Lurker > Eddv

70.) Bloodstained Curse of the Moon 2 (Switch, 2020)


I am a big fan of the old style castlevania and unlike metroidvanias its sort of a dead genre. So when bloodstained started coming out with these Castlevania III ripoffs I was all in. They got this perfect. Each character handles ever so slightly differently.

Here each character has unique powers and powerups and the two player mode is surprisingly fun couch co-op.


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71.) Mega Man Maverick Hunter X (2006, Vita)



I was never a big fan of Mega Man X - I never had an SNES and was really more of a fan of classic mega man. But I am a big fan of the clever way in which Maverick Hunter X set things up. The stages are interconnected - you shut down Storm Eagles giant fans and suddenly Spark Mandrill's stage has all these changes.

I also really like the way that Vile mode and Zero mode make subtle changes to things. It also handled pretty well. All in all I was looking forward to the other 5 remakes but poor sales gonna be poor.

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And look Norman was an underrated worker but who would you rather learn from, him or Dustin?

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72.) Double Dragon Neon (2012, PS3)


Time for some Bimmy to Jimmy action! I am not exactly a PUN sized fan of shmups but as you can see from a couple items it is a genre I enjoy. Double Dragon Neon was an awesome example. The game just has a sense of style. The same sort of late 80s throwbacking that makes Cobra Kai such a success is on display in this one too. The various tapedecks contained special move secrets was a very cool touch and the game was legitimately pretty funny in places.

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Just shotgunned season 3.

Man these episodes are too short - I would watch this thing as an hourlong drama. I feel like there's so much more they could do.

Dmitri can go fuck off though, still.

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Ok hiatus is over let's do our

BIG THREE

First off we have our Promotion of the Year

There were a number of challenges to running during covid. Some companies handled this well. Some handled it like total crap!

Let's see which was which!

5.) AAA
Triplemania was a hell of a show capping off a chaotic year. Covid in Mexico has been somehow even less well-contained than it has been in the US. They adjusted first by doing warehouse shows with no crowd and then Auto-Luchas - a series of drive-in shows during the summer when things weren't quite as bad. But then even those got shut down. Their storylines got badly interrupted and botched. Doesn't matter. Still did their biggest show of the year and had Pagano and Chessman burn the house down in a fun show that included Chessman breaking a guitar over a Hugo Savinovich who bladed (poorly). They went with the philosophy that if they couldn't do dramatic shows, they may as well do fun shows, which is valid.

4.) Stardom
This was Stardom's first year under Bushiroad (the same parent company as NJPW). They brought in new talent and made new stars in Giulia and several of the Oedo Tai girls. Moreover, they gave Mayu Iwatani the ball and let her run with it. The result? Even though there was a pandemic on this was Stardom's most profitable year ever. By a shit load. During a pandemic.

3.) New Japan Pro Wrestling - NJPW
The first time New Japan has fallen this far since they began their climb in popularity on this board. What can we say? The storylines weren't great this year. EVIL and Dick Togo had a stranglehold on the main event scene all summer. Okada spent all summer fucking around with Yujiro and Yano.

2.) Dragon Gate
Dragon Gate basically decided to operate as though there wasn't a pandemic on. They've been in the midst of a long term rebuilding project attempting to create a new generation of stars to replace the ones they'd lost in CIMA and Shingo and finally were going to pull the trigger this year. Would the ascension of Eita and Shun Skywalker been better in front of fans? Sure. But Dragon Gate knew that they needed to move forward anyway and to make the most of their opportunity and they did it, bursting onto the scene.

1.) All Elite Wrestling - AEW
AEW won by a ton and for good reason - the reign of Jon Moxley and the slow burn build of Kenny Omega were the backbone of a promotion who managed to turn the pandemic into an opportunity to develop and master a specific house style under Tony Khan. Prior to the pandemic this promotion was on fire and looked ready to have a brand new mega-star in Hangman Page. And while covid did badly damage him it remains AEW feels like the fun promotion much like peak WCW. They have shows on cruise ships and beaches. They have specials where it snows in Florida. They didn't do everything right, but the show is pretty solid right now.

Dishonorable Mention - WWE
WWE got 1 5th place vote. It finished DEAD last in this vote. Even a completely dysfunctional CMLL got more love. On a board that was once WWE-centric or WWE-only.

