Board 8 > Herein lies a list of 20 video games that may or may not be the best ever! Pt. 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

That went by quickly, or maybe I should have already finished, haha! We had some solid discussion about a whole bunch of video games last time, so hopefully we can continue that here!

Good newswere down to the last 9! There isnt much more left, and there are some some Big Games left to talk about, probably ones everyone is familiar with to some extent!

To recap:

20 | Phoenix Wright (DS)
19 | Puyo Puyo Tetris (Switch)
18 | Super Mario Kart (SNES)
17 | Final Fantasy VI (SNES)
16 | Super Street Fighter II (SNES)
15 | Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)
14 | The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC)
13 | Pokmon RBY (GB)
12 | Dragon Quest VII (3DS)
11 | Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)

10 | Attack of the Friday Monsters: A Tokyo Tale! (3DS)

Feel free to continue any discussion, predictions, questions, comments, ridicule!

let's goooo
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Tag
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Ya
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continuing from the last topic, the two Trails in the Sky games are on PSP/PC and playable on mobile through the PPSSPP emulator. Trails in the Sky the 3rd is only on PC. Trails of Cold Steel 1 & 2 are available on PS4 through PSNow, although they're not as good.
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pt 2 tag
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icon will also probably get bored and buy you one eventually

cold steel 1 and 2 are on pc
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how did I miss AotFM in the last topic

an HM classic
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hm hasn't had a computer in like 7 years

but it is true I think I've bought like half of the people here a trails game on pc
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Emulator through mobile? That sounds like some voodoo Android lifestyle. My life is 100% fruit-based--it's all about the sweet, delicious Apple. I have no access to any of those right now, but it's another set of games to table for later. I feel like I have an infinite list of decent sounding games to choose from.

The Mana Sword posted...

how did I miss AotFM in the last topic

an HM classic

I was certainly disappointed this one slipped by you. This was the joke I knew you were waiting the whole list to make!

I think it's on iOS too
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Is it really? It can't possibly be on the App Store, can it? Does it require a jailbroken phone?

DS Switch SNES SNES SNES Wii GC GB 3DS Switch 3DS let's goooooooooooo
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heroicmario posted...

Is it really? It can't possibly be on the App Store, can it? Does it require a jailbroken phone?

apparently not, but it's better if your device is jailbroken

it's okay though, we decided you're building a pc for romance of the three kingdoms total war so you can wait
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AotFM is a lovely game.
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until they put a Trails game on a Nintendo system it will never be one of the 20 greatest games ever
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9 | Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

I am a lover of the Kong. A connoisseur of the Banana. An expert of the Vine.

Donkey Kong Countryyes, the originalhas been a source of many a great gaming memory. I must have played this game endlessly, on repeat, sometimes in between sessions of Mario World. I was absolutely, positively, unequivocally addicted to this mascot platformer in a way that might be embarassing to admit.

A young, grade school Heroic Mario might have drawn and crafted what todays culture would call fanart and fanfiction of Donkey Kong. It isnt enough to say I was enamored, I need these real world examples. Were in the TOP 10, folks! The glovesor maybe the tie, hohohomust come off.

If youve read this list by now, you know I like simple ideas with great execution. DKC is thata truly basic, simple platformer with a lot of cool, creative ideas based around a couple of rules you learn in the first world. I dont know what other game has given the excellence of Mine Cart platforming, or an entire level dedicated to Red Light, Green Light, or jumping on oversized pirate crocodiles with a penchant for bananas, other than DK. To be sure, he was the trendsetter, a rule breaker.

DKC also may have been the first video game where I took special note to the soundtrack. Who in the world could possibly not remember Aquatic Ambience? I still use that tune when I want some sweet, soothing background noise to compliment what Im doinglike, say, writing about a video game on a website! For a platformer, especially, DKC uses its music and graphical style to create a mood, an atmosphere, that still feels totally unique today. Forget that youre playing as monkeys jumping in oversized animal for a moment! Think Vulture Culture, fighting through treetop houses that look like theyre out of Endor, only to go busting through an industrial oil factoryits all brimming with imagination, with a score that compliments and brings out the atmosphere perfectly. Compared to a Mario or Mega Man, with their bright colors and cheery demeanor, Kong Country felt like the advancement of how platformers could convey feeling and atmosphere.

Yes, all on the back of an Ostrich wearing sneakers. It was the 90s, this is what we did.

To be sure, DKC2 took what DKC1 did, dialed it up to a millionall with more nimble characters that people enjoyed playing with more than DK properand perfected what Rare could do with a platformer. I can admit this while still preferring the original DKC more! Theres something about it that just sticks with me, that feels more inviting and interesting to play the whole way through. DKC2 kind of putters out in the last third, I think. DKC just builds and builds.

