Making a Switch to Wordpress

I have been using Blogspot for a long time now and maybe I should try using a new website to help get out of my funk. I have been posting a bit more than usual, but I really want to try and get it back to where it was. We all got to take some steps forward and I am going to try using a new site. For 2017 that is when KamenSentai starts on Wordpress! I have used it before during my time with Herotaku so I should be able to get right to it with no problems whatsoever.

https://kamensentaiblog.wordpress.com/

My Top 20 Favorite Ace Attorney Characters 10-1

10. Shelly De Killer

Now to the other great character of Justice For All and he also makes an important appearance in Edgeworth 2. Shelly De Killer is a professional killer and the one Matt Engarde hired to kill Juan. What Matt messed up with is he thought he could even control that assassin. Matt was prepared to reveal who he was since he videotaped the murder with a secret camera. There are a few things about Shelly and those would be his rules. He does not like to be deceived, if you are his client, he trusts that you will not try to backstab him. If you do… well let’s just say you become his next target. There is no way out of this either since for the first meetings he always wants a face to face conversation to establish trust. I always do like killers like Shelly, sure they still do murder, but people like him make it classy. It is strange to find it that way, but we have all seen movies where murder is painted in a different image when a hired man is on the job. It becomes an art to them. In the second game that comes true since Shelly got close to the first case when he found out a man who bested him got murdered. Shelly felt that he wanted to find the truth to this fake assassination attempt and he stumbled onto something bigger. Shelly was the first one to see that this was all the work of a mastermind and right before he had a chance to finish his mission, he knew he was being set up and left things in Edgeworth’s hands. What really made Shelly amazing was his confrontation with Sir Dogen a killer who wanted to let someone live and Shelly agrees to this. Shelly De Killer, he might be a killer as so said his name and yet I still find him so outstanding with class even if he pretended to be an ice cream salesman.

9. Bobby Fulbright

I guess I was wrong with not discussing more about Dual Destinies as I was thinking of putting a more reoccurring character. To be honest though her first appearance in the extension of the first game was her strongest debut. I did enjoy Ema Skye in Apollo and Spirit of Justice, but she had some simple gags that just made me remember her. So, with taking her off the list, how about another villain. At first Bobby Fulbright at first looks like your honest cop. I really enjoy his design and personality. He is loud about his path for justice and for the most part he did seem to feel bad about suspecting the wrong person. I even enjoy how he and Simon Blackquill were getting along with each other. As I said before though, this is a villain we are dealing with. This is a huge spoiler for Dual Destinies, but hey all of these paragraphs contain spoilers to many games and if you are this far into this, you know what I am talking about or you just do not care. The real Bobby Fulbright has been dead for a year so who he is actually? Bobby Fulbright is actually known as a famous criminal called the Phantom. Athena remembered in her past of when her mother got murdered (that soon got Simon arrested and a death sentence that almost got carried out) by a mysterious man. The Phantom was a spy trying to stop a space launch with the works of bombs. This was the first part of his plans, but someone was onto him mostly importantly Simon who got Athena’s mother to find something out about the Phantom. The Phantom could not have this come to light since his identity could be revealed. This lead to that heinous murder with the katana and causing both Athena and Simon seven long years of torment. It was not a perfect crime though as his blood got on a famous moonstone. This leading him to throw it onto the rocket since he thought it would never return. To his surprise, it actually did and the Phantom had to act again causing another murder which soon lead to a bombing! The thing with the Phantom is that he does not feel any real emotions. This was surprising because the whole-time Fulbright looked like he was the most emotional person around. The reveal of him being the Phantom came to be a complete surprise and trying to get him with any emotional readings was insane! In the end, he was afraid of being revealed of who he is and he almost got killed by a sniper! Overall, this was a shocking villain that had to think on the fly for two occurrences and they almost worked.

8. Kay Faraday

Originally this character was not on the list, but it is really thanks to Edgeworth 2 that she got on this list. Now on her first appearance from the first Edgeworth game, she was fun. I even like her overall connection with the Yatagarasu. Her father was murdered during that court murder that Tyrell and Edgeworth were investigating. Some years after that, Kay stumbled upon the idea that her father was the Yatagarasu and so in honor of her father she continued his work. With the help of a device called the Little Thief that her father once had she can use this to create scenarios. I even enjoy how Kay takes everything in the end about finding the truth about the Yatagarasu and wants to recreate it completely by finding two other members. Then coming to the second game things get really interesting. For a while things seem the same with her, but case four comes around. Kay is attacked by the mastermind and was planted at the crime scene so that she would be accused of this crime. To top things off she lost her memories and was even doubting herself. Kay was becoming scared and was trying to confess even if she had no memories. Kay knew Edgeworth was fighting for her, but if things keep going on like this he could lose his profession. Edgeworth’s position does mean a lot to him and back then it was his honor to be one. This is now though and Edgeworth does not care where he was at, he wanted to find the truth and so he tosses his badge away to help Kay. Kay even sees that and wants to help because even with her memories gone, she still stayed true to herself and that is to steal the truth to reveal it. When Kay gets her memories back she even helps out Justine to find her son, so Kay is using her father’s title with purpose. Overall, Kay’s light hearted attitude and then shockingly realistic personality when things got hard really impressed me.

7. Dick Gumshoe

If Gumshoe is not on your list then there is something wrong with you, pal! Gumshoe has been around since the beginning and so far, he has not only appeared in Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice. Other than that, he has been around. Gumshoe is not the brightest bulb of the police department and sometimes he does know that. He will still help when things get rough though in his own special way. To be honest he does do good to honest police work. He can stumble a bit and jump to conclusions. He does try to learn from his mistakes and he does. So far, his best moments had to be when he risked his job in Rise From The Ashes, risked his life in the Goodbye My Turnabout, and The Grand Turnabout in general. From that first case, Gumshoe did almost lose his job since he helped Phoenix and Ema investigate Damon’s office. In the second one I mentioned, Gumshoe was putting his life on the line for Maya that he was not really following traffic rules and got into a bad accident. Still the evidence he gathered was picked up by Franziska. For the Grand Turnabout, this just highlights the relationship he has with Edgeworth. Since Gumshoe was working with Edgeworth he always wanted to help him since Edgeworth saved him before. Even if Edgeworth did not want him around, Gumshoe was there to help. When Edgeworth tossed his badge away he told Gumshoe not to hang around him anymore since he was no longer a prosecutor. This then lead to Gumshoe to do his own investigations. Later on, he does regroup with Edgeworth and Kay and even helped Kay find John Marsh (Justine’s adopted son). Gumshoe was also the true hero in taking down the mastermind behind everything that happened in Edgeworth 2. This soon leading to Gumshoe getting his first pay raise! Gumshoe is simply the underdog type of character, he always has to deal with harsh comments or even whip lashes and yet he sticks it out and things really work out for him in the end.

