I like some good hype once in a while. And I like a good fighting game once in a while.

I generally don't care much for fighters. Prior to SC2, all of my traditional fighting games were based on comic book licenses (can I get a HELL YEAH for Justice League Task Force!) My problem is that you don't usually get much with them. A roster of combatants, a handful of arenas... and that's it. If you lack the desire to master all of the impossible finger-crunching special moves, and if you're not all that interested in fielding match-up after match-up... well, it seems to explain to me why fighter fans tend to pick one fave and belittle all else. Because if you're hardcore, you've made a serious time investment. And if you're casual, you need exactly one of them. Ever. And it should probably be Smash Bros.

Two things sold me on Soul Calibur 2: the unlockable, collectible weapons... and Link. Which brings us to the hype portion.

There was mad hype about this release, because each console received a different exclusive character. The PS2 version borrowed Heihachi from Tekken (no one cared). The Xbox received Todd McFarlane's overplayed fan-service 1990s embarrassment, Spawn (no one cared).

And the little purple GameCube got Link, looking just like he did in the Spaceworld 2000 demo, before being turned into one of the Flintstone's neighbors. Of course, the Cube version then went to massively outsell the other two, in a slam dunk for Nintendo that ranks as one the GameCube's finest hours.

But back to me. I had a hell of a great time with this one, even though I thought Link's moves sucked. My girl is Talim. Mike and I will still pull this one out for some easy late night gaming.

Also: the single player "adventure" mode is a complete joke.

Memory Score: I refuse to spell it as one word

I gave it a shot. And it did not suck.

This is a de-violenced GTA riff, with a historically tragic video game license. It's hard to believe that it wasn't a complete failure. For years, we've tolerated Simpsons games that are Simpsons games only insofar as they feature renders of the Simpsons characters. Hit & Run went a long way toward redeeming a criminal legacy of bad platformers, curious sports adaptations, and that crappy Crazy Taxi clone.

It's short, the environments are repeated, the lip sync is nonexistant, but the core gameplay is solid enough to enjoy it for a couple weekends. I wonder why a sequel never showed up, because a game like this could have been blockbuster with twice as much content.

Memory Score: Giant robot wasps?!?

I sidestepped Pikmin when it was first released largely because I was busy with Smash Bros. I mean, come on.

But when Pikmin hit the $20 mark, I bit... and found one of those surprisingly chewy little games that nobody played. I'm sure it was the basic concept that threw people off: you control hordes of little flower men. And I recall Nintendo making huge press out of the game being an RTS, which it is (sort of), but conventional wisdom suggests that the real-time strategy genre is DOA on non-keyboarded consoles. So I bet that also led to some hasty judgements.

For me, the biggest problem was the damn clock on each level. Here's a game that you're going to want to explore for hours, and then Miyamoto puts a clock on it! The game is tough enough (to 100% completion, anyway) without it. Nintendo sold this game short by stapling such an aggressive and arbitrary timer to it. I suspect they would have pulled a lot more mileage out of it had they made this first edition (Pikmin 2 hit in '04) much more approachable.

Pikmin FTW: those damn plant dudes have become one of the most recognizable new IPs of this generation. Plus, Nintendo had an actual plant bred to look like the Pikmin blooms! Insane.

Memory Score: A great example of Nintendo-as-Innovator

Next time: a big license with a small hero, one of Nintendo's best selling and hugely anticipated franchise titles, and my first taste of the fabled Capcom Five