Doing what Nintendo has done not did, Atlus took it upon themselves and released what basically amounts to NES The Legend of Zelda HD with 3D Dot Game Heroes. A title that places you in the role of savior in a world all too happy to have its tongue firmly in cheek.

And it works for it. Mostly because it is basically a parody game that can be rightly described as a -- gasp! -- comedy.

You can create whatever character you wish out of poking and manipulating dots in 3D space, but for you to get to the truest sense of 3DDGH, I suggest you use Gamespy's approved Link custom character model.

Dialogue, story cliches, overworld quirks, screen to screen pauses, one-hit enemies, and even dungeons are directly ripped from Zeldas past in 3DDGH. All represented in the best way they could when transferred to an isometric, 3D world. Annoyances included.

The biggest annoyance being every time you don't know exactly where you're supposed to be heading next! 3D Dot Game Heroes follows Zelda logic right from the start.

"You need to first get the bow to pass through here." Well, where's the frickin' bow, old man?!

If you enjoyed aimlessly wandering in Link's original NES adventure, you'll find more to love here. I, on the other hand, am still debating if the nostalgia kick is enough to stave me off from rage-quitting and throwing the disc out the window.

As they did with Half-Minute Hero last year, Atlus continues to prove that they are willing to play with genre conventions with 3D Dot Game Heroes -- just be prepared to take some sour with your sweet.