Board 8 > The Board 8 Discord Sports Chat Ranks Their Top 100 Respective VIDEO Games pt. 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

Jakyl25 posted...

Halo hit when I was in my third year of college

My friends and I ran an unauthorized ethernet cable between our two Xboxes in our dorm rooms down the hall from each other, hidden amongst the regular cable lines, just so we could do (up to) 8-player Halo.

I have notified the college. Expect your fine soon

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#51 - Borderlands 2 (360, 2012)


Borderlands 2 is really good. The story doesnt stand out, but it has one of the best villains in video games. The missions arent very engrossing. Nothing about the game jumps out as exceptional. except the gunplay. And the gunplay is very, very good. Well, at least pretty good. Theres just enough variety in the guns to keep you checking stats and effects and amassing the best weapon loadout you can find, and then going back and blowing shit up. Im honestly not convinced this game is anything all that special. Its only that fun because keeping good company with friends in a serviceable co-op game is that fun. But thats gotta still count for something, right? Its also very fun making everyone else wait while you play the slots for the 175th time, and thats the real reason its up this high.

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#66. Hexcells (PC, 2014)
Minesweeper but on crack. This game for all intents and purposes is the 3 Hexcells games - including Hexcells Plus and Infinite, as they're just extensions.

Hexcells is a simple puzzle game based on hexes. At its basic form, you get a number and you know the # of surrounding "filled in" cells surrounding that one, like Minesweeper. However, the puzzles are all deterministic, not stochastic, which is the main draw. That is, everything can be figured out through a straight line of logic, without guessing. There's often several ways to do it, but you will NEVER have to guess. The puzzles are specifically designed in this way. You will often start with just a small amount of "interior" clues inside the hexes, if any, and perhaps a larger amount of "exterior" clues, that is, around the edges. And you will eventually branch out from just knowing your one little section,into systematically solving the whole puzzle. The way it builds, teaching you one "style" of clue, and then expanding on it into more complicated puzzles, before throwing multiple types of clues together is great but simple game design.

Anyway, beyond the basic, you get into more complicated styles of clues besides simple adjacency. There's clusters, anti-clusters, paths, segments, and all the same applies to rows of hexes as opposed to just surrounding. It's a very thinking and logical kind of game, and that stuff always appeals to me. A big part of the draw here though is its ultra-minimalist presentation. Just some soothing background music, with cells against a white screen. That's it. It's a mentally relaxing and yet stimulating experience, if you like these kind of puzzles, like Picross or Minesweeper.


Next up: Blue and red password dots


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Mega Man something

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Oh boy, I'm halfway done. Quick recap!

HM. Nintendo World Cup
HM. Tecmo Super Bowl
HM. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
HM. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
HM. Burnout 3: Takedown
HM. The Urbz: Sims in the City
HM. Winning Eleven 9
HM. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
HM. Hitman: Blood Money
HM. Deadly Premonition
HM. Ratchet & Clank (PS4)
HM. Hades
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
80. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
79. NES Open Tournament Golf
78. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
77. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
76. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
75. Mario Party 2
74. The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain
73. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies
72. Saints Row: The Third
71. SSX3
70. Doki Doki Literature Club
69. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
68. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
67. Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds
66. WarioWare: Twisted!
65. TimeSplitters 2
64. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
63. Chrono Trigger
62. Tetris Effect
61. Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow Version
60. Dark Souls
59. Hot Shots Golf Fore!
58. Mario Kart 8
57. Return of the Obra Dinn
56. Mario Golf (N64)
55. Hotel Dusk: Room 215
54. Dark Souls III
53. Advance Wars: Dual Strike
52. Last Window: Secret of Cape West
51. Borderlands 2

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#95 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4, 2016)


Since its inception, the Uncharted series has always been one of the top cover shooters in the business. The series blends in its solid gameplay with strong adventure elements, gorgeous scenery, and surprisingly fun puzzles all wrapped up in tales that evoke the classic film and video games that clearly inspired it. Uncharted 4 took the strengths of what came before it and improved upon them while mixing it up with some new tricks of their own.

The campaign was easily the best in the series with having more interesting non-tradtional gameplay segments, more bombastic set pieces, more varied and flexible scripted fights, and curiously adding in several open-world levels. They constantly swung for the fences, missing on several attempts (such as the plot meandering into melodramatic drivel, some of which I would argue did not make sense), but I was more than willing to forgive the shortcomings.

The primary reason why this made my list though is its multiplayer. I bought a 1 month trial to PS+ for the sole reason of playing multiplayer, and I got my money's worth and then some putting in countless hours into multiplayer for that month. Sporting the series' best map collection, increasing the player count in a match, and adding the mystical abilities made this the definitive Uncharted experience. I probably played at least an hour a day nearly every day for the duration of my trial. I was unable to get any B8ers to join me. I realize that unlike the time Wigs, Icon, Menji, numbers, Bartz, others, and I frequently played UC2 together (I am still disappointed though with how their methods of separating parties of five or more), I was late to the UC4 party as I started in 2018, but I was able to have a blast with completely random people. You know you have a good multiplayer if you can say that unconditionally.

The combination of the single and multiplayer make this the definintive Uncharted experience. Effusing so much praise toward this might then seem odd that I am ranking it "so low" at #95, but I have played a ton of games in my life, so look at it like this is in the 95 percentile of all games that I have played.

