#play the DS Zeldas now

[hall-elouia]

I think majora’s mask is a better game than ocarina of time, maybe not a better Zelda game but a better game nonetheless.

Story wise it’s not comparable majora goes way off base for a Zelda game so much it spawned theories about the meaning of it. Especially the exploration of death and grief. Do you know any other Zelda game having multiple levels of interpretation at the time and even today?

Immersion and NPCs, majora has so many more memorable NPC and that’s because they’re tied to quest and substories that flesh out its world and increase immersion, those npcs are alive in this doomed world.

Music, three words: stone tower temple.

Legacy, if you loved BOTW you need to realise that it borrows more from the game design of majora than ocarina. Examples: like majora botw has 4 guardians freed by defeating a beast, botw has a time cycle that resets the world by respawning all monsters, both have journaling and subquests.

Why do I say it may not be a better Zelda game ? Because while borrowing elements and creatures from the Zelda universe in its format and story it’s just not a Zelda game even Link’s Awakening while (spoiler) happening in a dream is closer to the original zelda than majora, eight dungeons each containing an item necessary for progression through the world towards the next dungeons, do you know what you get in dungeons in MM ? First a bow and then magic arrows! Everything else require exploration of the world, interaction with the npcs, and sidequesting.

What makes both of these games great is that Ocarina of time was the perfect transition from 2D to 3D for the series, Majora’s Mask with the knowledge of the previous one had the balls of letting go of the formula.

In conclusion, don’t get me wrong I love both of those games yet I believe MM is a better game but OoT was not only necessary but in a way inevitable the first 3D Zelda game would have never deviated from what the legend of Zelda and the legend of Zelda a link to the past had done not after Zelda 2. I’m so glad OoT was so good we got MM.

Also play the DS games you’ll have to get other the touch controls and the ocean shrine in the first one but they’re good and deserve your attention.

[random-meme-bot]

My Nintendo Direct Impressions

Pretty freaking fantastic!

[dragon-seahorse]

This happened yesterday but I did spend a few seconds looking at them like "uhhh...oops!" Before I popped out and scared both of them XD

[kachimera]

"Kachi why are you losing it over oot" i have a mental illness called i only had 8 games for my 3ds for years until very recently and one of those was the oot remake next question

[mysunshine-youremoonlight]

I may not have played many loz games however I have always. Held link in high regard <- wants his gender so bad God I wouldn't even have to do much just cut my hair I wish that were me

god no fr i love link he's everything to me

[nexus-nebulae]

desperately wanting to be a proper zelda theorizer but having no access to the games myself

[fly-sky-high-09]

Every time I see BLG has a new TotK playthrough episode I get so happy and excited to watch you guys have no idea

[lesbianlenas]

going to replay loz spirit tracks to commemorate new playable zelda have not played it in at least 10 yrs but it was my fave bc it had playable zelda 💞 i will reconnect w my lesbian childhood now

[the-starlight-papers]

Why do I really want to get a 3DS right now I literally have no need for it but I want one really bad for some reason

[lazulian-devil]

Does anyone remember Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks? You know. The one with the train.

Point is. This was my first Zelda and I have so many good memories of it. But I know people hated it so I went back in, just to see how much I liked it.

And oh boy. Oh fucking boy.

Is the train riding a little obnoxious? Sure. Especially in the endgame. We all know that.

But the story is so good? The characters are either wonderful or wonderfully stupid? Zelda is such a cool companion character and I still love her as much as I used to. The mechanics are fun, the fucking Dungeons are amazing (and theres so so soooo many!!) and my heart is just so happy.

Everyone mocked me as a child but I love this game. I played for five straight hours yesterday and everything was just so fun. So incredibly, wonderfully fun.