What a fucking disgrace. And while WWE's problems aren't new covid related covid really made them stand out in new and exciting ways. The two most well-received wrestling matches they put on were two pre-recorded segments that really didn't feature any actual wrestling. The 2020 Royal Rumble and Sasha vs Bayley HIAC got fewer votes than the Boneyard match and I didn't even have it on the ballot. That's reflective of the hard truth - WWE doesn't do wrestling anymore. Or they do but it's just not the point. It's a thing they do to fill time between Bray Wyatt evil murder pedophile clown wizard variety hour time. There wasn't a single compelling wrestling angle they did all year. When covid happened they made the decision to do sterile no-crowd shows. Eventually they moved into Vinces's wet dream. The Thunderdome. a Fake crowd with fake crowd noise that he could control to tell HIS stories without having to adjust.

And they decided to mostly enter a holding pattern for MONTHS. When they did finally decide to move things forward there was no sense of drama, no milking the angle for what its worth. They teased Sasha and Bayley for like 5 years and blew it off with 3 matches in a one month span. No one is satisfied with what they're presenting. Even now with the Roman stuff, even people giving them a chance like Steiner were like "it's less shitty". Worst of all - now that Vince controls the crowd reactions why would he ever go back? They turned the fiend from heel to babyface. With a big heroic angle? A big change in his character? No. They just changed his piped in boos to piped in cheers. This is why this company fucking sucks now and I don't know what they can ever do to change.

Look at their performance up and down this award show. They had ONE positive placement - most improved for Roman Reigns. His second time placing in that category by the way.

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73.) Hitman 1&2 (2016 and 2018, PS4)

Borrowing from nick's playbook I am combining the two modern Hitman games - which are essentially the same game - into one big writeup. This is the first game where the episodic nature of its release really helped to enhance the product. The strength of Hitman as a game is the open-ended nature of the prompt. Every level has the same sort of growth to it. You learn first HOW to play the level and what its features are and then a find a way to execute your goals. If you're anything like me your first time through is bloody, messy and very obvious.

But since you got to spend some time with each level - without even the option of advancing to the next level yet thanks to the subscription model - you got a chance to savor the way each level was crafted and find all the various ways to crack it open. They even occasionally have special events in the levels that have to be solved differently because the new targets don't behave like the standard ones.

Amongst modern AAA games there is really just nothing like Hitman in terms of its scope and its attention to detail.

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74.) Dynamite Headdy (Genesis, 1994)


Treasure makes the absolute best obscure platformers that absolutely stand the test of time. This one features a puppet named Headdy who is off to save the puppet show from evil cats. The entire "this is all just a performance gone wrong" aspect infects everything about the presentation of this game.

As for the gameplay its a fast based shmup platformer similar in some ways to Kirby as you change out Headdy's...well head for other heads with special powers, like a heavy iron head or a fireball head etc. I think this is the stronger of their two genesis games, outclassing fellow Treasure classic gunstar heroes, but gunstar gets onto all the compilations and this one doesn't. What gives?

Anyway, this is a good bit of fun. If you love platformers give it a go.

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75.) Rock Band 2 (PS3, 2008)

Rock Band 2 had one of the all-time great hype campaigns. Rock Band 1 was great - the perfect answer to the constant want from Guitar Hero to have bass vocal and drums added to the package and me and my college buddies were absolutely addicts.

They brought their demo trailer out to just outside my dorm to promote the game like they were a rock band and even had a little set up where you could perform one of the demo songs (possibly my favorite from the whole game, Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun") and naturally I did that and still have the picture from it somewhere.

Anyway, the game actually had some musical depth to it and as a musical nerd that naturally appealed to me far more than the more streamlined Guitar Hero experience. One of the best party games ever.

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76.) Sonic 2 (1993, Genesis)

Not a ton to say here - Sonic 2 because Tails is awesome but not sonic and knuckles because I like the level design more in Sonic 2. I had sega consoles in this period so I have much stronger memories about the generic platformers for this platform instead of the other.

