When we think about older RPG’s from the late 90’s-early 00’s time period there were many classics from that era of gaming including FFVII, FFVIII, Suikoden II, Xenogears, Grandia II and many others. But when comes down to popular 3D JRPG’s from ‘99-‘00 there were games such as Chrono Cross & Skies Of Arcadia that deserved sequels but never received them. Chrono Cross was first released on the PS1 in Japan back in November 1999 before coming to America in August 2000. Chrono Cross was the critically acclaimed sequel to the iconic 16-bit Chrono Trigger game for the SNES from ‘95. Despite, the Chrono Cross received for its storytelling, visuals and battle battle system Square Co./ Square Enix was unable to produce a sequel. It has been mentioned by Hiromichi Tanaka who worked as the producer for Chrono Cross many years ago that ideas on creating a sequel were tossed around at some point. While the idea for creating a new Chrono game was eventually dropped on the early 00’s Shinji Hashimoto from Square Enix seemingly expresses frustration about the matter at E9 2009. Hashimoto may have believed that the overall sales for Chrono Cross was too low and that the fan support for another installment was not high enough for Square Enix to care.
Skies Of Arcadia which was developed by Overworks initially appeared on Sega Dreamcast in ‘00 was quite possibly the best RPG to have appeared on that console. Initially, a sequel for Skies Of Arcadia was planned around ‘03 but apparently it never materialized. Back in January 2020 one of the developers Kenji Hiruta who worked on Skies Of Arcadia had expressed interest on Twitter in developing a direct sequel to the ‘00’s RPG classic. The likelihood of seeing a sequel for Skies Of Arcadia is not too different from the possibility of Square Enix producing another Chrono game. Following the 90’s the Chrono series has seemingly lost its appeal with Chrono Trigger from ‘95 being the most high profile game in the series. Skies Of Arcadia was one of the most captivating RPG’s of the 00’s decade and at this point it seems like the only way will get a sequel is through a Kickstarter campaign. As far as which game is more deserving of a sequel between Chrono Cross & Skies Of Arcadia is definitely one that is open to debate.
As many people know it has been recently revealed that we will be seeing a remake of the Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time game which was released for GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox back in 2003. The news regarding the Prince Of Persia Remake game fans at Ubisoft’s 2020 Ubiforward event. While the upcoming release of Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time Remake is something that has been making headlines news as of late; some question on whether or not Prince Of Persia is still an attraction in year 2020. The last time the world has seen anything significant regarding the Prince Of Persia series as back in 2010 when the movie was released. The Prince Of Persia movie had a budget of approximately $185 million and ended up becoming office box success earning over $336 million. Prior to 2010 we got see various Prince Of Persia games during the 00’s including Battles Of Prince Of Persia, Prince Of Persia: Classic, PoP: The Forgotten Sands, PoP: The Two Thrones along with PoP: The Warrior Within. Aside from Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time some would argue that PoP: Warrior Within along with the PoP ‘08 game were among the best installments within the series depending on who you ask.
But there is no question that the Prince of Persia series reached it peak in popularity during the 00’s which is why we are getting are remake of arguably the the best in within the series PoP: Sands Of Time. Based on what we know about the remake for PoP: Sands Of Time the game will utilizing a more modern game engine engineered by Ubisoft known as Anvil. It should also be noted that the Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time Remake will be simplest more than just a high definition remastered version of the original ‘03 installment. The remake for Prince Of Persia: Sands In Time will feature motion-capture, facial animation along re-recorded dialogue to make this version seem as contemporary as possible. Also, there will be modifications to the camera work and the gameplay for the remake of Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time as well. The remake for PoP: Sands Of Time is expected to be released sometime January 2021 for the PS4, Xbox One and PC. While the PoP series has been nearly dead throughout the 10’s decade making remakes for classics such as “Sands Of Time” could generate a significant amount of interest to the series within the 20’s decade.
As many people should know by The World The World Ends with you anime adaptation is scheduled to be broadcasted worldwide sometime next year on a date that has yet to be revealed. For those who do not know The World Ends With You was a popular video game that appeared on the Nintendo DS back in ‘07 and is one that is apart of the Kingdom Hearts series. The World Ends With You was an RPG video game that was initially developed and published by Square Enix before eventually being ported for the Nintendo Switch back in 2018. The plot for The World Ends With You centered around the main protagonist named Neku Sakuraba who is stuck in a video game scenario in the Japanese city of Shibuya. In order to become apart of reality again Neku must team up with various allies on order to survive the Reaper’s game.