Look, you dont have to care about it. Its a silly spin off. But the writing is genuinely funny, the graphics are absolutely "You get used to it", the fact that you basically control the entire game with your stylus is something that I dont remember ever having to do in a game, the Puzzles are fun, the pacing is (at least for the first five to six hours, meaning that I managed to unlock three of the slates, went through two dungeons and finished three tower dungeons) pretty damn good, the quests I know to be stupid and time consuming but I was also like a child. Anything Ive struggled with or remembered to be hard isnt actually that bad. The map marking mechanic is such a cute idea and I love it. Stamps. The enemies. The characters. The Dungeons!!! Oh my god, the dungeon bosses. They arent hard or mind boggling or all that jazz, but they're fun! And still a little challenging, despite having played the game twice as a child and now having leveled up a few levels in videogame skill. The camera is never annoying. The SOUNDTRACK. The riddles I found overwhelming as a kid are actually pretty easy to solve from context clues. The world has so much intrigue and I know it all gets answered. I never managed to beat the final boss, but I cant fucking wait. I know you can grind your train pieces into oblivion, but I dont think I will (unless I notice that Im majorly struggling). THE SOUNDTRACK.

I wish there was any way to emulate it so I could Show it to other people. Im playing it on a crappy DS Lite that doesnt close properly anymore. Its just...

This is a Nostalgia win, my dudes. An absolute nostalgia win. My heart is singing. I am so Happy. If you own this game or stumble over it, please give it a try. Its so damn charming. Stupid, maybe. But charming. Might write a proper Essay on it because my heart. My poor child heart. Its overflowing.

[covesdadappreciation]

Hi! Could you do Qiu Lin x m reader who really loves video games? Like absolutely adores em and stuff and tries to cheer them up with games he think they'd like? I think it'd be nice to spend a rainy day playing animal crossing with Qiu on a ds or something :3

Gift!

Step 1 Qiu x Male Reader

Short - Fluff - Not fully proof read

Note: Apologies for taking so long! It's my last two weeks of finals, so I finally found a sliver of time to finish this fully. Thank you!

MC was known for having his nose stuck in his game systems. In the school hallways? Probably playing Super Mario on his DS. At the diner? Milkshakes and Papa's Pizzeria. Should probably be studying because a huge test is coming up? Tetris or Legend Of Zelda Wind Waker. 

It was something comforting for MC, and something that made him feel beyond thrilled was that his crush, Qiu Lin, had no problem with it. In fact, Qiu practically adored that aspect of MC. MC could rant on and on for hours about his favorite games, trying to teach them how to play it or how the story is unraveling. There was even one night where MC had run over to Qiu’s house late at night out of pure excitement at the fact that one of his games had an entire plot twist that he had to rant about. 

And no matter how much MC nerded out about his favorite interest, Qiu never judged him. Qiu always sat there and listened, asked questions, never interrupting, because he knew just how important this was to MC. Qiu knew that MC would try to talk about these things with his mom or the people at school, but no one had the same patience and interest like Qiu Lin had. 

It was one of the very first things that pulled MC closer to Qiu.

MC felt special. 

And that feeling was further proven on a rainy day, when MC was in his room, excitedly waiting for Qiu to come over. Normally, once a week, Qiu would stop over to play animal crossing with MC. But this time, there was even more excitement in MC’s attitude. Qiu had been holding onto this hinted secret above MC’s head the entire week, saying something about having a little gift for him. 

Could it be his favorite snack?

A cool new helmet for his ride?

Maybe the gift is a joke and it’s just Qiu’s presence… because of course he would do that. 

MC didn’t want to get his hopes up too high yet, because if he did, he’d be expecting a whole new console and a plush with a love confession attached to it. 

MC was prepared for this meetup. He had snacks settled out, his stuffed animals on the bed ready to be hugged (one of his stuffed animals had Qiu’s bandana on its neck), his clothes piled up on the chair instead of strewn about on the floor. You could finally see the floor again! MC’s heart raced quicker at the sound of the doorbell and his mom answering the door, quickly making sure everything was arranged perfectly while his mom bought him time. The sound of Qiu coming up the stairs and his signature knock of shave and a haircut, two bits pattern.

