The PS4 and the Xbox One may be grabbing all the headlines right now, but there's a vast world of games that we'll be leaving behind by upgrading to the new consoles. Neither of the new consoles are backwards compatible, meaning that once you trade in your Xbox 360 or PS3, you're leaving all of those old games and memories behind in favor of systems that, frankly, don't have a lot going on between now and next March. 

There's downtime to fill, and never has there been a better time to fill in some of the gaps from the last generation. Hundreds of amazing games were released over the last seven years across all consoles and handhelds. Do yourself a favor and catch up on the following fantastic games before you let your old consoles go.

DmC - Devil May Cry

This one only came out in January, but was promptly ignored by many fans of the series because of the drastic changes it made to series protagonist Dante and the vibes of his world. If our near-perfect review wasn't enough to convince you that maybe these changes were for the better, then only hands-on time with the game will. You can still rent this one from GameFly, or wait for a Steam Sale to grab it cheap. Everything from the visuals to the story to the gameplay is a vast improvement on DMC 4, and as the current gen finally fades away we'll be looking back on DmC as one of its finest character action games.

Rayman Legends

Another recent title, the ebulient Rayman Legends has sadly already been delcared a disappointment by publisher Ubisoft. Luckily, next-gen adopters will get another chance to right their wrongs and throw money into Michel Ancel's pockets; the game is coming to the PS4 and the Xbox One next year. Still, there's no excuse to wait. Rayman Legends is pure, 2D platforming perfection that will go down with the absolute best of the genre.

Shelter

Shelter was a quiet little indie title about badgers. It released in August, and while we're not certain of the game's sales (or lack thereof), something like this typically appeals to a niche audience and flies under the mainstream radar. That largely seems to have been the case with Shelter, too, but this game deserves more of the spotlight. Playing as an animal, caring for your young, and escaping hazards like raging wildfires and torrential floods is thrilling and, ultimately, touching in a way we've yet to see from other games.

Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe

Adult Swim has been on a roll with their indie-developed Steam games lately. Super House of Dead Ninjas and Volgarr the Viking are neat throwbacks to the challenging days of yore, but it was Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe that hooked us for the longest. This simple game puts players in the midst of a traditional falling block puzzle in which groups of three or more like-colored blocks must be matched to be destroyed. The catch is that you are actually playing as a character inside of the puzzle, and if you let a block fall on your head, or fall through to the bottom of the level, you'll die. The only way to break blocks or earn power-ups is to blast them with your gun. Things get even more frantic in the two-player mode, in which players can test out the game's multiple characters and their unique powers.

Tokyo Jungle

Tokyo Jungle will be looked back upon very fondly by a certain niche of the PlayStation Network audience, and was unfortunately looked over by the rest. A survival game at its core, Tokyo Jungle casts you as an animal attempting to survive in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo. This means avoiding predators, finding food and water, and collecting samples to find out what went wrong in Tokyo. A quirky sense of humor drives the morbid action forward, and a rougelike-lite progression system adds high stakes to each encounter.

Valkyria Chronicles

Valkyria Chronicles was one of the only (if not the only) big budget strategy RPGs for consoles this generation. It failed to attract a mass audience on the PS3, and thus moved on to the PSP where it flourished in Japan. However, that original game still remains a compelling tale told with beautiful visuals and solid strategic gameplay. Valkyria Chronicles places heavy emphasis on positioning and pre-planning - if an enemy moves within your sights, even on their turn, your characters will open fire, so you'll have to take firing angles into account at all times. 

Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure

Half puzzle game, half platformer, Henry Hatsworth was all fun when it released several years ago on the Nintendo DS. It only sold around 20,000 copies in its first month and quickly faded into obscurity following that, but the game marks a rare and successful attempt by publisher EA at breaking out of the AAA mold they've since fallen so deeply into. Managing the puzzles on the lower screen, which would impact the platforming level on the upper screen (and vice versa), was a challenge that forced you to rewire your brain.

