Lurker > Bartzyx

#35 Cannon Fodder (MS-DOS, 1993)

Being an American, I was not exposed at all to Remembrance Poppies as a kid. So the logo for this gamea poppy with a bullet lodged in the centerconfused me more than anything. But it's fitting for an arcade-style tactics game about the horrors of war.



You control a small team of soldiers as they travel to battlefields all over the world fighting against overwhelming odds. If your men survive a mission, they get promoted. If one of your men dies, there is a near-endless line of identical replacements waiting for their turn to fight and probably also die. Although the visual style and low resolution allows for little detail, the developers provided many different opportunities for your guys (or their enemy combatants) to be killed, and each new way has its own little dreadful animation that just makes you feel so bad for them. Sometimes (and I honestly do not know if this is a glitch or intended) wounded soldiers will get stuck in a perpetual state of screaming and bleeding until you put them out of their misery.



This game was super tough. Back to the whole overwhelming odds thing, your people are just as fragile as the enemiesone shot and you're dead. So you have to be very careful while you fight through levels where enemies spawn endlessly, all the while dodging traps and explosions and all sorts of things.

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wow

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Typical board 8 list with Mario Tennis near the top

#1 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 566
#2 Final Fantasy IV: 466
#3 Final Fantasy VI: 462
#4 Mario Tennis: 441
#5 Jackbox Party Pack: 400
#6 Mega Man 3: 398
#7 Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow: 392
#8 Mario Kart 8: 366
#8 Rock Band 2: 366
#10 The Walking Dead: Season 1: 364
#11 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: 355
#11 Final Fantasy XIII: 355
#13 Tecmo Super Bowl: 347
#14 Snowboard Kids 2: 343
#15 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 341
#16 Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors: 322
#17 Pokemon BW: 314
#18 Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising: 313
#19 Elite Beat Agents: 296
#20 Super Mario Galaxy 2: 285
#21 Mega Man X: 282
#22 Diddy Kong Racing: 281
#23 Batman: Arkham Asylum: 280
#24 Chrono Trigger: 277
#25 Picross 3D: Round 2: 276
#26 The World Ends With You: 267
#26 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: 267
#28 Everybody's Golf: 266
#29 The Witness: 256
#30 Super Mario Bros.: 254
#31 Kirby's Pinball Land: 251
#32 Secret of Evermore: 250
#33 Donkey Kong (1994): 248
#34 Final Fantasy VII: 247
#35 Mario Party 2: 246
#35 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 246
#37 Xenoblade Chronicles: 244
#38 Mario Kart 64: 242
#38 Kirby Air Ride: 242
#38 Metroid Fusion: 242
#41 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: 239
#42 Borderlands: 237
#43 Super Mario 64: 233
#44 Tetris Effect: 232
#45 Professor Layton and the Unwound Future: 230
#46 God of War II: 229
#47 Pokemon RBY: 227
#48 Cosmic Star Heroine: 224
#48 Fall Guys: 224
#48 Super Mario 3D Land: 224
#51 Shadow of the Colossus: 221
#52 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: 219
#53 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice: 218
#54 Mario Kart: Double Dash: 215
#55 Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes: 211
#56 Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin: 209
#56 Pikmin: 209
#58 Dark Souls: 208
#58 RollerCoaster Tycoon: 208
#58 Pocket Card Jockey: 208

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If you don't like his posts you don't have to read them. Not sure why his dissent is bothering you so much.

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lol I changed my limit from $7 to $7.50 just to have the price skip down to $7 instantly.

of course

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#36 Final Fantasy IV (Playstation, 2001)

The first Final Fantasy game for the SNES has gone through so many iterations over the years, but the version that I prefer most is the Playstation re-release. I played "Final Fantasy II" for the SNES, and that was great for the time, but it's very much the worst version of the game.



Final Fantasy IV was a step up from earlier games in most ways. It featured the most involved and interesting story so far (if a bit melodramatic), excellent colorful SNES graphics, a wide variety of characters, and most characters have something useful to do in battle besides just "Fight." The length and pace of the game is practically perfect; the places you visit rarely get old before you move onto something else. Uematsu took great advantage of the expanded set of SNES sound channels to create a soundtrack that is distinct and timeless.



The characters are archetypal now but this game helped make them so. Cecil is the series first truly great protagonist. His moral conflict is a great driver for the first act of the story, and his redemption early on sets up a similar conflict in Kain, and later, another character. Rosa spends some time as the typical "damsel" character before taking on a more active role in the party. The other dozen or so party members all have at least a moment to shine at one point or another.

In what is now pretty common for the series, there are many different worlds that are introduced just as you think you are running out of places to go in the last. What is not so common is the freedom that you have to explore random locations in these worlds and sometimes get in over your head. Kind of a relic of older games, but something that I very much enjoy when I get the chance.

I tried playing the DS version, but I really didn't like the style or the voices, so now I stick with the Playstation or GBA versions, which are both great. I have heard the PSP version is also worth playing. Maybe I'll try it next time I get back to this game.

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I have $25 cash sitting in my account that can't buy VTI or VOO. Waiting to see how low AMC can go before I grab some to play around with.