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77.) The Simpsons Arcade Game (Arcade, 1991)


This one is pure nostalgia. This was the game you raced to beat while you were at the bowling alley with your buds in the summer. And looking back on it the game is a simple little shmup that's not got a lot going on. But there is so much care put into it to make the thing feel so authentically simpsons. Marge going on a rampage with her vacuum to rescue Maggie from Smithers doesnt exactly feel like an episode of the simpsons but its still really fun.

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78.) Dark Souls 2 ( 2014 , PS3)



I realize this is the red-headed step child of the franchise but its also the only one I really got super into. Yeah ADP is a stupid mechanic and forcing you to spend build points getting your i frames up is silly but there is a lot of surprising depth to the way you can build things out with the various weapon types here. Once you master it, rapier and dueling dagger just feels so natural. Getting a feel for when to roll and when to parry.

And the story of Dark Souls 2 - the corruption of the once-great queen is so fucking good. The lore unfolds so slowly through the boss fights the way people claim it does in Shadow of the Colossus.

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79.) Dishonored (2015, PS4)



I suppose technically this game came out in 2012 but I didn't play the original version, I played the HD version of it and I really was quite taken with it. It commits itself to its world whole heartedly. As someone who doesn't usually care for steampunk this really impressed me. I think the reason why is that usually steampunk is the victorian noble experience repackaged. Here it was the grimy actual experience of living in the victorian age without that wealth brought to life.

The narrative was great, the sneaking aspect was very satisfying. Very good stealthy game - better than MGS and on a par with the Hitman games theyve put out lately.

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80) No More Heroes (Wii, 2010)


One of the few wii games to really just own how incredibly silly the wii's motion control gimmick was. It made you jerk off with that controller and really did not give one single shit whether you were okay with that - and that's fucking hysterical.

The gameplay here is really good with a real Kill Bill meets anime goofiness aesthetic as you work your way up the assassins rankings to become best in the world with your silly light tube sword.


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EDDV - 100 through 81
100 SimTown PC
99 Bang Dream! Girls Band Party
98 Phantasy Star III Genesis
97 North vs South NES
96 Scooby Doo Genesis
95 MechWarrior: Living Legends Arcade
94 You Don't Know Jack PC
93 General Chaos Genesis
92 Cannon Fodder PC
91Kirby's Dream Course SNES
90 Hexzyz Force PSP
89 NHL Hockey 94 Genesis
88 Long Live the Queen PC
87 Dungeons and Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun Genesis
86 NCAA Football 2014 PS3
85 Pokemon Red GBC
84 Ms Pac Man Arcade
83 Donkey Kong Country 2 SNES
82 Knights and Merchants PC
81 King's Quest V PC

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81.) King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder (Commodore 64/PC - 1990)


The first of the King's Quest games to make use of the point and click adventure style that we have all come to know and love. This was just about the only game on my Dad's Commodore 64 that I liked to play because the other Kings Quests had the typing interface that I didn't understand.

It's a pretty typical King's Quest with the corny sense of humor and the grinning fantasy references all over. The puzzles force you to think outside the box as you try to solve the mystery of how to get your disappeared castle back!

As a note the Telltale King's Quest was really truly excellent and its a shame we may never get the sequel they hinted at .

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82) Knight and Merchants (1998, PC)


This is one of the first games I got truly truly obsessive over. The demo was available on AOL's gaming site and I played the SHIT out of those demo missions while waiting to save enough money to buy the game itself. IT was really fun - at its core its sort of like the "build a medieval town" version of Roller Coaster Tycoon mixed together with a classic style RTS. You had to build a town, maintain an army, find a way to make sure you feed everybody and fight off the other kingdom - or the rebelling peasants, an attack that would usually come at a pre-ordained time.

There are modern successors to this style of game - Banished (which I absolutely love) and The Settlers come to mind - but this one sucked a few hundred hours from me as a child so it makes the list where those two do not.

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84.) Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES, 1995)


Or how I learned to stop fearing falling and learned to love the mine cart. I loved the DKC games quite a bit even though, as I said, I never actually owned them. The 3D environments felt super impressive at the time and the background work was always very lovingly done. I always preferred the 2nd one over the others - Diddy and Dixie handled similarly enough to one another and didn't feel different while playing and the level design is a notch up from 1 here without having yet gotten stale like it had by DKC 3.

