Lurker > WiggumFan267

retagging

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

just keeping these onthe same bumpo schedule

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

prob the last tbh

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

yes

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#11. Return of the Obra Dinn (PC, 2018)
Company man woke me up. Said youd need ferry to the Obra Dinn.

You all really should, if youre into puzzle/mystery games at all, play this. This is one of the best Ive ever played. Ill mostly stick to how its played. There will be no spoilers here, but a lot of what I love about this game comes in the way you figure things out, and Im not gonna go into specifics there, not to mention some of the story reveals. IF YOU PLAN ON PLAYING THIS PLEASE DO NOT LOOK UP ANYTHING ABOUT IT. Beyond what I wrote here, and MSG in his.

I adore so much about this game. Its sort of a whodunnit, but not quite. If you enjoyed doing those sort of logic-based X/O grid puzzles (ie, Sandy, whose favorite color is not blue, finished ahead of Mr Roberts but before the pet foxs owner in the footrace and then you mark off everything with an X they cant be in a grid those puzzles), this game will be directly up your alley. And even if not, the way you solve stuff in this game, the way you explore the story, and the mechanics of how youre verified in how youre doing are brilliant.

The basic premise is you are an insurance claims adjuster in the 1800s (I know but this game is legitimately engaging and fascinating) checking out an old ship, the Obra Dinn, thats mysteriously shown up that had previously thought to be lost, and all the crew and passengers have vanished. Armed with a logbook that contains a drawing of everyone on board, a separate list of each name and their job/status, some basic ship info, and a bunch of blank pages- your job is to determine for each person on board, who they were (Ie, match a face to a name) and their fate. So you may have to say This is John Doe. He was shot by Greg Smith. Or This is Jane Doe, Johns sister. She fell overboard. How are you supposed to do this? Well, you have been equipped with a magic stopwatch. When you find someones remains, or something else representative of such, you can use the stopwatch and you are presented the 30 seconds or so of audio/dialogue leading up to their demise punctuated by the still moment in time in which that person perished (accompanied excellently by the soundtrack. Even if you dont like the music in this game, which I do, the way the music is used against these moments is phenomenal). And since its a still moment, you are usually presented with some awesome still frame of a death moment. Here, you can walk around and examine for any clues or whatever might help you.



I guess I need to mention the graphics at this point. There is (almost) NO animation at all in this game, with the dioramas being the main focus. Its old Vector DOS dithering-style graphics really make this feel like one of those ancient PC games, but it works perfectly well for the diorama style settings you explore, and it makes stuff looks really awesome in it. The whole way these death scenes are presented with the music and such are incredible. The voice acting is top-notch as well.

Anyway, it will not always be simple, because not everyone is going to be like Hey its me! Greg Smith! Prepare to die, John Doe! *BLAM*. You have to use the full powers of your deduction to determine these fates and most of the time, youre not going to be able to tell from just the one scene you saw. You might to have to use stuff you found out from other scenes to help you in this scene, maybe some process of elimination, maybe some other stuff. As you view scenes, they fill in in your book, and begin to tell the story of what happened, though you may not have a full understanding unless you solve everyones fates. Part of what makes this cool too, is the story starts at the end (the first few scenes fill out the last chapter) and from there, it becomes less linear and the story fills out in the order you explore it in.



In order to avoid complete guessing, your completed fates are verified in groups of 3. So once you completely fill out 3 different peoples complete fates, if you got all 3 right, the game will cut away and print them in your book. If you filled in 3 and this hasnt happened, you can wait, and figure out a 4th one, and then if 3 of them complete, you know which is wrong and to come back to it later. You can try to fix one you think is wrong, but since you were wrong to start with, youd probably be guessing, which you NEVER have to do in this game (which is a HUGE point in its favor, that everything is figure-out-able through deduction, never trial and error, but some of them can be very hard). If you play this, I definitely recommend avoiding trial-and-error except as a last resort, as its way more fun to figure stuff out.



This game simply is the best figure it out kind of game Ive ever played, and I absolutely loved solving everything and putting it together, and figuring shit out, and watching the story unfold, and trying to figure out based on the fates, the different character motivations and such (ie, you may know why John killed Greg, but youd like to know WHY). Youll be calling people by pet names for a while until you figure out who they are (oh yeah, shirtless guy). The story is pretty compelling and has a lot of twists, interesting characters, and WHOA!!! moments. And, just man. The way this game makes you think and the rewarding feeling you feel for solving it is unparalleled in any other game Ive ever played. I can never play this for the first time ever again, and I wish I could, but I love watching people play this for the first time, so if you ever do, please let me know and I would love to watch.



Also I think MSG used the perfect set of pictures, and I dont want to give any additional ones to avoid spoilers, so excuse me for just re-using his!

Oh and also this game was made by one person. Wild!

Next up: A game that I am in the minority of liking more than its much more popular sequel.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#12. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (& Knuckles) (Sega Genesis, 1992)
Let me set the record straight here. The Genesis Sonic games never have been games about going fast. Sure there are some segments where you do that, and if you get good at the levels ,you can do them even faster and more swiftly. But the point isnt plowing through a level willy-nilly not worrying about obstacles and shit. If thats more your bag the more recent 3D games like Unleashed or Generations is probably more yourspeed. No, the 2D Genesis Sonic games are about some speed, but platforming, Multiple paths, collecting rings to get to special stages, jumping OR ROLLING through enemies, and precision jumping. So when you people start crying because you have to stop and slow down in water sections, or have to climb staircases while some purple ooze rises on you- THIS is the essence of Sonic. And its fantastically designed platforming the way it should be.



Its going to be a little difficult for me to talk about this game without talking about some other Sonic games, but Ill see what I can do here. As Ive said multiple times in my writeups for some games, and the bit ofSonic Ive discussed so far-multiple pathing in games is my jam. It makes each time you play a pretty different experience, but each path is well-designed unlike something procedurally-generated where you may get a unique experience each time but who knows if its well-designed? The controls and feel of all Sonic games have always been top tier. Here is no exception. The game looks absolutely fantastic. The balance of blazing thru levels vs stopping to consider how to tackle an enemy or path, vs making some split-second decisions on when you get launched through the air, which way to go. For me, for every Sonic game, its a seamless experience of going through a level the way YOU want to do it. Yes, sometimes there will be obstacles. You gotta deal with them. You have to avoid the spikes, jump on the tiny moving platforms, use the flippers to launch you through the air, take a flying leap and bounce off some enemies, move tensely and quickly enough through the water to get a bubble while THAT music is playing, avoid getting crushed by pillars, or take on a robot version of yourself followed by a giant mech with no rings. Start to end, fantastic platforming.



The game does have some minor shortcomings for me that make it not quite top 10. Sorry for spoilers here for one, but it pales in comparison for me to some other Sonic games and that keeps it back a bit. You have Miles TAILS Prower, but he cant fly except for show. Youre urged to get all the Chaos Emeralds, but you come out of the checkpoints with 0 rings (hello checkpoint at the end of Mystic Cave 2 that you cant go back and get rings from and the boss is right after). The special stages themselves are kinda bullshit with CPU Tails-he will lose all your rings. And, while the music in this game is obviously great, the music DESIGN and sound mixing/design has always been a bit lacking for me. I think most of the song tracks have a bit of a tinny quality to it- like it was recorded inside a can, and the sound effects, like Sonic jumping, sound like they have had their volume artificially turned up so it kind of sounds a bit unnatural. Sky Chase is the worst level in a Sonic game. Some of the bosses kind of suck and arent fun to fight like Aquatic Ruins or Casino Nights. These are all very minor complaints that dont really hurt at all what I think of an amazing game, but like I said maybe make it stand out a bit less. In theory, this is a top 5 game for me, but I did want to pay some other games I love their proper respect so this winds up here. Anyway back to more things I love about this game.



