E3 went down a few weeks ago and while there were no real earth shattering announcements (thanks to the ever persistance subculture of everything getting leaked), all in all it was a pretty good show. The rest of the year is looking pretty good indeed, with some of the smaller titles like Child Of Eden, Catherine, and Shadows of the Damned (all of which you should buy, for the inevitable rarity if nothing else) coming now to avoid the epic cluster**** that is the fall launch lineup. But the future of gaming? That is an entirely different story altogether. Let's take a look at current state of gaming, focused on the three big console manufacturers.

First up: Nintendo.

Oh how the worm has turned! Actually, not so much. Analyzing Nintendo is always a fun prospect, simply from the fact that Nintendo of America seems to enjoy trolling their fanbase. For example, look at Operation Rainfall. In case you missed it, Operation Rainfall is a concentrated internet letter-writing, facebook commenting, twitter posting campaign to bring three hardcore RPG's to the United States. The three games are Xenoblade Chronicles, the latest title from the mastermind behind the legendary Xenogears and Xenosaga franchises, The Last Story, the latest title from Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu (the director and composer behind the Final Fantasy series), and Pandora's Tower, an action rpg much in the vein of Castlevania. So after all the letter writing and various other campaigning to get these games released worldwide, Nintendo announces that all three titles will, in fact, be localized and released.... in Europe. In fact, they released what could be viewed as a rather snarky message on the official Facebook page saying that while we should "never say never," they don't intend to release the game in North America. Even though they're already translated and voice acted and everything for Europe.

Then there's the case of the Wii U. First off, let's all just agree that Wii U is a dumb name. That being said, so was the Wii, and the Xbox and PlayStation are also stupid names we just got used to. But back on topic: if you look at Nintendo's E3 presser, NoA President Reggie Fils-Aime basicly starts off saying, "Hey, we get it. The hardcore have been feeling neglected lately; you want some games for you! Don't worry. We got you covered." Then they proceed to show hardcore ports of games that, by the time the Wii U launches, will have already been on the competitive consoles for some time. Furthermore, the sizzler reel still had a lot of happy family, Wii Fit, casual nonsense for something supposedly aimed at the core. On top of everthing else, I have this nagging suspicion that the Wii U, with its dual screen technology and single touch pad second display, is destined to become yet another stop on Nintendo's seemingly unstoppable nostalgia train by become an HD port machine for popualr DS titles. Why make something new when they can sell you something you've already bought? Yes I'm looking at you, Star Fox 64 3D and Ocarina of Time 3D.

Speaking of nostalgia, let's talk about the 3DS. More specifically, let's talk about the games being released for the 3DS. I look at the 3DS and the future games to be released on the system and I hate myself for even considering purchasing one. Look at the top five games released thus far on the system, according to Metacritic:

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

Metascore: 95
Released - Jun 19

• Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition

Metascore: 85
Released - Mar 27

• Dead or Alive Dimensions

Metascore: 79
Released - May 24

• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Shadow Wars

Metascore: 78
Released - Mar 22

• Ridge Racer 3D

Metascore: 75
Released - Mar 22

You can check out our reviews for Zelda, Street Fighter, Ridge Racer, and Dead or Alive, but basically of the top five games released on the system thus far, only one can be said to actually be an original title. Zelda and Street Fighter are ports of varying quality, DOA is more or less just a condensed version of the first four titles and Ridge Racer is pretty known quantity at this point. While it's a good racer, it is just good; I've never met anyone who gets worked up about a new Ridge Racer like they do a Burnout, Gran Turismo, or Forza in spite of what Kaz Hirai might think.

Looking at the 3DS launch compared to the original DS and PSP launches is equally distressing. The PSP came out of the gate with Lumines and Metal Gear Ac!d along with some quality ports of console titles. Even the DS had the tech demo turned quirky game Feel The Magic XY/XX and Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt were a promise of things to come. All I have seen in the 3DS is the promise of more ports and sequels or new IP I'm fairly certain will never make it out of the Land of the Rising Sun, like Fantasy Life and Beyond the Labyrinth. That, coupled with the altogether unhealthy trend of making games with undeleteable save files like in Super Monkey Ball 3D, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, and Pac-Man and Galaga Dimensions makes the 3DS a questionable purchasing venture. And let's not even get into the whole 3D backlash everyone is having at the moment.