I do wish the two characters had different gimmicks but the level gimmicks more than made up for it -especially the mine cart levels which were always my favorite.

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85.) Pokemon Red (1998, Gameboy Color)


I don't think I have anything in particular to add to the discourse about Pokemon Red. Yes, it was a huge part of my childhood - bringing the game to school and fiddling around with the stupid trade cable to make trade and get decent pokemon. Even learning the early meta for pokemon competitive was all very formative to me as a person who plays games. Even the rumor-mongering for the various cheats and things - including all of the elusive ways in which you could "catch Mew" or break the game. Most of which weren't true but some of them - like Missingno - amazingly were.

I do remember an intense burst of pride when I got my certificate that I had in fact caught all 150 pokemon.

I also will go ahead and post my first hall of fame class since I still know it off by heart -

Charizard
Pidgeot
Kangaskhan
Mr. Mime (aka Marcel)
Tangela
Dragonite

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86.) NCAA Football 2014 (PS3, 2013)


I think this was my first ever PS2 game and nearly certainly the one I spent the most time with. I guided the Pitt Panthers from bottom feeder to perennial powerhouse and made great use of the dynasty mode to try to cobble together a successful franchise - however the series got canceled immediately after this season and that's where things took a turn for the interesting with this game for me. What it did was force the creation of an online modding community that keeps NCAA Football 2014 a "living" game. There's always a chance to start over using the updated rosters and keeping things interesting.

To boot the dynasty mode is so rich - as one of the last games EA put out before loading down their games with all the microtransaction bullshit that currently makes Madden so shitty, they actually put a lot of time and effort into making their dynasty mode have some real depth to it and I still find myself surprised at what all this game is actually capable of.

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87.) Ms. Pac Man (1982, Arcade)


First of all that above image always cracks me up - the ghosts all ogling at Ms pacman and her weird thighs.

Anyway this is probably the arcade game I have spent the most time with. When I worked at a game room as the guy checking things in and out, Ms. Pacman was my time-wasting activity of choice and I got pretty damn good - like started spelling funny things out on the leaderboard good. And a lot of people probably forget this but the game is a straight upgrade on the original pacman - the fruits bounce around, the ghosts patterns are less predictable, the mazes are more vibrant and interesting to look at.

Anyway I have nothing special about this - you all know about Ms Pac Man. I just really enjoy it

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88.) Dungeons and Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun (Genesis, 1992)


So this game both sucks and rules and that's why its on my list. It's also the game indirectly responsible for the life I lead in a lot of strange ways. This game is like a slightly better version of Dungeons and Dragons Eye of the Beholder. These are games built using the D&D rules in video game form - predating Neverwinter Nights and the like. It uses the Dungeons and Dragons Basic rules from 2nd edition D&D. Note I say D&D not AD&D. The story here is actually pretty damn cool and there is a lot of unusual and great detail in it - the gravestones all have different witty sayings and the townspeople give you little hints about what to do next.

If you know anything about Basic D&D you'll know that it uses the Mystara setting, not the Greyhawk or Faerun settings thats Advanced used. Mystara is very very basic - the realm where Dwarf, Elf and Halfling are classes, levels max out at 14 (and only for humans, you filthy demi-humans get to max out at level 12, 10 and 8 respectively and if you don't like it, try being human next time bub). And the game begins with your kingdom getting sucked into a rift and disappearing into a land where the sun never sets and strange beastman roam.

It was my first exposure to D&D and I struggled with the game a lot but it was so cool. It had the overland maps of a normal JRPG but with two different "encounter modes". Combats on land are like an early SRPG style of combat while dungeons are first person dungeon crawlers like Phantasy Star I.

I've actually never beat this game but it inspired me to seek out the real thing and that makes it a great game.

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88.) Long Live the Queen (PC, 2012)


Easily the best of the Princess Maker games that were once in vogue, and the easiest to consume in English besides, this game is way more fun than it has any right to be. You play a princess who has a year basically to get her shit together to be named Crown Princess after her mother dies. You have to manage her classes and her mood and a whole bevy of events to survive the year and be crowned.

The big thing that sits this apart is the replayability and the dramatic effects that costumes and mood can have on the princess's capabilities. Even seemingly useless skills can end up cropping up in unexpected and exciting ways. And the whole thing doesn't take itself too seriously to boot, so its fun to see the different faces and outfits you unlock along the way.

