Board 8 > The Board 8 Discord #sports Chat Ranks Their Top 100 Respective Games

(+) Yeah! (+)

#86. Mega Man 9 (Wii, 2008)

The first of several Mega Man games to appear on my list. I loved the return to form for this series after the trash that 7 and 8 were. This game is brutally difficult until you learn the tricks. Makes you learn the weapons by good game design. The soundtrack is immaculate. Tornado Man's theme is so good. Also playing as Proto Man makes me so happy.



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I always want to click that "X" in the top corner of Nick's images

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X

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#86 - HITMAN (PC, 2016)

As I said before, I loved the PS2 HItman games. Absolution was definitely the low point of the series for me, to the point that when HITMAN dropped its first episode, I was really skeptical. It wasnt until a year or so ago that I decided to finally pull the trigger, after being shown Giant Bombs Hitsmas video. I didnt have quite as much fun playing as Vinny did, but thats pretty tough to do.

The 2016 title had way bigger and livelier areas than previous games, and every level felt truly alive with just tons of stuff. You could find helpful items or costumes a mile away from your targets. Speaking of which, another huge improvement is the challenge system. It was incredibly fun to replay, because there are thousands of ways to take out the targets, and the game rewards you for constantly finding new ones.

I have yet to play HITMAN 2, because I felt I needed a brief break from Hitman games, but its starting to feel like its just about time.

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I'm not sure how in the mood I'll be to make writeups tonight, but this one was already written, so I can at least post one game!

#87. Resident Evil (Gamecube, 2002)

I think this game is more well known than my last few, so I don't really need to explain what this is.



I didn't touch the Resident Evil series for a long time, and I'm not entirely sure why. At some point, I finally played Silent Hill, another series I went a while without experiencing, and decided I should try Resident Evil as well. I found a used copy of the GC REmake and gave it a shot. It definitely did not go well. I partly was frustrated that it wasn't the Silent Hill games I had just played, and partly got caught up in item management too much I was borderline trying to do a pacifist run to conserve all my ammo. The whole thing seemed dumb, so I set it aside for some later day.

Many years later, I remembered that this thing was still sitting on the shelf, so I started over and gave it another shot. I'm glad I did, because it turned into a great time. The mansion is a very fun setting to explore, and I liked when I went back through areas which were a little altered or had a different feel due to previous actions. It also turned out to be a little more like Silent Hill than I first realized, with oddly obtuse puzzles, tanky controls, and lots of narrow passageways to contend with, which are all of course pleasant things.

I still haven't played any other RE games, but one day. I've got a copy of RE2 and 4 now for when I get back to this series. Hopefully they are fun games too!

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#89 Resident Evil: Deadly Silence (Nintendo DS, 2006)

Whoooa! This post is dangerous! Resident Evil was a revolutionary game when it came out. It's really powerful, especially against living things. It was almost a Jill Sandwich, and came loaded with never-before seen features, such as Chris's blood, a dining room, the Master of Unlocking, and terrible demons... Ouch!

It's the first game in a series that I did not get into until 10 years after the release of the original game when I picked up a clearance-priced copy of the DS version. The REmake for GameCube is technically the "better" and more polished game, but the 1996 original is the number one camp game of all time, and the Nintendo DS remaster has a number of nice little quality of life improvements, notably a persistentmap on the second screen, and the ability to skip the grating room transitions. Now, let's get back to searching for the lost captain and Chris, shall we?

I haven't even mentioned Barry Burton yet.



Barry's such a fool. He'll be under the control of Umbrella forever. But he's also so optimistic, and a total badass who is never afraid to ask, "What is this?" While most of the other voice actors phoned in their lines, Barry did everything he could to ham things up in the best way possible.

I know what you're probably thinking. How can a game get ranked that highly on camp alone? Yeah, I thought about that too. Perhaps that was the most important part. But just take a look at THIS! It was more than just jump scares and cheesy dialogue. Resident Evil also delivered a batch of innovations to mainstream horror games, and used limited inventory and fixed camera perspective to really amp up the tension. To this day, I still feel incredibly anxious around the Chimera enemies, and I have beaten the game countless times.

Lost courage already? That's not like you. Experience one of the best video game scenes of all time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VoqGbFs6Bw

What do you think of it? Don't be upset. All weak people exist to be eaten.

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#85. Super Monkey Ball 2 (GCN, 2002)

First things first. I basically hate the main game. I only love the minigames. I had a group of friends in high school/college that was like... my secondary or tertiary group. But it was the GameCube group. We played an insane amount of Melee, Double Dash and this. Monkey Target was easily our favorite.



I would buy an online only Monkey Target game with dozens of maps.