6. Shi Long Lang

“Not so fast!” Out of the new phrases that could be said in Ace Attorney, I absolutely enjoy Lang’s shouting. His high-pitched voice while screaming that out just rings with me. Now this character was going to be on the list regardless of Edgeworth 2, but that game did get him into a higher spot. From his first appearance, Lang was in Edgeworth’s way of investigating because of how much he hated prosecutors and there is a good reason for that! Still, Lang did not have much harsh feelings towards Edgeworth and later on he even admits that Edgeworth played a crucial role in finding the truth. Even with the hatred he had to the profession, he got to respect Edgeworth. That is Lang in general, he holds respect for anyone. Even when he found out his partner was actually a criminal and still active one who was Yew the same woman that tried to kill off the Yatagarasu. Lang took all the backlash from being with her. This caused him to be stripped of his title and even his men that respected him. He took the blow from Turnabout Ablaze so that no one else would. Lang still had some unfinished business though after the smuggling ring was taken care of. He looked into an old case that affected his clan and this is where everything came to light for him. The truth of an important case is that the president of his country was murdered and a body double replaced him. Lang did not know of this, but he knew that case was not finished yet mostly because of how his father did not stop looking. The truth was blinded because of Blaise Debeste who worked with an orphanage owner and the body double to hide everything and this man was a prosecutor. Lang knew that man was hiding evidence and he knew of Patricia Roland as well. Lang never let go of what his father did because of his pride of the clan. I also really enjoyed when he returned in the final case because how he talked with Edgeworth and even argued with him was just to find the truth. Lang was not doing this to increase his ego, he just wanted the truth of his past twelve years brought to light.

5. Simon Keyes

I have discussed of villains before and there is one in particular I did not get to, until now. Simon Keyes at first seemed he was an innocent man who had no connections to any murder. Edgeworth even helped him and found out that Patricia Roland was the true criminal of that case. Sadly, Edgeworth just helped him out though. Simon Keyes was the actual mastermind behind everything in Edgeworth 2. As a child, he was affected by the IS-7 case that Gregory took apart of since both him and Horace Knightly were going to freeze to death. Thanks to Dogen the boys were saved and taken to an orphanage. This soon leads to the presidential assassination and while the plan was to kill Dogen to keep him silent, Simon appeared before him and helped out. After being found out, the woman known as Roland interrogated the poor child. Since the police failed to do their job before and Simon’s father never coming back to help him, he took matters into his own hands for revenge. His first target of revenge was Horace Knightley who was his friend during the IS-7 case, but because of their fathers he betrayed poor Simon and almost lead both of them to their deaths. By having Knightley arrested, he planted a chisel onto him which made Roland who was a prison warden at the time, think Horace was working for Dogen leading to her murdering him. Things even get worse since Simon remembers an innocent bystander being murdered during the presidential assassination and told the woman Jill Crane that to get her revenge she needed to go after Blaise. Simon then tells Blaise about Jill and leading to case four where he also dumps Kay at. So, with both Roland and Blaise arrested there was one more person left, the body double. Simon murdered him with a hot air balloon and planted the body to make it look like poor John Marsh did it even if it was an accident. Now his plan was not perfect by any means as he was not expecting to be suspected as a murderer, but again Edgeworth helped him out of that. Simon did not even want to murder the body double, but in self-defense he had to since he was fired at during the time he was trying to plant Kay at the scene. Still trying to nail this guy was so rewarding. He brought a tough fight meaning he knew he had to be ready to defend himself when Edgeworth comes around trying to arrest him. The sad part about his story is that all of this could have been resolved if there weren’t corrupt people in his life. His father, Dane Gustavia only had his son around to taste his deserts since he could not taste them himself during that time. Simon even believed he was Issac Dover’s son originally the man Dane murdered in the IS-7 case. Then we get to how he was tortured by a woman who should have been brought to justice. Both of these cases also had their share of corrupt prosecutors like Von Karma and Blaise. The only person that helped him was Dogen an assassin. If someone was actually there to help him things would have turned out differently which Edgeworth sees as his motivation to continue as a prosecutor so that no one has pain like that again.

4. Maya and Pearl Fey

Just like with Gumshoe, if Maya is not on your list there is something wrong with you, pal! Maya Fey is the younger sister of Mia Fey, Phoenix’s mentor. When Mia was murdered, poor Maya was taken in as the culprit. Phoenix quickly helped her and it got him to become the suspicious party of the trial, yea Phoenix had to defend himself in his second case, that is impressive. While winning that trial, Maya decided to stick around to help Phoenix since he is now in charge of the company. Maya is seventeen and later on becomes nineteen in the third game, but she is very much a young child at heart. She loves shows like the Steel Samurai and always begs Phoenix for things like a child. Maya is even the reason why Phoenix gets involved in cases both voluntary and involuntary. Then there is Pearl Fey who is the young cousin to Maya. Even if Pearl’s mother, Morgan Fey hates Maya, her daughter does not. Pearl loves Maya and wants to help her in any way possible. This is why I put these two at the same spot because of how natural the two felt when they were together in an instant. Maya pretty much treats Pearl like a little sister and it easily reflects on how Maya can be mature like her older sister. The best moment is when Maya learned of the death of her mother and the truth of the final case of the third game, Maya stayed strong for Pearl. Since Pearl was part of that plan originally to kill Maya even though she had no idea what that plan actually was. Another reason to like Pearl is that she is crazy strong for a little girl as Phoenix fears for when Pearl is going to attack him. Pearl can be funny with how she fantasizes that Phoenix and Maya are this perfect couple. Personally, though I see Phoenix and Maya more of being close friends than anything, but I would not be shocked if the two did become a couple. The things those two have been through were crazy and Phoenix saved Maya in many dangerous situations. To me though still, Phoenix helps Maya just like he did since the beginning, he hates when the innocent is being labeled as murderers and he knows Maya is the most innocent person around.

3. Roger Retinz

Out of all the villains in the series, this is surprisingly the one that had the most near perfect plan. I am not kidding at all and how he hid himself was fantastic. I remember going through the second case of Spirit of Justice and I had to defend Trucy, Phoenix’s daughter. I can only imagine if Phoenix was actually there, you know he would have been the defense on that in an instant. Still going through that case got me filled with hatred and most of it was Roger himself. He pulled many dirty tricks that got Trucy eligible for the show going bad and he produced it. He had Trucy sign a contract that forced her to pay three million dollars! Since she did not have that, this would mean that the Wright Agency had to pay and they were going to lose everything. Roger even had the media labeling Trucy as a criminal and this was getting me furious. Roger is easily the villain that got me angry the most. He did so many dirty tactics to get what he wanted and at first it did seem like it was for money alone. Then the truth comes to light. The man who was murdered was called Mr. Reus, a magician that once preformed for Troupe Gramaraye, the same troupe that Trucy gained rights from to perform under that name. What happened though is that Mr. Reus was kicked out due to an accident of a trick that could have been chaotic if it truly got out of hand. The troupe kicked him out since it could hurt them literally or hurt the troupe’s image. Figuring things out though the Mr. Reus that was killed was simply an apprentice to the real one, Roger Retinz. When finding him out, he shows off his magician persona. Now this series has shown people hiding their true characters before, but Roger’s was the subtlest. The scummy television man became this sly magician and it still felt like him overall. This also changed my hatred for him for a quick moment because of how cool he actually was. He did coin tricks all the time, an amazing head trick with his cape, and even preformed amazing fire tricks. Things even got crazier when we find out how he did everything and created himself a perfect alibi. Roger was not at the moment of the murder, but what he did was plant a weapon somewhere where no one would see. When the magic was happening, Roger had his own tricks in store. Now everything does not go according to plan and that is the only reason he was caught! The first mistake was one of his performers messing up where the trick should be happening, the other was when he was forging evidence. If things happened as he expected them to, his forged evidence would have worked and with that alibi he had would make him look innocent by the judicial system. Even when he lost then, he took victory from it since Trucy never stopped him or saw his tricks. Roger defeated the troupe that humiliated him making him the better magician in his own eyes. This guy had a slight change of hand for who he is, but what a truly complex character that is the smartest villain of the series. Literally Roger is on the same level as Kristoph Gavin!