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#37 Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo Wii, 2010)

Full disclosure: I never played Super Mario Galaxy. I somehow skipped over it and wound up playing the second game first, which is probably not something I would do today. I even bought the original game later, but never got around to it. Based on how much I liked Galaxy 2, I really should have probably done it.



So, without being able to speak to the quality of its direct predecessor, I really really like Super Mario Galaxy 2. The platforming and level of control is superb. It feels like the designers just focused on delivering the most entertaining levels regardless of any convention that you might normally see in a game like thislevels might be on a few consistently delivered planets, or they might take place on just a series of floating platforms. Whatever! It's all fine as long as it's fun to play.

Collecting all the stars and then the green stars could be difficult sometimes, but was never too challenging to overcome, although it took a long time. Having Luigi is another quaint little thing the game, although thankfully you are not forced to have to play him.


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#38 Jazz Jackrabbit (MS-DOS, 1994)

What if Sonic had a gun? That's the basic idea behind Jazz Jackrabbit. He runs fast and shoots things instead of jumping on them.



Cliif Belszinski did not well hide the fact that Sonic inspired his game. You shoot signs that look like the screens that Sonic jumps on, there are 3D bonus levels that are suspiciously like the ones from Sonic, and so on. The enemies are turtles though, which is more of a Mario thing I guess.

It's a light and enjoyable game that you don't think about too hard, and looked fantastic for PC games of its time. I didn't have a Genesis growing up and none of my friends did either, so I enjoyed playing Jazz Jackrabbit instead.

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Final Fantasy

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#39 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Playstation, 1997)

So you've made it this far... Another game in a row that proved to be a huge inspiration for many games on my list. Symphony of the Night is only half of the "Metroidvania" word, but it really was the game that brought that concept along from its infancy and inspired so many others in the genre to pay Tribute?!? It's a very rough game around the edges, but that's just a testament to how strong the idea is.



If you need me to explain what SotN is, you're probably a monster and don't belong in this world! It's got a nice combination of fun platforming and 90s jank. The menus are difficult and most things in the game aren't explained at all. Random drops can be completely overpowered or worthless. Growing up playing games where this all was the norm, these things really call out to me. If I had seen this game when it was new I surely would have said, "I'm interested in this."

The inverted castle was a great idea and a surprise, but lacked a lot in execution. Moving around in the upside-down rooms is often annoying and awkward, and since you've basically been everywhere before, the sense of discovery is lost. Perhaps the same could be said of all religions. Later games in the series did this a lot better.



But that's only one small knock against an incredible game! I know it's not for everyone but I can't recommend it enough to anyone who enjoys this kind of game. It will steal your soul and make you its slave.

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Imagine there was only 1 stock. Joe borrows it from Sam and sells it to Sally. Now Paul can borrow it from Sally and sell it to Craig. Only one stock, but it's been short sold twice.

That demonstrates the concept.

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#40 Super Mario Bros. (SNES, 1993)

Hey look it's the game that inspired every other 2D platformer you have seen or will see on my list! I chose the SNES version of the NES Mario games because I actually never really played the NES versions, and I became used to the All-Stars games on SNES.



Super Mario Bros. is the most simple game in the series, but still delivers a great level of challenge. It's the simplicity that makes it a game I can always come back to and enjoy no matter how long its been since I played last. I guess it's like learning to ride a bike, as they say. The difficulty ramps up very slowly throughout the game and the designers did a wonderful job of never piling on too mucheach sequential level feels like you should be able to beat it.

The warp pipes were a really smart way to make up for the lack of saves in the game (something that doesn't apply to the SNES version, for better or worse). There is always a relatively quick way to get back to where you left off. But I really like to just play through the game from start to finish. It just feels good to me.

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#41 Super Meat Boy (Microsoft Windows, 2010)

I must be clear, this specifically is a ranking of Super Meat Boy with the original Danny B soundtrack. Later releases without his music can kindly fuck off.



If that seems strong, well, you have to understand that Super Meat Boy, while a tremendous game to play, also has an A+ soundtrack that pushes everything to a whole other level. The combination of the exciting gameplay and energetic music is so completely enjoyable, that it is very very tough to find a platformer that I like more.

Super Meat Boy is incredibly challenging, but the game is built to be tried over and over. You can restart a level instantly by hitting a button, and deaths take a fraction of a second to process. There is not punishment at all for failing other than starting the level over, which is fine because most levels can be finished in a matter of seconds. In fact, the nice little "squish" when Meat Boy dies can sometimes be entertaining by itself. The challenge is increased by every level having a "dark world" version that is much tougher, along with the secondary goal of beating the target time.

The other bit of forgiveness is that you are not forced to do the dark world or time targets to progress through the game, and you also can skip a few levels in each world. Honestly, if someone doesn't like to run into a wall over and over, the game is still really doable. But like some masochist I did do everything including the super hard Cotton Alley stuff so I could get the true ending and all the characters and so on.

For all I've said is good about this game, I do have to say one big problem with this game, and that is The Kid's warp zone. Fuck those levels so much. But I really love the rest of it. Superb game!

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#42 Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance, 2004)

It's about time I guess that a Metroid game showed up here. I really love 2D Metroid games. Even the original NES game, as incredibly flawed as it was, still managed to pull me in. This GBA remake manages to turn that rough first game into a polished gem.



