Board 8 > Board 8 #sports Discord Ranks Their Top 100 Video Games Finale: THE TOP 10

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#2. Mega Man 2 (NES, 1989)

I'm going to try something different for this game. I'm going to write a segment relating to each level, covering the stage, the game, a memory, random thoughts, or whatever. It's why this entry has taken a while to write. I maybe got too ambitious on this writeup, but I've owned this game for over 30 years and it's been a big part of who I am at many stages of life.



Metal Man:
Mega Man 2 is what Mega Man means to me. All my thoughts and opinions on the character, the games, the series, they all stem from this gane. Mega Man 2 is the game in the series with either my favorite or near-favorite music, robot masters, stages, weapons, and memories. The weapons are definitely beaten by Mega Man 9, but they're still good here. Metal Blade has a reputation for being crazy overpowered. It is very strong (especially when used on Metal Man!), but doesn't tear through everything, and it doesn't really allow any major skips or anything. It's just a very strong weapon, which is nice to have. If you want to destroy some stuff fast, you've got metal blade, otherwise, you can still keep a good challenge.



Bubble Man:
Bubble Man is my favorite robot master in the series, and also has my favorite music. The color scheme on his stage is very appealing to me. I'm not sure how much each of these influenced the others, or if it all happened independently. Either way, it doesn't matter, because Bubble Man is cool. I learned to clip through the ceiling of his stage as a teenager and I felt like a god.



Air Man:
For 10+ years, I've been using an image of Air Man as my avatar on social media. A lot of people who know me through the fighting game community have told me that they associate Air Man with me. I've never really felt the need to change it, since it's from one of my favorite games and goes well with my nickname, which is also from this game/series.



Heat Man:
The yoku blocks over the giant pit is a classic. The blocks are a series staple that I'm glad exists. They're dumb, but the most fun kind of dumb. And this level is where they shine the brightest due to being the silliest challenge.



Crash Man:
Mega Man 2 speed runs are an amazing thing to me. There is so much precision required to do well. A lot of jumps with quick timing and very little room for placement errors. There are also all kinds of clips through ceilings and vertical scrolling tricks. I tried doing them for a bit, but there's too many errors that can happen for them to be fun for me. Now, I just enjoy watching people who are good at them. Crash Man's stage has maybe the weirdest screen clips as you go up the ladders at the beginning of the stage. It's like Mega Man ends up in some alternate universe.

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Quick Man:
In the early 2000's, webcomics were a pretty big thing online. Bob and George was a Mega Man-themed webcomic that had a fairly strong following, myself included. I took inspiration from here to make my own webcomic in 2002. Maybe too much inspiration, as it was Mega Man themed and the personalities of the main characters matched the Bob and George personalities pretty closely. But the jokes were all original! I ran it for about two years, drawing Mega Man sprite comics that kind of followed the first two games. Quick Man was one of my favorite characters to use, as he spoke in sentences with no punctuation and turned into an annoyance for Dr. Wily. Quick Man also got very ambitious and created new robots for Dr. Wily, which were poorly made and ineffective (like Square Man, a square crudely drawn as a robot in MSPaint). It was fun for a while, until I was in college and lost momentum. Then Geocities went down and the site is gone. I still have the files somewhere, on some old hard drives and/or CDs. I'll have to see if I can dig up some comics to post.



Flash Man:
Flash Man's stage is really neat as an ice stage without being ice themed. The color-changing ground is just really slick, I guess, and is such a neat visual in an NES game of the time. Then there are branching paths. This feels like one of the more straight-forward levels in the game, but at the same time really helps show just how much variety there is among each stage.



Wood Man:
You know when you reach the boss gates, there's a block above the first one with Dr. Wily's logo on it? There's something about those that hits some strong nostalgia for me. It seemed really cool as a kid that each one was colored to match the stage (which of course comes because it's just using the stage's color palette). Wood Man has those darn roadrunners jumping at you before the gate, which slows down my ability to go fast, but lets me stop and check out that Wily box more along my way.



Dr. Wily Stage 1:
This is just such a cool stage. The skull castle appears, and then you enter a stage themed like how it's mapped out. You're outside, vaulting over walls to reach then castle, then you scale the side of the building. That one screen that requires item-1 is so memorable. And then the dragon fight, it gets a little laggy, but it's so great. The music obviously has a reputation, and for good reason. It let's you know that cool things are happening. It's a great kick off for the boss levels, and really sets the tone for the game's back half.



Dr. Wily Stage 2:
I had mentioned in my Super Mario Bros. 3 writeup how influential that game was to inspire me to doodle level maps. Those quickly turned to Mega Man maps. I would draw my own robot masters and make all their levels, and then design Dr. Wily levels. Dr. Wily levels were always full of instant death traps. I would also design transport items, sometimes using Rush, sometimes making new numbered Items like in Mega Man 2. Like the spike pit at the start of Wily stage 2, I would note how Mega Man would have to fly or jump or bounce or whatever over the spikes.

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Dr. Wily Stage 3:
The vertical fall through the spikes in this stage were my favorite part of Mega Man as a kid. It had just the right amount of thrilling danger, while not being truly that hard. It gave a real sense of victory to drop through unscathed. Also, the water is all brown and dirty, and you get the real foreboding music in this stage. I think this music is super underrated. It doesn't have a crazy fun melody like everything else in the game, but it's real good at letting you know you've hit the real depths of Wily's castle.