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#61. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES, 1990)



This was the first Castlevania game I played, so I have a lot of nostalgia around this. I thought about putting the original Castlevania game on my list, which is a great platformer and fairly similar to CV3. I think this game improved on the original in a lot of ways though, along with the above stated nostalgia I have. Multiple paths, 4 characters with different abilities and subweapons, more levels, there's a lot of new stuff here. The graphics have this gritty feel, but are very detailed and there are a lot of screens with a memorable look to them. There was also a decent amount of features returning from the first game, really solidifying the running traditions that Castlevania games would become known for.

Sypha was always my favorite character to play as. She took a little more damage, but that lightning orb spell is way, way too strong. Taking her path also avoided the levels filled with mummies, which were maybe some of the more annoying ones. I also like that the recent Netflix show took this game as inspiration to build around.\

And that's 40 games down! 60 more to go, and they all get better from here!

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#94 LEGO Island (PC, 1997)


As I'm sure was the case with the majority of us, I was a very imaginitive child, something that will be brought up in multiple future entries. Games like LEGO Island were perfect for me. I could spend countless hours not just building the dumbest looking vehicles and customizing the island in a way that you know a child was responsible, but I could just walk for hours. I don't know if the residents had a preset path, but I always assumed they strolled around the island randomly, and boy did I love randomness. I would emulate them and just walk around aimlessly, and that was so entertaining to me.

The game also featured well-crafted, or what little kid me thought, story mode centering around an escaped criminal called The Brickster. This included finding hidden bricks, racing underground with skeletons I think, and a chase sequence where you just launch a ton of pizzas and doughnuts.

This is one of those games from my youth that I both have long wanted to return to and also are afraid that going back to it might negatively affect my childhood memories of it. Having not done for former though, it lands in my Top 100.

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I fuckin loved Lego Island as a kid

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#93 Mercury Hg (Xbox 360, 2011)


Mercury Hg was possibly the last in the Mercury series, a collection of physics-based puzzle games where you guide a blob of mercury through a bunch of micro-levels. I've played other games in the series, but Hg was easily my favorite.

You don't actually control the mercury but rather you tilt the environment. The mercury takes time to pick up speed, so you have to keep it tilted in the direction you made it travel is you wish for it to go faster. Figuring out the right balance of tilt control might be jarring at first, but the game does an excellent job at getting you accustomed to the physics and even as the game gets more hectic, the difficulty never feels cheap.

The game was impressive for its constantly fresh ideas. Including the DLC, there were around 120 levels total (all named after an element on the periodic table, but that is not important). and they went above and beyond making each one distinctive. They had mercury-splitting corners, color changing devices, magnetic devices that attracted or repeled mercury, many of the tried-and-true objects such as ramps and rising/falling platforms, and so much more. I know that they didn't use every combination possible, but it seemed like they did.

I think what made this game even more special was just how replayable it was. You could unlock all of the main levels through simply beating them, but in order to unlock bonus levels and challenges, you had to complete other tasks. They asked you to beat it under a certain time, beat it with all of your mercury intact, and grab all of the collectibles. Due to levels usually taking under a minute, tackling on levels again and again was a low time-investment that led to a great sense of accomplishment when you could get so much done in under an hour.

I was also heavily into getting great placements on the leaderboards. They had ones for score and time. Even after I had fully beaten a level, it wasn't uncommon for me to go through again and again until I got a ranking (usually just shooting for time) in the hundreds. With the player base being in at least the hundreds of thousands, finishing in the hundreds was something I felt proud to achieve.

I tried very hard selling how great this game was to B8ers for several years to avail, but it has since been delisted. I assume none of you bought it, and I blame all of you it going away!

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#60. F-Zero GX (Gamecube, 2003)



I'm generally not a fan of racing games. It's a genre I will dabble in every now and then, but then I get my fill and I stay away. I've also not been good at many of them, which tends to turn me away more. Which says something about F-Zero GX, a game where the computer can just be stupidly hard (especially in the story missions) and slight missed turns can lead to instant death. If I'm willing to fail so much at this game, and find it so much fun, then there must be some good here.

All the obvious high points of the game are high points for me. The ludicrous speed, the futuristic looking courses, the gravity defying twists and leaps, the intense music, it's all great and played like the game was far ahead of its time. Having 30 racers on a course zipping around is a fun mayhem. And the cast of characters is so wacky. That they all get their own bio and weird music is so neat. I wish Nintendo would expand on this oddball universe more.

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#92 Persona 4 Golden (PS Vita, 2012)


Honestly, there isn't really a reason for me to specify the Golden version. I don't think that it added much positive value than what the original version offered. I didn't care for Marie, the new social links (I think it was just her and Adachi), and I think everything else was relatively minor. However, I think it did add a winter event where all the girls you had a romantic social link with tried to confess their feelings to you. I had a romantic social link with multiple of them, and you could only choose one, leading to a series of gut-wrenching conversations that caused me to turn the audio off and barely glance at the screen so I felt less like a monster.

I actually feel that Persona 4 is a downgrade from Persona 3 in some pretty significant areas. I felt the over-arching plot fizzled out maybe 2/3 of the way through (I started losing interest after Naoto's dungeon and basically all interest with one of the most idiotic emotional manipulations I have experienced). I know that people prefer the combat in 4 over 3 with the full control of the party's actions a big reason why, but I actually preferred the old combat where you only had control of the main character (I prefer less micromanagement). I also found that the dungeons were kind of lame and just had the theme as a backdrop with nothing interesting about them. I found Tartarus from 3 to be neat.

