Board 8 > The Board 8 Discord Sports Chat Rank Their Top 100 Respective Video Games part 3

(+) Yeah! (+)

32. Kirby Canvas Curse (DS, 2005)

I don't know what to say about Canvas Curse other than it is both the best Kirby game to date and the best DS game. Perfectly designed and executed, with great replayability offered by the other playable characters, each of whom plays very distinctly different from the others. A portable masterpiece.

Just don't lose your stylus.

31. Pokemon Red/Blue (GB, 1998)

Blue > Red > Yellow
LeafGreen > FireRed
Charmander = Bulbasaur > Squirtle
Ivysaur >>> Wartortle > Charmeleon
Blastoise > Charizard > Venusaur

I can't speak more eloquently about RBY than anyone, but it was obviously a transformative game. It brought thousands (millions?) of people to video games who might not have come to it otherwise. The trading element made gaming outwardly social in a way that it hadn't been before. It was and remains a cultural force, but it's also a pretty damn good game. I never got into the subsequent ones as much, but I did play the hell out of Blue, and I played LeafGreen from beginning to end when I found a cartridge in the grass in the park on a rainy day. I have no idea how it still worked!

30. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES, 1995)


I'm not gonna say this has the greatest soundtrack of any Nintendo game, but I'm not going to say it doesn't, either. Even the songs we don't really think about are just as great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUgqqhgVGNQ&list=PL334A457011BC5467&index=8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY-mhdPdtq0&list=PL334A457011BC5467&index=9

Everything about DKC2 is great, honestly. K. Rool is at his best. It's just a tremendous game from a tremendous series. You know this.

29. Borderlands 2 (Xbox 360/PC 2012)

The formula of the Borderlands games has a shelf life. That is undoubtedly part of why I did not play Borderlands 3. I do feel fortunate, though, that I also never played Borderlands, because that means I got to use the entirety of that shelf life on Borderlands 2, which by the accounts of my peers in this topic and on discord, remains the best in the series. I was also fortunate enough to spend much of my time playing this, both on 360 and on PC, with a wide array of Board 8ers, which significantly ratcheted up my enjoyment of the game and prolonged the magic through countless hours of irreverent, wanton destruction. I may never sink time like this into a game like this again, but I wouldn't trade it, either.

(Gaige > Maya = Zer0 > Krieg > Salvador > Axton)

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#18. Final Fantasy 7 Remake (PS4, 2020)

If this was the whole game, and not just Midgar, I am fairly certain we are looking at a top 3 game all time for me. I had major concerns about one of my all time favorite games (yes that is spoilers for later) being remade. Square misses the mark a lot these days. They hit on every single possible mark here. Honestly had the original never existed and this game gone how it does I would have been fine with it, but I know there is more coming so I can't help but hold that against it. In 30 years when the trilogy or quadrilogy or whatever is done we can make these lists again and I can cheat and put them as 1 entry.

Anyway, this game is gorgeous, like the best looking game I have ever played. The OST is an outstanding tribute to the original while also having new stuff. The level of love and care they show to the original game can be felt in every single second of this game. You can tell they didn't want to fuck this up. I didn't like some of the creative liberties they took initially but as I progressed I fell in love with FF7 all over again. I am beyond hyped to see what they do next. I also am completely in love with Tifa and Aeris. They are so gosh darn perfect in this remake. Also Jessie, man that thirsty girl. This game made me feel like a lonely nerdy teen again all horny for the video game ladies. The combat is so smooth and deep. Hard mode teaches you so many tricks and cool exploits. Elemental Materia I love you.

There is exactly 1 bad thing in this game. Roche. (I am not ready to judge on the spoilery stuff without seeing where it goes, perhaps FF7R2 makes it bad)

I cried, full on cried during the intro when the music hits its peak and the logo crashes in. I still tear up each time I see it.

God everything in this game is just so perfect I want to rank it higher than 18th, but I need the rest of the remake for that.

Oh also that scene in Shinra tower with the holodeck omg so good



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#25 - SSX (PS3, 2012)

Not the same game that Nick ranked, this is the reboot on the PS3! This game still is present in my backloggery banner and is still my rarest platinum on PSN to date (and it is a challenging one, despite that its numbers are slightly boosted because of PS+). The game features a number of areas from around the world as places to snowboard down the slopes. For this game though, these areas are not created from scratch - the developers used actual satellite data to build the peaks, allowing them to get accurate places to go through such as Mount Everest and some areas in Antarctica, for instance. Like all SSX games there's race and trick challenges on basically every peak, but now there's also survival tracks where you use tools such as body armor and wingsuits to keep yourself from wiping out. The story pits team SSX made up of a number of previous SSX characters and some new ones up against Griff SImmons (from SSX 3) to see who can conquer the world's nine deadly descents first.

SSX has always been my favorite sports series and this one certainly did not disappoint. My only complaint would be the soundtrack which isn't as good as previous games in the series, but you can use a custom playlist like I did, so it's mainly a non-issue. Pretty annoyed we haven't gotten any new games in the series yet, but who really knows where they can go from here?

#24 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice (3DS, 2016)

This game has been appearing a lot on people's lists so far, and with good reason! It's one of the best games in the series. Despite Phoenix's name being in the title and his eventual reuniting with Maya, this game is more about Apollo than any of the other lawyers, and it finally brings him to the spotlight where his own game didn't even do that for him. 6-5 really brings him to the forefront of this. The Divination Seances are a nice new addition to the evidence presented in a trial and give a new challenge for people familiar with the rest of the series. The one flaw this game has is the prosecutor - most Ace Attorney games have a very good prosecutor that the characters have to face and Nahyuta is just not the man for the job here.

I can't talk about this game and also not mention the fucking name puns, my god. (Case 1 spoilers) Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin is the funniest one the localizers have made in the entire series. The whole game is filled with these and it's a great ride. However, it is not the best Ace Attorney game to date; that award goes to

#23 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations (DS, 2007)

It could be the recent replay I did making this the choice over Spirit of Justice being the best Ace Attorney game, but who knows! Just like Spirit of Justice, Trials and Tribulations also concludes a trilogy - this one being the trilogy of Phoenix Wright himself, bringing a number of fan favorite characters back together and tying it together with previous games in the series, especially case 2-2. Godot is one of the best prosecutors in the series, and I even used his avatar as my PSN avatar for a while - he has a good presence in the courtroom, the best music theme in the series (yes, better than the Steel Samurai), and has a great character arc throughout the game.

The cases are all well designed, and none of the cases here are a weak point at all, when many of the other games have at least one or two cases that just aren't the same quality as the rest of the game. I think that's the main reason I have this as my favorite; while 3-1 and 3-4 are short they fit well with 3-5 as a final case, plus 3-2 and 3-3 are strong cases that stand on their own and help develop Godot as a character just as well as the other cases do.

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#28 Journey (Playstation 3, 2012)

There is one main point of Journey and that is to be as beautiful as possible. And I think the game succeeds?



If you have not played it before, I really recommend you do if you can. It takes only a few hours. It's one of those "games-as-art" projects and it is not like, technically complex or challenging or anything. Journey is remarkable as an interactive experience that takes you through a series of well-crafted and visually delightful scenes. And if you have an internet connection, there is the added dimension of sharing the experience with a stranger online, which I found really cool.

I go back to it every few years or so. It came out again for the PS4 and is a neat showcase for people who haven't seen it. I wish that Thatgamecompany would put out another game sometime (not counting that mobile game they did).

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#29. Crypt of the Necrodancer (PC, 2015)
The king of rhythm roguelike dungeon crawlers, Crypt of the Necrodancer blends said previous 3 things into a fantastic experience. You play as Cadence, one of endless musical puns, delving deeper and deeper into a dungeon, cursed to move to the beat of the music. Basically, you move around the grid-like dungeon floors, killing enemies, picking up gold, opening chests, digging walls, going to shops, finding items/bombs/weapons/shovels/etc to help you- all your typical dungeon crawler stuff- to the beat. Each enemy also will move to the beat, and has their own unique attack and move pattern. For example skeletons always pause one beat and then move towards you on the next, red bats move around randomly every beat, armored knights dash into you after you clink off them leaving them vulnerable, etc. An enemy moving onto your space is considered an attack). You do have the option of not moving and missing a beat- which is not the worst thing in the world and often is a viable strategy to let an enemy move closer to you. Of course, missing a beat can mess with your rhythm and give enemies free moves which can hit if youre not careful. As you kill more enemies without missing a beat, your coin multiplier goes up and killed enemies drop more coins for use in the games shops (the Shopkeeper, Freddie Merchantry, is the star of the show with his incredible singing). Each level has a miniboss, kill it, and get to the next floor! Or take a shortcut but then you need to fight the miniboss in a tiny room before proceeding!

This games difficulty curve is incredibly hard at first. You will find it so difficult to be coordinated- trying to walk to the games great music, learning enemy patterns and how to effectively deal with them, how to escape tight situations, what the best items to prioritize are, and putting it all together -it can be overwhelming. But as you play over and over, since its so quick and easy to restart, youll slowly master enemies, then minibosses, and the bosses. Did I mention how everything is a music pun? The bosses really shine here too. I also love the DLC adding a new 5th floor with electrified floors (to your advantage) and the new boss Fortissimole, a rapping mole of course.

Anyway, this game is very addicting, tense as the pumping music is great for adrenaline, and satisfying to do well. Layer that on top of tons of different characters with different gimmicks, on top of the fact you can experiment with different weapons each time you play and you have excellent replay value. I love trying to figure out what the best strategy is with the pressure of a real-time beat breathing down your neck. It can get really chaotic if you don't deal with enemies swiftly and pretty sweaty, especially before you really get used to it, and even then once you get deep into a run, youll really feel it. Definitely one of the most innovative and challenging-but-fun-to-master games Ive ever played, and I love it. If you love rhythm games at all, you should definitely check it out.



Also check out the Zelda spinoff too, Cadence of Hyrule (Im impressed an indie game got a literal Zelda tie in) which is less a Necrodancer game with a Zelda skin and more a Zelda game with a Necrodancer skin.

Next up: A game featuring time travel, electric hamburgers, and a robotic alter-ego.

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#31. Dragon Quest V (SNES, 1992)


(image from DS remake)

I've played most of the mainline Dragon Quest games. It hasn't been in order at all, but I think I still got to DQV as my fifth game. It wasn't until this game that I realized why Dragon Quest is as big a deal as it is.

The battle system, as always in these games, seems simple on the surface. But really, it just doesn't dive in to unnecessary flash and convoluted mechanics like some RPGs may. It just keeps clear what it's trying to do, but with a greater level of depth than expected. Monster designs are always a high point too, with goofy, creative, and iconic creatures roaming the lands. You can also recruit monsters to your party, and have them fight alongside you. It adds a little fun to the random battles, and probably helped pave the way for the Dragon Quest Monsters games that would come later.

The story in DQV revolves around family, different generations, the passage of time. The scope of the story is an epic tale, but places it all on a more relatable, individual level, covering the ups and downs of life, happiness and tragedies. There are multiple scenes where the emotion is captured perfectly, and I could feel the same feelings that were unfolding on the screen. It's remarkable that a game as old as this was able to capture that so well.