Dr. Wily Stage 4:
Okay, you're gonna have to stick with me on this one. When I was younger, I thought the Buebeam Trap (the boss of this stage) was the absolute pinnacle of game design. This was the most interesting thing a game developer had come up with. It's a boss fight, but it's also very much a puzzle. You have to plan an order to move around and fire. Boss fights in the NES days did not require thinking like this, they were usually reaction dodging or pattern memorizing or button mashing. I also thought it was unique that if you day, the barrier walls stay gone, so you could take those out first and need less grinding if there is a death. I know now that people really hate having to grind or game over if they fail this boss, and I understand that now that I'm older. I still think it's a cool concept, and the variety of giant foes & mysterious foes in Wily's castle really makes this game memorable.



Dr. Wily Stage 5:
Dr. Wily Teleport System E=infinity
The background in this room is fantastic.



Dr. Wily Stage 6:
Childhood me had a lot of misconceptions about what was visually happening in this stage. I thought it was inside of a tree. The walls were brown, like a tree, and you fall down the trunk, until you reach the bottom. Then you dodge dripping tree sap, until you fight alien Wily. When you beat Wily, there is a floating apple core. Then Mega Man walks home to his Swiss village home.



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Finally someone with good taste in video games.

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#3. Sonic Mania (PS4, 2017)
Im not really sure how much I can talk about this game without talking about another game on my list (bet you cant guess) but Im sure going to try. You can certainly look right at the title screen and know what you're gonna get.



After so many years of the Sonic series putting out its new style of games, which really lost sight of what made the Genesis originals so great (and yeah I have SA2B high on my list and I love that game, but for different reasons and in different ways)- so giving it back to fans who know why those originals were great was the perfect decision, and it may just be a glorified fan game but theres no need for the word just glorifiedor fan here. This is the real Sonic 4. This went back to everything that made those original Sonics great. Theres so much to explore with multiple paths on each level. You have your bonus rings. You have a mixture of old levels and new levels, with remixes done well on the old ones. The music is incredib;e. Its just everything youd want out of a classic Sonic platformer, perfected for a newer era.



The entire game is also an homage and love letter to Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Manyof the enemies, obstacles, level features, etc are all here in this game, but thrown about in other areas. For me, its just really cool to see enemies mixed and matched in places that make sense. Like those glowworms from S3s Angel Island? Theyre here in Manias Chemical Plant instead and youre like hey that makes a lot of sense, where else would they be?. For Hydrocity, they have swappedthe Act 1 and Act 2 bosses, because why not? AND, in one of the cooler bosses in the game, you get to ride in the old Hydrocity Act 2 boss- now YOURE the one controlling Robotniks water suction machine, trying to suck him up (whoaf), while he bombs you. You play Mean Bean Machine against Robotnik. Or fight his weather changing machine (featuring those windy chickens from Mushroom Hill). It basically takes Sonic 3 and remixes it all over in such fascinating ways. The original levels they also add twists too. Again, in Chemical Plant, Act 1 plays pretty close to the original, but then Act 2 they add the gimmick of injecting ooze into the purple slime to make it change color and change its property (in this case, making it a gooey bouncy substance instead of water). The whole game is a new experience using a lot of new plus old assets in cool and different ways. Clearly a whole ton of care was put into this game by people who truly adore the Genesis Originals



I just want to list more random cool things I enjoy about this game, thats the rest of my writeup.
You can burn out those spike bridges in Green Hill if you have a fire shield (obviously not there originally). The new S3K blue sphere stages. The Sonic CD inspired bonus stages. That the Green Hill boss is a tiny version of Sonic 2s final boss. That the Chemical Plant 1 boss is a version of the Ice Cap 1/Metropolis boss (I could keep going with these moved around bosses), the bouncy goo I mentioned in Chem Plant 2. Studiopolis is awesome, so is the music (all the music is awesome though). Flying Battery 2 dealing with a lot more of the ship exterior (and including those electric death ball things from Wacky Workbench in Sonic CD). Spring Garden is a neat chill zone, including the Mushroom Hill dragonflies was a good touch here- or having an icey but grassy level in general was neat. Making sure to include Sonic CD in with the references, not just Sonic 1-3. Of course this means having the Stardust Speedway boss race vs Metal Sonic, which becomes a fight, very well done here. I mentioned Hydrocity already but what a fantastic level, with the boss swap in particular. Mirage Saloon has you fight Fang, Beat, and that other big hedgehog whose name I forget. Oil Ocean brings back those levers from Sandolpolis except in this case it clears out the ring-reducing smog from the level instead of killing the ghosts.



I just dont know how to gush enough about this game, but it just feels like every decision made was made specifically to tailor to people who love Sonic 3 & Knuckles especially, but still all the Genesis sonic games. If you like the Sonic Genesis games even slightly, and you havent played this yet, you absolutely owe it that much. Just a fantastically done platformer, and the real Sonic 4. I probably didnt do a good enough job talking about it, and thats probably from review fatigue mostly but. I love this game.



Next up: Well you probably know what my #1 game is, and you have the rest of my list. So no real hint here. I wonder if you can get my #2. The only hint I will give you is it is part of a series of another game on my list.

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here's some more pics I wanted to include



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good game

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6. Super Metroid (SNES, 1994)
The last Metroid is in captivity. The galaxy is at peace...

