I'm not a big strategy game fan, but I decided to give Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation a try anyway and I can say without a doubt that it is my all-time favorite strategy game! Not only is the strategy gameplay a lot of fun, but it also helps that the characters are well developed and the dialog is suprisingly humorous at the right moments. Highly overlooked, SRT: OG deserves to be in any respectable gamers collection!

RUNNER-UP: 悪魔城ドラキュラ: Circle of the Moon
2D Castlevania games always offer up a fantastic experience and this one is no different!

Being one of my all-time favorite retro game franchises, Contra 4 successfully brings back all the things that made the old games in the series great while still being what the 3D entries could never pull off: fun!

RUNNER-UP: Lunar Knights
Action RPG gaming at its best!

The fact that Namco was able to bring a completely full-featured entry in the Tekken franchise to a handheld system and make it look and play as good as it does is mindboggling!

RUNNER-UP: Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
Packaging together two of the best Castlevania games ever with a remake of one of them all for $30 makes it one of the best values in gaming.

The best puzzle game ever combines with the best Tetris spinoff ever to create one of the best puzzle titles ever!

RUNNER-UP: 悪魔城すぺしゃる: ぼくドラキュラくん
Take Dracula, make him into an anime-inspired kid version of himself, and add loads of charm and personality for a game that is hard not to like!

A shoot-'em-up this good can't be called anything less than the best among the titles of the system it is on!

RUNNER-UP: Guardian Heroes
Take a great Treasure beat-'em-up, add 6 players and you have a winner!

This one was a big surprise to me and I'm happy to now have it as part of my collection. Don't let the kiddie looks of this game fool you, it is a great game for all ages!

RUNNER-UP: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
An action/platform experience that is worthy of the praise it has been given, be sure not to miss it!

Looking for an excellent RPG experience that isn't from Square Enix? Then this is the one you are looking for!

RUNNER-UP: Yakuza
Yakuza delivers a great story with fantastic action from start to finish!

An open world where you play as a superhuman law enforcer with big guns? Sign me up!

RUNNER-UP: WarTech: Senko no Ronde
Smash shoot-'em-up and fighting game together and you get one of the best multiplayer experiences of the year!

With the ability for the gameplay experience to go from epic to intimate depending if you are in the air or on the ground in a moments notice makes Warhawk much more than the sum of its parts and also PS3's game of the year.

RUNNER-UP: Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection
For only $30 you get a triple-A fighting game experience with online play. Not a bad deal at all!

A 3D fighting game experience this good on handhelds was previous unheard of! A must buy!

RUNNER-UP: Contra 4
Who says retro styIe gaming is dead?

If you have a PS3, you must get this game! Don't overlook it because it isn't the most popular shooter. Everything about this game is quality! A must play!

RUNNER-UP: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
If I'm telling you an RPG is good enough to be runner-up for Game of the Year, then you should add it to your collection immediately!

Finally, a game that takes you and makes you a part of a different seedy underworld instead of the usual GTA fare. While not being as open as the GTA series, I liked it more because the game was more focused and story driven and because of that, I was more involved in the game. I'm really looking forward to the sequel's eventual release in North America in 2008.

RUNNER-UP: 悪魔城ドラキュラ: Circle of the Moon
I am quite a big fan of the Castlevania series and this is one I missed back when it came out due to not having a GBA at the time. I made up for it by taking advantage of a Play-Asia sale that snagged me a copy of this game for $10 which is likely less than it could be had here for cart only.

This game is, in my opinion, supremely overlooked by a lot of people who have both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The way each map is scaled to fit each different play mode is great and all of the maps are extremely fun to play.

RUNNER-UP: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4 is not only one of the best looking looking games of the year, but also one of the best playing shooters of the year. With a mostly good single player campaign and top-notch online multiplayer, it is no wonder this game is popular.

Tekken: Dark Resurrection for the PSP is the most full featured version of this entry in the series and it is on a portable system! Its lack of online multiplayer is dwarfed by the multitude of modes, customization, and that it has some of the most amazing visuals for a portable game ever!