There is also an aspect of the story where the main character can fall in love and select a bride. Some things branch off from there, depending on the choice. Being an all-encompassing tale about life, having a major choice in the matter makes it feel more like your story, giving more emotional involvement to the player.

An anime adaptation based on Dragon Quest V (aptly titled, Dragon Quest: Your Story) came out a year or two ago. I don't think it fully measured up to this game, trying to condense the whole story into a movie length, and make things new and interesting in some ways. But it did remind me of how great DQV was, and seeing some more memorable scenes from this game play out in movie form, it just hit the emotions so hard.

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#28. Sonic CD (Sega CD, 1993)
Did you catch I had a Sega CD game on my list when I posted my distro way back when? Also, about time I have a Sonic game on my list, right? I wonder if this is the only one Ill have, hmm? Its funny, I had a list of my favorite Sonic games in order for a long time, but I feel like that has gone out the window with this list, as have all of my prior lists really, Ive made (like my fav games of the decade, etc). No consistency, man.

Sonic CD. I originally played on PC actually, one of my favorites as a kid. I remember the insanely long loading times, but more specifically, when that animated intro first played, and Sonic Boom, one of the best Sonic tracks of all time if not THE best, started playing-BOOM, man. The Sonic SatAM cartoon was big at the time and that really well animated intro with that incredible music -it was all a perfect storm of awesome. Ill also take this moment to talk about the music, and how the US version is the superior music (though maybe nostalgia bias?) and I love that each stage has 3 or 4 different versions of the stages song for the Past, Present, Future, and Good Future versions.

Oh yeah! This is a Sonic game about TIME TRAVEL! The gimmick here is you can activate a Past or Future signpost by running past it- then if you maintain a high speed for about 7 seconds, you warp to the Past or Future -after a little cutscene where Sonic blast offs against a green starfield- and reappear on the spot. This changes the level layout and opens up new areas, changes the enemy types and behaviors, and you see that levels design in either the Past or Future! Since a big part of Sonic games have always been to me, all about the replay value in running alternate routes- high, medium, low usually- here, you have those options across 3 different time lines, so you can always find new paths to take! Naturally, the speed is important too, since you need to build up speed after hitting signposts- and sometimes it is easy and given to you, like a left and right bumper right next to each other but sometimes you need to do some reactive platforming, or go around holding your signpost storage until you find a good spot for it. Generally, I remember always wanting to be in the Past, because in the Present or Future you would come across these busted machines in each level- if you visited that site in the Past, you would encounter a floating and active electric hamburger! Destroying it will kill all robots in all timelines of the act, and give you a Good Future at the end of the level. Get a good future in Acts 1 and 2 to play the Boss Act 3 in a Good Future which is just a pallet swap with different music, but that was a neat reward I thought. If you get all Good Futures you get the good ending! I also want to note that while none of the bosses are particularly inspired, they feature a really goddamn creepy Robotnik laugh against really creepy boss music. Which gets even creepier if you get a game over.



Or, you can get all the Chaos E- TIME STONES! The special stages in this game are really fascinating. The special stages in Sonic Mania are based on these. You run around in a 3D Perspective, camera behind Sonic, and try to destroy all the UFOs in a level, avoiding bumpers, water hazards that reduce time, pitfalls, and trying to not freakout against a trippy-ass sky. These looked amazing at the time. Getting all these also results in the good ending, but you might not get to see the Good Futures.



Anyway, I love the level design in this game, if you love branching paths, this has an incredible amount, though the rewards may not be as good as other Sonic games. I have a love-hate relationship with Wacky Workbench, a level with a floor that bounces you all over the place. The feeling of speed is very good in this game. If you really care about being able to maintain a constant good speed in Sonic games, I think youll like this one more. For me, Sonic games have never been just about going as fast as you can, but this has more of that than others. It added the awesome peel out, basically a spindash that you do with Up+A, instead of down, and sonic will do a Figure-8 feet dash -its faster than the spindash but doesnt kill enemies. Its rad.

So besides Sonic Boom, the other really radical thing about this game is the Stardust Speedway level, the penultimate level. I love the US Present music in this stage, and the design looks like a massive trombone explosion in space (in the Present), and it culminates in a race to the death against Metal Sonic (his first appearance) while Robotnik chases you both down with a death laser. Whoever crosses the finish line first, closes down the door on the other, leaving them standing there helplessly until Robotnik death lasers them. So cool man. A fantastic underlooked Sonic game.





Next Up: This isn't a game, it's a goddamn book! What do you have to do, READ to beat the levels?


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25.) Dokapon Kingdom (Wii, 2008)


Dokapon kingdom is the greatest party game ever in part because its the only rpg party game I can think of! Everything about this title is over the top and hilarious. The king of dokapon kingdom has put up the hand of his lovely daughter in marriage for the player who can rack up the most money over the course of the game.

You pick from one of three basic classes - warrior, thief and Mage and can pick one of 8 colors and 2 genders. There are also secret better classes you can unlock through play.

And the game ends up playing like some mad combo between monopoly, mario party, rock paper scissors and Dragon Quest.

All the random NPCs are hilarious and weird. You can rob shopkeepers by beating them at rock paper scissors. You can steal from your fellow players.

The game actually has a story mode in case you and your friends truly hate one another and would like to extend the madness beyond a standard 50 or 100 turns.

It got a sequel, sadly for the DS which waa super inconvenient

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#17. Kirby Superstar Ultra (DS, 2008)

I would rather this was on a console like Superstar was originally, but my god this is one rare case where a handheld version is better. They added a ton of content to an already all time game for me. My favorite Kirby game. The amount of expansion and flavor they added to Kirby abilities in this game. Gave him and others around him way more character than they had seen before. Also 8 games in one was so cool in 1996. The DS version is like ... 10 games in one or something. The True Arena is a god damn nightmare. The multiplayer also works very well for a 2008 DS game, me and a buddy wrecked Marx. This game has beautiful colorful visuals and a great set of songs. It also is insanely responsive to your button inputs. I wish they would port the DS version to consoles so I can enjoy it on the big screen. The original on SNES is also one of the only games I ever played with my brother. We never really have been all that close, we get along but did our own things as kids, but for some reason we rented this a ton and played it together.



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23. Dance Dance Revolution [series] (Arcade, 1998-present)

This game has had a greater impact on my life than any other video game, and probably any other thing entirely. Almost all of my friends are folks I've bonded with through DDR, met because of DDR, or know because of someone I met through DDR. Almost all of my annual trips and plans are events I'm attending because of these people, or the rhythm game community at large. It's hard to say how radically different my life would be without DDR, because almost everything in my adult life arose from its existence. For that, this game will unquestionably always have a special place in my mind and heart.
But alas, this is a video game ranking list, and I'm still (to some degree) trying to sort these games out on their merits and my appreciation of them as games. Let's start here at the top - DDR was, as it was for many people, my entry to the world of rhythm games as a whole. The main conceit is very simple: step on the four arrow panels in time with the on-screen indicators in rhythm with the music. I was godawful at first, but caught on to at least the basic levels of charts quickly enough. Like many of the other BEMANI games, the interface is clean and enticing, and the gameplay is simple to understand but hard to master. I have an especially strong affinity for the old mixes of DDR (1st through Extreme) as they're emblematic of the era I grew up during, and I think the music is at its best. But the modern games are great, too; in the past five years, there's been significant distribution of DDR A and DDR A20 in America through major arcade chains like Round 1 and Dave & Busters, along with Konami eAmuse (online score tracking) support, that has given a growth of popularity to the game again.
A key part of why I really fell for DDR (and BEMANI games in general) is its timing system - your timing accuracy is measured with every step, and your score is heavily dependent on having precise rhythm, not just being "close enough" to keep a combo. DDR, especially, is simple enough that achieving a 100% score is very difficult (on the hardest levels) but not at all impossible. Back in the mid-2000s era of DDR Extreme, there were a handful of players who had managed a AAA (all Perfects) on every song in the game on their hardest difficulties, and many of us were at least trying our best to work towards a portion of that goal. I'm a fan of many games where setting a high score is the goal, but the achievement of trying to pull out a perfect run is a special feeling, and it's done so well here. Even modern games, which added an extra, tighter tier of timing, are still often measured by scores of "all perfects" before going to the full 100% all marvelous scores. (Some ridiculous players have still done this on many songs.)
At a certain point (likely after a while of playing tons of StepMania) I got much more interested in hand-based rhythm games and never really got back into DDR. I'll still play it at an arcade every now and then, and it's still excellent, but I'm just not into it like I used to be. That said, I still follow the scene because I have close friends who run tournaments and play almost daily. I have many friends who own their own machines (either DDR or In The Groove) and play on a near-daily basis. I love going to tournaments to see people, hang out, and enjoy the competition; were it not for COVID, I'd undoubtedly have trips to several of these events planned for this year. Community has been and always will be pretty central to my experience of rhythm games, and it's intertwined with my feelings of DDR. I don't think there's much else to ramble about here, but I love a nice list, so here's a quick trip through some of my favorite DDR songs from the ages:
IF YOU WERE HERE (2nd) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYAMwKWpMPo
Midnite Blaze (5th Mix CS) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSbeyqSeLvc
DO YOU REMEMBER ME (6th Mix) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgSpTd1uOIw
DRIFTING AWAY (7th Mix) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHij1cvheb0
Can Be Real (DDR SuperNOVA) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Amcbsx1znQ
Come to Life (DDR A) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzmf938z8j0
Neutrino (DDR A) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unIhFGn6QMg
Right Time Right Way (DDR A20) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgGaPJRZUEI

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#21 - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U, 2017)


The lone Zelda title you will see on my list, and it barely misses out on my top 20. That said, its still an easy 10/10, and its the first Zelda game to ever really click for me. I think that says more about my opinion of Zelda games than it does anything else. Going through dungeons and looking at a door and wondering if I have the means to open it now or if Ill have to come back an hour or two later once Ive explored a bit more and gotten new items and such just doesnt appeal to me at all. Conversely, Breath of the Wilds isolated shrines, where you know you already have what you need to solve the puzzle within, are right up my alley. If you are ever attempting to make progress in Breath of the Wild, you pretty much always are. That's not always the case with other Zelda titles, and I think that's the main reason those don't appeal to me like BotW does.

Remember how I said earlier that THPS3 on Christmas day, 2001 was the second-to-last game to ever induce me to go into a full-day single-game marathon? Breath of the Wild is that more recent game, where I spent basically an entire week glued to my Wii U. Running around its expansive world and discovering shrines, koroks, and other little secrets is one of the most addictive gameplay hooks Ive ever come across. I replayed the game last summer, and I had basically the exact same experience. As soon as I turned it on, I was hooked all over again.

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#30. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy, 1993)



As a kid, I played quite a bit of Game Boy. My parents were divorced, so there was a lot of driving between the two houses, which was prime Game Boy time, if the lighting was right. Also, if I didn't pack along a console to the other house, then the Game Boy was what I got to take with me. One of the games that I put in the most time with was The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

Link's Awakening has maybe more charm than any of the other Zelda games I've played. The island of Koholint feels smaller and more intimate than other Zelda lands, but still very enigmatic and full of discoveries. The inclusion of Kirby-like enemies and Mario universe creatures adds an interesting feel. The overworld is broken into individual screens like the original, but almost every screen has some kind of landmark or unique feature or importance, and it helps make each screen feel fairly memorable in their own ways. It's like a compact Zelda adventure, but doesn't feel compact at all, because there is no wasted space. The music is also some of the best the Game Boy has to offer, and the ending by far is the most emotion a Game Boy game has ever pulled out of me.

