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

(+) Yeah! (+)

4/10 of the way through!

#1 Chrono Trigger: 277
#2 Final Fantasy IV: 266
#3 The Walking Dead: Season 1: 254
#4 Final Fantasy VII: 247
#5 Metroid Fusion: 242
#5 Mario Kart 64: 242
#7 Mega Man 3: 238
#8 Super Mario 64: 233
#9 Tetris Effect: 232
#10 Professor Layton and the Unwound Future: 230
#11 Pokemon RBY: 227
#12 Jackbox Party Pack: 225
#13 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: 219
#14 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: 206
#15 Super Mario Galaxy: 204
#16 Resident Evil 4: 197
#17 Hotel Dusk: Room 215: 187
#17 Borderlands 2: 187
#19 Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies: 182
#20 Simpsons Arcade: 178
#21 Pokemon HG/SS: 173
#22 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4: 171
#23 Ogre Battle 64: 169
#24 NHL '94: 165
#25 The Legend of Zelda: 164
#26 Pokemon Stadium 2: 161
#27 Timesplitters 2: 160
#27 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow: 160
#29 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 156
#30 Perfect Dark: 154
#31 Punch-Out!!: 153
#32 Shovel Knight: 152
#32 Elite Beat Agents: 152
#32 NHL 07: 152
#35 WarioWare: Smooth Moves: 148
#35 Snowboard Kids 2: 148
#35 Mario Party 2: 148
#35 Final Fantasy X: 148
#39 Hitman (2016): 145
#39 Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons: 145

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I can confirm that multiple games from that list will appear on mine

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I can also confirm that multiple games from that list will appear on mine later.

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#57. Tecmo Super Bowl (NES, 1991)



I never actually played this game as a kid. I first tried it in 2003, when a guy who lived on my dorm floor in college had this game as part of his NES collection. He beat me when we played, but it seemed like fun. I started grinding away at this game on my own, with the intention of getting good enough to beat him. I think that whole winter break I played like an hour a day, and I just couldn't stop playing it. For a while, I was a regular on the Tecmo Super Bowl board here and helped out with some projects. I also ended up finding some online Tecmo community website where I could match up with people, and it would track everyone's stats, and I played games in there every now and then for a couple years.

All the stat tracking in TSB, which is way more than an NES game should have, really makes that season mode stand out. It was a lot of fun to just pick a team and try to get some player on the leaderboard for some stat. It's also fun just to run some sims. Teams and players generally even out to normal across seasons but there is also a high likelihood for wacky plays or results. There are also online updates to the game with more modern rosters, which are cool, but most of my play time has been with the original. Thanks to Tecmo, almost all my knowledge of '80s-early '90s NFL ties in to players who were in Tecmo Super Bowl.

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Actually only a few games from that top 40 will show up on my list later. Far fewer than I thought.

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#63. Mario Party 2 (N64, 1999)
Of course, the 3rd hexagon in a row here, meaning Hexagon Heat (and for my clue, well think of the teams in those cities). I could've probably ranked most of the good Mario Parties (4 and 8) in a similar spot around here, so consider those to be sort of close, though not really officially on my top 100 as 2 is pretty easily the best. Shoutout to those other 3 though.

It's a board game. I love board games! It's mini-games. I love mini-games! Its Mario characters, I love not Luigi! To me, these games, especially the earlier ones get a bit too much hate for being luck based. Sure, there's luck, but there's really a ton of strategy to board movement and planning. Plus all the skills of learning at and getting good at the mini-games. It all makes for an enjoyable experience of strategy, skill, and just a touch of luck. That's a great combination. These are also great games with friends, easily re-visitable at a good length of game.

The mini-games overall are best in 2, getting rid of those pesky rotating stick ones, as are the themes of the boards and the fact you get custom costumes for each. I was also a big fan of each board having its own specific Dual game to add to the flavor.

One fun thing I came up with friends is the fact you can categorize each mini-game's name into one of 3 buckets, 96% fall into one of these, and is great for poking fun at all the facepalm awful names
1- Alliteration
2- Rhyming
3- A Play on Words (3a = an exact phrase,3b = a pun, 3c = a turn on a common phrase)

That's all I can think of to say about the games so here are some of my favorite minigames in no real order!
Hexagon Heat
Bombs Away
Tipsy Tourney
Skateboard Scamper
Shy Guy Says
Look Away (Mind games!)
Bobsled Run
Sky Pilots
Speed Hockey
Day at the Races
Crazy Cutters
Face Lift
Time Bomb

Also Bumper Balls sucks and is overrated as fuck, come at me

Best game in the series is Dungeon Duos in MP4 though!



Next up: ...a fucking MANHOLE COVER!?

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#48 - Pokemon Black/White Version (DS, 2009)


Still the only time Pokemon ever decided to have an interesting plot. Other decisions made the game better also, like no previous gens making an appearance until the post-game, and having a fleshed-out post-game to begin with. I would assert that N is legitimately the most interesting character in all of Pokemon. Its nice to have more incentive to keep playing than I must be the champion because I have now turned 12, for once.

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#56. Donkey Kong (Game Boy, 1994)



I feel like this game is the underrated gem of the Game Boy library. It came out in 1994, which was also the same year as Donkey Kong Country, and probably overshadowed there. DKC was obviously a smash hit, a strong platformer with graphics that were top of the line. This game, on the other hand, was more retro-inspired (and maybe the first time I was really aware of the concept of retro in gaming?), puzzle-based levels, often very compact in size and with simple graphics. I got both of those games in 1994 for Christmas.

Donkey Kong starts off with the classic four Donkey Kong arcade levels, but then Donkey Kong runs out into the world across a bunch of different zones. There's a city and a jungle and an airplane and a pyramid and a boat, and you have to gets keys to the exit by hitting switches and opening gates and building ladders and building platforms and riding helpful enemies and manipulating enemies into flipping the switches and more. I think there's like 90 levels in this game? It felt huge for a Game Boy game, and they really pushed the limits on the puzzles with so many unique ones.

Mario's movement was a big deal too! I think this was the first time he could do stuff like double jump for more height and handstands and backflips and frontflips. I'm just realizing this now, but Mario 64's movement makes a lot more sense when you take this game into context. And then there were the neat little skits after boss fights and between worlds. They tried to make them silly and fun, but also double up as base tutorials for the puzzles ahead. I think I ended up putting more time into this game than I did Donkey Kong Country in that first year I owned them.