Despite what I just said, the music is still great- Mystic Cave always spooked me in a good way (also love the death pit), Chemical Plant and the boss theme are iconic as fuck, and Oil Ocean is rad. Love hopping across the oil too and doing the slides. Air Fortress is great in general. I love Metropolis throws a random Act 3 at you (and for the record, I love how much of a troll that stage is, with the most hilariously annoying enemies in Sonic games- the mantises, crabs, and exploding starfish). Fighting Silver Sonic (NOT METAL SONIC scrubs) as Robotnik peeks in through his little window. And an actually really solid 2 player race mode, with a bit of a gambling mindset to it, with the ? item boxes that can possibly swap spots with your opponent. And of course, the introduction of the spindash, always has felt perfect.





Next Up: I wish I had never played this game, so I could play it for the first time again.

Sonic 2 stage ranks:
Metropolis > Oil Ocean > Chemical Plant > Casino Night > Wing Fortress > Mystic Cave > Aquatic Ruin > Hill Top > Emerald Hill > Death Egg > Sky Chase

Music Ranks:
Metropolis > Chemical Plant > Aquatic Ruin > Oil Ocean > Mystic Cave > Casino Night > Sky Chase > Emerald Hill > Wing Fortress > Death Egg > Hill Top

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

I changed my mind and switched my 13 and 12 games.

#13. Metroid Prime (Gamecube, 2002)
I love the Metroid games well I love Zero Mission and know Id love Super Metroid. And here we have t the extension of it to 3D, something thatdoes not sound like it should work at all. How can you take this backtracking platformer and make it work for a 3D environment, let alone in First Person? Consider how shit like Castlevania 64 didnt work whatsoever. Yet this plays exactly like a Metroid game in 3D should. The controls and platforming are tight and work great. Being a sort of FPS, while reducing that by being able to lock on enemies-or possibly different parts of enemies, and using your various weapons on that enemy is is a combat system that works great. Just like regular Metroid games, youve got areas you cant get to, beat bosses or do other room puzzles to get more and new weaponry to make you now able to unlock doors, kill enemies, or do puzzles in other rooms. The areas in this game are also nice and distinct- sure theres always a lava/fire world in Metroid games, but in this one for example, it just finally really FEELS like a fire world. And theres actually an Ice World too, amazing. The boss fights are great too, fighting Meta-Ridley in 3D is cool.

The addition of the scanners was good too- sometimes its just to open a door or elevator, but you can use it now too to get enemy detail or even lore, something greatly lacking from these games until now! The Heat visor looks neat too, though not a big fan of the X-Ray visor, as it just doesnt make the game look good and you need it for some areas, but not too often. The object of the game being to collect all the various doodads located in all corners of the world is a good mechanic to keep you exploring deep into areas, and backtracking where needed. Love the map system too in this game. I like how each room has an individual name.



Dont really have too much to say about this game. Its just great. Its Metroid in 3D, and really feels like a natural extension of the series to go in this direction-however, I wouldnt say no to either a new 3D or new 2D Metroid!

Next up: well it was my clue from before so use that

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#14. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (PS2, 2004)
The last of the Ratchet & Clank games! This time, the 3rd one. Ive in my head found it actually pretty difficult to separate these. The gameplay is largely the same in most of the games with some new mechanics or other little differences in each one that make you want to keep playing, but maybe arent distinctive enough to really tell them apart. So why do I have this one the highest? Well, for one I simply just remember liking it the most. Getting at why might be more difficult, but what I do remember about it is having one of the best battle arenas (tied with the 2nd game), but it also had some obstacle courses beyond just the enemy gauntlets, so those were really fun. It also had these additional sort of ground battlefield missions where you were just holding your ground and staving off waves of enemies- basically like the arena but with access to some turrets, a small squadron of helper bots and some things to protect. Those would up pretty challenging sometimes and were fun to do all of them.



Other good stuff in this game- segments where you guise yourself as one of the enemy species and play a rhythm game to convince them to let you through their base, a Secret Agent Clank section where you play out a scene in a show as Clank (who is a big TV star in this game) with the director yelling production notes, a totally not dated reference in the Courtney Gears character, and a segment in the sewers- like the sand/ice area in the 2nd game- but even better here as you wander through the pipe-like maze, trying to find all 99 crystals, either laying around or of course, inside slime monsters.



This is also probably the most humorous game that I recall- with the first appearance of Lawrence and Dr. Nefarious, probably my favorite characters in the series (Nefarious short circuiting to play soap opera excepts somehow never gets old), and I think you also have Qwark at his best in this game. The Qwark comics are a particular delight, interjecting some classic 2D Platforming to break up the usual Ratchet & Clank game play, with some comic-style cutscenes.


This game really also fleshed out the weapon upgrade system. While the second game only letyou upgrade each weapon once (and one additional time on NG+), this let you go up to V5 (and V8 in NG+). My favorite weapons in this game are the Plasma Whip, the Suck Cannon, Flux Rifle, Annhilator, and Quack-O-Ray.

In the end, as Ive thought more about it, I think Crack in Time is probably overall the best of the bunch, but I hold the original 2 in the highest regard for introducing me to the series and just being all-around fantastic games.

Next up: Who knew praying mantises could be such assholes?


---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

Whiskey_Nick posted...

Thanks B8. Ratchet and Clank? Dear god hold my hair while I vomit.

who recommended the original Ratchet & clank to you

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#15. Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance, 2004)
I dont really have a lot to say about this game. Its an extremely well-designed platformer, as most Metroid games are, with all the standard stuff youd expect out of a 2D Metroid game. Of course, its based around , and a remake of the original Metroid, but running on a more Super Metroid-like engine, and featuring a lot more in map, bosses, content, etc. It may be a remake of Metroid, but it spiritually is much more a relative of Super Metroid (by the way, Super Metroid is not on my list, because I havent really played it enough for me to feel fair in ranking it. However, from the bit I have played of it, its similar enough to this game that I cant see myself having it too far off from this game. I am looking forward though to potential others lists discussions of why SM is or isnt preferable to MZM). I love the Metroid style of 2D platformers, if this has not been apparent enough from my list-I can say the same things a million times. Exploring, finding powerups, getting to go to new areas previously closed off, etc. I think I prefer the Metroid style to the Castlevania style because its a little more based on your own prowess. Theres no RPG element like the more recent Castlevania games, which I do really like as well, but with the Metroid style its a more pure experience-you cant get stronger by grinding for stats or equipment. Sure, the major things can make you better-equipped to deal with stuff, but if you are tasked with a difficult section or room, that room probably needs to be progressed past now, and maybe at best you can find an E-Tank or something. Finding all the E-Tanks and Missile slots and such in getting 100% also always an enjoyable aspect. I think the map design is great (its easy to see where hidden stuff you missed was) and getting around between areas feels great also.





