Ok so this list is going to be a list of games to either relieve your anger or stress, because when your stressed out or pissed off, games like Prinny and Classic Megaman should be strongly avoided unless your so good at those games you could probably beat them without even getting hit once. Oh, and you know how my lists usually have something like Viewtiful Joe, or Okami, or Darkstalkers in them... well none of those will be in this list at all... not sure why that was important but my one viewer seemed a bit aggravated by how much I mention those games and this list idea was perfect for a little change of pace I suppose.
5. Devil May Cry 3 (PS2 and PC)
Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking, it's probably something like "Why the hell is this number 5 and ranked higher up on the list?" or something along those lines, and the reason is... well... the game can be a bit frustrating at times, not like bad game design frustrating (like Devil May Cry 2), more along the lines of difficult gameplay frustrating. And obviously getting frustrated is something to avoid when stressed out or pissed off. But I mean playing this game if you are really good at it, or just playing it on an easier difficulty, sure there is less challenge, but when your pissed or stressed out all you want to do it cut off demon's heads and fill their dead bodies with shotgun shells, not strategically dodge and carefully watch your every move so that you don't slip up. Honestly when in that kind of mood, I would recommend like any kind of beat-em-up or hack n' slasher as long as the game doesn't suck of course, but Devil May Cry 3 is one that I would recommend you just run into not caring at all about the story on an easy difficulty (unless even the hardest difficulty is a cakewalk for you, then just go with whatever you prefer) and destroy everything in sight.
4. Castle Crashers (Xbox 360)
Ok, so when I think hack n' slasher I usually think of this game, but the reason it is low on the list is because of a few major reasons. Reason #1 is because the game sometimes requires a bit of tedious grinding and to really spend your skill points and money carefully when you are playing alone. When you are playing with friends then grinding is usually not needed, but when your stressed out, you might not have friends over. Reason #2 is that most people play this game with friends and as previously mentioned you might not have friends over when your in a pissed off mood or stressed out. Since this game is just mindlessly cutting up everything in your path with all sorts of awesome weapons and magic, it's mind numbingly simple and very satisfying, however there are a few "change up the gameplay" stages that are just sort of frustrating and I recommend you don't play those. This is a downloadable game, so sorry if you don't have either a wired connection or the super expensive adapter (that should just be freakin built into the damn Xbox) you cannot buy it.
3. Metal Slug (Arcade, several console ports)
Ok, when I say Metal Slug, I mean like any Metal Slug game, just pick your favorite and either go to your local arcade (I actually play it at my local car washing place or at the bowling alley, they even had an arcade at Anime-expo last year with a Metal Slug game in it) or whatever console port version you have. Since this game isn't too hard and it can be found it practically any arcade these days, if you play the arcade version you might not even have to turn all of your weekly allowance into quarters like you would if an Alien Hominid arcade machine was made (oh god, if that happened then I would be spending like $5 a minute...) but it is still nice to have a console port so that it doesn't piss you off as much if you die since you don't have to pay.
2. Saints Row 2 (PS3 and Xbox 360)
A sandbox game is also good for relieving stress and whatnot, but when you want to just pop in Grand Theft Auto 4 to kill random civilians in the streets as they go about their daily lives, you realise the story of the game keeps getting in your way, like you tell the game "I want to jump off the tallest building in the game and land on an old lady" and the game says "play story mode for 15 more hours and you can!" but if I wanted to fly onto the tallest building in a UFO then jump off and land in the middle of ongoing traffic, Saints Row 2 has no problem with that at all, well assuming of course that I played the first hour or so of the game. But still, when you play Saints Row 2 for about 2 hours and you unlock the place with the air garage you pretty much have total freedom to do whatever you want wherever you want. I mean I literally pimp slapped a train in zero gravity, can you say that you did something that awesome in Grand Theft Auto 4? For those people who think Saints Row is just a stupid GTA clone, well it's basically everything I
WANTED Grand Theft Auto 4 to be, plus a zombie apocalypse mini-game and a UFO, but sadly no jet packs. So if you want to randomly blow off some steam then this game is great for that since you can just pretty much do anything if you saved right after you got the place with the air garage.
1. No More Heroes 1 & 2 (Wii)
The reason I say 1 & 2, is because I would recommend both to relieve stress and whatnot, but if I had to choose one I would go with 2. Now, this is just my opinion and if you think that hearing enemies yell "My Spleen!" as you cut their heads off will help make you smile, then you can go ahead and choose the first game. The main reason these two games help so much is because, #1: The game is just so funny sometimes you can't help but smile at the things they say no matter how down you feel and #2: The fast paced and extremely gory action is just so hardcore that it's simply perfect for relieving anger and whatnot. Also, in the second game there is a neat little power-up that let's you turn into a tiger and rip people to shreds with the light tap of a single button. I often find that when I am pissed off lady luck is on my side as that random power-up generator seems to give the tiger
ALOT when I am playing the game to just blow off steam. I would recommend that you should not try to fight Nathan Copeland while your already pissed off because he himself is so easy I think I had a tougher time with Skelter Helter, but the place you fight him in is designed to make you get all of your health and batteries drained the second you get to him, and all you can do is run back to your corner to charge and regain health if possible, but you only lose more health with your back turned and those stupid missiles firing at you every two seconds. So it felt alot better just beating up weak defenceless enemies. Anyway, I hope this list comes in handy when you feel like ripping something's head off but decide to go with the more sane decision and rip something's head off in a virtual world.
