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

(+) Yeah! (+)

Ratchet and Clank and its remake

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I think Wigs has already said that he thinks the original game is shit

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#53. Super Smash Bros. Melee (Gamecube, 2001)



I used to play Super Smash Bros. Melee a ton. When I got together with friends in high school to play games, it was pretty much always DDR, Halo, or this. I played it into college years too, though not quite as much. I made friends with people who were into the competitive scenes for various games, like DDR and fighting games, but also for Melee. I feel I was decently good at the game, but never good enough to start competing in it myself. I mainly used Samus and Captain Falcon, partly because both are great characters, but also because I thought other characters that were considered good (Fox, Falco, Sheik, Marth) were all dumb to play as and weren't my style.

There's a lot of reasons why the Smash series is great, it's pretty well known. But as the later games came with more and more characters and stages and songs and crossovers, I just haven't felt as strongly about any of them. The way Melee plays, with its speed and the control, I think still ranks tops in the series.

Also, even though I don't watch Melee tournaments as much as other fighting games, it still can get really hype to see high level play in (well, I watch it more than a bunch of fighting games, but more because of how many big events this is in). I still don't think I'll ever get good enough at it to be tournament-level, but I have a lot of respect for the skills of people who do. It's a deep fighting game.

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52. Q*Bert (Arcade, 1982)

Q*Bert's my favorite old-school arcade game. Shrouded in the weird geometric shapes and goofy green and purple enemies is a pretty basic concept - move around the block pyramid to land atop each of the blue squares, turning them yellow, as enemies chase you around. The game has a more clearly defined progression than a lot of other old high-score games; each stage changes color to mark it clearly from the rest, and a new "level" adds a new gimmick to the color-switching, maybe it's having to jump on each square twice, or the squares switching back and forth so you have to plan a more cohesive path. Most of the enemy types are pretty straightforward, and though some of them are more tricky and annoying than others they all feel like they mesh excellently with the game's basic mechanics.
I ended up only really getting into Q*Bert off of a friend's PS3 arcade classics version, where we'd trade off to beat each others' high scores. Since then, it's a game I always seek out when I spot it at an arcade; I took this pic at like 2 AM while drunk at a barcade in Cincinnati 5 years ago:

This isn't a super impressive high score or anything, but I had a hell of a time rolling through the game trying to take the top score. Sometimes it's the little things that stand out, and I'm sure this goofy memory didn't hurt me from throwing it up to 52. But I love a good high-score game (as a couple games later on will attest to) and even though I've never taken to a lot of the old arcade classics, I do love me some Q*Bert.

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#82 Diddy Kong Racing (N64, 1997)


With its colorful palette and distinctively playful soundtrack from David Wise, the vibrancy of this game is off the charts, making it one of the more memorable racing games to this day. What Rare was able to pull off this early in the 3D gaming era is astonishing. Every Christmas Eve, I do an N64 racing game marathon. DKR is one of four games fixed in that rotation, and it is the only one that I play every course, including the battle modes. I just love soaking in all the sights and sounds.

Any talk about DKR has to reference its landmark adventure mode, a delight still to this day. It is disappointing that the idea didn't take off to have an open-world campaign in racing games. Crash Team Racing followed suit a few years later, but it was pretty straightforward with a relative lack of secrets and cool nooks-and-cranies like DKR had in spades. It wasn't until the next gen when games from series like Need for Speed and Midnight Club where you saw it appear more.

This is a racing game of course, so the most important aspects deal with driving/racing. Since it landed on my list, I clearly felt that they did a great job, especially with there being three vehicle types (Cars, Hovercrafts, and Airplanes). If any of them have an issue, it is the cars because turning naturally might feel a little stiff when making some sudden or tight turns, but it has several "advanced" moves that are highly responsive, including my go-to move in the quick jerk-slide (I'm sure it has an official or more commonly-used name), so it's not an issue. If there's something about the racing that I woulf change, it's the item system where it probably could have been removed in its entirely and nothing of value would be lost.

As much as I loved this game, I actually didn't beat it until I was in college. I was stuck at a boss fight in adventure mode, Wizpig's first race, which meant that I didn't have all the courses unlocked for over a decade. Some family friends did, so I could play them pretty much any day, but it never really bothered me because I was more than happy racing with what I had.

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#81 Super Mario Odyssey (Switch, 2017)


As general spoilers for my list, and I'm sure many people knew this already, Super Mario is my favorite video game series. The smoothness of operating Mario, the fantastic and creative level design, and the impeccable marriage of the two results in nearly every game being revered by me and just about everyone else who plays them.

What Odyssey does differently from previous games is provide oodles and oodles of varied content without sacrificing much in the way of quality. It may feel like the game is less handcrafted as a result, and to a degree I agree that it may not feel quite a special as some of the other games in the series, but I like the open-endedness of it as I like having the ability to craft my own journey. it is refreshing to know that Nintendo will never get stale with their flagship series.

Part of the reason why this fell behind some other games from the series for me is because there was a very wide range of content based on the kingdoms, thus giving me a wide range of personal preference. Lake and Luncheon Kingdoms were my favorite places, but I can't help but wonder at the lost potential of Cloud and Ruined Kingdom if they were more than just brief pitstops.

Make no mistake about it though, Odyssey is the quintessential Switch game, and I will probably buy every Super Mario game until the day I or the series dies. Whichever comes first.

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#42. Cosmic Star Heroine (PS4, 2017)

Lots of games try to copy Chrono Trigger. Some do it well like Lost Sphear and I Am Setsuna, some do it absolutely terribly. Still others like Cosmic Star Heroine hit the nail right on the head. This is one of the absolute best at paying homage to CT. I loved every second of this game. They captured the feel of a mid 90s jRPG exactly. Music is great. The sprites and areas are beautiful. Combat is fun and mildly unique. Games like this are why I backed Sea of Stars for the like super deluxe something level. When a company or people want to make a game to pay tribute to the classics and do it with love, you can create magic. It routinely is on sale, I highly recommend it.



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#56 God of War 3 (Playstation 3, 2010)

This is mainly here for the incredible setpiece moments. No game from the PS3 era of consoles had as epic and expansive moments as God of War 3 did. The game kicks off with some jaw-dropping moments as Kratos fights his way up Mount Olympus on the back of a titan. Later on, that level of scale is reached a few more times, whether while fighting titans or gods or traveling through the interiors of Olympus.

The gameplay does not do much to improve from other games in the series, but it is still as satisfying as ever. At this point though, we are definitely reaching God of War fatigue and each game delivers diminishing returns. God of War 3 is the best looking game on the PS3 and still looks good today.

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God of War 3 is one of the prettiest games I have ever played. That whole opening scene is just wow

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51. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (PC, 2020)