2. Trucy Wright

Now for another magician on this list here is Trucy the defendant herself. Now based on her first appearance in Apollo Justice she would have been on this list. A strong girl at the age of fifteen that grew up under Phoenix Wright. Originally Trucy was the daughter of Zak Gramaraye, but when he vanished from his court hearing, Trucy had no father (terrible father, I know). Phoenix takes her in and she even helps out with keeping his company alive, even though it became a talent agency. Her first appearance was giving Apollo evidence against Kristoph Gavin, but it was illegal evidence which is something Gavin had her do at her father’s trial. Later on, Trucy became Apollo’s assistant pretty much as he helped her finder her panties… magic panties. Do not worry, they are like big bloomers, but still hearing panties again and again was hilarious. Trucy surprisingly has huge wit and comedy like her adopted father as even she can turn cases on their heads. Trucy even gets trials extended thanks to her magic. Trucy is just another person fighting for justice at the Wright Agency. Later on, in Dual Destinies, she is just around for the most part. Then comes Spirit of Jusitce and I talked about Roger already and his hatred for Gramaraye, but how Trucy took this case was heartbreaking and then uplifting. At first, she was doubting herself and she thought she did kill the magician during her show. This causes Trucy to cry right in front of Apollo and Athena. Trucy usually hides her feelings since part of her magician’s creed is to keep smiling. What happened though broke Trucy and considering she has dealt with her father leaving and even getting murdered later on. Trucy shows that courage again in court as even if people were yelling at her and calling her a murderer, she still stayed strong to how she did things. To even prove herself innocent she performed a trick and won the audience over, the same audience that was yelling at her. Trucy started to doubt herself again though since she did lose to Roger, but Apollo shows her that she kept true to the Gramaraye creed of always smiling. Trucy dealt with one of the hardest cases as there was barely anyone on her side she had to deal with the past of someone else’s mistakes. Trucy is a strong girl that will keep on smiling and that is how I want her to stay. I do have to say though she gets rather crazy with her tricks later on, poor Athena…

1. Raymond Shields

Man, I cannot believe I was not going to play the second Edgeworth game originally. I usually am against using emulators and such. Now I will still get a legit physical copy of this game regardless if it was not localized or not because of how great that game was. To me this was the best Ace Attorney had to offer. Regardless I get to see many amazing characters from this game. To be fair I tried to not have every big character from that game, but man that was hard. From Sebastian and his father, to how they improved Kay as a character, giving Shelly another appearance, having Gumshoe doing things on his own, learning of Lang’s past, and to seeing the genius mastermind that was Simon there were many great choices here. In the end, I had to go with Raymond Shields for many reasons. One of the first reasons is that I love his design. Ace Attorney designs usually likes to stick with normal yet exotic look. Also, it does follow in some anime like designs. Raymond though looks like a normal dude! I just always have a fascination when character designs just start to look like real people. It is surprisingly hard to do this task because of how animation works and how some characters need to fit a theme. I can say there are others who do fit that bill, but Raymond has it down the best. He has the fuzz on his face, the big puffy hair, a simple color design of grey, and his overall way of expressing himself. All of these just come off to a normal looking guy. Now to his story, Raymond got his start by working with Gregory Edgeworth and after Gregory’s death he continued the law office for him. Gregory also came to help Edgeworth multiple times in the second game and he did try to have Miles become like his father and be a defense attorney, but he was never forcing him to do that. Raymond simply saw the potential that Miles had to be following in his father’s footsteps. Something that really touched me was that he kept on a case for over eighteen years because of what his mentor promised his client, Jeff Masters. This not only a great bond between those two, but along with Katherine Hall. Then even if this guy is all about hugs and jokes, Raymond really does prove himself as a strong defense attorney. He kind of keeps it a secret in a way for some reason. Now I am not putting him in my favorite attorney’s list because you never face him or ever play as him. Now if he ever did become playable, I would so be over that! 

My Top 20 Favorite Ace Attorney Characters 20-11

Ace Attorney has tons of characters! There are your main characters, other attorneys that you have to fight or help in court, and then the complete strangers you will meet. These are the guys who take the stand or help out when there is no evidence. Some of these guys are criminals and others are completely innocent. It is time to list off all these characters!

20. Larry Butz

Starting the list off was originally going to be Wendy Oldbag, but with the recent two games I have played in Ace Attorney them being Spirit of Justice and Edgeworth 2, I think Larry wins this thanks to how many times he appears. Larry has been around since the beginning of the series and it is surprising to see how he changed over the years and then not so much too. I love it when Larry is involved in a case, it means it is going to be a hassle, but the reward will be strong. Larry is usually there for his buddies in his own special way. Phoenix and Edgeworth know him well and can pretty much interpret whatever he has on his as evidence. Larry then does question himself if he is useful or not and of course he is! Again, without Larry some cases would be left in the dark and his constant failures with romance never gets old. Finally, there is a saying, “Whenever something smells it is usually the Butz.” I just love that line.

19. Dhurke Sahdmadhi

I do feel bad for not putting Dhurke’s son on the best attorney’s list, but I simply like others better. I will not lie and say he was a strong prosecutor, but his most redeeming moments come at the end of Spirit of Justice. Meanwhile, his father, Dhruke left a big impression quickly. While being busy being a rebel in his own nation he could not be around his children all that much. This soon lead to Nahyuta working for the Queen instead of working against her. It even leads to him not seeing his adopted son, Apollo all that much. Again, this is a huge spoiler, but even in death he thought of his sons. Dhurke was murdered one day and with the help of Maya, she channeled him and gave him the chance to finish things off. Dhurke went to Apollo to find the Founder’s Orb and later on, his spirit still got blamed for a murder of a man who actually killed Dhurke! The big part about Dhurke was how tough he was in any situation; this guy took three bullets and still scared the shooter! He has had the saying about how a dragon never gives up which Nahyuta never did lose and still carried the tattoo on his hand. He influenced many people around him to believe in a revolution and it finally got carried out, even if he had to take a bullet or two… or three.