The main reason why I prefer this over Persona 3 and why it is one of my favorite RPGs is because it does something that I feel so few in the genre do; there is genuine party chemistry and camaraderie. WRPGs tend to be far more nuanced with deeper, complex characters to where they have a better success rate at having a group of people who don't seem to have much in common and even less reason to interact with one another more than the minimum seem like there is a understated bond between them that doesn't need to be spelled out in full to the player. JRPGs, and just a lot of Japenese games in general, tend to be overly explicit in just about everything, including pushing the idea that everyone in the party are friends, they were destined to be heroes, yada yada yada. They just either don't put in the effort or have the skill to actually pull it off. It just comes across as weird and unfulfilling.

Persona 4 is one of the rare ones that takes the time and effort to effectively build up the characters, their relationships with each other, how they rose to become (clandestine) heroes, and how their experiences shaped and changed them. It was such a refreshing experience and one that I won't forget.

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#91 The Gardens Between (Xbox One, 2018)


The Gardens Between is in many ways my ideal game. It is short, gameplay-centric, and atmospheric without being bogged down by things that can undermine it or trying to force me me to feel a certain way.

The core of the game is simple to understand but engaging and rewarding when you succeed, It is an on-rails puzzle game where you can move time forward, move time backward, or have one of the characters interact with an environmental object that is exclusive to them. The puzzles aren't especially taxing, but as I said, it never fails to be engaging, and I do feel a genuine sense of accomplishment each time I solve a level.

The Voxel Agents, previously known for churning out mobile train conducting puzzle games, were masterful in their atmospheric approach. I would love to hear their thought process on how they came up with the sound design, art design, and music to create was such an evocative experience of only about three hours that was further enhanced by their no-dialogue, minimalist plot (an intro, ending, and like five second clips of post-world "scenes" encompass just around a minute total) of nostalgic theme leaving me with complex feelings in a good way.

I have bought this for nearly every platform that has come out on, and I've gone through it every year since it came out. There are only a handful of games that I have a tradition of playing every year, so it's saying something for this to join such an esteemed group whose names will be coming up later.

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#64 Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64, 1996)

I already had the game ranked around here so it was not hard to make Super Mario 64 at this exact spot on my list. This game was a revelation to me. I first ever saw it at a Toys R Us or Walmart, at the playable demo display, and I could not believe it. The full 3D gameplay was unlike anything I had ever seen before.



I think I finally got to play it a year or so later, and it fully met every expectation that I had for it. The levels were well-crafted and usually nailed the delicate balance between exploration, platforming, and collectables. The aesthetic is simple enough to look crisp and clear despite the graphical limitations of the platform. Compare the way it looks to any other 3D game of its time and I think Mario 64 comes away almost always as the winner.

The control with the analog stick works really well and Mario has just enough different acrobatic moves to make exploring the levels a real pleasure. Although by today's standards a lot of these environments feel small, when I first played they could not have felt any larger. Exploring the castle and the levels and discovering their secrets was a very magical experience that I probably have not felt in any game since then.

Then why isn't this game higher on my list? As time goes on, it becomes more and more obvious how far 3D platformers have come since then. I think that Super Mario 64 is timeless and has aged very well, but the game is still subject to technical limitations that designers have since overcome. The game suffers from some repetition in level design and aesthetic, which is particularly obvious on the castle's second level. And for as important as the game was when it came out, in all honesty I moved on very quickly to other games and have hardly been back to this one since then.

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#48. Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990)

So many classic songs. Snake Man is a top 3 Robot Master theme. The stage designs are great, the difficulty is nearly perfect, not as easy as 2, not as hard as 1. Not the best Mega Man game to learn the series with, but a great second quest to go on.

Snake > Spark > Shadow > Top > Magnet > Hard > Gemini > Needle, for songs.



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#65. Mega Man 3 (NES, 1990)
Hey don't copy me nick geez.

Mega Man 3 is, spoilers, the highest Mega Man game on my list. It was 5 for a while, but I think I realized I liked this one more somewhere along the way. It may not have the best music (2) or best all around stuff (5), but I think it's the best experience. I really enjoy the stage design and robot master design in this one. I like that it has the extra 4 stages after you beat the Robot masters, and you go in and you fight the Mega Man 2 robot master clones, I always loved that, how they descend from the Sky into the Dark Man robots or whatever. I also think this MM game had the best overall level of challenge.

Also while I don't love Protoman as much as Nick, I do like him a lot and this being his first appearance is meaningful! This game also has my favorite track in the MM classic series (Wily Stage 3 and 4). I think in the end all the Mega Man classic games are very similar, and thus they are vaguely close to each other on my list, with just little things sticking out making them click more. Here then I would just sum it by saying its the 4 remix levels and the addition of the slide for the first time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNM7ydpIysE
A bit short on the loop, but I think one of the deeper tracks instrumentally.

And yeah Needle man is the best stage theme. Snake is 2nd



Up next: A game I can only think of to describe as Strategic Exploration

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#50 - the jackbox PARTY PACKs (PC, 2014)


the jackbox PARTY PACK

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60.) Red Dead Redemption (PS3, 2010)

This game felt revolutionary at the time - applying the same high level of detail that Rockstar usually applies to their sandboxes to a much bigger wild west world. It felt awesome. John Marston felt like he handled like an old grizzled gunhand.