The World Ends With You video game had so many interesting twists & turns and people who played it on the Nintendo DS or Switch console are anxious to see how the anime adaptation will look. Based on what we know the anime for The World Ends With You will be produced by Square Enix, Shin-Ei Animation along with Domerica. It has also been revealed that The World Ends With You anime will be broadcasted through Funimation. Its currently unclear how many seasons there will be for The World Ends With You anime or whether or not there will be a sequel to the game that can out in ‘07. Either way, people who have been fans of the video game since ‘07 are anxious to see how the anime adaptation of The World Ends With You will turn out in 2021. Hopefully, there will be more details involving the official release date of The World Ends With You anime sometime in the near future.
When it comes down to older action-adventure that were probably overlooked in the early 00’s one of the few games that comes to mind is the Ninja Gaiden title from 2004. The Ninja Gaiden game from ‘04 was developed by Team Ninja and initially published by Tecmo. Ninja Gaiden ‘04 was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox and the PSVita over the time span of about nine years. Ninja Gaiden ‘04 saw the series reoccurring main protagonist Ryu Hayabusa as the only playable character while the game gave people sixteen chapters to complete within the story mode. The plot for Ninja Gaiden ‘04 revolved mainly around Ryu Hayabusa’s quest for vengeance as he seeks to destroy Doku. After killing Kureha the first Dragon Shrine Maiden of the Hayabusa Clan and stealing the Dark Dragon Blade attempted to murder Ryu arguably before fleeing. Ninja Gaiden ‘04 was also the game where we saw the introduction of a new female protagonist by the name of Rachel. The story involving Rachael and her sister Alma was both dark and tragic since they both carried a blood curse. The curse that Rachel & Alma had gave them the ability humans into animals and was given to them by Doku. The gameplay for Ninja Gaiden ‘04 was pretty unique because it looked and felt different from older games in the series. However, the developers found a way to take a series that was mainly popular in 2D during the NES era and make 3D game that had good storytelling and realistic gameplay that captured the vibe of the Ninja Gaiden series.
In Ninja Gaiden ‘04 players controlled Ryu Hayabusa from a third-person perspective and has the ability to upgrade their abilities as they progressed throughout the game. Players got to explore multiple different regions in order to solve puzzles, discover keys and fighting various enemies while being able to save their progress in the process. One of the few criticisms regarding the gameplay for Ninja Gaiden ‘04 involved the fact that the combat system was a bit tough to master and lacked flexibility. While players are given a large selection of weapons to choose each had their own set of advantages and disadvantages which added to the realism of the gameplay itself. The melee attacks along with the magical spells that Ryu Hayabusa could use in Ninja Gaiden ‘04 made the game fun for many people along with the inclusion cinematic cutscenes for each chapter of the story. Ninja Gaiden ‘04 was special not only because it was set within the world of the Dead or Alive series but it was also supposed to be a prequel to the Gaiden games for the NES as well. Ninja Gaiden ‘04 was great action-adventure game for its time and is one that probably deserves to be remastered high definition for a modern generation game system.
The Super Mario Bros series has been around since the mid 80’s during the NES days of gaming. When it comes down to popularity the very first Super Mario Bros game is quite possibly one greatest video games of all-time not only because it helped shape the platform genre of gaming but it was also very successful as well. The original Super Mario Bros game has reportedly sold over 40 million worldwide since its original release and the series itself had only grew in popularity as time passed. While Super Mario Bros 2 was a pretty fun game that allowed players to choose multiple characters including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad it was not as successful as its prequel. Despite, the improvements in gameplay featured in Super Mario Bros 2 it sold less than both its predecessor and successor and was often seen as the black sheep of the trilogy. While the original Super Mario Bros 2 game reach over 7.4 million in sales since ‘88; Super Mario Bros 3 managed to reach over 13 million in sales and was almost every bit as popular as the very first installment within the series. Super Mario World from 1990 which appeared on the SNES was arguably the best game within its series during the 90’s in general.
Super Mario World had a beautiful overworld along nice looking 2D sprites, stages and animation with the inclusion of Yoshi. Players could spend days, weeks or even months trying to complete Super Mario World since the game itself had multiple overworld maps and became more challenging towards the end of the game. Super Mario World ended up reaching over 20 million in sales since appearing on the 16-bit SNES console and is considered to be of the greatest installments within the entire series. We then got Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES which was a 16-bit remastered collection of the first three NES Mario games from the 80’s; with the addition of Mario Lost Levels. Super Mario All-Stars was a huge success sales wise and sold over 10 million copies worldwide since ‘93. We also got to see other 2D classics on the SNES & Game Boy throughout the 90’s such as Super Mario Land 1 & 2, Yoshi’s Island and Super Mario RPG which were all critically acclaimed classics that sold millions worldwide as well. The Super Mario Kart game from ‘92 was a nostalgic classic where players were introduced to iconic stages such as: Koopa Beach, Choco Valley and Rainbow Road. By the mid 90’s the world got to see Super Mario 64 & Mario Kart 64 two games that are legendary among the gaming community. While Super Mario 64 managed to sell roughly under 12 million copies for the N64 Mario Kart 64 arguably had the best soundtracks that one would ever hear in a racing game.
