Best Fashion Game: The World Ends With You (DS)
Square-Enix’s inscrutable action-RPG The World Ends With You end up surprising many by being both original and good, a rarity from the Square end of Square-Enix. But underneath its unique dual-screen battle system and Nomura character designs was actually a very clever front for one of the most in-depth fashion titles ever made. Not content to use a simplified armor system, TWEWY had 13 different fashion brands with varying popularity across multiple districts whose popularity would directly affect your ability to battle, talk, and shop in various parts of Shinjuku. Not since Final Fantasy VII has there been a legitimate reason to dress your (male) protagonist in a feminine clothing for actual gameplay.
Best NES Game: Mega Man 9 (Wii/PSN/XBLA)
Capcom has had a tremendously strong year by diving back into its decades old catalog with revivals of games like Street Fighter (both with HD Remix and 4) and Bionic Commando. But nowhere did gamers’ hearts go aflutter then when Capcom brought back its venerable Blue Bomber, Mega Man, in all his classic NES 8-bit glory. After many years bumbling around in spin-offs and poor modern sequels that diminished the charm and simplicity of the original, Capcom went decidedly retro right down to sprite flickering and no slide. Having a merely competent Mega Man game that aped the stylings of the original would have been enough, but Capcom went the distance by making 9 perhaps the best entity in the entire series. With superbly balanced, yet challenging levels, imaginative and varied uses for every weapon, and one of the best set of bosses in any of the games, Mega Man 9 was more than nostalgic callback, it was one of the best games of the year.
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