MC quickly opened the door, pulling Qiu into the room by his wet green jacket,

“Qiu! You, me, animal crossing, right now” MC urged excitedly, letting Qiu accustom himself onto MC’s bed where he normally sits. 

“”Someone’s in an urgent mood today” Qiu chuckled, watching MC pull out his second console for Qiu. “Not really, the rain always ruins plans” MC huffs, “except these plans, where it’s just you and me playing. It’s the only good thing that happened today!”

Qiu’s eyes seem to lose themself in the distance at the wording, as if refraining some emotions from coming through. Instead, they take a small breath and straighten their back, “and what if I made it even better?”

“Are you finally gonna give you this gift you’ve been tempting me with this entire week?” MC huffed, crossing his arms

“Perchance.”

“...I’m listening”

Qiu’s hand digs into his pocket, faltering once it’s in his grasp. It was a crime to make MC wait this long! Thankfully Qiu gave in and pulled out a red wrapped gift box with a tag on it. With little patience, MC takes it, reading the tag:

“To: MC From: the greatest kid you’ll ever meet”

“Well aren’t you humble” MC glances up to look at Qiu who has a smug smile on his face

“I try” Qiu shrugs

MC proceeds to unwrap it, taking off the cardboard lid to reveal a plush animal crossing character, Bunnie. One of the very first characters that MC had gotten attached to throughout the game. Which meant Qiu noticed and remembered which character had that impact on MC this whole time. 

This was practically a confession at this point!

“I love you, Qiu Lin”

“I knew Bunnie would make you happy!” Qiu chimed, completely missing the mark. Thankfully, it let MC take a quick breath to calm their beating heart, “Let’s just… start playing before I cry and ask for marriage” he mutters. 

MC settles besides Qiu on the bed, pulling a small blanket on him, "Would you wanna be cozy with me and share this?" he offered. Qiu smiles and nods, letting MC curl up closer and lay the blanket over them as they prepare for a long afternoon of snacks, a game, and drawing constellations together.

[wayfayrr]

The Menace is back with a Self-Aware ask and your weekly words. So here we go with the Self-Aware!

So I think about a Self-Aware Wind and Spirit would be a good idea. You ask who Spirits is? Well the Link from Spirit Tracks because I'm sure he is a reincarnation of Wind as there were things that wouldn't make sense if he was the same. Niko is old but Spirit isn't, Zelda and Spirit don't recognise each other, Spirit doesn't have a sister or a grandma only old man Niko and Niko tells him the story of Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass.

I believe that Wind tries to be sneaky like when Reader looks away he turns his head towards them. Reader also catched him a few times but just thought their eyes were playing tricks on them same with Spirit. But I think it would be interesting when both of them break out at the same time.

Like the scenario is like that. Reader plays Phantom Hourglass on their DS and their little/older sibling comes to them as they are stuck somewhere in Spirit Tracks and it was Reader's game after all, they don't know that Spirit planned it. So Reader just say leave it with them and put their DS down to look at the problem. Only to notice that it seems as there isn't one, Link just runs around the overworld. So Reader thinks it's a glitch and runs around with Spirit to find a next town, they are really far away if you don't use the train. So Wind gets jealous and looks for methods to get their attention. How? He runs out of the safety zone from Bellum's temple and has a monster running after his life. So if Reader plays with sound on they immediately switch DSs to save Wind. And these two do that the whole time. Oh, there is the train geek? Sorry Spirit, but Wind just fell down somewhere and Reader has to go the whole way back so they don't lose progress and heal him. Oh, Wind has a puzzle that Reader tries to solve? Sorry Wind, but Spirit just rolled against a tree with a bees/horns nest, Reader has to save him. Oh, Spirit sees and Overworld Boss and it does nothing and Reader wants to take pictures of it T posing?! Sorry Spirit, But Wind needs their help as he lost all of the ore for smith Zauz and now has to collect them again!! Oh, Wind just got a heart container after he defeated a boss?! Well Sorry Wind But Spirits RUNS ON WATER! OH LOOK WIND FELL DOWN FROM THE BOAT AND NEEDS TO BE SAVED!! SORRY SPIRIT, BUT YOUR JESUS JOURNEY HAS TO BE CUT SHORT!! OH READER FINALLY FOUNDS THE TRAIN?! WELL EXCUUUSEE ME SPIRIT BUT WIND RAN INTO FREAKING BELLUM IN THE OVERWORLD!!! OH...