Super Metroid is the grand-daddy of its genre - the item-collecting, map-traversing extravaganza that singlehandedly served as the launch point for hundreds of games inspired by its design, structure, and ethos over the following 25-30 years. While the game obviously owes itself to the original Metroid, in both theme and concept, Super Metroid blows away the original in both the scope of its world-building and narrative. It's got significantly more flexibility in movement, items, and abilities, but it also expands on planet Zebes itself. And its abilitiy to combine all of its individual elements so perfectly and expertly is arguably why it managed to so thoroughly captivate fans both then and today.
Super Metroid has one of my favorite game origin stories - after playing through a handful of the then-recent Metroids in my Senior year of high school, I knew I had to get my hand on Super Metroid and give it a go, despite not owning an SNES. It seems quaint now, but getting online and going through ebay to purchase games seemed so daunting back then, and I was excited as hell after getting a reasonably priced secondhand SNES and Super Metroid in separate purchases. But when the cartridge arrived, I was still too impatient to wait for the system to make it, so I bugged one of my friends to let me borrow his console. And man, to this day, I don't know if I have had a single gaming experience where the expectation and anticipation was so high but absolutely delivered in every way. I plowed through the main storyline in a couple days, spent more days and many hours scouring the map to try and hit 100%. After exhausting every avenue I was willing to reach and getting to a close 97%, I looked up the last few power-ups online, and then immediately shifted into playing through the game again with 100%, to master the game and to get better and better speed times. I think all of the Metroid games lend themselves to this sort of replayability through their game length, difficulty, and open-endedness. But Super Metroid seems to have this aura about it that makes it reign supreme - there's a reason why it still holds the de facto prime time spot by default in just about every AGDQ marathon. Even many casual players will absolutely be compelled to try to beat the game, in some way, pretty quickly - perhaps to see the ending where Samus removes her suit, or maybe just to challenge themselves; it's a game that lends itself to this rinse-and-repeat play approach.
While there are many games that predate Super Metroid (and the Metroid series) with non-linear progression and open exploration, none of them manage to nail the balance of difficulty, atmosphere, and gameplay as perfectly as Super Metroid, which is one reason why it's such a distinct influence to so many later games. While SM carries over many of the items and even areas from Metroid 1, Samus' control and movement is significantly upgraded; she can shoot diagonally and vertically, jumping and running are faster and more fluid, and the powerups themselves serve all kinds of modified, enhanced, or entirely new purposes. Additionally, Super Metroid employs the player with a whole smorgasbord of hidden abilities - moves like wall jumps and shinesparks are taught only by some cute alien critters in secret rooms - and others still like bomb spreading, charge combos, and the crystal flash are entirely buried by the opening demo roll and even then require some arcane button combinations to pull off. On one hand, I could get some criticism for the game not just telling you what you can do, but there's something brilliant buried here - a game that is absolutely completable with none of these "extra moves", but that provide depth and complexity for people interested in learning it. It's a much more complex version of Cappy in Mario Odyssey; there's the tantalizing idea of executing more impressive and tricky moves, but it's completely unrequired to just play and beat the game.
Super Metroid's other big boost is in the story and atmosphere - while Metroid 1 and 2 had a large maze of relatively indistinct rooms and areas, Super Metroid makes each area and many individual rooms feel unique. There's still the occasional indistinct bombable wall housing a secret, but these are not explicitly required to progress the game, and the game itself actually provides you a tool (the X-Ray Scope) to find these off-the-beaten-path powerups. And the soundtrack is such a masterpiece, from its epic intro and ending themes, to its quiet ambient tracks, to the absolute bangers (such as Pink Brinstar and Lower Norfair - both iconic enough to get remade in the Metroid Prime series). Really, from top to bottom, every piece of Super Metroid feels artisanally crafted to fit a purpose - story beats are explicitly mentioned at the outset, but only drip-fed through contextual clues for the entirety of the gameplay. The varied worlds - underwater Maridia, vegetative Brinstar, fiery Norfair, etc. - are filled with distinct, colorful gameplay elements and enemies. And the way that all these graphical ideas seamlessly blend with the actual gameplay itself - loads of critters and objects and terrain that interacts with your growing arsenal in a bevy of ways - is such a triumph of the vision of Super Metroid; it knows exactly what it wants to achieve and manages to pull it off.
When reading up on some articles while writing this, I found a retrospective written in 2014 about SM's intro sequence and its achievement in game design, and in the comments section delved into a discussion about how "ahead of its time" Super Metroid was, and of course remarking of its inspiration to the Castlevania series, and other games like Shadow Complex. What feels so wild to me is that, even with that vantage point two decades after the game's original release, we had still yet to see the release of games like Ori and the Blind Forest, Axiom Verge, or Hollow Knight. Super Metroid was so grand and special to achieve outstanding praise for its forward-thinking concept, and we hadn't even seen some of its finest successors yet.
I'm sticking this classic just outside of the Top 5 to delineate what I think might be the "best game ever made" from my absolute personal favorites. Obviously the lines intertwine quite a bit there; there's no hiding from my own taste. But I do hold up Super Metroid as such an achievement in gaming, that blows me away just how effortlessly great it is, that I wanted to appropriately write out a tribute to its success, and "cap off" this section of the list.
Just, uh, pretend that I didn't stop for 2 weeks to get here.

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Sonic Mania was just so...inventive

And that's a weird descriptor given how much of it is essentially rehashed content but the way it reimagined the levels was so clever man
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#1. Super Metroid (SNES, 1994)





Here we are, the best game ever. Which also happens to be my favorite game. Because it's the best.

When Super Metroid first came out, it was easily my most anticipated game. Metroid 2 had been kind of fun, but I wasn't a super fan of Metroid or anything. Every magazine preview and review just made Super Metroid look more and more exciting. I'm not even sure why this seemed so much better than everything else, but it did. And somehow, it completely lived up to the experience, even surpassing it.

Super Metroid is a fantastic game for what it opts to not tell you, but show you. Story-wise, you get the initial bits of text, but otherwise, it's a lot of atmospheric visuals and music that lead the story. You see places awaken, like Crateria after you start taking items, or the Wrecked Ship when that path is opened. Ridley's actions are clearly told. And then you get the final scenes, some very impactful story-telling that fits in with the gameplay and plays out events with these weird non-human creatures in very understandable behavior.

