:19 AM

I think the name honestly made it a lot more marketable to the mainstream/non-gamer crowd than Revolution ever could have ... but I know what you mean.

Which one's Fantazy Zone? I think I only played Space Harrier and OutRun.

Nice.

Yeah, I wasn't big on the color palette on GCN either.

I'm glad Spirit Tracks uses it for puzzles and not the entire game.

Well, now I have Rocksmith, so there's that.

I've played Okamiden on DS, but got stuck somewhere and haven't gone back.

02/20/2018 at 12:15 PM

Fantasy Zone is a 2-D cutesy arcade shooter. It stars one of SEGA's pre-Sonic mascots, Opa Opa. You can unlock it in Yakuza 0 by talking to the arcade lady a lot and beating her high scores.

02/20/2018 at 04:37 PM

Dangit, I've talked to the arcade lady several times and all she ever says is for me to have a good time.

Thank you for letting me know there was another substory I haven't triggered.

Casey Curran Staff Writer

02/20/2018 at 01:38 PM

Personally, I like the Wii version of TP more because the motion controlled aiming is much more fluid and natural feeling, but the Wii U version is the best IMO. Hope that and Wind Waker move to the Switch.

EBA is top 3 DS games for me, after Pokemon and Ace Attorney. These years had great AA games btw. My GOTY each year would be:

2006- Elite Beat Agents (though now that I've played Final Fantasy 12, that might top it)

2007- Mass Effect (also one of my favorite years in gaming. So many great games to play)

2008- Fallout 3

02/20/2018 at 04:39 PM

At the time, I was really interested in the bow and arrow and sword mechanics, but I kept hearing people didn't like them. I've never played for myself though, so who knows.

I still need to play my Ace Attorney game.

I've played Mass Effect demos and rented Andromeda and only ever watched people play Fallout 3.

goaztecs

02/22/2018 at 01:43 PM

Heck yeah Black Bar!

When the Wii was released I thought it was too gimicky but I wanted to try it, and my cousin bought one. It was ok but nothing special, so I stuck with PS2/PS3. What got me to move to PS3 was that I could upload my own graphics to NCAA Football for create a school. That was the game changer.

I was pro Guitar Hero over Rockband but both were a lot of fun. At some point I want to dive into DS games and play something other than racers on that system.

02/22/2018 at 04:25 PM

No spoilers in Black Bar; just a cry for help.

NCAA Football. Now there's something that would never get me to buy a system. Always interesting to see people with different tastes. I can understand the appeal though. I've always wanted to turn a sports title into a story mode kind of game, with a full season. It's just that I never buy sports titles. Does MLB The Show have a story mode like these newer NBA Live games?

I was all about Rock Band, myself. In the sense I preferred having options when going to parties ... never did buy any of those games outside of Rocksmith, which is just guitar practice with my TV as a metronome.

PixlBit