And so on. These two will go into extreme lengths to get Readers attention on one of them. So they will probably break out as Reader didn't fold any of the two DS to help their parents who called them. But at first the two will fight. Obviously they love Wind more they played his games a dozens of time! Nooo, they love Spirit more they could've given him back to their sibling but they didn't he was still there. When Reader returns they just demand to know who Reader's favourite is. Reader completely stunned as both games start talk to them think they go nuts as they pulled an all-nighter before. The two won't stop and slammed against the glass until it breaks and... why are they so small? Why is Reader so tall?! WHY ARE THESE TWO HERO CHIBIS!? AND WHY HAS ONE OF THEM A JOB!?!

And your words are.

Sacrifice

Mask

Search

Arsonist

Ice blue

Unknown

Hello menace! you've discovered one of my utter weaknesses that I've never mentioned on here - spirit is my son/lh/j. I love that silly little train kiddo, he's just! So silly goofy!!!

also firm believer that if they both get out - or actually speak to one another then they'll get along really really well. they're twins and I can't be convinced otherwise.

I think the idea of them both spiting the other until reader leaves them both to go and destress would be an eye opener to the both of them, being bitter and not working together is worse for BOTH of them. Of course they'll both bicker about who is the favourite but when push comes to shove, two is always more effective than one.

ALSO LITTLE MENACE SPIRIT???? LOVE HIM oh he deserves to be an absolute little shit for attention, he's just a baby that can do no wrong after all!!!! just a tiny little guy!!!! Baby boy!!!!! he's got his train so now he just needs his older sib's attention!!! so what if he has to mess with someone else's game to do that - it worked so how can you hate him for it?

also the jesus journey bit is actually sending me- he's so desperate for attention he'll break all the rules in order to keep your eyes on him ;-; hopefully you won't reset his game seeing as he's breaking it so much now

heheheheheh tiny baby spirit who can sit in your hand or a baby wind who can fit in your pockets they're just little tiny babies!!!!! little itty bitty guys!!!!! (reminds me of some imgs peep's sent in asks lmao) so what if they shouldn't be there! now they are and that's your problem to deal with!!! they won't cause issues - pinky promise <3

(both of these guys are by @artsy-moonwalker, I adore these two little guys beyond belief and spirit looking so scruffy is just so!!!!!! literally baby and I love him so!!!)

as for the words hmmmmm, I think I'll go with ice blue for this one (sorry for the late response too, I know these were last week's after all)

[blackautmedia]

The Problem with the Gerudo | Orientalism in Legend of Zelda

EDIT: Because I made an updated and more in-depth version of this now that Tears of the Kingdom has been out longer, I've posted the updated link here in place of the original.

With the release of Tears of the Kingdom, we have to have this discussion again. The desert vai outfit was racist, not that the game removed it to address that, but the Gerudo are built entirely on orientalist tropes that go beyond just the outfit. We also talk about orientalism as shown in works like Aladdin and Ducktales.

Some Excerpts:

I'm not saying to abandon the idea of queering Link entirely, but only to understand that Legend of Zelda relies very heavily on a number of euro-fantasy tropes that rely on presenting numerous non-white people as exotic playthings and to consider the position that puts queer non-white folks in.

The entire scene of Link getting the Vai outfit and questioning the man giving it to him is built on transphobia.