Despite playing this so much, there were a lot of spots in this game that tripped me up. Perhaps it was because I often played days apart, and in 10-30 minute chunks of time. Eagle's Tower in particular was tough to wrap my brain around. Any time I got through it, I think it was partly due to luck. The main puzzle in that dungeon was just so hard to keep track of. At some point, I learned of the select button map skip trick. From then on, I always used it in Eagle's Tower. It's a pretty funny glitch that allows for a whole bunch of chaos. There's a really fun Let's Play by a guy named MeccaPrime that uses this glitch, linked below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3uzz1xlaqU

Of course, I need to talk about the Switch remake. It's mostly the same game, but with some small changed. There are a few quality of life improvements (big ones include more teleporters, sword and shield are always accessible). There are a few more collectibles and some bonus content. The real big thing is the appearance and sound are upgraded. The redone versions of the Game Boy music are fantastic, the end credits music especially is a treat. I'm in love with the style of graphics they moved to as well. All that charm I talked about earlier, the remake cranked up to 11. It's a very worthy update to the game.



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22. Chrono Trigger (SNES, 1995)

My favorite Squaresoft RPG, and the only one I've actually beaten! Chrono Trigger is gonna be on a lot of these lists, and probably most of them have played it more recently than when I plowed through it back in 2005. So I'll leave this one pretty short instead of trying to dig out a ton of details from the depths of my memory. Chrono Trigger follows the time-traveling exploits of our silent lead, Crono, who accidentally ends up backwards in time after a demonstration of a time machine at the fair zaps him and his friends to the past. From there, you slowly uncover a story through a boatload of different timelines, encountering a wide range of new party members and foes - standard RPG stuff but in a novel setting.
And that's kind of the thing with Chrono Trigger - I don't think any of its individual parts are particularly mind-blowingly good, but everything is so solid and executed perfectly; it's something I think is true of a lot of SNES classics, really. Combat is excellent; there are a lot of varied options and each party member feels distinct, but it's not needlessly complex. Random battles are all triggered from visible encounters on the world map, allowing you to dodge battles when you don't want them and to handle enemies methodically when you explore a new area. The story is compelling and charming, and the characters are very appealing, but nothing's made more complicated than it needs to be - it doesn't want to overwhelm the player with complexity, letting its beautiful areas and set pieces stand out that much more. And I need to add a cursory mention of the game's soundtrack, which (also like a lot of SNES classics) holds up outstandingly well, and has a number of all-time great tunes.
I think Nee was the one who, in his writeup, talked about how Chrono Trigger is outstanding at its pacing. And especially for an SNES-era RPG, pace is a huge deal - so many games of the time didn't really navigate difficulty well and forced you to grind like mad or were far too easy after a point. Chrono Trigger moves the plot forward expertly, and very rarely demands any degree of level grinding. Even the game's many alternate endings and side quests are a good example of this, too - the game tailors its experience of what you want from it to how much you're even interested in doing, and doesn't hide any of its most important details around this.
Chrono Trigger's just a solid game, perhaps the most solid at just nailing all its core concepts and their details so well that the package can't help but be a thoroughly enjoyable experience. If I was more keen on JRPGs in general, or had some grand childhood story about it (I actually didn't play CT until I got a copy of the PS1 Final Fantasy Chronicles compilation in 2005), it'd probably be a Top 20 finisher. Sorry, Nick, it's still a great game!
Top 5 Characters: Ayla - Robo - Magus - Crono - Lucca

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#22 - Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (3DS, 2012 and Vita, 2012)

Yes, I played both versions of this visual novel - I played it on the 3DS originally and when it came out on PS+ for the Vita I played it there too. The Vita version is objectively the better version due to the upgraded graphics, music, and no save data loss bug, but the 3DS version is still great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFJ1r6_4mW4

Given this is another one of Uchikoshi's best visual novels (though not the best one on this list!) I really enjoyed my time with this game, and feel it's the best of the Zero Escape trilogy easily. The flowchart in this one makes it very easy to swap paths and change certain decisions easily. Somehow it all manages to come together in the end and make sense when all the plot twists are revealed. Of course, the true conclusion isn't in this game as this is the 2nd game in the trilogy, but the characters and plot are top-notch and it's not to be missed if you played 999 to the end.

Also, there are puzzles. Not any particularly challenging ones, but it's a nice break from the many plot twists the game gets into, especially in the final act!

Phi > Luna > K > Sigma > Dio > Tenmyouji > Quark > Clover > Alice

#21 - Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2, 2006; version played - PSP, 2009)

If you can't tell by the above console listing, I never played the original or FES version of Persona 3 - only the portable version on the PSP. So a lot of the complaints that people had with Persona 3 are just no longer present here; many of the terrible social links are removed and replaced with better characters (except for one). You can also control your party members so there's no problem there either - no Mitsuru spamming Marin Karin all the time. In the end, I really like the story of Persona 3 and its darker atmosphere with the Dark Hour more than the murder mystery of Persona 4, and I find a lot of the party members in 3, especially the initial ones are better than 4's characters (though the trio of first-years in 4 are some of the best characters in the series, obviously). The female protagonist also unlocks social links with all of the male party members, which expands on their background and fleshes them out more - and yes, this includes Shinjiro as well. It's something a lot of them actually needed and I'm not sure why they didn't have them in the first place.

The portable version also uses a visual novel-like point and click to move around areas, which is a huge time saver and I like it more than having to run around everywhere. It's also no surprise that Tartarus is basically what I look for in a dungeon - a ton of randomly generated floors with mini-bosses all over the place as you head up. Persona 4 also does the random dungeons but there are much less mini-bosses heading through each of them, and the game seems much easier as a result. One thing that really annoyed me though was when Yukari getting charmed in the final boss battle and casting Diarahan on the final boss at 25% health left, but I still managed to win that one.

Anyway if you do play Persona 3, the portable version is definitely the way to go. It also has the male route if you really want to play it, or if you just want to here BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY at the beginning of every battle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR803M2W7RY

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#20 - Fallout 3 (360, 2008)


I didnt like Dead Space very much. I really thought it would be RE4 but in space and thatd be right up my alley, but nah, not really. I guess it just isnt the same without a wise-cracking protagonist. I regretted my purchase of it.

But then my friend gave me an out. Hey, Ill trade you my copy of Fallout 3 for Dead Space. Now that was pretty exciting. I tried Morrowind a few years after it came out and it was OK. Oblivion came out the year after I tried Morrowind, and I liked that even more. It came pretty close to making my list. But I had heard Fallout 3 was dubbed as Oblivions + Guns, and the idea was pretty enticing, just not really enough for me to jump onto trying it. But if the only price I had to pay was a game I didnt really like, then what was there for me to lose?

Turns out that was the best trade of my entire life. From the very beginning, I was super hooked. The opening hour or so, where you grow up in a vault underground was incredibly gripping, and the circumstances for having to leave were alluring. The first time the game loads the open world, and the protagonists eyes have to adjust to the sun he is seeing for the very first time is one of my most vivid gaming memories. Its such a powerful moment.

From there, I was off. It was time to kill stuff, talk to people, blow up some cities, gain some new, hilarious perks, and just have me a grand ol time. The story is alluring, the quests are neat, the writing is superb, the shooting and VATS system are both intuitive; everything in this game is just fun. Even if theres nothing immediate to do, just running around and finding new things is just fun.

I would be remiss in not mentioning the games DLC, which is some of the best video games have ever had to offer. All of them have strengths and weaknesses, but theyre all well worth the cost of entry.

Broken Steel > Operation: Anchorage > The Pitt > Mothership Zeta > Point Lookout

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#29. Sleeping Dogs (Xbox 360, 2012)



Of all the games I've played in the Grand Theft Auto-style, Sleeping Dogs is by far my favorite. I think the setting is a big part of this. This Hong Kong setting feels so alive, so interesting, so cohesive. The mini-games and side events all fit with the theme of the city. The conversations around town and the radio stations all sounds appropriate (and the radio choices were very interesting, some really nice music here). Something about having to drive on the left side of the road was an unexpected detail to all this that made things somehow more fun? It was a struggle at times to fight basic road instinct and not crash the car.

The fighting aspect of the gameplay was very well put together. It focused more on hand-to-hand combat than GTA games normally would. It was more in line with stuff like the recent Batman games. There are attacks and counter-attacks and holds. Moves can be chained together into combos. You can learn more moves/combos as the game goes on, and there is a ton of environmental interaction in the fights. Some of them are so silly and so satisfying, even though they can be quite violent. The first time I threw a guy into a fish tank was a special moment.

The story in the game is especially strong. The premise sounds very basic - the main character is an undercover cop, trying to infiltrate gangs. Over time, there's the question of whether to uphold the law or to help family and friends. It's presented with plenty of moral questions is what's right in a situation actually what is right to do? The characters that seem very authentic in their behavior and relationships, and that's a big part of what makes this story turn out so well.

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#27. Super Mario World (SNES, 1990)
I never owned a SNES, I was the Genesis kid. My friend with the SNES though, this was the game I truly loved playing. This to me, was then and always was, sorry haters, Mario 2D platforming at its finest. Everything was here. First and foremost, the colors and graphics, to draw me in. This game is a true delight to look at. The color and visual design is out of this world, and all the music is obviously a classic. Presentation-wise, it is extremely difficult to beat Mario World. The world map is truly iconic and beautiful. The post-game Mario head koopas are kinda freaky though.



Gameplay. Fantastic too. I never liked how the first Mario game controlled,it felt too stiff. Mario 2 and 3 feel good though, and so does this game, but I like the extra bit of momentum and floatiness Mario has here. I know some people dont like that, but I in general have a bit of fondness for floaty control. I do like the level design a lot too- theres a lot of good variety between your grasslands, your caves, your ocean levels, your river levels, your castles, your ghost houses, your air/bridge stages, your mountain levels, your forest levels, the random one-off sunken ship I think I got most of them? I was especially a fan of the Ghost House levels, as they had the neat additional sort of puzzle element to them- trying to figure out how to get out, probably involving finding a P switch and a hidden door. I like the one that has the 2 areas that look alike, but are actually different to throw you for a bit of a loop.

I also really enjoyed all the Castle levels, with their intense music, the fact you had to leave Yoshi outside for extra challenge, and fighting the Koopa Kids, although it was a bit lame some of those fights were duplicated, they were still fun fights. I especially love the final level, with the 2 sets of 4 doors, and you can pick the exact 2 of 8 rooms you want to play. I always try to do a different set of 2 each time. Though, I did not really enjoy Forest of Illusion. That one level that traps you in a world map loop forever until you beat the level in a certain time limit is unintuitive and Im not sure howd youd really know what to do there without a guide or something. I also love the post-game Special area, with its RADICAL, GROOVY, TUBULAR level names- those are a fun, hard challenge- and a little easter egg I didnt discover until way later but if you stay on that Special World Map for like a full minute, the little 10 second music loop instead transitions over to the original Super Mario Bros theme, so thats cool.