But where this games blows GTA into the dust was its sense of cinema - the music that plays as you ride into a new area for the first time. The weight of the horseshoe when you play. The framing of all the big gun fights.

It's just an incredible experience all around.

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59.) Shadowrun: Dragonfall (PC, 2014)


I grew up a huge fan of Shadowrun - the earlier video games, the tabletop game, the entire package.

So naturally, when Shadowrun Returns came about I backed at the level necessary to get my name into the credits for all three games. I have my very own DocWagon Gold card. I have all three games and I think Dragonfall is the crown jewel of the bunch. Why? Fucking dragons for one thing.

For another the aesthetics and the party for this game were the best of the three. For another, the overall story is best (no longer rehashing like Shadowrun Returns are) and the mechanics are refined.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys the general gameplay stylings of XCOM and Divinity but wants it in a great cyberpunk package.

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58.) Shining in the Darkness (Genesis, 1991)



One of my favorite of this 3D dungeon crawler genre, Shining in the Darkness sets the stage for Shining Force games and just has such a unique edge to it. You are the hero and you keep delving the dungeon lair by lair. The monsters are all lovably goofy like a Dragon Quest game. Learning to gauge your abilities vs what the dungeon is going to throw at you is key. You have your dwarven cleric friend Milo and the strong-willed elven wizard Pyra helping you along all so you can save the kingdom.

It's a fairly standard fantasy tale. But done very well and is enjoyable all the way through.

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#47. Final Fantasy X (PS2, 2001)

First up, I hate the cast. They are all obnoxious or super boring/generic. Everything else about this game is stellar. That's about it from me for FFX.

Auron > Tidus > Rikku > Lulu > Yuna > Kimahri > Wakka



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Shoopuf waiting!
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#59. Undertale (PC, 2015)



Some people go absolutely nuts-o for Undertale, and I don't know if I'll ever get that. But there are a lot worse games that could have the rabid fanbase behind it. Undertale is a very strong game, and very unique. There's obviously some Earthbound-inspired goofiness here.

One of Undertale's biggest strengths is that it tried to fight norms and expectations in video games. Common mechanics that we take for granted, or that typically play out in a certain way, Undertale will instead throw a curveball or offer another option. It's a bit like Doki Doki Literature Club in how it hit the gaming scene with a surprise of how it subverted the norms. It wasn't as immediately emotional or shocking as DDLC, but several more simpler ways that it switched things up and broke the fourth wall. Combined with the sense of humor, Undertale definitely kept me on my toes watching for what weird thing might come next.

The music is interesting (but my god, it's over-memed), some characters are cool and fun (but my god, are they over-memed), and the battle system is a unique take. I was lucky enough to play this without the crazy internet Undertale force in mind, and now that we're a few years past the contest incidents and the memes have cooled a bit, I can reflect on how much I actually do enjoy this game and what it set out to do.

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#63 Secret of Evermore (SNES, 1995)

A lot of people were upset that North America got this game "instead of" Seiken Densetsu 3. By the time I got around to playing Secret of Evermore, I had already played SD3 through emulation so I did not exactly have that grudge to hold. I really like Evermore for the ways that it differs from the Secret of Mana games.



There are a lot of similarities between this game and Secret of Mana, and the name alludes to that fact, but it certainly is more different than it is the same. The game is about a boy and his dog from the USA who travel to another world called "Evermore" and struggle to return to Earth. Evermore is composed of a bunch of realms with very different themes, some historical and some fanciful.

The boy is the player controlled character, and the dog is an AI companion. There are a few different weapons that can be leveled up to increase their power. Instead of magic, there is a complex item crafting system to create alchemy formulas that are consumable. Like the weapons, the formulas can be leveled up as you use them.

What makes this game stand out for me is the atmosphere. It has a very dark and quiet feel to it which is in stark contrast to most other SNES games that I played. The music and sound design is distinct and does a great job in making you feel isolated within the world. I can only think of one other SNES game with a comparable atmosphere, which will be making an appearance later on for sure.

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#64. Heroes of Might & Magic III (PC, 1999)
HOMM 3! I bet there's a lot of other similar games like this I don't know anything about and I bet none of them are anywhere near as good, and my main basis for saying that is none of the other games in this series are any good (as far as I know, I think I tried a bit of V and VI and it's just not the same at all).

This game has a campaign mode that I've dabbled in but sadly it's difficulty locked onto easy for most of the start of it, and I could never really push myself through it, but where this game is truly great is in its pre-made scenarios (that anyone can custom make and upload also) or its random maps. The gist behind this game, if you don't know, is each player controls a home base where you can build one building per day, usually troop generation but sometimes other bonuses or benefits like a Mage Guild to learn spells, or a Marketplace to trade resources at better rates, etc. You recruit a hero , with their own unique stats and bonuses, give them a bunch of troops and set them out on their way to explore the world- collecting daily resource generation, learning new skills, gaining experience, fighting monsters that might be guarding portals to other areas, artifacts, gold, what have you. Maybe you can even find another town and really pump up your unit generation!

As you manage your town, you will slowly build up more and more units, and explore with your different heroes (make sure to have a couple heroes specifically to attack and some specifically to explore!) until you run into your enemies, and you can engage them and take their stuff, or take their towns once you find them!