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#96. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1, 1997)
I don't know what a Metroidvania is or isn't anymore, but I know this is one and it's also not the last one you'll see on my list. I would probably have this game much higher if I played it more inmy youth but I only played it further down the line and I felt like it may have not quite held up well compared to more contemporaries ones- mostly due to the fact that until you start to make some upgrades to Alucard, the momentum feels a little stunted by needing to stopto attack if you're on the ground, or the sword not being long enough to feel really good. I mean sure you get some better weapons later ok. But the sword is what I associate most with Alucard. My issues with the game stop there as this style of game will always be one of the most appealing to me. The mix with RPG elements is a good one, and going around, exploring, noting places to come back later, and then wrecking those enemies when you're much stronger, only to discover new areas is always a great gaming feeling. Obviously you have to love the ridiculous opening sequence (Richter is my favorite Belmont), and the whole "spoiler" 2nd half of the game was unexpected for me, even having played it so many years after it came out. The fact I have it this high despite the fact I think it's not the best aged game I think speaks wonders to it. Also having played it at an older age, some stuff doesn't quite stay in the memory banks as much, except for the feeling of always liking these games.

Also the final boss version of Dracula is rad af



Up next: This game's fun with friends. Solid character options. Not all of them though.

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also i promise there's more to that clue than just the bad clue it seems to be

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Fun fact: Richter Belmont from SotN and Chris Redfield from RE1 have the same awful voice actor.
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awful? or amazing?
i'll let you decide

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95. Rock Band Blitz (Xbox 360, 2012)
Rock Band Blitz is a peculiar entry, in some ways, but it also encapsulates the entirety of the work that Harmonix did up until its release. The studio that created Amplitude, Frequency, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band was, at this point in 2012, entirely focused on Rock Band, and rightfully so. The series was still going strong, Rock Band 3 was successful, DLC sales were strong.

Blitz took all the elements of their previous games - the enormous library of the Rock Band franchise, the color coded lanes and multiple instruments - and applied the fundamental ideas of Frequency and Amplitude - the rapid lane switching to hit notes, traditional controller setup, power-ups, and made a compelling arcade style rhythm game that requires you not to be perfect, because that's impossible, but to find the most effective path to score the most points. Unfortunately, due to the complicated licensing rights, it will forever remain stuck on the PS3/360s to which it was downloaded.

Watch this clip and enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGzCi2VQRpw

94. Top Skater (Arcade, 1997)
Top Skater is not a game that should exist. There's absolutely no reason for it to exist. It came out two years before the first Tony Hawk game, just as the X Games were becoming A Thing, as perhaps the single most ridiculous piece of arcade hardware to ever exist. Look at this thing:



You stand on that board - traditional or goofy stance, thank god for this left-dominant gamer - and the game propels you through a course of your choosing, based on difficulty. You steer by turning the board on that rear axis, using your bodyweight, and when you hit a ramp, or come near a rail, you kick either the front or the back of the board to initiate a trick. Your goal is to score as many points and complete the course in the allotted time; better tricks help you get through the course faster. You pick a skater depending on your style and preferences; they have modest variations in skillsets that don't really seem to affect the outcome too much. It is a quarter eater and it is incredibly fun, and I'm so glad it existed, despite all logic suggesting it should not.

93. Castle Crashers (Xbox 360, 2008)


Castle Crashers is irreverent and fun, especially with four players. There's enough variation between the many characters to make it enjoyable to play through with various friends more than once over time. Its art style is charming and the game is well-designed. The only thing keeping it from being several spots higher on the list is that is that it's actually too long for a beat 'em up. Beat 'em ups are inherently repetitious. There's few types of levels. Left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top, autoscrolling or not. If you don't get enough variation in there, it starts to drag, and that happens a little too often with Castle Crashers. Still fun, though.

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92. Snowboard Kids 2 (N64, 1999)


Somehow, nearly 22 years on, I'm not sure that there's been a more fun snowboarding game. It's Mario Kart on the slopes, in essence, but for whatever reason, it never got the traction it deserved. It's got a solid story mode with bosses, courses in non-wintry environments like a castle and in space, and a battle mode for multiplayer. You can get power-ups to try to improve your standing in the race, and you can perform tricks to block your opponent's attacks. It's not a life-changing game; it won't alter your perception of gaming or sports or sports games or anything. It's just a real solid, enjoyable game from top to bottom that doesn't really have any glaring flaws.

91. Simpsons Arcade (Arcade, 1991)


Maggie accidentally gets her pacifier swapped out for a priceless gem, and Smithers - in an uncommonly villainous turn - kidnaps her on behalf of Mr Burns. Chaos ensues. It's a bizarre setup, when you think about it, even for the Simpsons, but across the 8 increasingly bizarre levels, including one that exists in the collective dream world of the Simpsons and ruled by a tentacled version of Homer's bowling ball, the game pretty much works throughout. You play as one of the four remaining Simpsons, who attack in a specific way: Homer with his fists, Bart with his skateboard, Lisa with her jumprope, and Marge with her vacuum. That is also the order of least to most useful. Homer has no range. Bart has a bit more. Lisa gets tangled in her rope sometimes, and Marge fucks shit up. When two or more players are playing together, they can do tag team attacks based on the pairing, and they're all very fun and very useful.

When you contrast this with Castle Crashers, it's easy to see, I think, why I ranked this higher. It may not have as many bells and whistles, but you can also cruise through it pretty quickly, before anything gets stale, and the level, enemy, and boss designs are all very visually engaging. I can beat this game on three quarters, maybe two on a good day, and have each of the last 10 years before 2020. It felt weird not doing it in my local arcade in 2020, but such is life these days.