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I recommend Nexomon Extinction for those who want Pokemon with a story. I am playing it now and honestly it may end up top 100 for me. Its very meta, and I love it. One line early on. "Uh we live in a PS4"

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#60 Pinball Dreams (MS-DOS, 1992)

Now, I know that there are technically better pinball games than this one. But this was the pinball game that I played as a kid and I know I sunk multiple dozens of hours into it.



An early game from Swedish developer DICE, which most people know as the Battlefield company, Pinball Dreams featured just four tables. A sequel with four additional tables was made by another developer, and the version that I played integrated both games together with all eight tables.

The tables are mostly simple, and I enjoyed that about it. More complicated pinball games tend to lose my interest after a while. Even this game would not hold my interest like it once did, but of course my free time is not what it used to be, either. The tables each have a few ramps and a few holes, and occasionally you can introduce Multiball. The themes are all pretty neat and the music is very catchy and enjoyable. My favorite pinball game, but I do not play much pinball anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJcH8c58WGk

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WiggumFan267 posted...

Next up: ...a fucking MANHOLE COVER!?

...Super Mario Odyssey?

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TheKnightOfNee posted...

I feel like this game is the underrated gem of the Game Boy library.

I dont know where youre not seeing it heaped tons of praise

In my experience, the only original Game Boy games that get more praise are Tetris, Links Awakening, and Pokmon Red/Blue.
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Mega Mana posted...

watching him and his friend in Crustacia with those gull caws and wispy windswept music

Yeah this is a specific memory for me. Very cool.
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58. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GameCube, 2003)

Purely from a control basis, I think Double Dash is my favorite Mario Kart game. Something about its floaty drifting mechanics and fast-twitch mini-turbo blue sparks just meshes with my MK playstyle - in basically every game from Wii onwards, where you can customize your vehicle or pick between karts and bikes, I want to try to tailor my machine to feel as much like Double Dash as possible. Additionally, DD has some of my favorite item mechanics - I don't love the absurd amount of Blue Shells this game introduced, but having to manage two items is tricky and interesting, and having to actively defend shell attacks from behind (rather than just holding an item behind as defense) is really satisfying, and makes defending a lead far less simple.
I think Double Dash holds up great, too - I think it's a big difference between the bulk of GameCube era games versus a large swath of N64 games; they just hold up much better both in terms of visuals and design. The 16 courses are a mixed bag, some of them iconically great and many relatively forgettable; though the 16-course-gauntlet All Cup Tour mode is a unique inclusion and it rules. Battle Mode is a lot worse than MK64, though I do enjoy the Bob-omb chucking mode, which fits Double Dash's more flat and open courses. Overall, its unique control scheme was a turn off for some (including a friend of mine who sold me my copy back in 2003) but is also its strongest point for longevity - sort of like Smash Bros. Melee relative to its sequels, it feels like the last one that stands out on its own before all follow-ups were mostly the same-but-better.
I like Mario Kart, Double Dash is unique, Double Dash is good, here it is.
Top 5 Courses: Rainbow Road - DK Mountain - Daisy Cruiser - Bowser's Castle - Wario Colosseum

57. Pikmin (GameCube, 2001)

Now for my #1 ranked Pikmin game, the worst Pikmin game of the three main games. What? I've said in the prior writeups that I think there's not a whole lot between the three Pikmin games, and that each has distinct strengths and weaknesses. Pikmin 1 undoubtedly has the least content and the worst controls of the games in the series. What Pikmin 3 streamlined in terms of control (locking onto enemies and targets) and management (it's actually possible to quickly choose a Pikmin color you want), especially upon a replay, is notably lacking in the original. In the original, your Pikmin get themselves burned or drowned quite easily, and will also occasionally trip on the ground or lag behind awkwardly. In terms of content, there's a "Challenge Mode" which is at least something, but you're basically doing the main story mode, which isn't super deep or long, and that's it.
So what is it doing here? There's something that I love about Nintendo's ability to sell a mood and story through its visual and sound design, and the gameplay structure, that endears me to their characters, stories, and games much more than a convoluted 100 hour RPG with mountains of sidequests and content really ever could. Pikmin 1 is a masterstroke of this design process, exploring concepts of loneliness, desperation, and hope not only through its daily journal logs but through the core gameplay. The core conceit of being a stranger in a strange land means you discover new enemies, areas, and ways for things to go wrong along with the main character - Pikmin can and will die a lot in your first playthrough. The 30-day doomsday timer means you're playing the whole game with a ticking time bomb in the background (though realistically even a novice player should easily be able to collect all 30 parts in the game's timeframe). And the collectible parts slowly building up your spaceship creates a satisfying visual comparison with your progress (and the protagonist's success). Pikmin also cleverly contrasts the beautiful environments with the harshness of nature - a game around doing your best to avoid the brutal death of your tiny companions is presented in a colorful and cute way, but losing Pikmin always feels bad; and like I said before, it will absolutely happen quite a bit.
Undoubtedly many of those elements are present in the sequels, but the original has that unique property of always drawing out every one of the best qualities of the series for me, without feeling too directly game-ified, like it does in Pikmin 2's dungeons and Pikmin 3's more linearly objective-focused areas. I could probably pick a different favorite of the three any given day, but I feel good placing the game that represents the series' (and Nintendo's) best intangible qualities at the top of the heap.

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Goddamn it Nee

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#45. Grandia (PS1, 1997)

This game is so darn charming. I love the cast and how they interact. They are constantly aloof and way too lighthearted in a very serious story. The look of this game is that classic sprite look and there is some stellar music. All the stuff that applied to 2 with silly spell casting and great combat. Why is the HD Remaster not on PS4!?



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#59 Fez (Playstation 4, 2014)



I know that I would rank Fez higher if I had played it around its first release and been a part ofwhat I understand to have beenan active community search for the secrets of the game. But I wasn't, so this game has to stand on its own merits.

Even considering this fact, I still had a really great time with Fez. The idea of exploring a 3D world on a 2D plane works out well, and the puzzles that must be solved to beat the game are ramped up really well. The non-linear structure of the game lets you move on from anything that you cannot figure out and come back later, and often solving other puzzles will give you the clues you need to come back and finish what you could not before. The soundtrack is also really incredible, and definitely one of my all-time favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W91CsAGNuA

Fez is full of secrets. Even after beating the game, there are all sorts of things to find and puzzle out to explore the world even further. I eventually had to go online to find the resources I needed to 100% this game, and was really impressed with how much work people put into solving it.

