Lurker > tazzyboyishere

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Sonic 2

It is, thanks!

ARC 90s:
+3 Radiant Silvergun
+2 Tekken 3
+2 Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters
+1 Mega Man: The Power Battle
+1 Hydro Thunder
+1 Cyber Troopers Virtual-On

TG16
+3 Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
+2 Soldier Blade
+2 Ys: Book I & II
+1 Alien Crush
+1 Devils Crush
+1 Blazing Lazers
+1 Chew-Man-Fu
+1 Silent Debuggers
+1 Gradius II: Gofer no Yabou
+1 Bonk's Adventure

Haven't started on PCE yet, could you just delete the initial post?

ARC 90s:
+3 Radiant Silvergun
+2 Tekken 3
+2 Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters
+1 Mega Man: The Power Battle
+1 Hydro Thunder
+1 Cyber Troopers Virtual-On

TG16
+3 Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
+2 Soldier Blade
+2 Silent Debuggers
+1 Alien Crush
+1 Devils Crush
+1 Blazing Lazers
+1 Chew-Man-Fu
+1 Ninja Spirit
+1 The Legendary Axe
+1 Bonk's Adventure

Been in the process of moving BTW, so sorry for being pretty late on any questions or clarifications. I'm tallying everything rn

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

If I attempted a Genesis list it would probably just be a ranking of all the games included in "Sonic Mega Collection Plus" on PS2.

As far as 90s arcade I really want to give a strong shoutout to Aqua Rush (1999), one of my favorite leser-known games that I've discovered in the past few years. But I don't think I can even formulate a list. And is it really fair for me to drop a +3 with no other games listed? (Wait, is it? I did that with one game in the SNES topic and nobody said anything)

Both of these are okay and even very cool things to do

Fluttershy_Pony posted...

Oh hey, I supported this one too, though I used the US name of Galaga '90.

...Not interesting, just pointing out that they're the same game so tazzy doesn't need to try to research that.

Good to know!

Last Battle -T260G-
The Grand Finale

Zylothewolf posted...

Mega Man: The Wily Wars

Sorry this is so late, but compilations aren't allowed

again

UshiromiyaEva posted...

The system is in place so a level 120 character will have almost the same challenge as a level 300 character. Honestly it's amazing how well it works!

Yeah I was very asked that my level 180 character was doing almost no damage to a boss, so it makes a lot more sense now.

Imagine posting something so cringe in your late 30s.

Anyway, I beat the jar dungeon. Quite fun! I now have a jar head

Oh, turns out I need to collect items to upgrade my damage output and defense, so I guess that's not as bad as I was initially thinking. Kind of annoying but if I treat it like starting a brand new game, it's easier to swallow.

up

Half-Life 2

Gotten to two bosses so far and think both are extremely bad, so my excitement has dropped immensely unfortunately.

Got the DLC ready and even set up my main game to get Chaos ending once I'm done, since I just need that for the plat

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

pjbasis posted...

+5 Sonic the Hedgehog
+4 Sonic the Hedgehog 2
+3 Streets of Rage 2
+3 Golden Axe

I think these are the ones games I played or at least remember playing.

Just checking, you didn't use a +4, is that want you want?

Yeah, given this has such low participation and nobody offering writeups, it'll probably be a brief list topic. Gives the writing team some time to rest, though I might post more of the reviews I've written for any games I've already written about.

up

Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap

I do contract work so I could've taken the day off, but didn't realize how close it was in time.

Someone requested that side lists be posted in the topic and I thought sure, why not. Feel free to put side lists into this topic. If you already sent me a list via PM, you don't have to post again, unless you want to create discussion or something.

I expected participation to drop but dang.

Combat

+5 Contra: Hard Corps
+4 Sonic the Hedgehog 2
+4 Shining Force II
+3 OutRun 2019
+3 M.U.S.H.A.
+3 Wonder Boy in Monster World
+2 Castlevania: Bloodlines
+2 Sonic 3 & Knuckles
+2 Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
+2 Rocket Knight Advntures
+1 Battle Mania Daiginjou
+1 Advanced Busterhawk Gleylancer
+1 The Revenge of Shinobi
+1 Ristar
+1 Streets of Rage 2
+1 Phantasy Star II
+1 Phantasy Star IV
+1 Gunstar Heroes
+1 Shining Force
+1 Sonic the Hedgehog

Firmly in the camp of Elden Ring being too hard, so if the DLC truly is the hardest I might not be that into it.