Calling Zero Mission a remake is probably a little bit of a stretch. It has much more in common with Super Metroid than Metroid, except that it is a retelling of the story of Metroid. But I think that speaks more to how the gameplay had advanced by Super Metroid's time than anything else. Why go back?

The game plays a lot like Metroid Fusion, adapting the controls to the GBA's limited buttons fairly well. The bonus sequence at the end I could give or take, although it was certainly an interesting and complete surprise for me. Before then I was perplexed by all the places that I could not get to before the "final" boss and thought I had to be missing something. Ah! Then it all made sense!

Even if I really had a reverence Metroid, I would still be very glad this game exists. It's a cool take on the game and feels like a love letter, even though it was not afraid to drastically expand on the scope. I think that more NES remakes in this vein should exist.

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Will we ever catch up to Nick?

Bartzyx posted...

#49 Batman: Arkham Asylum (Playstation 3, 2009)

I think that so far this is the first time that two of us have ranked the same game in the same spot. So high five, MSG!

So I was wrong when I said this. Turns out Eddv and I both ranked DKC2 at #83 and I failed to notice.

#1 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 566 (+3)
#2 Final Fantasy VI: 462 (+18)
#3 Mario Kart 8: 366 (-2)
#3 Rock Band 2: 366 (-2)
#5 The Walking Dead: Season 1: 364 (-2)
#6 Tecmo Super Bowl: 347 (-1)
#7 Snowboard Kids 2: 343 (New)
#8 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 341 (New)
#9 Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors: 322 (+24)
#10 Mega Man X: 282 (-4)
#11 Batman: Arkham Asylum: 280 (-4)
#12 Chrono Trigger: 277 (-4)
#13 The World Ends With You: 267 (-4)
#13 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: 267 (New)
#15 Final Fantasy IV: 266 (-5)
#15 Everybody's Golf: 266 (New)
#17 Secret of Evermore: 250 (New)
#18 Donkey Kong (1994): 248 (New)
#19 Final Fantasy VII: 247 (-8)
#20 Mario Party 2: 246 (-8)
#20 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 246 (-8)
#22 Mario Kart 64: 242 (-8)
#22 Kirby Air Ride: 242 (-8)
#22 Metroid Fusion: 242 (-8)
#25 Mega Man 3: 238 (-8)
#26 Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow: 236 (-8)
#27 Mario Tennis: 235 (New)
#28 Super Mario 64: 233 (-10)
#29 Tetris Effect: 232 (-9)
#30 Professor Layton and the Unwound Future: 230 (-8)
#31 God of War II: 229 (New)
#32 Pokemon RBY: 227 (-9)
#33 Jackbox Party Pack: 225 (-9)
#34 Cosmic Star Heroine: 224 (-9)
#34 Fall Guys: 224 (-9)
#34 Super Mario 3D Land: 224 (New)
#37 Shadow of the Colossus: 221 (-10)
#38 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: 219 (-10)
#39 Mario Kart: Double Dash: 215 (-10)
#40 Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes: 211 (New)
#41 Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin: 209 (-11)
#41 Pikmin: 209 (-11)
#43 Dark Souls: 208 (-11)
#43 RollerCoaster Tycoon: 208 (New)
#45 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: 207 (New)
#46 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: 206 (-13)
#46 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: 206 (-13)
#48 Advance Wars: Dual Strike: 205 (-12)
#48 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: 205 (New)
#50 Super Mario Galaxy: 204 (-13)
#51 Yoshi's Island: 203 (-13)
#52 Portal: 200 (-13)
#53 Horizon Zero Dawn: 200 (-13)
#54 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3: 200 (New)
#55 Resident Evil 4: 197 (-14)

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#43 Wing Commander: Privateer (MS-DOS, 1993)

Privateer felt like a game that came out far before its time, but Origin Systems was constantly pushing the creative limits of space sims in the early 90s. It took the satisfying space combat of the first two Wing Commander games and expanded the scope to include an open world that felt limitless at first blush.



The game follows a mercenary who does odd jobs in his crappy ship in the frontiers of space. You can play through the main story, take on side missions, be a merchant or pirate, just kind of explore the galaxy, or do any combination of those activities. Any way you choose to make money, you can put it to use upgrading your ship, or buying another one altogether. Eventually you can put together a powerful ship that does whatever you want it to do.

This game is kind of the ultimate inspiration of what Chris Roberts is (was?) trying to do with Star Citizen. And as evidenced by the incredible number of backers, I think it's a concept that resonates with a lot of people. There's just something so cool about exploring space. Star Citizen is not really what I want in a game anymore; at least, I don't want to play Privateer online with people. But I could go for a well-made game that plays a lot like the old space simulators of the 90s. Those all have a pretty special place in my heart.

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I also played that game on GBC but I barely barely remember anything about it except the personality quiz and fighting slimes.

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StartTheMachine posted...

There's a guy on the despac/AVCT discord who had 1,000,000 Dogecoin in 2017 that he sold for $300.

Would now be worth over $550,000 and who knows where it goes from here.

Man, that's gotta hurt.

dogecoin worth 0.55 now? no

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#44 Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (Nintendo DS, 2009)

Despite being the third game in the series, this one acts as a prequel to the original Playstation game. It's also the first one that I played. My brother had the other games and for some reason lent this to me to play on my DS. I enjoyed it so much that I played through the other games later.



