We all have that one game. That detestable, despicable game that sits lost and forgotten apart from our collection. The same one that, when mentioned to friends (or otherwise normal coworkers) gets nothing but praise and cries of "How could you possible not love it?" We don't just not love it, dammit, we hate it! And we're not afraid to admit it. It's not our fault the rest of you are too blind to see its teeth-gnashing, aneurysm-inducing flaws.

Nonetheless, we'll give it a shot. Each editor has selected a game that has won widespread praise, yet that he or she feels - quite frankly - is crap. Dive into this list with an open mind, and you might just... no, you know what, we don't care. Close your mind. Keep playing these infuriating games. WHO CARES IF WE NEVER GET ANOTHER SKIES OF ARCADIA. GO PLAY MORE CALL OF DUTY. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONGWITHYOUPEOPLE!!

Though the Final Fantasy 13 saga may not be the most well loved of FF titles, of them Final Fantasy 13-2 is certainly the favorite. And oh, what a black hole of hatred I have in my soul for that game. While the battle system was an improvement on 13's linearity, I would have gladly taken 100 Final Hallway games over the shallow plot and shoddy characters 13-2 dropped in my lap.

Where 13 actually had a decent if flawed cast, 13-2 removed all the folks worth a damn, replaced everyone else with flattened and awful versions of themselves (I think I've developed a persistent eye twitch from Serah fawning over how cute it is that Snow's being a jerk to her), and added in some of the most infuriating characters I've seen in a long time. Like Noel. Fuckin' Noel. Refusing to do the one thing that would save the universe full stop because it involves killing a guy with whom he has zero friendly interactions but they're somehow totally great friends! Combine that with inconsistent and illogical time travel, a final 'twist' that might as well have written in the clouds, and the fact that Noel is so goddamn stupid that he's singlehandedly responsible for the death of mortal universe and I...

Ugh, Borderlands. I want to love you! I love shooters. I love action RPGs. I love distinct art styles with lots of bold colors. I love corny jokes. All the elements are there, but I still hate Borderlands. You have to understand, I'm pretty good about giving games the benefit of the doubt even if they don't grab me straight off - particularly if tons of other people seem to really enjoy them. But rarely have I felt more actively disinterested in a game than when I tried to play Borderlands.

Maybe it's how the first region is full of skags and axe-wielding psychos, which makes for rote backpedaling as you unload ammunition into their faces. Maybe it's how the first few hours of the campaign are spent performing asinine tasks for unpleasant characters, like trying to grind through an MMO that calls you names whenever you turn in a quest. Even good co-op company (yes, I was playing in co-op) couldn't keep me from dozing off at best or actively resenting the experience at worst. Maybe Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel fixed all these problems, but I don't really care enough to find out.

I just don't understand the appeal of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Many members of the GR+ staff swear by the game, citing a wealth of special attacks, imaginatively designed arenas, and lashings of Nintendo fan-service as the reason for its greatness. All I see is a mess of color, as if an excitable toddler has vomited Skittles onto an LED screen. I mean, what the hell is happening? It's wanton chaos. It's like the , with all the clawing, naked sinners swapped for Nintendo mascots.

During the games I played in the UK office, literally no-one could work out who was winning or why, which really takes the sting out of victory. "Oh, I came first did I? Fuck me, I thought I just kept falling off a ledge and getting my nose broken by Yoshi." And, honestly, why does no-one see the futile absurdity in someone like Samus Aran smacking the Duck Hunt dog in the jowls, while the Wii Fit trainer tries to brutalise Kirby in the whatever-it-has-instead-of-bollocks? I'm out.

I know I'm going to get hate for this, but I did not like Final Fantasy 7. I've played most of the FF games as they were a big part of my childhood. I even dumped an ungodly number of hours into FF11 - how's THAT for dedication and love for the series? I tried playing FF7 when it came out, but the whole jump to 3D and polygon graphics just did not appeal to me. I was not blown away. I was blown away by the intro to Final Fantasy 8, and when I booted up Final Fantasy X my life changed. But Final Fantasy 7? Meh.