The actual combat comprises of your units and your enemy's units on a hexagon grid and you have it in usual Turn-Based Tactical RPG fashion, while you and your opponent launch spells at each other. That part is fine and mostly what you expect, but that combined with the unique strategy involved in how you build up your town, progress around the map, split up your units/magic/artifacts, delegate what heroes are doing what, and really just control your heroes movement around a giant map, probably featuring oceans and underworld, makes this a really appealing micro and macro-management game, layered over a tactical RPG. Tons of planning out, it can get a bit tiresome, but its fun and rewarding, with different strategies for every faction. Necrodancers are probably the most fun, generating hoardes of skeleton units as they beat up on rando stacks, so are Conflux with its elemental-based units, and Fortress but only because they have the best mid-level unit in the game, Mighty Gorgons, but every faction has its own unique touches and units.

Also note the version on Steam is lacking. It is missing all the expansions, random maps, and one of the factions. If you can get your hands on the original "Complete" version, check this game out if you haven't played. Though I think I'm probably overdescribing a game a lot of you have actually played at some point, but oh well. This game is micro/macro-management heaven. Also I played lots of hours of this game with my friend in college.


Next up: Pittsburgh, Dallas, Houston, Washington?

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Oh another good clue here is my next game will be the 3rd game in a row that involves hexagons.

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WiggumFan267 posted...

Oh another good clue here is my next game will be the 3rd game in a row that involves hexagons.

Civ 6 obv

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#58. Everybody's Golf (PS4, 2017)

https://twitter.com/heyitsRockdan/status/970155486724141056

Everybody's Golf is what I wish real golf could be. It's cozy and comfy with great scenery to look at and the shots just feel satisfying to hit. You can also just hop in the cart and drive all goofy or run around the course with whatever goofy person you made in the character creator. And sure, there's wild curves and spins you can add to trick shots, or tornadoes in holes, but surprisingly it feels closer to real golf than it probably should.

I played this game pretty much every day for quite a while when I first got it. It can maybe use some more courses, but otherwise everything about this game was what I wanted. It felt good to hop on and play a quick 9 holes or even 3 holes, or sometimes play in the online tournaments it had. I wish I had got into this series before this game, I'm sure there's a lot more fun golf for me to play.



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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N8z1a5ogqo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1I_fiKOkmc

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#49 - Batman: Arkham Asylum (360, 2009)


This game came out on my birthday. I dont know why that was the first thing that came to mind when starting this write-up, but there ya go.

I got into this game the exact way as Dark Souls did. It was a game coming from a genre I typically have no interest in (or in this case, the license; this is the first Batman-related anything I have enjoyed), and decided to rent it because of all the rave reviews it was getting. A ton of lore references flew way over my head, but it was still an absolute blast from beginning to end. I especially enjoyed the stealth sections where you sneak around and pick off guards around a room one by one. A few of the Scarecrow sections are some of my favorite moments in all of gaming. I think I have a single gripe about the entire game, and its the final boss. Bosses that have intermittent mob swarms are already bad. Final bosses that do it are even worse.


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quality game

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57.) LA Noire (PS3, 2011)

The other title at the center of Rockstar's strong 2010s - this game was fucking amazing when I first touched it. The RTE mechanics and such worked very well for the crime scene investigation. It is probably the most linear game that Rockstar has done with its emphasis on narrative and told an amazing one. Your transformation from cop to rookie detective rising the ranks to then losing it all when you face corruption in the ranks.

The main attraction was the interrogation scenes where the realistic facials of the characters allowed you to try and read the person being interrogated and allowing you to choose a strategy for dealing with what you were observing which was unheard of at the time and not seen much since.

Every step along the way feels great to unfold and I am glad the game saw a real renaissance in appreciation after its release on the switch.

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56.) Beyond Oasis (Genesis, 1995)


Eat your heart out Zelda - this was always my preferred action-adventure title. You play Prince Ali in this game wielding your treasure - the golden gauntlet - which allows you to channel magic and speak with Djinn. You travel the world and make friends with various magical creatures which the gauntlet allows you to summon. Each uses a different kind of mana. See a torch - channel some fire to summon Efreet who channels fire at your foes. See some water - channel some and summon Dyotto the water fairy who heals you as you go.

Overall the dungeons feature interesting puzzles and the combat system is surprisingly in depth for a three button system. This leads to the boss fights being pretty interesting as well.

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#62 Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht (Playstation 2, 2003)

You saw that Episode II of this series already made my list. While I really enjoyed that game, it had a number of changes from the first game that I feel were not for the better.



In my opinion, Episode I is the best Xenosaga game for a number of reasons. The battle system is better than II and almost on par with III. The story is focused and for the most part makes sense without going too far into the weeds. The aesthetic is the right balance between grounded and cartoonish. A lot of effort was put into the graphics, cutscenes, and soundtrack, while the other games cut a lot of corners here.

I don't like it significantly better than II, but enough to distinctly say that it is my favorite of the series. Both games a guilty pleasure for me because I acknowledge how dumb they are, but a guilty pleasure is still a pleasure. I very much doubt I will ever go back and play any of these games though.

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55.) Victoria II (PC, 2010)


I love 4x strategy games and while Paradox has a better title than this one, I vastly prefer Victoria II to Europa Universalis. I think the main reason why is that Victoria games put a huge emphasis on international diplomatic politics that defined the world post Napoleon. Each nation has its circle of influence and you can devote your resources to trying to turn nations into satellites or allies in your game of diplomatic chess against the other great nations of the world.