Samus progression of getting new abilities feels natural too. While you will wind up going back to old areas, you never feel overpowered- the game has a really great and consistent difficulty curve. The one curveball they throw in here is of course baked into the games namesake-the new Zero Suit part of the game at the end. I think some people didnt really like this part, or losing all your gear or whatever,I found it a fun , tense, and exciting new aspectto the Metroid games. It feels more like a Metal Gear/Lara Croft hybrid game at this point-sneaking around a temple, armed with nothing but a weak stun pistol, avoiding enemies too powerful for you, and avoiding detection that closes off shortcut doors, where pretty much everything kills you in 2 or 3 hits. That music sting when you are spotted is in my nightmares. Still, feels good to get your stuff back in this section. I love blowing up that glass tube with super bombs.



Just an extremely well-designed game that I have nothing bad to say about.
See you next mission!

Next up: A game featuring James Arnold Taylor.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#16. Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (Gamecube, 2001)
I spent so much time playing this game when it came out theres no way it couldnt be this high. At the time, I loved this game and it was the first time in ages I would get to play a new Sonic game-I was going to love it no matter what, and I did. I think objectively this game is pretty bad- especially the camera and controls (but so were a lotof games at the time), and its just horrendously silly. But I goddamn love it so much. Theres no denying, imo anyway, this game is a blast. From the butt rock of Crush 40 to the Knuckles raps to that early 00s AWESOME energy it has to I mean the goddamn voice acting and mixing. I dont want to say its one of those so bad its good games (like Sonic 06, which is legit terrible but its funny bad) because I do think this game actually IS good, but only on a personal level.



I love the Light and Dark story splits that meet up at the end, I love the Sonic/Shadow action stages and how COOL and BADASS they try to make them, especially Shadow, the Sonic/Shadow stages themselves are the most fun of the bunch, and the 5 different missions per stage provide some variety. I love actually getting all 180 emblems in the game, a thing I did back in the day, and A-Ranking them all in order to unlock Green Hill Zone in 3D, the pinnacle of geeking out s a dumb young teenager for me to be able to play that in 3D. I love the emerald stages- I thought it was innovative gameplay to use the clues to find where the emeralds are hidden like a treasure hunt. I think these days this doesnt sound like fun game design, but man I loved doing it. The Tails/Robotnik (Eggman?!) stages are nothing special but theyre ok. I love the goddamn Crush 40 butt rock. Escape from the City, It Doesnt Matter, and especially Live & Learn remain cool in spite of how overcool they were trying to be. It works so well. I can legitimately still enjoy those songs without irony. Hanging on the edge of tomorrow indeed. I saw Jun Senuoe in concert at Magfest a few years ago (without the Crush 40 vocals) and they were still incredible, playing the instrumental tracks from Adventure 1 and 2 (Metal Harbor kicks). I cant believe Shadow actually says IM THE COOLEST during his boss fight. And look man, that final boss fight Is so goddamn dumb and stupid and epic, I mean it is kind of epic. And hilarious. And I love it.



The Knuckles raps are so goddamn good in the same way. Yeah Rouge shes sexy and smooth. Death chamber Death chamber Death chamber. I know that its here I can sense it in my feet. It sure beats fighting with the foes all the time. THIS IS KNUCKLES AND IM BACK. What makes this game so good is its try-hard style, it makes it timeless and remains a blast to think about all the things that made it awesome to Sonic-loving stupid early nerd teenager.

My friend and I also played the multiplayer for a goddamn long time. Like a REALLY long time. Because this game keeps track of your multiplayer record, I had made sure to only play the multiplayer against him to keep our record pure and intact (I'd play w/o a memory card on the rare occasion I was playing vs someone else). I forget what the record is but it's something like 380-290 or something like that. Almost always playing on random (which chooses a random game mode and characters). I don't see him too often these days because he lives overseas now, but when I do see him, we'd still always make sure to play. I'd @JonPen1416 here, but I think his GFaqs account might be gone. We know that multiplayer as inside and out as its possible to know.

And finally, the story and voice acting. Now THIS is so bad its good. I really cant add anything to it. Its perfect. I wouldnt change it or anything about this g-ILLMAKEYOUEATTHOSEWORDS-ame at all. Faker.



One story I want to tell is when this game came out, my friend and I loved it of course. In one of our classes, we had to write essays as part of exams in that history course, like one of those scantron essays with multiple pages, but we knew our teacher never read anything beyond the first page. So for the 2nd page and on, he simply wrote the entire plot of Sonic Adventure 2, but substituted out Character names for things we were learning about. So, for example, here is an excerpt or two (it's still in my possession):

The Articles of confederation were flawed because you needed 9 of the 13 states to agree on a matter and if it was major you needed all 13. This almost never happened. The Constitution escaped from it and went on a journey. Then Democracy and Republicanism met and fought over an emerald. Then the Declaration of Independence appeared and stole it. Democracy broke it and it had to be rebuilt. We learn that the Dec. of Indp. Traveled to a military retreat and freed the Articles of Confederation" (later) "There, Democracy crashed and the ideals were thrown into space, so Democracy went to get them. The Treaty of Paris helped guide the Constitution through the Bicameral Legislature where they met the Articles, the Declaration of Independence, and Republicanism. The States Constitution was caught by the D.o.I. and Constitution had to give it up. Then the Constitution stopped the world from being destroyed for now, but the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation still had to stop the Senate from crashing into the world. They did it, and the Articles sacrificed itself to save the Constitution and the others.

He got an 82.

Next up: A full-blown remake of an arguably good (not imo), but a roughly designed and brutal game to perfect it.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

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

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#17. The Last of Us (PS3, 2013)
If Uncharted is the summer action-adventure blockbuster, The Last of Us is well, the zombie thriller. I never really had a HUGE interest in zombie movies or media. But I have found it interesting sometimes, specifically when the story is a little more about the human aspect of things, the idea of survival, how relationships are affected in an apocalyptic scenario. Im sure theres more out there that focuses on it than I believe there to be, but for the bit I have been invested in, the storytelling is key. So that for me is basically The Walking Dead and The Last of Us.

The gameplay in TLOU is good, but its the narrative around the gameplay that really shines. The action sequences are your Uncharted style of 3rd person shooting mixed with stealth. As is usual for me, the stealth sections are more fun and interesting, trying to take out infected or those types that will do anything to stay alive silently is more in your favor than engaging. You engage too for your standard Uncharted shootouts, but you may not last as long here, especially against hordes of zombies, and thats because your supplies are low-most of the game, if youre playing on a harder difficulty, is rife with trying to be as conservative as possible with your ammo and supplies, as you really dont get much and need to get creative when you run low or out. The supplies in this game function as parts, and when you get enough parts you can craft tools; med kits, smoke bombs, explosives, molotovs, shivs, etc. And again, this will all be in limited supply so being of wary of this throughout the run is a dynamic in survivor style games that I like. How the gameplay integrates with the story is great. There are a lot of slow narrative sections, where maybe youre just trying to find your way through a collapsed building or whatever, with dialogue and such throughout, where you have some time to slow down and look for parts, and I think the game flows very well between these sections. The Winter section with Ellie is probably the best and most tense and exciting parts of the game.



The multiplayer is a great time as well here, a group-focused deathmatch style, based well around the main game. You craft items and sneak around-its a very slow pace because you are more easy to detect if you are loud and running. You have a listen mode like in the game which is slow to recharge and creates a dynamic of move slow, and stick with your group. I probably dont like it as much as some other Naughty Dog multiplayer games, but its more interesting and methodical.