Theres a ton of new mechanics from Mario 3, all of which I love and are for the better. Obviously, aforementioned Yoshi. Yoshi adds a ton of platforming depth, acts as an extra hit, can give you that jump boost, gives you new ways to deal with enemies, and plus you have the 3 different colors of Yoshi if you feed them stars in Star World to also have even more mechanics. You have the cape, which I like using more than Tanooki because doing that mid-air bounce glide is awesome, and it just looks cooler. You have the item storage mechanic which can make for some decent strategy and its nice to have a backup item (and you know that frustration when it falls down just out of your reach). You have the spin jump for a lower and more precise jump, or sometimes you want to just bounce off enemies differently. I love that BONK sound when you bounce off of impenetrable enemies actually now Ill also mention how much I love the random little sound effects in this game, like the Yoshi BOW spit out sound, the BONK, the level end floursih sound, the sound of bouncing off a spring, or even the sound the Thwomps make when they slam down all of it just sounds great. Impeccable sound design.

Finally, and most importantly, the addition of secret exits here from Mario 3 was probably the best things they added. Having levels with multiple exits that could lead you to special areas, different levels to do, or some neat goodies (hello Top Secret Area!) was a very fun addition, and one that really makes you want to 100% the game and beat all the levels. Obviously, this is all capped off with the enchanting Star World, and its incredible jumping-around-the-map antics. Adding to this, you have the Switch Palaces, to unlock different ways to go in levels, and giving more replayability to beaten levels. Getting to actually play in a Switch Palace was probably the most exciting thing for me as a kid, I was so hyped to play those damn levels and get that fucking massive array of coins and cap it off byu jumping on a giant fucking ! button all an extremely satisfying feeling that is absolutely unmatched, and so disappointed you cant replay them. After all, a wise man once said This game is lame; it doesnt even have any Yellow Switch Palaces. And he was right. We should only judge games by the presence of lack of Yellow Switch Palaces.



Next up: A game where you don't actually control your character at all.

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#27 Final Fantasy X (Playstation 2, 2001)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OjEiO8vwOU

Remember when Square would release one of these games every one to two years? Final Fantasy X was the last mainline game in that streak, and for how soon it came out after IX, it's pretty incredible how much of a jump this game was. Of course, a lot of it had to do with the increased capabilities of the Playstation 2 system, but still, it was something else, ya?

I know that it doesn't mean a lot for everybody, but the addition of voice acting to the series really helped me get into the tale. There's something about hearing Tidus tell his story instead of just reading everything, and for the most part, I think the acting holds up well, all things considered. The laughing scene aside, James Arnold Taylor does a really good job and makes his character emotionally resonant. And that's impressive considering how much the actors were constrained by Japanese lip flaps.



The decision to abandon the long-running and popular active time battle system was bold and works out well. Final Fantasy X's battles still have a good flow where character speed and turn order matters, but time is still there to make decisions about what to do. The sphere grid is a unique way to progress the characters and in the end-game provides an enticing carrot. The expert grid in later versions of the game provides a ton of replayability and lets you set up some unique parties.

The game looks really good, even today. While the Playstation 1 games all look bad in their unique ways, the Playstation 2 finally was able to render the characters and the environment in realistic-enough detail that it all holds up. Spira is a beautiful and colorful world and most of the areas have enough visual interest to hide the fact that you are mostly walking on a track. Not that I mind that as much as other people do. The Calm Lands area is wide-open and also one of the worst places in the game, in my opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69qqk_23xJs

Although like pretty much every Final Fantasy game, the fate of the world is at stake, the personal touches of the story are much more interesting. As someone who has had a poor relationship with my old man at times in my life, I could relate. But then again, I am not a dream who ceases to exist and leaves my significant other devastated so it's not one hundred percent relatable.



Oh, and Blitzball sucks.

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Also have to include this lower quality photo as well:


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21. Reflec Beat [series] (Arcade, 2010-present?)

Reflec Beat is a rhythm game with a particularly interesting and troubled history. Back upon its launch in 2010, touch-screen rhythm games were en vogue, following the success of DJ Max Technica, and it received immediate success in Japanese arcades. After a few years and several versions with beefed up song lists and improved player options, it had become one of the most popular and successful games of the BEMANI series. Additionally, (along with jubeat) it had a home version app for iPad, at the time when tablets were also at their peak. Of course, as touch-screen functionally became less novel, its popularity waned, and after several attempts to inject some life into the series, Konami rebooted the whole franchise with its final game - a bizarre, RPG/fantasy-themed version titled with the long-winded Reflesia of Eternity. Inexplicably, this version had removed all previous content aside from a handful of licensed J-Pop and Anime theme songs. Despite a really good initial songlist, some great menu themes (Thanks, DJ Totto!), and slowly drip-feeding the old songs back into the game, the bungled launch basically killed the game right from the release. Technically, the series is still alive, somewhat (I guess Reflesia of "Eternity" was somewhat prophetic) - at least, before the pandemic, they were still popping out bundles of 10 old/returning songs every other month or so - but it's essentially dead now, despite only making it about 7 years or so between launch of its first and final game, and actually being rather successful (and not just a general failure like Museca or Beat Stream).
With the history lesson out of the way, the era where it was a basically-dead game is actually where I come in. I had touched the iPad version once or twice and maybe played a round at a convention, but had no real interest or experience with the game until about...2017? A close friend of mine bought the game at a pretty solid discount and I decided to try to get into it, and despite my reservations, I quickly got hooked. The game's concept is a sort of rhythm game ping-pong where you're knocking notes back and forth between yourself and the other player. By the most recent version, you can turn off seeing opponent targets and have a healthy set of speed mods to avoid cluttering the screen. In that state it's a lot more straightforward - you're trying to hit the notes as they approach the target line. The gimmicks here are that because of the game's structure, where they'll land on the line is somewhat randomized, and sometimes they get sent to you at tricky angles that can be tough to read on the fly. Additionally, there's a higher row of green targets - these are always fixed in position, but are difficult to manage (and read) along with the notes flying toward the bottom row. In practice, you can learn to read everything fairly reasonably, but it takes a decent bit of getting used to.

The game is full of BEMANI polish, though; the game's sound design is really good and surprisingly important - without physical sensations, like the click of a button, touch-screen games can suffer from a lot of design problems, and the series cleverly bakes all that into the design. The ping-pongy nature of the "theme" makes its loud clacking sounds when you touch or hold a note feel perfectly smooth, and also gives you audio feedback to your hands. It's great! The series' mascot, Pastel-kun, a purple mouse, is arguably its most lasting legacy (maybe the mountain of songs it's since ported to other games), and he's great and I'm very sad that his game is dead.

It's also, like DDR, a game where getting an 100% score is absolutely achievable, and even beyond that, getting near-perfect scores and max combos feels like a solid milestone. Because "clearing" a song only means to achieve over a certain score percentage, you're really trying to optimize your play of a single song rather than just beat the hardest level. Again, it takes a potential foible of touch-screen play (mashing on the touch screen might be a bit too effective at cobbling together a clearing score) and turns it into a strength. It's also got a very good soundtrack - at its peak, there were a lot of fun events bringing in bespoke content, and the game's nature as a genreless structure lends itself to a ton of varied and interesting styles of songs. Hell, even the last-gasp final version still got a bunch of really outstanding unique songs.
In 2018 and 2019, I probably put hundreds of hours into Reflec Beat, solely on my friend's cabinet. I have a ridiculous spreadsheet tabulating my high scores for all of the game's 500+ songs on all of their difficulties; I've successfully cleared the whole game (not particularly impressive) and gotten the max rank (S - >98% score) on all the 11-difficulty songs (difficulty scales from 1 to 15). I'm pretty good, but there are definitely some better players than me; of course, the nature of it being a dead game means that there's not an extensive level of competition. But it's a good enough time for me that just finding stuff to improve on is enjoyable enough - pre-pandemic, I was always looking to tackle a handful of score thresholds on different difficulties at any point visiting my friend's place.
Rhythm games are probably my favorite game genre; there's still a couple of big ones left on this countdown, and I have the tendency to get addicted to them pretty much instantly if they speak to me in any capacity. But to round out the "first 80" of my list, I really wanted to show some love to a gem of a game that's sadly been lost to the machine of the industry - a black sheep of a game that gets blamed for problems it didn't start, and for faults that weren't its own. Sorry, Reflec Beat, you were too good for this world.

Here's a quick endcap list of some personal Reflec Beat favorites:
City Never Sleeps - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XpZbWF4MUY
Proluvies - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27dq4x246bs
Eira - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcZbfzMD5yU
Towards the Horizon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMEG65kBDDk
Anemoitierai - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlBtqDUCi5k

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80% Completion 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)
50. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS, 2005)
49. Mario Kart 8 (Wii U, 2014)
48. Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube, 2001)
47. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Switch, 2018)
46. RollerCoaster Tycoon (PC, 1999)
45. Everybody's Golf (PS4, 2017)
44. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64, 1998)
43. Okami (PS2, 2006)
42. Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole (Genesis, 1993)
41. The Jackbox Party Pack [series] (Multiplatform, 2014-present)
40. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GameCube, 2004)
39. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii, 2007)
38. Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)
37. Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Genesis, 1994)
36. WarioWare Gold (3DS, 2018)
35. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES, 1995)
34. Pokmon Platinum (DS, 2009)
33. Harvest Moon: Back to Nature (PS1, 1999)
32. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (GameCube, 2003)
31. Pokmon Trading Card Game (GBC, 2000)
& Pokmon Card GB2 [JP] (GBC, 2001)
30. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (GameCube, 2003)
29. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch, 2017)
28. Final Fantasy VI (SNES, 1994)
27. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, 2004)
26. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (DS, 2005-2007)
25. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GameCube, 2004)
24. Mario Party 2 (N64, 2000)
23. Dance Dance Revolution [series] (Arcade, 1998-present)
22. Chrono Trigger (SNES, 1995)
21. Reflec Beat [series] (Arcade, 2010-present?)

-Breakdown by Decade-
1980s: 5
1990s: 23
2000s: 34
2010s+: 18

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#50 Forza Horizon (Xbox 360, 2012)


For almost 20 years, my favorite genre was as healthy as could be with a wide breadth of options coming out on an annual basis. Things began to change in the late-00s/early-10s. The cost of making games continued to rise, the indie scene was exploding, and new genres and ways to play games were forming to where racing games were being left in the dust. Great developers like Bizarre Creations, Black Rock Studios, and SCE Studio Liverpool were shut down, Forza Motorsport hadn't yet hit its stride with me, Polyphonal Digital wasn't the same, Mario Kart was coming off of a bit of a dud, and the indie scene wasn't really coming out with many, let alone memorable, racing games. Codemasters was basically all I had. That was until Microsoft and new-to-the-scene Playground Games came out with a spin-off in late 2012 called Forza Horizon.

This is how you do an open-world racer! It takes place in gorgeous Colorado where you will in the desert, on the plains, in the forests, and in the city under numerous setups (rally, lap, point-to-point, etc...). While you try to come on top in each event, there's a sub-system in place. The overall goal is to be the #1 ranked racer. Winning events certainly will help you rack up a bunch of ranking points, but so does racing in style. They encourage you to string together moves like drifting, racing at high speeds, playing chicken with oncoming traffic, and otherwise play a risky game to accrue massive point combos to add to your ranking points. I can't even begin to count the amount of times that I raced in a way to see my combo meter rise to a staggering level only to mess up and crash into something. I regret nothing.