Covenant of the Plume plays something like a tactical RPG. The battles are fought on an isometric grid in a turn-based fashion. Like other Valkyrie Profile games, combat with party members uses the face buttons as a means of controlling each character's attackseach character uses a different button and your effectiveness comes down to timing the attacks properly. How many characters engage in combat depends on how you position them before launching an attack.

The main character, Wylfred, a human who led a tragic life in which his father was killed and claimed by the Valkyrie in the afterlife. His family left in poverty, he blames his circumstance on the Valkyrie and swears revenge. Shortly afterward, Wylfred is also killed, but is given another life by a demon, along with an ability that will sacrifice the life of a friend in exchange for immense power. The rest of the game concerns Wylfred's role in a war between kingdoms in the world of humans as he prepares to slay the Valkyrie. It's a tragic and more mature story than most and I found that fresh.



The game is impossibly hard. The only reliable way to win battles is to sacrifice your allies in order to power up Wylfred. However, the more allies you sacrifice, the darker circumstances become and the more of a "bad" ending you receive. The neat thing about the game is that you can start a NG+ and retain some of Wylfred's power, which lets you make it through the game sacrificing fewer people and get progressively better endings. It's a neat mechanic and gave me a reason to finish the game multiple times. The game itself is not very long, and the story changes depending on your actions, so playing through a few times was not a chore. If you want to go even deeper, there are some post-game scenarios to take your characters into once you tire of the main game.

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#45 Dead Space 2 (Playstation 3, 2011)

I said before that Dead Space is the perfect Survival Horror game. Dead Space 2 is much more of an Action Horror game, although some of the survival elements are still there. And the changes it makes to the series elevate it for me.



The game plays at a much faster pace than before, and Isaac gets some new weapons and firing modes that help move the game along. The setting also changed from an abandoned mining ship to an overrun space colony, which introduces new Necromorphs and and some horrifying new situations. All throughout, Isaac's insanity continues to complicate matters. The designers decided to give him a voice in this one which helps somewhat with the story-telling and let Isaac take a more active role in things.

Other than that, it's really just more Dead Space, and I guess for me that's a really nice thing.

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#46 God of War II (Playstation 3, 2009)

I go back and forth sometimes on which God of War game is the best, but it's always either 2 or 3. When it comes down to it, I really think that 2 just exemplifies what is good about the series. The pacing is non-stop, the climax is very satisfying, and the weapons and bosses are both really fun.

God of War II improved on the first game in just about every aspect, and particularly in the combat and the setting. Every attack just feels "better," and I can't really describe it any more than that. I also really like how the game has Kratos adventuring to myriad environments, meeting (and usually murdering) figures from mythology along the way. That's probably the top advantage the game has over its sequel; Mount Olympus just is not as interesting as everywhere else that Kratos goes in God of War II.

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You're not as smart as you think you are if you don't think there are a lot of people who are putting money they can't afford to lose into this. There are people on this very board who have already done it.

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lmao you wanna talk about elitism. half the people in the country would lose everything if they lost 1k. yeah what's the big deal

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Not everyone is a gambler like you

edit: I'm not the first one to say this, but the bottom could drop out any minute. Sure, it's not likely to happen at this moment, but when it does, GME is likely to absolutely crater.

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Some fun stats:

Nick has the most games in the top 50: (20)
KCF has the fewest games in the top 50: (3)

Makes sense as Nick has ranked the most and KCF the least.

More stats!

Arti: Most like MSG; Least like Eddv (no mutual games)

Bartz: Most like MSG; Least like KCF (no mutual games)

Cokes: Most like Naye; Least like Nee

Eddv: Most like MSG; Least like Naye, Nee (no mutual games)

KCF: Most like Nee; Least like Naye (no mutual games)

MSG: Most like Wigs; Least like KCF

Naye: Most like Cokes; Least like Eddv (no mutual games)

Nee: Most like Nick; Least like Eddv (no mutual games)

Nick: Most like Cokes; Least like KCF

Wigs: Most like Naye; Least like KCF (no mutual games)

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We are now halfway through! So here are the top 50 games so far:

#1 Rock Band 2: 366
#1 Mario Kart 8: 366
#3 The Walking Dead: Season 1: 364
#4 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 348
#5 Tecmo Super Bowl: 347
#6 Mega Man X: 282
#7 Batman: Arkham Asylum: 280
#8 Chrono Trigger: 277
#9 The World Ends With You: 267
#10 Final Fantasy IV: 266
#11 Final Fantasy VII: 247
#12 Mario Party 2: 246
#12 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 246
#14 Metroid Fusion: 242
#14 Mario Kart 64: 242
#14 Kirby Air Ride: 242
#17 Mega Man 3: 238
#18 Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow: 236
#19 Super Mario 64: 233
#20 Final Fantasy VI: 232
#20 Tetris Effect: 232
#22 Professor Layton and the Unwound Future: 230
#23 Pokemon RBY: 227
#24 Jackbox Party Pack: 225
#25 Fall Guys: 224
#25 Cosmic Star Heroine: 224
#27 Shadow of the Colossus: 221
#28 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: 219
#29 Mario Kart: Double Dash: 215
#30 Pikmin: 209
#30 Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin: 209
#32 Dark Souls: 208
#33 Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors: 206
#33 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: 206
#33 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: 206
#36 Advance Wars: Dual Strike: 205
#37 Super Mario Galaxy: 204
#38 Yoshi's Island: 203
#39 Portal: 200
#39 Horizon Zero Dawn: 200
#41 Resident Evil 4: 197
#42 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 189
#43 Hotel Dusk: Room 215: 187
#43 Borderlands 2: 187
#45 Super Mario World: 186
#46 Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker: 185
#47 Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies: 182
#48 Final Fantasy XIII: 180
#49 Simpsons Arcade: 178
#50 Red Dead Redemption: 175