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#87 Aliens Go Home Run (PC, 2017)


It's funny looking back at the classic arcade games, many of the most popular ones failed to see much in the way of imitations or quality ones if they did. Some of the less heralded ones managed to live in the forms of games that they inspired. One such game was Breakout. In the 80s, there was Arkanoid. In the 90s, handheld systems were a perfect fit for that style and featured titles that included a major Nintendo IP in Kirby's Block Ball. With the rise of the indie gaming industry over the past decade or so, you saw more people take creative chances using classic formulas such as Breakout in games like Wizorb and Strikey Sisters. However, in the nearly 45 years since Breakout first came out, the best game using that formula is Aliens Go Home Run.

The premise is silly as you are a baseball player who hits a baseball literally out in orbit. It crash lands on an alien planet causing pandemonium. The inhabitants of that planet then declare war on Earth, and you decide to take them on using your trusty baseball bat. Unlike most Breakout clones, you do not have a standard or fixed paddle. Instead you swing your baseball bat whenever you wish to hit a nearby baseball. You can slide to dodge enemy attacks, use various powerups, and since health is tied to contact with the baseball player, you can allow baseballs to hit the ground and then pick and choose when you wish to hit a baseball.

It incorporates some elements of Shoot 'em ups/bullet hells, so it can get pretty hectic, but the learning curve is excellent, and these added wrinkles ensure that there's never a dull moment.

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#86 Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+ (PC, 2013)


I've always loved the classic Pac-Man games. I've strangely enjoyed most of the spin-offs, but the classic Pac-Man formula is where it's at. Pac-Man CE DX+ though gets my vote for the definitive experience. It is absolutely bonkers with its speed, striking visuals, and a litany of customization options that kept me coming back for more. There really isn't much more to say. I will finish by saying that Ed and I ran a version of Rate the Game that featured over 1000 games, and this ended up being the top-rated game at its conclusion in 2015 or 2016.

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Pac Man World!?

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Specifically Pac-Man 256, Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, and Pac-Man World 3

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#62. Punch-Out!! (Wii, 2009)
I enjoy the original NES Mike Tyson's Punch Out a good bit,for being a relatively simple yet fun timing /sort-of puzzle game. I never really got into Super Punch Out, but this sequel(?) is so much fun.

Playing through this relatively short game is something I find myself returning to every so often, even already sort of knowing how most of the patterns go. There is just a great appeal to being this small dude, dodging and weaving these gigantic caricatures, and then punching them in the face, getting a nicely timed star, or delivering that oh-so-satisfying star uppercut.

The fighters are mostly all ones we're familiar with from past games, and have a lot of... uh, character. Ok fine they're a little bit racist. Nevertheless, their little 3-scene stories before each fight are fun, and all of them are so cocky and sure of themselves, it's satisfying to confuse them by dodging and countering! The fighters all have old tricks and some new ones, so it manages to feel fresh from start to end. The new (or more-ignored) fighters are all great too. Also they really made Sandman intimidating andscary, and some of those later fights like his are pretty hard, but like a very doable level of hard. What I like about this game is you will fail a lot, but you will feel yourself improving with each try. Learning new strategies, getting the timing right, figuring out when to do your star punches. It fits perfectly in the underdog theme of the game.

What really puts this game over the top for me though is the Rematch round. After defeating Sandman and winning the belt, everyone is back for another run at you, and now they've all greatly improved! And are doing some tricky shit. When I first saw the Glass Joe rematch and he had a goddamn kickboxing helmet on, I lost it. And he's legitimately much trickier (at least if you don't know what to do, which you might not), but hey, not being able to punch Glass Joe in the head is a disadvantage! All of them have new quirks, are much faster and harder to figure out, might have some additional... assistance.... in their fights like Great Tiger's clones or Aran Ryan's horseshoes-in-the-gloves and.... wait is that King Hippo... with a FUCKING MANHOLE COVER over his belly!? Love that moment. That's a fun fight too, when you figure out what to do. The final fight against remix Sandman is great also. And I keep saying when you figure out what to do because this is a hybrid puzzle game, with some Rhythm mixed in, under the guise of a boxing/fighting game. And that's fun. Oh, and you can fight DK! He's not easy.

Also I love the blindfolded run of this from GDQ a few years ago by zallard, make sure to check that out. One of the best and most tense speedruns I've ever seen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUpT7fHi1lA



Next up: This game features the non-optional boss I've probably struggled against the longest of any before finally succeeding.


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#47 - Fire Emblem (GBA, 2003)


I had a weird first impression of this game. I honestly only got it because of Marth and Roy in SSBM. I brought it home and played through Lyns story in 2 days and fell in love with it. Then I started Ephraims story and everything went downhill. I never once looked online to see how Fire Emblem games work for the most part. So when they give me a super OP team member in Marcus, why would I ever think Im not supposed to use him?!

So yeah, about 20 chapters in, I was completely screwed. It was literally impossible for me to do enough damage to the boss in the level and my save game was softlocked. I was really disappointed, because I was so into the story, and Id have to restart Ephraims story from the very beginning if I wanted to see it to the end. I gave the game a little break, and then by chance over the next few months, I came across the word Jagen online, and then everything began to make sense.

I started over, put Marcus on the backlines, and stormed through the entire game in a week or two. Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade has a really gripping story with solid tactics gameplay, and if youve got those two things, you dont really need anything else to be a very good game.

CHARACTER RANKINGS:
Hector > Lyn >>>>>> Jaffar > Lloyd/Linus > Matthew > Erk > Hawkeye > Dorcas > Raven > Nino > Pent/Louise > Ninian > Guy > Serra > Dart > Legault > Athos > Fiora > Karel > Eliwood > bunch of bum roster fillers

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#55. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES, 1995)



I talked about it before, but in the mid to late 90s, when 3D games were new, I just had trouble getting into them. It was all new for the designers, and there was still a lot of learning and refining to do. But at the same time, 2D games had been going in full force for a while, and developers were really experimenting with them and seeing how they could push the envelope to create truly unique designs. When I first saw Yoshi's Island, I was amazed. It looked like something totally new, and the creativity made it clear that this was still a big step forward somehow. It still holds up great visually today.

