This Year in Defunct Games: 2010 Report Card

Best of 2010: Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, Ironclad, U-four-ia: The Saga, SonSon, Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, Ghoul Patrol, Kirby Super Star and Magical Drop.

Worst of 2010: Zaxxon, Sonic & Knuckles, The King of Fighters and Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest.

Looking Back: Anybody who has followed my writing on Defunct Games or over Twitter will already know that I have become disillusioned by the Virtual Console. For me, 2010 was the tipping point. It felt like I was constantly being disappointed with lengthy breaks in between lackluster releases. I was prepared to write-off the last twelve months and give the Virtual Console a devilishly low score. But then I actually looked at the games that were released in 2010 and I was instantly reminded of all the high points along the way.

Last year we saw a dramatic drop in Virtual Console updates. Between January and December, Nintendo was only able to produce 32 old school games. That's half of 2009's haul, which came in at 67 games. And in 2008 Nintendo delivered 85 games. Clearly there's a downward trend that may spell trouble going forward.

Thankfully Nintendo was able to turn things around by offering some long overdue classic. 2010 was the year American gamers finally got their mitts on Dracula X: Rando of Blood, U-four-ia: The Saga and Ironclad. It also brought us Shadow of the Ninja, Ghoul Patrol and Kirby Super Star. There were more than enough hits to keep the Virtual Console's grade well above passing. If it wasn't for the painfully low number of games released, the Virtual Console would have had a great year.

Looking Forward: If all goes well, 2011 will bring a brand new portable Virtual Console to coincide with the release of the Nintendo 3DS. So far no pricing, titles or consoles have been announced, though it's safe to say we can expect a heavy helping of early Game Boy releases. As Nintendo transitions from the Wii to whatever comes next, it leaves the established Virtual Console in a precarious position. If the last three years are any indication, we should expect even fewer releases this year. Regardless of how many titles they upload, one hopes that Nintendo will finally get around to offering Uniracers, U.N. Squadron and the Mother series.

Best of 2010: Grandia, Final Fantasy IX, Crash Team Racing, Arc the Lad I & II, Sonic Wings Special, Alundra and Motor Toon Grand Prix.

Worst of 2010: Perfect Weapon, TNN Motorsports Hardcore 4x4, Dirt Jockey: Heavy Equipment Operator, One, Dark Forces and the entire XS series.

Looking Back: Going into 2010, I had absolutely no expectations for the PSone Classics store. After all, this is the store that took the first half of 2009 off and then offered a solid stream of poorly selected duds (Dead in the Water, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation , Fighting Force, etc.). But lo and behold, the PlayStation Network delivered, thanks in large part to newcomers Monkey Paw Games.

2010 started out with a limp. Games like Populous: The Beginning and Dirt Jockey: Heavy Equipment Operator spelled certain doom for the PSone Classics store. There were a few good games along the way (Hi-Octane, Grandia, Bloody Roar 2), but by and large the first half of 2010 was an unmitigated disaster. But just as the summer started to heat up, so did Sony and their third parties. It's as if Sony remembered that they also had access to good games. Within a few months PlayStation loyalists were given Motor Toon Grand Prix, Final Fantasy IX, Crash Team Racing, Soviet Strike and Alundra. Suddenly things started to pick up.

2010 also saw the birth of the PSone Import Store, a selection of Japanese games released (so far) exclusively by Monkey Paw Games. For the same price as a normal domestically-released PSone game, gamers can check out one of the eleven import Japanese titles. Some have been released under different names (Tall Unlimited, Blockids), but most of the releases will be new to even the biggest PSone fan.

On top of releasing a bevy of import titles, Monkey Paw is also releasing rare (fully translated) adventure games from Working Designs. So far we've seen the release of Arc the Lad I, II and III, as well as the delightful Alundra. These releases, along Grandia and Final Fantasy IX, further prove that the Sony PSP has a lock on must-own adventure games.

Looking Forward: After setting the bar high in 2010, Sony needs to capitalize on the success by increasing the flow of PSone games. Forget the easily forgotten titles nobody wants, it's time to look at the heavy hitters that are mysterious absent (such as the first two Gran Turismo games and Tobal No. 1). 2011 will be the year we learn whether or not Sony's next portable will support the existing library of import and domestic PSone releases. And who knows, perhaps this will be the year Sony decides to create a new PS2 Classics storefront. One can only hope.

Best of 2010: Samurai Shodown, League Bowling, Super Sidekicks and The King of Fighters '94.

Worst of 2010: Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and Baseball Stars Professional.

Looking Back: This brand new PlayStation Network store may be new, but you shouldn't hold that against them. In one day SNK Playmore was able to deliver ten classic Neo Geo games all with online capabilities. That's literally 1/3 of the Virtual Console output in all of 2010. This included mostly predictable faces from a variety of different genres. Of course we saw Fata Fury and The King of Fighters; it wouldn't be an SNK compilation without at least one of those hits. Art of Fighting also shows up, along with Samurai Shodown and Metal Slug. The hits are here, all formatted for your HDTVs.

The good news is that a lot of these games hold up. I had a lot of fun replaying each and every one of these games, even if there are a few stinkers in the mix. But the further away from the launch the more critical I became. While it's nice to have a bunch of online-enabled Neo Geo games, I'm a little disappointed by the game choices. Sure, these are the hits. But they are also the games we've seen dozens of times in cheap Neo Geo compilations. For the price of two of these games you can buy a brand new copy of the SNK Anthology disc that hit the PSP and PlayStation 2.

It's also disappointing that PSP and PlayStation 3 owners are essentially buying console-specific versions of these games for two different price points. Currently most PSone games can be played on both platforms, which will be true with the upcoming TurboGrafx storefront. So why not the Neo Geo? I'm sure there's a technical answer, but it negatively impacts my impressions of the store. It's also worth noting that only two of the ten games were available on the PSP in 2010, the rest were released in January of 2011.

Looking Forward: SNK has made a good first step, however it won't take long before PlayStation gamers grow tired of these (mostly) first-generation Neo Geo titles. To date the company has announced a second batch of ten games, but they're going to need to do better than that if the Neo Geo Station is to be taken seriously. I've had enough Metal Slug releases, it's time for SNK to get serious and release Wind Jammers and Last Blade 2. I'm not going to be satisfied with twenty or thirty releases, I want the SNK Playmore to come as close to hitting all 154 games as possible. If they can manage that, then the Neo Geo Station will be a real contender in 2011.