I have three.
1- super princess peach
It's a shame more people don't know about this game; basically, bowser imprisons mario and luigi, and a pissed off peach goes to his summer house in vibe island with a talking umbrella, gains emotional powers, awsomeness ensues. The game certainly has flaws, it's too easy, the story is very watered down, with some loose ends (still more development than a regular mario platformer), but the concept is brilliant, and the gameplay is really fun, with more strategy and ways to face enemies than the regular mario games. The fact that this game wasn't well known will keep peach relegated to the "stupid princess" role in the pop culture collective. No, it's not a shame more people don't know about this game... it's a crime.
2- The legend of zelda: spirit tracks
It's a zelda game, but in all this years, I have never heard somebody say they liked spirit tracks, not once. The most I've heard is someone saying they liked phantom hourglass better; excuse me, but this game doesn't have an annoying temple you have to start over time and again, and with a time limit, to make it all worse. plus, the story is awesome, the soundtrack is right up there with ocarina of time's and zelda finally takes matters into her own hands to save herself instead of just waiting for link (granted, she is a ghost, but baby steps...). Nintendo needs to take the next step and make zelda fully playable in the next main TLOZ.
3-Metroid: other M
I've heard a LOT about other M, and almost nothing good. "it's sexist" "samus is a wimp" "samus is abused by adam", etcetera. In my defense of this game, I'm NOT being sexist. Actually the opposite; If you look at this list, all of them have something in common, the female protagonists taking matters into their own hands, being empowered, and all that jazz. But this game gets a really bad rap, and it doesn't deserve it. The gameplay is flawless, and the sensemoves are the most badass thing I ever saw samus do. Naturally, as with any piece of good art, there are many possible meanings to it; some see sexism in the plot, I see a japanese game, written by a japanese guy (and traditionally, japanese tradition is not too big on understanding women) that's one of the first times a famous character is fleshed out as a person. And misunderstood, because that image does not match with each fan's own mental image. The one thing in common from all the opinions of the game, is that fans pictured samus as the archetype of the Badass Action Hero (a male archetype), therefore, seeing her vulnerable, prone to reminiscing, and under the authority (for whatever reason you choose) of someone else completely shattered this image of her, and they react with anger. It has poor writing? sometimes. things that don't make sense? certainly. Is a bad game? not at all.
This three games represent both sides of the femenine issue in videogames, the good and the bad; and that's why more people has to know them, to start moving the industry in the right direction.