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#85 - The World Ends With You (DS, 2007)

There was never a game that utilized the dual screens of the DS quite like TWEWY. It was an action RPG that let you control two separate characters at once. On the touch screen, you move a character and tap, scratch, and slice enemies to do damage. On the top screen, you use the D-pad to perform combos based on which character was up there to attack. Its incredibly difficult to get the hang of, but once you do, it becomes really satisfying to play.

But that alone isnt what places this game in my top 100. It also has an accompanying enjoyable story. You play as Neku, who has recently been killed. You are given one final chance to return to life, by playing the Reapers game. Perform 7 tasks over 7 days, and if you can be the last human standing, you get your second chance. However, you have to team up with another player, or youll get nowhere. The problem is, Neku is incredibly anti-social and in general is a big ol d-bag for a lot of the game. But as time goes on, and he learns more about the world and himself, he eventually ends up as one of my favorite protagonists of all-time.

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My list has a game that used both screens

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#88 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Nintendo 64, 2000)

I feel like ranking MM over OoT is the "hot take" thing to do, but I liked this game better since the first time I beat it. I don't really care that the game was a little rushed and reuses many of Ocarina of Time's graphical assets. Other great games have done similar and I even have some yet to come on this list.

Majora's Mask is a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, and it feels designed as a continuation of that game. There is not a real tutorial dungeon or anything like that. You get thrown into a Deku body and have three days to find a way out. The game gives you some hints as to what to do, but you are left to explore the town and do as you wish until time runs out. My first time, it took me several tries, but eventually figured out how to proceed. It all felt like a natural continuation of the difficulty curve that started in the previous game.


I don't mind the three day loop. It adds a sense of urgency, and there are enough things that can be done to get around it if you really want. The mask system is neat and being able to take on different forms adds a lot of variety. Unlike in Ocarina of Time, the developers took care to create a strong cast of interesting characters that inhabit Termina and due to the persistent game clock, everyone has someplace to be at any given time, which was a very fresh feature. Personally, the doomsday setting did a lot for me too.

It's a different kind of game from Ocarina of Time, and I know that some people prefer OoT to it. And that's OK. But Majora's Mask for me was more fun, had a more resonant story and characters, and delivered a better payoff at the end.

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CherryCokes posted...

It's Mario Kart on the slopes, in essence, but for whatever reason, it never got the traction it deserved.

how can this not be an intentional pun
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90. Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch, 2019)

You all know what this is, so I'll skip the cursory summary. Mario Maker, in general, is such an awesome tool and such a home-run concept that I'm still kind of shocked it ever got made. Mario Maker 2 ups the ante on the creative potential, adding a bunch of new enemies, power-ups, and themes to the mix. Additionally, there's competitive or co-op multiplayer, and a full-on story mode which showcases a lot of novel design ideas.
So, uh...my big problem with Mario Maker in general? I don't exactly know what the hell to do with it. Generally, I gravitate toward games with lots of specific goals to mark your progress, which (story mode aside) is so not what SMM is. I'm not an overflowing-creativity type - I'm much more inclined to just play rhythm games rather than try to design charts for them, for example. The abundance of online content makes it hard to consistently find good content, or at least consistently find the kind of content I want to play. And the very poor Nintendo online makes multiplayer much less compelling than its potential. My fondness of Mario platformers and my love of what Mario Maker can be at its best gets it a mention on the list. But I'm not convinced it'll every really be a game for me.

89. Contra 4 (DS, 2007)

Contra 4 is a straight-up old-school action game, basically ripped from the NES era, minimal lives + continues and all. The game does a good job at giving you options to work with - there's several difficulties and challenges included - but eventually you're still just going to be tasked with conquering the steep difficulty curve of the game itself. The game is just so damn fun, though - difficulty is very punishing but absolutely fair, and designed that you can absolutely learn from every mistake in future playthroughs. And the action is consistent and flows fantastically well, its always up with the best moments from the rest of the original Contra trilogy. My only minor complaint is really mired in the structure of the DS itself: Action happens on both screens, so sometimes bullets can get lost visually in the gap between them. And honestly? That's all I really have to complain about. I got my ass kicked repeatedly and still ended up loving this gem. With the rise of indie games we (fortunately) have a whole lot of creative and stellar 2D action games once again. But in 2007, when so many franchises were bringing 3D to their DS offerings, Contra 4 was just a straight up throwback, and it was absolutely perfect.

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#84. Shadow of the Tomb Raider/Rise of the Tomb Raider/Tomb Raider (PS3/PS4, 2013, 2015, 2018)

Shadow > Rise > Tomb

I couldn't separate these so here they are. I did not like the original games. My love of Uncharted made me check these out. I am glad I did. The story is increasingly silly as the games go on but that is fine. The gameplay is lots of fun. Lots of creative ways to kill enemies. Maybe collectables.

The reason Shadow is my favorite is for one scene. It is literally perfect.

https://youtu.be/xvY9-_SVwZQ?t=25

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#84 - Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (DS, 2008)

Professor Layton is a very stable, well-balanced series. I cant imagine there being a person that enjoys most of the games, but dislikes only one of them. Theyre functionally the exact same, besides the story of them all. Even then, every single story goes through the same progressions and has very similar plot twists. Unwound Future is basically a placeholder for the entire series in my list. I picked it in particular because the story focuses more on Layton himself. We finally get a glimpse into his past, and it gets really emotional at the end.