Bulletstorm

Bulletstorm distilled the first-person shooter down to the very core of what's fun about it - getting awesome kills with awesome guns. With just your slide kick, a whip, and a sweet arsenal of weapons, the game tasked you with achieving hundreds of "Skill Kills," each of which had their own name and XP values associated with them. A surprisingly down-to-earth story was masked by juvenile humor and bombastic gunplay, but there was never a moment where Bulletstorm wasn't satisfying and fun to play.

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbados' Treasure

One of the Wii's earliest titles, Zack & Wiki was also one of its first financial disappointments. Publisher/developer Capcom used the Wii remote to its fullest with plenty of puzzles that required specific positioning or movement of the controller. Bright and beautiful graphics called to mind The Wind Waker, and a lighthearted sense of humor kept the game moving at a good clip. Unfortunately, the game failed to capture a wide audience and slipped into obscurity.

Vanquish

In a similar vein to Bulletstorm, Vanquish emphasized fast, skill-based gunplay, but this time from a third-person perspective. The cross breed of Gears of War and Bayonetta, Platinum's Vanquish was a deadly bullet ballet that shouldn't be missed by action fans. Its thrills come not from pre-scripted setpieces, but rather from your own mastery of skill and timing.

Folklore

One of the PS3's earliest exclusives was not without issue, but its beautifully macabre worlds and its fun, Pokemon-style capturing system made up for what the gameplay itself lacked in panache. A sequel to Folklore could've been truly incredible, but for now we're left with this - an original game that has established itself as a classic in its own right to a certain group of players. It's worth playing through Folklore just to soak in its unique visuals and atmosphere, which are experienced from two different perspectives with differing movesets over the course of the game.

Culdcept Saga

Culdcept Saga was an odd duck of an Xbox 360 exclusive. Its deep, card-base mechanics lent themselves better to handheld gameplay, at least in this reporter's opinion, but the fact that the game remains at full price all these years after its release is testament to how skillfully the Magic/Monopoly mashup was pulled off. This addictive and complex card game has enough content to absorb your life for weeks.

Resistance 3

After an uneven start in Resistance: Fall of Man and a polarizing sequel in Resistance 2, the Resistance series wasn't at the forefront of most gamers' minds, even those who were confined to only a PS3. That makes Resistance 3 all the more of a shame, because it's easily the best game of the franchise, and the one that most clearly nails the oldschool sci-fi invasion vibe that Insomniac had been trying to achieve for years. The story is bleak, the characters are realistic and believable, and the graphics are gorgeous. There's four-player co-op and even a pretty solid multiplayer mode - albeit one that's been barren for a year or more. If you've got a PS3, you don't have much of an excuse to miss this one for any longer.

Eternal Sonata

The secret best JRPG of this generation, Eternal Sonata wowed those who played it on the Xbox 360 and PS3 with its stunning and ethereal visuals, powerful classical soundtrack, and unique battle system - a hybrid of turn-based and real-time gameplay that managed to achieve the best of both worlds with none of the baggage. The combat continuously evolved over the course of the game, as did the story and the world itself. This is one of those games that you could just leave on and stare at for a while - something that developer Tri-Crescendo established as a company trademark with the awesome Baiten Kaitos games. If you have even a passing interest in JRPGs, check out Eternal Sonata. It'll capture your imagination.

Jeanne D'Arc

Jeanne D'Arc was developer Level 5's attempt at breaking into the strategy/RPG genre, and while it was a resoundingly successful one, it didn't find purchase with a massive audience on the PSP. The game's flexible customization systems, which allowed you to mold your characters into the exact type of fighters you wanted thanks to the absence of a rigid class system, was a brilliant re-evaluating of classic tropes. Also brilliant was the story, which used the beats of the classic Joan of Arc mythology as a framework for an unpredictable and, at times, tragic ride.