As far as the design of the game, and how the game conveys so much to you, even when it doesn't seem so... I don't even know how I can do this justice without going through each and every room. The game leads left and vertically early on, to show that paths go in any direction. The early bombable blocks are clearly different, and lead to new areas, and encourage the exploration. There are barriers presented way before you have a way to break through, often with enticing items on the other side, or marked on your map downloads, to encourage you to loop back later. There are friendly creatures that teach you weird mechanics that you otherwise don't even need to use. The glass tube through Maridia is such an iconic room. The way the map has you dip your toes in some areas, just to get a feel, like Norfair, before sending you back.

I also want to point out the overall map design. This is before warp points were really a big thing in non-linear games. Zebes is a pretty huge world to explore, and it could take a while to get anywhere. As the game goes on, and more paths are opened or accessible, the map is full of a lot of loops you can take. Sure, you could go from Crateria, and through Brinstar, and into Norfair, then the lower Norfair loop, and back up, into Maridia, through the upper part, across the Wrecked Ship, and back into Crateria, and you would hit most of the map. But there is the red Brinstar shaft and the room from Maridia that connects back to the top of it; Maridia has the tubes and sandpits back toward the bottom; Brinstar connects back to the early Crateria areas; Lower Norfair connects back to upper through a hidden path on the top right. It's not perfect in how you get around, but Super Metroid had so much care put into the design that there are all these paths around the planet. You don't have to return to the same boring hub area over and over. Even when not collecting items, there is just exploration to be found all over. I probably get more worked up about how fantastic this is than most people would care to even consider, but it's just so amazing how the layout of this game all came together; how perfectly it all flows.



Super Metroid is also a game with low challenge or high challenge or whatever you want to make of it. You can take your time and search areas, shine the X-Ray Scope around. You can collect everything to have loads of health and hopefully blast away at everything. But it can also be a challenge to find all the secrets. Some people would rather move on with 50% items, and that's okay! And there's the timer. 3 hours seemed like a tough requirement back in the day, and is still a big challenge for some people. But then others, they push some crazy times. Or people fight for low item percentages. Or bosses out of order. Super Metroid has been busted open by players over the years as they find the most ridiculous skips and tricks and challenges... and yet, it all still holds together, with each challenge just being another chapter in the crazy list of ways to enjoy the game. There are so many movement options too, with running and speedboosting and wall-jumping and bomb jumping and horizontal bomb jumping and grapple hooking and morph ball rolling and mock balling and ice beam freezing and shinesparking, it just feels good to move around in this game. Speed runs at GDQ events are always huge for Super Metroid, and they can go with so many variants on what type of run they do. For a game I've played a bunch, it also feels at times like I haven't played Super Metroid enough, because I don't have so much experience with a lot of the challenges.

It seems like I could say a lot more, but it's also hard to continue to put into words the way this game makes me feel. There's no boring stretch to play, there's no boring way to play. I'm just happy and excited inside whenever play Super Metroid, whenever I see it. If I have to point out one flaw, it's maybe that the game offers too many control options for the SNES controller, and some kind of claw grip has to come in to play. But like, that's it. There have been a couple moments where games near the top of my list hit number 1, but it's pretty much always been Super Metroid in the number 1 spot since the mid-'90s. And I don't know what it will take for a game to ever move into that top spot over it. It could just be the best game forever, and you know what? That's great.





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good pick!

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It's a Super Metroid kind of day

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I like it
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XIII_rocks posted...

Sonic Mania was just so...inventive

And that's a weird descriptor given how much of it is essentially rehashed content but the way it reimagined the levels was so clever man

I know! Like yeah, they reused a ton of assets, but they did it in such fantastic ways. Like I cannot stop thinking about stuff like the blue glowworm guys from Angel Island showing up in new Chemical Plant. Like of course they would, right! It makes sense! And reversing the Hydrocity boss. I mean I know I said a bunchof this in my review already but thats really what makes this game so impressive. How it borrows everything from all the best classics and while technically its a glorified fan game, it doesn't feel anything like that. Just a game made by people who clearly have that same love the fans of those games did.

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#2. Super Smash Bros. Melee (Gamecube, 2001)
This game is outdated these days, but it holds so much meaning to me for pretty much all of my high school and college life. And yknow so are Guitar Hero 2 and Rock Band 2 but those definitely need to make my list. But I would still play this game with people these days, and I will still love it. It still feels amazing. I think it nailed the game feel much more than the other entries in the series.



For a casual player, the balance felt great. I loved playing pretty much any character. They hadnt yet gone overboard with the items. It had a really good selection of stages without getting overwhelmed. There was a ton of other fun stuff to do-The event modes remain some of my favorite Smash related content. Adventure mode was easily the best campaign mode in the series by a longshot. Id love to see a more fleshed version of that (3DSs was close). It also remains the only game to have my favorite stage in the series (RIP). Home Run Derby is a blast too of course. All the later games may have all these modes, but being the first counts here, this really was a home run for me.



High school was the thing. I probably have more hours logged into this game than any other game Ive played. My friends and I would play this all the time after school, and we each had it, so no matter whose house we were at, wed have everything we need. None of us were pros or anything, we all just loved this game to death. Coming off the N64 game, which I thought was a novel game, and pretty fun, but it wasnt one of my favorites ever, and definitely something I wouldve like to see taken to a fuller extend, and Melee just completely shattered those expectations. The jump from Smash 64 to Melee was absolutely mindblowing , and something no other Smash game can claim. Maybe any game? Just how much more polished, good-feeling, upgraded, fleshed out it takes the cake. Maybe others added more characters or stages or what have you, but to do it on this scale, to go from like 5 to 100 to me was so impressive, that it just hooked us all forever. Wed also eventually do stuff like mess around with the Tournament mode endlessly, try to beat each others Break the Target times, try to get all the in-game trophies (which were always fun to check out the easter eggs for), and set up 99 stock matches featuring 4 level 1 Pichus (or whatever), place bets, and let it run while we did something else, then come back and see who won.