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Now here's a series I never played. I don't know why. It just never happened for me.

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CherryCokes posted...

Honorable Mention - Full Tilt! Pinball (PC, 1995)

I absolutely could have rejiggered my list to get this in, but when I thought about it, I figured including it as an HM would get a little more nostalgia flowing, because this is a game damn near everyone has played, but no one ever talks about.

Most people played one of the 3 tables, Space Cadet, as it was bundled with Windows 95 as a freebie, I think. And it was an excellent freebie (so was the particular weirdness of Hover!, but Hover! doesn't hold up very well). It was a solid pinball table, visually appealing and intuitive to play, but not easy. Everything you want from a good table.

The lesser known tables, Skulduggery and Dragon's Keep, are solid too, though they feel a little squishier on the physics than Space Cadet. You could easily play any of the three today and enjoy them, still, even if you don't have any particular affinity or experience with them from the 90s. That's the mark of a good game. That it turned me and presumably many other kids into lifelong fans of pinball is just a bonus.

I loved all three of these. Thank you for reminding me what the full game and other tables were called.

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#83. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3, 2011)

This was the game that made me play the series. I had skipped 1 and 2 but for some reason decided I wanted to play 3. So I purchased 1 and 2 and beat these 3 in 3 weeks. Fell in love with the series immediately. Drake is super charming and Sully is the god damn man. The set pieces in this game are fantastic. It also doesn't have AS MUCH supernatural shit which is the worst part of every Uncharted game. Hallucination water is fairly reasonable.



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#95. Borderlands 2 (PS3, 2012)
I bet you probably expected me to have this higher, but I realized most of my enjoyment of this game came from just playing with you friends than the game itself. The game itself is still fun and a good game, though a little out of the realm of the kind of games I'd usually enjoy. It's got a nice unique art style and an ok brand of humor if not a bit lame attime, and I liked playing it to completion with all you various groups. It probably would not be in my top 100 otherwise, except for the good memories it has created, so here it is! I always feel like I'm not contributing much damage-wise. Maybe I would've liked it more had I not played Zer0 my first time through (that clue btw from before was a haiku, that was your weird hint).

The Tiny Tiny DLC though is super legit and is the best part of that entire series.
Oh, and Grandma Torgue

I leave you with one of its many enjoyable glitches:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXGfuMLSdec

Up Next: In my opinion, this is the most aesthetically pleasing game I've ever played. It's a 2D game.


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#90 - Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS, 2011)

Ghost Trick is a very interesting adventure title where the main character Sissel is a spirit who can possess a corpse, go back in time prior to their death, and perform tricks on the objects around them to prevent the death from happening. These puzzles eventually lead Sissel to some really interesting reveals as the game progresses through the one night the game takes place in. It also has some great animation, especially with Inspector Cabanela's great dance moves.

#89 - Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX (3DS, 2015)

The first (and not the last) Hatsune Miku game on my list here. Like all the titles, this is a rhythm game hat has one press certain buttons in line with the beat while a movie plays in the background. The series however is very bad at continually re-releasing the same songs over and over - many of the songs in this one I had already played in other games in the series (and we'll get to another series that also does this). While I found it to have the best soundtrack overall (especially with adding Gumi to the game alongside the Crypton vocaloids), the chibi visuals and repeat tracks dragged it down to here in my ranking.

#88 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC, 2003)

This is the only Zelda game on the list. As many people on the board know, I am not a big fan of the series at all, but this released simply at a time I had the time to explore the world to its fullest and enjoy myself, and this game had a great world to explore. I've actually never been a fan of Zelda dungeons, and having this world you can explore after finishing the first few was a great opportunity. It's the only console Zelda besides Twilight Princess where I beat the game and maxed out my heart containers. I'm sure I would like Breath of the Wild with its world if I had the time to go through it, but the thought of playing a 150+ hour game just doesn't appeal to me anymore.

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Zer0 was my favorite character. I always felt like I was doing enough
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#86. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2, 2007)



Persona 3 seemed so unique when it first came out, with the monster collecting and combining, the school life, the social links, the endless dungeon, the uhh AI companions in battle, and oh yeah, the weaknesses and instant death attacks that could just wipe you out. It was a lot of fun. It was my first SMT game, like it was for many people. As I played other SMT RPGs, the whole monster thing became a little less unique as I saw it repeated across games, and future Persona games worked out some of those gameplay shortcomings and frustrations.

All of Shin Megami Tensei RPGs have been enjoyable to some degree, but unlike those other games, Persona 3 was the only one to make the cut and be on my list. Where other games may have tidied up some of the battling elements, Persona 3 is a step above in a lot of other areas. The cast of characters, the settings, the story, and the pacing of the game all just clicked better for me. I'm sure there's a dash of nostalgia too, but don't let that get in the way of my other points.