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#47 Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines (Microsoft Windows, 1998)

When it comes to games set during World War II, I think that FPS games in the vein of Call of Duty come to mind first. Commandos is a tactics game in that setting, in which you control up to six different allied commandos in a series of dangerous missions. It's a fun exercise in stealth and strategy and spawned several sequels and imitators that are also pretty good.



Each commando has a unique set of skills and it's game over if you lose one of them. The game is controlled in real time, and sometimes things can get a little frantic. Generally, you can't engage in open combat with the enemies, and have to use stealth or flanking to take people out.

The art in the game is really nice looking for its time, and whenever I see anything that looks like it I experience nostalgia. It also had a really fun/goofy style and atmosphere that made it feel unique. I'm pretty interested in the series reboot that is supposed to be coming up sometime soon; hopefully they can recapture the magic of this series.

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Destruction All Stars Battle Royale

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#48 Jak II (Playstation 2, 2003)

Despite its ambitions, Jak II is kind of a silly game, and it really surprised me how different it was from The Precursor Legacy. It's not clear to me how Naughty Dog thought that they could suddenly make the character Jak "adult" and "serious" after what he was before. I guess the designers saw how games were trending at the time (the immense popularity of games like Halo and Grand Theft Auto 3 which both featured violent/mature content), and wanted to tap into that market a little. But not completely; Jak II might feature some gun violence and mild profanity and suggestive content, but nothing approaching a lot of the stuff you would see in GTA.



I think that stuff is fine, like I don't mind it. The game stands out with its sprawling world and satisfying gameplay that features a mix of new gun combat and the melee attacks from the previous game. It's a really fun game to play and rates so highly for me on that fact alone. Like The Precursor Legacy, the lack of loading screens in the world made everything feel incredibly connected together. A lot of cues were taken from GTA in the open-world design of the city, but the areas outside the city still felt a lot like a Jak game.

I don't know if the story still holds up though. The time travel nonsense is probably old by now, but I don't think anyone really plays these games for the story. It was serviceable and probably still is OK. Daxter is good.

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GTM posted...

as someone who knows nothing about this, can someone explain what shorting is and how <whoever is losing money> is losing money or getting bankrupt when the stock kept getting higher and higher?

Short selling is a way to bet on a security losing value. The basic idea is:

1. Borrow shares of a company from someone
2. Sell those shares
3. Buy the shares back later at a lower price
4. Return the shares

So if you sell those shares for $100, then buy them back later at $60, you made $40, minus the interest.

edit: to answer the second part of the question, if the stock goes up instead, you have to buy it back at a higher price and you lose money.

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Goku

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#49 Batman: Arkham Asylum (Playstation 3, 2009)

I think that so far this is the first time that two of us have ranked the same game in the same spot. So high five, MSG! I played this game somewhat late down the road, maybe five years after release, but it still left a huge impression on me.



I don't know really how to categorize this game. The game is confined to the titular location, which is not sprawling or anything, but has a lot of areas to explore nonetheless. You have some elements of Zelda or Metroid, where you are exploring the game and gain new gadgets that help you get around and access new areas. The gadgets are also used in the combat system, which is simple, fast-paced, and combo-oriented. It's similar to the early Assassin's Creed games, although I'm not exactly sure which game cribbed from the other. Overall, the game flow/loop is very satisfying and I was compelled to keep playing until I finished.

Similar to what MSG mentioned, I also never really played a Batman anything before this, or never really enjoyed Batman outside of the Nolan films. Never was into the cartoon or even watched it ever. But I enjoyed the story and the characters and it was fun to learn a lot about these people whose names I knew just through hearing people talk about Batman. Arkham Asylum gave me a new appreciation for the character and I really do someday want to get around to his other games.

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ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Foxtrot was the first to come to mind, but I know its not correct.

yeah, this. Family Circus has to be it, I think. Although Far Side is also probably worth discussing.

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#50 Command & Conquer (Microsoft Windows, 1996)



Probably one of the most iconic PC games franchises of the 90s, Command & Conquer blew my mind when it came out. It was my first experience with Real-Time Strategy, and Westwood Studios mostly nailed it with this one. The company had released a previous RTS game in 1992, Dune II, which was kind of a proof of concept of the genre. With Command & Conquer, the team successfully iterated and improved on the design, resulting in a smash success.