I eventually went back to play through the entire game on PC, and just couldn't bring myself to be invested in any of the characters. That OMG HOW COULD YOU scene? Felt nothing. Meanwhile, the ending to Crisis Core? Cried. I loved that game, but maybe I was just not in the right frame of mind when Final Fantasy 7 came out to really enjoy it. The music was good though. Gold Saucer FTW!

Destiny is mind-cripplingly dull. The 'characters', the 'plot', the 'void damage', the colour coded rarity system of weapons that everyone seems so het up about - I couldn't care less. All anyone ever seems to do is grind. And everyone keeps saying 'oh the game doesn't begin until level 8, 15, 20, 30... WHEN DOES IT GET FUN?

The enemies only seem to have two attacks each. There aren't enough planets. I can't feasibly play with everyone else now because I haven't bought the DLC. There is no spark of life in its cold, dead eyes. I hate the Ghost thing and its stupid disinterested voice. Destiny is a husk of a game and I don't know what anyone sees in it. There, I've said it.

I'll never understand why people praise Gunman Clive. Maybe they've been blinded by the low, low price tag of $2, which sounds like a steal - but I've easily played a thousand free Flash games on the 'net that were 10 times more enjoyable than this trite 2D shooter. The graphics are either bland or butt-ugly depending on your tastes, the controls are floaty and unresponsive, the soundtrack seems to be a sampling from 'My First Chiptune Album', and the stark level designs are straight garbage.

If you're going to rip off Mega Man stage gimmicks, your controls need to be on point, instead of making me feel like a jellyfish in low gravity. Also, it's best to avoid a difficulty curve that goes from toddler easy to 'Why am I still playing this vile horseshiz' hard. The fact that so many people compare this repugnantly unfun grind of trial-and-error platforming to the greatness that is Sunset Riders makes me sick to my stomach. Kill me for this radical opinion if you must - just promise that you'll .

I wouldn't say I hate Skyrim, exactly. Hate is a word I'd reserve for real dreck like Ride to Hell Retribution (or those hoverbike segments in Battletoads). But by God, I will never understand the undying love and devotion this open-world fantasy RPG gets - especially when compared to the vastly superior Fallout series.

There certainly is something impressive about how Skyrim generates seemingly never-ending quests to get lost in, but the world and its characters do absolutely nothing for me. Why should I spend the time talking to everyone and solving all their asinine little problems if I don't even care whether they live or die? Maybe I just prefer dinking around the futuristic wasteland of North America more, but every time I've tried to get into Skyrim, I last about six hours and then I bail.

I don't like Super Mario Bros. 3. There I said it! I was the hugest fan of Super Mario Bros. 2. I loved the weirdness of it and have many, many, many fond memories of playing it with my brother. In fact, it was one of the few games the we beat together.

I was pretty excited for 3. I even faked friendship with a girl who I knew had a copy of the game, just so I could go to her house to play it. And then karma struck for my trickery; a few levels in I was confused and I didn't like it. I know it has Tanooki Mario and a ton of things people other people love but I just couldn't muster any enthusiasm for it. I expect I'll be eating lunch alone from now on.

I've probably put more than a thousand hours into the Call of Duty series, BioShock is one of my favorite games of all time, and I simply can't stop playing Destiny. Outside of a Zelda adventure, blasting away enemies, throwing grenades, and scoring long-distance head shots are my favorite gaming pastimes. But the one FPS game I just can't manage to enjoy at all is Half-Life 2. Matter of fact, I pretty much hate all Valve shooters because they all share the same flaw.

Sometimes it can be the tiniest detail that turns you off to a game, and that one little thing in HL2's case is simply the way the Valve shooters handle. Moving around feels you're just controlling a floating head (and not just because you can't see your legs). Running feels more like flying (not in a good way) and there's no weight to your steps. It sounds like a lame excuse, but for some reason that floatiness kills my immersion immediately. It's really the only hurdle I can't get past, and much like with , I just can't overcome it.

