5. MLB Power Pros 2008
Platforms: NinTendo Wii
Publisher: 2K Sports/Konami
Developer:Konami
Approximate Global Sales: 140,000
All of you Wii people -- what exactly are you playing? For a console that sells faster than water in the desert, a lot of great games are going unplayed. Power Pros looks like a kiddie game but packs some of the best baseball gameplay you can find, and 140,000 sales is a pretty depressing number for a game that gets just about everything right. Sorry to break the "don't yell at the reader rule" but Power Pros is damn good, people!
Power Pros
4. NFL Head Coach 09
Platforms: Xbox 360; PS3
Publisher: EA Sports
Developer:EA Tiburon
Approximate Global Sales: 70,000
Not a shock. And it's hard to track data here because Head Coach 09 was also bundled with the deluxe edition of Madden 09. But how many people bought CE Madden to play Head Coach? Hard to say but I doubt it would have changed the numbers too much. Still, this is a fantastic console coaching sim of life in the NFL and is one of the most underappreciated games of 2008. If you fancy yourself the next great coaching mind...give it a shot.
3. Ninjatown
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Publisher: SouthPeak Interactive
Developer:Venan Entertainment
Approximate Global Sales: 70,000
A little surprising here as tower defense games are still sort of popular and when you combine the cookie baking ninjas and cutesy graphics, you'd think it would have captured more kid sales. But at the same time the game gets hard pretty quick so maybe that was a turn off? Still, this is a solid DS strategy game and 70,000 sales isn't ideal.
2. Monster Lab
Platforms: Nintendo Wii
Publisher: Eidos
Developer:Backbone
Approximate Global Sales: 70,000
OK this one ticks me off. Monster Lab is a great game. Not just "kind of neat" but downright great: it uses the Wii controls extremely well, has an addictive turn based gameplay design, and it's about designing your own monster! This game should have sold through the roof and should have been marketed to young boys right at the time the Igor movie came out. Eidos basically abandoned the game, it was damn near impossible to find, and it ended up bombing out. If there is a kid in your house and you own a Wii -- find a copy of Monster Lab and thank us later.
Monster Lab
1. Robocalypse
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Tecmo
Developer:Vogster Entertainment
Approximate Global Sales: 10,000
Wait...Robocalypse? What's Robocalypse? That is exactly the point. Have you ever heard of this game? Well, it sold around 10,000 copies so "under the radar" fits the bill. It's basically an RTS for the DS and it proves one thing: reviews don't mean nearly as much as we'd like to think. The game received high praise almost across the board, and yet no one cared or no one could find it. If you stumble across this gem don't hesitate to grab it. It's not the best game on this list, but 10,000 copies? It certainly deserves better than that.
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