1. Dark Cloud 2 (PS2): The best action/RPG in years, and this by default makes it my favorite game of the year. So much depth in such a pretty package makes it the uncontested game of the year on any platform for me. Monster smacking, weapon creation, fishing, inventing, photography, golf (or Spheda, as they call it), and anything else they could wedge in there made it my #1 pick.

2. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA): Fun, funny, entertaining, and always engaging. The turn-based battles are designed so that it's never just repeated hitting of the A button on the Attack option, so even the twentieth battle in a row stays entertaining. The story isn't that big a deal but the situations are fun, and the writing is just plain funny.

3. Gridrunner++: Arse on FIre (PC): An advanced version of a game that came out last year but had a limited release this year, so it's in by a technicality. Gridrunner++ is already one of my favorite games and this version expanded it even further. It took the high-speed fast-action arcade shootfest and cranked it up another notch with an expanded viewing area but a faster pace to compensate for it. Then it added the one life, no continues endurance mode and I lost several weeks honing my skills. Time well spent too, might I add, and it loads up fast enough that I can nip out for a game while writing this sentence and be back while the thought is fresh enough to finish. I bet you didn't even notice I was gone.

4. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2): Well that came out of nowhere. Deep strategy mixed with honestly funny humor and a ton of things to do (like bribing your way into cheating the game rules) keep the incredibly long play time fresh. Add in fast-paced battles to the strategy/RPG mix and we've got a winner.

5. Doshin the Giant (GC): Nintendo at it's strangest, it's an art-house video game with no real story and a very strange ending, but it's so quirky and memorable that it demands a mention. I found it's faults to be forgivable, and easily brushed aside by the sheer charm of the game. Other games may have been technically better, but I'll remember this one longer.

Best Games of 2003 by Genre
• Action: Viewtiful Joe
• Fighting: Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
• RPG: Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
• Racing: F-Zero GX
• Strategy: Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
• Sports: Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
• Shooter: Gridrunner++
• Other: Doshin the Giant

Odds & Ends
• Best Developer: Level 5. The level of improvement shown between Dark Cloud 1 and 2 was astounding, and the screens shown of their upcoming games are just making me want more. I'll probably take a pass on True Fantasy Live Online, but Dragon Quest 8 and the probability of a new Dark Cloud have rocketed these guys to the top of my "pay attention" list.
• Worst Media Campaign: Nokia N-Gage. Very few ads make me want to completely disassociate myself with something, and Nokia managed it on their very first try. The image of a skateboarder with a stupid expression gaming on his N-Gage in front of a car burning rubber is so incredibly stupid that I want as little to do with the product that inspired it as possible.
• Best Box Art: Otogi: Myth of Demons. Hard to explain why, maybe it's the orange background with blue logo doing it. At the very least it's a simple design with a good execution, unlike too many other games that crowd too many elements onto a limited space.
• Worst Box Art: Mobile Light Force/Mobile Light Force 2. Two games, but it's the same cover for both so how can I choose? I don't think we've seen art this bad since the 8-bit days, and the little fact of the cover having nothing at all to do with the games is a bonus.
• Best Swag: The Art of Xenosaga Episode I. I wasn't expecting much more than a pamphlet when I heard about this, but Brady stepped up and delivered (for free!) an art book worth having. Page after page of full character art and sketches, CGI designs, area layouts, and more make this one of the coolest pieces I've seen. I do have to give an honorable mention to, of all games, Starsky & Hutch for the full-sized record (yes, vinyl) they gave out. It's even clear red for that extra-funky look.
• Biggest Gaming News Item: Jeff Minter's Unity. Doesn't mean much to a lot of people, I know, but it's my list. It's my most anticipated game, and though such things as Sammy running Sega may be bigger on a world-wide scale, this means more to me.
• Best Use of a Monkey: Ape Escape 2. Bit of a no-brainer, we need more monkeys.
• Best New Franchise: Disgaea, with any luck.
• Most Innovative: Magic Pengel. Draw it, watch it spring to life. The game wasn't much, sadly, but the idea was and is fantastic. I'm anxiously awaiting the game that uses it to full effect.
• Worst Gaming Trend of 2003: The move to cell phones. Companies porting stuff to cell phones instead of current-gen systems (Cave, I'm looking at you) isn't a move I'm thrilled to be seeing. I have no intention of being tethered to one of those stupid pieces of electronica now, and suspect if I ever am required to be there will be many strange and horrible accidents awaiting it.

