LogFAQs > #949465618

time to copy wigs' list and change things around just enough to avoid plagiarism...

76. Chip's Challenge (PC, 1990)

An extremely basic PC puzzle game from the early 90's, Chip's Challenge involves the titular character racing around mazes to collect the required number of computer chips in order to reach the exit. Some of the various obstacles you'll encounter are block puzzles, colored keys and doors, various footwear required to traverse fire/ice/etc., and enemies like fireballs and, uh, "teeth". It's fairly standard stuff, but the game does a really good job at keeping challenges fresh and not getting bogged down by samey-ness. (I liked Adventures of Lolo,but there are definitely times when that game got a little repetitive.) The colorful but simple visual style actually holds up really nicely, and it's one of the things that got me addicted to playing it in the late 90's. I'm not sure it entirely holds up to a #76 standard, but it's a neat game that is one of the first clever exploration/level-based puzzle games I ever got into. I think there's some pretty easily-accessible ways to get this game now; might be worth checking out if you can manage it!

75. Elite Beat Agents (DS, 2006)

Hmm, where have I seen this one before...? EBA isn't my favorite, nor the deepest, nor most replayable, rhythm game of all-time, and it's not particularly great by any of those standards. What it does have is oodles of charm and a strange-but-engaging premise, reminiscent of other story-based rhythm games like Parappa the Rapper.
Elite Beat Agents is a rhythm game with a plot, and that plot is quite silly: You play as a cheer squad service, tasked with raising the morale of various struggling strangers in desperate need of help. And of course, you do this by tapping and dragging your stylus along numbered buttons/paths in time with popular music. The core gameplay loop is very engaging, it's a smart use of the DS touch screen (there's a decent amount of this on my list, it seems), and the storyline is both largely humorous and unexpectedly touching. I had first played its Japanese predecessor, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, which largely goes through the same story beats, but ended up loving the sequel more due to the English translation (with my lack of Japanese knowledge) giving the stories more emotional oomph.
I think the game's a little too thin and easy to ever go much higher than this, though. 19 songs is very small for a rhythm game songlist (especially by 2006) and the only difficulties really worth playing once you've gotten the core gameplay down are the two hardest, which are essentially the same. (The hardest has slightly smaller targets and flips the layout of the chart.) But it left quite an impression - enough to get a placement here.
Top 5 Songs: Canned Heat - Jumpin' Jack Flash - September - You're The Inspiration - The Anthem (for laughs)

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