Top Ten Weird Japanese Games

10. .hack//INFECTION
It's a game that takes place inside an online game. Hard to pull off, but the .hack series manages to do it well. We will never see anything else like it.

09. Kingdom Hearts
Disney + Final Fantasy = Crazy Awesome. Seeing Cloud Strife fighting alongside Mickey Mouse is just damned cool. Weird, but cool.

08. The World Ends with You
I think the gameplay alone is enough to warrant a spot on this list. You use pins (the kind you wear) to unleash psychic attacks on graffiti-looking enemies. And you control two characters at once, one on each screen of the DS. It's unique, and one of the best things Square Enix has ever made.

07. Ico
An escort mission that makes up an entire game sounds like a bad idea, but Ico makes it work. I can't say much about it, because the game is rather minimalist. But look up some footage on YouTube, or play it if you can find a copy. It's worth experiencing.

06. Katamari Damacy
I don't think anything needs to be said about why this is here.

05. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
CSI meets Judge Judy with a wacky cast and the most insane, mind-bending cases ever. More like an interactive movie than a game, but still very fun and worth a try.

04. Bayonetta
A game about a witch who straps guns to her feet and summons demons using her hair. Sure, why not?

03. No More Heroes
Simultaneously a celebration and parody of American geek culture, with no Fourth Wall, and some of the most insane boss fights ever. This game came from the mind of Goichi Suda, so there's no doubt about its strangeness.

02. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Think Final Fantasy Tactics, but even more so. The level cap is 9999. You can make your own overpowered gear. You can abuse any of the game's systems (and are even encouraged to do so). And did I mention the offbeat humor?

01. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
A group of high school students solve a murder mystery by visiting a world inside television. Yes, it's like that.