RUNNER-UP: Virtua Fighter 5
The best looking game this year is also one of the best fighting games of the year and it shows! VF5 brings it with the most fighter customization items, great AI, and the some of the best technical fighting found anywhere!

Combining disparate game genres can be a very risky proposition, but if it works the payoff can be big and in the case of Puzzle Quest, it succeeds greatly. Who knew bringing Bejeweled together with RPG elements and a decent story would work so well?

RUNNER-UP: Tetris 2 + Bombliss
Prior to acquiring this game within the last 3 weeks, I hadn't owned any version of Tetris for many years. I thought I was totally over that game until I picked this one up and it really made me realize that Tetris really is one of the absolute best games of all time. Combine that landmark game with local multiplayer and the best Tetris variant ever in Bombliss and you have one of the best puzzle titles ever!

The follow up to the best portable Rhythm/Music Game 押忍！闘え！応援団, 燃えろ！熱血リズム魂　押忍！闘え！応援団２ proves once again that even a handheld system can provide an extremely fun music game experience without the need for expensive peripherals.

RUNNER-UP: Gitaroo Man Lives!
A game that completely passed me by on the PS2, I decided to pick up the PSP version since it was much cheaper and I was pleasantly surprised that it is still a mostly unique take on the genre that holds up very well. It would be nice if Koei could take time off of their almost entirely crappy catalog of games and spinoffs currently on the market to make a true sequel to this game.

From the great setting, characters, and top-notch battle system, Persona 3 is the best RPG I have played in years. I am now officially a Megami Tensei fan and anyone who considers themselves a fan of JRPGs needs to play this game!

RUNNER-UP: Lunar Knights
The follow-up to the great Boktai series from the GBA ditches the gimmicky solar sensor and goes for a straight up action/adventure styIe RPG with the same 3/4 isometric view. If you are a fan of other games by Kojima Productions, you owe it to yourself to give Lunar Knights a try!

Treasure sure knows how to make a shmup as Ikaruga and this game prove. Even among the ranks of the great shmups many can seem very similar, but even 10 years after Radiant Silvergun has been released, it is still one of the most unique shmups out there and the greatest one I have ever played! Well worth the $170 I paid for mine.

RUNNER-UP: WarTech: Senko no Ronde
I don't know of any other shmup out there that puts two players playing the game against each other and that is what makes this game so much fun. It also helps that if you take the time to learn the ropes and play skilled players, it can be nearly on the level of competitive fighting games.

A racing game where the tracks are the true stars of the show and where picking your line through one is integral to your success. Add great online play to the mix and you have a winner!

RUNNER-UP: Burnout Legends
What can I say? It's Burnout 3, but in portable form! What's not to like? Just don't waste your time with the horrible DS game of the same name.

GHIII swoops in late in the year to run away with being the most disappointing game of the year. In my mind, the Guitar Hero franchise should be all about just having fun playing, but starting with GHII it just became "how hard can we make this next entry?" I loved the first game and most of the second, but now it has absolutely no fun in it. They should have renamed the game "Insane Solos III."

RUNNER-UP: Bleach DS 2nd: 黒衣ひらめく鎮魂歌
As some know, I named the first Bleach DS game as my Best Fighting Game and Best DS Game of 2006, so what when wrong here? Well, first off it isn't different enough from the first game to warrant a sequel, but it also has stupid changes like 2-button throws instead of 1 and the biggest problem is the fact that it has way too many stupid useless joke characters! This is still a great game, but compared to the first, it is a letdown.

Yes, Gekido is the worst game I have played this year. I love beat-'em-ups, but this game screws up the things needed to make a great game in this genre. The music, while OK licensed fare, is so overbearing and out-of-place that is sounds as if it is coming from a stereo sitting nearby. The graphics and animations aren't what you'd call quality. Worst of all, the action is weak. Sound effects can hardly be heard which makes the game sound so limp. Games in this genre really need to look and sound visceral to be a success, but that is precisely where Gekido screws up the worst.