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#87 Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol (Microsoft Windows, 1995)

Mordor (which has nothing to do with Tolkien or his writing) is the first rogue-like game I ever played. I did play the original Rogue at some point, but I am sure it was at least a few years later.



Mordor is a text and window-based dungeon crawler with very little in terms of graphics. The game is presented in a bunch of different windows that show the character sheet, inventory, dungeon map, enemy portraits, et cetera. Like Rogue, the game revolves around exploring a procedurally-generated dungeon and attempting to get to the last level. If you die, you have to start over with another character and find your corpse. If you take too long (or have the misfortune of having your life drained), your character will get elderly and weak and eventually die for good. Although it's all very old now and probably has not aged well at all, I found it to be incredibly addicting, even if it was impossible for me to beat at the time. And I never did actually finish it.

It happened to be one of those formative games for me and as a kid with way more free time than money, provided an enormous value. The only reason I won't rank it higher than this is that I hardly remember the details 25 years later.

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#83 - Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA, 2003)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSQ5v5R6ZaA


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SeabassDebeste posted...

how can this not be an intentional pun

i wrote it, realized what i did, then left it

it's Good

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#93*. Cuphead (PC, 2017)
As I said in my hint, this is probably the game with the most visually pleasing aesthetics that I've played, not even just for 2D games. I still find it incredibly impressive how this game looks and how it really does not look like a game at all, even beyond just adding a 1930s-esque filter over the game. The animation in this is beautiful, and all the bosses are not only so expressive and detailed, but are also all imaginative. Everything flows so smoothly. It also being entirely cel/hand drawn to match the style of the 30s just blows my mind too, no wonder this game was in dev for so long.

The game itself is very fun too as a boss-driven schmup with some run n gun stages mixed in. Pretty much every fight is memorable and has neat twists and turns as you progress through each boss's phases. I actually just learned through the GDQ run the other day that some bosses have secret phases orwaysto beat them based on what you do, or don't do. For example, if you don't attack the crying onion from the vegetable stage, he never cries,is happy instead and just leaves on his own, but then there's additional stuff to deal with during the carrot phase.

Playing this game was already hard, but on Expert mode added a solid level of challenge. It made everything just slightly faster and added just enough projectiles to be the right degree of extra challenge, not like turning it into a bullet hell or anything. And if the game were ever a true bullet hell that wouldn't be ideal-there's only one or two points where it really gets like that and they're pretty manageable.

Anyway, my favorite fights, based on the design of the fight and design of the boss itself are Werner Werman, the army mouse who commandeers a soup can, flying bottlecap machine, and eventually is eaten by a cat... who also turns out to be a robot
, Cala Maria, the enchantress Mermaid who gets some electric eel friends and eventually becomes a Medusa
, and Baroness von Bon Bon, who unleashes different candy minibosses on you before attacking you from her sugar castle herself.



Up next: A game with a lot of unique characters and endings, but somehow one of the characters has broken out of the mold of the game and pops up in a few other places, despite the series being pretty much dead I think.

*Note: I think I actually want to swap this game and Cuphead. So I made Cuphead 93, and this game will be 94


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Chrono Cross came to mind but idk what character appears in a few other places

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#82 - Pokemon Stadium 2 (N64, 2001)

This is going to be my first instance of bundling two games in a series into one, because its really hard for me to say one of Pokemon Stadium 1 and 2 is better than the other, when 2 is essentially the exact same game with an expanded roster, and just the ever-so-slight hint of polish and expansion. They have the same game modes, the same animations, preeeeetty much the same everything. You can play your game boy carts on them both, transfer the Pokemon from them on both, etc.

Except the one area its different, and clearly the most important mode (where I spent roughly 60% of my time playing the game): the minigames. AND THEY DESERVE RANKED TIER LISTS

Top Tier Best Games
Barrier Ball
Topsy-Turvy
Ekans Hoop Hurl

Great Games, but get old a bit quicker
Eager Eevee
Rock Harden
Clear-cut Challenge
Egg Emergency

Super Fun to Purposefully Fuck Up On
Clefairy Says

Still Solid Games
Sushi-go-round
Streaming Stampede
Snore War
Furrets Frolic
Magikarps Splash

Probably popular games that I think are meh
Gutsy Golbat
Delibirds Delivery
Pichus Power Plant
Thundering Dynamo
Tumbling Togepi
Run, Rattata, Run
Rampage Rollout

Same exact game every time
Dig! Dig! Dig!

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egg emergency the actual top tier game

pokemon stadium games were fun but largely forgettable, my favorite thing about them was unlocking 3x speed in the game boy emulator and thats not even really the game itself

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MrSmartGuy posted...

Top Tier Best Games
Barrier Ball

Got it in one.

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#86 Awesomenauts (Microsoft Windows, 2012)

Despite it placing here, I do not recommend that you play Awesomenauts. It is no longer a good game, sadly.

That's the unfortunate problem with online competitive games, or online games in general: they can change permanently. And Ronimo Games, the developer, did not always seem to know what made Awesomenauts great in the first place.

It first showed up on PS3/360 as a simple MOBA that played like a 2D action platformer, during the big MOBA craze following the popularity of League of Legends and Dota. If you're not familiar, the basic structure of a MOBA match involves attacking the opposing team's base while defending your own from enemy players and NPCs that are trying to do the same.