As a platformer, there are so many good levels. Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy is like one of the top all-time ones. The castles all have fun bosses, the vehicles and super baby Mario are almost aways lots of fun, and there are all kinds of mini-games in the locked doors and at the ends of levels. Getting 100 scores on each level can require exploration or puzzle solving or just well-played execution. I think it was the first game I played after Super Mario Bros 3 to get near that same level of creative fun atmosphere in the gameplay and design.

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#61. Dark Souls: Remastered (PS4, 2018)
Certain events led me to be excited to play this game. My initial reaction though was how slow and deliberate the combat was. l think to this day, that remains my biggest issue with this game, but really only in the starting area, and once I got appropriately stronger (and better) at the game,it was no longer an issue. I wasn't dying a lot per se (not more than a normal souls game), but specifically I was thinking of those skeletons you fight under the bridge before the dragon, and the others in that area. The shield ones with the spears. Just waiting for those assholes to attack so I could attack them back. But hey, I wound up converting my playstyle to the one the game wanted me to have and I suddenly was enjoying the game much more. Parrying, dodging, luring enemies one at a time. It's very deliberate and not something I usually like in other action game settings, but works really well here thanks to the extra difficulty.

My experience was sort of like MSG's. I actually did start as a Pyro, but I think I was not making full use of being a pyro and thus contributed to some of that slow going. But getting more spells and experience and I was off. This was the second game I played in this style of game. I will probably talk more about these games when I get to another one, but I think that Dark Souls 1 in particular is just an engaging experience between a nice wide range of weapons or spells to use, challenging/frustrating bosses, limited health refills, and the idea of exploration all work. The setting is fine, not the most engaging though. Anor Londo and the Duke's Archives are cool. Fuck complete darkness though, yknow what I'm saying.

Anyway, I wanted to have a specific section here for Ornstein and Smough (or as I call them, Rosencratz and Guildenstern since I kept forgetting their names). I was just getting DESTROYED by these guys. I was always focusing on Ornstein first, but he was just destroying me. I tried all sorts of different strategies, using my magic first on him or not, being aggressive, being dormant, trying to separate the 2. I don't think I've ever spent so long in on one boss in a game. Eventually, I made a switch over. I think I was using some sort of hand axe before, over to a straight sword and it helped a bunch, but I was still getting my ass handed, but now I was actually beating Ornstein sometimes, but I'd be so low on everything I couldn't handle Super Smough (love that mid-fight cutscene btw). I would pelt Smough with all my fire spells, but would struggle with him blocking them inadvertently with his hammer. And even when I could hit him with all the firepower I could, I still had to get in close with my straight sword and whack his foot and roll away, and that took tons of time. And finally I triumphed. If you want to see a man who is not very good at games persevere using all his cunning and might in a fight where he is clearly overmatched, you can watch my struggle here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzu-f0_rgtk

Anyway, I think I can talk more about these games in general later, but those are my specifics for this one! Love the Anor Londo scenery when you first get there.



And fuck these guys obv:


Next up: The 2015 Mets hurt me. The 2016 Mets hurt themselves more, before hurting me. Something needed to be done.

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I had that run from the bonfire to this O+S fight down flat. That video is my true grit battle. The music in that fight will stick with me forever

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MrSmartGuy posted...

I brought it home and played through Lyns story in 2 days and fell in love with it. Then I started Ephraims story and everything went downhill.

Should've gone with Eirika's story instead smh

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a repost so far

61. Dark Souls: Remastered
62. Punch-Out!! (Wii)
63. Mario Party 2
64. Heroes of Might and Magic III
65. Mega Man 3
66. Hexcells
67. Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land
68. Super Mario 64
69. Skies of Arcadia Legends
70. Metal Gear Solid 2
71. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
72. Zombies Ate My Neighbors
73. Mario Kart 64
74. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
75. Mega Man 5
76. Back to the Future Telltale
77. Shovel Knight
78. Elite Beat Agents
79. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
80. Into the Breach
81. Donkey Kong Country 2
82. Braid
83. Adventures of Lolo
84. Marvel's Spider-Man
85. Pokemon Puzzle League
86. Mega Man 9
87. Donkey Kong Country
88. Final Fantasy VII
89. Super Mario Maker 2
90. Ghosts 'n Goblins
91. Mega Man 2
92. Ratchet & Clank PS4
93. Cuphead
94. Twisted Metal 2
95. Borderlands 2
96. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
97. Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?
98. Kirby's Block Ball
99. Death Stranding
100. The Stanley Parable


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#54. Mega Man X (SNES, 1994)



I remember when this first came out, people were like oh dang, Mega Man finally made the modern era and upgraded his style and his abilities and his games are cool again and I was all what, Mega Man has been great this whole time and he didn't need an upgrade? what are you even talking about, what if this is all fluff to cover for the fact that this isn't like the classic mega man I love and I was really skeptical for some reason?

oops turns out the game is a lot of fun

Mega Man X is still very much like classic Mega Man. The changes mostly allow a little more in the way of movement options, which matches up with the larger levels that the SNES can provide. There's a memorable assortment of bosses and sub-bosses. So much of the music is great. Zero shows up, and while he's no Proto Man, he is a great addition to the series. The other two SNES MMX games are great too, but my stronger familiarity with the original puts it higher. I can speed through it pretty quick, so if I've got an hour to spare, I can just put this in for a fast playthrough.