This isn't queer expression, it's racial exoticism. They're not imagined as people with a society that makes sense, everything around them being so fixated on finding men and having Link and other white guys infiltrating their space.

Orientalism at its core is an imagined vision of real oppressed people by a dominant group in a way that excludes them from their own portrayal and reinforces real-world systemic oppression.

Entire fictional groups in Zelda such as the Rito, Twili, Zonai, Gorons, and Deku Scrubs to name a few incorporate racial coding in addition to the Gerudo. That recontextualizes how we look at say how the Deku are portrayed in Majora's Mask where they're jungle dwelling savages boiling this monkey alive because they think he kidnapped their princess. This is where racial coding comes into play because Nintendo is using a racial trope commonly used to depict Black and several native indigenous people as barbaric.

The Gerudo in Ocarina of Time are depicted as a race of desert-dwelling thieves. You're formally introduced gameplay wise when you have to sneak around their hideout and free these men who were seduced by what the game presents to us as dangerous but irresistible women. Despite being a group of almost entirely women, their society is patriarchal as the in-game lore states the lone man born every century is destined to be their leader. The Gerudo also go out into Hyrule to go find boyfriends.

Ocarina of Time is one of the earliest Zelda games to portray a human or human-like version of Ganon, the man of the desert he's repeatedly called, but they use racial coding with his human counterpart and make him an Arab man with some other cultures mashed in, which they also conflated with Islam to characterize him as evil and dangerous.

Ocarina of Time goes a step further as the recurring symbol of the Gerudo shown here is an altered version as seen on the mirror shield obtained in the spirit temple. The original symbol is a crescent moon and star very closely resembling the symbol of Islam. A common orientalist trope that does this is the conflation of Arabs with the religious faith of Islam. This was changed alongside prayer chanting used in music for the fire temple on some N64 cartridges and subsequent ports and the DS remake of Ocarina of Time.

The fact that Nintendo is a Japanese company doesn't magically make them immune to these issues, especially because 1) orientalism doesn't only encompass Asian people and 2) Even the term "Asian" encompasses countless subcommunities each with very distinct histories.

[theviolenttomboy]

So today a lot of people are freaking out that Nintendo is gonna go trigger happy with suing other companies via a metric ton of new gameplay elements from Tears of the Kingdom getting officially patented.

Turns out that Nintendo already goes out of their way to register patents on every single game mechanic they can, not so they can prevent anyone else from using them, but to protect everyone else from frivolous lawsuits.

Got this interesting bit from a Reddit post:

On top of not being fucked over by someone else registering the patent, they can also protect the entire industry by doing so. By having a patent on it but not suing other companies, that actually means other companies can use the said technology/mechanic without the threat of being sued by other patent holders who only seeks to abuse their patents. By doing this, the game industry can thrive by not being restricted by patent too much. This isn't just Nintendo, for example, Capcom also holds patents for a lot of patent on gameplay mechanics on fighting games, but they allow other companies to use it without licensing, because that makes the whole industry and the genre grow. It's like the unwritten rule of the industry since the early days of the industry in Japan. Now, Konami didn't receive the memo that this is the unwritten rule, and abused their patents especially on their rhythm game genre--and the end result is that while they are dominant in that genre, the genre itself is very much small. One of the bigger cases where Nintendo actually sued another company for patent infringement was against Colopl, which patented touch screen gameplay mechanic very similar to how Link is controlled in DS Zelda games. Colopl went on to sue other companies using similar gameplay styles, and Nintendo sued them saying that Colopl's own patent is infringement of theirs. So what really happened was basically Nintendo telling other companies that they were fine with other companies using their gameplay mechanics as long as they didn't try to patent them and abuse it on other companies.

And as John Oliver once covered, there are greedy assholes out there who go out of their way to abuse the patent system. People really do make frivolous patents just to wheedle money out of others.