In fact, if you have to know, Tropical Freeze is my second favorite DKC game! It only narrowly avoided making the list, primarily for the sake of diversity and its relative recency. I might just have a thing for games that involve Donkey Kong.

Hes the first member of the DK crew.

My brother spent like a whole weekend playing through that game repeatedly on my SNES Classic a few months ago.
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DKC1 pretty good

DKC2 greatest 2-D platformer ever
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iiicon posted...

hm presents a list of 20 good series wherein he makes questionable assertions about which game is the best one

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prediction update:
1 | earthbound beginnings
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also i must say that 20 is a perfect number for lists

i just put together a list of 20 games i adore, and i could speak passionately for days about the games i cut. that's what you want. you want lists to hurt, to mean something.
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iiicon posted...

iiicon posted...

hm presents a list of 20 good series wherein he makes questionable assertions about which game is the best one

Don't think he can go wrong picking any of the MGSs then. Someone's gonna flip no matter which one he calls best.

iiicon posted...

prediction update:
1 | earthbound beginnings

Nah Smash Bros. Brawl with your criteria.
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Underleveled posted...

Don't think he can go wrong picking any of the MGSs then. Someone's gonna flip no matter which one he calls best.

well your options are either Twin Snakes or the 3DS version of Snake Eater so pick your poison
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DKC2 is a high-quality game that I have nothing poor to say about. Except Gloomy Gulch. Forget that place.

I agree about 20 games as a cutoff! It really does make you think about what you want to represent your best of the best, because there are so many others that are equally as amazing. #20 and #40 arent so far apart, really!

iiicon posted...

prediction update:
1 | earthbound beginnings

EarthBound Beginnings isnt on this list, but let me tell you, I actually enjoy that game! When given the right mindset, I can have super patience. NES RPGs, though, oof. Its a hard sell.

Podunk as a town name is still the best ever.

Truth be told, over the course of some thirty odd years, there are enough classic games on JUST Nintendo consoles that you can fill a top 50! Not to discredit some incredible consoles, or PC, along the way, but sometimes I think people just see a Nintendo system and equate that to Nintendo proper, haha. Im awfully tempted to include all the non-Nintendo system games in a list that just missed the cut. In fact, its happening!

Underleveled posted...

My brother spent like a whole weekend playing through that game repeatedly on my SNES Classic a few months ago.

Its such a fun, easily digestible game! You can go through the whole thing in an afternoon, and there is just a flow and variety it has as it builds that makes playing it so breezy. There isnt a bad world that shuts the whole production down.

hm play 80 days
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Here we are, for your viewing pleasure. These would be scattered over the next 20 odd games.

1 | Okami (PS2)
2 | Civilization V (PC)
3 | Ori and the Blind Forest (Xbox One)
4 | ICO (PS2)
5 | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
6 | Nier (360)
7 | Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
8 | Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
9 | Braid (360)
10 | Overwatch (PS4)

Deceptively hard, considering how many classic video games have bridged the gap over the years!

swap that with what we have already and baby, we got a list goin'
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iiicon posted...

hm play 80 days

I looked, thinking I had heard of this, and sure enough! It sounds like a perfect mobile game, like an Altos Adventure or Mario Run.

Oh, that reminds me... crap, what was it called? Oh, yeah, Florence! Have you tried that? I recommend it, if not.

Might literally be the first time I've seen DKC ranked above the GOAT DKC2
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Ori too good

better than dkc that's for sure
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Nelson_Mandela posted...

Might literally be the first time I've seen DKC ranked above the GOAT DKC2

not having beaten either, i am also surprised!
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re-tag

still lurking - keep up the good work!
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heroicmario posted...

The Mana Sword posted...

how did I miss AotFM in the last topic

an HM classic

I was certainly disappointed this one slipped by you. This was the joke I knew you were waiting the whole list to make!

I'm so sad because I was debating between the Star Ocean joke and the AotFM joke and went with Star Ocean and then you immediately posted AotFM
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Oh yeah, it's also worth nothing that Super Mario Odyssey isn't even the best headgear-based platformer of 2017. It's not in my top 20 ever for that reason. The superior such game, A Hat in Time, is.

I know you're Heroic Mario and all but I think you'll really like that game.
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Nelson_Mandela posted...

Might literally be the first time I've seen DKC ranked above the GOAT DKC2

Eh, I've seen it from time to time.
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DKC is probably the most controversial game left, in that a lot of people could find it an odd choice for top 20 next to other games in the series.

Was Hat in Time a Kickstarter game? I feel like thats where I first heard about it, but I might be confusing it with some other game. Hard time believing its Odyssey tier, but I love some
platformers!

Gatarix posted...