And even into college, I wound up playing this so much. We didnt quite have Brawl yet, so there was still so much more of this, and of course, all my new friends at college were just as in love with this game as much as my high school friends were. And so, even more time was put in. Thus, all the hype for Brawl was so incredible, I loved that time. Even if the game didnt quite deliver fully (I mean it was still good!), I loved that hype around it so much- every day finding something new out about a new Smash game was so much fun.



Just everything about SSBM was so iconic and perfect, and is so memorable, I remember it all so fondly- thats why this game is here. It all triggers good times. And I mean, it has by far the best menu/main theme in the series too. Even though we liked to sometimes reset until we got that alternate music, that original theme is just the best. I still have the Nintendo Power disc of the Live Japanese Philharmonic of a selection of Smash songs sitting in my car, and I love listening to it still. The games intro cutscene still gets me hype like none other.



SUPER SMASH BROTHERS.MELAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Next up: You know what it is i hope lol

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#1 - Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2, 2003; played on PSP, 2007; DS, 2008; and PC, 2016)

My number one game, as it has been for years, is Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, which I've played in many forms and have done almost everything there is to do in the game - and there's still more I think I can do in it. I feel that it is the only Disgaea that I've enjoyed to the fullest, and considering the Disgaea games I've played through to the end of the story (1, 2, D2, and Infinite), all of them have one of the characters from Disgaea 1 as a main character at some point in it. It really shows how well-developed the characters of this first game are overall.

I mentioned this in my writeup of ZHP way back, but NIS does its best when the humor really sticks its mark, and in Disgaea 1 it does the best out of any NIS game. From the interactions with Mid-Boss to the chapters with CAPTAIN GORDON, DEFENDER OF EARTH it's a great ride through the story. Even when it pivots off to do some drama in a few chapters as well as some of the endings, it doesn't feel too out of place and still presents it very well. Gordon and Laharl are probably my two favorite NIS characters in their entire history, as CAPTAIN GORDON, DEFENDER OF EARTH is just an amazing humor character every time he speaks, and Laharl also makes many great scenes better as well. His laugh is also amazing, and I will never forget how it sounds.

Of course, Disgaea is more than just a well presented story, it's the very first SRPG where numbers go up to absolutely insane amounts. Grinding is a necessary evil in Disgaea as you can push character levels, statistics, and equipment up to as high as you want to go. Not that you need to for any purposes, but some of the superbosses definitely require a good amount of grinding. I still remember farming CoO3 many, many times to get the levels and stats I needed. (Or Demonhall Mirror once CoO3 becomes obsolete.)

Not only that, but Disgaea offers a great deal of character customization with its master/apprentice skill system, as well as any character being able to equip any kind of weapon they want. Want a healer throwing out elemental spells all over the map? You can definitely do that. Getting some useful heal spells onto Laharl was definitely a factor that contributed to my first clear of the final bonus boss of the game. Plus, you can name every one of your characters besides the main ones, and like Nick does in his writeup, several of my character names have been passed through many other Disgaea games and multiple versions of this game in particular!

I still have yet to play the PS4 version, but I'm saving that one for a trophy milestone somewhere down the road - I don't really have the time at the moment to make it #200 and I already have several plans for that number. I know, however, that I will still enjoy my time with it just as much as I have throughout my many playthroughs of this game to date.

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excited for wigs to finally reveal his obvious #1 game, majora's mask

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Wigs #1 is Pokemon Snap

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I hope it is

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#1. Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Sega Genesis, 1994)
This writeup is gonna be short and sweet and kind of suck, sorry.
This is my favorite game. I love it. Sonic games are fantastic. This one is the best one because it has:

The best music, the most variety in level design, the best level design, the most different and most cool power ups that change how the game is played, the most in terms of exploration (ie, low, middle, upper routes, plus combining that with flying with Tails for max exploration), on that note- being able to utilize Tails flying AT ALL, being able to play as Knuckles and get a completely different game experience with his wall climbing and gliding (something that was just kind of shoehorned-in in Knuckles in Sonic 2, and not explicitly designed around it like it was in Sonic 3+K), the most optional routes with different pathing and such, the best special stages- Blue sphere is incredible plus I like the other bonus stages the electric board, the gumball machine, and the slots bonus, the best and most creative bosses, and just all around feels the best.



Of course, thats just comparing it to other Sonic games but you know how I feel about those. They are platforming perfection. I know not everyone feels this way because theyre obsessed with BUT I CANT JUST GO AS FAST AS I CAN WILLY NILLY AND I HAVE TO SLOW DOWN TO WORRY ABOUT OBSTACLES. And yeah. If thats really what you want, 2D Sonic isnt the game for you. Luckily, they have a whole 3D genre if youre into that. Again, 2D Genesis Sonic is not about speed. Its about MOMENTUM and how you can use that to your advantage. How you bounce off of enemies, handle slopes and loops, and knowing when to change speeds to your advantage- to get through the level, find secret areas, use the power ups, or beat the bosses.



The way the game progresses I always thought was really neat too in this game- how the levels link together was a really creative thing. Like Knuckles blowing up the bridge youre standing on so you fall from Angel Island to Hydrocity, or the Robotnik Airship in Launch base exploding and sending you off to Mushroom Hill. The Lava cooling from Lava Reef 1 to 2 Etc. Continuing from Sonic 3 and going right into Sonic & Knuckles seems so simple, yet it was an incredible gameplay decision, as it gives you a way to finally save your S&K progress, but also adds the SUPER EMERALDS, making extra hard and extra fun Blue Sphere levels to power up your emeralds so you can become HYPER SONIC- since if you got the first 7 in the first half of the game, you lose the ability to become super until you supercharge the emeralds. The level design has been somewhat altered too from vanilla S3K.