The story is fantastic. The prologue of this game is very sad (if not a little bit cheaply so, but hey it still works really well), and then BAM 20 years later. Joel is a controversial protagonist. You certainly like him more than a lot of the other people in this game, and he has his morals, but this game still knows what its doing with the theres no good people in an apocalypse kind of storytelling, and handles it well throughout (unlike TLOU2, where the point is CONSTANTLY. HAMMERED. IN.). Youre not really supposed to agree with Joel, but you like him, for the most part, in spite of the fact he does some bad things, which he feels like he has to do. Obviously, he is also a very cold character initially, but the relationship he develops with Ellie feels real and natural over its time. It definitely builds up well, and there is a point where a certain event (right after Ellies fight with that cannibal creepy fucker David, fantastically voice acted by Nolan North btw) basically solidifies their relationship for the last third or so of the game, until the end. Ellie is a great and very likeable character (in this game), again feels very real and her relationship with Joel as well. Both are acted extremely well, maybe my tops for voicing performance in all games on my list. What best represents Ellie is her honesty and earnestness. The fact she stops throughout the journey just to read Joel puns from her joke book are perfectly befitting of her. I love those puns. The other characters you meet on the way too, albeit minor, are well done too.



The ending of this game- I really liked it a lot for being a not perfect ending. Joels decision to save Ellie from the hospital, killing the doctors along the way, as that was the only way to save her life- I think it made perfect sense for his character to do that. Its selfish for sure, and shows how much he came to care for Ellie, like she was his lost daughter, and at the same time is totally disrespectful to her since he knows this is what she wouldve wanted, but cant bring himself to lose her. He knows this too, since he lies to her at the end, and you totally understand why he does it, and why Ellie totally doesnt believe him, but chooses to swallow it anyway. This ending moment is quite emotional, bittersweet, and complex and I liked it ended on that air of resigned acceptance, it put a period on the emotional mood of the game.



I liked TLOU2 as well. I dont want to get too much into it here, but I do want to talk about how it resolves that ending. There was a lot I didnt like in it, mostly the general plot, but the characters and plot progression is good, as well as the small moments are fantastic. The scene referring back to this moment where Joel finally tells Ellie what he did (mostly cuz she finally did find more solid proof), the way their relationship then progressed, her not wanting to forgive him, into that one final Joel post-mortem scene where she wants to do her best to reconcile with Joel even though she can never forgive himits all especially emotional and heartbreaking, and well done. Those few Ellie/Joel scenes were the best parts of TLOU2 for sure.

Anyway, this game is a very well told story, with deep and well-acted characters and great character growth, surrounded by solid and narratively fitting gameplay.



Next up: This is probably objectively the worst game in my top 100. I dont care.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#18. Spelunky (PC, 2013)
This is quite possibly the most addicting game on my list, and this time, a true roguelike, and the best there is. The appeal of this game to me is all about the STRATEGY. Its a platformer dungeon crawler sure. But you really need to think about what youre going to do with your limited resources and time. Does spending time in the level digging for more gems make sense? You might need that money to buy something good in the shop, like a jetpack or pickaxe, but then you might wind up using most/all of your bombs or ropes, you might run out of time in the level and have to deal with the ghost, you might run into an annoying enemy on your way and take some damage to your much-needed health. These are the kinds of decisions I find my self wrestling with in a Spelunky run, in an attempt to make my life progressing through these levels as simple as possible, as going start to finish winds up being really damn difficult because near-perfection is required. Sure, you start with 4 health, but you have no i-frames at all so any one thing that hits you can bounce you around the level, sending you into more enemies, arrow traps, spikes, off the edge, any number of ridiculous things. And I gotta say, running on an intense 45-minute run through the game, all loaded up with great items, shitloads of bombs, and a ton of health, getting tapped by a random spider you dont see drop from the ceiling, to knock you immediately into an Abominable Snowman who grabs you and throws you off the edge man it really sucks but you cant help but laugh at the ridiculousness of how you can die sometimes.

As mentioned, this is a procedurally generated Roguelike dungeon crawler. The goal is to get to the end of each level! Theres lots of split paths and alternate ways to go, which provide a ton of other exploration and how you want to play the game options. You start with 4 health, 4 bombs, 4 ropes. The bombs blow up walls which can lead you to areas that have items or gems/money. The ropes allow you to climb to higher areas. Theres just an endless amount of fun stuff to try too in this game and a ton of mechanics. For example, you can try attacking the shopkeepers to take all their stuff, but youll enrage them and theyll go after your ass hard for THE REST OF THE GAME. But its worth it if you can kill them for their stuff and the shotgun they will try to kill you with. Theres altars to Kali, which if you sacrifice enough bodies (dead or otherwise, allies or enemies) youll be rewarded with various goodies. The jetpack is awesome and the best item in the game. Theres a whole myriad of stuff like this to explore with, and a ton of items which a lot of them may seem like they suck, but they all have their situations in which they may prove useful. As I mentioned the decision making earlier, maybe that gun that makes Spider Webs, normally useless, can be really helpful if youre out of ropes and need a controlled way to ascend. There are rocks everywhere. You ALWAYS want to have one on you (or anything to carry) because not only can you use it as a throwing weapon, but you can use it to set off arrow traps that shoot when they detect movement, or hit a bat at a tricky angle (since your default whip has a sad short hitbox), or Im sure you can find some other use

I mentioned the Ghost earlier too-I should clarify on that. You cant just dilly dally in each level, eventually the ticking clock of the Ghost will emerge after 2 minutes on each level. The Ghost can go through walls obviously, and slowly hones in on you. He is pretty difficult to avoid and if he touches you, its instant death. The Ghost can be useful too if you are crafty because he turns gold dust (normally worth small amounts of money, and found in most walls after you blow them up) into valuable diamonds!

I know that when other people have seen me play this game they comment on how I have such a different playstyle, but I think this game really lends itself well to playing however you want- Fast and brisk, Slow and methodical, spending all your gold right away on whatever you see in the shop, trying to save it for the more expensive items you may or may not find later, or not minding hanging around in the level long after the Ghost invades- if youre good at evading it, or have good means to evade it (like the jetpack!). This ticking clock mechanic per level is much like Crypt of the Necrodancers music.



When you die, and you will die a LOT, you can instantly get right back into the game, and youll be energized to get going again. This is the kind of game where each time you play, youll get better and understand more tricks to get farther. I cant say youll get further each time, because theres always some random thing waiting to one hit kill you, like when you miss the whip on a bat and it hits you as result before who knows what happens, but youll definitely at least do better each time.

So yeah-for me this game is all about the variety- the different ways you can approach a level, the strategic thinking of item conservation, and when to spend stuff, the ridiculous amount of hidden areas (and how you access them), and the fantastic difficulty level. Ill leave off with how you can get to the fabled City of Gold.