When Awesomenauts was ported to Windows, the game started receiving regular updates with new characters, costumes, features, and so on. The game had a distinction from the other MOBAs not just because of the way it played, but also because of how pick-up friendly the game was. If you were skilled enough, it was always possible to carry your team to victory single-handedly. When compared with similar games that relied heavily on team strategy, intricate mechanics, and farming gold/exp, Awesomenauts was very straight-forward.

Awesomenauts ate up a huge part of my life from 2012 to early 2014. I discovered the game around the time that I was separating from my then-wife, and it filled that void perfectly. I joined the community, found new friends and a team to play with, and worked my way up the competitive ladder. There was a crowd-funded expansion that I gladly contributed an unreasonable amount of money to, and the developers delivered a lot of great new content.



Unfortunately, at some point the game was completely reworked to make it more stat and experience-based in the vein of Blizzard's Heroes of the Stormanother game I enjoyed, to be sure, but a very different gameand some of the key promised features never came to fruition. Ronimo began focusing efforts on other games, and Awesomenauts declined rapidly. This coincided with me meeting a girl and having much less time for games in general, which lead to me eventually abandoning the game completely. But the impact the game had on me cannot be overstated. For over a year of my life, this was *the* video game that I played, and at my peak, I was one of the top players in the world. Definitely an experience I will treasure, and I will always be a little sad that I cannot go back to it.

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LotR MOBA!

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#82. The Last of US (PS3, 2013)

For as much as I love the Uncharted series gameplay, I despise it in TLoU. This is all here because of the story, the journey, the experience. I did not like the story in the sequel anywhere near as much and the gameplay was still bad so spoilers, it is not on my list. Anyway, the first game is a really great story that drew me right in. The relationship between Joel and Ellie is very powerful and is probably why I didn't like the story in 2 anywhere near as much.



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#81. Guitar Hero 2/3/Smash Hits/Warriors of Rock/Rock Band 2/3 (PS2, PS3, Xbox 360)

Yeah I am cheating and putting 6 rhythm games in one. They are all basically the same experience for me and with DLC that could carry over etc they are basically the same game. I prefer Guitar Hero for solo, Rock Band for groups. Rock Band is the only Xbox anything to appear on my list. My roommates had it and many good times were had. The rhythm game craze took over my friend group for like ... 2 years? 3 years? And then it was just gone. No one even wants to look at those plastic instruments now. I only have a guitar now left in my house. Sold the drums, mic and 3 other guitars.

I think my all time favorite song to play was Cult of Personality.



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#94. Twisted Metal 2 (PS1, 1996)
I am CALYPSO and I thank you for playing Twisted Metal!

I haven't played this game in many years and I feel positive it doesn't hold up at all. As I recall it, I'm pretty sure the controls were really awkward. But I have a lot of memories playing this game at a friend's house on his PS1- This may be the only game on the list I have never owned in some way actually.

Anyway, this game really appealed to the darker kid side of me that I never really had. "Violent" car combat, driving around large actual cities, blowing up other cars with cool weapons, and each car's individual unique special, going to Paris and bombing the Eiffel Tower until it creates a bridge where you can drive on the rooftop. All of it triggered those kid-desired urges. My friend was a year older than me too and I wanted him to think I was cool. I remember writing down all the codes with him to unlock stuff and referencing that a lot. I always liked playing as Warthog, since obviously playing as Minion was cheap.

The main draw was multiplayer obviously, but we played through the main campaign as well a bunch, and tried to get all the endings. And boy, does that game have a sense of humor there. I assumed most of you are familiar with the game, but if not its basically vehicular survial combat. The campaign centers around a magical ... demon man? Named Calypso, running this very contest you are playing in, Twisted Metal, wherethe winner gets any one wish fulfilled by Calypso. Of course each character's winning cutscene involves something about their wish going horribly wrong (usually) and they're a delight to watch if you haven't. I also want to shout out the original Twisted Metal, while its a much less memorable or good game, the cutscenes for that are absolutely unrivaled. Please enjoy its live action... acting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b_-Rgq6nrU

I also find it quite amazing, that even after the series has basically died out, Sweet Tooth has somehow found a way to still make himself relevant as he pops up in other media still, like Playstation All Stars Battle Royale (lol), Rocket League, and was even almost in Mortal Kombat.



Up next: The launch game in a series recently rebooted.

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Ratchet and Clank?

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Depending on how far back recently is to Wigs, Tomb Raider (2013)?
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Aecioo posted...

Oh man I saw #sports and thought this would be a top 100 sports games

This is what i thought and i got hyped.
Oh well.


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yeah next topic we should put "video games" in the title i think

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Well since it was guessed

#92. Ratchet & Clank (PS4, 2016)
I am a simple man who loves me Ratchet & Clank. Sorry to pull punches here because I'll be talking more about this series later, but for this one in particular I'll say that while I don't remember too many specifics of this game (because they have started to all blend together after a while and thats why this one is a bit lower, but really that's a good thing to me), but it being the first (well, only) one on the PS4 is key. This game feels great, as all the Ratchet & Clank games do since the very second one on PS2. The first Ratchet & Clank game is garbage, 100% due to its awkward control scheme where its basically impossible to move shoot while aiming at the same time, since it has no strafing and a dedicated first person view. The series shines as a 3d shooter-platformer, with special reverence towards having cool weapons and puzzles. The story is usually a weak point, and no exception here, but it doesn't need one. The "comedy" definitely passes off as pretty lame though.