MMO's are video game hell. They strip otherwise interesting genres of all fun and enjoyment. In their place, they stuff their victims full of monotonous tasks (collect 5 beaver pelts), point-and-click combat, and ravenous paywalls. The only tradeoff for all this BS: multiplayer. You can play with an entire world of other people who are running around yelling and cursing and killing one another - often for no reason. Does this remind you of someplace?

At the very bottom of this hell sits World of Warcraft, laughing and weeping into a lake of fire. WoW's corruption is slow and insidious. In the beginning it's all fun and games, but after a year or two the 'fun' becomes 'work' and the 'games' become 'obligation.' It isn't here to entertain you. It's here to enthrall you with its unending quest for loot which will let you get better loot which will let you get better loot which will...

Also the selfie feature sounds dumb.

We've shared some of our darkest gaming secrets with you, dear reader. Now it's time to balance the scales. Let us know in the comments below your least-favorite, but still wildly-popular, game. Just be prepared for plenty of backlash from everybody else.

For the flip side of this feature be sure to check out .

We all have that one game. That detestable, despicable game that sits lost and forgotten apart from our collection. The same one that, when mentioned to friends (or otherwise normal coworkers) gets nothing but praise and cries of "How could you possible not love it?" We don't just not love it, dammit, we hate it! And we're not afraid to admit it. It's not our fault the rest of you are too blind to see its teeth-gnashing, aneurysm-inducing flaws.

Nonetheless, we'll give it a shot. Each editor has selected a game that has won widespread praise, yet that he or she feels - quite frankly - is crap. Dive into this list with an open mind, and you might just... no, you know what, we don't care. Close your mind. Keep playing these infuriating games. WHO CARES IF WE NEVER GET ANOTHER SKIES OF ARCADIA. GO PLAY MORE CALL OF DUTY. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONGWITHYOUPEOPLE!!

Though the Final Fantasy 13 saga may not be the most well loved of FF titles, of them Final Fantasy 13-2 is certainly the favorite. And oh, what a black hole of hatred I have in my soul for that game. While the battle system was an improvement on 13's linearity, I would have gladly taken 100 Final Hallway games over the shallow plot and shoddy characters 13-2 dropped in my lap.

Where 13 actually had a decent if flawed cast, 13-2 removed all the folks worth a damn, replaced everyone else with flattened and awful versions of themselves (I think I've developed a persistent eye twitch from Serah fawning over how cute it is that Snow's being a jerk to her), and added in some of the most infuriating characters I've seen in a long time. Like Noel. Fuckin' Noel. Refusing to do the one thing that would save the universe full stop because it involves killing a guy with whom he has zero friendly interactions but they're somehow totally great friends! Combine that with inconsistent and illogical time travel, a final 'twist' that might as well have written in the clouds, and the fact that Noel is so goddamn stupid that he's singlehandedly responsible for the death of mortal universe and I...

Ugh, Borderlands. I want to love you! I love shooters. I love action RPGs. I love distinct art styles with lots of bold colors. I love corny jokes. All the elements are there, but I still hate Borderlands. You have to understand, I'm pretty good about giving games the benefit of the doubt even if they don't grab me straight off - particularly if tons of other people seem to really enjoy them. But rarely have I felt more actively disinterested in a game than when I tried to play Borderlands.

Maybe it's how the first region is full of skags and axe-wielding psychos, which makes for rote backpedaling as you unload ammunition into their faces. Maybe it's how the first few hours of the campaign are spent performing asinine tasks for unpleasant characters, like trying to grind through an MMO that calls you names whenever you turn in a quest. Even good co-op company (yes, I was playing in co-op) couldn't keep me from dozing off at best or actively resenting the experience at worst. Maybe Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel fixed all these problems, but I don't really care enough to find out.

I just don't understand the appeal of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Many members of the GR+ staff swear by the game, citing a wealth of special attacks, imaginatively designed arenas, and lashings of Nintendo fan-service as the reason for its greatness. All I see is a mess of color, as if an excitable toddler has vomited Skittles onto an LED screen. I mean, what the hell is happening? It's wanton chaos. It's like the , with all the clawing, naked sinners swapped for Nintendo mascots.

