This won’t be like a typical article, in so much as it doesn’t really classify as a review of anything, nor is it a typical Top 10 (or any other number). It’s an idea that popped into my head the other day, and I just had to see it through.
What I really want to talk about here is video games that manage to stand head-and-shoulders above the rest of their peers within their respective genre, but not strictly in terms of quality (although these are still good games/franchises). Rather, what I’m looking at here are games that just have such a unique structure, gameplay design, and style that nothing else really compares. They are simply unlike anything else.
For an example of what I’m not talking about, we have Super Smash Bros. While that series still stands tall as the best in the Platform Fighter subgenre of the larger Fighting Game umbrella, there are a ton of games that are very similar, and will give you effectively the same experience as Super Smash Bros. There’s a Nickelodeon-themed one, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles one, and then a ton of indie ones with unique styles. But all of them convey the same idea.
Sticking with the Nintendo focus, we also have Mario Party. No copycat will ever be as entertaining as the original experience, but a ton of alternative options do exist and essentially do the same thing. Sonic took a stab at the formula, Crash Bandicoot did as well, and even the generic Mii characters did through Wii Party. Again, a board-based minigame collection is not a gameplay style that is impossible to find elsewhere.
Mario Kart is the same story, and heck, so would be most typical 2D and 3D platformers. This article is looking a bit deeper than that, trying to find games that really do shine above others thanks to their unique design decisions and qualities.
The type of games this article will look at are the games that, when their respective series doesn’t get a new entry in a long time, you really feel the absence in the video game landscape that their distinct style has left behind.
Fire Emblem
If we’re calling this article an ‘argument‘, I’d say I have the weakest points for why I’d consider Fire Emblem an inimitable series, but I’ll still try to make my case here.
Plenty of grid-based tactical RPG games exist. There are the Final Fantasy Tactics games as a pretty notable series, the niche Mercenary Saga games, and even the recent Dark Deity duology (with a third on the way). The thing is, the Fire Emblem series is far more than just moving units around on a grid to smack other units.
A big gameplay element is the Weapon Triangle (red beats green, green beats blue, and blue beats red). It sounds like a simplistic evocation of classic rock-paper-scissors, but in practice it’s so much more than that. The tactical complexity that the Weapon Triangle brings to the genre is something that Fire Emblem‘s competitors simply aren’t able to replicate. Do you send a red unit to defeat a green, knowing a blue might hit them on the next turn? Do you position your blue to tackle some enemy reds, but leaving yourself open on the other side where that unit could also be useful?
And then we have Support conversations, which many modern tactical RPGs have tried to replicate, but none can pull it off quite like Fire Emblem can. Then there’s things like the class system, personal skills, weapon durability, combat arts, and so many other mechanics that show up in various forms in other games, but simply feel the best within Fire Emblem.
Valkyria Chronicles
This one hurts, because despite how unique I’m about to explain this series to be, we haven’t gotten a new installment in years, and there’s no sign that drought is going to end anytime soon.
More than perhaps any other game I plan to talk about in this article, there is nothing out there like Valkyria Chronicles. Even thematically, when have you have experienced an anime-inspired World War 2 retelling visually presented in a comic book art style where every scene looks like an illustration come to life. And the format, where you’re reading through a book report on the game’s events and reliving them through playable photographs and reports, making everything seem like an immersive and lived-in world. It’s unmatched.
That is especially true, though, in the gameplay. It almost looks like a typical top-down strategy game, but then how you actually take control of your units while moving them, and it’s in real-time with enemies shooting at you and explosions going off. It’s a strategy RPG like no other, and while it was some quirks and a bit of a learning curve, there’s something insanely addicting about the Valkyria Chronicles franchise that other games simply can’t capture.
Ace Attorney
Similar to the above entry, this one also hurts, because Capcom has absolute gold on their hands and seems to care more about rereleases and collections over a new entry.
It’s true that other people have recognized how amazing the Ace Attorney games are, and have attempted to do what Capcom won’t by releasing games that mimic the same style. Investigating for clues, questioning suspicious people, solving crimes. The marriage of the Mystery genre and Visual Novel genre isn’t something Ace Attorney completely monopolized, and other successful franchises like Danganronpa do a good job evoking similar emotions to Phoenix Wright and his friends.
And yet, in none of those games are you able to grab your piece of evidence, point your finger dramatically, and yell out “OBJECTION!” as one of the best video game songs of all time begins playing. And while I could talk for a while about the other unique things that happen in the Ace Attorney series that sets those games apart from other similar gaming experiences, I really do think I’ve made my point just talking about objecting. If you’ve played an Ace Attorney game before, you relate, I’m sure.
Lego Games
While there may be a ton of Lego video games (so may argue too many), there’s no denying that no other game out there is really able to pull off what they are capable of.
It’s a formula that is hard to put into a box within a single genre. It’s partially a platformer, but that’s only one factor. It’s a little bit of an action game, sort of, but I wouldn’t feel confident fully placing it in that category either. The whole gist of running around, smashing bricks, collecting studs, and doing it all in a funny and low-stakes creative environment is something that you just can’t find elsewhere. This unique brand of fun is something that you’d think would get old, and yet that primordial itch to play a Lego game exists within many of us who grew up with the likes of Lego Star Wars and Lego Batman.
And that’s to say nothing of how the bottomless pockets of the Lego Company allow them to license recognizable IPs and turn them into gaming experiences. Like, even if another game came along and played near-identically to the classic Lego formula, you wouldn’t be able to play as Darth Vader, Spider-Man, or the Joker. That alone helps these games to stand above the rest of the crowd in the all-ages gaming space.
Borderlands
I may have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this series (leaning more towards the love side of that equation after the newer entries embrace a lot of player-friendly QOL improvements), but I still can’t deny how uniquely addicting and engaging each game in this series is.
There are plenty of video games that are first-person shooters. There are plenty of video games that are shooting-focused that also take place on sci-fi alien worlds. There are even games that are both of those things, and also involve grabbing dropped gear from enemies, using their loot to improve your abilities.
And yet, no other series does it like Borderlands does. No other series has thousands upon thousands of guns. No other series has unique vault hunter characters that also (especially in the later entries) have multiple completely distinct playstyles and abilities to completely customize them to your liking. No other franchise uses this iconic comic-shaded art style, or has this same irreverent sense of humor.
It’s not a series that is for everyone, for one reason or another. But it’s undeniably got a style and addictive flavor that you can’t find anywhere else in gaming, and there’s a reason each new Borderlands release is an event all to itself.
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