So this one, I was glad finally came over to the PS4, though we only got one for that system. I do remember some of the weapons, notably the gun that pixelates your enemies. I liked the weapon tree mods the weapons each had, just as it felt like some extra nice things to unlock. Captain Qwark is a delight as always. I think this one had more nonplatforming sections than some of the others, and I don't remember finding those as enjoyable as the main parts of the game.

And that's really all I have to say about this one. This is a great reboot, that looks and feels great. Bring on Rift Apart!



Next up: A game with one particular really broken weapon.

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88. Mega Man 5 (NES, 1992)

I think it's a testament to how many of these suckers Capcom churned out in quick succession that I'm taken aback that MM5 didn't come out until after the SNES era had already gotten started. Like every other NES Mega Man game, you pick stages one at a time from a list of 8 Robot bosses, and once clearing those fight off a gauntlet of stages leading to Wily itself. What impresses me about 5, though, is how much the level design diverges from the rest of the series up to that point - games had largely been iterating on the designs of Mega Man 1 and 2 ad nauseam. 5 has a stage built on a moving train, another with a sidescrolling jet-ski course, and one where the whole gimmick involves switches in gravity. The cleverness and originality of the main levels, along with the series' first set of collectibles (grabbing a hidden letter in each stage unlocks a secret weapon), helps the whole experience feel renewed, despite its obvious structural similarities. As someone who played through the series (mostly) sequentially on the Mega Man Anniversary Collection in the mid-00s, I was pleasantly surprised by 5 when it rolled along, enough that it snuck to my all-time favorites.

87. Super Castlevania IV (SNES, 1991)

Speaking of the SNES era, here's one of its earliest releases - out before the aforementioned MM5. I don't have nearly the experience with the level-based Castlevanias versus the IGA Metroidlikes of more recent times, and was pretty excited to dive into this one when I picked it up in the mid/late-00s, after having tackled most of the big Metroidvania titles. And while Castlevania IV is obviously not as deep or as long of a game, it still feels fairly modern - movement is fluid and the Vampire Killer has a lot of mobility and flexibility. Game difficulty can be harsh but in most cases enemy patterns and weaknesses can be fairly learned, outside of maybe some of the more obnoxious end game bosses. Plus, the game has some killer uses of the SNES's famous Mode 7 scrolling, with rotating rooms, spinning tunnel corridors, and swinging chandeliers; it's a shame that the game's more interesting and novel uses are stacked at the beginning half.
Like I said with Contra 4, sometimes a simple and straightforward action game just really hits the right spot. There are many Metroidvanias to come here, but I wanted to celebrate this gem as well.

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#80. NFL Blitz (N64, 1997)

I totally blanked on including NHL Hitz 02 and 03. Great games. That said, man do I love me some NFL Blitz. I am a huge football fan, but Madden never really clicked with me. Like they were fine, but not something I wanted to play a ton. I never discovered Tecmo Super Bowl til years later. So for a long time Blitz was it for me with football games. There is something so satisfying about leaping 15 feet in the air to spear a guy trying to make an acrobatic catch. Bills are of course my team, but I spent a ton of time as the Bengals in this game and it is where my love of them came from. Carl Slim Pickens was the man in this. Toss it up to him and come down with a TD. My buddy and I did a lot of random team choices. Da Bomb and Sub Zero are the go to plays in this game. Also loved that you could add your own plays. I had this cross slants route that constantly led to wild diving catches.

Shout out to Elvis Grbac.



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#81 - Mass Effect 3 (360, 2012)

The original Mass Effect trilogy is quite possibly the most consistent series of games the world has ever seen (Andromeda doesnt exist shut up). The only reason every single game isnt on my list is for varietys sake. Sorry, Mass Effect 1, you got the short straw this time (yeah, shocker, ME2 will show up later). Every single game is a huge recommendation from me.

Mass Effect 1 has what I consider the very best world-building in any video game in history. If the gameplay wasnt so clunky and buggy, it wouldve been the second ME game on my list instead of 3. Ill leave the ME2 talk for its write-up later, but needless to say, it got just about everything beyond the story right, too.

Here comes Mass Effect 3. It was given the almost-impossible task of taking the insane build-up from the 2nd game and come up with a satisfying conclusion. It very nearly pulled it off. I would wager that the first 95% of Mass Effect 3 totally lives up to the hype. There are so many missions and moments of the game that left me completely speechless. The scale of everything you pull off as Shepard in this game dwarfs the first two a million times over. Unfortunately, that last 5% is just about all anyone ever remembers it for, which I think is unfair. By the time the ending was patched to adhere to what the internet wanted, it was too little, too late. The damage was done, and ME3 will ultimately go down in video game history as a major letdown. Needless to say, I disagree.