During the games I played in the UK office, literally no-one could work out who was winning or why, which really takes the sting out of victory. "Oh, I came first did I? Fuck me, I thought I just kept falling off a ledge and getting my nose broken by Yoshi." And, honestly, why does no-one see the futile absurdity in someone like Samus Aran smacking the Duck Hunt dog in the jowls, while the Wii Fit trainer tries to brutalise Kirby in the whatever-it-has-instead-of-bollocks? I'm out.

I know I'm going to get hate for this, but I did not like Final Fantasy 7. I've played most of the FF games as they were a big part of my childhood. I even dumped an ungodly number of hours into FF11 - how's THAT for dedication and love for the series? I tried playing FF7 when it came out, but the whole jump to 3D and polygon graphics just did not appeal to me. I was not blown away. I was blown away by the intro to Final Fantasy 8, and when I booted up Final Fantasy X my life changed. But Final Fantasy 7? Meh.

I eventually went back to play through the entire game on PC, and just couldn't bring myself to be invested in any of the characters. That OMG HOW COULD YOU scene? Felt nothing. Meanwhile, the ending to Crisis Core? Cried. I loved that game, but maybe I was just not in the right frame of mind when Final Fantasy 7 came out to really enjoy it. The music was good though. Gold Saucer FTW!

Destiny is mind-cripplingly dull. The 'characters', the 'plot', the 'void damage', the colour coded rarity system of weapons that everyone seems so het up about - I couldn't care less. All anyone ever seems to do is grind. And everyone keeps saying 'oh the game doesn't begin until level 8, 15, 20, 30... WHEN DOES IT GET FUN?

The enemies only seem to have two attacks each. There aren't enough planets. I can't feasibly play with everyone else now because I haven't bought the DLC. There is no spark of life in its cold, dead eyes. I hate the Ghost thing and its stupid disinterested voice. Destiny is a husk of a game and I don't know what anyone sees in it. There, I've said it.

I'll never understand why people praise Gunman Clive. Maybe they've been blinded by the low, low price tag of $2, which sounds like a steal - but I've easily played a thousand free Flash games on the 'net that were 10 times more enjoyable than this trite 2D shooter. The graphics are either bland or butt-ugly depending on your tastes, the controls are floaty and unresponsive, the soundtrack seems to be a sampling from 'My First Chiptune Album', and the stark level designs are straight garbage.

If you're going to rip off Mega Man stage gimmicks, your controls need to be on point, instead of making me feel like a jellyfish in low gravity. Also, it's best to avoid a difficulty curve that goes from toddler easy to 'Why am I still playing this vile horseshiz' hard. The fact that so many people compare this repugnantly unfun grind of trial-and-error platforming to the greatness that is Sunset Riders makes me sick to my stomach. Kill me for this radical opinion if you must - just promise that you'll .

I wouldn't say I hate Skyrim, exactly. Hate is a word I'd reserve for real dreck like Ride to Hell Retribution (or those hoverbike segments in Battletoads). But by God, I will never understand the undying love and devotion this open-world fantasy RPG gets - especially when compared to the vastly superior Fallout series.

There certainly is something impressive about how Skyrim generates seemingly never-ending quests to get lost in, but the world and its characters do absolutely nothing for me. Why should I spend the time talking to everyone and solving all their asinine little problems if I don't even care whether they live or die? Maybe I just prefer dinking around the futuristic wasteland of North America more, but every time I've tried to get into Skyrim, I last about six hours and then I bail.

I don't like Super Mario Bros. 3. There I said it! I was the hugest fan of Super Mario Bros. 2. I loved the weirdness of it and have many, many, many fond memories of playing it with my brother. In fact, it was one of the few games the we beat together.

I was pretty excited for 3. I even faked friendship with a girl who I knew had a copy of the game, just so I could go to her house to play it. And then karma struck for my trickery; a few levels in I was confused and I didn't like it. I know it has Tanooki Mario and a ton of things people other people love but I just couldn't muster any enthusiasm for it. I expect I'll be eating lunch alone from now on.