If you've played almost any RTS game in the last 25 years, its easy to see how it was influenced by Command & Conquer. The game established the trend of providing live action video briefings before missions and full motion cutscenes after, which became very much in vogue for years. Gameplay is relatively simple with a straight forward base-building process, one single resource to collect, and a manageable tech tree. Both of the two factions are completely unique in design and aesthetics. Compared to today's strategy games, it's very pedestrian, but there was honestly nothing like it at the time. Another neat feature that we take for granted now was the ability to play a full campaign not only as the good guys, but also as the bad guys.



I know that it has not aged the best, although I understand that last year's remaster did a ton of work to bring the game along from where it was. The AI was rather pitiful and resorted to completely ridiculous cheats in order to make missions challenging. Command & Conquer still stands out to me as a classic experience that is simple to play and master, and introduced me to what became one of my favorite genres. And while without it, I might have eventually got around to playing some of the great RTS games in history, C&C was a wonderful first exposure to the genre that made my entry into that world so much more accessible.

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No

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Recap of my first 50 games:

#100 Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
#99 Flower
#98 Plants vs. Zombies
#97 Duke Nukem II
#96 Heavy Rain
#95 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
#94 Shadow of the Colossus
#93 Pokemon RBY
#92 The Wolf Among Us
#91 God of War: Ghost of Sparta
#90 Darksiders
#89 Resident Evil 1
#88 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
#87 Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol
#86 Awesomenauts
#85 Wolfenstein: The New Order
#84 Binary Domain
#83 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
#82 Capture the Flag
#81 Loom
#80 Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bse
#79 Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
#78 Gladiator
#77 Dead by Daylight
#76 SkyRoads
#75 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
#74 Total Annihilation
#73 Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
#72 Bully
#71 The Walking Dead: Season 1
#70 Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
#69 The Aethra Chronicles - Volume One: Celystra's Bane
#68 The Lost Vikings
#67 Chrono Trigger
#66 Resident Evil 4
#65 Halo: Combat Evolved
#64 Super Mario 64
#63 Secret of Evermore
#62 Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
#61 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
#60 Pinball Dreams
#59 Fez
#58 Dead Space
#57 Rock Band 2
#56 God of War III
#55 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
#54 Operation Neptune
#53 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
#52 Excelsior Phase One: Lysandia
#51 Final Fantasy VI

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#51 Final Fantasy VI (Playstation, 1999)

Finally, the first numbered Final Fantasy game on my list. It's not surprising, though. There is a very large gap in my preferences between my favorite Final Fantasies (of which this is one) and the others. I guess FFTA sits somewhere between the two groups.



Final Fantasy VI was the second game in the series that I played, on the SNES, but I didn't get very far. Not because I did not enjoy it, but sometimes you just get distracted from a game and move on to something else. I ended up coming back to it as part of Final Fantasy Anthology for the Playstation, which is when I really got serious about it.

This game was a big step forward in the series from a technical standpoint, but also with respect to design. While Final Fantasy V experimented with new ideas, VI took the ideas that made IV great and iterated on those, polishing them and making them shine. The cast is expanded, the story is more serious, the graphics are much improved, and there is just so much more to do in the world.

The World of Ruin was an interesting decision. As far as I was concerned while playing, the game was at its climax at the Floating Continent. I had explored the whole world, and it all had the feeling of a finale. So I was pretty shocked when it turned out that there was a whole second half to the game. It certainly lacked the structure that defined the World of Balance, but there is something to be said for the non-linearity and freedom that can be enjoyed. And it's cool that you can finish the game with just a few characters or go ahead and collect everyone. Still, the game suffers considerably from the reduced focus and it's easy to lose momentum at times. The World of Ruin would have done better to have a more clear narrative path leading up to the game's actual finale. Something to help build to an appropriate climax.

Final Fantasy VI is, for better or worse, responsible for the never ending debates about the "main character" which returned for X and XII. The way I see it, the game stars an ensemble and there is no real "main character" and that is OK. Terra is probably the focal character of the story, but that is a whole different thing. I really liked the fact that for much of the game you are free to play with whichever characters you prefer and do not have to be stuck with one character constantlyone of my complaints with Final Fantasy VII is the lack of this freedom.

Since Arti shared his ranking, I might as well share mine.

Edgar > Sabin > Setzer > Gau > Locke > Celes > Mog > Shadow > Terra > Cyan > Relm > Strago > Umaro > Gogo

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#52 Excelsior Phase One: Lysandia (MS-DOS, 1993)

Among Shareware games released in the early 1990s, the standard practice was to release the first few levels of a game, or a feature-limited version, in the hope that the user would enjoy the game enough to pay to access the full version. But some shareware titles were released as complete games, able to be fully played without purchase. Excelsior was one of those games that I never registered.



The Shareware version makes you sit through a registration screen for a little bit each time you start the game, but other than that there is no difference between it and the registered version. The catch is that this old computer RPG is very very difficult to complete without the hint book that came with registering. And I never actually did beat the game, although I know I got very close.

