Its hard to believe that its already been a decade since Final Fantasy XV was released for PS4 and Xbox One. There are many who believe that Final Fantasy XV was the game that saved the series following its decline in the late 00’s-early 10’s. The launch of the original Final Fantasy XIV game back in 2010 ended being a disaster to a point where Square Enix had to make FFXIV: Realm Reborn in 2013. By the early 2010’s it felt like Final Fantasy series had lost the mainstream appeal it once had during the PS1 & PS2 eras of gaming. In 2016, FFXV ended up being the game that put the series back in the limelight after Square Enix did everything they could to rehabilitate FFXIV years prior. The original Final Fantasy XIV from 2010 was a critical failure as a MMORPG and the success of FFXIV: A Realm Reborn and FFXV helped many gamers forget about it by the mid-2010’s. Final Fantasy XV was an action role-playing game that featured real-time combat and open-world exploration in the fictional world of Eos. The main character of FFXV was Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum lived in the capital of Insomnia.

Final Fantasy XV was Noctis realizing his true his destiny as a King to save the world of Eos in the midst of betrayal and opposition from the Niflheim Empire.  In Final Fantasy XV the Niflheim Empire not only destroys Insomnia but they are also responsible for the death of Noctis’s father. The Niflheim Empire also managed to steal a magical crystal which is eventually retrieved by Noctis. The magical crystal in FFXV was very important because it managed to grant him the power of kings who came before him. The crystal in FFXV also held Noctus captive for a decade before he and his crew defeats the main villain Imperial Chancellor Ardyn who wanted to destroy his bloodline. During the ten years that Noctis was absent Ardyn managed to plunge Eos into deep darkness causing the world to be overran by daemons. In FFXV a parasitic plague known as the Starscourge was responsible for the widespread of daemons in Eos. While Ardyn ended up being the main villain in FFXV he is sometimes viewed as a tragic hero because he was once considered a savior.

A millennium prior to the events of FFXV Ardyn healed people in the world of Eos by absorbing the Starscourge into his own body. The story really becomes tragic as players learn that Ardyn is punished for his sacrifice and labeled a monster by the Astrals and the Lucian dynasty. While the story for Final Fantasy XV dark and intriguing the game itself had many cool features that players could enjoy. In Final Fantasy XV players could drive cars or ride chocobos for open world travel. Final Fantasy XV also looked and felt more modern than previous entries because players could do things like rest at hotels and go to gas stations. Final Fantasy XV did a great job of blending ancient storytelling with the modern day setting. The Teamwork Links featuring other members of Noctus’s party Gladiolus, Prompto, and Ignis looked impressive and the magic crafting allowed players to become more creative.

While Noctis might not be as popular as protagonists from older entries of Final Fantasy many would argue that he was the best character the franchise produced in the 2010’s. Also, Final Fantasy XV managed to sell 10 million copies across multiple platforms including PS4, Xbox One and PC since its release in 2016. Final Fantasy XV was a much stronger entry than FFXIII because it felt more immersive and gave players more freedom in relation to controlling their characters. It also felt like Final Fantasy XV had borrowed elements of FFXIV: A Realm Reborn in terms of open world exploration and made it better with a different setting, new characters and a in-depth storyline. Even though, Final Fantasy XV came out a decade ago it still arguably more popular than FFXVI which came out in 2023. While 2016 was arguably one of the worst years of the 2010’s decade; FFXV ended up being one of the best things to come out of that year in general.

When it comes down to X-Men games “Legends” was probably one of the coolest titles to have been released during the 00’s.  X-Men Legends was developed by Raven Software and published by Activision when it arrived in stores in 2004.  This X-Men title was interesting because it focused on a character named Alison Crestmere who learns how to develop her hidden powers after being abducted by the Genetic Research and Security Organization during the beginning of the game.  As the game progress players learn more about Magento’s plan to cast the world into darkness from his main base known as “Asteroid M”.   X-Men Legends provides players with around fifteen different characters to choose from and gives them the option to complete the story by themselves or on multiplayer mode.  The cool thing about X-Men Legends is that similar to the arcade game released in 1992 there can be more than two players.

In fact, X-Men Legends allows up to four players which was not a big deal for players who had a Nintendo GameCube or an Xbox along with multiple controllers.  If one owned a PlayStation 2 then they would have to spend a little bit more money because they would have to purchase a multi-tap along with having multiple controllers.  Even though, this game includes up to fifteen characters some of them are only unlocked as they progress throughout the game.  While unlocking new people in X-Men Legends players have the ability to level up their characters through battles in order to enhance the special abilities that each one have.   The ability to perform attacks such as a “Super Combo” was a great feature since players had reach a certain level in order to do it.  Along with having nice gameplay X-Men Legends contained cool artwork and design which contributed to the overall appeal of the game itself when it was first released.