Its very simple. You need to find the key somewhere in 1-2, 1-3, or 1-4, then use that key on the chest hidden in the same level (often at the bottom of a snake pit) to get the Eye of Udjat, which allows you to see where gems are buried in the ground but also somewhere in World 2 Jungle it will start flashing when you get close to the secret entrance to the Black Market, so you need to bomb the ground to open it up, then in there buy the Ankh for $50K, which allows you to come back to life once if you were to die, except in World 3 Ice Caves where if you die on the stage with the Moai statue, you will come back to life inside the Moai statue where you can get the Hedjet which is one of the 2 keys to the city of gold; the other key is the Scepter which you get by killing Anubis in 4-1, and hopefully you have the glue and a bunch of bombs cuz the easiest way to kill him is to stick bombs to him while avoiding his black hole attack, but if you kill him you get his Scepter and can use the powerful Black Hole attack which is great except it can also fuck you over cuz youll probably accidentally attack a shopkeeper or gravitate a stray arrow into you or something but ultimately it doesnt matter because you need to find the City of Gold entrance in 4-2 and give up the Hedjet and Scepter in order to gain access and then youve discovered the City of Gold!!!!!

Or you dont have to do that. But you can!



Also, I'll just add that while I have been enjoying Spelunky 2, I think on the whole it's a bit more frustrating/not as good. They altered it so you can't jump as high which I still haven't really gotten used to -it drastically changes how the whole platforming feels- movement was much better in 1. There's also more "traps"you can get stuck in and need to use a bomb/rope. Spelunky 1 had very smart procedural generation, where you would NEVER find yourself in a situation where you NEEDED a bomb or rope to FINISH a level unless you used one in the first place to get yourself into a mess like that; ie a pit with no ledges to climb back up might generate in 2 but not 1. I also think the difficulty curve is off- World 1 is too hard and World 2 (at least the fire one) is too easy. Still great game though.

Next up: A game with a divisive ending.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#19. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2, 2003)
Look Im just gonna wind up saying a lot of the same stuff here. But this was my introduction to the series. I got into this series from seeing it on Xplay way back in the day and I just thought it looked like an awesome, fun game, with cool wacky weapons and solid platforming and yada yada yada. I got the game. I loved it. I loved the series. The humor runs kind of goofy sometimes, but in that good way where you cant not enjoy it- it works well. Qwark is here again too, probably at his best since hes the main villain for the last time, even if he doesnt reveal himself a bit into the game. The plot is pretty memorable here, revolving first around chasing down THE THIEF, who is this female lombax named Angela who never shows up again but hey at least shes relevant here. Then progressing to fighting the Thugs 4 Less bandits who are fun, and eventually Qwark and his top-secret project the Protopet, basically a feral Kuribo ripoff. The fight against it at the end is particularly memorable since its this cute little fuzzball with teeth the whole game and eventually becomes a monster. The fleshing out of each level having multiple paths for multiple objectives also was well-implemented here. Im sure it was in the first game too but more on that

The gameplay is a tight, effective, and satisfying experience, as always, and truly controls great. I suppose now is the time to mention how much I hate the first Ratchet & Clank game because the controls are just mind numbingly terrible and make no sense. You can run and shoot but you cant really aim because the auto lock on aim is janky as hell and doesnt really work, if you want to really hit something you have to stop moving, go into first person mode, aim and shoot, while meanwhile a million things are shooting at you from a distance and a bunch of tiny guys are biting your toes all the while you can only take 4-6 hits near the start of the game. Plus, if you try to move and shoot at the same time, youre always shooting in the direction youre moving, because theres no strafe button. Its a truly miserable experience and I am so glad I didnt play that game first or else I never wouldve played this series ever again (HI @Whiskey_Nick ). The second game fixed this very simply by making the lock-on auto aim shooting actually work properly and THEY ACTUALLY ADDED A STRAFE!!! Like being able to shoot straight forward while moving left, right, or back, CAN YOU IMAGINE????

I love the arena in this game, love the varied and colorful environments, running around and using all your weapons equally so you can upgrade them all lets you really experience all the games weapons (even if the only upgrade once or twice)-all great. Running around this games open world areas, collecting all the crystals is a grind, but in a good way. I liked trying to go around to find all the giant sandworms. Ditto for the icefield iceworms. The racing segments are solid also. But ultimately, this game is about how great the CONTROL actually feels, especially over the first. So maybe a couple of the other R&C games are better, but this one is still awesome, and is here for not just that but also being the one that got me into the series, and playing it later on the PS3, it still held up damn well.

Weapons I love in this game: the RYNO II (one of the most fun versions because of its silly over-weaponized looking design, even if it doesnt play 1812), the Bouncer(which shoots an exploding spike ball that explodes into more smaller spike balls), the Sheepinator (turn your enemies into Sheep exploding sheep when upgraded), the Zodiac (basically a weapon that instantly eradicates most weak enemies on screen and does good damage to tougher enemies), and my favorite, the Plasma Coil (shoots an electric orb that as it makes contact with enemies, arc-lightnings/chain reactions itself into even more enemies).



Next up: It doesn't matter how strong or how used to the level you get, sooner or later, you're gonna get one-hit KO'd by some (hilarious?) bullshit. You'll scream in frustration, then fire it up and try again.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#20. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time (PS3, 2009)
Its been a hot minute since I played this game so unfortunately Im not gonna be able to get into a lot of the specifics. But what I do remember is it was by far the most engaging, interesting, and funny story of the whole series, and it was enjoyable, for a series which really is not known for it. But it has copious amounts of Captain Qwark and Dr. Nefarious & Lawrence, the best characters in the series. The story revolves, as many touch on but not so much as this game, Ratchets family and specifically his father, with also a focus on Clanks origins. Without going too much into detail, its the best story with the highest stakes.

All the Ratchet & Clank games play pretty similar and its a gameplay style I absolutely love between its platforming, creative and fun to use weapons, arena segments, etc. What sticks out a lot in this one besides the aforementioned story are the Clank segments, which largely revolve around time control. These were very creative and fun, involving creating Clank clones to go ahead and do parts of the puzzle, like stand on a button or weigh down a see-saw while your real Clank (orthe other clones) do things affected by the clones you make. Theyre surprisingly deep and some can be pretty tricky. The final boss sequence is a cool twist and a good and intense fight as well.

Other than that its a Ratchet & Clank game where you know what youre getting, and its exactly what I want! Some of my favorite weapons from this game include the Sonic Eruptor (basically a destructive belching frog mating call), Spiral of Death (Boomerang buzzblades!), the Chimpomatic (turn your enemies into chimps or robot chimps, complete with cymbal and fez!), the Rift Inducer (open up black holes where Fred the Tentacle Monster can pull your foes in), this game's version of the RYNO which plays the 1812 overture as you fire it, and feels incredible to just blast everything, and of course, the master of destruction, Mr. Zurkon.



Next Up: A game with a naughty-ish subtitle.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

Pokalicious posted...

FUCK YOU WIGS

c

I already ranked Smash Ultimate!

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

Sorry, I think some of my writeups have to get less at this point (at least relative to how high I have the game) or Im never gonna get these done. Normally I might have more to say about these games but long writeups are starting to de-motivate me SORRY

#21. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch, 2017)
This is my favorite Mario game. Ive always preferred the mission style Mario as opposed to the straight level progression style ones (though obviously, as evidenced by list, I still enjoy both kinds). This felt like Mario 64 all over again, but perfected. Theres a lot LOT LOT more little small missions to do for moons (this games collectathon item), for quick rewards mixed in with the longer more Mario 64 main-like missions (including bosses), and I really appreciate that gameplay style- the combination of being able to do quick reward style for doing something small or longer more elaborate ones at will leaves for a great open world feel,and a lot of freedom to just do what you want. In Mario games past, doing the kind of things that would get you a Moon in this game might get you an extra life or power up in another, and I like this reward style more.