There is also an internal political game - you begin in most nations playing as the conservative party and conservatism/monarchy gives you more control over your economy and as you might expect the more you can control and plan, the better in this sort of game. You can give certain progressive reforms of your own free will to calm down your liberal or socialist factions within your nation to prevent yourself from losing one of the periodic elections to the liberal parties. If you do end up with a liberalized economy (or if you play the USA and start with one), you have to use different tactics to try to lure the capitalists into doing what you want to do, which is harder. Of course, hold on to power too tightly and you face revolution. I had an Argentinian monarchy which had managed to conquer the entire Brazilian coastline and turned into a fishing and food canning empire, but which then succumbed to a anarcho-capitalist revolt that overthrew me and took control of the country from me for 20 years and I had to watch as they disassembled my empire's military and lower my taxes to nothing. The bastards.

And this sort of thing is what makes these games endlessly replayable. Grab a different starting point, and watch things play out totally differently.

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54.) Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance


A.K.A the last good Fire Emblem*. Like many I was drawn to this after how awesome Ike was in Brawl. And Ike did not disappoint. Path of Radiance is a bit different in terms of setup than most Fire Emblems in that Ike is not a Prince or the heir of a nation on the brink of destruction. Instead, he is simply the leader of a mercenary band. And thus his arc does not revolve around many of the same tropes that the rest of the series does.

This game has new units which don't revolve around the typical rock paper scissors and are instead subject to a rock paper scissors of their own with the differences between these beastly units. The overall effect is a deeper and more interesting level of tactics. It also introduces the notion of EXP assignment for non-rostered units, which I used to shepherd Mist up enough levels for her unique combination of attacks and heals could be used effectively.

And it introduced bonding scenes that you didn't need to grind for in stupid ways - but before they went full stupid and used these to turn Fire Emblem into a eugenics simulator.

*excluding remakes and possibly Three Houses

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53.) Arcade America (PC, 1996)



This is a game that i spent far too much time with as a kid and is just so fucking goofy and funny. The concept here is you play as Joey, a member of the band "Joey and the Monsters" who slept in. His bandmates tried to wake him up but couldn't. So in a fit of cartoon logic, they blow up his house to wake him up, but inadvertently blow themselves all over the country. Joey now has to hurry across the country to make it to Woodstock in time. Along the way he needs to collect his band members all of whom have gotten themselves into one kind of pickle or another. All in all there are two basic gameplay segments - there are driving segments as you need to try to avoid dying while driving up and down the windy interstate and there are platforming segments which are an appropriate combination of goofy and challenging.


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52.) Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2, 2003)


Can't beat the original. Nick hit the biggest things - this is the sort of game that takes the RPG players desire to optimize and gives them an actual toolbox to do so with. Some people have MMOs. I had Disgaea. I spent countless hours plumbing Item World, leveling up items to become more powerful. Reincarnating units to make their stat growths better. Rinse. Repeat. Level into the thousands.

And oh yeah aside from that you had a narrative - appropriately tongue in cheek. Laharl, Etna, Mid-Boss and Flonne form the basis of a great comedy troupe and it just works.

While I recognize that, objectively, Disgaea 4 and 5 are mechanically superior, I don't have the same attachment to them. Fortunately, many of those improvements made their way into Disgaea 1 Complete so you don't have to choose at all!


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Secret of Evermore, yes.

Bartzyx posted...

What makes this game stand out for me is the atmosphere. It has a very dark and quiet feel to it which is in stark contrast to most other SNES games that I played. The music and sound design is distinct and does a great job in making you feel isolated within the world.

This. I don't have as many childhood portals as I thought I would (or at least have discovered), but thinking of this game transports my memory to bedroom of the the son of the family that sat me and my sister one summer, and while that was the first time I saw an RPG (Secret of Mana), the first time I played N64 (it just came out), and the first time I heard rap music (Notorious B.I.G.'s "Life After Death"), watching him and his friend in Crustacia with those gull caws and wispy windswept music as they grinded money for the Atlas Medallion. I don't know if I watched snymore of their play before or after, but skmehow watching them fight the same three guys over and over is just ingrained as a wonderful memory.

Secret of Evermore was incredible and incredibly frustrating as a kid. I got so lost and so stuck so many times (navigating the chessboard and lost forest, navigating the pyramid a second time, the Deathflowers) it took me yeeeeaaars before I ever finished. But I loved it. The music, atmosphere, characters, environments... I wish we got mote Square USA attempts.

IIRC, the same composer for Secret of Evermore did the music in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and Skyrim

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51.) Mischief Makers (N64, 1997)


One of the great underrated platformer gems from the early N64 era, back before "N64 platformer" meant endless boring ass collectathon that is just a shitty version of Mario 64. This game had so much personality. Developed by the same team as Dynamite Headdy - the gimmick this time is that you play a robot named Marina who needs to go rescue her creator. This time the gimmick was that you could grab and throw just about anything, while shouting "Shake, Shake" which is definitely central to the game's charm.

The backgrounds were very inventive as were the boss fights, which required you to try to discover what the particular boss's weak point was. In general the level design though was very clever and also deeply disconcerting as nearly every block had glowing red eyes and sad face.