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56. The Sims (PC, 2000)

As a fan of SimTower and Sim City 2000, it came as no surprise that I ended up loving The Sims; the next great Sim-franchise game was full of creativity, charm, and cleverness. What I certainly couldn't have anticipated is the extent to which The Sims absolutely exploded as a franchise, quickly dwarfing the heights of previous Sim titles and later establishing itself as one of the most successful video game franchises in history.
What I think makes The Sims absolutely great is that it's a video game that is almost entirely devoid of objectives. Do you want to "play it straight" and build a crappy house and slowly take your Sim-family up the job ladder to afford better luxuries? You can do that. Do you want to use the infamous "rosebud" money cheat to gain loads of cash and build ridiculous mansions? Go ahead. Do you just want to make a swimming pool and delete the ladder out to watch your Sim slowly drown? Uh...that's kind of creepy, but hell, you can do that as well. Even relative to say, Sim City 2000, where there were more direct goals, objectives, and a feeling of something you were supposed to be doing, The Sims captured my imagination by being a game I could just sort of mess around with for as long as it continued to be fun.
A few years back, a friend and I messed around in The Sims for a couple hours, making a character and building a simple little house, and then left the game idle to see how well he'd get along on his own while we watched a hockey game. After the first intermission, we came back just in time to see him burning himself alive while trying to cook a roast. It's good to see some things never change.
Despite only really playing music on the title screens and the Buy/Build menu, The Sims has a really memorable and unique soundtrack. And the playful adaptation of a 1950's suburban utopia aesthetic holds up pretty well too. There's just a lot of little stuff to love, and it's a game I found myself going back to over and over throughout the early 00's to casually play in lots of different ways. I can't speak to any of its sequels, but the original felt nearly perfect.

55. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch, 2020)

And now for something...not completely different. I'm gonna cheat a little bit here - while I'm claiming this spot for the newest entry, this entry is really a stand-in for the entire Animal Crossing franchise. Although there are definitely strengths and weaknesses to each of the different games, the whole experience feels like too much of the same thing for me to feel like I can rank any of them individually. And hey, it's my list, I get to do what I want, etc.
Just like The Sims, Animal Crossing is a game that defies convention by intentionally avoiding linear progression and clear objectives. And although simulation-style games had been fairly popular for a while on PC, something of that scope and with Nintendo's degree of polish and quality hadn't really been seen on console. Upon the launch of the GameCube version in North American in 2003, it pretty much took over my life for a few months. The basic gameplay loop of building up your village and acquiring new stuff was really satisfying and charming, and the structure of having new things to do every real-life day was a refreshing twist to the "sped-up realtime" structure of other sim-games. Eventually, I started running out of new things to discover, got a little bored, and moved on to other stuff.
Fast forward to 2020 - I've played a couple AC games in the meantime (Wild World and New Leaf) and quickly moved past them. Excited to try out the new AC game with some compelling new features with friends, I preordered New Horizons and was ready to check it out with people at midnight and play along in real time. Well, uh...that didn't quite pan out as expected, for obvious reasons. What ultimately ended up happening, though, was that everyone was playing through ACNH and kind of discovering it together in real-time. In a lot of ways, it is still quintessentially Animal Crossing - it gets samey and boring after a while, of course - but the level of engagement with other real-life friends made it stand out specifically in the context of 2020. It mirrors my placement of Pokmon Go; I don't think I would have had an Animal Crossing game nearly this high before this year, but the social aspects in New Horizons really put it over the top. Coupled with fairly frequent updates adding new features and holidays, Animal Crossing has kept me playing for nearly a year for the first time ever. And for a game that demands you check in every day, even for a little bit, I have to say that's pretty impressive.
Shoutouts to ACNH's incredible soundtrack and absolutely lovely main theme, and the deluge of memes that it spawned over the internet across the whole of 2020. You've helped make the world a slightly more tolerable place.

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#85 Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (DS, 2009)


When I was in college, Amazon had these daily video games deals of the day. I didn't follow it everyday or anything, but I did check it out from time-to-time. I blind bought two games from that. Both made the list, and 999 was one of them.

This mystery puzzle/adventure sure is something else. You are a college student who wakes up in an unknown place alongside eight others and are forced to take part in a high-stakes event called the Nonary Game. Being a Japanese game with anime character designs, I wasn't expecting much from the writing, but boy did I eat crow. This was a masterclass on misdirection and obscurement. The unsettling atmosphere (hand-drawn art and music played a major role) was so strong, it was palpable. Every time a door was opened, I was dreading what would be in store for me on the other side. The puzzles in the form of escape rooms were great, and I thought long and hard about what action to take when given a choice.

The first 90% or so of the game was one of the most exhilarating experiences I have had with a single player game. However, perhaps no game illustrates the expression "It's the journey, not the destination" better than 999. Leading up to the final series of reveals, I was flummoxed at how the game's overarching events were being pulled off. I was ready to be blown away...only to be left in total disappointment. It left such a bitter taste in my mouth for years.

A lot of time has passed, and I have forgiven it for being let down, or rather it might be more accurate to say that reflecting on the journey has made me realize the journey was always more important than the destination in this kind of game. The game stood on its own two feet and didn't need a sequel, but it got two and both failed to capture/understand what made the first so special.

Its success has inspired the creation of similar games from all over the globe (though maybe 999 was copying another?), and I hope that one eventually holds a candle to it.

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#84 Monster Rancher Advance 2 (GBA, 2002)


Back in the late-90s and early 00s, Pokemon and Digimon were the popular monster franchises. I was into Pokemon for a bit, but I was more into the TCG. Digimon I never got into except the virtual pet. My jam though was Monster Rancher. I liked the suprisingly dark show, but the video games were the main draw. I own all of the console releases except for one spin-off on the Playstation. Advance 2 is my favorite of the core monster-raising titles.

The video game series may be more famous from its use of non-gaming discs to unlock monsters, but the games boasts an straightforward but robost monster-raising system. There are no needlessly complicated tricks or strategies to raise your monsters into obedient, effective fighters for the game's tournaments and story-based dungeon-crawling segments. There are several extra layers to the monster raising that you can learn if you wish to raise specialized monsters, but that's really only for your own enjoyment and not necessary to have fun and win.

You only raise one monster at a time, and it is highly likely you won't win all the tournaments with your first few monsters as they age and eventually lose their effectiveness in training and battle. It's a neat but sad feature. In other games, the monsters would die, but what's cool in the Advance games is that they can be frozen and ultimately fused with another monster to make even better monsters.

I never cared for the main story stuff, but the loop of raising monsters, seeing how far I could take them, and then having them live on in spirit with new monsters (by playing god) was just so fulfilling. I have seriously thought about going back to play all the Monster Rancher games for several years now. Maybe I should make that this year.

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#83 SimTown (PC, 1995)


Eddv touched based on this game that was like a cross of SimCity and The Sims. Looking at some various screenshots is reminding me of some the specifics about this game. That may confuse you as to why this is on my list if I don't remember basic features, but let me tell you about young KCF.