Don't! Get! Eliminated!!
Fall Guys takes its cue from Takeshi's Castle, MXC, Wipeout, and the horde of heavily-padded over-the-top game shows by pitting players in a battle royale obstacle course gauntlet with a single winner (usually) prevailing at the end. Its appeal is pretty clear - it's simple, cute, and addictive. There are race rounds, team rounds, and survival rounds mixed in, so there's enough variety and luck built in to ensure that even less skilled players feel like they always have a chance. It's easily my favorite new game from 2020, though I absolutely haven't played a lot of new games in 2020, so take that for the grain of salt it is.
[Mid-review Pivot #1!] So, uh, I have a confession here. I've played exactly 10 games of Fall Guys. (I did win once!) I don't own a PS4, I don't have a gaming computer, and my current internet connection is an absolute mess. It's really hard to justify placing a game I have so little direct experience with on my list at all, let alone this highly. On the other hand, 2020 was just a goddamn weird year and my life's experience with friends, gaming, and community has been shaken up a whole lot from the norm. I found myself digging into Twitch catching speedruns, tournaments, and some favorite chill streamers a lot over the course of the year, and over the summer a ton of people I followed really got into Fall Guys. Some of them ended up pivoting to the game entirely, devoting a ton of hours to playing, hosting, and participating in tournaments over the past 5 months. And I've probably ended up watching hundreds of hours of the game at this point - I weirdly know a game I've barely played like the back of my hand. But the surprising level of positivity and community I've seen from the game makes it stand out; the players who I follow are absolutely competitive as hell and want to win, but there's not the mad toxicity built into its culture like so many other online multiplayer games (minus the "lol dead game" trolls). I really appreciate the, for lack of a less cliched term, "positive vibes" that have come out from the game and its community, especially given my inability to really fully connect with friends across the country in 2020.
[Mid-review Pivot #2!] I'm gonna go on a rant about video games, competitiveness, and the industry in general here, so feel free to back out because there's not really much more important about Fall Guys that I haven't already said.
There are too many video games about shooting people, and there is too much violence in video games. This isn't a statement saying I have a problem with those things existing, but that the range of interesting video game concepts and ideas is still drastically lagging behind concepts trotting out those simple tropes. It's a huge deal to me that Fall Guys exists, because it's a battle royale game that doesn't demand that you kill or shoot anyone, and it's a competitive game that doesn't demand you beat down your opponent. It's immensely refreshing to me that there's clearly space for a multiplayer competitive game that is lighthearted and cute, and seems much more focused on having short, fun experiences rather than a dramatic long-form competition. This kind of thing is a big reason why I've never been into Starcraft, or League of Legends, or Overwatch, and why the other shooty BR games lost their appeal to me quickly; there feels like too much toxicity in the culture which I think to some extent comes from the structure and design. Fall Guys might not be the best battle royale or competitive game, but I really just want to see more competitive games out there that eschew conventional aesthetics and designs and make something especially memorable. I find myself rooting for it to succeed for all of that, and I hope that its success (and that of other indie games) inspires more competitive games that feel like they're designed for me in the future.
Anyway, sorry about the rant. Fall Guys is great. If it ever comes to Switch, or I get my compy situation resolved, and it continues along with enough support, it'll probably end up being a Top 25/20 all-time game for me. For now, it (and my long-winded rants) will mark the midway point of this countdown.

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Half-way Round-up:
100. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii, 2007)
99. Unreal Tournament (PC, 1999)
98. Pikmin 2 (GameCube, 2004)
97. Crypt of the Necrodancer (PC, 2015)
96. Kirby & the Amazing Mirror (GBA, 2004)
95. Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1, 1998)
94. Time Crisis II (Arcade, 1998)
93. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA, 2003)
92. DJ Max Portable (PSP, 2006)
91. Zany Golf (PC, 1988)
90. Super Mario Maker 2 (Switch, 2019)
89. Contra 4 (DS, 2007)
88. Mega Man 5 (NES, 1992)
87. Super Castlevania IV (SNES, 1991)
86. The Oregon Trail (PC, 1993)
85. TimeSplitters 2 (Multiplatform, 2002)
84. Fat Princess (PS3, 2009)
83. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS, 2007)
82. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (Multiplatform, 2000)
81. Pokmon Go (Mobile, 2016)
80. Final Fantasy IV (SNES, 1991)
79. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GameCube, 2004)
78. Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1985)
77. Mario Tennis (N64, 2000)
76. Chip's Challenge (PC, 1990)
75. Elite Beat Agents (DS, 2006)
74. Bust-A-Move (Arcade, 1994)
73. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS, 2006)
72. Crystalis (NES, 1990)
71. StepMania (PC, 2001)
70. Tetris & Dr. Mario (SNES, 1994)
69. Minesweeper (PC, 1992)
68. Mario Kart 64 (N64, 1997)
67. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii, 2010)
66. Pokmon Picross (3DS, 2015)
65. F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (GBA, 2001)
64. Metroid Fusion (GBA, 2002)
63. Pikmin 3 Deluxe (Switch, 2020)
62. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS, 2013)
61. FIFA 98: Road to World Cup (PC, 1997)
60. Resident Evil 4 (GameCube, 2005)
59. Celeste (Multiplatform, 2018)
58. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GameCube, 2003)
57. Pikmin (GameCube, 2001)
56. The Sims (PC, 2000)
55. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch, 2020)
54. Sound Voltex [series] (Arcade, 2012-present)
53. Tecmo Bowl (NES, 1989)
52. Q*Bert (Arcade, 1982)
51. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (PC, 2020)

-Breakdown by Decade-
1980s: 4
1990s: 14
2000s: 21
2010s+: 11

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#52. The World Ends With You (DS, 2008)



I think Tetsuya Nomura's designs in everything are dumb as hell. Why is everything so edgy, what are all these wild clothes and accessories, why do the shoes gotta look so goofy?

But then TWEWY is set in the one place in the world where these fashions might exist, and the rest of the game is designed to be edgy-looking and outlandishly unique, and it all makes sense? The soundtrack seemed very distinct for the time, and you bought tracks at the store! It gave this feeling of excitement when you got some new tunes to listen to. In fact, this game kind of made shopping fun.

The battle system is the real star of TWEWY, though. It's a big mish-mash of ideas and multi-tasking. It quickly becomes just too chaotic to keep up with, and you just... do stuff as you attempt to keep up. Like I would find an enemy on the bottom, and just tap-scratch-tap-scratch while I focused on pushing the button pattern on top. And then I'd have to track the bottom enemies and what moves I had, so I'd just mash right-up-right-right while focusing on my swipes and holds. I also liked that you had freedom to select your character's level, so you could drop down to level 1 just to add some more challenge if you wanted.

I will also always remember that when I first met my wife, TWEWY was the game I was playing through around that time. As we got to talking about video games at some point, she asked me what this game was all about, and I had to try and explain whatever the hell was going on in this big mess of game.

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Another "scoring" update. This is starting to look like a Board 8 list. The Walking Dead is the first game to be ranked by 4 different people.

#1 The Walking Dead: Season 1: 364
#2 Mega Man X: 282
#3 Chrono Trigger: 277
#4 Final Fantasy IV: 266
#5 Final Fantasy VII: 247
#6 Mario Party 2: 246
#7 Metroid Fusion: 242
#7 Mario Kart 64: 242
#9 Mega Man 3: 238
#10 Super Mario 64: 233
#11 Tetris Effect: 232
#12 Professor Layton and the Unwound Future: 230
#13 Pokemon RBY: 227
#14 Jackbox Party Pack: 225
#15 Cosmic Star Heroine: 224
#15 Fall Guys: 224
#17 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: 219
#18 Mario Kart: Double Dash: 215
#19 Pikmin: 209
#20 Dark Souls: 208
#21 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: 206
#21 Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors: 206
#23 Super Mario Galaxy: 204
#23 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 204
#25 Yoshi's Island: 203
#26 Resident Evil 4: 197
#27 Rock Band 2: 191
#28 Hotel Dusk: Room 215: 187
#28 Borderlands 2: 187
#30 Super Mario World: 186
#31 Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies: 182
#32 Simpsons Arcade: 178
#33 Pokemon HG/SS: 173
#34 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4: 171
#35 Ogre Battle 64: 169
#36 The Stanley Parable: 166
#37 NHL '94: 165
#37 Disgaea 5: 165
#39 The Legend of Zelda: 164
#40 Pokemon Stadium 2: 161
#41 Timesplitters 2: 160
#41 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow: 160
#43 Tecmo Super Bowl: 157
#44 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 156
#44 Grandia: 156

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#55 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Playstation 3, 2007)

Ah, the game that started it all. I think the original Uncharted gets a little bit of a bad rap. It's rough around the edges, the enemies are indestructible, and there is a very clear graphical leap from this to the next one, but it's still a novel, fun, and exciting experience.



This was one of the first so-called killer apps for the PS3, and one of the first games that I played on that generation of hardware. Naughty Dog did a fantastic job of creating a set of memorable heroes and villains and putting them through a pulpy adventure inspired by Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. The game has equal parts gunplay and traversal, but it's clear that the developers were still finding ways to integrate the two. The game is mostly contained to a single location, which makes it distinct from the globe-trotting that goes on in the other games. The sequence with the monastery is the highlight of the game for me, although the castle and some of the jungle sections also stand out. Unfortunately, the sequences on the jet ski also stand out, but for the wrong reasons. Luckily they do not take up too much of the game.

Technically, Drake's Fortune is surpassed by every one of its sequels, but I prefer it to Drake's Deception. I think the story and pacing are better, and of course when I first played it, I could not compare it to the immeasurably better sequel, so it felt fresh to me. Also, this game has Eddy Raja!

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One does not cross Gabriel Roman!