The levels are nice and diverse, and range from small to big (never huge), but there still remains an immense amount to do in all of them, and yet it feels like just the right amount. The levels never really get tired except maybe near the VERRRRY end where youre trying to get every last Moon (the hidden picture ones where you get some sort of clue to a Moon in a different level based on its color I especially like). Even then, tryingto get every single Moon was tons of fun, and I think pretty much the peak of this style of game. Of course, the finale in Metro Kingdom where Mayor Pauline (love that) has you go through a 2.5D-ized Donkey Kong style course while singing you a lounge tune based loosely off the original DK theme while celebratory fireworks go off is surprisingly emotional and feels great. That plus the appearance of Peachs Castle at the end as its own full standalone level is extremely well done and nostalgic as hell, and the fact I have it only ranked 4th below should speak volumes. Those Koopawalking Circles can fuck off though.

The main gameplay mechanic of throwing your cap on stuff to control things was a great idea as well, and lets face it, controller a T-Rex with a Mario stache is a hard peak to come down from.

I also did the thing like MSG did on my 2nd playthrough, and used the Odyssey with as few Moons as possible, so at the very end of the game, I could deposit them all at once in one giant long upload only to watch the balloon go FOOOMF. So satisfying. Heres that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqzTO7F1Jmo

Anyway, this game is delightful and joyful in every way. The mechanic is fun, getting around feels fantastic (like using the flying dudes in the biggest levels), and the collectathon style where you can get a Moon for doing anything big or small, makes finding hidden stuff feel especially rewarding, when its the MAIN gameplay objective. The last ending objectives of Dark and Darker side are great too!



Metro > Bowser > Moon > Mushroom > Dark/Darker Side > Luncheon > Wooded > Sand > Snow > Seaside > Lake > Lost > Cascade > Ruined > Cap > Cloud

Next up: This game has time puzzles that are as surprisingly as fun as Braid's, even if not as complex.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

Posting this Spinball boss music cuz its a bit better quality with headphones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW-aaSXPBYA

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#22. Sonic Spinball (Genesis, 1993)
Way more than just a pinball game, this plays like you might expect a pinball + Sonic, or at least a platformer, game would, where a level is nothing more than a board where you need to find what to do to collect all the Emeralds in each stage, proceedup to the boss at the top, and knock yourself into him a dozen times until it dies.

Each level is laid out as several pinball boards, not just a single screen pinball machine, or even like 3 separate but connected boards like in something like Kirbys Pinball Land. Instead, its set up so you can progress more naturally from one pinball style area to another, after sort of solving what to do in each area, and not just directly vertically but also horizontally. Its a bit difficult to describe, but you basically need to do things in each area to either open up a new area, get an emerald or open a path to an emerald. For example you might need to shoot Sonic into a cannon that busts open a cork 3 times, which then allows you access to air blow yourself up a tube where the Emerald is at the top. But this might be in the mid-left or mid-right board you access only after you clear the starting area board by shooting down a robot hockey player and hitting open the door 3 times and then airblowing yourself to either the left or right side (CLUCKS ARE COMING!!). Then once yopu get that emerald on the left and right side, the way upto the next upper areas opens up, which allows you access to the boss which are a bunch of floating Robotnik heads in a pressurized fish tank.



This game has only 4 levels, but they are nice and meaty with variety, since theres a lot of areas in each level, getting bigger as it goes along. It can feel really tense too as it plays this awful sound if you die (WEEEEEOOOOO, WOOo woo woowooooooooooooooooo) and the game is very fast-paced , so losing a life really feels like a bummer. In most of the levels, theres usually some failsafes to protect you from dying, but this still remains one of those blood-pumping kind of games between its speed and difficulty. It remains iconic to me when you have to drop yourself below the flippers into a metal bucket on a sea of slime and row yourself over to the Emerald in a giant slime vat, but only after youve drained the slime. Of course this game is probably most famous for its Chain of Death, where if you fall down out of the boss room in Stage 2, Lava Powerhouse, you fall Aaaaallllllllllll the way down to a separate area where its just Sonic hanging on a chain above a pool of lava, and you have to know to swing back and forth and get a nice big jump off to the side.





The music in this game is phenomenal, and one of the Genesis very best. And I mean that in the sense that this music is the most Genesis music you will ever hear. The tracks are different ranges of incredibly bassy with this very rough electric intense thrash metal guitar playing over it with a bassy and percussive verse section and a boopin breakdown section that pretty much describes all the tracks, but theyre all very different, yet all have this sweaty electric deep pulsing bumping beat to all of them. The boss music is a little different yet, but even more intense and is one of my favorite video game tracks ever for its non-stop intensity. This isn't a boss here, but I just love this guy, who tries to eat you if you fall down below the flippers on the bottom of Stage 1.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=921mrsdbGuU Lava Powerhouse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMDqhIUboS4 Boss Theme

Finally, I have to talk about my favorite thing about this game, the goddamn score bar. Trying to feel like a pinball machine as much as it can, this bar shouts various things at you like what to do, words of encouragement, exclamations the boss might have, and just all different kinds of feelings. It never fails to make me laugh in a way I cant explain- its just so wacky and feels like its taking itself so ridiculously, I cant help but laugh. When you shoot up a pipe that has some barrels in it you need to go up 3 times to clear a path, it yells BARREL BUSTIN! at you, or when you fall down the aforementioned pipe it yells OH, NOOO O O then !!! CHAIN UNSTABLE !!! , QUICK, GET OFF, followed by a countdown and if you escape then you get a scrolling message of WHOA! THAT WAS CLOSE, DUDE Its liberal use of ellispes, Robotnik faces, and extra spaces inserted into random spots man its just my sense of humor but it gets me every time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPRd32OOrWM - Falling down the chain.

And my favorite:



I LOVE YOU SO MUCH EXTRA SPACE BETWEEN THE H'S

Next up: A game where you can play as a Piranha Plant.


---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

Hurt Emerald

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

hurt stifled

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

Eddv posted...

For FUTURE REFERENCE

You have to be IN THE RING to use your extra hurts and in the ring means NOT in your skin the cst phase.

Im counting wigs because it effected me and because he was literally told otherwise.

But for the future that wont work.

also i wouldve just done it right after STCing otherwise

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

hurt emerald

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

skin da cat

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

use double hurt on Eddv

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

oh yeah go my cuphead

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

hurt nee

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

too late ^

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

double hurt sultan

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

Geyser Poops Eddv

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

Hurt maniac double hurt

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

Hurt Zen Double Hurt Zen

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

*spins Zen right round like a record right round round round*

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

*ROB throws Maniac*

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

hurt and double hurt Soul

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

Hurt wickle
double hurt wickle

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

*sends Wicklebee a Kyler Murray plushie*

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

*throws stifled over the fence*

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

XIII_rocks posted...

Played Sonic 2 first so Emerald Hill is more nostalgic to me, but SA2 did a Green Hill level, and Generations did it too. So this seems a fairly clear decision overall.

And Mania.

I prefer Green Hill personally as a level (I hate the hitboxes on the monkeys in the tree)-if you prefer Emerald Hill thats fine, but Green Hill is definitely more iconic. If the word you want is "quintessential" you might have more of a case but I'd still disagree

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

spindashes Sultan

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

*buttslam Strife*

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#23. Rogue Legacy (PC, 2013)
I know several of you are not really fans of this game, maybe finding it boring or too floaty or the fact its not a true roguelike or something else about it. Well, yeah its definitely a bit floaty and its not really a roguelike, but these are things in its favor imo.