In the end, it's not endlessly replayable or anything but it is incredible for the time it demands of you.

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#90 Pure (Xbox 360, 2008)


Ever since I played games like Al Unser Jr.'s Road to the Top (among the final cuts) and Super Off Road: The Baja in the mid-90s, racing has always been my favorite genre. I've never been too interested in real-life racing (I will watch rally events from time-to-time) nor am I what you would call a gearhead, but damn do I love my racing games! There's something about maneuvering all sorts of vehicles and their peculiarities while being placed in tense situations where every second counts that is simply sublime. Maybe I am at heart an adrenaline junkie.

Pure is the best ATV game that I've played. It was the first game made under the re-branded Black Rock Studio. They were formerly known as Climax who had over a dozen racings games under their belt, including several focusing on ATVs. They knew their stuff, and they delivered on a breath-taking, over-the-top experience. With tricks at the forefront of the game, they went all-out in that department. By providing signs that a high-altitude jump was coming up, a bevy of trick options, and altering the sound and reducing the color once you got air to enhance the experience while taking in the fantastic scenery, it was always a special moment.

Along with the previously mentioned Mercury Hg, I was heavy into leaderboards when I rarely pay attention to them. I was racing early on, and I remember finishing in the Top 100. This was a game that had a player base at least in the hundreds of thousands, so I came to the conclusion that I was somehow a natural at this game and worked hard at refining my technique. I routinely finished in the Top 250. With the game being 12 years old and Disney having shut down Black Rock Studios almost 10 years ago, I have to assume that online servers have been shut down, but every now in then, I wonder if they still exist and what my global rankings look like now.

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Catching up on a couple eddv list things:

LA Noire is a game I forgot to consider on my list. I don't know if it would've made it, maybe slipped in at the end, or could fall in the low 100's. Either way, the biggest thing about that game for me was the commitment to the style. It did such a good job with the music, scenery, costumes, even the speech and the way those interrogation scenes played out worked with the theming. It was a really interesting game.

I never played Victoria II, but I find that style of game interesting. I unfortunately never feel like I put enough time into any one of them to truly hold them in as high regard as I could. A lot of things can happen in a scenario quickly, but it will still take a long time, because there is a lot going on and to make happen. I want to play Crusader Kings 2 more, maybe that could make my list with more time, or try this Victoria II or put time into Europa Universalis. The ideal play would be to take a week off work and just sit in front of one of these games the entire time to see more of what they have to offer.

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60. Resident Evil 4 (GameCube, 2005)

I've never been a fan of horror in general, whether in movies, games, or other media. I'm not keen on excessive violence and gore, and supernatural scary stuff just does nothing for me. Turns out, the timing was perfect for Resident Evil 4 to overcome my preconceived biases, as I was agressively seeking out "good" games I hadn't played before and the buzz surrounding it was off the charts back in the mid-00s. The secret to RE4? It's really just an excellent action game, rather than bringing something exceptional in the horror department, and that's pretty much exactly what I was looking for. The game does a good job at whisking you off to somewhere different after one segment might start to get too stale - the initial creepy village vibe leads to a sprawling gothic castle, for example. I was pretty bad, so I took a lot of deaths early on, which is the kind of "horror" vibe that actually works for me: being concerned of what's gonna come next because it might kill you, not just of a startling jump-scare or whatever.
There's not a ton to go on here about: RE4 is such a solid game and a fun experience I would be remiss to leave it off the list, but it's also not particularly my style of game so it didn't check a ton of boxes for something I love either.

59. Celeste (Multiplatform, 2018)

I don't think I'm breaking ground by saying that this is probably the best indie platforming game ever made. Taking a cue from other many-deaths-quick-respawn platformers, Celeste makes its game simple yet challenging, and encourages even its least-inclined players to keep on going until they get the movement just right to surpass an obstacle. And following the Super Mario Bros. platforming prime directive, Celeste is a game where just moving around feels fun. Its small set of basic actions works together well in tandem with whatever novel gimmick has been introduced for the stage to make a satisfying set of puzzles.
The story is a lot more satisfying than in most other indies too - combine that with the game's really solid visual and sound design and you have a setting a lot more endearing and memorable than most of the other platformers with similar mechanics. I haven't really dug into the game's extra content - the B and C-side challenges were beyond my interest in an initial playthrough, but they're absolutely there if you want more to do, or more challenge, or whatever. Add that in with speedruns and hidden collectables, and you've got a pretty sizeable little game if you're looking for it.
For me, though, I just really enjoyed the pace and feel of the main plotline, and the ending segment is absolutely excellent and felt like the perfect cap to a great game. Celeste, for me, may not have reached the heights of other AAA titles and my utmost favorites, but it is a shining beacon of what is possible for indie games to aspire to, both in quality and in critical success, that I almost feel bad for not putting it a bit higher here.

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TheKnightOfNee posted...

I want to play Crusader Kings 2 more, maybe that could make my list with more time, or try this Victoria II or put time into Europa Universalis. The ideal play would be to take a week off work and just sit in front of one of these games the entire time to see more of what they have to offer.

Each of their games has a different set of strengths.

If you just want to conquer things, EU is the way to go. If you want to do in depth economic planning and macro politics Victoria II, if you like personal politics, managing a lineage and personal intrigue Crusader Kings 3 is honestly a better game than CK2 and I loved CK2. If you really like managing tank formations and building up your air force piece by piece, Hearts of Iron is the way to go.