And finally. Lets talk more about the music. I dunno even what to say. This is by far one of the best OSTs in all of gaming, and its pretty clear Michael Jacksons influence was here and very much noted. The Act 2 songs all being remixes of Act 1 was something I loved too.

And yeah man. Thats pretty much it. I love everything about this game. It was one of my first ever. I still love everything about it and try to play it once a year if I can. Been worse at that lately though.

Also the 2-player mode has those extra unique stages with the cool music too. Endless Mind is sort of City Escape. Boom. Oh, and Ill also close by saying that any game that can make a water level incredible and its games best stage (and one of the best water levels in all of gaming)- thats impressive.



NO WAY? NO WAY? NO WAY! NO WAY? NO WAY! NO WAY? NO WAY? NO WAY! NO WAY? NO WAY!

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Good job Wigs!

1994 was a good year for #1 games

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WiggumFan267 posted...

Been worse at that lately though.

this was very clear
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Poop on my poophole!

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Was looking and it turns out I never actually posted my full list once I finished...

HM. Nintendo World Cup
HM. Tecmo Super Bowl
HM. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
HM. Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
HM. Burnout 3: Takedown
HM. The Urbz: Sims in the City
HM. Winning Eleven 9
HM. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
HM. Hitman: Blood Money
HM. Deadly Premonition
HM. Ratchet & Clank (PS4)
HM. Hades
HM. NHL Hitz 20-02
100. Earthbound
99. Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA
98. Mario Golf: Advance Tour
97. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
96. FTL: Faster Than Light
95. Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
94. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
93. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
92. Beat Saber
91. Pocket Card Jockey
90. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2006
89. Persona 5
88. Trauma Team
87. HITMAN
86. The World Ends With You
85. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
84. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
83. Pokemon Stadium 2
82. Mass Effect 3
81. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
80. NES Open Tournament Golf
79. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
78. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
77. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
76. Mario Party 2
75. The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain
74. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies
73. Saints Row: The Third
72. SSX3
71. Doki Doki Literature Club
70. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
69. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
68. Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds
67. WarioWare: Twisted!
66. TimeSplitters 2
65. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
64. Chrono Trigger
63. Tetris Effect
62. Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow Version
61. Dark Souls
60. Hot Shots Golf Fore!
59. Mario Kart 8
58. Return of the Obra Dinn
57. Mario Golf (N64)
56. Hotel Dusk: Room 215
55. Dark Souls III
54. Advance Wars: Dual Strike
53. Last Window: Secret of Cape West
52. Borderlands 2
51. the jackbox PARTY PACKs
50. Batman: Arkham Asylum
49. Pokemon Black/White Version
48. Fire Emblem
47. Paper Mario
46. Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Path
45. SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs
44. Shadow of the Colossus
43. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
42. Rock Band 2
41. Mario Golf (GBC)
40. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
39. Skate 3
38. Snowboard Kids 2
37. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
36. Mario Tennis (N64)
35. Diddy Kong Racing
34. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
33. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice
32. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
31. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
30. Mario Tennis (GBC)
29. SNATCHER
28. Pokemon Puzzle League
27. Horizon: Zero Dawn
26. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
25. Pokemon Gold/Silver Version
24. Elite Beat Agents
23. Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational
22. Super Smash Bros. Melee
21. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
20. Fallout 3
19. Banjo-Kazooie
18. Inazuma Eleven
17. Super Mario Odyssey
16. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
15. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations
14. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
13. Final Fantasy X
12. Mass Effect 2
11. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
10. Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
9. Undertale
8. Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
7. Persona 4 Golden
6. Resident Evil 4
5. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
4. F-Zero GX
3. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
2. The Outer Wilds
1. Bloodborne

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games!?

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Whiskey_Nick posted...

games!?

games are canceled

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Watching this video. The meteor coming in on the FF7 Remake still gives me goosebumps the same as it did when they first released that trailer. Holy crap did they do a good job

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

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#1 Age of Empires II: The Conquerors (Microsoft Windows, 2000)

Not many commercial games from before the year 2000 are still releasing paid expansions. I think just Ultima Online, Everquest, and Age of Empires II? 22 years is a long time to still get money out of people, and there was a long period without any new official content, but Age of Empires II (the original release was in 1999) has recently resurged to a level of popularity that it has not enjoyed since the original release.



My history with this Real-Time Strategy game is off-again, on-again. I got started with the first expansion back in the year 2000. First played the game on a demo disc, and was hooked instantly. Quickly picked up the full game on release, and played it like crazy. Soon started playing with my brothers over LAN, which took up countless afternoons. I dabbled a bit in online play, but at that point I just did not have a good enough connection to make it enjoyable. Few people did.

I would come back to it from time to time, just messing around versus AI or playing the campaigns. Microsoft stopped supporting the game after a couple years, but the community remained active and an enthusiastic group of people made patchwork improvements to the game, which improved and maintained compatibility with future versions of Windows. An unofficial second expansion was even developed. When I heard about the "HD Edition" coming to Steam in 2013, it inspired me to really get into it again. I had a couple online friends who also picked it up, and we played online against each other or versus the AI. At that point, with the advent of twitch.tv, I started getting into the competitive aspects of the game. I turned on a random stream one day and watched a game between two of the top players in the world. That level of play was completely mind-blowing to me; I was transfixed.