While the Mario games from the 90’s were more iconic there was no doubt that in terms of quality the titles we have seen from the 00’s onwards were far more superior games in comparison. In fact, the 00’s was the decade where we got to see the releases of titles such as Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Mario Kart Wii along with Super Mario Galaxy. The New Super Mario Bros series was like a breath of fresh air to many people during the mid to late 00’s because the 2D gameplay was reminiscent to the older installments within the series from the mid 80’s-early 90’s. However, the New Super Mario Bros games provided players with 2D gameplay with 3D visuals in a addition to simultaneous multiplayer mode which not he done on the NES/SNES during the 80’s or 90’s. The New Super Mario Bros game from ‘06 along with its Wii sequel from ‘09 sold over 30 million copies individually and are among the best selling titles within the entire series. We also got to see the release of Mario Kart Wii in ‘08 which became the second best selling Mario game of all-time reaching over 37 million in sales. While Mario Kart Wii might not be the most memorable installment within the Mario racing series it was highly successful due to popularity of Nintendo’s Wii console from late 2006. Prior to the release Mario Kart Wii Nintendo released Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii console in November 2007; Super Mario Galaxy was a critically acclaimed 3D platformer with a fantastic soundtrack and a and a solid plot where the setting takes place in multiple galaxies opposed to Mushroom Kingdom. Super Mario Galaxy had reached roughly under 12 million copies in sales since its Wii release back in late ‘07 is considered to be one the best 3D platformers within the series along with Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Odyssey.
We then look at the 10’s decade and Nintendo gave us some outstanding games such as: Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, Super Mario Maker along with Super Mario Odyssey. Despite, being exclusively on the Nintendo DS Mario Kart 7 reached over 11 million units in sales following its release in 2011. It was also in ‘11 where Super Mario 3D Land was released for the Nintendo 3DS and managed to reach roughly under 13 million in sales. Super Mario 3D Land in some ways felt like a prelude to Super Mario 3D World which included multiplayer gameplay where players could select Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad. Super Mario 3D World was the type of platform multiplayer game that Nintendo fans wanted to see in the Super Mario series since 90’s. Despite, being an incredible 3D platformer Super Mario 3D World had only reached over 5.8 million in sales which overall is pretty good. However, the Wii-U console was considered to be a flop sales wise in comparison to its competitors along with previous consoles that Nintendo had released with the exception of GameCube. Super Mario Odyssey from ‘17 was without a doubt the best Mario platform game that we got from Nintendo during the 10’s decade. Super Mario Odyssey felt like the 10’s version of Super Mario 64 and included cinematic cutscenes and soundtracks that made the game feel somewhat like a kids movie. Super Mario Odyssey not only received praise from various gaming publications but it also managed to reach over 18 million units in sales since its release in late 2017.
While the 80’s & 90’s may have been the period where Nintendo released its most iconic Mario games the overall quality of the titles that came out during the 00’s-10’s decade was without a doubt more superior. In fact, many would probably agree that the Mario series has aged like fine wine since the 80’s. It seemed like Nintendo has released more successful Mario games within the past two decades than they did in the 80’s & 90’s. Despite, Nintendo producing more successful Mario games during the 00’s & 10’s decade the very first game from ‘85 is still the most popular game within the entire series after being around for 35 years. While everyone has their own respective opinions on which decade was the best for in relation to the Mario series; everyone can agree that Nintendo has done an incredible job on the series fresh for over three decades which is an incredible milestone within the gaming world.
When people think about some of the most popular pro wrestling games from the 00’s titles such as WWF No Mercy, WWE Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain, WWE Day Of Reckoning 2 and SvR 2006 are all titles that come to mind. In fact, the games just mentioned are among the greatest pro wrestling games ever made depending on who you ask. There are many people who would definitely agree that THQ had produced more memorable pro-wrestling titles in the 00’s than 2K Sports has during a majority of the 10’s decade. While games such as Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain & No Mercy are considered to be legendary Smackdown vs Raw 2007 does not get mentioned in the same light as those two games despite being better terms of overall quality. The graphics for SvR 2007 were incredible and we saw more advanced gameplay than what was included in WWE Here Comes The Pain & SvR 2006. The roster for SvR was deep and included a large list of main event superstars & legends that could be utilized in various game modes including Exhibition & GM Mode. Also, the season mode in SvR 2007. Players were allowed to create their on wrestler and use them in various game modes; including Season Mode which was one of the many strong positives of SvR 2007.