The style points extend to outside of events as well. The map is huge, so by simply exploring, soaking in the sights, or going to and from events, you will be earning style points. Sometimes you don't realize that you are in the midst of stringing a nice combo together. There were times I would be on my way to an event but completely blow past the event marker and go halfway across the map because I was in the middle of a sick combo. The sooner you treat the land as your playground, the sooner will be head over heels for the game.

The backdrop of the game is that this takes place in like a racing/concert hybrid festival, and I don't know, I just loved it. The whole thing is chill, but racing is something that I focus hard on, so it is a great palette cleanser to race then just go explore and mess around the area finding secrets or pulling off sick combos before going to another event. Because of the festival theme, they have a deep selection of licensed music with various stations playing a single broad genre type. I suppose if you dislike contemporary music, it might not be your thing, but I certainly enjoyed listening to The Naked and The Famous and Porter Robinson.

The quantity of racing games aren't there anymore and likely won't change, but as long game like Forza Horzion make sure the quality doesn't dip as well, then I will be just fine.


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#49 WarioWare Gold (3DS, 2018)


Gold may not have the multiplayer of Party Game$ or cool extras or platform-centric features of Touched, but Gold is the definitive WarioWare experience, adding the series' highest replayability to boot. It takes a substantial amount of games from the rest of the series, sprinkles in some of their own, and it just takes off from there with its interesting setup. The story mode is sectioned off by leagues, and each league has a theme (mash, twist, touch, or combo) that revolve around the method of completing the microgames. Each league has several characters that you face off against playing microgames of a certain flavor. Jimmy T will have sports microgames, 9 Volt will have Nintendo microgames, and so on. Having similar microgames in a match reduces some inherent frustration while avoiding feelings of staleness. It truly is remarkable.

The very first 3DS game that I played was Super Mario 3D Land, and for seven years, it was my #1 game on the system. I believe that WarioWare Gold was the final, original game that Nintendo made for the system, so if I'm correct, that was one hell of a swan song.

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#26. Super Monkey Ball 2 (Gamecube, 2002)
I know all yall are gonna be up in Monkey Targets business and thats perfectly fine. The minigames are incredible in this game, especially Monkey Target, a simple game of rolling down a hill, launching, gliding and trying to land on all different kinds of moving boards to get points. Simple, and great. But theres also a ton of other really fun ones. Monkey Race, Monkey Billiards, Monkey Bowling, Monkey Golf, and Monkey Baseball are all really good too. The rest are ok or eh. But all these minigames can be great for their contribution to the game alone, and a huge step up over Monkey Ball 1s 3 minigames (including inferior versions of many of Monkey Ball 2s games).



But really, the draw for me, is SMB2s main mode - maybe not the story mode as much because that is kidn of disjointed- Id rather play all the stages start to end, classic style- although the story is uh, pretty damn weird. All the background locales come from the story, like a forest, volcano, what have you but it also involves like taking a bath with an evil monkey or something and getting in his washing machine, and getting cooked in a stew. I dont.

Super Monkey Ball is a game where you control a monkey in a ball through an obstacle course, getting to the flag at the end. The courses start easy and get insane, but hey, you can try over and over again til your hearts concern, sort of- actually this is the biggest reason I have this game over SMB1. SMB1 limits you to 3 lives per run (and some continues). You wont need them on the Easy course, but the other courses you certainly will. Monkey ball 2 gives you 99 lives, which winds up being a really good amount! This way you cant just completely mess around without regard for penalty of dying over and over you will have to start over if you lose enough lives. But its definitely an amount that offers you a good degree of flexibility, and makes it ok to make mistakes and learn from them.

This is a physics game at heart. Truthfully, you are controlling the WORLD, not the monkey, and letting gravity do its thing- but it really feels like youre controlling the monkey which is a neat bit of design. Playing around in the very wide variety of levels is incredibly fun, and trying to deal with all the traps and hazards. They may include rapidly moving goalposts, launching yourself into some basketball hoops, hurling yourself down giant spirals, etc etc. If you ever enjoyed Marble Madness on the NES, this game is like its logical conclusion. Theres really not too much more to say about it, other than the insanity of some of these levels, and despite a lot of them being really difficult, they always run really fun and creative, and I enjoy this style of rapid-fire physics-based obstacle courses.



Next up: You can play this game on Steam without having Steam installed.


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24.) Legend of Mana (PSX, 1999)


This game was strange and completely wonderful. The game begins with the Tree of Mana imploring you to remember it. Remember life. Bring life back to the world. In some ways it is the perfect sequel to the pretty damn dark state the world is left in at the end of Trials of Mana.

Whats unusual about Legend of Mana is that your main character is a strict silentnprotagonist in a break from previous mana games but you are able to recruit a staggering array of different NPC helpers. You begin the game with just two known parts of the world - your mailbox/home and the town of Domina. You are able to slowly unfold more and more of the world as you complete various episodes that happen.

I am a big fan of the pair of apprentice mages you recruit early on. The recurring NPCs stories unfold for you to watch and all are interesting and rewarding.

There are also some fun and strange puzzle locales such as the dudbears, whose language you eventually need to puzzle out.

It of course still features the two mana mainstays as well - couch co-op and really fun boss fights while adding a very in depth crafting system and more depth than you would expect to the weapons system.

Overall its a classic so good and so different from the rest that I had to include it.

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20. Kirby Super Star (SNES, 1996)

Kirby is such a wildly malleable character. He's got linear games with methodical progression (Adventure/Dream Land series), radical departures from traditional platforming (Canvas Curse/Epic Yarn), and a vast array of spin-offs. (Pinball Land, Block Ball, Air Ride, Dream Course, etc.) There's a lot of potential with a character who is basically just a blank slate and can transform into exactly what you need him to be! But the one game in the series that I feel like maximized on this potential (and took him beyond a novelty) is Super Star, by a significant margin my personal series favorite.
As with much of the rest of the series, Kirby swallows up enemies and copies their abilities, with the usual Fire, Ice, Beam, Sword, and others among the array of powers. Each power, however, has a robust moveset of several button input combinations that produce different effects, making almost all of them valuable for a significant amount of situations. As such, KSS is a game that plays at a much quicker pace than its predecessors and gives you the toolset to deal with it - you're a much beefier and more effective Kirby in just about every situation. You can also easily play this one cooperatively; you can use a power to spawn a partner character that can be controlled either by a human or an AI, and both features work pretty great.
The structure of the game is a pretty big departure, too - instead of one lengthy adventure, there are 6 independent "games", each its own self-contained adventure with different rules. Spring Breeze is a short retelling of Kirby's Dream Land 1; Dyna Blade is another mostly linear adventure, but with some hidden secrets; and Gourmet Race is a 1-2 player challenge where you're racing off against an opponent to reach the finish line first in a series of courses, but with the caveat that you score points for all the food you eat along the way.
The best parts are in the last three games, though. Revenge of Meta Knight follows a linear storyline of Kirby infiltrating Meta Knight's Halberd airship, interspersed with dialogue between Meta Knight and his minions along the way. It's charming but challenging, backed with some of the best music tracks in the series, and some really memorable boss fights.
Great Cave Offensive has Kirby traveling across a giant interconnected maze of rooms, collecting as much treasure as possible along the way. It's perhaps my favorite mode of the game, and arguably the predecessor to Kirby & the Amazing Mirror. Finding the right powers to use to reach a hidden treasure or get past an obstacle is really good here; as I said earlier, you're going to generally have something pretty useful, and not be stuck with a completely worthless ability for a long time just because you need it to get through a door.
Milky Way Wishes is great, too - twisting the formula a bit, you're not getting copy abilities through enemies, but instead via statues hidden behind doors (there's usually a couple of these in each level). Once you get a statue, you can break out that ability any time, so you slowly accumulate power over the course of this mode, and it just feels really satisfying to reach a new permanent ability. Plus, this has the best ending and boss fights in the whole game.
There's just a ton to like here - each game is reasonably short, so it doesn't wear out its welcome before its mechanics get too tedious, and breaks up the action well. I think this sort of structure just suits Kirby well in general; there's always a point in basically any of his other longer adventures where the game kind of loses steam and seems to run out of new ideas, but here it stays fresh consistently. The new powers feel much more suited to a faster-paced action game than the more constrained options from prior titles, and I think the series in general is better for it - it lets Kirby's mechanics and movement really shine for the first time. While I can see why someone would prefer Canvas Curse or Nightmare in Dream Land, Super Star captures what I always wanted from a Kirby game.

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release heavy lobster imho

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#16. Final Fantasy IX (PS1, 2000)

Another top 5 OST all time. This game is gorgeous, ignore how bad these sprites look now. In 2000 they were so colorful and fun. The story in 9 is one of the best in the entire series. I love the cast too. Yes Quina, Eiko and Amarant suck, but Zidane, Steiner, Vivi, Garnet and Freya are awesome. There are some of the coolest visuals in the series too. The summons getting cutscenes was so cool and really showed how powerful they can be. Chocobo Hot and Cold is an amazing minigame and Tetra Master is way better than Triple Triad. Garnet is one of my 5 favorite FF characters all time.

Garnet > Zidane > Vivi > Steiner > Freya > Eiko > Amarant > Quina



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#19 - Banjo-Kazooie (N64, my GotY for 1998)


As you can probably tell from the general makeup of my list, Im really not a big fan of platformers. This is the only one thats even shown up. Not a single mainline Mario, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, or Sonic game to be seen (OK so SA2B barely hung on, but the platforming is absolutely not why thats on my list). No indie games like Super Meat Boy, Shovel Knight, or VVVVVV on here, either. There are a few that ended up pretty close, like Mario Galaxy and Hat in Time, but in general, I just never really enjoyed the genre at all.

But Banjo Kazooie is 64-bit collectathon platforming perfection. The characters are goofy and their jokes land pretty well. The levels are beautiful and full of things to find (something the sequel had a lot of trouble with). And it just feels awesome to play. Banjo and Kazooie have dozens of moves to keep from ever feeling stale, and just in case it was, you have Mumbo Jumbo turning them into an alligator or a honeybee to really switch things up. The missions are tons of fun, and totally varied from level to level, and unlike a certain other game of its kind in this era, it doesnt rip you from the stage if you manage to get one of its collectibles!

I used to casually speedrun this game back in the 2010s on XBLA. It keeps track of your best times for you and has a leaderboard to push more competition. I think my best time ever for a 100% run was just shy of 3 hours, but its been a few years since Ive hopped on to see, so I may well be exaggerating on that.