18. Pierce Nichody

The DLC case for Spirit of Justice was an interesting one with dealing with Larry again and the concept of time travel. Of course, the time traveling did not happen, yet we had to show that theory and disprove it too. Well the true culprit of this case has a strong story to him and his desire for revenge was strong and misguided. Pierce Nichody was original a surgeon who got close to the Sprocket family and was supposed to marry the future heir of the family, Selena. An accident occurs with a car and during the surgery, Selena makes a request to save her brother before here. Pierce did save Sorin, but at the cost at another’s life. This grief changed him and when Sorin became the next heir and was going to get married himself, he felt that Sorin did not deserve all of it. His original target was Sorin’s future wife, but when the plan failed, he murders his scapegoat in his plan and tries to blame the girl of the crime. He even tricked the people of the court by having the marriage reception twice. Finding out how he did everything was a great puzzle and revealing his true colors as a surgeon made for some funny moments of showing x-rays of Phoenix and Edgeworth. Then from finding everything out like who he is and how he was connected to Selena, just painted this quick sad image of this man that easily could have overcome this. He reinvented himself for revenge and not for what Selena actually wanted.

17. Damon Gant

This character is an interesting mixture of good intentions, but with crimes involved. The true culprit of the extra case in the original Ace Attorney, Damon Gant is easily one of the smartest guys around. Since he held someone with blackmail, that person being the defendant of the case, Lana Skye. He found a way to have Lana at his beck and call thanks to staging a murder. This did lead to a serial killer is get his punishment it is just how it was done. Thanks to Damon Gant, Drake was sentenced to death for his crimes, but to do that it involved killing an innocent man and forging evidence. The case was closed for two years, but a detective who worked on that case wanted to work on it. This then lead to Bruce Goodman to be murdered by Damon so that he can cover his tracks, which he then tells Lana to simply stab a dead body to make it look like she did everything. When finally getting to the truth about how the murder two years ago, actually happened was hard! Damon Gant is the Chief of Police and he knows the law better than anyone right now. The big puzzle with Damon was on how to reveal evidence since he hid evidence for over two years. The bad news is that most of it was in his own safe, making it his property in a strange way. You had to wait for him to make it legal evidence and finally pin him down. What is interesting is how he praises both Phoenix and Edgeworth for what they have done. Gant even tells Edgeworth that sometimes to catch a criminal, you could have to play dirty which gets Edgeworth to think about on how to be a prosecutor. This even caused Phoenix is change later on in the series.

16. Sebastian Debeste

At first, Sebastian was quite annoying, I mean extremely annoying that made me want to strangle the brat! He always got in the way even with that insane sense of logic he had! Debeste was easy to break, but he still got investigation rights even if Edgeworth always had the upper hand. Things get quite sad for this young prosecutor. We meet his father, Blaise and wow a corrupted man he was! He even used his money to simply get his son good grades creating this false sense of pride. When Sebastian learned about this, his father did not help at all. Blaise called him an idiot over and over until the poor boy cried. Even during that case when Sebastian learned of the truth before anyone else, he still wanted to believe in his father. The poor boy just wanted to surpass his father as a prosecutor and the man he looked up, pretty much stabbed him in the back and kicked him into a corner. At that point, I just felt bad for the kid and later on after helping Debeste get a clear sense of what he needs to do with his life, he comes back to finally nail both his father and one of his accomplices. At strong lasting image is Sebastian having a single tear when he finishes that trial. This boy may cry, but he knows how to feel emotions which makes him strong as he says goodbye to his father and says hello to his new way of life.

15. Luke Atmey

Man, what a fun case Stolen Turnabout was. It starts out as revealing who the true thief is which at first was Luke Atmey. What was secretly going on though was that this was a plan from the start. Even before that trial, Luke Atmey found out who the thief was. This then leads to Luke blackmailing Ron Delite into doing what he wanted. Later on, though, Luke found a way to get away with murder with a near perfect plan. By being labeled the great masked thief, it created an alibi for him since it would be impossible for the thief to be a murderer as well. What was fun about this guy is that at first the man seems rather incompetent and yet calling himself an ace detective. Then breaking down his testimony in the beginning was easy too, since he did it on purpose. Then actually nailing him down once and for all was the fun part. First, we had to even reveal that Luke was the true murderer. Then when bringing him back into court, we had limited ammo on him. This even lead to the final moment by simply catching a fatal mistake in his testimony. I do love the fact when he has his breakdown, at first, he was pretending, but when finally catching him he acts the same and says the same things and yet I think you can tell he actually lost it. Luke simply talked about how he had no one to rival him in his intelligence, guess he was wrong!

14. Dahlia and Iris Hawthorne

Already looking at the third game once more we get to meet Dahlia Hawthorne in the tutorial case. What an interesting woman she was. Defending Phoenix Wright was fun and then knowing that his lover was the true murderer was shocking. It was even more shocking that Dahlia was not actually Phoenix’s lover which I will get to later. One word I guess I can use to describe Dahlia is that she is stubborn. Ever since her first crime, she just committed crime and crime again to simply win, but she never does. Mia even catches her and later on she is sentence to death by hanging. What is shocking is that… she came back which I will get to as well. In the final case of the third game we then meet Iris, Dahlia’s twin sister. At first Phoenix thought she was Dahlia which is why he got to be around this whole case. Phoenix soon finds out the truth to these sisters. First, they are connected to the Fey family because of Morgan Fey who devised a plan to kill Maya and get Pearl to be the next master of the channeling technique. When she was arrested, she got to meet her daughter, Dahlia again. The plan was to have Pearl Channel Dahlia after she has been killed. With Iris around as well made it easy for Dahlia to pin the crime on her since when someone is channeled they will look like that person and since we are dealing with twins, yea it is quite easy to do that. What Dahlia did not learn though is that she could not win as she wanted revenge on Mia and with her dead, she went after her sister. There were people that interrupted that plan and it caused Dahlia to even be Maya’s savior in the end. So even coming back from the grave still resulted in a loss for her. Then there is Iris who felt bad for her sister since they got separated. Iris got to live a good life with a nun and meanwhile Dahlia had to deal with a horrible father and no one to care for her. This is why Iris helped her sister back then with her first crime and even later on. She posed as Dahlia to save Phoenix because Dahlia used him in one of her plans and needed something back. Dahlia was straight up going to kill him, but Iris wanted to stop the deaths and actually fell for Phoenix herself. What a complicated love story this turned out to be and you know what, I want Phoenix to be with Iris, she is a gentle soul that always thinks about others even if that other could be a psychopathic killer.

