“Too many ports!” consumers cried as they looked at the list of upcoming 3DS games after the system’s launch. With titles like Street Fighter, Ocarina of Time, and Star Fox taking most of the spotlight, it seemed the handheld’s early life would be devoid of truly new content.

But there sat Nano Assault, hiding away in the shadows during the busiest gaming season of the year, just waiting to be picked up by lovers of score based, arcade style action.

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A new Nintendo system means a new Mario Kart game. That’s just how things work. So here we are with the seventh entry in the chaotic kart racing series (not including the Namco co-developed arcade games). Aside from it being one of the very few first party games currently available on the 3DS, why should you care about yet another Mario Kart game?

The answer is simple: Mario Kart 7 is easily one of the best games in the series.

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Sonic and I have had a rocky past. Sure we had our fun in the 16-bit era when I first got my hands on a Sega Genesis and the original Sonic the Hedgehog. As the series progressed to include Knuckles and its crazy snap-on cartridge, I was rapidly losing interest in the little blue guy. Then along came the Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure which hooked me once again. That is until I came across the levels starring anyone but Sonic. When I hit the first Big the Cat section, I left the game for good. I’ve played a few levels from random other entries in the series, but Sonic Generations is the first time since the classic games that I’ve completed a Sonic the Hedgehog game.

I bring this anecdotal history of my time with the franchise up, not to disparage the fans of the game or the franchise itself. I bring it up only because SEGA has made it very apparent that Sonic Generations is for the long time fans of the franchise, and after playing most of the console version, I wanted to see how the 3DS entry stacked up as a modern platformer.

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Just over two years ago, The King of Fighters XII released with a great fighting system, a hopelessly broken online experience, and an almost complete lack of single player modes. Today, the latest entry in the series releases with the intent to right the missteps of its predecessor.

The expanded roster of The King of Fighters XIII doesn’t have much new for the series, but it brings back a lot of the fighters missing from XII including Team Women Fighters members Mai, King, and my personal favorite, Yuri. With over 30 fighters available, the amount of choices are once again approaching the levels of its decade-old asset ripping, last generation entries.

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Last year, Sonic Colors showed me that 3D Sonic games could be fun again. Of course, this was the very same year that Sonic 4 dashed my hopes of a quality 2D Sonic experience. So when it was announced that the next game in the series would feature both styles of play, I was skeptical of SEGA’s ability to handle the classic stages.

It turns out they actually learned from their mistakes… well, most of them anyway. Sonic Generations, while not perfect, manages to be a rather successful blend of old and new Sonic gameplay that’s fun in spite of its shortcomings.

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Kids today don’t know what they’re missing.

Sure, that’s something that every generation says as they get older, but in its own way, it’s true. And while there are new things to fill that void for younger generations, it is rare to find a true sense of overlap between the old and the new.

In this case, what the youth of today are missing out on is the arcade scene. Sure, there are places like Dave & Busters (which are relatively rare, what with only 55 establishments spread across the continent), or a themed shack at an amusement park. You might even find some old rundown and mislabeled games sitting around a bus terminal, but those aren’t the same as what many were able to experience throughout the 80s and 90s.

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From the tactical espionage action of Solid Snake in Metal Gear to the vampire-slaying exploits of Simon Belmont in Castlevania to the gung-ho guerrilla combat of Bill Rizer and Lance Bean in Contra, Konami made a name for themselves by developing and publishing quality games which could perhaps be best described as “manly.” It was simply something they were good at, and you could even see it in their name (if spelled backwards): “I man, ok?”

Simple, perhaps even subliminal, but effective.

But while those titles have managed to endure, even thrive into the present day, there was another title which was not quite so fortunate: Rush’N Attack.

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I remember the first time I saw Scribblenauts for the Nintendo DS. I had heard it was interesting on a few podcasts, so when I found out it was going to be at PAX, I made a point to check it out. Apparently it had a “write whatever object you want and it will appear” mechanic that was blowing everyone’s minds. At the con, there was always a huge swarm around the WB Games booth, and I only got to play around with it for a few minutes.

Sadly, reviews of the retail release indicated that things didn’t come together in the way gamers were anticipating. Or maybe they were just anticipating something that the developers weren’t attempting to create. That is a debate for another day.

Both the original and its sequel Super Scribblenauts got lost in the avalanche of games that we call a modern release cycle, and I never got around to trying out the final retail builds of either. When Wesley informed me that there was now a version for the iPhone that I could grab for a mere $4.99, I figured it was finally time to dip my feet into the Scribblenauts pond.

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To make something fresh, you don’t always have to start from scratch. Sometimes you can take something that’s very well established and simply put it in an entirely different context. Suddenly, what is old becomes new again.

This is something Aliens Infestation does in more ways than one. In it, you’ll find a combination of many things. While the most pronounced is its Metroid “Lite” structure, it also borrows elements from cover based shooters and even has a tinge of survival horror. Everything comes together to form a game with its own strong identity, never feeling like a clone of any of the games it takes inspiration from.

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Sometimes a game comes along that seems like it’s hitting all the right marks. You like the concept, the aesthetics and the music. All the still images and preview videos get you really amped up for the game’s release. But alas, once you’ve played it, it just doesn’t click with you.

I am sad to say that was my experience with Rock of Ages. A game that, on the surface, had enough elements that seemed interesting and unique to me that I thought for sure I would like the game. I was wrong.

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