Treasure Trove Cove > Click Clock Wood > Freezeezy Peak > Mumbo's Mountain > Gobis Valley > Bubblegloop Swamp > Mad Monster Mansion > Rusty Bucket Bay > Clankers Cavern

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3/4 of the way through everyone's lists. dum pink ball making a run for the top

#1 Pokemon RBY: 903 (+1)
#2 Super Smash Bros. Melee: 863 (+7)
#3 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: 834 (+2)
#4 Chrono Trigger: 769 (+10)
#5 Kirby Super Star Ultra: 724 (NEW)
#6 Final Fantasy VI: 713 (-5)
#7 Virtue's Last Reward: 698 (+20)
#8 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice: 674 (+22)
#9 Super Mario Odyssey: 663 (-6)
#10 Mario Kart 8: 655 (-6)
#11 Borderlands 2: 643 (+17)
#12 Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: 594 (+38)
#13 Jackbox Party Pack: 580 (-7)
#14 Elite Beat Agents: 577 (-7)
#15 Bioshock: 575 (-7)
#16 Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising: 550 (-6)
#17 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: 547 (-6)
#18 Chrono Cross: 541 (+85)
#19 Mario Party 2: 527 (+59)
#20 Mega Man X: 519 (+33)
#21 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: 495 (-9)
#22 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: 479 (-9)
#23 Banjo-Kazooie: 479 (+164)
#24 Final Fantasy IV: 466 (-9)
#24 Metroid Fusion: 466 (-9)
#26 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door: 462 (+115)
#27 Horizon Zero Dawn: 458 (-10)
#28 Super Monkey Ball 2: 457 (+107)
#29 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: 456 (-11)
#29 Diddy Kong Racing: 456 (-11)
#31 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: 455 (NEW)
#32 Super Mario 3D World: 449 (-12)
#33 Super Mario World: 444 (+110)
#34 Pokemon GSC: 443 (-13)
#34 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest: 443 (+82)
#36 Final Fantasy VII Remake: 442 (+244)
#37 Mario Tennis: 441 (-15)
#37 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 441 (-15)
#39 Advance Wars: Dual Strike: 435 (-15)
#40 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 431 (+207)
#41 Yoshi's Island: 409 (-16)
#42 Fallout 3: 408 (+278)
#43 Final Fantasy X: 406 (+161)
#44 Mario Golf (N64): 403 (-18)
#45 Mega Man 3: 398 (-16)
#46 Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow: 392 (-15)
#46 Final Fantasy Tactics: 392 (-15)
#48 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: 390 (-15)
#49 Rock Band 2: 366 (-15)
#49 Pikmin 2: 366 (+130)
#51 Super Mario 64: 365 (+38)
#52 The Walking Dead: Season 1: 364 (-17)
#53 Guitar Hero II: 363 (-17)
#54 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: 355 (-17)
#54 Final Fantasy XIII: 355 (-17)
#56 Final Fantasy IX: 350 (NEW)
#57 Tecmo Super Bowl: 347 (-18)
#58 Snowboard Kids 2: 343 (-18)
#59 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: 341 (-18)
#60 WarioWare Gold: 340 (+68)
#61 SSX: 331 (+410)
#62 Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors: 322 (-20)
#63 Dragon Quest V: 319 (+275)
#64 Hotline Miami: 318 (-21)
#65 Pokemon Puzzle League: 317 (-21)
#66 Pokemon BW: 314 (-21)
#67 Kirby Canvas Curse: 311 (+274)
#68 Final Fantasy: Record Keeper: 305 (-22)
#68 F-Zero GX: 305 (+225)
#68 Reflec Beat: 305 (NEW)
#71 Super Mario Galaxy: 304 (-24)
#72 Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB: 297 (-24)
#72 Crypt of the Necrodancer: 297 (+425)
#74 Pokemon DPP: 292 (-25)
#75 Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational: 289 (-24)

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#26 Commander Keen in "Goodbye, Galaxy!" (MS-DOS, 1991)

In the early 90s, I played mostly PC games. Commander Keen was the premier side-scrolling platformer series for computer, and Goodbye Galaxy is by far the best game in the series. It consists of two "episodes" that involve boy genius Keen trying to save the galaxy from aliens intent on destroying it.



Keen can run, jump, and shoot, which all control like you would expect, but the unique thing about Commander Keen is his pogo stick which can be used to boost him up to heights he could not normally reach. The pogo stick can be pulled out at any moment and changes the way that the character moves and handles. Levels might be laid out horizontally and vertically, with secondary objectives such as finding keys or manipulating switches. There are secrets galore within the levels, and even a secret level that can be accessed through finding a hidden objective. A wide variety of enemies demand different tactics. Some move in predictable patterns and some are invincible, and so on. Keen goes down in one hit so dodging is essential.

Taking a cue from Nintendo, levels in each episode are spread out over an overworld and while some levels are locked behind others, much of the world is open and levels can be tackled in whatever order you choose. The levels take a lot of different themes, and they are mostly unique from each other. Commander Keen also took some cues from Sega, as the game as a decent amount of attitude. Keen is constantly smirking and quipping throughout the game, and there is an Easter Egg in which he moons the player.



The series abruptly ended when its creators got involved with Wolfenstein 3D and subsequently Doom. Can't really blame them for chasing the money, but it would have been neat to see where else 2D platformers could have gone on the PC. Only a few other well-made games came out after Commander Keen was done, and nothing else really lived up to its legacy.

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#25. Portal 2 (PS3, 2011)
I know a lot of people like the original Portal more. It was certainly more succinct, with the story unfolding more naturally with gameplay, and its narratives playing out in much the same way- such as being able to convey so much emotion for a simple block with a heart on it. Portal 2 is much more a real game, and while thats not necessarily criteria for it being better, it really helped flesh the game out here, giving it an incredibly funny and witty plot and the same for its additional characters.
Portal 2s single player campaign and its entirely separate co-op campaign could each individually be on my top 100, both together is a sure thing.

The single player, as I said before is a fantastic follow up to the first, fleshing out the character of GLaDOS and giving her a backstory, introducing fantastic and hilarious new characters in Wheatley and Cave Johnson (who are also fantastically voice-acted), and telling its story in a smart and efficient way, through the gameplay. Even if its not as compact or efficient as the first, its a lot funnier, and the environment of the puzzle chambers, or the game in general, is a lot more varied, than simply going behind the scenes. And though its a bit slower, its definitely not slow and has a nice balance between story and gameplay, like the bit near the beginning with the collapsing hotel room while Wheatley chimes at you. Of course, the puzzles are still center stage, and they are great puzzles, adding in a bunch of new features like the light bridges, launchers, gravity tunnels, and the portal goo in the older abandoned Aperture-the latter being especially great. Glados joining you as a potato near the end of the game, exploring the science fair, Cave Johnson taking over as the narrator-all excellent. Though I think my favorite narrative part of the game is the part with the defective turret scanner, those guys really make me laugh. Also the 3 cores at the end. Those 3 and the defective turrets voiced by Nolan North, naturally.

The co-op continues to blow the roof off. It may just be back to Gladoss show, but the co-op puzzles, and therefore addition of 2 portals, plus all the aforementioned new features adds an incredible amount of puzzle depth, and really opens up a lot of new ways to do these puzzles, combined with the fact you need to work together of course. It works great whether both of you havent done the puzzles, or one of you have and lets the other one try to figure out the puzzles. The little interactions between P-Body and Atlas are great, and Gladoss annoyance at them is a fun motivator throughout. Obviously theres not really much of a story in this mode, but the puzzles more than make up for it, and the humor is still there. The pinging system was also pretty innovative at the time!

In all, a supercharged and better version of Portal, perhaps a bit clunkier, but an all-around better experience.



Next up: The most physically exhausting game on my list.

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#24. Rock Band 2 (PS3, 2008)
Similar to Guitar Hero 2, this was the perfect game at the perfect time- but even MORE perfect. I was a junior in college when Rock Band 1 came out and a senior for Rock Band 2 (and I stayed a 5th year). By my junior year, my friend group was pretty solidified, and by senior year, the place I lived. I had my roommate, my friends across the hall, and a bunch across the street. Over those 3 years, we played both these games so much. Guitar Hero was on its way out, with the disappointing Guitar Hero III, once Harmonix left and focused on this series and clearly, it was always about the developer. Or again, maybe those Harmonix bands, hello again Freezepop. Rock Band 1, while a good game, was still close to the release of Guitar Hero 2 that we would play both. Rock Band obviously had the greater appeal of having 4 people playing- Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Drums, but something about it wasnt quite there yet. It was partially the setlist, though there were the bits of DLC, but it always felt pretty bland. Like at this point, the genre needed to go a little further in presentation. Rock Band 2 delivered here. Its tour mode was really fun, everything was easier to just do what you want- create custom setlists, making the DLC not only much more accessible but huge jumps in quality and quantity, and I remember thinking just how much nicer this game looked and felt than its predecessor.

This was pretty much the ultimate evolution of what Guitar Hero was. A great rhythm game for 4 people, rocking out to anyones style of music (but hey, mostly rock right?), and the fun of playing whatever instrument you felt like! It was inclusive for those who were bad at rhythm games-play the vocals! Or for the exact opposite, play the drums! Or just fans of the original hype of playing wailing guitar solo, play the guitar! Or youre the fourth wheel, play the bass, sorry. But hey, thats not even fair. There were a lot of great songs that featured bass here too! I loved playing all of them. I used to be so good at these games too-we were playing so often, it was my prime. I tried that Bladder Challenge where you play every song in one sitting, but man, Visions just was the death of me 9/10 of the way in. Fuck that song.

The instruments themselves were pretty good- I was never a huge fan of these guitars, but luckily some of the others I preferred from the GH series worked just fine. Instrument backwards compatibility was a big deal. But mostly, it was great times with my friends group in college. I loved guitar obviously but also liked the Drums a lot too- and that would be physically exhausting! For my foot. Or the vocals for your vocal chords.



Some of the best songs in this base game include: The Trees, Aqualung, Any Way You Want It, Battery, White Wedding, Psycho Killer, Hungry Like The Wolf, Pinball Wizard, Painkiller, and of course, Master Exploder.

Next up: A game where you can play as characters that are colorblind, gay, and/or have entered the Matrix.

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#28. Dance Dance Revolution (Arcade, 1998)



For a while, DDR would've been way higher up my list. It was probably pushing number 1 for a chunk of my life. There's a few reasons why it's fallen, some I'll get into later, but a major reason is just that I'm older and not in the same great shape I was 20 years ago. When I used to run and go on bike rides, I could play DDR all day. Now? I'll play one or two sets, and I gotta sit down because my old man body can't handle it anymore. It's still fun, but that reality of needing to tone it down is a big mood.

DDR ended up being a big part of my life through high school and college year. I first played it at 2000 in the mall arcade, and it quickly became the main game I played there, as I mentioned in the Street Fighter 3 writeup. When everyone else in high school got into the game, we all had home versions and would play at each others houses. I ended up becoming the guy who was really good at DDR in my high school. Everything about it, I was obsessed with.

DDR was the first game I ever entered a tournament for, and also the first game I ever won anything in. The first few tournaments didn't go that well, because despite being the best in my school, there were much better people in the general area. One tourney was ran on 5th Mix, a version not at my local arcade. The qualifying/seeding song was The Cube, which wasn't on any version I had access to, and Stepmania wasnt really a thing yet. So, I found a copy of the song on Kazaa or whatever, and looked up the stepchart on DDRFreak to try and practice. Unfortunately, I never did figure out how this stepchart synced up to the song, so I never truly practiced it. See, The Cube was also used as a song in Beatmania IIDX, and the DDR version was shortened by removing the middle section, and the mp3 I found was the IIDX version.

