VGRC

How many times have you wished for a certain game to get a sequel? How many times have you cursed the overrated mainstream title receiving its 15th sequel while truly unique and good games are lost in the sea of mediocrity? Don't worry, you're not alone. For whatever reasons, the games you'll see in this article have been missing off the radar for a lifetime now, while we sit around and wait for them to take us into the promised gaming land. My gut feeling tells me that we'll see at least some of these in a few short days at E3, but until then we can just close our eyes and imagine we're in a world where these games exist - a better world.

There have been over 30 games considered with honorable mentions going to Chrono Cross, Majora's Mask, Mystical Ninja, Contra and many others. The games that did make the list simply stood out from the rest, either on the basis that they left us with a juicy, sequel-demanding cliffhanger, or because their sequels might shake up the gaming world unlike anything we've seen before.

15. Shenmue

Considering that at one point this game series was supposed to consist of 18 titles, at the current pace my great-grandchildren might see a closure to the story. As one of the best console adventure games of its time, both Shenmue and Shenmue II served as an example of how to tell an engaging story while still keeping gameplay on par. The cliffhanger ending, combined with the cancellation of the final part surely caused at least a dozen divorces and murders, and ever since then fans have been pleading for a third part. Sega would "love" to do one, but there are no imminent plans for it. One can only wait and hope.

14. Hexen

Many things come and go in every form of media, most of them for a reason. Arcades have become obsolete, so did the password level system. But one certain element has been missing from gaming for many years now, with no clear reason why - fantasy FPS games. Arguably Dark Messiah of Might & Magic can fit into the category, but even that is far back now. Hexen, Heretic and the two sequels to each were all published by 1998 and told a fantastic dark story in a bleak universe besieged by powerful beings known as Serpent Riders. Such a game would certainly not be impossible to create using today's technology and would without a doubt bring a refreshing breeze to the stale genre that is FPS.

13. MediEvil

Back when 3D Action Adventures were still the newest craze, the PlayStation was graced with MediEvil, the console's equivalent to Ocarina of Time. The game followed the adventures of the now undead, and more often than not headless knight Sir Daniel Fortesque on his quest to defeat the evil wizard Zarok. While the story might not be an award winning piece, the gameplay certainly was. The locations include, but are not limited to: A flying ghost ship, a graveyard, a levitating game board in an enchanted forest, sewers filled with bulls and much more. A sequel was created and it retained the same humor and cheesy atmosphere of the first one. The original was remade on the PSP a few years ago, perhaps telling us that a sequel is not out of question.

12. Glover

Arguably one of the most unique platformers ever created, Glover was a masterpiece of its time. 3D platforming, check. 3D platforming while balancing a ball over levels specifically designed to make that a challenge, check. Have the ball be able to turn into various forms, including a giant heavy bowling ball and a crystal which breaks on the slightest impact, check. The levels were amazing, and some of the challenging parts of it still haunt my nightmares. The story, while very simple, was very well done and the boss fights are some of the most amazing in gaming history. A sequel was planned, but eventually canceled, so chances are that we're going into the future with one glove less.

11. Secret of Evermore

Square-Enix is best known for their Final Fantasy game which they have been re-releasing for the past 20 or so years. Most people have by now forgotten a superb game they developed which not only trumps all of the sequels that were milked out of its bastardized corpse but also every other Squaresoft game ever released - Secret of Mana. Secret of Evermore however, was released two years later by Squaresoft's American division and it might just be the most underrated game of all time. It shares a great deal of gameplay elements with Secret of Mana, but it places the protagonist in a much darker world. The combined power of the top-notch artwork and the amazing soundtrack makes for one of the most atmospheric games of all time. Secret of Evermore managed to create an overshadowing feeling of loneliness, which was a great contrast to the more cheerful RPGs that dominated the market at that time. However, as the development team fell apart, chances for a sequel are minuscule at best.

10. Grim Fandango

Tim Schafer might just be, next to Shigeru Miyamoto, the most innovative and ingenious game developer alive. Every game that he had his hand in has turned out to be a masterpiece, and Grim Fandango might have been the biggest one of all. However, due to the decline of adventure games in general, it ended up being a commercial flop and no one ever spoke of it again, except in the thousands upon thousands of articles talking about how awesome it is, or all the awards it received over the years. Why then, is there no sequel you might ask. The answer is simple - Tim Schafer doesn't want to do it. In his own words, he "wants to make something new". That being said, it still doesn't mean that Grim Fandango shouldn't have a sequel, because it'd be freaking awesome.

9. Donkey Kong

Nintendo loves their franchises, the number of Mario games is more than enough proof of that. Which makes it only more perplexing that they sentenced Donkey Kong to mediocre bongo spin-off titles. The latest real game in the series, Donkey Kong 64, was a pants-creaming platforming experience with a variety of ass-kicking flavors for your convenience. And even that was a minuscule dot compared to its older brother - Donkey Kong Country 2. I'll let your imagination work out just how awesome that one must have been. With one of the most unique music scores gaming has ever seen, it stands out as one of the best, if not the best 2D platformer. As the years pass by it becomes less and less likely that Donkey Kong will bring his trademark barrel tossing to the Wii, but we still refuse to rule it out.

8. Turok

Turok is a bit of a dodgeball. I wished for many years that a game would be released that continues the story of Turok 3, and then when the new Turok finally hit the shelves, I cried for a week. So without an imminent sequel in sight, the original Turok trilogy still stands as one of the most astonishing FPS series ever. Considering the downright cliffhanger ending of the third installment, it is nearly a blasphemy that we will probably never see a continuation.