As mentioned in previous games, I had an imagination and given an outlet could result in some beautiful and nightmarish things. What I loved to do in SimTown was just make massive road systems. Cars would just appear out of thin air, and man did they ever regret it. Most of my road systems were just plain hell. It was typically one giant, baffling accident/death trap. I would make every strip of road lead to an immediate intersection. You couldn't go more than five feet before hitting one, and with all of them bunched together with no street lights, stop signs or anything helpful to the driver, there were just traffic jams all around, and I was a monster laughing as I saw these events unfold in real time.

With nobody able to go anywhere, I forget if the cars disappeared after a period of inactivity. I also forget if I was required to place any buildings to spawn the cars, but I would just have a bunch of the sundae/banana split and clown hamburger fast food joints. Were these mysterious cars coming from out of town? Were they new residents?If so, did they live in their cars or take residence in the restuarants? So many questions that Maxis never thought they needed to answer.

Young KCF would not have been a benevolent god.

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#58 Dead Space (Playstation 3, 2008)

Dead Space took all the ideas and improvements that Resident Evil 4 brought to the genre and polished them up for one of the most chilling and thrilling Survival Horror games ever made. When I think of the perfect game in the genre, Dead Space is pretty much it.

The setting is fantastic. Isaac Clarke is trapped on a derelict space vessel with a horde of Necromorphs, members of an alien species that combine with and reanimate the human dead in horrifying ways. Isaac is not much of a talker, but the story is told through messages for him from other crew members, or from logs, messages, diaries, etc., that he finds throughout the game. The user interface for the game is almost entirely in-universe, and great care was taken in the design to avoid breaking the immersion. It can be one of the most isolating and immersive game experiences ever, and for much of the game you are completely alone with these monsters. And I cannot overstate how tense encounters with the Necromorphs can be.



Dead Space took advantage of the high definition capabilities of the 360/PS3 and the result looked better than pretty much any horror game that came before it. The environments are crisp and detailed and look good even with the suitable lack of lighting that you deal with for most of the game. The dynamic soundtrack and sound design really heightens the creepiness of the environments and, at the risk of sounding repetitive, heighten the level of immersion even further. Many of the enemy encounters are random so that there is no way to just advance through an area from memory.

Really, Dead Space is an overall superb game and the best interactive horror experience that I have ever had. If anyone is looking for an intense and immersive horror game, this is easily the first one I would recommend.

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Shoutout to Ornstein and Smough and their ridiculous amount of nicknames, Fatboy Slim being a personal favorite.

https://i.imgur.com/Pxtzcoo.jpg

Yes I meant Eliwood's story. Fire Emblem Heroes broke me, what can I say....

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I am a big fan of sci-fi and horror and I could not for the life of me find Dead Space interesting

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#46 - Paper Mario (N64, 2001)


This was the third RPG I ever played. The first was Pokemon Red, which is basically made to be babbys first RPG. The second was Quest 64. It will definitely not be making my list. But that kinda sets the stage for what my expectations for an RPG were. Thankfully, I was met with a delightful game just oozing with charm that was perfect for an RPG noob like me. The battle system is incredibly simple, but the badge and partner systems allow for just enough customization options and variety to still make every battle interesting. The story is also simple, but each chapter on its own is still creative and pleasant enough to keep the player engaged throughout. It all blends into a perfect RPG starting point for a growing boy like I was, that still has lasting power to be fun as an RPG veteran.

Screenshot was taken from a mod of the game called Book of Mario, that takes most of the game's dialogue and sends it through a bunch of Google translations, then back into English. There have been a few playthroughs of it on YouTube that are good for some chuckles, and I would recommend checking them out if you're bored.

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#44. Mega Man X (SNES, 1993)

I love the original Mega Man series, and mostly just enjoy the X series, the exception is the original. What a joy to play, X moves so well and the game teaches you how to play with excellent level design. The tracks all slap and the powers are pretty cool. The way the stages all interact is cool too. I thought Zero was a girl for years. I never really loved any of the other X series games.

X > X4 > X2 > X3 > X5 > X6 > X8 > X7



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#57 Rock Band 2 (Playstation 3, 2008)

Rock Band 2 is not technically the best game in the series, but it is the one that I played way more than any other. A great and polished improvement on the first game, it has an amazing (and maybe the strongest) selection of songs on disc.

Rock Band is one of very few video games that has brought my family together. My dad very much does not do video games, but after playing Rock Band 2 once or twice, he ended up buying a PS3 and the full instrument set just so we could play together without anyone having to bring over the equipment. And that in itself was just something that I never could have imagined before then, and has not happened again since.

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Dishonorable Mention 2 AKA 4th worst game of all time: Dissidia NT: Final Fantasy (PS4, 2018)

What a festering pile of dog shit. I am not a big handheld gamer, especially as I get older. So I really wanted a console Dissidia. Easy request. Well apparently not. They absolutely massacred my boy. Why is it 3 on 3? Why is there no option for 1 on 1? Where are all the customization and RPG elements? The game is gorgeous and features the usual great scenes between characters, but my god every other thing in this game misses. They had a formula that was great and just completely shit the bed.




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54. Sound Voltex [series] (Arcade, 2012-present)

This was a game that I knew I liked immediately upon playing it for the first time. It's a BEMANI-series AAA rhythm game title, which comes with all the positives of basically any of those games: great original music, a cohesively produced aesthetic, and clean and satisfying gameplay. The control setup (see above for example) is two rows of 4 and 2 buttons respectively, along with two knobs in the top left and right corners. Grey lines appearing in the four lanes correspond to the central white buttons, while orange lines mark the bottom two buttons (they'll appear in lanes 1/2 and 3/4 respectively). The centerpiece, of course, are the analog knobs, which appear as pink or blue lanes hovering above the main track and must be followed by rotating the knobs quickly or precisely (depending on the track) along with the music. Similar to Beatmania IIDX, the combination of digital (basic button presses) with analog (the knobs) really feels challenging, unique, and satisfying. Here's a (fast) youtube video example of what the hell's going on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFWMwscsxLo
There's a couple very small strikes against this series that keep it from being a top-50 placer: I don't really love the music as much as the other BEMANI series; I think it follows Vocaloid and other trends a little too much and has less interesting and different music. (There's still a lot of good stuff though.) As someone who is probably too ignorant to know better, it feels like its aesthetic is capitalizing on a lot of anime/weeb trends of the past decade, which is probably why it's gotten so popular, for better or worse. The other problem is that I really haven't been able to play it much - it's in Round 1 arcades but the nearest one is a couple hours from me (plus 2020 is a thing) and I've only really gone in on it at conventions. Home controllers are a thing but paying for a decent setup is outside of my price range right now. Anyway, it's still a great game - if you like basically any Japanese rhythm games you'll probably have a good time with this.