Off Topic

Best trend: Budgetware worth owning. Mobile Light Force for $15? Space Channel 5 Special Edition for $15? Star Soldier and Bonk on import for cheap by import prices? News of the Sega Ages coming to the US? Midway Arcade Classics at $20? Color me happy, despite knowing that this isn't ideal for some publishers. These cheapo titles used to be cheap for a reason, but now more than ever we're seeing games you'd be more than happy to shell out full price for getting released at prices low enough to barely make a dent in the gaming budget. Which is a good thing, seeing as the poor budget snapped years ago...

Most worrying: The last few years have seen tons of games released at the year's end, but this year was the worst kind of overload. While EA is pumping out it's usual truckload of sports and movie tie-ins for the fall season, there were literally dozens of other games released that deserved better than to be crushed under the weight of the holiday glut. Games like Metal Arms or Culdcept will never see their full potential realized due to the rush to put everything out at one time. It's completely unreasonable, almost insane, and publishers are going to have to realize that maybe the spring season could use a little attention too. If this year doesn't do it then the next year or two will.

Overall it's been a good year for gaming, and I have some very high hopes for next year. Despite all the negative rumblings going on the gaming industry keeps on going, improving, and expanding into new territory. If we can only get publishers to put out games to take advantage of the new territory rather than the 5000th racing, football, or cartoon-based game in a row, and get the public to actually want it, then we've got a healthy industry with a bright future. No matter how cynical that may sounds every year seems to be putting us a bit closer to that goal.

MechDeus's Top 5 Games of 2003

1. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox/PC): Aside from a few programming glitches (which I never encountered), I couldn’t find a single thing wrong in the slightest about this game. From wonderfully done voice-acting to an amazingly well-controlled battle system and actual choice about the main characters paths and decisions, KOTOR is everything that all other RPGs wish they could’ve been.

2. Guilty Gear X2 (PS2): Pound for pound no other game this year got even a quarter the playtime GGX2 did out of me. First described by a friend of mine as "Something so fast it’s only for hyperactive chipmunks," the controls and variety of play among the characters has easily led it to become my favorite fighting game ever. Good enough that I’ve bought it three times so far, something no other game can attest to with me.

3. Viewtiful Joe (GC): The beat ‘em up finally returns and in gloriously beautiful form. Fast, slick, spot-on control, and perfectly tough, this is exactly how any under-used genre needs to make a comeback: in perfect form.

4. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA): The most visually impressive of the GBA series yet, I loved the whole new setup with aquiring and utilizing souls to create the most interesting Castlevania execution yet. So much goodness and so many great ways to slaughter enemies, how many games let you wield a fifteen foot axe?

5. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC): Sure, there was a bit too much sailing on the open seas at times, but the improved combat system flowed masterfully and the dungeons were a sight to behold. My only complaint is that the later part of the game was so awesome that I didn’t want it to end and there just weren’t enough of those great dungeons to fully satiate me.

Best Games of 2003 by Genre
• Action/Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
• Fighting: Guilty Gear X2
• Platformer: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
• RPG: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• Puzzle: Bombastic
• Racing: F-Zero GX
• Strategy: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
• Sports: ESPN Football 2k4
• Shooter: Tron 2.0
• Other: Space Channel 5 Special Edition
• Online: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3

Odds & Ends
• Best Developer: Best: Capcom Worst Developer: Core
• Worst Game of the Year: Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
• Overhyped Game of the Year: Enter the Matrix. Sure I enjoyed playing it, but the ratio of hype to game quality is horrible.
• Best Box Art: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, I’m a sucker for beautiful pieces of art.
• Worst Box Art: Soul Calibur 2, the poorly compressed images weren’t helped by the mix and match pictures for different systems that clearly took all of five minutes to make.
• Best Swag: The P.N. 03 glasses, because I never got anything else.
• Best Use of a Monkey: I propose using one as a doorstop
• Worst Gaming Trend of 2003: The continued proliferation of the idiotic fixed camera system in 3D action games. Why do developers insist on continually using the worst idea to grace videogames since... since... well, I can’t think of anything as generally damning as this.

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