7. F-Zero

If you don't know what F-Zero is: Fast hover-cars, mind-blowing soundtrack, and 29 opponents to eat your anti-gravity dust. The last console game in the series, F-Zero GX, improved on the formula of its N64 prequel and still stands as the best futuristic racing game ever made. There isn't much to elaborate on, the addition of motion sensor controls, Wi-Fi, and improved graphics can only serve to make an amazing game into a godlike game. Truth be told, the chances of a new F-Zero game are better than the chances of most other games on this list, but until there's an official announcement (see: E3 2010) F-Zero Wii remains a wet dream.

6. Eternal Darkness

Most people probably don't know this, but love is too weak of a word to describe what I feel towards the works of H.P. Lovecraft. A game inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft is by that logic, also still working on wiping my saliva off of its face. Eternal Darkness was one of the rare survival horrors for Nintendo consoles, and one of the even rarer ones that I actually enjoyed. It was an under-appreciated game, selling less than 20 thousand copies, even though it's still regarded as one of the top rated games of all time. When Silicon Knights then released Too Human, it was obvious that they replaced the old team with raving gorillas. Thus, it's neither safe to say that there will be a sequel to this monster of a game, or whether it should be developed by the same people.

5. Perfect Dark

Most people older than 20 will tell you the same thing - Perfect Dark is the best shooter on the Nintendo 64, period. While you might possibly not go that far, it's still one of the best. What it is however, is a game that received a very shitty prequel in an attempt to shovel in all the money that fans are clinging so dearly in anticipation to a game continuing the awesome life of Joanne Dark. That might a bit harsh though, Perfect Dark Zero might not have been horrible, but it was still a very far cry from the original. Even the possibility of re-capturing the atmosphere of the original and creating a game that would live up to the expectations is dubious at best. That however does not mean that Rare shouldn't try it, because as they have proven in the past, they are very capable of creating some of the best games in the world.

4. Duke Nukem

Alright, you knew this was coming. Duke Nukem has been a controversial topic for the past several years, culminating in the closure of 3D Realms and a few videos to tease us for years to come. If you were one of those people that didn't follow the Duke Nukem Forever craze, go to youtube and grace yourself with the gameplay videos that are present. If that didn't make your balls feel as if they were made from a legure of iron and carbon, then pretend that this paragraph is about Halo 58: Master Chief Doing a Lap Dance, then go eat **** and die. Notable though is that all the drama about delays and agonizing years of waiting have clouded the one important fact that was left after the whole debacle - Duke Nukem 3D needs a sequel. Yes, there have been several Duke Nukem games after 3D, but none of them was a true sequel to Duke's most epic game. Whether or not someone will pick up the slack and give our grandchildren Duke Nukem Forever or a brand new game will be released within our lifetime remains to be seen. Fact remains that Duke Nukem Forever stirred up so much hype that it is imminent that someone will make it at some point in time, which may or may not be a four digit year.

3. Psychonauts

The second game by Tim Schafer to grace this list, Psychonauts is one of the best platformers of our time. It combined witty humor with an awesomely whacky story. The levels were phenomenally designed and the characters, along with their witty dialog lines made for an amazing atmosphere and a genuinely funny experience. In terms of gameplay Psychonauts didn't fail to deliver either, even though one might call it a weak spot, if only because the rest of it is pure, liquid awesome. Much like many games on this list though, it deserves its spot due to the fact that it's a highly unique experience, and no faults that one would nitpick out of the gameplay could change that. A sequel to this game is not just welcome, but mandatory.

2. ActRaiser

Act Raiser stands, to this day, as the best "god game" in existence. No matter if it's Black & White, or Sim City, or any other comparable game, Act Raiser trumps them all. The reason is simple - aside from the Sim City-esque city building and power abuse, the game had you work for your piece of land upon which you will stretch out your divine hand. And by work I mean it had you run through a half a dozen of side scrolling, incredibly designed levels slicing through various flavors of demon, facing an epic boss fight at the end of each one. The gameplay was superb, the monster and levels incredibly well designed and it sported one of the most awesome soundtracks of the 16-bit era. A sequel which would take the "god sections" and add more detail to them, while featuring action-based levels like the original, all in today's technology, could become more than a major success on the market. Besides, we all know that the cute little angel boy from the original would turn into a hot loosely-dressed angel girl in an eventual sequel. What could possibly be better?

1. Conker's Bad Fur Day

Meet Conker - an average squirrel, drinking away his nights with friends, dragging around a girl way out of his league, and having adventure games better than 99% of all games ever made to this day. Well, that's not right actually, adventure GAME is more suitable. Conker did see a remake on the Xbox but the king squirrel refuses to take us on another journey of sarcastic toilet humor, incredible puns, colorful worlds and giant opera turds. Conker managed to do several amazing things, among which is the inclusion of full voice acting on a N64 cartridge, which would be equivalent to a game now being released featuring virtual reality blow jobs. For those of you who did not play this gem of a game, ask yourself two things - am I older than 18 and what the &%!# am I waiting for!? The best part of it? Rare has been developing a Conker sequel, but Microsoft killed it. Or perhaps that's not good news after all... There is a petition for Microsoft to green light the project, but we all know how much those matter.

So what do you think? Did all of your picks make the list? Feel free to discuss it in the comments or on our forum.