I've probably put more than a thousand hours into the Call of Duty series, BioShock is one of my favorite games of all time, and I simply can't stop playing Destiny. Outside of a Zelda adventure, blasting away enemies, throwing grenades, and scoring long-distance head shots are my favorite gaming pastimes. But the one FPS game I just can't manage to enjoy at all is Half-Life 2. Matter of fact, I pretty much hate all Valve shooters because they all share the same flaw.

Sometimes it can be the tiniest detail that turns you off to a game, and that one little thing in HL2's case is simply the way the Valve shooters handle. Moving around feels you're just controlling a floating head (and not just because you can't see your legs). Running feels more like flying (not in a good way) and there's no weight to your steps. It sounds like a lame excuse, but for some reason that floatiness kills my immersion immediately. It's really the only hurdle I can't get past, and much like with , I just can't overcome it.

MMO's are video game hell. They strip otherwise interesting genres of all fun and enjoyment. In their place, they stuff their victims full of monotonous tasks (collect 5 beaver pelts), point-and-click combat, and ravenous paywalls. The only tradeoff for all this BS: multiplayer. You can play with an entire world of other people who are running around yelling and cursing and killing one another - often for no reason. Does this remind you of someplace?

At the very bottom of this hell sits World of Warcraft, laughing and weeping into a lake of fire. WoW's corruption is slow and insidious. In the beginning it's all fun and games, but after a year or two the 'fun' becomes 'work' and the 'games' become 'obligation.' It isn't here to entertain you. It's here to enthrall you with its unending quest for loot which will let you get better loot which will let you get better loot which will...

Also the selfie feature sounds dumb.

We've shared some of our darkest gaming secrets with you, dear reader. Now it's time to balance the scales. Let us know in the comments below your least-favorite, but still wildly-popular, game. Just be prepared for plenty of backlash from everybody else.

For the flip side of this feature be sure to check out .

Complain though we might about the (seriously Assassin's Creed, we're worried about you), we do get pumped at the prospect of spin-offs where our favorite second bananas get some time in the spotlight. Yoshi, Clank, Raiden, Daxter, Wario, Vincent Valentine, unfortunately Tingle - that not at all exhaustive list shows how fertile the spin-off earth is for planting.

And hey, while we're getting our hands dirty, we have a few suggestions of our own! In the slides beyond you'll find a collection of of guys, gals, robots, and aliens who have all proven to be so capable, interesting, and memorable that they could easily support their own downloadable offshoots and/or massive trilogies. These sidekicks shouldn’t be wasting any more time in the background, and we know just what type of game they should star in. Do we have your attention, corporate overlords?

Sorry, what is this game series called again? The Legend of who? Hmm, funny that. As big a deal as Zelda is in the Legend of Zelda series, and as skilled a fighter as she's implied to be, a game with her at the helm has yet to materialize. gets close by making her playable and giving her control of her own badass army, but she gets the same amount of attention as everyone else in Team Fanservice, and basically ends up being upstaged by Link. Freakin' Link man. Ultimately, a game where she is the undisputed protagonist and doesn't get kidnapped is the only way to do this leading lady of Nintendo justice. Seriously, no kidnapping!

A Zelda-led title could fit snugly just about anywhere in the Legend of Zelda canon. Heck, she wouldn't even have to be a princess, if you wanted to go the Skyward Sword route. Just focus on her honing her magical abilities, and maybe make her transformation between Zelda and Sheik a gameplay mechanic as she travels through Hyrule on a quest to defeat Ganondorf. And it would be called The Legend of Link, naturally.

Half-Life is defined by the silence of scientist-turned-savior Gordon Freeman, but Half-Life 2 introduced gamers to a character many would come to love much more than the stoic Freeman. Alyx Vance is one of the more multifaceted characters in gaming, at times strong and determined, and at other times scared and unsure of herself. Despite occasionally ending up the damsel in distress for Gordon to save, she’s often Freeman’s equal, if not better equipped to deal with the alien-infested totalitarian state the world has become.