After I moved halfway across the state to start college, I went to a tournament and noticed a couple familiar faces from those high school tournaments. It turns out they had also started at the same college. The next Monday, I went to my chemistry lecture, and realized two of them shared a class with me. There were multiple reasons here to hang out more, so 5 of us at that tournament became a good group of friends. We also kind of ran the Michigan State DDR scene for about 2003-2006, with our group winning pretty much every tourney in the area (except the one that attracted a bunch of out of state players). I continued taking a bunch of classes with those guys, playing other video games with them, even rooming with one at a point. Some of them are still good friends to this day. (I may get more into this on future writeups!)

I also ran a DDR tourney once. Well, the easy part of it. I had a friend high up in the University Activities organization, and she helped get the venue space on campus and equipment, and they did all the promotion. I got the rules together so we could run two concurrent tournaments, one for strong players and one for casual players, and I ran brackets and stuff.

Eventually, I started playing DDR a little bit less and less. It was kind of expensive to keep going to the arcade as much as I was. The arcade also hadn't upgraded past Extreme, (Supernova was out, and In the Groove was a big thing too) so most of the time I was trying to work towards AAAs on songs I played hundreds of times. It got a little discouraging to think, I have to get 300 perfects and 0 greats on this song to make an improvement on my score and then get 299 perfects and 1 great multiple times. And like I said, I played other video games with that group of friends, so we changed our habits a bit over time. DDR became more of a casual game, and I think I'm fine with it there now.

Here, have some songs that I like

Boom Boom Dollar (2nd Mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8S3pwezmVM

Captain Jack (3rd Mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARAj0aAMfxc

La Senorita Virtual (3rd Mix CS)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZmkMv5rsRE

Insertion (5th Mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXHVgV20ZqY

Sexy Planet (From Nonstop Megamix) (7th Mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkLLoiuB_I0

PARANOiA (kskst Mix) (DDR X3 vs 2nd Mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfeBiyHU_po

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RIP Captain Jack

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#48 Max Payne 3 (PS3, 2012)


After a decade-long hiatus, Rockstar took over for Remedy Entertainment and subsequently took Max Payne out of the neo-noir, winter NYC and placed him into the sociopolitical, sunny So Paulo. A stark change for sure, but it turned out to be the right move by not only giving the series a refreshing change but also providing you with a vider variety of environments to test and play around with the improved gameplay.

If there was one thing the original games could have used, it was a cover system. It's a simple addition on the surface, but paired with the series' famous bullet time and sensational body physicals using the RAGE engine, you would be like me and take every opportunity you could to force the middle-aged Max to dive every which way, guns drawn.

To top it off, you still get the same (lovable) old cynical Max Payne with his biting commentary on the everything swimming in his head, and the game's final sequence is one of the best in a video game, including a perfect song choice. What more could you want?

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#47 Mario Party 3 (N64, 2000)


I do not understand how this is not the overwhelming favorite N64 Mario Party game on B8. I know it is subjective, but it is crystal clear to me that it has the best collection of maps and mini-games of all types. It has its own special story mode that incorporates the great duel mode.

In duel mode, you face off against one opponent, and the goal is to get their HP down to 0 by going around the map strategically to attack them using common Mario enemies called partners. The mode has its own special mini-games too. MP3 also took the lackluster item system from the second game and expanded on it in a way to make its inclusion meaningful.

They even added Waluigi!

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I agree that I've been confused every time someone says Mario Party 2 is the best or favorite one

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Ah whoops, I messed up the fourth youtube link on my DDR post. This below video is the song Instertion. I had originally linked the song Ecstasy (with the video till being there), but then I thought, "Nah, Insertion is better" and I only updated the text.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcghW36x6UM

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Forgive me for putting this out of order, and rambling like a goof, but this one's important.

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

Today is Friday, February 12, 2021, which means that Super Mario 3D World (+ Bowser's Fury) is currently available for Nintendo Switch. If you don't already own the Wii U version, and you like Mario games or platformers even a tiny amount, you owe it to yourself to play this game. It's an absolute gem of a game, buried by the failure of the Wii U and the then-disappointment of not being an open sandbox-style game like Mario 64 or Sunshine. I'm willing to go out on a limb and throw out the hottest of takes - I think it has the best level design of any platformer Nintendo has ever made. Better than Mario 1, 3, World, Galaxy, DKC games, whatever other stuff I can't remember. And while I think some people's platforming tastes are always going to trend to the aforementioned open-ended sandboxes of 64 and Odyssey, for my money 3D World has them both beat.
Mario 3D World starts you off with a pretty standard opening, but from the jump the structure is just a little bit different. Bowser's captured a princess again - but it's a group of fairies from the previously-unknown Sprixie Kingdom, instead of Peach. Your first level is a fairly straightforward grass level - but it's built around the game's new big power-up, the Super Bell, which turns you into a cat that can climb up walls, dive in the air, and claw at enemies. And returning for the first time since Mario 2 is its full roster of variable-control playable characters; you can select Mario, Luigi, Peach, or Toad, each with comparable skills to that game, like Peach's mid-air float and Luigi's high jumps. The level design quickly departs from the norm, too; in World 1 you have the standard grass and underground levels, but also a trapeze-hopping circus level, a level riding atop a water-surfing dinosaur, the introduction of Captain Toad, and a boss fight against Bowser where you kick explosive soccer balls (!) into his oversized pimped-out car. (!!)
It's this absolute bombardment of unique ideas that defines Mario 3D World, for the entirety of the game. There's just so many different and immensely creative levels that jumping into a new stage and seeing what it has to discover is such a joy. It feels very much from the Super Mario Bros. 3 school of level design, where each stage is so distinct and memorable, that upon a revisit through the game, you'll constantly be saying "Oh man, it's that level!" with enthusiasm. And it carries this momentum the entire way through; when you think they can't possibly come up with something new, there's something around the corner possibly more brilliant than anything you've seen yet - a power-up that multiplies your character into multiple copies, a Mario Kart-themed high speed race level, a Kuriboh's Shoe-styled giant ice skate to ride around in; it still throws me for a loop how stuff I remember so distinctly is so far along the game's main worlds.
There's a ton of stuff to collect here - each stage has three green stars and a stamp, and you're credited for landing atop the flagpole at the end - but most of it isn't entirely necessary to progress (though you do need certain amounts of stars to open some stages and worlds). There's also multiple hidden postgame areas, including a final world with two brutally difficult challenge levels that rank among the hardest things in any Mario game since the NES. It's extra stuff to do for those who want it, but I think the individual level designs largely stand out on their merit.
I think there's a trend to sort of canonize games with more open-ended design and philosophy, like Breath of the Wild or Mario Odyssey, as the ideal method of structuring and imagining a game. And like I said up front, there's clearly a huge subset of Mario fans who vastly prefer this style of game to the disjointed levels of 3D World or Galaxy. But similarly to 2D and 3D, I think it's really important to recognize the strengths and the place for both of these approaches. With Mario 3D World's fixed-camera streamlined levels, the game can more precisely tailor the kind of experience for the player and the level design itself can be tighter and more varied. Because the game places limitations on the kind of things you can do in each level, it gives the freedom to take greater creative risks with what a level can do; conversely, with the ability for a player to go just about anywhere and do anything, the structure isn't going to be as tight and the experience not as controlled. It's this attention to nailing every detail in each level that sets 3D World apart from just about every other platformer - there's so little wasted space in each carefully crafted stage that you're always going to get a pretty complete experience of its constant newly-introduced concepts and challenges.
And all of this wonderful gameplay is backed by one of my absolute favorite video game soundtracks. The Mario games have always sounded great, and Koji Kondo has delivered so many memorable tunes across Mario and other series in his career, but even with all that, this masterpiece might be the greatest track he's ever composed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkizz-EzmPA
I'd argue Nintendo would at least put it up there, too, since it got dropped into nearly every Mario Maker 2 and 3D World preview or update video. There are just so many memorable tracks, and so many unique ones constantly being introduced across its multitude of levels, that just help to make the entire experience so distinct and special.
In 2017, I managed to run into both of my absolute favorite gaming experiences of the past decade, obviously by playing through games that had been released well before that year. Super Mario 3D World was one of those memories, and by far the biggest surprise. When I jumped into the co-op mode with a friend halfway into the game, I wasn't expecting something much more memorable or enjoyable than any of the New Super Mario Bros. games. But quickly I started to fall in love with the cleverness of the game's ideas and level design, and be impressed by all the different things on display. And when I ended up running through the entire game solo, I was just blown away by how much I loved every single part of it. Even grinding through hundreds of lives to complete the game's brutally difficult final level didn't test my patience or leave me feeling hopelessly frustrated - the game is just so damn good that I couldn't wait to keep giving it another go.
It's rare for me, at my current age, to get so immensely emotional or excited about any individual thing anymore - I'm just not wired to find something as the new greatest thing ever like I was when I was a teenager. But I'm sitting here getting choked up listening through a playlist of the 3D World soundtrack, and getting excited about rolling through the whole thing again later today, because it's just such a wonderful joy of a game and I adore it so much. When Nintendo gets a game just right, at least for me, I don't think there's any company in the industry that can come even close to matching what they can do with the medium - and Super Mario 3D World is the perfect representation of that particularly wonderful brand of magic.

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#15. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES, 1990)

And there we have it, the best mainline Mario game. Super Mario Bros 3 was the first game I ever bought with my own money. Dog sat for one of my aunts at age 4. You know those fake jobs parents give to teach responsibility. Anyway I wanted Mario 3 and got it and have loved it ever since. No idea how many times I have beaten this game and own it like 7 times in remakes and collections. The controls are insanely responsive and crisp even 30 years later. The variety of worlds is awesome, part of the reason I love Mario 3D World too. The addition of the Tanooki power up was so cool too. Angry Sun is a total jerk and needs to be in a GameFAQs contest. The game can be challenging enough, or insanely easy (Hello warp whistles and P Wings).



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#18 - Inazuma Eleven (3DS, 2014)


This is the last game on my list that is gonna be a complete outlier from the rest of you guys, because the rest of my list is pretty cookie-cutter, but this is a game that is basically targeted directly at me and my specific tastes. Its super niche, but its easily one of my favorite games of all-time. Get ready for a massive fucking info dump as I nerdgasm all over everything this game has to offer.


Inazuma Eleven is an anime soccer game for the DS, made by Level-5, the team that created the Professor Layton series. But the soccer part is honestly just kind of a ruse, and its primarily a turn-based RPG, if you can believe that. You control your player with the stylus on the bottom screen, so you can dribble the ball, or position your defense in front of the opponent. If there is a point when someone on defense touches the player with the ball, the game will stop briefly and both sides will be given a choice. Will the ball carrier avoid the tackle or take on contact? Will the defender choose to slide or steal the ball outright? Afterward, the players stats will determine what happens and the game will continue in real-time. Its actually very similar to Blitzball, to make a comparison most of board 8 will understand.


At this point, Im sure a lot of you are now rolling your eyes, wondering how I could have a Blitzball simulator in my top 20. Please allow me to officially start selling this game to you now, by regaling you with some of the games story.

You play as Mark Evans, a middle schooler who is really passionate about soccer, and the head of Raimon Academys modest soccer club, which has a meager 6 members, where he plays goalkeeper. The head of the school then tells him that this other school that hasnt lost a match in 40 years, called Royal Academy, has requested a friendly with them, and that if they lose, they have to disband the club. Mark has to round up 5 new ragtag members in a day or else they cant even field a full team and will have to forfeit. In doing so, he comes across some bullies that pick on him, and a transfer student named Axel kicks a nearby ball into a bullys face so hard that it leaves a scorch mark. He asks him to join his team, but he refuses, for a reason I will discuss later.