With this, that means my first 20 are down! My list so far.....
100. NHL Hitz 20-02
99. Earthbound
98. Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA
97. Mario Golf: Advance Tour
96. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
95. FTL: Faster Than Light
94. Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
93. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
92. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
91. Beat Saber
90. Pocket Card Jockey
89. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2006
88. Persona 5
87. Trauma Team
86. HITMAN
85. The World Ends With You
84. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
83. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
82. Pokemon Stadium 2
81. Mass Effect 3

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#85. Solstice (NES, 1990)

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

The game takes place in one giant maze of interconnected rooms, played at an isometric view. There's a nice amount of theming to the design of rooms, with a forest area, castle area, cave area, etc. The path through the game doesn't have to be done in a set order, and it's very easy to get lost and wander aimlessly. There is also a lot to figure out - some rooms have fake floors or invisible floors, teleporters swap you to another part of the map, some parts of a room can only be reached from a different entrance, and you can find keys that open new paths. You also can't directly fight enemies, but just pick up and set down blocks, and use a limited number of magic spells to alter the room. The above video shows the title screen music and the demo scenes, which shows off a variety of rooms you would find and how to get through them. Also, the title theme is one of the most technically impressive pieces of NES music, the rare Tim Follin soundtrack that's not on a lousy game.

Solstice has a unique distinction personally as being the game that took me the longest to beat. I received the game about 29 years ago, when I thought it was cool but I sucked at it. I would give it a shot every year or two, sometimes getting fairly far before becoming either tripped up on a puzzle over instant death spikes, or just plain hopelessly lost, and watching my remaining lives slip away. I finally beat it at the start of last year. The overall experience of Solstice is something I just haven't felt captured in too many other games, and definitely a great one if I've been plugging away at it for this many years.

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90. Super Mario 3D World (Wii U, 2013)

It could reasonably be argued that New Super Mario Bros U the first disappointing mainline Mario game since Sunshine. Not because it's a bad game, but because it came after Galaxy, NSMB, and Galaxy 2. All we had to wait was a year for the Mario team to get hot again, this time with a sequel of sorts to Super Mario 3D Land (which I'm told was good; I never had a 3DS). The mix of 2D and 3D platforming is crisp, the level design is generally top notch, and the multiplayer is actually really fun, albeit chaotic. The game is undeniably the most madcap Mario game, even when played single player. I know it was among the best selling Wii U games, but I have to imagine that a lot of people missed it because it was on Nintendo's least successful console. Fortunately, like virtually all great Wii U games, this will be out on Switch soon, and you really owe it to yourselves to play it if you haven't already.

89. Raiden II (Arcade, 1994)

In the grand lineage of scrolling shoot 'em ups, Raiden II isn't necessarily the best in any particular way. It's not supremely difficult, it's not particularly beautiful, its music is good but not memorable. But it does do all of those things well. It's a well rounded game, and as arcade games go, generally not a quarter eater. I spent a lot of time and not a lot of money at this machine in my youth, and it was always a good time.

88. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii, 2006)

Twilight Princess is, perhaps more than almost any game, a victim of its own hype. It's a good game. It has some incredible moments sprinkled throughout. It's one of the more visually engaging Zeldas. But I think we were all expecting it to be the next Ocarina of Time and it just... was never going to be that. The wolf sections lose their novelty almost immediately; on replay, wolf Link is downright tedious. It's only by the grace of Midna that any enjoyment is derived from the opening portion. Still, once you're clear of it, it's a pretty majestic experience, bigger in scope than any Zelda before it (if not in scale - Wind Waker takes that particular cake), with some of the series' best dungeons. I could go on, but we've all played it. You get it.

87. Blast Corps (N64, 1997)

Blast Corps is the second N64 game made by RARE, after Killer Instinct Gold, but it's the first legitimately great one they created for the system, and it kicked off a run of games that most developers would kill for - Blast Corps, Goldeneye, Diddy Kong Racing, all in 97, Banjo-Kazooie in 98, the aforementioned Jet Force Gemini in 99. If you're a fan of DK64 (I am), that streak continues through that game, Perfect Dark, Mickey's Speedway USA (deeply underrated), and Banjo-Tooie. That's an incredible run by any measure, and it all started here, with Blast Corps, probably RARE's hardest game. Your goal is to use a collection of vehicles to clear the path for a nuclear missile carrier. Each vehicle operates in different (and sometimes frustrating) ways (looking at you, Backlash). If the carrier hits anything, game over. It is a genuinely challenging game. It's also a game that feels impossible to go back to now, owing to the graphics and controls of the day. Maybe make a sequel or a full scale remake? Someone?

86. Civilization IV (PC, 2005)
[you don't need a photo, you know what Civ IV looks like]
I can't say with absolute certainty that this is the best Civ. I didn't play 3 or 5 a ton. Haven't tried 6. Truthfully, for as much as I like 4X games and strategy games in general, I just don't have the time for Civ like I used to. And that's probably a good thing. Who among us has not decided to play a game of Civ IV at a seemingly reasonable hour, only to find themselves embroiled in international incident after international incident until sunrise? I know I have, and I can't do that shit anymore. But man, when I could, was it fun.

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