It’s hard to believe that nearly two years ago, I wrote the first exclusive preview of Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons for Co-Optimus. A 3D remake of the classic Double Dragon II arcade game, it seemed destined to revive the historic beat-em-up franchise after years of inactivity. Korean game developer Gravity Co, Ltd. and publisher Barunson Creative Co Ltd. understood the series’ importance in the gaming landscape and found the second game’s story most exciting, hence their decision to remake it for modern audiences.

Capcom's announcement of Ducktales Remastered during PAX East has had the internet ablaze this weekend, but the other game they announced was more exciting from a co-op perspective. We already reported that Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara would be coming to XBLA and PSN last week, and now it's official. Plus it will arrive on the Wii U and PC, making it easy for everybody who's anybody to experience Capcom's finest beat-em-ups.

Back in August, Xbox Live's Major Nelson let slip that the long-requested but previously unannounced online co-op mode for Scott Pilgrim: vs. The World would actually be coming. Legions of comic and beat-em-up fans rejoiced... until the 'Online Multiplayer Wallace Pack' was pushed back to an undisclosed date less than two weeks later. At last, that date has been revealed: February 5th on PSN and the 6th on XBLA. Surely Major Nelson and Ubisoft aren't kidding this time, right?

Indie PC game Orion: Dino Beatdown is a co-op shooter filled with fantastic ideas like pitting space dudes against dinosaurs. Unfortunately, the actual game had so many awkward design decisions and mistakes, it felt like the developers hadn't played a FPS game in the last five years. After debuting to scathing reviews like our own, Orion received one major update - but the PR damage had already been done. Rather than continue cooking a dead turkey, developer Spiral Game Studios has decided to start fresh (after a fashion) by releasing a sequel: Orion: Dino Beatdown - Jurassic Edition.

We've been following rumors of Resident Evil: Revelations coming to Xbox 360 since November last year, and those rumors have finally turned to fact. Resident Evil Revelations: Unveiled Edition is officially coming to Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii U on May 21st. it will bring enhanced visuals, a new harder difficulty, a new enemy, and lots of enhancements to the co-op Raid mode. Could this be the Resident Evil game console owners have been clamoring for?

Microsoft's Game Room service for Xbox 360 and PC showed a ton of potential. Gamers could purchase individual arcade and console games from within a snazzy client and play them via the magic of legal emulation. Sadly, most of the games were just plain old as opposed to classics, and Microsoft stopped releasing games just as things were starting to pick up. Conspicuously absent were Capcom's phenomenal arcade games... But now Capcom's set to launch its own emulation client, Capcom Arcade Cabinet: Retro Game Collection.

After Marvel’s Avengers movie broke bundles of box office records, fans naturally wondered at the lack of a tie-in game. Ubisoft saw an opportunity and quickly announced their own motion-controlled game titled Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth. With such a rushed development schedule and its licensed nature, the quality of the game obviously comes into question. But seeing its array of Marvel characters and co-op, we had to give it a shot.

Back in November we reported that Resident Evil: Revelations would likely be coming to the Xbox 360 in the near future. The evidence came from the Korean ratings board, which often rates games before they're officially announced. If that wasn't enough proof, Xbox360Achievements.org has recently published the game's full Achievement list... So yeah, it's only a matter of time before the former 3DS exclusive pops up on consoles. We thought the original version had some fine co-op, so this is certainly great news.

Last year's Happy Action Theater wasn't exactly a traditional game, but that's one reason why it succeeded with the Kinec's non-traditional controls. Less than a year after the first installment, Double Fine returns with the more understandably titled Kinect Party. We can safely assume that just about every Kinect owner grabbed it for free oover the holidays, so the question becomes: does Kinect Party provide a better co-op experience and improve on its predecessor's handful of shortcomings?

See those kids hopping about in front of a studio made up to look like the perfect living room? They are playing Kinect Nat Geo TV Season Two, baby! And you can too, because the sequel/add-on to the original Kinect Nat Geo TV is now available to download on Xbox 360. This season promises eight more episodes of nature-themed education mixed with motion-controlled minigames, plus a new host: Brady Barr of Dangerous Encounters.

It seems like we've been waiting ages for Crimson Dragon, the spiritual successor to SEGA's cult-favorite Panzer Dragoon series. Since Microsoft hasn't shared news on the game in more than half a year, the universe seemingly took it upon itself to throw us a bone: the game's PAX East 2012 demo recently leaked on the Japanese Xbox 360 Marketplace, along with a handful of DLC. We didn't get a chance to grab the demo before it was pulled, but the footage we share with you now is the next best thing.

It's a bit early to call the year's best of, worst of, etc. But anyone who has played the original Zeno Clash might expect its sequel to end up just as bizarre looking, if not even weirder. Well, thanks to a new batch of screenshots from Atlus, we know Zeno Clash II is indeed one different looking game. Sure, something more bizarre could come along, but t would take some strange minds to do it. Even then, would such a hypothetical game feature drop-in, drop-out co-op like this one? Highly unlikely!

Day Z clone War Z has been through some rough times lately. The game launched on Steam in a buggy and unfinished state, prompting numerous customer complaints and the raising of pitchforks and torches. This culminated in War Z being pulled from Steam. Throughout the whole process, the game's creator Sergey Titov  behaved in a manner that many gamers consider to be arrogant and dishonest. Apparently the game's initially brisk sales had gone to his head. But all that's behind him now, according to an apology letter he recently sent out to players.

As our resident beat-em-up enthusiast, I am of course highly stoked for Japanese developer 5pb’s upcoming brawler Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds. Since its announcement, we’ve known Battle Grounds would feature 4-player co-op, but details were scarce – partially because the tiny developer doesn’t seem to have an English-speaker on staff. At last they have released a couple of trailers highlighting the game’s cooperative and competitive modes, so now we know what to expect!

It's usually bad news when a downloadable game gets delisted. Even the worst games have their proponents (*cough* Kung Fu Strike). But today I report that Double Fine's Happy Action Theater (which I loved) has been removed from XBLA with no hard feelings or sense of remorse. You see, the recently released Kinect Party (pictured) contains all of HAT's content for exactly the same price. Since the sequel makes the original game basically defunct, I previously speculated that HAT would get delisted or dropped in price. Always bank on my predictions, people!