No Lives Left

Metroid has always been a series near and dear to my heart. Exploring planet Zebes in Super Metroid  and the first opening moments of looking through Samus's visor in the rain Metroid Prime  are extremely hard moments to re-live. Those moments are some of my favorite in gaming. Games that can give me that feeling of wonder and exploration will rank up there in my list of great games.   Super Metroid is a classic. It's so good it has half of the genre named after it (Metroidvania). It's method of exploration and maze-like maps bore a whole series of amazing games that all owe their roots to this beloved Nintendo franchise. If you're a fan of video games, Super Metroid  is a must play. Just an amazing game that had no right being as good as it was. Because of it's great art design and pixel art style, it holds up to the test of time beautifully.  While the Metroid series has had critical acclaim, it's not as obscenely popular  as Nintendo's other big hit...

The Tales of series is like JRPG junk food. They've established themselves in the JRPG genre as light hearted adventures about saving the world (but with friendship!). Most of the series protagonists sport the cliché innocent, can do no wrong look and seem to struggle to understand  the difference between good and evil (but ultimately do). These stories are rarely anything to write home about. They aren't necessarily forgettable though, in fact most are really enjoyable. The Tales of s eries is the definition of the saying "it's not the end but the journey that is most important." The series has continuously evolved it's combat system while still keep the addictive action based combat in tact. I think most fans will cite the gameplay as the reason they continuously come back to each entry. Following close second is that interaction the characters have with each other over the course of the main story as well as the haphazardly placed "skits" that are...