All in all, things look rather shaky for the Nintendo empire, at least from artistic and quality standpoints (standpoints Nintendo seems to have realized they don't have to put much effort into reassuring). Yet, in spite of all, I'm still super excited about Nintendo in the future. The 3DS is a certain buy for me, mainly for one game. The Wii U, I'm less certain about, but if they announce some unique titles for it, I'll be on board.

Nintendo doesn't care about wooing hardcore gamers. Yes, jaded gamers think this is self-evident, but it's actually worse than it seems. Nintendo doesn't care about wooing hardcore gamers because we'll come back to them anyway. That is the truly terrible thing about Nintendo's current strategy. It doesn't matter how disappointing their hardware is, how inept their handling of online services is, or how much they bother to build a platform that third party developers actually feel like using to make a decent game and not just a half-assed semi-port.

Let me be crude but concise. Nintendo is our cheating ex-girlfriend who, every six months or so, calls us up at 2:00 a.m. looking for action. And, because we are idiots and she does that one thing we like, we come over. Maybe it's a one-night stand, maybe it's a short rekindling of the relationship, but it always ends with her completely ignoring us and sleeping with our little brother.

Since the last generation of game systems, we've gotten used to a few things. Specifically, steadily improving graphics that, at this point, are high-definition, and a comprehensive online service that allows matchmaking and organization across multiple games. The WiiU will, in fact, have some form of HD video. However, Nintendo hasn't actually said what it will be able to do, or even released any sort of specs on the system's hardware. The WiiU might have 1080p graphics. It might be as powerful as a PlayStation 3. The problem is we don't know, and the fact that Nintendo hasn't bothered to tell us anything shows us that they really don't care. Graphics aren't a priority.

More importantly, Nintendo hasn't announced any online service, meaning online gaming with the newest Nintendo system will remain somewhere between atrocious and unusable. We have Steam. We have Xbox Live. We have PlayStation Network. In all of these services, hooking up with a friend and playing any multiplayer game together is a question of three button presses and a manner of seconds. With Nintendo, you have friend codes, individual games using different multiplayer systems, and an ordeal involving IMing or phone tag just to get into a damn Super Smash Bros. game with your friend.

I don't care about the excuses. It's 2011, and "But the kids will be pedophiled by e-predators!" is a pretty goddamn weak excuse for not offering a service that every other major gaming platform offers. We shouldn't have to rely on EA for matchmaking with EA games, THQ for matchmaking with THQ games, and all of that vaguely connected through a kitbashed messaging system we devise with our friends just so we can game together. Nintendo needs to get into this decade and actually offer something.

Oh, and the multiple Nintendo eStores suck. Why? Well, for starters, they're multiple goddamn eStores. I need different cards depending on whether I want to buy games on my 3DS or my Wii/DSi. Meanwhile, with the PlayStation Network (even after the month-long humiliating downtime), I can get one card for points I can use for both my PS3 and PSP. Oh, and there are plenty of games I can use with both my PS3 and PSP. Has Nintendo offered any explanation for why the 3DS can't play NES games (besides the "3D Classics" we're promised, of which we've only seen Excitebike so far), or SNES games, or Genesis games, or any Wii Virtual Console game? Both systems can clearly handle it. Hell, there's little reason why the DSi can't handle it. Nintendo could have taken the PlayStation model, smoothly transferring purchases and certain low-end (two- or three-generation-old games and older) titles between the home console and the portable system. They just didn't.

Instead, we have three different stores for three different systems, with a back catalog of DSi downloads for the 3DS (but if you have a DSi or DSi XL, don't expect a simple or easy way to get your current games on your 3DS). That's not even getting into the organization issues of any of the eStores, and how they're laid out horribly. From a purely technical and economic standpoint, Nintendo's stores are a collective mess. And, sadly, a mess is the only thing they are collectively.

Here's the kicker: Nintendo clearly doesn't care. Yes, they talk about downloadable games and how the WiiU will have an "HD experience," but they don't bother to actually put together something worthwhile to gamers. Why? Because Nintendo doesn't care about gamers anymore. Nintendo has found that the big bucks are in casual users. Families. Kids. The real money's in the friendly, brightly-colored games that grandparents can set their grandchildren down in front of, and that moms and dads can play in between work. Nintendo has become a family company, and the tastes and desires of Generation Y gamers, the obsessive gamers who grew up with Nintendo and still carry a torch for the company, just don't matter.

