No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.

You may already know a thing or two about Mass Effect 2, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and of course Red Dead Redemption (all viable Game of the Year candidates and arguably the best games ever in their respective genres) and their ascent into the Metacritic stratosphere. But there are other 2010 titles which were released with less fanfare and, despite achieving critical success, haven’t exactly ripped up the sales charts, never got giant cardboard standies at GameStop, never graced the side of a bus on Granville, and for various reasons may have slipped under your radar.

This doesn’t change the fact that you need to play them in order to live a rich and fulfilling life. So here are two of them.

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Ubisoft; Wii; rated mature)

2008’s No More Heroes had me asking myself why all video game henchmen don’t scream “My spleen!” while in their death throes. This year’s sequel, like a good sequel should, got rid of what didn’t work particularly well (namely the big, empty, open world) and incorporated more of what did work (namely, terrific mini-games, and great boss battles). It kept about the same amount of motion control, blood geysers, boob shots, F-bombs, culture critiques, Mexican wrestling paraphernalia, spleen injuries, and bad budget-action flick one-liners by likeable douche-nerd Travis Touchdown, as he slashes his way up the assassins’ league leader board, which made No More Heroes one of the raddest and most unique games last decade.

But No More Heroes 2, despite being better written and directed, hasn’t sold especially well, partly because it didn’t get much marketing budget, according to EEDAR (an authority on that kind of stuff), and M-rated games for the family-friendly Wii are inherently a tough sell. And also, core gamers were supposedly scared off by trumped-up “style over substance” charges.

But come off it; it’s a damn video game, and a parody, at that; to a large extent the style is the substance. And that style is totally badass, unique, wicked funny.

Deadly Premonition (Ignition; Xbox 360; rated mature)

Who would have imagined that a perfectly straightforward concept like horror-survival-farce-meets-Twin-Peaks-meets-open-world could have mixed results? How is it that IGN gave this game a review score of 2, and Destructoid gave it a 10? Well, because one of them “gets it”, and the other doesn’t—just one of those things. We’ll let you decide who’s who.

But, despite the fact that the hard-core gaming press caught on a month or so later, and had an affair with Deadly Premonition for a couple of weeks, most still haven’t heard of the game.

Deadly Premonition is a discount-priced game where you play as an FBI agent trying to catch a serial killer, but with a twist: in addition to being an FBI agent trying to catch a serial killer, you’re also a ranting lunatic.

Whether it’s the bizarre monologues reminiscent of those in David Lynch scripts which tip you off, or the constant cultural references, or the music (which is never, ever correct—or in any way appropriate—for the situation), or something else, most players will quickly to figure out the game is supposed to be weird and funny (as opposed to “scary”). But few will be expecting to peel back layer upon layer of fucked-up-edness, which leaves you feeling like this game was built by some kind of brilliant maniac.

Low-fi in every sense, this game is technically and graphically a mess; you won’t be wowed by gameplay innovations and you’ll trip over the controls occasionally, and I normally hate that. But the content makes it worth it. As Destructoid points out, by the only measure that truly matters (Does it makes you happy? Does it make you laugh, and become excited to see what happens next?) it more than succeeds. This one has classic written all over it. And by the way, it’s only 20 bucks.

Chris Vandergaag is a Vancouver-based freelancer. When he's not gaming, writing, or forwarding links of questionable moral repute, he's asleep.