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89.) NHL Hockey '94 (Genesis, 94)

This game always stood out from the pack for me. For one thing it's the first genesis game I can recall seeing with the big yellow tab on it. I always figured that meant it was bigger or special. Or that it increased their blast processing or something. I think in the end they're just intended to make the game easier to eject. Me and my brothers were absolutely addicted. I would always play the Chicago Blackhawks against the Pens because well, I liked their logo. Everything about this game is pure nostalgia for me, but most especially the now criminally underrated soundtrack.



Most importantly though, I think the game still absolutely holds up and plays great - enough so that they re-did the game in NHL'14 and given the trend in other sports games probably will again.

Let me be clear here - I don't even like hockey. When I first started playing this game, I had actually never seen an actual game of hockey. I STILL love this game.

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Bidoof posted...

Is this a Match of the Year contender for 1984?

For what its worth it was a contender for the WON award but this is actually NOT one of sarges two wins in that category. But i actually think this match with Sheikh is better than his match with Pat Patterson that actually won.

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Mothra over Rogue the Bat eh?

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Sorry just building suspense....

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sanke

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Look i cant be held responsible for your commitment issues man.

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Since you refuse to tag the topic and i looked in here:

Hey Tony go pound salt up you ass. Thanks.
ChaosTonyV4 posted...

https://twitter.com/kosh_1/status/1347200313917370372?s=21

Its my duty to post this.

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

https://twitter.com/kosh_1/status/1347200313917370372?s=21

Its my duty to post this.

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91.) Hexyz Force (PSP, 2009)

Far be it for me to allow nick to be the only one plumbing the depths of obscure JRPGs, this game on the one hand doesnt do anything super new or exciting mechanically or even plotwise.

But it is one of the very few "choose a protagonist" games that really makes that gimmick work. The game has substantially different plot beats on the Cecillia and Levant paths and is actually short enough at around 35 hours per run that I actually was able to experience both branches.

The twos paths do sometimes intertwine which is cool but they dont become concurrent so you have a sense of how different the other route will be. My other comment will be that the music rules a surprising amount for a PSP game.


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https://xkcd.com/1122/
Crescent-Moon posted...

A Democrat has never won a runoff election in the state of Georgia on any political level.

So, this.

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92.) Kirby's Dream Course (SNES, 1994)

I didnt actually have a SNES growing up - ours was a genesis household. But my grandma did and she just loved Kirby and games that were "low stress" as she called them to bits. So she played the ever loving crap out of Kirbys Dream Course and when Id go over Id play too.

The whimsical use of Kirbyisms as you use kirby as a golf ball is really charming as is the sound track. Just a low impact high addiction game of my youth.

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93.) Cannon Fodder (PC, 1993)

https://youtu.be/PiYuq6Ac3a0

As the theme song probably hints at, this is a game with a very darkly humorous view of war and warfare. Much like General Chaos it was a blend of strategy and action but instead of an arcadelike player vs player focus, this was focused on a series of objectives that escalated in intensity and stupidity.

The game has an inherently anti war message that it portrays through its gameplay similar to another game that appears later on my list.

And its just fun as hell.

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That will leave me for the rest of the week with the big 3 categories -

Promotion of the Year
Match of the Year
Wrestler of the Year

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Best Feud of 2020

Runner Up: Darby Allin vs Team Taz
This is such a simple series of matches. Darby, struggling, turns down help from Taz. Taz, upset at this, goes out and teams with Brian Cage and Ricky Starks. Darby beats the hell out of Ricky Starks in a memorable series of tag matches leading up to the big singles match. Now Darby is fixing to do the same with Cage and with Powerhouse Hobbs.

Winner: Jon Moxley vs Eddie Kingston
Very well done across the board - they took an initial emergency match that people didn't really like and paralyed it into a month of matches everyone did like. Well done by Eddie finally making good in his first big shot with a big company.

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Best Angle of 2020

3.) The Golden Screwjob
Kenny Omega ended the year by doing the unthinkable - going back on his word to have a clean fair match with Moxley and instead joining forces with the Dastardly Invisible Hand, Don Callis. THis angle likely held back some by the fact that it's still playing out, it was an awesome way to see out the year.