13. Matt Engarde

Now I will not lie, Justice for All was quite small with strong cases and strong new characters. There were two though and the first one to talk about is Matt Engarde. What made this guy so special is how he covered his tracks. Matt was accused of murdering a man named Juan Cordia and he did! The thing is though he had backup. He acquired the help of a professional killer and had that specialist do the murder and then they kidnap Maya to force Phoenix to defend the man. Now at first Matt does not show his true colors. He was just seemed like a young man starting his acting career and did not seem that quite smart. He would constantly try to ask his manager about everything, but at this point I am going to guess he was just pretending to use that little watch gizmo. Later on, we get to learn of who Matt really is and he loves to use people. Matt caused much suffering to people in his past which includes a girl committing suicide, one complementing suicide, and ruining one man’s career, well two in a certain way. I just got surprised when he shown his true colors because at first I did not see it coming. Even with someone kidnapping Maya, I just thought it was an impossible case to defend, especially with the limit of one day originally. The truth is though that Engarde is a sick man and finding a way to take him down was hard. To save Maya, you had to hold your wits and still pretend to defend Matt Engarde, but later on you get to talk to the professional killer. You find out that Matt was going to blackmail him and the killer does not like that sort of thing. You find a way to present that information to him and now it does not matter if Matt is guilty or not. Matt would pay for his crimes regardless in jail or being on the run from a professional killer. Overall, Matt was a surprise to probably one of the best cases in the franchise, too bad Justice For All could not be like this the whole time.

12. Tyrell Badd

The detective that Gumshoe learned under and while many would think that is the sign that this guy is a horrible cop, you would be incorrect. Tyrell Badd is more of your strict cop that plays by the book. Now there were a few secrets about this man though, but we will get to that soon. Overall, I always loved his design, that coat he has with all those bullet holes in them just says something. He even likes to reach in his coat whenever he is mad, but don’t worry he just pulls out a mirror and he does not smoke, he just likes his lollipops. So even though this guy may act like a hard-boiled cop, he sure does break some clichés with his actions. Tyrell first makes his appearance in the first Edgeworth game as he investigates a murder case that happened right in the courts. At first, he did not like Von Karma butting in by having his two apprentices investigate, but he started to open up with Edgeworth because of how smart he was and during this time he wanted to take down criminals. Now Badd here held a secret, he was part of a mysterious group called the Yatagarasu. At first it was believed it was a single thief, but there were three people in a group. Sadly, one of those members was undercover to snuff them out, but she got caught once and then caught again. We also get to see Badd again in Edgeworth 2 as he helped Gregory with his final investigation and trials. This is a big reason why Badd hates Von Karma, he knew of the dirty tricks he did to a suspect in that case. Badd also shown many signs of kindness for Gregory and the suspect which I bet Gumshoe picked up from him. This character was just stunning to me, he had an appearance that is easy to remember and thanks to how involved he was with important story bits, keep a fresh image in my head of him.

11. Juniper Woods, Robin Newman, and Hugh O’ Conner

Wow this is the first time I am talking about Dual Destinies in this list and this could be the only time too. Not saying Dual Destinies was bad, to be honest it could be my fourth favorite game of the series. For the characters though some were hit or miss. I did enjoy Simon and Aura (she was originally on this list before) then there was a villain in that game who could have been on this list, but I personally hoped his final appearance would stick to more how he was in general. In that case though called Turnabout Academy, we got to meet three awesome characters! If I had to pick my favorite of the three that would-be Robin, but these three support each other as characters so it would be unfair to leave any of them out of this spot. First, there is Juniper which we got to see how she is after this case in the beginning, but in this case, she was rather strict and a big rule follower. She did learn from a great teacher to follow the rules and that is a great trait to have to be a future judge. She gets suspected of a murder because of how things played out like a script she wrote out and then she started to show her true self a bit more. She became frail and weak as people suspected her to be a killer and even some of her closest friends started to backstab her. Robin Newman the boy who was actually a girl finally got to reveal her true colors thanks to Athena. This does lead to my personal favorite comedic sequence in the game because even I was fooled by her appearance at first. Then there was Hugh O’ Conner the much older student, he is even older than Apollo. Throughout this case, the three start to see how they have never broke their bonds and still was able to show it. These three then start to learn the true meaning of the law and how the truth is important to follow because things will work out in the end. As long as people stick to the truth there is no reason to hide things which leads to confusion amongst others. What made these characters fun were getting to each of their stories which all had their own share of puzzles. It felt extremely rewarding to help them as you continue through that case.

My Top Ten Favorite 3D Action Games 5-1

Now to finish this list and originally I was not expecting this to be so long, but if you know me you probably know why this is going to be long.

5. Metal Gear Rising

I so remember first hearing about Metal Gear Rising. I did know of Metal Gear around this time, but to be honest I only knew of the fourth game. Hell, I never even played any of those games after Rising. So, Rising was my first Metal Gear game and I am so glad I did. I felt it was a great way to introduce me to the overall franchise. The story was focused on its own path and did not really spoil anything about the past games either. The amount of humor and political satire was strong and on top of that it has some great action with amazing characters. At times, I will always find that one person saying the characters are not memorable and yet I just cannot see that. Ever since Armstrong was introduced, the internet was full of “Nanomachines son.” Even to this day I love using Monsoons quote about memes. Then Jetstream Sam is possibly tied with Raiden for my favorite Metal Gear character. So, one of the few gripes with this game is that it is quite short compared to other action games. The development of this game had to be quite fast since Platinum was just brought on so late into it. It is amazing how much they got done though and what a polished product it is. The parring system is by far one of the best mechanics in action games, this is up there with Nero’s grappling abilities and Dante’s style changes. It is precise all the time, it can be a bit overused, but enemies and mostly bosses will have attacks where that will not work. Also parrying is just blocking the attack you are going to get nowhere fast if you focus on a defensive stance for too long. Even the engine with how anything can get cut is beyond mind blowing to me and then we have the nice visuals when you cut through those annoying foes. Mostly because you can rip out electronic spines out from them or just make them into mush. The game even has a great challenge mode and the great DLC which is free right now if I am correct. You get to play as two of the bosses from the game and they play incredibly different from Raiden. Then there are even challenges for those two characters and one gets a new boss fight. This is then also by far one of the best soundtracks in an action game as those rock tracks with intense vocals and well written lyrics just give many fights the additional amount of excitement. Metal Gear Rising is a smaller package compared to other games on this list, but it just shines brightly just like the others.

