September 2014

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The Best to Own Forever series isn’t about what’s great right now. It’s about what will be great in 10 years, even though there will be better-looking games and later sequels, and what will keep you pulling that dusty old console out of the closet every once in a while. In this edition, we cull the 3DS’ library so far to the best of the best.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon

The original Luigi’s Mansion was a clever GameCube launch title, but Next Level Games’ sequel, Dark Moon, managed to improve on it with remarkable success. Splitting the game into multiple mansions allowed for more variety, the clever puzzles always kept you guessing and the core gameplay felt like a major improvement over the first. The most surprising addition is the multiplayer, giving you and three friends the opportunity to traverse a mansion together and compete in various challenges. It’s an excellent follow-up to an already pretty solid game and deserves a place in every 3DS owner’s collection. – Andrew Passafiume
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Western players are likely at least somewhat familiar with Nintendo’s Art Style games, downloadable WiiWare and DSiWare titles with a shared stark aesthetic and simple-but-addictive gameplay. They’re almost all worth checking out (though the names themselves are a nightmare to keep straight across regions), but did you know that they weren’t the first of their kind? Indeed, they were preceded by a seven-game lineup for the Game Boy Advance called bit Generations. READ MORE

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The long, long line of Musou games thrives on sheer volume of content. Those who aren’t fans of the series will get nothing out of the prospect of doing something they don’t like dozens upon dozens of times, but if you buy into the Warriors formula, you can expect Omega Force to pile your plate high with characters, battles and unlockables. Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate, the third enhanced edition of the game, adds an extra layer of cameos and modes to a title that already offered quite a bit. READ MORE

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Surprisingly hot on the heels of the release of the first game, Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair has both the benefit and the challenge of following an experience that is still quite fresh in players’ minds. Considering how much the original Danganronpa turned the visual novel genre on its head, it’s hard not to wonder whether the sequel could live up to its standards.

I’m happy to say that it did that and then some. READ MORE