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Come the day of the big game, Mark has gotten his full team together and is hoping his top-notch goalkeeper work is enough to hang with this Royal Academy. But when they show up, it turns out they are soccer nazis with supernatural soccer powers and they lay waste to Marks entire team for fun, on their way to a 19-0 rout by halftime.


Mark, however, refuses to give up, and takes the field for the second half, despite the fact that his teammates can no longer stand. As Royal Academy continues to assault Mark in the second half, Axel decides he can no longer sit there and watch, grabs a jersey, and enters himself into the game. Newly motivated, Mark awakens his own superpower, the legendary God Hand, and is finally able to stop one of Royal Academys shots.


He clears the ball forward to Axel, who has his own distinctive supershot and is able to score a goal for Raimon with it. It turns out Royal Academy had only requested the friendly in the first place to lure out Axel, and now that they have that scouting report on him and the surprising abilities of Mark, they forfeit the match and leave, sparing Raimon Academy (by the way, it turns out that any team Royal Academy beats, they tear down their entire school, not just the soccer club).


And the story doesnt stop being crazy from there. Oh no, you naive little child, this is literally just the beginning. Remember how Axel didnt want to join your team initially? Well, its because on the way to his tournament final match at another school, his little sister was late and tried crossing the street to the arena, but she was hit by a truck and is now in a coma. Axel blamed his love of soccer for this, swore off the sport altogether and moved to a new school, but Marks determination drove him back to the game.

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After the first Royal Academy match, the game begins to really open up. After news of their win over the unbeatable academy spreads, Raimon gets invited to the Future Frontier tournament, and Mark gets super motivated to try and win it all. You are able to run around Raimon Academy now, but the headmasters daughter says youre too soft to win any matches legitimately and has riled up all the other clubs at the school into fighting you. If you do run around, there are now random encounters against the tennis club and the sumo club and such, and you have to score on them to win.

You can recruit players from those other clubs at Raimon Academy that have different, and sometimes strictly better stats. Theres a really weird recruiting system, where you have to funnel a Prestige currency you earn over the course of the game through the aforementioned random battles into your manager who can then scout players all over campus. Then you get their location, run into them, and battle them to get them to join your team. There are over 600 fully unique players and you can recruit all but about 30 of them to your own team. Once the headmasters daughter joins your club as the manager, she can even recruit players of teams you have beaten before for you. You can also find old pages that detail Marks grandfathers old soccer superpowers from 40 years ago that you can then teach to your own players.


This is when Inazuma Eleven really pivots from being primarily a soccer game into being primarily a full-on RPG. Managing when to use your special moves is the key to success. You really dont want to have to expend precious TP using high-cost moves if you dont have to, and thats especially true for random battles. The currency you win from these battles, Prestige, is the lone currency in the game, and it can be spent on equipment, items, special moves, training, and recovering TP. The more TP you waste unnecessarily, the more Prestige you have to spend replenishing it, that can otherwise be spent making your team better by buying equipment or paying for stat increases.


Even during important tournament games, you need to save that TP for the moments that really matter, because theres no recovering it mid-game. If an opposing defender is dribbling the ball up toward midfield and a confrontation occurs with your midfielder, winning that contest really doesnt mean anything, because the ball will still be stuck at midfield. Theres a slim chance a regular defense will still beat a super move, so if it happens, thats golden for you. If you lose, who really cares; he still has to get the ball to his forwards to be a threat. However, if their best shooter has a breakaway and your one defender in his way is barely able to stop him, thats when you have to break out your best defensive super move to prevent a shot on goal.


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Storywise, after the tournament begins, the game becomes all about trying to find your next opponents specific weaknesses. One of the teams is a defensive powerhouse, and has a special ability where they can create a massive wall in front of their goal, making it impossible to score on them, thus eventually winning every match when they are eventually first able to score. You learn to beat them, by catapulting one of your players several feet into the air so you can clear the wall and put the ball in the net.

Another team is basically Metal Gear Solid 4: The Team, where their players are all linked up wirelessly (well, some of them not so wirelessly) to a single computer, and their coach is able to input all their commands for the players, giving the team perfect chemistry. Once youre able to take out the computer, the kids come to their senses and realize its more fun to play with their own merits, albeit with much worse soccer skills, making it much easier to beat them.


One of the later teams lures your team into a maid cafe with pretty girls, where theyre able to poison your entire teams food the day before the game and you have to play with a whole team full of really shitty players with all their stats stuck at 1 because they are all sick. Except for Mark and Axel, who are all soccer, all the time, and are oblivious to anything else, so they arent tempted by the cafe. So winning that game is all about trying to somehow get the ball forward to Axel, who can then rampage all over the other team because of his bloated stats.


A lot of the matches are really weird gimmicks like this, and theyre pretty fun to figure out. Then some of the later matches are just against really good teams, where its even more fun, because its just two teams seeing who can out-soccer-superpower the other team more efficiently.

Theres also a nifty stat-boosting training area you can go through that is a lot like Pokemon Black/White 2s post-game White Treehollow or Black Tower. You pay to enter the facility, where you go from square room to square room, fighting repeated minor battles against smaller teams as you make your way to the finale. Over the course of this, you have to swap your players out when they get tired or run out of TP to use their special moves, or ration out your use of your accumulated recovery items, because theres no healing with Prestige once you begin. If you can make it to the end, you play a full-length match, 11v11 against a team you have formerly beaten already. If you can manage to pull this all off without losing once, your entire team gets a boost to a stat. If you lose, you are out a bunch of Prestige. This is the most fun I have with the game, but it isnt very lucrative until the endgame, unfortunately.


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Speaking of which, Im going to use two of my final paragraphs of this write-up to go over some final selling points to the story. When its time to play Royal Academy again in the regional finals, its revealed that your coach has been a spy for them the entire time, and is then ordered to drain the brake fluid from the teams bus in an attempt to kill the entire team on its way to the match. His plan is discovered and foiled, so in one final attempt to get out of playing Raimon, Royal Academy has some technicians poised and ready to drop a bunch of steel girders on the Raimon side of the field, hoping to kill their players and force them to forfeit. However, the star player of Royal Academy has become aware of his coachs deceit by this point and warns Mark to have his team evacuate the field when the first whistle blows, saving everyones life.

In a plot dump right before the game begins, it turns out that the reason Royal Academy rose to power in the first place was because they pulled the exact same shit 40 years ago on the #1 team in the nation at that point. It happened to be the team that Marks grandfather coached, nicknamed the Inazuma Eleven. In fact, Grandpa Evans and some of his players died in a bus crash on the way to their match against Royal Academy. Now that Mark has been a victim of their attempted murder himself, he now knows that he has even more reason to get revenge on the team that literally fucking murdered his grandfather. And Axels sister? Yeah, they were actually the ones behind her getting hit by a truck and putting her into a coma.



I swear to God that I havent even covered some of the craziest plot devices this game has to offer. The Royal Academy match is only the end of the first half of the game because thats just the regionals. The second half of the game is the Future Frontier nationals, where it only gets crazier from there. If this sounds like your kind of shit, just like it was 100% mine, go check out the game on the 3DS eShop. I promise you wont be disappointed with the story, at the very least.

I am aware that there are several more Inazuma Eleven games that exist, but none of them ever made it to the US, and Im too lazy to bother figuring out how to play them otherwise. Im actually kinda scared that theyll ruin the first game for me, because it has a massive story arc that spans all kinds of things, and I cant imagine that they figured out a way to top this. But given that I just wrote a full essay on this game, Im really feeling the itch again, and I could very well be doing myself a massive disservice by not at least checking them out. You should all do the same, because this game is fuckin' bonkers.

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(By the way, Professor Layton is in this game)



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I anticipated a lot from you telling me about it and that is still more than I expected

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this sounds sick as hell

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#23. Rogue Legacy (PC, 2013)
I know several of you are not really fans of this game, maybe finding it boring or too floaty or the fact its not a true roguelike or something else about it. Well, yeah its definitely a bit floaty and its not really a roguelike, but these are things in its favor imo.

Rogue Legacy is a rouge-lite. You start off as a simple swordsdude in a castle, and you need to beat all the bosses to face off against the final enemy. Except youre really weak and you will die pretty quickly probably. Now youre dead. Its up to your next-of-kin to take on the castle. But alas, they have some recessive genes showing up. Each time your character dies, you choose one of 3 characters to storm the next newly randomly generated castle with. Each kin will have one of several classes (Paladin, Mage, Shinobi, etc) each with a basic skill (ie Mages can spell cycle or Shibobis can teleport) and stat set (ie, Mages hit for less physical but do more magic damage, have more MP, less HP etc), a random spell, and one or multiple genetic traits. These traits can range from positive to negative to neither and have great effects on how you play the game. You might have no foot pulse and therefore dont set off spike traps. You might be really huge or really tiny.You might be immune to knockbacks. You might be gay (this changes whether the male or female statues drop health or MP potions). You might be colorblind and only see black and white, making it difficult to tell enemies apart from their upgraded brethren. You might be alektorophobic and have to kill the castlevania style wall chickens before using them. Theres a whole ton of these, which make up the core game play, and these combinations, with the spells and classes make each characters run through the castle completely different. The different styles youneed to adopt keep the game fresh.

Once you die, your spawn comes out to the main area before the castle, where they can spend the earned money from the previous run on character upgrades which persist throughout (thus, not a rougelike) which besides your basic stat upgrades also include class upgrades, the ability to keep a small % of unspent gold on each run (usually unspent gold is lost to Charon), the ability to wear better armor, etc. You also have a blacksmith- you can findblueprints through your run allowing access to better swords. The rune lady provides extra modifiers which can make your characters even more custom as you like. You can equip several of the same type toboost your character. Maybe you want 3 speed runs, 1 jump rune, and 1 retaliation rune which stack- so the more speed runes you have on, the faster youll be-each jump rune gives you an extra jump- retaliation runes mean the enemy takes higher % damage when they damage you, etc. You can combine these with your kin to maximize potential! The amount of mix and matching you can do just adds further depth-all enjoyable!

The gameplay feels great. As I said, its floaty, but it feels really good and smooth to run around. Hitting with your sword is satisfying and you move swiftly enough that getting around is fun. There are rooms you may not be able to get by with your traits, but if you really want to see the secrets of that room you can pay a reduction fee to lock the castle from last time. The game also looks good and the enemies are nicely animated and colorful. Finding the boss in each area is fun, and then taking on the boss provides a good challenge as their rooms wind up being pretty complicated. You can also take on remix versions of the bosses for an even greater challenge. These run tough because you are using a specific pre-made character for each of these fights.

In then end, its a hack and slash platformer with really good game feel, a nice degree of variety and customization mixed with locked character traits, and addicting gameplay that make this game a win for me. The procedurally generated castle also keeps you on your toes. I wound up doing the trophy for this game where you need to beat it in 15 kin or less which was a fun challenge too. Looking forward to the 2nd one, once its out of early access!



Next up: No other score bar that I know of has evoked such humor, character, and personality as in this game.

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