4. Devil May Cry 3

Now we are getting to where Dante has been fully revived after the abysmal second game of the franchise. Dante in the second game barely ever talked and it killed his cool yet goofy persona. Then comes the new game in the franchise where we start at the beginning of Dante’s story and how does it start? With Dante eating pizza like a glutton, breaking jukeboxes, using his foes as a skateboard, breaking ceiling fans, and then finishing things off with billiard balls. I do love the fourth game’s opening sequence more, but this is a close second. Not only was this a change for the better, the series pretty much helped out the genre in general. We had a huge arsenal of weapons that could be switched around, but you could only carry two at a time for both physical weapons and guns. Personally, I like that for a sense of challenge, but in the fourth game just having all the weapons is forgiving. That is a big reason why I do love the third game the most, it is a challenging game and the special edition proves how harder the game could get. This is then the game that got to showcase the beginning of Dante facing off with Vergil which is still my all-time favorite rivalry. Vergil has a character to overcome really meant a lot in both story and how it felt as a gamer. Vergil has always been a tough boss and then you get to play as him in the special edition! There are also ton of other bosses that are incredibly tough to beat if you are going in blind. This was also the introduction of different styles you can use to play leaving tons of freedom for your personal style. I was a trickster user for most of the time as dodging was extremely helpful in that game. Meanwhile I can see a weapon master dominating a boss through aggressive play. Other fun features were the exploration in this game, I felt it did better than the first game with some tricky rooms that will punish you for messing up, but at the same time if you want to risk it, you can farm for orbs there. The overall area felt large, but easy to explore at the same time. With the original game and four it felt a bit too linear which is not bad if you give a great amount of fights, but with the third game I felt like one of the challenges was finding the fastest way through the level. Overall this game is hard and yet so satisfying to defeat. So get yourself a pizza and have a blast.

I got a poster of this in my room!

3. Bayonetta 2

Now we finally get to Bayonetta! Now I will admit that the first game is another one of those fun challenges. At times though it can be out right unforgiving with those quick time events that lead into instant deaths all the time! Some of them even had awkward timing just making that even more of a hassle. Still Bayonetta one is pretty much the eleventh spot on this list. What makes Bayonetta two greater though? Well many things have been changed to be a bit more forgiving, but at the same time it leaves more of a challenge surprisingly. This time however the challenges are a bit more fun to do. What also helps is how the weapons feel in this game. I personally like some of the varied weapons and by that, I mean the ones that act differently than the first two weapons. In the second game, you had the Kafka which was an awesome poisonous bow and arrow. The whips were great for grapples and could lead to some bigger combos. Then there was the giant hammer which could do massive damage. My personal favorite was the Rakasha blades and having them on both hands and feet just made me ecstatic. Having some weapons being for both hands and feet was a strong idea and Bayonetta 1 only had that for the default weapons. There was even the new Climax Mode that replaced the wicked weaves that relies on how you can build meter. Bayonetta 2 also had more to do in terms of gameplay. There were more outfits to have that could have you play as different characters like Jeane (just like Bayo 1), Rodin, and even Rose! Bayonetta 2 also has one of the best boss fights of all time! The fight against the Masked Lumen in chapter four was beyond amazing. It was fast and chaotic and yet I could tell what was going on. What also improved this game from the original was how it spliced in minigame sections, it reminded me of how Wonderful 101 did it where it just felt natural. One of those moments being a fight where you play as Madama Butterfly and even have a Star Fox like shooter section (if you got the Star Fox outfit on, you get to control an Arwing!) The other big factor to me was how Bayonetta was in this game, back then she had no memories and to be honest the amnesia cliché gets annoying at times. With the second game, Bayo had all her memories and with that had all of her attitude and the new design just felt better for her. Bayonetta 2 is easily just one of the best games ever and to be honest is better than what my number two and one on this list. Still this is a personal list and if you know me, you know what I have for my top two.

Still one of the best fights ever!

Honorable Mentions

Before getting to the top two of this list I want to give honor to some other titles that deserve some love.

God Hand

What an insane game this is! If you want to see how a speed runner plays an action game, then God Hand is that title. God Hand really gets rewarding if you remember the level design and how you use the combat abilities. On top of that it is easy to remember thanks to a fun presentation and crazy boss fights. It may not be special in its story, but this game sure is wacky and fun with it.

Transformers Devastation

This is the game my childhood always wanted and to top it off, it actually has some strong mechanics as well. Metal Gear Rising’s director helped out with this title so there were similar mechanics like parrying and this game even uses a Witch Time like function. Along with that all playable characters felt different and leaves room for freedom of how to play. The different weapons and upgrading them with stats or simply making them into stronger weapons was a great system. There were some great boss battles like the ones with Devastator and Shockwave. I do wish there was a Decepticon version where you get to play as Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave, and maybe someone like Cyclonis or make minigame sections with Soundwave’s little robots or a giant section with Devastator. Either way what we got so far was a strong title and I cannot wait for the sequel.

Pandora’s Tower

Even if this title is a bit more of an action RPG, it still counts as an action game none the less. To me this is how a good 3D Castlevannia can be done. It has a great area to explore with multiple levels and nice puzzles that remind me of DMC in some ways. The chain mechanic which could easily be a whip was strong with how it clings to the environment and the monsters’ skin. That with the boss fights were incredible as you have to find their weak points and literally rip their flesh off can be a nice challenge. Along with that there is a time limit that is fair, but none the less does give you a sense of caution all the time. Overall it is a fun and unique title to experience and this was another game saved by Operation Rainfall, so thank you again for that.

2. No More Heroes 2 Desperate Struggle

So, if this is the first time reading any of my articles regarding No More Heroes, this is possibly my favorite franchise. Sure, there are only two games with the first game being ported to the 360 and PS3, but anything that continues is a franchise. There is actually a bit more to No More Heroes as well as there is a short-animated feature for the series and a unique music collection that does continue the story in an odd way and that is saying something. To start off my love for No More Heroes I am going with the sequel and I can admit that the second game has some better mechanics than the original. First is the function of being able to change weapons on the fly and not just dealing with getting a more powerful Beam Katana after the other. This leaves room for a bit of freedom on how to play as there is the standard Blood Berry which is average in all categories. The previously strongest sword gets downgraded for the sequel and is now called the Camellia as it may be weaker than the standard, but the speed of this blade and combo potential is higher, the blade also has a better chance at making people dizzy and lifting them in the air. The Peony is a large and slow weapon that grows bigger as the Ecstasy Meter gets filled, you can go to some insane lengths with that blade. Then we got the Rose Nasty which is the fastest, but it will lose charge quickly, no worries though as it is fast to recharge. Other than that, some of the level design is stronger than the first game with one being this huge mall level where you start out clearing out a gauntlet of men in the parking lot and then climbing up the mall with many people hiding in the isles. Now there are certain things that hold this game back though. The sequel tried to use different playable characters with Shinobu for two levels and Henry Cooldown for one boss fight. Personally, I think Henry should have more to do mostly because playing as Shinobu can get annoying. Also, her boss fights did get some hindrances because of that as well. Then there is the ending of the second game which has one annoying final boss fight with the second form being ungodly evil. The first and third forms are too easy though and really kills the momentum. I will say the build up to the final boss was strong with three of those bosses being some of my favorites for games in general. The mini games got better in the second game by doing 8-bit inspired games, except for the scorpion mini game which got worse in this title. Then getting stronger had a bit more of a challenge with a rhythm styled game which is fun, but those higher levels are brutal, at least the game is forgiving about how many times you can screw up. Then there were Revenge Missions which are okay I guess, just kind of felt flat, especially we were killing the men who killed an important friend to Travis and they just get side content. The music is also stronger in this title with Kill or be Killed and Philistine being songs I just listen to on a daily basis. Then the story is still as silly as ever, but it surprisingly had some dramatic moments which actually worked for what this game was doing over the original. One of the final factors to this title is how it looks. The game looks fantastic considering it is a Wii title and has some lovely areas to look at. It goes for this semi HD look as the character models are strong as well. Overall, No More Heroes 2 is a close second, but the original title to me is stronger.