Excelsior does not look pretty and it does not sound pretty. It's a very minimalist game with respect to aesthetics, but it more than makes up for that with an abundance of content. You control a single character in a fantasy setting on a quest to vanquish an evil force that has corrupted the king of the realm. The game plays out over a myriad of towns and dungeons that are connected by a very expansive overworld. As typical of older RPGs, there is just as much emphasis on world building, puzzle solving, and questing as there is on combat. And while the combat is satisfying and challenging, the puzzle-solving is the real thing that gates your progress in the game. And at least, for the young kid that I was, the riddles and puzzles could be very difficult, and the situations found at the end of the game were unsolvable. As it's been probably 25 years since I played this game, I cannot really say how much of that difficulty can actually be attributed to the game, but I think it's probably safe to say that the developers really wanted people to register for the hint book.



I will speak to a couple of the highlights of the game. The character creation process provides a very wide variety of races, professions, and skills. You gain money and experience through combat and questing, but level-ups are few and far between. although very impactful. The dungeon crawling parts play out in a turn-based fashion. The enemies roam the areas freely and all take a move every time that you move. So it's important to make sure that you maneuver yourself properly so that you do not get overwhelmed. The magic system is morality based; the more that you use evil magic, the more evil your character will become, and the more effective evil spells are/less effective good spells are. And vice versa.

Of all the games from my childhood that I reviewed for this list, Excelsior is one of the top choices that I want to revisit soon. I believe that the gameplay will still hold up and I am hoping that my adult faculties will be sufficient this time to beat the game. And if not, maybe I will finally spring the $15 to register the game and get that hint book.

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#53 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube, 2002)

I remember the outrage when this game was coming out, and how many of my peers derided this game as "kiddy" or whatever. I think I was a little disappointed because, like many of us, had seen that SpaceWorld tech demo and understandably wanted to play a game that looked like that. But that did not affect my desire to play the new Zelda for the GameCube. After all, I had been a big fan of Majora's Mask.



Wind Waker exceeded my expectations. I really like exploration in games, and traveling the huge water-covered overworld really fulfilled that need for me. When not exploring with the boat, the dungeons were on par with other games in the series and the combat was more exciting than in any other Zelda game I had played. A lot of people got bogged down with the Triforce Charts and trying to find all those shards, but I was determined to visit everywhere in that world anyway, so it was all part of the fun.

I wish I had more to say about this game. I have not played it since it first came out, and a lot of my memories of the game are nostalgic, but also a little cloudy. If I ever have the chance, I would like to go back and play a remastered version to experience The Wind Waker again.

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#54 Operation Neptune (MS-DOS, 1991)

Operation Neptune is the only educational game to make my top 100. I played a decent amount of The Learning Company games as a kid, but this one was without a doubt my favorite. It's a very well-produced game that combines action with occasional homework problems. All the problems in the game are math-based, and I enjoy math (for the most part), so I considered the problems to be "fun."



The premise of the game is that a space capsule containing research canisters and toxic chemicals crash-landed in the ocean, and a submarine is sent to collect the pieces. The player controls the submarine as it navigates through a two-dimensional level broken up into several screens, while avoiding marine life that can cause damage. Throughout the levels, word problems are presented that have to be solved in order to continue, and they mostly all make sense in the context of the game (e.g. calculate the average speed of the vessel).



As the game progresses, the submarine encounters increasingly dangerous enemies that must be dodged or temporary subdued through the use of an ink gun. It would probably be pretty easy for an adult, but at the age I played this game, it was a challenging game that took me a while to work through. And probably helped me with my math skills in the process.

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#55 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Playstation 3, 2007)

Ah, the game that started it all. I think the original Uncharted gets a little bit of a bad rap. It's rough around the edges, the enemies are indestructible, and there is a very clear graphical leap from this to the next one, but it's still a novel, fun, and exciting experience.



This was one of the first so-called killer apps for the PS3, and one of the first games that I played on that generation of hardware. Naughty Dog did a fantastic job of creating a set of memorable heroes and villains and putting them through a pulpy adventure inspired by Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. The game has equal parts gunplay and traversal, but it's clear that the developers were still finding ways to integrate the two. The game is mostly contained to a single location, which makes it distinct from the globe-trotting that goes on in the other games. The sequence with the monastery is the highlight of the game for me, although the castle and some of the jungle sections also stand out. Unfortunately, the sequences on the jet ski also stand out, but for the wrong reasons. Luckily they do not take up too much of the game.

Technically, Drake's Fortune is surpassed by every one of its sequels, but I prefer it to Drake's Deception. I think the story and pacing are better, and of course when I first played it, I could not compare it to the immeasurably better sequel, so it felt fresh to me. Also, this game has Eddy Raja!

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Another "scoring" update. This is starting to look like a Board 8 list. The Walking Dead is the first game to be ranked by 4 different people.