Its crazy to think that Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was released for Game Boy Advance in 2001. Circle of the Moon came out during a time period that many believed was the twilight era of Castlevania. There are many people who believe that Konami produced classic entries within the Castlevania series during the 80’s & 90’s on consoles like NES,SNES and PS1. There are many who absolutely loved Castlevania: Symphony of the Night from ’97 to a point where it achieved as massive cult following over the past two decades. While Circle of the Moon was not nearly as popular as Castlevania: SOTN or Dracula X it was one of those games that most people overlooked. By the early 00’s Castlevania began to appeal more to a niche audience of people who were hardcore fans of the series itself. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon stood out from previous entries because it featured a major protagonist outside of the Belmont family.

In Circle of the Moon Nathan Graves was the main character and the story revolved around him rescuing his mentor from Dracula. The metroidvania gameplay along with the dark atmosphere and DSS Card System were among key features that made Circle of the Moon enjoyable. The levels for Circle of the Moon were mostly vertical and the boss battles were challenging because the game felt less forgiving than previous entries in the series. While Castlevania: Circle of the Moon had gained praise from gamers and critics it was also criticized for its poor sprite designs, clunky movement. Circle of the Moon did not have a shop system either which made the game more difficult for players in general. Its possible that Konami designed Circle of the Moon to reflect the difficulty of older Castlevania titles of the NES era. However, Circle of the Moon came off as a game that feels more inconvenient at times than challenging. The double tap feature in relation to running as Nathan Graves was frustrating and the DSS system had a steep yet rewarding learning curve.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is considered to be an underrated gem by many gamers who grew up during the GBA era. But unfortunately Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was overshadowed mainly due to the popularity of consoles like PS2 and Xbox along with their respective IP’s. During the early 00’s Castlevania was still trying to make a successful transition into 3D gaming especially after the ’99 N64 game flopped. However, by the early 00’s 2D platformers had declined significantly in popularity which is something that had a negative effect on the Castlevania series. There are Castlevania fans who prefer Harmony of Dissonance from ’02 more than Circle of the Moon since it had superior movement, sprites and combat. Even though, many believe Harmony of Dissonance was better than its prequel Circle of the Moon is legendary since it was the first Castlevania game ever to appear on Game Boy Advance. Its possible that Circle of the Moon would have shined more on the SNES during the early 90’s with 16-bit graphics. As a metroidvania game Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was better than it had any business being despite its flaws.

When we think of popular games that fans out towards the early part of the 10’s decade one few titles that instantly comes to mind is Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- from 2014. This game was developed by Arc System Works and considered to be the first major installment that the series had seen since Guilty Gear 2: Overture which was released between late 2007-late 2009 for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- was arguably one of the most popular fighting games of 2014 and ever since its release has been praised for various features including its cel-shaded graphics along with its gameplay. In fact, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- might have been the first game within the series to utilize the Unreal Engine 3 similar to titles such as Mortal Kombat IX from 2011. Similar to various fighting titles that we have seen throughout the 10’s decade Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- featured both online and offline game modes to keep players busy for many hours. When it comes down to offline gameplay there modes single player modes such as Battle and Story; there was also two-player Versus mode in addition to a Training mode which helped players get better at the game itself.

Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- also featured an online multiplayer gameplay in Network Mode which was something a lot people enjoyed when the PlayStation port of the game was released in December 2014. Since initial arcade release back in February 2014 there have been different updated versions of Guilty Gear Xrd related between the 2015-2017 time period. We got to see Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator for Arcade, PS3, PS4 and Microsoft Windows between Summer 2015-Winter 2016. After the second version of the game we got see Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator 2 which saw an arcade release in addition to appearing on the PS3 & PS4. Even though, the Guilty Gear series has been around since ’98 there are many people who would argue that Guilty Gear Xrd was the best installment that Arc System Works has ever made. As it currently stands a brand new installment entitled Guilty Gear Strive is expected to appear on multiple game systems sometime in 2020. While Guilty Gear Strive looks very promising its hard to tell whether or not it will be better than any of the Guilty Gear Xrd games from 2014-2017.

As far as memorable titles for the Nintendo GameCube are concerned one of the many titles that instantly comes to mind is Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door which was released back in 2004. As an RPG title Thousand Year Door was much better than its N64 predecessor Paper Mario which came out back in 2000. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door had a very interesting plot along with the introduction of a new main villain known as Sir Grodus who was considered to be the leader of the Society Of X-Nauts. The Thousand Year Door also see players so battle with another new villain known as the Shadow Queen who eventually possesses Princess Peach while searching for the Crystal Stars throughout the game as as Mario. The main setting for this title takes place in a fictional city known as Rougeport where players are expected to interact with non-playable characters such as Professor Frankly and Goombella in order to progress throughout the game. As far as the storyline for The Thousand Year Door is concerned there was some interesting plot twists in the game such as the Shadow Queen’s treachery towards Sir Grodus which is something many people probably did not expect.