Were Valve to make a game starring Alyx, it could finally break out of its silent protagonist mold and have her take an active role in the story. The game could be a prequel, telling of Alyx’s many exploits as part of the resistance before Gordon decided to wake up from his convenient slumber, but that seems too safe for Valve. Instead, how about they throw the entire gaming world a curveball and make her the star of Half-Life 3, killing off Freeman in the first 10 minutes? Once players got over the shock, we think they’d ultimately appreciate a hero that can speak for herself.

Unlike most of the characters on this list, Falco has been trying his best to grab the spotlight since he first appeared. Hardly content to merely support Star Fox leader Fox McCloud, Falco is a hotshot pilot that consistently tries to outdo McCloud at every turn, and even when he slightly mellows with age, Falco's skills still rival Fox’s in the air. Plus, anyone that’s play Super Smash Bros. Melee knows Falco is at least Fox’s equal in hand-to-hand combat. It’s time Lombardi got the starring role he so richly deserves.

As the Star Fox titles continue to move away from the arcadey flight that defined the series, Falco has always remained committed to the air, so let’s just keep him there. Let Fox have his tanks and submarines, and let Falco’s spin-off focus entirely on classically-styled flight levels featuring Lombardi leading a whole new team of pilots. Star Fox traditionalists would finally have the game they’ve been clamoring for, and Falco could finally become the leadership position we assume Nintendo has been grooming him for.

It's true that Lydia is just as prone to standing in your way during a fight or getting stuck in a door as any other AI companion who follows at your heels. Still, as perfect as she may be for Fus Ro Dah target practice, it feels like there's something special about her. Maybe it's because she's a beautiful first companion, and you never forget your first. Maybe it's that she's really really good at carrying stuff. Maybe it's because she's an accomplished bodyguard (don't let her standing on your toes in battle fool you) with a mysterious past that you're burning to discover. Maybe it's all those things, and maybe all of that's so interesting that she should get a game all to herself. You know, maybe. By which I mean definitely.

Since Lydia's life before she met the Dragonborn is seldom mentioned, a game centered on her journey to become the best housecarl in all the land is ripe for exploration. How does she work her way up the social ladder to enter the house of Jarl Balgruuf before she's gifted to her thane? How many dungeons did she get hopelessly stuck in before mastering the art? Where did she learn how to cook? I MUST KNOW!

In a world of horrific military casualties, the man with a decent set of armor is king. Nobody proves that better than Clay Carmine, who managed to avoid losing his head or the majority of his torso to Locust swarms, which puts him many steps above his unfortunate brothers. Surviving thanks to his incredible physical prowess and , he's both skilled and interesting enough that he would probably survive a game of his own.

While Gears isn't what you'd call a narrative experience, it has its share of touching moments (most of them named 'Maria'), so Clay could spend a bit of time mourning his brothers in between blowing his enemies apart. In fact, Ben Carmine mentions having three brothers before his death, so why not go all Saving Private Carmine and have Clay go full-bore hunting down the last of his flesh and blood? With their luck the guy would probably die , but it's worth a shot!

, and we'll say it again: get this girl a game! Your young ward and moral compass during your trip through Dunwall, Emily may seem more like an animate door prize than potential protagonist, but there's more to her when you take a closer look. She mentions Corvo teaching her at least basic combat skills, for instance, and Dishonored's possible eldritch abomination/whale god The Outsider takes an interest in her early on. These things combined, it's easy to see Emily going on a magic-powered quest for justice/murder spree all her own.

Granted this may be a bit tricky, since Dishonored ends with her becoming either a puppy-feeding saint or a full-on psychopath at age twelve, resulting in two wildly disparate versions of her character. But since it wouldn't be too difficult to port your chaos rating from the first game, this could actually be an interesting mechanic, letting Emily start off as either a goody-toe-shoes or horribly evil and have that affect her options going forward. Regardless, you'd get to play as a badass assassin queen, and who wouldn't want that?

