Ten Upcoming Nintendo Games You Shouldn't Miss

Jonesing for more Nintendo goodness? Here's the conclusion of our top ten breakdown of the best in upcoming 2008 games for the Wii and DS.

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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness

Genre: Action/RPG
Release Date: April 20

Stop collecting 'em and start playing as your favorite Pokemon in this pair of dungeon-crawling adventures. Players will interact with nearly 500 Pokemon as they explore a strange new land, battling other Pokemon and scouring tons of randomly generated dungeons for helpful items.

Ninten-Do: After years of terrorizing Pokemon by mercilessly collecting them, players finally get to feel what it's like to muck about as the oddly-named beasts themselves. The Mystery Dungeons series has been a hit in Japan, selling well over a million copies in a few short months.

Ninten-Don't: Pokemon? Still? Didn't this thing jump the Sharkemon back in 2002 or something? Maybe it's time to your kids onto something a little hipper, like Power Rangers or Tickle Me Elmo.

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Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

Genre: RPG
Release Date: Fall 2008

Sonic the Hedgehog gains serious experience points in this anticipated handheld role-playing game. Created by industry leading role-playing game developer Bioware, Sonic Chronicles lets players take a party of characters from Sonic's world through an epic adventure exclusively on the DS.

Ninten-Do: Lemme get this straight: Bioware, the legendary developer responsible for smash hit role-playing games like Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, are crafting a legitimate handheld RPG based on the blue blur and his furry pals complete with turn-based and real-time attacks, hand-painted visuals and deep RPG gameplay? If that doesn't pique your interest, go back to Boring Town. We don't like your kind 'round these parts.

Ninten-Don't: When's the last time you played a great Sonic game? Wrong! That game sucked, too. After countless mediocre-at-best entries, the once-proud Sonic franchise has officially fallen off the radar. We'd love it to watch it get back on course, but until this one delivers, we have a right to be skeptical.

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Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King

Genre: Simulation
Release Date: Spring 2008

The vaunted role-playing game franchise hits the Wii as a Wiiware download. As the young king of a forgotten land, players must manage citizens to restore the kingdom to its former glory.

Ninten-Do: You have to admire developers who take risks, and it doesn't get much riskier than twisting a tried-and-true role-playing game into a Rollercoaster Tycoon-style simulation. Some might call that a questionable decision, but we call it a breath of fresh air. As a mighty ruler, you don't bother with the dirty, ugly business of monster slaying. Rather, you let hired adventurers risk life and limb while you simply manage all the loot they brought back in your honor. It's good to be the king.

Ninten-Don't: You don't actually fight monsters and find treasure yourself, and the simulation aspects have been simplified for the less hardcore Wii crowd. Who exactly is this game for, anyway?

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Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People

Genre: Simulation
Release Date: Spring 2008

Homestar Runner's evil e-mailer gets his very own game in this Wiiware exclusive. The first episodic adventure for any home console, it lets players experience the world through the decidedly awesome eyes of Strong Bad, solving puzzles, chatting up other characters and thinking very deep, very strong and very bad thoughts.

Ninten-Do: Never heard of Strong Bad? Then we'd also like to introduce you to the internet, because clearly you haven't been using it. The notoriously cranky hero of the online flash cartoon series Homestar Runner brilliantly skewers just about everything in his path, so playing him in a five-episode adventure game sounds like a blast. Best of all, it's being developed by Telltale Games, the folks behind the wonderful adventure series, Sam & Max.

Ninten-Don't: A funny website is one thing, but a great game is another thing entirely. Even with Telltale at the helm, there's no guarantee the awesomeness of Homestar Runner will translate into consistently good gameplay.

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World of Goo

Platform: Wii
Release Date: Summer 2008

Rescue the sticky goo by using them to build impossible towers in this clever, physics-based construction set. Winner of two awards at the 2008 Independent Games Festival, it comes to the Wii as a Wiiware download.

Ninten-Do: World of Goo plucks at the same heartstrings as Katamari Damacy, a staggeringly brilliant idea that doesn't rely on fancy 3D graphics and confusing technical terms to deliver an impressive game. More to the point, it's simple, fun, adorable and, thanks to Wiiware distribution, probably quite affordable.

Ninten-Don't: Don't let the cute looks fool you -World of Goo is a technically challenging game that's bound to frustrate the wee ones lured in by its charming graphics. The subject matter is pretty heady, too, as 'rescuing' the unassuming goo actually absorbs them into the global World of Goo Corporation, a metaphor for developer 2D Boy's rough experience with game publishers.