53. Tecmo Bowl (NES, 1989)

Another cheat entry, this is really about the Tecmo series as a whole but I don't know if I can classify it as an ongoing series technically? So I compromised and just picked the oldest game here I've played. If you're one of those people (Hi Nick) you can just pretend I picked Tecmo Super Bowl or whichever one you like best here and that's just as accurate.
I ended up getting into Tecmo kinda late through the DS release Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff. Kickoff had a pretty cute editor that I used to remake the actual NFL at first then a custom league I made up for fun. (Shoutouts to the multi-time Tecmo Bowl champion Pittsburgh Cannons!) It also had a...stat-gaining system (?) that you could use to level up players. Ultimately because of this everyone is slow and exploiting the CPU AI is easy - once I figured out Tecmo in general I basically steamrolled the AI, but I still had a good time with it. Later on I played some of the SNES Tecmo games a little bit, and I plowed through the NES Tecmo when it was ported to Switch online. I've followed along to multiple remade Tecmo leagues through B8 projects and Youtubers, etc. The game's charm is pervasive through basically every single of its iterations, great and bad alike.
What I think makes Tecmo so rad is that it's a brilliant facsimile of football. It clearly is structured and functions like football, but it's...not quite actually football. Kickoffs are wonky because the kicking team is so radically faster that you have to zigzag run like a champ to make up ground. Defensive plays don't exist so you have to play around the inherent weaknesses of the built-in coverage. Tackles end up culminating in a sort of rugby-scrum-like battle where both players mash like hell to escape or bring down the runner. And everything about Tecmo, from its cutaway action sequence "cutscenes" to its janky physics to its basic pixel graphics, ends up coming out making the whole package look even more endearing. The extensive fan scene that has continued building modern rosters of the game basically 30 years after its release is a testament to just how charming Tecmo is, and also how it is such a satisfyingly simple contrast to the complex behemoth that Madden has become.
For all of that, Tecmo is my #1 sports (non-racing) game on the list. Shoutouts to QB Eagles, Touchdown Thurman Thomas, and of course, Tecmo Bo Jackson.

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60. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (Gamecube, 2003)


Sometimes, when I'm talking with friends about movies or music I like, we get into discussions about two qualities of the thing: the timeliness and the timelessness of it. Was it a throwback, was it right on time, was it ahead of its time? Is it timeless or does it belong to its time period?

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! occupies a weird combination of those things - it was both ahead of its time and very of its time. As most Gamecube games tended to, it pushed at the ideas of what a game in a given series could be. Sometimes Nintendo was successful at this (Wind Waker) and sometimes they weren't (Sunshine) but it all feels of a piece in terms of design philosophy. To play Double Dash now, as it was, feels like stepping back in time to the weird days of 2003 and 2004. You could play this game with 16 humans via LAN! Almost no one did, but you could. If Double Dash got a deluxe remaster for Switch, or if it had been released in a time when online console gaming was a routine experience instead of a special occasion, it would have been an unmitigated success.

The one thing that is timeless though, that I have to give it specific credit for, is that it expanded the Mario Kart roster to include a wider and more entertaining cast of characters that has become one of the mainstays of the series.

59. Fallout: New Vegas (Xbox 360/PC, 2010)


By all objective measures, and many subjective ones, New Vegas is the best. It's got a more coherent story with a definitive(ish) ending, it feels like there are actual and significant stakes when you make choices, and it's almost certainly the funniest. Despite that, I have not actually completely finished playing it. As much as I like the Fallout games (and spoilers, there's another one coming on this list), I've never actually finished one entirely. Some day, maybe.

58. The Walking Dead: Season 1 (PC, 2012)


After the unmitigated disaster of Seasons 2 through whatever of The Walking Dead TV series, and the comic series heading in a similarly irretrievable direction, this proved to be an oasis for those of us who loved the first few dozen issues of the comics. It was a nice reminder that there were people out there who could write a zombie story with meaningful, harrowing consequences.

57. Super Mario World (SNES, 1991)


I mean, come on. It's not my favorite, but it's impeccable and timeless.

56. The Stanley Parable (PC, 2013)


As you might be starting to suspect - or as you certainly will learn as this list carries on - I enjoy when games take a familiar concept or idea and take it in a strange or unexpected direction. Few games do this better than The Stanley Parable, a first person game about a man who notices the world around him is not what he believed it to be. What it ends up being depends on the choices the player makes, and the range of outcomes and the journeys you take to get to them is compelling. I won't say more, because I know there is an Ultra Deluxe remake coming later this year that promises to expand upon the premise even further, but suffice it to say: play the game and experience it yourself.

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#60. Out of the Park Baseball 17 (PC, 2016)
Hey I'm glad I'm not the only one with this game on their list!
What we have here is a straight up baseball sim with an absolute monster boatload of options where you can pretty much do anything you want. Sim a bunch a seasons without the DH in either league, have full GM control of some strange minor league, go pull up a bunch of old teams, whatever!

While I've dabbled in bits of that, the thing I really got into was the Manager mode. Just game by game, letting ME make the in game calls, the lineups, the rotation... Occasionally I would take over GM a bit just to make sure I had people in the majors who I did or didn't want, or undoing some trades I wasn't happy that simulation Sandy made. But after my heart was broken by the Mets losing in 2015, but being super hyped for what the future held, and it all falling apart mostly because of an insane amount injuries, resulting in a wild card game loss, I wanted to see what could've been. I just like having that micro level of control (see my writeup for Heroes of Might and Magic III... I love this level of micromanagement). There's just so many stat sheets and charts and numbers and menus and things to analyze, its goddamn heaven for me.