Still to this day my favorite boss character.

1. No More Heroes

I have gone into the depths of hell for this game. I literally have done a nine-page essay and even extended it for this game. There is no doubt that I love No More Heroes. While the second game has some lovely features to it and looks gorgeous. The original No More Heroes feels better as a complete package. There are less boss fights in this game, but there is only like one that is boring. Then there is even like one or two others ones that do feel easy and yet they are still well designed fights. The second game easily had more flubs with some of their boss fights or just add in some horrible mechanics like the motorcycle fight! The original game did play it a bit safer compared to the sequel and that is only because the first game was a pretty risky title already. No More Heroes 1 or 2 still keeps a strong unique taste to them. Liking one or the other more is quite fine it is up to how you taste the product itself. I enjoy the first title because of how complete this one feels compared to the sequel. First there is the city which you can explore and while not being the best I still prefer exploring that area for some odd reason. I am completely fine that it was gone in the sequel and yet I still love the oddly designed town of Santa Destroy in the first game. The level design in the first title is still strong as this title knew on how to vary things up. The good thing with the variations is that the controls were good and did not function like that terrible motorcycle fight in Desperate Struggle! Sorry, I just really hate that moment. Along with that the story felt more compact and rich thanks to each boss having something to do with a theme, while the second game did have some filler bosses. Then I do love the buildup in the second game more than the first, but the final two battles in the first game and leagues above the final fight in the sequel. 

Another aspect I do love in this game is that is a great challenge game. In the first game, you would buy newer and stronger weapons, but you can always go back to the weaker ones. I did a challenge with this game on the hardest difficulty which is only unlockable through new game+ and I went through the game with the fewest upgrades possible. There are some limits to that as you are forced to start and end the game with the strongest beam katana, but with no other equips to it, it will be losing charge a lot so that is still a risky weapon right there considering who is at the end of the game. Still I accomplished that and felt great for it. In the second game, you can literally go no upgrades, but as I said before that final boss is so brutal with that, that it stops being a fun challenge. I did that once for Desperate Struggle and I had some leftover rage to deal with while in the first game, it felt accomplishing. One of those big reasons is how the combat felt in the first one. There is an ability called side step where in the middle of blocking attacks you can slide out and get more hits on any foe. This lead to reading the bosses movements and kind of expose weak points in how they fight. Some bosses will still dodge that though so be careful. While in Desperate Struggle it was harder to do that and when you did it did not have the payoff like it did in the first game. Then with the mini games I personally like them more because of the joke they imply. For some reason just standing around filling gas is just funny to me while I play No More Heroes. Then there were Assassination Missions which were just fights with bigger pay and then there was a challenge mode where you had special levels where you cannot get hit at all. I really did miss those from the sequel and I did all of them even with the challenge I was doing. To this day there is one gold medal I cannot get and that is the Old City mission because you need to kill tons of dudes to get that and the Blood Berry is not designed for that. Overall, No More Heroes as a game felt more complete as it has many modes and still a better ratio of bosses compared to the sequel.

Well this is a huge reason why I split this list because of my love for No More Heroes. Again, both the first and second games are not the greatest and I can admit the likes of Bayonetta and Devil May Cry are better games. Yet I will always put No More Heroes at the top because of the personal value I have with it. To me it is one of the most unique games out there in terms of story and game play. Then for how much I love Bayonetta and Dante, Travis is still my second favorite character of games. Suda 51 is my all-time favorite director and designer for video games because of how unique all his titles feel. Not to say anything terrible about Bayonetta, but it was being the successor to Devil May Cry while the series was on hiatus. Did Bayonetta do many things new, yes. Still that series was mostly created because of Devil May Cry 4, so the uniqueness is a bit lower. Then there are many other action games that just try to be Devil May Cry as well and yet I know of nothing else that feels like No More Heroes, hell even the sequel does not feel like the first game which is because Suda was not the head director of that title, but I still feel that he would have changed it up regardless since that is how he is. So, the unique flair is why I put No More Heroes at the top, but this is also why I love action games. There are many unique action games being made even now. As I said before the new Nier is taking on more of an action game approach and Scalebound is working with the idea of a semi-controllable partner in the middle of real time action. There is even Let It Die coming soon as it takes Dark Souls and makes into the crazy action game genre that I love. Even the reboot game called DmC still feels different from the main series which is why I still like the title and it is not the disaster Devil May Cry 2 was. That is why I love this genre, it still has the most unique titles and there are so many new things being done by the top developers for this genre. Hopefully Devil May Cry 5 will come soon.

My Top Ten Favorite 3D Action Games 10-6

Out of many genres that exist today, to me the action genre has only gotten stronger through the times. There have been plenty of actions games from the early days of video games. Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, and Battletoads were the big ones during that time. Things had to change though for the world of 3D graphics. Sadly, this just meant the death for many of these franchises. Now they still get their time in the light as Double Dragon had the amazing Double Dragon Neon title and Battletoads is getting a bit of a revival thanks to Microsoft adding them to existing franchises like Killer Instinct. The big reason why these franchises did stay in the ground though was because they could not translate to 3D well and while I think they do not need to be because again look at Double Dragon Neon, but either way Capcom tried 3D with Final Fight and that did not work at all, possibly making one of the worst action games to date. So, the action genre got turned completely on its head as we got many new names enter in the action genre. To this day, the company known as Platinum Games is becoming much larger that they are working with Square Enix to make the new Nier title and Scalebound is still on many radars. Now I will not be limiting this list to one per franchise because there are clearly new kings of this genre and they need their representation.

10. Killer is Dead

First off is a title that I felt got panned for the wrong reasons. To me this was Suda 51 getting back to something closer to No More Heroes. Now the big changes compared to No More Heroes was the skill tree and combo system the game had. The game is short and some of the mini games or side missions can be boring, but the main fighting in general is great. The system to me feels fluid and fast thanks to dodging and blocking in the game. A perfect dodge gets you a chance to give your foes a barrage of slices and such getting you a better combo. What was great with combos in Killer is Dead is that it makes your attacks faster and stronger. Stringing combos was strong in the game and it is possible to get these stronger attacks against boss characters if you know how to read them. Then just like No More Heroes, the boss fights were all around great. We had some unique ones with Alice becoming a giant insect like creature crawling on the wall, to David being an incredibly fast and aggressive fighter just like the main character, and my favorite being Hamada-Yama with being a near brick wall at first and learning how to block and counter attack and quickly needing to change strategies when he goes berserk. Overall as a full package, Killer is Dead does lack with some side content, but the main content including the story is nonsensical fun.

