A lot of time in gaming is spent focusing on the big, badass main characters we’ve all come to know and love. What happened to all the side-kicks and support teams that got us to that big boss fight? Megatron had Soundwave, Mario had Luigi; now it’s time to give all these little fellows their [...]]]>

A lot of time in gaming is spent focusing on the big, badass main characters we’ve all come to know and love. What happened to all the side-kicks and support teams that got us to that big boss fight? Megatron had Soundwave, Mario had Luigi; now it’s time to give all these little fellows their own time in the spotlight.

Honorable Mention: Snake Eyes Vs. Storm Shadow (G.I. Joe)

Now this would be an awesome game, especially for all the 80’s babies among us. We’re talking about a game where you could either choose to play as Snake Eyes or Storm Shadow and play through missions for G.I. Joe or Cobra, respectively. The obvious final battle would pit your character against the one you didn’t select, resulting in one of the most epic ninja duels you would ever see. Some close encounters or brief skirmishes with your main opponent could be added throughout the game to keep it interesting. This would probably work pretty well as a sword-accessory swinging game on the Wii, maybe to help save their limited list of game titles.

5. Shippuden: Sasuke (Naruto)

We’ve had a lot of games and several cartoon series based on and primarily following Naruto. At this point most people want to be able to play as Sasuke and be the Jules Winfield (see Pulp Fiction) of the Naruto world. He’s been hailed as one of the more powerful supporting characters in recent memory so why not let us whoop some bad guys with him?

4. Sheik / Princess Zelda (The Legend of Zelda)

Another ninja-ish type character, but this one has a twist! She’s female! Or male! Or we’re not really sure at this point, but still, that hasn’t happened before that I know of. Like the character in Ocarina of Time Sheik would be able to use a harp or various other musical instruments to help advance through dungeons or solve puzzles in the world or what not. As an homage to he/she’s origins one of the quests in the game could be to save some randomly abducted hero or save some chickens to get an empty glass bottle. Ahh, the good old days of gaming.

3. Wakka Presents Blitzball (Final Fantasy 10)

When is EA going to pick up the rights for this? We’ve had 20 years of Madden NFL, far too many years worth of FIFA soccer and countless baseball and basketball games. Wouldn’t this be a welcome change? Granted, in Final Fantasy X there were only 6 teams on the league’s roster but that could easily be upgraded. I know a lot of people who like sports games but are tired of the repetitiveness of everything that’s out now and this would bring an element never before seen to the gaming environment – except of course by those people who actually enjoyed the original mini-game. Multiplayer matches and story modes would be easy enough and learning all the different moves and techniques could fill out a few hundred achievement points or some trophies real quick. Unlockable characters would include Tidus, his father, the ghost of Auron-past and any of a number of past and present Final Fantasy heroes.

2. Cable and The New Mutants (Marvel/X-Men)

Nathan Christopher Charles Summers was born in a violent time and taken into a dystopian (often used word when describing Marvel timelines) future so that he could hopefully be cured of a techno-organic virus that he was inflicted with. Growing up without his birth parents in a time that was oppressed by an immortal mutant turned the man that would later be called Cable into a badass. Because of his lineage, Cable is both a Telekinetic and a Telepath, both traits that would lead to sweet features for a game. Also in his arsenal is advanced weaponry and his techno-organic body parts which can allow him to interact on a personal level with computers and other forms of technology. The future time of his world is a perfect setting to open a new era of Marvel / X-Men based games, something we haven’t seen any quality in for a good, long time. My only hope is that it’s a sort of open world game like Prototype or inFamous and utilizes some of the fancy AI and engines found in games like The Force Unleashed.

1. Tifa and Barrett Beat’em Up (Final Fantasy 7)

Anything for an excuse to play as characters from Final Fantasy 7 is good for me. Vincent got his own spin-off, Zack got extra time in the spotlight and you didn’t even get to play as him and we all know how awesome Sephiroth is. We’re talking some kind of side-scrolling-for-the-new-generation beat’em up where Tifa and Barrett take the other members of AVALANCHE and continue on after the events of FF7 (before the start of Advent Children) or this can be done as a prequel to the main game, ending with Cloud jumping off the train and helping them blow the first reactor as shown in the opening to the original game.