That doesn't mean Nintendo has given up on our money, though. They just realized that they don't have to work as hard for it as Microsoft or Sony do. And the worst thing is that it's not entirely Nintendo's fault. Its ours for always coming back in enough numbers that they don't have to care.When a new Mario, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, or Metroid (though maybe not after Other M, but fortunately Kid Icarus is coming back to make up for that pile of crap) game comes out, we pick it up. If we don't have the console, we pick that up too. We know they'll be great (well, there are a few exceptions... like Other M), we grew up with these titles, we love the entire series, it's a given that we're going to get them. As long as Nintendo makes those few games, they basically have our money.

Every gamer who grew up with Nintendo, every die-hard fanboy, every spurned fan who swore he'd turn away from Nintendo except for just that one game is, sadly, Nintendo's bitch. The company doesn't have to offer the same power or convenience or enjoyable, comprehensive experience that Sony and Microsoft have to offer to keep our attention. Neither company has characters that we literally grew up with. Neither company is a brand name we've embraced as a fixture since we were children. Our nostalgia for Nintendo's properties is so deep-seated that the company simply doesn't have to bother, besides putting out new games based on them in a semi-regular basis.

Nintendo left us for families. And it still gets our money because, when it inevitably calls in the early morning, we still pick up the phone.

Do you remember games like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6? Did you love the hell out of them? Have you been wondering for the last 15 years why RPGs went hardcore next-gen and have been unable to really capture the simple magic of sprite-based storytelling and turn-based combat? Then Radiant Historia is going to smack you in the face with nostalgia. It's a game that came out this year, it could have come out in 1995, and it manages to look great in either era.

Atlus has really sealed itself in as the king of JRPGs, after Square-Enix abdicated the throne a year or two ago. Radiant Historia on the DS is a great RPG filled with classic aesthetics and mechanics, that manage to stand the nostalgia test that all "retro" games must take and that few pass.

Like the name implies, the story has to do with time travel... sort of. It takes the concept of Chrono Cross' two universes, one "right" and one alternate, and adds a ton of structure to it. You play Stocke, a commando for the kingdom of Alistel who gets possession of the White Chronicle, a book that lets you go back in time to events in your life and change them. On the small scale, this involves figuring out how to fix your screw-ups so you can continue. On the large scale, this involves time splitting into two major branches, and your attempts to use both of them to get things right. And to find a way to prevent the encroaching calamity of the entire world drying up into sand. What, you thought there wouldn't be a worldwide, epic quest?

The first thing you'll notice about the game is that it looks like an old-school, 16-bit RPG. It's almost entirely sprite-based; the characters are sprites, the enemies are sprites, the combat effects are sprites, and most of the background consists of sprites. The only modern concession is the occasional 3D model when exploring towns. Besides the polygonal buildings, this is an entirely sprite-based game. Despite that, it doesn't look particularly dated or ugly. While it's less graphically impressive than a Disgaea game, Radiant Historia's sprites still have enough detail and animation to convey everything they need, and dialog is augmented by higher resolution anime portraits of characters. It looks like it could have been plucked out of a Super Nintendo last week.

It's more linear (or bi-linear) than it sounds, but the White Chronicle adds a lot of texture and logic to what would otherwise be a haphazard time travel game. It also provides a great way to navigate not just the world, but the plot itself; the White Chronicle provides a timeline with plenty of nodes where you can go back to buy items, fight bosses over, and reach previously unaccessible areas. The only complaint with this format is how the nodes are handled; if you decide to time-hope when you're not right at a node, be prepared to fast forward through several cutscenes and a few battles to get to where you were.