Though she turns into a bit of a damsel in , Jeanne is every bit her badass bestie's equal, and she takes care of herself just fine for the 500 years before the Bayonetta we know starts kicking around. What exactly was she up to all that time? Undoubtedly something completely insane involving a lot of interpretive dance and explosions, and you know you want to play the living hell out of it.

Since Jeanne would probably handle a lot like Bayonetta (if her unlockable model in both of the games is anything to go by), you can probably expect the same sort of globe-trotting, angel-stomping shenanigans from her. Plus, since the series tends to play it close to the vest with expository details, there are plenty of aspects of the world left to explore. Maybe Jeanne and Bayonetta's witch training, or the war between the Umbran Witches and the Lumen Sages, or the half of millennium of downtime afterward. And what's that? The producer for Bayonetta 2 ? Yes? Yes.

For as interesting as the redemptive tale of Darth Revan was, virtually everyone that played Knights of the Old Republic remembers a certain deadly droid more than anyone else in the groundbreaking RPG. An accomplished droid assassin, HK-47 captured the hearts of gamers everywhere with his dark sense of humor and propensity for suggesting that murdering people with lasers was always the best solution to a problem. Popping up occasionally in sequels and both Star Wars MMOs, nothing seems to be able to stop this droid, so why don’t we just cut to the chase and give him his own game?

Fortunately for HK-47, the market for action games starring assassins is booming right now, so a Hitman/Assassin’s Creed type game starring HK-47 is like a blank check LucasArts has yet to cash. The publisher has already covered the darker aspects of the Star Wars universe in games like Force Unleashed, but telling tales of HK-47’s past working for gangsters and other unsavory elements would explore a part of Star Wars mythology rarely seen outside of the occasional novel or comic book. Sure, a Boba Fett game would work about the same, but that would deprive the world of more of HK’s hilarious disgust for the meatbags that comprise humanity.

The supporting players in Chrono Trigger are so well realized and defined that almost any of them could support their own spin-off. We'd surely enjoy a game starring Magus or Robo, but we see the most star potential in the tragic tale of Frog. A noble, stoic knight that’s cursed to be trapped in an amphibian's body, he doesn't let that stop him from being a heroic swordsman.

Though the official ending of Chrono Trigger has Frog return to his human form, we hope that the new side game would keep him in his green form. The setting could stay in his home time of 600 AD with him defending the realm from some new threat now that Magus is taken care of. You could even give him some sidekicks of his own who might just be cool enough to get a sequel in 2028.

As is tradition at GR, we saved room for at least one mention of Okami in this feature, but this one is richly deserved. For most of the game Issun appears to be a talkative glowing flea that’s a little too obsessed with attractive women. When you see the tiny aspiring artist up close, you’ll notice he’s actually a respectable young man with a cool brush that doubles for his sword. After he helps Amaterasu save the day, Issun decides to continue the work of the gods on Earth, a plot worth seeing unfold.

Issun’s game would follow the tiny guy’s continuing adventures to keep the world safe from demons, and the biggest draw would be the interesting sense of scale for the character’s world. Similar to the the memorable shrunken levels in Okami, Issun will face dangerous enemies and save humanity without ever being noticed by the larger world. And since he followed along with Amaterasu to learn her Celestial Brush techniques in Okami, let’s say he inherits those innovative powers, but puts his own unique, inch-high spin on the whole thing.

Nathan Drake may be the coolest thief/archeologist/trained killer in a half-tucked shirt, but he learned all those skills from the master, one Victor “Sully” Sullivan. Sully adopted Nate to teach him all about stealing artifacts and shooting people, skills Sully picked up in his time in the Navy and as a freelance thief in his own right. An accomplished pilot with a love of fine cigars, Sully supports Nate every step of the way, usually keeping pace with Drake’s acrobatics, which is impressive considering he's, like, 300 years old.

Sully’s skills and determination give him great star potential, though his age and constant smoking stretches the believability of his ability to have adventures, so let’s turn back the clock. Let’s see the decades of adventure that Sully had before working with Nathan, having fun throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Of course, it could also take place after he teams with young Nathan, allowing for co-op missions with Drake pushed back into the sidekick role, an interesting change in fortune.