Sure, Nintendo's still a multi-billion dollar company and it's not like they've never done some questionably scummy business practices, but yeah. The higherups actually like playing games from other companies. They want the video game industry as a whole to keep going and they don't want to be the only ones doing it.

[multbasa]

Some people legit wanted Twilight Princess HD and Wind Waker HD over a brand new Zelda title? I want the HD versions too because setting up my GameCube is a little tedious and the games would be nice on the go, but I was only expecting the HD versions because I never thought we would be getting a new game this year. Echoes of Wisdom was a complete surprise and I am SO incredibly happy that we get a new 2D mainline Zelda game since A Link Between Worlds which was really really long ago now.

Even though it's not super convenient, I still have my GameCube with both Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, so I'll take a new game and wait for a slow year for those two—maybe they'll actually remake Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks from the ground up 🥺. Phantom Hourglass may not be the best Zelda, but it was the first Zelda I actually played when I got a DS (I didn't even have a phone until later in highschool, so my DS was everything back then), so while I love Spirit Tracks, I also think Phantom Hourglass is worth a remake.

The fact that the Switch got so many Zelda games including mainline titles like BotW, TotK, Skyward Sword and Echoes of Wisdom, and spin offs like the Hyrule Warriors games and Crypt of the Necrodancer: Cadence of Hyrule is absolutely fantastic—and there's even more if we count the virtual console. As a fan, I feel so spoiled.

Twilight Princess and Wind Waker are easy titles to bring over to new consoles since they don't have very specific mechanics that work only on certain hardware like the DS games, so we'll get it eventually. In the meantime, I will play the heck out of Echoes of Wisdom.

[datcloudboi]

List of Video Games Turning 20 Years Old in 2024

Alien Hominid (started off life as a Flash game and graduated to a real game.)

Army Men: Sarge's War (the sequel to the Sarge’s Heroes games, but this one was rated T for Teen and used realistic guns instead of plastic ones)

Astro Boy: Omega Factor (seriously, if you have a chance to play this, take it. This game is AMAZING)

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II

The Bard's Tale (the 2004 version with the guy who played Wesley in The Princess Bride)

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings & the Lost Ocean (hey! That collection with this game and it's follow-up is out on the Switch now! Go get it!)

Blinx 2: Masters of Time and Space

Blood Will Tell: Tezuka Osamu's Dororo

BloodRayne 2

Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django (this GBA game had a special cartridge that required you to go outside into the sunlight to power up your character in game)

Breakdown

Bujingai: The Forsaken City (the game where you play as Gackt)

Burnout 3: Takedown

Call of Duty: United Offensive

Call of Duty: Finest Hour (a side story to the original Call of Duty, which came out the year before)

Capcom Fighting Evolution (the darkest of the dark age of fighting games)

Carmen Sandiego: The Secret of the Stolen Drums (a full-on adventure game where you play as the mascot of a series of edutainment games)

Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (the rare movie-in game that's not only really good, but is actually better than the movie it's based on)

Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage + Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy

Crash Twinsanity (a childhood favorite)

Crimson Tears

Crusader Kings

Custom Robo (the first one in the series to release in North America)

Cy Girls

Dead Man's Hand

Dead or Alive Ultimate (remakes of Dead or Alive 1 and Dead or Alive 2)

Def Jam: Fight for NY (the vastly superior sequel to Vendetta)

Dog's Life

Doom 3 (the original version. Hope you've got a flashlight on you...)

Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors

Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury (the final game in the Legacy of Goku series)

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3

Drakengard (Yoko Taro's debut as a game director)

Driver 3

Evil Genius

Fable (another childhood favorite)

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (the last Fallout game made by Interplay before Bethesda acquired the IP.)

Far Cry (the very first one.)

Feel the Magic: XY/XX (a launch title for the Nintendo DS)

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (the only Final Fantasy game to release for the GameCube)

Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls (remakes of the first two mainline Final Fantasy games)

Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone

Front Mission 4

F-Zero: GP Legend (the last F-Zero game to release for almost 2 decades, until F-Zero 99 released in 2023.)