Combat is refreshingly strategic, and manages to avoid the fight-fight-fight-win tedium of most JRPGs from the 16-bit era. The enemies are arranged on a 3 by 3 grid, and their position determines how much damage they can deal and how much you can deal them. More importantly, this layout lets you push them around with various moves, forcing them into a square to deal stacked attacks to the entire enemy force. The turns are arranged based on speed, but you can trade your character's turn for an enemy to cluster your turns together. By combining enemy-stacking and turn-stacking, you can deal huge combos to the entire battleground instead of chipping away at each enemy with the fight command. It feels like a cross between Final Fantasy 10 and Mega Man Battle Network, with an emphasis on strategy. Unfortunately, while combat is full of strategy, character progression isn't. It's strictly old-school leveling, gaining stats and skills but not actually controlling it. Still, held up against the combat system, it's a net gain.

Radiant Historia isn't a perfect RPG. Its storytelling feels lodged in the SNES/PSX era, and doesn't quite hit the emotional resonance of Shadow Hearts or Lost Odyssey. While the combat is refreshing, the lack of the basic fight-kill grinding means every encounter becomes a minor strategic chore. Still, it's a great JRPG and one of the rare cases of a truly good modern work based entirely on a bygone gaming era without screaming "Look at how retro we are!" every five minutes. If you remember the wonder and fun of playing through Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6 the first times through, you're going to want to play this game. It's one of the few modern-day chances we have to play a new JRPG that hits all the right notes of the old school.

Same game sequels take the series three steps forward. Some sequels take the series one step forward and two steps back. Pokemon is the only series that manages to take the series an inch forward and five steps sideways. Pokemon Black and White are out now, and you can probably predict how good it is. Still, read our review anyway, for some insight into the next evolution of Pokemon.

Structurally, it's the same game as Red/Blue, Gold/Silver, Ruby/Sapphire, and Diamond/Pearl. Run around a region catching Pokemon, defeat 8 gym leaders, thwart Team Whatever's sinister plan, catch a legendary Pokemon, defeat the Elite Four and the Champion. It's a formula as classic as Mega Man or Mario, and it still works. This time the setting is Unova region, an area shaped vaguely like a lasso, a stark contrast to the straight angles and intersections of previous regions. Outside of the map, however, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Unova and the other regions.

The game starts slightly faster then the others, giving you your choice of three starter Pokemon straight off and introducing you to the basics quicker than the earlier Pokemon games. Unfortunately, that head start is hindered by the twin anchors of Bianca and Cheren, your two rivals. Every time you go to a new location, one of those two will appear and challenge you to a battle. Again and again and again. By the third gym, you're going to hate both of these pushy stalker bastards.

The new enemy is Team Plasma, and they would be a fresh and interesting approach to the standard Pokemon criminal group if they weren't so ball-crushingly idiotic. They talk about how Pokemon should be free and shouldn't be trained and forced to battle... and yet that's exactly what they do. They have all the depth of a Captain Planet villain, and make me pine for the days of "we want your Pokemon!" and "we want to take over the world!"

Fortunately, Pokemon hasn't ever focused on plot, and like in previous games the stupid characters and boring plot take a back seat to Pokemon catching and strategic fighting. In this, Pokemon Black and White shines as one of the brightest examples of the gameplay yet. It plays great, with tons of varied Pokemon to catch and tons of ways to influence their growth. While there are still the occasional frustrations (like the Volt Switch move and a certain gym leader battle), the game generally maintains balance and stays fast-paced. The game adds two new battle types, but like before they're rarely seen modes and you probably won't even think about them the majority of the time. They're forgettable gimmicks you have to actively seek out to try.

Pokemon Black and White looks great, with 3D tricks Diamond and Pearl didn't even try. Castelia City and Skyarrow Bridge look breathtaking compared to previous Pokemon, with a sweeping skyline and actual vistas to behold. Combat animations have been slightly improved, but otherwise the actual Pokemon battles look the same as before. Walking around sure is pretty, at least.

Nintendo added some online tricks to the game in the form of the Dream World/Extralink system. Unfortunately, the Pokemon Global Link won't be up and running until March 30, so I wasn't able to test these features.

Like every major Pokemon release before it, Pokemon Black and White take the series just a little bit forward. It's not revolutionary, but it's still the best Pokemon game to date. You know what is is. You know what you're getting into. If you're a fan of previous Pokemon games, pick this one up.

And give me a shout if you want to trade a Metagross. Just putting that out there.