Up

I am Groot

The Simpsons

Yeah, S3&K will just be one

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80791517

I will also be running two top ten side lists: ARCADE (1990s) and TURBOGRAFX-16/PC ENGINE + CD.

Format:
+3
+2
+2
+1
+1
+1
+1
+1
+1
+1

Same rules apply. Please PM me on GameFAQs or on Discord if you know me there.

Remodeling

I'll try to remember to vote in the others later

Idk how much longer I can keep gushing. The writeups took a lot out of me this time around lol

It won't be finished for a while, but here is the total stats heet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18sFKVDrf_ePBTV8Y9T8-J7PPUc_yBV4NhgRLPK0JbbE/edit?usp=sharing

Gonna try to remember to put this in the opening posts from now on...

I'll get started on the total stats sheet during my downtime at work today, that way yall can see how narrow the bottom spots truly were!!

Once again, huge thanks to everyone who participated and extra big thanks to those who submitted writeups! Genesis/Sega CD/32X is next tomorrow!

#1. Chrono Trigger (1995)
Total Points: 133
List Appearances: 40
First Place Votes: 9
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/4/4902f476.jpg

Write-up provided by MacArrowny
There are lots of games that have something special about them. However, when it comes to Chrono Trigger, everything is special, thanks in no small part to the "dream team" that made it. Getting a bunch of the genre's greatest talents together to make a game is pretty much unheard of nowadays, and it was still an incredible feat even back then. The game is beautiful. Dragon Quest games also used Toriyama as an artist, but none of them look nearly as good in-game as CT does. The music is outstanding. This is Yasunori Mitsuda's first big OST, and he pushed himself so hard he was hospitalized, leaving Uematsu to finish things up. While this is unfortunate for the man, we're left with one of the greatest soundtracks on the system, and indeed, one of the greatest ever. Rather than featuring random battles the game has enemies on the map, a more engaging encounter system that most JRPGs wouldn't embrace until two generations later. The gameplay has all the little things people like about the SNES Final Fantasy games, but with the perk of fun innovations like Double and Triple techs.

Gameplay and story are woven together by the focus on time travel, which is executed perfectly. Changing things in the past to prevent a bad future is awesome. The side quests that take advantage of this are great. Traveling to the future to see what happened is mind-blowing. And then, once you beat the game, it has New Game+, a system that lets you carry over your stats to beat it again and again, with different endings depending on when you fight the last boss. I suspect that for many people, Chrono Trigger is one of their most replayed games, because the NG+ system makes it so easy and addictive. The story and characters are no slouch either, with every member of the party having their fanbase, especially the archenemies Magus and Frog. Zeal's one of the best sequences in any RPG, and what happens their shocked everyone who played the game. All that's in a quickly paced package, with as much going on as games twice its length, resulting in an experience where you're always being treated to exciting moments. I doubt there'll ever be a game like Chrono Trigger again, but I'm happy we at least get to enjoy this masterpiece, if nothing else.

#2. Final Fantasy VI (1994)
Total Points: 109
List Appearances: 35
First Place Votes: 8
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/6280dfe3.jpg

Write-up provided by Lopen
Theres one thing every RPG fan can agree on-- Square was cookin with RPGs on the SNES. For me, Final Fantasy VI is the one that stood above the rest on the console. There was just something about how it all clicked together that was magical.

On the gameplay end, Final Fantasy VI was the first of the series, and frankly to this day one of the only RPGs that hits a good balance of customization (in relics and magicite) while preserving the individuality between the characters with their special skill sets and distinctive stat lines, as well as letting you choose most of your party most of the time to use the team you want. Yes, you can eventually have everyone learn every spell if you grind, but in a normal playthrough this won't come up until the very end. It also has a really nice balance of keeping you on rails to explore the world while giving you some freedom on the exact order you do things-- some people think the second half is a drop off point for the game, and your results may vary, but I liked how it portrayed what it was going for and would change it pretty minimally.