Rogue Legacy is a rouge-lite. You start off as a simple swordsdude in a castle, and you need to beat all the bosses to face off against the final enemy. Except youre really weak and you will die pretty quickly probably. Now youre dead. Its up to your next-of-kin to take on the castle. But alas, they have some recessive genes showing up. Each time your character dies, you choose one of 3 characters to storm the next newly randomly generated castle with. Each kin will have one of several classes (Paladin, Mage, Shinobi, etc) each with a basic skill (ie Mages can spell cycle or Shibobis can teleport) and stat set (ie, Mages hit for less physical but do more magic damage, have more MP, less HP etc), a random spell, and one or multiple genetic traits. These traits can range from positive to negative to neither and have great effects on how you play the game. You might have no foot pulse and therefore dont set off spike traps. You might be really huge or really tiny.You might be immune to knockbacks. You might be gay (this changes whether the male or female statues drop health or MP potions). You might be colorblind and only see black and white, making it difficult to tell enemies apart from their upgraded brethren. You might be alektorophobic and have to kill the castlevania style wall chickens before using them. Theres a whole ton of these, which make up the core game play, and these combinations, with the spells and classes make each characters run through the castle completely different. The different styles youneed to adopt keep the game fresh.

Once you die, your spawn comes out to the main area before the castle, where they can spend the earned money from the previous run on character upgrades which persist throughout (thus, not a rougelike) which besides your basic stat upgrades also include class upgrades, the ability to keep a small % of unspent gold on each run (usually unspent gold is lost to Charon), the ability to wear better armor, etc. You also have a blacksmith- you can findblueprints through your run allowing access to better swords. The rune lady provides extra modifiers which can make your characters even more custom as you like. You can equip several of the same type toboost your character. Maybe you want 3 speed runs, 1 jump rune, and 1 retaliation rune which stack- so the more speed runes you have on, the faster youll be-each jump rune gives you an extra jump- retaliation runes mean the enemy takes higher % damage when they damage you, etc. You can combine these with your kin to maximize potential! The amount of mix and matching you can do just adds further depth-all enjoyable!

The gameplay feels great. As I said, its floaty, but it feels really good and smooth to run around. Hitting with your sword is satisfying and you move swiftly enough that getting around is fun. There are rooms you may not be able to get by with your traits, but if you really want to see the secrets of that room you can pay a reduction fee to lock the castle from last time. The game also looks good and the enemies are nicely animated and colorful. Finding the boss in each area is fun, and then taking on the boss provides a good challenge as their rooms wind up being pretty complicated. You can also take on remix versions of the bosses for an even greater challenge. These run tough because you are using a specific pre-made character for each of these fights.

In then end, its a hack and slash platformer with really good game feel, a nice degree of variety and customization mixed with locked character traits, and addicting gameplay that make this game a win for me. The procedurally generated castle also keeps you on your toes. I wound up doing the trophy for this game where you need to beat it in 15 kin or less which was a fun challenge too. Looking forward to the 2nd one, once its out of early access!



Next up: No other score bar that I know of has evoked such humor, character, and personality as in this game.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

RIP Captain Jack

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#24. Rock Band 2 (PS3, 2008)
Similar to Guitar Hero 2, this was the perfect game at the perfect time- but even MORE perfect. I was a junior in college when Rock Band 1 came out and a senior for Rock Band 2 (and I stayed a 5th year). By my junior year, my friend group was pretty solidified, and by senior year, the place I lived. I had my roommate, my friends across the hall, and a bunch across the street. Over those 3 years, we played both these games so much. Guitar Hero was on its way out, with the disappointing Guitar Hero III, once Harmonix left and focused on this series and clearly, it was always about the developer. Or again, maybe those Harmonix bands, hello again Freezepop. Rock Band 1, while a good game, was still close to the release of Guitar Hero 2 that we would play both. Rock Band obviously had the greater appeal of having 4 people playing- Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Drums, but something about it wasnt quite there yet. It was partially the setlist, though there were the bits of DLC, but it always felt pretty bland. Like at this point, the genre needed to go a little further in presentation. Rock Band 2 delivered here. Its tour mode was really fun, everything was easier to just do what you want- create custom setlists, making the DLC not only much more accessible but huge jumps in quality and quantity, and I remember thinking just how much nicer this game looked and felt than its predecessor.

This was pretty much the ultimate evolution of what Guitar Hero was. A great rhythm game for 4 people, rocking out to anyones style of music (but hey, mostly rock right?), and the fun of playing whatever instrument you felt like! It was inclusive for those who were bad at rhythm games-play the vocals! Or for the exact opposite, play the drums! Or just fans of the original hype of playing wailing guitar solo, play the guitar! Or youre the fourth wheel, play the bass, sorry. But hey, thats not even fair. There were a lot of great songs that featured bass here too! I loved playing all of them. I used to be so good at these games too-we were playing so often, it was my prime. I tried that Bladder Challenge where you play every song in one sitting, but man, Visions just was the death of me 9/10 of the way in. Fuck that song.

The instruments themselves were pretty good- I was never a huge fan of these guitars, but luckily some of the others I preferred from the GH series worked just fine. Instrument backwards compatibility was a big deal. But mostly, it was great times with my friends group in college. I loved guitar obviously but also liked the Drums a lot too- and that would be physically exhausting! For my foot. Or the vocals for your vocal chords.



Some of the best songs in this base game include: The Trees, Aqualung, Any Way You Want It, Battery, White Wedding, Psycho Killer, Hungry Like The Wolf, Pinball Wizard, Painkiller, and of course, Master Exploder.

Next up: A game where you can play as characters that are colorblind, gay, and/or have entered the Matrix.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#25. Portal 2 (PS3, 2011)
I know a lot of people like the original Portal more. It was certainly more succinct, with the story unfolding more naturally with gameplay, and its narratives playing out in much the same way- such as being able to convey so much emotion for a simple block with a heart on it. Portal 2 is much more a real game, and while thats not necessarily criteria for it being better, it really helped flesh the game out here, giving it an incredibly funny and witty plot and the same for its additional characters.
Portal 2s single player campaign and its entirely separate co-op campaign could each individually be on my top 100, both together is a sure thing.

The single player, as I said before is a fantastic follow up to the first, fleshing out the character of GLaDOS and giving her a backstory, introducing fantastic and hilarious new characters in Wheatley and Cave Johnson (who are also fantastically voice-acted), and telling its story in a smart and efficient way, through the gameplay. Even if its not as compact or efficient as the first, its a lot funnier, and the environment of the puzzle chambers, or the game in general, is a lot more varied, than simply going behind the scenes. And though its a bit slower, its definitely not slow and has a nice balance between story and gameplay, like the bit near the beginning with the collapsing hotel room while Wheatley chimes at you. Of course, the puzzles are still center stage, and they are great puzzles, adding in a bunch of new features like the light bridges, launchers, gravity tunnels, and the portal goo in the older abandoned Aperture-the latter being especially great. Glados joining you as a potato near the end of the game, exploring the science fair, Cave Johnson taking over as the narrator-all excellent. Though I think my favorite narrative part of the game is the part with the defective turret scanner, those guys really make me laugh. Also the 3 cores at the end. Those 3 and the defective turrets voiced by Nolan North, naturally.