Nintendo held a big Pokemon Black and White launch event at the Nintendo World Store at Rockefeller Center on Saturday, and there was much nerding to be had. The Presidents of the United States were there to play a song about the new Pokemon in the game (and, thankfully, to play Peaches and Lump, too), there were big, inflated Pokemon, an opportunity to buy the game a day early, and tons and tons of Pokemon fans. Read on for a full account of the event and tons of photos, taken by both myself and Chris Gampat of The Phoblographer.

First, the crowd was huge. As in hundreds and hundreds of people lined up down 48th street, up 5th avenue, and back around 49th street. I haven't seen a line that long since Shigeru Miyamoto was signing merch at the Nintendo World Store about four years ago. Here's how long the line went:

The Presidents of the United States came out and reminded me of the mid-90's, and successfully stuck "Peaches" in my head for a good two freaking days. Great performance, though. Besides the band, there were kiosks for playing the game, inflatable Pokemon (the three starters and the two legendary Pokemon in Black and White), and even a Wi-Fi hotspot set up to give out the Victini-granting Liberty Pass a day early. Check out the full gallery of photos below.

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Well, this is random. Nintendo is holding a Pokemon Black and White launch event tomorrow at the Nintendo World Store at Rockefeller Center. The Presidents of the United States will be there. No, it's not 1996.

Seriously, what else do you need? Great (and strange) band. Pokemon. There should be t-shirts there. GO to Rockefeller Center at 3:00 tomorrow to catch the Prezzes with a new song and get your hands on some Pokemon.

Going to the country, gonna catch a lotta Pikas...

Pokemon Black and White come out this Sunday, and with it come yet another batch of 150 Pokemon. Pokemon ubersite Serebii.net already has a full list of the new Pokemon up, with sprites, stats, and flavor text, and we've sifted through them to find the 15 best ones in the bunch. From the cute to the crazy to the badass, Pokemon Black and White have some pretty awesome new "'em all" for you to catch.

Accelgor

We've come a long way from water-spitting turtles. This guy's a freaking luchador with an arms-crossed 'tude.

Woobat

It's like one of those optical illusions where it's two different things at once. Smiling fluffy bat, or demonic floating eye? You be the judge! But yeah, it's a demonic floating eye, I don't care what anyone says. Cacodemon Pokemon.

Cofagrigus

It's a freaking sarcophagus with four shadowy arms coming out. How the crap does a Pokemon evolve to look like a Nile album cover?

Crustle

Hey, Spongebob and Mr. Krabbs had a Pokemon baby!

Eelectrik

The Tract Parasite Pokemon. Eelectrik is known for swimming up unaware trainers' urine streams and lay eggs in their urethras.

Escavalier

This is the closest you're going to get to a Gurren Lagann Pokemon. Badass helmet and drill-arms.

Garbodor

Hey, Master Belch from Earthbound is a Pokemon! I can't wait until the next Pokemon games, where I can catch Peesacrap and Piloshit.

Golurk

GI-GAN-TOR. GI-GAN-TOR. GI-GAN-TOR, THE SPACE AGE POKE-MON!

Timburr

Screw ducks with leeks. This is a cute mole with a freaking two-by-four. But it gets even better, when Timburr evolves into...

Gurdurr

A roid-raging Pokemon behemoth with a name that sounds like he's the only special-needs Master of the Universe, swinging a steel girder like a baseball bat. Gurdurr will mess you up.

Herdier

Screw Pichu, this is the most adorable Pokemon ever. It's a Yorkie! A grumpy little Yorkie with a Yorkie mustache! Augh, I wanna pet it and give it my leftovers!

Klinklang

Gears are cool, though I'll kick the ass of anyone who says it's a "steampunk Pokemon." Where's the waistcoat? Where's the monocle?

Scrafty

I like my Pokemon like I like my West Virginians: on meth and sporting bitchin' mohawks.

Vanillish

That Pokemon looks delicious... and creepy as hell. I don't know if I want to eat it or hide from it.

Zebstrika

That's the most glam Pokemon ever! That's a David Bowiemon.

