Do you need a story in order to have a reason to play a game?

Even though it isn’t mentioned, Akrista’s Ring is the successor to the hit game Aigiina no Yugen: From the Legend of Balubalouk. If it’s not, then American Sammy Corp. have some explaining to do.

Assuming it is the sequel, in this Arkista’s Ring, the side-scrolling platform action we all love from Aigiina no Yugen was done away with in favour of placing enemies on the overworld map, giving players control over an actual weapon that can be powered up and shoots in one of four directions, as well as allowing character to look in four different directions.

With this title, American Sammy Corp. became one of the leading designers of games in the ‘butcher everything on the landscape in order to find the key’ genre, a style of game that continues to be popular.

Despite the graphics being stolen from every game released prior to it, this is actually an alright game.

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The story of Kevin Arnold as he struggles with life as the older brother of the guy from Boy Meets World.

All is not well in the life of Kevin – he’s trapped in the middle class suburbs and his only friend is a guy many believed to have been Marilyn Manson.

The love of his life, Winnie Cooper, has friend-zoned him for eternity. The voice narrating his life would be best known as a member of the Wet Bandits as he attempted to burglarize Kevin McAllister’s house in Home Alone.

The show is an incredibly depressing look at failure on every level.

Avoid at all costs, unless you enjoy sadness.

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From the makers of NBA Jam comes the best basketball game since the one that came out previous to it!

At first I was ready to write this game off, since pressing start during the opening just keeps repeating the opening over and over. Then I remembered that I had a frozen pizza in the oven, and when I came back it was miraculously working.

And now I can honestly say that I wish I was still watching a repeating animation of a fist ripping through a basketball.

Another great effort by Midway.

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Possibly my favorite physics demonstration outside of Mario levering himself up a flagpole.

If Balloon Fight starred a fish wearing sunglasses this would be the obvious sequel. You adjust your position in the sky using your laser pistol, shooting toward the ground to rise up, left to go right, and so on.

The objective of all this shooting is the collection of [e] symbols scattered around the map – sometimes hung on balloons, other times inserted into random impenetrable objects and only obtainable through the use of several Game Genies inserted into one another.

It’s Balloon Fight with lasers.

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How’d you like a G.I. JOE that looks exactly like you do? Well too bad, junior. It ain’t happenin’.

But what you can do is fill out this here 10 question survey, and based on the results Hasbro will send you a G.I. Joe. Isn’t that exciting? I love surveys!

I can’t wait to get my loner coast guard member with his jungle camo, throwing stars, and crossbow.

I have a feeling I’ll be promoted to General of The Army soon.

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Through the 60s and 70s Superman’s writers had gone on an LSD fueled spree that had Superman capable of anything imaginable. He’d faced off against corrupt barbers, cowboys, rainbows, and parade floats.

When lead paint stopped being used in schools it allowed deeper thinking, and children realized that perhaps Superman had become a bit … out there. With the reinvention of Batman as a dark detective DC had also learned that readers enjoyed darker characters who had more of a ground in reality. So it was up to a young writer named John Bryne to reinvent Superman.

In his resulting mini-series, “The Man of Steel,” Superman would see a shift from being an all-powerful God-like being, to simply being one of the stronger aliens residing on Earth.

His Earth parents were brought back to life, though surprisingly showed no signs of zombification, and Superman’s alter-ego became a high-school football star instead of a locker dwelling nerd.

The reinvention went so well that less than a decade later they killed him and when he came back he had as much power as he’d had prior to “The Man of Steel.” Oh, and a mullet.

It just goes to show, you can’t keep a good alien down.

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