The storylines included in the season mode of SvR 2007 were highly creative and original and added to the overall replay value of the game itself. Players were placed in certain storylines based on what show they were on; and whether or not they world champions within certain parts of the season. The voice acting within the Season Mode of SvR 2007 seemed better than its ‘06 predecessor despite there being minor issues in relation to commentary. The soundtracks in SvR 2007 were also pretty fun to listen to and players had seemingly endless match options to choose from in Exhibition mode including: Royal Rumble, Hell In A Cell, Elimination Chamber, Buried Alive, Parking Lot Brawl and the Money In The Bank ladder match. There were also many unlockable items within SvR 2007 that could be obtained by winning various trophies throughout the game; giving players plenty of things to do after they have gone through season mode multiple times to see various storylines. SvR: 2007 was such a great game because it found a nice balance between arcade-like gameplay and realistic pro-wrestling which is something that is not seen too often nowadays.
SvR 2007 is a game that does not seem to get the type of credit that it deserves and is one that generally flies under the radar as far as best pro wrestling games ever are concerned. The amount of content included in SvR 2007 along with its high replay value, awesome soundtracks and optimal quality in terms of graphics & gameplay makes it an underrated gem in the eyes of many people who are fans of pro wrestling. There are many people would probably agree that the THQ era of pro wrestling games from the 00’s was epic and SvR 2007 along with many others titles from that decade were the reason why. While some feel that SvR 2007 is highly underrated other believe it was one of the best pro wrestling games to come out of that decade overall. While 2K Sports had produced some decent pro wrestling games such as WWE 12, 13, 2K14, 2K16 along with 2K19 there are retro gamers who are still fans of the older THQ titles from the 00’s decade.
When it comes down to slightly underrated games for the N64 one of the few titles that some people might think of is Dr Mario 64 from 2001. As many people know the very first Dr Mario came out back in 1990 for the 8-bit NES and was considered to be a critically acclaimed puzzle game at the time. The original Dr Mario game was ported for multiple game systems throughout the 90’s decade including Game Boy and Super Nintendo. The plot for the original Dr Mario game was basic and involved players utilizing colored capsules to kill viruses which was a pretty interesting concept. The plot for Dr Mario 64 from ‘01 was a bit different and also involved one of Mario’s arch-rivals known as Wario. While Wario attempted to steal multivitamins from Mario he eventually fails and ends up forming an alliance with him to deal with mutual enemies. The main antagonists for Dr Mario 64 included Rudy The Clown and Mad Scienstein who end up being the ones who actually steal the multivitamins; leading to players having to battle multiple foes from the Wario Land 3 game which was pretty interesting.
While Dr Mario 64 was a pretty coolest puzzle game it did not sell an enormous amount of copies following its release mainly due to the year that it was released. Dr Mario 64 came out the same year that the Nintendo GameCube was released which was 2001; by this time people had already lost interest in the N64 and were focusing on the PlayStation 2 which was released back November 2000. Puzzle games like Dr Mario 64 were not too common on the N64 between the ‘96-‘01 time period especially since there was more emphasis on 3D gaming with a few exceptions such as Capcom’s Magical Tetris Challenge from ‘98. Dr Mario 64 has to alternate endings depending on how players completed the game which gave it a higher replay value than the NES Prequel from 90’s which was seen a positive to some critics. If Dr Mario 64 came out a few years earlier than it did somewhere between ‘96-‘98 it college have been a slightly bigger attraction than it was in ‘01.
The Final Fantasy series is considered to be legendary within the world of gaming and it been around since 1987. Despite, the Final Fantasy series being around since the late 00’s it seems like some of the best games within the entire series did not come until the mid 90’s-mid 00’s time period with the release of titles such as Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII , Final Fantasy IX, Final and Fantasy X-X2. While recent games such as Final Fantasy XIV from ‘16 along with Final Fantasy VII: Remake in 2020 being highly successful entries within the series it seems like games such as FFXIII parts 1 & 2 along with XIV did not standout as much between the late 00’s-early 10’s. Its not secret that turn-based RPG’s are not nearly as popular as they once were during the 16-bit era of the 90’s. Also, it seems like action role-playing games are more popular than traditional turn based RPG’s which is the type of gameplay that heavily contributed to the overall appeal of the Final Fantasy series back in the 90’s and early 00’s. The best selling Final Fantasy game ever made was obviously FFVII from ‘97 which sold close to 10 million copies following its release on the PS1.