RUNNER-UP: WTF: Work Time Fun
Going into this one, I was hoping for a quirky, crazy, fun game, but fun is what it is missing the most. This game is practically a simulator in most boring jobs and it plays like it.

Why did this game sell so poorly? Because you people think your money is better spent on inferior games like New Super Mario Bros.! For shame!

RUNNER-UP: WarTech: Senko no Ronde
This game is best played in online multiplayer, but there is one problem, there are few players on at any given time. What is wrong with your people?! Go pick it up!

Being the fighting game freak I am and a huge Street Fighter fan, is it any surprise Street Fighter IV would win this one? After waiting nearly a decade just for Capcom to announce a new entry in this illustrious franchise, you can bet it is the best game announcement of 2007! (Check out EGM's current SFIV cover story for a lot of great new info!)

RUNNER-UP: Contra 4
Being that the original NES Contra is my current all-time favorite game for that system, is there really any doubt this announcement would at least be runner-up?

With fantasic music that blends old with the new, it's hard not to want to kick some alien ass!

RUNNER-UP: Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
Great orchestrations of the old tunes from the original game make for a real treat.

A good movie-based game? Huh? Yup, that is right! In fact, this version is the only one of Spider-Man 3 that is worth playing. It may be short and not overly impressive, but the touch screen based combat is a lot of fun and the voice acting is pretty decent too!

RUNNER-UP: Aegis Wing
Not only was this game made by interns, but also in a genre that is largely seen as irrelevant nowadays. Those ingredients could have very easily produced a turd, but much to my surprise it was a well made game and the fact that it was free didn't hurt.

No matter if it was gun fire or explosions, the sound effects from Resistance made the battle come alive!

RUNNER-UP: Everyday Shooter
The innovative combination of the guitar riffs from killing enemies with the great music made Everyday Shooter an audio experience that is unlike anything else!

In Japan, arcades lease VF5 because the cabinet is that expensive! With graphics this polished, it is no wonder!

RUNNER-UP: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Easily the best looking shooter I have ever played! Its main fault is when you get close to things like grass and other foliage, that is where the game looks noticeably worse.

The graphics in Odin Sphere are easily the best and most beautiful 2D ever! If there ever has been an example that shows 2D graphics are still relevant, this is it!

RUNNER-UP: 北斗の拳
The fact that Arc Systems was able to portray the settings and characters of the anime so perfectly is why this is the runner-up.

Not only does this game have the previously unreleased outside of Japan Rondo of Blood and its remake, but it also includes arguably the best Castlevania game of all time, Symphony of the Night and it is all portable!

RUNNER-UP: Mega Man X Collection
The Mega Man X series has had some ups and downs for sure, but getting the first six games on one disc is a great value and a great gaming experience!

Talk about bang for your buck! Getting the latest Tekken game in glorious HD with online play for only $30? Sign me up!

RUNNER-UP: Warhawk
The only thing that stopped Warhawk from winning this award was the price versus content when it came out. Otherwise, the actual game is something all shooter fans should play!

Since this is a multiplayer only game, they better have gotten it right. I can say without a doubt that Warhawk passes with flying colors here. The most fun I had playing online this year!

RUNNER-UP: WarTech: Senko no Ronde
With its blend of fighting game and shoot-'em-up and nuanced gameplay that separates the good from the great players, this is a game that is best played with other human opponents.

With the disappointment that was Wipeout Fusion for PS2, it was great to see the series get back on the right foot in a big way in Wipeout Pure!

RUNNER-UP: Fighter's History Dynamite
Never did I expect a series that started as a big Street Fighter II ripoff actually have an entry that not only plays great, but even still has tournaments being put on for it in Japan.

This game requires memorization, precise movements, and using the right weapon for the job. Oh, did I forget to mention dodging lots of bullets is also mandatory and at the same time as everything else? Beast!

RUNNER-UP: Contra 4
One word: Manly!