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#51. Metroid Prime (Gamecube, 2002)



In the N64 days, I assumed the Metroid series was dead and long-forgotten. It didn't get the transition to 3D like every other big Nintendo series was getting. But at the same time, I wasn't sure I wanted a 3D game, because it was so good in 2D and I had been disappointed by many other 2D games. Eventually, I found out this game and Fusion were both being released together. I was more excited for the 2D gameplay of Fusion, but Metroid Prime sounded promising. I didn't own a Gamecube yet, but went and bought one specifically so I could play Metroid Prime. (Well, I also wanted to finally get myself a copy of Super Smash Bros Melee, but Metroid Prime was the main cause and first purchase.)

The wait between Metroid games sucked, but I think I'm glad they waited so long to do a 3D transition right. I especially liked the way it controlled, because I sucked at first person shooters, and that big complaining point for fps fans of the easy lock-on was kinda nice to me. They were also able to fill a 3D world with life and ample environments. I don't think this would have worked so well on N64 technology.

Metroid Prime hit all the high points it needed to. Slightly ambient but very cool electronic soundtrack, feeling of loneliness in exploration, detailed maps with a variety of memorable big and small rooms, challenging secrets to uncover, intentional and unintentional sequence breaks, that feeling of "oh dang I finally got this new item! Now I can run back to so and so place to the get the so and so thing!" You know, all the good Metroid stuff. I kind of want to play it again after doing this writeup. It has been a few years...

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And that puts me at the halfway point! Around here, every game is about a 10/10 to me personally, so I keep wanting to move games up... only to realize I'd have to move something else back down. Recap time!

100. Ninja Gaiden
99. Dragon Ball FighterZ
98. Outland
97. Out of the Park Baseball 21
96. The Binding of Isaac
95. Kirby's Dream Land 3
94. RollerCoaster Tycoon
93. Shadows of the Damned
92. The King of Fighters XIII
91. Strider (2014)
90. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
89. Kamui
88. Gain Ground
87. REmake
86. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
85. Solstice
84. Raiden (series)
83. Ori and the Blind Forest
82. Ogre Battle 64
81. Mega Man Legends
80. Rez
79. Punch-Out!!
78. G-Darius
77. Pop'n Music (series)
76. Shovel Knight
75. Thunder Force V
74. Final Fantasy Tactics
73. Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late
72. VA-11 Hall-A
71. Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
70. Spelunky 2
69. The Legend of Zelda
68. Brave Fencer Musashi
67. Lumines
66. Final Fantasy VII
65. Metroid Fusion
64. The Witness
63. Street Fighter V
62. Hotline Miami
61. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
60. F-Zero GX
59. Undertale
58. Everybody's Golf
57. Tecmo Super Bowl
56. Donkey Kong (1994)
55. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
54. Mega Man X
53. Super Smash Bros. Melee
52. The World Ends With You
51. Metroid Prime

Maybe I'll throw a curve by starting the second half of my list with something that people might've expected to be a lot higher?

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#64 - EarthBound (SNES, 1995)

EarthBound is one of the most unique RPGs ever created, taking place in a modern world (well, modern for the 90s) and bringing its own blend of humor to a great RPG. I've played through the game three times and have tried the Rock Candy trick on one of those, leading to some hilarious stats at the end of the game. I even ran an EarthBound mafia game here on Board 8 at some point, where I put a lot of thought on assigning each role as best as possible. The rolling HP bars also add a degree of strategy to the turn based aspect, where you can save a party member from collapsing by healing them before the HP rolls down to 0. The final boss is also a very unique battle - probably a bit similar to Earthbound Beginnings, but this was the first game we got!

#63 - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch, 2018)

Ultimate is the best Smash game, and probably the only one besides Melee that I've put a significant amount of time into. I like how the game, while still more of a Nintendo collection with the majority of its roster, is more of a crossover between many video game franchises - most of the long, well-known third-party franchises that have games on Nintendo systems have one or more characters included in Smash. The sticker battles have a lot of thought put into them as each fight references the sticker character as best as it can (and I still have many of these to finish). Playing online is very well done for parties as well, as I've played online with many of the people making writeups in this very topic!

#62 - Final Fantasy VI (SNES, 1994)

This is the highest mainline Final Fantasy game, but not the highest Final Fantasy on my list. Remember that for much later. It's the first Final Fantasy that I played a significant amount, and even though I never beat it originally, I eventually did manage to finish everything in it years later. So for me, it's the title I have the most significant memories of, more than any of the other titles. I am a big fan of many of the supporting cast in this game as well, it's a shame Square never really brought back some of the commands that some of the characters have, like Sabin's blitzes, which were unique to this game.

Edgar > Locke > Sabin > Celes > Shadow > Relm > Mog > Terra > Cyan > Gogo > Gau > Strago > Setzer > Umaro

#61 - Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland (PS3, 2011)

The funniest thing about Atelier Totori as I ordered it with Disgaea 4 from NIS's shop shortly after getting my first PS3. I've played through Totori at least four times yet have never gotten past chapter 5 in Disgaea 4. Anyway, Gust's 2nd Atelier game for the PS3 here is a much better game than its predecessor Rorona as they actually made exploring the huge world in it fun, and the adventurer tasks gave a lot more freedom than the restrictive castle assignments. Totori is also one of the better protagonists in the series, better than her counterparts in the Arland quadrilogy. I've enjoyed every time I've gone through this game, and I recently just started it again on the PS4!

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#41. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3, 2011)

I think a lot of people played FF13, hated it and skipped the other 2 games. If that is the case they did themselves a major disservice. 13-2 is a polished and gorgeous game that handles time travel beautifully, features an excellent soundtrack and some of the coolest areas in FF games. Noel is a great character and Serah well... she is there too. One of the best things this game did was turn Hope from a garbage character to a great one. The monster capturing thing was cool too because who doesn't want to have a Tonberry friend? Caius is also one of my favorite FF villains. Better than almost all of them. I really wish they hadn't crapped the bed so hard on 13-3 closing out the trilogy. It's really not a very good game that I struggled through just to get closure and it then ended perfectly, only to immediately ruin all that with a post credit scene that actively makes all 3 games worse.




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#44 - SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs (PS2, 2003)


SOCOM dominated my high school years. Whereas a lot of these games Ive covered before, like Mario Party 2 and Timesplitters 2, were fun games that were played in certain situations to fill time, SOCOM II was a game that we would get out of school, run straight home, and boot up to play all evening. And this lasted for well over a year. In my Monster Hunter 3 write-up, I felt like that was probably the game Ive played the most of any game. Upon writing this paragraph, I realize that cant be true. SOCOM II has to hold that honor.

SOCOM was a third-person shooter series that was one of the first to fully embrace online as its main functionality. It was more tactical than a lot of the other shooters on the market. I believe team matches with SEALs vs terrorists were the only option; no solo deathmatch queues or anything. There were a few different game modes: deathmatch, prisoner rescue, demolition, fairly routine game modes. Each round was typically very quick. A few shots would kill you, and explosives were one-hit kills. When you died, you were out for the remainder of the round. Youd run forward to the midpoint of the map, everyone would toss some grenades at typical chokepoints, and then the stragglers afterward would run around until they found each other. The first team to completely die off would lose, or the first to complete all their objectives would win. If the timer ran out, whoever had more left alive would win. Every match was a best of 11; first to 6 wins took the match.

There were some really weird nuances to this, though. For instance, the prisoner rescuing teams goal was to bring three captured prisoners to the extraction zone. But two of them would be enough. If either team killed one of them, it would count as that prisoner being rescued if you were defending, or dying if you were rescuing. This led to some crazy fun standoffs where either team would start using the prisoners as meat shields, because even if the terrorists killed one, it would count them as being rescued. They also had health bars, so a common tactic as a terrorist was to go in and shoot the prisoners a few times so theyd have one hit left to death, and try to goad the SEALs into killing them. On top of that, the SEALs only needed to rescue two of them to win. But saving the second one wouldnt end the match; the third one would still be out there. If it was in the level, the SEALs would typically try to find them and kill them so they would win. A little bit too realistic of a game there, Zipper Interactive.

Anyway, we had three systems and three TVs hooked up in my room so we could all get on and play together in-person. We all joined clans and had clan wars. Youd hop into a lobby and find another clan looking for a team match with the same number of people you had online and play a best of 3 game against them, where each team would pick a map they were good at, and then the potential tiebreaker map would be one of the few true 50/50 maps to decide it.