2.) Will Ospreay betrays Okada and CHAOS to form The Empire with Bea Priestley and the Great O-Khan

Will Ospreay's been destined to come to odds with Kazuchika Okada since he was recruited into CHAOS by him to bring the Assassin into New Japan. So when Ospreay went into the final day of the A Block still alive to win the block against Okada tensions were running high. And Ospreay finally triggered his master plan, using distraction from Bea to defeat Okada and finally move up the ranking and go on to win the G1...except that didn't happen because he was eliminated the very next match when Ibushi won. Oh well? Still this angle has already produced phenomenal matches as just last night O-Khan and Ospreay delivered in big Wrestle Kingdom matches

1.) The Ballad of Hangman Page
The Hangman page will he won't he story. Honestly, the simmering tension built for months between him Omega and the bucks was the really great part of this. Hangman not feeling like he belongs with the Bucks. Wanting to have a buddy. Be a real tag team with Kenny (who always kept him at arm's length) all of this leaving Hangman open to the advances of FTR. It's all great stuff - the actual execution was pretty sloppy but I do love a slow burn and so does the rest of b8 apparently.

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Best Card of 2020
To some, this year is the year of crowds and no crowds. Indeed for a while it looked like shows taped in January and February were going to sweep this category.

But some valiant late year efforts made this category interesting as did the ever-dramatic G1 Climax.

5.) Wrestle Kingdom Night 2
2020 was the first year of the Double Dome experiment where New Japan seeks to hold shows on back to back days in the Tokyo Dome on 1/4 and 1/5 and the double domes delivered. This night in particular featured the Naito vs Okada feud capper that LIJ fans had been waiting on for ages.

4.) Triplemania XXVIII
A fun show from top to bottom this show was a one off by AAA after they had not run in arenas since covid kicked off. They assembled a show that had as much juice as they could muster without a ton of build. A hot tag match opener, matches with the Lucha Bros and the reuniting Los Psycho Circus. The card probably only happened because of the very strange marvel match pitting Spiderman and Captain America against Venom and Thanos. But this match probably gets here for its double main event - a killer technical/spot fest with Kenny Omega defending his Mega Championship against Laredo Kid and a hair vs hair spectacle between Chessman and Pagano that was pure AAA style chaos.

3.) AEW Double or Nothing
The first and probably best of AEWs lockdown PPVs. This card featured a surprising show stealing bout between Jungle Boy and MJF, a hard hitting AEW title match with Brodie Lee and Moxley and the very fun Stadium Stampede match.

2.) NJPW G1 Climax A Block Finals
A show defined by three killer matches and two unforgettable moments, this show more than any other in NJPW this hinted at the direction of the future while delivering great in ring action. I've already discussed the big angles from this show but rest assured they were great

1.) AEW Revolution
AEW's final show in front of a crowd it was capped off with the memorable Moxley vs Jericho Match, the dramatic conclusion of the Cody/MJF feud and of course Match of the Year contender Hangman and Omega vs the Young Bucks anchoring a strong lineup and energetic lineup of an AEW that really felt ready to break through to the next level.

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94.) General Chaos (Genesis, 1993)

This was one of the first great console games that straddled the line between Arcade gameplay with console sensibilities and for me and my brothers it was awesome. One of the very first games with meaningful four player gameplay. The game was a blend of action and real time strategy with goofy commandoes doing ridiculous things.

You could pick a squad of 5 OR a squad of 2 commandoes. The difference being that the commandoes were easier to control. Me and my brothers played this countless hours and it remains an all time favorite.

l

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94.) You Don't Know Jack (PC, 1995)
Long before Jackbox, there was my favorite series of funny trivia PC games. Thanks to Jackbox I feel as though I don't need to delve too deep into why these trivia games ruled and what they have going for them. But the "inside" jokes, the rapid fire trivia games all of it was awesome and I owned and played most of the series, which the first is just serving as the totem for the entire run of games here.

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Eddv posted...

95.) Bang Dream: Girls Band Party

Like Cokes, I cannot deny the level of hold and hours of entertainment this genre has had on me over the years. I greatly prefer bandori to Love Live because the song styles are more varied, they have more covers and the actual interface is, I think better.