Gamers all over the world are clamoring for the return of Mega Man, and while we also miss the Blue Bomber, his sister has been relegated to warming the bench for far too long. Roll has made playable appearances before, usually as a comedic character in fighting games Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Normally the jokes center around her cooking and cleaning abilities, which is why we want to see a game that finally bucks those domestic stereotypes and make her at least as tough as her brother.

We see the story opening with Dr. Wily finally succeeding in defeating Mega Man, nearly destroying the droid and leaving him at death’s door. There seems to be no hope until Roll nominates herself for an upgrade, admitting that she’s always been a little jealous that Mega Man gets to have all the fun. Light reluctantly weaponizes her, sending Roll into the fray to take on the Robot Masters. When she ultimately succeeds, she earns a newfound respect from her friends and family. Meanwhile, as Mega Man recovers, he finds a new passion for cooking and cleaning, which could play out in some random minigames.

It’s hard to steal focus from a character as compelling as GLaDOS, but in Portal 2 Wheatley pulled it off with endearing--and overly British--incompetence. A dangerously moronic program created by Aperture Science in the hopes of dumbing down GlaDOS, Wheatley accompanies Portal players through a good chunk of the game, usually making things worse through his bumbling idiocy. But even when he turns on you, it’s hard not to love the foolish robotic orb, because when he’s maniacally plotting your death, he’s still incredibly funny.

Were Wheatley to get his own game, we’d pick up right where we left him, floating around the moon. After learning the error of his ways, Wheatley teams up with his fellow floating spheres and tries to find a way home, propelling himself in zero gravity through a series of clever puzzles. Having the bumbling AI complete physics-based conundrums sounds like a fittingly scientific approach for a Portal spin-off.

Grand Theft Auto IV protagonist Niko Bellic was a an interesting character who made tough choices. Still, much of the time Niko just bummed us out, and we’d rather spend time with his friends, particularly the hilariously inept Brucie. At first it’s easy to hate Brucie’s over-the-top machismo and quest for respect, but soon that gives way to pity, then understanding for a friend that will always have your back. By the finale we loved to hang with the genetically different Brucie, if for no other reason than to hear the next way his barely-hidden homosexuality would pop-up in dialogue.

Since Brucie is so much more fun than GTA IV’s star, fans deserve at least some spin-off DLC starring our favorite bro. Crafted in the style of The Ballad of Gay Tony, a Brucie side story could work as a brilliant bit of self-parody on the part of Rockstar. The plot could follow the usual path of one man’s morally grey rise in the world of crime, only Brucie’s idiocy would derail it at every turn as he screws up every mission in some ridiculous fashion. GTA games have always been some of the funniest in gaming, so it’d be great to see Rockstar do a full-on comedy, and Brucie is just the man for the job.

Sure, is all well and good, but I can't be the only one who thought what about Shaundi? She may show up in some of the Saints Row side material and does go all Terminator for How the Saints Saved Christmas (in the spirit of the season), but she doesn't yet have a game to call her own. Not even a standalone expansion. And that's just wrong.

Given that pretty much anything goes in Saints Row (recall that there's a DLC pack called Enter the Dominatrix, and that Gat Outta Hell is a literal description), there are no limits on what Shaundi's adventure could entail. Think epic planet-hopping adventures with Jane Austen to liberate Saturn from the grip of reptilian space bikers who are also on fire, and she's part robot 'cause that's awesome. That's one idea, and it already sounds perfect. Come on devs, show a homie some love.

Those are the 15 sidekicks that desperately deserve their own game, and honestly, we're not just wishing to the wind here. Not only do these characters have obvious protag potential, but when we originally said that Mario's Toad should have his own game? Just saying, there's some magic in our words.

Can you think of any other background players that are deserving of a solo game? Let us know in the comments below, and get some of these good vibes. Big money, big money!

Want to learn more about sidekicks? Check out our list of the .