I don't want to get into a huge story dump here but I'll just say the cast and worldbuilding stands above other RPGs of the era in terms of depth and personality, and the story has its share of twists and turns, so while it doesn't have the perfect pacing of certain other favorites of the era, it's without a doubt the RPG story of the time I personally find most compelling and memorable.

I think the nomination system gets rid of SFF for the most part, but I suppose the results are a bit more predictable then.

I'm baffled Super Metroid finished ahead of both ALttP AND SMW. Good shit

Metroid

#3. Super Metroid (1994)
Total Points: 92
List Appearances: 31
First Place Votes: 5
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/79dfb1d6.jpg

Write-up provided by tazzyboyishere
Relatively few games from the 1990s can claim to have aged so well that playing them in the current era requires little to no adjustment in the expectation of playability. Even fewer games from the 1990s can claim to set the standard for their genre. And of course, there are only a small percentage of those games which continue to BE the standard for their genre 30 years later. Super Metroid is the standard for the search action (aka Metroidvania) genre.

The first two Metroid games, on the NES and GB specifically, were highly ambitious experimentations of the platforming genre. The end result was a bit messy in both cases, for their own particular reasons. I feel it's safe to say this was not due to a lack of talent, rather a disparity between ambition and technical limitations. I think this is part of the reason why so many struggle to return to those entries, despite their satisfying gameplay loops when you're able to adjust your expectations. Outside of some awkward button mapping, again a result of technical limitation, Super Metroid plays just as well as modern search action titles. Hell, it plays better than a majority of them, possibly all of them. It does this through incredible map design, steady progression of strength, and unnerving atmosphere. This is gonna be a bit rambly, but I do want to talk about each part of these individually.

If the first Metroid was a game about being lost and alone (It was), Super Metroid is a game about pretending to be lost and alone. The first hour or two of the game, depending on your play style, is quite linear. There's a certain order a new player will go through the various biomes of Planet Zebes. The player slowly comes to grips with the twisting structure of the map, the variety of weaponry at disposal, and the floaty platforming. As you build Samus into the warrior the games tell us she is, the game is slowly and comfortably guiding you into learning its rules, so that when you get to the point where the game opens up, virtually all of the tools and tricks you need are a part of your repertoire. Once the game does become more non-linear, the scariness of such an adventure has ideally melted away.

This is amplified by how quickly you gain power-ups. A lot of modern search action games have pretty slow openings, with very gradual, almost sluggish growth. Not the case with Super Metroid. You are constantly barraged with new movement options, beam types, subweapons, and suit variations super quickly. Its constantly reshaping how you view each individual room and the combat encounters therewithin. Not to mention how perfectly the game is structured to force you into retreading areas in order to progress to new places and unlock bonus upgrades littered throughout the map.

And everything Ive just said about progression can be thrown out of the window on a second playthrough, because youll have likely learned some hidden tech, that being wall-jumping and shinesparking. The first of which you can use from the first frame of the game. These techniques completely change the landscape of the game, as they allow for access of areas you will need special abilities for without them.Wall jumping alone will allow you to get a ton of upgrades well before the traditional path. And Im not talking about glitches you can perform to mess with the games sequencing. Im talking about intended mechanics the game simply doesnt tell you about. They arent required to beat the game (Unless you fall into a pit in an optional room where some NPCs teach you), so its entirely possible to never figure out about them. And I would imagine quite a few people didnt on their first playthroughs! I certainly didnt. Finding out what a shinespark was years down the road was fucking mindblowing. Especially since I played multiple other Metroids not knowing about it. All of those confusing parts of my childhood with unreachable speed booster blocks suddenly clicked. Crazy stuff.