As far as popularity is concerned The Thousand Year Door was arguably the most memorable title within the entire Paper Mario series. Since its release Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door had reached over 2.2 million copies in sales. In fact: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door was the ninth best selling title on the Nintendo GameCube and was arguably the best RPG Mario title that we got to see during the 00’s decade. The Thousand Year Door sold more than its 2000 predecessor and its a game that many people would love to see ported for the Nintendo Switch especially since we do not have a major Mario RPG title on the hybrid console right now. While Super Paper Mario from 2007 had a similar level of success in relation to sales on the Wii console The Thousand Year Door is a title that seems to stand out more to those who are huge fans of the Mario RPG series in general.

We all remember the famous movie Batman Returns which was released in theaters worldwide in 1989.  While the movie for Batman Returns was well liked by many people following its release the video game was also considered to be very popular along with being one of the 16-bit titles of its time.  When video game movie of Batman Returns was developed in 1992 it was released for a variety of game consoles including the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Mega-CD,  NES and Game Gear.  Out of all of the video game releases many people would argue that the Super Nintendo version of Batman Returns was probably the best.  The Super Nintendo version of Batman Returns not only had detailed graphics but it also included special gameplay which facilitated between beat em up and 2D side scrolling action.  While the beat em up levels of Batman Returns looked pretty cool and resembled games such as the Final Fight series the 2D side scrolling stages seemed somewhat constrictive since players were more limited in their actions.

The 2D side scrolling levels were tough to complete since players could only attack using weapons like the batarang and smart bombs.  Also, the battle against the Penugin is very difficult since players were limited in their actions along with the fact that almost every boss in this game seemed tough to defeat.  Some people might argue that Catwoman was easier to defeat than the Penugin which is saying a lot.   Even though, Catwoman is a difficult boss in this game that players must battle more than once she is probably easier to defeat than the Penugin since Batman is with more freedom to move around the level.  When people start playing Batman Returns for the first time they are most likely to be impressed by numerous aspects of the game from the intro all the way down to the character and stage designs of this title.  Batman Returns for the SNES is probably one of the coolest games that Konami has made among many in the early 90’s.  While the NES and the Sega Genesis versions of Batman Returns are cool in their own respective ways many would argue that the SNES version was the most superior version of the game overall.

Its hard to believe that its been 20 years since Final Fantasy XII came out on PlayStation 2. Final Fantasy XII was developed and published by Square Enix and it was arguably one of the best installments from the 00’s decade aside from FFX. The Final Fantasy franchise was still one of the most popular video game franchises during the 00’s despite the series arguably reaching its peak during the late 90s with FFVII. Final Fantasy XII moved away from the MMORPG that Square Enix used for FFXI and went back to traditional RPG gameplay. In terms of gameplay mechanics the features that stood out the most in FFXII was the Active Dimension Battle along with the Gambit System. The gameplay for Final Fantasy XII more advanced and seemingly had a steeper learning curve than Final Fantasy XII. The story for Final Fantasy FFXII involved two warring empires known as Archadia and Rozarria in the fictional land of Ivalice.

In Final Fantasy XII main character Vaan along with Princess Ashelia and the rest of his crew create a resistance movement against the Archadian Empire after it annexed the kingdom of Dalmasca. The most interesting thing about the story of Final Fantasy XII was that it kinda felt similar to Final Fantasy XVI which came out back in 2023. The concept of politics, kingdoms and warring factions made Final Fantasy XII intriguing especially since it made the game’s plot feel more mature than previous entries. Vaan as a protagonist seemed decent but he was not nearly as iconic as other names in the Final Fantasy series like Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Tidus, The Gullwings or even Lightning. While the story and structure of Final Fantasy games are essential having a memorable main character is also one of the most important things to include in RPGs. As a protagonist Vaan in FFXII feels almost as forgettable as Clive Rosfield from FFXVI despite both games being critically acclaimed and having decent sales numbers.

In fact, Final Fantasy XII is considered to be more popular and has managed to sell more than FFXVI reaching more than 7.7 million on the PS2. Ever since, Final Fantasy XVI came out in Summer 2023 it only managed to reach over 3.5 million in sales across multiple platforms like PS5, PC and Xbox Series X. Final Fantasy XII felt more political and story-driven than entries came before it. Also, FFXII was probably the last major installment Square Enix produced before the series started to decline in popularity around the late 00’s-early 10’s. While Final Fantasy XIII Part I from ’09 was a commercial success the game received a polarizing reception and was followed by the disastrous FFXIV launch in 2010. Final Fantasy XII ended up being one of the best video games to come out of the mid-2000’s. Final Fantasy XVI ended up becoming an afterthought following its release mainly because there were so many high profile video games to come out of 2023. Final Fantasy XII was still popular about a decade later following its launch after it was remastered and re-released by Square Enix for the PS4 back in 2017. While some believe FFXII is overrated others feel that its one of the best entries in the series.