So I forged ahead with the season, planning to reload if I ever experienced any major injury, but that actually somehow didn't happen. My 2016 Mets wound up winning 116 games. I wound up sweeping the NLDS against the Dodgers and then... I lost the NLCS to the Cubs. Heartbreak. I made a save file before that series too, so I always wanted to go back and try again, but it would feel too cheap. I have the backup save file for a rainy day though... still, even if they had some bad luck in their sim playoff run, it makes me feel...probably not happy, that knowing that that Mets team had a very real chance to be an incredibly dominant team, and it just got undone. And I won't blame anyone but you know exactly who I blame, I'm not gonna say that word

Anyway, it still felt incredible to run a powerhouse team through like that and I can only hope it happens for real, or I get to actually experience the real version of this joy with a World Series... dare to dream.

Here's Noah Syndergaard hitting a home run in the NLDS



Next up: A really boring game?

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WiggumFan267 posted...

Next up: A really boring game?

Mr Driller

or Dig Dug

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he means the pneumatic drill in Worms 2

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#45 - Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Path (lol never localized)


Ace Attorney Investigations 1 is a mess of a story. The idea of playing as Edgeworth has a lot of potential, though, and making the entire story interconnect to create one big plotline was a solid idea. Functionally combining investigating with cross-examining witnesses makes the game flow a whole lot smoother and leaves a lot less down time. And Edgeworth is a really fun character to take control of. He can be a dick, but hes a lovable dick, and his inner monologues are really fun. The main issue was that the cases werent the least bit interesting or fulfilling, and thats ultimately what you are going to remember about Ace Attorney games.

Investigations 2 fixes all of this, and it does so immediately. Instead of taking down a loser prosecutor in Edgeworths own office, like in the first game, your first task in 2 is to check out a failed presidential assassination in what I consider easily the best first case in the series. Case 2 is a bit underwhelming and drags on a bit, but it sets up the stage for later, so it can be forgiven.

From then on is when the game really ramps up and never stops. Case 3 is nothing short of epic, and completely bucks the trend of Case 3s being the weak link of each game. You get a glimpse into Gregorys job as a defense attorney, and help figure out a case that went unsolved for decades. Case 4 forces Edgeworth to decide what being a prosecutor really means to him: should he fall in line with the status quo, rebel against the system and fight for what he believes in, or toe the line between the two and try not to rock the boat too much?

It all comes to a head in Case 5. I dont want to go too much into detail with anything, because its hard to discuss this case without spoiling anything, but I will say it had the most surprising twist in the entire series for me. Was it the best twist in the series? Not really, but it works, thematically, and fits the story.

Another reason Investigations 1 ultimately sucked was because of its new characters. Was there a single person other than Kay introduced that stuck with you after the game? Lang is alright, but as far as Ace Attorney antagonists go, I think he would only beat out Klavier. Detective Badd is pretty good, but criminally underutilized. Investigations 2 has several super-memorable characters brought into the series. The new witnesses are really fun. The new investigating partner is pretty cool. The new culprits are truly terrible people that are easy to hate. I would personally argue that the two new main antagonists are the deepest, most well-written villains in the series. Godot and Edgeworth himself are probably their only competition at the top, with Blackquill a somewhat distant fifth.

When it all gets added together, it becomes an easy upper-tier AA game. Its an absolute disgrace that the only way to experience this game is through unofficial means.

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Naye745 posted...

54. Sound Voltex [series] (Arcade, 2012-present)

I've only played Sound Voltex 4 or 5 times, otherwise it might've made my list. It seems like it can be fun, but I still haven't really got a good grasp on the knob turning control. Oh, and yeah, there sure is a ton of vocaloid, which I'm not too big on. I figured this was likely to show up on your list at some point, though.

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#43. Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance (PS4, 2015)

Disgaea is a series that generally gets better with each game. The gameplay evolves and improves. Disgaea 5 is so insanely smooth. This cast is as close to the original as we have got since... the original. Killia is a great lead alongside Seraphina. This game is maybe the most gorgeous sprite work in games... well almost. I have more to say on this series later(Spoilers it features again) but again, I love this series. It is the best sRPG series there is and its not even close.



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#59. Papers, Please (PC, 2013)
Even more in the mold of sit down and thinky kind of games, as apparently this is a commonly recurring thing on my lists. Papers, Please is a game where you play as a border patrol agent for a fictional country going through some political strife. Your only job is to check everyone's passport, and reject those who do not fit the criteria laid out. It's a shitty job and your boss is tough on you and your family is struggling and it's a little real, but it somehow manages to squeeze all this in over a very basic 3 screen game where the only gameplay is checking passports. Sometimes people will bribe you to let you in with their bad passports, or you might choose to side with the odd cult that seems to be at hand with wanting some power of their own, oryou might just need to help out someone who is really in need. The decisions of your moral choices ultimately affect how much you make and are able to support your family, since you are penalized for repeated allowing in of people who shouldn't, but opens up different story progressions... so it basically comes down to a moral choice where you are dealing with the outfall of your choices.

The way it integrates the story is pretty neat, and thats a big part of why I like it, but really, I just think the gameplay is actually REALLY compelling. I was more interested in just being right about who to let in or not, a bit more than the moral choices. Or in the case of the cult, solving their puzzles as they can get a bit complex along the way (it can be as simple as making sure to let in a person with a specific name, or using a decoding device for further instruction on what to do). The rules for allowing people in or not though eventually start building up more and more and more, and by the end there are so many different documents that are needed, and different types of documents depending on various things like where the person is from or why they're emmigrating, and expiration dates to check, interrogating them if there's an error and allowing for corrections, scanning them for anyweapons, making sure their fakey sounding city matches up with their fakey sounding country using your encyclopedia, that their birthday is right, that their documents don't have a forged seal,there's just so much to remember but you have all the documents and info you need in front of you as you click and drag everything around your workplace. The game eventually escalates with its plot also in what other tasks befall you over the course of the game that I won't give away if you haven't played. There are also some recurring characters you meet with along the way who have their own plotlines that eventually get resolved, and the way that is worked into the gameplay is well done too.

But yeah, the thrill of trying to balance 50 rule sets at once and moving all these documents around you screen and just verifying everything for accuracy just somehow has this incredible thrilling appeal to it (the fact it's all under a time limit is crucial), and giving the passport that final stamp of Accept or Reject feels really good, especially when you can point out an error and give it back to the person like hey this passport is shit! there's just something about it.

So when I say this game is boring, it's about doing one of the most boring jobs you could imagine. Made as exciting as possible. I think this is another game I could definitely have higher on my list, as I write about it!



Next up: This is the only game that appears twice on my list...in a manner of speaking.


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