None of this could be accomplished to the degree they are without the impeccable atmosphere the game curates. The term dripping with atmosphere is one I try to avoid using because it sounds a bit lame, but there are only like, 7 games I can say that for. Super Metroid is one of them. It immediately sinks its teeth in the title screen as a camera pans through scenes of a recent Space Pirate attack on a research facility. A chilling track plays in the background as youre shown dead bodies on cold, metallic floorscapes, eventually centering on the titular Metroid. Soon after beginning the game, in this same facility, you come across this room. It looks exactly the same, but the Metroid is missing. Searching further, you come face-to-face with Ridley, who is much bigger than he was on the NES. He retreats from battle and the ship gets set to self-destruct. What a fucking start! It goes from creepy to scary to shocking to intense in like, 4 minutes tops. The only downside is the unskippable narration from Samus at the beginning of the game, which is way too long tbqh.

Further areas continue this trend, whether it be the dense jungle maze that is upper Brinstar, the cramped corridors of lower Brinstar, the intense action in Norfair, or the stressful yet serene Maridia. The game is constantly doing what it can to evoke intense feelings, and its all jammed into such a small package. Zebes isnt that big, especially when compared to some of the maps you see in search action games today. Every room has meaning and value in Super Metroid. The color palette is quite dark in order to assert dread. Similarly, sounds in the game have this almost fuzzy quality to them, never bombastic until it needs to be, always lying in wait until those blaring tones hit when something crazy happens. The soundtrack contributes to the mood with some downright juicy tunes. They are all incredible in their own specific ways, so Im not gonna highlight them (especially since a decent chunk dont really work out of context) other than my two favorites: The Brinstar themes. They both kick ass out of context and kick even more ass in context.

The problem with discussing a game as highly respected and analyzed as Super Metroid is that I dont think Ive said anything new about it. Usually I try to supplement it with personal anecdotes from my life which the game reminded me of, or how the helped me through a period of time, either through playing it or thinking about it. But I legitimately cant do that with Super Metroid. Sure, I can say it evokes a special type of joy which few games have been able to achieve, but Super Metroid got there without needing to handle any particularly special baggage. Its just a masterpiece of a game that I continue to return to over the years. Its crazy how no game has really comfortably topped this within the 2D search action genre. I like Hollow Knight better, but its still a much messier game. Super Metroid is legitimately peak gaming, and even Nintendo has been unable to replicate its quality.

#4. Super Mario World (1990)
Total Points: 87
List Appearances: 32
First Place Votes: 5
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8e2a3bfa.jpg

Write-up provided by ctesjbuvf
To best share how much I love this game, I will do a mix of gaming analysis and personal anecdotes, but mostly the latter. I don't think there exists any video game that has defined my gaming career to the same degree as Super Mario World. My earliest memories are playing Mario games on my dad's consoles. I sometimes wonder if I have preferred video games over movies and books due to my inability to sit completely still or if I I have developed an ability to sit still due to growing up with a controller in hand.

Super Mario World holds a special place in this regard. I started playing this at the age of 2 years old and first beat the game at the age of 3. This sounds crazy to me now, but a kid as I was years ahead in intelligence and ability in general although the world caught up to me at some point. Anyway, this achievement made my then 29-year-old dad a good mix of proud and annoyed because he could not beat it. Platformers were never really his thing, but still, that really made me proud. I was meant to play Mario.

I always preferred this above the other Mario games, and I have played them all countless times. I think World is the best of them and I always have. I get the arguments for 3, which is also a top 20 maybe 10 game for me to this day, and they're often compared, but to me World tops it. I think both Yoshi and cape are great additions that really allow you to to get creative with how to progress levels. Yes, you can also basically skip many levels using them, but it doesn't hold the game down a bit for me, it's very easy to not do and that anyone can get through most non-castles/ghost houses by flying over everything takes nothing from my joy of playing through them regularly.

I actually really appreciate Nintendo giving this option for easy progress rather than being in your face about lowering difficulty if you slip a few times as the newer games do. The use of the colored blocks is another great way to achieve this. Getting them doesn't feel like you are making things too easy, but you can really challenge yourself if you ignore them. In general, the game knows when to be challenging and when not to. It really has the perfect balance of this that allows any player to have a good time, which is what gaming is all about.

