Ninja Gaiden is freakin' awesome. It takes like a day just to beat some souped up heavily armored machine crazy helicopter!
I'm on a Ratchet and Clank 2 craze right now. I can't get enough of it. It may be only a "platform" game, but it seriously has everything. There are parts where you hack and slash, fight in your spaceship, grind down railings, hang-glide, snipe enemies, and you build up your life and your weapons as you go on...just like an RPG. I highly recommend this game, the replay value is incredible.
No, I've never seen that, I've never seen anyone drive their garbage out to the curb and bang the hell out of it with a stick.