As far as the PS2 era of gaming is concerned the best selling Final Fantasy game from the 00’s was FFX which reach at least 8.5 million units in sales following its initial release back in 2001. We also had Final Fantasy XII from ‘06 which reached at least 6 million sales ;which was followed by Final Fantasy X-2 from ‘03 which hit roughly over 5 million in sales. The storylines and the characters of the older Final Fantasy games seemed more appealing during a time where turn based RPG’s were increasing in popularity especially since 3D gaming in general was evolving between the mid 90’s-mid 00’s. To say that the Final Fantasy series has reached its peak in popularity is debatable. Many people feel that Square Enix still as more to offer fans of the series aside from high definition remakes of older games within the series. While Square Enix may never produce another Final Fantasy game that will have the level of popularity/success as the likes of FFVII/FFX they can always add more elements to future games within the series that keeps fans interested. Since Square Enix is arguably one of the greatest RPG video game developers of all-time it would not much of a surprise if they eventually develop new games that are popular as some of the older installments within the series during the 90’s and early 00’s.
As many people know the MegaMan series is considered to be legendary within the gaming world. The most popular installments within the MegaMan series came between the mid 80’s-mid to late 90’s time period with the release of the first three NES games along with the MMX series which started on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. By the time we got to the 00’s decade the 2D side-scrolling run n gun genre of gaming had declined in popularity. However, hardcore fans of the MegaMan series still enjoyed the MegaMan Zero series which began on the Game Boy Advance back in 2002. While the storylines for the MegaMan Zero games from ‘02-‘07 were impressive and had nostalgic 32-bit gameplay there are many who feel that the series was not quite on the same level as the first three or four MegaMan X games from the 90’s. It makes some people wonder how popular the MegaMan Zero series would have been on consoles such as the SNES especially since the first three games within the series shined significantly on the 16-bit console back in the day.
Despite, the Game Boy Advance being a more successful game system than the SNES reaching over 81 million units in sales within nine years; the SNES was a more iconic game system in general which arguably had better 2D graphics and sprites overall. Also, games such as Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire from ‘02-‘03 ended up becoming the main attraction for the Game Boy Advance by reaching over 16 million copies in sales considering how big the series was in general at the time. On top of that we got to see high profile Mario & Zelda titles on the Game Boy Advance during the 00’s along with the beginning of the Sonic Advance series. There is no question that the MegaMan Zero series could have been every bit as popular as the first three or four MMX games during the 90’s especially since 3D gaming was still at a base level before it started to evolve dramatically during the 00’s.
One of the few racing games from the early 00’s that was definitely overshadowed within it genre was Crash Nitro Kart. For those do not know Crash Nitro Kart was published by Universal Interactive and developed by Vicarious Visions and appeared on multiple game systems including the PS2, Xbox and GameCube back in the early 00’s. Crash Nitro Kart was considered to be a sequel to the Crash Team Racing game from ‘99 while being the ninth Crash Bandicoot game within the entire series. Crash Nitro Kart contained over 20 playable characters including Crash, Coco and Crunch Bandicoot and introduces a few new characters such as Fake Crash along with N-Trance as well. Crash Nitro Kart also saw the return of Doctor Neo Cortex who was the main villain in the very first Crash Bandicoot game from ‘96. We also saw the return of Nitrous Oxide the main villain from Team Crash Racing in Crash Nitro Kart as a leader of his own group known as “Team Oxide”. The game has a rather interesting plot that saw the main villain Emperor Velo XXVII abduct Crash & Neo-Cortex’s group while forcing them to compete in a racing tournament.
The possibility of Earth’s destruction plays a role in both Crash and Doctor Neo-Cortex’s group agreeing to participated the race with the winning team receiving freedom from the Galactic Emperor Velo XXVII. The story for Crash Nitro Kart has alternate endings depending on which team won which added to the game’s overall replay value. As cool as Crash Team Racing was back in ’99 many would argue the Crash Nitro Kart was a more superior game despite not being on the same level in terms of popularity. Crash Nitro Kart was challenging and the gameplay was highly enjoyable since it felt like Naughty Dog’s version of a 3D Mario Kart game. But unlike many Mario Kart games we have seen in the past Crash Nitro Kart has an actual storyline which in some ways makes it better than some Nintendo’s past racing titles within the Mario series.