I am also a big fan of the many art styles in the game.

9. Madworld

This is not going to be the first time we hear of Platinum in this list. The same goes for Grasshopper and Capcom, but that is for later. Platinum Games’ first title was quite impressive that even today it is argued which was better, Madworld or No More Heroes and Desperate Struggle. For me the answer is quite obvious, but Madworld still has ton to offer that No More Heroes did not have. The style of the game is gorgeous. I love the black and white Sin City look this game had. Just showing that unique art styles still hold up to this day compared to hyper realistic graphics. Now Madworld is not a fast action game compared to other titles, but the level design was strong all around. There were many things to do in each of the stages and while some mini games were hard to do, they were still fun and silly. I always have trouble doing the seltzer mini game, but the imagery of it never gets old. Shoving a bottle down someone’s throat and sending them flying into spikes on cardboard pin up girls, yea this game can be quite insane. That is some of the fun in the game, you can find unique weapons in the levels and use them to create more mayhem. You can even use signs, trash cans, spiked fences, and much more ways to kill your prey.  There are even fun secrets in the game where my favorite levels are from the Asian Town sections. Now this game does have some bad to it as well. The majority of the Halloween sections are awful! I did enjoy the first level with the fun golf game, but the boss in that level is the worst and has a function that barely even works. The entire Frankenstein Monster’s level and boss fight is horrible with a small level and the fight being cheap and boring. Now the Elise boss fight was great though and it is somewhat thanks to… well let me just use this quote to explain it, “Awesome rack on her though!” Reminding me the announcers Greg Props and John DiMaggio have some of the best lines like “Awesome rack on her though!” Oh, I used that one before. Either way the game has a huge sense of humor with both the dialogue and presentation. Madworld may falter with some levels and a few of the boss fights, but the level design and overall fun combat saves the title. There is also the Black Baron, he alone makes this a great game.

The soundtrack is strong too and I am not usually a fan of this type of music.

8. Devil May Cry

The beginning of Devil May Cry and first time we get to see the incredible Dante. I will not lie; Devil May Cry is up there as one of my favorite franchises. There are really only two games that hurt the series a bit and that would-be Devil May Cry 2 which was just awful in many ways. Then DmC with some terrible design ideas in terms of the levels designs, combat choices, and the overall look and feel of that title. Now with the original Devil May Cry it was originally Resident Evil 4, but was changed to Devil May Cry because it was a bit too action orientated, quite funny seeing how Resident Evil 5 and 6 were intense action shooter games. This was the game that Hideki Kamiya worked on as he also worked on Viewtiful Joe during his time with Capcom. Kamiya knew how to make a complete package with the first game and I will not lie, even some of the future titles do not share that with the original. Now the reason why I am going to put 3 and 4 higher is because of the combat engines they had. It does feel a bit harsh doing this because the original game was well the first so just putting the other games higher having one of the reasons be the combat just seems a bit unfair to me. I do have some reasons though why I do prefer the later titles though. First is how Dante feels, Dante still did have his cool personality to him, but I personally enjoy the big goof ball he later became in 3 and 4. I also like the boss battles more in 3 and 4 which I will get to later. Now that is not to say the original has bad boss fights, that is so not true. Personally, I feel this game has one of the best in the entire series with the fights against Nelo Angelo. I will say though the variety during the time did not help this game in terms of the fights, but Kamiya soon fixed that with another franchise. Overall the original Devil May Cry still holds up to this day as a high pinnacle of 3D action games and it being one of the first still says a lot.

7. Wonderful 101

Back to Kamiya already, this game you can clearly tell was inspired by Viewtiful Joe and so be it, he created that franchise too so he can use similar feels to it mostly because he cannot even do Joe anymore… Anyways, Wonderful 101 came out for the Wii U and this game made me impressed on the technology the system had. Kamiya found out how to work with the gamepad for many new functions and hence these little mini games were perfectly tied in with the main game. Some of these things were little puzzles using both screens and even using the other screen to aim. What is also great about this title is that you can switch your view between gamepad and television so if you did not want to use it, go right ahead. I love it when games work with gimmicks that do not halt a game at all. The flow of this title is near perfect and this is easily the best story Platinum ever had. Wonderful 101 is a heavy homage to superheroes everywhere. The Sentai roots are extremely clear and I think there is even some Carranger inspired jokes in the game. Now some faults with the game is that some of the levels can go a bit too long. I do get bored with some certain levels and if I am playing it again, I would most likely just select the levels I want. Then to be honest I would just play the boss fights for the majority of the time. Then with the main combat, it can have some trouble with when you are flooded with foes and things can get overwhelming. Now there are great things about the combat, the amount of skills and moves are amazing and being able to mix and match leaves things on how you want to play. Then with forming Unite Morphs is extremely easy with any set of controls. I will say the only one I get small problem with is Hammer, but I just have to get used to it and I got it down after a few tries. This game even includes some amazing boss fights with all of them being top contenders. Now the final battle is clearly the best, but the fights with Vorrken are extremely great as well. I can also never forget about the Punch-Out inspired robot fights in the game. Then with the story, it just dragged me in so easily thanks to the comedy and dramatic moments. Overall this was great game with some little gameplay sections holding it back, but most of it does have to do with your depth perception at times.

6. Devil May Cry 4

Here we go now boys and girls, Devil May Cry had one great title to be on hiatus on for the main series and seeing how it got a Special Edition proves how things can be improved because I am basing this on the original product still. Now one thing that I love about this title was the overall design. The levels looked gorgeous with the rustic feel to everything. This title even got a bit classy with the introduction and great music choice. This game has one of the best introductions of all games with that lovely piano and operatic song and seeing Nero dish out some monsters. There is something special when an action game can pull off a slow and beautiful song without it hindering the feel of the action. Now I will admit some of the backtracking can get a bit annoying and repeating some of the levels was not an overall good choice either. Now going back to the levels did have some ups though. First you got to play as Dante and there were some changes, but repeating boss fights was a bit sad. At least the boss fights were strong enough to permit a repeat fight though. Then playing as Nero is really amazing. He has a great grapple function and there are many animations with it that never get old to see. I also love Nero’s sword where you can charge it up for better damage. Playing as Dante was extremely fun and unlike Devil May Cry 3 where you were limited to two weapons you equipped per level, this time you have full access to all the weapons! It was not hindering at all too because switching weapons was so easy and if you had any trouble during the fights, the good old pause method still works fine. This is also my favorite Dante to date in terms of design. In the fourth game Dante has the silly yet cool look at the same time. It just speaks true to his character a complete badass who can be extremely goofy as well. I even love how Dante is portrayed in this game, this is after the original game and no one comes close to Mundus’ level so Dante is just shaking everyone off with ease. It just creates this strong image for the character as Dante to me is one of the strongest characters in fiction. Overall, Devil May Cry 4 is extremely beautiful and badass at the same time and that combination can be quite rare at times.

I am so used to Dante that this is pretty much normal to me.