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6. Devil May Cry
I won’t even try and hide it, I love Ninja Theory. I love everything it’s done. I played the hell out of the (much) underappreciated Heavenly Sword, and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West earned my vote for Game of the Year back in 2010. There’s a soft spot in my heart for any developer that can make intelligent, well-executed action-adventure brawlers. So, when the Ninja Theory team announced they were rebooting one of my favorite action-adventure franchises, Devil May Cry, I squealed and thrashed about in a fit of untainted excitement like a true fool. Though its upcoming DmC has received a lot of backlash, thanks to the re-imagining of the series’ veteran protagonist, Dante, I have always focused on what the game had to offer in the way of gameplay, not what the character looks like– I left that to the hilariously infuriated fanboys too worried about getting an indignant hard-on than worrying about what the game is actually about.
Devil May Cry is a cutthroat, punch-you-in-the-stomach-and-not-give-an-eff kind of game. It’s harder than balls. It’s faster than a modified Mistubishi Lancer being piloted by Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. It’s more uncomfortably chaotic than trying to get you some Taco Bell at 2am on a Saturday night after walking home from a frat party where there were entirely too many dudes named Chad, too many Dave Matthews Band posters on the wall, and too many fists being thrown over games of beer pong. I love Devil May Cry despite all of this, because it never once forgets its identity of being a high-octane rush of adrenaline that can’t be captured by many other games.
Devil May Cry is a long running series, but one that has never once found its way into the hearts of Nintendo loyalists. In fact, Nintendo’s library has always been a little empty in the beat-em-up, hack-n-slash, action-adventure brawlers department. One way to fill that void is to provide one of the best in the genre. Dante and all his pistol wielding, sword slashing antics may not be synonymous with Nintendo’s family-centric approach, but with Wii U, at least according to the Big N, it doesn’t have to be. Remember, this is a console for the hardcore. Devil May Cry is hardcore. It would also offset the upcoming release of another over-the-top brawler, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, very well. Let’s make it happen, guys.
What about the Conduit? I know it had problems but, it could have a good chance to be alot better graphically and story-line wise if it was on Wii U or if the title was purchased by Nintendo and messed with by Retro
I think the Conduit is a solid series, however, I wanted to focus on franchises that hadn’t really made an appearance on a Nintendo console ever, or at least for quite some time. Since Conduit was just last generation, I avoided it. It’s a great game, though!
One game I wish I could’ve fit on there was the Souls series (Demon’s/Dark Souls). Now that’s a fantastic franchise that I think would really fit in line with Nintendo’s new focus on the “hardcore”. Talk about a game that is truly hardcore…
Another writer here shares my love of Shenmue!!! I would love to see a Yakuza title on Wii U as well. Better yet… Nintendo should team up with Yu Suzuki and Sega to finally release Shenmue III on Wii U. This could also accompany HD re-releases of the first two games on Wii U with the ability to continue your save file. The possibilities… I’m almost crying.
A fellow Yu Suzuki loyalist! There are far too many people who don’t know about Shenmue! I’m in the process of constructing an article idea for why I think Shenmue III belongs on Wii U. In the meantime, though, I agree whole heartedly with everything you said. I assume Sega is preparing a Shenmue HD release, however, as they’ve been slowly releasing their biggest titles on XBLA and PSN (Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure, Virtual On, Daytona, etc.). So, I suspect Shenmue is coming. My hope is it’s released on the eShop.
So many issues with Borderlands would be fixed if all of the menu stuff was on the gamepad! It would seriously improve the game sooooo much.
I would absolutely LOVE to see the Persona series come to Wii U. Persona 4 is my all-time favorite rpg ever. Persona 5 for Wii U?
Third party games — I want them all. The Wii missed out on almost all good-quality 3rd party games. If Microsoft and Sony gamers gets something from third party companies, why not Nintendo gamers? There was no problem on NES, and there definately wasn’t any major problems with third party support on Super NES (N64 and Gamecube were largely ignored).
It’s a shame that people moved away from Nintendo, but hopefully, we Nintendo console owners, especially those has just a Nintendo console, can be equally as excited and happy as the rest of the gaming world.
Speaking of “world”, I’d love to see more come out of Japan. I’m not talking about your everyday action game or rpg. There’s far more, and they’re holding back so much, it’s not even funny. Nevermind the excuse about their games being “culturally different”…if games like Harvest Moon, 999, Phoenix Wright, and Persona can make it over (with pretty much all Japanese references intact), why not more?
Niche titles have grown into popular fan favorites in past generations. I wish there were more (I’d love to have the Densha de Go/Railfan series in English).