Go figure – the first $20GOTW of the New Year (even if I am a bit late) just so happens to be the first 3DS game (that’s not available as a download), and it’s the first Nintendo 3DS launch title that’s not a port or remake, and is actually worth buying, and it’s the first Ghost Recon on a portable system (rather than cell phone platforms such as NGage). Without further ado, lets get into it.
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In a few days, the ball drops, and the book closes on 2011. No doubt, many of you are planning on having huge New Year’s Eve parties. And many of you will drink during these parties. And for a few of you, this will happen:

(Of course there is a good chance that neither Chris nor Liam Hemsworth will be involved)
2011 was a banner year for the fighting genre. With [Ultimate] Marvel vs Capcom 3, Mortal Kombat 9, Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition, King of Fighters XIII, and Dead of Alive Chronicles all hitting storeshelves this year, the genre has came back in full force. With Dead or Alive 5, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Skull Girls, Soul Calibur 5, and Street Fighter X Tekken hitting next year, the genre is only moving forward. This sequel to last year’s Christmas beatdowns will take a look back at the best (or at least underrated) and the worst of the fighting genre’s golden era. So without further ado, lets get to the beatdowns!

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Before Dragon Age, before Elder Scrolls, before Final Fantasy, before Zelda even, Dungeons and Dragons laid out the blueprint for fantasy RPG action. Everything from customizable characters, complex moral alignments, to skill development came from the pen and paper classic. Naturally, there have been many computer adaptations of the popular series, from Cloudy Moutain back on the Intellivision to Capcom’s arcade beat-em-ups. Neverwinter Nights 2, developed by Bioware and Obsidian, is one of the better games in the franchise, thanks to its length, depth, and user content generation tools.

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In the waning months of 1994, fans were packed in at theaters across North America waiting to see the Live Action adaptation of Capcom’s Street Fighter. Me, my mom, and my 9-year old brother were just three of these fans that were packed in at one theater ready to see what was sure to be a silver-screen celebration of the arcade fighting action that we enjoyed for years. What we got instead was a cinematic clusterfuck featuring Jean-Claude Van Damne, Kylie Minogue (before she was hot), and Ming Na (before anyone knew who she was), along with a host of no-names helping the directors obviously cash-in on the host of Street Fighter fans. Although Raul Julia’s performance helped to redeem the film. I’m not saying this out of respect for the deceased mind you (Street Fighter was Raul Julia’s last role as he died before it’s release), but out of all the actors on the screen, his was the most enjoyable to watch. That, and the awesome MC Hammer/Deion Sanders collaboration “Straight to My Feet” helped keep the film from being a total failure. Enough about that however. A few months earlier, on the other side of the Pacific ocean, our Japanese cousins were also gearing up for their own Street Fighter movie. Unlike us, the Japanese were treated to a cinematic masterpiece that bought the characters that we loved into a whole new light, and gave them voices and personalities in a way no other video game adapted work has done before and few have done since.
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Years before Halo’s Firefight, Gears of War 2’s Horde mode, and Call of Duty’s Zombie mode made this style of play popular, Killing Floor made co-op survival popular ammongst FPS gamers. Originally conceived as a total conversion mod for Unreal Tournament 2004, The Killing Floor spun off into its own retail game. Playing as one of a group of soldiers, you stave off an invasion of mutated people with a variety of weapons. You must survive each round by any means necessary, be it making it to high ground, barracading yourself in, or simply shooting everything that moves. In between rounds you can buy weapons from the merchant, and you simply play to outdo your score. If you enjoy Left 4 Dead’s brand of co-op survival horror, you’ll love Killing Floor. It’s free to play on Steam this weekend, and if you like what you play, you can purchase it for just $5.

In 2009, Rocksteady developed the first good Batman game since the 16-bit days (okay, it was that but…) the best Batman game in recent history (okay, it was that too but…) the definitive Batman game (it was that until Arkham City was released earlier this fall) the second best Batman game ever. By taking cues from Bioshock, Metroid, and some of Marvel’s recent games, Batman Arkham Asylum puts players in the role of the Caped Crusader in a way that few games have done before. By presenting its own visual style and providing tons of fan service, Batman Arkham Asylum becomes one of the best comic-inspired games of this console generation.
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So you’re wondering why I didn’t throw this up for Black Friday. Well number one, you obviously want the weekend free to spend time with your loved ones right? Two, these aren’t black Friday sales. In fact, they aren’t Cyber Monday, Brown Thursday, White Saturday, Blue Tuesday, or Red October sales. You can get these games for $20 or less regardless of what time of the year you buy them, so there is no need to get up early, stand in line at 2am, fight through the crowd, or use pepper spray on anyone. You save on these games 24/7/365, so these are Green Everyday sales. Of course Green Everyday sounds stupid, so we’ll just call it the $20 Game of the Week like we’ve been doing.

P.S. These are all downloadable, so you ain’t even gotta leave your house!
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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and we certainly have a lot to be thankful for, such as our friends, family, jobs, health, and fortune. We as gamers especially have cause to be thankful. With all the games being canceled throughout the years, we’ve had several classic games that have made to store shelves. On the flip side, we should also be thankful for all the crappy titles that were not released. This is a follow up to this past summer’s article about canceled games. As you read this list, be thankful for all those triple A titles you enjoyed that were released.
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