I'm so sad because I was debating between the Star Ocean joke and the AotFM joke and went with Star Ocean and then you immediately posted AotFM

The moment you made that comment I knew it had to be done, haha.

I finally caught up on everything here so I can comment. Great list so far!

None of these games would make my top 20 but it has been super enjoyable to read your experiences and reasons for the games you have picked. Thank you for doing this.

Makes me want to put together my own list but I am not good at ranking things or expressing my thoughts so that might not end so well.
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heroicmario posted...

Was Hat in Time a Kickstarter game? I feel like thats where I first heard about it, but I might be confusing it with some other game. Hard time believing its Odyssey tier, but I love some platformers!

Yes, it was Kickstarter - one of the most successful ones ever. And it's an incredible throwback to N64 platformers. It's better than Odyssey. I played A Hat in Time first and... Odyssey just didn't grab me because of that. Make of that what you will.
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8 | Super Metroid (SNES)

I recently had a conversation with transience about the most influential games in historyspecifically as it related to SF2, but as we are want to do, it inevitably led to SMB vs. Tetris, hahaand I said that Super Metroid was awfully underrated when it came to those talks. To be sure, it doesnt have a place at those top spots, but top 10? With the sheer number of Metroid-inspired games coming out year after year, often using Super Metroid as a hook about how much it influenced their design, its hard not to consider how influential the game has been. Just in an almost slow burn kind of way.

Heres a fun fact: I didnt first play Super Metroid until probably 2001? Maybe? It totally went right over my head when it released! I was still hooked on a whole bunch of other bigger, mainstream games that appealed more to my aged sensibilities. Were talking right before the release of Metroid Prime!

In some ways, you would think this has impacted my history with the game, but it really hasnt! In my mind, Super Metroid has only gotten better with age. Since I first played it, Ive gone through it numerous times, including doing some speed runs (even uploaded them to YouTube about 10 years ago, haha)!

Super Metroid is a perfect marriage of Mario and Zelda, in some ways. You have all the 2D action and platforming of a Mario, with a focus on exploration and equipment upgrades of a Zelda. For that reason, I find it a complete joy to play and replay endlessly. I DO have to be in a proper mood for it, but once I get rolling, its hard to stop! Uncovering all of those layers, slowly, feels so rewarding. Your skill gets better and better as you get closer to the end, then after youre finished, you start wondering...

How could I do the start of the game differently with what I know now?

And bam! Youre trying to sequence break, and speed run, and break the physics and world to your whim. Its totally unlike any other game, in that regard. Yeah, it exists across numerous other games now, but its special in Super Metroid! I feel compelled to explore every nook and cranny, look and seek out every shortcut and figure out how I can get to the end as quickly as possible. It really brings out that side meand I am definitely not that kind of guy typically.

Super Metroid is demanding. It is unlike any other game on this list. I dont have it totally memorized, despite replaying it numerous times, and if I step away for a while before playing it again, I have to relearn all its tricks, so it still have a fresh feeling to it after over 20 years. Its dark, dangerous and isolating; there are no vibrant colors and summer skies here! Normally, those are my kind of game, but Super Metroid is an exception to the rule.

figured this would be on here

super metroid is not for me
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A Hat in Time I'll look into. If it's supposed to be that good, I might as well.

KingButz posted...

I finally caught up on everything here so I can comment. Great list so far!

None of these games would make my top 20 but it has been super enjoyable to read your experiences and reasons for the games you have picked. Thank you for doing this.

Makes me want to put together my own list but I am not good at ranking things or expressing my thoughts so that might not end so well.

Glad you've enjoyed it! You should give it a shot. It's always fun seeing what other people think are the best games, especially when it's different from your own.

Is it the controls that get you in Super Metroid? I could see that getting in the way of everything else it has going on, because it's such a pivotal part of any interactive experience. If those frustrate you, the rest of it is toast.

yeah that game is pretty good

Tetris still the winner
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Loved Super Metroid. Last summer of really hammering through games with my brother before we grew up
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I have still yet to play more than an hour or so in any Metroid or Castlevania game because the backtracking absolutely murders my attention span. I'll force myself eventually.
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super metroid is a perfect game
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Im not a big fan of the Metroidvanias, at least post-AOS, but old school Castlevania is a great time, if you havent played those. My favorite two Castlevania games are Castlevania 1 and Super Castlevania IV.

neonreaper posted...

Loved Super Metroid. Last summer of really hammering through games with my brother before we grew up

These are always the best kinds of memories, they can really elevate a game above others for the special moments.

I appreciate SM's contributions to gaming, but yeah, I just didn't dig it much. I played it around the same time you did (maybe later), and by then, I just didn't have the patience to remember the location of "that square on the map that was blocked before but may not be blocked now because of my new item." It might be my least favorite top-tier SNES game, sacrilege or not.
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