I remember one time we had a 6v6 clan war. We were down 1-0 in the first match, going into round 2. Everyone ran forward and tossed grenades and a whopping 15 seconds after the round started, I brought up the scoreboard screen to see how it was going and my entire team was dead except me, and they had killed no one. I decided to just run around until I found someone so they could kill me and get it over with. But I came up behind someone, so I picked him off with my silenced weapon and turned and ran off somewhere else. This happened 5 more times, as I methodically picked off their entire team en route to a 6v1 comeback. My clanmates were screaming as their voices came back on as it ended, and we rode that momentum to a 6-1 rout of the match.

One of my friends was playing at home one day and was doing his own clan war. We had been part of that clan before and left, while he had stayed behind. We found their lobby, by complete chance. This being the case, we knew the password the clan used for its wars, and we noticed it was an uneven game, and that the clan leader wasnt in there. We thought fast and made a new account that looked just like his name but one letter off and hopped in there. They were all like oh thank god youre back, were barely holding on here. We then proceeded to teamkill everyone for two rounds before getting kicked out of the room. The next day at school, we went up to him and went I hear your clan leader had a rough clan war yesterday. He was so pissed at us that he didnt talk to us through the entire next week.

SOCOM is not a series that would survive today. It was pretty primitive and a product of its time. SOCOM 4 came out on PS3 and was absolutely terrible, and it hasnt seen the light of day since. But those PS2 days were some of my most cherished gaming moments of my entire life.

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#40. Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, 2009)

Yeah I prefer 13 to 13-2. 13 > 13-2 > 13-3. A lot of people give this game a hard time for being a hallway sim, and fair enough a lot of areas are just hallways, but I would argue that while many other games don't specifically put you in hallways, they are the same thing. Old FF games may have a sprawling dungeon map, but at the end of the day you need to go A to B, there isn't another path, just dead ends with a treasure chest forcing more random battles which many people claim to hate(not me), Also while this is panned for being straight lines, everyone loves FFX and ... I mean look at those maps.... straight line hallways most of them. I think people will come around on this game later like they do with other games, seems take take around a decade to 15 years for people to accept things these days in long running series. Look out for FFXV love in 2030. I love the cast in this game. Hope is terrible, as I mentioned before, and remains so until 13-2, but the rest of the cast I at least like and in most cases really like. Lightning and Snow are just awesome, i love both of their characterizations.

Lightning > Snow > Vanille > Fang > Sazh > Hope

This game is also eye porn.



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#39. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U, 2014)

I love Captain Toad. LOVE LOVE LOVE. What a perfect character, but it was not always this way. Way way back in 2007 I see this snappy looking Toad with an upbeat tune and think "Okay sure, its Toad and he has a headlamp, whatever. But then you did deeper. This isn't Toad, it is CAPTAIN TOAD, a completely unique Toad that is a Captain, he did not go to 14 years of naval academy to not be called Captain. You find out that Captain Toad has always been there, going all the way back to 1985 when we first see Toads. While most of them are hapless dopes barely able to protect the Princess. Captain Toad was out, exploring, opening new worlds for Mario. Yes all the warp pipes in all the Mario games, Captain Toad did that. Every cool item and new world? Captain Toad discovered them. He found the alien technology that allowed E Gadd to make the FLUDD. My point is Captain Toad is the single most important character in the Mario universe. He literally enables all of you to keep playing games.

It wasn't until Mario 3D World that we got to see HOW he does this, and let me tell you, it is with all the majesty of a roaring river, with the nobility of an erupting volcano and with the tepid warmth of a tree slightly taller than another tree nearby. The Captain Toad stages in Mario 3D World were an absolute delight. Look at this guy, he can't run, he can't jump, and yet he still allowed us all to play every Mario game. I wanted more. GIVE ME MORE. And so they did. Captain Toad Treasure Tracker is the pinnacle of puzzle solving. You may think the puzzles are super easy and just silly mindless fun. My god how wrong you are. Captain Toad is literally just so fucking brilliant that he makes it look easy.

HE FUCKING KILLS A DRAGON BY WADDLING AROUND!

If you tried these same puzzles with some scrub like Mario you might beat stage 1, but that's about it. Captain Toad is the only reason you can even comprehend throwing a turnip at a bird. His pickaxe is the single most powerful item in all of gaming. It bends space and time around it to smash things using a force equal to 12 black holes inside a blender!

Speaking of Smash Bros. I understand why we can't have Captain Toad in Smash. He would be too broken, no one would even have a chance. We would enter an era of ALL ITEMS MAX, CAPTAIN TOAD ONLY, NEW PORK CITY! In which 4 Captain Toads which cannot jump or run, slowly waddle at each other and unleash the pain! Matches would take hours even on 5 minute time limit, Captain Toad has no time for your time. His final smash of PICK AXE would end the universe as we know it.

As the war drums beat his theme and the trumpets blare you will bathe in the blood of your enemies. Forever knowing that you will

NEVER

EVER

BE

THIS

PERFECT!



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#54 Operation Neptune (MS-DOS, 1991)

Operation Neptune is the only educational game to make my top 100. I played a decent amount of The Learning Company games as a kid, but this one was without a doubt my favorite. It's a very well-produced game that combines action with occasional homework problems. All the problems in the game are math-based, and I enjoy math (for the most part), so I considered the problems to be "fun."



The premise of the game is that a space capsule containing research canisters and toxic chemicals crash-landed in the ocean, and a submarine is sent to collect the pieces. The player controls the submarine as it navigates through a two-dimensional level broken up into several screens, while avoiding marine life that can cause damage. Throughout the levels, word problems are presented that have to be solved in order to continue, and they mostly all make sense in the context of the game (e.g. calculate the average speed of the vessel).



As the game progresses, the submarine encounters increasingly dangerous enemies that must be dodged or temporary subdued through the use of an ink gun. It would probably be pretty easy for an adult, but at the age I played this game, it was a challenging game that took me a while to work through. And probably helped me with my math skills in the process.

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#58. Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4, 2020)
As I mentioned in my FF7 review, I played this before FF7, so I really had no idea what to expect because I really did not know a single thing about FF7 except that one thing.

I also had largely fallen out of caring about traditional jRPGs (which again should speak a lot about how I even had FF7 on my list considering I played it first this year, which largely came about by caring about the story after playing this).

Without giving away too much of the differences in this game between it and the original, it is mostly the same for the course of the game, with a couple extra huh thats weird things thrown in there, and a lot about the ending, since it's Midgar only. Knowing now what happens in FF7, with FF7 Remake as the background, I have to say it's pretty interesting what they did with the story and I'm pretty excited for the next one. I was also inspired enough to watch Advent Children and look into Crisis Core's story since it seems we're gonna be doing the KH Nomura thing here.

The characters are all extremely likeable and well-portrayed. I know people had expectations of these characters voiced and in 3D (Advent Children aside I guess) and how they'd play out in this kind of scenario and loved it, and I didn't even have that and I thought they were all great. The battle system was very fun too, mixing in solid action RPG combat with the best parts of a jRPG (the strategy of what special move or magic to use when you can slow time with your ATB), plus being able to equip your character the way you want, with the materia as the abilties. It's all a very well done battle system that's fun to fight. It takes an extra level of dimensionality and fun when you play on expert, everything is notably harder, and you can no longer use items. That was a very fun experience, if not frustrating in some parts. The Hell House was probably the hardest fight on expert, which I might add was hilarious how they converted some random spawns from FF7 into boss battles... I guess they were short on content but that's okay.

The main complaint is that this game is very padded out, and a lot of sections do drag a lot, since they made Midgar into a 50 hour game, but it does a good job with story and characterization in those areas, so it's not so bad.

I like Yuffie a lot, so hoping for good things for her in Remake 2!



Next up: A dungeon crawler, but not in the traditional sense.

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#57. Slay the Spire (PS4/PC, 2017)
I only started playing this game this year, and I knew all along I would really like it and I was exactly right. Because I really enjoy these kind of deck building board games. Dominion, Ascension, Marvel Deck Building what have you. Plus, I have always been into MtG, so this was definitely right up my alley.