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KH13 (via Heartstation) has posted a couple of videos of the next title in American shores. Kingdom Hearts: RE:coded is a remake of previous Japan exclusive game Kingdom Hearts: coded. This title is the first title to move the timeline in the series forward since Kingdom Hearts II; PSP title Birth by Sleep takes place 10 years before the first game, and the DS title 358/2 days mainly takes place in the year gap between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. The above trailer is a plot while a gameplay trailer is embedded after the break. Coded is thus far the only game in the series I've not played, not having a Japanese cell phone to play it on, so as the superfan we all know I am, this has me super excited. Kingdom Hearts: RE:coded comes out January 11, next year.

Nintendo just trademarked the phrase "It's on like Donkey Kong." Usually I'd consider this a cynical and skeevy example of being overprotective of intellectual property, but... I really can't complain about this. Nintendo owns Donkey Kong. If things are on in a manner similar to Donkey Kong, to the point that direct parallels can be drawn, it's understandable that Big N might want a piece of that action.

Just remember, if you preorder Donkey Kong Country returns at Gamestop, you get a free banana pouch. I'm pointing this out because the phrase "banana pouch" always makes me giggle. Nintendo and Gamestop are giving you a banana pouch. You stick your Wii in it. You stick your Wii in the banana pouch. Just saying. And if Nintendo doesn't like me using their promotions for dick jokes, well... I guess it's on like Donkey Kong(tm).

Club Nintendo is Nintendo's big fan club/rewards program, giving dedicated gamers copious swag in return for video game registrations and surveys. The majority of said swag is in my apartment, and as part of the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., we're going to take a look at it. Many of these items can be obtained through Club Nintendo if you rack up enough coins, but two of them are special "Elite Status" awards given out every year when you reach a high enough coin level. Take a tour through the Mario museum after the break.

Mario Statue/Figurine

This impressive little statue was Club Nintendo's Platinum Elite reward for 2010. It's the entire Mario gang, including a goomba and Bowser himself, posing. Bowser is supposed to look menacing, but it seems more like he's trying to make a Kung Fu stance while posing for a picture. It's an impressively detailed figurine, made of plastic, but with soft rubber parts on the more protruding bits, like Bowser's spikes.

Mario's Hat

We already covered this one a few months ago, but it's still a great piece of Mario memorabilia to look at. This was the Platinum Elite reward for 2009, and it's a fantastic cross between a hat and a pillow. It's very plush, but you can still wear it on your head. Unlike the Mario baseball caps and cheap foam Mario hats you can pick up at costume stores, it retains the unique, lumpy shape of Mario's signature hat.

Mario Sensu Fan

This incredibly Japanese Club Nintendo item (though not the most Japanese item; we'll go over that one below) is Mario and various Mario-related imagery drawn on a gorgeous bamboo-and-paper fan. It's fragile, and you have to be very careful when folding and unfolding it, but the details are exquisite; the art on the fan itself looks great, and the thin bamboo tines keeping it spread have intricate holes cut into them. It's one of four fans available from Club Nintendo for 300 coins. The others are a blue fan with Bloopers and two Animal Crossing-themed fans.

Mario Hanafuda Cards

Nintendo got its start over a century ago making Japanese playing cards known as Hanafuda cards. They're smaller and thicker than Western playing cards, and instead of having numbers or other symbols on them, differentiate each other with different flowers and other pieces of art. This set, available for 800 coins from Club Nintendo, goes back to the company's roots with a Mario twist. The artwork is very traditional, but shows Mario-themed images along with the colorful flowers and rolling hills depicted in the set. Actually playing games with the cards, however, can be pretty tricky without any identifying symbols on them besides the artwork itself.

Mario Hat DS Game Rack

It's a plastic rack for holding DS games. The sides are shaped like Mario's hat, and the sliding divider can securely hold up between one and eight game cases. Simple, but probably the most useful item in the collection. You can get it for 600 coins.

Game & Watch Collections For Nintendo DS

This is another blast from Nintendo's pre-NES past, though it doesn't go back nearly as far as the Hanafuda cards. Before Nintendo released its groundbreaking home video game console, it made portable LCD games under the Game & Watch brand. Each collection for the DS, available for 800 coins, contains remakes or remixes of three Game & Watch games. The first collection includes Oil Panic, Donkey Kong, and Greenhouse, while the second collection includes Parachute, Octopus, and Octopus x Parachute. They're not very deep games, and compared to later Nintendo titles not the most fun, but they're a great look into Nintendo's history.