Lots of great suggestions here. I had no idea the developers of the AWESOME Mark Of Kri and Rise Of The Kasai are doing Splatterhouse...interest level is now up!
imma repeat some and add some more:
-PN03 (GC)- Already mentioned, it's an awesome shooter more along the lines of a top-down shoot-em-up than a third person action game. Lots of replay value.
-Beach Spikers (GC)- Sega arcade awesomeness; think Virtua Tennis-style game play with Virtua Fighter 4 quality visuals. Looks fantastic and plays just as well.
-Rally Shox (PS2)- Like DCharlie said, this is one of the best rally racers out there. Probably my all-time favorite, in fact.
-Freekstyle (GC/PS2)- Not quite as good an EA BIG game as SSX or Shox, but still worth checking out. Think SSX with dirtbikes, although not as crazy. The GC version is better.
-Mark Of Kri and Rise Of The Kasai (PS2)- Two excellent action games with a unique combat style that makes fighting multiple enemies at a time a breeze. Has a unique "Pacific Islander" Maori/Samoa tribal feel to it. I actually need to play through most of the original and beat Rise Of The Kasai, come to think of it...
-Champions Of Norrath and Champions Return To Arms (PS2)- Snowblind's "sequels" to Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance. The second game is pretty much more of the same, but you can import your character, making for one long, satisfying loot-filled "console Diablo"-like experience.
-Haunting Ground (PS2)- Survival Horror from the same people who made Clocktower. The twist from normal is that you have no real way to attack, so you have to run away and/or hide from the enemy.
-Kinetica (PS2)- An interesting take on the racing genre. You pick from various characters wearing wheeled armor, and can do dance-like trick maneuvers when racing.
-Arcana Heart (PS2)- An all-girl "doujin" style 2D fighter from EXAMU, who made Samurai Shodown 5 and Special for SNK previously. The sequel is hitting the PS2 in Japan in April.
-Mosquito (PS2)- A flying game where you play as the title's namesake. Avoid obstacles/human attackers and go for the blood! Also got a sequel; don't know if that came out in the U.S. though.
-Urban Reign (PS2)- Namco's beat-em-up featuring Paul and Law from Tekken. You'd think this would have been huge but it wasn't well-received at all. It's hard as hell but one of the few traditional (it's 2.5d) console beat-em-ups out there.
-Deathrow (Xbox)- So awesome. Wish it was BC. :'(
-Unreal Championship 2 (Xbox)- Combines Unreal Tournament's game play with third-person melee/fighting game-style mechanics. Really cool concept and very unique; it's also BC on 360 although I doubt anyone is still playing it online, sadly. I would MUCH prefer to see a sequel to this on 360 than another Gears Of War.
-Non-U.S. Releases-
-Sengoku Basara Series (PS2/Wii)- I've pimped this plenty of times on here before. This is Capcom's beat-em-up series set during the warring states era of feudal Japan, only unlike Koei's similar Samurai Warriors series, this game takes a more fantasy-oriented approach and is incredibly over-the-top CRAZY in its character designs and attacks. The series is also more linear than Koei's games; you follow set paths to the end of a level instead of fighting on large, open battlefields, but the trade-off is more enemy variety (including more crazy over-the-top midbosses and enemies) and better, more unique and colorful stage design. The first game in the series SUCKED IMO; it was brought over to the U.S. and had its story gimped (and playable characters REMOVED, WTF) under the name "Devil Kings," although I have read it got some game play improvements over the Japanese version. It's SB2 and its expansion SB2 Heroes that really shine. Capcom also got Arc System Works to develop a Guilty Gear-style 2D fighter for them (Basara X), although it didn't get the greatest home port and wasn't as well received as the next game on this list...
-Hokuto No Ken (PS2)- Arc's broken-but-fanboy-fun Guilty Gear-style 2D fighter. Gorgeous visuals and CHOCK FULL O' FANBOY SERVICE for Fist Of The Northstar fans. If you are a fan, you NEED to own this game, 'nuff said.
-OZ (PS2)- Interesting beat-em-up from Konami, where the main idea is to create huge juggle combos between your three characters. I own this but really haven't sunken much time into it, so maybe someone can provide a better description. This came out in Europe but I can't remember if it was under the same name or not.
-The Rumblefish (PS2)- A 2D fighter from Dimps (who actually worked on a bit of Street Fighter 4) that plays nicely but didn't do well enough to warrant a home version of its sequel. The PS2 version does have two characters from TRF2 though.
-Shinobido Series (PS2/PSP)- This is a ninja-stealth/action game from Acquire, the original Tenchu developers. The game never came out in the U.S., but did get an English release in Europe; ditto for the PSP version, which is a more linear title called "Shinobido Homura." Like the old Tenchu games, this game also contains a HUGE level editor, and an expansion was released in Japan featuring the best levels from fans. What's cool is that you can also import edit levels and play them on the PSP version!