And this is pretty similar to all of those. You pick a class, which starts with their own relic (maybe heals between fights, maybe draws extra cards at the start, one has a different orb mechanic where you can sort of store low-power spells which activate every turn, etc). Starting from a basic deck, of attack and defense cards, with a couple others, you set out to fight in turn-based card combat, strategizing how to win while minimzing damage taken. As you win, you get gold, items, cards to add to your deck or possibly more relics if you fight a mini-boss. Then you pick which way to go on the battle map to pick the path to continue down which can include fights, random events, mini-bosses, treasure chests, or shops. The shops are especially nice because to me, a main key is removing the bad/basic cards from your deck, to make it as efficient as possible. All of it plays a role in the deck construction and as you progress through the run, it will become more clear based on the cards available to add to your deck the strategy you should be going for/what cards work best with what you're trying to do. Each class has a different set of cards available to it, and each has enough different strategies to not get tired, at least not yet!

You progress through 3 levels. each ending with a boss. You beat all 3, you win! Once you win with each character, you can play through again trying to collect 3 specific gems and play the final final boss (I haven't beat it yet, but hope to soon!). You can also add modifiers to make the run harder, which adds some nice twists also.

This is just another great strategy game which fits yet another mold of all these sit down and thinky games on my list, and this is one of my favorites. Huge recommend if you are into deck building or MtG/Pokemon style card games at all.



Next up: A non-Zelda game where you can play as Link.

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#53 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube, 2002)

I remember the outrage when this game was coming out, and how many of my peers derided this game as "kiddy" or whatever. I think I was a little disappointed because, like many of us, had seen that SpaceWorld tech demo and understandably wanted to play a game that looked like that. But that did not affect my desire to play the new Zelda for the GameCube. After all, I had been a big fan of Majora's Mask.



Wind Waker exceeded my expectations. I really like exploration in games, and traveling the huge water-covered overworld really fulfilled that need for me. When not exploring with the boat, the dungeons were on par with other games in the series and the combat was more exciting than in any other Zelda game I had played. A lot of people got bogged down with the Triforce Charts and trying to find all those shards, but I was determined to visit everywhere in that world anyway, so it was all part of the fun.

I wish I had more to say about this game. I have not played it since it first came out, and a lot of my memories of the game are nostalgic, but also a little cloudy. If I ever have the chance, I would like to go back and play a remastered version to experience The Wind Waker again.

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WiggumFan267 posted...

Next up: A non-Zelda game where you can play as Link.

SoulCalibur II?

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#43 - Shadow of the Colossus (PS2, 2005)


I tend to remember games based on their high points, rather than their low points. That swings heavily into Shadow of the Colossuss favor, because its low points sure are low. A good 80% of the game is spent wandering (hehe) around an expansive, completely empty world, with nothing but your horse to keep you company.

But when you finally reach a colossus, there are few other examples in gaming that can make your heart race quite like they do. The tussles with these beasts are less like fights and more like solving puzzles. He is 5000 times bigger than me, how am I supposed to kill this thing?! Luckily, the protagonist has possession of a holy sword that can locate and obliterate the colossis weak points. The primary issue is that you still have to get up there to it. They are typically on their head, and needless to say, they are well out of reach. You may have to lure them into an attack, or get them to lower their guard before you can get to a point where you can start climbing for it. Each colossus is dealt with in a different manner, and. ohhhh, Id say 15 of the 16 of them are truly satisfying to defeat.

Just having this gameplay loop of figuring out where a colossus is, getting over to it, and then taking it out would be enough to crack my list, because that final step is just so much fun. But Shadow of the Colossuss story is expertly told to boot. You play as a young man with nothing but a sword, a bow, and a horse, hoping to revive some other young woman. He finds an immaterial being that promises to revive her for him, if he can take out the 16 massive beings that walk this land. Very little else is ever told to you explicitly; like it is never explained who the humans are, who this being is, or any of the related details about any of them. Instead the game gives you context clues in between boss fights to give you a vague idea what is going on. It isnt until the very end that everything becomes clear, and what a glorious ending it is.

SotC isnt a game I would recommend to someone who needs constant interaction that demands their attention, but if you can look past that, youre not going to find a much more fulfilling gaming experience anywhere else.

COLOSSUS RANKINGS
#13 (Airsac) > #10 (Snake) > #8 (Lizard) > #5 (Bird) > #3 (Tall Guy, club attached to arm) > #7 (Electric Eel) > #6 (Beard Guy) > #11 (Little Cat/Bull) > #14 (Aggressive Dog) > #1 (First Guy) > #15 (Last Guy) > #16 (Big Boi) > #4 (Zebra) > #2 (Turtle) #12 (Water Temples) > #9 (Geyser Fucker)

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#56. Mario Kart 8 (Wii U, 2014)
This is everything I could want in a Mario Kart game. I think this is finally the one where the control feels basically perfect - which came to me out of controlling the bikes over the karts. I guess that was really the big difference maker. Not that the other ones controlled badly, but I just think this one feels great.

The main game is fine, typical Mario Kart stuff, but the main draw though is finally, a console Mario Kart with really solid online multiplayer. Nintendo is still mired in their Friend Code bullshit, so that will always dampen it a bit, but its not really a big detriement here, its realtively easy to get into a game with friends and just play. And that's really all you can ask for. The courses are solid, there's a good variety old and new (Mount Wario is my favorite Mario Kart course of all time). And that's all I can really say about it. It's exactly what you want out of Online Mario Kart on a console and nothing more. Of course, I have the regular version on Wii U, not the Switch deluxe version so that makes things trickier now. But oh well. Multiplayer that works, fun courses, and a great-looking game.



Next Up: This game is the only Metroidvania (sorry if you don't like that term) in its massive IP.


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#80 Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360, 2010)


Perhaps because of my dad's influence, I've always liked western-themed media. It's been criminally underused in the video game landscape though. You'd mostly see it as a themed, one-off level in a 2D platformer, but then in the mid-2000s, great games like Red Dead Revolver and Gun came out. Then a couple started coming out when the next gen started, including Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. When Red Dead Redemption came out in 2010, it immediately established itself as the best western game.

While the future of the company might be a little murky now with co-founder and creative lead Dan Houser gone, Rockstar had long ago established themselves as one of the best developers in the industry, but they went above and beyond their usual level of detail. Never had a game so barren seemed so lively, and little things like placing a finite buffalo population to reflect how close to extinction the species was have always stuck with me.

The game tells the tale of former outlaw John Marston who is forced to track down members of the gang he used to run with. Being a Rockstar game, and one led by the younger Houser, you know you are in store of a riveting story, but while they mostly dealt with biting satire, this one is more of an engrossing story full of memorable and rich characters. I won't talk about it more, but it still holds up as one of the best stories in a video game.

The game also features some robust and/or just plain fun side stuff. I know online was lauded, but I really liked the treasure hunts and playing liar dice. I actually played a lot of real-life liar dice before this (I have that awesome Pirates of the Caribbean themed set), only for this game to humble me. I played this with a friend, and he would get so mad at how much money I kept wasting on gambling.

I haven't beaten Red Dead Redemption II, and I never stated this, but I took a hardline stance of only considering games that I've beaten (if applicable) or those that I'm absolutely confident that I've played enough to evalute fairly. It likely would have ended up on my list if I fulfilled either condition, and this won't be the last time that I mention this, but for now Red Dead Redemption remains atop the western game, uh, pyramid or something.

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#79 Mario Party (N64, 1998)


This might be my most "controversial" entry yet? I was paying attention to a conversation about the series on Discord a few days ago, but I mostly stayed quiet and only said that Mario Party 5 was comfortably my third favorite in the series. Anyway, I have a long history with the series. I own 10 of the Mario Party games (1-8, Advance, DS), and I bought my sister two others (Super and Star Rush). There are very few series that I have put more hours into than Mario Party. I absolutely love the first one, and I truly don't think that it's the nostalgia talking. I am more more nostalgic with Mario Party 4 and 5 because those were the ones that my friends would like to play a lot and we all played several days a week during the summer in back-to-back years.

There are two things that are integral to the Mario Party experience: Boards and Mini-games. Everyone would agree with that. While I think many people here are down on the original in those departments, I am the opposite. In some ways, I think the collection of mini-games are the most varied and creative with highlights including Box Mountain Mayhem, Buried Treasure, Key-pa-Way, and Piranha's Pursuit. In general, there's no overabundance on button mashers like I felt there was in some future entries. The joystick rotating ones were obviously a bad idea, but there were fewer of those than I remembered. One of the neat ideas surrounding the games that they eliminated almost fully in future games was that 2 v 2 or 1 v 3 games had your coins on the line. Perhaps to appeal to a wider audience, coins were super easy to come by and keep ahold of in later games, but I liked the idea of increasing the importance of winning the mini-games. Some of these games weren't balanced enough (Bash 'n Cash) or used the rotating controls (Tug O' War), but I loved the idea and they succeeded far more than they failed.

I did a ranking topic around 2010 for all the boards in MP1-8 and DS, and four landed in my Top 15 (Bowser's Magma Mountain, DK's Jungle Adventure, Peach's Birthday Cake, and Luigi's Engine Room). While future games added more mechanics to the Mario Party experience and constructed the boards with those in mind, Mario Party didn't have that. Each board had to stand on its own merits, and because of that, I am probably impressed with the boards here than any other game. With limited options to the player, and it sounds really silly to say this about freaking Mario Party, but there was certain level of strategic planning when going around the board, especially with courses like Eternal Star, Peach's Birthday Cake, and Mario's Rainbow Castle. It made the individual sessions a bit more memorable.

While some of the games are a little hard to go back to, I can always play the first one with my sister, and I even like to play it alone from time to time. Having turns take just like three minutes because they not bloated by extra stuff is also helpful.

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WiggumFan267 posted...

Next Up: This game is the only Metroidvania (sorry if you don't like that term) in its massive IP.

Gotta be Kirby & the Amazing Mirror.

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It wasn't until replayed Operation Neptune a month or two ago (not for long, an hour of gameplay at most) that I realized it was a Super Solvers game.

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#78 Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (PS2, 2002)


There were a trio of series originating on the PS2 that were often compared to each other despite having little in common. Most people I know preferred the Jak or Ratchet games. You won't be seeing any of those games on my list. I'm a Sly man.

Half-stealth, half-platformer, the first game was a bit straightforward but nevertheless fantastic. While I consider Mario to be the smoothest player to control, Sly is probably just behind him. Sucker Punch before had created the excellent Rocket: Robot on Wheels, showcasing their intricate knowledge of controls and player physics, but playing as Sly was just a treat. The level of responsiveness and coordination between control scheme, game design, and level design to allow and encourage the player to string together uninterrupted flows of platformer maneuvers is an absolute joy. I'm glad they made it so engaing in combat was ill-advised in order to put the true talents of strengths of the game front and center.

There are elements to the game that are definitely a product of its time, but the pieces were in place for future games to build off of.

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#77 Super Mario 3D World (Wii U, 2013)


Despite being my favorite series, it's hard for me to put my love for each individual Super Mario game into words. They're just so special in everything they do. Every general field of design (game, sound, level, art, etc...) is at or near the top of the industry. It's weird that for a company like Nintendo with so many peaks and valleys in their portfolio, Super Mario games are almost always high-quality.

Super Mario 3D Land was an excellent game and also narrowly missed out on being on my list, but its followup in 3D World takes the formula from it and improves upon in across the board in all the areas that I so briefly mentioned before. If I were to single out one thing, it was how fun the cat suit powerup was. I don't know what possessed them to add it in, but did I love the capabilities that it added. One thing that I enjoyed about 3D Land was the level-based setup with the star coins to collect in each one. It's basic but worked extremely well. This emphasis on collecting while platforming makes the cat suit a perfect fit as Nintendo could get pretty clever on where to place the coins, and as someone who loves exploring in the virtual spaces that video games offer, the cat suit could actually be my favorite power-up in a Super Mario game.

When Nintendo started porting over most of their main Wii U games to the Switch, it was just a matter of time before the best Wii U game was going to be one of them, so I'm glad that those who never got a Wii U will have an ehanced version of it available for them on the Switch. I normally don't buy ports for games that I already own, but just talking about this game really wants me to go through it again.

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#76 God of War II (PS2, 2007)


I'm far from an expert, but I've always been fascinated by Greek and other famous mytholgies. By its sheer influence in literature, art, and other cultural works throughout history, it is probably the mythology that I am most drawn toward.

One of the more striking things you'll notice about the series is the sense of scale. The graphical fidelity might not be the cutting-edge, but it doesn't make it any less impressive and did the Greek mythology justice to give Krato's journey the feel of an actual epic. God of War II is just chock full of these self-aware moments involving the environment, creatures, or gods that show what Kratos is accomplishing should be impossible.

The gameplay elements aren't revolutionary by any means, but they do an excellent job at incorporating the Greek myth theme ensure that the game never becomes tedious. I'm really high on the combat because of the faster pace, Blades of Chaos (his signature weapon), and great implementation of dodging and blocking. They may not have invented the wheel, but they perfected it in some ways.

One thing that I don't think the series gets credited for enough, here at any rate, are the excellent boss fights, which I'm always dazzled by their ability to match high quantity with high quality. If I made a list of my let's say Top 50 boss fights, I would wager that this series would have the most representatives, with the more layered ones sticking out. I know that I have been talking about the series in general and not saying why II specifically, but aside from improving upon the original in just about every meaningful way, the game is meant to resemeble an ancient epic after all, and I feel like this was the series' turning point to where it totally gripped me and never let go. Also, the fight with the Sisters of Fate alone merits its place on this list.

(Not really, but I love it okay?).

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#52 Excelsior Phase One: Lysandia (MS-DOS, 1993)

Among Shareware games released in the early 1990s, the standard practice was to release the first few levels of a game, or a feature-limited version, in the hope that the user would enjoy the game enough to pay to access the full version. But some shareware titles were released as complete games, able to be fully played without purchase. Excelsior was one of those games that I never registered.



The Shareware version makes you sit through a registration screen for a little bit each time you start the game, but other than that there is no difference between it and the registered version. The catch is that this old computer RPG is very very difficult to complete without the hint book that came with registering. And I never actually did beat the game, although I know I got very close.

Excelsior does not look pretty and it does not sound pretty. It's a very minimalist game with respect to aesthetics, but it more than makes up for that with an abundance of content. You control a single character in a fantasy setting on a quest to vanquish an evil force that has corrupted the king of the realm. The game plays out over a myriad of towns and dungeons that are connected by a very expansive overworld. As typical of older RPGs, there is just as much emphasis on world building, puzzle solving, and questing as there is on combat. And while the combat is satisfying and challenging, the puzzle-solving is the real thing that gates your progress in the game. And at least, for the young kid that I was, the riddles and puzzles could be very difficult, and the situations found at the end of the game were unsolvable. As it's been probably 25 years since I played this game, I cannot really say how much of that difficulty can actually be attributed to the game, but I think it's probably safe to say that the developers really wanted people to register for the hint book.



I will speak to a couple of the highlights of the game. The character creation process provides a very wide variety of races, professions, and skills. You gain money and experience through combat and questing, but level-ups are few and far between. although very impactful. The dungeon crawling parts play out in a turn-based fashion. The enemies roam the areas freely and all take a move every time that you move. So it's important to make sure that you maneuver yourself properly so that you do not get overwhelmed. The magic system is morality based; the more that you use evil magic, the more evil your character will become, and the more effective evil spells are/less effective good spells are. And vice versa.

Of all the games from my childhood that I reviewed for this list, Excelsior is one of the top choices that I want to revisit soon. I believe that the gameplay will still hold up and I am hoping that my adult faculties will be sufficient this time to beat the game. And if not, maybe I will finally spring the $15 to register the game and get that hint book.

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50. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS, 2005)

In a rare move for the series, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is a direct sequel to its predecessor, Aria of Sorrow. This allows it to expand on the story and systems from the original in a much larger game. There's one of the best castles in the series - the size and variety of environments is great, and the variety of enemies is pretty solid (though there are the usual palette swapped variations later on). The bosses are pretty great too, they're challenging but not to the point where you can't learn their patterns to win and have to rely on swaths of healing items. And the story, while less novel than Aria of Sorrow, is still pretty decent and does the now-standard Symphony of the Night thing where the "basic" ending at the top of the castle is not nearly the actual end of the game. The soul system is back from Aria as well, and it's still easily the best mechanic the series has produced - here you can even power up souls by collecting more of them and you can use collected souls to forge more powerful weapons. It's perhaps a little tedious but none of it is necessary, and it's much better than the convoluted systems that weigh down Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, for example.
Dawn of Sorrow is just really solid overall - it's my favorite of the DS trilogy easily and I think the peak of the handheld era. As an early DS-era game, it uses unnecessary touchscreen gimmicks, but they don't intrude in the game too much. (Hot take alert: I actually really like the seal-drawing to finish off bosses; I think it's a satisfying way to cap a challenging battle by banishing them to the shadow realm. I absolutely get why people hate it though.) As someone who loves Metroidvania-style games, Dawn of Sorrow is pretty much the safest bet of all of them; it has a good balance of difficulty, has a lot of variety of weapons and powers, is packed with content, and also doesn't get bogged down too much by bloat.

49. Mario Kart 8 (Wii U, 2014)

For all intents and purposes, it's the definitive edition of Mario Kart. Counting the DLC or the Deluxe edition, you've got 48 tracks, 30+ characters (including other series crossovers) and a whole host of vehicles, weapons, and modes. As much as I love Double Dash's gameplay feel, you pretty much can get whatever you want out of MK8, since the numerous vehicle options let you tailor your driving experience to your liking, whether that's fast drifty cars or tight-turning bikes. Online play is surprisingly great here too; I feel like since MK Wii, Mario Kart online play has been the one consistently decent subsection of Nintendo's generally disastrous online service. Even Battle Mode, which was terrible and largely forgotten upon MK8's release, got a huge upgrade with the Deluxe release on Switch, adding five unique modes on actual Battle tracks, and it's similarly integrated into the online well.
The gameplay additions in MK8 are both solid and largely non-intrusive: Coins return from the 2D Mario Karts, giving you a small speed boost as you go up to 10, trick-boosts off of jumps/ramps and hang-glider sections are back from Mario Kart 7, and there are upside-down portions of track where your vehicle shifts into a hovercraft and can gain boosts off of track sections and other vehicles. The courses are the best in the series; there's not a ton of duds (the weakest tracks are the intentionally simpler ones) and the variety of themes and ideas poured into them are always impressive. Plus let's give MK8 a shoutout for being the first non-Smash game to actually formally recognize F-Zero in the past 15 years. Somehow even in a completely different series, F-Zero is still the best part of this game.
The whole of these past two entries is basically "I like this series a lot and this is a slam-dunk entry on that series." Each aspect of the game is excellently crafted and builds upon previous entries' strengths while improving their weaknesses. I've had a ton of good multiplayer sessions with friends in MK8, even playing with 4 players online in the same room via two TVs and Wii Us, back in 2015 or so. There's really just a limit on how much I can rank "really solid multiplayer experience" over the more transcendent game picks later on my list.
Top 5 Courses (w/ Deluxe/DLC): Big Blue - Mount Wario - DK Jungle - Sunshine Airport - Rainbow Road

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WiggumFan267 posted...

Next Up: This game is the only Metroidvania (sorry if you don't like that term) in its massive IP.

I should note some people might take issue with me considering the "series" this game is in with a certain larger IP vs if it has its own separate IP or not.

On second thought maybe forget I said the word massive here.

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#38. Tecmo Super Bowl (NES, 1991)

Like many, I only played this years later, and completely fell in love. This is the best football game there will ever be. I have played every modded roster version for the last decade. Done countless sims for B8 and run leagues. The stat tracking for an NES game is insane as well as rosters and everything else. Watching these games can lead to some hilarious antics too. The NES obviously has limitations so the odds of weird stuff happening is pretty high just by virtue of being programmed in there. Of course there is also the legend of Tom Tupa. The later versions of this game on SNES are great, but not on the same level as the original.



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#37. Kirby Air Ride (GCN, 2003)

Where is my Kirby Air Ride 2?! I am a big Kirby guy so i picked this up right away despite it looking questionable. I am glad I did. It is Super Smash Bros Melee if it was a racing game. The unlock screen is very Smash. The main title screen is also very Smash. That Sakurai I tell ya. City Trial mode is endlessly replayable. The racing is very unique with the super simple controls. God I wish we got this with an online mode on Switch. I nearly finished all the challenges in this game. Was missing like 3 or 4.



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#51 Final Fantasy VI (Playstation, 1999)

Finally, the first numbered Final Fantasy game on my list. It's not surprising, though. There is a very large gap in my preferences between my favorite Final Fantasies (of which this is one) and the others. I guess FFTA sits somewhere between the two groups.



Final Fantasy VI was the second game in the series that I played, on the SNES, but I didn't get very far. Not because I did not enjoy it, but sometimes you just get distracted from a game and move on to something else. I ended up coming back to it as part of Final Fantasy Anthology for the Playstation, which is when I really got serious about it.

This game was a big step forward in the series from a technical standpoint, but also with respect to design. While Final Fantasy V experimented with new ideas, VI took the ideas that made IV great and iterated on those, polishing them and making them shine. The cast is expanded, the story is more serious, the graphics are much improved, and there is just so much more to do in the world.

The World of Ruin was an interesting decision. As far as I was concerned while playing, the game was at its climax at the Floating Continent. I had explored the whole world, and it all had the feeling of a finale. So I was pretty shocked when it turned out that there was a whole second half to the game. It certainly lacked the structure that defined the World of Balance, but there is something to be said for the non-linearity and freedom that can be enjoyed. And it's cool that you can finish the game with just a few characters or go ahead and collect everyone. Still, the game suffers considerably from the reduced focus and it's easy to lose momentum at times. The World of Ruin would have done better to have a more clear narrative path leading up to the game's actual finale. Something to help build to an appropriate climax.

Final Fantasy VI is, for better or worse, responsible for the never ending debates about the "main character" which returned for X and XII. The way I see it, the game stars an ensemble and there is no real "main character" and that is OK. Terra is probably the focal character of the story, but that is a whole different thing. I really liked the fact that for much of the game you are free to play with whichever characters you prefer and do not have to be stuck with one character constantlyone of my complaints with Final Fantasy VII is the lack of this freedom.

Since Arti shared his ranking, I might as well share mine.

Edgar > Sabin > Setzer > Gau > Locke > Celes > Mog > Shadow > Terra > Cyan > Relm > Strago > Umaro > Gogo

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Recap of my first 50 games:

#100 Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
#99 Flower
#98 Plants vs. Zombies
#97 Duke Nukem II
#96 Heavy Rain
#95 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
#94 Shadow of the Colossus
#93 Pokemon RBY
#92 The Wolf Among Us
#91 God of War: Ghost of Sparta
#90 Darksiders
#89 Resident Evil 1
#88 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
#87 Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol
#86 Awesomenauts
#85 Wolfenstein: The New Order
#84 Binary Domain
#83 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
#82 Capture the Flag
#81 Loom
#80 Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Bse
#79 Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
#78 Gladiator
#77 Dead by Daylight
#76 SkyRoads
#75 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
#74 Total Annihilation
#73 Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
#72 Bully
#71 The Walking Dead: Season 1
#70 Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
#69 The Aethra Chronicles - Volume One: Celystra's Bane
#68 The Lost Vikings
#67 Chrono Trigger
#66 Resident Evil 4
#65 Halo: Combat Evolved
#64 Super Mario 64
#63 Secret of Evermore
#62 Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
#61 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
#60 Pinball Dreams
#59 Fez
#58 Dead Space
#57 Rock Band 2
#56 God of War III
#55 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
#54 Operation Neptune
#53 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
#52 Excelsior Phase One: Lysandia
#51 Final Fantasy VI

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Gau too high
Strago too low

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Whiskey_Nick posted...

#38. Tecmo Super Bowl (NES, 1991)

I feel like Nick selected this picture in direct contrast to my picture, which is fantastic.

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TheKnightOfNee posted...

Maybe I'll throw a curve by starting the second half of my list with something that people might've expected to be a lot higher?

Time to jump into the second half of my list!

#50. Windjammers (Arcade, 1994)

Windjammers is so strong on the 90's aesthetic. It's like neon colors and rad extreme sports and like something you'd see broadcast on ESPN2 back when ESPN2 was new and filled was filled with all these wild things and its own unique style.

I first played Windjammers only a few years back, maybe 2015 or 2016? There was a Windjammers arcade cabinet set up at an anime con. A couple friends of mine in the fighting game scene were really into this game, (the Windjammers scene has a heavy overlap there) so they showed me how to play. Windjammers is a very simple game to understand the basics of, but it's surprisingly deep, and heavy on mindgames. I learned the basics pretty quick, and because my style in fighting games always relied more on the mindgames than learning complicated situations, I was able to focus on the intricacies early on. It helped to learn against people that had played in tournaments too, because I got to experience all the grimy, tricky plays right out of the gate and learned to counter them. I was kind of hooked on the game from the start.

Surprisingly, I ended up winning the first two Windjammers tournaments I entered. This was right around the time of the re-release on PS4. I was on the top of the Michigan scene for about a year, but people were grinding away at this game to get better, and some folks eventually proved able to beat me. It's good that people put in more effort though, it helped the scene grow, so we have more local tournaments, and more people playing, and keeps me improving.

Also, through the magic of Windjammers, I was able to meet fellow B8er SHINE and play against him in the Michigan Masters 2019 tournament. Our match ended up deciding which of us would make the top 3 and get awarded a medal. Who knows if any of this would've happened in any game besides Windjammers!

This video contains very, very, very important B8 lore, the match beginning at 1h09m20s. Me vs. Shine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySjt8o7hVJM&t=4160s

I also bought the Limited Run Games special edition for this, because of course I did. It came with a frisbee!



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#42 - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360, my GotY for 2007)


Call of Duty dominated my life for the late 2000s/early 2010s. I honestly probably shouldve included Modern Warfare 2 on my list as well, considering the ungodly amount of time I put into its online multiplayer, but its certainly not a game I would even think of going back to these days. Call of Duty 4 does not have that distinction, because its single-player campaign is FPS perfection with legitimately surprising twists. This was the start of the CoD phenomenon, and for good reason. Hard to believe it all started more than 13 years ago.


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#55. Wario Land 3 (2000, Game Boy Color)
I had Wario Land 1/Mario Land 3 earlier on my list, and Cokes had Wario Land 4 on his, both great games (with WL4 in particular being a fun, quirky game), but Wario Land 3 to me is the cream of the crop for Wario platformers, or even Wario games. Also sorry if you don't consider Wario "part of a massive IP" that was probably my bad since I guess it's tough to say he's in the Mario IP anymore. And the Wario IP is hardly massi-WAIT WARIO IS FAT NEVERMIND, IT WORKS AFTER ALL HA HA HA

Anyway, Wario Land 3 was probably an unexpected style of game given the previous 2 were platformers featuring more in the line of optional endings/paths, and secret treasures resulting in better endings. And yet here we have an honest to god Metroidvania. Although it is a level map, as you go through the first few levels, you'll notice there's lots of areas you can't get to. High platforms, strange unbreakable blocks, passages blocked by minigame doors, and other strange areas you can't get by. So, each level has 4 colored keys and 4 corresponding chests. So you have to explore the level for the key, and then find the correct chest. Through the progression of the game, each chest has an item that directly helps you or does something somewhere in the game.

For example, you might get a gear that activates a moving platform in a prior level, that allows you to reach that level's key or chest (maybe you could only get one of the two before), or maybe it upgrades Wario's down butt slam thing so it can break blocks now which allows you access to that level's Mini Golf game, which then opens the way to the chest. Or maybe it spawns jellyfish in the level that sting Wario so he can float upwards to access different parts of the level, etc (all those Wario style transforming enemies you know from WL2 and WL4 are here as well like Zombie Wario or Flat Wario). And of course, the powers you unlock are all permanent, like the aformentioned butt stomp, swim ability, ability to pick up and throw enemies, etc. So when you get a new ability or unlock you can revisit the past levels to get past those areas.

So yeah, its a Metroidvania, lol. If you ever get stuck on where to go theres a big ol Face monster who helps you out spoilers he's the final boss oh shit and all things said, it's just a great game that allows for exploration, treasure finding and the thrill of revisiting old levels to open new areas and handle those same levels in different ways now that you have a new set of powers or differences in the level itself to deal with.

And I absolutely adore the golf mini-game too in this game. Occasionally one hole is required in a few levels to open a door, but it also has a huge self-standing game mode which is a fun play.


The item in this picture here is a wizard that builds part of a missing climbable fence for you in another level

Next up: I'm glad I played this game, being the granddaddy of out of control memes not withstanding.

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#54. Portal (PC, 2007)
The game that launched a million memes. I knew even back then that that was annoying (especially because I was definitely familiar with that before I even had knowledge of the game), but of course I eventually played it and discovered one of the most elegant, yet snarky and funny games I've ever played. The puzzles in this game are fantastic and cleverly designed and felt really damn innovative for 2007. Especially when you consider just how much influence this game has now on puzzle games and its use of teleportation obviously, and also its physics. You also have the incredible origins of how it was just a Valve test playground or whatever for Half-Life 2, so it's pretty incredible that it became such a smash hit.

Going chamber to chamber as GLaDOS lobs insults at you, and feeling nice and satisfied as you solve the puzzles is its own great experience. The whole Companion Cube thing (which I feel like didn't really take off as its own Meme until a bit after the cake) was marvelous story-telling, legitimately making you feel sad for a cube with a heart on it by having it be the focal point of that puzzle section, using it for each segment there, until of course, it meets its ultimate demise. You monster.

And then you have the final section, where you break out of bounds after GLaDOS attempts to murder you, go through all the background of the facility, really feeling like you aren't where you should be, and finally have your climatic final fight vs GLaDOS, who is excellently voice-acted, by the way.

Game still holds up, and is the perfect length for what it is. Also wanted to say I remember playing the Flash version of it and that's what really drove me to play the real game.



i'll do my next up hint in a bit, going to do some list re-shuffling first


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#55. Wario Land 3 (2000, Game Boy Color)
I had Wario Land 1/Mario Land 3 earlier on my list, and Cokes had Wario Land 4 on his, both great games (with WL4 in particular being a fun, quirky game), but Wario Land 3 to me is the cream of the crop for Wario platformers, or even Wario games. Also sorry if you don't consider Wario "part of a massive IP" that was probably my bad since I guess it's tough to say he's in the Mario IP anymore. And the Wario IP is hardly massi-WAIT WARIO IS FAT NEVERMIND, IT WORKS AFTER ALL HA HA HA

Anyway, Wario Land 3 was probably an unexpected style of game given the previous 2 were platformers featuring more in the line of optional endings/paths, and secret treasures resulting in better endings. And yet here we have an honest to god Metroidvania. Although it is a level map, as you go through the first few levels, you'll notice there's lots of areas you can't get to. High platforms, strange unbreakable blocks, passages blocked by minigame doors, and other strange areas you can't get by. So, each level has 4 colored keys and 4 corresponding chests. So you have to explore the level for the key, and then find the correct chest. Through the progression of the game, each chest has an item that directly helps you or does something somewhere in the game.

For example, you might get a gear that activates a moving platform in a prior level, that allows you to reach that level's key or chest (maybe you could only get one of the two before), or maybe it upgrades Wario's down butt slam thing so it can break blocks now which allows you access to that level's Mini Golf game, which then opens the way to the chest. Or maybe it spawns jellyfish in the level that sting Wario so he can float upwards to access different parts of the level, etc (all those Wario style transforming enemies you know from WL2 and WL4 are here as well like Zombie Wario or Flat Wario). And of course, the powers you unlock are all permanent, like the aformentioned butt stomp, swim ability, ability to pick up and throw enemies, etc. So when you get a new ability or unlock you can revisit the past levels to get past those areas.

So yeah, its a Metroidvania, lol. If you ever get stuck on where to go theres a big ol Face monster who helps you out spoilers he's the final boss oh shit and all things said, it's just a great game that allows for exploration, treasure finding and the thrill of revisiting old levels to open new areas and handle those same levels in different ways now that you have a new set of powers or differences in the level itself to deal with.

And I absolutely adore the golf mini-game too in this game. Occasionally one hole is required in a few levels to open a door, but it also has a huge self-standing game mode which is a fun play.



The item in this picture here is a wizard that builds part of a missing climbable fence for you in another level

Next up: I'm glad I played this game, being a somewhat early pioneer of out of control memes not withstanding.

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