Fun Games !!!

We all have a few games we like to play but don't tell people about—games that were designed with a completely different age group or gender in mind, or that everyone else just thinks are terrible. Here are eight games I enjoy but have kept silent about. Until now.

Kirby's Epic Yarn

There's nothing wrong with Kirby; plenty of us grew up with his NES and SNES classics. But even relative to other Nintendo characters, Kirby has always been targeted toward the younger set. Kirby's Adventure, for example, is far easier than any Mario game for the NES.

That didn't stop me from playing Kirby's Epic Yarn all the way through and loving every second of it. There is absolutely no challenge involved, but the yarn-based art is terrific, and how could you not love controlling Kirby?

World of Warcraft

It's not fair that World of Warcraft gets saddled with so many stereotypes, but they're out there. I have to confess: Though I played WoW pretty intensely for a month or so, and even though I didn't have trouble breaking the addiction when I decided to move on to other games, I usually don't tell people about it.

Luigi's Mansion

Back when I was a senior in college, I rented an apartment with two of my friends. One of them bought a GameCube, and we made fun of him because everyone knows that GameCubes are for babies. We forgave him when he bought a Hitman game for it, but then we ended up getting hooked on Luigi's Mansion.

There's no denying that this game is designed with little kids in mind. While the art is spooky from time to time, there's nothing genuinely frightening. And the pushover difficulty makes it clear that if you're looking for a real challenge, you should go elsewhere. But we didn't mind.

Turok: Evolution

This is another game I found via my roommate's GameCube. The reviewers were absolutely right to trash it: The graphics are nothing special; there are tons of glitches, including one that makes you lose weapons randomly; there aren't enough dinosaurs; the ridiculous difficulty spikes are incredibly frustrating; the story is terrible.

But for whatever reason, I kinda liked it. I enjoyed the way the bad guys' heads exploded in a shower of blood, and all the weird weapons were fun to use. I wouldn't claim Turok: Evolution is any kind of classic, but it is a bit more enjoyable than it gets credit for.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

This is a game my wife had me pick up for her. She'd decided it was "super cute" when she saw her sister play it. She never got around to playing it, but I did.

Like all the Mario RPGs, The Thousand-Year Door is just a lot of fun to play, even though it's obviously directed at eight-year-olds. The battles are calibrated to provide a little resistance without getting frustrating, there's no grinding, and the story is clever.

On second thought, this is one kids' game I'm not that embarrassed to love.

Wii Sports Resort

This is one of those titles that "real gamers" aren't supposed to like; it's nothing more than a minigame collection. But I can't lie—the sword-fighting is a blast, and this is one of the few games my wife likes to play with me. If liking Wii minigames makes me one of those dreaded casual gamers, so be it.

Little Deviants

This is the Wii Sports of the PlayStation Vita—it's just a way to show off the system's gimmicks. It's not particularly good, and it got mediocre reviews. But there's one feature this game has that no other game provides: It lets me shoot my cat.

See, one of the Vita's features is a camera that lets you play "augmented reality" games. One of the minigames included here is a shooter that, through the camera, uses the room you're in as a background. It creates a bunch of little critters that you're supposed to shoot. But I prefer to shoot my cat.

Mario Party

This is another GameCube classic from my college days. Honestly, I don't even remember which Mario Party number we had. But I do remember discovering the sheer joy of a straight-up button-mashing contest. Yes, there was alcohol involved.

What games are you too embarrassed to admit you like? Thanks to the anonymity the Internet provides, you can let us know in the comments section.