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06/22/2003 -- 06/28/2003
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 Initial D: Special Stage 
 Viewtiful Joe
Wario World 
Finally a 3D platformer done right! No mindless free roaming here. You just go from point A to point B, then fight a boss. The Wario voice overs are great, and the BGM is fantastic. Maybe I just haven't played enough 3D platformers, or maybe this one is just too clever. Like taking an enemy shaped like a magnet and throwing him at a metal wall (that he magnitizes to) and then using him as a stepping stone to get over a wall just seems genius to me. Also, taking an enemy shaped like a stalagmite and piledriving him into the ground to use as another type of stepping stone, or taking a sting ray (complete with blade-like wings) and using it to cut down a tree blocking your path by giving it a Giant Swing by the tail is simply awesome. And the smart camera just makes too much sense as well. Programmed by Treasure.
OK, I've decided to quickly break the whole game down. *Ahem* There are 4-5 worlds and you access these from a central hub (like Stretch Panic) but you can only go through them in order. Every world has 2 stages to complete each with it's own boss and a third stage that's a huge boss. The bosses to the stages are locked under a fountain-shaped thing that you plug these red crystals into. As the game progresses you'll need more jewels to open these, but for the first you only need 3, and the last stage I did I needed something like 6. The jewels are hidden in the underground or "warp zone" segments. "warp"s being just like the mario sunshine flavor with lots of puzzling 3d platforming, and the undergrounds are similar although not as tough and the scenery here belongs more to the stage instead of just being in the sky in nowheres ville. Lots of ladders and other things, but wicked fun regardless. There seems to be more red jewels then you need just in case one of these extra stages is troubling. The underground segments are accessed by butt stomping and "X" marked trap door, and the "warps" have a similar trap door but it's made of metal that you can't simply stomp... you need to piledrive an enemy to open it. Wario has a punching combo as well as the GB dash attack. Enemies that don't instantly get destroyed by your fists can become dizzy if you keep on the pressure. Dizzy foes can be picked up and thrown, piledriven, or swung around via a Giant Swing. Throwing can be done the way you think, like you see in any other game or you can hold down the button and aim exactly where you want to throw and the advantage here is that you get more power and distance by holding the button. Throughout the stages Wario can buy garlic from the garlicman for coins that you collect from chests or enemies. You can buy as many as you have coins for. The starting price is usually 50, but it rises for every following one. Wario only has one life, so if you lose all your hearts the game is over. However you can continue right where you left off by spending more coins (this time 200) and let me tell you that coins are not hard to find. I'm on stage 3 and have over 8000, so continuing is not an issue. You only need to make a tiny effort to just keep amassing them which is easy since Wario can vaccuum them up with his big mouth. Enemies respawn so this also isn't a problem, and because they do you don't HAVE to beat every bad guy. Just like old Mario, race to the end if you want. Oh, one more thing -- if you fall off the world (get pushed off, make a bad jump) you'll end up in a diferent underworld with several boxes everywhere and ghosts chasing you. If you fall off the walkways here you'll begin to lose coins, and if the ghosts grab you the same will happen. The goal is to find the one spring that's in the 20+ boxes and spring out of there back to a prearranged spot. The voice overs and music are super. Anyway I can't recommend this enough. Bravo Treasure. Another 2003 top 10er.
 Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
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12/21/2003 -- 12/27/2003
Project Gotham Racing 
Kaze Kiri ~Ninja Action~ 
Peacock King 2 
DecAthelete 
(DVD) Lost Memories: The Art and Music of Silent Hill 
King of Fighters 2002: Challenge to Ultimate Battle 
Time Gal & Ninja Hayate 
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow