The Shin Megami Tensei series is one of the longest lasting JRPG franchises around, complete with several main games and a slew of popular spin-offs. While these titles have been around since the days of the NES, they never really found their way to North America until the late ’90s and eventually became more recognized with the release of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Several years (and games) later, Atlus has revived one of the most beloved games in the venerable franchise, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, and brought it to an English speaking audience for the first time.

While Soul Hackers probably won’t attract anyone who isn’t already familiar with the Shin Megami Tensei­-style of RPG, it does a fine job of reminding those acquainted with its mature brand of role-playing what makes the series so special to begin with.

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Dillon’s Rolling Western: The Last Ranger is a tower defense game with something to prove. Reinforce, rather, being a sequel. The idea here is that we have a tower defense game, something traditionally passive in nature, but with a more personal action-oriented twist. Dillon, a cool Django-esque armadillo, must physically manage the battlefield while simultaneously acting as the primary offensive/defensive force. This new angle on an established formula gives the genre a freshness and vitality that it sorely needed. READ MORE

Luigi may be portrayed as the underdog or second fiddle to his older brother in a lot of games, but in all fairness, he’s had a pretty great career. He gets to help Mario out without drawing the ire of Bowser. He travels around the globe, teaching children about famous artifacts along the way. John Leguizamo played him in a Hollywood film. Imagine the royalty checks! No risk, all reward.

Then Nintendo had to ruin everything. Dropping him into a haunted house against his will and arming him with a vacuum cleaner of all things, he had no choice but to face the reality-bending horrors of the undead all for the sake of his brown-nosing bro.  Over ten years later, just when he was getting used to taking it easy again, Nintendo took it upon themselves to drag him back into the spotlight by slapping his face over the entirety of 2013. The nerve! And of course the first thing they do is throw another vacuum in his face. READ MORE

The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, once an intriguing mix of two different titles, has at this point become an institution of its own. It was inevitable, I guess; Spike Chunsoft’s long-running Mystery Dungeon gameplay is something at which it has become very experienced, and attaching the super-popular license to it makes for much better sales. That said, Gates to Infinity does represent the largest change in the franchise, both visually and mechanically. READ MORE