Amagon

Okay, I sucked at this game. Apparently those who spent most of their youth playing Nintendo games are better at it than I. Or at least are able to consistently remember which button jumps and which button shoots. But it was hard in a legitimate and really fun way – when I, say, fell in a hole, generally I deserved to fall in a hole. And I proceeded to get obsessed with it, and play it over and over and over again in an attempt to beat level 1 (did I mention I sucked?).

It’s a side-scrolling Mario playing type of game, with lots of jumping and shooting. The graphics are really cartooning and fun, and make you realize how crappy the graphics are in a lot of these other games. The key to the game, though, which took us a while to figure out, is the Megagon (it even sounds good: Tremble before me, for I am the MEGAGON). This makes you big, but most importantly, it allows you to take up to seven hits (or as many hits as you have thousands of points) before dying, instead of just one. Also, you then punch rather than shoot, and there’s something to be said about the satisfaction of punching a snake or a flock of birds.

Overall fun: 9
Obsession factor: 9
Ability for the game designers to spell “Amazon” correctly: 2