Galleon

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (the PS2 one. There was another version of SAC that released for the PSP a year later that is completely different.)

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2

Ghosthunter

Godzilla: Save the World

GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

Gradius V (the last mainline Gradius game)

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto Advance (yes, there was a GTA game on the GBA.)

Growlanser Generations

Guilty Gear Isuka

.hack//Quarantine

Half-Life 2

Halo 2

Hitman: Contracts (the third one)

Hot Shots Golf Fore! (yet another childhood favorite)

It's Mr. Pants (Rareware made this for the GBA after being acquired by Microsoft)

Jak 3

James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

Katamari Damacy (the very first Katamari game)

Killzone (PlayStation's supposed "Halo killer".)

KOF: Maximum Impact

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

Kirby & the Amazing Mirror

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

Lifeline (a microphone-based survival horror game for the PS2 by Konami.)

The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (a turn-based RPG that uses the exact same battle system as Final Fantasy X.)

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth

Mario Golf: Advance Tour

Mario Party 6

Mario Pinball Land

Mario Power Tennis (not to be confused with "Mario Golf: Power Tour" for the GBA.)

Mario vs. Donkey Kong (the first one, which is getting a remake for the Switch in February!)

Maximo vs. Army of Zin

MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault

Mega Man: Battle Chip Challenge

Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun/Blue Moon

Mega Man X: Command Mission

Mega Man Zero 3

Mega Man X8 (yeah, there was a lot of Mega Man stuff in 2004.)

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid for the GameCube)

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (SNAAAAAKE EATERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR)

Metal Wolf Chaos (LET'S PARTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY)

Metroid: Zero Mission (a remake of the original Metroid for the GBA.)

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Monster Hunter (the very first one)

Mortal Kombat: Deception

Mushihimesama ((a bullet hell that you’ve probably seen a lot of if you search for “HARDEST GAME OF ALL TIME?????” on YouTube)

Myst IV: Revelation

Need for Speed: Underground 2

Ninja Gaiden (the reboot from the Dead or Alive devs)

The Nintendo DS

Onimusha 3: Demon Siege

Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors (an action-adventure hack & slash made by FromSoftware)

Painkiller

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (can you believe this is getting a remake this year??)

Phantom Brave

Pikmin 2

Pitfall: The Lost Expedition (the last game in an series that started all the back in 1982 on the Atari 2600)

Pokemon Colosseum

Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (the 3rd one)

Red Dead Revolver (the predecessor to Red Dead Redemption.)

Resident Evil Outbreak

R-Type Final

Sacred

Samurai Warriors

Scaler

American McGee Presents: Scrapland

Second Sight

Serious Sam: Next Encounter

Shadow Hearts: Covenant

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (you know that “Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series” meme you guys love so much? This is where that came from.)

Silent Hill 4: The Room

Siren (a spirital successor to Silent Hill from the same creative director)

Sly 2: Band of Thieves

Sonic Heroes

Sonic Battle (an arena fighter for the GBA.)

Sonic Advance 3

Spider-Man 2 ((based on the movie of the same name. The one with the really good web-slinging)

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (the 2nd one)

Spyro: A Hero's Tail (the 5th one)

Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (the 3rd one)

Star Wars: Battlefront (the one that everyone liked)

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords

Steel Battalion: Line of Contact ((this, and the original Steel Battalion two years prior, used a special controller called the Mega-Jockey 9000, which had 44 buttons, two joysticks, a throttle handle, a radio channel dial, five switches, an eject button, and three foot pedals.)

Sudeki

The Suffering

Super Mario 64 DS

Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain (the 4th one)

Tales of Symphonia

Thief: Deadly Shadows (the 3rd one)

Tony Hawk's Underground 2

Total War: Rome

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Viewtiful Joe 2

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

X-Men Legends