That's where I learned about Voobly. It's a third-party multiplayer client for the game, and at the time of the HD edition release, it's where the most competitive players played. Turns out the HD edition was rather shoddy and did not really match up to the improvements the community had made over time, so, while the HD edition boosted the profile of the game immensely, the top players more or less ignored it, content to continue playing The Conquerors expansion from 2000.

That is, until Microsoft decided to make an investment in the game again. Microsoft hired the team, Forgotten Empires, who developed the second expansion to make it for the HD edition, and it was a huge success. The team stuck together and started making improvements to the HD edition, along with another two expansions over the next three years. The product still paled to what was on Voobly, but modders found a way to integrate the new expansions into the Voobly version, which for years more remained the way that pro players preferred to play.



Along with the investment into the HD edition, Microsoft also made an investment into the esports scene. Tournaments with not-insignificant prize pools were staged on the HD edition, luring the top players over, if only to participate in these games. Seeing the potential, Microsoft commissioned another release of the game, this time a full remake, dubbed the "Definitive Edition." The game was developed and designed by fans of the series, including the Forgotten Empires team, and was embraced wholeheartedly by the community when it came out in 2019. The release coincided with a fifth expansion, and a sixth one came out just a couple months ago.

The competitive scene remains vibrant, at least internationally. Almost all the top players are from Europe or China, which is a stark contrast to the Korean/Japanese/US domination that you see with many other online games. Prize pools totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars annually support the top-tier players, and a lot of them make a living as streamers as well. Seeing as the game is almost 22 years old now, very few of the current pro players were playing the game when it came out, and those who did are now well into their thirties, which makes it difficult for them to compete. The current top player, a teenager from Austria, was not even alive when the game first came out. Weird to see that, but it makes sense.



I'm not a pro player in any sense, although I did play in a tournament or two. I'm currently on a break from the game, and I follow it very casually right now. Life is too short and busy to play Age of Empires II all the time, and the competitor in me does not enjoy it much if I can't dedicate the necessary time to playing at my best. When I played most recently though (2019-early 2020), I was skilled enough to be just short of the brink of the competitive scene. Good enough that I could at least play in the same atmosphere as the pros, even if I could not take one game in a hundred from them. But I could take the rare game from people who could take maybe a game in a hundred from pro players, if that makes sense. The skill cap for the game is just so incredibly high.

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And so I'll talk a little about the actual game, now that I've bored you with the history of it. Why do hundreds of thousands of people still regularly play this old game? Well, it's because it is the best real-time strategy game ever created. Maybe when they make a better one, people will move on.



It should be no surprise to you that I consider it the best, seeing as I have it at the top of my list. The game has an incredible amount of content. Now, dozens of single-player campaigns, over 30 unique civilizations to choose from, and the heart of the game, the "Random Map" mode. Random Map is what makes Age of Empires II worth playing, and endlessly replayable. Whether against the computer or online, you play every game on a unique procedurally-generated map, and the odds of seeing that exact iteration of the map before or after are practically zilch. There are hundreds of map templates to choose from, ranging from battles on islands, to the classic "Arabia," to mountainous highlands or the Asian steepes. While only a few dozen templates are high enough quality to see regular play at the highest level, there are all kinds of options that offer distinct experiences. Seeing as every game is unique, Age of Empires II encourages on-the-fly thinking and problem solving that you don't find many other places. Basic build orders have been refined over decades, but there is still a large amount of improvisation that occurs every time based on the massive (or even minute) differences that each map generation presents, the civilization matchup, and the playstyle of your opponent(s). It introduces a bit of chance into the game, so the better player may be crippled by a bad map. But the best players find ways to overcome their disadvantages and prevail, which is satisfying when you do it, and also incredibly entertaining to witness.

The game supports up to eight players, and playing 4v4 team games is my cup of tea. I stick a lot to the standard maps, but also sometimes venture into the truly absurd ones, just for fun. Whatever map I play, I just really enjoy being on a team with others (even with strangers) and working together to come up with a winning strategy. Given how many civilization combinations there are, these team matchups are usually fresh and require some thinking to evaluate how to gain the advantage on your matchup.

But the number of maps, civilizations, campaigns, etc., should not put anyone off from trying the game. It's remarkably simple to pick up and play, if you have played any RTS game before. Through all the different options, each civilization plays basically the same. You start with a small base in the dark ages, and advance through research and production to an imperial age army. And the vast array of game modes, settings, difficulty levels, and so on make the game enjoyable for anyone at any skill level. The newest version has a pretty good ELO-based matchmaking system, so even online games will eventually pair you against someone that will be on your level. And like I said, as someone who was probably in the top 1 or 2 percent of all players when at my best, I still got wiped away by any of the top players. There are so many levels of play with tons of people to compete against wherever you fall. And then of course, you could play the single-player content for hundreds of hours before running out of campaigns and custom scenarios, and after that there are random map sessions against a myriad of different AI opponents. And after all that, there is a trove of thousands of player-made scenarios available online.

The game is pretty popular to watch online. I have not played a game in a while, but I pop onto YouTube or Twitch every few months to watch a random game. It never gets old for me. I included below a recording of a recent tournament final that shows the kind of energy and intensity that are found in broadcasts. Defending world champion Kai Kallinger versus 20-year veteran Darko Dautovic. Even if you don't understand all the rules, the enthusiasm is contagious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_lD3tnlhaE&t=5280s

(Video should start at 1:28:00 for the fourth game of the series)

So it's a game that I love playing, and it's one of the few games that I love watching other people play. Honestly, if I was stuck with only being able to play and watch one game for the rest of my life, it would be this one, and I do not think I would ever get tired of it. For me, it is literally endlessly replayable. And it has produced so many of my favorite video game memories ever over 20 years, which makes it the easy choice for me for my number one game of all time!