What can I say I love rhythm games and jpop/rock

This is a phone game btw, 2018

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95.) Bang Dream: Girls Band Party

Like Cokes, I cannot deny the level of hold and hours of entertainment this genre has had on me over the years. I greatly prefer bandori to Love Live because the song styles are more varied, they have more covers and the actual interface is, I think better.

What can I say I love rhythm games and jpop/rock

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96) Mechwarrior: Living Legend (Arcade/PC, 2014)

This is on some level a mod for Crysis but the modders took the time to completely overhaul the system and add new assets to represent the Mechs. I was able to play this several years in a row at Origins and it fucking rocks. The control system they have rigged up puts you into a mechwarriors pod complete with footpedals, steering, a shift stick - and entire workable cockpit.

I only got to experience this game in team deathmatch mode but would love to try the campaign some day too.

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97) Scooby Doo Mystery (Genesis, 1994)

One of my first true point and click adventure games that I was able to get into it actually holds up pretty well!
You solve two short mysteries - one at a circus and the other at a haunted hotel. It has all the signature charm and wit that you expect from Scooby Doo and it actually is based around solving a pair of mysteries which is cool.

It's a little short - and also don't play the SNES version. They tacked on an unneeded platforming element that just adds tedium .

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Best Tournament
A new category for this year - it seems nearly every wrestling company is taking on this tournament format lately so we should vote on which is best.

3.) N1 Victory
Pro Wrestling NOAH's take on the annual round robin tournament format that is so popular in Japan. It drew increased attention this year as the simultaneity of the N1, G1 and AJPW's Champion Carnival made it easy to follow all three and compare and contrast. And the N1 delivered. It didn't suffer from having completely skippable shows like the G1 did and the work was all very good. Ending off with a couple bangers in the final night,.

2.) AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament
A single elimination tournament that took place over the course of several Dynamites, this entire tournament served as a trajectory of collision between the recently broken up tag team of Hangman Page and Kenny Omega. Omega debuted a new entrance and made the tournament explicitly his coming out party as a newly refocused singles guy. Meanwhile Page was here explicitly to prove himself against Kenny. Hangman had to overcome Wardlow and Colt Cabana while Omega had a jobber and the less talented Lucha Bro. Culminated in one hell of a match between the two at All Out.

1.) G1 Climax
The G1 is the gold standard of tournaments and while this year's had issues (the B block was designed to showcase a SANADA who had no interest in being showcased mainly) it still delivered a slew of very good matches and was capped off by the amazing A Block finals that saw Ospreay betray Okada and Tomohiro Ishii win big in the main event over Jay White to spoil his party.

Congrats to the G1 Climax!

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Best TV Show

It was AEW Dynamite by a unanimous vote.

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And that brings us to our group awards -

Best TV Show
Best Tournament
Best Card
Best Angle
Best Feud

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Best Tag Team of 2020

4.) Best Friends - Chuck Taylor and Trent? (AEW)
They had a very good year, anchoring the AEW roster during the covid shows and delivering strong performances as a unit, even as Chuck Taylor's ability as a performer was clearly in decline. Capped off the year with a Street Fight against proud and powerful that earned the full five snowflakes from Meltzer.

3.) Dangerous Tekkers - Zack Sabre Jr and Taichi (NJPW)
Hey these two just rule together simple as that. Unlike most of the other major New Japan tag teams, they didn't miss very many shows. They were a rock on those chaotic summer cards and then had a pretty rock solid World Tag League performance.

2.) The Young Bucks
The Young Bucks simply go out there and give every single team they match up against their best match. These guys are even this long in the tooth bona fide work horses and delivered time and time again this year. Culminating in winning the AEW tag titles from FTR in a match a lot of people enjoyed

1.) Hangman Page and Kenny Omega
These were very exciting from the moment they came together. They won the tag titles from SCU on the Jericho Cruise and the chemistry between the two shone off the page from the moment they came together. And the Buckshot/VTrigger combo was so well protected as a finish and was so predictably going to backfire to spark their breakup and it did and all of it worked and was awesome.

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Steiner posted...

jeff jarrett - with my baby tonight

Seconf

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kateee posted...

Shoji Meguro - Mass Destruction

Second

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