There are no low points of the game as I see it. All worlds are quite equal in variety. I wish more Mario games would replicate this design. By not grouping all water levels (or later dessert, snow or whatever) together, gameplay doesn't ever take a dip for any duration of the game, the flow is perfect. I mean, thematically the worlds still differ but by keeping the core concept the same, they are all strong.

Finding secrets is also an excellent new mainstay, which also encourages you to not just jump to the end as fast as possible! Dragon Coins serve a similar purpose even if the game doesn't keep track of them. Levels feel less linear and some of the secrets are very difficult to find. The castles and ghost houses are peak gaming. They are probably the best levels from a challenge perspective, while ghost houses excel at both challenge and exploration. These is also when you can't get help from Yoshi. The design philosophy here is more about enemy placement and perfect jumping. The boss battles are more diverse than previously despite there being some repeats. The battle with Bowser is also way better than in 3.

There are secret worlds that combines the best aspects of the game. Sure, some of the levels there are gimmicky, but the atmosphere is fantastic. Most people can save the princess, but the greatest satisfaction isn't given from that. Rather it's hidden for those who put themselves to the test the most. Getting through the special world is the true climax that gives you a greater moment of satisfaction than Mario (or really Nintendo) had done up until that point. The simplicity of Nintendo telling you in coins that You Are a Superstar is a perfect way of telling you that you had achieved everything they had to offer and mastered their game.

I have probably played the game at least once a year since the age of 3. Sometimes it's just the fastest route to Bowser, mostly it's taking some hours off to get all 96 exits. I got the Game Boy Advance remake at some point and now then I would play it a ton on the go as well. I could now also easily beat it on the car drive to our family on the other side of the country. To this day, running through the aforementioned coins at the end still make me smile, every time. This game is comfort, it's a home I can walk into and it (along with the franchise in general) has defined the person I am. Nostalgia is obviously big for me here, but lots of things I'm as nostalgic about I basically never revisit, this holds up perfectly and is enjoyable every single time.

Speaking of nostalgia, as I kid I really wanted to be Mario, be the hero. I played Mario all the time and when I couldn't on consoles I played Mario at the playground instead. My grandmother cared to humor me and my kiddy ideas more than anyone else and so she was always Luigi, but all my family members were designated some character. My mother has embarrassing memories of me introducing myself to her friends and people we met as Mario because she did not want them to think she named her kid that. My grandmother would follow up by introducing herself as Luigi, she really let me be in my own Super Mario world. When I lost this grandmother only a couple of months ago, I was devastated because of how close we were as I grew up, even then my whole family remarked that I had lost my Luigi. It really speaks volumes about how much this universe was a part of me.

Countless pictures of me in a Mario costume exist. Even as a adult too actually, my current Facebook profile pic is exactly this, as I was part of an organizer team for welcoming new students some years back. When video games was chosen as the theme for the trip, I just had to be Mario, anything else wouldnt feel right. My GameFAQs account will turn into a ?-Block maybe right as you are reading this, maybe in a few days, either way its very fitting. I also can't ever vote against Mario in character battles despite better characters existing, it's a different parameter, and it's hard for me to compare Mario to anything else.

I sometimes wonder how good I could have gotten at Super Mario World if I stuck more to that instead of playing most games possible. I mean, I know it in and out, but I think I could compete for records if I dedicated myself, I have been close enough honestly. This is typical me though, I want to experience as much different stuff as possible. I'm generally good at whatever I do but because I want to do too many things, I'm also generally never the best at any of it. Standard jack-of-all-traits kind of guy. You know who else is typically depicted that way? Mario. It's really full circle, and I like to think about it that way whenever I'm frustrated I didn't spend more time on something.

I realize some of this personal stuff isn't fully linked to SMW but rather the franchise in general, but it was without a doubt this game that really cemented it and it's the game that pops up when I think of myself like that. Completing this game in particular is the earliest achievement I remember feeling, it's the one I played and enjoyed the most and it's the one I will play if I ever want to be Mario. It may or may not be the best game ever to me, that depends on the day. However, I seriously doubt that any game will mean more to me and influence my life more than the timeless classic that is Super Mario World.