If Zombie Shakespeare were to sit down and compose a love letter to old school Legend of Zelda, he wouldn’t come close to capturing the nostalgia and joy that 3D Dot Game Heroes manages to convey.

3D Dot Game Heroes is an homage to classic Zelda. You and your fairy companion set off to save the kingdom of Dotnia by recovering six orbs and the power of the six sages. To do this, you’ll need to recover a legendary sword and then set off into various dungeons filled with monsters, traps, and puzzles. If it sounds like something you’ve been doing since 1987, well it probably is. However, 3D Dot feels more like a Zelda game than the last couple of actual Zelda games.

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"A licensed game from the developers of the Ace Combat series."

It’s very odd that I would seek out a licensed game based on a license I (at the time) had never heard of, but The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces had several things going for it. First off, the team behind the Wii exclusive flight game is Project Aces; developer of the highly regarded Ace Combat series.

Secondly, it boasted a unique and ambitious use of motion controls, which is something I’d like to support. And finally, the game retailed at the budget price of $30 on the day of release, though admittedly that could be taken as a strike against its predicted quality.

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"A whimsical journey at a budget price."

I’ve always loved the concept of A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobonia for the NES. The problem is, between the confusing map, limited jelly beans, and unforgiving hit detection, I could never get anywhere in the darn thing. Wayforward (developers of the fantastic Contra 4) decided to take that fascinating concept and “re-imagine” it into a more accessible and modern game.

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"Here we go again... AGAIN!"

Awhile back, Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix + was announced for Japan. It was a 2 disc set containing a version of Kingdom Hearts 2 with several new boss fights and extra scenes, as well as a fully 3D remake of the GBA between-story, Chain of Memories. For whatever reason, Japan decided we had not saved up enough “cool points” here in the states and decided to only give us a localization of the second disc containing Re: Chain of Memories.

This is, by and large, the same game you played (or didn’t) on the GBA. If I had actually beaten the original, I probably wouldn’t have even bothered picking it up. I had quit about 3 quarters of the way through on the GBA version because the proper sequel was about to release. I ended up reading the game script for that last quarter of the game and considered myself ready for the release of Kingdom Hearts 2. I was pleasantly surprised when I did finally pop in Re: Chain, though. Adding a third dimension did more than just improve the aesthetic; it actually made it both more accessible and more fun to play.

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