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Wololoooooo

I oweeeeeee yooooou

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Almost lists all done

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HMs:
Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies
Bugsnax
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Gunstar Heroes
Kirby 64
Mario Tennis
Untitled Goose Game
Warioware: Touched
We Love Katamari

100. The Stanley Parable
99. Death Stranding
98. Kirby's Block Ball
97. Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?
96. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
95. Borderlands 2
94. Twisted Metal 2
93. Cuphead
92. Ratchet & Clank (PS4)
91. Mega Man 2
90. Ghosts 'n Goblins
89. Super Mario Maker 2
88. Final Fantasy VII
87. Donkey Kong Country
86. Mega Man 9
85. Pokemon Puzzle League
84. Marvel's Spider-Man
83. Adventures of Lolo
82. Braid
81. Donkey Kong Country 2
80. Into the Breach
79. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
78. Elite Beat Agents
77. Shovel Knight
76. Back to the Future (Telltale)
75. Mega Man 5
74. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
73. Mario Kart 64
72. Zombies Ate My Neighbors
71. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
70. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
69. Skies of Arcadia Legends
68. Super Mario 64
67. Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land
66. Hexcells
65. Mega Man 3
64. Heroes of Might and Magic III
63. Mario Party 2
62. Punch-Out!! (Wii)
61. Dark Souls: Remastered
60. Out of the Park Baseball 17
59. Papers, Please
58. Final Fantasy VII Remake
57. Slay the Spire
56. Mario Kart 8
55. Wario Land 3
54. Portal
53. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
52. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
51. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
50. The Simpsons: Hit & Run
49. Picross 3D: Round 2
48. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
47. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
46. Apex Legends
45. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
44. The Witness
43. Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow
42. Pokemon Gold/Silver
41. Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice
40. Jackbox Party Packs
39. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
38. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
37. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
36. Bloodborne
35. Hitman 2
34. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
33. Chrono Cross
32. Guitar Hero 2
31. 3D Dot Game Heroes
30. Mega Man X
29. Crypt of the Necrodancer
28. Sonic CD
27. Super Mario World
26. Super Monkey Ball 2
25. Portal 2
24. Rock Band 2
23. Rogue Legacy
22. Sonic Spinball
21. Super Mario Odyssey
20. Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
19. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
18. Spelunky
17. The Last of Us
16. Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
15. Metroid: Zero Mission
14. Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
13. Metroid Prime
12. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (& Knuckles)
11. Return of the Obra Dinn
10. Sonic the Hedgehog
9. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
8. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
7. Final Fantasy X
6. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
5. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
4. Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
3. Sonic Mania
2. Super Smash Bros. Melee
1 . Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (& Knuckles)

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Snoic

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3. Resident Evil 4 (Every Platform, but originally GameCube, 2005)

Resident Evil as a series has always understood something better than almost every other horror video: tension. Every horror series knows how to ratchet up the tension; that's the easy part. Players are primed for it when they start the game, and every great horror game has a moment in its first hour or so that sets the stakes and the scale for tension. In RE2, it's the aforementioned first Licker. In the RE1, it's the first dog. In REmake, it's the first crimson head. Etc, etc, etc. I'm sure it's true in the myriad other horror franchises out there too. But no game in the series or the genre has done it as well as Resident Evil 4 (I can't speak for RE6-8 yet, but I'm willing to bet it holds true).

Prior Resident Evils opened with a pretty common formula: few weapons and limited ammo, tight quarters, and sporadically placed enemies when and where you least want them. RE4 flips this expectation on its head almost immediately: the village is expansive, outdoors, ammo is relatively plentiful, and enemies are all over the place. There's a shotgun - rare for an RE game to give you an upgrade over your handgun this early - but taking it sets Dr. Salvador, the chainsaw Ganado, in pursuit of you. It's also a timed area, though you don't know it at first; survive long enough and the mysterious church bell rings and you're safe for a little while. Fuck up and get your head sawn off. Right from the get go, you know that the game is subverting your expectations, and that adds to the tension.



When that bell rings, and that fight ends, the tension breaks. It's only been maybe 10, 15 minutes, but that first opportunity to breathe is significant. It always is in horror games. But what Resident Evil as a series, and Resident Evil 4 in particular, does is lean on the other thing horror fiction uses to break tension: comedy. MSG took all the great screenshots in his not-actually-a-writeup, but RE4 is outright hilarious at times. Horror video games struggle with this, or avoid it entirely, even though it's long been part and parcel of the movies and TV series that inform and inspire the genre. It's campy as fuck at times. There's no better comic villain than Salazar, and Leon is somehow both pithy and kind of a ditz, which is just perfect for a protagonist. But the jokes aren't all cheese; there's some pitch black humor, too.



The game expertly builds and breaks the tension with this balance of fights, harrowing scenes, quiet, and jokes across its entire length, even once Salazar is out of the picture. Even not knowing which Plaga is going to erupt from the head of a killed enemy gooses the tension. The games environments get increasingly wild (the Castle is deeply underrated, by the way), and along the way, so do the enemies and bosses. Iron Maidens, Regenerators, Garradors and Novistadors, Verdugo and U-3, et al, all feel both organic to the series and true to the very specific Spanish setting of the game.

I could go on at length about RE4, but I won't. We've all played it, and it's still as good now as it was then. Just a magnificent, hammy, bloody good time.

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I'm sure Resident Evil 4 is a good game, but I have no desire to play it or any other games in the series after I played REmake.

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It's nothing like REmake, to be fair

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Yeah, I can't even come up with an analogy for how different they feel as games, just from a gameplay perspective. Wildly different experiences.

I'm not sure there's another series I know of with two (or more) highly regarded games that play so differently while still being the same genre

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I will join my colleagues here eventually.
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No new games in 35 days

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Just you wait!
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its never coming

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