The co-op continues to blow the roof off. It may just be back to Gladoss show, but the co-op puzzles, and therefore addition of 2 portals, plus all the aforementioned new features adds an incredible amount of puzzle depth, and really opens up a lot of new ways to do these puzzles, combined with the fact you need to work together of course. It works great whether both of you havent done the puzzles, or one of you have and lets the other one try to figure out the puzzles. The little interactions between P-Body and Atlas are great, and Gladoss annoyance at them is a fun motivator throughout. Obviously theres not really much of a story in this mode, but the puzzles more than make up for it, and the humor is still there. The pinging system was also pretty innovative at the time!

In all, a supercharged and better version of Portal, perhaps a bit clunkier, but an all-around better experience.



Next up: The most physically exhausting game on my list.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

release heavy lobster imho

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#26. Super Monkey Ball 2 (Gamecube, 2002)
I know all yall are gonna be up in Monkey Targets business and thats perfectly fine. The minigames are incredible in this game, especially Monkey Target, a simple game of rolling down a hill, launching, gliding and trying to land on all different kinds of moving boards to get points. Simple, and great. But theres also a ton of other really fun ones. Monkey Race, Monkey Billiards, Monkey Bowling, Monkey Golf, and Monkey Baseball are all really good too. The rest are ok or eh. But all these minigames can be great for their contribution to the game alone, and a huge step up over Monkey Ball 1s 3 minigames (including inferior versions of many of Monkey Ball 2s games).



But really, the draw for me, is SMB2s main mode - maybe not the story mode as much because that is kidn of disjointed- Id rather play all the stages start to end, classic style- although the story is uh, pretty damn weird. All the background locales come from the story, like a forest, volcano, what have you but it also involves like taking a bath with an evil monkey or something and getting in his washing machine, and getting cooked in a stew. I dont.

Super Monkey Ball is a game where you control a monkey in a ball through an obstacle course, getting to the flag at the end. The courses start easy and get insane, but hey, you can try over and over again til your hearts concern, sort of- actually this is the biggest reason I have this game over SMB1. SMB1 limits you to 3 lives per run (and some continues). You wont need them on the Easy course, but the other courses you certainly will. Monkey ball 2 gives you 99 lives, which winds up being a really good amount! This way you cant just completely mess around without regard for penalty of dying over and over you will have to start over if you lose enough lives. But its definitely an amount that offers you a good degree of flexibility, and makes it ok to make mistakes and learn from them.

This is a physics game at heart. Truthfully, you are controlling the WORLD, not the monkey, and letting gravity do its thing- but it really feels like youre controlling the monkey which is a neat bit of design. Playing around in the very wide variety of levels is incredibly fun, and trying to deal with all the traps and hazards. They may include rapidly moving goalposts, launching yourself into some basketball hoops, hurling yourself down giant spirals, etc etc. If you ever enjoyed Marble Madness on the NES, this game is like its logical conclusion. Theres really not too much more to say about it, other than the insanity of some of these levels, and despite a lot of them being really difficult, they always run really fun and creative, and I enjoy this style of rapid-fire physics-based obstacle courses.



Next up: You can play this game on Steam without having Steam installed.


---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

Also have to include this lower quality photo as well:


---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS

#27. Super Mario World (SNES, 1990)
I never owned a SNES, I was the Genesis kid. My friend with the SNES though, this was the game I truly loved playing. This to me, was then and always was, sorry haters, Mario 2D platforming at its finest. Everything was here. First and foremost, the colors and graphics, to draw me in. This game is a true delight to look at. The color and visual design is out of this world, and all the music is obviously a classic. Presentation-wise, it is extremely difficult to beat Mario World. The world map is truly iconic and beautiful. The post-game Mario head koopas are kinda freaky though.



Gameplay. Fantastic too. I never liked how the first Mario game controlled,it felt too stiff. Mario 2 and 3 feel good though, and so does this game, but I like the extra bit of momentum and floatiness Mario has here. I know some people dont like that, but I in general have a bit of fondness for floaty control. I do like the level design a lot too- theres a lot of good variety between your grasslands, your caves, your ocean levels, your river levels, your castles, your ghost houses, your air/bridge stages, your mountain levels, your forest levels, the random one-off sunken ship I think I got most of them? I was especially a fan of the Ghost House levels, as they had the neat additional sort of puzzle element to them- trying to figure out how to get out, probably involving finding a P switch and a hidden door. I like the one that has the 2 areas that look alike, but are actually different to throw you for a bit of a loop.

I also really enjoyed all the Castle levels, with their intense music, the fact you had to leave Yoshi outside for extra challenge, and fighting the Koopa Kids, although it was a bit lame some of those fights were duplicated, they were still fun fights. I especially love the final level, with the 2 sets of 4 doors, and you can pick the exact 2 of 8 rooms you want to play. I always try to do a different set of 2 each time. Though, I did not really enjoy Forest of Illusion. That one level that traps you in a world map loop forever until you beat the level in a certain time limit is unintuitive and Im not sure howd youd really know what to do there without a guide or something. I also love the post-game Special area, with its RADICAL, GROOVY, TUBULAR level names- those are a fun, hard challenge- and a little easter egg I didnt discover until way later but if you stay on that Special World Map for like a full minute, the little 10 second music loop instead transitions over to the original Super Mario Bros theme, so thats cool.

Theres a ton of new mechanics from Mario 3, all of which I love and are for the better. Obviously, aforementioned Yoshi. Yoshi adds a ton of platforming depth, acts as an extra hit, can give you that jump boost, gives you new ways to deal with enemies, and plus you have the 3 different colors of Yoshi if you feed them stars in Star World to also have even more mechanics. You have the cape, which I like using more than Tanooki because doing that mid-air bounce glide is awesome, and it just looks cooler. You have the item storage mechanic which can make for some decent strategy and its nice to have a backup item (and you know that frustration when it falls down just out of your reach). You have the spin jump for a lower and more precise jump, or sometimes you want to just bounce off enemies differently. I love that BONK sound when you bounce off of impenetrable enemies actually now Ill also mention how much I love the random little sound effects in this game, like the Yoshi BOW spit out sound, the BONK, the level end floursih sound, the sound of bouncing off a spring, or even the sound the Thwomps make when they slam down all of it just sounds great. Impeccable sound design.

Finally, and most importantly, the addition of secret exits here from Mario 3 was probably the best things they added. Having levels with multiple exits that could lead you to special areas, different levels to do, or some neat goodies (hello Top Secret Area!) was a very fun addition, and one that really makes you want to 100% the game and beat all the levels. Obviously, this is all capped off with the enchanting Star World, and its incredible jumping-around-the-map antics. Adding to this, you have the Switch Palaces, to unlock different ways to go in levels, and giving more replayability to beaten levels. Getting to actually play in a Switch Palace was probably the most exciting thing for me as a kid, I was so hyped to play those damn levels and get that fucking massive array of coins and cap it off byu jumping on a giant fucking ! button all an extremely satisfying feeling that is absolutely unmatched, and so disappointed you cant replay them. After all, a wise man once said This game is lame; it doesnt even have any Yellow Switch Palaces. And he was right. We should only judge games by the presence of lack of Yellow Switch Palaces.



Next up: A game where you don't actually control your character at all.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS