What are your most wanted games of 2013?

It seems like we say this every year, but 2013 has the potential to be one of the best gaming years in quite a long time. We here at Infendo pride ourselves in not only providing you with the best Nintendo information money can buy (wait, I’m supposed to get paid!?), but we also dabble occasionally in the non-Nintendo realm of gaming.

This is one of those times. Here are the games that I am most looking forward to in 2013, what are yours?

Bioshock Infinite


This generation, I’m not sure if I have played a game as emotionally compelling as the original Bioshock. From the story, to the gameplay, to the fact that the Big Daddy’s were scary as hell, what Ken Levine and his crew at Irrational Games were able to do with the 2007 classic is second to none. If you could think of another game that hits on all those notes, would you kindly lead me in the right direction?

Bioshock 2 was a good game, but not great. Granted, 2K Marin was still able to capture much of the Bioshock flavor in the sequel, but it was still apparent that the same studio behind the original was not involved in the sequel.

In comes Bioshock Infinite, the ‘true successor’ (if you ask Ken Levine anyways) to the franchise. Having had the opportunity to watch the game being played at last year’s E3, I had said at the time that it was my most anticipated game of the year. Even having had two delays and even more staff leaving the company, I still expect great things from Infinite, and just hope to be stunned when the game finally (hopefully) comes out this March.

Pikmin 3


I have a very unseeded love for the Pikmin franchise, even though there are thus far only two games. As long as the third game in the franchise does everything as well as the first two, but in HD, then Pikmin 3 will be a good game. There isn’t really another game (I’ll give Overlord half a nod) that does what Pikmin does, so finally having the game on a console that can handle high fidelity sound and visuals should be amazing.

From my time with the E3 build, the controls work well enough with the Wii remote and nunchuk, but were a bit lacking with the Gamepad. I imagine Nintendo will have polished the game up since then, so hopefully this isn’t a problem when the game finally releases.

To make the game great, Nintendo should concentrate on how the social aspects of the Miiverse could positively impact the gaming experience. How cool would it be if as you would visit areas in the game, you would randomly find Miiverse posts in the environment leading you in the right direction of a hard to find item.

Miyamoto, you had me as soon as you said ‘Pikmin,’ just try not to mess it up m’kay!

Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD


Like any good Zelda fan I was furious the minute Nintendo announced the now infamous ‘Celda’ reveal at E3 2002, when only a year earlier at Spaceworld they showed Link in an entirely different light. Little did I know that my pants would be knocked off when The Wind Waker was finally released that next March.

There is so much to love about the game, right down to the oft criticized Tingle Tuner. If Nintendo were to someone re-implement the Tingle Tuner perhaps with the 3DS, and maybe even finish up the dungeons that were cut from the game to meet deadline, The Wind Waker HD will do well enough to satisfy starved Wii U gamers, and I bet will even be the first time many gamers get to experience the title.

All the triforce fetch quests aside, The Wind Waker was one of the best experiences to be had on the Gamecube add in the ability to (hopefully) play the game on the Gamepad screen with updated visuals, and the game should be a hit come this fall.

Rayman Legends

I have been very outspoken about my love for the recent games in the Rayman franchise, starting with what Ubisoft was able to muster with Rayman Origins. Even with the recent delay and subsequent announcement of the game going multiplatform, in my eyes the game has a shot at challenging New Super Mario Bros. U for the title of best 2D platformer on the Wii U.

Ubisoft really wowed me last year with what they brought to E3, and Rayman Legends played a big part in that. Ubisoft is willing to take chances with the 2D Rayman games that I’m not sure Nintendo would be willing to do with Mario, which really energizes the genre.

I’m under no illusions that the game will sell even close to Mario numbers, but that’s a shame because what Ubisoft brings to the table is some of the best in the business.

Pokemon X and Y


It doesn’t matter how many similarities the newest Pokemon games have to their predecessors, I would be lying to you if said that I wasn’t excited about Pokemon X and Y. I know that I will either pick water, grass, or fire to start. I know that before I fight in the Pokemon league that I will have to fight my rival a half dozen times. Shoot, if I had to put money down, I would bet that at one point I will have fend off a notorious group of villains hell bend on taking over the world. Even given all these things, I know that I will make the trek to Walmart to buy the game on whatever Sunday Nintendo chooses to release it.

This time around, with the 3D new environments and Pokemon models, Pokemon X and Y has the chance to be something special. Who knows if the 3DS Miiverse will be implemented by the time the game comes out, but if so the game could potentially be bonkers in its feature set.

I imagine that Nintendo and Game Freak have big things planned for the series first 3DS installment. I just hope they take advantage of all the features of what makes the handheld unique and implement unique and exciting Streetpass features to title. I can see the title really pioneering the Streetpass functionality by letting users set their lineup and preferred attack moves, and letting the magic of a die roll decided who gets a special item or experience.

Should Pokemon X and Y fail to garner the success of its predecessors, I will be surprised. I believe that this will be the system seller that Brain Age and New Super Mario Bros. were to the Nintendo DS. In any case, you can be sure that over the lifespan of the 3DS, X and Y will be one of the systems top sellers, and that is defiantly something to be excited about.

The Last of Us


From early indications of the game, The Last of Us is looking like it will scratch the survival horror itch left in the wake of the increasingly action oriented Resident Evil series. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the any of the Resident Evil games are terrible, I happened to have liked each 5 & 6 to an extent. There was just something lost when the franchise moved to a more ‘army of one’ mentality and away from the ‘oh crap I only have five bullets’ model.

I would be willing to bet that many gamers are at the same point that I am at in that they are looking for a developer to take the survival horror genre in new directions. Even though not much has been shown of the game, Naughty Dog has a great pedigree behind them and I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

In all honesty, I have been on a media blackout for The Last of Us so I can’t really attest much to the gameplay or visuals of the game aside from what I have heard about it from various podcasts, so I am probably not the right person to tell you why you should want the game as much as I do. All I know is that Naughty Dog has never done me wrong, and I can’t wait to see what they can to with the genre when the game releases on May 7.

Eugene lives in New Mexico and has been a life long gamer since getting his hands on an NES. Always partial to Nintendo, Eugene has made it a point to keep informed on all things Mario.