#1 The Walking Dead: Season 1: 364
#2 Mega Man X: 282
#3 Chrono Trigger: 277
#4 Final Fantasy IV: 266
#5 Final Fantasy VII: 247
#6 Mario Party 2: 246
#7 Metroid Fusion: 242
#7 Mario Kart 64: 242
#9 Mega Man 3: 238
#10 Super Mario 64: 233
#11 Tetris Effect: 232
#12 Professor Layton and the Unwound Future: 230
#13 Pokemon RBY: 227
#14 Jackbox Party Pack: 225
#15 Cosmic Star Heroine: 224
#15 Fall Guys: 224
#17 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: 219
#18 Mario Kart: Double Dash: 215
#19 Pikmin: 209
#20 Dark Souls: 208
#21 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: 206
#21 Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors: 206
#23 Super Mario Galaxy: 204
#23 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 204
#25 Yoshi's Island: 203
#26 Resident Evil 4: 197
#27 Rock Band 2: 191
#28 Hotel Dusk: Room 215: 187
#28 Borderlands 2: 187
#30 Super Mario World: 186
#31 Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies: 182
#32 Simpsons Arcade: 178
#33 Pokemon HG/SS: 173
#34 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4: 171
#35 Ogre Battle 64: 169
#36 The Stanley Parable: 166
#37 NHL '94: 165
#37 Disgaea 5: 165
#39 The Legend of Zelda: 164
#40 Pokemon Stadium 2: 161
#41 Timesplitters 2: 160
#41 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow: 160
#43 Tecmo Super Bowl: 157
#44 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 156
#44 Grandia: 156

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#56 God of War 3 (Playstation 3, 2010)

This is mainly here for the incredible setpiece moments. No game from the PS3 era of consoles had as epic and expansive moments as God of War 3 did. The game kicks off with some jaw-dropping moments as Kratos fights his way up Mount Olympus on the back of a titan. Later on, that level of scale is reached a few more times, whether while fighting titans or gods or traveling through the interiors of Olympus.

The gameplay does not do much to improve from other games in the series, but it is still as satisfying as ever. At this point though, we are definitely reaching God of War fatigue and each game delivers diminishing returns. God of War 3 is the best looking game on the PS3 and still looks good today.

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I think Wigs has already said that he thinks the original game is shit

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At least your mother tipped well

#57 Rock Band 2 (Playstation 3, 2008)

Rock Band 2 is not technically the best game in the series, but it is the one that I played way more than any other. A great and polished improvement on the first game, it has an amazing (and maybe the strongest) selection of songs on disc.

Rock Band is one of very few video games that has brought my family together. My dad very much does not do video games, but after playing Rock Band 2 once or twice, he ended up buying a PS3 and the full instrument set just so we could play together without anyone having to bring over the equipment. And that in itself was just something that I never could have imagined before then, and has not happened again since.

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#58 Dead Space (Playstation 3, 2008)

Dead Space took all the ideas and improvements that Resident Evil 4 brought to the genre and polished them up for one of the most chilling and thrilling Survival Horror games ever made. When I think of the perfect game in the genre, Dead Space is pretty much it.

The setting is fantastic. Isaac Clarke is trapped on a derelict space vessel with a horde of Necromorphs, members of an alien species that combine with and reanimate the human dead in horrifying ways. Isaac is not much of a talker, but the story is told through messages for him from other crew members, or from logs, messages, diaries, etc., that he finds throughout the game. The user interface for the game is almost entirely in-universe, and great care was taken in the design to avoid breaking the immersion. It can be one of the most isolating and immersive game experiences ever, and for much of the game you are completely alone with these monsters. And I cannot overstate how tense encounters with the Necromorphs can be.



Dead Space took advantage of the high definition capabilities of the 360/PS3 and the result looked better than pretty much any horror game that came before it. The environments are crisp and detailed and look good even with the suitable lack of lighting that you deal with for most of the game. The dynamic soundtrack and sound design really heightens the creepiness of the environments and, at the risk of sounding repetitive, heighten the level of immersion even further. Many of the enemy encounters are random so that there is no way to just advance through an area from memory.

Really, Dead Space is an overall superb game and the best interactive horror experience that I have ever had. If anyone is looking for an intense and immersive horror game, this is easily the first one I would recommend.

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#59 Fez (Playstation 4, 2014)



I know that I would rank Fez higher if I had played it around its first release and been a part ofwhat I understand to have beenan active community search for the secrets of the game. But I wasn't, so this game has to stand on its own merits.

Even considering this fact, I still had a really great time with Fez. The idea of exploring a 3D world on a 2D plane works out well, and the puzzles that must be solved to beat the game are ramped up really well. The non-linear structure of the game lets you move on from anything that you cannot figure out and come back later, and often solving other puzzles will give you the clues you need to come back and finish what you could not before. The soundtrack is also really incredible, and definitely one of my all-time favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W91CsAGNuA

Fez is full of secrets. Even after beating the game, there are all sorts of things to find and puzzle out to explore the world even further. I eventually had to go online to find the resources I needed to 100% this game, and was really impressed with how much work people put into solving it.

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#60 Pinball Dreams (MS-DOS, 1992)

Now, I know that there are technically better pinball games than this one. But this was the pinball game that I played as a kid and I know I sunk multiple dozens of hours into it.



An early game from Swedish developer DICE, which most people know as the Battlefield company, Pinball Dreams featured just four tables. A sequel with four additional tables was made by another developer, and the version that I played integrated both games together with all eight tables.

The tables are mostly simple, and I enjoyed that about it. More complicated pinball games tend to lose my interest after a while. Even this game would not hold my interest like it once did, but of course my free time is not what it used to be, either. The tables each have a few ramps and a few holes, and occasionally you can introduce Multiball. The themes are all pretty neat and the music is very catchy and enjoyable. My favorite pinball game, but I do not play much pinball anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJcH8c58WGk

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ninkendo posted...

I don't know who told you NiGHTs was good

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