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KCF0107 posted...

Along with the previously mentioned Mercury Hg, I was heavy into leaderboards when I rarely pay attention to them. I was racing early on, and I remember finishing in the Top 100. This was a game that had a player base at least in the hundreds of thousands, so I came to the conclusion that I was somehow a natural at this game and worked hard at refining my technique. I routinely finished in the Top 250. With the game being 12 years old and Disney having shut down Black Rock Studios almost 10 years ago, I have to assume that online servers have been shut down, but every now in then, I wonder if they still exist and what my global rankings look like now.

The online server for Pure is still up and functional, if you actually do want to check!

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#46. NHL 07 (PS2, 2006)

While I love NHL 94 for simple gameplay and nostalgia, NHL 07 is the pinnacle of the EA series. It was the last game before the skill stick started to really take over and replace simple button inputs. While I have grown to like and accept the skill stick, it was not for me initially. I spent thousands of hours playing this with a friend back in my college days. We played all 30 teams, with rosters as up to date as we could keep them. This involved of course creating Owen Nolan who was not in the game and this he became a huge meme for us as KNUCKLES! Radek Bonk of course led the league in scoring. One player who was shockingly high on the league leaders in scoring was Marek Svatos. He had a 99 in speed and could do the Datsyuk deke without fail for an easy goal.



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Eddv posted...

Each of their games has a different set of strengths.

If you just want to conquer things, EU is the way to go. If you want to do in depth economic planning and macro politics Victoria II, if you like personal politics, managing a lineage and personal intrigue Crusader Kings 3 is honestly a better game than CK2 and I loved CK2. If you really like managing tank formations and building up your air force piece by piece, Hearts of Iron is the way to go.

Oh, thats right! CK3 came out. Gosh, I should get that and hopefully not just let it sit there. I think lineage aspect is most interesting to me, so Ill most likely stick there if/when I can give it more time. But also just managing the map and watching things evolve over time is super cool too.

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#89 Batman: Arkham Knight (Xbox One, 2015)


I've never been into comics (I haven't read any super hero ones at any rate), and I never got into the super hero film craze (though I did thoroughly enjoy the Sam Raimi Spider-Mans and the relevant Chrisopher Nolan Batmans). Yet that doesn't matter when it comes to video games because I will try just about any game if it looks fun.

Arkham Asylum came out to wide acclaim, and I ultimately echoed those sentiments (it likely would have made my list if I extended just a tad further). Arkham City was a high-quality follow-up. However, Arkham Knight was considered to be a disappointment to most, so I didn't rush to get into it. I don't know why I let that affect me, and perhaps lower expectations played a role, but Arkham Knight ultimately was my favorite of the trilogy.

Its influential CQC is at its peak with Batman's expanded arsenal of moves and gadgets along with his hefty punches and kicks. It can be a bit daunting trying to remember the correct button presses for all the attacks and counters, but they do sometimes remind you what to do on the screen, and it doesn't take away from the strides Rocksteady have made since since Asylum.

Perhaps the greatest point of contention with the game was the Batmobile. I don't know what specific issues people had, but I just know that they didn't like it. Perhaps my long history with racing games played a role, but I didn't have a problem with it. It was just a short matter of getting used to its handling and capabilities, and then I was good to go. I was actually a big fan of the batmobile's Battle Mode and the segments that focused on it. I never thought I would have so much fun dodging a lot in a vehicle!

If there's one thing that I am disappointed in, it is that they keep going further away from Asylum's Riddler challenges. I liked the simplistic riddle and hidden collectibles combo. They have since added a ton of "physical" challenges while bloating their figures to where it just seems like a chore and have no desire to see them to their conclusion.

While I am sad that Rocksteady has concluded their work on the Batman games, I look forward to seeing their future work.

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#88 Sid Meier's Pirates! (Xbox, 2004)

This is a remake of an 80s game that added new features and significantly overhauled others thanks to substantial advancement in video game tech. There's a lot you can do: Engage in RTS naval battles, engage in TBS land battles, capture cities, become a trader, court women through dance, sword fight, search for treasure, and more. There is actually a plot to the game. Some Marquis enslaved your family, but you escaped capture, and you can go after the Marquis and his crew and rescue your family. However, I just got sucked into the gameplay loop of being whatever pirate I wanted. They actually punish you for taking so long to find your family by aging your character to where things like sword duels are more difficult, but it never hindered my enjoyment.

I don't think any of its individual activities specifically stand out, but the sum of its parts in such an accessible package makes it the definitive pirate experience for me. I have purchased other games in a similar vein like Windward, Pirates of Black Cove, and Age of Wind, but they just don't simply hold a candle to the OG.


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#61 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Game Boy Advance, 2003)

This game is the natural progression from Symphony of the Night. A lot of the concepts are improved upon here, although Aria of Sorrow faces some constraints due to the Game Boy Advance system.



The system of absorbing and equipping souls is introduced here, which provides a great reason to spend time fighting and killing enemies. But it really feels like a prototype for a much better game that would come later and in my opinion does almost everything better, and as I played both games at the same time, my experience with Aria of Sorrow is overshadowed greatly by its sequel.

So it's a great and fun game that I do not think about all too often. Maybe going back to it would have helped this game out, since it's been 15 years. That's a long time to try to remember a game that I finished in a few days as a teenager.

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