Mario is a video game icon; more famous than Master Chief and more durable than Sonic, he is virtually synonymous with video games. So, when the fat Italian stereotype goes on an adventure, the world takes notice. His latest outing manages to vacillate between serving the hardcore and the casual gamer, somehow without underserving either.

Beyond Good and Evil is four years old now, and it shows in some places. However, the combination of solid Zelda-style exploration, judiciously applied music, and a compelling plot with a legitimately empathetic heroine make this game worth hunting down.

Viewtiful Joe 2 takes the core tenets of great brawlers and expands upon them, serving as a reminder that 20 years isn’t enough to sap innovation and fun from a genre. While the old school design philosophy might prove unappetizing to casual gamers, genre fans and the hardcore should appreciate the fresh take on brawler mechanics and discovering the internal logic that makes the game tick.

From time to time, there are great pronouncements of death in the gaming world. The Dreamcast is dead! Adventure games are past! 2-D gaming is no more! Some of these revelations are more apocryphal than others, but it is certainly true that 2D games have fallen out of favor among the home consoles.

It comes as no surprise, then, that a 2D brawler appearing late in the PS2’s life cycle was heralded both as the last great game for the PS2 and the last great 2D game. While Odin Sphere meets and exceeds these standards in visual presentation and audio, the actual gameplay is forgettable.