8. Gitaroo Man
Possibly one of the greatest, most original and inventive rhythm games released, Gitaroo Man makes the list for its enjoyable, albeit slightly surreal concept and the array of cast that follows. The story follows U-1, a young boy who is teased and ridiculed by the classroom bully. To build up his confidence, Puma (U-1's talking dog) teaches him how to play guitar. After being taught by your dog, which happens all the time in Japan, you are attacked and Puma transforms into Puma AC-30, a sort of dog-like boombox and we discover that U-1 is the last hero of planet Gitaroo. Your now mechanical alien dog launches the infamous Gitaroo at U-1, allowing him to transform into the legendary Gitaroo Man. Pretty straightforward! The game is made up of 10 stages. With each stage, Gitaroo Man is pitted against an enemy out to destroy planet Gitaroo. When battle commences, the player has to dodge incoming attacks from the musical menace, then counter attack by hitting in rhythm the correct sequences causing bolts of energy to fire out of the Gitaroo. The game has an array of incredibly different songs that fit wonderfully with each attacking enemy. These include J-Pop flying saucers, a azz bumble bee man and even a drum & bass mechanical shark... in space. All of which are accompanied by U-1's backing band, Noren (A young man dressed as a rabbit), Yung (A young girl dressed as a monkey) and Mr. Yasuda (An older gentleman dressed as a panda). Definitely something that should be checked out by fans of rhythm games, or even just the weird and wonderful. Gitaroo Man has been known for being notoriously difficult to get a hold of on PS2, but it has since been ported to the PSP.